[Ms. Aiken neglected to include a salutation. – the Ed., deeply hurt by this rudeness.]
On April 16, 2024 the Union Leader published an important op-ed by Rep. Len Turcotte of Strafford County. [The headline: “Accessory Dwelling Unit is a deceptive term for ‘rental unit’”.] It has never been more applicable than it is today, with dozens of bills proposed by those attempting to remove local control of zoning with ‘death by a thousand cuts’.
Turcotte compared this to Chairman Mao Zedong’s attempt to control everything centrally in China. I’ve compared it to the Bolshevik Revolution, also known as the October Revolution, which was led by Vladimir Lenin and his Bolshevik Party. The Bolsheviks, a faction of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, seized power in 1917, ending the Czarist regime and ushering in a new era of Communist rule in Russia. They too imposed central control of housing.
The sad news is that many elected N.H. Republicans are enabling Democrats to pass these bills, and our Governor, a supposed Republican, has been signing them. She thinks the government’s job is to solve a non-existent ‘housing crisis’.
Nevermind that Gov. Ayotte vowed not to “MASS Up N.H.”, that is exactly what these bills will do. We need to appeal to her to VETO these dangerous bills that are being forced through stacked committees and sent to voice votes.
If town officials and voters do not fight this push to change the face of N.H., in 5-10 years we will not recognize N.H. as being the state with the “N.H. Advantage”.
Jane Aitken
Bedford, N.H.
Jane:
Thanks for bringing Mr. Turcotte’s argument to our attention. Clearly, he is a man to be reckoned with: degrees in engineering, a FINRA-qualified investment advisor, and a 40-year career with American Airlines, piloting Boeing 787s… is there anything he can’t do?
Maybe grasp some of the basic tenets of democracy.
Turcotte is alarmed that “Some on the right have teamed with progressives on the left and are pushing these Communist-like top-down policies contained in HB 1291 and HB 1399.”
Fair enough. One can easily imagine the sort of spiffy digs available to today’s highly-compensated Ralph Kramdens of the air. With that kind of money, what threats can there be, but some bunch of sleazeballs moving into the neighborhood?
Turcotte continues, “What is really striking, is that many of our present-day ‘cadres’ pushing these elitist ideas do not even own property themselves, yet somehow believe they have the wisdom to decide for everyone else how best property should be allocated and zoned.”
We find this hilarious, but that’s only because we don’t take anything seriously enough.
Turcotte is telling us that unless we’re “propertied,” we shouldn’t have a say in land use regulation.
The people won that battle two hundred years ago, when the landless got to vote. No backsies.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Pope Donald?
To the Editor:
Our world cooperates on topics about which Trump seems oblivious. White should never make Black jokes. Europeans should never make Native American jokes. Non-Catholics should never make Catholic jokes. Nevertheless, non-Catholic Trump threw filth on the heads of the world’s 1.4 billion Catholics by posting himself as pope. Catholics not insulted are either MAGA believers Trump brainwashed to hear insults as jokes or too disengaged to know they’ve been insulted.
This is no joke. Cronies like (non-Catholic) Senator Lindsey Graham make light of it and presume to tell Catholics to chill out. Surely, he knows religious bigots in America remain vehemently anti-Catholic. Look at (anti-Catholic) Majorie Taylor Greene’s doubling down statement about Pope Francis: “Just so we’re clear, bishops, when I said ‘controlled by Satan’… I was talking about you.” She’s not kidding about Pope Francis being an agent of Satan, and neither is Trump.
What reaction does Trump’s latest outrage warrant? Suggestion: Every religious leader publicly condemns Trump’s bigotry. They shouldn’t rejoice that Trump didn’t target them. Next time it’ll be their turn. Catholics now, perhaps Episcopalians next, then maybe Lutherans, and so on. One by one Trump will cull the herd leaving docile faith leaders timidly following his dictates. Silence is complicity and facilitates Trump’s game plan to make a compliant population.
People in the pews should wake up and protest too. Their silence is just as complicit.
J. Michael Atherton
Dover, N.H.
J. Michael,
Our newsroom could fairly be described as a profane location, perhaps even unholy. The record will show that we err on the side of excess when it comes to attempting humor. Yet even we winced at that image of mankind’s least-worthy exemplar adorned in the raiments of a pope.
As you say, religious leaders of every faith ought to draw the line on this behavior. But why stop there? Shouldn’t Republicans condemn this? The GOP has been trading in mawkish piety since the editor was in Sunday school and Eisenhower was in the White House.
In particular, we’d like to hear from serial-adulterer-turned-Catholic Newt Gingrich on this. Not only is he prone to pontification, his third wife Callista was U.S. Ambassador to the Holy See.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Free Staters Gambling With Our Money
To the Editor:
New Hampshire’s legislators, including the Governor, are celebrating and congratulating themselves on being the first state in the Union to pass legislation that allows the N.H. Treasurer to “invest” N.H. State taxpayer dollars in cryptocurrency. This state has just demonstrated just how ignorant and MAGA-sycophantic its government is.
Somehow our N.H. government, that cuts business taxes and then claims it can’t fund education or needed programs, feels it is perfectly acceptable to gamble with taxpayer dollars by “investing” them in a stablecoin cryptocurrency. Stablecoin cryptocurrencies are neither stable nor currencies. Their “reserves” do not have real-dollar minimums or meaningful regulation, are not audited, and the “reserves” can be in the form of other unstable cryptocurrencies, rendering them valueless. Cryptocurrencies are regularly used to hide the transfer of funds between persons or groups that do not want their identities known, providing a shield that facilitates crime.
But this does align with, and support, the president’s family investments, from which he directly benefits. The president has protected his cryptocurrencies by reassigning personnel formerly tasked with policing cryptocurrency enterprises. He has used U.S. government cryptocurrency funds to establish a federal cryptocurrency “reserve”—although the use of these funds and the enterprise(s) which benefit from this “reserve” are undefined. And his appointees at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) have rescinded the rule requiring FDIC insured enterprises to obtain authorization to “invest” depositor’s funds in cryptocurrencies—they may now do so without permission. Now the president is promoting legislation, called the GENIUS Act, that would help legitimize his cryptocurrency enterprises.
I hope that voters, if they are ever allowed to vote again, will remember that it’s the trump [sic] administration that used trade tariffs to DEVALUE THE DOLLAR to help move the country into cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency “investments” by NON-multibillionaires have a solid track record of losing the funds they “invested.” So, good luck N.H., and a big Bronx cheer for the N.H. legislators, especially the Governor, who feel it is OK to throw away taxpayer dollars by “investing” them in cryptocurrency instead of meeting state-wide needs, thereby doing their part as loyal MAGA sycophants. N.H. has officially opened its door to crypto scam artists—the first state in the nation to do so. Bully for us. What’s next?
Paul Cully
Dover, N.H.
Paul,
Further proof that Free Staters—invited here by one-term Republican governor Craig Benson—are at the wheel in Concord.
Free Staters recently asked President Trump to pardon Ian Freeman, the Keene-based crypto-scammer who is now doing an eight-year stretch for his role in scamming millions from elderly widows.
The question now is, will Benson’s mentee, Governor Kelly Ayotte, perform a service for an incarcerated constituent and lobby Trump to spring Freeman?
The Editor
–=≈=–
Outrage With a Purpose
Dear Editor:
It seems that there are no limits to the lack of civility, respect, decency and humanity that Donald Trump will stoop to for attention and to satisfy his ego. Yesterday, the White House posted an AI-generated photo of Trump depicted as the Pope, days after he joked that he would “like to be Pope.” This was no fake image posted by some prankster, it was actually posted on Trump’s Truth Social. It is beyond belief that a President of the United States would descend to this level of disrespect days after the death of Pope Francis. This is an insult to Catholics and anyone who has an ounce of decency.
Unfortunately, the above example, as crass as it was, is not the most dangerous or anti-democratic action by Trump and his accomplices. Despite a number of court rulings regarding his illegal deportation of migrants as well as U.S. citizens, including three children, one with stage 4 cancer, he remains defiant and refuses to comply with these orders. The courts have ruled that his deportations are in violation of the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. The Fifth Amendment clearly states, “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law.” The Amendment makes no reference to a person being a citizen or provides for any exemptions to this requirement. As such, even people who entered the nation illegally have a Constitutional right to due process before being deported. We cannot simply pick and choose what parts of the Constitution we will comply or not comply with because it does not fit with our political ideology. When we do so that nullifies not only the parts we do not agree with, but with the entire Constitution. While compliance with the law may be difficult at times, it is the rule of law that holds our system of government together.
In response to the Trump administration’s disregard for the rule of law, the Constitution and decency, people are starting to speak out. Massive peaceful demonstrations against Trump’s actions are taking place across the nation. Last week in New Hampshire Illinois Governor Pritzker gave a powerful speech calling on Americans to defend the Constitution and the rule of law. And Supreme Court Justice Jackson made a speech sharply condemning Trump’s attacks on Judges that have ruled against him, including some who he appointed to the bench.
We are at a pivotal moment in our history. Soon we will learn whether our nation, as President Lincoln stated, “conceived in Liberty will long endure.”
Rich DiPentima
Portsmouth, N.H.
Rich:
You have nailed one of the most insidious tactics of the sick felon now occupying the White House.
Unable to experience shame, he’s a constant volcano of outrageous behavior. While we all stand agog, he goes on violating his oath of office: here a violation of someone’s rights, there a casual pocketing of a huge foreign emolument.
Meanwhile, his GOP cronies, rotten to the core, says “Move along, please. Nothing to see here.”
The Editor
–=≈=–
“The Settlers”
Dear Editor,
As revealed in the recent documentary, “The Settlers,” Israeli settlers in the West Bank and many throughout Israeli society believe, due to government propaganda, that Lebanon, Jordan, and parts of Syria, Saudi Arabia, and Iraq were all part of Greater Israel and that Palestinians don’t exist. Palestine is a place name used throughout history and found in various languages, such as Arabic Filasṭīn and Latin Palaestina. Peleset, transliterated from hieroglyphs, is found in five inscriptions referring to a ‘neighboring people” of the Twentieth Dynasty of Egypt (c. 1150 BCE).
The term Palestine appeared in 5th-century BCE ancient Greek manuscripts. Herodotus wrote of a “district of Syria, called Palaistinê” between Phoenicia and Egypt. In his The Histories, Herodotus denotes a wider region than the biblical Philistia by applying the term to both the coastal and the inland regions. Later Greek writers such as Aristotle also used the word, as did Roman writers such as Ovid, Pliny the Elder, and Plutarch, as well as Roman Judean writers Philo of Alexandria and Josephus.
Palestine has been a place where many religions have been practiced for 4,000 years. Today, the Samaritans of Nablus, Palestine, descendants of the ancient Israelites, still live on the North Mountain. I was in Nablus visiting friends nearly 20 years ago, watching television, as Abbas campaigned to head the Palestinian Authority. Standing next to him were a Jewish rabbi, a Catholic priest, and a Muslim imam.
I hate to admit it, but I am older than the state of Israel. Thankfully, documentaries such as “Ultra Zionists” and “The Settlers” now exist and can be used to expose the resulting violence and horrors of Ultra Nationalism wherever it exists. It’s time the people of this fragile planet learned to respect the Other and live in peace as we focus on important issues such as Climate Change.
Genevieve Harris-Fraser
Orange, Mass.
Genevieve:
Thanks for adding a soupçon of actual erudition to this rag. With the historical facts before us, we’re still faced with a problem: the endless flood of contradictory lies from Israel and its flunkies, including both camps in Congress.
Frankly, we blame the journalism racket for this. A hundred years ago, when newspapers were still the media’s Big Dog, technological advances in printing made it easier to add pages to papers, and print bigger ads. And, Lord, how the money rolled in. Press moguls large and small—like our own F.W. Hartford—quickly deduced that getting too frisky on the editorial side might scare off big advertisers, thus reducing their revenue. Thus was born “journalistic objectivity,” the “fair and balanced” of its day.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Ayotte Comes Up Short for Families
To the Editor:
Now that N.H. has voted for Governor Ayotte, largely because of her promises to lower costs, it seems her plans will be no more effective than Trump’s have been to date. Housing costs are up, having increased over 80 percent for a single family dwelling from 2018 to 2024, while rents rose 1.5 times faster than the national average. Governor Ayotte has proposed no cohesive plan to deal with this problem. Ayotte’s support of Trump has not helped to keep grocery costs from rising. Prices will continue to rise so long as the Governor and other Republicans fail to object to the tariffs on goods from other nations, especially Canada and Mexico.
N.H. began the year with a $21M budget shortfall, which was exacerbated because the Republicans favored their rich cronies by eliminating the interest and dividends tax and cutting business taxes. Recently, the State balanced the budget only by using federal funds obtained by our Democratic U.S. senators.
Governor Ayotte has not vigorously objected to the Trump administration’s radical cuts in federal funding, which will negatively affect education, food pantries, family planning agencies, child care costs and many small businesses. Moreover, the governor refused to join other states in their suit to protect federal funding. Republicans are shifting federal financial burdens to the states. So long as our Republican state officials continue downshifting state financial burdens to cities and towns, we can expect higher property taxes.
We should expect more from our elected state officials.
Lorraine Hansen
Rollinsford, N.H.
Lorraine:
Haven’t you heard? It’s “The New Hampshire Way™”—mouth a lot of slogans, tell everybody that everything’s great in the Granite State, and leave it to the towns to figure out.
The Editor
–=≈=–
The Reasons Trump is Attacking Science
To the editor;
In the chaos generated by Donald Trump during the first several weeks of his presidency, the decimation of government support for basic scientific research has often been overlooked. The assault has occurred along two fronts. The first targets have been research universities that have seen billions of dollars of research grants withheld or canceled. The second front has focused on government agencies that conduct basic research. These include the National Institute of Health (NIH), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Department of Energy. All these agencies have seen cancellations of research grants and have been targeted for large budget cuts that would substantially reduce their ability to support basic research.
The deep cuts in basic research funding being enacted by the Trump administration are unrelated to any “efficiency” issue, fraud or malfeasance. Rather, they are part of a larger effort to consolidate presidential control over institutions that challenge Trump’s ability to construct an alternative reality based on fabrication and misguided conceits. His attack on basic research will have damaging long-term effects. It will stunt productivity growth, inhibit innovation and result in a loss of competitiveness for the American economy. The basic research conducted in universities and government agencies advances scientific knowledge and builds the foundation for the creative ideas that drive innovation. Business firms generally do not invest in basic research because it is risky, expensive, and takes too long to pay off. Thus, universities and government agencies play a vital role in advancing the basic knowledge that serves as the seed bed for innovative products and services. A good example is the contribution that NIH researchers have made to the development of new drugs. The majority of NIH research funding is directed at understanding the basic science related to disease and its treatment. The creation of this knowledge is a precursor for the development of specific drugs. A recent study indicates that between 2010 and 2019, 99.4 percent of new drugs approved by the FDA were linked to earlier NIH studies. The knowledge created by NIH research was used by pharmaceutical companies to develop new drugs that simply would not have come into existence without the NIH researchers.
Innovation is a primary driver of growth in advanced economies not only by creating never-been-seen-before products or services (e.g. smart phones; cancer-fighting drugs) but by inventing new processes or technologies that increase productivity (greater output is produced with the same or fewer inputs). Productivity growth is essential to sustain GDP increases over time and is the only way to improve material welfare within a country. Government investment has played a significant role in productivity growth as shown in a study by the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. It found that government sponsored investments in research and development accounted for approximately 20 percent of productivity growth since World War II. Trump’s short-sighted evisceration of government sponsored research will result in fewer innovative products, a decline in productivity growth and permanent damage to economic growth and competitiveness.
The demolition of research funding illustrates Trump’s grandiosity and irrationality. He is willing to smash and destroy institutions and systems that he perceives as threats to his standing or authority without regard for their purpose and lacking understanding of long-term consequences. It’s a repetition of the ill-considered process that Elon Musk and DOGE enacted as they ran ramshackle through federal agencies. We have elected an egotistical, impulsive child as president and are suffering the consequences.
Robert D. Russell, Ph.D.
Harrisburg, Pa.
Robert:
It’s all of a piece, as the saying goes. They say they’re Christians, but they act nothing like it. They claim they’re for efficiency, but they’re wasting the future. They say they’re smart, but… remember Freddy Corleone?
The Editor
–=≈=–
When They Come for You
To the Editor:
While many fanatical Trump supporters come off as harmless rubes, a dangerous minority don’t fit that mold. Hang around a gun store or target range long enough and you’re likely to meet a few.
Case in point, at a recent meet, I stood behind a plump matronly middle-aged woman at the firing line who was checking out a new variant of the AR-15. I then watched in awe as she pulled it to her shoulder and emptied the clip at a small round metallic target 100 yards down range—ding, ding, ga-ding, every round hitting home. Another onlooker nudged her husband and said, “Wow, you better be nice to her!”
In the event of an insurrection, we may all have to be nice to her—along with her crack-shot husband and circle of like-minded friends. Friends who enthusiastically mix their love for shooting sports with a strong political agenda. Then, there are the decidedly unfriendly folks who pose an even greater threat to life and limb.
Yes, they’re out there, trained, practiced, skilled, exceptionally well-armed, and not likely to offer folks with a liberal lean much in the way of compromise should America’s culture war spill into the street. Some can’t wait for the fun to begin.
Am I paranoid? I sure hope so because I have no practical strategy in mind for protecting against hostile vigilantism in my community. Do you? Do your town officials? Are they part of the problem?
The temptation to avoid confronting this issue is strong. Nobody wants to do it, but it’s a legitimate public safety matter—and it’s time.
Rick Littlefield
Barrington, N.H.
Rick:
Be optimistic: maybe once Trump’s tariffs kick in, they won’t be able to afford ammunition.
The Editor
–=≈=–
No Due Process = Fear
To the Editor:
In a recent OpEd, Mr. Alan Forbes details the fate of two legal residents of the U.S. who were recently arrested by federal agents. He also suggests that there is nothing to fear about the current arrests happening in our nation. This reminds me of a quote: “Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?” We all can see what is happening, and there are reasons to be fearful. While it would be difficult to verify the details of the two arrests mentioned, his letter misses the important point. The real issue is about “Due Process,” guaranteed by our Constitution. We can all agree that any individual who commits a crime, whether that person is a legal resident or a citizen of the U.S., must be prosecuted. That process includes notification of a charge, and an opportunity to defend against the charge with the help of a lawyer in a court of law.
Currently, many individuals arrested by ICE are not being given due process and are threatened with deportation. Those tactics are already being applied to American citizens, perhaps accidentally. Just a few days ago a mother and her two young daughters (all U.S. citizens including the father) in Oklahoma City were visited after dark by armed men claiming to be federal agents. The mother and daughters told KFOR TV that they were forced to wait outside their house in the rain, while the agents ransacked their home, taking with them numerous personal items including cash. They did not identify themselves or leave any contact information behind. Could they have been just a private militia group? Are these agents not under the control of the Justice Department? Do American citizens no longer enjoy the protections guaranteed them under our constitution?
Mr. Forbes, many residents of this country have good reasons to be fearful of the Trump administrations illegal processes.
Peter Somssich and Brian Wazlaw
Both are former N.H. State Representatives.
Peter and Brian,
Thanks for taking Forbes down a peg. We’ve thought about tackling his op-eds in the Herald, but the prospect of concentrating too hard on his blithe twaddle left us in too deep a funk.
The Editor
–=≈=–
No Way to Run a Railroad
To the Editor,
Is there no respite from the current lunacy? Taking time last month for what was to be a few moments of reading for pleasure I opened a copy of Trains magazine and learned of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s January 29th memo calling “for elimination of all orders and directives that relate ‘in any way to climate change, “greenhouse gas” emissions, racial equality, gender identity, “diversity, equity, and inclusion” goals, environmental justice, or the Justice 40 initiative.” Environmental benefits of rail, the article continued, “were frequently cited in grant applications and awards under the Biden administration.”
Also reported was a subsequent order stating that “funding preference should go to projects located in ‘communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average’,” prompting, according to the article, the following New York Daily News headline: “Trump to New York: Want money for trains, tunnels, and bridges? Get married and make babies.” The Trains article further cited the removal from Amtrak’s website of “four years of reports on its diversity efforts, which had earned Amtrak a place on the 2023 Forbes Best Employers for Diversity list.”
Nor did this month’s issue bring any relief. A report of the resignation, in anticipation of being fired, of Amtrak CEO Michael Gardner noted that interim successor Roger Harris indicated an intention to cut costs “in a proactive and controlled way.” Fat chance of that with Elon “Chainsaw” Musk waiting in the wings. Amtrak, according to the article, reported “record ridership and revenue in fiscal 2023-24” and “issued… a ‘white paper’ report pointing out barriers to privatization and Great Britain’s negative experience moving from public to private passenger operation.” Characterizing Amtrak as “sad” (and almost certain to be sadder in the wake of any cuts) in comparison to China’s high speed rail, a heavily government funded operation, Mr. Musk urges privatization. These people don’t know WTF they’re talking about.
In the same issue is an article considering the likely effects of a trade war on CPKC, the merged Canadian Pacific Kansas City Southern railroads, which, providing a continuous rail route from Canada through the US to Mexico, has achieved significant efficiencies in cross-border transportation. CEO Keith Creel, the article reports, “says the threat is overblown. … Creel says the economies of the U.S., Canada, and Mexico are inextricably linked. You just can’t unscramble the omelet.” He evidently hasn’t been closely watching what the DOGE is doing to inextricably linked departments and programs of the federal government. But the article continues: “Some observers say Creel is doing his best to put lipstick on a pig. No one wins a trade war, they say, and tariffs will raise prices, change consumer spending habits, and ultimately reduce the amount of cross-border freight traffic available to CPKC.” Even when its precious private enterprise is operating efficiently the present administration can’t refrain from mucking things up.
And speaking of putting lipstick on a pig, I was recently presented with what I was told is an AI-generated image of President Trump in the garb of the pope. AI might be able to put him in a mitre and robe, but compare anything self-proclaimed wunderkind businessman Trump has ever said with this admonishment by Pope Leo XIII: “[B]e mindful of this—that to exercise pressure upon the indigent and the destitute for the sake of gain, and to gather one’s profit out of the need of another, is condemned by all laws, human and divine. To defraud any one of wages that are his due is a great crime which cries to the avenging anger of Heaven.” Words the president should perhaps be mindful of as his tariffs make the rich filthier richer and the poor ever poorer.
John Simon
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
John:
Remember the good old days, when Republicans would routinely blast the dreaded Commies for their “rigid adherence to extreme ideology”?
Those dreaded Bolsheviks couldn’t hold a candle to today’s GOP. They would drive the train right into a canyon if their boss told them there was a trestle across it.
The Editor