RI Leaders Back Langevin Legislation to Hold Irresponsible Gun Dealers Accountable

Elected officials and local advocates call on Congress to stem the tide of gun violence

Representative Jim Langevin (D-RI) joined his congressional delegation colleagues Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Congressman David Cicilline, Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Kilmartin, and other local leaders to urge Congress to address the nation’s gun violence epidemic and pass the Keeping Gun Dealers Honest Act.

This is legislation Langevin introduced on June 12 with Representatives Ted Deutch (D-FL) and Gwen Moore (D-WI).

“The Keeping Gun Dealers Honest Act targets the few bad-acting gun dealers that are the source of the vast majority of crime guns,” said Langevin. “These bad actors are key contributors to the nationwide gun violence epidemic, and we must increase accountability measures to curb illegal sales.”

Flanders dishes out snob treatment

Bob Flanders doesn’t think community college is college

By Bob Plain 

Watch this video on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0r70dRF6C4

Republican Bob Flanders had some nice things to say about Bobby Nardolillo, his now-former opponent in the GOP primary for a U.S. Senate seat who dropped out of the race. “He is a dedicated public servant with a bright future,” Flanders said of Nardolillo in a tweeted statement.

Before Nardolillo dropped out, Flanders focused on his past rather than his future.

That Flanders so quickly changed gears with Nardolillo is no surprise. Politicians, and people for that matter, tend to say nicer things about those who do what they want than those who challenge them. 

Instead consider on what grounds Flanders chose to criticize Nardolillo.

“He’s not even a college graduate,” Flanders says in the video, from a GOP event in Woonsocket in April. “God bless him, he went and got a two year degree – it took him five years to get it.”

I don’t know what kind of college degree Nardolillo has, or how long it took him to get it, but I do know Flanders is wrong about at least one thing here. Those with associate’s degrees ARE college graduates.

The horror of incivility

For more cartoons by Tom Tomorrow, CLICK HERE.

Trump-Putin summit

Federal grants available for coastal prep against severe weather and flooding

Deadline is August 7

The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced a partnership that will restore, increase and strengthen natural infrastructure — the landscapes that help absorb the impacts of storms and floods — to protect coastal communities, while also enhancing habitats for fish and wildlife.

In its inaugural year, the National Coastal Resilience Fund will invest up to $30 million in the restoration or expansion of natural features such as coastal marshes and wetlands, dune and beach systems, oyster and coral reefs, mangroves, forests, coastal rivers, as well as barrier islands that help minimize the impacts of storms, rising sea levels and other extreme events on nearby communities and infrastructure. 

Getting old, getting hungry

Seniors Being Hungry is a Nationwide Epidemic

National Council for Aging Care

Nearly one in every six seniors in America faces the threat of hunger and not being properly nourished. 

This applies to those who aren’t sure where their next meal is coming from and those who don’t have access to the healthiest possible food options.

The issue is severe enough that the AARP reports that seniors face a healthcare bill of more than $130 billion every year due to medical issues stemming from senior hunger.

Senior hunger is an expansive issue that requires an understanding of exactly what constitutes a senior being “hungry,” the issues that stem from senior hunger, and how seniors who are hungry can be helped.

Rhode Island sues Big Oil over climate change

'Watershed Moment for Climate Liability'

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams

In what advocates are calling a "watershed moment" for climate litigation, Rhode Island's Democratic Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced the state has filed a lawsuit against 21 major oil companies—including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell—"for knowingly contributing to climate change, and causing catastrophic consequences to Rhode Island, our economy, our communities, our residents, our ecosystems."

"This lawsuit marks the first in the country filed on behalf of a state and its citizens against Big Oil," Kilmartin declared. "For a very long time there has been this perception that they, Big Oil, were too big to take on, but here we are—the smallest state, the Ocean State—taking on the biggest, most powerful corporate polluters in the world, because it's the right thing to do. They need to be held accountable."

The suit is supported by Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo, Reps. Jim Langevin and David Cicilline, and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse—all Democrats. 

Whitehouse, a congressional leader on climate action, commended Kilmartin for "holding some of the world's most powerful corporations responsible for the damage they're inflicting on our coastal economy, infrastructure, and way of life."

Resist

What Must We Do Now?

By Robert Reich

My friends, this is a dark hour. Intolerance, cruelty, racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and environmental destruction have been let loose across the land.

Trump controls the Republican Party, the Republican Party controls the House and Senate, and the Senate and Trump will soon control the Supreme Court.

Republicans also control both chambers in 32 states (33 if you count Nebraska) and 33 governorships. And in many of these states they are entrenching their power by gerrymandering and arranging to suppress votes.

Yet only 27 percent of Americans are Republican, and the vast majority of Americans disapprove of Trump.

The GOP itself is now little more than Trump, Fox News, a handful of billionaire funders, and evangelicals who oppose a woman’s right to choose, gay marriage, and the Constitution’s separation of church and state.

So what are we – the majority – to do?

Happy Independence Day

For more cartoons by Mike Luckovich, CLICK HERE.

Critical Mass?

Possible tie between tick bites and heart disease

Lone star tick, which also lives in Rhode Island, study subject

Josh Barney

Editor's note: Lone Star ticks have this distinctive mark on the back.
Also, their bite can really sting (unlike most tick bites). I know because
I was bitten by one in my Charlestown backyard. - Will Collette

University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have linked sensitivity to an allergen in red meat – a sensitivity spread by tick bites – with a buildup of fatty plaque in the arteries of the heart. This buildup may increase the risk of heart attacks and stroke.

The bite of the lone star tick can cause people to develop an allergic reaction to red meat. 

However, many people who do not exhibit symptoms of the allergy are still sensitive to the allergen found in meat. 

UVA’s new study linked sensitivity to the allergen with the increased plaque buildup, as measured by a blood test.

The researchers emphasize that their findings are preliminary, but say further research is warranted.

Solidarity forever

Unions have faced crueler times before

By Sarah Anderson

In Saylesville, RI, striking textile workers were shot down by National
Guard troops called out on them by then Governor, later Senator, T.F.
Green. Four were killed.

The U.S. Supreme Court has just dealt unions a bruising blow. In a 5-4 vote, the court ruled that public sector employees who benefit from unions’ collective bargaining services will no longer have to pay for them.

At least initially, this is expected to result in a steep drop in union resources and bargaining capacity, which will likely reduce employee pay. 

One Illinois university study, for example, predicts that public school teacher salaries in that state will drop by an average of 5.4 percent.

But over the course of its turbulent history, the American labor movement has survived much worse. And it will find a way to get back on its feet.

Real patriotism involves strengthening our democracy

Trump’s Fourth of July

By Robert Reich

On this coming Fourth of July, it’s worth pondering the true meaning of American patriotism – as opposed to the malignant, distorted view of it propounded by Donald J. Trump.

For Trump, the central challenge of American patriotism is to secure our borders. “Without borders, there can be no nation,” he says.

But excluding foreigners has never been a dominant part of American patriotism. For most of its existence America has been relatively open to people from the rest of the world, especially those fleeing tyranny and violence.

America’s core struggle has been one of inclusion, not exclusion. We have strived to extend equal citizenship to Native Americans, African Americans, women, and LGBTQs. 

The poems of Walt Whitman and Langston Hughes, and the songs of Woody Guthrie, expressed loving devotion to America while turning that love into a demand for justice. 

“This land is your land, this land is my land” sang Guthrie. “Let America be America again,” pleaded Hughes:  “The land that never has been yet–/And yet must be – the land where everyone is free./The land that’s mine – the poor man’s, Indian’s Negro’s, ME –.”

Trump’s patriotism centers on symbolic displays of loyalty like standing for the national anthem and waving the American flag.

But such displays haven’t been at the center of American patriotism, either. Historically, American patriotism has meant taking a fair share of the burdens of keeping the nation going.

How the next Miss American will be chosen

For more cartoons by Ted Rall, CLICK HERE.

Think Koch Brothers