Red and blue R.I. voters take different views on green energy in polling on offshore wind

Republicans follow Trump anti-wind line. The rest of us don't

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Political affiliation sways Rhode Islanders opinions on offshore wind far more than how close they live to the coastline, according to a new Rhode Island Current poll.

The poll, conducted by MassINC Polling Group with funding from the Knight Election Hub, surveyed 800 likely voters from Sept. 12 to 18.

Nearly six in 10 survey participants supported plans to bring more offshore wind to Rhode Island, compared with 34% who disapproved. 

The perception gap widened significantly once politics came into play. Democrats overwhelmingly backed growing the Ocean State’s offshore wind portfolio by a 68-percentage-point margin. Republicans leaned heavily in the opposite direction, with 60% expressing disapproval compared with 26% approval.

How the Charlestown Citizens Alliance used fake enemies and bogus emergencies to gain and keep power

Fear and loathing in Charlestown politics

By Will Collette

Just substitute "CCA" for "GOP" and
you get the gist

One of the most despicable things a politician can do is to use lies to create fear and panic among the people to win their votes. 

Donald Trump has used that technique for years, but this year, has brought it to new heights, as the residents of Springfield, OH can testify. 

Trump’s running mate JD Vance admitted he spread phony stories about legal Haitian immigrants eating pets because "If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention..., then that’s what I’m going to do,”

Long before Trump, the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) has used that technique, starting in 2008 by portraying Charlestown’s resident curmudgeon Jim Mageau as the devil incarnate. 

While Jim was a terrible Town Council President, his wacky behavior made him an ineffective threat to anyone other than himself. But as a "threat," Mageau helped catapult the CCA into power.

Since that initial success at seizing power through fear and loathing, the CCA has come up with some enemy – real or imagined – to stay in power. They create one or more villains and then claim that only they can defend the town. The CCA is as phony as Trump and Vance claiming Haitians are coming to eat your pets.

The CCA's list of threats and enemies is long

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance threat list includes:

The Narragansett Indian Tribe for their long-abandoned plan for an Indian casino. The CCA hired attorney Joe Larisa, called a "racist by tribal leaders" specifically to harass the Tribe and block any effort the tribe makes to improve the lives of its people.

“People from Providence” who will swarm in with all their kids if we build any family housing and overrun the Chariho schools. Another example of the CCA's use of racist code words.

Developers and Democrats – the CCA has worked hard to create the myth that they are one and the same even though it's demonstrably false.

Wind power, spurred by Larry LeBlanc’s proposed Whalerock wind power project, became one of the CCA’s most successful phony campaigns. Ironically, in 2011, the CCA leader Tom Gentz was a staunch supporter of wind power, even making a presentation to the Council about how good wind energy is. Of course, that was before anti-wind NIMBYs started to contribute heavily to the CCA. Charlestown now has an effective town ban on ANY wind-to-energy device, even small residential units.

AMTRAK made another good boogeyman when a half-baked, improbable idea surfaced to run new track through northern Charlestown, scaring the shit out of half the town. CCA leader and Charlestown’s Planning Commissar Ruth Platner has been trying to revive the Charlestown Choo-choo hoax since the furor died down. Her 2021 headline for a story that attempted to revive the Amtrak boogeyman read They’re Back: Northeast Corridor Commission Sets Out Plan To Implement NEC Future.

Lights. In 2012, the CCA went nuts when a town staffer explored funding for temporary lights to facilitate autumn kids' football practice. This innocent inquiry mushroomed into a full-blown crisis - The Battle for Ninigret Park. The CCA confabulated this lighting inquiry into a direct threat that the Interior Department would take back Ninigret Park because the lights during autumn twilight would disturb the birds and bunnies in the Wildlife Refuge. It was all bullshit - the Interior's regional director Elyse LaForest had to come in to debunk the CCA lies - but it cost then Town Administrator Bill Delibero his job.

The Narragansett Indian Tribe became a CCA target again when one official made an ill- advised and broadly rejected deal to sell water to a nonexistent power plant in Burrillville.

Frank Glista was trashed for selling open, undeveloped land to the state Water Resources Board to preserve water resources. The CCA normally worships permanently protected open space, but not when the land comes from Frank.

Tons of asphalt were laid for "Faith's Folly" despite the CCA's
hatred for asphalt. Faith sold this project, telling the
Town Council it would cost less than $7,000.
The final bill was at $266,927.

Asphalt is a hated substance except when used in a scandalous patronage deal for CCA founding member Faith LaBossiere to build “Faith’s Folly,” an over-priced, under-used bike track in Ninigret Park.

Progressive Charlestown and me in particular made the CCA enemies’ list early on for writing articles like this. I’m fine with that.

The CCA also hates Deb Carney despite her years of effective leadership on the Council and the Chariho School Committee.

You can add a lot of others to the list. For example, CCA Town Council President Tom “Uncle Fluffy” Gentz frequently mocked and belittled Janice Falcone when she would rise to support a measure the CCA didn’t like.

The CCA viciously attacked Janice when she attempted to get the town to buy the historic General Stanton Inn that Janice and her beloved late husband Sonny labored to keep in tiptop condition. The CCA fought hard to block a town referendum to buy the Inn as an anchor for the Cross Mills historic district even though the CCA was otherwise willing to pay any price to preserve the “historic village district.”

* NOTE the contradictions. The CCA wants to do whatever it takes for the Cross Mills Historic Village but killed the plan to buy and preserve the General Stanton Inn. The CCA is willing to pay any price to add more protected open space but attacked Frank Glista for trying to do just that with his land sale to the state Water Resources Board. The CCA hates asphalt but is willing to lay down tons of it for "Faith's Folly." Go figure.

They viciously attacked my colleague Steve Hoff, a retired CPA, for doing the research to expose the CCA’s fiscal irresponsibility, especially the “$3 million Oopsie.”

In their big 3-page flyer, the CCA sums up their position, stating “What is at risk in this election?” Note they use the negative instead of “what is our plan for improving people’s lives” or some other positive theme. At risk, according to the CCA are “low taxes,” “dark skies” and “clean water.”

First, the town tax rate has dropped since the CCA was booted from control in 2022. They left behind a tax rate of $8.17 per thousand. Under the CRU's first year, the tax rate dropped to $5.74. It’s currently $5.78. 

They claim there’s a $39.5 million plan for “commercial development” in Ninigret. There isn’t.

They claim this imaginary threat will thwart “the Ninigret Wildlife Refuge and our children’s ability to learn about the universe.” This is a total crock of horse manure, as stupid as the "Battle for Ninigret Park" described above.

The CCA flyer also raises the specter of the need for “a sewage treatment plant and miles of sewer lines that would cost at least $1 billion.” Yup, that’s the claim. They say this will happen unless there is a “delicate balance” between well-planned residential development and what the land can support.

Here’s the key question: WHO is proposing otherwise? Who? If the CCA is going to create a boogeyman, at least give it a name.

Early on in the CCA’s history, one of their resident geniuses, Mike Chambers, liked to brag about the CCA's effectiveness at. They used Hitler’s Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels’ formula: “Repeat a lie often enough and it becomes the truth”

Creating fear and hate through lies kept the CCA in office for over a decade. They have also gotten very good at covering up their lies by blocking access to public records that would unveil their deception. CLICK HERE for an example.

In 2022, Charlestown voters saw through the CCA’s blue smoke and mirrors and voted them out of office. The CCA wants to take back power using the same old Goebbels’ formula. Don’t let them.

Trump transforms from pervert to protector?

For more cartoons by Ruben Bolling, CLICK HERE.

Yeah, straight-talking guy

October’s Spectacular Comet Lights Up the Night Sky

Skywatching Magic: 

By NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

October skywatchers are in for a treat with the possible appearance of the brightest comet of the year, C/2023 A3, best observed from October 14th. Meanwhile, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Jupiter offer a celestial spectacle all month. Don’t miss the moon’s dance with the planets, especially its pairing with Mars and Jupiter.

What are some skywatching highlights in October 2024?

A potentially bright comet (C/2023 A3) to look for after mid-month, good opportunities to spy the ocean world NASA’s launching to, and the monthly dance of four planets with the Moon.

Comets: Unpredictable, But Irresistible

A new comet is passing through the inner solar system! Time will tell if it’s the brightest of the year, once it appears in twilight after about October 14.

Skywatching Highlights

• All month – Planet visibility report: Look for Venus low in the west just after sunset; Saturn can be seen toward the southeast as soon as it gets dark; Mars rises around midnight; and Jupiter rises in the first half of the night (rising earlier as the month goes on).
• October 2 – New moon
• October 11 – Europa is easily observable to one side of Jupiter by itself this morning using binoculars.
• October 14-31 – Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS) becomes visible low in the west following sunset. If the comet’s tail is well-illuminated by sunlight, it could be visible to the unaided eye. The first week and a half (October 14-24) is the best time to observe, using binoculars or a small telescope.
• October 13-14 – After dark both nights, look for the nearly full Moon with Saturn toward the southeast.
• October 17 – Full moon
• October 20 – The Moon rises near Jupiter, with the giant planet looking extremely bright. You should be able to find them low in the east after around 10 pm.
• October 23-24 – Early risers will be able to spot Mars together with the Moon, high overhead in the south both mornings.
• October 25 – Europa is easily observable to one side of Jupiter by itself this morning using binoculars.

Comet C2023-A3, or Tsuchinshan-ATLAS, was pictured about 99.4 million miles away from Earth by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick using long-duration photography on a camera programmed for high sensitivity aboard the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

Want To Live Longer?

Study Says Fish-Enhanced Vegetarian Diet Best for Elderly

By Loma Linda University Adventist Health Sciences Center

According to a new study, various vegetarian diets seem to reduce the risk of mortality and related health conditions, with a pesco-vegetarian diet — which includes fish — offering the greatest protection for very elderly individuals. 

Researchers at Loma Linda University Health found that vegetarian diets are associated with lower risk for all-cause mortality and many cause-specific mortalities, especially among males and middle-aged subjects. However, slightly higher risks were observed among very elderly vegetarians for neurological conditions such as stroke, dementia, and Parkinson’s Disease. Despite this, the pesco-vegetarian diet continued to offer a small but noticeable advantage over other vegetarian and non-vegetarian diets, even in elderly people.

They don't believe their own bullshit

Some online conspiracy-spreaders don’t even believe the lies they’re spewing

H. Colleen Sinclair, Louisiana State University

There has been a lot of research on the types of people who believe conspiracy theories, and their reasons for doing so. But there’s a wrinkle: My colleagues and I have found that there are a number of people sharing conspiracies online who don’t believe their own content.

They are opportunists. These people share conspiracy theories to promote conflict, cause chaos, recruit and radicalize potential followers, make money, harass, or even just to get attention.

There are several types of this sort of conspiracy-spreader trying to influence you.

Coaxing conspiracists – the extremists

In our chapter of a new book on extremism and conspiracies, my colleagues and I discuss evidence that certain extremist groups intentionally use conspiracy theories to entice adherents. They are looking for a so-called “gateway conspiracy” that will lure someone into talking to them, and then be vulnerable to radicalization. They try out multiple conspiracies to see what sticks.

Research shows that people with positive feelings for extremist groups are significantly more likely to knowingly share false content online. For instance, the disinformation-monitoring company Blackbird.AI tracked over 119 million COVID-19 conspiracy posts from May 2020, when activists were protesting pandemic restrictions and lockdowns in the United States. 

Of these, over 32 million tweets were identified as high on their manipulation index. Those posted by various extremist groups were particularly likely to carry markers of insincerity. For instance, one group, the Boogaloo Bois, generated over 610,000 tweets, of which 58% were intent on incitement and radicalization.

You can also just take the word of the extremists themselves. When the Boogaloo Bois militia group showed up at the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, for example, members stated they didn’t actually endorse the stolen election conspiracy, but were there to “mess with the federal government.” Aron McKillips, a Boogaloo member arrested in 2022 as part of an FBI sting, is another example of an opportunistic conspiracist. In his own words: “I don’t believe in anything. I’m only here for the violence.”

Combative conspiracists – the disinformants

Governments love conspiracy theories. The classic example of this is the 1903 document known as the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” in which Russia constructed an enduring myth about Jewish plans for world domination. More recently, China used artificial intelligence to construct a fake conspiracy theory about the August 2023 Maui wildfire.

Often the behavior of the conspiracists gives them away. Years later, Russia eventually confessed to lying about AIDS in the 1980s. But even before admitting to the campaign, its agents had forged documents to support the conspiracy. Forgeries aren’t created by accident. They knew they were lying.

As for other conspiracies it hawks, Russia is famous for taking both sides in any contentious issue, spreading lies online to foment conflict and polarization. People who actually believe in a conspiracy tend to stick to a side. Meanwhile, Russians knowingly deploy what one analyst has called a “fire hose of falsehoods.”

Likewise, while Chinese officials were spreading conspiracies about American roots of the coronavirus in 2020, China’s National Health Commission was circulating internal reports tracing the source to a pangolin.

One of the Most Stupid and Simple-Minded Questions in Politics

“Are You Better Off Than You Were Four Years Ago?”

Mitchell Zimmerman

Is everything that goes right or wrong because of the president?

If things are going well, it’s all thanks to Daddy. If anything’s not so good, it’s Daddy’s fault.

Substitute “the President” for “Daddy,” and you have the childish and simple-minded thinking behind the question some politicians keep asking: “Are you better off than you were four years ago?” 

This was also the first question lobbed at Kamala Harris at the presidential debate. Mercifully, she simply ignored this dumb query.

Let me try out the question with myself: Are my wife and I better off than we were four years ago?

On the cost of living:  Although many have suffered from inflation, for most of us, growth in our incomes has actually outpaced inflation since Biden became president. Statistics from the U.S. Treasury Department show that our experience is common. The “median” American household (half do better, half do worse) had real weekly earnings (meaning purchasing power after taking inflation into account) that were 2.3% higher than in 2019.

Prices are higher, so our money doesn’t go as far as it did in 2020. Grocery prices on basics are shocking. On the other hand, we – like the average American – find our real incomes have gone up over the last four years.

Those worst hit by inflation could be helped by raising the minimum wage — or by strengthening union rights

What about the many whose incomes haven’t gone up in years, or whose wage increases have been entirely eaten up by inflation? Those whose incomes have stalled sure could use an increase in the minimum wage! Or a union. Perhaps they should be asking, which party is responsible for keeping the minimum wage frozen at the level of $7.25 per hour for the last 15 years? And which party supports workers’ right to unionize and bargain together?

In any event, income isn’t the only aspect of being “better off” than in 2020. Do we worry about losing our health insurance? Nope. (Thanks, Obamacare.) But there’s a candidate who nearly ended Obamacare when he was president and still wants to get rid of it – and he admits he is still without a plan to replace it.

We are lucky to have homeowner’s insurance, and the insurance company has not canceled our coverage, as they have for so many others. But there’s a greater chance of losing essential insurance now than there was in 2020. Particularly if you live in places directly impacted by ever-more-severe hurricanes, rising sea levels, flooding, lethal heat or massive wildfires. These things are much worse than four years ago.

Fact: House Republicans refuse to cut vacation short to return for vote on disaster aid to their own constituents to help Trump

Elon Musk and his master

First play of the season opens on October 10

 ‘Machinal’ opens URI theatre department’s diverse season

Eva St-Germain plays Young Woman and Christian Owen plays Husband in Sophie Treadwell’s Machinal, which opens Oct. 10 in the Fine Arts Center’s J Studio. (URI Photos/Jesse Dufault)

What does it say about our society when a play from 100 years ago about the plight of being a woman holds more relevance in 2024 than we’d like to admit?

Machinal, written by playwright Sophie Treadwell in 1928, tells the story of a young female stenographer who follows the rituals that society expects of women, regardless of her resistance to them. 

This ultimately leads to her violent demise. 

The play, which opens Thursday, Oct. 10, in J Studio at the Fine Arts Center, was inspired by the real-life case of convicted and executed murderer Ruth Snyder.

Study finds forever chemicals are more toxic as mixtures

It all adds up

By Tom Dinki, University at Buffalo Department of Chemistry

A first-of-its-kind study has measured the toxicity of several types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), better known as “forever chemicals,” when mixed together in the environment and in the human body.

The good news: Most of the tested chemicals’ individual cytotoxicity and neurotoxicity levels were relatively low. 

The bad news: The chemicals acted together to make the entire mixture toxic.

Trump Media - incompetent and hostile

 Top Execs Exit Trump Media Amid Allegations of CEO’s Mismanagement and Retaliation

by Robert Faturechi, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski for ProPublica

Former President Donald Trump’s media company has forced out executives in recent days after internal allegations that its CEO, former Rep. Devin Nunes, is mismanaging the company, according to interviews and records of communications among former employees.

Several people involved with Trump Media believe the ousters are retaliation following what they describe as an anonymous “whistleblower” complaint regarding Nunes that went to the company’s board of directors.

The chief operating officer and chief product officer have left the company, along with at least two lower-level staffers, according to interviews, social media posts and communications between former staffers reviewed by ProPublica. The company, which runs the social media platform Truth Social, disclosed the departure of the chief operating officer in a securities filing Thursday afternoon.

ProPublica has not seen the whistleblower complaint. But several people with knowledge of the company said the concerns revolve around alleged mismanagement by Nunes. One person said they include allegations of misuse of funds, hiring of foreign contractors and interfering with product development.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Trump Media did not answer specific questions but said that ProPublica’s inquiry to the company “utterly fabricates implications of improper and even illegal conduct that have no basis in reality.”

“This story is the fifth consecutive piece in an increasingly absurd campaign by ProPublica, likely at the behest of political interest groups, to damage TMTG based on false and defamatory allegations and vague innuendo,” the statement said, adding that “TMTG strictly adheres to all laws and applicable regulations.”

Rhode Island will be ready for another constitutional convention. In 60 more years.

Not needed and not worth the risk and expense

By Ruth S. Taylor, Rhode Island Current

The mild debate over whether Rhode Island should hold a constitutional convention is unsurprising. And not because the political world has become recently polarized. 

In fact, Rhode Island has always been very particular about the language in its governing documents and has found it difficult to come to consensus. Once we manage to adopt something, we become pretty invested in not changing it.

Consider Rhode Island’s original European settlers, who were free thinkers who had trouble aggregating. They settled in Providence, Warwick and in two places on Aquidneck Island establishing separate communities with their own governing authorities. 

But pressure from adjoining colonies, which both rejected notions of religious tolerance and wanted Rhode Island’s resource-rich landscape, encouraged the groups to come together and to get from King Charles II a document which codified the ways they had chosen to live, most particularly, with freedom from governmental stipulations about religion. 

The resulting charter took a trip to England and 17 years to get right before it was adopted in 1663. It created the unified colony of Rhode Island and was our central governing document through the Revolution and Independence. The charter includes both standard boilerplate for such documents in the 17th century, and very specific language about religious freedom, written by Rhode Islanders. 

We liked our charter so much that we were reluctant to endorse the new, U.S. Constitution, and were the last new state to do so in 1790. 

Of course, that was not the end of it. 

Rhode Island historians love to tell the story of the Dorr Rebellion, so I will keep it short.  In the 19th century, the State of Rhode Island was still using the ancient charter as its state constitution. Thomas Wilson Dorr, a lawyer and politician, wanted to expand voting rights. He gathered followers, wrote a new constitution and ultimately provoked an armed rebellion against the state. This effort failed to replace the government, but it did force a constitutional convention, and a new state constitution, in 1842. 

It took a big push to make a change. 

We have made amendments to our constitution since, and regularly tweak the laws it oversees, but the last real rewrite was during a constitutional convention in 1986. Once every 100+ years or so, it seems, we become willing to come together to manage big change. 

We are not even halfway through that timeline this year. So it does not surprise me at all that while the citizens of Rhode Island have the right to call for a convention, many oppose it.  

Not what you'd expect

 

Another lie

Psychological projection is a behavior known in psychology as a defense mechanism. It’s an unconscious way of coping with emotional conflict and discomfort, according to the American Psychological Association (APA). When someone engages in projection, they attribute their own behaviors, emotions, characteristics, or impulses to another person or group without realizing it. 

Order Your 4 Free At-⁠home COVID-⁠19 Tests

Every U.S. household is eligible to order 4 free at-home tests.

COVID-19 testing can help you know if you have COVID-19 so you can decide what to do next, like getting treatment to reduce your risk of severe illness and taking steps to lower your chances of spreading the virus to others.

Your order of COVID tests is completely free – you won’t even pay for shipping. Want to know when your tests are coming? Sign up to receive email alerts when you order!

Order Free At-home Tests

Need help placing an order for your at-⁠home tests?
Call 1-800-232-0233 (TTY 1-888-720-7489).

Tests with a Longer Shelf Life

Many COVID-19 tests have extended expiration dates, so you may be able to use your COVID-19 tests after the expiration date that is printed on the box. To find out if your test has an extended expiration date, check the FDA’s list of extended expiration dates.

About At-home COVID Tests

The tests available for order:

• Are rapid antigen at-home tests, not PCR
• Can be taken at home or other locations. Give results within 30 minutes (no lab drop-off required)
• Can be used for testing even if you do not have COVID-19 symptoms
• Can be used for testing whether you are up to date on your COVID-19 vaccines or not
• Are also referred to as self-tests or over the counter (OTC) tests

Reporting your result — whether negative or positive — helps our nation learn how to use those test results effectively. Report your test results to public health agencies at MakeMyTestCount.org.

Get on the HopArts trail October 19-20

Multiple artist studios and locations in Hopkinton, Rhode Island. 

October 19 and 20, 2024, 10 AM to 4PM.

Explore the studios of local artists in the fall weather of
southern Rhode Island.

Over 20 artists will be at various locations within close driving distance.

This is an amazing event for all ages where you can see the artists’
studios, talk to them about how they make their art, and purchase their handmade items.

NO Sales Tax!

Hard evidence Trump is a traitor

New Motion Presents Most Detailed Case Yet Against Trump for Insurrection Crimes

Brett Wilkins for Common Dreams

Jack Smith, the special counsel probing former U.S. President Donald Trump's attempt to subvert the 2020 presidential contest, on Wednesday presented a massive trove of fresh evidence supporting his election interference case against the 2024 Republican nominee.

Smith's sprawling and highly anticipated 165-page motion—which was partly unsealed Wednesday by presiding U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan—states that Trump "asserts that he is immune from prosecution for his criminal scheme to overturn the 2020 presidential election because, he claims, it entailed official conduct. Not so."

Trump—who in August 2023 was charged with conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights—contends that his actions were taken in his official capacity as president and not as a private individual.

In July, the U.S. Supreme Court's right-wing justices—including three Trump appointees—ruled that the ex-president is entitled to "absolute immunity" for "official acts" taken while he was in office, raising questions about the future of this case. According to Smith's motion:

Although the defendant was the incumbent president during the charged conspiracies, his scheme was fundamentally a private one. Working with a team of private co-conspirators, the defendant acted as a candidate when he pursued multiple criminal means to disrupt, through fraud and deceit, the government function by which votes are collected and counted—a function in which the defendant, as president, had no official role.

In Trump v. United States... the Supreme Court held that presidents are immune from prosecution for certain official conduct—including the defendant's use of the Justice Department in furtherance of his scheme, as was alleged in the original indictment—and remanded to this court to determine whether the remaining allegations against the defendant are immunized.

The answer to that question is no. This motion provides a comprehensive account of the defendant's private criminal conduct; sets forth the legal framework created by Trump for resolving immunity claims; applies that framework to establish that none of the defendant's charged conduct is immunized because it either was unofficial or any presumptive immunity is rebutted; and requests the relief the government seeks, which is, at bottom, this: that the court determine that the defendant must stand trial for his private crimes as would any other citizen.

Smith's filing details what Trump told various people in his inner circle, including then-Vice President Mike Pence, his now-disgraced and twice-disbarred lawyer Rudy Giuliani, and leading White House and Republican Party figures—some of whose names remain undisclosed.

The motion also highlights Trump's actions on January 6, 2021, when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to stop Congress from certifying President Joe Biden's Electoral College victory. Trump is still pushing his "Big Lie" that Democrats stole the 2020 election; his running mate, U.S. Sen. J D Vance (R-Ohio), on Tuesday refused to acknowledge that Trump lost to Biden when he was asked about the election during a vice presidential debate against Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

"Upon receiving a phone call alerting him that Pence had been taken to a secure location, [PERSON 15] rushed to the dining room to inform [Trump] in hopes that the defendant would take action to ensure Pence's safety," the filing states. "Instead, after [P15] delivered the news, the defendant looked at him and said only, 'So what?'"

Smith argued that deceit was central to Trump's efforts, specifically, "the defendant's and co-conspirators' knowingly false claims of election fraud," which they used to purvey the Big Lie.

The motion states:

When the defendant lost the 2020 presidential election, he resorted to crimes to try to stay in office. With private co-conspirators, the defendant launched a series of increasingly desperate plans to overturn the legitimate election results in seven states that he had lost—Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin (the "targeted states"). His efforts included lying to state officials in order to induce them to ignore true vote counts; manufacturing fraudulent electoral votes in the targeted states; attempting to enlist Pence, in his role as president of the Senate, to obstruct Congress' certification of the election by using the defendant's fraudulent electoral votes; and when all else had failed, on January 6, 2021, directing an angry crowd of supporters to the United States Capitol to obstruct the congressional certification.

RI Auditor General finds new CRU leadership in Charlestown improved town finances

The CRU has been cleaning up the CCA's mess – and it’s working

By Will Collette

This is how the CCA managed Charlestown's money

Though many voters have short attention spans, let’s remember that Charlestown voters overturned the Charlestown Citizens Alliance’s 10-year rule in 2022 largely because the CCA messed up Charlestown’s finances.

There was the “$3 million Oopsie,” the misallocation of almost 10% of the town’s budget that went unnoticed for almost 2 years. There was the 2022 RI Public Expenditure Council report that showed Charlestown’s administrative costs were the highest in Rhode Island. 

While the CCA now claims that none of this happened, that’s classic CCA b.s. Plus, says CCA resident genius and Town Council candidate Bonnita Van Slyke, why hasn’t the new majority from Charlestown Residents United (CRU) fixed these problems that the CCA claims never existed.

Well, according to a new report from the Rhode Island Auditor General David Bergantino, the CRU has indeed brought about a major turnaround in Charlestown’s finances. You can read his report by CLICKING HERE with the Charlestown section covering pages 16 and 17.

Look at the numbers

Under the leadership of Deb Carney, Rippy Serra, Steve Stokes, the late Grace Klinger and her replacement Peter Slom, Charlestown has:

Raised more revenue. 

Under the CCA, revenue was $28 million. Under the CRU, this increased to $30 million.

Lowered expenses. 

RIPEC flagged Charlestown’s highest in the state expenses which were $31.2 million, more than the revenue collected. Under the CRU, expenses dropped to $29.8 million.

Increased the town’s savings. 

This is the unassigned fund balance (UFB) that the CCA criticized the CRU for failing to increase. In fact, according to the Auditor General, the CRU raised the UFB by 17% from the CCA’s $5.3 million to $6.2 million.

Improved pension funding. 

Funding to cover future pension costs rose from the CCA’s $8.3 million level to $8.8 million under the CRU.

Reduced Charlestown’s debt by a LOT. 

Under the CCA, Charlestown’s debt was $7.9 million. Under the CRU, debt dropped to $6 million, almost 25% less.

Erased the deficit the CCA left behind. 

According to the Auditor General, the CCA left behind a DEFICIT of $3,266,029. The CRU erased that deficit and ended FY23 with a SURPLUS of $157,666.

Don't believe me? Here are the numbers from the Auditor General that back up what I just reported:

Auditor General's report, page 16.

The CRU did all this while reducing Charlestown’s tax rate from the $8.17 per thousand the CCA left behind to the current $5.78 under the CRU, 30% less.

In real numbers, the CRU not only cut the tax rate, they reduced the total amount of taxes paid from $23.5 million under the CCA to $20 million under the CRU. That's $3 million dollars less Charlestown taxpayers had to pay. AND the CRU not only wiped out the $3 million CCA deficit but also increased the town's savings by almost a million dollars.

The financial data above from the state Auditor General shows these are facts, not CCA fiction.

How your choice affects your taxes

The CCA has always made a big deal about the tax rate. Considering these numbers, they can’t honestly claim they had some magic formula to keep taxes low (aside from providing almost no municipal services). However, that won’t stop them from making the claim they are the best when it comes to taxes - all facts to the contrary.

The actual tax you pay is based on the rate multiplied by your property tax assessment. Those property tax assessments have risen sharply since non-residents found they can buy luxury beach properties here at far cheaper prices than, for example, the Hamptons. They have been paying far more than assessed value for Charlestown beach property, in some cases, almost DOUBLE.

Recent examples:

491 East Beach Road near Blue Shutters. Assessed at just under $2 million. Sold for $3.65 million.

419 West Beach Road. Assessed at $3.95 million. Sold for $7.5 million, the record so far this year.

59 Ninigret Ave. Assessed at $2.3 million. Just sold for $4 million.

Data from the Charlestown Tax Assessor database HERE.

These purchases are great for our tax base, making the tax rate an insignificant factor by contrast. But these purchases drastically increase the assessments for the rest of us, even though we are unlikely to get buyers to pay us so much more than assessed value. Not all of us live on the beach.

The CCA messed up the money

The CCA can use big donations from such non-residents to print glossy, wordy flyers claiming they are the best at managing the money, but the hard facts from the RI Auditor General shows otherwise.

Since ousting the CCA Council majority, along with their toadies former Town Administrator Mark Stankiewicz and Budget Commission Chair Dick Sartor, the CRU has turned around Charlestown’s finances.

And the CRU did it without drama. Without shady land deals. Despite the chaos the CCA left behind including a merry-go-round of auditors and the resistance of the CCA to bringing in outside expertise to figure out what went wrong, the CRU has, according to the Auditor General, has cleaned up most of the CCA’s mess.

Here is Auditor General David Bergantino's summary analysis: 

Auditor General report, page 17

In addition to keeping Deb Carney, Rippy Serra, Steve Stokes and Peter Slom in office, please also support Craig Marr for Council. We all know his success at running the Breachway Grill. CRU offers Charlestown continued steady stewardship over the town’s money.

JD Vance got it right when he said this about his boss

Yeah, DonOld, don't forget your paper towels

 

New Research Reveals Why You Should Sleep Before Making an Important Decision

If there's no rush, take your time

By Duke University

Conventional wisdom holds that people are easily seduced by first impressions, and there’s solid scientific evidence that initial snap judgements are hard to shake – even when they turn out to be inaccurate. 

But according to a new study, sleeping on it can help us avoid judging a book solely by its cover.

In research published on September 9 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, a team of researchers at Duke University started with an age-old question: Is it better to start strong with a good first impression, or end on a good note?

To shed some light on the issue, they did a study involving an imaginary garage sale. In a series of experiments conducted online, the researchers asked participants to look through virtual boxes of unwanted goods for items to include in the sale.

More mosquito-borne illness: be careful till first frost kills these little bastards

Two more human West Nile Virus (WNV) cases

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) and Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH) are announcing two additional probable human cases of West Nile Virus (WNV). One case is a Newport County resident in their 60s, while the other is a Providence County resident in their 50s. 

These human cases of WNV are in addition to the previously announced three confirmed human cases of WNV and one probable human case of WNV. This brings Rhode Island’s human WNV case count to six, with three confirmed cases and three probable cases.

Additionally, the most recent mosquito samples tested by the Rhode Island State Health Laboratories (RISHL) has confirmed no positive findings of Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE) virus or WNV. These results are from 72 samples collected from 28 traps set statewide by DEM on September 23, 24, and 25. 

All other samples tested negative for EEE virus, WNV, or Jamestown Canyon Virus (JCV). RIDOH and DEM are reminding the public that it is a particularly active mosquito season in Southern New England and that recent human cases of both EEE virus and WNV and previous mosquito testing indicate a high risk level statewide. 

Just what we need - more vaccine misinformation

Trump Leads, and His Party Follows, on Vaccine Skepticism

Darius Tahir 

More than four years ago, former President Donald Trump’s administration accelerated the development and rollout of the covid-19 vaccine. The project, dubbed Operation Warp Speed, likely saved millions of lives. But a substantial number of Republican voters now identify as vaccine skeptics — and Trump rarely mentions what’s considered one of the great public health accomplishments in recent memory.

“The Republicans don’t want to claim it,” Trump told an interviewer in late September.

Instead, on at least 17 occasions this year, Trump has promised to cut funding to schools that mandate vaccines. Campaign spokespeople have previously said that pledge would apply only to schools with covid mandates. But speeches reviewed by KFF Health News included no such distinction — raising the possibility Trump would also target vaccination rules for common, potentially lethal childhood diseases like polio and measles.

The Trump campaign did not respond to requests for comment on this article.

Trump has presided over a landslide shift in his party’s views on vaccines, reflected this campaign season in false claims by Republican candidates during the primaries and puzzling conspiracies from prominent conservative voices. Republicans increasingly express worry about the risks of vaccines. A September 2023 poll from Politico and Morning Consult showed a narrow majority of those voters cared more about the risks than the benefits of getting inoculated.

A surge in anti-vaccine policy in statehouses has followed the rhetoric. Boston University political scientist Matt Motta, who tracks public health policy, said preliminary data shows that states enacted at least 42 anti-vaccine bills in 2023 — nearly a ninefold surge since 2019.

In the Authoritarians’ New War on Ideas, Biology Might Be Next

The right is gearing up for an all-out attack on biology

By C. Brandon Ogbunu

In 2021, U.S. Sen.Ted Cruz compared critical race theory — an academic subfield that examines the role of racism in American institutions, laws, and policies — to the Ku Klux Klan, the most notorious homegrown terrorist organization in U.S. history. 

In doing so, he opened a playbook that resembles one put into practice by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and others: Attack ideas that are unfriendly to a narrow view of the world, and do so by eliminating them from our school curricula and public conversation. 

The movement against critical race theory has now swallowed up high school Advanced Placement African American Studies in several states and threatens the teaching of basic facts about U.S. history. And this movement has devolved from pundit tough talk into authoritarian policies to ban books, modify curricula, and threaten intellectual freedom across the country (and world).

By now, many realize that these policies are a harbinger of things to come —  even for fields ostensibly unrelated to African American studies, like biology. Modern breakthroughs in biology are producing a picture of life that is increasingly incompatible with authoritarian preferences for neat boxes that dictate what people are and how they should behave. Consequently, biologists must shed the naive belief that our work is apolitical and recognize that the recent attacks on how to teach U.S. history are a battle in a larger war on ideas that includes the natural sciences.

Evolutionary biology in particular is not new to political controversies. Over the past century, it has been at the center of several high-profile legal battles. Most famous are the debates about the teaching of evolution in schools (documented in Brenda Wineapple’s new book on the Scopes trial, and many others). The political tension is generated by the world view that Darwinism presents. 

The reasoning from evolution deniers: If public education can challenge religious explanations for how life began, then tomorrow it might question the religious basis of good and evil, man and woman, and explanations for how we all got here. And they aren’t wrong. Biology’s increasingly complicated picture of human behavior isn’t so friendly to political stances peddling the myth that one group is essentially inferior to another; and that a deity decides the boundaries around sex, sexual preference, and other dimensions.

While biological sex is a meaningful dimension for millions of species, modern biology has frustrated many classical models for what sex is and how it manifests in nature. In recent decades, evolutionary theorists have offered improvements on models that implied that females were passive actors, driven by interest and competition between males. 

At our most charitable, we’d call these interpretations naive and imprecise, and they highlight a long tradition of confused thinking on sex and gender that is increasingly subject to scrutiny. And when we consider the added layer of culture in the world of Homo sapiens, then hard rules and expectations regarding sex are on even shakier ground.