The Grand Inquisitor’s Mistress

On July 12th, Judi Hershman posted an extraordinary 2,600-word document on Medium. In it, the self-described “former professional partisan” laments what she accurately calls, “our country’s biggest existential crisis since the Civil War.” It has come about, she writes, because “too many people like me stuck our heads in the sand, swallowed our doubts, [and] let the unacceptable slide, [having] convinced ourselves it was in the interest of the greater good….” Hershman attained this perspective, she says, through a long and close association with one of the most influential unelected figures in the Republican power structure. That emminent personage was Kenneth Starr: Grand Inquisitor during …

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Military Justice

To the Editor: In a July 7th report on the PBS Newshour the following statistics for sexual assault in the military were given. “Approximately 20,000 U.S. military members are sexually assaulted annually. But only 7,816 reported those cases, and only in 350 cases were perpetrators charged with a crime.” The report added that 64 percent of those who reported assaults faced retaliation. Clearly, the system is not working when only five percent of those accused of assault face charges and 64 percent of the victims face retaliation. One major problem is the victim has to report the assault to their commanding officer who, in most …

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Governor Sununu’s Budget is Cruel and Dangerous

by Peter Somssich The recent state budget and some individual bills, agreed to by both the N.H. Republican House and Senate and signed by Governor Sununu, but opposed by Democratic Representatives, are cruel and dangerous for the welfare of the residents of New Hampshire. Even if it was not intentional, that is the consequence of these actions. Also, don’t be fooled! Tax cuts at the state level, result in lower revenues for the state to fulfill its obligations, resulting in down-shifting and in higher property taxes at the town level. Because many of the social issue items included in the budget could not have passed …

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