Progressive News, Opinion, and Analysis
Experts agree with the progressive left that ISIS wants American politicians to react to terrorism exactly as did Rhode Island state Rep. Bobby Nardolillo and Texas Senator/POTUS candidate Ted Cruz – as if they are scared, and don’t care about freedom and justice.
Bill Rappleye, Jon Brien and I discuss on NBC10 Wingmen:
The nativists are restless as Rhode Island considers issuing driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants. The NBC 10 Wingmen discuss.
Correction on my part: Jon Brien isn’t a nativist for calling undocumented immigrants “illegals” – he’s committing a nativist act.
Debating a proposed gas-fired power plant in Burrillville, Jon Brien says the United States will never ween itself off fossil fuels. I say he would have discouraged the Wright brothers from trying to fly on this week’s segment of NBC 10 Wingmen.
Sheldon Whitehouse was Bill Rappleye’s guest, who said it would be wrong to say he supports the proposed fossil fuel power plant. More on this later, if I can get the video from NBC10.
Bob Plain and Jon Brien go head to head over marijuana legalization on Wingmen, or they would have, had they actually disagreed. The discussion centered on how to execute the regulation and taxation, not on whether it should be done. Host Bill Rappleye moderates.
The Wingmen tackle abortion, and it doesn’t go well for John Brien.
Brien was all over the place, and having a tough time coming to terms with his “small government except for abortion” views. Guess what John Brien? You sound pro-choice.
RI Future’s Bob Plain just had to let Brien talk to win the day.
Bob and Bill Rappleye spend most of the episode getting Brien back onto the subject.
There’s so much to criticize about the 38 Studios disaster. The concentrated power of the speaker of the House. The unwillingness of rank and file legislators, a supposedly very pro-business Republican governor and some of the most respected local business leaders of this generation to challenge – or even question – that power. Michael Corso’s business model. The list is long.
Bill Rappleye, Jon Brien and I chose to discuss on NBC10 Wingmen the future of economic development in the wake of the worst investment the Ocean State will hopefully ever make.
I say state’s need to ween themselves off the practice of paying businesses to relocate or stay in place. To my mind, this is a legal form of extortion that businesses use to increase their profit margin at the expense of the rest of society. Jon and Bill both think the idea of ending tax breaks is inconceivable, but I counter that CVS’s decision to stop selling tobacco products is evidence that big business is starting to learn that social justice and a moral compass have value in the marketplace as well.
We set out to talk about the GOP debate. But Jon Brien, Bill Rappleye and I ended up discussing the angst that American’s are feeling about our political system on this week’s NBC10 Wingmen episode.
I contend that at least some of that angst is the result of talking heads, operatives, politicians and – yes, Donald Trump – misleading the American people about the issues.
Don’t be thrown off because Jon Brien and I start out with bickering over where the Pawtucket Red Sox should play ball, we actually end up having a pretty decent debate about charter schools – though we didn’t really touch on the real issue, which is how do we fund them.
News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England
Governor Gina Raimondo would like to expand the Commerce Corporation and shrink Medicaid. Perhaps only in Rhode Island is such a political actor also a Democrat.
To her credit, she also seems committed to raising the minimum wage and increasing the Earned Income Tax Credit. But she’s not really using any of her enormous political capital – gained through hurting unions, mind you – on anything aligned with the national Democratic agenda of tackling income inequality and ending poverty. This is traditionally how left-leaning thinkers would focus on jobs and the economy.
This is why conservatives like Jon Brien tend to support her and progressives like me tend not to.
What’s so bad about Medicaid consuming 30 percent of the state budget? Caring for anyone is expensive, and the indigent are certainly no exception. My question is how did we reduce the care and welfare of our most vulnerable neighbors down to a mere 30 percent of overall state spending.
And what’s so bad about having the second highest Medicaid enrolee costs in the country? Don’t we want the enrollees to enjoy good benefits? If so, and I think that’s a major league if, wouldn’t the more actionable number be the cost per resident, or per taxpayer? In total Medicaid spending, RI is the 13th lowest in the nation.
Putting aside the proposed Medicaid cuts and potential efficiencies, which Bill Rappleye discusses with Health Secretary Elizabeth Roberts, Jon Brien and I debate how Rhode Island debated reinventing Medicaid on the most recent edition of NBC10 Wingmen:
With former Rhode Island Governor Linc Chafee mulling a run for president, NBC 10 Wingmen discuss his legacy and how his presidential ambitions might affect the Ocean State.
News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England
Interestingly, we all seem to agree that delegating pension reform to then-treasurer-now-Governor Gina Raimondo served the reform effort well but didn’t serve Chafee well. This is, for some odd reason, known as a loss in politics.
Public sector retirees vote today at Twin River on whether to accept the terms of a settlement agreement between the state and organized labor about their pension benefits. If they accept the offer, they and the rest of Rhode Island get to put this three-year political odyssey to bed. In the meantime, Jon Brien and I found one more opportunity to rehash what has become one of the most popular debates in the Ocean State: why did we cut pensions, and was it fair or just an expedient way to save money?
Both former Rep. Jon Brien and I agree Gordon Fox was wrong to take a bribe and loot his campaign account. Where we disagree is how we can avoid further indiscretions.
News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England
More on Gordon Fox’s arrest here.
I’m sad as hell Pawtucket might lose the PawSox. It’s where I witnessed my first pro baseball game and dozens more since then – highlight: Pedro on a rehab assignment or getting Steve Lyons autograph right from the dugout.
Nostalgia aside, it’s hard to resist the allure of watching the next generation play in downtown Providence. I could take the train up from Wickford, stop downtown for dinner and then watch the sunset on the water from the cheap seats while young adults play a kids game, vying for spots in my memories. It sounds idyllic, and very easy to confuse with economic development.
Rhode Island’s economic needs really have very little to do with where the Red Sox AAA affiliate will play their future home games. That privilege goes to Mr. James Skeffington and the new PawSox ownership group. At the end of the day, those very successful businessmen will be locating the team where they can make the most money – and that has much more to do with where I’d like to watch a baseball game than what’s best for the state’s economy.
Is the Rhode Island General Assembly hopelessly corrupt? This is the question former Woonsocket legislator Jon Brien, Bill Rappleye and I debate this week on NBC 10 News Conference’s Wingmen segment this week. Rep. Joe Almeida aside, some of what I see as corruption is “all perfectly legal,” says Brien, who gives us a great look behind the State House curtain this week as we discuss Speaker Mattiello, payday loan reform and former Speaker Bill Murphy and how “politics as usual” works on Smith Hill.
“Bob wants to speak logic,” says Brien. “This isn’t logic this is politics.”
With one and five Rhode Island children living in poverty, we discussed why this week on NBC 10 Wingmen.
News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England
In a wide-ranging interview with NBC 10 Bill Rappleye, House Speaker Nick Mattiello said taxes were not reduced for Rhode Island’s richest residents.
“There haven’t been tax cuts for the rich,” Mattiello said. “When folks refer to that I’m not sure what they are referring to. If you can point to the tax cuts to the rich I’ll be happy to consider that.”
At 8:00 minute mark:
News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England
In a follow-up interview with me, I guess that maybe Mattiello thinks the income tax rate cut to Rhode Island’s highest earners has been offset by the fewer exemptions they can claim. These were changed when the rate was lowered. I also point out that raising the estate tax exemption is a tax cut for the rich.News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England
I also point out that there are better ways to have a positive impact on jobs and economy than slashing taxes on retirement income – such as legalizing marijuana and increasing the earned income tax credit.
In the most heated NBC 10 Wingmen segment in some time, Rob Paquin and I debate the Ferguson protests with Bill Rappleye.
News, Weather and Classifieds for Southern New England
Ever seen a group of guys standing outside a Home Depot when all of a sudden a pickup truck drives by and picks up one or two of them?
Those guys and that contractor are cheating us out of money. This is how the under-the-table day labor economy functions, and it’s largely fueled by undocumented immigrants – people who came here for a better life and have no legal way of contributing to the services the rest of us fund.
Prior to President Obama’s confrontational speech on solving America’s immigration reform last night, this was one of the reasons I cited for why the US needs to act now:
“We’re trying to save this world on this one,” I tell Bill Rappleye on NBC 10 Wingmen this weekend in a discussion about climate change, renewable energy and offshore wind power.
Rob Paquin of the RI GOP didn’t seen to disagree. “People that will flat out deny that it is taking place, they’ve missed the boat at some point,” he said. “It’s happening, I think a little more slowly than people want us to think.”
We also spoke about why climate change is a particularly vexing problem for the Ocean State and our tourist economy – and why we need to do more to protect both coastal wetlands, and the Ocean Mist!
