High Praise From an Expert

Generally we are not inclined to toot our own bosun’s whistle. In this case, though, we’ll make a happy exception. Our Tidal Guide for September 21st included this item: “1989—The Chase Manhattan Bank accepts for deposit a check sent as a prank by Spy Magazine. Endorsed by ‘short-fingered vulgarian’ Donald J. Trump, it’s for $0.13.” On Wednesday, this showed up on Twitter: “The ‘this day in history’ feature in the @NHGazette is the best I’ve ever seen—and not just because one of their events for yesterday was Donald Trump in 1989 becoming the only rich American of the dozens to whom Spy sent increasingly tiny …

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Senator Susan Collins?

Dear Sir: It was with great disappointment that Allan Kerr, a person I almost always agree with, has decided to continue to support Senator Susan Collins. In his September 20th opinion piece, Mr. Kerr seemed to overlook many of the times Sen. Collins has supported Donald Trump in ways that were contrary to the best interests of Maine and America. He gave a great deal of credit for supporting the Bath Iron Works (BIW) and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNSY). He also praised the Senator for her support of the Thresher Memorial. It took absolutely no political courage on her part, or cost her any …

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The Start of Our War in Vietnam

On September 26, 1945—75 years ago tomorrow—Peter Dewey, a Lieutenant Colonel in the American OSS, filed one final dispatch and headed reluctantly for Saigon’s Tan Son Nhut airport. General Douglas D. Gracey, a British officer, had ordered him to leave. The two men had disagreed over many things, but a small American flag was the last straw. Dewey had wanted to fly the flag on the bumper of his jeep. Gracey forbid that, and it cost Dewey his life. Three weeks after Japan surrendered, Saigon was chaotic. The vast city was crowded with indigenous Vietnamese—or Annamese, as they were often called then—along with French colonials, …

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No Justice Department, No Peace

Over the past few years we have been slowly developing a plan to sort this country out by exercising more fully our rights under the First Amendment. Too slowly, it seems—it’s starting to look like we need a Plan B. Before we get to that, though—and before we get hauled off to the hoosegow—we want to explain how Plan A was to have worked. Let’s begin with a couple of basic facts about newspapers—small newspapers. In our case, a very old small newspaper, but the principles cited here apply to upstarts just as well. Printing eight-page tabloid newspapers is incredibly cheap. We know—we’ve been doing …

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Large-Animal Serial Killer Opens Local Franchise of Dodgy Family Biz While Evading Law

Malt House Exchange, Portsmouth, N.H., Thurs., Sept. 17—Eric Trump visited the West End today and spent an undetermined amount of time schmoozing with local supporters of his father, Donald J. Trump—President, so to speak, of the Somewhat United States—at the opening of another franchise of the family business. Exactly which family business was not specified, and remains unclear. A moderate-sized crowd showed on Thursday, September 17th, to attend the opening of Trump Campaign Headquarters in Portsmouth. Epitomizing the event, one supporter had slung around his neck a two-dimensional “gun” cut out from a Trump campaign sign. Will the flimsy fake gun be a harbinger of …

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