VIDEO: Davos crowd doesn’t buy Trump b.s.

Trump Booed After Attacking ‘Nasty, Mean, Fake’ Press – Video

By Samuel Warde 

To Watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FmE8DwZ6RHk

The crowd at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, booed when President Trump called the media “fake.”

The Guardian and other news agencies are reporting that Trump was booed at the World Economic Forum after he “took a swipe at the journalists at Davos, saying that until he became president he didn’t realise how nasty, how mean, how vicious and how fake the media are.”

The sins of the fathers and mothers?

Law, Order, and the Dreamers

By Mitchell Zimmerman

Put yourself in the shoes of a typical “Dreamer” — one of the hundreds of thousands of undocumented youth brought here as small children.

When you were six years old, your mother illegally crossed the Mexican border and carried you into the United States. Although you’ve been here ever since, some people say you must be deported because you’re “illegal.”

True, they might admit, you had no choice about entering unlawfully. Your parents made that decision for you when you were a small child.

But now you’re grown up, they say. You became an adult when you turned 18, so you should have obeyed the law at that point and gone back to Mexico. Instead, you chose to break the law by remaining in America. You’re not entitled to amnesty.

Some people actually argue this. But can anyone honestly say that’s the decision they would make if they were a Dreamer?

If you’re a typical recipient of DACA status — that is, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals — you’ve never left the United States since you arrived, you speak perfect English, and the only schools you’ve gone to are American schools. You have few or no memories of Mexico (or wherever your parents came from), and the only life you know is an American life.

You graduated from an American high school and are now working an American job or studying at an American college. You’ve never been in trouble with the law. You work hard and pay taxes.

Didn't sex scandals used to be a thing?

For more cartoons by Matt Bors, CLICK HERE.

Happy Anniversary

Big wind

After an Uncertain Start, U.S. Offshore Wind Is Powering Up

BY ROGER DROUIN • Yale University E360

This summer, the Norwegian energy company, Statoil, will send a vessel to survey a triangular slice of federal waters about 15 miles south of Long Island, where the company is planning to construct a wind farm that could generate up to 1.5 gigawatts of electricity for New York City and Long Island — enough to power roughly 1 million homes. 

Construction on the “Empire Wind” project, with scores of wind turbines generating electricity across 79,000 acres of leased federal waters, is scheduled to begin in 2023, with construction completed in 2025.

Farther south, 27 miles off the coast of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Avangrid Renewables, an Oregon-based company, has already begun planning for a major wind energy farm on 122,000 acres of federal waters, a project that could eventually generate 1.5 gigawatts of electricity.

And about 10 miles off the New Jersey coast, between Atlantic City and Cape May, Danish clean-energy giant Ørsted, which has a large portfolio of offshore wind farms across Europe, is talking with local officials, securing state permits, and doing seafloor surveys on a 160,000-acre site, where it plans to build its 1–gigawatt Ocean Wind project. Company officials say they are hopeful that the wind farm will come online between 2020 and 2025.

After years of false starts and delays, the offshore wind industry in the United States finally seems to be gaining some momentum. Although far behind the burgeoning offshore wind energy industry in Europe, companies such as Statoil, Avangrid, and Ørsted are joining other wind energy developers — both from the U.S. and Europe— to pursue a slate of projects along the U.S. coast.

First year report card not very good

Charlestown’s aquatic population increases by one

Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Program Makes a Splash at Seal Release

From Stephanie Bramich

Friday morning, Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Team heard their favorite sound – the splash of a seal returning to its ocean environment. Sweet William, an approximately nine-month old male harbor seal, did not hesitate as he rushed towards the waves on Blue Shutters Beach in Charlestown, RI.

Sweet William was rescued in York, ME by the Marine Mammals of Maine and was transferred to Mystic Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Clinic on November 5, 2017. During his two month stay at the Rescue Clinic, he received care to treat severe facial wounds and pneumonia.

Weighing approximately 29 pounds upon admit, Sweet William has gained roughly 21 pounds during his rehabilitation at Mystic Aquarium, making him a healthy 50 pound harbor seal at the time of his release.

The splashing doesn’t stop at Sweet William’s release, though, as the Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Clinic has responded to thousands of stranding calls since its inception in 1975 and continues to admit several seals to their Clinic every year.

Rescuing and rehabilitating marine mammals is no small feat. The Aquarium’s Animal Rescue Program depends on the support of volunteers and the generous donations from the community to provide the best possible care to the rescued animals.

Sweet Williams’s release timed out perfectly, taking place just a few weeks before Mystic Aquarium’s 5^th Annual Seal Splash, a vital fundraiser that invites participants to plunge into the chilly waters of Long Island Sound in support of the Animal Rescue Program’s efforts.

This year, Mystic Aquarium is excited to announce a special twist to fundraising efforts that is sure to make a splash as the Aquarium invites the community to ‘Help us Send Steve Splashing!’

While Mystic Aquarium's President and CEO, Dr. Steve Coan, has always been an ardent cheerleader for the Aquarium's Animal Rescue Program and its annual Seal Splash, he generally cheers on the 'splashers' who brave the icy waters from the shore. This year, though, he has agreed to take the plunge…if his personal fundraising page reaches $25,000 in donations, that is.

Help Mystic Aquarium send their CEO splashing by donating to his fundraising page now at Crowdrise.com/SealSplash2018. Then, join Mystic Aquarium and Steve at Eastern Point Beach on February 17 to see if Steve goes splashing!

Here’s more about what’s going on at the Mystic Aquarium

Big winners from Trump-Tax

Trump’s Shareholder Bonanza

By Robert Reich

The evidence is in: The biggest beneficiaries of the Trump-Republican tax plan are shareholders.

On January 18, Bank of America Brian Moynihan said that “most of the benefits” from the tax cuts “will flow to the bottom-line through dividends and share buybacks over time.”

Exactly. Dividends and share buybacks boost share prices. And that’s all corporate America wants to do.

Moynihan noted that in 2017, Bank of America had $16.6 billion of net income available to shareholders and returned $16.8 billion through dividends and buyback. “So, yes, we will expect to return more capital to shareholders given the tax [cut].”

Even the expectation of a big corporate tax cut have caused shares to soar. 

Because the richest 1 percent of Americans owns 40 percent of all shares of stock, and the richest fifth owns 80 percent, this is great news for the wealthy.

It’s not great news for anyone else.

Time to call him what he is

Our President, the White Supremacist

Alan Jenkins

The President of the United States is a white supremacist. He is not just a defender or apologist for bigots and hatemongers. He is one of them, and no one who’s been paying attention can be shocked to learn this.

What’s more, when the President of the United States candidly speaks the vitriolic and despicable thoughts that are in his head, it’s not “going rogue.” 

It is an unadulterated expression of hateful ideology from the highest office in our land. It is the position of the Executive Branch of our government, and we must start treating it that way. The implications are moral, constitutional, and intensely practical.

White supremacy is a dangerous contradiction of our nation’s highest values that places our very democracy at risk. 

How Rhode Island lost out in the Amazon Contest

For more cartoons by Ted Rall, CLICK HERE.

Wingnuts of the Week

March 3 Master Gardener program on ‘Creating a Resilient Garden’

Early-bird pricing ends Feb. 9

Todd McLeish

Those who are already thinking about – and looking forward to – the spring gardening season should consider getting a gardening motivation boost by attending the annual gardening symposium presented by the University of Rhode Island Master Gardener Program.

The symposium, open to gardeners of all levels, will feature keynote speakers, Q&A sessions, and a variety of educational displays, all focused on the theme of “Creating a Resilient Garden.” 

It runs from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 3 at the URI Center for Biotechnology and Life Sciences in Kingston.

Those registering by Feb. 9 receive the early-bird price of $65, after which the price rises to $75. A limited number of scholarships to the program are also available to those who apply by Feb. 9.

Featured speakers at the symposium are:

Poop alert for Quonnie

Boil Water Notice Issued for Quonochontaug East Beach Water Association

The Quonochontaug East Beach Water Association has issued a boil water notice to its customers because E. coli bacteria was found in the water supply.

Quonochontaug East Beach Water Association customers should boil vigorously for at least one minute all water used for human consumption, including drinking and cooking. Alternatively, customers can use bottled water.

This health advisory will remain in effect until corrective actions are completed and satisfactory bacteria results are obtained. The Quonochontaug East Beach Water Association will issue a public notice when this requirement is lifted.

E. coli is bacteria whose presence indicates that the water may be contaminated with human or animal wastes.

Microbes in these wastes can cause short-term health effects, such as diarrhea, cramps, nausea, headaches, or other symptoms.

They pose a special health risk for infants, young children, and people with severely compromised immune systems.

Wall Street about to score big in Puerto Rico

Privatizing Power

By Julia Conley, staff writer for Common Dreams

Critics on Monday called Puerto Rican Governor Ricardo Rossello's plan to privatize the island's electricity authority a development that exemplifies the prevalence of "disaster capitalism"—the liberalization and corporatization of economies following destructive events like last September's Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island.

Wenonah Hauter of Food & Water Watch called the decision "catastrophic" and indicative of the same pattern of the Trump administration prioritizing wealthy companies that aim to take over public services.

"The decision to privatize Puerto Rico's state-owned power company follows the same dangerous path mapped out in the Trump administration's draft infrastructure plan," said Hauter. 

"Whether it's water or energy, privatization helps Wall Street at the expense of the wellbeing and health of communities, particularly low-income families and people of color."

The Staggering Irony of Donald Trump's Fascination with Norway

Compared to the Scandinavian nation's robust social democracy, the U.S. is a "sh*thole."

By Alex Henderson / AlterNet

From characterizing Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers to questioning the authenticity of President Barack Obama’s birth certificate to all but saluting white nationalists in Charlottesville, Virginia, President Donald Trump has never tried to mask his racism.

The United States’ birther-in-chief recently lived up to his reputation for bigotry when, according to Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and others, he denounced Haiti, El Salvador and several African nations as “sh*thole countries," wondering why the U.S. doesn't invite immigrants from Norway instead.

Norwegians were less than flattered; in fact, they've said "thanks but no thanks" to the president's immigration offer.

But while his motivations were clearly racial (Norway is one of the whitest countries in the world), Trump has endorsed a country whose public policies align with those of Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA); in short, everything the modern-day Republican Party despises.