Kudos to SEVEN DAYS, our Burlington-based independent weekly, for covering the Pentagon’s dramatic arming of local Vermont law enforcement.

This important story explains why our bucolic Vermont towns look more and more like foreign war zones under occupation by the U.S. of Empire.

And in case you can’t visualize the scene, here’s a handy photo from a recent standoff between local law enforcement in Vermont’s Mad River Valley (Moretown) and a local citizen – note the full body armor.

In a state of hunting and fishing with the most permissive firearm carry laws in the U.S., a state where local hunter safety classes remain popular and so many law-abiding citizens own and responsibly use firearms, a state with one of the lowest rates of homicide in the Empire, arming our local law enforcement officers to the teeth seems ludicrous.

Unless there are other motivations at work…?

Free Vermont!