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Calls statement about man-made climate change ‘deceptive’
By Michael Bielawski
The Vermont-based social media company Front Porch Forum is censoring a political candidate’s post about climate change by refusing to post it.
Donald Koch of Barre Town is running for State Senate for the Washington District. He posted an opinion piece with VDC back in August about the state’s recently mandated massive investments to mitigate climate change. The same commentary was submitted to FPF – which wouldn’t run it unless he removed some supposedly deceptive content about man-made climate change.
The portion of his posting that got the attention of FPF moderators states, “The Democrat supermajority in Montpelier is infatuated with the idea that climate change is caused entirely by human behavior—namely, by the discharge of greenhouse gases—and that if Vermont can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, it can stop climate change and lead the rest of the nation in doing so as well.”
The piece for VDC garnered 29 comments, largely in support of the notion that folks should be questioning green mandates brought on by powerful lobbyists. For example, Twalton states, “How refreshing… someone with common sense. Thank you for this. The earth has been changing for millennia from natural causes and will continue to do so. Time to face up that we are going to live with it and adjust accordingly.”
FPF in an email to Koch cited the policy that he allegedly violated. It states, “You agree not to submit content that is false, deceptive, misleading, or misinformative.” They do not explain how any of his posting is false or misleading.
Explanation by ‘Maxwell’ (no further name given) of the FPF Member Support only states “If you’d like to remove or revise that portion and resubmit, we’ll take another look.”
VDC highlighted back in February that FPF took $361,500 of rural development funds from the Vermont Council on Rural Development, which is public money. This calls into question FPF’s categorizing itself as a private media company.
The story highlighted FPF’s censorship of former state senator Wendy Wilton and it further notes the Carnegie Library explains that private media companies are allowed to refuse publication of a posting for disagreeing with it, but public entities cannot.
A search of “Front Porch Forum” on VDC‘s archives reveals several instances of Vermonters accusing the social media company of censorship over the years.
The rest of Koch’s posting then gets into some of the major financial commitments that Vermonters have been signed onto.
“Thus, they have passed the ‘Global Warming Solutions Act,’ mandating measurable reductions in Vermont’s carbon emissions, authorizing anybody at all to sue the state if we do not meet those mandates, and suggesting, in fact, that li’l ol’ Vermont has the ‘solution’ to global warming.,” he wrote.
He implies that the legislature by passing these green energy mandates is over asserting their powers over how Vermonters heat their homes.
“Now, they have followed up with the so-called ‘Affordable Heat Act,’ which establishes a complex system of ‘tradeable credits’ designed to raise the price of fossil-based heating fuels, and use the money from sale of these credits to insulate homes for low income people, install heat pumps, and in other ways convert Vermont’s heating system to methods that the legislature, in its unquestionable wisdom, has decided are good for the people,” he wrote.
Jay Eshleman, a Westminster resident and business owner wrote a commentary about FPF titled “Front Porch Forum – Vermont wolves in sheep’s clothing.” He wrote in December, “Of course, it’s now difficult for me to provide my neighbors any balance to these ‘ravenous’ globalist policies on FPF, having only recently learned that my ‘account has been closed due to violations of FPF’s Terms of Use.’
He continued, “And no, FPF didn’t tell me my account was closed. Nor did FPF answer my request to explain its actions. Again, ‘Acceptance of payment does not create any obligation for Front Porch Forum to fulfill.’”
Backing up the notion that there should be open discussion about the necessity of costly climate policies is a new study out of Norway by Klimarealistene or “Climate Realists” which found that human activity has no measurable impact on the Earth’s carbon levels.
The author is a writer for the Vermont Daily Chronicle
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Categories: Media
When discussing healthcare I was not permitted to use the sentence “ The Covid vaccine, its ineffectiveness and adverse effects are scientifically proven.”.
This issue is far more pervasive than understood. I am running for the House in Addison 2 and recently contacted FPF to reactivate the account that I terminated two years ago. They did not terminate my account. I informed them in my
email request that I had moved and that I was running for office in rural Vermont, as my account type needed to be updated to reflect my intention to use it for campaigning. I received an email response telling me that I violated too many of their community guidelines. I asked them to provide a listing of which guidelines and when this occurred, as I only knew of one I stance where they denied to publish my community commitment as they deemed it a conspiracy theory. Right……
I was sharing this information with another Republican candidate and was told that Rob Roper recently had his post communicating that he was giving a talk in Brandon about the cost of the Affordable Clean Act Standard in Brandon. FPF refused to publish the post. When FPF states that you violate its community guidelines, they mean guidelines set by the government and the international community. Misinformation, disinformation and so on is also determined by the government and the same internal entities.
It wasn’t my post, but the folks from Brandon who organized the meeting. What’s absurd about it was it was just an announcement that the event was taking place — where, when and the subject matter — a discussion of the Clean Heat Standard and Property tax policy. Nothing in the ad was false or misleading as the event was indeed scheduled for the time and place advertised, and I did show up to discuss those issues. Any lawyers out there?
I was also banned from FPF, beginning in 2022, after I ran for the Vermont House, espousing conservative views. I recently tried to post something and found that I am still banned. I was never informed of why I was banned… Thoughtcrime, presumably.
Welcome to the club. My FPF posts were fine when I promoted the long standing Ranolph Carol Sing events-this year will be the 75th year – for about 10 years. I was amazed to see a back and forth of about 50 messages when there was a seriously good exchange on commercialized cannabis the month before the Town Hall vote. That was one of the healthiest community exchanges I have witnessed on FPF. Suddenly I get back from international travels and I had been booted off because of religious and political posts.
Rob Roper – Thank you for clarifying.
I have never looked at or subscribed to Front Porch Forum, and now there’s no chance I ever will. Censorship such as this is maddening and intolerable. Freedom of speech is under attack, even from the self-righteous thought controllers at tiny neighborhood forums like FPF, which purports to “help neighbors connect and build community.” If this is “community,” leave me out of it.
It sounds like ” Front Page Forum ” is just another liberal hack site, as we all know the
progressive left can’t handle the truth !!
You only have freedom of speech, if you stay off liberal sites………………….
FPF is certainly useful for selling firewood or finding lost pets but anytime politics or policy comes up on it, the censorship is evident, obvious and slanted hard left. NO public money should be allocated to fund such bias. Sorry, but “climate change” is NOT settled science and opinions backed up by evidence cover the whole spectrum. Beware ANY entity that claims to define content as “misinformation/malinformation”, as they typically are leftist opponents of free speech and expression.
It’s not only Front Porch Forum (FPF) involved in this ruse. FPF is part of a Vermont consortium designed to manipulate election coverage through the Citizens Agenda Initiative and it has partnered with Vermont Public in this regard.
The Citizens Agenda Initiative is one of the most insidious propaganda movements out there, as witnessed by the censorship inherent in FPF’s practices.
Front Porch Forum is a private Vermont Benefit Corporation and, as such, is not beholden to the non-partisan requirements assigned to typical 501 (c)3 nonprofit corporations like Vermont Public. It appears, then, that Vermont Public has decided to let FPF do its dirty work. When the scrutiny becomes too hot, Vermont Public can claim ‘plausible deniability’ for FPF’s egregious behavior.
https://www.vt-world.com/vermont-public-partners-with-front-porch-forum-on-citizens-agenda-initiative-during-2024-election-season.html
Vermont Public is another hard-left media entity that is funded by YOUR tax dollars and discriminated against traditional/conservative content. The new republican congress should strip public broadcasting of ALL federal funding. I wont expect the moonbat majority in Montpelier to follow suit though, but Vermonters should demand that.🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲🇺🇲
Banned TWICE at two different addresses – one in approximately 2010 or so for criticizing the “elected officers” of a town I lived in -one of which had been arrested for stealing public property, and the second time for submitting a post written about (can’t make this stuff up as is said) the Constitutional/God-given right to Freedom of Speech.
Here’s some free speech for ya “Front Porch Forum”, i.e.: Front Porch Pravda: Why don’t you & all your fellow Commie tyrants in Vermont make-like-Lenin so you can all be immortalized by the droves of indoctrinated half-wits who yearn to be: controlled!
Notice its only the MAGA crowd that gets banned. Weird when a business behaves in its own self-interests and doesn’t want you sullying the brand. I’ll bet Phil Scott can relate…
Gather all of you together with documentation and SUE.
There would be thousands of people. Thousands. And you’d also find some of the most reasonable arguments and questions, from those same people.
It’s been common knowledge for many years now…..you’d thing the VTGOP would have something to say about this, bring it up on a regular basis, but huh. Nope, they do absolutely nothing AND they don’t even squawk about it.
Why is that?
Who would benefit?
question/ Which group of people use the word community as a political tool????? There is no individual rights in this mind set.
Oh yeah, I was removed also.
The last straw was when I reformatted common knowledge and suggested it was insane use of money.
We were building a pocket park with Grant money, free money. It was $210k +/- if I remember correctly (Who wouldn’t want a pocket park? What is a pocket park? What were they building with the money) . I suggested spending $210k for park benches, plantings, some stonework on a piece of ground that was about 850 sq ft, which was in the flood way, the major current of the flood and spending $20k was an absolute waste of taxpayer money. On top of that it won awards, so think about this, that was the best idea for grant money in the state, ludicrous. They had a budget of $45,000 for engineering and permitting.
Funny thing next day they said I was no longer able to post on my hometown account.
At the public meetings we were given three choice, one really stupid, couldn’t do, another nobody wanted and the third what they wanted. Now the public was pretty upset, they had come up with many great ideas, all of them costing less than $5k. The town and the planners wanted nothing to do with it. They had made their minds up and it didn’t matter what people wanted, nor were the interested at all in what people thought, they only gave lip service and some required meeting time.
Sadly, this is how our entire state and capital are run. Vermonters are only in the way of their plans, Vermonters and that pesky piece of paper, which they ignore to no end.
Vermont can do better, much better.
If one were truly inclined to seek the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth with regard to Front Porch Forum, you would be shocked at what is being done. This article and these comments are but just a speck of sand on the beach in which they are playing.
Investigating Front Porch Forum and then VT Digger would be one of the biggest scandals, one of be most epic news story about corruption, inside dealings and propaganda, it would make watergate look like a pine needle under a white pine tree in Vermont.
What we have going on in Vermont is so massive, so organized, so pervasive, done so frequently it’s considered standard operating procedure…….that the public really can’t fathom how screwed up things truly are.
People didn’t believe the earth was round, Vermonters don’t believe their state, their agencies, their non-profits would lie to them or abuse their power and privilege.
Let me just say, we aren’t in Kansas anymore Toto.
I wasn’t removed, I cancelled my account in 2020. If you don’t know or can’t see the enemy by now, I feel sorry for you. Every weapon possible is being raised against you to destroy you – it’s not so obvious to most because the enemy is not that brash – they smile, they use nice soft language, they gaslight, they talk in circles, and tickle many ears with lies and deceptions. The knife in the back isn’t felt by design. The demons run amock and most are still trying debate and reason with sociopaths and psychophants. How many warnings and signs does God have to show His people before they snap into action? Will the real army of Christ (not the convenient ones) please stand up!
Can’t recommend enough the book title, The Smear by Sheryl Atkisson, here’s another article that gets into it.
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2024/09/21/government-censorship-complex-hard-proof-of-a-highly-organized-rico-level-international-crime-syndicate/
This really is Rico level stuff, we have it here in Vermont, without question. If the VTGOP had any resemblance of an American party, supporting the constitution, they’d be all over this like a bad rash.
But alas, they seem to love our current situation and therefore not wanting to change anything in our state or in their party. Change is bad, losing is good.
FPF has a reputation to uphold. Mr. Koch’s statement. “…if Vermont can reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, it can stop climate change and lead the rest of the nation in doing so as well”, is obviously a stretch of the truth to the point of being false. What’s new?
This is surprising to whom? Why do VT conservatives still have any thing do with FPF or any form of VT media?
I’ve told this story before. In 2020 when they were pushing the George Floyd lies to push the BLM/Defund the police garabage (how’s that working out Burlington?) a poster on my local FPF submitted a post that basically said if you don’t support BLM you should be ‘exterminated’. It was quite shocking and I decided to call the poster out in a profession and courteous manner. Guess what happened to my post?
After that I immediately canceled my account and have never looked back. All this states media is controlled by the same slimebags. digger, FPF, WCAX, 7 days of communism (here’s a secret they get a HUGE amount of dough from Unilever) and probably the most nasty are the local townie papers.
Pravda was never this good at propaganda.
Front Porch Foreskin is a walking scandal.
Posted this just yesterday from Huntington and it did NOT appear in the subsequent edition…not surprised, but i wanted to test the waters anyhow:
“In response to the recent vandalism to a business in Jonesville displaying a Ukrainian flag: It is ok to destroy a flag, IF you own that flag and you are not violating any other ordinances or statutes regarding disorderly conduct or burning in public. It is NOT ok to destroy a flag that belongs to someone else without their permission. An advocacy for this political cause, including the display of the flag of a foreign country is apparently ok with the Front Porch Forum. It is apparently also ok with the FPF to advocate for others to display that flag and to announce the availability of said flags for free distribution.
My questions is this: if the flag in question was blue and white and bore the Star of David, would the FPF also allow it’s advocacy to be similarly propagated?”
Front Porch Fraud fraudulently pretends to be a “community” outlet while it aggressively pushes a its far left misinformation and propaganda. If Vermont was not the obvious corrupt progressive totalitarian joke that it has so obviously become, Fraud Porch and its owners would be investigated and prosecuted for abusing the public trust and committing fraud while to illegally influence our elections. We need jail time for such scandalous criminality — which is exactly what Front Porch Fraud is. Indeed, I will say that I won’t be sued for saying so because the truth I am stating is my defense. If Vermonters really knew what this hateful entity is doing, the owners and staff would get the tar and feathers they very much deserve. Scumbags! Vermonters should boycott Front Porch Fraudsters if they care at all about free speech or free elections. Maybe the feds will investigate this ongoing travesty!
Charity Clark recently worked very hard to prevent Vermont parents from having any legal recourse when their young children are jabbed with an experimental vaccine against their wishes. Wouldn’t it be interesting to see Charity investigate Front Porch Fraud for its blatant abuses — I can document many against me, going back years — and actually serve the voters rather than the social justice cult of which she and FPF are fellow worshippers? True justice is looming above their heads. Our government does not serve us and is losing credibility and legitimacy by the day. I never signed up for a one-party totalitarianism, and my patience is thin. Charity, where are you?? You are supposed to serve, not oppress, Vermonters.
I got censored for using the word tax talking about the carbon tax. if I eliminate the word they will print it. that’s the third time they wouldn’t print something of mine.
Duly noted and filed for action if Trump gets in.
It is abundantly clear that conservative thought is not welcome in some circles. The fact of the matter is that FPF is one of those circles. Since they are a private entity, they have the right to control what appears in their platform.
All the more reason to support VDC.
What can we do? Who is the regulatory body that looks at how publicly funded institutions censor speech?