Why people vote against their own interests

Who Turned My Blue State Red?
by Alec MacGillis for ProPublica
This story was co-published with The New York Times' Sunday Review.

It is one of the central political puzzles of our time: Parts of the country that depend on the safety-net programs supported by Democrats are increasingly voting for Republicans who favor shredding that net.

In his successful bid for the Senate in 2010, the libertarian Rand Paul railed against "intergenerational welfare" and said that "the culture of dependency on government destroys people's spirits," yet racked up winning margins in eastern Kentucky, a former Democratic stronghold that is heavily dependent on public benefits. 

Last year, Paul R. LePage, the fiercely anti-welfare Republican governor of Maine, was re-elected despite a highly erratic first term — with strong support in struggling towns where many rely on public assistance. And earlier this month, Kentucky elected as governor a conservative Republican who had vowed to largely undo the Medicaid expansion that had given the state the country's largest decrease in the uninsured under Obamacare, with roughly one in 10 residents gaining coverage.

It's enough to give Democrats the willies as they contemplate a map where the red keeps seeping outward, confining them to ever narrower redoubts of blue. The temptation for coastal liberals is to shake their heads over those godforsaken white-working-class provincials who are voting against their own interests.

But this reaction misses the complexity of the political dynamic that's taken hold in these parts of the country. It misdiagnoses the Democratic Party's growing conundrum with working-class white voters. 

And it also keeps us from fully grasping what's going on in communities where conditions have deteriorated to the point where researchers have detected alarming trends in their mortality rates.

Classic social Darwinism

To feed or not to feed

Researchers engage citizen scientists in reducing bird-window collisions

University of Alberta

Tufted Titmouse (photo by W. Collette)

Getting in touch with nature in an urbanized world can be as simple as putting a bird feeder in your backyard. However, what are the potential consequences of this act? Bird-window collisions are one of the largest threats facing urban bird populations in Canada. 

A new study out of the University of Alberta engages citizen scientists to determine the effects of feeders on bird-window collisions.

Despite the popularity of feeding wild birds, the effects of bird feeders and year-round feeding on birds have not been well documented, particularly in relationship to bird-window collisions. 

They’ve Got the Red Cup Blues

Griping over Starbucks is no way to share the Christmas spirit.

By Jill Richardson

‘Tis the season to bicker about Starbucks coffee cups.

Nothing gets you in the holiday spirit like a chill in the air, Christmas songs in every store, and anger about a phony “War on Christmas.” 

Clearly, love for one another, world peace, and the Christian faith itself all ride on whether a chain that sells overpriced coffee prints an appropriate design on its red cups.

Honestly, this griping over coffee cups couldn’t be any less in the Christmas spirit than the Grinch himself.

If you’re living under a rock and haven’t heard yet, Starbucks released a simple red cup as its holiday design this year, with nothing on it besides the company’s green and white logo. 

A few Christians got steamed because the cups don’t display the reindeer or snowmen they did in previous years.

Because reindeer and snowmen are sacred religious symbols, of course.

Even Donald Trump felt the need to comment on the sacrilegious design. “Maybe we should boycott Starbucks,” he suggested. “I don’t care.” (Bizarrely, he added that he has “one of the most successful Starbucks in Trump Tower.”)

We Rise

Building Immigrant Working People Power

Richard Trumka, AFL-CIO President

A year ago President Obama announced a series of executive actions on immigration. Today is a fitting time to honor those who compelled him to act.

Around the country, courageous working people demanded an end to the deportation regime that was tearing communities, families and workplaces apart. 

They shut down detention centers, turned around buses, and spoke truth to power — all at great personal risk. 

They banded together to prevent the deportation of community members and loved ones who were in removal proceedings, and they won many cases. 

These brave actions and the determined clamor for #Not1More deportation led to the announcement of the historic deferred action program that will allow millions of parents to live and work without fear.

Charlestown Tapas: Another Flipper fight, local congrats, lists and more lists and more

Tasty bits of news for the sophisticated palate

By Will Collette

Filippi family continues to battle with Block Island neighbors

The Niantic tribe called Block Island Manisses and controlled the
island until attacked by Massachusetts troops in 1637

Rep. Blake “Flip” Filippi’s family continues to charm its Block Island neighbors with a new battle over noise. Seems that Flip and his brother Steve have bought the classic Hotel Manisses and Flip wants to make it into a summertime late-night jazz venue. 

The Filippis also own Ballard’s Inn and have been fighting for months with the town after the Filippi family decided to block off public access to the beach.

This new fight brought out neighbors in droves who objected to the plan for outdoor live music during the summer. A number of residents expressed a general distrust at what the Filippis had planned in general for the Manisses.

You know, if Flip Filippi wants to further expand his family’s hotel empire, maybe he ought to step up and buy the General Stanton Inn here in Charlestown after his BFFs on the Town Council killed the most recent – and only – offer to buy the Inn to prevent it from going dark. Some nice jazz music outside the General Stanton is just what Cross’ Mill needs.

Congratulations

Do your duty!

For more cartoons by Tom Tomorrow, CLICK HERE.

The good old days before vaccines

Shields up

Researchers are making the internet more secure

Colorado State University

In 2013, an online company called Spamhaus fell victim to one of the Internet's largest-ever cyberattacks, known as a Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack. 

Its servers were flooded with unwanted traffic from hundreds of sources, the company was temporarily forced offline, and its business was disrupted.

DDoS attacks block computers and networks from their intended users by inundating servers with data packets that are hard to distinguish from those of legitimate sources. 

It's usually a DDoS attack that forces a bank, credit card company or media outlet offline. A Colorado State University research team is creating a new line of defense against such attacks.

Supported by $2.7 million from the Department of Homeland Security, a CSU interdisciplinary team (computer science, statistics and computer information systems) is developing a defense service that can sniff out, ward off and protect against such large-scale online attacks. Their project is called NetBrane, short for Network Membrane.

Could it be because they need the money, don’t have sick leave and worry about their jobs?

Research reveals main reasons why people go to work when ill

University of East Anglia

High job demands, stress and job insecurity are among the main reasons why people go to work when they are ill, according to new research by an academic at the University of East Anglia (UEA).

The study aims to improve understanding of the key causes of employees going to work when sick, known as presenteeism, and to help make managers more aware of the existence of the growing phenomenon, what triggers the behavior and what can be done to improve employees' health and productivity.

A key finding of the study, published in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology, is that presenteeism not only stems from ill health and stress, but from raised motivation, for example high job satisfaction and a strong sense of commitment to the organisation. 

This may motivate people to 'go the extra-mile', causing them to work more intensively, even when sick.

One of the significant links to presenteeism is the severity of organisational policies used to monitor or reduce staff absence, such as strict trigger points for disciplinary action, job insecurity, limited paid sick leave, or few absence days allowed without a medical certificate.

The real war against Christmas

Well, according to the Pope there really is a war on Christmas, but not the one you've been hearing about.

By Gryphen

Courtesy of Time: 

Pope Francis told churchgoers that Christmas this year is going to be a “charade” because “the whole world is at war.” 

The pontiff put this holiday season in perspective during mass at the Basilica di Santa Maria last week. His speech comes after a rash of notable violent incidents, including the now infamous terrorist attacks in Paris, as “we are close to Christmas. There will be lights, there will be parties, bright trees, even Nativity scenes – all decked out – while the world continues to wage war. 

“It’s all a charade. The world has not understood the way of peace. The whole world is at war,” Pope Francis said. “A war can be justified, so to speak, with many, many reasons, but when all the world as it is today, at war, piecemeal though that war may be—a little here, a little there—there is no justification.”

So according to the Pope it's not the non-religious or those who don't want to say Merry Christmas to shoppers that is threatening Christmas, but rather those who want continual war.

Gee now which political party promotes that around the world?

Laughing on the outside, crying on the inside

The Perils of Circus Politics

By Robert Reich

The next president of the United States will confront a virulent jihadist threat, mounting effects of climate change, and an economy becoming ever more unequal.

We’re going to need an especially wise and able leader.

Yet our process for choosing that person is a circus, and several leading candidates are clowns.

How have we come to this?

First, anyone with enough ego and money can now run for president. 

This wasn’t always the case. Political parties used to sift through possible candidates and winnow the field. 

Now the parties play almost no role. Anyone with some very wealthy friends can set up a Super PAC. According to a recent New York Times investigation, half the money to finance the 2016 election so far has come from just 158 families.

Or if you’re a billionaire, you can finance your own campaign.

And if you’re sufficiently outlandish, outrageous, and outspoken, a lot of your publicity will be free. 

Since he announced his candidacy last June, Trump hasn’t spent any money at all on television advertising.

Do as I say, not as I do

An alternative to gift giving

Help NowProvide Meals to Hungry Rhode Islanders

Your Generosity Helps Touch Lives Please Give Now to Share Food and Hope

Dear Progressive Charlestown Reader,

Hunger is very real here in Rhode Island. Right now, 54,000 households are struggling to put healthy food on the table.

You can help change that.

Your gift of $50 will help the Rhode Island Community Food Bank put nutritious food into the hands of our hungry neighbors this holiday season!

Donate Today

#GivingTuesday is just days away. You can make a tremendous impact in the lives of our hungry neighbors with your gift to help the Food Bank provide nutritious food for those who need it most. Together, we will feed hungry bodies and fill hearts with hope this holiday season.

Thank you,

Andrew Schiff

Chief Executive Officer

Share Food and Hope this #GivingTuesday Give Now Rhode Island Community Food Bank 200 Niantic Avenue Providence, RI 02907 P: (401) 942-MEAL (6325)

See! I was right

People are reluctant to change their minds, even when facts don’t match what they believe

University of Iowa

A new study from the University of Iowa finds that once people reach a conclusion, they aren't likely to change their minds, even when new information shows their initial belief is likely wrong and clinging to that belief costs real money.

The study, co-authored by Tom Gruca, professor of marketing in the Tippie College of Business, has implications for understanding financial markets. 

He says equity analysts who issue written forecasts about stocks may be subject to this confirmation bias and do not let new data significantly revise their initial analyses.

Gruca found this confirmation bias in student traders participating in the Iowa Electronic Markets over a 10-year period during which they bought and sold real-money contracts to predict the four-week opening box office receipts for a new movie. The students analyzed markets for a total of 18 movies released between 1998 and 2008.

The CIA Is an Ethics-Free Zone

Members of America's spy agency don't even learn the rules.

By John Kiriakou

I
 joined the CIA in January 1990.

The CIA was vastly different back then from the agency that emerged in the days after the 9/11 attacks. And it was a far cry from the flawed and confused organization it is today.

One reason for those flaws — and for the convulsions the agency has experienced over the past decade and a half — is its utter lack of ethics in intelligence operations.

It’s no secret that the CIA has gone through periods where violating U.S. law and basic ethics were standard operating procedure. During the Cold War, the agencyassassinated foreign leaders, toppled governments, spied on American citizens, and conducted operations with no legal authority to do so. That’s an historical fact.

I liked to think that things had changed by the time I worked there. CIA officers, I believed, were taught about legal limits to their operations — they learned what was and wasn’t permitted by law.

I was wrong.

Even Donald Trump is outraged, but for the wrong reasons

The minimum wage is a moral outrage

By Harry Rix in Rhode Island’s Future

“The worker deserves his [or her] wages.”
- Apostle Paul (1 Tim 5:18)

Let’s get real. Any adult working for $7.25 an hour is being exploited, and the $9.60 Rhode Island minimum beginning January 1, 2016 also falls far short of being just.

Ask any Haitian garment worker: Survival requires servitude—-even if paid a scandalous 64 cents an hour.

Slavery is forced labor which legally rescinds all freedoms. A poverty wage is wage slavery, legally allowing employers to pay wages which eliminate many freedoms: The freedom to obtain decent housing; the freedom to take a paid vacation or sick day; the freedom to spend time with children; the freedom to retire; and, for some families, even the freedom to eat every day of the month.

Of course, the minimum wage promotes at least one freedom: The freedom to work two or three jobs.

Getting ready for Christmas

What else would you call it?

How to Be a Merry Environmentalist

You don’t have to be a Grinch to get rid of this wasteful holiday tradition.

By Beth Porter

Here’s something to consider this holiday season: Stop sending greeting cards.

I know this sounds like a tip from the Grinch, but this well-meaning tradition causes very real environmental consequences. Americans mail over 1.6 billion holiday cards to each other each year. 

This exchange of festive greetings generates over 40,000 tons of waste.

These cards, with their accompanying envelopes, are hardly the only wasteful holiday tradition — think single-use decorations, uneaten leftovers, and of course all that wrapping paper. Yet changing this practice would take a lot of pressure off our forests and climate.

Our planet loses 15 billion trees every year. When a tree dies, it releases carbon it’s stored over its lifetime — significantly contributing to global climate change. According to the Global Forest Resources Assessment, deforestation releases nearly 1 billion tons of carbon into the atmosphere annually.

Good dog!

URI students training puppies to be guide dogs for blind individuals

Todd McLeish

Kaitlin Kohut (right) leads her dog Tessi during
a training session at URI. Photos by Nora Lewis

KINGSTON, R.I. –It was serendipitous that Caitlyn Landry and Kaitlin Kohut became roommates as freshmen at the University of Rhode Island. They didn’t know each other and had grown up many miles apart, but both had an interest in training dogs to be service animals for the blind.

Kohut, a native of Holbrook, N.Y., had been a volunteer at the Guide Dog Foundation on Long Island as a high school student, and Landry, of Vernon, Conn., said she had always wanted to raise a guide dog, “but I wasn’t allowed to because my mom thought I’d get too attached to it,” she said.

Now they’re getting their chance. The two students formed the Puppy Raisers club at URI, and, along with students Katie LaBlue, Sarah Appleton and Jenna Beauchemin, became certified through the non-profit Guiding Eyes for the Blind to train dogs to become guide dogs. Now four yellow Labrador retrievers spend all day every day with the students as part of their training.

“The dogs come to school with us, we take them to class if the teacher allows, and we have a home base on campus where the dogs can stay if they aren’t allowed in a lab or other class,” said Landry, a junior animal science major whose dog is named Katie.

The dogs are almost never alone, since most of the more than 40 other members of the Puppy Raisers – many of whom are in the process of becoming certified to train guide dogs – are happy to serve as sitters or walk them around campus.

Even Republicans Agree: Money Isn’t Speech

If political speech is measured in million-dollar campaign contributions, then by definition it isn’t free.

By Jim Hightower

In today’s so-called “democratic” election process, Big Money doesn’t talk, it roars — usually drowning out the people’s voice.

Bizarrely, the Supreme Court decreed in its 2010 Citizens United ruling that money is a form of “free speech.” Thus, declared the learned justices, people and corporations are henceforth allowed to spend unlimited sums of their money to “speak” in election campaigns.

But wait — if political speech is measured by money, then by definition speech isn’t free. It can be bought, thereby giving the most speech to the few with the most money.

That’s plutocracy, not democracy.

Hindsight

For more cartoons by Ted Rall, CLICK HERE

Black Friday fights

Use this new tool to check holiday toy gift safety

Violation Tracker and Toy Safety

By Phil Mattera, Dirt Diggers Digest

The holidays are nearly upon us, and that means that millions of parents are facing the annual ordeal of shopping for toys. Along with designating children as naughty or nice, shoppers may want to pay attention to the track record of the companies producing and selling the items that show up on wish lists.

Violation Tracker, the new database of corporate misconduct, can help identify which companies have the worst safety records when it comes to toys and other items for children. Among the agencies from which the database has collected environmental, health and safety enforcement data is the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which pays close attention to hazards in items used by young people.

The CPSC maintains a database of voluntary recalls and sends letters to companies asking for corrective action, but it also imposes civil penalties in cases of egregious violations. The following list, takenfrom Violation Tracker, shows the companies with the largest CPSC penalties since the beginning of 2010.

Stop Shopping, Start Living

REI is doing its part to preserve the spirit of Thanksgiving.

By Jim Hightower

Imagine if retailers held a nationwide super-spectacular sales day — and no one came.

I don’t mean customers. Picture sales staff, cashiers, and even managers not showing up to open the doors for the usual frenzy of mass, crass, crazy consumerism.

Maybe it’s silly — some would say even un-American — to think that stores wouldn’t open to cash in on a hugely promoted retail bonanza.

Yet here it is: REI, the national purveyor of outdoor gear and sporting goods, says it will no longer participate in the shopping spectacle known as “Black Friday.” This ritual of non-stop door-buster sales now overwhelms Thanksgiving.

This holiday is meant to be a calm, family-oriented time to get away from all the hubbub of life and reflect on our blessings. Yet in recent years, such national chains as Macy’s and Wal-Mart have led a corporate assault on Thanksgiving with a buy-buy-buy blitz of consumer come-ons.

Taking a closer look at the face of terror

The Refugees Among Us Now

By Diane Ravitch

Blogger T.C. Weber, aka “Dad Gone Wild,” writes about the many refugees and immigrants already in Tennessee, in his son’s school.

“It’s funny. As I read all the comments about Syrian refugee children and their potential arrival in the United States over the next couple months, I marvel at people’s opinions and their lack of knowledge.

I have a unique perspective because my children both attend a school where there is a high population of English Learners and children in poverty.

"It also serves a large population of refugees. Refugees that arrive from all over the world, places with terrorist organization every bit as active as those in Syria, just without the headlines.

"There are students at my kids’ school who, just last year, lived in fear of violence. Some of them might have been carrying rifles themselves; after all, they arrived from war-torn countries like Somalia and Nigeria were the recruitment of children as soldiers is an established practice.

"The possibility also exists that their parents may have been complicit in acts that you or I would find reprehensible. Last year, an older boy from Africa woke his mother by pouring hot coffee on her as she slept, but now he is a student here.

"Yet somehow we’ve welcomed them all and done our best to educate them with remarkably few incidents due to the dedicated professionals who interact with these children every day. In Nashville those professionals are among the best in the country and the districts plan among the boldest

.

Pro & Con on closing the door

Langevin defends anti-refugee vote. Progressive Dems refute him

EDITOR’S NOTE: This entry combines two articles that ran in Rhode Island’s Future. The first, by RIF Editor Bob Plain describes Bob’s conversation with Rep. Jim Langevin about his vote to support HR 4038, a Republican bill that would make it virtually impossible for the US to provide safe haven to refugees from the Syrian civil war. The second article from the Rhode Island Progressive Democrats blasts Langevin for this vote. I have also included Rep. Langevin’s official news release stating his reasons for voting for the bill. – W. Collette

Langevin defends voting with GOP on Syrian refugee bill

By Bob Plain in Rhode Island’s Future

Congressman Jim Langevin defending his support of a GOP-backed bill that would add more layers of bureaucracy to the process of accepting Syrian and Iraqi refugees.

Thanksgiving Wall

For more cartoons by Mike Luckovich, CLICK HERE.

Thanks a lot

Helping South County families

Local reps deliver $7,500 to Jonnycake Center for turkeys

From left, Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale  Deputy Director/Development Office Lisa Wright, Rep. Teresa Tanzi and her daughter Delia Tanzi Buchbaum, Jonnycake Center Food Pantry Coordinator David Olguin, Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee, Rep. Kathleen A. Fogarty and Jonnycake Center Executive Director Kate Brewster.

STATE HOUSE – Rep. Teresa Tanzi, Rep. Kathleen A. Fogarty and Rep. Carol Hagan McEntee visited the Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale this week to present a $7,500 legislative grant to support the center’s effort to provide food to those in need.

“Having enough to eat is one of the most urgent needs there is for any family. We joined forces to be able to make this a significant grant because we feel that providing food to those in need is one of the most important and worthy causes of all,” said Representative Tanzi (D-Dist. 34, South Kingstown, Narragansett).

Said Representative Fogarty (D-Dist. 35, South Kingstown), “As the winter approaches and heating bills rise, many people are facing daunting challenges to keep food on the table with all the other expenses. We are grateful to the Jonnycake Center of Peace Dale for addressing the very serious problem of hunger in our area.”

Added Representative McEntee (D-Dist. 33, South Kingstown, Narragansett), “We live in one of the most prosperous nations on earth, and at Thanksgiving, every family should have a bountiful table. We are happy to have the opportunity to help the Jonnycake Center make that happen for needy families.”

Healthcare partnership talks begin

Care New England and Southcoast Health consider alliance

By Tracey C O’Connell

PROVIDENCE, RI – Providence based Care New England Health System announced on Monday the signing of a letter of intent to team up with Southcoast Health System, Inc.as a potential strategic partner.

In a press release, the Rhode Island healthcare organization said the two organizations are working toward a goal of forming a new not-for-profit parent organization to oversee operations of Care New England (CNE) and the Massachusetts-based Southcoast Health System (SCH).

“In most every respect, Southcoast represents the best possible choice in enabling us to move forward strengthening quality, transitioning to population health, improving the value proposition, finding the right structural and cultural fit for both organizations, and maintaining our valued relationships with key academic, provider and organizational partners, said George W. Shuster, CNE Board Chair. “We believe this partnership will truly be a win for our community.”

Bombs Won’t Cut It

Terrorists are the right wing’s best friends.

By Donald Kaul

When Paris suffered attacks that killed 17 last January — at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and a kosher supermarket — it responded with great class.

Parisians filled the streets, locked arm-in-arm in solidarity against terrorism. Leaders from throughout Europe (but not, alas, President Barack Obama) joined them in a show of support.

And two days after the demonstration, Socialist Prime Minister Manuel Valls gave a memorable speech to the French National Assembly supporting the government’s declared “war on terrorism” but calling for the nation to maintain its principles of religious tolerance and separation of church and state.

At which point the deputies stood and gave him an ovation, then broke into La Marseillaise. It was a wonderful moment. (The French have a great national anthem and they use it like a sword.)

I doubt that moment will be repeated any time soon. The November 13 attacks in Paris ushered the entire world through yet another door, into a darker place.

It is a place of fear. If a handful of lightly armed terrorists can bring one of the world’s great cities to its knees in a single evening, killing 129 and injuring hundreds more, then who among us is safe?

It was, in a sense, more ominous than the 9/11 attacks which, while more costly in blood and treasure, seemed almost unrepeatable. We were caught unawares and took steps to ensure that we wouldn’t be again. The bad guys got lucky.

Elaine Morgan makes national stupid Republican list

CSGOPOTD Elaine Morgan

By republicinsanity  in The Daily KOS

 

Elaine Morgan, who looks like she's trying to read an eye chart in this photo.

There actually is a long queue of individuals we have lined up for “Crazy/Stupid Republican of the Day” profiles, and Elaine Morgan, a first term State Senator and dry cleaner from Rhode Island who was not someone on our radar until last week, when she managed to say something so bigoted and ignorant, it managed to catapult her right up near the front of the line. 

Morgan upset incumbent Democrat Catherine Rumsey in the  2014 elections with 52% of the vote, and at first, to her credit, it seemed like she might be able to do some good in politics, pressuring her colleagues hard to increase the penalties for sex trafficking to up to a sentence of 50 years. 

However, at the same time, Morgan also voted against the state of Rhode Island’s attempt to raise the minimum wage, which is frustrating to see considering the United States is currently in the midst of its worst period of income inequality in almost a century, and in her own words, she describes that the people know “MONEY WORKS BEST IN OUR POCKETS”. Which is hardly an articulated view on the subject.

Now, after reading that opening, Elaine Morgan might not seem like the usual fare that we serve up on this blog, where things tend to be far more extreme, if not outright insane and/or bigoted. 

Well, that seemed to be the case until she jumped headlong into the debate over Syrian refugees after the outcry that they could be responsible for a terror attack like the one in Paris on Friday November 13th, 2015. 

What could go wrong?

For more cartoons by Tom Toles, CLICK HERE

Yep

New from the Charlestown Gallery

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