McClaughry: Civil society supporting farmers
The 2020 annual report of the Vermont Community Foundation describes some of its work to strengthen our local food system especially in the disruptive year of COVID.
Roper: Vermont Climate Council wants ‘a river of money’
I’m willing to bet a large majority of voting taxpayers’ priority amongst this smorgasbord of spending choices is to keep their money for themselves with no interest in seeing it “redirected” away from their pay checks, savings accounts, wallets, and household budgets, especially for the purposes of putting their unemployed neighbor in a Prius.
Flemming: The ones who gave residential solar a price hike
If you keep hearing from your neighbors about how they were so excited to have solar panels installed on their roofs because they are getting “free electricity,” you may want to think twice before committing to solar.
John Klar: Fauci’s latest faux pas
Dr. Anthony Fauci recently made a bold declaration against “the sea of lies we are living in” — and then lied about the science of COVID-19 and vaccine protection. Not just a little lie: a massive misstatement of well-established scientific fact.
Shannara Johnson: The full barbarism of abortion practices is coming to light
We don’t get to nod understandingly anymore and say something like, “Well, I don’t really agree with abortion, but everyone should be free to make their own decision.” That was me just a few years ago, and I’m deeply ashamed of that fact.
John Klar: Vermont’s education justice movement
Vermont is not a white supremacist state, and its children should not be taught that their skin color means they must feel guilt for crimes of the past in order to be decent human beings.
John Klar: The multicultural destruction of Vermont
By “flatlander,” what is meant is not that outsiders arrived from flat places afar, but that they are unfamiliar with the creed of frugality, agriculture and individualism that predominates in the hills around them and in the times before their arrival. Vermonters can sniff a flatlander from a glance.
McClaughry: Vermont implications after 18-year-old wins gun rights ruling
Three years ago Vermont raised the age for purchasing any firearm from 18 to 21. But on July 13, a three judge panel ruled that a federal law barring the sale of handguns to persons under 21 was unconstitutional, calling into question Vermont’s 2018 action.
McClaughry: Vermont’s fourth branch of government
A current case before the Public Utility Commission (PUC) may illustrate how that regulatory board has become an unaccountable fourth branch of government, dedicated to accelerating the current preoccupation with defeating the Menace of Climate Change.
Bucknam: Time for racial reckoning
Vermont Democrat Party Chair Bruce Olsson published a commentary recently proclaiming yet again that Republicans are racist. This is particularly rich since the Democrat party is the oldest and most enduring racist political party in history, and its racism continues to this day.
Roper: An unsustainable appetite for spending
This shows a nearly 25 percent increase in state spending in just two years. Nearly a billion of the dollars fueling this spree are calculated to go away in 2022. Perhaps more alarming, Klein finished his presentation with two solid pages of text outlining pending needs and requests for funding major new or vastly expanded programs.
Deb Billado: New nightmares in regulation, Part 2
Last week, I talked about how the majority in Montpelier is trying to over-regulate contractors and handymen in Vermont. The Democrats and Progressives in the Vermont Legislature are also seeking to impose a brand-new rental registry for all rental properties in the state.