Writers weigh in on value of shipyard, KTP's threat to leave Maine, Israel-Gaza and more
Did Lewiston massacre not register with Kittery Trading Post?
May 9 — To the Editor:
If Kittery Trading Post doesn’t like Maine’s new gun laws, then go ahead and move to New Hampshire! We are glad to see guns moving out of our state! How ridiculous to complain about a law that is meant to save lives! Didn’t what happened in Lewiston resonate with KTP?
Georgia C. Bennett
York, Maine
Time has proven the value of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
May 8 — To the Editor:
Back in 2005, Friday the 13th of May was a traumatic day for thousands. Somebody decided Portsmouth Naval Shipyard was excess capacity and should be closed. One of the arguments was that it would save $2 billion over 20 years. Its three dry docks were no longer needed.
So here we are 19 years later and things are quite different. The shipyard is such a strategic national asset, that two additional dry-docks are now being finished. Numerous infrastructure improvements have been made at a cost of over $2 billion. In 2005, who knew that wars abroad would continue on for over a decade? Who knew that a severe recession was looming only a few years later? Who knew the shipyard would have to weather its second worldwide pandemic, the first one not seen since the end of World War I? Who knew that a trilateral agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, known as AUKUS, to share submarine technology would become an important alliance? Now there are advertisements being run to promote AUKUS, and to hire the thousands of workers needed to build additional submarines. Yes, those short-sighted decision makers back in 2005 have now been proven to be wrong.
As for the thousands of workers who have been able to retire since 2005, they didn’t have to move and got to see their children graduate from local schools. Some are still your neighbors. As far as lessons learned from that tense, yet unified summer of 2005 are that if you see something you know is wrong, you need to fight against it while you still can. There are some things in life that just don’t give you a second chance. You have to get it right the first time. Happy 224th birthday, Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Don Cavallaro
Rye
Ongoing peaceful protests deserve more attention
May 8 — To the Editor:
Currently, the news is full of reports about the anti-war demonstrations on college campuses. While they are overwhelmingly nonviolent and lawful, there is often some controversial element of messaging or strategy that can be emphasized to make an exciting report full of inflammatory terms like chaos, encampment or outside agitator.
Meanwhile, the peaceful vigils that have been held across New Hampshire since November have gotten very little attention.
An interfaith group of concerned citizens, churches and secular organizations formed to protest the ongoing humanitarian disaster and shocking loss of life we have seen in this latest chapter in the decades long occupation of Palestine. We mourn the loss of every life and seek justice for both Israelis and Palestinians. We consistently call for apermanent cease-fire, a return of hostages and prisoners, and delivery of desperately needed humanitarian aid. We hold weekly vigils around the state, including a Thursday Concord vigil and a Wednesday Dover vigil in front of New Hampshire representatives' offices. We have met with our members of Congress to respectfully discuss our deeply held beliefs and concerns. The Coalition includes NH Peace Action, American Friends Service Committee-NH, Jewish Voice for Peace NH, NH Veterans for Peace and others.
Our peaceful visibility has been largely ignored by the press, sending the message that only dramatic, possibly dangerous demonstrations are happening – or at least are worth reporting on. We feel it would be a great service to the public for the press to cover our serious, nonviolent protest, which has had much support from the people who pass by, stop and thank us, or join us. We see that there is great support for an end to the death and destruction financed by U.S. tax dollars, and for a solution that meets the needs of all people.
Amy Antonucci
Barrington
College protesters wrong to ignore Hamas atrocities
May 9 — To the Editor:
The great college protest of today is against the only democracy in the Middle East. Israel is also the only non-apartheid country in the Middle East. Don’t believe me? As a Christian or a Jew, try living in one of the Muslim countries as an equal citizen. When Israel was founded in 1948, it had 700,000 Arab citizens, but due to the awful genocide, there are now approximately 2,200,000 Arab Israelis. They are full citizens.
Students are yelling slogans, displaying signs to stop the Israeli genocide in Gaza. And yet, it is Israel that has phoned ahead, dropped leaflets, warned whole neighborhoods that they were targeted — because Hamas was using them to launch attacks (a war crime). In the early days, Hamas tried to block citizens from evacuating!
When asked about civilian casualties in Gaza, Hamas leadership said, “the more the better.” Is 10,000 too many? The answer, “100,000 would be better!" Why hasn’t Hamas used its billions to build bomb shelters for civilians? “That’s the UN’s job.”
Hamas wants to produce as many civilian casualties as possible! Good PR. Hamas fighters, rockets, guns, ammunition, tunnel entrances are purposely located in mosques, schools, hospitals and residential buildings (war crimes).
Today (May 6), Hamas rocketed the Kerem Shalom border crossing where Israel was sending aid to Gaza. Four Israelis were killed. Israel had to close the crossing.
The current conflict started with Hamas’ Oct 7 massacre. Their object was to kill as many Israeli civilians as possible (a war crime) and take prisoners, mainly civilians (a war crime). And, Hamas has promised it would mount such attacks again and again!
The Gaza war is nowhere as simple and one-sided as anti-Israeli slogans insist.
Michael Frandzel
Portsmouth
AIPAC influence on U.S. politics
May 10 — To the Editor:
Perhaps one of the significant reasons our president and congressional members support Israel and do not denounce the atrocities the Israeli government is committing is due to the campaign funding they receive from AIPAC (American Israel Public Affairs Committee).
AIPAC’s mission statement is “We support pro-Israel policies that strengthen and expand the U.S.-Israel relationship…” (aipac.org). Basically, promotion of policies for a foreign government.
Between 1990-2024, the top recipient of AIPAC funding is Joseph Biden $4,261,010. Over their careers, Maggie Hassan has received $637,992, Jeanne Shaheen $572,575 and Chris Pappas $89,848 from AIPAC (opensecrets.org).
Donna Pare
Stratham
Not only does Trump lack moral character, he's a criminal sociopath
May 7 — To the Editor:
A May 7 letter writer describes a writer to these pages as “brainwashed” and devoid of facts for describing Trump as lacking moral character. The only way to counter Trump style projection is with some of the actual facts. First, there is a reason why a New York judge ordered Trump to pay $355 million in a huge civil fraud ruling for his scheme to dupe banks and inflate his wealth. Before that, a jury ordered Trump to pay E. Jean Carroll $5 million for sexual assault and defamation. Before that, he was ordered to pay $25 million for the “Trump University” scam. Currently, Trump is on trial for 34 felony counts of falsifying business records in the “hush money” case.
As President, Trump repeatedly violated the emoluments clause. He withheld $400 million in military aid to Ukraine for not pursuing a baseless investigation into the Bidens. After he fired FBI Director James Comey, he repeatedly tried to politicize the Justice Department. Most egregiously, Trump falsely alleged fraud in the 2020 election, even after 61 judges (some of whom were Trump appointed) ruled the election was fair. He became the first president in U.S. history to refuse a peaceful transfer of power by inciting an insurrection attempt, telling a mob to march to the Capitol and “fight like hell,” knowingly putting VP Mike Pence in danger because Pence did his job. Trump then did nothing for hours to stop the violent assault. "Lacking moral character” here is a polite understatement for criminal sociopathy. These are the facts. Just saying.
Phil Harford
Newmarket
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This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Letters address shipyard's value, KTP's threat to leave Maine, more
