[Note: While we are publishing the following letter on its merits, we owe it to our readers to inform them of a personal interest: when the editor was a high school student, his world view was profoundly and permanently altered by reading Paul Krassner’s satirical magazine, “The Realist,” copies of which were lent to him by Ed Gray, the author of this letter, who was then his classmate. – The Ed.]
Dear friends of “One More Mission,”
I’m writing to tell you about a recent blow to “One More Mission,” our documentary film about Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and what we’re doing to respond to it.
On April 2, 2025, our principal funder, the National Endowment for the Humanities, notified us that the $600,000 grant it awarded us in June 2024 was now terminated. Our NEH grant was one of more than a thousand that were terminated on the orders of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE.
“The NEH is repurposing its funding allocations in a new direction in furtherance of the President’s agenda,” we were told. “Your grant’s immediate termination is necessary to safeguard the interests of the federal government.”
On April 2nd, we were getting close to finishing the film. But $214,000 of the $600,000 total was still in NEH’s hands. That’s because the rules of our grant restricted us to drawing down small amounts of the total one week at a time. Each weekly request could only cover what we’d have to pay for the following week. The $214,000 was the money we’d need to the cover the substantial finishing costs we’d be incurring over a period of many weeks. They include the rights to archival film clips and photographs, the fee for the narrator, costs of the final post-production sessions, legal costs, and salaries for our team.
So we are now $214,000 short. To raise that sum, we have already started to reach out to the media distributors and foundations that we think are the most likely sources for big chunks of money. But big organizations like these do not often move quickly.
In order to keep our work moving forward—just to be able to pay the rent and keep paying our editors—we need to raise money right now. One way we are trying to do that is by turning to the people like you who have helped us in the past. If you are able to help us once again, with even a small contribution, I will be enormously grateful. And I know that the veterans who appear in the film will be grateful too.
You can make a tax-deductible contribution in support of the film to our non-profit sponsor, Catticus Corporation, by going to https://www.catticus.org/one-more-mission.
Here is our current 4-minute trailer. https://vimeo.com/978225559.
Thank you in advance for any support you can provide. The message of our film—that we as Americans have an obligation to speak out when our government is doing something wrong—is as timely as ever.
With my warm regards and gratitude,
Ed Gray
Edward Gray Films, Inc.
99 Hudson Street 5th floor
New York, NY 10013
(917) 208-5493
onemoremissionfilm.com
Facebook: edgrayfilms
Dear Ed:
Congratulations on your official designation as a hazard to “the interests of the federal government.” Wear it proudly. We always knew you had it in you.
The Vietnam War may have been the late twentieth century’s bloodiest example of the Sunk Cost Fallacy in action: “the phenomenon whereby a person [or nation, we suppose] is reluctant to abandon a strategy or course of action because they have invested heavily in it, even when it is clear that abandonment would be more beneficial.” – Oxford Dictionary.
Americans need to remember that the men who were forced to be part of that war were also instrumental in ending it. Your film will help us do that.
Your “One Last Mission” transcends whatever reservations some bean-counter might raise. Our modest help is on the way. We urge readers to follow suit.
The Editor
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Trump’s Fire Hydrant Technique
To the Editor:
Trump would give refugee status to White South Africans. Whites comprise seven percent of South Africa’s population; nevertheless, they control 80 percent of the wealth. Don’t grant refugee status to people living well. They don’t need it.
While visiting South Africa, I talked with an Afrikaner very concerned about how to fund a pool for the local water polo club. South Africa is a wealthy, developed country, where, for example, they performed the world’s first heart transplant and held the World Cup soccer finals. Poor White South Africans exist, but it can handle its own. South Africans need American refugee status as much as a fish needs a bicycle.
Crime touches White South Africans. While sad, this makes sense. When asked why he robbed banks, Willie Sutton said, “Because that’s where the money is.” South African criminals also go where the money is. Recall: Whites control 80 percent of South Africa’s wealth.
But Trump doesn’t care about South Africans. White refugee status is a con.
Two reasons motivate Trump’s South African scam. First, he wants to please his South African advisor, Elon Musk. Second, to distract Americans from his dismantling of our government. Cronyism lets him import Musk’s toadies. “Distractionism” covers his illegal actions: kill America’s government, institute welfare for the wealthy, and line his pockets.
Silence Trump’s executive microphone. Make his actions visible and then make him answer for them. Tell Congress to start checking and balancing. We didn’t elect a king.
J. Michael Atherton
Dover, N.H.
J. Michael:
Whenever we think of Trump and his damned fire hydrant, we feel an urge to bark… or something.
Thanks for this telling observation about the demographics of crime in South Africa. As Lord Buckley said about the jitterbug dance: “so simple it evaded me”… until now.
The Editor
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Ayotte Failing to Defend New Hampshire
Dear Editor:
Once again Gov. Kelly Ayotte is standing with Trump rather than protecting the interests of New Hampshire businesses, residents and communities. The governors from all the New England states and New York, with the lone exception of Ayotte, will be meeting with Canadian leaders to discuss the serious economic harm that the Trump tariffs are having on their economies. Gov. Ayotte has decided that it is in her best political interests not to anger Trump and his base, rather than put the economic interests of New Hampshire ahead of her own self-serving interests.
Canada is one of New Hampshire’s largest trading partners. It is also a major source for tourism revenue for New Hampshire businesses. Each year over 500,000 Canadians visit New Hampshire spending millions of dollars. Unfortunately, because of Trump’s hostile behavior towards Canada, we have already seen a decline in Canadian tourism, and hotels are reporting that Canadians are cancelling reservations. The tariffs have also decreased the amount of goods that are manufactured in New Hampshire being sent to Canada as well as increasing the price of goods that come to New Hampshire from Canada. The net effect is less business and State revenue and increased consumer prices. Combined with the cutting of the Interests and Dividends Tax, lowering other sources of revenue, increasing the education voucher program, and a loss of federal funding, the budget is facing serious shortfalls. and property taxes will significantly increase.
Unfortunately, Gov. Ayotte continues to disregard the best interests of New Hampshire in order to gain favor with Trump. Her lack of courage and real leadership will do significant harm to the State. Failure to take advantage of an opportunity to engage with and to promote New Hampshire interests with other leaders is a sign of weakness not strength. While other states will benefit from dialogue, New Hampshire will suffer the consequences of our absent leadership.
Rich DiPentima
Portsmouth, N.H.
Rich:
What, did you expect, political courage?
The Editor
–=≈=–
Welcome to the Class War, Americans
To the Editor:
We are finding out what it takes to give tax cuts to billionaires like Elon Musk and Donald Trump. Veterans have been laid off and VA hospitals have seen their funding cut. Money has been cut for Head Start and school lunch programs. So many people have been fired from the weather service we cannot depend on getting timely warnings for severe weather like tornadoes, hurricanes, floods, snow storms and high winds. We cannot expect airlines to get the data they need to avoid turbulence.
The GOP-led House voted to cut $700 billion from Medicaid that will cause 10 million to lose their coverage. They voted to make people pay more for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. They voted to cut $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (commonly called food stamps.)
When people send their taxes to Washington, they expect that money to come back when disasters hit. This is not happening under Trump. When Arkansas asked for FEMA funds after tornadoes tore through the state and killed dozens, Trump told their governor the money would not be coming. The same is true for storms in Kansas, Missouri, Mississippi and Kentucky. When the head of FEMA told congress he did not support eliminating FEMA he was fired and replaced by someone who would.
Trump promised he would protect Medicaid and Medicare. He lied. Trump and his party have declared war on the poor and middle class to give money to the rich.
Walter Hamilton
Portsmouth N.H.
Walter:
Non-wealthy Americans are now in a pisition that brings to mind a dispatch sent in December, 1950 by then-Colonel Lewis Burwell “Chesty” Puller, U.S.M.C., from the Chosin Reservoir in Korea: “We’ve been looking for the enemy for some time now. We’ve finally found him. We’re surrounded. That simplifies things.”
We need to defend ourselves, by any means necessary, from the apparently insatiable greed of an over-privileged class of gangsters.
The Editor
–=≈=–
War Crime Evidence Ignored by the Media
To the Editor:
Members of the Israeli Defense Force, who have served in Gaza, have routinely shared videos and photos on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook that could be considered evidence of their commission of war crimes.
Thousands of these online posts have been amassed by Israeli historian Lee Mordechai, as well as by Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit and The Hind Rajab Foundation.
According to an extensive report compiled by Mordechai, these videos and images document the shooting of civilians waving white flags, the abuse of captives, soldiers gleefully damaging and destroying homes and religious sites, the looting of personal belongings, the burning of books in libraries, and the defacing of Islamic symbols, including burning Qurans.
Al Jazeera’s Investigative Unit has meticulously verified the authenticity of many of these posts, and it has often been able to identify the individual soldiers and their military units.
In addition, at the beginning of the war, members of the IDF operated a propaganda channel on the social media platform Telegram titled, “72 Virgins-Uncensored.” Its target audience was Israeli citizens, and the channel showed videos and posted photos celebrating and mocking the death and abuse of Palestinians.
The existence of this channel has been confirmed in Mordechai’s report, as well as by Israeli media.
It is stunning that the devastation and suffering in Gaza are rarely discussed in depth in the American media, and that coverage almost never directly implicates Israel or includes interviews with Palestinians.
Terry Hansen
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Terry:
Big, profitable American media companies are not in the business of informing the public. They are in the business of selling American eyeballs to whoever is in the market for them. Why buy those eyes? Why, to sell their owners something that, statistically speaking, they probably don’t even need. Informing viewers that their government is assisting in an ongoing genocide is thought to be bad for business.
The Editor
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A Lost Opportunity to Bow Out
To the Editor:
I attended two Biden rallies in New Hampshire before the New Hampshire primary as part of the 2020 campaign. Joe Biden was not only quite capable, he was brilliant and spoke at the first rally for close to an hour. His introduction was presented by women who had been on welfare as single parents who had benefited from Obama-Biden policies.
The 2nd rally was in Nashua, N.H. Biden was accompanied by John Kerry, who spoke first. As always, the former Lt. Governor of Mass., Senator, nominee for President, and Secretary of State was articulate and gave a compelling speech about why Biden should be our President. But Biden’s speech was electrifying in its breadth of understanding, empathy, and personal touch. He was not only on his game but had perfected it. Afterwards, I waited and was able to speak to him privately for ten minutes or so and had his full, undivided attention.
According to CNN, a cancerous growth was uncovered in February 2023. If true, I assume he was undergoing treatment for it. According to some doctors, the treatment can cause brain fog and other symptoms, which could explain his growing frailty and the spread to his prostate, which is rarely tested for after the age of 70 years.
I consider President Biden one of the great ones, considering what he accomplished, except for Gaza. Although he did manage to put out a peace plan that Hamas could agree to, despite not being successfully implemented.
I can see why advisors and family clung to what they believed to have been true about his capabilities. But in hindsight, he should have relinquished the stage to allow for primaries and debate and a fighting chance against his “worthy” opponent, Donald J. Trump, and the disassembling of our democracy.
Genevieve Harris-Fraser.
Orange, Mass.
Genevieve:
As befits a political machine whose primary function is to serve capital and capitalism, the odiousness of the Republican party has been compounding daily for at least fifty years.
Being, perhaps, a little simple-minded, over the thirty-plus years we’ve had this gig we have focused most of our attention on the uglier side of our political duopoly.
In 2016, the conventional wisdom in the Democratic heirarchy held that despite his enormous popularity, backing Bernie Sanders would be too risky. So the Democratic machine crushed him.
Not saying it would have made much of a difference, but we should have been paying more attention to the anti-democratic forces within the Democratic Party.
The Editor
–=≈=–
When They Come for You
To the Editor:
Perhaps it will be a team of four gathered outside the door at 3:00 a.m. to enter your house. They will be there without a warrant or probable cause. They will be there to terrorize your family, trash your house, confiscate boxloads of personal property, and transport you to an undisclosed location.
So, who are these people?
First, they are Americans. Fellow citizens with names, addresses, and family. They are our neighbours, living among us, perhaps attending the same church or buying groceries at the same market.
At the office, they represent our tax dollars at work—but with faces masked in order to hide their identity and evade culpability for committing unconstitutional acts.
If AG Blondie (my spelling) has her way, ICE will no longer require “illegal status” to justify scooping law-abiding citizens off the street. Write an unflattering Letter to the Editor and you could get the Golden Ticket to a third-world end-of-life experience.
These undercover enforcers may be “just doing a job,” but for many the cloak of anonymity is a drug that invites the worst forms of abuse. Especially so, when working as a hired gun for a notoriously abusive administration!
It begs the question: When they pull up their masks, shouldn’t we be doing everything possible to pull down their pants to show the world who they really are?
Rick Littlefield
Barrington, N.H.
Rick:
Having scanned your letter for hyperbole, we are distressed to report that we found not a whit.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Trump’s Flying White Elephant
Dear Editor,
Should the Defense Department accept Qatar’s 13-year-old airplane “gift” and convert it into a presidential Air Force One?
NO! That would add another $1.5 billion to Boeing’s current job, building two brand-new AF1s, which further delays their delivery while tearing the Qatar jet down to its studs checking for security devices.
If Defense did accept the airplane, and Boeing did retrofit it as AF1 in time before trump [sic, passim] leaves office, should he be allowed to keep it afterwards?
NO! Private citizens can’t own top secret military hardware. Taxpayers would have to pay an additional $1 billion to decommission the jet.
Is this bribe corruption, plain and simple?
YES! Prohibited by laws and the Constitution.
If trump is the billionaire he claims to be, can he buy the plane for $400 million with his own money after leaving office?
Yes, but airplane corruption doesn’t make America great.
Bruce Joffe
Piedmont, Calif.
Bruce:
Last week Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, a well-known pillar of probity, accepted the airborne white elephant on behalf of his boss. In related news, Mike Judge’s 2006 film “Idiocracy”—which has yet to be screened in the Gazette’s lavishly-appointed projection room because we mistakenly thought it was a frivolous comedy, not a remarkably prescient documentary—is now on our schedule.
The Editor
–=≈=–
“Nice Ice Cap You’ve Got There…”
Dear Editor:
In an interview with Meet the Press, Trump discussed the possible need to use military force to take over Greenland from NATO-ally Denmark. Trump stated, “Something could happen with Greenland. I’ll be honest, we need that for national and international security.”
Consider the implications of Trump’s threat to use military force against a NATO ally. Article 5 of the NATO Treaty states that an armed attack against one member is considered an attack against all. If Article 5 is invoked, each member is obligated to assist the attacked member by taking “forthwith, individually and in concert with other Parties, such action which is deemed necessary.”
It is almost impossible to imagine that a President of the United States would threaten military force against a fellow NATO ally, but unfortunately this is a real possibility. The use of military force by the U.S. against Greenland would require that all other NATO members, including our neighbor Canada, respond with either military, economic or any other force “deemed necessary” to counter the American use of force. The results of such a conflict would be a disaster for the entire free world. The only winners would be China, Russia and other opponents of democracy.
Another important implication of Trump’s threat to take Greenland because he says, “we need that for national and international security,” is that China and Russia could employ this same misguided reasoning to justify the invasion of Greenland to protect their own national security as well. After all, Greenland is just as strategically important for Russia and China as it is for the U.S. Russia has already used this same misguided reasoning to justify its invasion of Ukraine and China could use this same justification to invade Taiwan, or for other nations to invade their neighbors because they consider them to be vital for their national security.
Trump’s aggressive desires represent a threat to the entire world order. The world is watching and holding its collective breath.
Rich DiPentima
Portsmouth, N.H.
Rich:
The volcano of incoherence we call our president spews crackpot ideas in such profusion it’s impossible to keep track of them all.
Thanks for this reminder that “Provoke a war with all of our most important strategic allies at the same time” is still on his “To Do” list.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Food is Scarce But Lies Are Abundant
To the Editor:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is harshly critical of accusations that Israel is starving Palestinians. According to Netanyahu:
“Since October 7th, Israel has sent 92,000 aid trucks into Gaza… . That includes 1.8 million tons of aid… . More than enough food to feed everyone in Gaza. Yet as we had let the aid come in, Hamas stole it… . I tell you this: no army in the world has ever gone to such lengths to provide aid to the civilian population in the midst of intense combat.”
Multiple lines of evidence, however, refute Netanyahu’s claims.
In a January 2024 press conference, Netanyahu stated, “We provide minimal humanitarian aid… . If we want to achieve our war goals, we give the minimal aid.”
And in the Spring of 2024, the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration provided an assessment to Secretary of State Antony Blinken, concluding that Israel was deliberately blocking deliveries of food and medical aid into Gaza.
Moreover, in June of that year, the global poverty organization Oxfam issued a press release titled, “Famine risk increases as Israel makes Gaza aid response virtually impossible.”
Notably, Israel did not allow any humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip for 77 days, from March 2nd until May 18th.
This recent blockade is part of a much longer pattern: Israel’s restrictions on the movement of food into Gaza actually date back to 1991, well before Hamas came into power in 2006. Government documents reveal that, between 2007 and 2010, Israel deliberately reduced food imports into Gaza to what officials described as “minimal subsistence” levels.
Dov Weisglass, a senior advisor to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, was quoted as saying the policy was “to put the Palestinians on a diet, but not to make them die of hunger.” Army officers devised mathematical formulas to calculate the specific amounts and types of food permitted for Gaza residents.
Netanyahu has boldly declared: “To those who say that Israel stands alone, I say we’re not alone. Justice stands with us. The truth stands with us. History stands with us.”
Yes, history will judge. Its verdict will be that Israel, with the complicity of the United States and other Western powers, conducted a highly effective campaign of propaganda and atrocity denial that allowed it to systematically inflict immense suffering and death upon Palestinians.
History will judge this as a complete and utter failure of humanity.
Terry Hansen
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Terry:
Are we complicit? Of course we are. That seems like a mild way to put it, though, when you consider that a president with sufficient guts could probably shut down the war with a phone call.
The Editor
–=≈=–
On Unbearable Men Who Can’t Count Beyond Two
To the Editor,
I’d like to address, if I may, President Donald Trump’s executive order declaring that there are only “two sexes, male and female.” In The Madness of Crowds: Gender, Race and Identity, Douglas Murray writes: “Intersex is the natural phenomenon known to the medical profession for centuries… . It is the fact that a small percentile of human beings are born either with ambiguous genitalia or turn out to have other biological attributes… which suggest that they may lie somewhere between the sexes.” Elsewhere he writes that, “Not only is some type of gender-ambiguity or gender-fluidity common across cultures, it is hard to think of a culture in the world that does not include—and allow for—some variety of gender ambiguity. It is not an invention of late modernity… . Ovid wrote of a shifter between the sexes in the story of Tiresias. In India there are the Hijras—a class of intersex and transvestite—knowledge and acceptance of whom dates back centuries. In Thailand the Kathoey is a type of effeminate male who is widely accepted to be neither male nor female. And on the island of Samoa there are fa’afafine, men who live and dress as women.”
Sex role reversal, in which males become pregnant is common in the Syngnathidae species, seahorses perhaps being the most familiar, but including pipefishes and sea dragons. And earwigs, oh my, just read what the Center for Biological Diversity says about them: “Courtship can be dramatic: While females collect sperm in internal pouches, keep it to fertilize multiple broods, and don’t need or want to mate again, males have an understandable urge to be sperm donors. So in some species the two have gotten into a kind of arms race, with each sex’s genitals growing in size to be able to best the other’s… . In one case, male genitalia are almost as long as the rest of their bodies; female genitals are almost four times as long.”
Among the many academic subjects the present administration would like to see stricken from school curricula is one that contributes to an understanding of such diversity (Oops, I’ve used a bad word) in nature, a field of scientific study called evolution, to which many intelligent people have devoted lifetimes over the course of our species’ development. But it seems that in the interest of achieving some sort of balance, intelligence and insightfulness must needs be complemented by some degree of stupidity and intransigence. Thus we have the present U.S. government (if it can still be called that), lorded over by a preponderance of rich white men led by a belligerent, decidedly and avowedly male heterosexual and his chainsaw wielding, billionaire sidekick whose numerous progeny attest to his maleness. One is put in mind of Marguerite Duras’ observation that “You have to be very fond of men… . You have to be very fond of them to love them. Otherwise they’re simply unbearable.” So, no, Donald, there are not just two sexes, but there is an overabundance of simply unbearable men (as well as a disappointing number of simply unbearable women) in your administration. And they, and you, are leading us to perdition.
John Simon
Portsmouth, New Hampshire
John:
For the record, this country’s most pernicious and expensive untreated mental health problem is male gender insecurity.
The Editor