Other organizations rank states for economic competitiveness, economic outlook…. But “momentum?” What’s that all about? So, I asked my new AI pal Claude to help me define the term, and, yeah, what is shows is Vermont is pretty screwed.
Will the use of artificial intelligence promote a human-centered economy which recognizes the natural desire of the human person to work towards some end which is his own? Or will artificial intelligence become a new means by which some few impose their will upon the economic sphere and create a machine economy which treats people as objects with no higher needs than the energy required to keep the data centers of industry humming?
As the state pours money into flood resilience, the historical record and the latest science complicate a familiar story.
Can Vermont ever clean up 480 million pounds of legacy phosphorus?
A member of the House energy committee says the subject of wind power never came up when H.710 was discussed.
It’s no wonder people die on the water.
If the past few years are any indication, by the end of summer we will have had to put down or provide similar authorizations for dozens more bears to end acute conflicts that threaten human safety.
The rugged Christian faith of the heroic founders was vitally interwoven with their patriotism and is inextricably linked by a sacred thread of purpose to the Great Awakening.
The MAHA movement is going strong…
Several major electric utilities have recently announced that their residential customers will have lower electric bills because of major investments in new power plants and the electric grid, enabled by data centers.
Staying the course is not a viable option. It only gets worse from here if nothing changes. We are aging, shrinking, and pricing out our own children, workers, and entrepreneurs. Schools face consolidation, taxes are climbing, and employers struggle to fill jobs. We’re too dependent on federal funding to support state spending. A housing shortage is driving up prices, slowing economic growth, and leaves young people feeling forced out.
How we got here: farms, industry, policy
Almost 40 years after the VT Supreme Court rendered its Brigham decision, supposedly ensuring equal educational opportunities for all Vermont kids, the opportunities to be academically proficient in Vermont schools remain decidedly UNequal.
Vermonters have every reason to be frustrated with the state’s healthcare system. Costs continue to climb, insurance premiums consume a growing share of household budgets, and access to care remains uncertain for many families. That frustration helped fuel support for S.190. But good intentions do not always produce good policy. Breaking down the problem with S.190 will help Vermonters understand the Governor’s veto and why this legislation was not a real solution.
Some reading this might be familiar with stories which may have, over time, taken on an almost mythical quality regarding George Washington’s apparently indestructible nature. But for those who aren’t, we will look at a few of these instances which, when seen amidst the whole tapestry of divine orchestration in the weaving together of our republic, must certainly be regarded as one of the most spectacular threads.
H.710 got very little testimony in the House Energy & Digital Infrastructure Committee and the Senate Natural Resources and Energy Committee, with a brief stop in the Senate Finance Committee. As it passed through the various committees, it was clear that legislators did not understand the bill. There was much confusion about what it meant.
Monday morning, FYIVT published an article examining Vermont’s latest “Tax the Rich-ish” campaign and the economic data behind it. By the end of the day, FYIVT had experienced the largest coordinated login attack recorded in the site’s history.
Jobs, revenue, and the future Governor Scott just protected
Everyone still has the same rights except non-citizens who arrived illegally, but when the US Supreme Court declared that it is unconstitutional and a violation of the Voting Rights Act to use discrimination (race) as a means of drawing congressional districts, Vermont had to act.
The pot calls the maple trees black.
What a dissident Quaker, the Salem Witch Trials, and today’s disinformation debate have in common
Father Paolo Benanti, a Franciscan Friar of the Third Order and a well-respected author and teacher of moral philosophy recently noted in his article, appearing in the Wall Street Journal, “What we cannot predict becomes what we must fear.”
Sunny Lowdown is going to open the show with a solo performance. After a quick set with my old bandmates, we’re going to have a Blues Jam where local players can try their hand at wooing the crowd. There are slew of other great players, too numerous to mention, who are playing on supporting the Vermont Blues Society’s event.
There is so much about our great nation to celebrate, particularly in this 250th year since its birth.
The danger of raising a generation of victims
We can solve the nation’s health problems if we establish gold standard science.
Vermont Public, VT Digger, and Seven Days have done their legislative session wrap-ups. In the year rural Vermonters found their voices, these outlets are mostly disinterested in rural perspectives.
Whether we live in Swanton, Guilford, Pownal, or anywhere in between, Vermonters take pride in our self-sufficiency and resilience. When we see a problem, we fix it, whether it’s a broken fence or a broken economy. The next two years of the Trump administration will almost certainly see Washington punishing so-called “blue states” like Vermont with less federal help than ever. No one is coming to save us, so it’s up to us to invest in ourselves, and our communities.
An Open Letter to the Cabot School Board, June 8th, 2026
Study shows Republicans and Democrats can agree on something.
And dump the VTNEA!
People lose trust when government becomes hard to understand. They lose trust when enforcement feels uneven. They lose trust when decisions seem distant from everyday life. And they lose trust when state agencies begin sounding like owners instead of caretakers.
When did our schools become so deeply involved in questions that used to be debated primarily in legislatures, courtrooms, town halls, and around kitchen tables?
H.727- Data Center Bill veto analysis
Krowinski and Baruth leaving a disaster in their wake.
Even out of power, the Biden administration just keeps on giving.
Karen Paul was defeated in her 2024 Burlington mayoral bid.
As we gear up for the 2026 elections, all of our Republican incumbents can be proud of the work that was done and look ahead to doing even more if Vermonters once again grant our candidates their votes and support to keep making a difference the Vermont Way.
It is his turn and the next week will tell us whether he can be a senator
Legislative wrap-up on parental rights
Sanity and legal protections prevail.
After years of studies, hearings, delays, working groups, and repeated acknowledgment that Vermont has a dangerous forensic system gap, I am deeply grateful to finally see meaningful movement forward.
It would accelerate Vermont’s trend toward having One Big School System. That’s a transformation we don’t need, don’t want, and ultimately can’t afford.
If the tent of democracy is meant to be a shelter for all viewpoints, there must be civility, listening, compromise, and a retreat from hiding behind the veil of social media.
The 2026 Vermont legislative session ran past its expected close, and the reason wasn’t a mystery. The three biggest issues, education reform, the statewide property tax rate and the FY27 budget all needed to be untangled.
How Vermont’s governing class is destroying the State it claims to serve
…After a session of spending, regulation, and last-minute policy movement
We all want the same basic things: a society where people have real opportunity, dignity, security, and a genuine sense of belonging. The deepest paradox in modern politics is that the path to that humane, abundant society runs through free markets — not despite them.
In case you missed it: $1.5 million of YOUR tax dollars have been allocated to disperse funds to state-sanctioned historically marginalized groups. And S.278 cannabis bill, 2026, had originally intended to appropriate much more.
Act 955, the public-school transformation bill, as amended promises “substantial equity…delivered at a cost that parents, voters and taxpayers will value.” Just what will the “transformation” be?
Property taxes, student outcomes, demographics, labor force…
The right to educate must belong to the family. Of whom is it expected that a child will learn his or her first words? Of whom is it expected a child will learn to use the toilet and wash his or her hands? Of whom is it expected that a child will learn empathy, honesty, and right from wrong? It is from the family that a child first begins to learn, and it is the family which is most influential in a child’s educational development.
To truly fix healthcare, the U.S. must demand the same fair prices that other countries enjoy—and in doing so, force the world to rethink its dependence on American overpayments to sustain their systems.
Students’ families shouldn’t have to fight for what they already have a right to: an educational experience that promotes both academic success and health. Yet this basic truth is being actively ignored in schools statewide as parents get pushback from teachers, principals and superintendents for trying to opt their kids out of being put at a setback…this being receiving a personal laptop, or in the case of kindergarteners, a tablet.
It is a time for remembering, for pausing to recall that the freedom which makes this holiday possible came at a steep price. And over the decades, many Vermonters made the ultimate sacrifice in fulfilling that payment.
A pathetic attempt to look like you’re doing something when actually doing nothing.
What is a tax on wealth? Basically, a taxpayer would file a new schedule, a balance sheet, with their annual tax return. A balance sheet, also known as a statement of financial position, lists all of the taxpayers’ assets, less any outstanding debt. The difference is a sum, net worth, or net equity. That sum would then become the basis for the tax rate to be applied, resulting in the tax due.
Criminals will still carry, and that’s the truth, but this is Burlington, where the truth is what they say it is, and the excuse they came up with to ask for a ban in bars was a shooting that wasn’t in a bar.
As Vermont lawmakers continue debating immigration enforcement, public safety, bail reform, school policy, and state authority, a deeper constitutional question increasingly sits underneath the arguments: What legal obligation does government actually owe individual citizens when foreseeable harm occurs?
Don’t count your chickens until you know they’re chickens
And they double down GWSA’s “right to sue” provision.
Vermont has studied the need for a forensic system for years. We are now approaching another moment of déjà vu, as in 2023 when forensic facility language was removed.
A new report sheds light on AFT and NEA spending tens of millions of dollars on electing Democratic political candidates, and prioritizing politicking over the needs and interests of their union members. The study found that of the NEA’s $450 million annual disbursement budget from fiscal year 2025, less than $46 million, or 10 percent, was spent on activities directly representing the union’s constituents.
It is a moral error to imagine Hamas as “freedom fighters” since freedom fighters do not gang rape women and mutilate their corpses and laugh about it. Nor do they sexually torture teens at music festivals, burn families alive, and livestream it online.
A first-term legislator is seeking solutions to a long-ignored consent problem inside ANR’s wastewater permitting. Party leadership told him to back down. He’s not backing down.
After reading the language and reviewing the testimony, I do not believe this amendment is written correctly nor do I believe it delivers on the promise of equal rights for all. That is important because this is not just some law that can be undone. There is a four-year process to make a constitutional amendment. It should be difficult and should be done correctly.
Democrat leaders refuse to fund a proven literacy program in Vermont.
Well, you know what, House Republicans? Your silence and poor arguments for voting in favor of Prop 4 “Equality of Rights” on the House floor yesterday spoke volumes. Volumes of fear of losing one’s seat and pandering to Democrats.
Out with Eappen, in with Leffler
Stripped of a liability shield for manufacturers, the bill is a major MAHA win. Still, not all farmers and farmer advocates are happy.
It’s good to be the king
One of my great pleasures – still – is reading the New York Times in detail, in hard copy, in my hands many times a week, especially on Sunday.
Specifically designed to allow legal, constitutional discrimination against “white, ‘cis’ men.”
Ben Cohen fights to win back Ben & Jerry’s from the corporate overlords
One solution is a Taxpayer Bill of Rights.
A fruitful two weeks in Bandera, Texas at ‘Confluence,’ and ‘American Regeneration Conference’ with AcresUSA
These coloring pages target the hearts and minds of children that were born less than ten years ago, indicating that PPNNE has no age limit for which it would consider its propaganda to be inappropriate. The subliminal message to these tender young minds is that life has no value, and that it is acceptable to extinguish it for any reason.
S.157, a win for Vermont recovery
Crumbling roads. Crumbling schools. Crumbling Bennington Monument. Crumbling tax base. It’s all connected.
Does anyone seriously believe a 7% property tax increase—in a state that already carries one of the highest property tax burdens in the country—amounts to “relief” for Vermonters? Vermont’s House Majority Leader Lori Houghton (D-Essex) says it does.
Comparing Vermont’s spending before the pandemic with today shows just how dramatic the growth has been. In FY21, Vermont budgeted $6.1 billion. Seven years later, we’re at $9.1 billion—an increase of 49%. Inflation during the same period was 28%.
Everyone agrees on the need for consumer data privacy. How far should it go? Also, details on the Legislature’s loosening grip on the local option tax (LOT).
The tax-and-health care nexus, housing production, and education reform.
They both support a tax hike on the rich, defunding Israel and more. What happened?
The problem is a too-powerful teachers union and their political allies.
Not coincidentally, May Day is the High Holy Day of Communists everywhere. How did public school teachers get involved with communism? It starts with the teachers’ unions.
Instead of disparaging our nation’s free enterprise (e.g., capitalist) system, the schools should be giving children the skills so they can earn the prosperity which only that system can provide.
Leading VT Democrats advocate for letting SNAP beneficiaries waste over $25 million a year on junk food.
This Wednesday evening, April 29, Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) will hold a controversial forum, “The Existential Threat of AI.” As an added draw to the doom and gloom, he has recruited two AI experts affiliated with China’s government, incurred the wrath of U.S. Treasury Scott Bessent, and received much other attention for the event.
While property taxes go up every year, the pittance paid by renewable power projects is fixed for the life of the project. Feel free to scream or maybe cry.
If Republicans continue to focus on delivering on the affordability agenda while Democrats look for new taxes and to take away land rights voters may continue to move because Democrats seem to be particularly unresponsive to the voice of the people.
Covid-19 has waned, but the shot-pushers double down.
Inspired by Brian Dubie, I thought I’d try my hand at songwriting. Thanks to my AI bandmates for for writing the music.
It did seem that the Act 181 Road Rule and Tier 3 that threatened so many rural Vermonters was an unshakable mountain that could not be moved. But, by the small faith of many, working together, hearts and minds were changed, and that mountain is being moved.
Be aware, rural Vermonters. With the push to build more towers, Vermonters in rural areas can expect they, too, will be thrown into the volcano, without compensation and with the potential for your property to lose value and your health to be harmed. That is our state’s and our country’s policy.
The policy argument is straightforward. The picture of what that wealth actually is bears closer examination.
It’s a multi-front war on multiple issues.
Suspend the financial disclosure provision of state law for just this election? what gives? Ii seems like there is a more severe dysfunction at work, Paul Dame says.
Key questions are now in play – how will Act 181 shift and what might accompany the repeal?
If you were having trouble putting your finger on that one thing that bugs you about the Whiz Kids on the Winooski (aka the Vermont legislature) you only have to read the recent apologia of House Speaker Jill Krowinski concerning the ill-considered Act 181.
