Seriously

Tom Homan to the rescue

Sad but true

Pete Hegseth toasts war-fighting manufacturing in Quonset

Hegseth touts speed and innovation in tour of Quonset Point facilities

By Christopher Shea and Laura Paton, Rhode Island Current

Photo by Steve Ahlquist. There are lots of great
photos and video in his coverage of this event well
as in Rhode Island Current's article.

On his first official visit to Rhode Island Monday morning to celebrate and inspire workers at America’s shipyards and defense manufacturing facilities, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth kept about 250 of them standing around waiting for him.

Hegseth was over 45 minutes late for a scheduled 10:15 a.m. tour of Anduril Industries’ Quonset Point factory, the third stop on his morning visit to the North Kingstown port and business park after first swearing in 40 new military recruits at the Seabees Museum and then speaking to a crowd of 3,000 employees at General Dynamic Electric Boat’s manufacturing hub. His motorcade took him past a crowd of about 100 protestors at the entrance to the memorial park that is home to the museum honoring the U.S. Navy’s elite construction battalion.

Hegseth’s visit to Electric Boat’s facility for building outer hulls and interiors for nuclear-powered submarines was closed to the press because it was in a classified area, Myra Lee, spokesperson for General Dynamics Electric Boat, said. He arrived at Electric Boat at around 9:30 a.m. 

“He was originally only supposed to spend 45 minutes — he spent a lot longer speaking with our employees and crew members that were there,” Lee said in a phone interview. “He was late to everything after that.”

Sec. Hegseth celebrates ‘Bath built’ as he touts Trump administration’s offensive military strategy

Electric Boat’s hub is two miles away from Anduril, a manufacturer of unmanned submarines, where the press was allowed inside to wait in a designated area on the factory floor while employees were talking among themselves. Silence fell over the crowd when Hegseth and a wall of security officials finally arrived at 11:07 a.m. for a 25-minute tour, followed by a nearly eight-minute speech.

His morning visit to Rhode Island before heading to Maine’s Bath Iron Works in the afternoon was part of his nationwide “Arsenal of Freedom” campaign highlighting the defense industry’s “manufacturing might” and the need to cut red tape. 

Donald Trump signed an executive order last April to bolster the shipbuilding industry, which faces a critical shortage of skilled workers, aging infrastructure, and limited capacity to meet U.S. Navy demand. America’s shipyards would need to substantially ramp up production in order to build another 100 or so battle force ships over the next three decades, particularly for nuclear-powered submarines, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis of the Navy’s 2025 shipbuilding plan.

Trump on Jan. 7 signed an executive order that blocks “underperforming” defense contractors from paying dividends or buying back stock until “they are able to produce a superior product, on time and on budget.”

Hegseth told Anduril’s workers that production is “too tethered to an existing pipeline that has become too slow.”

“We don’t get what we need when we need it,” Hegseth said, before invoking the new name for the federal government’s largest agency. “I can assure you inside this War Department, we’re committed to ensuring the best of the best can run as fast as possible.”

No members of Rhode Island’s Congressional delegation were present for Hegseth’s stop in the Ocean State.

Rhode Island’s U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, had been invited to join Hegseth but declined because of a previously scheduled 10 a.m. engagement in Woonsocket. He joined fellow Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, Gov. Dan McKee and other officials for a ribbon cutting at Millrace, a 70-unit affordable housing development with 23,000 square feet of commercial and community space in a renovated three historic mill complex. Reed had secured over $1 million in federal funds to expand affordable housing in downtown Woonsocket.

Reed, who voted against Hegseth’s appointment to lead the Pentagon last year, citing his lack of experience and past conduct, saw the secretary’s Rhode Island visit as a positive development.

“I hope the secretary comes away from this visit with a keen appreciation for the skill, dedication, and innovation of our talented defense workers and an understanding of the need to invest in our Submarine Industrial Base shipbuilders, shipyards, and critical suppliers,” he said in a statement.

Hegseth appeared to be impressed as he saw the various stages of development of Anduril’s Dive-LD autonomous submarines, which can be used for seabed mapping, establishing communications relays, and infrastructure inspection.

The California-headquartered company landed an $18.6 million U.S. Navy contract in 2024 to prototype distributed, long-range, persistent underwater sensing and payload delivery in contested environments.

“You’re on the frontlines of ensuring we stay ahead,” Hegseth said. “And every day we stay ahead is a day that we deter conflict.”

Hegseth is the third Trump cabinet head to visit Rhode Island after Secretary of Education Linda McMahon toured Exeter-West Greenwich Regional Junior High and High School last month and Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez DeRemer stopped at a Cranston fire station last August.

Hegseth commended employees for showing up on the heels of the New England Patriots’ Super Bowl 60 loss to the Seattle Seahawks.

“I hear there was a game on Sunday, but we won’t talk about that,” Hegseth told the crowd. “Thanks for showing up on Monday for work. That shows you’re motivated.”

After Hegseth finished his remarks, he walked off to “Got to Hurry” by the Yardbirds as it played over the factory’s speakers.

Rhode Island ‘unwelcomes’ Hegseth

The temperature outside was about 14 degrees. But the cold couldn’t keep away at least 100 protesters lining the north side of Gate Road, flanking the entrance to the Seabees Memorial Park where the Seabees Museum is located. Some passing cars honked at the protesters in the cold, which seemed to warm their spirits, eliciting clapping and cheers. 

“If Minnesota can do it, so can we,” Lucy Christie of East Greenwich said in an interview about 10 minutes before Hegseth’s motorcade passed by. She held a brown cardboard sign reading “HEALTH CARE NOT WARFARE.”

“We were so upset and embarrassed about the war crimes committed by the Department of Defense and we just needed to take this opportunity to bring that up to Hegseth and his entourage,” she added.

Her husband George Christie stood next to her holding a U.S. Marine Corps flag. George said he thought Hegseth promotes “his false and fake machismo as a veteran” with little appreciation for history.

“I respect the fact that he was in the service,” George Christie said. “I don’t respect the lessons he learned while he was in the service. I don’t respect the person he works for. I believe what he needs to understand if he reads his history that it was Athens that eliminated the Persian threat, not Sparta.

“His business of degrading scouting because it tries to upgrade the lives of women and gay people is violently offensive to anybody that actually fought for this country or cared for this country, for all the people of this country, and he doesn’t and that needs to be changed.”

Dubbed “Rhode Island ‘Unwelcomes’ Hegseth,” the protest was organized by West Bay Blue Wave. Carol Schimmelpfennig of Brooklyn, Connecticut, who is in her mid-70s, said the cold couldn’t keep her away.

“Think about what these people are doing to this country, and this is how we have to show our support to come out in the cold,” Schimmelpfennig said.

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Rhode Island Current is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Rhode Island Current maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Janine L. Weisman for questions: info@rhodeislandcurrent.com.

Trump goes nuts against Canada - again

Trump threatens to block new Gordie Howe Bridge unless Canada solves all his grievances

By Will Collette

This is the actual image Trump uses on his Truth Social
website to portray himself.

I think we're past the point of debating whether Donald Trump is nuts. We knew he was nuts before the November 2024 election when a slim majority decided to elect him anyway.

Since the start of his truly awful second term, Trump's insanity has now become part of every American's life, where every new day dawns with anticipation of some new horror.

Today, it's Canada. 

Trump has been pissed at Canada for months after Canada turned down Trump's request - which then became a demand - that Canada become the 51st state. Trump told them they could either do it the nice way, or the US would take them by force.

He's pissed because Canadians then sharply cut back on buying American goods - especially bourbon - and stopped coming to the US for vacations. How dare they!

I'm 50% French-Canadian. My grandmother immigrated to the US in 1918 after Spanish Flu decimated her home village of La Pas, Manitoba. My grandfather came down from Quebec about the same time to work in textile mills in Central Falls. I love Canada. Cathy and I visited Canada from Nova Scotia to British Columbia many times.

That makes Trump's apparent hatred of Canada all the more baffling. 

I am writing this because Trump just posted a new screed on his Twitter knock-off Truth Social where he incoherently airs out his anti-Canada grievances and threatens to block the opening of the new Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario.

Among many other things, Trump wants the US to get 50% ownership plus a share of the tolls even though (a) Canada paid the entire $5.7 billion cost of construction with material sourced exclusively from the US and Canada, and (b) the US and Canada signed a deal in 2012 that already gives the US joint ownership and explicitly assigns the bridge tolls to Canada so it can recoup the construction cost.

Trump himself endorsed the deal in 2017, saying:

We share a commitment to continue to strengthen our ties for the benefit of our mutual prosperity and security. We look forward to our cabinets following up on today's meeting with further discussions in their respective areas of responsibility. Our countries deserve our full commitment to increased economic growth, which we will deliver. The partnership between the United States and Canada will continue to be unique and a model for the world.

Plainly put, Trump wants to renege on that deal (no wonder no one trusts him). 

Once the dust from the War of 1812 settled, Canada and the United States have been close friends. During the 20th century, we became best friends and remained so. 

That doesn't mean the US and Canada have always agreed. Before the Civil War, Canada became the safe haven for escaped slaves who traveled north on the Underground Railroad. During the Vietnam War, Canada was the safe haven for draft resisters. But throughout, the basic relationship was like that of siblings.

Donald Trump has been working hard at destroying that foundational friendship for reasons that make no sense. I learned long ago that it's an exercise in futility to try to make sense of the rants of a lunatic but in the case of Trump, his hold on American life makes it essential to at least keep track of his ravings.  

This is the entirely of what Trump posted last night:

Donald J. Trump 

@realDonaldTrump

As everyone knows, the Country of Canada has treated the United States very unfairly for decades. Now, things are turning around for the U.S.A., and FAST! But imagine, Canada is building a massive bridge between Ontario and Michigan. They own both the Canada and the United States side and, of course, built it with virtually no U.S. content. President Barack Hussein Obama stupidly gave them a waiver so they could get around the BUY AMERICAN Act, and not use any American products, including our Steel. Now, the Canadian Government expects me, as President of the United States, to PERMIT them to just “take advantage of America!” What does the United States of America get — Absolutely NOTHING! Ontario won't even put U.S. spirits, beverages, and other alcoholic products, on their shelves, they are absolutely prohibited from doing so and now, on top of everything else, Prime Minister Carney wants to make a deal with China — which will eat Canada alive. We’ll just get the leftovers! I don't think so. The first thing China will do is terminate ALL Ice Hockey being played in Canada, and permanently eliminate The Stanley Cup. The Tariffs Canada charges us for our Dairy products have, for many years, been unacceptable, putting our Farmers at great financial risk. I will not allow this bridge to open until the United States is fully compensated for everything we have given them, and also, importantly, Canada treats the United States with the Fairness and Respect that we deserve. We will start negotiations, IMMEDIATELY. With all that we have given them, we should own, perhaps, at least one half of this asset. The revenues generated because of the U.S. Market will be astronomical. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

6.9k

ReTruths

22.8k

Likes

Feb 09, 2026, 5:43 PM

Rhode Islanders report challenges with cost of living, access to affordable housing and nutritious food

Why Rhode Islanders are unhappy

Brown University

Rhode Islanders continue to face considerable challenges related to cost of living, affordable housing and access to nutritious food, and they are increasingly concerned about health care access.

Those are among the key findings from the seventh R.I. Life Index, an annual statewide survey on well-being created by leaders at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Rhode Island and the Brown University School of Public Health.

The survey captured how Rhode Islanders perceived their well-being in 2025 and added to a growing set of data the index has been collecting since before the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the results released on Wednesday, Feb. 4, there was virtually no improvement in 2025 in persistently low scores for how Rhode Islanders perceive their health and well-being.

The overall score stood at 57 on a scale of 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating more positive perceptions. That’s unchanged from the previous year but down six points since 2021 and stuck at the lowest level since the index began collecting data.

McKee goes all in on fossil fuels with executive order [possibly] delaying renewable energy and plastic industry CEOs standing behind him

Looks like he's written off the Green vote

Steve Ahlquist

Update: Acadia Center, Climate Action RI, Clean Water Action & Green Energy Consumers Alliance respond:

“Governor McKee continues to pin the blame of escalating energy prices on the very tools that serve to protect Rhode Island ratepayers from volatile supply costs and rising delivery costs,” said Emily Koo, Rhode Island Program Director for Acadia Center. “It is a glaring omission to report the costs of clean energy while ignoring all of the cost savings, one of the primary reasons for undertaking the energy transition in the first place. I would be surprised if the local businesses featured at tomorrow/today’s event have not themselves leveraged energy efficiency and solar to lower their energy usage and stabilize their energy supply costs – these are best practices, and they benefit all ratepayers.”

Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee is responding to the climate denialism and dangerous energy policies of the Trump Administration not by pushing back against fossil fuels and championing renewable energy, but by embracing the logic coming out of D.C. and advancing policies that undermine Rhode Island’s historic 2021 Act on Climate legislation.

Rhode Islanders received a preview of Governor McKee’s new direction (which is not, truthfully, all that new) in his FY2027 Budget proposal. As Acadia Center [pointed out in a recent press release:

“At a moment when federal clean energy support is eroding, Rhode Island should be doubling down on the tools still firmly within the state’s control. Instead, Governor McKee’s FY 2027 budget sadly mirrors the short-sighted policies of the Trump Administration, cutting renewables and energy efficiency and delivering what would be a major blow to Rhode Island’s clean energy economy.”

Read Acadia Center’s analysis here: Acadia Center responds to severe clean energy rollbacks in Governor McKee’s proposed FY2027 budget

Make big bucks with no education

Attention, Karma fans

Release more Epstein files

How much game time is too much?

Study reveals how many hours of video games per week might be too many

By Samuel Jeremic, Curtin University

edited by Sadie Harley, reviewed by Andrew Zinin

Playing video games for more than 10 hours a week could have a significant impact on young people's diet, sleep and body weight, according to a new Curtin University-led study published in Nutrition.

Researchers surveyed 317 students from five Australian universities with a median age of 20 years old.

They split participants into three groups depending on the self-reported amount of time spent playing video games, from "low gamers" (0–5 hours per week) to "moderate gamers" (5–10 hours) and "high gamers" (10+ hours per week).

The team found while low and moderate gamers reported similar health outcomes, results worsened dramatically once a young person's gaming exceeded 10 hours a week.

Professor Mario Siervo, from the Curtin School of Population Health, said the findings suggested excessive gaming was the key issue, rather than gaming itself.

"What stood out was students gaming up to 10 hours a week all looked very similar in terms of diet, sleep and body weight," Professor Siervo said.

"The real differences emerged in those gaming more than 10 hours a week, who showed clear divergence from the rest of the sample."

The study found a decline in diet quality once gaming exceeded 10 hours per week, with a greater prevalence of obesity in the high gamers group, compared to the low and moderate gamers.

Trump's NIH Grant Disruptions Slow Down Breast Cancer Research

With amazing new cancer cures and vaccines on the horizon, now is not the time to cut funding

Martha Bebinger, WBUR 

Inside a cancer research laboratory on the campus of Harvard Medical School, two dozen small jars with pink plastic lids sat on a metal counter. Inside these humble-looking jars is the core of Joan Brugge’s current multiyear research project.

Brugge lifted up one of the jars and gazed at it with reverence. Each jar holds samples of breast tissue donated by patients after they underwent a tissue biopsy or breast surgery — samples that may reveal a new way to prevent breast cancer.

Brugge and her research team have analyzed the cell structure of more than 100 samples.

Using high-powered microscopes and complex computer algorithms, they diagram each stage in the development of breast cancer: from the first sign of cell mutation to the formation of tiny clusters, well before they are large enough to be considered tumors.

He often wears pink ties but not pink ribbons

Their quest is to prevent breast cancer, a disease that afflicts roughly 1 in 8 U.S. women over their lifetimes, as well as some men. Their ultimate goal is to relieve the pain, suffering, and risk of death that accompany this disease. And their painstaking work, unspooling across six years of a seven-year, $7 million federal grant, has yielded results.

In late 2024, Brugge and her colleagues identified specific cells in breast tissue that contain the genetic seeds of breast tumors.

And they discovered that these “seed cells” are surprisingly common. In fact, they are present in the normal, healthy tissue of every breast sample her lab has examined, Brugge said, including samples from patients who haven’t had breast cancer but have had surgery for other reasons, such as breast reduction or a biopsy that proved benign.

The next research challenge for Brugge’s lab is clear: Find ways to detect, isolate, and terminate the mutant cells before they can spread and form tumors.

Rightwing think tank issues shocking report showing immigrants delivered $14.5 trillion surplus to US economy over last 30 years

“MAGA’s claim that immigrants are a drain on government budgets? It’s a lie.”

Jon Queally

A groundbreaking new report released Tuesday details how immigrants in the United States over the last three decades have contributed a massive surplus to the nation’s economy, resulting in a total of more than $14 trillion over that period due to the fact that immigrant families generate significantly more benefits to fiscal health than they take away in the form of benefits received or downside costs.

The white paper by the libertarian free-marketeers at the Cato Institute, not a left-leaning outfit, builds on an existing model developed by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to create a first-of-its kind analyses to determine “how immigrants, both legal and illegal, and their children affect government budgets” in a cumulative manner.

Looking at 30 years of data, the 95-page report—titled “Immigrants’ Recent Effects on Government Budgets: 1994-2023”—discovered that immigrants overall “generated a fiscal surplus of about $14.5 trillion” over those years. In part, the NASEM-Cato model shows:

• Every year from 1994 to 2023, immigrants have paid more in taxes than they received in benefits.
• Immigrants generated nearly $10.6 trillion more in federal, state, and local taxes than they induced in total government spending.
• Accounting for savings on interest payments on the national debt, immigrants saved $14.5 trillion in debt over this 30-year period.
• Immigrants cut US budget deficits by about a third from 1994 to 2023, and fiscal savings grew to $878 billion in 2023.

For what it's worth, Trump caught taking ANOTHER huge bribe from Middle East potentate

Breathtaking corruption is Trump's business as usual

By Brad Reed for Common Dreams

A bombshell January 31 report from the Wall Street Journal revealed that a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family secretly backed a massive $500 million investment into the Trump family’s cryptocurrency venture months before the Trump administration gave the United Arab Emirates access to highly sensitive artificial intelligence chip technology.

According to the Journal’s sources, lieutenants of Abu Dhabi royal Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan signed a deal in early 2025 to buy a 49% stake in World Liberty Financial, the startup founded by members of the Trump family and the family of Trump Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.

Documents reviewed by the Journal showed that the buyers in the deal agreed to “pay half up front, steering $187 million to Trump family entities,” while “at least $31 million was also slated to flow to entities affiliated with” the Witkoff family.

Weeks after green lighting the investment into the Trump crypto venture, Tahnoon met directly with Donald Trump and Witkoff in the White House, where he reportedly expressed interest in working with the US on AI-related technology.

Two months after this, the Journal noted, “the administration committed to give the tiny Gulf monarchy access to around 500,000 of the most advanced AI chips a year—enough to build one of the world’s biggest AI data center clusters.”

Pedophile protectors