Progressive News, Opinion, and Analysis
As previously reported, a historic conference at Temple University intended to guide and radicalize activists in #BlackLivesMatter was held from January 8-10, 2016 in Philadelphia. We are going to post videos from the panels that have just become available online. Tune in next week for further coverage of this historic conference.
This panel features Pam Africa, Angela Davis and Kathryn Summers and was moderated by Iman Sultan.
In a touch of irony, two news stories came across my desk today that share a common trait, instances where the rich and well-to-do are trying to make the taxpayers fork out cash for what is not supposed to be a public problem. In fact, their issues are totally due to poor business decisions made by people who should have and did know better.
First was a letter co-signed by Pawtucket Mayor Don Grebien and PawSox chairman/owner Larry Lucchino. In half-repentant tones that would only be considered genuine by the naive or gullible, the two make the first thrust at what has been long-expected, namely, a taxpayer-subsidized “renovation” of McCoy Stadium that is totally unwarranted and undeserved, particularly considering that the building was just given a makeover some years ago. Invoking a baseless notion of “competitive advantages” given other teams in the minor leagues by “newer facilities”, they are starting the opening round of a public fleecing.
If baseball players are so disadvantaged by sub-standard facilities, why are there so many players from Central and South America playing in the major leagues? Every year the boys of spring include among them a sizable number of talented players who grow up in poverty, played in sub-standard settings, and were successfully scouted by Americans with alluring promises of glory. Of course when they arrive on our shores, they discover that the minor leagues pay a pittance of a salary and that their fantasies of glory may indeed be just that, but such are the empty promises of men like Lucchino. That Mayor Grebien would play ball with such a fleecing shows perhaps his constituents should think wisely about who gets their vote next November, particularly in light of how Lucchino is in the business of professional gentrification.
The other bit of news is equally laughable. It would seem that the Cardi Corporation and the Department of Transportation are in a bit of a public tiff over the deterioration of the ‘I-Way’ bridge that redirected traffic on Interstate 195 several years ago. After a car crashed into a guard rail several years ago, it was revealed that the structure failed to meet Federal Highway Administration requirements. Cardi is now expecting the state (read: taxpayers) to reimburse them for the construction of a new guardrail.
As irony would have it, I have had a source for some years who was intimately involved in the construction of the highway as a unionized construction worker and inspector. This source indicated that, from start to finish, there was a host of corrupt practices to be seen in the creation of the structure, from the fabrication of the skeleton beams in out of state to the pouring of the cement. The I-Way, as is the case with almost every public construction project in Rhode Island, was a magnet for buffoonish corruption of every kind. When it was revealed several years ago that there was a state office operating in the upper floors of a gentleman’s club, it was barely mentioned that the office was located in that venue because it was just adjacent to the I-Way and Cardi’s offices on Allens Avenue. Cardi knew very well that they were cutting corners when they built that bridge and they did so anyway because of the bizarre inter-relations between the construction business, the asphalt/concrete industry, and various political and criminal families that have always had your transportation safety solely at heart.
This is a no-brainer. Larry Lucchino and the Cardi Corporation do not deserve any public monies. Lucchino made a bad business decision by getting into a seamy deal with the late James Skeffington, who thought his connections to the Democratic Party machine made this an automatic venture capitalist success. The Cardi Corporation should have just built their bridge properly. Meanwhile, as two corporate bodies with deep pockets come begging for a bail-out, Providence and the wider state is in a severe economic situation. Our schools are crumbling, the impoverished are left to beg, and the social safety net is a joke in comparison with the rest of the world.
In a recent Gallup poll, only 32 percent of Rhode Islanders identified as “very religious,” as opposed to the extremes of New Hampshire, at 20 percent, and Mississippi, at 63 percent.
30 percent of Rhode Islanders identity as “moderately religious” and a whopping 38 percent identify as “nonreligious.”
According to Gallup, “As has been the case since 2008, the least religious states generally are those in the two northern corners of the country. Rhode Island and New York join New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts and Maine in the Northeast, while Oregon, Washington, Wyoming and Alaska are among the least religious states in the Northwest. The one additional state among the least religious is Hawaii.”
Still, Rhode Island remains an outlier in New England as the most religious state in the region.
Rep. Aaron Regunberg and Sen. Harold M. Metts have introduced legislation to reform the controversial use of solitary or “segregated” confinement in the Rhode Island prison system, saying the practice causes psychological damage and often exacerbates the very problems it is intended to address.
“The United Nations has condemned the use of solitary confinement, saying it can amount to torture,” said Representative Regunberg (D-Dist. 4, Providence). “And the research is very clear that prolonged solitary confinement causes psychological problems that can damage inmates’ chances of rehabilitation. It’s a vicious cycle that is destructive rather than corrective, and it particularly impacts already vulnerable populations, including the very high proportion of our prison population affected by mental illness. Add this to the fact that segregation units are by far the most expensive facilities to operate, and it should be clear that we need to put responsible limits on, and devise humane alternatives to, the use of solitary confinement in the prison system.”
Said Senator Metts (D-Dist. 6, Providence), “We cannot in good conscience call our prison a ‘corrections’ institute when the system relies on a punishment that is essentially designed to cause mental breakdown, particularly when so many of those subjected to it are already mentally ill. We have a moral imperative, as well as a constitutional mandate, to ensure we are not employing cruel or unusual punishment, and it is time we recognized that solitary confinement, in many cases, is cruel. Its use must be limited, and our prison system must stop using it on people who are particularly susceptible to the lasting effects it can have. We have to strive to find a better balance between rehabilitation and punishment.”
Many studies have found that long-term solitary confinement can produce psychological damage with symptoms such as hallucinations, hypersensitivity to noise or touch, paranoia, insomnia, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), increased suicide risk and uncontrollable rage or fear. The risks are higher for juveniles, whose brains are still developing, and for those with mental illness.
Those effects can result in inmates having more difficulty complying with prison rules, defeating the purpose of solitary confinement. Even those who aren’t mentally ill when they enter solitary confinement can be left with lasting psychological effects that they take with them when they are released from prison into the community.
“Solitary confinement is cruel and unusual punishment,” said S, a current inmate at the ACI who has asked to remain unidentified for fear of retribution. “I have seen people get years in segregation, and get locked in solitary for non-problematic reasons, like identifying as LGBTQ, filing lawsuits, or sharing political views. I have witnessed people in solitary confinement break down, start talking to themselves, become paranoid, play with their own feces, and worse. When you go to High Security [the solitary confinement facility] for causing a problem, they don’t help you, they don’t give you any mental health services, they just lock you in a cell for 23 hours a day. So when you go back to the normal facilities, you’re worse off.”
The legislation would prohibit the use of solitary confinement — also called “segregated confinement” — for specific vulnerable populations, ensure that conditions in segregation are humane, and limit the use of solitary confinement for all inmates to 15 consecutive days, and no more than 20 days within any 60 day period.
The bill (2016-H 7481) has support from a wide array of inmates’ rights activists, mental health advocates, civil rights groups and families of incarcerated individuals.
“Solitary is a very dehumanizing experience that leaves a person broken and unable to function,” said John Prince, a member of Direct Action for Rights and Equality with first-hand experience of solitary confinement in the ACI. “You hear nothing, see nothing, have nothing to think about almost 24 hours a day. You lose all perspective of time. Human beings are not meant to live like that for weeks or months on end. My experiences in solitary were extremely painful, and I have many friends who were left unable to relate to people, even their families, after prolonged segregation. There have to be limits that keep this from being used for long periods or on people who are likely to suffer lasting damage from it.”
“Even mentally healthy people lose their faculties in solitary confinement, but for people with mental illness, it is a particularly unhealthy situation that impairs an individual’s ability to maintain healthy relationships,” said Michael Cerullo, a psychotherapist with extensive clinical experience in the juvenile and adult criminal justice system. “Without positive relationships in the community and with oneself, meaningful rehabilitation is significantly compromised. People with mental illness suffer serious trauma that cannot be undone when they are released either back into the prison population or back into the community, and that damage has ill effects on them and the people around them. We have to stop using this counterproductive approach with human beings challenged by mental illness for their sake and for the sake of the whole community.”
“Across the country, states are reducing their reliance on solitary confinement,” said Steven Brown, Executive Director of the Rhode Island ACLU. “Long-term isolation costs too much, does nothing to rehabilitate prisoners, and exacerbates mental illness — even in those who were healthy when they entered solitary. More than a century ago, the U.S. Supreme Court noted not only the extreme toll solitary confinement takes on those subjected to it, but that those who are affected may never recover well enough to reintegrate well into the community. Yet, the use of solitary confinement persists. States that once relied heavily on solitary confinement are now instead focusing on policies that promote safe communities and fair treatment — at the same time saving their states millions and reducing violence in the prisons. It’s time for us to do the same here in Rhode Island.”
The House bill has 38 cosponsors, including Representatives Scott A. Slater (D-Dist. 10, Providence), Jean Philippe Barros (D-Dist. 59, Pawtucket), Raymond A. Hull (D-Dist. 6, Providence, North Providence) and David A. Bennett (D-Dist. 20, Warwick, Cranston).
[From the press release]
FACE VALUE
What’s with faces that need to hide
Whenever they appear outside?
Belonging to the human race
Requires that you have a face
It’s not a bigoted request
And failure doesn’t mean arrest
But without cheeks, a mouth and nose
It’s just fabric from head to toes
Floating like ghosts on Halloween
That private world of the unseen
Shouldn’t mean immunity
From joining our community
Of men and women, boys and girls
Dark hair, blond hair, buzz cut, curls
We wink, we frown, we cry, we grin
Draw your curtains and let us in.
c2016pn
When Representative Robert Lancia (R District 16, Cranston) announced that he was hosting the first House National Prayer Breakfast on the floor of the House and thanked Speaker Nicholas Mattiello for his support in making it happen, I knew I had to attend.
Prayer and religion are very important to many Americans and their elected representatives, but our country and Rhode Island in particular was founded on a secular vision of governance that allows each person to bring their convictions to the discussion, but not impose those convictions on anyone else. An official House of Representatives sponsored event blurs the lines between church and state, even when the event being held strives mightily to be “interfaith,” inclusive and welcoming to all.
Lancia said that he sees the prayer breakfast as an opportunity to network, a chance to bring together the political and religious community. He hopes this will be the first of many such events.
Guest speaker Bishop Nicholas Knisely of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island concurred with Lancia. He also hopes that this event might be the first of a series of such breakfasts, a chance to bring legislators together not as government officials, “but as people who have a commitment to a spiritual life.” Such connections, said Knisely, “maybe cannot be made in any other way.”
Yet I was there when business leaders directly petitioned government leaders in January at the 2016 Rhode Island Small Business Economic Summit held at Bryant University, and I was at the Convention Center the day before the prayer breakfast, with Rep Lancia and dozens of other legislators at the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce luncheon. This year’s legislative agenda was shaped by these events where the business community told the legislature what it expects to happen this year.
I was at the State House when the Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty presented their legislative ideas to Governor Gina Raimondo, Speaker Mattiello and Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed. The fact that the business community will get most of what they ask for and that the religious community will not tells us a lot about the way religion is used by our government, and why we should be wary of mixing church and state.
This year I have watched every session of the House and Senate and every session begins with a prayer. So far this year the legislature has prayed for nearly 15 minutes, loudly and publicly, even as they largely ignore the ideas of the Interfaith Poverty Coalition when drafting and passing their legislation.
At one point during his prayer breakfast talk Bishop Knisely pointed out that the Pilgrims left England to get away from the religious tradition he represents. (And I’ll note here that Roger Williams founded Rhode Island to get away from the Pilgrims, who were no better in respecting religious differences.) Knisely talked about the ways in which “religious and language differences were used by the mill owners [of New England] to make sure mill workers did not organize.” This is the danger of religion and state becoming too close: spirituality becomes a weapon against the underclass.
When religion is used to provide a sheen of morality to the exploits of government officials and business leaders, people do not prosper, they are instead righteously exploited. The prayers that begin each legislative session may mean something to the legislators bowing their heads, but the deeper purpose is propagandist. They are invoking the name of God to justify their power, not the will of the people, and doing so in defiance of democracy.
To those who value their religion, the prayer breakfast may seem like an innocuous idea, but to those who do not pray, or to those who find little of value in the ideas of faith, spirituality and God, these events are exclusionary and even a little frightening.
I don’t want my government engaged in prayer, and really, no religious person should want that either. Every religious tradition has multiple stories of being persecuted by governments under the sway of a rival religion. Today we might be praying to the Gods and enacting the religious codes you believe in, but tomorrow may bring strange Gods that don’t have your best interests in mind.
Best to keep church and state separate.
The late Tony Judt was a historian of undeniable talent, even if I personally find his political positions slightly problematic. His book Postwar, a history of Europe after the Second World War, is considered one of the finest volumes of the past decade.
As he was dying of ALS, colloquially known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, he composed , a pleading for sanity in insane times called What is Living and What is Dead in Social Democracy?, which was later expanded into a book called Ill Fares the Land. In it, he makes a concise and mature estimation of the history of the Keynesian welfare state, how the rise of neoclassical economics under the auspices of neoconservative or neoliberal governments has perverted our notions of civic morality, and what can be done to resuscitate a society based around these ideas. Even if one disagrees with his embrace of anti-radical social democratic politics, it is a vital primer on the meaning of our social decay and how we got here.
RhodeWorks is going to happen and nothing is going to stop it.
The idea of installing 14 tolling gantries and charging trucks up to $20 to transport goods through our state is key to Governor Gina Raimondo’s plan to generate the funds needed to repair Rhode Island’s crumbling bridges and roads. There is a logic to this: Trucks are heavy and do the most damage to the roads so they should pay their share.
In her State of the State address, Governor Raimondo said, “While we’re at it, let’s reject the politics of procrastination and pass RhodeWorks.” Both House Speaker Nicholas Mattiello and Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed have strongly supported the program.
The revised RhodeWorks plan is cheaper, and is to include a strict prohibition on tolling cars without a public referendum. “Generally,” said Mattiello, “I don’t like referendum questions.” But he included this feature in the truck toll bill to cut off opposition to the plan based on the slippery slope: tolling trucks will now not lead to tolling cars without a majority vote from the public.
At the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce (GCPP), Mattiello said, “I’ve thought about this more than any of you care to.” Mattiello says he’s consulted experts on the economic impact, and that the “experts say it is going to improve the economy… I don’t know any way to do this without listening to the experts.”
The GCPP is a strong, vocal supporter of the truck toll bill, as are the Building Trades. Michael Sabitoni, President of the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council was a welcomed, if surprising guest at the GPCC luncheon.
After the GPCC luncheon, about five hundred members of the various building trades and their allies showed up at the State House to express their support for RhodeWorks. So many union members showed up it took over an hour for them all to enter through the metal detectors. There was supposed to be a speaking program from union leaders, and maybe it happened, but I had to leave.
It didn’t matter. Labor made their point. They want (and need) the jobs that come with fixing our bridges and roads.
Rhode Island needs to repair and upgrade its infrastructure and government, business and labor are all in agreement that the debate as to how to pay for it is over: The plan is RhodeWorks.
One of the less enjoyable aspects of covering the plight of sex workers is walking into the difficult area wherein the so-called “rescue industry” uses legitimate issues like child abuse and human trafficking as a cover for the harassment of consenting adults engaging in sexual activity in exchange for money. In discussing the behavior of one such individual, we hope to give better nuance to this discussion.
The University of Rhode Island’s Dr. Donna Hughes, currently a member of the Rhode Island Interagency Task Force on Trafficking in Persons and a major lobbyist for the recriminalization of indoor prostitution in Rhode Island, who wrote in the Journal that strip club owners who allow private booths and sex acts on their premises should be prosecuted as felons in the same way human traffickers are, is one such rescue industry figure. Dr. Hughes and immigration attorney Melanie Shapiro have a long history of sex industry prohibition activism that has some eerie parallels with sodomy law efforts of the last century or today’s anti-abortion crusaders. For example, Dr. Hughes was a major participant in the 2010 effort against the opening of The Center for Sexual Pleasure and Health in Pawtucket. Tara Hurley, director of the documentary HAPPY ENDINGS?, said on her blog:
Donna Hughes is the perfect example of radicalism, taking over groups and media with scare tactics and propaganda. As the force behind the “close the prostitution loophole” drive, she bullied women out of Rhode Island Coalition Against Human Trafficking, falsely promoted the idea that the Senate did not pass an anti prostitution law (and they did as Senator Jabour and Senator McCaffery stated), she has attacked the 50 academics that support keeping indoor prostitution decriminalized, and she even attacked the women in the massage parlors (these are the women she is trying to help).
Hughes is not simply a misguided academic whose degree in Animal Science and Genetics makes her woefully under-trained for her job, she is in reality a right wing ideologue who has previously contributed to academic consultations held by the Witherspoon Institute, a think tank that has created publications with titles like and Embryo: A Defense of Human Life while posting articles with titles like Europe, Multiculturalism, and Nihilism by Luca Volontè. She has also previously submitted articles to National Review, the right wing tabloid whose founder, the late William F. Buckley, Jr., wrote in 1957 about African American voters being blocked from franchise “the White community is so entitled because, for the time being, it is the advanced race.” And this lady is funded by tax payers to teach students about Women’s Studies?
Bella Robinson, who has publicly rebuked Dr. Hughes, has been adamant that the plight of sex workers is a First Amendment issue because it attacks people for exercising their right to freely associate with sex workers. In 2009, Dr. Ronald Weitzer of George Washington University’s Sociology Department wrote in an editorial to the Journal:
In a Letter to the Editor of the Providence Journal on June 24, Donna Hughes called the opposition to the Rhode Island bill a “carnival” and made allegations that many would consider unprofessional and embarrassing for a university professor. This is not the first time that Donna Hughes has engaged in character assassination in an attempt to challenge positions that contradict her own. Now, in this Letter, she attacks state legislators, Spread Magazine, and women who work in the sex industry. Like others who share Hughes’ prohibitionist views, Hughes is only willing to give credence to sex workers when they seem to agree with her, and when they don’t she has consistently either downplayed their views or claimed that they are the tools of pimps and traffickers.
Such behavior only helps those who commit actual crimes. If the police are preoccupied running around keeping tabs on whether adults are having sex, they are prevented from paying attention to actual criminals. It also encourages trends that are overwhelmingly shown to target the poor and people of color while failing to adequately target the rich and powerful. If you would like to see what real anti-trafficking work looks like, check out the video below of Rachel West, Bella Robinson, and other activists up in New Hampshire several days ago speaking about their bill to decriminalize sex work, HB-1614.
Governor Gina Raimondo has garnered praise from homeless advocates for including a $40 million affordable housing bond in the budget that she presented to the General Assembly last night.
Jim Ryczek, executive director of the RI Coalition for the Homeless released a statement saying, “we appreciate that the Governor recognizes the need for more affordable housing in our state. An affordable housing bond is most certainly one piece of the puzzle and is a good interim step towards our long-term goal of a state where all Rhode Islanders have access to safe, decent housing they can afford. The funding for a housing bond is also a positive step in the right direction to ensure full implementation of Opening Doors RI, the State’s Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.”
Melina Lodge, Director of Programs for the Housing Network of RI, thanked the Governor “for recognizing the importance of state investment in housing opportunities for low and moderate income Rhode Islanders… Governor Raimondo’s inclusion of an affordable housing bond in her FY 17 budget will not only stimulate the creation of new housing and boost economic growth by creating jobs in the construction, retail and service industries, but will also bring substantial additional outside financial resources into our state.”
According to Lodge, “Data shows that many Rhode Island households continue to struggle to find housing options that are affordable to them. According to HousingWorks RI, two in every five Rhode Island households are cost burdened, spending more than thirty percent of their income on housing.”
![Gerald Horne photo[1]](http://www.rifuture.org/wp-content/uploads/Gerald-Horne-photo1.jpg)
Dr. Gerald Horne of the University of Houston is arguably one of the finest historians in America. His prolific and impressive bibliography has profiled and narrated a wide range of topics in African American history, including the American revolution to the history of black Communist politicians who were elected to office.
His book The Counter-Revolution of 1776: Slave Resistance and the Origins of the United States of America offers a fascinating and alternative vision of the founding of this country as a pro-slavery war against British abolitionism, a force that was gaining traction within the Parliament. Included in that work is a discussion of events in Rhode Island that informed my own film Aaron Briggs and the HMS Gaspee.
Another title, his recent Confronting Black Jacobins: The U.S., the Haitian Revolution, and the Origins of the Dominican Republic, is a continuation and enhancement of the classic title by C.L.R. James and discusses the diplomatic and international response to the slave rebellion in Haiti under the leadership of Toussaint L’Ouverture.
He has also written biographies of Paul Robeson, W.E.B. Du Bois, and William Patterson, among many others.
Dr. Horne was kind enough to sit down with me recently for an interview wherein we discussed some of his recent titles as well as currents in African American history so to commemorate Black History Month.
The Providence City Council Finance Committee unanimously rejected the proposed extension of the tax stabilization agreement (TSA) for the property at 100 Fountain St last night. The meeting, rescheduled after the unexpected death of former Mayor Vincent “Buddy” Cianci last week was on the same night and time as Governor Gina Raimondo’s State of the State address, so I had to access the recording of the meeting here.
During the brief discussion, Councillor Carmen Castillo noted that granting this TSA at a time when the City is facing an economic shortfall and planning to raise taxes on homeowners seems wrong.
Councillor Kevin Jackson proposed rejecting the TSA, pointing out that the agreement was granted to improve the condition of inactive buildings and not intended to be a lifetime grant.
Finance Chair John J. Igliozzi condemned the extension, saying, “The contract has been fulfilled. It’s become a high income subsidy.”
City Council President Luis Aponte, who is not on the Finance Committee, addressed the room, and said, “It’s the right signal that the [Finance] Committee is sending to the public and to the [City] Council.”
“Most tax treaties that have been approved in Providence have been beneficial to local development and have improved both new businesses and encouraged new housing,” said City Councillor Terrence M. Hassett in a statement, “However, the agreements have a shelf life and eventually expire. Extending them for a longer period, places other taxpayers in the position of paying more and that is coming to an end.”
The proposed TSA would have allowed the property owners to pay only 25 percent of their assessed taxes in the first year, with a 15 percent increase each year thereafter until year five, when the owners would have paid 95 percent of their assessed taxes. The owners stood to save hundreds of thousands of dollars, but as the STEP Coalition (Stop Tax Evasion in Providence) has pointed out, “[t]he construction jobs are long gone and these buildings have been occupied for quite some time.”
Mayor Jorge Elorza supported these tax deals, despite his earlier campaign promises to not give out TSAs “unless Providence could profit from the deal in some way.”
Sam Bell, a member of the STEP coalition who is also the executive director of the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats of America, said, “This was a huge win for Providence taxpayers! It shows that, when we work hard, we can defeat the most powerful corporate interests in the City of Providence.”
The Finance Committee still has to decide on three other, similar TSAs in the near future.
As Governor Gina Raimondo presented her budget to the General Assembly and the television viewers at home, she was being simultaneously protested by two groups. The first was a coalition of environmental groups opposed to her support for the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure in Rhode Island, and the second was made up of undocumented workers and their allies, there to hold the Governor to her promise to make driver’s licenses available to all.
The evening started with members of FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas), BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion), Fossil Free Rhode Island and the Environmental Justice League of RI (EJLRI) coming together to protest the Governor’s support for three fracked gas projects in Rhode Island: Invenergy‘s planned fracked gas power plant, the Clear River Energy Center, to be built in Burillville; Spectra Energy‘s planned expansion of pipelines and a compressor station in Burrillville; and National Grid’s planned liquefaction plant at Field’s Point in South Providence.
About five minutes before Senate President Teresa Paiva-Weed, as per tradition, lead Governor Raimondo to the House Chambers, English for Action, a group dedicated to improving the lives of immigrants and undocumented workers, entered the State House to stage their own protest. Candidate Raimondo had promised this group that she would issue an executive order, within her first year in office, allowing undocumented workers to get driver’s licenses.
The Governor has broken this campaign promise.
The two groups lost no time in joining forces and ascended the stairs to the second floor chanting and marching. They were kept from approaching the entrance to the House Chambers by Capitol and State Police who formed a line in front of them. The protests were loud, but completely peaceful.
After the Governor entered the House Chambers to deliver her State of the State address, (successfully avoiding any contact with protesters) the two groups briefly separated before joining forces on opposite stairways in the main rotunda. Here they gave a series of short speeches explaining their positions and pledging to support each other’s efforts.
As EJLRI’s Jesus Holguin said to me afterwards, the two issues are actually more related than they might appear. The same forces that drive people from their home countries to seek work in the United States are working to keep the United States addicted to fossil fuels. During his address to the crowd, Nick Katkevich of FANG pointed out that English for Action is one of many groups that has signed onto FANG’s letter opposing the power plant.
The two groups pledged to support each other’s issues and future actions.
One thing that became abundantly clear is that the number of people who are willing to protest the Governor (and, as we saw yesterday, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse) is growing. Katkevich asked those present to join with FANG “everywhere the Governor goes” to call Raimondo out on her support for the power plant.
It’s bad enough that Providence Journal editor Ed Achorn regularly runs op/eds from climate change deniers but its worse that he responds to those who question his decision to do so by accusing them of having a “totalitarian mindset” and of believing that “issues of vast public importance should not be debated.”
Achorn made his comment to me on Facebook, after I wrote that “publishing anti-climate change op-eds from conservative disinformation groups” is “completely irresponsible ‘journalism.’” I was referring to Herbert E. Stevens’ piece “Fuzzy data on warming” in which the meteorologist claimed that readings from surface thermometers that show the Earth is warming are less accurate than satellite readings of temperature that, Stevens claims, show “much less warming… than the surface data — and show no net warming of the planet over the past 18 years and 8 months.”
The piece seems innocuous enough, until you realize that it’s a piece in defense of Ted Cruz, Republican nominee for President, who repeatedly claims that there has been “no significant warming whatsoever for the last 18 years.”
As Chris Mooney ably demonstrates in his Washington Post piece, Cruz is seriously misleading the public when he makes these claims. He’s taking a minor (if interesting) debate about the accuracy of surface thermometers versus satellites when taking global temperature readings and using it as a way of calling into question the very existence of human caused climate change, which is not a seriously debated issue at all.
Nowhere in the op/ed does Stevens mention Cruz. He writes as if he is simply covering an interesting meteorological topic, apropos of nothing. But Stevens ideological bent is revealed when he includes obvious falsehoods, such as when he says, “Back in the early 1990s NASA recommended that satellite measurements be used as the preferred method of measurement because it was the most accurate method.”
The truth is that “Roy Spencer and John Christy, two satellite experts affiliated with NASA and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, argued in the prominent journal Science that satellite measurements are able to deliver “more precise atmospheric temperature information than that obtained from the relatively sparse distribution of thermometers over the earth’s surface.”
Two university experts “affiliated with” NASA is a far cry from an official NASA statement. But it gets worse. One of those experts, John Christy, is known as a climate “skeptic” and he’s one of the key people that Cruz seems to be depending on for his climate denial position, a position that Stevens seems happy to echo in the pages of the ProJo, without proper attribution.
The idea that satellites are more or less accurate than surface thermometers is not settled science, and that debate is interesting, but that’s not the context in which Stevens frames his article. Stevens wants us to believe that satellite data is more accurate and that this more accurate data somehow contradicts the idea that the Earth is warming. Therein lies his second falsehood.
Stevens claims that the data shows that there has been “no net warming of the planet over the past 18 years and 8 months,” ignoring the fact that we have satellite data going back to 1979, not just 1998. As Mooney points out in his piece debunking Cruz, 18 years gives us a starting point during the “very warm El Niño event of 1997/1998.” Starting in 1998 shows little to no warming, because our starting point is artificially higher due to El Niño. If we start in 1979, however, even the satellites show a warming trend that can only be caused by humans using fossil fuels.
Stevens has committed a serious scientific fallacy called cherry picking that even a climate skeptic like John Christy has disavowed. Stevens is only looking at the evidence that bolsters his claim, not the evidence that runs counter to what he’s trying to prove. That’s dishonest.
In response to Achorn telling me that I have a “Totalitarian mindset” I said, “Following the science, rather than the vested opinions of think tanks and cranks, is not totalitarian. Using that word [Totalitarian] against critics to silence them is.”
Instead of acknowledging my point, Achorn doubled down saying, “I strongly believe that discussion of major matters of public interest is healthy. I strongly oppose the totalitarian mindset that those who disagree with me must be silenced.”
Is disinformation masquerading as science contributing to the healthy “discussion of major matters of public interest,” as Achorn seems to be claiming? Is it “totalitarian” to demand something akin to the truth and honesty – even in a ProJo op/ed?
I wish I had taken the time to compose a better response to Achorn, but Facebook is a place of quick writing and off the cuff thoughts. Achorn graciously allowed me the last word, not responding to me when I wrote:
“Though as an editor, you choose all the time who to print and [who] to silence, by not printing their opinions. One of the qualifying rationales for accepting a[n op/ed] piece must be truth, as informed by reason and science. If not, what are you basing the decisions on? There are disagreements in the community of climate scientists, but these are not the subjects you traditionally cover. Instead, you print pieces by deniers following the same playbook as the tobacco lobby followed in the 50s, 60s and 70s. This does nothing to further the discourse, but instead hinders and reduces it.”
A heartbreaking video, The Lifeline Campaign, about National Grid’s seeming disregard for the law, has just been released on Vimeo. National Grid is being sued by the RI Center for Justice because they routinely shut off the electricity of seriously ill and disabled customers with past due bills, despite the presence of a doctor’s note that says the patient’s life will be imperiled if they lose service. This is against Rhode Island law.
Worse, the RI Public Utilities Commission, charged with protecting consumers, routinely rubber stamps National Grid’s requests to terminate service and does not review each case on the merits.
There is one particularly chilling sequence in which Ramon, who has a machine that allows him to breathe, tells us about the reaction of the National Grid employee when he was confronted with the fact that Ramon might die without electricity.
“It’s my job, and National Grid ordered me to shut it off,” said the National Grid employee, “so, it’s my job to do it. I hate to do it. See, I wouldn’t like to do it because I know your life depends on it, but it’s my job and I have to do it.”
You don’t have to read Hannah Arendt to understand what’s happening here.
You can watch The Lifeline Project in its entirety, below:
I’ve covered this story here:
The Lifeline Campaign is a documentary film produced by Brown University undergraduates Arohi Kapoor, Drew Williams, Isabelle DeBre, and Victoria Kidd, with the support and involvement of the George Wiley Center. The George Wiley Center is a grassroots community organization that fights for utility justice and other forms of social and economic justice through community organizing to win concrete changes in public policy. Learn more at: georgewileycenter.org.
The Rhode Island Center for Justice is a non-profit public interest law office that collaborates with the George Wiley Center to operate the Lifeline Project, a program designed to enforce and protect the rights of seriously ill and disabled low-income utility consumers in the State of Rhode Island. Learn more about the work of the Rhode Island Center for Justice at: centerforjustice.org.
oin the ACLU of Rhode Island and the Brown University Chapter of ACLU-RI on Thursday, February 4, for a free screening of Citizenfour and a discussion of surveillance and privacy in the digital age.
The Rhode Island Progressive Democrats voted to endorse David Norton in the race for State Representative, Pawtucket District 60, at our January meeting. David has long been a hardworking, dedicated member of the progressive movement, and we are excited that he is running for this seat.
David Norton has a strong track record of success. He created the ‘Organizing for Pawtucket’ group which launched the “Keep the PawSox in Pawtucket” campaign – a feat that no one thought could be won. It was David’s leadership, talent, and passionate dedication that ultimately led to the demise of the proposal that taxpayers fund a new stadium in Providence! This campaign confronted the powerful conservative political machine that runs the Rhode Island Democratic Party—and won.
David is a true Democrat. He is fighting for working families and is committed to the Democratic party’s basic priorities like ethics reform, a woman’s right to choose, common sense gun safety regulation, and repealing the tax cuts for the rich—priorities that many Rhode Island legislators, both Democrats and Republicans, sadly oppose.
Norton has already been raising important issues. He has called out the General Assembly’s shameful move to raise car taxes on the middle class to help pay for enormous tax cuts for the rich. He is pushing for a fair tax structure that will provide relief to the middle class by asking big corporations and the wealthy to simply pay their fair share.
Norton is also highlighting the culture of backroom corporate welfare deals. He is committed to fighting for real reform, including the roll back of the massive expansion of the agency, Commerce RI, that is largely responsible for the failed 38 Studios venture.
Most importantly, David is willing to stand up to the State House leadership to fight for what is right. He has already proven that he can be effective, and we know he will be a powerful leader in the fight to bring Democratic values back to the state Democratic Party, the General Assembly, Pawtucket, and Rhode Island.
It takes courage and conviction to stand up to the establishment, and we couldn’t be prouder to stand with David Norton. We are sending him the maximum allowable campaign contribution under state law ($1000), and our members are eager to hit the ground in Pawtucket and knock on doors, make phone calls, and do what we can to help David win the primary in September.
[From a press release]
As Senator Sheldon Whitehouse stood up to speak to a room packed with concerned environmentalists and sustainability stakeholders at the #ResilientPVD Sustainability Workshops, held in the Providence City Hall Monday afternoon, climate activists representing FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas) and BASE (Burrillville Against Spectra Expansion) stood up and silently held aloft signs challenging the Senator on his stated support for Invenergy‘s Clear River Energy Center (CREC) in Burrillville.
The event was not interrupted and proceeded as planned. At one point Leah Bamberger, Providence’s Director of Sustainability, confronted Nick Katkevich of FANG, who was handing out flyers to people in the room. The flyers ask “Did you know?” and answered, “Sheldon Whitehouse supports the massive fossil fuel power plant proposed for Burrillville.” After their brief interaction Bamberger returned to her seat and Katkevich resumed handing out flyers.
Among those standing with signs I recognized Sister Mary Pendergast of the Sisters of Mercy and Burrillville resident Kathy Martley.
Senator Whitehouse came out in support of the CREC power plant in an interview with Ted Nesi. In the interview Whitehouse cited support from environmental groups for his stance, support that subsequent investigation has revealed does not exist.
The #ResilentPVD event today is part of a three day series of “charrettes, workshops, and community meetings to explore how Providence’s infrastructure, buildings, and neighborhoods can prepare for the impacts climate change.” An impressive array of sustainability experts from across the country are in attendance. There is a report expected on Wednesday.
Mayor Jorge Elorza introduced Senator Whitehouse as the state’s foremost climate champion though some in the audience were audibly agitated by that designation, with someone commenting that “He supports the fossil fuel plant in Burrillville!” Whitehouse was not visibly disturbed by the protesters, though he seldom looked their way as he spoke.
FANG and BASE are planning to protest at the RI State House Tuesday evening during Governor Gina Raimondo‘s State of the State address Tuesday evening. Governor Raimondo has also been a vocal champion of the CREC plant, as has Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello.
FANG (Fighting Against Natural Gas) has announced that they and their allies will be protesting Governor Gina Raimondo during her State of the State address because of her continuing support for the methane gas power plant to be built in Burrillville. Raimondo will be speaking the the RI State House before both houses of the General Assembly.
On their Facebook posting for the event, FANG says,
“Right now there are three major fracked-gas projects proposed for Rhode Island. A $700 million fracked-gas power plant that’s been proposed for Burrillville, a $100 million liquified natural gas (LNG) facility in South Providence and a second expansion of Spectra Energy’s fracked-gas compressor station, also in Burrillville.
“The power plant in Burrillville would emit the equivalent greenhouse gas emissions of 763,562 cars a year and add more noise and toxins to a community that is already inundated by gas infrastructure. Meanwhile the LNG facility proposed for Providence would be built in a community that already has one of the highest asthma rates in the State.”
People interested in joining this protest can RSVP on Facebook. This is an open invitation to anyone interested in preventing the fracked gas, extraction economy future being foisted upon Rhode Island by fossil fuel companies and some of Rhode Island’s most influential politicians, including Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Governor Gina Raimondo and Speaker Nicholas Mattiello.
More on the fracked gas expansion in Rhode Island:
