Scary!

Is Trump portrait designed to intimidate Americans?

By Samuel Warde 

It has been said that a picture paints a thousand words, and looking at Trump’s official portrait several come to mind – and none of them good.

Having observed Trump in action for decades, I think it fair to say that there is little that is not calculated, deliberate, on the part of this individual and there is every reason to think that the stern intimidating nature of his portrait was intentional.

As CNN reports, “Trump cares deeply about visuals, knowing that sometimes pictures speak louder than words. 

Sometimes he even narrates what he’s doing to the camera crews, acting as both the star and director simultaneously. 

The new president is back in his element, hosting a show, this time not in the ‘Apprentice’ boardroom but in the Oval Office.

Noting that Trump leans forward, no smile, with an aggressive — arguably menacing — stare in the photo, Vox reached out to some experts asking them “what’s so strange about Trump’s White House portrait?”.

A.G. Sessions perjured himself in Congressional hearings and by his own standards, must resign

Rep. Langevin joins calls for Sessions’ resignation

By Will Collette

It seems like the growing scandal of ties between Trump, his regime and the Russian government controlled by Vladimir Putin is beginning to look a lot like the infamous Watergate scandal. Thus the  growing use of the title “Russiagate” for this mess.

The parallels with Watergate are also becoming clearer, including Watergate’s greatest lesson that it isn’t necessary the crime that gets you, it’s the cover-up. 

Although the crime in this instance could very well be treason in the form of selling out US interests to our Cold War foe, the Russians.

Attorney General Jefferson Beauregard Sessions has opened up a new front in the Russiagate scandal by getting caught lying to Congress while under oath during his confirmation hearings. 

In two separate answers, Sessions denied that he had any contact with the Russian government during the Trump campaign in which he played a major role.

In fact, Sessions had two meetings with Russia’s Ambassador to the US. The content of his conversations with the Russian Ambassador have not been revealed yet.

Based on what appears to be a crime – perjury before Congress – numerous members of Congress are calling on Sessions to resign his position as Attorney General. 

Even Republican Congressional leaders could not ignore Sessions’ apparent transgressions and are calling on him to, at minimum, recuse himself from investigations into Russia’s efforts to manipulate the 2016 elections.

Rep. Jim Langevin (D-RI) issued a statement, published in full below, saying “Sessions has lost the trust of the American people, and he should resign immediately.”

YOU did it!

For more cartoons by Ruben Bolling, CLICK HERE

Law does not equal justice

Still no certainty – but lots of doubt – about future of Saybrook-Kenyon Bypass

Plenty of Questions But Few Answers On Rail Project

By TIM FAULKNER/ecoRI News staff

State senators got few answers about a proposal to expand the Amtrak rail line in Rhode Island during a Feb. 28 conference call with federal officials.

The public meeting was held to assuage fears about the portion of the NEC Future project that runs between Westerly and Kenyon, a village in Richmond.

Sen. Dennis Algiere, R-Westerly/Charlestown, said he was worried about environmental damage to aquifers, farmland and historic villages in the segment of the project called the Westerly Bypass.

Officials from the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) insisted that environmental concerns must be addressed.

The project, however, is only in the conceptual phase, they said.

An environmental impact report was issued in December. FRA is reviewing public comments, and a record of decision for Tier 1 is expected in the coming months. The process takes the same course for Tier 2.

In the second phase, the FRA will determine design, construction and cost for specific projects along the entire route. Public workshops will be held and public input gathered.

During the recent Statehouse meeting, FRA officials had no answer when asked if the state or the municipalities along the route would be asked pay a portion of the $130 million project.

“We don’t know exactly know how the program will be funded,” said Brian Rodda, an FRA community planner.

The FRA also couldn't say if land acquisitions would be necessary, but noted that the use of eminent domain would be determined by each county.

Looking for facts about health screening

Bringing evidence to health screening debates

Brown University

Questions about health screenings -- Whether to screen? How often? At what age? At what cost? -- seem to readily breed conflicting opinions and public confusion. 

What's needed is rigorously produced evidence. That's where Constantine Gatsonis, chair of the Department of Biostatistics at Brown University, comes in.

In a talk and panel discussion at the 2017 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science on Sunday, Feb. 19, Gatsonis, a veteran researcher on many large cancer screening studies, discussed how such trials are designed and conducted to ensure that researchers can evaluate not only the accuracy of a test, but also its cost-effectiveness, its effect on doctor and patient decision-making and its effect on health outcomes.

After all, screening is not just about detection, Gatsonis said, but about health. Patients definitely want their cancers found, but not all accurate, positive diagnoses should lead to treatment.

Trumpniks don't care about ethics

White House Power Player Jared Kushner Is Keeping Parts of His Real Estate Empire
By Justin Elliott and Al Shaw for ProPublica

Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law and the heir to a family real estate empire, has emerged as perhaps Donald Trump's closest adviser. A near-constant presence by Trump's side, his portfolio includes business, tax, political, and foreign policy matters.

Last month his lawyers outlined a plan under which they said Kushner would avoid any possibility that his White House work would overlap with his business interests.

The plan didn't have much detail. But newly released documents and statements from the White House are making the picture clearer: Kushner is keeping parts of his family business.

“This is an emergency”

Trump represents a danger to freedoms he swore to protect

Dan Rather

The time for normalizing, dissembling, and explaining away Donald Trump has long since passed.

The barring of respected journalistic outlets from the White House briefing is so far beyond the norms and traditions that have governed this republic for generations, that they must be seen as a real and present threat to our democracy.

These are the dangers presidents are supposed to protect against, not create.

For all who excused Mr. Trump's rhetoric in the campaign as just talk, the reckoning has come.

I hope it isn't true, but I fear Mr. Trump is nearing or perhaps already beyond any hope of redemption.

And now the question is will enough pressure be turned to all those who enable his antics with their tacit encouragement.

Definitely fossil fuel

from Fake Science

Priorities, continued

Sure, let's send troops to Syria....

Rhode Island one of the states with lowest gun deaths

Data shows you are more likely to be shot in a Republican state

By Gracie Lou 

Solid ‘Blue’ Hawaii is the state where you’re least likely to be the victim of gun violence.

However, states run by Republicans can’t make the same claim.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Hawaii’s gun death rate is 3.6 per 100,000 people, but Rhode Island is close at 4.7.

According to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, you are much more likely to be shot if your state is run by Republicans.

Topping off the list is Alaska, where for every 100,000 people, 23.4 of them were shot to death. Louisiana comes in second with 20.4.

Alabama, Mississippi, and Wyoming are tied for third with 19.6. 

Following close behind is mostly red Montana with 19.2, which has a Democratic governor, but  Republican-controlled state legislature. 

Solid red New Mexico comes in at 18.6; Missouri and Oklahoma score 18.1 and 18.0 respectively, per 100,000 residents.

South Carolina; 17.3, Arkansas: 16.9, Tennessee: 16.0, and Kentucky: 15.2, round out the top of the list.

There is something else that these Republican-controlled states have in common. A high poverty rate.

Deep red Mississippi is the poorest state in America, with more than 21.5% of the population living in poverty. It also has the third highest gun violence death rate.

New Mexico, Louisiana, Alabama, Kentucky, and Arkansas follow, with poverty rates from 18.9% to 21.3%. They are also at the top of the list for gun deaths.

Just trust me

The true cost of Affordable Care Act repeal

How Obamacare Repeal Helps Rich, Hurts Poor

By Frank Clemente and Ron Pollack 

Republican plans to repeal the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) threaten the health care of 30 million Americans and would erode some rare progress made recently to reverse America's growing economic inequality.

By taxing rich households and big corporations to subsidize health care for working families, the ACA does what good public policy should: level the playing field to give everyone a shot, not just those at the top. Abolishing the ACA would only further tilt the field in favor of the wealthy and well-connected.

It turns out that taking away health insurance from struggling families can be a windfall for the well-to-do. The top 0.1 percent of households -- those with income of at least $3.7 million a year -- would receive a tax cut of about $197,000 in 2017, on average, if the ACA is repealed, according to the Tax Policy Center.

Meanwhile, millions of Americans would see the cost of their private health insurance skyrocket because they would lose ACA subsidies used to pay their premiums. The increased costs would range from about $4,000 to $6,000 per family, depending on income level. Taking away subsidies would make health insurance unaffordable for most of these families.

Trump anti-environment agenda about to go into high gear

Scott Pruitt Vows Rapid, 'Aggressive' Attack on EPA Regulations

By Andrea Germanos, staff writer for Common Dreams

Newly confirmed EPA administrator Scott Pruitt on Saturday vowed quick and "aggressive" gutting of Obama-era regulations addressing climate change and the nation's waterways.

"I think there are some regulations that in the near-term need to be rolled back in a very aggressive way. And I think maybe next week you may be hearing about some of those," he said at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) taking place near Washington, D.C.

Pruitt—who's been described as "a lackey for the big energy companies" and whose "confirmation shows once again that Republicans will deny climate change and protect the interests of Big Oil at all costs"—sued the agency he now leads more than a dozen times during his tenure as Oklahoma attorney general. 

And his "close and friendly relationship" with fossil fuel companies was confirmed Tuesday, the day he began his term as EPA head, by the release of thousands of emails.