On WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM, John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss:
- When 50:50 odds Hasbro stays are the best news politicians can muster
- McKee on vacation
- Another month of RIDOT’s RFP coming “soon”
- The Boston Globe shapes a General Assembly race narrative
- A wholly inadequate exit profile of George Nee
- RI Dem polling and the difficulty of a GOP challenge
Featured image by Justin Katz using Dall-E 40 and Photoshop AI.
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The news cycle flows by so quickly, lately, that political actors and activists are learning it’s sometimes best to just keep your head down and let the controversy of the day join the rest of the noise tomorrow. Nonetheless, I think there’s something worth noting in the now-passed story about Russia funding some conservative commentators.
First, my caveat is that I no longer trust America’s intelligence services or news media. Even where stories aren’t entirely fabricated, there are simply so many ways to construct a narrative. The agent or journalist can exaggerate claims or leak one-sided information that distorts the context of what’s happening. Imagine, and I’m not saying this is happening, that every commentator across the political spectrum receives some portion of his or her revenue from hostile foreign governments — that it’s simply part of the ecosystem. Releasing that information only as it relates to one group of commentators would make it seem as if they are uniquely bad.
Caveat aside, I can sympathize with some of the commentators’ defenses. I’ve always said what I have to say, and if somebody’s wants to give me money to say it, that’s great. That person didn’t change my view or buy my opinion.
What he or she would be doing, though, is making it possible for me to continue saying what I have to say… and to say more of it. By selectively funding points of view, financiers can adjust the broad field of commentary. It’s not the writer’s fault for wanting to be heard, and frankly, it’s not even the financiers’ fault for wanting to advance their visions. We all have to have our own moral compasses and approach information intelligently and with caution.
To be sure, this is a social challenge, but it doesn’t lend itself to easy solutions. Attempting to force transparency or, worse, ban pernicious funding or statements only amplifies the caveat expressed above.
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On WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM, John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss:
- Hasbro negotiations while on vacation
- Idling tow trucks on the highway
- Union reps as business welcoming committee
- Who should get Whitehouse’s attention for debates
- When criminals are the priority
Featured image by Justin Katz using Dall-E 40.
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Following the determination in April that the Washington Bridge eastbound was becoming “considerably more sensitive” (gulp), RIDOT contracted to install a new, combined structural health monitoring and vehicle weigh-in-motion program on/between the Washington Bridge and the Iway (Providence River Bridge).
In May, RIDOT entered into a five year “sole source” – i.e., no RFP – contract with Kistler Group for this. This is RIDOT’s explanation to Anchor Rising for not putting the contract out to bid.
This was a sole source procurement. RIDOT had been researching this technology and found that Kistler was the only company that successfully integrates the weigh-in-motion and bridge structural health monitoring systems to give a complete overview, analysis and live monitoring of a structural condition based on live traffic. No other companies contacted about this technology could provide the combined analysis RIDOT sought.
Interesting.
Anchor Rising obtained the RIDOT/Kistler contract; here.
Weigh-in-motion systems have a couple of main uses. They gather information about the weight of individual vehicles crossing a bridge, which helps monitor the bridge’s structural health. They also have the capability to facilitate fines on individual, illegally overweight vehicles, either handed out in person by an enforcement officer or via an automated system that simply mails the ticket to the owner of the truck; i.e., enforcement.
PDF Page 21 of the RIDOT/Kistler contract states (emphasis added),
Starting with the Washington Bridge (WB) and the Providence River Bridge (PRB), both in Providence, Rhode Island Department of Transportation (RIDOT) intends to begin a new state-wide Weigh-in-Motion (WIM) enforcement program.
Oh. So per the RIDOT/Kistler contract, a new weigh-in-motion (WIM) enforcement program would start with the Washington Bridge and the IWAY and then go state-wide. Anchor Rising reached out to RIDOT and asked whether an RFP would be issued for this new statewide WIM enforcement program. RIDOT responded:
Please note, RIDOT does not have nor are we planning on having a state-wide Weigh-in-Motion enforcement program. RIDOT did not select this option and has not purchased the capabilities to do enforcement.
I mean … okay. Denial noted.
But where would the vendor, Kistler, get the idea that RIDOT intends to begin a new statewide weigh-in-motion enforcement program if not … well, directly from RIDOT?
[Featured Image: Unsplash in collaboration with Nathan Anderson]
I find it ominous that one of my children’s dentist just cancelled an appointment for tomorrow due to short staffing. RI’s medical infrastructure feels a bit like we could get the equivalent of an emergency Washington Bridge closure at any time. Or maybe we’ve been getting them, but the people who run the state are better able to distract from and hide the effects.
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On WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM, John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss:
- Hasbro looks for an exit
- McKee looks for a donor list
- Another who-could-have-guessed teacher draws unwelcome attention
- Harris opinion in RI
- The Washington Bridge saga continues
- What to make of injured Cranston firefighters
Featured image by Justin Katz using Dall-E 40.
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On WNRI 1380 AM/95.1 FM, John DePetro and Justin Katz discuss:
- Assassination attempt 2
- RI primary results
- Last minute replacement for Cano
- Instability from a trans teacher
- McKee fundraising
By Justin Katz using Dall-E 3 and Photoshop AI.
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Last night, I read a business case about a handful of billionaires who’ve been trying to make lab-grown meat a viable consumer product, and I wondered something tangential. Imagine if a handful of billionaires decided they needed to have a pliable big-government progressive in the White House.
They might flood her accounts with hundreds of millions of dollars laundered through untraceable donations designed to appear grass roots.
They might use the major media outlets they own to twist reality.
They might pay people to fill up arenas so that the candidate appears to be popular.
Then they might manipulate an insecure election system, including mail ballots, to simply install their preferred candidate, while pointing at the scandals they generated in media about the other candidate and the astroturf popularity of the “winner.”
This might sound conspiratorial and crazy, but these same people are trying to grow frankenburgers — not because they think it will be profitable, but because they want to “save the environment” and trick you into a diet that they believe is healthier.
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It’s a passing thought, of course, but Rhode Island Governor Dan McKee’s mild lament that a State House celebration of a basketball trophy is happening during school hours bugs me. Somehow, it emphasizes the point that our government officials see the well-being of children — of all regular Rhode Islanders, for that matter — as secondary side-effects of insiders’ going about their big, important business, which seems often to focus on providing them power and enjoyment.
A local kid making it big is an inspiring story, but local officials use such things to inspire mainly themselves.
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Something more like a cookbook or plantation. I’ve heard complaints that conservatives have “no plan for you” — or “no vision for what the town should be” — repeatedly over the years, and I think it’s the most disturbing complaint progressives make.
Chris Rufo articulates my view:
Where do I see the town, state, or country going? Well, I hope it’s going toward freedom and mutual good will, but that’s about as detailed as I can get. Mostly, I’m excited to see where individual people, families, and organizations will take us with their drive and ingenuity, but terrified of where activists who abuse government power to implement their plans and vision will take us if we let them.
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