Deb Billado: Multimember districts a relic of the past
It is long-past time we abolish this relic of the past so we can give equal representation to Vermonters, break up entrenched incumbent blocks, and help new candidates run for office.
Flemming: The spectacular decrease in forest fires
In the first 10 years of data collection from 1926-1936, the US exceeded 40,000,000 acres burned eight times. So here’s a question: if the fires this summer were “linked definitely to climate change,” what about the fires 90 years ago?
Tom Evslin: We can become carbon neutral without bankrupting the state
If the full Climate Council pays as much attention to its own carbon budget as it should, it will realize that there is a doable path to carbon neutrality which has the twin benefits of being achievable and not bankrupting Vermont.
John Klar: Social justice injustice letting violent criminals run free in Vermont
When enough people are raped and murdered by Sarah George’s idiotic policies, perhaps Burlington residents will tire of having their wives and children become the plaything guinea pigs for the felons George seeks to rescue.
Eric Davis: Baldwin personally broke every single rule of basic firearm safety
Those who make the argument that the Alec Baldwin shooting was the fault of the armorer who handed him the gun demonstrate the two largest contributing factors to “gun violence” in the US today.
Roper: Climate council crack-up
The Climate Plan will do nothing less than reshape our entire economy, radically alter the way we live and work, and micromanage our landscape. It will change how we travel, build and renovate our homes, and the list goes on. The taxes necessary to make this happen will be staggering.
Keelan: Vermont’s conflict-of-interest standard a thing of the past?
The problem is that Mr. Duval, who serves as one of the 23 members of the Vermont Climate Council, has taken it upon himself to express in the Vermont media his opinions on why Vermont should remove itself from fossil fuels.
Dartmouth College Dems try to shut down College Republicans event and fail badly
Those who would silence three brave young GOP voices bellowed a tiresome chant of “Hey hey! Ho ho! These racist cops have got to go!” — perhaps directed at the security detail present to protect the disabled Congressman in a wheelchair.
McClaughry: Another phantom commission
It seems the Joint Carbon Emissions Reduction Committee hasn’t had any meetings. That’s because no representative or senator was appointed to serve on it, which of course means that it had no chair. It was another phantom committee.
John Klar: How the federal government seeks to control our food supply
In the interest of “helping” farms with RFID, the VAAFM recommends imposing some $1,500 start-up costs on them, ignoring the imposing economic burden this presents for existing and new small-farm enterprises. It’s as if the VAAFM wants to hurt them.
Deb Billado: Weaponizing the IRS
If this is an attempt to get the wealthiest Americans to pay taxes they owe, why set the threshold for monitoring accounts at $600 or $10,000? Why not, say, $600,000? The latter is far less intrusive, far less widespread, and far more tailored to the actual problem.
John Klar: Replacing teachers with artificial intelligence
Using artificial intelligence and an array of modern technological advances, entire industries are evolving a generation of algorithms that will create feeling, responsive, behavior-shaping, individually-focused “teachers.” Will human instruction diminish in prominence?