The red state way

Republican reason for refusing to work together on border issues

We used AI and satellite imagery to map ocean activities that take place out of sight, including fishing, shipping and energy development

On guard

Jennifer Raynor, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Many commercial fishing boats do not report their positions
 at sea or are not required to do so. 
Alex Walker via Getty Images

Humans are racing to harness the ocean’s vast potential to power global economic growth. Worldwide, ocean-based industries such as fishing, shipping and energy production generate at least US$1.5 trillion in economic activity each year and support 31 million jobs. This value has been increasing exponentially over the past 50 years and is expected to double by 2030.

Transparency in monitoring this “blue acceleration” is crucial to prevent environmental degradation, overexploitation of fisheries and marine resources, and lawless behavior such as illegal fishing and human trafficking. Open information also will make countries better able to manage vital ocean resources effectively. But the sheer size of the ocean has made tracking industrial activities at a broad scale impractical – until now.

A newly published study in the journal Nature combines satellite images, vessel GPS data and artificial intelligence to reveal human industrial activities across the ocean over a five-year period. Researchers at Global Fishing Watch, a nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing ocean governance through increased transparency of human activity at sea, led this study, in collaboration with me and our colleagues at Duke University, University of California, Santa Barbara and SkyTruth.

Yet another aqua-NIMBY lawsuit over Point Judith oyster farm

Lawsuit challenges public notice in Point Judith Pond oyster farm

by Nancy Lavin, Rhode Island Current

In October, attorney Mark Fay put state coastal regulators on alert for an imminent legal challenge to a half-acre oyster farm approved for Narragansett’s Point Judith Pond.

Just before the end of the year, Fay, a partner at Providence law firm Murphy & Fay LLP,  made good on his promise. 

A Dec. 22 complaint filed in Providence County Superior Court against the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Council sets the stage for what could be another protracted legal battle over bivalves in the Ocean State. Unlike legal disputes over other controversial oyster farms, the complaint centers not on the project itself, but on the lack of notice to neighbors. 

Fay represents a handful of residents, trustees and a business entity that own properties on Narragansett’s Little Comfort Island, which sits just south of the half-acre oyster farm proposed for Point Judith Pond. Yet the group of neighbors never got notice, from the CRMC nor from the prospective oyster farm operator, Andrew Van Hemelrijck, during the last three years of review, public comment and negotiations, according to the complaint. 

Governor McKee kicks the teeth out of the nursing home resident care law

Subverts the law HE signed

STEVE AHLQUIST

Late Friday afternoon Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee declared a “Nursing Home Emergency” and signed an executive order suspending the monetary penalties private nursing home owners might face for understaffing. 

The law, known as the Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Care Act, passed by the Rhode Island General Assembly and signed into law by Governor McKee in 2021, was the result of a long campaign by the Raise the Bar on Resident Care Coalition, a coalition of labor, healthcare advocates, religious leaders, and family members of nursing home residents seeking to ensure that residents receive adequate care.

The financial penalties built into the law were the teeth that gave the state the power to ensure resident care and safety. 

Without such penalties, the law is empty and has no real power to compel resident care companies to provide adequate staffing. 

The bill requires that every resident receive 3.81 hours of care per day and the financial penalties would kick in if these minimum goals were not met. The executive order nullifies these penalties.

“Today, when we sign this bill, we take a step forward for staff, residents, and their families,” said Governor McKee when he signed the Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Care Act in May 2021. 

“Rhode Island nursing home residents deserve the very best possible care and nursing home staff deserve the support they need to make that happen.”

On Friday, Governor McKee noted that “the estimated net costs of enforcing the minimum staffing level compliance and enforcement program… would be approximately $60 million, further straining nursing home resources and potentially resulting in additional closures, and forcing the relocation of residents.”

Since the law went into effect no penalties have been assessed against any nursing homes for being in violation.

This isn’t the first time Governor McKee has used his executive powers to circumvent the law. In January 2022 the Governor delayed the execution of the law via executive order. 

At that time Registered Nurse Cheryl Chianese wrote that “if Governor McKee doesn’t change course and allow the safe staffing law to proceed, the quality of care will continue to get worse and residents will suffer.”

“Governor McKee signed The Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Care Act into law in 2021 after a majority of COVID-related deaths were found in nursing homes and assisted living facilities,” said Jesse Martin, Executive Vice President of SEIU 1199NE and member of Raise the Bar on Resident Care Coalition in a statement. 

“Although studies have shown that safe staffing is the primary way to ensure quality care, Rhode Island now ranks 38th in the country according to the AARP. 

"While many of our state’s non-profit homes have exceeded safe staffing requirements, the majority of for-profit nursing homes continue to rack up massive profits while crying wolf about safe staffing fines. Instead of giving nursing home owners free rein, it is critical that all stakeholders work together to hold nursing homes accountable to providing safe, dignified care.”

The Nursing Home Staffing and Quality Care Act was one of the last great accomplishments of Senator Maryellen Goodwin (Democrat, District 1, Providence), who died last year.

Which side are you on?

David Ostow

Stay healthy this winter

The Italian Garden Project, free from URI

Nostalgia for yesterday and lessons for today in free Cooperative Extension program, open to all

Kristen Curry

It’s not too early to think about summer giardini.

The University of Rhode Island is offering interested gardeners a chance to learn from the tradition of Italian-American gardeners.

On Thursday, Jan. 18, at 7 p.m., the public is invited to experience the beauty and charm of traditional Italian-American backyard vegetable gardens and learn about their relevance for reconnecting to food, families, and the Earth, via a free virtual workshop hosted by the URI Master Gardener Program. 

Mary Menniti, founder of the Italian Garden Project, will share how these gardens serve as glimpses into the past that can lead to a brighter, more sustainable future. Advance registration is required.

How the rich get richer

$8.5 Trillion in Untaxed Assets: Data Shows Why 'We Need a Billionaire Income Tax'

JAKE JOHNSON

An analysis released January 3 shows that in 2022, the wealthiest people in the United States collectively held a "staggering" $8.5 trillion in wealth that is not—and might never be—subject to taxation.

Examining recently released data Federal Reserve data for 2022, Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) found that the roughly 64,000 U.S. households with at least $100 million in wealth—less than 0.05% of the population—controlled more than one in every six dollars of the country's "unrealized gains," profits that aren't taxable until the underlying asset, such as a stock position, is sold.

"But the ultra-wealthy don't need to sell to benefit: They can live off low-cost loans secured against their growing fortunes. And once inherited, such gains disappear completely for tax purposes," ATF's Zachary Tashman and William Rice explained in the new analysis. 

"While most Americans predominantly live off the income they earn from a job—income that is taxed all year, every year—the very richest households live lavishly off capital gains that may never be taxed."

Drug Patent Monopolies Cost Each Family $5,000 per Year

The opposite of a free market

By Dean Baker

It is incredible how ideology can be so thick that it prevents even highly educated people from thinking clearly. We saw this fact on display in a Washington Post piece on prescription drug prices by its columnist, Bina Venkataraman.

Venkataraman points out that we are seeing significant advances in developing new drugs and treatments, but many of these innovations are selling for ridiculous prices. Her lead example is Casgevy, a treatment that can cure sickle cell anemia. The developer of this treatment is charging $2.2 million for it.

She argues that the price could be radically reduced if the research was funded at least in part by non-profits, governments, or companies willing to accept lower rates of return. This is, of course, true, but her ideology prevents her from seeing clearly the issues involved.

In fact, government and foundations already pay for about 30% of the research and development costs for new drugs, which Venkataraman neglects to point out. These benefactors only rarely share in royalties for the medicines whose development they helped finance.

After arguing for developing drugs in ways that allow for lower prices, she asserts in the last paragraph:

“But there are steep costs to letting the market determine what’s best for a society’s well-being.”

The whole point is that we are not letting the market determine what’s best for a society’s well-being. We, or our politicians, have decided to grant lengthy and strong patent monopolies to encourage companies to innovate. There are other, and less expensive, ways to achieve this.

OK then

We want answers

Maybe this should come in spray form, maybe mixed with Mace

Sniffing women’s tears reduces male aggression

By PLOS 

New research, published on December 21^st in the open-access journal PLOS Biology, shows that tears from women contain chemicals that block aggression in men. 

The study led by Shani Agron at the Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel, finds that sniffing tears leads to reduced brain activity related to aggression, which results in less aggressive behavior.

Streaming services use old cable tricks to rip off customers

Pay more, put up with more ads or get less

Kathryn Cramer Brownell, Purdue University

U.S. Sen. John Kerry grills representatives from the cable
industry during a 1990 hearing on consumer protections.
 C-SPAN

There’s one thing that television viewers can count on in 2024: higher fees and more commercials.

The major streaming services – Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, Disney+ and Max – have all announced rate hikes and new advertising policies.

As I show in my new book, “24/7 Politics: Cable Television and the Fragmenting of America from Watergate to Fox News,” the streaming boom that has imperiled cable television is actually built upon the very same business model that made television viewers pay for monthly subscriptions decades ago.

Like their cable predecessors, streaming companies have lured people in with promises of a better and cheaper viewing experience. Now that they have a robust subscriber base, they’re in the process of raising rates while also introducing more commercials and bundling programming to make customers pay more and more.

There is a difference, though. When cable companies tried similar tactics in the late 1980s, there was an uproar from politicians who called such business practices “unfair” to their constituents. Now, there’s nary a peep – a sign of just how inured Americans have become to the whims of corporations trying to squeeze their customers.

Jan. 6 insurrection was an example of networked incitement

Will Trump do it again this year - or has he already begun?

Joan Donovan, Boston University

The shocking events of Jan. 6, 2021, signaled a major break from the nonviolent rallies that categorized most major protests over the past few decades.

What set Jan. 6 apart was the defeated president of the United States using his cellphone to direct an attack on the Capitol, and those who stormed the Capitol being wired and ready for insurrection.

My co-authors and I, a media and disinformation scholar, call this networked incitement: influential figures inciting large-scale political violence via social media. Networked incitement involves insurgents communicating across multiple platforms to command and coordinate mobilized social movements in the moment of action.

The reason there was not more bloodshed on Jan. 6 emerged through investigation into the Oath Keepers, a vigilante organization composed mostly of former military and police. During their trials for seditious conspiracy, members of the Oath Keepers testified about weapons caches in hotels and vans, stashed near Washington, D.C. As one member described it, “I had not seen that many weapons in one location since I was in the military.”