The Un-insurability Crisis Is Upon Us

Trump may not believe in climate change, but the insurance industry does

By Andrew Hoffman, Rupert Read, originally published by Resilience.org

This map shows all census tracts within the U.S. categorized into one of five classifications related to climate risk.

What does a post-1.5°C world mean for the insurance sector, their customers, investors, and the economy as a whole? This question has suddenly hit the news, as insurers begin to withdraw from some prominent places, and insurance insiders begin to break cover, as reported by the New York Times, just last week: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/10/climate/climate-change-economic-effects.html.

New research by the Climate Majority Project, working with a set of insurance insiders working safely within the veil of anonymity, looks at this question and set out three possible scenarios. The one towards which we are currently headed is dire, unless new policies and strategies are instituted that rethink and rework the risk landscape.

Insurance is the canary in the climate coal mine

The insurance sector is dealing with the realities of a climate-changed world with higher payouts from more extreme weather events and more assets in harm’s way by raising premiums and reducing coverage to manage losses. As this continues, with an increasing number of regions becoming ‘ uninsurable‘, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has warned that insurance companies pull out “of coastal areas [and] areas where there are a lot of fires” the loss of available insurance means that “there are going to be regions of the country where you can’t get a mortgage” in “10 or 15 years.” 

This would be devastating to individual homeowners and to the economy at large as property values drop and governments take in less tax revenue for schools, police and other basic services. Günther Thallinger, Chairman of the Investment Board of multi-national insurance company Allianz SE warns that this represents “a systemic risk that threatens the very foundation of the financial sector.”

In its 12^th national report, “Property Prices in Peril,” First Street — the analytics firm behind the climate risk rating attached to leading real estate listings – estimates the impacts of climate damage could reduce unadjusted U.S. real estate values by $1.47 trillion over the next 30 years.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Cathy and I were notified in January by our long-time insurer that because of climate risks, they would no longer cover us. We live within 1.5 miles of the coast. It took three months and a much higher premium to secure a new carrier. This problem is real, is happening in Charlestown and it's happening now. - Will Collette

"Fair and balanced"

 

Bah, MAGA

URI forester says forests are part of the solution to climate change

Rhode Island woodlands offer test sites for researchers and foresters looking to future

Kristen Curry

A forestry extension specialist at the University of Rhode Island, Christopher Riely works with faculty and students across campus, and off-campus partners, to help improve Rhode Island’s forests and the wildlife they support. A certified forester, Riely is also involved with research and practice in the emerging field of climate-adaptive forest management, taking place in Rhode Island, just five miles away from campus.

At URI, Riely frequently works with students in the University’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences, often accompanying students to the 1800-acre Hillsdale Preserve to study Rhode Island’s other main ecosystem: its woods.

Rhode Island is still more than half woodland.

URI faculty and staff are working with students and Rhode Island DEM in the emerging field of climate-adaptive forest management, just miles from campus. Oak trees are a particular focus of study.

Previously managed as a gentlemen’s hunting preserve for a Wall Street banker, the site was deeded to the state for scientific forest management and is now managed by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) in research partnership with URI. It’s a place full of history and beauty, but also damage and warning, including scores of dead trees.

Nurturing now, thriving later: The lasting power of affectionate mothering

Hard to beat a mother's love

American Psychological Association

Affectionate mothering in childhood may have a lasting impact on important personality traits, potentially influencing life outcomes such as educational achievement, economic success, and health and well-being, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. 

The findings suggest that positive maternal parenting could foster important traits such as openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness.

"Personality traits are strong predictors of important life outcomes, from academic and career success to health and well-being," said Jasmin Wertz, PhD, lead author of the study and a professor of psychology at the University of Edinburgh. "Our findings suggest that fostering positive parenting environments in early childhood could have a small but significant and lasting impact on the development of these crucial personality traits."

Former federal judge looks at the ‘relentless bad behavior’ of the Trump administration in court

‘I never issued a criminal contempt citation in 19 ½ years on the bench’

John E. Jones III, Dickinson College

Legal battles between the Trump administration and advocates for deportees flown to prison in El Salvador have turned into conflicts between the government and the judges overseeing those cases. One federal judge, James Boasberg, accused Trump administration lawyers of the “willful disregard” of his order in March to halt those flights, saying there was “probable cause” to hold officials in criminal contempt. Another federal judge, Paula Xinis, strongly chastised government lawyers for their failure to follow her order – affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court – to “facilitate” the return of a man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongly deported to El Salvador. Xinis cited the government’s “repeated refusal to provide even the most basic information as to any steps they have taken.”

All this happened as administration officials made public statements disparaging the judges. Trump aide Stephen Miller described Xinis as a “Marxist judge” who “now thinks she’s president of El Salvador.” President Donald Trump had earlier called Boasberg a “Radical Left Lunatic Judge” in a social media post and demanded his impeachment.

Politics editor Naomi Schalit interviewed Dickinson College President John E. Jones III about this extraordinary conflict. Jones is a former trial lawyer, former federal judge, and a one-time GOP candidate for the U.S. House.

Right now, we’re seeing two judges have a tough time with attorneys from the government. What governs behavior in the courtroom?

For all the time that I was on the bench, and certainly before that, it was a pretty awe-inspiring thing to go into federal court. The federal court was the big leagues; you just didn’t mess around with federal judges. It was a good way to get your head handed to you, not because judges have hair triggers, but simply because there is a certain decorum that obtains in federal court, a gravity about the proceedings. It’s deference to the court and working within the boundaries of professional ethics. It’s being respectful when the court asks you a question. It involves never criticizing that judge in a personal way outside the courtroom, no matter how much you may disagree with the judge.

I’m struck by the discourteousness of the government attorneys. They’re treating life-appointed district judges like they’re just impediments to what they want to do. It is something that has not ever happened, I think, in the annals of federal jurisprudence.

ICE grabs two New Hampshire citizens returning from trip to Canada

Without explanation, they were stuck in unheated cells, forced to turn over cell phones for illegal search

By Chris Walker, Truthout

CNN

A New Hampshire couple was detained this past weekend by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents, who held them in separate cells without explanation and demanded to go through the husband’s emails.

Both individuals — Bachir Atallah, a real estate lawyer, and his spouse, Jessica Fakhri — are U.S. citizens. The two were stopped by CBP agents as they crossed from Canada into Vermont.

The two recounted the ordeal to an NBC News affiliate station in Boston and The Independent.

The couple was told to exit their vehicle by the border agents, one of whom appeared to reach for his gun. “I said, ‘OK, I’m exiting the vehicle, keep your gun at your waist,'” Atallah recollected.

Atallah said he was “treated like a criminal.” He and his wife were kept in separate cells, with neither allowed to wear shoes or a jacket.

“It was freezing,” Atallah said.

The experience was so overwhelming to Atallah that his blood pressure rose to 153 over 112, causing border agents to call for paramedics. He refused to be treated because CBP officials told him it would delay the process of being released.

Agents also demanded to see Atallah’s email correspondences, which included clients’ names. At first refusing to hand over his phone due to attorney-client privilege, Atallah eventually conceded, saying that, under duress, federal agents “made me write a statement” permitting them to look through his device.

It's me

National Association of Realtors ranks RI as worst for housing

 

Realtor.com

Beach More, Wait Less – Buy Your State Beach Parking Pass Now

Don't forget to get your Charlestown beach pass

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) encourages you to purchase your 2025 state beach season parking passes now. DEM starts online sales of these passes annually in January to give you plenty of time to prepare. Don’t wait until the hot weather hits and you want to get to the beach. 

You can purchase resident, non-resident, or senior parking passes online at www.beachparkingri.com. For step-by-step details on purchasing your state beach parking pass online, click here.  

Purchasing passes in advance helps reduce wait times at entry booths.  Once purchased, passes take up to 24 hours to validate, as residency, age and payment are verified.  New this year, returning customers with unchanged registration information can bypass the verification process. These updates are part of DEM’s new contract with parking vendor, LAZ Parking. 

How gold nanoparticles may one day help to restore people’s vision

Brown University research on ways to prevent blindness among programs threatened by Trump cuts

Brown University

A new study by Brown University researchers suggests that gold nanoparticles — microscopic bits of gold thousands of times thinner than a human hair — might one day be used to help restore vision in people with macular degeneration and other retinal disorders. 

In a study published in the journal ACS Nano and supported by the National Institutes of Health, the research team showed that nanoparticles injected into the retina can successfully stimulate the visual system and restore vision in mice with retinal disorders. The findings suggest that a new type of visual prosthesis system in which nanoparticles, used in combination with a small laser device worn in a pair of glasses or goggles, might one day help people with retinal disorders to see again. 

“This is a new type of retinal prosthesis that has the potential to restore vision lost to retinal degeneration without requiring any kind of complicated surgery or genetic modification,” said Jiarui Nie, a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institutes of Health who led the research while completing her Ph.D. at Brown. “We believe this technique could potentially transform treatment paradigms for retinal degenerative conditions.” 

Nie performed the work while working in the lab of Jonghwan Lee, an associate professor in Brown’s School of Engineering and a faculty affiliate at Brown’s Carney Institute for Brain Science, who oversaw the work and served as the study’s senior author. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Read more about Musk-Trump cuts to medical research at Brown HERE.

DOGE Aims to Embed Agents in All Nonprofits That Receive Federal Funds

Why?

By Zane McNeill , Truthout

The Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit dedicated to reform of the criminal legal system, has revealed that Elon Musk’s “Department of Government Efficiency” (DOGE) recently attempted to embed staff within the organization, citing Vera’s prior receipt of federal funds. According to DOGE officials, this was part of a broader plan to install government teams inside all nonprofits that receive federal funding.

“The attempted intrusion by DOGE — a temporary, un-elected and non-Congressionally approved agency — toward the Vera Institute should alarm every American,” Diane Yentel, president of the National Council of Nonprofits, said in a statement.

During a call with DOGE representatives, Vera’s legal team challenged the legitimacy of the request, noting that the U.S. Department of Justice had already terminated the nonprofit’s federal grants, which had totaled approximately $5 million over three years. While the Vera Institute successfully pushed back and DOGE ultimately withdrew the request, civil society advocates warn that the incident is part of a broader campaign to undermine nonprofit independence.

“This action by DOGE sets a dangerous precedent, leaving any recipient of federal funding — nonprofit, for-profit, and individuals alike — vulnerable to the whims of this destructive group. DOGE and The Trump Administration’s professed commitment to free speech and financial efficiency falls flat when their actions selectively target and weaken groups whose missions they may oppose,” Yentel said.

This tactic to control nonprofits could have far-reaching consequences. An Urban Institute analysis found that more than 103,000 nonprofit organizations received a combined $267 billion in government grants in 2021. These figures, based on IRS filings, excluded smaller organizations with limited reporting requirements — highlighting the vast scale of the nonprofit sector’s entanglement with public funding.

Why are Thomas and Alito still on the Supreme Court?

A Dissent Worthy of “Truth” Social Mitchell Zimmerman   The United States Supreme Court issued an order early morning on April 19 that responded decisively to President Trump’s latest effort to rush immigrants out of the U.S. and into a notorious El Salvadoran prison before anyone has time to react. The high court’s answer: No, you shall not. But Justices Alito and Thomas have filed a dissent that says in substance: Sure, go for it, Donald – nothing urgent here. The dissent is worth examining because it makes plain that in the emerging confrontation between a judiciary determined to maintain a commitment to due process of law and an executive who openly claims unrestrained power, Alito and Thomas are eager to abandon constitutional limits. The dissent is so evasive, so willfully blind to the actual matter at issue, as to make plain that the two are happy to watch Trump dismantle the rule of law from the sidelines. Trump claims that if Homeland Security detains individuals on the allegation they are Tren de Aragua gang members, he has the right to send them to a brutal “Terrorism Confinement Center” in El Salvador without giving the men any chance to dispute that they are gang members or that the president has the authority to exile anyone to a foreign prison. The rule of law requires more. Such accusations are frequently based on unreliable information, like tattoos, and must be considered by a neutral party – a judge. The government admitted Abrego Garcia, for example, was sent to El Salvador in “error,” and subsequent assertions he was a gang member rest on such dubious “evidence” as wearing a Chicago Bulls cap and a hoodie.

MAGA dictionary, continued

Trump regime wants to criminalize advising people on their rights

Put me on the list too

Source: Rhode Island ACLU