So many issues, so little time
By
Will Collette
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| Charlestown's shame. Photo by Steve Ahlquist |
Though he can find ways to get coverage during the rest of the year,
this is Flip’s busy season to kvetch about other people’s actions and issues.
Flip
is truly outraged because the RI General Assembly might actually pass some or
all of the bills recommended by Attorney General Peter Neronha. Even though
many of us still remember the December 2019 mass shooting at the BabcockVillage assisted living site in Westerly, Flip thinks it’s too soon to adopt
new gun control measures.
Even
though there are daily shootings in Providence and the rest of the metro area,
Flip thinks we just don’t know enough to attempt to slow down the bloodshed.
Even
though Congressional Republicans have forbidden the CDC from researching the
subject and withheld funding, Flip thinks nothing should be done without this research that his fellow Trumplicans blocked.
On
June 14, he tweeted:
As legislators, we should have accurate data about how our existing gun crime laws are being enforced before we consider passing new ones.
That same day, he tried to rebut fellow legislator Brandon Potter who noted the death toll from gun violence by tweeting:
Except that Casey’s bipartisan H-5727 simply calls for some modest revisions in the way AG Neronha frames his annual report and was not in any way a condition for the passage of pending gun legislation.
It's a good thing to have solid accurate broad-based data; there's no argument about that. It's a bad thing to use that to delay long-overdue action on a problem we experience daily.
Flip,
who is also an attorney, set up a strawman to distract from being exposed for
his ploy of insisting “we need more data” before we can take steps to stop the
killing. Shame on you, Flip.
💩 💩 💩 💩
Flip
is still outraged by Executive Orders and apoplectic that accidental Governor
Dan McKee extended the state’s pandemic emergency declaration as this tweet
shows.
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| Notice how none of his colleagues will even look at him |
But here’s the thing. Because the pandemic is still raging in many parts of the world as well as in Trumpland across the Deep South and the Midwest, we are not in the clear despite our high vaccination rates. Note that Flip still has not disclosed if he has been vaccinated; we know his wingnut colleague Justin Price is not.
Nearly
all US deaths from COVID and most hospitalizations are among the unvaccinated
with cases among the young rising sharply. There is genuine concern among
scientists that as the virus moves along and mutates, it’s only a matter of
time until a vaccine-resistant strain emerges.
If
that happens, we will need fast action, not long debates spurred by anti-vaxxer
yahoos.
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| When the picture tells the story |
In my opinion, getting vaccinated should NOT be an individual choice, but a public health and safety requirement.
There are hundreds of instances where the public
good outweighs individual choice, stop lights being one of the most common
examples.
On
June 12, the US
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the vaccine mandate by Houston (TX)
Methodist Hospital. Just over 100 of its workers (out of 24,000) still
refused to be vaccinated and either quit or were fired. Again, in my opinion, I
don’t want to be treated by an anti-vaxxer medical provider, so I’m fine with
this decision.
Over
600,000 Americans have died of COVID so far. No one has died from any of the COVID
vaccines despite the occasional story about rare side effects that are usually
either mild or treatable.
So
far, about 15% of Rhode Islanders have tested positive for COVID. Some of them
will suffer from this disease for years to come, a medical condition called “long
COVID.”
💩 💩 💩 💩
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| The new Texas state mushroom |
The Texas Leg is filled with Flip’s kindred spirits, a supermajority of Trumplicans.
Yet, what did those Texans do but designate an official
Texas State Mushroom, the Chorioactis geaster, which
is extremely rare and seldom seen. Trumplican Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed
the official mushroom bill into law.
💩 💩 💩 💩
To my surprise, Flip did not express outrage at legislation that ends the long-standing practice of requiring a legislative vote when a couple seek to have a person who is not officially empowered to preside over a wedding be allowed to do so.
Since gay marriage was legalized, there have been a number of instances where the engaged couple sought legislative permission for the officiate of their choice. However, this usually meant a vote that exposed the homophobia of some members of the legislature.
Reliable “NO” votes included
local wingnut Rep. Justin Price, conservative Catholic Rep. Sam Azzinaro of
Westerly (D) and Rep. Arthur “Doc” Corvese, one of the leaders of the state
Democratic Party.
It will now be up to the Governor to approve one-time officiates.
I expected Flip to be outraged at the end of this marriage
legislation, not because he cast homophobic votes, but because "marriage solemnization" bills were pretty much
the only kind of legislation Filippi could get passed.
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To see some of Progressive Charlestown’s previous coverage of things that outrage Blake “Flip” Filippi, go to:
http://www.progressive-charlestown.com/search/label/Filippi. Flip’s lead outrage is over a tweet by RI Progressive Democrats which includes a table showing that beef production is a leading source of greenhouse gasses. Flip shows himself lovingly embracing a cow he is raising for slaughter. Go figure.
He was also outraged at a bill by Rep. Anastasia Williams to require
the teaching of black history in public schools. Like every other Trumplican in
the country, Flip is outraged at the whole idea of “critical race theory.”
http://www.progressive-charlestown.com/2021/05/video-more-things-that-upset-rep-flip.html. In addition
to being outraged over the official state coral, Flip is outraged over remote
sessions of the General Assembly, mask-wearing, vaccine “passports,” and unisex
one-seater restrooms.
http://www.progressive-charlestown.com/2021/05/some-more-things-flip-filippi-doesnt.html. In this
edition, Flip gets outraged over a plan to make RIPTA rides free in the push to
get cars off the road and promote public transportation. He is also outraged
over organ donation becoming the default option on your driver’s license.
http://www.progressive-charlestown.com/2021/04/what-do-flip-filippi-and-dan-mckee-have.html Flip
doesn’t like telling anyone whether he’s been vaccinated and is outraged that
anyone would ask.
http://www.progressive-charlestown.com/2021/04/filippi-doesnt-know-how-government-works.html Flip really hates the Act on Climate legislation now signed into law. And (see above) he seems to think the new law will stop him from raising cattle for slaughter - which is not true.