RI Rambles: Deep Debates, Sinclair Protests, Crave and Teen Filmmakers

What if a debate took the time to delve past the requisite sound bytes into the meat of an issue facing our state? You couldn’t do it all at once – it would take too long. And you couldn’t expect people to watch it all – that also would take too long. But they might gain an understanding of the complexities around issues they care about, and insight into where candidates for office stand and how they think. How they make decisions is actually the more important aspect – we all deserve politicians who can intelligently change their minds when faced with new information on a topic, rather than being dogmatically constrained by their party.

One of the most dangerous things about modern politics is the pressure to break every issue into ideas that can be mentally processed in an instant. Except the growing complexity of the world doesn’t really accommodate that kind of problem-solving.

In that spirit, a cross-the-aisle group of gubernatorial candidates, including Matt Brown (D), Paul Roselli (D), Giovani Feroce (R) and XXX[Coming], has created a series of debates, each with a  theme. It’s not endorsed by the Democrat or Republican parties, and is taking place outside their rigorously negotiated constraints, and so far Governor Raimondo hasn’t taken part, but there’s a promising collaboration between candidates happening that seems to indicate one unified message they will all carry with them, whoever makes it to the polls in November: that change is in order.

Learn more about this maverick series of debates at [URL COMING]

The Sins of Sinclair

On a wet, rainy recent Saturday afternoon, a stalwart band of placard-bearing die-hard protesters called the ReSisters put concrete action to the general sense of outrage over Sinclair Media’s bullying of its local news affiliates into carrying misleading pro-Trump messages. The protesters staged themselves outside a series of businesses that support the local Sinclair affiliate, WJAR Channel 10, with their advertising dollars – calling primarily for a reconsideration of those budgets.

Appearing outside Tasca Auto, Cardi’s Furniture and Speedcraft Auto Group, the protesters – who call their movement “Turn Off 10,” were able to speak with one of the Cardi Brothers and make an impression on all three businesses. Further demonstrations at other organizations that advertise with Channel 10 are being planned.

As they say, the way to support evil is for good people to do nothing. But when the evil is propaganda, it can be difficult to figure out what to do that’s more effective than ignoring it or complaining about it. Kudos to the ReSisters for finding a more proactive course and hitting the corporate mega-media company in the one place it probably cares about more than propaganda – its wallet.

Learn more about this movement at [URL COMING]

CraveRI

In a fun, playful press conference, CVS Health announced the players in its annual Charity Classic, and the large new component – CraveRI – which will involve not golf, but food!

The golf end of the arrangement continues to feature Barrington’s Brad Faxon, who essentially stalked one of the event headliners – Rory McIlroy – at other tournaments, until he agreed to visit RI. Billy Andrade of Bristol, also a seasoned Pro Tour victor, co-hosted both the event and the press conference. Other noteworthy participants include Jim Furyk, Keegan Bradley, Joe Durant, Scott McCarron, Mark O’Meara and many more. On the LPGA side, they’re expecting Paula Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Morgan Pressel, Lexi Thompson, So Yeon Ryu and many more. They’ll all play on Monday, June 25, at an event that has raised more than $21 million for area non-profits in the last 19 years.

On the food end, Crave is aiming to fill the Dunk with local food vendors and the back lot with a new beer garden. Samples by Newport Vinyard’s head chef and culinary magician, Alex Vinyasa, and mini baus by Tom’s Bau Bau (PVD) and waffles by Waffle (PVD) were featured. Vendors are still being announced, so keep an eye on our food section in the future for more. Crave will take over downtown PVD on June 21 and 22.

Give Me 5

In local filmmaking, they start younger and younger – see what the future Tarantinos of RI can do while they’re still unknown teens at this festival that celebrates the work – mostly shorts under 5 minutes long, thus the name – of high school filmmakers. Hosted by the star of Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Robert Capron, this gala event will take place at the Greenwich Odeum on May 20. It may sound like a kid thing, but many of the shorts are enjoyable for any age.

What to Wear

And in local weather, we’d like to confirm that today would be a great day to wear a top and clean underwear, which never goes out of style and could come in handy if a bus does hit you – or yell at you so loudly it damages your hearing – and you end up in the hospital.