Six years ago, following the incident in which a violent mob of Middlebury students chased author and social scientist Charles Murray off the stage, assaulting and injuring a faculty member in the process, I wrote an article titled “Stop Calling Them Snowflakes.”
VermontGrok
Normalizing Evil
Sam Smith’s Grammy Awards tribute to Satan reflected the acceptability in the current culture of what would be unthinkable even in jest in the past: glorifying the hellish. The normalization of Satanism as a respectable belief system is just one of many signs of these seemingly End Times.
Local School District Policy Says, US Society Based on Genocide, Slavery, White Privilege
The Essex-Westford School District’s equity policy considers the nation’s economic status a result of genocide, slavery, white privilege, ongoing systematic oppression, and more.
Milking Cows for Methane
Novel scientific processes are being developed to reduce methane production by cows, including feeding milk cows the chemical 3-nitrooxypropanol (3-NOP) as an “enteric inhibitor,” marketed under the brand name BovaerⓇ in Europe and pending approval for cows in the U.S. Other experimental additives include red seaweed (being fed to cows for Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream).
Where Talking Llamas Teach Kids the “F” Word
In September 2021, the voters in the district for Windham Elementary School narrowly voted to close the school, which only has a little more than a dozen students, allowing those students to instead participate in Vermont’s “tuitoining” school choice system.
Absentee Ballot Fraud Is Real! (When It Happens to a Democrat…)
Connecticut Democrats weren’t thrilled at the idea of a convicted felon (and, LOL, seven-term incumbent) winning their primary for the city of Bridgeport’s mayoral race. They were relieved when going to bed on election night that challenger John Gomes appeared to have pulled off a 487-vote victory.
GraniteGrok Is Coming To Vermont
The site of this year’s Groktoberfest was the Londonderry Fish & Game Club, situated on the outskirts of suburban Litchfield, NH, located a few miles from Manchester. The surprisingly warm weather hosted a not surprisingly resolute group of faithful conservatives in the outdoor environs where the live free or die crowd was surrounded by a cavalcade of patriotism and purpose aimed at preserving America and its values.
VT Energy Policy: Saving the Planet, or Feathering Nests?
The Renewable Energy Standard Group Committee met again on October 25 to hash out what next year’s laws regarding energy policy will be, and again, utilities managers questioned the ulterior motives behind how some of the proposals seem to be favoring certain actors. And this crony favoritism, they say, will come not just at greater … Read more
Greenwashing: The Lies We Tell of Recycling and the Climate
In gauging the promises of climate rescue by corporations and non-governmental organizations, citizens must reflect upon the track record of past technological projects peddled as the cure to all that ails us. EVs, wind turbines, and solar panels are touted as absolutely necessary to save the planet.
Problems with Underground Carbon Storage – Capturing CO2 or Corporate Profits?
Carbon sequestration is now common climate change parlance for processes that remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it either in organic matter or geological formations. But is it really as good as it sounds? The first method, also called rewilding, involves growing trees. The second, geological sequestration, involves a massive industry, pipelines, and the … Read more
Synthetic Chicken Will Never Fly
Recent revelations at a premier lab-grown meat startup suggest techno-mystical visions of cheap, plentiful, vat-cultured meats are a fantastical pipe dream. Venture capitalists and a climate-anxious public have been lured into believing synthetic animal meat substitutes will solve environmental problems while liberating farm animals.
States Eye Rejecting Federal Education Money Because It Comes With Too Many Strings
Led by Republican lawmakers in Tennessee, a working group is weighing what it would cost for the state to sever the government purse strings that bind students to federal imperatives.
Why Can’t Kids Read?
Earlier this month, Seven Days ran a remarkable story titled Too Many Vermont Kids Struggle to Read. What Went Wrong — and Can Educators Reverse a Yearslong Slide in Literacy? It’s long. 5000 words, but very much worth the time.
On the Air with ‘Right Side Up’ – Talking Politics on Both Sides of the Connecticut River
Right Side Up Radio has been a weekly installment on (WNTK 99.7) since May of 2023, and ever since we announced VermontGrok, Mike Tagliavia and Bill Huff have been asking me on their radio show to talk VT and NH politics. We finally made it happen.
Anti-Hunting Activists Are Planning an End-Run Around Your Rights!
Two bills are under consideration by Vermont’s Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (LCAR) that will have a substantial impact on Vermonters’ hunting and trapping liberties. Both bills began as efforts to ban trapping and coyote hunting; both were changed to allow these practices, subject to administrative oversight; both have morphed into efforts to essentially ban … Read more
NASA’s Climate Change Metrics Need Fixing
Americans love their lawns. Some clean-looking lawns resemble golf courses in the area and may be mowed more frequently than required, a sort of suburban therapy. Cows, cars, and tennis courts are among the targets of climate change agitators.
Vermonters Really Don’t Support State Energy Policy
The Vermont Department of Public Services conducted a poll and a series of focus groups over the summer regarding state energy policy, specifically support for or opposition to using more renewable energy. They just released the 87-page report on what they found out.
Renewable Energy Standard: A “Shell Game” of “Picking Winners & Losers”
This past week’s discussion in the Renewable Energy Standard Working Group, charged with drafting legislation to be considered by the General Assembly during the 2024 legislative session, highlighted some serious problems with Vermont’s energy policies, both philosophical and practical.
Carbon Dioxide, Hamburgers, and Fukushima Fish
China recently banned the importation of Japanese seafood, claiming current releases of decade-old wastewater from the Fukushima nuclear power plant threaten citizens’ health. US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emmanuel was diplomatically dispatched to publicly eat Japanese fish to combat China’s claims.
Thar She Blows!
Before we figured out how to replace whale oil with cheaper, more efficient petroleum, we killed a lot of whales throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in order to light our homes and lubricate our industries, driving most species to the brink of extinction.