News – Politics – Opinion – Podcasts
Rob Roper 
I wasn’t planning on writing about Charlie Kirk for a couple reasons. One, though very much aware of him, he wasn’t someone I followed closely. Not because I had anything against him, but because there are only so many hours in the day, and I, firmly entrenched as I am in middle age, wasn’t really … Read more
Seven Days ran an article recently about Vermont’s solar industry and the impact of federal cuts to the subsidies they’ve enjoyed for years. The headline authors called the cuts an “attack.” No, it’s not an attack. No private business is entitled to taxpayer funds to keep it afloat. Be grateful for what you got and … Read more
National test scores are out for our K-12 students, and the results – again – are not good. The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) shows that in 2024, barely half of high school seniors had a basic proficiency or better in math, and a third scored “below basic” in reading. This trend of declining … Read more
Two and a half years ago, I wrote a piece titled “Auditors Report: Just How Bad Lawmakers Screwed Up the Broadband Buildout.” This followed a post nearly two years before that, when Covid was raging, schools were closed, and kids in rural communities were doing their online homework from their cars in McDonald’s parking lots, … Read more
It has often been pointed out that Vermont’s news outlet of record, VT Digger, is really just a bunch of juvenile left-wing activists cosplaying as legit reporters, but this past week they dropped the costumes and makeup. The article “How a Koch-funded campaign is trying to reverse climate action in Vermont” is a 3500-word, all-hands-on-deck … Read more
Third Way, which bills itself as center-left, featuring a list of 45 “woke” words Democrats should never say again got a lot of attention recently – much of it hilarious.
Requiring ID to vote is one of those commonsense issues everybody (or almost everybody) agrees is a good idea.
Phil Scott has always campaigned as a proponent of school choice, though it has never been high on his priority list.
Cue up the sad violins. On August 6, 2025, South Carolina Judge Roger Young dealt the latest blow to the shakedown scheme masquerading as climate justice popularly known as “Make Big Oil Pay” and officially, in Vermont at least, as the Climate Superfund Act. In another example of fraudulent misnaming by lawmakers, it is neither … Read more
In my recent “Cage Match Conversation” with fellow WDEV radio host Kevin Ellis (Great debate, check out the podcast!), the subject of electric vehicles and the recent decision by Congress to end the EPA’s ability to regulate tailpipe CO2 emissions as pollutants came up. I pointed out the reason for this policy change is that … Read more
The Global Warming Solutions Act (GWSA) contains a provision that gives standing to anyone who wants to sue the state, at taxpayers’ expense, if we fail to meet that law’s unrealistic, unattainable greenhouse gas reduction mandates. It’s known as the “private right of action” clause. The first case brought under the private right of action … Read more
The financial website Wallet Hub just came out with state rankings for public education, and Vermont came in overall 19th out of the fifty states. Pretty “meh” on the surface. But the overall score was based on components of outcomes and safety, and purely on the outcomes side, Vermont ranks 25th. That’s more like a … Read more
There is an overwhelming psychology on the Left that if the government isn’t doing something, nothing is being done. It’s an expensive, inefficient, and often counterproductive mindset. However, sometimes reality and common sense prevail, as recently demonstrated in neighboring New Hampshire, where the state has eliminated its vehicle inspection mandate. According to the Josiah Bartlett … Read more
This week the online news outlet VT Digger hosted an event in Brookfield titled, “In Facts We Trust: Local Journalism in the ‘Fake News’ Era.” They described it thus, “In an era of misinformation, how do we know the news we’re seeing is accurate? Let’s talk about it together.” Uh huh. And, yes, let’s! Full … Read more
Elon Musk believes that the future of our Constitutional Republic is in danger due to an erosion of foundational values such as freedom of speech (the reason he bought Twitter) and governmental financial irresponsibility and the crushing debt resulting (the reason he entered the political arena, supported President Trump, and embarked on the DOGE project). … Read more
The so-described education reform law, Act 73, is in effect. Its first order of business, creating a Vermont Redistricting Task Force, is done, and now said Task Force is getting down to its task of drawing up at least three maps of new mega-school districts for the legislature to consider next year, scrapping our current … Read more
It’s the twenty-fifth anniversary of Vermont passing the first-in-the-nation civil unions law back in 2000. Not marriage, mind, you. Something separate but supposedly equal. But if that were true, there would have been no need to pass another law legalizing gay marriage in 2009. So, why are politicians, journalists, and social justice warriors celebrating an … Read more
State Sen. wants constituents to pay for her policy failures In a recent VT Digger article with the misleading headline, “Clean Heat Standard is Dead. What comes next?” (It’s not, it’s just temporarily dormant until it can be fully implemented), Senator Anne Watson (D/P -Washington) expressed her hope and desire that the state be sued … Read more
The state will start deducting 5% of some workers’ wages unless they actively opt out of VT Saves In 2023, the Vermont legislature passed a law spearheaded by Vermont State Treasurer Mike Piecack (D-VT), Act 43 – An act relating to the establishment of VT Saves. What it does is mandate that employers with more … Read more
I’ve spent a lot of time discussing the Clean Heat Standard and Cap & Invest proposals to meet the mandates of the Global Warming Solutions Act, and have noted often but perhaps too obscurely in passing that even these monumentally expensive and disruptive programs won’t, on their own, do the job. Other programs, each with … Read more