How You Can Weaken Facebook’s Leverage in 5 Minutes

Does Facebook treat content from some groups unfairly? It depends on how you define “unfair.” If you mean, “making a rigid effort to constrict any non-politically correct news,” that I would say no.

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Transportation Climate Initiative’s Biggest Cheerleader Gets Cold Feet!

Since the Transportation Climate Initiative (TCI) emerged as a serious policy proposal, the most eager proponent of the multi-state Carbon Tax on motor fuels has been Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker. Even as New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu called the scheme to raise prices on gasoline and diesel fuels by up to 17 cents per gallon (a de facto tax on New England and Mid-Atlantic state drivers of $5.6 billion annually) “… a financial boondoggle and the people of New Hampshire will never support it,” and other governors mumbled, shuffled, and stared at their toes about it, Baker remained stalwart. Until this week.

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Montpelier Spending May Soon Cost Taxpayers More Per $

S&P Global Ratings changed its outlook for two major types of bonds to negative last week. Vermont's general obligation debt and the Vermont State College bonds outstanding each had a “stable” outlook after being downgraded from AAA in 2018, but both were changed to a negative outlook after a press release last week.

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John's Commentary: Election Law Reforms Worth Considering

This turbulent election season is now over, at least for Vermont. It’s a good time to peruse a menu of election law reforms that the next legislature should seriously consider.

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WATCH ART WOOLF'S JEFFERSON DAY SPEECH!

On Wednesday November 11th, Dr. Art Woolf, popular Vermont economist and longtime EAI Board member, joined EAI in hosting a virtual Jefferson Day event.

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Vermonters respond: “Should mass mail balloting become permanent?”

Perhaps it was something in the air, but a day after the election, I started to think, I wonder what the chances are of Vermont extending the mail-balloting initiative for 2020 indefinitely?

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Who’s Really Racist in the Fight Over Mascots?

Rutland High School is engaged in the latest case of attempted virtue signaling by changing the name of a sports team. The Raiders, whose logo is an arrowhead, are on the chopping block because, allegedly, racism. But what’s really racist here? Keeping and honoring a Native American symbol of pride, community spirit and strength, or eradicating it precisely because it is Native American. Who’s leading this cause, Andrew Jackson?

What this weird and growing phenomenon is really about in its effect is the systematic elimination of Mascots of Color. Which is, when you think about it, kinda racist.

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Massachusetts Car Data Law Victory

Here’s a heartening news report from Eric Boehm of Reason.com: ”The most expensive ballot initiative campaign in Massachusetts history ended with a resounding victory for property rights as voters approved the so-called "right-to-repair" ballot initiative.”

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VT Tourism Drops Almost 50% vs. 2019

Seven Days had a fascinating cover story this week: “For Vermonters and out-of-state visitors, the requirement to quarantine (for 14 days) when traveling to the Green Mountains from elsewhere in the Northeast is governed by a county-by-county map that changes weekly, according to case rates. Quarantine counties are depicted in red or yellow, non-quarantine counties in green

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Stiffing Justice Barrett

Erin Hawley of the Independent Women’s Law Center is a former law clerk for Chief Justice John Roberts. She recently blasted the Girl Scouts of America, which has celebrated the previous four female justices - O’Connor, Ginsburg, Kagan and Sotomayor - for stiffing new Justice Amy Coney Barrett’

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