This thread is full of individual reasons for any rational person to dislike the residents of this state at large regardless of which side of this conversation they are on.

> during a severe disease outbreak

Check

> in winter

Check

> after a few real active shooters

Check

I guess we can expect the EMP any time now?

You're right. The hotel voucher is our own homegrown landlord giveaway, whereas this is a federally mandated landlord giveaway. So many wonderful landlord welfare programs.

We are balkanizing anyway. We have been doing the approach you are advocating for and the thing you are suggesting will happen if we do things "my" way is already happening while doing things your way.

Again, MLK literally disagrees with you. Maybe this is a good time for us all to reread some of his works and reflect on them. It is black history month, afterall. And don't slack on the paradox of tolerance, either.

Terrorism, yes. But unless you know a VOIP call was initiated from the US vs abroad, you don't know if it's "domestic."

Having played Rutland multiple times those are some of the most vile racists I’ve ever met.

@5teerpike agree with you. Witnessed both Rice and SBHS go through their mascot changes and holy moly the racism.

Seriously thank you so much for your input, you guys.

We have a 2010 AWD Sienna and a 2011 AWD Hyundai Sante Fe, and just last week(!) got a new 2023 AWD Sienna. 3 miles of dirt one way, 2 miles of dirt with steep hill the other, both fairly well maintained and not the horror stories you see pictures of, but still, rutted mud.

The Hyundai has a 'locking differential' button which makes it a little easier to drive in the mud, but our 2010 Sienna (and our 1994 AWD Chrysler Grand Caravan before that) have done ok. Never been stuck or even close to it.

The 2010 Sienna did not have a 'traction control off' button like newer ones do, so sometimes the 'OMG! You're slipping!' beep noise would make me a bit crazy. The lack of that off button meant it sometimes reduced power to wheels just as I was climbing a muddy hill.

The new 2023 does have a traction control off button, but I haven't tried it yet. The new AWD is hybrid and I believe rear wheel power is run by an electric motor which I think means no transaxle to the back. I'm not worried about the mud. We had an AWD VW Passat station wagon for a while but it was too low to the ground for our road.

I will say that our minivans have been much more comfortable and more generally useful than our SUV. Our 2023 did not come with a spare tire and I think if you don't get it from factory, there's not a place to put one securely. The 2010 could hold a 4x8 sheet of plywood, but I think the new one is a bit narrower than 4' inside which is unfortunate (I need to measure). But be warned, it took us 10 months to get a new one, partly because I wanted something specific which reduced the pool size.

I looked at Chrysler Pacifica's briefly, but after joining a dedicated Pacifica FB group and seeing all the troubles they had, decided to wait for the Toyota.

We need a CAPTCHA process for phone calls these days. If you can't validate you're a real human being your call doesn't go through.

The best feature of my pixel phone is automated screening of calls. It automatically rejects spam calls. I can tap a button to have the Google robot ask for more details about why they're calling and never have to interact with an unknown caller.

Funded by foreign countries

Irasburg was one of the only towns* in the state to go red in the last election. Edit: meant town not county

Yes it is. I went to high-school in Central Vermont, and our mascot was a white-robed, pointy-hooded guy on a horse. It was disturbingly blatant, painted huge on the gym wall.

So what do you do when everyone your bludgeoning Balkanizes?

At no point did I say it should be tolerated. Soft power, steady pressure.

What I hear is a lot of frustration with VT turning into a version of Aspen. In my opinion, people and politicians ignore that frustration at their peril.

I think rich people moving here to work from home is creating a boring, stuffy, homogenous VT that is becoming a difficult, terrible place to live. On the flip side of that, if someone wants to move here from Ohio to be a teacher, or work in a local business, that's great. Please come. For me it's not about tribalism, it's about VT being a place for more than one group of people.

So you want to continue to tolerate intolerance? What you describe is the failed approach we have been using for generations. It doesn't work. We need to stop tolerating intolerance, wholly and completely. Full stop.

The things you wrote in this last comment don't jive with your original statements btw. Someone as smart as you that has diversity in your life and in your family knows EXCATLY what slurs are and exactly why they aren't ok to use in this setting. Shame on you, for real. So enough of this bullshit gaslighting. If you are who you say you are, you wouldn't ask the questions you asked.

You don't have to take my word for any of this, either. Go ahead reread MLK's Letter From Birmingham Jail. Educate yourself on the paradox of tolerance. People much smarter than both of us have been trying to get you moderates to recognize this approach doesn't work for generations now. Listen to them, not me.

You want to get racism out of our communities? Make it VERY CLEAR that this bullshit isn't welcome here in any way shape or form. And when LITERAL CHILDREN tell you they are fed up with the racism they experience, shut your mouth and listen instead of trying to spark an ignorant debate about what slurs are ok. Why? Because that is racist. You are being racist. Sorry if that hurts your feelings, but here we are. You know better.

Ask Morrisville.

That and humans are tribalistic by nature, something we still haven't been able to work around in 2023.

Anything that paints VT as something other than a liberal utopia welcoming to all is dismissed. The cognitive dissonance of a state that is increasingly exclusive and the desire to be welcoming to everyone is too much for some people.

If someone wanted your opinion they'd give it to you.

Has that been effective elsewhere?

It could be that, could be tied to funding, could be as simple as someone chose January to do an annual count.

Well, there's a reason for that. Gentrification is making it very difficult for regular people to live here. Obviously that is far from the only factor but when a bunch of people with money show up at the same time it's almost impossible to find housing, people are going to be pissed. That's not a surprise to me. The gentrification is certainly contributing to homelessness, particularly family homelessness, because families typically have access to vouchers and can find housing if it's available. There are other huge problems like Act 250 and NIMBYism but covid era gentrification has hurt Vermont's ability to house its most vulnerable.

Yup, duck and cover drills. They were the best…

Settle down Francis…