Dear Editor:
In yet another dangerous and counterproductive anti-vaccine maneuver by Trump’s health team, the CDC’s Acting Director Jay Bhattacharya has prevented the release of a report showing that the COVID-19 vaccine “reduced the likelihood of emergency room visits and hospitalizations for healthy adults by about half.” The reason given was Bhattacharya’s concern about the methodology of the study, although the methodology was exactly the same as that used by the CDC to measure the effectiveness of other respiratory viruses. Considering that this report might encourage more adults to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and prevent unnecessary emergency room visits and hospitalizations, not releasing it is contrary to both good public health and economics.
You would think that our Federal government would do everything possible to prevent unnecessary severe illness and at the same time save a great deal of health care dollars. Why would our government want fewer people to avoid serious illness and possibly death? Why would our government not want to reduce excess emergency room visits and hospitalizations when most of these cases are in adults who are Medicare beneficiaries whose care is paid for by this same federal government?
Unfortunately, the answer to these questions is that our current public health “leadership” including Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Jay Bhattacharya, are not people trained in public health, medicine or any related field. They promote misinformation and conspiracy theories about vaccines and do everything possible to discourage people from getting themselves and their children vaccinated. As a result we are experiencing deadly outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases. Shame on them.
Rich DiPentima, RN, MPH
Portsmouth, N.H.
Rich:
You and Walter (see below) seem to suffer under the same misperception. You expect our government to function rationally, and for verifiable facts to have some salience in decision making. Alas, if this were ever the case, it clearly is no longer.
We blame Dwight D. Eisenhower. That may sound like a joke. It is not. Ike was the first U.S. President to attend the National Prayer Breakfast. In doing so he gave the group behind it, a secretive fundamentalist organization called “The Fellowship,” an inroad into our government. Jeff Sharlet wrote about this in 2008. Here’s a quote from the publisher’s blurb about his book, The Family:
“Sharlet follows the story back to Abraham Vereide, an immigrant preacher who in 1935 organized a small group of businessmen sympathetic to European fascism, fusing the far right with his own polite but authoritarian faith. From that core, Vereide built an international network of fundamentalists who spoke the language of establishment power, a ‘family’ that thrives to this day. In public, they host Prayer Breakfasts; in private, they preach a gospel of ‘biblical capitalism,’ military might, and American empire. Citing Hitler, Lenin, and Mao as leadership models, the Family’s current leader, Doug Coe, declares, ‘We work with power where we can, build new power where we can’t.’”
Facts and logic have lost their relevance. Faith and feeling are all that matter for the Republican base.
That would seem to leave the rest of us dependent on the Democratic Party to fight back. If that were truly the case, we could only say, “God help us.”
But, if we believe in anything, it is in leaving any and all deities—with the possible exception of the Flying Spaghetti Monster—out of politics.
So, the task of sorting out this mess is now on the shoulders of the rest of us.
The Editor
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How Would This Proposal Work?
To the Editor:
President Trump said the federal government should not be paying for Medicaid, Medicare, daycare and “all these individual things.” The states should raise taxes and pay for them.
How would that work for Medicare? Would each state impose their own Medicare tax? If someone from New Jersey decided to retire and move to New Hampshire would New Hampshire pay their Medicare bills or would we hope New Jersey would pay them? If a retiree from New Hampshire moved to Florida, could they expect New Hampshire to pay the bills? What about those who moved from state to state during their careers.
Is each state going to decide what procedures it will and will not cover? What about drug coverage?
The federal government is able to pay very low rates for medical procedures because they represent almost everyone over the age of 65. If Medicare becomes 50 different states’ plans, do you think New Hampshire could negotiate rates comparable to the current system?
Trump said the only thing the federal government should be paying for is the military. Do you really want your state to pay the full cost of education, disasters, health care, roads and bridges? I don’t. And I don’t want a federal government that feels compelled to start wars to justify the taxes it is collecting.
Walter Hamilton
Portsmouth N.H.
Walter:
Apparently you do not understand a core principal of Republican governance. Nothing has to make sense, and nothing has to work. The only requirements are that the base’s professed religious tendencies be honored, that their nostalgia for a fictitious past be indulged, and the current crop of official scapegoats be threatened as sadistically as possible. When these needs are met, then the looting may proceed unimpeded.
The Editor
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A War Being Run by Amateurs
To the Editor:
Reports are coming in from across the country of highly sophisticated unidentified drones appearing over many top security U.S. military bases (more than 400 since late 2025). The most recent report was at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana where wave after wave of 12 to 15 sophisticated drones, with resistance to jamming, appeared over the base for several nights.
Barksdale is home to the B-52H and other B-52 bombers. The B-52H is our main nuclear delivery plane. Apparently we lack the capability to shoot down sophisticated drones over the most critical air space in the country.
Ukraine, which has the most sophisticated drone development in the world, offered its expertise to the United States. Trump and his band of play soldiers turned down the offer, with insults. Meanwhile Trump’s “good friend” Vladimir Putin is supplying satellite imaging and targeting information to Iran to help it kill American servicemen and hit oil and gas facilities among our allies.
This ill-planned, unnecessary, and rushed war is probably an attempt to take the headlines off the Epstein Files, even if it costs hundreds of billions of dollars and thousands of lives. All of it made worse by our amateur civilian war leaders like Pete Hegseth, who has purged dedicated generals and admirals because they weren’t politically correct or because they were Black or female. Woe to us.
Michael Frandzel
Portsmouth, N.H.
Michael:
We, too, are shocked—shocked—that a shady, grifty adulterer who ran a fake veterans organization into the ground is apparently incapable of managing the biggest bureaucracy on the planet.
Well, buckle up. This mess has barely started.
The Editor
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Is Beshear Wrong on Litmus Tests?
To the Editor:
In response to some Democrats accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza, Governor Andy Beshear (D-Ky.) dismisses this charge, arguing:
“That’s becoming one of those new litmus tests that we said we would never, never do as a party again. It’s trying to throw out a word and are you going to raise your hand or are you not going to?”
However, Israeli Holocaust and genocide researchers—Amos Goldberg, Omer Bartov, Daniel Blatman, Raz Segal and Shmuel Lederman—have all identified Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide. Goldberg writes:
“What is happening in Gaza is genocide because the level and pace of indiscriminate killing, destruction, mass expulsions, displacement, famine, executions, the wiping out of cultural and religious institutions… and the sweeping dehumanization of the Palestinians—create an overall picture of genocide, of a deliberate, conscious crushing of Palestinian existence in Gaza.”
Other genocide scholars, including Martin Shaw, author of the book What is Genocide?; Melanie O’Brien, president of the International Association of Genocide Scholars; and Dirk Moses, senior editor of the Journal of Genocide Research, have drawn the same conclusion.
The United Nations Genocide Convention placed prevention at the center of international law. By rejecting credible evidence of genocide, Gov. Beshear is undermining the postwar promise of “never again”—and the moral leadership his party once championed.
Terry Hansen
Grafton, Wisc.
Terry:
Is Israel committing genocide? Of course it is. We don’t see why Andy Beshear needs to be beaten up for dancing around the term, though. You call what he said, “dismissing the charge.” Maybe he’s just using common political sense. He’s a Democratic governor of a state with two Republican senators. Five of its six congressmen are Republicans. Out of 110 counties, exactly two voted for the Democrat in the 2016 presidential election, and he takes no money from AIPAC. All of that should tell us something.
The Editor
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What’s Old Is New Again?
To the Editor:
In his address to the nation, President Trump said the U.S. would bomb Iran back to the Stone Age, “where they belong.” He even threatened to destroy “electric generating plants.”
What will this mean for the most vulnerable, such as hospital patients, the elderly, and newborns in intensive care?
Historian and political theorist Achille Mbembe, author of Necropolitics, coined the term “death-worlds,” describing how the powerful impose conditions on populations that amount to a living death. Mbembe writes, “The ultimate expression of sovereignty largely resides in the power and capacity to dictate who is able to live and who must die.” Gaza is a notable example.
Have we forgotten that, shortly after 9/11, some 60,000 fans at a soccer match in Iran observed a minute of silence for the victims? Or that thousands in Tehran held candlelit vigils, showing solidarity and compassion?
We must reject Trump’s dehumanizing language, reclaim our shared humanity, and choose diplomacy over destruction.
Terry Hansen
Grafton, Wisc.
Terry:
So this is what we’re reduced to, as a nation: official pronouncements from our most powerful leaders cause respectable citizens—we refer here to you, the editor is beyond redemption—to feel the need to renounce a statement that might well have come from U.S. Army Brigadier General Jacob H. “Howling Wilderness” Smith [1840–1918]. In 1901, Smith told Marines under his command, “I want no prisoners. I wish you to kill and burn; the more you kill and burn, the better it will please me.” Luckily for uncounted Filipinos on the island of Samar, U.S.M.C. Major Littleton T. Waller refused to carry out Smith’s illegal order.
Smith was eventually court martialed for his bloodthirsty order, convicted, and dismissed from the Army. Today, of course, instead of a court martial he’d get a medal.
The Editor
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A Blessed Day Without Mass Murder
Dear Editor,
I am so relieved that TACO [Trump Always Chickens Out] lived up to his moniker and didn’t commit mass murder today, Tuesday, April 7th. Like his last ultimatum, and the ones before it, TACO talks tough then, thankfully, he pulls back.
And so we wait for the next ultimatum—possibly within two weeks. That gives Congress, or the Cabinet, two weeks to depose this demented madman. Threatening genocide is a war crime. Changing his reasons daily, sometimes hourly, for starting this pointless military waste indicates mental instability. Destroying our country’s reputation and good will, alienating our allies and depleting our defense stockpiles is treason.
Impeachment or 25th Amendment? Whatever works.
This sicko shouldn’t represent the U.S.A. This crazed narcissist should not command our military forces.
Bruce Joffe
Piedmont, Calif.
Bruce:
Your letter, which is perfectly reasonable, got us to thinking about that eminently reasonable and generally reliable and competent news source, National Public Radio.
We mean no criticism when we say your letter states the obvious. The short finger poised atop the button that could blow the world to smithereens is directly connected to an alleged brain that is clearly defective. And yet, even though it is no longer beholden to the federal government for any fraction of its funding, it still declines to address head-on what could be argued is the most important fact in the world today.
The Editor
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What’s Going On at the Manchester VA?
To the Editor:
For the service members using the N.H. Veterans Primary Care, getting an appointment is going to get a lot harder since a large exit of the Primary Care providers has occurred over the last few months. This exodus is the sole responsibility of the Director and his Executive Leadership Team (ELT). They have failed New Hampshire.
This is not speculation or my personal perception. Be assured, the train has derailed and the cars are starting to pile up. On August 10, 2022, President Biden signed the PACT Act, which expanded benefits for veterans exposed to burn pits and other toxins. This legislation added new presumptive conditions and improved access to VA care for millions of toxin-exposed service members and their survivors. With the new authorized conditions, naturally the number of veterans authorized care at the VA facilities would increase, which would in turn increase the number of providers, nurses, technicians and admin support staff needed to meet the increased demand.
The Manchester Director and his ELT were advised, just after the PACT Act was signed, that more Primary Care provider teams, increased facilities, and administrative support were needed to meet the incoming demands. Again, this is not speculation. All of this is documented in their ELT meetings. Since late 2022, though, the ELT consistently believed the N.H. increase could be handled by the existing manpower. To date, under their leadership, Manchester has not been able to even maintain an average of 70 percent manning for the current workload.
The Manchester Director and the ELT did not take the necessary steps to get the staffing and facilities in preparation for the needs of the Veterans. The Manchester VA has had a six- to ten thousand increase in enrolled patients, with no additional staffing to meet the demands. Now the staff they have are leaving. The Director and the ELT are the decision makers and they all should be held accountable.
BLAME GAME: In early 2025, the Manchester Director was being heavily scrutinized by the Secretary of the VA’s office because the number of days before a new patient is seen was averaging 60 days or more. The Director, in an ELT meeting, stated that he was not going down for this, and from that point on started his attack on the Primary Care Chief. The problem is that, in the Manchester VA, the Primary Care Chief is not responsible for this metric. The group practice manager is. The group practice manager is suppose to schedule the new patients. How can you do this with no availability, since they have only maintained 70 percent manning or below? The Director and his ELT are responsible for authorizing and getting the funding for staffing! Who gets the blame? The Primary Care Chief! Who suffers? The Veterans!
The Primary Care Chief was then asked to step down because the Director and ELT said their perception of her leadership is weak. She refused, and devised a plan to get the numbers under control, which worked but is unstainable, since everything else had to be set aside, and the staff worked weekends to meet the goal. Nonetheless, the Director’s disdain for the Primary Care Chief would not stop. The Director made her life unbearable, so she stepped down and left the area in March of this year. Keep in mind, none of this is because of her performance, the decisions she made under her own control, her accomplishments, or her four years of giving long hours every weekend to the VA. Nope, it was the perception of the Director, his resentment, and downright harassment towards a soft spoken, kind, and loving leader.
Imagine working with or for someone who always smiles, someone who is 100 percent dedicated to veterans needs, puts them first in every action they do, is kind, gentle and loving to everyone, and they are singled out for perceived Leadership failures. Workers see that, and they know: if they treat her that way, am I next?
The Director and his ELT broke her heart and her will for their failures. SHAME on YOU and the result will be N.H. will suffer. Not just because she is leaving, others will follow, they are already packing their bags for the bus.
Now the National VA is coming to Manchester to see why the metrics have dropped so badly in Primary Care.
For full disclosure, Dr. Sears was the Primary Care Chief mentioned above, and is my wife. She left Manchester and transferred to a VA Facility that does, as they say, “treat the veteran first.” New Hampshire should demand their VA leadership does the same for N.H.
Leo Sears
Hampton Falls, N.H.
Leo:
We have no current insider knowledge of the situation at the Manchester VA. That said, none of this sounds implausible.
The Editor
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The Real Story of the Iran Ceasefire
To the Editor:
For Israel’s Netanyahu, “ceasefire” means “bombs away,” kill as many civilians as I can in Lebanon while everybody thinks there is actually a ceasefire.
America’s Trump is complicit in this little charade. He looks away and pretends he has no power to influence Netanyahu, his good buddy.
Israel’s Netanyahu is the butcher of Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. America’s Biden and Trump have been the suppliers to the butcher of Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
Iran and the United States apparently didn’t put the current two-week ceasefire in writing. This was on purpose, so Trump could let the issue of Lebanon fall between the cracks, and Iran could let the issue of Hormuz fall between the cracks.
In other words, the whole ceasefire affair is a sham designed to give despotic rulers on all sides time and space to make the most politically of the “ceasefire” before they go at it again.
For their part, many American citizens are shopping and watching Season 50 of “Survivor” and the start of baseball season. They could not care less where their tax dollars are going as long as beer and pizza are continually served to their faces.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Woods Cross, Utah
Kimball:
If only we could muster an argument proving that you are wrong! The best we can do is to observe that it’s impossible to know the true motivations of these miscreants.
The Editor
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Embrace the Change
To the Editors:
Looking ahead, if we can at least somewhat get through the current horrors, we must keep in mind that DJT, although particularly repugnant, is not the problem’s source—he’s just a reflection of American culture’s dead end, the failed part of the freedom experiment. It will be up to us to retire him and bury that aspect of a gasping “civilization,” while salvaging whatever’s good from it to reconstruct something completely different and much better. Be brave, hip, cool, confident. Don’t be a dinosaur fuddy-duddy. Look at it as an opportunity. In fact, the rest of the world is already rearranging while the empire contracts. The times are changing, and we can be a part of that. There’s joy to be found in this, even though it has taken so much unbearable sadness to get here. Thank you for your attention to this matter (There, see, I’m already stealing a line from that guy—taking it away from him, denying him sustenance, redirecting it as my own—to help erase his vile role in the past’s shortcomings!).
William Trently
Stratham, N.H.
William:
You make some excellent points. It’s only natural, in these repulsive times, to gaze fondly upon the past. But, as the title of Otto Bettleman’s excellent book stated in 1974, The Good Old Days: They Were Terrible! Although, due to our longevity, we do take some slight offense at your admonishment not to be a “dinosaur fuddy duddy,” we heartily endorse your call to action. Let us build a better future!
The Editor
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Still Waiting for the Hand of the Almighty
Dear Editor:
MAGA “news” sources may skip this. I can’t. The Military Times reports: Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth prayed “for overwhelming violence against those who deserve no mercy, reflecting his combative Christian brand of faith.” Also: “Hegseth’s prayer service has drawn scrutiny for its explicit Christian implications for [our] nation with no established religion.” Does “scrutiny” equal PUT A STOP TO THIS?—unfortunately, not. [Will the] Hand of the Almighty come down on him?
As a literature student, [in] my long-ago UNH years, I read of the “seven deadly sins”: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, [and] sloth. Hegseth’s huge pride in death-dealing-powers reeks, smells. Of course, his boss is full of wrath [and] vengeance along with his destructive pride.
“These sins are considered ‘deadly’ because they can lead to spiritual death and further immoral behavior if not repented.” (Wikipedia) We have astronauts suiting up to head into the heavens. On earth, we have mortals in power engaged in terrible, basest, most angrily destructive powers—religiously noticed and warned against.
Lynn Rudmin Chong
Sanbornton, N.H.
Lynn:
During the era of the nation’s founding, deists like Thomas Paine were condemned by many for denying that God still took an active role in the doings of mankind or the universe. Well, who gets the last laugh now?
Do we have any religious folks out there eager to give God credit for today’s state of affairs?
The Editor