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Rhode Island Tag

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 05, 2018 21 Comments
The Rhode Island Senate race between incumbent Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse and Republican challenger Robert Flanders is not on anyone's radar as competitive. It should be.

Posted by Mike LaChance on July 29, 2018 13 Comments
Former White House spokesman Sean Spicer did a book signing in Middleton, Rhode Island this weekend. Plenty of fans showed up to buy his book and have it signed but so did a gaggle of obnoxious leftists. Nothing will be allowed to be enjoyed, if progressives have anything to do with it.

Posted by Leslie Eastman on July 04, 2018 57 Comments
Recently, I reported that that U.S. District Judge William Alsup of the Northern District of California tossed out the lawsuits that the cities of Oakland and San Francisco filed last fall against six fossil fuel giants. The two cities were seeking to hold the oil companies liable for the cost of infrastructure upgrades and remediation expected as they deal with effects of rising sea levels. Undaunted, the state of Rhode Island has now filed a lawsuit against Big Oil.
Rhode Island’s attorney general sued a dozen oil and natural gas companies and their affiliates Monday in state court, accusing them of causing climate change and not sufficiently mitigating its effects.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 20, 2018 8 Comments
Considering the depravity of the past few days, I thought this would be a good time for an update. The featured image is the view tonight looking south from my backyard in Rhode Island. A hopeful sign.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on April 27, 2018 29 Comments
I was in Durham, NC, earlier this week, where my wife received treatment from doctors at Duke Medical Center. With plenty of time to spare, it occurred to me that I should get a selfie at the Duke Lacrosse house to post on the website. While the 2006 prosecution and April 2007 dropping of all charges pre-dated Legal Insurrection, the false accusations, mob mentality, and faculty perfidy seemed to be a prelude to the campus due process disregard emboldened later by the Obama administration.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on November 19, 2017 14 Comments
Spotted in Rhode Island.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on September 20, 2017 11 Comments
It's tough for bricks-and-mortar retailers. We reported earlier this year, how Retailers Filing for Bankruptcy Keep Piling Up, May Set Record in 2017. And recently how Toys R Us Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Chapter 11 at least allows a retailer to reorganize, and perhaps survive in some form. But other retailers are simply folding up shop and going out of business. Benny's is an iconic discount Rhode Island retailer. It has been part of the Rhode Island landscape for generations. It was a discounter before there were discounters, and somehow it survive the big box stores and Wal Mart.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 14, 2017 13 Comments
The only state which still celebrates Victory Over Japan Day is my home State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Except, we can't call it Victory Over Japan Day. Because that is a microaggression against Japan, even though they did start the war and we are celebrating victory over Japan. I've covered this holiday numerous times in the past.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on January 18, 2017 13 Comments
The activists beyond the "Resistance" to Donald Trump's Inauguration are urging students nationwide to walk out of classes on Friday, January 20, 2017, just prior to Trump's swearing in. The College Fix reports:
A student socialist group has organized a nationwide walkout on Friday to protest the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump, fearing the new president and his party will “unleash a storm of attacks” on various segments of the American population. The National Student Walkout Against Bigotry & Hate is organized by Socialist Students, a campus arm of Socialist Alternative.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 24, 2016 38 Comments
Alan Sorrentino wrote a Letter to the Editor of his local newspaper, the Barrington Times in Barrington, Rhode Island. It was a letter, accordingly to Sorrentino, intended to be tongue-in-cheek, somewhat humorous in intent, critical of women wearing yoga pants outside the yoga studio (and men in Speedos). Little did Sorrentino realize that not everyone appreciated or understand his sense of humor, particularly some women who took offense to his yoga pants comments. And therein started what is one of the most bizarre stories I've seen, in which Sorrentino became so vilified that it resulted in death threats and a protest called a "Yoga Pants Parade" attended by hundreds of people who marched past his house in protest as police stood watch. We told the background of the story in my prior post, New object of hate: Guy who complained about older women in Yoga pants.

Posted by William A. Jacobson on October 22, 2016 44 Comments
The internet moves from object of hate, to object of hate. Perhaps a prime example was Justine Sacco, who after tweeting an ambiguous, clearly satirical message about AIDS that some people interpreted as racist, found herself the subject of an internet hunt -- all while she was on an airplane to Africa. By the time she landed, she had been fired from her job, and people tracked her airplane and confronted her at the airport when she landed. The writer for Gawker who started the whole thing apologized years later. Certainly there have been many other such examples, but the Sacco incident stands out. I don't know if it will reach Sacco proportions, but there is an internet "outrage" gaining momentum against a guy in Barrington, RI, who wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper complaining about older women who wear yoga pants:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 30, 2016 16 Comments
As you may have noted from some of my recent posts, we recently bought a small waterfront house in my formerly-now-once-again home State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. For the past six weeks I've been back and forth several times, and expect to split the year between Ithaca and Rhode Island again like I did for five years prior to selling our prior RI home in June 2013. During these breaks from Ithaca I've come to understand how living full time in Ithaca is a political pressure cooker. In Ithaca, everything is political. You can't escape it. You will not be left alone. You will be made to care. Even about your coffee, as I joked when we left RI for Ithaca full time:

Posted by William A. Jacobson on August 07, 2016 15 Comments
I'm back in the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations again. Not just for the weekend, but "for good." We are back to splitting the year between Ithaca and RI. When I left in 2013, I lamented all that would be missed:
My home State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations has provided much material for Legal Insurrection over the years, including the dispute as to the name itself. Splitting the year between Ithaca and Rhode Island provided me with the distinction of having Patrick Kennedy and Maurice Hinchey as Congressmen for several years. I’m reminded of the Seinfeld episode about the dentist who converted to Judaism for the jokes. Sometimes I felt that I lived in Rhode Island for the same reason. But alas, it is no more....

Posted by William A. Jacobson on June 18, 2016 2 Comments
The Rhode Island legislature has joined numerous other states in passing legislation prohibiting the state and its subdivisions from contracting with entities involved in discriminatory boycotts, which would cover the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Signature by the Governor is expected. The recognition that boycotts based on religion and national origin are discriminatory is a prime focus of such legislation. There is no doubt that Israel is singled out because it is majority Jewish and that Israelis are singled out because of national origin. Such boycott anti-discrimination laws have been on the books for decades in New York and California. The New York law caused the GreenStar Food Coop in Ithaca to reject a BDS resolution, and the California law forced the BDS-compliant American Studies Association to abandon its annual meeting policy of excluding representatives or officials of Israeli universities. The key component of the legislation passed by the RI House of Representatives provides:
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