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Showing posts with label child abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label child abuse. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 19, 2026

Stephen Miller's secret campaign against helpless kids

That it's happening in the shadows doesn't make it less of a moral blight.

Anat Shenker-Osorio

By contrast, Miller's boss likes kids A LOT!
Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, is making his dreams come true: accelerating the arrest and removal of thousands of unaccompanied immigrant kids.

The man behind family separation in the first Trump term who once boasted that policy would “prove to be a migration deterrent” has now teamed up with another deadly threat, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to attack the most vulnerable kids in our country: those here on their own.

By law, kids who cross the border alone are put into the care of the Office Of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In recognition of children’s vulnerabilities and need for protection, this system exists outside the confines of the Department of Homeland Security and therefore the clutches of ICE and Border Patrol.

Thanks to the Constitution itself and federal law, these children have the right to legal counsel, age-appropriate living quarters usually in state-licensed settings with prompt release to vetted sponsors, and fair hearings with special allowances to protect them from trafficking or other abuse.

But as The Guardian reported from immigration court in New York City, “the faces of migrant children — some as young as three — have been beamed onto a video screen throughout the summer as they faced deportation hearings.” These children did not have lawyers, in violation of aforementioned federal law, and thus faced interrogation by Trump appointee Judge Lisa Ling.

This is a scene taking place out of public view across the country, impacting 24,000 kids.

Tuesday, June 23, 2026

House District 36 Committee unanimously endorses Rep. Tina Spear for re-election in September 9 Democratic Primary

Her hard work earns support against challenger

By Will Collette

Today, the House District 36 Democratic Committee voted unanimously to officially endorse incumbent Rep. Tina Spears in the upcoming September 9 Democratic Primary. 

The Committee is filing this endorsement in all towns included in the district. House District 36 covers all of Charlestown and Block Island, plus small sections of Westerly and South Kingstown.

The last time Charlestown voters faced a Democratic primary over who will represent House District 36 was twenty years ago. In 2006, longtime State Representative Donna Walsh defeated DINO incumbent Matt McHugh by 685 to 461 in that year's primary.

Donna never faced another primary opponent and served until 2016 when she was defeated by Blake “Flip” Filippi (Republican/Libertarian), an all-round strange guy who in recent years has railed against seals and vaccines but has mostly stuck to raising cattle and his family’s Block Island businesses.

Flip's surprise announcement in 2022 to drop out of Rhode Island politics opened the door for Tina’s election as our Representative where she has been a productive and effective legislator.

From Tina’s website:

Tina has spent the last decade advocating for people with disabilities, and is currently Executive Director of the Community Provider Network of Rhode Island. Her own experience as the parent of a child with significant health challenges led her to become an ardent advocate for families of children with disabilities. She has been a frequent presence at the State House over the last decade, working to defend Medicaid benefits, increase wages for caregivers and help win paid leave for people who must leave work to care for a new child or an ill family member.
Opposing Tina in the September 9 Democratic Primary is Leah J. Boisclair who is a self-described “Sex Crimes Defense Attorney in Rhode Island.” On her law practice’s website, she graphically lists what types of crimes she will defend, including child rape, domestic violence, homicide, drug crime, white collar crime and so on.

Don’t take my word for it – go to her website.

I was especially surprised at the way she depicted how she would defend against sex crimes. Here’s a screenshot from her website:

Now, if you switch to Boisclair’s campaign website, you’ll see a very different tone as well as content. She mimics Tina’s priority issues of education, environment, affordable housing and health care. There is no record of Boisclair having actually done anything on these issues, but hey, if you want to run as a Democrat, you must at least pretend.

Boisclair glosses over the sordid details of her law practice saying only:

I went through our local schools, earned a political science degree at URI, and graduated cum laude from Roger Williams University School of Law in 2019. I’m licensed in multiple states and federal courts. Before opening my own firm, I worked on criminal and union cases — and then built The Law Office of Leah J. Boisclair, LLC from the ground up…. As an attorney, I stand up for people who need someone in their corner. [Emphasis added].

Make of that what you will. But remember that attorneys, especially those in private practice, CHOOSE who represent.

And those of us who are registered Democratic voters living in House District 36 also CHOOSE who we want to represent us. So, on September 9, please support Rep. Tina Spears in the Democratic Primary.

DISCLOSURE: For years, I have been a member of the House District 36 Democratic Committee and proudly voted today to support Tina Spears in her campaign for re-election.  – Will Collette

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

Charlestown Democrats - Don’t be fooled

There is only ONE Democrat running in the September 9 primary

By Will Collette

Boisclair sign in front of Jim Mageau's house.
Photo by Will Collette
The September 9 Democratic primary is important not just for the three statewide contests to pick candidates for attorney general and lieutenant governor plus the epic match-up pitting Helena Foulkes against hapless incumbent Governor Dan McKee.

Here in Charlestown, September 9 will decide who will represent Charlestown in the Rhode Island House of Representatives. 

It will feature incumbent Rep. Tina Spears, running for a third term versus self-described sex crime lawyer Leah Boisclair who is backed by rich MAGA gun nut Dave Levesque.

Here is her "menu" of sex crimes she is willing to defend from her own website:

Rape, child rape, child pornography, sex trafficking, slavery are all crimes Boisclair will defend

Boisclair is running as a Democrat even though she has no connection to the Democratic Party other than to say she’s a Democrat this year. Her signs are popping up along South County Trail, including in front of the house of Charlestown’s most vocal Trumper Jim Mageau.

Her record is that of running a law practice that takes pride in representing child abusers, rapists, spouse beaters, bad drivers, crooks and cheats. She uses her website to advertise these specialties and to seek more such clients.

Sure, under the Constitution, everyone is entitled to the presumption of innocence and to legal counsel. But LAWYERS choose who they will represent.

Even public defenders have discretion under the Code of Professional Responsibility to decline representation to a client if they are unable to mount a rigorous defense. In fact, the Rhode Island version of the Code expressly acknowledges “[A] lawyer is also guided by personal conscience and the approbation of professional peers.”

Boisclair CHOOSES to represent scumbags. Don’t believe me? READ her own website, as well as the screenshots I have presented taken directly from that site. I was particularly impressed with her graphics in this section on her representation of men accused of crimes against women:


But wait, there's MORE! Here are the other types of crime she will defend:

How is Boisclair different from, for example, a mob lawyer? Or a Trump lawyer? Or a lawyer defending men in Jeffrey Epstein’s circle of friends? Or any other pedo protector? I dunno…you tell me.

I would not want to spend a lot of time in her office's waiting room.

On this alone, I could never support Boisclair. Frankly, why would ANY Charlestown voter want Boisclair to represent then in the General Assembly? I’d rather bring back Flip Filippi, even though he represented the January 6 insurrectionists, the Oath Keepers. But as the saying goes, “but wait, there’s more!”

Boisclair’s main backer, far right MAGA gun nut Dave Levesque, set up 40, count ‘em 40, political action committees under the banner of the “League of Rhode Island Businesses” (LORIB). He has a statewide plus 39 “local” PACs, supposedly for each Rhode Island city and town. Their registrations all look the same, with no local people on any of the PACs and that includes the Charlestown LORIB PAC.

See if you can find any connection to Charlestown in the Charlestown LORIB PAC:


Levesque uses these PACs to get around the state campaign finance law limiting PACs to $2000 in contributions to a single candidate. Since Levesque controls all the LORIB PACs, he simply cuts checks to endorsed candidates from several of his PACs.

Levesque owns the Brewed Awakenings coffee shop chain and is a long-time anti-gun control activist. The gun lobby is also heavily backing his candidates.

Support - LORIB Main PAC
Levesque also takes in anonymous donations. In fact, he has solicited donations by advertising how they can game the system to prevent having their names reported as LORIB donors.

He set Boisclair up with six LORIB checks totaling $10,500 coming from six LORIB PACs. There’s the Charlestown LORIB PAC of course, plus the LORIB PACs purporting to be from Westerly, South Kingstown, North Kingstown, Newport and Block Island.

Levesque also opposes any attempt to tax the rich. He was a big opponent to last year’s “Taylor Swift” tax that imposes a state levy on multi-million properties owned by non-residents. He also unsuccessfully fought this year’s “Millionaire Tax” that imposes a 1% income tax surcharge on millionaires.

His candidates, including Leah Boisclair, toe that line. They should have a generic LORIB bumper sticker reading “Don’t regulate guns. Don’t tax the rich.”

Levesque has targeted nearly every Democratic woman legislator in South County because their progressive stances. He is bankrolling opponents to our state Senator Victoria Gu as well as South Kingstown Dems Teresa Tanzi, Carol McEntee, Alana DiMario, Kathy Fogarty and Bridgette Valverde.

Sen. Alana DiMario and Rep. Kathy Fogarty, both targeted by Levesque, introduced legislation to close what ought to be called the “Levesque Loophole” (2026-S 27202026-H 7450) by extending the $2000 limit to apply to multiple PACs that have the same owner. Unfortunately, that legislation did not pass.

Finally, Boisclair’s land use legal work ought to earn her the opposition of the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA), especially this case that was covered by ecoRI (CLICK HERE). So should Jim Mageau’s support for Boisclair.

Those are the negatives. Let’s look at your positive alternative

Why you should vote for Tina Spears

Here's where I stand. Photo by Will Collette
Tina Spears has served all of Charlestown and the rest of House District 36 with distinction for two terms and seeks your vote for re-election.

Tina points to these achievements from the recently completed General Assembly session:

We were able to make life in our community better by:

·       Fully funding library aid

·       Increasing education funding, especially for special education

·       Securing funding for the Charlestown Breachway rebuild

·       Passing the South Kingstown High School bond

·       Advancing legislation allowing New Shoreham to increase landing fees, manage its water district, and better structure its taxing authority. ​

I am especially proud to have sponsored and passed two bills: 

The Act on Coasts provides Rhode Island with a roadmap to strengthen coastal infrastructure in the face of rising seas. Rather than debating the causes, I am focused on preparing our communities, particularly in District 36, for the changes we are already seeing along our coastline 

The Purple Alert establishes an early alert system when individuals with disabilities go missing, making Rhode Island one of a small number of states to prioritize this vulnerable population. In partnership with advocates, families, and public safety officials, we turned a tragic situation into meaningful action that strengthens our public safety response and saves lives.​

Tina has a long record of community service, while Boisclair has none. Tina often teams up with other legislators such as state Senator Victoria Gu to boost her ability to get bills passed. She meets often with voters in her district. On top of that, she’s a genuinely kind and warm-hearted person.

Vote for Tina Spears in the September 9 Democratic primary. You must be a registered Democrat to vote in this primary.

And Tina DOES NOT protect pedos.

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Judge quashes Trump DOJ attempt to get children's health records from Rhode Island Hospital

Rhode Island judge turns back Trump attack on trans kids

ACLU of Rhode Island

If they really cared about child welfare, the DOJ would
release the Epstein files
Upholding the privacy rights of vulnerable children, U.S. District Court Judge Mary McElroy quashed the U.S. Department of Justice’s (DOJ) subpoena for the sensitive private medical records of young patients who have received medical treatment for gender dysphoria at Rhode Island Hospital. In doing so, the judge also blasted the DOJ as having been “proven unworthy … at every point in this case” of the trust expected of federal prosecutors, saying they “misrepresented and withheld information” from the court.

The decision comes after an emergency motion was filed last week by attorneys for the Lawyers’ Committee for Rhode Island (LCRI) and the American Civil Liberties Union of Rhode Island (ACLU) on behalf of Rhode Island’s Child Advocate. The DOJ’s request to enforce the subpoena for these records was filed and approved, without opportunity for response, by a judge in Texas, not Rhode Island, all in one day at the end of April. [See: Child Advocate seeks to block federal government subpoena for private medical records of minors]