We have a new front-runner for weirdest press release of the year in the usually buttoned-up world of Vermont politics. It comes from Christopher Helali, the duly elected High Bailiff of Orange County. He won the post in 2024 via write-ins, because I guess nobody bothered to file for the low-profile, largely ceremonial position.

Helali was last seen hanging out in Iran takin’ selfies in front of anti-American protests. One picture shows him posing in front of a bright red banner that reads “Kill Trump.” In a post on XFormerlyKnownAsTwitter, he said he was in Iran “to honor, salute, and pray for Imam Khamenei and his family.” That would be the former Iranian supreme leader who was killed in a joint American-Israeli airstrike in February. Before that, Helali made the news when he went on EBay and bought what was purported to be an address book that belonged to international sex criminal (and friend of Donald Trump) Jeffrey Epstein. Gotta say, this dude gets around.

Well, now he has issued a press release boasting that he “has become the first ever elected US political official while in office to join a foreign military, in this case the Russian army.” Specifically, he is now a member of Axmat Spetsnaz, a highly-trained organization of elite fighters who have taken part in many of Vladimir Putin’s aggressive operations — including the war on Ukraine.

Yep, those guys at the top of this column.

You okay, Orange County?

Continue reading →