Regardless of age, if a child tells the school nurse or teacher they no longer want to be a boy or girl, the State could immediately take the decision out of the parents’ hands.
On 246th anniversary of death of Nathan Hale, we ask: who are our heros?
Nathan Hale remembered on 246th anniversary of his heroic death.
Keelan: Dignity Regina
Don Keelan ponders the takeaway from the public remembrances of the life of Queen Elizabeth II.
Late-term abortion survivor fears Article 22 will make VT abortion destination
I was supposed to be born dead, but I miraculously survived. Countless others like me do not.
‘Scribblings’ returns!
About the only people who made money from Vermont’s wind turbines were the developers, who collected money not for selling the power produced, but by soaking up various forms of government subsidies and incentive payments.
Madden: You’d never know there was middle ground on abortion
I think Balint doesn’t understand that 86% of people is an enormous middle ground—many of whom feel dismayed by the polarized, black-and-white fundamentalism on the extremes.
Dame: despite scary-high fuel oil prices, Dems want a carbon tax!
As bad as fuel costs will be this winter, they would be worse if this year the State House Democrats had passed the Carbon Tax they wanted.
Donahue: Vermont ‘fundamental beliefs and values’ don’t embrace Article 22
Roe itself flatly rejected the argument that “the woman’s right is absolute and that she is entitled to terminate her pregnancy at whatever time, in whatever way, and for whatever reason she alone chooses.”
Evslin: US climate advisor misses cost of climate hysteria
There simply would not be enough gas to keep Europeans warm and run their factories this winter if the US were not shipping huge supplies there.
Gervais: Climate legislation not even half-baked – it’s just plain raw
Vermont’s climate plans haven’t even gone in the oven yet, a GOP House candidate from Arlington warns.
McClaughry: VT cannabis industry gets huge subsidies
Vermont’s heavy carbon-emitting marijuana growing industry is getting generous ‘energy efficiency’ subsidies. Thanks, ratepayers!
Koch: Article 22 will probably pass – but it shouldn’t
“It is irresponsible to pass legislation if you don’t know what it means,” former Barre lawmaker and expert parliamentarian Tom Koch says.
Brodowski: Dem senator backing out of Article 22 debate
Sen. Ruth Hardy of Addison County is backing out on a promise to debate Article 22 expert Rep. Anne Donahue.
UVM: anti-semitism charges harmful, uninformed
The rocks thrown at the Hillel Center were just an effort of one friend to get another’s attention.
Wheeler: Open letter to Sanders, Leahy re: gay marriage bill
Thousands of years of history and fervently held convictions of millions of Americans are to be overturned by legislative tyranny.
Klar: fallout of hiring a ‘trans’ teacher hits VT high school
“Neurodivergence?”
Morton: What IRS is to citizens, the Auditor of Accounts is to state government
The title may sound boring, but the Auditor of Accounts is a watchdog against state government dishonesty and inefficiency.
White House hires Satanist to lead Monkey Pox response
The head of the White House Monkey Pox task force runs a satanic-themed gym and has Satanic images tattooed onto his chest.
Feminist, pro-choice, Goddard grad and author opposes Prop 5/Article 22
In our pain we have pitted autonomy against compassion.
Roper: Vermont Climate Council is unraveling
The Vermont Climate Council appears split over whether to inflict the pain on Vermont residents necessary to meet carbon emissions reduction goals.
Evslin: Manchin backed ‘Inflation Reduction’ in exchange for fed permit reform
Not reforming US permitting means leaving Russia, Saudi Arabia, and Iran supplying critical energy to Europe and exacting an increasing political as well as economic price.
Bean: Equitable Environmentalism
First and foremost, we must protect existing clean sources of power throughout the state.
Silverstein: Science prof gives abortion debate a grade of ‘incomplete’
On average, three mistakes will appear in each set of maternal and paternal chromosomes. Those three mistakes are the drivers of evolution.
Greenwald: Big media, big tech, and Dems wield repressive weapon of information control
The current religion of Western liberals in politics and media is censorship: their prime weapon of activism.
Beem: Ted Cruz and the Vermont College of Fine Arts both commit virtue-signaling
Virtue signaling on the left and the right is just plain lazy.
Redic: Libertarian says no to legal prostitution
Call me old fashioned, but perhaps an industry with this much human suffering isn’t in our best interest.
Walch: ‘Compelling state interest’ in Article 22 recalls eugenics era
Article 22 would put into the Constitution the right of the State to have the final say on who can and can’t be born.
Keelan: whoever we send to Washington, make sure they bring back money
Money from Washington is like blood to the body.
Wilcox: Article 22 promises freedom, but delivers death
Freedom for some must not decree death for others.
McClaughry: Saving our democracy
John McClaughry parses the difference between a democracy and a republic.
Wheeler: Ballots, not bullets, will stop the farcists
In many cases these would-be armed patriots have never attended even one town or county party meeting.
Spoehr: The rise of wokeness in the military
Wokeness in the military is a disincentive for many young Americans in terms of enlistment and siphons off resources needed to defend the country, a former 4-star general says.
College student concerned about climate, racial injustice, poverty backs Siegel for guv
“As a young person, I am really anxious about the future. With the looming climate crisis, racial injustice, and poverty all on the line, I feel a sense of urgency to make change for the better.”
Vermont liberal who once feared the FBI now defends it
“Growing up I was taught to treat the police, the FBI, pharmaceutical companies, banks, and big institutions of almost any kind, with skepticism. It was the same for many liberals. But today – because of Trump and his MAGA followers – we rise to their defense?,” wonders a liberal Vermont blogger.
Evslin: Regulatory Reform Urgently Needed for Renewable Energy
Unless there’s regulatory reform, almost no offshore wind is going to get built anytime in the near future.
Dame: Biden loan forgiveness no solution
The difference is that Democrats are happy to treat symptoms, while Republicans want to treat the cause.
Madden: Balint pandemic platform mimics PAC’s
Becca Balint explicitly claimed never to seek PAC/lobbyist money, but she did meet with the crypto-funded PAC “Protecting Our Future” and others.
Bean: Shortage of workers, shortage of meaning
People feel like their work lacks meaning, and lacks purpose, says a twenty-something candidate for the Vermont Senate.
Klar: local media filters narrative about shooting dogs
The City Mice don’t understand what the Country Mice have known all along: sometimes it takes a community to stop a nuisance dog.
Benning to Zuckerman: let’s leave high platitudes out of campaign
To “use this race to tell Vermonters our election will cure climate change or provide health care for all, etc.” would be disrespectful to the voters, Joe Benning advises Lt. Gov. adversary David Zuckerman.
McClaughry: Michigan expands school choice
If the SOS program were enacted, a parent-controlled savings account would be established for each participating child.
Letovsky: Vermont climate plan unaffordable, insecure, hard on environment
If college students can grasp the idea that energy choices should be evaluated using multiple criteria, why can’t legislators do the same?
Roper: As Climate Council ponders carbon tax on EVERYTHING, media stays silent
The Climate Council, charged by the Legislature to find funding sources for reducing carbon emissions, is now discussing out loud and on the record an “economy-wide” carbon tax. Media interest? Anyone?
Stevens: little public notice for hearing on toxic chemicals at Coventry landfill, important questions unanswered
The State of Vermont failed to adequately publicize a public hearing on a controversial landfill runoff plan, and then didn’t answer many important questions, a critic of the plan says.
Donahue: proof that Article 22 isn’t same as Roe V. Wade
It’s a false notion that Article 22, the ‘reproductive liberty’ constitutional amendment facing voters in November, resembles Roe V. Wade – and Anne Donahue proves it.
Despathy: Balint, with PAC $$, rides destructive tsunami
Becca, is my right to personal reproductive liberty supported in my rejection of the Covid injections?
Keelan: Me and Rip Van Winkle
Vermont’s Rip Van Winkle fell asleep after 9/11 and just woke up, to discover the waking nightmare gun violence, drug overdoses, a housing crisis, a pandemic and (apparently) rampant racism in the once-bucolic Green Mountain State.
Dame: Progressive Horse Hair Worms
Like a parasitic worm, Vermont Progressives have taken over the body politic of the Vermont Democratic Party.
Tynio: Dame to blame for Madden fiasco, but it’s time to move on
“Paul Dame failed to inform voters of candidate deception, opting instead to underestimate the consequences of Madden’s bid for office. He has now publicly blamed me and Ericka Redic for his failure, a narrative being perpetuated by media outlets on both the left and right,” Anya Tynio writes.
McClaughry: Ask candidates for Legislature these questions….
Fair, timely questions to ask someone running for the Legislature if/when they knock on your door.
GOP chairs agree with Madden: he’s not a Republican
Mr. Madden openly admits his original intention was to decline the Republican nomination if he won the primary and run as an Independent. In the event, he failed to follow the requirements for nomination as such and now pretends “we have a lot in common.”
Klar: Human Rights Commission racialized landlord-tenant dispute
The stretches made by this shameful “investigation” are truly worth a read by Vermonters, John Klar says. Get a bag of popcorn and settle in.
Free AC on a shaky power grid
President Biden’s plan to give away energy-efficient air conditioners may be a relief during heat waves – unless power grid’s increasingly shaky status requires rolling brownouts or blackouts.
Redic: Expect integrity, transparency, accountability
In the name of kindness and generosity, government can demand more and more of its citizens’ hard-earned income.
Dame compares Madden to ‘outsider’ Trump; Madden explains acceptance decision to Redic, her backers
“I want to emphasize that I made a mistake in my interpretation of election law, in assuming I could run as an independent if I won a primary and then declined the nomination,” Liam Madden said.
McDonald: At 9 months, ‘all systems are go’ for a baby
All the unborn baby needs is one breath of air and it’s off to the races – a new living, breathing member of the human race.
Eshelman: Abracadabra at Mar-a-Lago
Show The People the documents, Mr. Attorney General.
McClaughry: Reduce $31 trillion national debt with tax hike, spending cuts, CBO says
The Congressional Budget Office says interest costs will become the fastest-growing category in the federal budget, thanks to growth in both debt base and interest rates.
Dame: Madden victory shows GOP attractive to independent voters
“In every single race that Democrats were given a chance, they chose the candidate furthest to the left and repeatedly rejected their moderate or centrist candidates.”
Covey: Recent physical attacks on hunters followed years of propaganda
With terms like sadist, psychopath, and abuser used to describe community members, it is no wonder that such an event has now occurred twice. The surprise, perhaps, is that it took so long.
Baumgartner: As public schools indoctrinate, homeschooling has led to success for generations
Just as parents educated children at home for generations before the modern age, so can parents today. They must exercise confidence and look to themselves and their own knowledge to aid their children.
Green Pork
“But organized green interests want your money; voters want a warm feeling from being told they’re doing something about climate change (as long as it doesn’t involve a carbon tax).” – Holman Jenkins
Parton: In November, towns should check machine voting results with sample hand count
I am suggesting and encouraging all Town and City Clerks, City Councils, Select Boards and Boards of Civil Authority institute a policy to hand count one sample race after the 2022 General Election vote in November.
Flemming: Great Barrier Reef back after being “dead” from climate change
At the very least, the Great Barrier Reef’s recovery is a symbol of hope for all of life on Earth.
Condos to voters: have a plan tomorrow
Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos urges all Vermonters to plan wisely to participate in what he calls a ‘once in a generation’ primary.
Wilson: Why are Vermont legislators afraid of the Convention of States?
COS backers say Vermont lawmakers are terrified by an Article V Convention of States to set term limits, stop irresponsible spending, and reduce government overreach.
Despathy: no social contract with Big Pharma
To force a Big Pharma product on an individual goes against the entire basis of our country’s existing social contract.
MacDonald: Brazil study shows Ivermectin reduces mortality 92%
Because Big Pharma doesn’t control all research, the world now knows the results of a Brazil study of 88,000 subjects showing ivermectin reduced Covid-19 mortality 92%.
Martin: VTGrassroots holds fifth Celebrate America! event this weekend
It’s been nearly a year now since the newly organized group, VTGrassroots.com, sponsored its first Celebrate America event, with China specialist Gordon Chang as our keynote speaker.
Klar: Inflation Reduction Act’ will throw fuel on the flames of stagflation
The latest Biden spending bill will increase inflation while accelerating destruction of the ecosystem, boosting China’s manufacturing economy, rewarding wealthy corporate cronies, and ignoring the food supply and distribution crisis any child can see looming.
Biden bill means double trouble with IRS audits
Joe Biden’s latest huge spending bill would add 86,000 agents, doubling the size of the IRS. Audits away!
Angwin: Closing 5000 MW of New England power could spell trouble this winter
New England has subtracted 5000 MW of generation since 2013, and added 3000. Not good news for the next Polar Vortex.
Klar: Vermont legislator involved in voter fraud – but House panel says nothing
A longtime House Democratic leader and committee chair coached non-Windham residents to vote in a town voter decision on whether to close the local school.
Roper: despite record high fuel costs, Legislature to continue climate taxation
The Vermont Climate Council is coming up with another ‘climate plan’ that will make heating fuel and gasoline even more expensive. But the Council isn’t the real culprit.
Krauss: why I adore Gabbard, Ali, Paglia and Mom
The shock of a feminist woman like Camille Paglia defending traditional masculine traits is both ironic and appreciated.
Keelan: Looking back from column #500 – and looking ahead
On more than a few occasions, I have been asked if it is difficult to write a column or find material about which to write. Yes and no.
Kelly: “No” on Article 22 keeps gender fluidity out of the courts and away from the lawyers
Tinkering with the Constitution by adding vague, undefined terms invites unelected judges to interpret the vague undefined terms, a former Vermont prosecutor says.
Flemming: St. Albans debate shows BLM flag rift about more than skin color
When two black people on a St. Albans ‘inclusion’ committee disagreed on whether to endorse a BLM sign, the more conservative black person was not only outvoted, but was eventually tossed off the committee.
Evslin: Idiotic NY law required release of man who attacked Rep. Lee Zeldin
Rep. Lee Zeldin predicted – correctly – that the man who assaulted him would be released without bail under an idiotic New York law.
Warner: Groomers, Part 2 – power structures
To learn who rules over you, simply find out who you are not allowed to criticize.
Dame: Fact, fiction and Democrats’ war on the word “recession”
Just because you call a dog’s tail a leg, doesn’t mean it is one, the first Republican president said.
Orlando: asking the real question about legal abortion
Pro-abortion legal theorist Judith Javis Thomson said in 1971 the abortion debate comes down to the question: Can one person kill another person because that second person’s existence is going to be burden to the first person for the next nine or fewer months?
Warner: Groomers, Part 1
A former social worker with sex abuse victims who was himself a victim of ‘grooming’ describes what the term means and how it is perpetrated today.
Roper: Don’t use the cars we’re forcing you to buy!
There are only about 5000 electric vehicles on Vermont roads today, and the grid can’t handle charging them all during a week of high but not unprecedented summer heat.
McClaughry: SCOTUS EPA ruling victory for Rule of Law
The U.S. Supreme Court is unlikely to be persuaded by an Bernie-inspired executive action about a “national climate emergency.”
Thayer: Dems blind to growing cost of living
We need to cut regulations that have caused our housing crunch.
Flemming: Longmore’s comments on St. Albans ‘equity’ board not ‘obstructionist,’ but constructive
Keith Longmore’s comments on the St. Albans Belonging, Equity and Inclusion committee show he wanted to help – even though he disagreed with the majority’s conclusions.
Moot: Responsibly-sited wind projects?
No wind developer or owner has taken any responsibility for the damage caused. Instead, they deny there are any problems.
Flemming: VT business climate ranks low
If you believe CNBC, Vermont ranks 31st in business climate among the 50 states. But if you believe the Tax Foundation instead…..
Condos: Election fraud “insidious lie….driving a wedge between Americans”
“Despite the complete lack of evidence, this lie has gripped certain groups in the electorate and is at the center of the divisiveness driving a wedge between Americans,” Secretary of State Jim Condos said.
Plaintiff in mandate lawsuit runs for Vermont House, decries noblesse oblige
The hills are alive with those who may not have our best interest in mind.
Coester answers Benning about Jan. 6, Pepe the Frog
The driver of a logging truck deplored by Lt. Gov. candidate Joe Benning responds to his campaign statements.
Bechhoefer: Tax Flatlanders to subsidize lift tickets for Vermonters, Mermel says
Myers Mermel has proposed a 10% hospitality tax on out-of-state skiers in Vermont to subsidize lift tickets for Vermonters.
Keelan: In God We Trust – not Ernst & Young. Not anymore
For many investors in public and private companies, Ernst & Young was one of the last bastions of trust.
LaMarche: Faux progressives are wrong on crime
In Burlington, so-called progressive reforms have sprung up only to backfire on neighbors and harm the most vulnerable in our community.
Ask Johnny Bananas: can anyone watch too much Jordan Peterson?
It started when I refused to use the preferred pronouns of my second grade teacher.
Dame: It’s the economy, everybody – inflation hits 9.1%
No secret why media and Democrats aren’t talking about the economy this year.
Winter is coming, and green energy can’t keep Europe warm
Winter 2022 is coming, and these children of the green energy summer are not prepared.
McClaughry: Biden says “we” must control Supreme Court
My big problem is Biden’s declaration that “we can’t allow an out of control Supreme Court….” Oh? Who is this “we”?
Dame: Blame people, or blame policies
There isn’t some group of mysterious boogeymen with waxed mustaches plotting our demise.







