An editorial in last Monday’s Wall Street Journal explains the astonishing homelessness problem in San Francisco.

“California has spent more than $20 billion on housing for the homeless since 2020, yet public encampments continue to grow. As San Francisco progressives are learning, government can build more shelter, but that doesn’t mean the homeless will use them.”

Every once in a while, I take a look at the bills introduced by my friend Sen. Peter Welch. As one might expect, any such search turns up a lot of expensive and/or unworkable liberal foolishness like the Green New Deal, but once in a while I find one that can win my support.

Two weeks ago, I promoted the centennial re-enactment of Calvin Coolidge’s taking the oath of office in a farmhouse in Plymouth Notch and was looking forward to attending the celebration program. Unfortunately, at the last minute I couldn’t go, so instead of reporting, let me share some of my favorite Calvin Coolidge quotations.

My habit of looking for bright people who can educate me brought me earlier this year to Andrew Gentile, an industrial electrical engineer who works all over North America but lives near me in Sheffield.

Seven Days published a nice piece on June 28 titled “Green Mountain Meetups.” It was subtitled “Vermonters break bread, dance and forge communities in ‘third spaces’”.

Your TV screen has been showing distraught college students protesting the Supreme Court’s decision that President Biden has no authority to just cancel $420 billion in unpaid student debt.

I was heartened last week by another sterling example of the Vermont tradition of people stepping up to help neighbors in need, in this case neighbors whose driveway was washed out by the flooding in Middlesex.

Last week Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, recently reported as dropping to his knees on the Senate floor to implore his colleagues to abridge our right to keep and bear arms, came up with another liberal brainstorm. 

It’s always more comfortable to ignore troublesome information but forgive me for bringing you the national debt projections from the ever-watchful Peter G. Peterson Foundation. They just reported “The Congressional Budget Office released long-term projections in June, showing that [federal government] debt held by the public would climb from 98 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2023 to 181 percent in 2053 if no changes to current law are made.”

I received a nice packet the other day celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Pacific Legal Foundation, based in Sacramento, California. I’ve been aware of their good works for most of those 50 years, but their recent legal victories are truly remarkable.