Rhode Island families are disillusioned … and under assault from their own government:
- Economically – inflation & high taxes are robbing family budgets
- Educationally – politicized curricula are failing our children
- Culturally – controversial & divisive theories are turning our society upside down
- Religiously – intolerance for God, Christians, and Jews is fueling hate and restricting religious freedom
- Emotionally – the bombardment of age-inappropriate content is leading to mental health issues among our youth
- Physically – crime, drugs, woke transgender policies, and the erosion of self-defense rights put family members at risk of bodily harm
- Patriotically – animosity towards America and her founding fathers, as pushed by the Left, is creating enemies within
The preservation and advancement of the well-being of families and children should be the foremost goal of our society and government. Every resident of Rhode Island aspires to live in a peaceful and prosperous society, and every family wishes for a bright future for their children.
Yet, here in our state, families are being ripped apart by a radical agenda that undermines traditional family values and seeks to transition children into political pawns.
Centuries of empirical evidence and common sense have shown that a stable and nurturing family environment is the best path to a productive future. The “success sequence”, supported by extensive research, is that path, which consists of three main pillars: 1) completing a quality education and earning at least a high school diploma; 2) securing full-time employment; and 3) marrying before having children. Following these steps alone can provide young adults with more than a 97% chance of avoiding poverty.
However, virtually all significant societal and economic issues we encounter today can be attributed to the breakdown of the traditional family structure and its security, which in turn leads to the collapse of faith.
Alarmingly, between 2018 and 2022, 32 percent of RI infants were born to a mother with less than a high school diploma, while 34 percent of fathers had less than a high school diploma. These troubling trends can be largely attributed to destructive public policies in our state that erode one or more of these pillars, encroach upon our freedoms, and impose more politicized government control over our lives. For instance, as we describe below, many of our state’s public assistance programs actually create a “marriage penalty” for couples who want to tie the knot.
Unfairly, for those of you who do study, obtain a good job, and get married … all too often your hard-earned tax dollars are redistributed to others who weren’t responsible enough to follow this path!
These misguided policies often stem from corruption, where government bureaucrats prioritize serving insider special interest groups and agendas – especially when under public pressure from progressive activists, the media, and academia – which inevitably results in negative consequences for families and taxpayers.
The Washington Bridge debacle exemplifies the potential consequences of a state government’s corrupt dealings with one special interest group – public and private sector unions – resulting in significant incompetence and waste as well as danger for all of us. The Rhode Island Department of Transportation was aware of the bridge’s structural issues since 2012, but for over a decade, they concealed the report and failed to take action to protect the safety of motorists. Rather than spending $8 million on repairs at that time, unionized construction firms now stand to gain as much as $300 million of taxpayer money to reconstruct the entire bridge. This raises the question we must often ask: who wins and who loses?
Low-income families, with under-educated children, have been voting for liberal-left candidates for decades … and they’re still poor, with un-educated kids!
Corrupt Identity Politics. In a disturbingly large number of instances, important public policy issues are decided upon based on false narratives manufactured and advanced by self-serving special-interest groups … often inventing new categories of victims who ostensibly suffer from some contrived or fake injustice. These “identity politics” narratives are then perpetrated by the compliant local media, academia, and liberal advocacy groups … then, finally, legislative and executive actions are enacted to address these pretend “social inequities”, resulting in benefits for the special interest few at the expense of the well-being of the many Ocean State families.
The public has lost complete faith in our government, which increasingly is ruled by politicians who are beholden to these obviously false narratives … and voters will put their support behind candidates who offer a change … a realistic, taxpayer-centric approach.
The gross corruption of governmental officials – beholden to these false narratives and the extremists who support them; elected and and appointed officials who oversee policies in the economy, education, housing, and the environment as well as of compliant judges in the courts – is robbing our children of their rightful opportunity for a bright and prosperous future in our Ocean State … all so that crony insiders will benefit instead.
Who wins and who loses?
In short, RI public policy has become an “assault” on Ocean State families … in favor of selfish and corrupt insider cronies and their false narratives.
The Left’s War on Women
In Washington, DC, the Biden Administration’s 2024 reckless reforms to Title IX, which will put the safety of boys and girls at risk, seeks to reshape and dismantle the role of families in the raising and education of their children, by inventing and mandating a new set of rights for gender-denying students, which have no constitutional basis.
In response, Americans are revolting and many state superintendents across America have issued directives NOT TO COMPLY with these dangerous new woke rules.
Back here in Rhode Island, and as detailed throughout this post, families are under further assault from our own state government and the progressive Left, beginning with RI’s Education Commissioner, Angelica Infante-Green, who refuses to change RIDE’s anti-family guidance on school transgender policies.
The critical question is whether or not state lawmakers will “wake up” to the harsh realities of the consequences of the Left’s misguided policies.
While not everyone can be raised in a stable family environment, and while we have a responsibility to support citizens in our state who may be in real need, elected officials should continually strive to adopt public polices that reward marriage, promote a thriving economy with a low cost of living and free-market business climate, and provide a meaningful public educational system that respects parental rights.
The Proof – The Great Ocean State Exodus
No other metric best illustrates the oppressive nature of RI’s failed public polices than the well-documented pattern of graduates, retirees, middle- and upper-income families, and high-net-worth individuals fleeing our state … reducing our state’s tax base and limiting the amount of capital available to invest in starting or expanding a business, or to donate to charitable organizations.
These productive citizens are being replaced, in large part, by undocumented immigrants who often rely on public assistance – tax dollar eaters instead of tax dollar producers.
Our Ocean State’s population has stagnated in recent decades and has not kept pace with population growth in other states. As such, most experts agree that Rhode Island will lose one of its two prized House of Representative seats in the US Congress after the 2030 Census.
Here’s how our own government has become the enemy of RI families:
ECONOMICALLY
On the economic front, family budgets are stressed to the breaking point. Because of oppressive regulations, not only is our state one of the worst states in which to start a business and create jobs, but Rhode Island suffers from one of the highest costs of living in America due to high taxes and inflation-causing regulatory and spending policies that reduce supplies and raise demand. Our Ocean State is also one of the most expensive states for seniors to retire.
The average 2-parent Rhode Island family will pay over $1,369,000 in taxes throughout their lifetime … over 30% higher than the US average!
Also, family savings have completely reversed (-72% drop) under the Biden’s control over the national economy as compared with Trump’s (+129% rise).
The “tax the rich” and spend mentality of the progressive-left actually makes worse the problem of wealth inequality by robbing low income families of opportunities for upward mobility; instead of encouraging them to become dependent on government assistance.
When income or wealth is over-taxed at the individual or corporate level, there is less incentive to invest cash (capital) to hire and pay workers or to start or expand a businesses, while at the same time driving high-income investors out of Rhode Island and to other, less oppressive, states.
These kind of natural and human reactions are why increased taxation often leads to decreased revenues to the government.
Such counter-productive policies that borrow opportunity from future generations, in order to satisfy the demands of corrupt insiders, inevitably lead to many negative and unintended economic consequences for families:
- Fewer good paying jobs will be available for many Rhode Islanders as they are increasingly going to illegal immigrants welcomed into our state by Rhode Island’s and Providence’s “sanctuary state” and “sanctuary city” policies.
- Small businesses, the main source of jobs in our state, are being crowded out by high local inflation and oppressive regulations imposed by progressive lawmakers that make it costly to produce goods or provide services
- Also, RI’s high and ever-increasing minimum wage mandates, means employers will hire fewer workers and will cut back on the hours of part-time or hourly workers.
- SOLUTION: Reform RI’s minimum wage laws to match the federal minimum wage minimums. This will increase job availability and allow good-performing workers to quickly earn higher wages from employers who will want to keep them.
- Reductions in Public Assistance for low-middle income families are at threat because of the Left’s misguided polices. First, the influx of illegal immigrants means more public funds are being diverted away from long-time Rhode Island resident families. Second, our high tax and cost-of-living environment means thousands of people are leaving our state every year, which will lead to a loss of one of our two prized House of Representative seats in the US Congress … resulting in lower levels of federal aid for Rhode Island. Who wins and who loses?
EDUCATIONALLY
Most disturbing of all, is that the Left and our government is now focusing its assault on families with a targeted war on our children.
The RI Department of Education is a failed institution. RIDE is not preparing our children for a prosperous future and for life informed citizens … and they are doing so on purpose!
Ocean State families are fed up and have lost trust in a failing government-run public school system that is increasingly controlled by corrupt teacher unions and radical left ideologues. Many families are seeking to escape the system and are desperate in seeking alternative options.
Both major teacher unions in RI have persistently stood in the way of significant educational reform by threatening to use their massive political war chest to oust lawmakers who do not support the agenda of union bosses. In recent years, both the AFT and the NEA rejected calls to focus more on objective subjects like math, science, and English … and instead make the politically subjective issue of “social justice” a priority in K-12 schools. Who wins and who loses?
Teacher unions, with their long-time special-interest and insider crony status, have more recently devolved into just another radical-left activist group that use alleged concern for students to attain power and influence. The reality, however, is while they care about teachers, they harm students far more than they help them.
One example is teachers unions’ opposition to school choice. Those who actually care about students support the right of parents to choose their children’s schools—just as many teachers do when they send their own children to schools of their choice.
A second example is teachers unions’ making it nearly impossible to fire incompetent teachers.
A third example was teachers unions’ demands that schools lock down for nearly two years during the COVID-19 era. The unions did so despite there being no scientific evidence in support of school lockdowns and despite ample warnings that many children would suffer intellectually, scholastically, emotionally, and psychologically.
Moreover, wrote John H. Cochrane of the Hoover Institution in The Wall Street Journal, “When schools went remote, parents found out what was actually going on inside the classrooms. Teachers were coaching students to hate themselves, their country and their religious traditions, and sexualizing young children.”
The last point brings us to a fourth example: Teachers rob young students of their sexual innocence with premature talk of, and books that deal with, overt sexual activity, and the infamous use of drag queens to perform in front of children as young as 6 years old.
Just how left-wing teachers organizations are was made clear by the sympathetic left-wing magazine The Nation in January:
A rank-and-file campaign inside the National Education Association is demanding the president stop ‘sending military funding, equipment, and intelligence to Israel.’ … But the rank-and-file campaign goes beyond [that]. … Members want the [National Education Association] to revoke its endorsement of Joe Biden for the 2024 presidential race until the president … stops ‘sending military funding, equipment, and intelligence to Israel.’
That was only two months after Oct. 7.
Save our kids from the woke Left
Sadly, many believe that we must save our kids from RIDE – the RI Department of Education. In fact a petition drive calling for the resignation of commissioner Angelic Infante-Green has garnered hundreds of signatures and scathing comments.
The lack of educational achievement among students, combined with the cultural attack on children and parents … is even more troubling.
In 2019 the RI General Assembly granted RIDE with the authority to develop statewide curricula standards for core subjects … however, since then, under the direction of Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green, RIDE has proven to be wholly irresponsible and unworthy of such authority.
Instead of pursuing a traditional “content-based” curricula strategy, an objective method of teaching factual material, RIDE has adopted a more subjective and controversial approach, often referred to as “concept-based” pedagogy. In Rhode Island’s case, the Socialist worldview of Infante-Green and her “America as oppressors” point-of-view is persistently woven through almost all RIDE-recommended instructional content.
- SOLUTION: Repeal the 2019 statue that empowered RIDE with curricula authority and return related decisions to locally-elected school committee officials, as Senate bill S2518 attempted to achieve in 2024.
The Marxification of Education in RI: On RIDE’s own website, the prominent Marxist Paulo Freire is prominently quoted. Freire’s “critical pedagogy,” whose theoretical roots are derived directly from Marxism, seeks to indoctrinate students to become critical agents of social change.
RIDE has failed in its mission to prepare children for college and life, while also leading the way in advancing a woke, social justice agenda that has divided local communities.
Education or Indoctrination?
New Energy Report: Expect Doubled Electric Rates & Rolling Blackouts
/in Featured, Recent Posts/by RI Center for FreedomMedia Release: Center Publishes “Assault On Ocean State Families” Report
/in Recent Posts/by RI Center for FreedomCenter Publishes New Report: “Government’s Assault On RI Families”
Cranston, RI – The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity today published its “Government’s Assault On Ocean State Families” report. The report, which lays out a comprehensive and well-documented narrative, describes how our own state government has made it more difficult for working-class families to achieve the American Dream.
Describing “tidal wave after tidal wave” of misguided policies in recent decades that have weakened the security and financial well-being of families, the report’s logo depicts an Ocean State family about to be crushed by a giant wave. The entire narrative can be accessed at RIFreedom.org/Families
“Rhode Island families are disillusioned with state and local government, which continually hands out special favors to special interests, while working families and small businesses are forced to bear the burden,” said Mike Stenhouse, the Center’s CEO. “As most Rhode Islanders understand, this all-of-government corruption threatens the current and future security and prosperity of our families and young people. It’s time to restore policies that support traditional family needs, love of country, and trust in God.”
Rhode Island’s agenda-driven government is assaulting families across multiple fronts:
The report’s over-arching theme and each of its top-line messaging points are supported by detailed discussion and citations, often providing recommended solutions and policy ideas.
The Center believes that state lawmakers and bureaucrats have such a myopic focus on appeasing various insider cronies and special interests, that they lose sight of the broader goal of government … to preserve and advance the current and future rights, well-being, and safety of all state residents.
One compelling solution put forth by the Center is for voters to choose to bypass the traditional three branches of government by voting to “Approve” the November ballot measure regarding a statewide Constitutional Convention, which the Center refers to as a People’s Convention and the “4th Branch of Government.” #4thBranchRI
The Center encourages lawmakers, candidates for public office, policy advocates, and all concerned citizens to regularly propagate these messaging themes, and to utilize some of the more detailed discussion and information as appropriate.
“It’s vital that Rhode Islanders, who believe major reforms are necessary, rally behind this reality-based narrative,” added Stenhouse. “We have done the research, studied the public surveys, and believe this narrative best captures and describes the wreckage that our government has inflicted upon families.”
A resources “action” page, with images and social media links, is available to the public at RIFreedom.org/Families-action.
Stenhouse has also published multiple related pieces of video commentary on the Center’s “news and views” website The Ocean State Current. More pieces are expected to be added over time.
The Government’s Assault on RI Families report is a living document that will be expanded and further sourced in the coming months and years. The report also serves as a compendium of much of the Center’s research, analysis, policy recommendations, and perspectives since its founding in 2011.
THE GOVERNMENT’S ASSAULT ON OCEAN STATE FAMILIES
/in Featured/by RI Center for FreedomMeet Bob! The Father On A Mission to Save Women’s Sports!
/in Featured, News Splash, Recent Posts/by RI Center for FreedomPRESS RELEASE: Center Sponsors Online Forum on Hamas’ Oct 7th Sexual Violence
/in Blog, Featured, News, Recent Posts/by RI Center for FreedomApril 7 Forum to Expose Truth of October 7 Sexual Violence
Public Invited to Register for Online Event this Sunday
Cranston, RI – The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity announced today that it has partnered with the RI Coalition for Israel (RICI) to encourage members of the public to register for a compelling online event this coming Sunday.
Entitled “The Reality of Sexual Violence in War”, the April 7, 2:00 PM EST Zoom-based event will feature as keynote speakers two internationally prominent Jewish women – Nitsana Darshan-Leitner and Susan Seely – who will discuss and display images of some of the carnage and aftermath of the brutal attacks by Hamas on the people of Israel last October 7. Local organizations that work with women will also present during the 90-minute forum.
According to RICI, there is a public need to raise awareness about Hamas’ use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war, in direct violation of the international rules of war. This 6-month remembrance event, presented by RICI and the RI Chapter of Hadassah, is designed to erase doubts that Hamas utilized sexual and gender-base violence as a weapon of war and intimidation … a documented fact that has often been dismissed as Israeli propaganda by enemies of Israel.
As the event’s promotional co-sponsor, the Center conducted an in-depth interview with two leaders of RICI on its popular podcast, In The Dugout with Mike Stenhouse, and is raising awareness via its media, email, and social media apparatus.
“Given the many anti-Semitic and pro-Palestinian protests across the country and here in Rhode Island, it is important that the public understand the abject brutality that occurred on October 7,” commented Mike Stenhouse, CEO for the Center. “Hopefully, such knowledge will bring more balance to the debate about Israel’s need to eliminate Hamas in Gaza vs. calls for a cease-fire.”
Sunday’s web-based event is open to and free for all to attend, with registration options below:
Visit TinyURL.com/NeverSilenced6
Visit RICI’s Facebook page and follow the links
The Left’s Assault on RI Families
/in Blog/by Mike StenhouseRhode Island’s ruling class is working against the interests of families by adopting extremist ideologies
Has our own government become the enemy of Ocean State families?
Corrupt insiders win … families lose!
It’s time to restore traditional family values – “love of country” and “trust in God”
#AssaultOnRIFamilies
Rhode Island families are disillusioned … and under assault from their own government:
The preservation and advancement of the well-being of families and children should be the foremost goal of our society and government. Every resident of Rhode Island aspires to live in a peaceful and prosperous society, and every family wishes for a bright future for their children.
Yet, here in our state, families are being ripped apart by a radical agenda that undermines traditional family values and seeks to transition children into political pawns.
Centuries of empirical evidence and common sense have shown that a stable and nurturing family environment is the best path to a productive future. The “success sequence”, supported by extensive research, is that path, which consists of three main pillars: 1) completing a quality education and earning at least a high school diploma; 2) securing full-time employment; and 3) marrying before having children. Following these steps alone can provide young adults with more than a 97% chance of avoiding poverty.
However, virtually all significant societal and economic issues we encounter today can be attributed to the breakdown of the traditional family structure and its security, which in turn leads to the collapse of faith.
Alarmingly, between 2018 and 2022, 32 percent of RI infants were born to a mother with less than a high school diploma, while 34 percent of fathers had less than a high school diploma. These troubling trends can be largely attributed to destructive public policies in our state that erode one or more of these pillars, encroach upon our freedoms, and impose more politicized government control over our lives. For instance, as we describe below, many of our state’s public assistance programs actually create a “marriage penalty” for couples who want to tie the knot.
Unfairly, for those of you who do study, obtain a good job, and get married … all too often your hard-earned tax dollars are redistributed to others who weren’t responsible enough to follow this path!
These misguided policies often stem from corruption, where government bureaucrats prioritize serving insider special interest groups and agendas – especially when under public pressure from progressive activists, the media, and academia – which inevitably results in negative consequences for families and taxpayers.
The Washington Bridge debacle exemplifies the potential consequences of a state government’s corrupt dealings with one special interest group – public and private sector unions – resulting in significant incompetence and waste as well as danger for all of us. The Rhode Island Department of Transportation was aware of the bridge’s structural issues since 2012, but for over a decade, they concealed the report and failed to take action to protect the safety of motorists. Rather than spending $8 million on repairs at that time, unionized construction firms now stand to gain as much as $300 million of taxpayer money to reconstruct the entire bridge. This raises the question we must often ask: who wins and who loses?
Low-income families, with under-educated children, have been voting for liberal-left candidates for decades … and they’re still poor, with un-educated kids!
Corrupt Identity Politics. In a disturbingly large number of instances, important public policy issues are decided upon based on false narratives manufactured and advanced by self-serving special-interest groups … often inventing new categories of victims who ostensibly suffer from some contrived or fake injustice. These “identity politics” narratives are then perpetrated by the compliant local media, academia, and liberal advocacy groups … then, finally, legislative and executive actions are enacted to address these pretend “social inequities”, resulting in benefits for the special interest few at the expense of the well-being of the many Ocean State families.
The public has lost complete faith in our government, which increasingly is ruled by politicians who are beholden to these obviously false narratives … and voters will put their support behind candidates who offer a change … a realistic, taxpayer-centric approach.
The gross corruption of governmental officials – beholden to these false narratives and the extremists who support them; elected and and appointed officials who oversee policies in the economy, education, housing, and the environment as well as of compliant judges in the courts – is robbing our children of their rightful opportunity for a bright and prosperous future in our Ocean State … all so that crony insiders will benefit instead.
Who wins and who loses?
In short, RI public policy has become an “assault” on Ocean State families … in favor of selfish and corrupt insider cronies and their false narratives.
The Left’s War on Women
In Washington, DC, the Biden Administration’s 2024 reckless reforms to Title IX, which will put the safety of boys and girls at risk, seeks to reshape and dismantle the role of families in the raising and education of their children, by inventing and mandating a new set of rights for gender-denying students, which have no constitutional basis.
In response, Americans are revolting and many state superintendents across America have issued directives NOT TO COMPLY with these dangerous new woke rules.
Back here in Rhode Island, and as detailed throughout this post, families are under further assault from our own state government and the progressive Left, beginning with RI’s Education Commissioner, Angelica Infante-Green, who refuses to change RIDE’s anti-family guidance on school transgender policies.
The critical question is whether or not state lawmakers will “wake up” to the harsh realities of the consequences of the Left’s misguided policies.
While not everyone can be raised in a stable family environment, and while we have a responsibility to support citizens in our state who may be in real need, elected officials should continually strive to adopt public polices that reward marriage, promote a thriving economy with a low cost of living and free-market business climate, and provide a meaningful public educational system that respects parental rights.
The Proof – The Great Ocean State Exodus
No other metric best illustrates the oppressive nature of RI’s failed public polices than the well-documented pattern of graduates, retirees, middle- and upper-income families, and high-net-worth individuals fleeing our state … reducing our state’s tax base and limiting the amount of capital available to invest in starting or expanding a business, or to donate to charitable organizations.
Our Ocean State’s population has stagnated in recent decades and has not kept pace with population growth in other states. As such, most experts agree that Rhode Island will lose one of its two prized House of Representative seats in the US Congress after the 2030 Census.
Here’s how our own government has become the enemy of RI families:
ECONOMICALLY
On the economic front, family budgets are stressed to the breaking point. Because of oppressive regulations, not only is our state one of the worst states in which to start a business and create jobs, but Rhode Island suffers from one of the highest costs of living in America due to high taxes and inflation-causing regulatory and spending policies that reduce supplies and raise demand. Our Ocean State is also one of the most expensive states for seniors to retire.
The average 2-parent Rhode Island family will pay over $1,369,000 in taxes throughout their lifetime … over 30% higher than the US average!
Also, family savings have completely reversed (-72% drop) under the Biden’s control over the national economy as compared with Trump’s (+129% rise).
The “tax the rich” and spend mentality of the progressive-left actually makes worse the problem of wealth inequality by robbing low income families of opportunities for upward mobility; instead of encouraging them to become dependent on government assistance.
When income or wealth is over-taxed at the individual or corporate level, there is less incentive to invest cash (capital) to hire and pay workers or to start or expand a businesses, while at the same time driving high-income investors out of Rhode Island and to other, less oppressive, states.
These kind of natural and human reactions are why increased taxation often leads to decreased revenues to the government.
Such counter-productive policies that borrow opportunity from future generations, in order to satisfy the demands of corrupt insiders, inevitably lead to many negative and unintended economic consequences for families:
EDUCATIONALLY
Most disturbing of all, is that the Left and our government is now focusing its assault on families with a targeted war on our children.
The RI Department of Education is a failed institution. RIDE is not preparing our children for a prosperous future and for life informed citizens … and they are doing so on purpose!
Ocean State families are fed up and have lost trust in a failing government-run public school system that is increasingly controlled by corrupt teacher unions and radical left ideologues. Many families are seeking to escape the system and are desperate in seeking alternative options.
Both major teacher unions in RI have persistently stood in the way of significant educational reform by threatening to use their massive political war chest to oust lawmakers who do not support the agenda of union bosses. In recent years, both the AFT and the NEA rejected calls to focus more on objective subjects like math, science, and English … and instead make the politically subjective issue of “social justice” a priority in K-12 schools. Who wins and who loses?
Teacher unions, with their long-time special-interest and insider crony status, have more recently devolved into just another radical-left activist group that use alleged concern for students to attain power and influence. The reality, however, is while they care about teachers, they harm students far more than they help them.
One example is teachers unions’ opposition to school choice. Those who actually care about students support the right of parents to choose their children’s schools—just as many teachers do when they send their own children to schools of their choice.
A second example is teachers unions’ making it nearly impossible to fire incompetent teachers.
A third example was teachers unions’ demands that schools lock down for nearly two years during the COVID-19 era. The unions did so despite there being no scientific evidence in support of school lockdowns and despite ample warnings that many children would suffer intellectually, scholastically, emotionally, and psychologically.
Moreover, wrote John H. Cochrane of the Hoover Institution in The Wall Street Journal, “When schools went remote, parents found out what was actually going on inside the classrooms. Teachers were coaching students to hate themselves, their country and their religious traditions, and sexualizing young children.”
The last point brings us to a fourth example: Teachers rob young students of their sexual innocence with premature talk of, and books that deal with, overt sexual activity, and the infamous use of drag queens to perform in front of children as young as 6 years old.
Just how left-wing teachers organizations are was made clear by the sympathetic left-wing magazine The Nation in January:
That was only two months after Oct. 7.
Save our kids from the woke Left
Sadly, many believe that we must save our kids from RIDE – the RI Department of Education. In fact a petition drive calling for the resignation of commissioner Angelic Infante-Green has garnered hundreds of signatures and scathing comments.
The lack of educational achievement among students, combined with the cultural attack on children and parents … is even more troubling.
In 2019 the RI General Assembly granted RIDE with the authority to develop statewide curricula standards for core subjects … however, since then, under the direction of Commissioner Angelica Infante-Green, RIDE has proven to be wholly irresponsible and unworthy of such authority.
Instead of pursuing a traditional “content-based” curricula strategy, an objective method of teaching factual material, RIDE has adopted a more subjective and controversial approach, often referred to as “concept-based” pedagogy. In Rhode Island’s case, the Socialist worldview of Infante-Green and her “America as oppressors” point-of-view is persistently woven through almost all RIDE-recommended instructional content.
The Marxification of Education in RI: On RIDE’s own website, the prominent Marxist Paulo Freire is prominently quoted. Freire’s “critical pedagogy,” whose theoretical roots are derived directly from Marxism, seeks to indoctrinate students to become critical agents of social change.
RIDE has failed in its mission to prepare children for college and life, while also leading the way in advancing a woke, social justice agenda that has divided local communities.
Education or Indoctrination?
Read more
Court-ordered March 15 Public Forum May Expose Pseudo-Science of RIDOH’s School Mask Mandate Blunder
/in Featured, Recent Posts/by Mike StenhouseRich Southwell, lead plaintiff, along with his over three-dozen co-plaintiffs in the school mask mandate lawsuit against Governor McKee and the RI Department of Health, are calling for the support of parents and concerned citizens at a court-ordered public hearing to be conducted by RIDOH on Friday morning, March 15.
Southwell is looking to fill the room, many of whom he hopes will testify, and to have others submit testimony via email, calling on the public do its part in fighting off future frivolous school mask mandates.
As part of the settlement agreement reached between the plaintiffs and the State of RI, RIDOH must hold an open forum, where testimony about the efficacy of community masking can be presented on the record … a required act of transparency that was ignored during the pandemic when McKee and the DOH first imposed the state’s school mask mandates.
As part of their negotiated victory in the case, Southwell and all plaintiffs, led by attorney Gregory Piccirilli, won a major concession from RIDOH … that the pros and cons of school mask mandates would finally be debated in a public forum.
In what may be the only instance in the nation where a state department of health has been forced to consider a specific masking regulation and forced to conduct a public hearing, Rhode Islanders and citizens across America should take heart that a significant victory has been achieved against the authoritarian mismanagement and scientific negligence by the government during the Covid-19 pandemic.
According to Dr. Andrew Bostom, the plaintiff’s top medical and data research advisor throughout the entire legal process, the upcoming public forum will expose the pseudo-science conducted by RI Department of Health.
The official issue to be addressed at the 9:00 AM hearing, is whether a proposed new school masking regulation should be permanently adopted, which would govern RIDOH procedures when it comes to potential future airborne pandemics.
However, the actual issue that will be the focus of the hearing is whether the efficacy of school masking mandates have any scientific or data-driven basis … and whether such polices might cause real harm to children and staff who are forced to breathe unclean air for long periods of time, from under their masks. In fact, the Superior Court judge ruled previously in the case that children indeed suffered “irreparable harm” from the DOH’s mask mandates.
“Based on what we now know, we never want to see any child harmed again by such cavalier and callous actions by our own department of health,” said Southwell. “If there is to be a school masking regulation, it must ensure that any future consideration of school mask mandates will be required to be based upon the actual science and the findings of gold-star random control studies. This regulation provides no such assurance.”
To date, 78 such relevant studies, summarized by the prestigious Cochrane report, “did not show a clear reduction in respiratory viral infection with the use of medical/surgical masks.”[i]
The language of the proposed regulation was agreed upon as part of the lawsuit settlement, however the plaintiffs could not move the DOH far enough … and are therefore encouraging the public to testify – in person or via email – against adoption of the regulation.
Per attorney Piccirilli, he and the plaintiffs attempted to negotiate language that set a much higher scientific standard, however the State wanted as much arbitrary wiggle-room as possible by demanding vague language that would allow the DOH to balance scientific evidence with “the exercise of judgment” by DOH officials. [ii] The language that was agreed upon was the best the plaintiffs could negotiate with RIDOH, which clearly is seeking to maintain the regulatory authority to impose future mandates, if its staff so desires, regardless of the science.
While there is no existing specific school masking regulation, Southwell and Piccirilli believe that the proposed language will not provide adequate protections for the safety of children and will infringe upon parental rights. In fact, they believe adoption of this regulation would give RIDOH the power to capriciously impose mask mandates upon children for any infectious disease, such as RSV, the flu, or chicken pox.
Southwell believes that a large response by the public, combined with the scientific evidence to be presented by local and national experts against school mask mandates, may be sufficient to dissuade RIDOH from adopting the rule. Alternatively, they will likely seek to greatly strengthen the proposed language through recommended amendments or edits to it.
“There should be no regulation requiring masking in schools for the alleged prevention of respiratory viral infections until evidence of BOTH their effectiveness, and lack of harm, has been demonstrated convincingly by multiple, rigorous, randomized controlled trials (RCTs) in school age children published in peer reviewed journals,” advised Andrew Bostom.
Southwell calls upon parents, family, friends, and neighbors to participate and flood the RIDOH with compelling testimony. In February of 2022 over four-hundred Rhode Islanders testified against mandates and he feels this same level of support is once again needed.
Piccirilli further maintains that creating a public “record” of what he expects to be overwhelming evidence against child masking will be a critical legal deterrent against the DOH considering such a mandate again, even if the regulation is adopted largely as proposed.
According to a flyer put forth by Southwell to the plaintiff families, there are many ways to help stop this mask mandate regulation:
Citations:
[i] Do physical measures such as hand-washing or wearing masks stop or slow down the spread of respiratory viruses? | Cochrane
[ii] Masking in School – Rhode Island Department of State (ri.gov)
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Parents Alert: Media Literacy APRA Request Template
/in Education/by RI Center for Freedom?Attention Parents! Your Voice Matters! Are you concerned about transparency and accountability within our school district? Do you want to ensure that the operations and activities of our schools are fully understood by the public? Here’s your chance to take action! Click here now or on the button below to fill out the form!
We urge all parents to fill out the following form letter and send it to our school district administration. By doing so, you are requesting important documents under the Rhode Island Access Public Records Act (APRA) that pertain to the organizations Ad Fontes Media and Media Literacy Now. These documents will shed light on the communications and activities involving these entities within our schools.
Center Backs Call for Resignation of RI Education Commissioner
/in Featured, Recent Posts/by RI Center for FreedomPetition to Save our Kids from RIDE
Calls for Infante-Green’s resignation and for repeal of 2019 law that empowered the corrupt agency
Cranston, Rhode Island – The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity today publicly backed previous calls for the resignation of Angelica Infante-Green, the RI Department of Education’s failed commissioner, by promoting an online petition that all Ocean Staters are encouraged to sign.
The petition, which allows concerned parents and citizens to also log their own comments, and which automatically sends an email to multiple lawmakers and state education officials, can be accessed at RIFreedom.org/resign .
Without any prior publicity the e-petition has already garnered over 70 signatures, many of which include highly damning statements about RIDE’s many failures by members of the public.
The initial public call for Infante-Green’s removal was made last October by former state Senate candidate, Niyoka Powell, during her special election campaign. Given the ongoing failures of RIDE as well as recently exposed stories about a major public corruption scandal and its promotion of a media literacy scam that seeks to censor conservative views in K-12 schools, the Center is now openly publicizing its e-petition.
“The ongoing assault on families by Infante-Green’s RIDE, by indoctrinating students into a radical-left ideology, must be brought to an end,” said Mike Stenhouse, the Center’s CEO. “It’s time to save our kids from RIDE by seeking a new commissioner and to defrock RIDE of its curricula mandate authority.”
The online petition, entitled “Save Our Kids From RIDE,” also calls for repeal of the 2019 law that empowered RIDE to mandate curricula guidelines to all public school districts … and, therefore, to all elementary and secondary school students in government-run schools.
The petition web-page lists a number of indictments and links to support these two calls-to-action. The Center has reported extensively on RIDE’s radical agenda and its lack of success in improving student achievement.
“RIDE and Infante-Green have proven to be wholly ineffective, irresponsible, and unworthy of the powers granted to it the General Assembly,” concluded Stenhouse.
PRESS RELEASE: Center & State Rep. Newberry Urge Government Agencies to Cancel Affiliation with URI’s Media Literacy Scam
/in Featured, Recent Posts/by RI Center for FreedomURI’s Media Literacy Scam Raising Alarms in RI and DC
Potential First Amendment Violations by Government Agencies?
Cranston, RI– The Rhode Island Center for Freedom & Prosperity and a high-ranking member of the Rhode Island General Assembly call upon US and State Government agencies to cancel their affiliation with “Courageous RI.”
In a recent series of alarming reports, the nationally renowned Media Research Center (MRC) exposed how multiple state agencies have colluded with the University of Rhode Island and the federal Department of Homeland Security to indoctrinate students in a media literacy scam that includes censorship of conservative media and Christian values.
“It is likely a 1st Amendment violation for any American governmental entity to support activities that limit or suppress free speech,” said the Center’s CEO, Mike Stenhouse. “This sinister Biden administration initiative actually trains K-12 teachers to utilize censorship tools that discourage students from viewing content that the leaders of Courageous RI disagree with.”
State Representative Brian C. Newberry, former House Minority Leader and attorney said, “I participated in the launch event one year ago upon being asked because I think the issue of media literacy and educating our children how to sift fact from fiction is important. But I issued several warnings about how this program, while appealing in concept, could go off the rails if not managed properly. Unfortunately, and to my disappointment, though not surprise … the partisanship, censorship, and bias that has been infused by the Courageous RI leadership proves that this program is not worthy of, nor legally defensible for, any government entity to support in any way.”
This national scheme, implemented in states and contrived by DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, currently the subject of Congressional impeachment proceedings, is also raising alarm bells at the US Capitol.
“Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri has introduced legislation to cut the federal funding of the Department of Homeland Security’s dystopian censorship activities following the bombshell exposés by our organization,” said Tim Kilcullen, attorney for MRC and author of the reports. “Similarly, the House Homeland Security Committee has already passed legislation to do the same.” Kilcullen was special guest on a recent episode, Uncovering the Indoctrination Agenda, on the popular video podcast, In The Dugout with Mike Stenhouse, which can be viewed here.
“URI is ground-zero for this national scheme. What DHS is doing with Courageous RI in Ocean State schools is exactly why the US Congress is looking to defund this un-American effort and ensure that the money is used for its original intent to prevent actual violence and terrorism,” added Kilcullen.
The DHS-URI-Courageous RI collusion was first reported in the Ocean State by Parents United RI, a parental-rights advocacy group, led by its founder, Laurie Gaddis Barrett. The group continues to investigate other aspects of this national censorship scandal.
Among the government and related agencies that are listed as Courageous RI partners, and who should immediately renounce their affiliations, are:
Private entities that are also known as partners or supporters, include:
The full list of partners and team members can be viewed at About Us | Courageous RI (courageousri.com/about).
Kilcullen’s and Newberry’s full statements can be viewed here.