Free Republic

Some small-town residents of Rutland, Vt. are upset at their mayor’s decision to resettle 100 Syrian refugees throughout 2017 in the area. Rutland Mayor Christopher Louras defended his decision, saying the town’s demographics are declining, and they are having trouble recruiting younger workers. He also thinks refugees will bring cultural diversity. . . . Louras’s decision sparked outrage among some residents who say they had little say in the mayor’s decision, which would effect them all.

The Washington Post has retracted its story about Russian hackers penetrating the nation’s electricity grid with a virus found in a Burlington, Vt., electric company laptop. “Authorities say there is no indication of that so far [that Russians had penetrated the US electric grid],” according to an editor’s note attached to a corrected version of the story on the paper’s Web site. “The computer at Burlington Electric that was hacked was not attached to the grid,” the editor’s note read. News of the supposed hack had set off a firestorm of recriminations, with Vermont leaders calling Russian President Vladimir Putin...

Federal authorities see no signs that hackers breached Vermont's electric grid using suspected Russian malware that infected a power company's laptop, the Department of Homeland Security said tonight. "While our analysis continues, we currently have no information that indicates that the power grid was penetrated in this cyber incident,” J. Todd Breasseale, DHS's assistant secretary for public affairs, told POLITICO in a statement. The discovery of the malware, first reported Friday by The Washington Post, inspired immediate concern that suspected Russian cyber-assaults against the United States had spread to the electric power supply, one of the nation's most sensitive potential...

The Washington Post on Friday reported a genuinely alarming event: Russian hackers have penetrated the U.S. power system through an electrical grid in Vermont. The Post headline conveyed the seriousness of the threat: Russian Hackers Penetrated U.S. Electricity Grid Through A Utility In Vermont, Officials Say The first sentence of the article directly linked this cyber-attack to alleged Russian hacking of the email accounts of the DNC and John Podesta – what is now routinely referred to as “Russian hacking of our election” – by referencing the code name revealed on Wednesday by the Obama administration when it announced sanctions...

A story published by The Washington Post Friday claims Russia hacked the electrical grid in Vermont. This caused hysteria on social media but has been denied by a spokesman for a Vermont utility company. The Post story was titled, “Russian hackers penetrated U.S. electricity grid through a utility in Vermont, officials say.” The story said, “A code associated with the Russian hacking operation dubbed Grizzly Steppe by the Obama administration has been detected within the system of a Vermont utility, according to U.S. officials.” The Post published the story before being able to get comment from the two utility companies...

Got milk? Twenty-five members of Congress say if it's from soybeans, almond or rice, it should not be labeled as milk. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), leading the bipartisan charge against “fake milk,” signed a letter along with other congressional members, asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to investigate and take action against manufacturers of “milk” that doesn't come from cows.

Bernie is still beloved here, where 86 percent of voters in the Democratic primary supported him—his strongest showing in the country. But some political experts suggest the cost of Sanders-style progressive policies—including, most notably, the state’s failed single-payer health care system—is driving many voters away from the Democrats, substantially boosting the odds that Republicans could retake the governorship this November.

Vermont ditches Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples' Day http://www.mynbc5.com/article/vermont-ditches-columbus-day-for-indigenous-peoples-day/5068016 Vermont ditches Columbus Day for Indigenous Peoples' Day Governor signs proclamation changing traditional holiday Updated: 7:40 PM EDT Oct 7, 2016 Brad Evans Digital Media Manager HARTFORD, Vt. — Vermont has officially changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed an executive proclamation Thursday, making the change. Under the decree, Shumlin said a growing number of cities in towns in the United States have recognized the second Monday in October as Indigenous Peoples' Day. The day is "an opportunity to celebrate indigenous heritage and resiliency," the proclamation stated....

(Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch today released 128 pages of documents it obtained from the mayor of Rutland, Vermont, showing a concerted effort by the mayor and a number of private organizations to conceal from the public their plans to resettle 100 Syrian refugees into the small southern Vermont town. The documents include an April 14, 2016, email from Amila Merdzanovic, executive director of the Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, to Mayor Christopher Louras, in which she wrote: I want to share with you the concern my HQ has about holding a public forum. If we open it up to anybody...

Judicial Watch Targeted by Obama Administration Federal Contractor Tells Local Official to Keep Syria Refugee Plans Secret Judicial Watch Targeted by Obama Administration Three years ago we reported on videos produced by the Government Services Administration (GSA) that show senior GSA officials and staff participating in costumed playacting and parodies. Here’s a flavor: The Rocky Jog – With the Rocky movie theme blaring in the background, senior GSA officials lead employees on an extended jog through the corridors of the GSA’s New York office and the streets of Manhattan. The jog is initiated by Ben Kochanski, deputy regional commissioner,...

The University of Vermont’s Burlington campus is flying a Black Lives Matter flag alongside both the American and state flags. Several students from the school took to social media to express their support for the move, with some saying the school is “winning for this” and another noting that since the school is supportive of the movement, “we should be too.”

The Reuters polling of the nation as of Thursday shows “high confidence” in a win by Republican candidate Donald Trump in Vermont. Reuters did not give a margin for Trump’s victory but instead said it has “high confidence” in a GOP win. According to their polling standards, “a state is reported as ‘high confidence’ for a candidate if they win 95 percent or more of the simulated elections.”

Berkshire Hathaway Inc has been sued by a New York bicycle courier company over an alleged illegal scheme to cheat employers buying workers' compensation policies. The complaint, filed late Friday by Breakaway Courier Systems, came as Berkshire's Applied Underwriters unit faces scrutiny over its workers' compensation policies, including some that have been banned by California, Vermont and Wisconsin. Breakaway, with about 300 employees, accused Berkshire and Applied of "siphoning" premiums through a web of illegal shell companies, with diverted premiums going to unlicensed out-of-state insurers. The plan amounted to a "reverse Ponzi scheme" where unsuspecting employers expecting to buy affordable...

Vermont doctors and health care professionals are pushing back against an interpretation of state law that they say requires them to help kill patients who wish to die. Members of two medical groups, the Vermont Alliance for Ethical Healthcare and Christian Medical & Dental Associations, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against officials in two state medical agencies responsible for the interpretation. The lawsuit says these agencies have interpreted a 2013 physician-assisted suicide law, Act 39, in a way that would require health care professionals to counsel terminally ill patients about the option to commit suicide. Additionally, under such an interpretation...

David R. Hall | - Green Mountain Daily www.greenmountaindaily.com/tag/david-r-hall/ Jun 15, 2016 ... Hall is the Utah-based engineer/developer and Mormon (member of the utopian community in Sharon (the birthplace of LDS founder Joseph Smith). Hall plans on plunking down New Vista and its 20,000 inhabitants in rural Vermont and other developments across the nation.

After Breitbart News reported that three refugees in Vermont have been diagnosed with active tuberculosis (TB) over the past seven months, an official with the Vermont Department of Health admitted that a total of fifteen refugees in the Green Mountain State were diagnosed with active TB between 2003 and 2015. Since only 6,300 refugees have arrived in Vermont over the past twenty-five years, these new statistics reveal a third-world level of active TB among the refugees currently residing in the Green Mountain State.

If you had any questions about how antiwar liberals were going to respond when the Democrats didn't withdraw American troops from Iraq like they promised during the 2006 campaign, you got your answers last night on HBO's "Real Time with Bill Maher." When the host moved the discussion to what the panel thought of "the Democrats, you know, caving in on this Iraq spending bill," actor Ben Affleck went on a tirade about these "f***ing people," saying that the "Democrats live in fear of basically, you know, being called cowards" and of "looking like p***ies." Affleck concluded his attack on his...

Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on Saturday rejected a proposal to include a statement in the party's platform calling for Israel's "end to occupations and illegal settlements," CNN reported. ... While the committee voted against the addition 95-73, CNN reported that the move garnered the loudest negative response of the day from the audience. ... One crowd member was escorted out of the meeting after he stood up and yelled that the party had "sold out" to AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee).

Bernie Sanders supporters lost a debate over international trade that divided Democrats during a meeting in Orlando on Saturday to draft their party platform. Sanders supporters had hoped the party's official position statement for 2016 would include language explicitly rejecting the Trans-Pacific Partnership, while backers of Hillary Clinton, the presumptive nominee, argued for softer language. Both presidential candidates oppose the controversial trade agreement, but it was championed by President Barack Obama, leaving the party in an awkward position.

I interviewed a Genealogist from the Cherokee Indian Nation. She has investigated the entire family history of Elizabeth Warren and have found she is a complete fraud. It is clear she is not an Indian! Listen to the interview for the details