Volume 266 | No. 3

Sun, Oct 24

2012—George W.[MD] Bush speaks at a Houston fundraiser for troops wounded following his orders. His fee: $100,000. 2008—America’s markets outperform the rest of the world, having lost only 3.5% of their value in one day. 2001—The U.S. House passes the PATRIOT Act without reading it. 1983—U.S. military aircraft, using old maps, bomb Richmond Hill Insane Asylum in Grenada, killing 16. 1962—Soviet ships reach the U.S. quarantine line off Cuba. They don’t cross it, so we don’t nuke the USSR. A Soviet satellite explodes the same day. NORAD suspects an ICBM attack; but, again, nobody pushes The Button. 1960—One wrongly-set switch at the Baikonur Cosmodrome prematurely …

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Remembering Gail Mills

To the Editor: The Community Rights Movement in New England is grieving the loss of a water protector. Gail Mills of Nottingham, N.H., passed away this month, having paid forward a legacy of community activism that inspired local activists across the country. Townspeople in Nottingham faced their Goliath in the mid-2000’s when USA Springs, LLC management decided to extract and bottle water from a local aquifer, to sell overseas in Italy. Gail and her husband, Chris, encouraged the community to stand their ground and do everything within their power to prevent permits from being issued by the state. What they learned through infuriating experience was …

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What Is the Common Good?

by Jean Stimmell I take umbrage with Bret Stephens, a conservative columnist for the New York Times, for having the gall to tell me, a staunch liberal, what I believe. He praises paleoconservative Sohrab Ahmari’s new book, The Unbroken Thread for giving a “moral voice…against the values of elite liberalism, above all its disdain for limits, from moral taboos tor national borders.” ⁠1 In the real world, when the right and the left fight over freedom versus limits, it’s not a clear-cut matter. As Max Boot recently wrote, conservatives are willing to accept substantial infringements on civil liberties to combat criminals and terrorists. Yet, they …

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The Pearl to become Sovereign Souls Fellowship

After decades serving other purposes, the building which housed the first Black church in New Hampshire may become the home of its newest. A community calling itself New Friends of the Pearl is working to raise funds to purchase the building at the corner of Pearl and Hanover streets in Portsmouth. If they succeed, they will lease the property to the Sovereign Souls Fellowship African Methodist Episcopal Church, under the leadership of Rev. Robert H. Thompson. A bronze plaque affixed to the building by the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail gives the following brief history: “In 1915 the congregation of People’s Baptist Church, which had been …

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With Democrats Like These,
 Who Needs Republicans?

One could imagine that a newspaper embarking on its 266th year might allow itself to ease up a bit. After weighing our options, though, we said to hell with that. How could we back off now? Have you seen what these people are up to? If we’re going to make a change, we need to do more. If things keep going the way they’re headed, we’ll be lucky if we see 275. We’re not worried about running out of words, but oxygen and water are another matter. Judging solely from news that is commonly available, it’s pretty plain that the current plan—such as it is, …

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