Mash Notes, Hate Mail & Other Correspondence

[Note: This fortnight we received several letters which shared two characteristics: they were written in support of the same candidate, but arrived too late to be published in advance of the election. We’re going to publish two of them anyway. They won’t be able to influence primary election voters, but they illuminate structural problems in the governance of this state—problems that are unlikely to be solved by Hereditary Governor Sununu Two, or any other members of his party. – The Ed.] –=≈=– To the Editor: Recently, a high-school classmate was telling some friends that her daughter was upset that their soccer coach quit; they were …

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“And here were these freemen assembled in the early morning to work on their lord the bishop’s road three days each—gratis…. Why, it was like reading about France and the French, before the ever memorable and blessed Revolution, which swept a thousand years of such villany away in one swift tidal-wave of blood—one: a settlement of that hoary debt in the proportion of half a drop of blood for each hogshead of it that had been pressed by slow tortures out of that people in the weary stretch of ten centuries of wrong and shame and misery the like of which was not to be …

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To the Editor: Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden released a $2 trillion climate plan that won praise from the previously-critical Sunrise Movement. Unfortunately, so far as I’m aware, the plan does not include funding for cultured-meat research. For those who don’t know, cultured meat is grown from cells, without slaughtering animals. It requires a fraction of the greenhouse-gas emissions that raising livestock does. Dr. Mark Post created the first cultured-beef hamburger in 2013. It cost a whopping $280,000. Soon, he thinks, that price could be reduced to $10. Still, more research is required to make cultured meat economically viable. Politicians who hope to prevent climate …

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Dear Editor: Like a snake oil salesman come to town, representatives of Casella Waste Systems arrived in the Town of Dalton on August 31st to deliver Host Community Agreement documents and a contract relative to its proposed “Granite State Landfill” (yes, next to Forest Lake and Forest Lake State Park). Like a modern-day Cassandra, I would like to offer a warning to the Town of Dalton: Beware of this “gift” from Casella Waste Systems, for like the predicted Fall of ancient Troy that fell on deaf ears, I have spent much of my time trying to warn the Town of Dalton and the North Country …

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To the Editor: The Republican convention has shown how Trump’s supporters see him: as keeping promises (replacing Obamacare? building the Wall? rebuilding infrastructure?), as a strong “law and order” leader (“dominating” the streets—except in Charlottesville). They say cops have gunned down whites as well as Blacks, so the George Floyd incident was overblown. They say since the virus kills mostly old people, it’s “a lot less severe” than initially feared—no reason to shut down bars or mass gatherings, or to wear masks. They dismiss as “irrelevant” aspects of Trump’s character that make him unfit for office. They say we should take his bullying and lying …

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by William Cooper The Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibits cruel and unusual punishment. It states: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” The Supreme Court has construed “cruel and unusual punishments” to include certain forms of torture, such as drawing and quartering. Yet the Court has allowed the death penalty—which is still legal in dozens of states—to continue, with some restrictions. In sum, the Eighth Amendment prohibits criminal punishments that are very harmful to prisoners and also rare or unprecedented. Right now, over two million inmates sit locked inside U.S. prisons, …

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