Mash Notes, Hate Mail & Other Correspondence

To the Editor: You would hope that Congress would function in a time of a pandemic and deep recession. The House of Representatives took action to address these problems in May, but Mitch McConnell and his party in the Senate decided to ignore what they saw and wait until mid-July to see if the virus mysteriously vanished and the economy shot back as President Trump said it would. Instead the virus shot back, 30 million are out of work and as of August have lost the unemployment subsidies. Mitch McConnell says 20 members of his caucus do not want to spend a penny more on …

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To the Editor: After watching the first night of the Republican Convention, and all the talk about patriotism, I’m reminded of the quote by Samuel Johnson, known as the father of the modern dictionary, who in 1775 wrote the following: “Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” He’s also known for this statement, which is still all too true to this day: “Empires (or Democracies), are broken down when the profits of administration are so great, that ambition is satisfied with obtaining them, and he that aspires to greatness needs do nothing more than talk himself into importance. He has then all the power …

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To the Editor: On July 23, 2020, N.H. Governor Sununu signed into law HB 1135.This was an omnibus measure that contained a number of bills including SB 727. This Senate bill mandates that the Holocaust and “other genocides” be taught as a graduation requirement. HB 1135 also establishes a 16-member commission to study “best practices for teaching students how intolerance, bigotry, antisemitism…has evolved in the past, and can evolve into mass violence and genocide, such as the Holocaust.” This commission includes a person appointed by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), New England region. However, several members of the N.H. Palestine Education Network object to this ADL …

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by Mel Gurtov Commentators evidently desperate for good news are touting the Israel-United Arab Emirates (UAE) agreement as a welcome path to Middle East peace. The agreement trades Israel’s promise not to annex portions of the West Bank for the UAE’s recognition of Israel. One conservative writer for the Washington Post actually thinks Trump’s role in helping bring the agreement about makes him a Nobel Prize candidate. But hold on. Martin Indyk, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, argues in the October issue of Foreign Affairs that the UAE leader’s decision to recognize Israel was made in order to preempt Trump’s “green light” to Benjamin …

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