Dear Editor,
The planners of the September 2001 terrorist attack using hijacked airplanes were likely those who carried out the attack. This group of men, mostly from Saudi Arabia, were capable and had plenty of reasons to harbor hostility against the United States Government. The idea for the attack was conceived by four friends who met in Hamburg, Germany and had lived previously in Egypt, Lebanon, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. These men were comfortable living in a country similar to the United States of America, they were familiar with air travel, and they had experienced the oppression and violence that the U.S. backed monarchies and dictatorships impose on their people. They also would have been upset about the 1991 U.S. invasion of Iraq and the violent U.S. economic warfare against Iraq that lasted many years and the U.S. support for the Israeli Government’s murderous campaign against the Palestinians that resulted in a nearly twenty-year occupation of southern Lebanon.
The Bush Administration attributed the terrorist attack to al-Qaeda in order to further justify the ensuing war on terror. They claimed that a member of al-Qaeda had planned the attack and the four Munich friends had materialized from nowhere to carry out the plan. (The 9/11 Commission Report stated that the four Munich friends were originally planning to travel to Chechnya but they met some bearded men on a commuter train and began discussing jihad. The strangers convinced them that they should travel to Afghanistan instead and that is where they met the al-Qaeda official. The 9/11 Commission members can be forgiven for this nonsense because they were unable to interview or even pose questions to the witnesses.) The Bush administration proceeded to torture the gentleman they selected as the ‘mastermind’ until he ‘confessed’ to his torturers. Now he languishes, along with fourteen other innocent men, in the Guantanamo Bay military facility while the U.S. government attempts to deny him the right to face his accusers in a court of law. Another of the Guantanamo Bay guests is one of the four friends from Munich. He was unable to secure a U.S. visa and did not participate actively in the attack. The Bush Administration arranged for this man to face a similarly endless ordeal of ‘enhanced interrogation’ at multiple sites and he faces lasting psychological trauma from the ordeal.
Your Loyal Reader,
Gregory Kalkanis
Berkeley, Calif.
PS: My partner, Karen, and I enjoyed a short visit to Portsmouth this past summer. We patronized the businesses that advertise in the New Hampshire Gazette and everyone made us feel welcome. The Boston bus left us at the station on the hill near town, and the C&J station agent gave us the card of a cabbie who then ferried us to the hotel. The cabbie proceeded to provide wonderful service during our stay.
Gregory:
Many thanks for your loyal readership, and this rather eye-opening letter. Hard to believe that after all these years it’s still possible to see that incident in a new light. We truly live in a hall of mirrors, set in a wilderness of lies.
The Editor
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Joyful Cruelty and ‘Dark Fun’
To the Editor:
At comedian Jerry Seinfeld’s recent show in Chicago, an audience member shouted about Gaza, “Twenty-two thousand Palestinians who are children now are killed with our taxpayer money, and you’re making jokes?!”
The comedian then began dancing on stage and mockingly declared, “I am a racist. It’s a genocide. I’m into it,” before saying, “I’m gonna find out how much your ticket was, and I’m sending it to Israel.”
Seinfeld, an outspoken supporter of Israel, previously stated, “I don’t care about Palestine,” and that “It doesn’t exist.”
In their journal article, “Genocidal Enjoyment: On the Weaponization of Joyful Cruelty and ‘Dark Fun’ during Israel’s Genocide in Gaza,” sociologists Raúl Pérez and Charles Thorpe define genocidal enjoyment as “the weaponized use of joyful cruelty in the service of state violence” against a dehumanized community.
One example cited is the propaganda channel, “72 Virgins-Uncensored,” which was aired on the social media platform Telegram by members of the Israeli Defense Forces’ Influencing Department. Its target audience was Israeli citizens, and the channel showed videos and posted photos celebrating and mocking the death and abuse of Palestinians.
According to the authors, genocidal enjoyment bonds soldiers and supporters through shared pleasure, reinforcing moral hierarchies and portraying the targets of state violence as moral outsiders.
Seinfeld’s actions demonstrated genocidal enjoyment. Cruelty was made to feel like camaraderie, and Palestinian suffering was made to seem like a fitting subject for laughter.
Terry Hansen
Grafton, Wisconsin
Terry:
During the late Great Patriotic War to Defend San Diego from the Scourge of Godless Communism, U.S. Army drill instructors were careful to admonish recruits against using insensitive language when referring to our worthy opponents….
The Editor
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It’s Time for a New New Deal
To the Editor;
Donald Trump’s unpopularity is well earned. He is a toxic narcissist, a grifter, and totally inept as President. Hopefully, Democratic gains in the midterm elections will limit the harm that he could do in his last two years, and he will soon be ushered off the world stage. As heartening as that will be, however, Trump is only a symptom of an underlying malaise that has promoted the rise of right-wing populism and fascism worldwide. The causes of this malady will not disappear with Trump. Its root causes must be understood and eliminated before hostility between political factions can be repaired, and the survival of liberal democracy ensured.
To start, we must understand the reasons for the huge wealth inequality between economic elites and the middle and working classes that exists in many industrialized economies. Inequality has been increasing since the 80’s and has reached levels not seen since the Gilded Age. It has created an economic class divide in the U.S. such that a wealthy elite enjoys untold privilege and power while some members of the working-class struggle to pay for basic living expenses. The divide began to build with the ascendancy of neoliberal economics which privileged capital over labor and established the principle of maximizing shareholder value as the sole responsibility of corporate managers. New transportation and manufacturing technologies enabled capitalists to outsource production to the lowest wage countries and replace workers with robots with the consequent loss of millions of well-paying blue-collar jobs in the industrialized West. Next, the Great Recession of 2008 saw the financial and business classes escape losses as the government bailed them out while the middle and working classes saw jobs lost, homes devalued, and retirement nest eggs decimated. Following 2008, populist political parties began to attract resentful members of the working class who felt abandoned by traditional political parties that seemed feckless to provide solutions for working class problems while catering to economic elites.
In the U.S., neither Republicans nor Democrats offered effective policies to alleviate the economic difficulties of the working class. Both have been unable to provide well-paying jobs to replace the blue-collar jobs lost in the past 40 years while the cost of housing, medical care, and basic groceries has steadily increased, leaving a large cadre to struggle with basic living costs. While Trump was able to exploit working class resentment to gain control of the Republican Party, he is most concerned with his own self-aggrandizement; he never was going to provide solutions for working class problems as many of his base are discovering. The Democrats began to abandon the working class under Clinton who sought favor amongst Wall Street financiers and educated professionals. A subsequent focus on identity politics and Woke policies served only to deepen the animosity of the dispossessed white working class and drive more of them into the Trump cult. Although many Democratic candidates have focused on the affordability issue in the midterm elections, few are suggesting policies that will address the fundamental structural issues that cause unaffordable prices.
The affordability issue may win many Democrats a seat in Congress this election, but their gains will be short-lived unless they can convert election victories into institutional change. They must use their newly acquired power to prevent corporations from using their bargaining power to inflate prices. They must transform the institutions that drive the cost of housing, medical care, and education so that they are responsive to the needs of the middle and working classes. Owners of capital have been privileged for too long while the majority have suffered. Removing their privilege will be no easy task. The billionaires that patrol the economic heights will use their influence to oppose any initiative that limits their power. They will attack any threat to their power as a form of Communism or Socialism and bring to bear great financial resources, but oligarchs have been brought to heel before as FDR proved with the New Deal. It’s time for a new New Deal.
Robert D. Russell, PhD
Harrisburg, Pa.
Robert:
The rich don’t seem to understand: if they refuse to let us tax them, we’ll just have to eat them.
The Editor
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Welcome to the Party
Dear Editor:
In a surprising display of courage and patriotism, 58 Republicans and Independents in New Hampshire recently declared their support for Democratic Representative Chris Pappas over Republican candidate John Sununu for Senate. Those supporters include Retired General Don Bolduc, who was Trump’s pick for the Senate in 2022 but who lost to Maggie Hassan after he embraced Trump’s claim to have won the 2020 election. One of the Republicans supporting Pappas told Kevin Landrigan of the Union Leader: “Donald Trump has turned the Republican Party into something I no longer recognize.”
While some Republicans may no longer recognize what Trump has turned their party into, I recognize it for what it has become. The former Republican Party under Trump has become a party intent on destroying democracy and establishing a white nationalist Christian authoritarian state. They have destroyed our democratic Republic and have disdain for the rule of law. They’ve turned our government into a Banana Republic led by a corrupt gang of thieves.
While I am pleased to see some Republicans finally recognizing the destruction of their party, there are still many more in positions of power in New Hampshire who still accept and support what Trump has turned their party into. People like John Sununu, Anthony DiLorenzo, Kelly Ayotte, and others remain silent or openly support the Trump agenda for America and New Hampshire. As such, they are complicit in aiding and abetting the destruction of our nation, and are not worthy of our support and trust. Their lack of judgement, courage and integrity should disqualify them from any position of influence in our state.
Rich DiPentima
Portsmouth, N.H.
Rich:
In an ideal, abstract world, one could argue that voters should pick the person, not the party. We live in no such Panglossian paradise, however. That’s fine with us—how boring would that be?
Current circumstances are such, though, that voting by party alone seems acceptable. It’s not that the Democratics have earned our automatic trust. It’s that the Republicans seem bent on killing us all, along with the planet under us.
The Editor
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Criminal Disregard for the Troops
To the Editor:
Only now are we discovering how poorly Trump’s “excursion” in Iran was planned. While many knew an attack on Iran would probably result in the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, it appears that the administration did not. The Strait will not be reopened so long as the world’s oil supplies can be held hostage.
The incompetent Pete Hegseth, secretary of “war,” is culling knowledgeable personnel from the military by firing and retiring high-ranking Blacks and women due to “failed DEI policies” or by keeping them from advancing in rank. Others are being treated similarly for being insufficiently loyal to the president.
The result is a debacle in the Middle East. Our bases there were destroyed as Trump cozied up to Putin, who is providing targeting information to Iran. This left no base in the area able to resupply our aircraft carriers deployed there. Military families and other civilian personnel were not evacuated as the war began, leaving them as sitting ducks when Iran predictably retaliated. Only after the bases had been destroyed were the surviving spouses and children of our military personnel evacuated. Where both parents were on the base as military personnel, they struggled to find adults to care for their children.
This failure to care for our military personnel and their families should be considered criminal neglect. Elected Republicans are complicit, even as they try to avoid responsibility. As citizens, we can exercise our rights by voting to curb this administration’s irresponsibility.
Lorraine Hansen
Rollinsford, N.H.
Lorraine:
The administration is doing its best to hide the damage done on Hegseth’s watch. Thanks to incompetence, it’s coming out anyway. Nothing symbolizes it better than the wrecking of the globe Ike referred to as he was defeating the Nazis.
The Editor
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Vote No on Question #2
To the Editor:
I have worked in public education for over 20 years, first as a school librarian and more recently as a substitute teacher. I discovered early on that many teachers spent hundreds of dollars of their own money to buy books, craft supplies, posters, tissues and other materials for their classrooms. Teachers bought snacks to keep on hand for their students who came to school without them. When a student came to school without a winter coat or boots, their teacher always found a way to get these things for their kids. The teachers and staff that I encountered didn’t view teaching as a job but as a calling.
After school, staff meetings, curriculum meetings, and student clubs kept most teachers at school for hours after the school day was over. One colleague and I ran a robotics club that met after school and had meets on weekends. One teacher organized a car wash on the weekend, to help defray the cost of a school trip that she knew some families couldn’t afford.
Lately, I keep hearing politicians in New Hampshire demonizing teachers and public schools. In fact, those who would like to defund education have gotten Question #2 on every ballot in towns and cities this November. Voting yes would cap public school funding at a time when public schools, like all of us, are dealing with steeply rising costs for fuel, health insurance, food and supplies. There is a better way to lower property taxes. The state must pay its fair share of public education costs for every student, instead of continuing to pass these costs down to local taxpayers. Please vote No on Question #2 to save our schools and force the state to pay its fair share.
Ginna Schonwald
Barrington, N.H.
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Hold Your Nose and Save Your Party
To the Editor:
The United States has seen political parties rise and fall in popularity. We have seen political parties die. We have seen political parties swap philosophies.
Maga was welcomed into the Republican Party. The power and influence Maga brought to the party was appealing at first, but, ten years later, hate and corruption run the Republican Party. The Republican Party is made up of two sides, Maga and Conservatives. Both sides have a lot at stake in the midterms; the Maga side of the Republican Party is for Trump, not the American People. The Conservative side of the Republican Party needs to decide if they are willing to hand over the Republican Party to Maga or take it back from them.
The shift in philosophy is at a turning point. The American people have a choice—the Maga party with Trump’s vanity projects, disregard for the Constitution, trade wars, tariffs, higher prices, isolationism, hate, corruption and war; or the Conservative party getting back to their standard philosophy of free markets, fiscal restraint, assertive global role, strong alliances, limited federal government and traditional values.
If you align with Conservatives, hold your nose, vote Democrat. Voting Democrat removes the support from Maga. Democrats want to get back to bipartisan conversations and policies with the Conservative Republicans. Please take back your party and let the Maga create its own party. Maga is not the majority. Make this midterm the first step in getting Maga out of the Republican Party.
Jennifer Tichy
Rye, N.H.
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Republican Dark Money Floods N.H.
To the Editor:
New Hampshire has a new and serious waste problem: every day or so I get another thick glossy, expensive, double-sided, 4-color, 8 1/2 x 11 campaign flyer.
Each flyer features pictures (different pictures on each side!) of Chris Pappas, with “headlines” such as “Chris Pappas Really Fits In in Washington.” Every flyer is different, but they all feature a less-than-flattering picture of Pappas and claim he’s a corrupt creature of Washington.
But, they are not from the Sununu campaign. No they are all paid for by Republican dark money with a… WASHINGTON RETURN ADDRESS! I guess they don’t see the irony.
If you don’t like untraceable Super Pac money from out of state deciding our elections, remember it is purely Republican legislation and Republican Supreme Court decisions that gave us dark money. Republicans, with their billionaire supporters, enjoy a 5 or 7 to 1 or more advantage over Democrats.
But, back to basics. There are 664,000 residences in N.H. If each residence receives 30 of these things (I think that’s the pace I’m on), that would be 19,920,000 flyers being sent up from Washington. This will require its own toxic landfill!
Republican dark money from Washington is mailing us an entire toxic landfill!
Let’s not let them mail us yet another Republican senator who will go along with whatever crazy war, grift, power grab, attack on law-and-order, or attack on democracy, Trump makes.
Vote for Chris Pappas!
Michael Frandzel
Portsmouth, N.H.
Michael:
We are, of course, wholly in thrall to the mighty web press that allows us to bring you this newspaper—on uncoated, recyclable newsprint. Those execrable flyers, on the other hand… blecch!
The Editor
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“Your Land is Our Land…”
To the Editor:
During a public conversation in Belfast, former President Barack Obama said that Jews seeking refuge “took land off people,” adding, “And those people understandably said, ‘This is injustice and I want my land back.’”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded, “Our land is not stolen land.” But that assertion should not obscure the documented history of Palestinian dispossession.
Israeli historian Adam Raz’s 2024 book, Loot: How Israel Stole Palestinian Property, provides a carefully researched account of how ordinary Israelis and soldiers systematically looted Palestinian homes, shops, and farms during and after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War to prevent Palestinians from returning.
Looting encompassed everything from furniture, household items, and valuables to factory and farming equipment. The book also documents how these actions were acknowledged and lamented by contemporary Israelis, with Israel’s first Prime Minister, David Ben-Gurion, privately condemning the theft as widespread even as it continued.
Raz bases his work on extensive archival research, including newly opened records, eyewitness accounts, diaries, and newspapers, making the evidence particularly credible.
Palestinians lost more than possessions. They lost livelihoods, communities, and access to homes and land. An honest response to Obama must confront that history.
Terry Hansen
Grafton, Wisconsin
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Ayotte: Pie in the Sky Bye and Bye
To the Editor:
Governor Ayotte advocates natural gas and small modular nuclear plants to lower electricity bills. Same platform she ran on in 2024.
Where are these small nuclear plants? In R&D. Not a single SMR [small modular reactor] is in commercial use in the U.S. None will produce energy before 2035.
Natural gas? Delivery of gas turbine generators is backed up to 2032, thanks to data center demand (which Ayotte also supports).
Expect 15 percent electricity cost increases, and $1000’s more for heating oil this winter. What’s Kelly doing about this? She’s watching energy costs for N.H. residents climb, while going along with Trump’s veto of offshore wind-farms. Starting this year, each farm was scheduled to pump a nuclear power plant’s worth of the cheapest available energy into the New England grid.
What about home- and community-scale solar panels that can deliver electricity at 10 cents or less a kWh? Ayotte allowed extremists in the Legislature to throw every regulatory obstacle in the way. 5MW community solar plants could be set up and running in 6-12 months, if Ayotte hadn’t encouraged Republican obstacles.
Kelly Ayotte has no viable energy policy—besides accepting funds from the fossil fuel lobby flooding our Legislature with campaign money, trying to run our state from Texas.
In contrast, the Warmington energy policy will be based on New England common sense and self-reliance. No dependency on Koch brothers or Mideast oil. Regulatory and legislative support is needed for rapid deployment of the cheapest energy sources. Full support for solar energy. Let’s get this done.
Paul Fiondella
Stoddard, N.H.
Paul:
Thank you for this excellent summary of a vitally-important issue.
Completely off-topic: Do pickerel still lurk beneath the lily pads in Pickerel Cove? Forty years or so ago we had the privilege of writing about an epic battle over that tiny body of water. Well-heeled, out-of-state developers wanted to surround it with a ridiculous number of expensive condos. In the end, sanity—i.e., the locals—prevailed. The local weekly suffered a tragic change of ownership not long after, and so will go un-named. Bracing memories remain, though, along with, we presume, the substantial bronze plaque placed on a big old boulder to commemorate the victory of tough people over dumb money.
The Editor