Vermont Media Watch

05/15/2023

07/23/2016

Any guesses why Daily Kos threw this story down the memory hole?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2016/6/26/1542604/-Free-Trade-Tim-Kaine-is-Not-a-Safe-Choice-for-VP

Free Trade versus Fair Trade is a central issue of this campaign. Trump opposes Free Trade and will use the TPP to make the case that Obama, Clinton, and Democrats support it like Clinton did NAFTA. So why would Hillary ever want a Vice President...

05/28/2016

Over 45 million Americans live in poverty—but you wouldn’t think potential leaders of the country are expected to know or care anything about this, listening to the questions asked by the elite journalists who moderated the Democratic debates this primary season.

03/08/2016

How scared are the elites?

In what has to be some kind of record, the Washington Post ran 16 negative stories on Bernie Sanders in 16 hours—a window that includes the crucial Democratic debate in Flint, Michigan, and the nex…

07/13/2015

See you all tonight at 7pm at Burlington City Hall!

Questions people have expressed to City of Burlington officials around the controversial police chief nominee Brandon del Pozo which there haven't been sufficient answers to:
Why has transparency and participation in the "public process" been so abysmal around del Pozo's confirmation, so much so that the Mayor and City Councilors are scrambling to set up meetings with him and community organizers now that they know there is going to be a protest of his confirmation? Burlington residents don't want closed door meetings for known organizers we want a vigorous, transparent and participatory vetting process which meets public meeting laws for someone charged with leading a 100 person department with the ability to use lethal force and a history of race based disparities.
If del Pozo is obviously so controversial why won't City officials explore whether the search process can be restarted and restart it with a meaningful public process? City councilors are detailing a futility reservation, that to restart the search process would be difficult and he can speak the language of social justice better than other candidates. Residents have a choice as a community between the perceived difficulty of restarting the search process and the much more onerous burden of disproportionate race based outcomes for the length of del Pozo's tenure as chief. One prioritizes the time and labor of the power elite, one prioritizes ending state violence against communities of color.
Where are the policy benchmarks in del Pozo's vision?
Why are there no policy benchmarks in the council and media's discussion of del Pozo?
Will del Pozo commit to benchmark to decrease race based inequities in Burlington and traffic stops, searches and arrests?https://acluvt.org/issues/profiling/chitt_cty_rpt_2010.pdf
How will del Pozo commit to decreasing race based inequities in Statewide and traffic stops, searches and arrests Statewide?https://acluvt.org/issues/profiling/vsp_rpt_re-exam.pdf
How will he change policing in schools and neighborhoods so black students graduate at a significantly higher on grade level in science and math. Using the school district's most recent numbers 3% of Black students are graduating on grade level in Science.
http://district.bsd.schoolfusion.us/…/bsd_2012-13_annual_re…
Will del Pozo commit to ending the unconstitutional criminalization of poverty in the downtown fire district and Church Street which exposes the city to legal liability?
http://vtdigger.org/…/lawsuit-files-to-challenge-burlingto…/
Will del Pozo commit not to advocate as Chief Schirling did for sit and lie laws which regularly violate equal protection statutes and target vulnerable populations?
http://www.sevendaysvt.com/…/sidewalk-sitting-ban-…/Content…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2lqNRGVJSA
How will he commit to be a voice on the city and State level to increase funding for proven harm reduction policies like decriminalization of substances and investment and expansion of treatment options as officials on the State level already do? What specific policies will he champion? How will that be reflected in benchmarks for his police force? http://www.sevendaysvt.com/…/vermonts-prison-chief…/Content…
How will he commit to be a voice on the city and State level for criminal justice reform? What specific remedies to the current broken mass incarceration system will he be a voice for? How will that be not merely memorialized into policy, but reflected in his department's outcomes?
http://legislature.vermont.gov/…/H-0221%20As%20Introduced.p…
How will he commit to be a voice on the city and State level to end Vermont's contract with private prisons which re-invest their profits back into worse immigration policy, worse drug policy, worse mandatory minimums, worse sentencing laws? How will he advocate for more treatment based settings and transitional housing.
http://vtdigger.org/…/doc-state-would-need-to-export-100-i…/
http://vtdigger.org/…/community-high-school-vermont-cuts-d…/
Similar to del Pozo, the Commissioner of Vermont Corrections, Andy Polito advocates for aspirational values without policy benchmarks, and hence there's no accountability or meaningful improvements in our communities. The Shumlins and Miros and Palitos and del Pozos can adroitly speak the language of racial justice while doing nothing to remedy racial and economic based disparities in police work. As confederate flags come down across the deep south and a movement across the nation proclaims Black Lives Matter, we have a moral obligation to ensure someone who's championed racial profiling as a "weapon" to be "brandished" does not become Burlington's police chief.
See you all tonight Monday night at 7pm at Burlington City Hall

12/10/2014

There is very little reported on the experience of drone pilots which is why the Peace & Justice Center is hosting an event tonight on the subject. For more information check out this article published in the PJC Newsletter and available on pjcvt.org as well.

Warm to Cold: Mental Stresses of Drone Pilots Posted by PJCVT on 8 December 2014, 9:33 am The Peace & Justice Center started their Cost of War program in 2012. The program focused on numerous costs of war, especially how soldiers are affected by war. In 2014, the program became specifically about dr…

10/08/2014

This piece seemed one-sided in favor of the GMO industry. It described how GMO labeling laws failed in California and Washington, but did not mention Vermont's success. When it came to discussing the merits of GMO labeling, it was heavily on the side of industry, including that last lingering quote from a pro-GMO farmer.

Similar measures calling for labeling genetically modified foods have failed in recent years in California and Washington, and Vermont is being sued for the labeling law it enacted earlier this year.

07/19/2014

"PBS NewsHour (7/12/14) wanted to 'put the latest round of fighting between Israel and Hamas in a broader context,' so it invited Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) to consider possible policy options for 'both sides.'
The problem is that Cordesman is on the record as advocating the option of brutality against Palestinian civilians. Back in 2000, Cordesman authored a CSIS report–condemned at the time by an Amnesty International spokesperson–that recommended 'excessive force' to control Palestinians and ensure the implementation of a potential peace agreement (Extra!, 1/01)."

The NewsHour invited Anthony Cordesman to consider possible policy options for "both sides" in the Israel/Gaza conflict. The problem is that Cordesman is on the record as advocating the option of b...

07/02/2014

9:00 PM Update:
Jane has been cited and released. We are so inspired by this brave knitter! Check out some of the media coverage coming in now.

UPDATE: Jane Palmer has been arrested by the South Burlington Police, we will post updates as we receive them. Here are some words from Jane:

"My husband and I have spent over a thousand hours filing in the public service board process. We have gone to all the hearings and advocated for our concerns through all the available legal channels. Peaceful protest and civil disobedience is all that we have left and I'm here to inspire others to not be afraid to stand up to VGS and not back down".

HAPPENING NOW:

South Burlington – Monkton and Cornwall homeowners are currently staging a “knit-in” at Vermont Gas Systems' headquarters, occupying the main lobby and demanding the company stop trying to scare peaceful protestors and landowners with false allegations and eminent domain. Jane Palmer, Maren Vasatka, and Claire Broughton, all of Monkton, and Mary Martin of Cornwall live in the path of the proposed gas pipeline. They are joined by Charlotte resident Rebecca Foster. They say they won't leave until Vermont Gas publicly admits to illegally trespassing on land in Addison County, agrees to not threaten eminent domain to build the pipeline and stops trying to use scare tactics against peaceful protestors engaged in nonviolent civil disobedience at the Vermont Gas offices.

Jane Palmer, who said Vermont Gas agents have already trespassed on her land when they violated a right-of-entry agreement, plans to stay until Vermont Gas meets her demands or has her removed from the premises.

"The protestors are not a threat and they have committed no crime," Palmer said. "Vermont Gas is wasting taxpayer money in this ploy to press charges against peaceful protestors. This pipeline is an affront to our property rights and our rights to a safe and livable planet."

Palmer is currently embroiled in a battle with Vermont Gas to move the pipeline off her farm, and has been active in the statewide movement to stop the pipeline altogether. She said, "“Apparently, Vermont Gas doesn’t want a banner hung on their roof. But they want to build a bomb in my backyard.”

Palmer and her husband became active fighting the pipeline when they learned from a neighbor it was slated to come through their property, and that the gas was derived from hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which contaminates water and air in Alberta, Ca., where it is extracted.

Palmer, Vasatka, Broughton, Foster, and Martin plan to stay at Vermont Gas until their demands are met or they are removed from the premises. They have issued the following demands:

1) We want a representative of Vermont Gas/Gaz Metro to publicly acknowledge unauthorized entries upon lands by VGS and its agents and to agree that VGS/Gaz Metro and its agents will never again illegally trespass on land in its quest to site and build this pipeline.

2) We want VGS/Gaz Metro to stop wasting taxpayer's money by over prosecuting peaceful protestors and trumping up charges in an attempt to intimidate those that oppose this pipeline.

3) We want VGS/Gaz Metro to stop using eminent domain as a threat instead of a last legal resort and respect and negotiate fairly with homeowners.

350 Vermont Tar Sands Blockade Shadbush Environmental Justice Collective VPIRG Rising Tide North America

05/09/2014

Sometimes the only answer is to stop paying attention to the media sources that keep us from being informed.

05/02/2014

Question for everyone out there: What motivates you to take action to right a wrong?

05/01/2014

Why do we beat up on Seven Days so much?

Here's why: Burlington is the most progressive town in one of the most progressive states in the nation. Instead of pushing the envelope to move things even further, Seven Days plays it safe by defending the status quo.

Granted, Vermont's status quo is still ahead of most other places in the US. But how did we get there in the first place? By pushing the envelope.

Burlington needs its alternative weekly to step it up a bit by focusing more on cutting edge developments by little people who are almost always the ones to start the ball rolling.