Dear Asswipes:
In regards to the front-page rant article on your May 2 (Vol. CCLIX, No. 17) issue… [“100 Down, 1,359 To Go” – The Ed.]
Now you know how the REST of US, the MAJORITY of us (Don’t believe me? Google a color-coded map of the Voting Pattern in the last election!) felt EVERY DAY of the obama + Biden presidencies… Sweating every day about what new STUNT he was going to spring on us next and worrying about what was going to be left of the country when he was done… Now it’s YOUR turn to sweat… And seeing how much you’re cryin’ NOW, when the fun’s just beginning… Well, let’s just say you’re NOT giving a good image of yourselves.
You are OUT – O.W.T. [sic] – now! DEAL with it The country has rejected you. ACCEPT it! Of course, you COULD do what so many of you have threatened to do for so many years: LEAVE the country. In which case we’ll do everything we can to EXPEDITE your leaving – And don’t for even a MINUTE think you’ll be MISSED, let alone that the country won’t be able to survive without you!
At any rate SHUT TH’ F–K UP! We’ve listened to you for 4 years and we’re TIRED of it. Tired of YOU!
Good luck in finding a country that’ll TAKE you! Heh!
MAGA Salute the [tiny drawing of flag]
Support the POLICE
Stand behind our troops
God BLESS America
B.J. Figueredo
Gonic, N.H.
B.J.:
Thank you very much for writing such an entertaining and amusing letter.
Forgive us, please if we’re wrong about this, but you seem to be the same B.J. Figueredo, of Gonic, N.H., who wrote the following letter to the editor of WWII History in 2012:
Dear Editor,
In regard to the article on Oradour-sur-Glane in the July 2012 issue of WWII History, while not exonerating the Germans for what they did, don’t you think that, in the interest of fairness, the individuals who triggered the whole thing by taking it upon themselves to play hero and snipe at a mechanized column that was on its way out, never to return, with full knowledge of what the Germans’ reaction was likely to be—after four years of occupation there was no way they could not have known—deserve just a bit of the blame?
B.J. Figueredo
Gonic, New Hampshire
Unsurprisingly, that letter drew a response:
Dear Mr. Figueredo,
Frankly, I am taken aback by your letter. There is never—repeat—never an excuse for executing innocent civilians. To even attempt to place blame with anyone other than the German troops and their officers who perpetrated the heinous atrocity at Oradour-sur-Glane defies logic.*
Michael E. Haskew
Editor, WW II History
B.J., as fellow citizens of the Granite State, we are disappointed that you have frittered away the growth opportunity provided by Haskew’s letter, and alarmed that your language skills have eroded so badly.
Your logic is still deficient. Your map is irrelevant. Acres don’t vote—not yet, anyway. People do, despite the best (worst) efforts of Leonard Leo’s hand-picked Supreme Court. Your so-called “majority” is fictitious. Trump got 49.81 percent of the vote, to Harris’s 48.34. That’s not a majority. It’s barely a plurality, and sure as hell is not a mandate.
Your alignment with Nazi-adjacent goons proves your moral growth has stagnated. You end your hate-filled screed by calling upon your God to bless America.
Have you ever even read the Bible beyond the Old Testament?
The Editor
–=≈=–
And Now For Something Completely Different
Dear Editor,
I really have enjoyed your paper for many years. I send them to my sister in the White Mtns. when I’m done. She reads them and drops them off at coffee houses in the White Mtns. My subscription ran out (: See check. The extra money is for some of my postage. Your voice is needed more than ever.
B.A.
06441
B.A.:
Thanks for re-upping—and for letting us know about your recycling/guerilla distribution system. We love it. You are one of many subscribers who do something similar!
The Editor
–=≈=–
More Disgraceful Presidential Behavior
Dear Editor:
As a veteran, retired Air Force officer, and an American, who lost friends and relatives in combat, I was never so embarrassed by the behavior of our so-called President and Commander in Chief than over the past week. First, while inappropriately wearing a red campaign partisan MAGA hat at the commencement exercise at West Point where future military leaders were commissioned as new Army officers, he gave a rambling speech that veered off into discussing “trophy wives,” yachts, and golf. After the ceremony he did not remain to shake the hand of every graduate as is customary, but shook a few hands and said he had to leave to deal with China and Russia. He then went on to play golf at his Bedminster National Golf Club in New Jersey.
Then on Memorial Day, Trump gave a speech at Arlington National Cemetery where he ridiculed former President Biden and went off talking about the World Cup and Olympics which will be held here next year. At a time and place where we are supposed to honor the ultimate sacrifice of tens of thousands of men and women, who he once called “losers and suckers,” Trump made the speech more about him and his ego. He continued his disgraceful behavior on that sacred day by posting on his social media wishing a Happy Memorial day to all including “the scum that spent the last four years trying to destroy our country.”
While there may be a time and place to talk politics, post insulting, inappropriate lies, wear your red MAGA hat, criticise the opposition, gloat about being president during the World Cup and Olympics, discuss trophy wives, yachts, golf and other superfluous trivia, it is not at the commencement exercise at West Point, or at Arlington National Cemetery and on the day we honor our fallen heroes. This behavior is disgraceful and a national embarrassment.
Rich DiPentima
Portsmouth, N.H.
Rich:
This is a damning indictment, to be sure. However, in defense of the incumbent [cue the sound of an editor desperately shuffling papers] we would remind you that not once has our Draft-Dodger -in-Chief ever appeared in public while wearing a tan suit.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Our Pro-Chaos Tax Policy, or How Economic Inequality Leads to Chaos
To the editor;
To end the chaos and corruption of the Trump administration, it is necessary to understand the conditions that generated it. The path to disorder has been long and complex and all the factors responsible cannot be discussed in this letter, a good starting place is economic inequality.
A high level of economic inequality is a reliable predictor of social unrest and impending political change. Societies characterized by a concentration of wealth and economic power generate discontent and a desire for change among the disadvantaged. The deprived perceive that the elite is unfairly exploiting their labor by exploiting political and economic systems that favor the wealthy. Eventually their resentment reaches a tipping point and coalesces into a revolutionary movement to bring about radical social change. Extreme inequality was present during the French Revolution, the Russian Revolution and the Chinese Communist Revolution of 1949. Economic disorder and inequality facilitated the rise of Fascism in Germany and Italy after World War I. Economic insecurity and disillusionment with feckless liberal democracies provided fertile ground for radical change. Hitler and Mussolini rose to power by promising a return to prosperity through a strong and expansionist national government. Disastrous results followed.
Although not as extreme as the examples given above, wealth and income inequality has substantially increased in the U.S. over the past four decades. Currently, the top 10 percent of households receive 38 percent of U.S. income and the top 20 percent receive 59 percent. Wealth inequality is worse. The top 1 percent control 31 percent and the top 10 percent hold 70 percent. In contrast, the bottom 50 percent hold only 4 percent. The current inequality gap is wider than any time since the 1920’s and it significantly exceeds levels in most industrialized countries.
Some reasons for the increase are clear. During the period of inequality growth, offshoring and automation were eliminating millions of less-skilled manufacturing jobs. Job loss and the decline in labor’s bargaining power caused working class wages to stagnate and they have not grown substantially since. As the wages of blue-collar workers stagnated, globalization and technology advances increased returns to capital and educated technology workers. The economic gap between the elite and working class became large. The 2008 Great Recession, largely caused by financial elites, threw millions of working and middle-class Americans out of work while destroying their savings and driving down the value of their homes. The government bailed out financial and big-business elites but provided little relief for Main Street Americans. Disillusion in government institutions grew as the inequality gap widened. A sense of grievance and victimization spread, helping to prepare the ground for the rise of MAGA populism.
The inequality gap in America, however, did not have to grow so large. Globalization and technological replacement affected all industrialized countries in a similar manner as shown by their comparable pre-tax and transfer income inequalities. The U.S. has higher levels of inequality because it re-distributes less income from the affluent to the disadvantaged than other industrialized nations. A likely explanation for this lies in the particular brand of capitalism avowed by the rich and powerful. American capitalism is a conservative ideology derived from 18th century liberal thought. It places free markets and private enterprise at the center of economic activity, claiming that unfettered markets are the most efficient means of allocating scarce resources. Government interference in the economy should be resisted. Taxes, especially on corporations and high-income earners, should be kept low to stimulate investment and growth. Government spending, especially on social programs, should be minimized so as not to interfere with private investment. This ideology reduces to a prime directive; the responsibility of corporate leaders is to maximize shareholder wealth.
It’s not hard to see the consequences of this ideology over the past forty years. Aggressive globalization and technological replacement increased corporate profits, but the returns primarily went to shareholders and financiers. Labor was considered to be a cost that should be cut to provide more return to shareholders who were unaffected and unconcerned by the immiseration of the working class. While more enlightened industrial nations were providing economic help to displaced workers and creating educational systems that would provide the skills needed in a changed economy, an oligarchical elite lobbied against similar government spending in the U.S. The result was an abandoned working class, inclined to populism.
Ideologies are not arcane relics of interest only to social scientists. They are belief structures that influence decisions and determine policies. The capitalist ideology of corporate and Wall Street elites as well as like-thinking political allies helped to spawn the current disorder. To end Trumpism, not only must the economic conditions that created the wealth gap be overcome but so must the ideas that created it.
Robert D. Russell, Ph.D.
Harrisburg, Pa.
Robert:
It’s Robin Hood in reverse, and it’s happened in plain sight. How have the rich gotten away with robbing the poor? Mumbo-jumbo about “job creators,” dutifully repeated by media more interested in making a profit than telling the truth.
The Editor
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A Birthday Bash for Trump
To the Editor:
A recent article in the Washington Post headlined “Vietnam vets’ annual ceremony relocated from D.C. due to Army parade” has angered and aggrieved thousands of Vietnam vets, their families and friends. I forwarded the article to a couple local ’Nam vet brothers and the piece now sits crumpled on my table. A lengthy article on this relocated ceremony also appeared in the Stars and Stripes, the U.S. military’s news publication.
President Trump, who will be 79 years old on June 14th, has touted the June event as the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army. The celebration plans include a massive parade from the Pentagon to the National Mall, live music, a flyover, an Army parachute drop and a speech by Trump. The estimated cost of the event is $45 million in taxpayer dollars.
I have many beloved Vietnam veteran brothers and sisters who served in the Army, and I greatly respect their service. I’m suspicious of Trump’s advancement of the celebration based on his egotistical personality, his bone spur excuse for not entering the military during the war years and for his many derogatory remarks about veterans.
I served in the Marines in Vietnam and was wounded in 1967. Many classmates from Pittsfield and surrounding towns also served in Vietnam from differing military branches of the U.S. Armed Forces. Some died as war casualties, and several have died since due to causes directly connected to that war. Many still live with war’s painful effects, me included.
The “In Memory” observance, held in mid-June for more than three decades at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (the Wall), honors veterans of that contemptible war who survived but subsequently suffered from a multitude of Agent Orange-related diseases, serious wounds or homelessness. As a direct result of their service, many have since passed on or have died through suicide. This year’s remembrance instead will be held at a private cemetery eight miles from the National Mall in Alexandria, Va. A replica of the Wall will be erected at the off-site cemetery.
According to Stars and Stripes, a plaque at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial reads: “In memory of the men and women who served in the Vietnam War and later died as a result of their service. We honor and remember their sacrifice.”
Trump is a curse against democracy—a threat to our treasured way of life. His plans for mid-June are another devalued way of damaging our country.
Paul Nichols
Loudon, N.H.
Paul:
It’s no surprise that our draft-dodging President would sully the 250th Birthday of the institution in which he refused to serve. What’s shocking is the cravenness of the elected Republicans who do his bidding. George Washington would vomit on #47’s elevator shoes.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Don’t Know What to Do? Maybe Try This!
To the Editor:
You know those annoying plastic signs that pop up on the roadside every election cycle? They don’t cost a lot of money—perhaps two to three dollars for a sign plus the metal support stake required to keep it in place. Google it. We’re between elections and there are a lot of vendors out there dying to sell campaign signs.
If you believe in defending America from Fascism, purchasing 100 signs isn’t a real big deal. If you can’t swing that amount, ask friends to chip in.
What to print on your sign?
I like “REAL PATRIOTS DEFEND THE CONSTITUTION”.
That phrase has some cognitive dissonance built in. It might give folks who started out as “Patriots for Trump” cause to reflect. It might even prompt an identity crisis.
If you don’t like that one, make up your own. A lot of great slogans appear at demonstrations, and I doubt any are copyrighted. When the signs arrive, work alone or with friends to spread them around.
Posting a hundred signs will take some time and commitment. But perhaps that’s exactly what we need to overcome those nasty feelings of outrage and helplessness. It’s a simple act—with the potential to inspire a national movement!
Rick Littlefield
Barrington, N.H.
Rick:
Great idea. This is why, when we print photos of demonstrations, we often transcribe into the captions as many home-grown slogans as we can.
The Editor
–=≈=–
No Excuse For These Brutal Attacks
Editor:
Truly, Hamas’ Oct 7th retaliatory invasion was a horrible attack, but that does not exempt Israel from its brutal attacks throughout the decades of Occupation, which Israel refers to as Mowing the Lawn, where tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed and maimed and homes bombed. As the Occupier, Israel was supposed to provide for Palestinians, not terrorize them.
The Occupier is not the rightful owner. Palestinians own Palestine and have occupied their homeland for over 4000 years, despite Israel’s attempt to wipe out their history. I am reminded of King Solomon, who was presented with two women claiming to be the true mother of an infant. The pretend parent was willing to have the baby cut in two. Zionists streamed in from Europe and America to “reclaim” their land… claiming descent from the Biblical Israelites. Tell that to the Samaritans in Nablus, Palestine, who carry bloodlines from ancient Israelites. Perhaps the Zionist claimants should check their DNA. I have found 23 & Me is a good place to start.
As a reminder, a religion is not the same as a bloodline. Isn’t it past time that Palestine is freed from Israel’s brutal occupation, massacres, and attempted land-grabs? Once Palestine is free, Israel will be free too, making peace possible.
Genevieve Harris-Fraser
Orange, Mass.
Genevieve:
Claiming territory on the basis of either parentage or religion is stepping on a slope that’s slippery with blood.
The Editor
–=≈=–
You Can’t Blame This on Cell Phones
To the Editor:
Trump’s alleged crypto grift doesn’t need to be investigated because, “It’s out in the open,” says House Speaker Mike Johnson.
Okay, now let me see… if you commit a crime in front of a bunch of people in the light of day as opposed to in the dark, you’re home free in Mikey Johnson’s world, huh?
Ever since Chief Injustice John Roberts declared that Trump has immunity from prosecution for high crimes and misdemeanors committed while in office, No. 47 has been going wild offending the emoluments clause of the Constitution, which says you can’t accept gifts and use your office to get rich.
During medieval times, everyone figured European kings could get away with whatever they wanted, since the uneducated common folk were told that God Almighty appointed kings to do his bidding on earth.
But here in very modern America, we have 12 years of education that every citizen is required to complete, so they don’t just believe everything they hear.
Maybe our people missed a thing or two staring at their phone screens in school all those years.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Woods Cross, Utah
Kimball:
Let’s not blame the abandonment of right and wrong on inanimate objects.
The Dear Leader has bestowed upon his misbegotten flock something no one else ever dared to offer: permission to unleash their inner two-year old. For that boon, they will grant him anything; their dignity goes first.
The Editor
–=≈=–
AI = Artificial Idiocy
Dear Editor:
The possibly AI generated Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) report put out by DHHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a complete fraud filled with false information, lies and mistakes. In fact, seven cited sources of studies in the report do not even exist. The fact that we have a totally incompetent Secretary of DHHS, who has no medical, science, public health background or any experience in scientific research making public health policy for our nation is itself a public health crisis. The Associated Press reported that Americans “are losing a vast array of people and programs dedicated to keeping them healthy.” The AP also stated that “recent cuts imposed by the Trump administration have reduced the nation’s public health system to a shadow of what it once was, threatening to undermine even routine work at a time when the nation faces the deadliest measles outbreak since at least the 1990s, rising whooping cough cases and the risk that bird flu could spread widely among people. The moves reflect a shift that Americans may not fully realize, away from the very idea of public health.”
The reality is that if any graduate student submitted such a paper, they would receive an F, and any legitimate researcher doing so would be discredited and most likely fired. But the most frightening thing about this piece of junk science is that the Trump administration will use this to formulate and implement public health policy. Sound public health policy must be based on sound research, factual data, ethical standards, peer review studies, and apolitical impartiality. None of which are present in the MAHA report.
As a public health professional who spent over 30 years making and implementing public health policy, I find the MAHA report to be an insult to my profession and a danger to the public health of millions of Americans. When Sen. Ernst (R-Iowa) said that “we all are going to die,” maybe she was referring to the MAHA report, not the Trump cuts to medicaid. The fact is, if this MAHA report in fact directs our public health policy, yes, we all will die, but unfortunately many much more prematurely than expected.
Rich DiPentima, RN, MPH
Portsmouth, N.H.
Rich:
What Ernst meant to say was, “You’re all going to die, and I’m going to make sure of it. Meanwhile, I’m keeping my free health care for life.”
The Editor
–=≈=–
Ready or Not, Here They Come!
To the Editor:
In the spirit of [Section] 287(g) [of the Immigration and Nationality Act], Kelly Ayotte recently signed HB 511 and SB 62 into law, revoking the right of state and local law enforcement to opt out of ICE operations. Under the new legislation, local departments have no choice but to detain, arrest, and initiate deportation proceedings, as directed by their ICE brothers in arms.
OK, it looks good on paper. We don’t want scary looking foreigners running around our town raping and pillaging the populus, so why shouldn’t local LEOs chip in? A good idea, except for the fact that ICE has earned a well-documented reputation for conducting “off-script” arrests and violating detainee’s Constitutional rights.
In addition to legitimate targets, lately ICE seems bent on harassing, detaining, and arresting squeaky clean legals along with some of Trump’s antagonists and political enemies. You know the drill: “If they can come for them, they can come for you!”
Of course, I could be wrong about all of this. If ICE’s methods are by the book, constitutional, and on the up-and-up, we should have no fear. Nor should we meet resistance when questioning local officials about implementation of the program.
For example, we might ask who’s footing the bill, which officers are participating, and what is the scope of the ICE training they receive. We might ask how much time ICE activity is diverting away from normal duties, if officers are being incentivised to participate with overtime pay, and if they plan to mask up when detaining suspects.
How our local administrators respond to legitimate inquiries should speak volumes. If we’re told the program is confidential and we might be sticking our nose in where it doesn’t belong, it’s a red flag that demands public scrutiny.
Speaking for myself, I surely don’t support ICE operatives training our local law enforcement officers in the finer points of third world Gestapo behavior. Providing sanctuary for illegals may be arguably wrong but providing sanctuary for an out-of-control politically motivated police force is unquestionably ten times worse!
So, time to shove down that gnawing fear of reprisal and start asking questions. It’s a tangible act we can all take to let folks in positions of authority know we’re watching—and that the acceptance of fascism is not an option.
Rick Littlefield
Barrington, N.H.
Rick:
You make an excellent point. As Tip O’Neill said, “All politics is local.”
The Editor
–=≈=–
How “America First” Hurts Us
To the editor;
The twentieth century has seen three major global conflicts: two World Wars and a Cold War that generated several smaller proxy wars. All were contested between expansionist Eurasian autocracies and an alliance of liberal democracies. The liberal alliance emerged triumphant in these conflicts and America’s economic, and military might played a key role in each. Victory in the Cold War was primarily due to the burgeoning economic growth in America and the western democracies which left the Soviet Bloc far behind (even though the benefits of growth were unfairly distributed in the U.S. resulting in severe income and wealth inequality). The victory of liberal democracies over militant autocratic regimes resulted in a new global order based on democratic ideas and economic and military integration. Although American power was the guarantor of the new order, its maintenance required the collaboration of allies.
With the end of the Cold War, a thirty-year period of relative peace and prosperity followed, leading some pundits to declare the “end of history” and liberal democracy victorious over autocratic ideologies. They were wrong. An alliance of four autocracies—Russia, China, Iran and North Korea—has emerged to challenge the liberal order once again. Unfortunately, their rise coincides with the election of an American president who shares autocratic tendencies and seems not to have learned the lessons of the twentieth century. Donald Trump is now engaged in a process that will weaken the alliances that hold world order together as well as the bases of American economic power that have made the U.S. the world’s hegemon.
Trump has made his contempt for the NATO alliance clear. He has threatened to withdraw from the alliance and has claimed that he will withdraw American support to members who are not spending enough on their defense. He has claimed that NATO is an anachronism even in the face of Russian military incursions into Georgia, Crimea and Ukraine. He often seems to favor Putin over Ukraine in negotiations to end the war to the point of claiming that Zelensky started the war and browbeating him in a White House meeting. He has threatened to withhold military support to the Ukrainians while extorting an agreement to appropriate the profits of the Ukranian mineral industry. These actions are guaranteed to encourage continued Russian aggression rather than containing it. Trump has made similar threats to Asian allies in South Korea and Japan.
Trump’s America First policy threatens not only the strength of military alliances, it also attacks the trade relationships that provide the economic foundation of the liberal order. His cockamamie and erratic positions on tariffs threatens onerous levies against friend and foe alike; they most certainly will damage the prosperity achieved by decades of economic cooperation between allies. The tariffs drive a wedge between the U.S. and allies, causing zero sum competition rather than cooperation. Many will enact retaliatory tariffs and seek alternative trading partners including China. Domestically, the tariffs will contribute to both inflation and recession, threatening stagflation. The consequent weakening of the dollar combined with the budget-busting Trump budget, will foster the sell-off of long-term U.S. Treasury bonds which recently have traded far above historical rates. If this trend continues, it will have disastrous consequences not only for servicing U.S. government debt but also for consumer interest rates, further eroding America’s economic strength and ability to respond to challenges of the ambitious autocracies.
The defense and trade agreements that emerged after the Cold War require reform, but it is hard to conceive of a set of actions more destructive to American global leadership and prosperity than those enacted by Donald Trump. They cede the advantage to the autocratic axis and place the current world order in jeopardy. The lack of pushback by Congress which has the Constitutional authority to oversee the President’s foreign policy and tariff initiatives is disconcerting. Democrats lack the power to provide effective oversight and often seem feckless in their opposition to Trump. Republicans have either drunk the Trump Kool-Aid or are simply cowards. It is not an auspicious time for America.
Robert D. Russell, Ph.D.
Harrisburg, Pa.
Robert:
You know your country is in trouble when assuming that its leaders are incompetent is the charitable view.
The Editor