The legislature’s enactment of the “Community Resilience and Biodiversity Protection Act” is another troubling example of how massive, radical changes in Vermont are being engineered these days.
Banzhaf: Both rights protected in Friday’s LGBTQ decision
Law prohibits discrimination against persons, not ideas.
LaMarche: Becca Balint’s limp solidarity
“I felt as if I was so beneath [Balint] in class and experience that she did not bother to relate to me as a human being,” a Poor People’s Campaign pilgrim to Washington, D.C. said.
Bossange: The Republican Party’s march toward Christian Nationalism
The Republican Party’s traditional beliefs: smaller government, less taxation, unregulated capitalism, less gun safety controls, free trade, no unions, and fiscal conservatism, are being overshadowed.
Sanders accuses high court of ‘making policy’ on student debt decision
“In my view, if right-wing Supreme Court justices want to make public policy they should quit the Supreme Court and run for political office.”
Roper: Scott vetoes bottle bill expansion
Scott noted in his weekly press conference hours before he issued his official veto that the current redemption process is a “Rube Goldberg” contraption that actually puts barriers in the way of recycling
Despathy: VPIRG’s twisted irony
Maybe VPIRG’s time would be better spent hiring lawyers to make Big Oil pay instead of changing law in Vermont to achieve their goals at the expense of Vermonters.
Baker: make July American Pride Month
Congressman Hunt proposes that in July, we remember all the things that make America unique and exceptional on the national/international stage.
Klar: Two days of truth-seeking
At Polyface Farm in Virginia. I spoke about the pervasive theme in scripture, and in biology, of humanity’s connection with the earth and farming.
McClaughry: Administrative State feels “little need to comply” with the law
The careerist bureaucracy actually performs the major executive functions of the national government — leaving the bureaucracy pretty much unaccountable to anyone.
Tebbetts: What happened when the frost hit
The hard freeze means significant losses for growers and those who make their living off fruits and vegetables. The extent of the damage may not be known for months but indications are discouraging.
McGuinness: Heyer cut through trans rhetoric, presented truth with love
The most encouraging part of the evening was seeing three individuals from the concurring Pride Joy protest among the 105 in attendance, taking in Walt’s presentation.
Dame: Annie, Get Your Gun before 72-hour-waiting period
Democrats have once again passed a law that encourages everyone to go out and buy a gun immediately – before you can’t.
Mermel: RFK Jr., duty, and The Plague
Robert’s father with a “particular intensity” directed Robert to read The Plague by Albert Camus. Robert says he read it three times to decipher the message.
Roper: Climate Council eyes transportation carbon tax on top of S.5 home heating tax
A win/win for the politicians on both sides of the lake, but for the Taxpayers, of course, it’s lose, lose, and lose some more.
McClaughry: Blue-state Progressive budgets
With the enactment of the Democratic budget over Gov. Scott’s veto, Vermont may soon be another disappointing example of runaway, unsustainable spending.
Donahue: Legislature decided abortion not really about choice
Once a pregnancy has begun, there are two people with rights to bodily integrity. That is the issue that no one is willing to recognize and struggle with.
LaMarche: Senator Hardy optically challenged
Sen. Ruth Hardy (D-Addison): “Women make, what is it, 82 cents on the dollar or so, compared to men.” She regrets the Senate failure to override the legislative pay hike veto not for herself, of course, but “on behalf of our future sisters in the Legislature.”
Klar: Amendment 22, gender drugs, and fetal tissue research
In a move that has allowed Vermont and UVM to join the vanguard of money-attracting experimental gender hormones on prepubescent children, a 2015 “initiative” pushed that envelope deep into the Green Mountain State.
Artificial intelligence can learn but it can’t think
If you want to do something new, AI is not nearly as helpful. It can’t remember what it never knew.
Roper: So, a 78% approval rating and $2 gets you a cup of coffee
None of the veto votes was even close.
Partin: Bitcoin 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Understanding Bitcoin
Even though Bitcoin has a lot of potential and advantages, it is important to use care and do your study before using it.
RFK Jr. speaks on climate without pontificating
A recent EAI event featured famed columnist George F. Will, and was largely attended by conservatives. A different cross-section of Vermonters gathered for RFK’s visit, hinting at the possibility of a growing alliance of populist support for an authentic maverick.
Iselin: The lone gunwoman
In stark contrast to today’s “media”, the following is a true, accurate, honest account of what happened in Lyndon, VT on Sat. June 10, 2023.
Who’s Afraid of Naomi Wolf?
Naomi Wolf stands out as a walkaway: a dyed-in-the-wool liberal feminist who woke up to the lies of her government.
Dame: Legislative pay & recruitment
When the scope of the legislative session is so broad its length could extend indefinitely, and in other Deep Blue states, they have become full-time year-round positions with salary and benefits.
Addleman: Vermont taking Monsanto to court over polychlorinated biphenyls contamination
The suit is designed to protect Vermont’s natural resources and schools that have been affected by contamination from the chemicals.
Roper: The Blob seeks ways to continue discriminating against Christians
Push is on to end all school choice rather than let some parents choose Catholic schools for their kids.
U.N. lays groundwork for defining child sex as human right
It’s all there in a recent U.N. policy statement.
Lomborg: Thinking smartly about climate change
It can be easily demonstrated that climate change, however serious, is not an incoming giant meteor.
Keelan: Supermajority opened floodgates to overspending
The secret is out about Vermont. It is no longer just a pristine state with rolling hills, quaint villages, farms, and thousands of miles of unpaved roads. Its underbelly is now clear to all.
McClaughry: The possibly “historic” veto session
The supermajority Democratic legislature confronts a popular Republican governor. Consider this combination of facts…
Roper: Legislature just decided to start automatically deducting 5% of Vermonters’ paychecks
The state will automatically deduct 5 percent of said employees’ paychecks (increasing to 8 percent over time), putting the money into that account – without the employees’ consent!
Kelly: when Elon Musk calls ESG ‘Satanic,’ get concerned
Is the ESG movement intentionally obscure? No doubt. Should those of us interested in individual rights and freedom learn more about it? Absolutely.
Orleck: Hotels, bus tickets, jail cells don’t meet homeless Vermonters’ real needs
The more outrageous and destructive an idea might be, the more it is embraced.
Gervais: Uphold the Assault Veto
I don’t need my preschool grandchildren, great grandchildren, or grand nieces and nephews receiving any sort of curriculum across the gender and sexuality spectrum.
Johnson: “Pride Month” – Here’s what I’m not proud of
A former Lamoille County resident regrets her liberal, “gender-affirming” past.
From Democracy To Technocracy
Technocracy is rule by an elite of ‘technical experts.’ It’s happening right now, in Vermont.
Scott’s veto of childcare bill should be upheld
Unfortunately, odds are it won’t be.
Klar: What’s the beef with cows?
PETA and other animal rights organizations purport to talk for cows, but their voices ring hollow: the plan is not to release cows but to slaughter them.
Dame: Progressive Dems threaten shutdown
The Vermont Democratic party of twenty years ago might have considered a Kevin McCarthy-like compromise. But many worry that Vermont Democrats of today left that orbit a long time ago.
Evslin: S. Burlington is planning to require solar on new residential housing
What about doing it the other way around? We need housing more than we need solar panels.
Klar: Ireland joins the climate campaign to kill cows
Ireland has announced plans to cull hundreds of thousands of cows to comply with European Union climate policy. Indeed, cows are the heroes, not the villains, in rescuing the climate.
Hartford votes To fly Pride Flag At municipal building
The majority of selectboard members chose not to hear discussion, nor raise the issue publicly other than to make it the meeting’s last agenda item.
LaMarche: Legislative lies
As readers and voters, we bear the responsibility of holding Goldman, as well as every Democratic representative who failed to adequately plan for this crisis, accountable.
Keelan: Non-profit embezzlement strikes again
Part of the problem regarding embezzlement, especially here in Vermont, is the trust we place in those accountable for the funds of the state’s 6,000-plus nonprofit entities.
Gervais: Lawmakers can’t handle the truth about S.5
We elect representatives to, as the title suggests, to “represent” us. Not to disregard us.
Democrat legislator on budget veto: “I will be voting to override”
The Governor and his administration have been asked repeatedly to present a plan to transition people from the motel program into other housing. There has been no plan presented by the Executive Branch.
GOP lawmaker opposes pay hike, budget
Peterson “voted NO because the FY2024 budget burdens Vermont taxpayers with far too many raised taxes and fees.”
Wheat, weed, milk and meat: How the Feds control our food supplies
Expanded federal powers over food under the Commerce Clause have too often favored large corporate interests over local and individual liberties. That is surely not what the founding fathers intended.
Gervais: Child trafficking supported by U.S. government
In this article, I will distill global and national efforts that set up what we are seeing in Vermont and how these efforts lean towards grooming of our precious children at a very young age.
Roper: Scott veto calls out tone deaf legislative pay raise
The Democrats may have the votes to override Phil Scott’s vetoes, but at least the governor is going to extract maximum embarrassment when they do.
Koch: What can Vermont do with its homeless?
We need to remember that which is too often forgotten—that just throwing money at a problem has never solved the problem it was intended to solve and has often created new and unforeseen problems.
Fernandez: Vermont Celtics fans lament lost season
This reporter/fan has been watching the Celtics since Bill Russell became the first African-American to coach in the NBA in 1966.
Taylor: Abenaki in support of trapping
A considered response to “Rohit Sharma: Trapping is not a management tool. Let nature take its course.” published in VT Digger.
Act Like Men, Part III: Compromise or Courage
Jordan Peterson is a man who doesn’t just wear the uniform but fulfills the duty.
McClaughry: of electrification and freezing pipes
What these Vermont legislators cannot grasp is that relying on electric heat is just not feasible in a Vermont winter.
Klar: Globalists seek to further industrialize American farms
John Kerry announces controlling farms is needed to prevent climate change…
Mayor Miro: Burlington has more homes and solar arrays than when I took office
Burlington has more solar power than any city east of the Mississippi, Mayor Miro Weinberger listed as one of his tenure’s accomplishments.
Warner: Act Like Men, Part II
Despite their numerous denominational, doctrinal and stylistic differences, one thing churches in the Upper Valley seem to agree on is avoiding politics in the pulpit. Why is that?
McClaughry: Burlington’s homeless problem
The one clear fact is that Vermont cannot forever spend millions of dollars a month supporting a homeless population, that doesn’t care to do anything in return.
Warner: Act like men
The very nature of womanhood is under attack yet again, and by proxy so is manhood.
Evslin: Is AI Dangerous?
Forget the hype on either side. AI is a tool that can and will be used both for good and evil. Evslin thinks the potential outweighs the risk.
Charity Clark hindsight on charging police “will have a dangerous and chilling effect”
The bar for charging police officers with a crime is now so low the expectation is that any use of force could be twisted into a criminal case, the former Director of the Vermont State Police says.
Baker: Something for nothing dehumanizes homeless people
When you give something to people and require no payback of any sort, you dehumanize them. You create an imbalanced relationship. People must have a measure of responsibility and investment in their own lives.
Klar: Is the Randolph locker room dispute settled?
The dishonesty displayed by Vermont’s extremist Woke-ists has been on full, possibly libelous display in the Blake Allen case.
Roper: Higher home heating fuel prices are just the beginning
Vermont’s supermajority just put Vermont on the path to significantly higher home heating fuel, despite the veto of Governor Phil Scott. But don’t expect the controversy to end there.
Gassett: Will Brattleboro elected officials enable Vermont’s lawless lawmakers?
Vermont Bill H-386 is seeking to reduce the Vermont Constitutional Requirements of the voting age in Brattleboro.
Roper: Analyzing the media bias in Clean Heat Standard coverage
An in depth look at how reporters mislead citizens to promote a political agenda.
Finnie: Hunters, anglers led historic restoration of Vermont wildlife
Sportsmen, and women, and the Fish and Wildlife Department have brought this renewable resource to where it is today, since it was all almost wiped out by land clearing for farming in the mid to late 1800s.
Justice Gorsuch: Thoughts About the Response to COVID-19
Since March 2020, we may have experienced the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country.
Keelan: Let’s face it, we don’t care
Do we care what it takes to get us an EV or a kilowatt of electricity? Vermont has been in denial. The cost is too great for this to continue.
Mott: Not just Red States risk deep-sixing democracy
When a pro-choice leader announced “our autonomy over our bodies is not up for discussion,” it sent a clear signal: If you are pro-life in Vermont, your judgments do not matter. That’s a big mistake.
McClaughry: the Representative and Senator interest group fared well this session
One interest group fared extraordinarily well during the just-completed legislative session. That’s the interest group comprised of Representatives and Senators.
Roper: The weird irony of school mascot controversies
Increasingly and oddly in these days of supposed inclusivity, Mascots of Color need not apply. And if one already has the job, prepare to be eliminated.
Bucknam: Cure for public school racism is Black Power
The racist ideology of “The White Man’s Burden” has permeated our public schools, universities and other establishment institutions and is mortally wounding the future for Black American children.
Rep. Peterson: why I voted against $130 mil childcare bill
Mostly the childcare bill just costs too much. But it also intrudes Big Government into a sphere of life best handled by small business and families.
Trudell: Who elected you to drive our fuel prices up so high?
You did not explicitly say you would do these things when you ran your political campaigns. We Vermonters were not marching in the streets demanding that you do these things to us.
Vermont desperately needs a Taxpayer Bill of Rights
To cover all this drunken sailor activity by the supermajority, the Democrats and Progressives are just asking you to, as always, “pay just a little bit more.”
Warner: Biden laptop revelations leave big questions unanswered
Having double-minded men and women administering two-standards of justices is nothing new in American politics.
Wilson: I apologize for the acts of many legislators
Ensuring a sustainable, realistic budget wisely appropriated for the good of all must be a primary goal. This did not happen this session.
Evslin: Why artificial intelligence will lead to job growth
And why job loss from AI is still a problem.
Bossange: Need for 40,000 new homes a myth
The real danger here is that the “24,000 job vacancy” myth feeds the “40,000 new homes needed” myth, creating a false sense of urgency.
Roper: Unrepresentative, under-qualified legislature gives itself a massive pay raise
The Vermont House and Senate often disagree on what priorities should be or the best way to pay for a program, but on this point they heartily agree: they themselves deserve a lot more money.
Hango: Failure to exempt veterans’ pensions drives skilled workers out of state
The Legislature just budgeted tens of millions of dollars to create new state jobs. Too bad it couldn’t have kept more retired military instate by exempting their pensions from taxes.
McGuinness: VTDigger falls short on investigative journalism integrity
VTDigger has presented a biased perspective on gender-affirming industry ‘shield laws,’ H.89 and S.37, into law on May 10th by Governor Scott.
Warner: In New Hampshire, Donald Trump breaks CNN…again
I decided to watch the Louder With (Steven) Crowder coverage and play along to the drinking game with a nice Temperanillo and cigar.
Vermont – founded by a militia – just banned militias
Vermont wouldn’t be Vermont without Ethan Allen’s Green Mountain Boys militia.
Roper: “Only cost pennies” Clean Heat Standard talking point is observably false
Vermont already has a two-cent excise tax on heating oil, kerosene and dyed diesel. It raises about $5 million per year. So, a per gallon surcharge on home heating fuels would have to raise about sixty times that amount to pay for the Clean Heat Standard mandates, or $1.20 per gallon. That’s just math, folks!
Keelan: Is it a good deal or a bad deal?
“Let us hope that the ghost of no SVHC Trustee will ever come back and say if only I had done my job.”
McGuinness: Passage of H.89 and S.37 ‘Shield Bills’ based on emotions, not evidence
While listening to Committee testimony and Floor readings on H.89 and S.37, I heard witnesses and legislators toss the words “evidence-based” like pizza dough, except there was no crust.
Klar: The Utility of Pollution
Allocating harm where it does the most good.
McClaughry: The Climate-Conscious Transportation Game
The red hot policy issue in the state right now is S.5, the (un)Affordable Heat bill passed by the Democratic supermajority in the House and Senate. Gov. Scott vetoed it last Thursday.
Smith: Understanding S.5 – it’s all about gas
Founder of anti-natural gas plant group says S.5 is all about establishing market share for fracked gas.
Roper: Talking point that Clean Heat bill will help the poor is a cruel lie
This program is extremely expensive and extremely regressive. It will cause a lot of pain for Vermont’s most vulnerable citizens, and will achieve exactly NOTHING in regard to solving Global Warming.
In Vermont visit, ‘Planet of the Humans’ filmmaker exposes corporate capture of environmental justice
Gibbs exposes dangers and deceptions within the “green” energy-related movement hijacked by corporations and investors out to make a profit.
Thurston: Deconstructionism destroying our culture
When I emigrated to this country, at age 27, I spoke French as my mother tongue and Dutch as a second language. I knew a few medical terms in English but was unable to order my groceries at the store.
Retired pharmacist: lethal dose not “swallowing a magic pill, lying down, and dying”
Reporting of side effects isn’t required under Vermont’s “ostrich-head-in-the-sand” aid-in-dying law.
Town of Hartford struggles with identity politics
The Town of Hartford Select Board has adopted a new committee to assess the town for its racial and marginalized persons scorecard.
Roper: Vermont’s legislature is blowing big bucks on failed experiments.
Census data shows blue states losing people and income to red states.







