King Donald has it all under control

Medicaid's impact on Rhode Island

Where psychos thrive

“Dark” personality thrives in societies with corruption and inequality

University of Copenhagen, Department of Psychology

A new global study shows that people in societies characterized by corruption, inequality, poverty, and violence are more likely to develop aversive, “dark” personality characteristics such as selfishness or spitefulness.

Why are some people more inclined to cheat, manipulate, or harm others for their own gain? A new, comprehensive study with data from nearly 2 million people across 183 countries and all 50 US states points to an important answer:

It is also a matter of the society in which one grows up.

Dark personality as a survival strategy

The study, published in the scientific journal PNAS, examined how aversive social conditions (high corruption, inequality, poverty and violence) are linked to what they call ‘The Dark Factor of Personality’. This is the essence of aversive (“dark”) personality traits such as narcissism, psychopathy, and sadism.

By combining personality questionnaire with objective data on countries’ (and US states’) social conditions assessed approx. 20 years before, the researchers found a clear – albeit moderate – relation:

‘The more adverse conditions in a society, the higher the level of the Dark Factor of Personality among its citizens. This applies both globally and within the United States,’ says Ingo Zettler, professor at SODAS and the Department of Psychology.

URI vertebrate expert offers guidance on ways to keep turtles and wildlife safe in summer

Let's start with not running them over with your car or lawn mower, and then more

Kristen Curry

Photo Tyler DeVos

It’s turtle season, according to a professor of natural resources science at the University of Rhode Island who specializes in reptiles and amphibians.

In southern New England, Eastern box turtles and other species of native turtles lay eggs in early summer, after becoming more active and sometimes crossing trails and roads, beginning in May. 

While watching for turtles on roadways during the summer months is one important way to preserve local turtle populations, New Englanders can help protect native turtles year-round with increased awareness.

At URI, conservation biologist Nancy Karraker focuses primarily on the consequences of environmental change for reptiles and amphibians. She has examined the impacts of habitat loss and degradation, pollution, climate change, invasive species, and disease on biodiversity in North America and Southeast Asia, and consults and collaborates across the country and around the world.

Her work is applied science, she says.

“It’s not enough to say, ‘watch out for turtles on roads,’” she says, “though we do want people to do that.”

Trump takes us into war with Iran. Now what?

Here are 3 scenarios for what might happen next

Ian Parmeter, Australian National University

After prevaricating about whether the United States would enter Israel’s war on Iran, President Donald Trump finally made a decision.

Early Sunday, US warplanes and submarines struck three of Iran’s nuclear sites at Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow, where the Iranians have a uranium enrichment plant buried about 80 meters beneath a mountain.

These strikes have to be viewed as part of an overall continuum that began with the Gaza war following Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, and then continued with Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah (the Iran-backed militant group in Lebanon) and the fall of the Iran-backed Assad regime in Syria.

WTF? "Thank you for your attention to this matter."

Iran has never been weaker than it is now. And when Trump said it may take two weeks for him to decide whether to bomb Iran, the Israelis likely pushed him to act sooner.

We can assume there was a lot of Israeli pressure on Trump to use the massive ordnance penetrators, the 30,000-pound (13,600-kilogram) “bunker buster” bombs that only the US can deploy with its B2 bombers.

Now that Trump has taken the significant step of entering the US in yet another Middle East war, where could things go from here? There are a few possible scenarios.

Bad air toady

Federal Judge Deems Trump Administration’s Termination of NIH Grants Illegal

Order killing medical research grants is "void and illegal" but does Trump care?

By Annie Waldman

What Happened: A federal judge ruled on June 16 that the Trump administration’s termination of hundreds of grants by the National Institutes of Health was “void and illegal,” ordering some of them to be reinstated, including many profiled by ProPublica in recent months.

District Judge William G. Young made the ruling in two lawsuits challenging the Trump administration’s directives and cancellations: One case was brought by more than a dozen states’ attorneys general, and the other was led by the American Public Health Association alongside several other organizations and researchers.

In Monday’s ruling, the judge determined that the directives that led to the grant terminations were “arbitrary and capricious” and said they had “no force and effect.” The judge’s ruling ordered the funding of the grants to be restored. It only covers grants that have been identified by the plaintiffs in the cases.

Rhode Island House Minority Leader Chippendale spews venom on partial Assault Weapons Ban

And I refute his bogus claims

By Will Collette

Mike Chippendale issued the news release below blasting the General Assembly for its passage of a much-watered down assault weapons ban. But he’s not concerned that it’s weak – my point of view – but that no legislation restricting any gun rights whatsoever should be enacted into law.

I think he’s wrong and I have taken the editorial prerogative to add my rebuttal to the RI Repubican Party’s news release, printed in full below.

My comments appear in bold red after each of Chipper’s claims.

State House, Providence, RI – Rhode Island House Minority Leader Michael W. Chippendale offers the following statement in regard to the Assault Weapons Ban legislation:

The passage of the amended Assault Weapons Ban marks a dark day for constitutional governance in Rhode Island. What was once presented as a public safety measure has now been fully unmasked as nothing more than a political trophy - an opportunistic maneuver by a handful of ambitious politicians desperate to elevate their public profiles and position themselves for higher office.

“Dark day for constitutional governance?” Really? The Supreme Court has upheld the right of states to regulate automatic weapons and rejected a Rhode Island lawsuit that tried to stop passage of this bill.

These are the very same lawmakers who, just weeks ago, decried administrative pay increases of $80,000 as irresponsible during a time of budget crisis. And yet, with full knowledge that this bill will trigger immediate and expensive legal challenges, they voted to expose our already strained state budget to the guaranteed costs of defending an unconstitutional law in court. The price tag? Hundreds of thousands - if not millions - of taxpayer dollars. Their hypocrisy is staggering.

I guess Republicans now understand the best way to communicate with the public is to engage in what Trump calls “riffing.” That’s going off the point into tangents that have nothing to do with the subject at hand. What the hell do administrative pay hikes have to do with banning weapons of mass death?

Let’s call it what it is: political theater, funded by the citizens of Rhode Island. These politicians are not standing on principle - they are using this bill as a weapon in their own political campaigns. Whether it's an attempt to deny the Governor a policy victory or to bolster their own bid for Attorney General, their actions are driven not by public safety, but by personal ambition.

Well, yeah Mike. Politics is mainly theatre. Your own remarks on the assault weapons ban are nothing more than that.

Worse still is the blatant disregard for the Constitution. These elected officials - who swore an oath to uphold the Constitution - have shredded that oath for the sake of a headline and a talking point. They know this bill flies in the face of the Second Amendment and recent Supreme Court precedent in Heller and Bruen. They know it targets law-abiding citizens while doing nothing to disarm criminals. And they know it will fail in court. Yet they voted for it anyway.

When there's "no school Foster-Glocester," watch out for Mike
exercising his 2nd Amendment rights 

Again, Mike, the Supreme Court has already ruled on states’ rights to ban or control a wide range of weapons. That’s why you are not allowed to own nuclear weapons or to mount a machine gun on your truck to handle the commute from Foster to Providence. You can’t have a rocket launcher either. Simply put, the Second Amendment is not absolute.

This legislation is nothing more than an insult to the law-abiding firearm owners in Rhode Island. It criminalizes the continued lawful purchase of firearms that are legal, stored safely, and used responsibly. It also undermines our eligibility for vital federal conservation funds, jeopardizing public land maintenance and our outdoor recreation economy. It will harm Rhode Island businesses, cost us jobs, and decrease revenue - all in the name of political ambition. And just as the 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban – it will not stop a single crime, as criminals simply don’t follow the laws of our state and nation. To believe this ban will have any different result is naïve at best, and dishonest as worst.

I think what worries most reasonable people is the fact that military-style automatic weapons are designed to give the owner the ability to kill a lot of people very quickly. They are not for hunting or self-defense, with the possible exception of a zombie apocalypse.

In my opinion, the bill does not go far enough. In an attempt to placate gun people, the provision to ban the possession of these weapons was taken out of the bill. That was a mistake since it is demonstrably impossible to placate gun people.

Let’s also not forget the deceptive tactics employed to manufacture support for this bill. National groups like Everytown deliberately manipulated our public input process, misleading both the public and this legislative body. Their email campaigns were engineered to trick gun rights supporters into submitting pro-ban messages. These dishonest tactics further erode any credibility the supporters of this bill claim to have.

The truth is evident: this legislation is legally vulnerable, fiscally irresponsible, economically damaging, and wildly unpopular with the people of Rhode Island. Opposition at the State House outnumbered supporters by an overwhelming margin. The public testimony was clear. The emails to legislators have been unmistakable.

Of course there will be lawsuits. There always are. But the chances this ban will hold are very good.

Will it hurt the economy? Selling guns in Rhode Island is not exactly a key to economic growth and prosperity. How much is it worth to prevent a major massacre in a school, shopping center, beach or church?

And Mike, you are a liar to claim that banning assault weapons is “wildly unpopular” with Rhode Islanders when poll after poll show strong support for a ban and for additional sensible gun control measures. Even among gun owners. The most recent poll shows 64% of Rhode Islanders support the assault weapons ban. Counting yellow shirts in the peanut gallery at the State House is not a legitimate measure of public sentiment.

What just passed was not a thoughtful policy - it was a campaign stunt. And the people of Rhode Island will be the ones who pay the price.

Like most Rhode Islanders, whatever that price should be, I am more than willing to pay.

I remain committed to protecting the constitutional rights of Rhode Islanders and will oppose every attempt to erode them in the name of political ambition.

Makin' it

Canada steps up to fill Trump-created void

Why you should think twice before using shorthand like ‘thx’ and ‘k’ in your texts

Perspective on texting etiquette

David Fang, Stanford University

My brother’s text messages can read like fragments of an ancient code: “hru,” “wyd,” “plz” – truncated, cryptic and never quite satisfying to receive. I’ll often find myself second-guessing whether “gr8” means actual excitement or whether it’s a perfunctory nod.

This oddity has nagged at me for years, so I eventually embarked upon a series of studies with fellow researchers Sam Maglio and Yiran Zhang. I wanted to know whether these clipped missives might undermine genuine dialogue, exploring the unspoken signals behind digital shorthand.

As we gathered data, surveyed people and set up experiments, it became clear that those tiny shortcuts – sometimes hailed as a hallmark of efficient communication – undermine relationships instead of simplifying them.

How to stay safe during heat waves – and the heat stroke warning signs to watch for

Be careful out there!

Brian Bossak, College of Charleston

From the National Weather Service:

EXTREME HEAT WARNING IN EFFECT FROM 11 AM SUNDAY TO 8 PM EDT TUESDAY.

Dangerously hot conditions with heat index values up to 110   expected.

Includes much of Southern New England including South County, except for the Berkshires, Cape Cod and the Islands.

Heat related illnesses increase significantly during extreme heat and high humidity events.

Beach trips, cookouts and other outdoor activities are in full swing as summer arrives and the first widespread heat wave of 2025 hits the U.S.

For many people, summer is their favorite time of year. However, summer also brings the risk of dangerously high temperatures.

In the U.S., hundreds of people working or playing outside – even those who seem healthy – succumb to heat-related illnesses each year. Older adults and people in areas that historically haven’t needed air conditioning tend to see the highest rates of illnesses during heat waves, as Chicago saw in 1995 when at least 700 people died in a heat wave.

Even in places where heat is recognized as a dangerous health threat, people can be caught off guard as the thermometer creeps higher, on average, each year. In some cases, dangerous heat can arise quickly. In 2021, a young family died of heat stroke on a California trail after setting out for a hike when temperatures were still in the 70s Fahrenheit (low to mid 20s Celsius).

I study health risks in a warming climate as a professor of public health, and I’ve seen heat become a growing concern. Here are some of the key warning signs to watch for when temperatures rise – and ways to keep cool when the heat and humidity get too high.

General Assembly approves Victoria Gu to fight cryptocurrency ATM fraud

Hope it covers Trump’s crypto coin 

The General Assembly approved legislation sponsored by Senate Artificial Intelligence & Emerging Technologies Committee Chairwoman Victoria Gu and Rep. Julie A. Casimiro that aims to protect Rhode Islanders from a rapidly growing category of scams that use cryptocurrency ATMs to defraud victims.

“Cryptocurrency ATMs are kiosks that allow users to deposit cash and easily convert it into cryptocurrency. We’ve seen victims in our own communities lose thousands of dollars when scammers direct them to send cash through these machines. Rhode Island, compared to some neighboring states, is behind the curve on regulating this new technology,” said Chairwoman Gu (D-Dist. 38, Westerly, Charlestown, South Kingstown). 

“Crypto ATMs are unfortunately an increasingly common way for criminals to get away with their ill-gotten gains and without increased regulation, this trend will only accelerate.”

Building on his longstanding anti-vaxxing crusade, Kennedy has followed a multi-step program that will worsen the next outbreak.

RFK Jr.’s Guide to Making America Sick Again

Steven Harper in Common Dreams

He should be prosecuted for perjury

Someone should have told Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. that President Donald Trump’s mishandling of the last pandemic probably cost him the presidency in 2020.

Building on his longstanding anti-vaxxing crusade, Kennedy has followed a three-step program that will worsen the next outbreak.

Step 1: Reduce vaccine availability. Three weeks ago, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—one of Kennedy’s HHS agencies—announced that for healthy Americans under 65, Covid-19 vaccines will not be approved until they pass large scale and time-consuming clinical trials. That is a daunting obstacle.

Kennedy said that the firings were necessary to restore public trust in vaccines. They do the opposite.

Step 2: Reduce vaccine eligibility. The following week, Kennedy announced that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) would no longer recommend the Covid-19 vaccine for children and pregnant women. Within days, the CDC had to walk it back somewhat, stating that whether to vaccinate a child should be the product of “shared decision-making” involving parents and physicians. But pregnant women remain in the limbo world of “no recommendation.” In any event, the negative impact on overall public health will be enormous.

Step 3: Eliminate vaccine expertise. On June 9, Kennedy fired the entire CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)—all 17 of them. This committee of outside experts reviews the most recent data on all vaccines to assess safety, efficacy, and clinical need. It develops a recommended guidance schedule for all vaccines, including seasonal flu shots and Covid-19 boosters. Physicians rely on that guidance in counseling patients, and insurance companies and government programs use it to determine the vaccines they will cover. Committee members received their termination notices via email sent two hours after Kennedy announced their firing in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.

With Kennedy’s selection of his first eight replacements on June 11, we’re getting a sense of the disaster that will accompany Step 4.

Action Based on Lies

Kennedy’s stated justifications for terminating every member of the vaccine advisory committee are a combination of lies, half-truths, and misinformation.

Summer officially begins RIGHT NOW