Some more things Flip Filippi doesn't like

Charlestown rep adds to his list

By Will Collette

This lunatic is Charlestown's state Rep. (from Ian Donnis's Twitter feed)

It's never been easy to suss out what Charlestown's Trumplican state representative Blake "Flip" Filippi stands for because he will pretty much say or do anything to get himself into the media.

He emerged in 2014 to carry the 36th District where most of the votes came from Charlestown, thanks to his pals in the Charlestown Citizens Alliance (CCA), with enough votes in Block Island, and the pieces of South Kingstown and Westerly that round out the district.

He said he was an "independent" and a "libertarian," even though he gave heavily to other Republicans and was only "libertarian" when it suited him. 

His main motivation was himself, and getting onto every imaginable media from national news to the smallest social media platform.

To get coverage, Flip will often take positions on the oddest things. My favorite example is his campaign to get Rhode Island to secede from the Eastern Time zone and instead join Nova Scotia and New Brunswick in the Canadian Maritime Time zone. 

Why? He doesn't like the "disruption" caused by Daylight Savings Time. But the real reason is that twice a year, when we move clocks back or forward, he gets himself in the news with his stupid plan.

His latest two pronouncements are in that same vein, attacking two popular and sensible proposals because, well, freedom. At least how he interprets freedom.

One proposal Flip hates is a plan to make organ donation easier and more common by making it automatic when you renew your license - if you object to organ donation, you will have to opt out, unlike today when you have to opt in.

The second proposal Flip hates is a small bit of the "Act on Climate" initiative that would greatly boost RIPTA bus ridership by reducing fares to zero. You see this all over Europe as a very effective way to get commuters to leave cars at home and take a bus or tram to work.

Here's Flip's tweet on why he opposes free busses:

Flip apparently forgot to consult with his political patrons in the Charlestown Citizens Alliance because, as it turns out, the CCA doesn't WANT RIPTA busses in Charlestown and they say so in the deeply flawed Comprehensive Plan they just ramrodded through the Town Council on a party line vote.

As CCA leader and Charlestown Planning Commissar Ruth Platner wrote in Chapter 8 of the Plan, the one on transportation:

“It is not anticipated that Charlestown’s predominantly tourist and recreation economy will require or invite other traditional components such as year-round bus and train service” (8-3).

RIPTA busses do run down through Richmond, over to URI, South Kingstown and all the way to Galilee, as well as through Hopkinton and into Westerly, they DO NOT run across Route One between Westerly and South Kingstown, a minor expansion that could include a convenient stop in Charlestown.

Except Ruthie doesn't want that since it apparently does not meet her standard for "rural character," whatever that means. She thinks that people who don't drive or don't have a car should just call Uber (Plan, Chapter 8, page 20). Seriously.

Flip apparently missed that and left himself flapping in the political breeze, taking a position opposed by his largest constituency.

Moving on to organ donation, here's another Flip Tweet:

"Government owns you" crowd? WTF, Flip? 

While some religions oppose any cutting into a body after death (no autopsies, no organ donations), most do not for the simple reason that organ donation saves lives. Some of the worst afflicted COVID patients were saved through double lung transplants. We all know someone who benefited from a transplant of anything from a cornea to a heart.

The proposal that has Flip so incensed is a change from an automatic opt-out (current practice) to an automatic opt-in (the proposal). The automatic opt-in proposal would increase the availability of organs for transplant, the greater good for the greater number.

Personally, I like the idea that by my death, I help others and have always chosen to be an organ donor.

Either way, you still make the final choice. It's just that you have to think about it.

Follow-up

I wrote earlier about Flip's leadership in the state Trumplican effort to block legislation that would make changes to voting adopted during the pandemic permanent. Rhode Island's voting requirements, as written, are actually as bad as some bills passed by hardcore Trumplicans in Georgia, Florida and Texas.

During the pandemic, these long-standing restrictions were waived, allowing much easier mail voting and early voting. The legislation that has riled Flip up would make those pandemic-related changes permanent. Flip, like so many of his ilk, is concerned about voter fraud.

Well, virtually no evidence of voter fraud has been found to back up Trumplican Big Lie that voter fraud had any impact on the 2020 election. Although when cases of voter fraud are found, they tend to look like this:

"DENVER (AP) — A Colorado man suspected in the death of his wife who disappeared on Mother’s Day 2020 is also accused of submitting a fraudulent vote on her behalf for Donald Trump in November’s presidential election, newly released court documents show.

Barry Morphew told investigators he mailed the ballot on behalf of his wife, Suzanne Morphew, to help Trump win, saying “all these other guys are cheating,” and that he thought his wife would have voted for Trump anyway...

Morphew, 53, faces possible first-degree murder and other charges in connection with the disappearance of Suzanne Morphew on May 10, 2020. He was arrested May 5 and is currently being held in connection with that case...."

Morphew posted a widely viewed video on Facebook pleading for her safe return shortly after she disappeared.