Instead of the blue and red states map of the United States that gives the erroneous impression that Americans are irreconcilably polarized, America to me looks like a vast unevenly distributed red-and-blue polka dot stretch of land where dots keep changing their colors and positions in a perpetual state of equilibrium and disequilibrium.
Tag: Joe Biden
Vermont lawmakers celebrate as Biden moves to forgive up to $20,000 for student loan borrowers
According to the U.S. Department of Education, 77,000 Vermonters carry federal student loan debt, and the average loan balance is $37,000. President Joe Biden’s plan would forgive up to $10,000 for individuals earning less than $125,000 a year, and twice that for Pell Grant recipients.
Madeleine Kunin: An appreciation for political bargaining
How did Senators Chuck Schumer and Joe Manchin move away from a sharp divide to a seemingly smooth accord? They didn’t get everything they wanted.
Bernie Sanders backs climate, health deal after trying in vain to amend it 
Vermont’s two U.S. senators, Sanders and Patrick Leahy, voted for the Inflation Reduction Act on Sunday. The bill would invest nearly $400 billion in fighting climate change, lower the price of prescription drugs and extend health care subsidies.
Bernie Sanders criticizes Manchin climate deal, calls for amendments
The Vermont senator did not say he would oppose the measure. But he said it should be amended before it passes, to include priorities he said had been left out — to address homelessness, student debt, child care and Medicare.
Gasoline prices falling around the state, though still significantly higher than last year
Fuel prices have fallen 35 cents per gallon since last month’s historic peak.
Vermont Conversation: Rep. Jamie Raskin on losing his son and saving democracy
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin was expecting trouble after the November 2020 presidential election.
Biden orders old forest inventory in what environmentalists call a ‘first step’
Environmentalists hope the order will swiftly lead to substantive action that would protect the old growth forests accounted for in the forthcoming inventory.
Vermont Conversation: GOP operative Stuart Stevens on how Republicans went from Cold Warriors to Putin apologists
For insight, we turned to Stuart Stevens, who knows Republican politics from the inside.
Q&A: David Cash, EPA’s new regional administrator for New England
“On the one hand, there's this story that's very important to tell of the importance of environmental protection, the story of turning on your tap and not being worried,” Cash said. “But it's also really important to understand how to communicate risk and how to communicate the things that make people nervous, and to honor that.”
Haviland Smith: Are Cold Wars always bad? By comparison, maybe not
On the Russian side, we have an extraordinarily self-involved man who wants to be the new Tsar. On the western side, we see a manager who simply talks too much.
Final Reading: You can't get there from here
Oh, Vermont — with your green hills and silver waters. They’re what make you beautiful and what make drawing up your legislative district lines kind of a drag.
Michael Shank: Yes, prosecute Putin, but U.S. is culpable too
If the ICC, the Geneva Conventions, and the U.N. Security Council are to have any moral weight whatsoever, then we must prosecute justly and consistently. That means when we call for war crimes accountability for Putin, we do it also for Bush and Obama. No war criminals left behind.
Vermont delegation celebrates Biden’s Supreme Court pick, calls for speedy confirmation
If confirmed, Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson would be the first Black woman to serve on the nation’s highest court.
