Maybe this is who Trump was talking about

Fake Science, Donald Trump's only source for science information.

VIDEO: Trump hates baby bears

To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwBmrpupsy4

Can we get 100 percent of our energy from renewable sources?

New article gathers the evidence to address the sceptics

Lappeenranta University of Technology

Is there enough space for all the wind turbines and solar panels to provide all our energy needs? 

What happens when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow? 

Won't renewables destabilise the grid and cause blackouts?

In a review paper last year in the high-ranking journal Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Master of Science Benjamin Heard and colleagues presented their case against 100% renewable electricity systems. 

They doubted the feasibility of many of the recent scenarios for high shares of renewable energy, questioning everything from whether renewables-based systems can survive extreme weather events with low sun and low wind, to the ability to keep the grid stable with so much variable generation.

Now scientists have hit back with their response to the points raised by Heard and colleagues. The researchers from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the South African Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Lappeenranta University of Technology, Delft University of Technology and Aalborg University have analysed hundreds of studies from across the scientific literature to answer each of the apparent issues. 

They demonstrate that there are no roadblocks on the way to a 100% renewable future.

Scorched earth policies

Though we amount to less than 1% of all life, we are a threat to all the rest

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams

While scientists and conservationists grow increasingly worried about the world's biodiversity, a new study that sought to estimate the biomass of all living creatures on Earth has shed some light on humanity's impact.

The planet is largely dominated by plants, which make up 82 percent of all life on Earth, followed by bacteria at 13 percent, and the remaining five percent is everything else, including 7.6 billion human beings.

According to the study, published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), people only make up 0.01 percent of the Earth's biomass—however, their impact has been massive.

The researchers estimate that, in terms of biomass, the so-called rise of human civilization has destroyed 83 percent of wild mammals, 80 percent of marine animals, 50 percent of plants, and 15 percent of fish.

These Are the Real Republican Family Values

Trump Separates Immigrant Families, Losing Children in a Screwed-Up Detention System

By Terry H. Schwadron, DCReport New York Editor

In a tweet, Trump criticized Democrats for a law that calls for separation of immigrant families who cross the border illegally, sending children into detention centers to assure that parents will show up for deportation meetings.

It is a horrible practice, but the policy is that of the Trump administration, not the Democrats, and it’s not a law.

In a tweet, Trump urged Americans to “put pressure” on the Democrats to “end the horrible law that separates children from there [sic] parents.”

This is the separation policy that his own administration put into effect last month, and was underscored in a speech in early May by Atty. Gen. Jeff Sessions.

It is true that the policy has run into criticism for the dehumanization of people, and even as bad immigration policy. 

It has led to court confrontations over medical treatments for minors under detention, including at least two cases involving directed overturning of attempts by the government to stop to unwanted abortions.

But mainly it is seen as an unseemly way to force parents to show up for deportation hearings.

On top of all that, the government apparently has lost some of its detainees in the mix. 

In Senate testimony, last month, Steve Wagner, acting assistant secretary of the Health and Human Services department charged with housing under-age immigrants along the border said that the government was unable to locate nearly 1,500 children who had been released from its custody.

Wagner insisted that the federal agency is “not legally responsible for children” once they’ have been handed over to a sponsor.

He really doesn’t care about anything but himself

America’s Megalomaniac

By Robert Reich

Want proof? Trump's Memorial Day tweet says it all.

I spent last week at a conference in South Korea, during which time Trump went from seeking a meeting with Kim Jong Un to cancelling it, then suggesting it might be back on. 

“What does Trump want?” South Korean officials at the conference kept asking me. Notably, no one asked what the United States wants. They knew it was all about Trump. 

Trump’s goal has nothing to do with peace on the Korean peninsula, or even with making America great again. It’s all about making Trump feel great.

“They are respecting us again,” Trump exulted to graduating cadets at the Naval Academy last Friday. “Winning is such a great feeling, isn’t it? Nothing like winning. You got to win.”

In truth, the United States hasn’t won anything, in Korea or anywhere else. After fifteen months of Trump at the helm, America is far less respected around the world than it was before.

The only thing that’s happened is Trump is now making foreign policy on his own – without America’s allies, without Congress, even without the State Department.

Trump may consider this a personal win but it hardly makes America safer.

Some earnest foreign policy experts are seeking to discover some bargaining strategy behind Trump’s moves on North Korea.

Hint: There’s no strategy. Only a thin-skinned narcissist needing flattery and fearing ridicule.

VIDEO: Is this the legacy we want?

Ban Asbestos
Heather Von St. James for Environmental Health News

To watch this video on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-9fl6UCcemI

For the last twelve and a half years, I have lived my life knowing that the cancer I was diagnosed with could come back at any time.

If that happens, I know my treatment options are very slim. To make matters even worse is knowing that the cancer I have is completely preventable.

On November 21, 2005, just three and a half months after the birth of my only child, I was diagnosed with malignant pleural mesothelioma. I was only 36 years old. Mesothelioma is almost always caused by asbestos exposure. Unfortunately, people often mistakenly think asbestos use was banned in the United States years ago, but the frustrating truth is that it isn't.

How can a substance known to cause various types of cancer and other terminal conditions not be banned? Asbestos is responsible for as many as 15,000 deaths per year, but is still legal in the United States and used in industrial applications to this day.

We blame THESE video games

June 3rd: Native plant sale

Gun safety programs do not prevent children from handling firearms

Kids don't retain safety skills with firearms in a real-world scenario

Rutgers University

Children who participate in gun safety programs often ignore what they learned when encountering a real firearm, according to a Rutgers School of Nursing study.

The report, published recently in Health Promotion Practice, reviewed 10 studies on the effectiveness of strategies for teaching gun safety to children ages 4 to 9. 

The researchers found such programs do not reduce the likelihood that children will handle guns when they are unsupervised, that boys are more likely than girls to ignore gun-safety rules and that few studies exist of gun-safety programs for children beyond the fourth grade.

Included among the findings from previous studies is that 85 percent of gun-owning parents did not practice safe gun storage and 72 percent believed their young children could differentiate a toy gun from a real gun.

Pesticides and Parkinson’s

Uncovers Cause of Pesticide Exposure, Parkinson’s Link

Contact Prof. Scott Ryan, University of Guelph

A new University of Guelph study has discovered why exposure to pesticides increases some people’s risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

Previous studies have found an association between two commonly used agrochemicals (paraquat and maneb) and Parkinson’s disease.

Now U of G professor Scott Ryan has determined that low-level exposure to the pesticides disrupts cells in a way that mimics the effects of mutations known to cause Parkinson’s disease.

Adding the effects of the chemicals to a predisposition for Parkinson’s disease drastically increases the risk of disease onset, said Ryan.

“People exposed to these chemicals are at about a 250-per-cent higher risk of developing Parkinson’s disease than the rest of the population,” said Ryan, a professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology.

The official body count for Puerto Rico deaths is wrong by 7000%

As many as 5,740 may have died as a result of Hurricane Maria 
ADDY BAIRD, Think Progress 



At least 4,645 people — and perhaps as many as 5,740 — died in Puerto Rico as a result of Hurricane Maria, according to a new study published Tuesday in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). 

The official government death toll for that devastating storm pales in comparison at 64, a figure the researchers called “a substantial underestimate of the true burden of mortality after Hurricane Maria.” 

The study’s authors reached their conclusion after surveying 3,299 households — more than 9,500 people — about deaths and causes of death between September 20, 2017 through the end of the year.

Through that survey, the authors calculated that 4,645 more people died in the wake of Hurricane Maria than in the same time period the year before. 

The authors then adjusted the figure based on estimates of the number of people who lived and died alone as a result of the hurricane, giving them the adjusted figure of 5,740. 

“The timely estimation of the death toll after a natural disaster is critical to defining the scale and severity of the crisis and to targeting interventions for recovery,” the authors wrote. 

“The disaster-relatedness of deaths has additional importance for families because it provides emotional closure, qualifies them for disaster-related aid, and promotes resiliency.” 

Last October, President Trump used the low official death count to tell Maria victims they should be “proud” compared to the number of people who died in Hurricane Katrina. 

At least 1,833 people were killed by Katrina. At the time, the number of fatalities in Puerto Rico stood at 16. 

“Sixteen people certified. Sixteen people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud of all of your people, all of our people working together. Sixteen versus literally thousands of people. You can be very proud. Everybody around this table and everybody watching can really be very proud of what’s been taking place in Puerto Rico.” 

A smart way to address small business closures

Local worker ownership an opportunity for Rhode Island

By Ben Choiniere for UpriseRI 

Rhode Island, like many places across the United States, faces trouble ahead. Modest employment gains have come with lower wages and less benefits. Economic inequality is rising. 

We have more outside ownership and less local businesses.

As our local enterprises disappear, Rhode Island disappears. We are a small state so the sense of what creates the Rhode Island experience is very important. What we are losing is more than nostalgia.

We are losing jobs, profits, tax revenue, local control and opportunity for the future. Eventually we even loose our residents, as a recent Glassdoor study shows Providence topping cities in the nation where workers are looking to leave.

The Local Ownership Opportunity Act (H7799, S2871), sponsored by Representative Aaron Regunberg (Democrat, District 4, Providence) in the House and Senator Sandra Cano(Democrat, District 8, Pawtucket) in the Senate, is a step in the right direction.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Charlestown has already had a great experience with a worker-owned business. Sol Power, the company chosen by the town for the Solarize Charlestown effort to get homeowners to install solar panels, proudly describes itself as a “cooperative” that is “employee-owned and democratically run.” Please continue reading to learn more about the proposed legislation that would promote more such local worker owned businesses.

Wouldn't this make a great rug?

Long weekend of wingnuts

Home prices up, sales volume down

That’s also the trend in Charlestown

Rhode Island Association of REALTORS

CLICK HERE to see the full infographic

Rhode Island’s median single-family home price rose 10 percent at the beginning of the second quarter while closing activity began to constrict, falling nine percent compared to April of 2017. The supply of homes for sale fell to 3190 last month, from 3569 12 months earlier.

“There’s no doubt that the lack of inventory is hindering sales but thankfully, the supply of homes on the market has been rising since the beginning of the year, as we expected it would. Unfortunately, we’re not where we need to be yet but we’re heading in the right direction,” said Joe Luca, 2018 president of the Rhode Island Association of Realtors.

The year started out with a 2.7-month supply of homes for sale which rose to a 3.5-month supply by last month. A six-month supply is considered to be a housing market that is balanced between supply and demand.

Sales of single-family homes in process but not yet closed in April fell by 28 percent, a sign of weakening sales in the months ahead.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Zillow sees the same trends in the Charlestown housing market. They characterize Charlestown housing as "Neutral" as to whether the buyer or the seller has the most leverage. See following graphic.

Your pipes are trying to kill you

Widely used PVC plastic chemical spurs obesity, prediabetes: Study

Brian Bienkowski for Environmental Health News

Mice exposed in the womb to a chemical used in PVC plastic, door and window frames, blinds, water pipes, and medical devices were more likely to suffer from prediabetes and obesity, according to a study released this week.

The chemical also increased fat accumulation in human stem cells.

The research suggests that the widely used chemical— organotin dibutyltin (DBT)—could be spurring obesity and diabetes and scientists say we should monitor people's exposure since we know so little about the compound.

The continuing fight with the nation’s largest student loan shark

When "losing" is actually winning

Two years of obstruction and tactical maneuvering weren't enough to keep a large coalition of shareholders, led by Rhode Island General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, from taking Navient Corp., the nation's largest student loan servicer, to task over its role in the growing national student debt crisis today at the company's annual meeting.

This is the first time shareholders have had the opportunity to vote on Treasurer Magaziner's proposal, which would require the company to provide shareholders with an analysis of risks and potential governance failures related to the student loan crisis.

Navient successfully petitioned the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to block the proposal in 2017. This year, however, the SEC did not grant Navient's request to prevent a shareholder vote and its shareholders sent a strong message, with nearly half of all votes cast supporting the proposal

It is highly unusual for more than a small percentage of investors to vote against management in a shareholder proposal of this type. Preliminary results show 43 percent voted in favor of Magaziner's proposal.

EDITOR’S NOTE: I had direct experience in several corporate proxy fights that sought to force companies to adopt more ethical practices. It's rare to get more than 10% of the vote, never mind 43%. Most corporate stocks are owned by mutual funds, investment firms and insurance companies who generally DO NOT include social justice as a priority. So congratulations, Seth, on a great result. Incidentally, if you draw 10% or more “yes” votes in a proxy fight, that usually causes companies to fire executives and change behavior.  – Will Collette 

Morgan says guns have more rights than people

Joins Filippi and Price in opposition to sensible gun control

By Will Collette

Machine-gun Morgan stands alone
fighting sensible gun laws

Last week, the Rhode Island Senate showed rare courage by bucking the gun lobby to approve companion bills to House legislation banning “bump stocks” and allowing the courts to take away the guns of dangerous individuals.

The Senate vote was 33 to 1. The one “NO” vote was cast by Republican wingnut Sen. Elaine Morgan who represents the northern half of Charlestown.

She joins her fellow local Republican village idiots Reps. Blake Filippi and Justin Price who cast NO votes against the same legislation in the House.

The legislation goes on to the Governor who is sure to sign them into law after a final, pro forma vote in the House.

Morgan said she voted NO because "I see it violating our constitutional rights…I want to keep our kids safe, that's definitely what we need to do. But I don't see anything in this bill to keep our kids safe."

So, to be clear, Morgan believes no children are protected by banning devices that prevent conversion of semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic machine guns, like the kind used in the Las Vegas massacre.

Morgan believes no children are protected when a court, upon hearing credible evidence, takes away the guns of a person who poses a threat to others.

Morgan says that instead, this is “violating our constitutional rights.”

The statistics say it all

For more cartoons by Ruben Bolling, CLICK HERE.

The Chemistry of Dishwashers

Almost half face death

Preventing murder by addressing domestic violence

Case Western Reserve University

Victims of domestic violence are at a high risk to be murdered -- or a victim of attempted murder -- according to a Cuyahoga County task force of criminal-justice professionals, victim advocates and researchers working to prevent domestic violence and homicides.

In the first year of the initiative, the Cuyahoga County Domestic Violence High Risk Team (DVHRT) partnered with researchers from Case Western Reserve University and the Cleveland Police Department in districts 1 and 5 (in the city's far-West and East Sides, respectively) where officers surveyed victims in domestic-violence calls.

The survey, called the Danger Assessment for Law Enforcement (DA-LE), relied on an 11-question survey to determine victims at the greatest risk for homicide and severe assault. More than 95 percent of all victims volunteered to participate in the assessment with the responding officers.

An egg a day could keep the doctor away

Having an egg a day could reduce risk of stroke by 26 percent

BMJ

People who consume an egg a day could significantly reduce their risk of cardiovascular diseases compared with eating no eggs, suggests a study carried out in China, published in the journal Heart.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide, including China, mostly due to ischaemic heart disease and stroke (including both haemorrhagic and ischaemic stroke).

Unlike ischaemic heart disease, which is the leading cause of premature death in most Western countries, stroke is the most responsible cause in China, followed by heart disease.

Although ischaemic stroke accounted for the majority of strokes, the proportion of haemorrhagic stroke in China is still higher than that in high income countries.

Eggs are a prominent source of dietary cholesterol, but they also contain high-quality protein, many vitamins and bioactive components such as phospholipids and carotenoids.

Carl Icahn gets by with a little help from his pals

The Financial Hardships of Trump’s Friends

By Robert Reich

The Environmental Protection Agency recently granted to an oil refinery owned by Carl Icahn a so-called “financial hardship” waiver. The exemption allows the refinery to avoid clean air laws, potentially saving Icahn millions of dollars.

Icahn is not exactly a hardship case. According to Bloomberg’s Billionaire Index, his net worth is $21.8 billion. Over the last four decades as a corporate raider, Icahn has pushed CEOs to cut payrolls, abandon their communities, and outsource jobs abroad in order to generate more money for him and other investors. 

In 1985, after winning control of the now-defunct Trans World Airlines, Icahn stripped its assets, pocketed nearly $500 million in profits, and left the airline more than $500 million in debt. Former TWA chair C.E. Meyer Jr. called Icahn “one of the greediest men on earth.”

No single person has done more to harm America’s working class than Carl Icahn. Not surprisingly, Icahn was a Trump backer from the start, and has benefited immensely from Trump’s presidency.

When Trump first talked with Scott Pruitt about running the EPA, Trump told Pruitt to meet with Icahn. As Icahn later recounted, “I told Donald that [Pruitt] is somebody who will do away with many of the problems at the EPA.”

Trump then made Icahn his special regulatory adviser, until lawmakers raised concerns about potential conflicts of interest. 

It’s great when they start young

Chariho Students Get Dirty Restoring Salt Marsh

By TODD McLEISH/ecoRI News contributor

Chariho High School students are working to a restore a
vulnerable marsh at Ninigret Pond. (Todd McLeish/ecoRI News)

Sage Witham’s freshly manicured fingernails were an elegant silver color, but they were covered in mud and sand as she and her classmates worked to plant native grasses at a salt marsh along the edge of Ninigret Pond. 

The Chariho High School junior wasn’t concerned about a little mud on her nails, though.

“I had them done for prom last week,” said Witham, a junior from Charlestown. “I don’t mind if they get ruined now.”

The students gathered May 21 at the marsh with staff from Save The Bay, as part of an extensive effort to restore the salt marsh, which had been drowning in place because of rising sea levels.

The 30-acre site had 30,000 cubic yards of sandy sediments deposited on it 18 months ago, to raise the elevation of the marsh and make it less vulnerable to the effects of climate change. The sand had been dredged from the adjacent Charlestown Breachway.

The resulting moonscape was mostly devoid of vegetation, except for areas replanted by volunteers last year and a few wild plants that successfully pushed through the new layer of sediment. The students were aiming to expand that area of greenery to restore the natural function of the marsh.

Not a nice place to visit, wouldn't want to live there.

Check out the numbers

Don’t leave kids or pets locked in your car

Hot cars can hit deadly temperatures in as little as one hour

Leslie Minton

A lot can happen at 160 degrees Fahrenheit: Eggs fry, salmonella bacteria dies, and human skin will suffer third-degree burns. 

If a car is parked in the sun on a hot summer day, its dashboard can hit about 160 degrees in about an hour. 

One hour is also about how long it can take for a young child trapped in a car to suffer heat injury or even die from hyperthermia.

Researchers from Arizona State University and the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine have completed a study to compare how different types of cars warm up on hot days when exposed to different amounts of shade and sunlight for different periods of time. 

The research team also took into account how these differences would affect the body temperature of a hypothetical 2-year-old child left in a vehicle on a hot day. Their study was published in the journal Temperature.

Buyer beware: Some water-filter pitchers much better at toxin removal

Study finds some purifiers remove twice the microcystins from risky water

Ohio State University

Water pitchers designed to rid water of harmful contaminants are not created equal, new research has found.

Scientists from The Ohio State University compared three popular pitcher brands' ability to clear dangerous microcystins from tap water. They found that while one did an excellent job, other pitchers allowed the toxins -- which appear during harmful algal blooms (HABs) -- to escape the filter and drop into the drinking water.

The purifier that filtered water fastest, and which was made entirely of coconut-based activated carbon, removed 50 percent or less of the microcystins from the water. 

But the purifier that filtered water slowest -- and which was made from a blend of active carbon -- rendered the microcystins undetectable in drinking water. The study appears in the journal Water Science Technology: Water Supply.

Give states the power to punish parents who do not store guns safely

Langevin introduces bill gun nuts are sure to hate

Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) introduced legislation to protect children from unsecured firearms. The Child Gun Access Prevention Act would promote state laws that hold gun owners criminally liable if their firearms are used by children.

“Millions of children across the country live in homes with unsecured, loaded guns,” said Congressman Langevin.

“This poses a serious public safety hazard. An unsecured gun in the home is tied to dramatically increased rates of youth suicide and unintentional child gun injuries. 

"We’ve also seen devastating cases where children have gained access to their parents’ guns and used them to kill purposefully. Adult gun owners must lock up their guns, and when they fail to do so, they must be held responsible.”

Fourteen states (including Rhode Island) and the District of Columbia currently have laws, known as Child Access Prevention (CAP) laws, that hold gun owners liable for negligent gun storage that leads to child access.

Women’s Right to Choose

Time to replace the sitting ducks

MeKenzie Mattheson in UpRiseRI

Though it solidified the right to abortion at the federal level, the Roe v Wade decision of 1973 was unable to avert the wave of backlash that would arise from the state level in the years to come. 

In fact, since Roe v Wade was passed in 1973, there have been a total of 1,193 enacted state abortion restrictions. In 2017 alone, 67 restrictive abortion policies have hit states’ floors, and won asserts the Guttmacher Institute.

In the past seven years we have seen the most hostile attitudes towards abortion since Roe v Wade was passed. Now, more than ever, women’s right to choose is in danger.

Rhode Island, despite its liberal facade, is yet another state on the list of states that are apprehensive, to say the least, towards reproductive rights. 

We are currently witnessing the grueling process of passing a bill that would finally legalize abortion if Roe v Wade gets overturned. 

Identity and headgear

For more cartoons by Jen Sorenson, CLICK HERE.

Spygate?

Beware of mosquito spit

More than a living syringe: Mosquito saliva alone triggers unexpected immune response

Baylor College of Medicine

Mosquito season is around the corner, bringing with it a higher risk of catching potentially serious diseases transmitted by their bite.

Mosquitoes also may increase the severity of the diseases they transmit, and researchers think that mosquito saliva plays an active role in this process.

A team of researchers at Baylor College of Medicine has taken a closer look at the effect of mosquito saliva alone and found that it can trigger an unexpected variety of immune responses in an animal model of the human immune system.

Bad air across Rhode Island CONTINUES today

Friday's unhealthy ozone levels continue through Saturday.

Tree pollen is also very high

The air quality forecast for Sunday is "Good." The NWS forecast is for showers beginning tonight.

The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management says air quality will again reach UNHEALTHY levels statewide during the afternoon and late into the evening on Friday, May 26th.

The poor air quality will be due to elevated ground level ozone concentrations.

Ozone is a major component of smog and is formed by the photochemical reaction of pollutants emitted by motor vehicles, industry and other sources in the presence of elevated temperatures and sunlight.

Tree pollen is also a problem this weekend, except for Sunday
 (Pollen.com).

Rhode Island residents can help reduce air pollutant emissions. Limit car travel and the use of small engines, lawn motors and charcoal lighter fuels. Travel by bus or carpool whenever possible, particularly during high ozone periods.

The Rhode Island Department of Health warns that unhealthy levels of ozone can cause throat irritation, coughing, chest pain, shortness of breath, increased susceptibility to respiratory infection and aggravation of asthma and other respiratory ailments.

'This Is Not Ok'

Guard Shoves Reporter as EPA Bars Multiple News Outlets From Water Pollution Event

By Jessica Corbett, staff writer for Common Dreams

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) blocked reporters from CNN, E&E News, and the Associated Press from attending a summit about water pollution on Tuesday, and a security guard reportedly grabbed a journalist by the shoulders and "forcibly" shoved her out of the building.

"Guards barred an AP reporter from passing through a security checkpoint inside the building. When the reporter asked to speak to an EPA public-affairs person, the security guards grabbed the reporter by the shoulders and shoved her forcibly out of the EPA building," the AP said Tuesday.

EPA spokesman Jahan Wilcox told the journalists they had not been invited to the summit and there was not space for them. Wilcox told NBC News the agency provided them with a livestream. 

He claimed the AP reporter threatened "negative coverage" if she was not allowed to attend the event, but also that he was "unaware of the individual situation that has been reported."

A climate reporter for Politico tweeted Tuesday that a security guard joked about how he told an AP reporter she could not film as she was being kicked out of the agency building.

A journalist from E&E confirmed that his outlet as well as CNN and the AP had been barred from attending the event.

A time to remember our war dead

Let us hope and work for peace

By Will Collette

Click here to see more history and photos of Charlestown's
Ninigret Naval Auxiliary Air Field.

Memorial Day is the official federal holiday to commemorate the men and women who died in our nation’s wars. 

Memorial Day began in 1868 as “Decoration Day” when people were asked to place flowers on the graves of Union soldiers who died fighting against the Confederacy in the Civil War. It has since become the day we remember those in died in all of our wars.

In years past, Progressive Charlestown reprinted an original series of articles on the history of the Ninigret Naval Auxiliary Air Field (NAAF) over the Memorial Day weekend. 

Hundreds of Navy aviators learned to fly, and  dozens died trying at NAAF during the Second World War.

The NAAF, now Ninigret Park and the Ninigret Natural Wildlife Refuge, changed and shaped Charlestown perhaps as no event in modern times.

Instead of re-running the series, we invite you to read about the airfield and its history, as well as controversies that have arisen over the land and its uses by simply clicking here on NAAF to bring up all the articles in chronological order.

It’s hard to think about our nation’s war dead without thinking about the perilous times we live in and how easily we could add many more names to the roll call due to a whim or miscalculation.