Blockchain has a far-right past.

Does it have a future in Rhode Island?

By Will Weatherly in Rhode Island’s Future

Here is a list of some of the figures who have shown interest in bitcoin cryptocurrency and its associated “blockchain” technology: white nationalist Richard Spencer, who called bitcoin “the currency of the alt right.” 

Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon, who has had private meetings with cryptocurrency investors. Peter Thiel, the PayPal founder and libertarian venture capitalist who quietly advised the Trump administration for months. 

And in Germany, the rising far-right party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD), who had its co-leader speak at a cyptocurrency conference as a ““economist and bitcoin entrepreneur.”

And now? Governor Gina Raimondo and Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello, who both spoke at the first Rhode Island Blockchain Summit at the Omni Hotel in Providence on Thursday, an event the former Trump press secretary (of 10 days) Anthony Scaramucci was rumored to attend.

It would be a grave mistake to overgeneralize, or to argue that sharing a curiosity for cryptocurrency at all entails a substantial agreement between Rhode Island leaders and these crypto-stakeholders’ far-right stances. There are now 1,952 cryptocurrencies in existence, making the technology a particularly wide tent. 

Republican candidate for governor and former state senator Giovanni Feroce has made blockchain a pillar of his campaign, calling for voters to make him the “blockchain governor” and proposing the technology be incorporated “directly into the government’s own administrative infrastructure.” 

Rep. Justin Price: Is he the dumbest member of the RI House or the most radical? Or both?

Good thing he’s also ineffective

By Will Collette

In November 2014, voters in our area turned out three smart, effective state legislators and elected in their place the Three Stooges of RI’s Radical Right. Out went Rep. Donna Walsh, Sen. Cathie Cool Rumsey and Rep. Larry Valencia. In came Blake “Flip” Filippi, Elaine Morgan and Justin Price.

Today we’ll look at what voters in Richmond, Hopkinton and Exeter have gotten by swapping out Rep. Larry Valencia (D) for Tea Party/militia Republican Justin Price. We’ll look at what legislation he brought to the RI House of Representatives and co-sponsored as the scheduled June 30 close of the session looms near.

Prior to his election, Price’s only experience in politics was to run as a GOP Convention delegate for Ron Paul in the 2014 Republican primary.

He came in dead last in a field of six, not that it mattered since Ron Paul did not win any Rhode Island convention delegates anyway.

Price’s lack of experience and Ron Paulish view of the world shows in the “work” he has done in his first year in the RI House of Representatives. While his name appears on 41 bills, only six of them are his.

WAY over the line!

22,000 American Lives Were Lost the Last Time A Republican Blocked Negotiations

By Samuel Warde

Controversy continues to rage over an open-letter by Republicans to Iran that threatens to undermine nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States, Russia and China.

The letter was signed by the entire party leadership in the chamber and by potential presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul and threatens that Republicans can undo any agreements put into place as a result of those negotiations.

It is one thing to attempt to undermine a sitting president using the legislative process, but quite a different matter when U.S. Senators reach out to a foreign power deliberately to disrupt ongoing negotiations.

Noting that Republicans would have flipped out if Democratic Senators had tried the same thing during George W. Bush’s presidency, Washington Post reporter Paul Waldman reported on Tuesday

The only direct precedent I can think of for this occurred in 1968, when as a presidential candidate Richard Nixon secretly communicated with the government of South Vietnam in an attempt to scuttle peace negotiations the Johnson administration was engaged in.

Green Believers

Dumping fossil fuels requires scrapping outdated opinions about renewable energy.

By Emily Schwartz Greco

By framing measles vaccinations as a matter of choice, Senator Rand Paul made himself — along with all politicians who value individual liberty more than the common good — look silly.

Bruce Jenner is sporting nail polish and a ponytail. If the Olympic gold medalist gets both a new identity a personal reality TV show, it may take a bite out of discrimination against trans people.

And, conservative leaders are teaming up with environmentalists to give Florida voters a shot at “solar choice.” This “Green Tea Party” trend is making it harder for Republicans to embrace fossil fuels and shun renewable energy.

Clearly, shedding flawed conventional notions of all kinds is tough — but not impossible.

People “lock into belief systems,” explains the solar power entrepreneur and climate-action philanthropist Jeremy Leggett. “We prefer to believe in the potency of things and systems that we have as opposed to other alternatives that might be rationally much more appropriate.”

Libertarian comix: Free Market Fads

This time they’ve got a winner for sure!

By J.J. McCullough 

Is a new conflict looming between Charlestown and the Narragansetts?

Will recent change in federal marijuana policy provoke hostilities?

Each year, tribal leaders gather to mark the anniversary of the Smoke
Shop raid as if it happened yesterday. (Photo by Will Collette) 

By Will Collette

I have been feeling a sense of foreboding that the cold war Charlestown’s town leaders have waged against the Narragansett Indian Tribe is spooling up for open hostilities. Here are the signs:

We have just seen a new, all-CCA Party town government take power. Their platform included the overtly hostile, anti-Narragansett position that:

“CCA-endorsed candidates will support the federal laws and the Supreme Court decision that prevent a casino or other unregulated development on tribal lands.”

On December 8, the new all-CCA Town Council also approved another extension of the annual contract with the town’s hired Indian fighter, attorney Joe Larisa, on a retainer of $2,000 a month, plus extra if he has to do more than read newspaper clips.

For instance, we will almost certainly be charged extra for his presence at the recent case of misdemeanor charges brought against two Narragansett tribal members who were arrested by Charlestown Police on tribal land. Click here and here for the Westerly Sun’s coverage.

This otherwise routine minor beef has become a major big deal because it is now an argument over over the issue of whether the Charlestown Police has jurisdiction on tribal land. In most other cases, the CPD will assist when called to help by the tribal police. That case is set to continue on December 18 which is the day most of you will be reading this article. 

There are still many silent but festering disputes between the town and the Tribe, such as the transfer of the old Camp Davis property from the state to the Tribe. Then there's the ultimate use of the site of the Narragansetts' proposed elderly affordable housing project off  Kings Factory Road that was the proximate cause of the terrible Carcieri v. Salazar Supreme Court ruling that the CCA Party deifies in its platform.

But the issue with the greatest potential to change a cold war into a hot one is the recent decision by the US Justice Department to allow Native American tribes to grow and sell marijuana. 

VIDEO: How is Ayn Rand still a thing?

Might be time to just let them go

Ron Paul Calls For Second Civil War Over Obamacare

By JUSTIN "FILTHY LIBERAL SCUM" ROSARIO in Addicting Information

Ron Paul gave quite the speech on November 4. In it, he called for nullification of the federal government. He also subtly  flat-out stated that we would have to resort to the Second Amendment to stop Obama’s “tyranny.” Remember the good old days when Republicans didn’t threaten violent revolution every couple of days?

In his short but rambling speech, Ron Paul fed secessionist red meat to the eager and clueless crowd:

I’ve been working on the assumption that nullification is going to come. It’s going to be a de facto nullification if it’s not legalized. Because pretty soon things are going to get so bad that we’re just going to ignore the feds and run our own lives and our own states.

Ron Paul Ah. Let’s just ignore the federal government, because what could possibly go wrong there? It’s not like conservative states would immediately move to disenfranchise millions of minority voters or strip away women’s reproductive rights or anything, right, Ron Paul? Right?!

Click here to see Ten Things we would lose if Texas seceded from the United States.

Standing Up to a Theoretical Threat

It's good to know the Senate isn't squandering its time on banal issues like health care and immigration.

By Donald Kaul

Strange things are happening in Washington.

In the Senate, Rand Paul, the son of presidential candidate Ron Paul, recently proved himself a chip off the old blockhead by conducting a one-man filibuster.

I’m not talking about the namby-pamby sign-a-piece-of-paper-and-forget-about-it filibuster in the modern style. I mean a real, old-fashioned, “Mr. Smith goes to Washington” Jimmy Stewart filibuster — the kind where a senator takes the floor and talks for hour upon hour to block a bill until he or she collapses or has to go to the bathroom, whichever comes first.

Was there voter fraud at the RIGOP Convention?

Did Charlestown GOP votes make the difference?

By Will Collette

The successor to State Republican Chair Mark Zaccaria was supposed to have been picked at the GOP State Convention on March 21^st, but Zaccaria declared the convention vote was nullified.

It seems that Mark Smiley beat Zaccaria’s hand-picked successor Dan Harrop by one vote.

However, when all the votes were counted, according to ABC6 and WPRO, there were 187 votes cast, but only 186 delegates who were registered to vote. WRNI reports the vote was a 94 to 93 vote, also in favor of Smiley over Harrop, and says the whole scene was “chaos.”

Based on the closeness of the count and this disparity, Zaccaria said that the parliamentarian recommended voiding the vote. 

Smiley declared winner after "investigation"

Compounding the chaos - and the bad media coverage that came from it - apparently Zaccaria decided to switch gears over the weekend. On Sunday afternoon, he announced in an e-mail that upon further "investigation," Smiley was the winner after all.

This closely fought battle to become the next captain of the RIGOP Titanic is rumored to be one of the reasons why Mark Zaccaria stuck his beak into Charlestown’s Republican politics. As I reported, Zaccaria recruited defeated state Representative candidate Tina Jackson to “re-organize” the town Republican Committee without consulting with the duly elected members of that Committee to find out if they wanted to be re-organized.

The gold standard and the election of senators

Two Bad Ideas, Brought to You by the Right Wing

By Samuel G. Howard In RIFuture.org

It’s a great disservice to label the Republican Party conservative. In reality, many of their proposals are anything but conservative. Dwight D. Eisenhower was a conservative. Paul Ryan is a reactionary. 

Conservatives want to conserve, ideally by keeping what works and not doing anything more. That’s a fine notion (which has limits). However, reactionaries want to drag down anything that’s changed. They create false ideals of any era and wish to return to them (think of the romanticism of the 1950s; one of America’s most socialized, dominated by conservatives, and wrapped up in McCarthyism and Jim Crow).

This romanticism is why the Founders have taken on such mythical proportions, especially among reactionaries. It would be a lie to tell you that the Founders were all of one mind, and I’ve pointed out that Glenn Beck’s beloved Tom Paine was one of the most left-wing members of the Founders. Americans should also note that the Early Republican Era limited democracy to white males who held property valued above a certain threshold. These… complications, don’t matter to reactionaries.

July 30 is Medicare Day

Celebrate its 47^th birthday!

By Will Collette

For almost half a century, the United States has been providing government-funded health insurance to the elderly and totally disabled without regard to income. It was called “socialism” and just about all the other nasty names that have been hurled at so-called “Obamacare” – and much worse.

Candidates for Convention Delegates Certified

The slate for the April 24 Presidential Primary is set

By Will Collette

On April 24, Rhode Island will hold its Presidential Preference Primary. For Democrats, the only person on the ballot for President is President Barack Obama.

For Republicans, it’s the current four major candidates: Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul. If things continue as they have been, all four may make it through to April 24. Or not.

Each of the four Republicans, and the President, also will have people who want to be delegates for them to their National Party Conventions. Voters in the Primary will also be expected to pick who they choose to be delegates.

Rhode Island Political Shorts

You can wear a button to vote…If you have an ID…Look who wants to be a Convention delegate…Doreen Costa wants to kill diabetics…Where is Curt Schilling?...Rick Perry might ride again…Orange is his natural color

By Will Collette

You CAN wear a political button when you vote. For a while, it looked like the RI Board of Elections was going to issue a ban on the wearing of political buttons, stickers, T-shirts, hats, etc., by voters when they went into polling places. State law forbids “electioneering” within a certain distance of polling places, and the BOE was considering whether wearing a button saying “Vote for *#&%*” while voting violated that law. Of course, poll workers are not allowed to wear anything that indicates their political feelings, but this new rule could have had some serious repercussions at polling places. Fortunately, the BOE changed its mind and rejected this proposed rule-change.

Deadline approaching for candidates to be Convention Delegates

If you want to go to the National Party Convention, you must act quickly

By Will Collette

If you want to be one of Rhode Island's 47 delegates to the Democratic National Convention this summer, the deadline to declare is February 22 and 23.

To have a shot at going, you must file a Declaration of Candidacy and a Pledge of Support with the Secretary of State. Come back the following day and if your filing has been done properly (i.e. you are registered to vote for the party whose Convention you want to attend), you will then be given the signature forms.

You must collect 150 valid signatures to be certified as a candidate and turn those forms into the correct city or town Board of Canvassers no later than February 28. There will be 11 Democratic Convention delegates per Congressional District.

When the Cayman Islands just won't do

We're going to the moon!

By Matt Bors




For the whole cartoon, click here.

South Carolina on my Mind

By November, a third of the American people will believe that Barack Obama kidnapped the Lindbergh baby and Michelle drove the getaway car.

By Donald Kaul

Yet another Republican ABM (Anybody But Mitt) candidate has experienced failure to launch.

The Newt Gingrich rocket that seemed oh-so-formidable just a few weeks ago didn't survive an avalanche of negative ads financed by stealth Romney money in Iowa. It crashed and burned on takeoff.

High Stakes for Immigration

We need out-of-the-box solutions that both protect human rights and make economic sense.

By Christine Gofreddo

Mariela Obregon Chavarria hoped to return to her native country of Nicaragua one day, but arriving in handcuffs and escorted by security officers wasn't what she had in mind. After seven years living and working in the United States, Mariela was arrested and held in four different detention centers around the country for two months. When she was deported, her three-year-old son, a U.S. citizen, remained behind.

Unfortunately, this situation isn't unique.

Political Bits

Building all-American; Charlestown real estate news, Foxboro says NO to the Patriots; we're all gonna die (redux), Ron Paul is nuts, Rick Perry discovers Canada
By Will Collette

We can build with MADE IN AMERICA materials. Despite the terrible beating American manufacturing has taken, here is proof that it is possible to build any entire, fully-equipped American home with ALL-AMERICAN materials. And you can do it within 1% or 2% of the price of using imported construction material. And the materials are not only competitively priced with their foreign counterparts, but of much better quality. AND by simply insisting on “Made in America” goods, we can create hundreds of thousands of American jobs.

Watch the video here. . Then go to the resource links on this page including lots of lists with contact information for US made construction materials.  

Zillow says Charlestown home values continue to fall. From Zillow.com:

What Have They Done with Ron Paul?

The mainstream media mostly ignores him.

By William A. Collins

Campaigns face
A lot of stress;
When ignored
By all the press.

You may have heard of Ron Paul. He's a popular Republican candidate for president who just won the Values Voter Summit's straw poll. He's done well in other polling too, generally holding onto third place as the frontrunners come and go. And he raised an impressive $8 million in the third quarter of this year.

On the other hand, you may not have heard of Ron Paul. That's because the mainstream corporate media mostly blacks him out. No matter how well he might perform in the polls or at fundraising, he's largely a non-person in the press.