Deluge of rain soaks Rhode Island; Nearly 12 inches fall in Cranston

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Little Rhody got soaked by big rain.

After a two-day deluge flooded portions of the state west of Providence, the flood warnings were finally lifted late Tuesday afternoon.

The torrential rains deposited nearly 12 inches in Cranston while some other areas of the state got 8 inches and more.

The “narrow band” of rainfall that doused the region as far west as the eastern central portion of Connecticut, which got around 6 inches, began falling Monday afternoon and didn’t let up through most of the day Tuesday, National Weather Service meteorologist Bill Simpson told the Herald. Attleboro, Mass., got almost 5 1/2 inches.

The NWS lifted its flood warnings for the region at around 3 p.m. Tuesday. Simpson said that the area might only receive light showers from Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday.

“Thursday into the weekend looks pretty nice,” he said, for southern New England.

The flooding caused all kinds of closures and problems. The Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles closed its Providence branch office on Tuesday due to flooding. That should reopen Wednesday. And the city’s Roger Williams Park Zoo had to close to clean up the mess left by the rain.

No animals were harmed, a zoo spokesperson told WJAR-TV. The zoo was also scheduled to reopen Wednesday.

Interstate 95 and other roads in and around Providence were blocked by rainwaters on Monday, with the state Transportation Department releasing a flurry of tweets about flooded roads throughout the day. The interstate was reopened later that evening, the department said in a tweet.

Agency Director Peter Alviti said at a Monday news conference that the rain was overwhelming the drainage systems.

An unoccupied building collapsed in the floodwaters in Providence and about 30 Brown University students were temporarily displaced from their dorm when rainwaters flooded a lower floor.

In July, Providence had less than half an inch of rainfall in the third driest July on record. Half of the state was experiencing extreme drought and the rest was experiencing severe drought as of last week.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Firefighters wade through flooded Oaklawn Avenue in Cranston, R.I., to check on drivers, Monday, Sept. 5, 2022. The heavy rain that caused street flooding and forced the closure of major roads in Rhode Island on Labor Day continued on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. (WJAR/TurnTo10.com via AP)
Firefighters wade through flooded Oaklawn Avenue in Cranston, R.I., to check on drivers, Monday, Sept. 5, 2022. The heavy rain that caused street flooding and forced the closure of major roads in Rhode Island on Labor Day continued on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. (WJAR/TurnTo10.com via AP)
A truck navigates flooding on Industrial Road in Cumberland, R.I., on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. The heavy rain that caused street flooding and forced the closure of major roads in Rhode Island on Labor Day continued on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. (WJAR/TurnTo10.com via AP)
A truck navigates flooding on Industrial Road in Cumberland, R.I., on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2022. The heavy rain that caused street flooding and forced the closure of major roads in Rhode Island on Labor Day continued on Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. (WJAR/TurnTo10.com via AP)

Op-Ed: Demonic to the Core; New Absolutely Satanic Animated Sitcom Series by Devious & Deceptive Disney, And It’s Disgusting  

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FX’s Little Demon is an animated comedy featuring the voices of Danny DeVito and Aubrey Plaza. 13 years after being impregnated by Satan, a reluctant mother and her Antichrist daughter attempt to live an ordinary life in Delaware. However, the two are constantly thwarted by monstrous forces, including Satan, who yearns for custody of his daughter's soul. Image credit: FX Networks Trailer / YouTube. FX was acquired by a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, Disney General Entertainment Content.
FX’s Little Demon is an animated comedy featuring the voices of Danny DeVito and Aubrey Plaza. 13 years after being impregnated by Satan, a reluctant mother and her Antichrist daughter attempt to live an ordinary life in Delaware. However, the two are constantly thwarted by monstrous forces, including Satan, who yearns for custody of his daughter’s soul. Image credit: FX Networks Trailer / YouTube. FX was acquired by a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company, Disney General Entertainment Content.

PORTSMOUTH, OH – This is absolutely unbelievable. This is absolutely demonic. This absolutely makes me nauseous. But what do we expect from devious and deceptive Disney?  

A 2022 article in the City Journal asserts, “Behind its meticulously curated self-image, Disney has had a long-standing problem with child predators gaining employment within the company and exploiting minors. In 2014, reporters at CNN published a bombshell six-month investigation that discovered at least 35 Disney employees had been arrested for sex crimes against children, attempting to meet minors for sex, and possession of child pornography over the previous eight years.” 

“Little Demon,” a new animated series on FX, which is distributed by Disney and streamed on Hulu, sets out to normalize paganism, according to a recent article in Church Leaders. FX was acquired by a subsidiary of the Walt Disney Company in 2019. 

The show’s description says, “13 years after being impregnated by Satan, a reluctant mother, Laura, and her Antichrist daughter, Chrissy, attempt to live an ordinary life in Delaware, but are constantly thwarted by monstrous forces, including Satan, who yearns for custody of his daughter’s soul.” 

At the beginning of the trailer, it says: “Warning. This clip is for mature audiences. It contains adult language and cartoon nudity.” So, the animated series says it’s for adults, but one of the main characters is a teen. The “Little Demon” series is TVMA-rated, which is equivalent to R-rated films. 

I watched the trailer which shows images of hell, demons, beheaded bodies, blood, and other satanic imagery. The teen’s father, who is Satan, smokes a cigar, drinks a glass of wine and uses profanity.  

One Million Moms, a coalition of conservative mothers nationwide, is issuing a warning to parents about “Little Demons” and urging the cancelation of the show.

“We must do so because Disney is introducing viewers, including children who might stumble across this series, to a world of demons, witches, and sorcery. Along with the demonic content of this series, the minds of younger viewers will also be inundated with secular worldviews that reflect the current culture.”

Sign their petition on their website.

This show mocks Christianity and promotes demonic propaganda. And it’s absolutely disgusting.  

Orange Line work 60% complete, with help from $36.9 million in outside contracts

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The MBTA has completed nearly 60% of planned work during the Orange Line shutdown, removed two of the six speed restrictions and is on track to resume service by Sept. 19.

The update came Tuesday at Community College station, one of four access points for work throughout the system, where Gov. Charlie Baker was on hand to observe crews replace and affix so-called cologne eggs to the track, which officials say optimize track performance.

“They’re basically designed to limit vibrations in particular areas,” Baker said.

Baker said crews will also replace upward of 2,500 railroad ties and about 6,000 feet of track along that stretch during the 30-day service disruption.

He also told reporters he has no plans to strip the Department of Public Utilities of its state safety oversight role of the MBTA, following a damning federal report that questioned its ability to effectively handle the job. Lawmakers have planned a legislative hearing on DPU’s role, among other things, in October.

“Obviously, they have work to do,” Baker said, adding that the DPU has already started hiring and expanding its footprint.

MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak said special track work completed at Jackson Square allowed for the removal of a second speed restriction. The first was lifted between State Street and Downtown Crossing.

Since last Friday, crossovers have been replaced at Forest Hills and Ruggles stations, which will improve use and reliability of the system, he said.

Overall, Poftak said crews have completed 47% of planned rail replacement, 65% of track replacement, 91% of special track work, 37%, or 124 of 400, planned cologne egg upgrades and 55% of signal system upgrades at Oak Grove and Malden Center stations.

MBTA spokesperson Joe Pesaturo said a bulk of the track and signal work planned for the Orange Line shutdown is being performed by three major outside contractors — Barletta Heavy Division, the Middlesex Corporation and Alstom — at an approximate cost of $36.9 million.

Two contracts, worth a total of $23.4 million, were awarded to Barletta for track and signal upgrades at Wellington and signal work at Oak Grove and Malden.

A $13 million contract was awarded to Middlesex Corporation for emergency track and infrastructure repairs to remove slow zones, Pesaturo said.

Pesaturo also said MBTA crews are working alongside those from outside contractors.

“There are 150 to 175 people working across the system at any given time,” he said. “There are construction activities 24/7. Actual staffing, shifts and work schedules depend upon individual projects, locations and the nature of the work.”

In addition, Poftak said 58 new Orange Line cars — out of 152 ordered — are available for service, as part of an approximately $1 billion contract with Chinese firm CRRC.

The T is also contracting with A Yankee Line, Inc. for alternative shuttle bus service, at a cost of $37 million, which Poftak said is continuously being monitored, particularly during a busy post-Labor Day week where students are also returning to school.

Poftak said the T continues to look into partial shutdowns on other subway lines, but said another full shutdown, akin to the one on the Orange Line, is not “on the drawing board” right now.

BOSTON, MA - September 6: Workers install new ties on the Orange Line near the Community College MBTA station on September 6, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
BOSTON, MA – September 6: Workers install new ties on the Orange Line near the Community College MBTA station on September 6, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
BOSTON, MA - September 6: Workers install new ties on the Orange Line near the Community College MBTA station on September 6, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
BOSTON, MA – September 6: Workers install new ties on the Orange Line near the Community College MBTA station on September 6, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
BOSTON, MA - September 6: Governor Charlie Baker gets a tour from MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak the Orange Line repairs near the Community College MBTA station on September 6, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)
BOSTON, MA – September 6: Governor Charlie Baker gets a tour from MBTA General Manager Steve Poftak the Orange Line repairs near the Community College MBTA station on September 6, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Staff Photo By Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald)

Trump-endorsed Diehl to face Democrat Healey for Massachusetts governor

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BOSTON — The race for governor in deep-blue Massachusetts is set to be a referendum on former President Donald Trump.

Trump-backed former state Rep. Geoff Diehl has clinched the Republican nomination for governor, setting up a clash between the conservative and Democrat Maura Healey, the state attorney general who burnished her profile by repeatedly suing the Trump administration.

Healey, who sailed through an uncontested primary after her last rival dropped out in June, is the overwhelming favorite to win in November — and one of Democrats’ two best hopes in the country to flip a governorship this fall.

While the former president’s endorsement played well with an increasingly pro-Trump Republican base, boosting Diehl over political newcomer Chris Doughty in the GOP primary, it’s poised to be a hindrance for Diehl in a general election. Massachusetts voters overwhelmingly rejected Trump and his brand of Republicanism in both of his presidential bids.

Trump endorsed Diehl to settle a score with popular Republican Gov. Charlie Baker, who opted not to run for a third term.

After initially veering away from Trump when he launched his campaign, Diehl embraced the former president and his rhetoric. He brought in Trump’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, as a senior adviser, and he campaigned over the summer with South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, a Trump ally. And he has falsely claimed the 2020 election was “rigged.”

That gives Healey, a progressive prosecutor who sued the Trump administration nearly 100 times, an obvious general election foil.

Healey signaled as much when, speaking before the Republican primary was finalized, she said either man would “bring Trumpism to Massachusetts.”

“I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of the anger, the vitriol, the division,” Healey told her supporters at the IBEW Local 103 building in Dorchester. “That’s not who we are. That’s not what Massachusetts is about.”

She also, in a nod to the importance of reproductive rights even in a state where access to abortion is enshrined in law, said noted that Diehl “oppose[s] abortion rights.”

Healey will kick off her general election campaign Wednesday in Worcester, the state’s second-largest city, with her new running mate, Salem Mayor Kim Driscoll, at her side.

In a tele-rally a day before the primary, Trump spoke highly of Diehl, calling him a “proven fighter” who will “rule your state with an iron fist and he’ll do what has to be done.”

But Diehl faces a completely new challenge now as he ventures outside the GOP activist base.

Polls of the general election in Massachusetts have Healey — who easily won the Democratic nomination after clearing the primary field of major opposition — leading Diehl by double digit margins, 54 percent to 23 percent, according to a recent Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll. The Trump base won’t carry him, either: The former president only garnered 32 percent of the vote in Massachusetts the 2020 presidential election and around 33 percent in 2016.

Diehl and the Massachusetts Republican Party are now joining a small group of pro-Trump, far-right candidates who won primaries in the northeast but now find themselves at a disadvantage in the general election. That includes Trump loyalist Leora Levy who snagged the Republican Senate nomination in Connecticut over a local party-endorsed candidate, and far-right state lawmaker Dan Cox in Maryland, who beat a moderate Republican backed by outgoing Gov. Larry Hogan.

The combination has made the Massachusetts and Maryland governorships among the most likely to flip parties this year. Baker, the outgoing GOP governor of Massachusetts, has worked with Democrats in the legislature to pass laws fighting climate change, protecting abortion rights and even called for Trump’s impeachment following the Capitol riot.

Healey’s campaign for governor has put her current job as attorney general up for grabs. Former Boston City Councilmember Andrea Campbell won the Democratic nomination to face Republican Jay McMahon, pulling out a win in a heated primary against workers’ rights attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan, a labor attorney who poured at least $9.3 million of her own money into her campaign to flood the airwaves with seven television ads. Campbell will be the favorite against McMahon, who lost his bid against Healey in 2018.

Polling by UMass Amherst released days ahead of the race showed a near-tie between both candidates, but Campbell pulled ahead comfortably Tuesday night.

Campbell campaigned on advocating for communities of color in the criminal justice system, which includes calling for a “police accountability unit” within the office’s civil rights division, enforcing gun safety laws and protecting people’s rights under the Affordable Care Act.

Campbell ran for mayor of Boston in 2021 and was previously president of the city council.

The Democratic primary had divided top Massachusetts progressives, pitting Healey, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, and Sen. Ed Markey, who backed Campbell, against Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and former Boston Acting Mayor Kim Janey, who had come out with late-stage endorsements of Liss-Riordan. Quentin Palfrey, the third candidate in the race, ended his campaign last week and backed Campbell — after hammering her throughout the campaign over their stark policy differences and super PAC spending on her behalf.

Campbell is poised to become the first Black woman to be Massachusetts attorney general.