To the Editor,
Trump’s FBI invades the home of John Bolton, a critic of this administration, and where is the outrage? The tepid response shows how much we have normalized the Republicans’ full-steam-ahead transition to fascism that such an abuse of government power is just ho-hum. Our rickety media wants to give Trump the benefit of the doubt, though, by remarkable coincidence, every person being harassed is an opponent or a Democrat (He is even accusing Obama of treason). Taken right from the playbook of Trump’s favorite dictators Orban, Erdogan, Xi and Putin, though, in fairness, they would just toss the offending party into prison straight away. Strangely, we may soon see a rise in defenestrations.
Michael Behrendt
Durham, New Hampshire
Michael:
To be fair, we have noticed a certain amount of outrage over the Bolton home invasion. Of course, under present circumstances—circus-stances?—any specific instance of outrage can easily be overlooked. After all, who among us has the mental capacity to track the individual characteristics of every god damned grain of sand on a bleeping beach?
Sorry. For a brief moment there, we allowed our own outrage to overcome our preternatural editorial equanimity.
All kidding aside, you have fingered the true villain here—well, one of them.
“Our rickety media,” from Fox News to NPR, present us with a convenient but fictional baseline which might best be characterized as the opposite of I.F. Stone’s invaluable precept: “Every government is run by liars and nothing they say should be believed.”
The GOP figured out long ago that this weakness on the part of the media would give a tremendous advantage to whichever party has the least capacity for shame. Naturally, over time, such a party can build up quite a bench of star players, e.g., Richard Nixon, Roy Cohn, Roger Ailes, Roger Stone, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Frank Luntz, the list is endless.
In a constant effort over the past half century they have, bit by bit, filched away our democracy.
Democrats have raised the odd objection here and there. Rare birds to the left of that party have squawked more vociferously.
At every step, the media have felt obliged to calmly repeat the GOP’s soothing lies, and put Democratic objections “into perspective”—said perspective being that everything a Republican says must be treated as the truth, unless there’s a smoking gun and a bleeding corpse in the room.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Assault On Science and Public Health
Dear Editor:
The Trump administration’s relentless assault on science and public health continues to escalate, and the consequences for Americans and the entire world will be catastrophic. Two recent actions demonstrate just how dangerous and short-sighted their actions are.
NASA has been ordered by the White House to destroy two major expensive satellites that monitor climate change activity. These satellites are used by farmers, scientists as well as oil and gas companies to monitor climate activity. According to NPR, these satellites are the only two federally used satellites that provide information built to specifically monitor planet-warming greenhouse gasses.
Second, the Department of Health and Human Services is “winding down” its mRNA vaccine development and will instead fund other vaccine platforms through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). (CNN, August 5th.)
Secretary Kennedy said that “no new mRNA-based projects will be initiated,” and BARDA would terminate 22 mRNA vaccine development investments, suggesting the vaccines “fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like Covid and flu,” despite evidence they protect against severe disease and death from Covid-19 and show promise against influenza.
An American Medical Association comparative effectiveness study found that COVID-19 vaccinations, which were mostly mRNA vaccines, averted up to four million deaths and saved up to 24 million life-years from 2020-2024. (Journal of the American Medical Association, August 25th.)
The loss of critical climate data and the ending of mRNA vaccine research will cause great damage to public health. With the ongoing threat of emerging novel viruses such as bird flu and others not yet even considered, the loss of our ability to quickly develop safe and effective vaccines when needed will result in the loss of tens of millions of lives worldwide.
Simply refusing to collect the information on climate change and refusing to recognize the great value of mRNA vaccines will not change the facts or reality.
Rich DiPentima, RN, MPH
Portsmouth, N.H.
Rich:
These actions would qualify as crimes against humanity, if anyone could have had the foresight to imagine that anyone would be so stupid as to commit them—and if Congress were not hamstrung by the goons who carried them out.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Mr. Ehrhart Responds to Mr. Rudenstein
To the Editor,
I am wary of responding to Roger Rudenstein’s criticisms of my essay “They Don’t Want to Be Shot At” (August 8th, 2025) because Mr. Rudenstein interprets what I’ve written without regard to what I’ve actually said, and this makes clear that he is going to continue to ride his particular hobby horse without regard to facts.
My Jewish friend’s beliefs about Israel and the nature of what is happening in Palestine today are deeply held, and however wrongheaded those beliefs may be, my trying to persuade him in the course of a morning’s stroll that Israel is an illegal and apartheid state that has no right to exist is only going to leave him unwilling ever to engage with me again.
By quietly raising the issue of Israeli state support of Hamas, I gave him a fact he had not previously considered, which might actually give him pause to reflect rather than writing me off as a zealot.
To say that my friend is “genocidal” is simply not true, and is the kind of fanatical and irresponsible language that is guaranteed to persuade no one of anything.
Moreover, where do I write that Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis “all want to kill all the Jews in Israel”? Where are those words in my essay? Quote them. Mr. Rudenstein cannot quote them because I did not write them.
What I said was that these entities seek the destruction of Israel. How is that different from what Mr. Rudenstein has written: that they “want to destroy the Israeli state”? It is different only in the false interpretation Mr. Rudenstein chooses to impose upon what I have actually written.
Mr. Rudenstein wishes to vent his spleen, demonstrate his righteousness, and excoriate anyone he imagines does not share his perspicacity—in my case providing arguments I did not use and falsehoods I did not say—choosing to insult and belittle those he thinks less ideologically pure than him rather than engaging in reasoned dialogue that might succeed in changing opinions and altering beliefs.
Good luck reaching a successful conclusion to the problems in the Middle East with your approach, Mr. Rudenstein.
And you could at least take the trouble to spell my name correctly. I’ve managed to extend that courtesy to you.
Yours,
W.D. Ehrhart
Bryn Mawr, Pa.
W.D.:
Thank you for acceding to our request and responding to Mr. Rudenstein. We expected that your reply would be more effective than anything we might come up with.
Needless to say, we were not disappointed. It was generous of you to take the time to provide such a thoughtful and detailed response. Let us hope that you have succeeded where we have failed. If not, well, you’ve more than done your part.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Republicans’ Glaring Omission
To the editor,
Recently, several Republican members of Congress sent a letter to the Canadian government, alleging that its poor forest management practices are responsible for out-of-control wildfires and for this summer’s air quality problems in parts of the Midwest and Northeast.
Notably, the letter fails to mention climate change. However, although fire-management practices can play a role in these megafires, climate change also has a profound impact. In the words of Natural Resources Canada:
“Warmer-than-average temperatures, decreased levels of snowpack, low soil moisture and elevated drought conditions are indicators that climate change is impacting the frequency, size and range of wildland fires in Canada. For example, the number of over-wintering fires is increasing.”
It’s also important to take note of a 2015 issue of the U.S. Forest Service’s journal, Fire Management Today, titled “Climate Change: The Future Is Here.” This publication states, “Increasing temperatures and changes in precipitation and snowmelt patterns are increasing the severity and size of wildfires in the West.” Concern is also expressed about the “occurrence of fire that is outside the range of our existing experience” and the danger this poses to firefighters and communities.
Moreover, a 2016 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that during the three preceding decades, human-caused climate change doubled the area affected by forest fires in the western United States.
The reason is that hotter temperatures evaporate soil moisture and dry vegetation, making it more likely to burn. According to physicist Phillip B. Duffy, “What would have been a fire easily extinguished now just grows very quickly and becomes out of control.”
In addition, the letter emphasizes, “Our constituents have been limited in their ability to go outside and safely breathe due to the dangerous air quality the wildfire smoke has created.”
Significantly, 184 medical and public health groups, including the American Medical Association, the American Heart Association and the American Lung Association, have released a statement declaring: “Climate change is one of the greatest threats to health America has ever faced—it is a true public health emergency.”
These organizations cite extreme heat, floods and year-round wildfires, as well as air pollution caused by fossil fuel burning and the spread of mosquito and tick-borne diseases.
Even more troubling, we are experiencing these impacts before Earth’s warming has reached the 1.5°C (2.7°F) threshold climate scientists have long warned about. Consider that a recent report by the United Nations concludes that, without a greater commitment to reduce emissions, the Earth will warm by about 3.1° C above pre-industrial levels by the end of this century.
In order to deal with climate-driven threats, we must first recognize them. Urgently decreasing greenhouse gas emissions and funding adaptation should be top priorities for every politician who cares about public health and the future we all share.
Terry Hansen
Milwaukee, Wisc.
Terry:
Not only do credentialed authorities have authoritative scientific studies clearly linking rising global temperatures to worsening wildfires—any idiot with half a brain ought to be able to see the connection.
Unfortunately, the half-brained idiots who now control Congress do not care about any of that. They’re practically setting their constituents’ homes on fire, in pursuit of what, God only knows. Money, of course. Re-election. Status. To “own the libs.” Perhaps the continued sequestration of compromising information.
The Editor
–=≈=–
“Wave After Wave of Dead Children”
To the Editor,
I just finished listening to a powerful interview with Irish trauma surgeon Dr. Morgan McMonagle, who volunteered in Gaza. He described seeing “wave after wave of dead children.”
I can’t help but wonder what actions world leaders would take if they believed in their hearts that we are created in God’s image, and that every human life has intrinsic value and is worthy of respect. We must urge them to place the preciousness of all life before profit and power.
Terry Hansen
Milwaukee, Wisc.
Terry:
Some of us who are long in the tooth may remember the televised trial of Adolf Eichmann. As far as we can recall, no one at the time—just 15 years after the Nuremberg trials—was particularly disturbed by the fact that the Mossad had kidnapped Eichmann in Argentina and smuggled him into Israel.
The general opinion seemed to be then that the Nazi bastard had gotten what he deserved. Many people probably still feel that way, and who are we to say they’re wrong?
That was then, and this is now.
For those of us who remember that trial, it is hard to believe how the tables have turned. And yet we see the evidence, day after day, in wave after wave.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Liars, Cheaters, and Thieves
To the Editor,
MAGA’s leaders have turned the Republican party into the party of liars, cheaters and thieves.
The Liar-in-Chief is, of course, Donald J. Trump. Those in his cabinet, like for example Kristi Noem and Marco Rubio, follow his lead. Kristi famously told Congress that “habeas corpus” is the power the President has to remove people from this country. Of course, that is the opposite of what habeas corpus means. Marco Rubio said that the ending of foreign aid to populations dealing with AIDS in Africa has resulted in no deaths. I guess he meant no deaths that he has personally witnessed.
The cheaters are the Republican leaders who currently engage in illegal gerrymandering to take away seats the other party has in the U.S. Congress. Texas is currently taking the lead in this kind of cheating, but Republicans in Utah, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia have been caught red-handed doing the same.
Republicans support monopolies in restraint of trade, a regressive income tax structure, and the charging of extremely high interest rates on credit cards and payday, title, and other short-term loans. That is theft, folks.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Woods Cross, Utah
Kimball:
But… but… but… we’ve been assured time after time—especially those of us in the Free State of New Hampshire!—that taxation is theft. All those roads and bridges—ill gotten gains! For shame! They should be shunned! Right-thinking people who want to go from one place to another should consider traveling off-road, on mules, negotiating tolls with each property owner along the way, preferably paying with Bitcoin™!
The Editor
–=≈=–
The Great Gazan Land-Grab
Dear Editor,
Here is an embarrassing fact about evil in the world today. Evil resides as much in America and Israel as it does in Russia and China. The United States is entirely complicit with Netanyahu in a deliberate effort to starve and kill children and civilian adults in Gaza.
What is being covered up by media and politicians alike is that the purpose of the starvation campaign is to make life so miserable that Gazans will finally want to leave more than they want to stay in Gaza.
Netanyahu and Trump have made it clear they want to own and develop Gaza for their own purposes. Killing tens of thousands of people is no impediment for them. Only a highly humanitarian, well-educated, and civically active people will be able to stop this disaster. No such citizenry can be found in this country or in Israel today.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Woods Cross, Utah
Kimball:
Grotesque as your assessment is, it’s hard to argue that it’s inaccurate—except for one thing. You imply that it’s impossible to stop the ethnic cleansing of Gaza. To regard that goal as impossible to achieve is to say that there is no point in trying—a proposition we reject.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Live Free or What?
To the Editor,
So New Hampshire has eliminated annual motor vehicle inspections and emissions testing. Stupid, but comports with the state motto of “live for free or die trying.”
John Simon
Portsmouth, N.H.
John:
Aw, c’mon now. Where’s your spirit of adventure?
Next time you’re tooting along Route 95 in Greenland, with nothing but grass between you and opposing traffic, at a combined speed over 100 mph, remember Frederick the Great’s stirring words of encouragement to his troops at Kolin: “Rascals, would you live forever?”
We would be remiss, by the way, if we failed to point out that the Battle of Kolín took place during the Seven Years War, the origins of which can be traced straight back to George Washington’s ill-advised ambush of French forces on May 28, 1754, in what is now Pennsylvania.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Return of the Nazi Defender
Dear Imbeciles:
An ENDLESS source of amazement & fascination for me is seeing just how obtuse, dense, an’ jes’ plain deliberately – STUPID you Leftist Liberals can be when you set your minds to it. I mean, the depths to which you descend are bottomless. Ea. & every time I think you cannot possibly surpass yourselves, why, you go and DO IT!
I’m referring to the Ed. Cartoon of your latest issue, which I’m including w. this letter, of course!
Lady Liberty IS an immigrant. But 1) She’s LEGAL, admitted to this country via the approval procedure. 2) She’s been in the country long enough to be naturalized, and 3) You guys aren’t even being ORIGINAL, because, FYI, ’way back in March some pipsqueak French politician went & demanded that she be returned to France! (President—sticks in your craw, DOESN’T it?—Trump’s reply was that the French’d do well to remember that if it hadn’t been for U.S. they’d be speaking German or Russian now.
But the point IS that that cartoon is as real & accurate as one of Oliver Stone’s movies. AND THERE’S NO WAY you could NOT have known it. If you were uneducated, illiterate ignoramuses from some remote corner of the Appalachians/Ozarks, you’d at least have SOME excuse. But you AREN’T. In fact, you boast of how clearly you see. So what does THAT make of you?
And ALA [as long as, we presume] we’re talking about Ed. Cartoons, let’s TALK, shall we?
About the one during the last election where a football coach
[Note: Our correspondent goes on at considerable length, in the same vein. By now, though, we have probably overshot the point of diminishing returns. – The Ed.]
B.J. Figuerado
Gonic, N.H.
B.J.:
Thanks for coming back to play another round of “Punch the Nazi Defender.” [The first round appeared in our paper of June 13th. It can be found at https://www.nhgazette.com/2025/06/13/a-nazi-defender-writes/].
Forgive us, please, for leaving out about three fifths of your screed. It was getting repetitive, as so many people do when they’re halfway through a fifth.
We did enjoy reading it, and we love the way you fail to distinguish between a human being and a monumental sculpture. It fits the pattern. You also seem unable to tell a President from a heap of ambulatory suet.
The Editor
–=≈=–
From Our Fun City Correspondent
[Salutation rudely omitted.]
If a prison inmate is incarcerated with at least one year of jail time left, I want to offer a way for our Honorable President Donald Trump to issue an “EXECUTIVE ORDER,” to commute the last year and save taxpayers an enormous sum of money in many areas.
If male prison inmates VOLUNTEER for a simple “Vasectomy Procedure,” with local anesthetic in an outpatient clinic setting, upon completion of the procedure, the inmate would be released, when he’s ready to walk.
I would even recommend a $500 bonus, [to] be given upon release from prison.
This will reduce prison costs, reduce welfare and other social entitlement programs from future unwanted pregnancies, and most importantly, erase the next generation of bastard children who will have to be “warehoused” into our overpopulated prisons.
The “Volunteer Prison Vasectomy Program” will start with male inmates, because of its simplicity, but when ready, the U.S. Bureau of Prisons will offer the same program for FEMALE INMATES, with one year left of incarceration.
If the FEMALE Prison inmates volunteer for a “Tubal Ligation,” upon completion of the surgery, the FEMALE inmate is released from prison.
Since the Tubal Ligation will require more complicated anesthetics of placing the women “under unconscious anesthesia,” we could have these females a $750 bonus upon successful completion of the program.
This one “social engineering adjustment” of “Voluntary Prison Inmate Sterilization,” in our American society will LOWER violence in our communities, lower prison costs, lower the need for Welfare and other “dead weight” programs and lower our “American disharmony,” which is attributed directly to the economics of OVERPOPULATION.
Our American economy is shrinking slightly with the advent of “Robotics AI” entering the American workplace, and over time, this will reduce our dependence on the need for “UNSKILLED” human labor.
This Volunteer Prison Vasectomy Program will reduce the negative impacts of the least productive segment of our American society.
I beg the Honorable President Trump consider this idea and sign an “EXECUTIVE ORDER” directing the U.S. Bureau of Prisons to put this idea into action.
Very Respectfully,
CTI2 JACQUES PORCHE
U.S.N. Ret.
Las Vegas, Nev.
Jacques:
Thank you for this FASCINATING letter.
As do many former members of the U.S. armed forces, you have clearly devoted a considerable amount of thought to something you perceive to be a problem. That is to be commended. That said, we believe you have failed to consider something that is quite relevant.
First, let’s be clear: as an independent newspaper, we are free from a certain rather cowardly custom that is far too common among the corporate news media—we don’t need no stinkin’ quotes from alleged experts to assert things that are obviously true. Thus we can say that your proposed “social engineering adjustment” is, at its core, nothing but 1920’s-era eugenicism, and is therefore a terrible idea.
Despite what that creep in the White House would have you believe, this country has never expunged from its DNA the legacy of chattel slavery. Its effects are all around us, and nowhere more so than in our alleged justice system. Your “Program” is a vile idea—which is, of course, only raises the odds that it might be implemented.
The Editor
–=≈=–
Mourning a Good Friend
Dear Editor:
Today I mourn a dear friend of over 50 years who was always there when I needed them. During my over 30-year public health career my friend was there to help me, my state and my community manage and solve some of our most difficult and serious public health challenges.
During the early 1980’s New Hampshire did not enjoy the benefits of a well-trained epidemiology capacity. To help the State build this capacity my friend sent a series of career public health experts to fill the need and build a solid epidemiology capacity for the State, all at no cost to the State. In addition, my friend sent experts to manage the Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) and Immunization programs, again at no cost to the State. And when serious outbreaks or other major public health emergencies threatened New Hampshire, my friend responded by sending at our request experts as “Epi Aids” at least eight times to help the State manage these issues. They included unique problems with Hepatitis B, rabies, lead poisoning, among other serious issues, all of this, again, at no cost to the State.
Now my friend has suffered a possible fatal injury as the result of a “political lobotomy” at the hands of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and his boss Donald Trump. Last week Trump fired the Director of my friend’s agency because she refused “to rubber stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.” In addition, a number of key leaders resigned in protest of her firing. Also, in protest many of my friend’s staff staged a protest in support of their departing colleagues. And today, in a New York Times opinion, nine former directors or acting directors of my friend warned that the situation facing my friend is unprecedented. “This is unacceptable and should alarm every American, regardless of political leanings” they added.
My dear friend of course, is not an individual, but an institution consisting of many people who dedicate their lives to preventing disease and injury and to make the lives of Americans and others around the globe much better. My dear friend is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Now my dear friend is on life support as a result of the actions of Mr. Kennedy and Mr.Trump. Even if my friend survives, they will be left with severe complications of political and scientific paralysis and unable to protect America as they have done for many decades. While most Americans may not be aware, their health and that of their families is in much greater danger today than just a few months ago.
Rich DiPentima, Rn, MPH
Portsmouth, N.H.
Rich:
We send our condolences to you, and to everyone—along with our wishes for a miraculous recovery.
The Editor