Topic: Rhode Island

Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo invited the Israeli Health Ministry to manage the state's COVID-19 reopening program. This includes the implementation of a "rights engine" where entitlements are stored in a digital wallet. McDowell compares this to the "Nosedive" episode of Black Mirror, where social compliance determines access to basic housing and services.

Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams and others fleeing the religious tyranny of the Massachusetts colony, establishing the first real precedents for religious liberty in the New World. This history of alternative spiritualities and radical thought is often suppressed by both the political left and right to maintain a simplified view of the American past. Williams famously argued that "forced worship stinks in the nostrils of God."

A documented case at a Rhode Island hospital involves a cat that accurately predicts when patients are going to die, spending the final night with them. Rupert Sheldrake notes that this behavior has been published in medical journals and is mirrored by other animals that comfort sick owners or warn of impending epileptic seizures. These abilities suggest a deep emotional and biological bond between humans and animals that provides early warnings before clinical signs appear.