Dennis Algiere returns to public life

Former state Senator Algiere represented the southern half of Charlestown for years

By Will Collette

Dennis Algiere is one of the few surviving members of a nearly extinct species: a moderate Republican. Actually, Algiere had hoped to launch his political career but was told by the then old-school Westerly Democratic machine that he had to wait in line.

On his own and as a Republican, Algiere went on to win Senate District 38 which he held for 30 years until declining to run for re-election in 2023. He was replaced by a smart young Democrat, Senator Victoria Gu.

During his long term, Algiere created an office that was a model of efficient constituent service. On the issues, he was usually center-left. These qualities meant he faced almost no challengers and usually won re-election unopposed.

I noticed a dramatic change in Algiere right after Donald Trump took the White House for his first term. He went silent. Algiere was never a self-promoter, unlike his local House colleague Blake "Flip" Filippi who would never pass up the chance to show off. Algiere pretty much stopped being the face and voice of state Republicans and that void was filled by such local radical MAGAnuts as Filippi, Sen. Elaine Morgan (who represented the northern half of Charlestown), and January 6 participant ex-state rep. Justin Price.

While others were surprised when Algiere made his 2022 announcement that he wasn't going to run, I wasn't. It had already seemed like Algiere had checked out of politics.

Accepting our hapless Gov. Dan McKee's invitation to serve on the Rhode Island Board of Education may be a one off. As usual, Algiere isn't saying whether this means he is coming back into the fray. All he said was:

“I am honored that the governor has asked me to return to public service. I am especially enthusiastic about supporting our students who deserve an innovative and accessible education system that can help them on the path to success.”

The people want bread and circuses. They will definitely get a circus

It's hard to accentuate the positive, but I will try

By Will Collette

The Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) got whipped again by Charlestown Residents United (CRU). All five CCA Council candidates were rejected. All five CRU candidates were elected.

The CRU picked up another Planning Commission seat.

The CCA's consolation prize, for what it's worth, was getting voters to reject most of the Charter revision questions the CCA opposed.

I am unspeakably shaken by Trump's win and the apparent loss of Congress to the MAGA mob, but there's nothing I can do about that except urge you all to get vaccinated and make whatever energy-saving improvements you need in your house before Bobbie Kennedy Jr. abolished the national vaccine program and the MAGA's wipe out green energy programs.

Over the coming weeks, we'll have time to ponder what else we must do, but for now, let's review the state and local results where for the most part, the good guys won.

Charlestown Town Council

Rippy Serra (CRU) edged out Deb Carney to win the right to the Town Council President's chair. Unless he declines, Deb would move to the VP slot. Voters re-elected 3rd-place finisher Steve Stokes, elected new Councilor Craig Marr of Breachway fame and gave Peter Slom his first full term.

The best CCA finisher, is Sarah Fletcher who ran as a Democrat and had the good fortune to appear first on the ballot. She finishes in 6th place and out of the money.

Planning Commission

CCA leader Ruth Platner and her dog's body Bonnita Van Slyke were soundly rejected by Charlestown voters, with Platner finishing 9th and Van Slyke in last place. Platner seems likely to stay on in her role as Planning Commissar where she can continue to terrorize small businesses and homebuilders. Maybe she'll let Van Slyke take notes for her.

Platner tried to make dark skies the town's marquee issue, but it clearly bombed with the voters.

 

For Planning Commission, the top vote getter was CRU candidate Glenn Babcock. Here are the Planning Commission results:

Charlestown Charter Revision Proposals

Charlestown voters voted on 11 proposed amendments to the Town Charter. Charlestown ballot questions. The CCA opposed five of those questions and had reservations about Question 8 which would prevent Council majorities from blocking the Council minority from putting items on Council meeting agendas. 

The CCA got their wish on four of the five questions they opposed. 

Voters rejected Question 7 and Question 15. Together, those questions would have equalized the terms of office for the Town Council and Planning Commission at four years, staggered. Voters also rejected Question 10 which would have made the use of a Search Committee to fill Town Administrator vacancies optional. 

In a victory for the Westerly Sun, voters turned down Question 9 which would have made it optional for the town to post notices in a print newspaper. Yeah ok, the Sun needs the revenue.

Voters ignored CCA opposition to Question 14 by approving it by almost 20 points. This vote means that emergency rescue services will now be included in the Town Charter as a basic municipal service. Why the CCA opposed this question is beyond me.

Instead the CCA devoted so much of its energy to trying to make Charlestown's dark sky this year's imaginary political crisis. They tried to convince voters that only they, the CCA, can protect our wonderful dark skies by blocking all development and buying more open space, even though more than 60% of Charlestown's land area is already protected open space. 

They also put a lot of energy into pushing their point of view on the Charter revision questions, perhaps at the expense of actually getting their people elected. Maybe this will work out for them in the long-run, but short-term, the voters inflicted a crushing blow to CCA power.

State Results 

As expected, Rhode Island voters have re-elected Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Rep. Seth Magaziner and Gabe Amo by comfortable margins which is very good news. Their work in the new MAGA Congress will be a key part of any strategy to defend democracy, our basic rights and the environment against the attacks to come.

Controversial state Question 1 to convene a state Constitutional Convention lost big, as hoped. The other four state ballot questions, all for good job-creating programs, were approved by comfortable margins.

In local General Assembly races, all of South Kingstown's Democratic women won either by default or by wide margins. 

In the rematch for Senate District 38 between incumbent Sen. Victoria Gu and MAGA dude Westin Price, Victoria won by a handy 15 points. This district includes the southern half of Charlestown.

Charlestown's state Rep. Tina Spears was unopposed and thus automatically re-elected.

In Senate District 34 which includes the northern half of Charlestown, MAGA state Senator Elaine Morgan (R) beat Democrat Steve Moffitt. Last night, her margin seemed insurmountable at over 20 points, but by morning, that lead was trimmed to 8 points. Still, that doesn't count so she wins and will continue to grace the State House with her toxic personality for another term.

In neighboring House District 39, there was another rematch. Hardworking state Rep. Megan Cotter (D) faced MAGA insurrectionist Justin Price. Pundits predicted this race would be very close since Megan only won by 22 votes in 2022 and the district is one of the most conservative in the state.

They were wrong. This time, Price was sent home to watch The Price Is Right by a margin of 8 points and 654 votes.

What's next?

On the national level, I really don't know except to know that it's going to be bad.

I just turned 75. After a lifetime as an activist, it's hard to face this kind of loss though I am happy at what's happened here at home. Almost 15 years ago, Tom Ferrio and I started Progressive Charlestown as a counterweight to the Charlestown Citizens Alliance.

We did a lot of other stuff - lots of national politics, environmental news, weather reports and public service announcements, cartoons, science and astronomy. Basically whatever interested us and might interest you. A total of almost 30,000 separate posts.

Over 15 million people clicked on our posts, 2 million in the past year alone and almost 42,000 just yesterday. We never considered "monetizing" the site and just did it as a combination public service and source of entertainment for us as well as for you.

We accomplished the main thing we wanted to do when we started this thing: to bust the CCA. Now that this has been done, I am trying to decide if I want to continue and, if so, how much I am willing to put into it. I'm talking to family and friends but would also like to hear from you. 

I would really like to see others step up to keep the site going. 

Please e-mail us at Progressive Charlestown with your thoughts about its future direction. On

Some closing thoughts on Election Day Eve

Lives on the line from the top to the bottom of the ticket

By Will Collette

Norman Rockwell's 1944 depiction of the
undecided voter

So much is on the line tomorrow and the days following. 

If democracy still works and sanity still prevails, Donald Trump will be defeated, and Democrats will control both the House and the Senate. 

If that’s the outcome, we have many years of healing to do, perhaps the biggest challenge since the end of the Civil War. 

If Trump and his fascist hordes win, well that’s another matter altogether. Then, it will be about survival strategies.

I don’t know whether there are many more “undecided” voters out there or people who haven’t yet voted, but if you’re one of those still trying to decide, let’s cover the bases.

I have already proudly cast my ballot for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz. I think she’ll be a great president and hopefully, she will have a successful term in office. Trump should be in prison, not the White House.

I am also proud of our Congressional delegation and have cast my votes for Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and District 2 US Rep. Seth Magaziner who work hard for us in the bruising arena of a bitterly divided Congress.

Statewide, we have several excellent state ballot questions that would fund important job-creating infrastructure to benefit education, environment and the arts.

We have a clunker in Question 1, whether to convene a state Constitutional Convention. 

Do we need it? No. Is it worth the money? No. Is it simply an opportunity for far-right wingnuts to cause chaos and mischief with our rights? Yes, and if you want proof of that, just look at the cast of characters supporting it.

Local General Assembly races offer some clear-cut choices except in House District 36 where Rep. Tina Spears (D) is unopposed as our state Representative making her the automatic winner. If she had had an opponent, I would have backed her unreservedly.

Sen. Victoria Gu (D-District 38), who represents the southern half of Charlestown faces a rematch in her reelection bid against MAGA dude Westin Place. 

Victoria has done an outstanding job in every aspect of the job while Place has littered Route One with big signs paid for by the Republican Party.

In Senate District 34 which includes the northern half of Charlestown, Sen. Elaine Morgan (R-MAGA) seeks re-election. Morgan is a gun nut, anti-immigrant racist and adjudicated thief who was caught stealing money from her campaign fund to pay for personal items.

Morgan has held herself out as a champion of morality and children’s welfare, but somehow couldn’t instill those beliefs at home. On September 25, her 22-year-old son Ian took a plea deal to plead no contest to third-degree sexual assault of a child. According to WJAR, “Prosecutors said he had a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old girl he had met online. Morgan was 18 at the time.”

Elaine Morgan has been an embarrassment since first elected in 2014. It’s time for her to go and for voters to send Hopkinton Democrat Steve Moffitt to the State House.

In neighboring House District 39, there’s a rematch between hard-working incumbent Rep. Megan Cotter (D) and January 6 insurrectionist Justin Price (R-MAGA). Price doesn’t belong on the ballot under the anti-insurrection clause in the 14^th Amendment of the Constitution, but Sec. of State Greg Amore has chosen not to pursue that sanction.

Megan narrowly beat Price in 2022 and has since done an exemplary job on behalf of her district. In two years, she’s far more to help her district and the state than Price did in the 8 years he held the office.

She promises more of the same, while it’s still an open question whether Price will face charges for breeching security lines at the US Capitol on January 6. Pretty clear choice.

Our town election is a complex matter that confronts the Election Day voter with some complicated choices.

In Charlestown, Democratic or Republican party labels don’t really tell you much about what kind of town government you will get. As a devoted life-long Democrat it pains me to suggest you ignore party labels when marking your ballots.

Actual power in Charlestown comes down to a contest between two political action committees (PACs) who present you with an almost equal number of candidates more or less split roughly the same between labelled Democrats and Republicans, mixed together on the ballot.

Half of them are endorsed by Charlestown Residents United (CRU) that won the majority in the 2022 election on a platform of honest, sound financial management and reform.

The other half represents the discredited Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA) that seized control of Charlestown politics in 2008 and held power until beaten in 2022.

I have already voted for the CRU slate and have posted a series of articles here on Progressive Charlestown to make the case that the CRU has done a great job compared to the dark decade of total CCA dominion.

Even when the CCA promotes good things like conservation, dark skies and tourism, they do so in such twisted, radical ways that they usually turn consensus into controversy.

If you need to see the arguments and supporting evidence for the reasons to support the CRU and reject the CCA, please read:

CCA tries to distract Charlestown voters with shiny things

The politics of Charlestown open space

Should Charlestown voters amend the town’s “constitution?”

Early voting, mail-in ballots start this week amid confusing ballots for Charlestown voters

Fear and loathing in Charlestown politics

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

The last article on the RI Auditor General’s report establishes how the CRU majority has largely cleaned up the financial mess the CCA left behind when they slunk off in defeat in 2022.

CCA President Leo Mainelli wrote the CCA closer in a piece he entitled "Indisputable Truths. No spin." Unfortunately, Leo then proceeds to offer no facts and lotsa spin about how this race has been about Dark Skies and Open Space but should really be about whether the town government listens to the CCA. 

He glosses over the issues that have been raised about the CCA's decade of financial mismanagement:

Today, we live in a world where any position can be validated as “the truth” by simply turning to the source of information that agrees with an individual’s relative “truth”. Polar opposite opinions can each be substantiated, depending on which source of information is deemed a trustworthy authority.

I agree: when it comes to the management of Charlestown's finances, there is the state Auditor General whose data show the marked improvement in Charlestown's finances under the CRU, while the CCA has Bonnie Van Slyke who claims the CCA handled Charlestown finances flawlessly.

Even before the Auditor General's report, we knew Charlestown was being mismanaged by the CCA when the Rhode Island Public Expenditure Council found that Charlestown had the worst record in the state for excessive administrative costs, at $566 per capita, the highest in the state. By contrast, the CCA has Bonnie Van Slyke who says there are no problems.

Bonnie, who is trying to return to the Town Council after two years off, claims a BA in economics from Wellesley College, but there's no sign in her employment history she actually used that degree. Hey, if Leo wants to believe Bonnie over the RI Auditor General or the RI Public Expenditures Council, then so be it. As Harry S Truman famously said:

“Give me a one-handed economist. All my economists say 'on ONE hand...', then 'but on the other...”

Elections are a regular reminder that despite how divided we can get, we all have to live with each other. Hopefully, we’ll make it through this one with our fundamental principles and institutions intact.

Madame President, I hope with all my heart

Megan versus MAGA

The choice is clear

By Will Collette

Rhode Island House District 39 once included much of northern Charlestown but redistricting expanded House District 36, once held by Donna Walsh, then Flip Filippi and now Tina Spears, to cover all of Charlestown.

But we still have lots of shared interests with District 39, such as Chariho, with that district that warrants a keen interest in its politics.

In 2022, Democrat Megan Cotter unseated MAGA Trumpnut Justin Price by 32 votes. This year is a re-match.

In her first term, Megan was one of the hardest working members of the General Assembly and delivered a boatload of successful legislation on such issues of vital local concern as forest management and fire prevention.

She was so busy that Progressive Charlestown ran almost 40 articles about her and her work which you can read if you wish by CLICKING HERE.

She promised voters she would work hard for them and kept her promise.

The Providence Journal’s top political reporter, Katherine Gregg, did an extensive interview with Megan (her MAGA opponent Justin Price did not respond to ProJo requests) that is well worth reading (CLICK HERE).

There is another in-depth interview with Megan by Nancy Lavin of the Rhode Island Current you should check out that contrasts Megan versus her opponent.

Megan told Gregg:

"But the question now is, have I worked hard enough for my community to sway enough folks to vote for someone that they may not always agree with, but know that I'm going to do everything in their best interests?"

Gregg notes Price’s disinterest in talking and recounted some reasons why Justin Price may not be willing to talk about his qualifications to hold office.

In addition to running to regain the House seat to Megan Cotter, Price claims he earns his living as a carpenter. According the Rhode Island Contractors Licensing Board, Price is as qualified to be a carpenter as he is to be a state Representative, as you can see:

In his eight years representing District 39, Price did virtually nothing but spout far-right rhetoric and crazy conspiracy theories while delivering no legislation to benefit the people in his district.

Gregg notes Price’s only prominent legislative “victory” was to get the House to let him set up a study commission on “chem-trails.” For the non-MAGA majority, chem-trails are the contrails we see in the sky from passing jets. According to a bonkers far-right conspiracy theory, some unnamed evildoers (maybe lizard people, aliens, the government or Taylor Swift) have added chemicals to contrails that cause some terrible transformation in people below, like maybe turning them into zombies, drag queens, boy bands, or Democrats.

House leaders gave Price this commission to send him off on some fool’s errand. Gregg reports that there is no record that Price even assembled the Commission, never mind held any hearings or took testimony or issued a report.

Maybe he forgot. Or maybe he was too busy helping to overturn the government as the only Rhode Island legislator to take part in the Trump-inspired January 6 storming of the Capitol. Price has not been indicted – yet – but there’s still time.

Price admits he was there along with a “million other patriots.” He claims it was Antifa, not Trumpnuts, Oathkeepers, Proud Boys or other rightwing crazies (many already confessed or convicted) who actually stormed the Capitol.

Price has never answered the several questions arising from his January 6 participation and post-insurrection remarks.

First, if he was close enough to see “Antifa” as he claims, that means he breeched the Capitol Police no-go cordons, which is itself a federal crime. He could not have seen anyone entering the Capitol otherwise.

Second, if Price really saw people he considered enemies of this country attacking the Capitol, why didn’t he follow his oath as a Marine Corps veteran and as a state legislator at the time to defend the country and the Constitution “from all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Why did he stand by while these invaders kicked the shit out of the police?

The obvious answer is that Price is either lying or is simply an idiot. I think he knew damned well those were his fellow Trumpnuts attempting to overthrow the government.

Which leads me to wonder why he is even on the ballot, given the ban on insurrectionists running for office under the Fourteenth Amendment. Traitors have no place running for office. And if we are to believe even half of what Price claimed about January 6, neither do cowards.

Before he stopped talking to the press, Price told reporters that he was running because he didn’t like the people Megan Cotter was hanging out with. Now there’s a compelling platform for a campaign.

Both Katherine Gregg and Nancy Lavin note in their interviews that Megan Cotter is running as a Democrat in one of Rhode Island’s most conservative districts. In any other district, a guy like Price would never even make it onto the ballot. But District 39 is supposed to be a “safe” Republican seat.

Megan Cotter deserves reelection by a double digit majority. 

After all, Megan had a great first term and delivered for her constituents while also serving everyone’s interests. 

By contrast, Justin Price wasted his eight years in the House on nonsense and seems to have nothing else to offer. He should be happy Republicans elected him to be a Trump delegate to the Republican National Convention and just sit home and wait for the US Marshals to deliver his arrest warrant.

Rhode Island Republicans wonder what will make their party "great"

Maybe stop running rightwing nuts like Elaine Morgan and Justin Price? 

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Days after Donald Trump’s conviction in the New York hush-money trial, Steve Frias finally broke his silence.

The Rhode Island Republican National Committeeman told party leaders he would not seek reelection to the post he’d held for 12 years, denouncing Trump and his supporters for alleging the trial and verdict were politically motivated. 

“I kept procrastinating, hoping something would change, thinking ‘maybe I am wrong here,’” said Frias, an attorney who lives in Cranston.

But he knew it was the right thing to do based on the relief he felt the minute he stepped away. He longer had to feign allegiance to the presumptive nominee at the state party convention in late June, or the Republican National Convention in July.

Yet many Rhode Island Republicans tiptoe around the topic of Trump. They may be fearful of stepping out of line with the national party. More importantly, they may want to avoid alienating the 47% of Rhode Island voters who are unaffiliated.

Insurrectionist Justin Price wants to beat
 Megan Cotter to win back his seat

No Republican has won a federal or general office seat in the state in over a decade. And now, their marginal presence in the 113-seat Rhode Island Legislature could diminish even further, with three of the 14 Republican incumbents not seeking reelection in November and fewer than 30 Republican challengers for Democratic-held, or open seats.

While national politics isn’t entirely to blame, the shifting ideology of the national Republican party certainly hasn’t helped Rhode Island Republicans, said Wendy Schiller, a political science professor and interim director for the Thomas J. Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University.

“The national Republican party is really out of step with what Rhode Islanders want and what they believe,” Schiller said in a recent interview. “It presents a real challenge for local candidates when your national party is saying it wants to cut Medicaid, doesn’t believe in climate change, doesn’t support infrastructure spending — all things Rhode Island desperately needs.”

Not to mention, the lack of cash and resources the Rhode Island GOP has to offer to candidates already facing an uphill battle simply because of voter demographics. 

Incumbents are unopposed in nearly half of General Assembly races

Charlestown rep. Tina Spears (D) unopposed

By Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

Left, Rep. Tina Spears (D) and right, Sen. Victoria Gu (D)

EDITOR'S NOTE: I'm compiling analysis of the contenders for Charlestown's municipal offices. Some interesting developments and surprises. Stay tuned/ - Will Collette

Former Woonsocket Mayor Lisa Baldelli-Hunt will not attempt a comeback run for the Rhode Island Legislature this year, despite commissioning a voter survey and telling local news outlets she was considering challenging Rep. Jon Brien, an independent, for the seat she once held.

In an emailed statement Wednesday afternoon, mere hours before the 4 p.m. filing deadline for state and local candidates to submit their declaration paperwork, Baldelli-Hunt cited her commitment to her health as reason for her decision not to run. Prior to winning the mayoral race in 2013, Baldelli-Hunt was a state legislator for seven years. 

“It was recently confirmed and I am now scheduled for a procedure on my heart later this summer with the hope of a successful outcome and a full recovery,” Baldelli-Hunt wrote.

Health concerns were also the reason she gave when she resigned from the mayoral post last fall, on the heels of a WPRI-12 investigation exposing her role in a controversial city land deal.  

However, controversy has not deterred former Rep. Justin Price, an Exeter Republican, from trying to regain his seat. Price, who served four terms beginning in 2014, narrowly lost the 2022 general election to Democratic challenger Megan Cotter. During his 2022 campaign, Price faced scrutiny for attending the Jan. 6 march on the U.S. Capitol, though he said he did not enter the building.

The rematch between Cotter, who is seeking reelection, and Price is one of a handful of high-profile races expected this fall.

Senate Democrat Victoria Gu will also face her 2022 Republican competitor, Westin Place, for the seat representing parts of Charlestown and Westerly. Gu bested Place in the 2022 general election by a decisive 19 percentage points. Prior to Gu’s win, however, the seat was held by Republican Dennis Algiere for 20 years.

Is Flip going to go clubbing?

With Republicans, cruelty is the point

By Will Collette

Composite by Will Collette.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Charlestown’s former state Representative Blake “Flip” Filippi (R) shows up at Blue Shutters Beach for one of the Mystic Aquarium’s frequent releases of rehabilitated seals. 

Except unlike most onlookers, instead of a camera, he'll have a big club to beat the newly healed critters to death before they hit the water.

I’m not joking.

If you follow Flip on Twitter/X, you’ll notice that he’s been campaigning against the growing population of seals in Block Island Sound on the grounds that they will attract great white sharks. 

And before you can say “Jaws,” there goes tourism on Block Island where, not coincidentally, the Filippi family has large business holdings catering to said tourists.

In his own words, here is what Flip has been saying: 

From Flip's Twitter/X feed

Accompanying a photo (👉) of seals gathered on a beach, he wrote: “Lots of Block Island shark bait!”

 

He wrote another post using the same photo and said: “Whoa – this is the most chum I’ve seen on Block Island!”

 

Accompanying a ProJo article on the growing seal population and Mystic Aquarium’s marine animal rescue program, he really got into his hatred of seals, writing: 

“Rhode Island will rue the ongoing explosion of our seal population when Great White Sharks take up residence alongside them. Cull the year-round seal population before it is too late.”

He wrote another post on the same ProJo article:

“Gee – let’s see if great whites take up residence off Block Island to follow the growing seal population. How about instead we get rid of the damn seals and not have to find out.”

He also posted a phone photo of what may be a shark fin in the water, saying the photo was taken south of Block Island.

There is a smidgen of truth in Blake’s anti-seal rants. There are now roughly 200-300 seals in the waters between Block Island and Charlestown, and seals are Great Whites’ favorite food, according to scientists.

Experts say that Cape Cod is a more popular venue for Great Whites because there are even more seals there. However, just the mere presence of sharks doesn’t lead, ipso facto, to attacks on humans.

While shark attacks on humans DO occur – and get big headlines – they occur far less often than you might think.

Last year, there were 36 shark attacks in all US waters. Worldwide, 69 unprovoked bites were reported plus another 22 listed as “provoked.”

Patch cited the Atlantic Shark Institute in Wakefield saying there have been two confirmed shark fatalities in Rhode Island waters in the last 200 years. That's once a century.

In an article listing all documented shark attacks, fatal or not, in New England waters between 1751 and 2019, six are listed for Rhode Island and of those, two were fatal.

The first recorded fatality was a young boy killed in Bristol Harbor in 1816. The second occurred at Watch Hill in 1895.

The last incident listed was a possible attack on a surfer while returning to Moonstone Beach in 2019. He reported his leg was bloody from punctures but could not identify what caused those lacerations.

It was NOT a Great White Shark. The Institute has tagged 30 Great Whites in Rhode Island waters but no shark fatalities by ANY species of shark in 129 years.

And that’s it. When I said Flip had a smidgen of truth in his rants, maybe I was being too generous since there is no scientific or historical evidence to support his fears of a Sharknado outbreak in Rhode Island. And no reason to start killing seals en masse unless Flip thinks that would be a tourist draw.

But perhaps Blake has another reason for ranting about killing seals: maybe Filippi, like his former MAGA-nut colleague Justin Price, is planning a political comeback.

One necessary step for any 2024 Republican politician is to show how in-sync their thinking is with the GOP’s Supreme Leader, convicted felon Donald Trump.

It turns out Trump is also obsessed with sharks. Yesterday, June 19, at a campaign event in Nevada, Trump went on a tear where he linked his hatred of sharks with his equally fierce hatred of electric vehicles.

He conjured the image of being in a sinking, electric-powered boat. In his own words describing his "dialogue" with a guy he was watching on TV:

"I say, what would happen if the boat sank from its weight, and you're in the boat, and you have this tremendously powerful battery, and the battery is now underwater. And there's a shark that's approximately 10 yards over there…

"By the way, lot of shark attacks lately, I watched some guys justifying it today. 'Well, they weren't really that angry. They bit off the young lady's leg because of the fact that they were, they were not hungry, but they misunderstood who she was. He said 'there's no problem with sharks, they just didn't really understand a young woman's swimming. She really got decimated and other people too, a lot of shark attacks.

So I said [To the guy he was watching on television], there's a shark 10 yards away from the boat, do I get electrocuted? If the boat is sinking, water goes over the battery, the boat is sinking, do I stay on top of the boat and get electrocuted? Or do I jump over by the shark and not get electrocuted?

"Because I will tell you he didn't know the answer. He said, 'you know, nobody's ever asked me that question.' I said I think it's a good question. I think there's a lot of electric current coming to that water. But you know what I'd do? If there was a shark or you get electrocuted, I'll take electrocution every single time. I'm not getting near the shark."

Got all that?

In today’s Republican Party, cruelty seems to be the point. After all, Trump has great plans for even crueler policies toward immigrants than we saw in his first term when thousands of children were taken from their parents. Trump had no plan to reunite those children with those parents, and at the end of his term, almost a thousand were unaccounted for.

That just one of many Trump acts of cruelty with many more to come when he becomes “Dictator for a Day” and goes after his many enemies.

The apple doesn’t fall from the tree: lest we forget, his boys Donald Jr. and Eric posed [👈] gleefully with endangered animals they killed on safari. 

That’s par for the course, given Donald Sr.’s well-documented dislike of animals, dogs in particular.

To build their MAGA cred, ambitious MAGAnuts burnish their hard right credentials through acts of cruelty.

South Dakota Governor and Trump VP wannabe Kristin Noem thought that writing about shooting her puppy Cricket in the head, killing a goat that annoyed her and calling it “life on the farm” would be good for her career. She claimed she hated both animals.

On policy matters, GOP governors work hard to show how cruel they can be to those groups that their Orange Master dislikes. 

For example, there’s Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’ new law banning mandatory water and heat breaks for outdoor workers. Maybe Florida agri-business sees dead farmworkers as good fertilizer for their crops.

Then there’s Texas Governor Greg Abbott who installs hundreds of miles of razor wire on the border ignoring court orders to stop. He has ordered the kidnap of other migrants who are put on buses and sent to northern cities.

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee took credit for revoking laws prohibiting child labor in her state.

Of course, this is only a tiny part of the list of cruelties that includes attacks on reproductive rights, women, workers, veterans, Medicare and Social Security, domestic aid programs, help for Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression, vaccinations, books, the environment, civil rights, education, the Constitution and democracy itself.

Let’s not forget the 1.1 million-plus Americans who died due to COVID and how Republicans are trying to provoke some lone wolf assassin to kill the pandemic’s most prominent hero, Dr. Anthony Fauci.

Yes, cruelty is the point and that’s why I have a strong hunch we’re going to see Flip Filippi on the ballot this November.

'I'll Take Up Arms If He Asks': Violent Supporters Rush to Trump After Guilty Verdict

What about you, Justin Price? Elaine Morgan?

JULIA CONLEY for Common Dreams

As supporters of Donald Trump flood right-wing platforms with threats against the jurors and judge following guilty verdicts Thursday in his criminal case regarding hush money payments, fears are growing that the influence the Republican presumptive presidential nominee has over his supporters will soon lead to violence.

"Until and unless he accepts the process, the extremist reaction to his legal troubles will be militant," Jacob Ware, a research fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told Reuters.

Former state Rep and MAGAnut Justin Price
took part in the Jan. 6 insurrection. Will he suit
up if Donald issues the call to arms? 

The former president gave no sign of accepting the legal process Friday as he held a press conference at Trump Tower, repeating claims that the case had been "rigged."

Shortly after a New York jury announced its verdict in the case regarding documents that were falsified to cover up payments made to adult film star Stormy Daniel just before the 2016 election to keep her from publicizing an alleged sexual encounter she had with Trump, right-wing websites like Gateway Pundit, Truth Social, and Patriots.Win saw an uptick in violent posts from users.

One commenter called for "someone in NY with nothing to lose" to "take care of" New York Supreme Court Justice Juan Merchan, while another on Gateway Pundit directed a threat at any and all opponents of Trump.

"Time to start capping some leftys," said the user. "This cannot be fixed by voting."

The reaction is a direct result, said Ware, of Trump's "insistence that he is being mistreated."

MAGA-Lomaniac Justin Price wants his seat back

First, he needs to answer for what he did at Trump’s January 6 insurrection

By Will Collette

Ex state rep. Justin Price wants to win back his House District 39 seat from Megan Cotter (D) who beat him in 2022.

Price served 8 years in the State House and accomplished nothing. Seriously, nothing – and go look it up if you want to prove me wrong.

What Price did manage to do was embarrass himself, his district and the state of Rhode Island with his radical, Q-Anon style rantings about guns, conspiracies and just about every other far-right meme and cliché. And he was an active participant in the January 6 insurrection.

District 39 encompasses Richmond, Hopkinton and Exeter. It tends to be slightly more conservative than the rest of Rhode Island. Price thinks this is why he should run, telling WPRI “I think it [District 39] should be represented by someone that’s conservative.”

Further, he told WPRI “after watching my opponent [incumbent Megan Cotter] that ultimately won with a close margin, watching her, and what she’s doing while she’s up there and who she’s aligned with up there.”

What Megan is “doing up there” in the State House is working hard for the 39th District with a special emphasis on protecting the land and people of her district.

In her announcement for re-election, Megan highlighted funding for a van for Wood River Health, increasing access to affordable health care, bringing legislative grants in for non-profits in her district, and creating a Forest Management Commission, which she chairs.

That commission is addressing problems like the sharp uptick in wildfires in South County and clear-cutting woods for commercial-sized solar installations, rather than using more appropriate locations.

According to the official state Legislative Tracker, Megan worked on 130 bills and resolutions this year.

Justin Price’s crowning achievement in his 8 years was to create a special legislative commission to study “chem-trails.” That’s a right-wing conspiracy theory that some nefarious villains are putting mind-altering chemicals into jet contrails. I could find no record of this commission actually meeting or issuing any findings.

Nonetheless, Price told WPRI his priorities would be to focus on “representing my district” and “Focus on bringing the issues from my district up to the State House.” Except he did none of that in his prior eight years in office.

Use the Legislative Tracker to look up Price’s “achievements.” The last legislation he worked on as a minor (5th) co-sponsor was a resolution congratulating Charlestown’s former state rep. Blake “Flip” Filippi on his “service.”

Incidentally, state Republicans gave Price the second-highest vote total in the April 2 Presidential preference primary sending him to the Republican National Convention as a delegate for Trump.

Unanswered questions about his role in Jan. 6 insurrection

Price got himself into the history books by being one of a handful of elected state officials to take part in the January 6, 2021 insurrection directed by Donald Trump.

Price admitted he was there along with what he claimed were “the other 1 million people” though the official estimate is less than 15,000 on the Capitol grounds of whom 2,000 actually stormed the building.

Price claimed he did not enter the Capitol, though he has not disclosed his actual location. However, just being on the Capitol grounds that day means that Price admits to breaching police security lines set back a block or more from the actual Capitol grounds. That is a federal crime.

Price has not – at least not yet – drawn enough attention from the FBI to join the more than 1,200 who have been charged, though there’s still time. Around 900 of Price’s fellow insurrectionists have either been convicted or pleaded guilty. Only two were judged “not guilty.”

Price claims he was close enough to see it was Antifa attacking the building, not Trump supporters. That claim alone raises lots of questions including how he was able to identify them.

There is no actual Antifa organization and no uniforms, logos or other identifying marks – unlike the Oathkeepers, Proud Boys and other insurrectionists we all saw with our own eyes storming the capital, using chemical sprays, clubs, rocks and even American flags to beat Capitol and DC Police. The MAGA myths about who stormed the Capitol have been thoroughly debunked.

Then there’s a problem of simple logic: why would people that Price identified as Antifa want to storm the Capitol to block the election of Joe Biden?

More importantly, Price needs to reconcile his repeated oaths to “defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic” with what he did on January 6. He took that oath as a United States Marine and again as a Rhode Island State legislator.

The US Constitution, 14^th Amendment, Section 3 states in whole:

No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

It was clearly a violation of his oaths for Price to have crossed police lines to join in the storming of the Capitol.

I hope RI Secretary of State Greg Amore will bar Price from running when by his own admission, he committed acts on January 6 that exactly fit the kind of person the 14^th Amendment is intended to disbar.

Further, if we are to believe his claim that he saw Antifa mounting the attack, WTF did he do about it? Are we to believe that he simply watched “Antifa” beating the police and then smashing into the Capitol and did nothing?

Why didn't he help the DC and Capitol Police as his oath to “protect and defend” required? Well, either he lied when he claimed he saw Antifa attack the Capitol, or he was simply afraid of getting hurt.

Either way, there's nothing to be proud of. Unless your name is Justin Price and your political legacy amounts to nothing, and you want to be consistent. Mission accomplished.