Please Right this Unhealthy Wrong, Governor: RI Appears to Have Simply Washed Its Hands of Skoly’s Ward of State Patients

As is now widely known, the Rhode Island Department of Health, under then-Director Nicole Alexander-Scott and and by Governor Dan McKee’s authority, ordered Dr. Stephen Skoly, Chairman of the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, to stop caring for patients in early October. Dr. Alexander-Scott’s order baselessly declared Skoly an “imminent threat to the […]

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Not-So-Hidden Schemes

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for April 12, included talk about:

  • Still waiting on the LG
  • McKee’s Saturday climate signing in Newport
  • The big-money RI Foundation
  • The big-money Warwick firefighter overtime
  • Voting bills
  • Providence schools still in a lurch

I’ll be on again Monday, April 19, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

No Cost Projections or Means Identified to Achieve Rhode Island’s Green New Deal

The innocently named “2021 Act on Climate”, H5445, has been ominously rocketing through the General Assembly. It passed the full House on March 23 and the full Senate is scheduled to vote on it this afternoon. If it passes, it will have cleared the General Assembly and presumably be sent straight on to Governor Daniel McKee for his action within seven (ten?) days.

Informally dubbed “Rhode Island’s Green New Deal”, H5445 would mandate the reduction to zero by 2050 of greenhouse gases in Rhode Island – a goal that could only be accomplished by eliminating the use of all fossil fuels and transitioning entirely to renewable energy sources, wind and solar; i.e., from reliable, reasonably priced energy sources to intermittent, exorbitantly expensive ones. More about it here, including why the effective date of substantial implementation would be 2026, not thirty long years from now.

But perhaps we are missing something. Have proponents of the bill answered the critically important question about cost of implementation?

Shot in the Arm or Permanent IV?

Does anybody else see headlines like the following, from WPRI, and think it sounds kind of like our state is on life support?

How the Ocean State Should Spend Its Federal COVID Relief Funds

The old saying goes, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” but advocates of the left-wing’s modern monetary theory (MMT) want you to think there is. Read about the RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity’s suggestions for use of federal COVID-19 aid.

Rhody Reporter: Bad Planning Guarantees a Bad Outcome

Medical professional Diana Lozowski dissects some of the missed opportunities that delivered the Ocean State to its current position in the cage match between Rhode Island and the pandemic. Fear not, though, there is light at the end of this tunnel.

Politics This Week with John DePetro: RI’s Con-Game Government

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for March 29, included talk about:

  • The Lt. Gov. final 5
  • Climate change politics
  • Kate Coyne McCoy’s threat to “moderate” Dems
  • Cranston’s new far-left Republican
  • Can the log-jam of Providence’s school system be broken up?
  • Were we wrong to doubt Mattiello as the firewall?

I’ll be on again Monday, April 5, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

Tell Governor McKee To Veto Rhode Island’s Version Of The Green New Deal!

Take action now! Add your voice to the many thousands who have asked Governor Dan McKee to live up to his promises as an advocate for the small business community, to take decisive action to relieve businesses of excessive green mandates and to ensure our state’s long-term viability by VETOING Rhode Island’s Green New Deal.

RI in Crisis While Our Progressive Leaders Self-Gratify

If we are going to revive our economy, we have to revive our sense of responsibility and become more engaged in what’s happening around us.

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Bad Bills and Employment Theater

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for March 22, included talk about:

  • Bad environmental legislation
  • Bad firearms legislation
  • Bad voting legislation
  • A telling Newsmakers interview
  • No confidence in the teachers’ union
  • A phony lieutenant governor top 10

I’ll be on again Monday, March 29, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

Rhody Reporter: Give Dan a Chance

Mark Zaccaria sketches out the opportunity that stands before newly elevated Governor Dan McKee. The commentary urges listeners to remember that McKee’s success is a win for all Rhode Islanders. The Rhody Reporter wishes the new administration well, even as it keeps a weather eye on the proceedings.

Rhody Reporter: Gina and the Vax Fail

Diana Lozowski points out where the former governor took her eye off the vaccination plan, thus condemning her constituents to one more “last in the nation” standing. Ms. Raimondo has a Secretarial job now, down south, but where does that leave the rest of us?

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Insiders Take Us All for a Ride

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for March 15, included talk about:

  • RI bumbles another high-tech signup
  • The state slides on another national ranking
  • McKee & teacher jabs
  • The gameshow search for a lieutenant
  • The pot is almost ready

I’ll be on again Monday, March 22, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

One Year In: Lockdowns 100% Destruction; Zero Benefit

On its one year anniversary, it would be irresponsible not to look at the effectiveness of the COVID-19 lockdown. Florida and California vividly demonstrate that the answer is “completely ineffective”: the two states have had similar outcomes to very different approaches, making it clear that lockdowns did not and do not work to slow or stop the spread of COVID-19.

What about Rhode Island? Well, we locked down. And we have the third highest COVID-19 deaths nationally.

Lockdowns, even if they worked exactly as hoped, were never a good solution because of the enormous public health and other consequences they inflict. One year later, it is clear, as they do not achieve even their hoped-for goal, that they are entirely destructive with zero public health benefit.

Now, let’s look at where Rhode Island stands on the original reason for a lockdown: two weeks to flatten the curve and not overwhelm hospitals. Below is the trend of Rhode Island’s hospitalizations; specifically, Column U, “Currently Hospitalized” of this sheet:

4/28/2020: 375 (Spring, 2020 peak)

12/15/2020: 516

1/25/2021: 380

3/9/2021: 141

By this original goalpost, Rhode Island can open up fully, now. (Please stop with the agonizing and ineffective baby steps.) More to the point, the state never needs to lock down again for this (or any) reason. This is because, to her credit, former Governor Gina Raimondo set up COVID-19 field hospitals. While they were recently shut down because COVID-19 cases have dropped markedly, they will remain in place in the event of a surge.

The evidence and observed science one year into COVID-19 lockdowns is blaring and indisputable: they do not work. All states can and should open up immediately, fully, without restrictions – including nursing homes with reasonable protections. Refusing to do so is to deny the plain evidence and prolong the needless suffering and very serious health and other consequences of lockdowns.

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Turning the McKee

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for March 8, included talk about:

  • McKee’s start
  • Conspicuous inaugural absences
  • The next lieutenant governor
  • ATVs between Providence and Cranston
  • The RI Center for Freedom & Prosperity calls for no new TCI gas tax

I’ll be on again Monday, March 15, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

Center Calls on McKee to Withdraw R.I. from Raimondo’s TCI Gas Tax Scheme

The Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity calls on the newly sworn-in Governor of Rhode Island, Daniel McKee, to officially withdraw the Ocean State from the regional gasoline cap-and-trade scheme, known as the Transportation & Climate Initiative (TCI).

“For years as Lieutenant Governor, Dan McKee expressed verbal support for the small business community. Now is the time for the Governor to take action and to separate himself from his predecessor’s anti-business policies. The Governor should immediately put to rest any notion that his administration will impose a job-killing, budget-destroying gasoline tax on businesses and families who are struggling to recover from the pandemic,” commented Mike Stenhouse, the Center’s CEO. “Today, our Center calls on the Governor to take executive action to formally withdraw Rhode Island from the TCI compact.”

In December, former Governor Gina Raimondo signed-on Rhode Island, just one of three states to do so, to the TCI Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU). Implementation of TCI would lead to a significant increase in automobile and diesel gasoline prices, while also systematically limiting regional supplies of vehicle fuel.

In calling on Governor McKee to eschew the costly TCI gas tax, the Center points to research and polling that shows why TCI is poor public policy:

  • Rhode Islanders are not “bad guys” that should be punished for driving their vehicles, as one gov’t official in Mass. expressed
  • The regressive TCI gas tax would disproportionately harm low-income families
  • The high economic costs and job losses would further hamper our state’s faltering economy, with virtually no environmental benefit in return
  • An overwhelming majority of polled Ocean Staters do not support TCI, once they understand the high costs
  • A TCI gas tax would make our state even less competitive, by weakening our already worst-in-the-nation business climate

Later this week, the Center will announce a public campaign to petition the Governor and state legislative leaders to reject the TCI compact.

More information about the proposed TCI gas tax can be found on the Center’s TCI webpage: RIFreedom.org/NoTCItax. The Center is one of over two-dozen organizations in the northeast working cooperatively to defeat TCI in their respective states.

[This is a public statement released by the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity today.]

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Final Days of the Governor, First Days of the Pandemic

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for March 1, included talk about:

  • Gina’s final days
  • Looking forward to McKee
  • The Lt. Gov search goes full Rhode Island
  • Insiders ignore the needs of school children

I’ll be on again Monday, March 8, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

No on All Bond Questions But Especially on the Black Hole, #4

Sixth highest spending per mile for some of the country’s worst infrastructure. If money were going to solve the state’s infrastructure issues, they would have been fixed long before now.   No on Bond Question #4.

Politics This Week with John DePetro: No Face on Vaccine, Blackface on Block Island

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for February 22, included talk about:

  • Gina/McKee tension
  • Health director in the wind
  • The call for a clear governor from mayors
  • Partyless blackface story from Block Island
  • Picking a lieutenant governor

I’ll be on again Monday, March 1, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

Redhanded: Radical Environmentalists Want to “Break Your Will” To Pass TCI

The shocking words they admit they can’t say publicly… were just made public. They say, if YOU heat your homes or drive passenger cars, YOU are the “bad guys.”

Whether it is “you,” “the person up the street,” or “the senior on fixed income”… the radical environmentalists who support TCI say it is you who they want to “turn the screws on” and “point the finger at,” so they can “break your will” to force you to “stop emitting.”

See the alarming video of the MA Undersecretary for Climate Change talking about the abusive TCI scheme: https://youtu.be/muxVGmgykA4

Learn more by clicking here now to read about how the TCI Gas Tax is bad for Rhode Island families.

Green on the Grid:  Texas is a Huge Red Flag

Count me among those somewhat surprised to learn that the electric grid of the State of Texas, perhaps best known for oil production (and proud of it), incorporates wind turbines in its electric grid. In fact,

… wind generation ranks as the second-largest source of energy in Texas, accounting for 23% of state power supplies last year

But as you have probably seen, this “green energy” source has turned into a big Achilles heel for Texas’ electric grid in the cold front that has descended on that state and much of the country. As of yesterday,

Frozen wind turbines have caused almost half of Texas’s wind generation capacity to go offline in the midst of an “unprecedented storm”.

The Lone Star state is under a state of emergency after freezing conditions swept the region, causing dangerously icy roads and leaving nearly 3 million people without power.

Update: frozen wind turbines led to a drop in Texas’ wind power from thirty one gigawatts to six and there are currently 3.4 million power outages. The situation is getting worse, not better.

Texas, and other states, has resorted to rolling blackouts. In below-freezing temperatures, this is literally a life-threatening situation for states like Texas which rely on electricity for heat (and lots of other critical activities).

A small but vocal group of advocates, promoted by many gauzy-eyed members of the mainstream media, have for years been pushing to transition to green energy away from fossil fuel.

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Outgoing and Incoming

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for February 8, included talk about:

  • The Center’s poll on TCI
  • The outgoing governor’s farewell (but I won’t get out) address
  • The progressive legislator’s privilege
  • The incoming governor’s well-meaning bungles

I’ll be on again Monday, February 15, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

McKee’s RI-Same-Old COVID Task Force

With this panel, McKee seems to be sending a signal about who really matters in the state. That may not be his intent, but it’s something upon which he’ll have to improve quickly now that he’s achieved the big chair.

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Flagging Leadership

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for February 1, included talk about:

  • Black Lives Matter flag in Barrington
  • The governor checks out
  • McKee shuffles in
  • Unplanned vaccines
  • The General Assembly back in the picture

I’ll be on again Monday, February 8, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

Rhody Reporter: Cares Money in the Wind

Mark Zaccaria scoffs at the RI Administration’s boast that it managed to distribute less than One Percent of the Federal Funds allocated for small business relief in the Ocean State last year. He points out that the tiny fraction was largely necessitated by the fact that almost One Billion Dollars worth of that federal stimulus money was diverted, instead, to the state’s operating budget. Zaccaria also notes that despite that usurpation of federal intent, Rhode Islanders will also be asked to authorize Four Hundred Million Dollars worth of Additional Deficit Spending – All so that the bureaucracy that brought businesses to their knees can be assured of every one of their paychecks. Huh?

Politics This Week with John DePetro: Moving Past the East Side Style

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for January 25, included talk about:

  • Raimondo’s East Side of Providence style versus McKee’s Blackstone Valley style
  • Central Falls as leading example of RI’s patronage system
  • Black Lives Matter flag in Barrington
  • Legislation against vaccine line-cutters

I’ll be on again Monday, February 1, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

In The Dugout: We ARE Right!

Politics This Week with John DePetro: An Interregnum

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for January 18, included talk about:

  • Military/police repression of speech at the State House
  • Rep. Price versus progressives and media
  • A sense if McKee
  • Gina’s “See ya”

I’ll be on again Monday, January 25, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

Politics This Week with John DePetro: After the Storm

My weekly call-in on John DePetro’s WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM show, for January 11, included talk about:

  • The attempt to cancel Rep. Price
  • Raimondo on her way out
  • McKee on quarantine

I’ll be on again Monday, January 18, at 12:00 p.m. on WNRI 1380 AM and I-95.1 FM.

California Numbers and Newsweek: Lockdowns Don’t Work

California’s response to COVID-19 has been to lock down and lock down hard. The harshness of its lockdown is confirmed by its decimated economy and heavy out-migration.

Ten months later, California currently has the second highest average daily cases per 100,000 in the last seven days per the CDC. A couple of weeks ago, it was at the top of the list. Rhode Island, also a state which misguidedly chose to lockdown, is currently fifth highest.

Lockdowns, even if they worked exactly as hoped, were never a good solution because of the enormous public health consequences they inflict. Now California’s experience confirms indisputably that lockdowns do not work to stop or slow COVID-19.

And a study just released via Newsweek confirms this.

A study evaluating COVID-19 responses around the world found that mandatory lockdown orders early in the pandemic may not provide significantly more benefits to slowing the spread of the disease than other voluntary measures, such as social distancing or travel reduction.

As she edges out the door, Governor Gina Raimondo has admonished us to “stay the course”. Meaning stay locked down. She is bewilderingly putting on auto pilot a completely failed, highly damaging public policy.

When asked whether he will continue the state’s lockdown, incoming governor Dan McKee has stated (I believe on WPRO radio), “The infection rate is going to drive that”. In light of the complete disconnect between lockdowns and the infection rate, I would respectfully urge him in the strongest terms to re-examine that course and not repeat the mistake of his predecessor of disregarding the data and evidence. He has no obligation to continue any of her policies – but particularly one that has so obviously failed.

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