Necessary But Not Sufficient
The New Hampshire Gazette
On Election Day, our finely-honed political instincts led us to expect that the Democrats would win the House of Representatives by a respectable margin. A slim win on the Senate side seemed possible, but a prolonged period of uncertainty seemed equally likely. So, caveat lector, i.e., reader beware. On Wednesday, obviously, we had to re-assess our forecasting skills.
November 14th 2026, 5:47 am
Volume 271, No. 5
The New Hampshire Gazette
Once again, thanks in large part to our small team of dedicated volunteers, thousands of copies of our conveniently-sized paper—small enough to pocket and pass on to another reader—are now available, for free, here in Portsmouth and environs. If you click here, our latest issue—the whole thing—in digital form, will appear more or less miraculously on the glassy face of whatever gadget into…
November 14th 2026, 5:47 am
Sat, Nov 14
The New Hampshire Gazette
2002—Donald Rumsfeld predicts the Iraq War will last “five days or five weeks or five months…[no] longer….” 1968—In Quang Tri, Marine PFC Frank Baldino, 19, is killed by a tiger. 1965—The First Cav, choppering into the Ia Drang Valley, is surprised to discover six battalions of NVA. 1943—USS W.D. Porter accidentally launches a torpedo—in the direction of USS Iowa. FDR…
November 14th 2026, 5:47 am
Half Full or Half Empty?
The New Hampshire Gazette
by W.D. Ehrhart As far back as high school, and I’m now 78, I’ve always been a glass-half-empty kind of guy. Looking at the world that way means that I’m almost never disappointed. And every now and then, I get to be pleasantly surprised. One of those pleasant surprises—and a very pleasant surprise it was—came with the recent U.S. mid-term elections. Only a few weeks ago…
November 14th 2026, 5:47 am
Ewing’s Last Stand
The New Hampshire Gazette
To the Editor: For the safety, prosperity, and healthcare of your loved ones, Republicans must be elected to control our governments. Democrat leniency with criminals, defunding of police, sanctuary policies, etc. lead to avoidable rapes, murders, and other harm to millions of people. Republican enforcement of our criminal and immigration laws saves lives (e.g., a 75+ year low…
November 14th 2026, 5:47 am
Running Out of Missiles Has Never Been So Profitable
The New Hampshire Gazette
by Richard M. Balzano An inconvenient message recently landed on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s desk: the United States may be running short of the materials required to fight the many wars it has volunteered for. The warning came from the heads of the Army, Navy and Air Force, joined by four-star commanders overseeing various portions of the globe. Prolonged operations against Iran…
November 14th 2026, 5:47 am
Fri, Nov 13
The New Hampshire Gazette
2003—Because he would not remove his Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse, Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is himself removed. 1982—The Vietnam Veterans Memorial is dedicated in Washington, D.C. Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger, and Robert McNamara are no-shows. 1974—Karen Silkwood, a disgruntled Kerr-McGee worker and whistleblower, turns up conveniently dead. 1970—Up to half…
November 13th 2026, 7:28 am
Thurs, Nov 12
The New Hampshire Gazette
1999—Congress deregulates Wall Street, to allow for “innovation.” 1984—Four peace activists chip the concrete of a Minuteman II silo in Missouri, for which they’re sentenced to a total of 54 years in prison. 1970—A half-ton of dynamite set off by Oregon highway workers sends parts of an eight-ton sperm whale 100 feet in the air. The tail crushes Walter Umanhofer’s new Olds…
November 12th 2026, 10:27 pm
Wed, Nov 11
The New Hampshire Gazette
2000—Republicans begin a campaign of election lawfare in Florida. 1975—Australian Prime Minister Geogh Whitlam, who opposes CIA leases at Pine Gap, is, quite by coincidence, fired by Gov.-Gen. John Kerr, longtime beneficiary of CIA largesse. 1956—Hungary falls to the Soviets. 1940—British biplanes sink half the Italian Navy, at anchor in Taranto. 1933—“The Great Black Blizzard,”…
November 11th 2026, 11:12 am
Tues, Nov 10
The New Hampshire Gazette
2004—George W.[MD] Bush nominates a new AG. Alberto Gonzales ends up making John Ashcroft look just a tad less terrible by comparison. 1989—GOP lobbyist, coke-head, blackmailer, and big spender on male prostitutes Craig J. Spence is found dead in a locked Boston hotel room. 1982—The Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a gift to the nation from those it had shunned, opens in Washington, D.C.
November 10th 2026, 12:47 am
Mon, Nov 9
The New Hampshire Gazette
2020—“What is the downside for humoring him…?” a “senior Republican official” asks the Washington Post. “It’s not like he’s plotting how to prevent Joe Biden from taking power.” 1998—Brokers who rigged the game at NASDAQ are compelled to pay their bilked customers $1 billion. 1989—TheBerlin Wall suddenly becomes unexpectedly porous. 1979—Zbigniew Brzezinski gets a call: “250…
November 9th 2026, 7:57 am
Sun, Nov 8
The New Hampshire Gazette
2016—Donald J. Trump wins the Presidency. Everybody else is a loser. 2013—The Navy lifts Ted “Twig” Branch’s clearance, so he can’t read secrets anymore, but leaves him in his job as head of Naval Intelligence. 2010—On TV, George W.[MD] Bush says his mom once asked him for a ride to the hospital, showing him a miscarried sibling in a jar. 2000—At 2:16 a.m., Fox News “reporter” John…
November 8th 2026, 2:27 am
Sat, Nov 7
The New Hampshire Gazette
2020—The Wall Street Journal runs an op-ed by Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney under the headline, “If he loses, Trump will concede gracefully.” 2007—Private Jessica Lynch accuses the Pentagon of exploiting her capture for propaganda purposes. 2000—Sen. John Ashcroft [R-Mo.] is unseated by a dead opponent. 1974—Whistleblower Karen Silkwood’s apartment is found to be heavily contaminated…
November 7th 2026, 2:41 am
Fri, Nov 6
The New Hampshire Gazette
2024—Trump cultists gloat that Project 2025—of which he’s been claiming ignorance—“is the agenda. Lol.” 2016—FBI Director James Comey says never mind about those emails. 2012—Trump tweets, “The electoral college is a disaster for a democracy.” 2000—Saddam Hussein stops accepting dollars for oil, thus undermining U.S. hegemony and possibly shortening his own life.
November 6th 2026, 12:46 am
Thurs, Nov 5
The New Hampshire Gazette
2024—Despite it all, Democrats still manage to lose the White House. 2006—Texas Asst. DA Bill Conradt commits suicide after a SWAT Team busts down his door. Chris Hansen’s “Perverted Justice” films it all. 1986—In a hijacked helicopter, ’Nam vet Ron McIntosh springs his girl from the prison he recently escaped. 1974—In New Hampshire, Louis C. Wyman gets 355 more votes than John…
November 5th 2026, 12:09 am
Wed, Nov 4
The New Hampshire Gazette
2016—“Calm down,” reads the headline over a Washington Post column, “We’ll be fine no matter who wins.” 2008—Barack Obama wins, sparing the nation from Sarah Palin. 1988—Movie director John Carpenter releases his best film, and his only documentary: “They Live.” 1979—Militant Shi’ite Muslims take 66 Americans hostage in Teheran, dooming the Carter administration.
November 4th 2026, 4:01 am
Tues, Nov 3
The New Hampshire Gazette
2020—The U.S. votes to evict a deadbeat from the White House. 1986—A Lebanese newspaper reveals that the U.S. has been selling arms to the Ayatollah’s regime in Iran. 1979—Communists are fired on by Klansmen and Nazis in Greensboro, N.C. Five die and 11 are wounded, but three trials yield no convictions. 1969—In a speech which proves to be fatally effective…
November 3rd 2026, 1:31 pm
Mon, Nov 2
The New Hampshire Gazette
2005—The Washington Post reveals that the CIA is “protecting democracy” by running a secret gulag. 2004—Warren Co., Ohio officials say a “terrorist threat” is why they’re counting votes behind locked doors. 2002—“We know he [Saddam Hussein] has chemical weapons,” says George W.[MD] Bush. [He doesn’t.] 2001—“Give war a chance,” writes the N.Y. Times’s Thomas L. Friedman.
November 2nd 2026, 8:02 am
Sun, Nov 1
The New Hampshire Gazette
2003—N.H. Gov. Craig Benson [R.] welcomes the Free State Project. 2001—George W.[MD] Bush signs an Executive Order conveniently hiding his father’s misdeeds as Veep. 1981—TV is just “a toaster with pictures,” says FCC boss Mark Fowler. 1976—Mob fixer Roy Cohn lands Donald Trump a flattering profile in the N.Y. Times, written by the same rube who started 1970’s bogus “poison…
November 1st 2026, 12:45 pm
Were the Saudis Shielded from Blame?
The New Hampshire Gazette
Dear Editor, The planners of the September 2001 terrorist attack using hijacked airplanes were likely those who carried out the attack. This group of men, mostly from Saudi Arabia, were capable and had plenty of reasons to harbor hostility against the United States Government. The idea for the attack was conceived by four friends who met in Hamburg, Germany and had lived previously in Egypt…
October 31st 2026, 8:30 am
Sat, Oct 31
The New Hampshire Gazette
2016—Chris Sununu claims Democrats bus voters in from Mass, a lie quickly cribbed by Donald Trump. 1977—Carter’s new CIA boss, Stansfield Turner, fires 200 spooks. They all go meekly, with nary a thought of covert retaliation against Democrats. 1973—Ex-Veep Spiro Agnew pays a $10,000 fine for not paying taxes on the bribes he took while in office. 1963—“I can safely say,” says Gen.
October 31st 2026, 8:30 am
Volume 271, No. 4
The New Hampshire Gazette
Once again, thanks in large part to our small team of dedicated volunteers, thousands of copies of our conveniently-sized paper—small enough to pocket and pass on to another reader—are now available, for free, here in Portsmouth and environs. If you click here, our latest issue—the whole thing—in digital form, will appear more or less miraculously on the glassy face of whatever gadget into…
October 30th 2026, 7:15 pm
Censorship as Foreign Policy
The New Hampshire Gazette
by Richard M. Balzano State Department policy planners, White House speechwriters, and much of Congress enjoy an unusual workplace protection: federal buildings are equipped with an Irony Suppression System, referred to internally as the Irony Dome. OSHA has never acknowledged the hazard, but whatever they’re pumping through federal ventilation systems has rendered government officials…
October 30th 2026, 7:15 pm
It’s Election Time Again
The New Hampshire Gazette
by W.D. Ehrhart So here we are just days before the midterm election, and the anticipation is almost palpable. Last weekend, my wife and I went to a No Thrones No Crowns No Kings rally in our neighborhood, and the prevailing sentiment was clearly that a Big Blue Wave is about to sweep the Democrats into control of both the House and the Senate as well as making huge gains at the state level.
October 30th 2026, 7:15 pm
It’s the Psychosis, Stupid
The New Hampshire Gazette
When this paper hits the street, less than 100 hours will remain of the most psychotic political campaign in U.S. history. This would be good news, if only we had some assurance—hell, we’d settle for a hope—that the election on November 3rd might have a curative effect. Nothing will be cured, though, on November 4th, or even on January 3rd, when the winners of the House and Senate races…
October 30th 2026, 7:15 pm
Fri, Oct 30
The New Hampshire Gazette
2018—Murderer and FBI informant “Whitey” Bulger’s corpse is found in his cell, its tongue nearly severed. Prison officials profess surprise. 2017—President Trump’s ex-campaign manager Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates are arrested on a slew of charges by the FBI. 2016—Sen. Harry Reid [D-Nev.] accuses FBI Boss James Comey of sandbagging the Clinton campaign while covering up for…
October 30th 2026, 2:15 am
Thurs, Oct 29
The New Hampshire Gazette
2004—Osama bin Laden explains: 9/11 was retaliation for the U.S. backing Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon. 1984—New York City policemen kill African American Eleanor Bumpurs, 66, with two rounds from a 12 gauge. She was behind in her rent. 1981—A British Parliamentarian asks Maggie Thatcher whether European governments were “free to veto [a] push on the final button by that incoherent…
October 29th 2026, 3:15 am
Wed, Oct 28
The New Hampshire Gazette
2022—Elon Musk buys Twitter; an online loon attacks the House Speaker’s husband with a hammer; there is no connection between these events. 2016—Disregarding advice from Justice Dept. lawyers, Director James Comey announces that the FBI has re-opened its investigation of the Democratic Presidential candidate 10 days before the election. 2003—Iraq is “a little tougher that I thought it…
October 28th 2026, 4:32 am
Tues, Oct 27
The New Hampshire Gazette
1972—Richard Nixon pocket vetoes a bill which would have raised the veterans’ health care budget by $85 million. 1970—Nixon’s anti-drug law goes into effect, to wit: arresting hippies and Blacks is now easier than ever. 1969—Richard Nixon sends 18 armed B-52s flying around the North Pole for three days to convince the Soviets he’s dangerously unstable. Duh. 1965—In a letter to the N.
October 27th 2026, 2:45 am
Mon, Oct 26
The New Hampshire Gazette
2016—Bloomberg reports that Frederick Trump, Donald’s grandpa, once ran a brothel in British Columbia. 2010—Arizona kills Jeffrey Landrigan, using drugs imported illegally. 2003—Iraqi resistance fighters nearly get Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz with a rocket in Baghdad. 1972—Four years after helping to scuttle peace talks and get Richard Nixon elected…
October 26th 2026, 8:34 am
Thurs, Oct 22
The New Hampshire Gazette
1987—At Yoken’s, Queens con man Donald Trump puts the flim-flam on a credulous Portsmouth Rotary Club. 1968—To improve the odds of his election, Richard Nixon tells H.R. Haldeman to “monkey wrench” negotiations to end the Vietnam War. 1967—KGB agent Manfred Ramminger steals a Sidewinder missile from Neuburg AFB, takes it off-base in a wheelbarrow, drives away with it sticking out the…
October 24th 2026, 6:00 pm
Can Anyone Be Trusted With AI?
The New Hampshire Gazette
To the editor; Commentary describing the benefits or the dangers of AI has become commonplace. Predictions for AI run the gamut from Utopian visions of a world where humans will have all needs taken care of by armies of robots directed by a benevolent AI to a cataclysmic future in which humans will be terminated by an all-powerful AI. On a less grand scale, pundits cannot decide whether AI…
October 24th 2026, 6:00 pm
Mon, Oct 19
The New Hampshire Gazette
2005—Diagnosed with terminal cancer, a woman requests a refund of a down payment on some real estate. Sen. Judd Gregg (R-N.H.)., a recent Powerball winner ($853K), says “No.” 2005—Saddam Hussein goes on trial in Baghdad for crimes against humanity and pissing off Bushes. 2000—George W.[MD] Bush says at the Al Smith Dinner, “This is an impressive crowd, the haves and the have-mores.
October 24th 2026, 6:00 pm
Sat, Oct 17
The New Hampshire Gazette
1999—After confessing she had had a 19-year affair with her father-in-law, George Roche III, the president of Hillsdale College—“the most conservative college in America”—Lissa Roche commits suicide. 1973—OPEC turns off the oil tap. 1967—Lt. Col. Terry Allen Jr. leads two companies of the 28th Infantry, outnumbered 10 to 1, into a VC ambush at Ong Thanh. Casualties exceed 92 percent…
October 24th 2026, 6:00 pm
Fri, Oct 23
The New Hampshire Gazette
2015—FBI boss James Comey says criticism of the police is causing the rise of violent crime in cities. He offers no evidence for this assertion. 2015—Senator Ted Cruz [R-Texas] warns “one more liberal justice and they begin sandblasting and bulldozing veterans memorials.” 2013—Chancellor Angela Merkel calls the White House to complain about the NSA tapping her phone. 2001—Rep.
October 24th 2026, 6:00 pm
Sat, Oct 24
The New Hampshire Gazette
2001—The U.S. House passes the PATRIOT Act without reading it. 1990—Italy’s PM admits the Gladio “conspiracy theory” was factually true: the CIA and MI-5 helped fascists carry out false flag attacks in Europe. 1983—U.S. military aircraft, using old maps, bomb Richmond Hill Insane Asylum in Grenada, killing 16. 1963—In Dallas on UN Day, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Adlai Stevenson is…
October 24th 2026, 6:00 pm
Sun, Oct 18
The New Hampshire Gazette
2017—Turning Point USA stages a demo at Kent State to “own the libs.” Featuring a college student wearing a diaper, it does not go over well. 2017—U.S. President Donald Trump signs a check for $35,000 to repay his lawyer for buying the silence of a porn star with whom he had an affair. 2014—Thousands of college-age cretins, urged on by social media company Finnarage, set fires…
October 24th 2026, 6:00 pm
Sun, Oct 25
The New Hampshire Gazette
2001—Only Sen. Russ Feingold votes “nay” on the “PATRIOT” Act. 1983—U.S. troops protect us–and distract from the deaths of 241 Marines in Beirut–by invading Grenada. 1978—In response to GOP malfeasance, FISA is enacted—thereby enabling future GOP malfeasance. 1973—Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, and other unelected officials raise America’s military readiness level to DEF CON 3 as…
October 24th 2026, 6:00 pm
Wed, Oct 21
The New Hampshire Gazette
2017—Citizens gather on the beach at Sanders Poynt to celebrate the end of the five-year Binnie Blockade. 1975—In the 12th inning, New Hampshire’s own Carlton Fisk waves the ball fair, and the Red Sox win Game 6 of the World Series. 1967—Yippies, Diggers, & Hippies try to levitate the Pentagon. They fail. 1966—A mountain of mine waste collapses onto a school in Wales…
October 24th 2026, 6:00 pm
Tues, Oct 20
The New Hampshire Gazette
2025—The East Wing of the White House is destroyed by a vandal who “works” elsewhere in the building. 2005—Sen. Judd Gregg [R-N.H.] votes against increasing Federal home heating aid for the poor. 1990—Americans in 22 cities protest the impending Gulf War. 1983—Reagan inks the Conn. Indian Land Claims Settlement Act recognizing the Mashantucket Pequots. 1973—After A.G.
October 24th 2026, 6:00 pm
Wed, Sept 16
The New Hampshire Gazette
2016—D. Trump gets a free 1.5 hour infomercial from all the networks. 2009—Nashua-born news anchor Ernie Anastos tells a weatherman, on air, “Keep fucking that chicken.” 2001—Dick “Dick” Cheney vows to work on “the dark side”—his only side. 1992—Rudy Giuliani uses a bullhorn to lead 10,000 cops in a riot protesting a civilian police review board. 1976—Nelson Rockefeller, Veep…
September 16th 2026, 2:15 am
Tues, Sept 15
The New Hampshire Gazette
2008—Lehman Bros. drops 90 percent; the Dow is down 500 points. 2007—Laura Bush condemns Myanmar’s crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. Hours later thousands march in D.C. against the Iraq War; 190 are arrested, many are Iraq vets. 1985—Charles Taylor, future Liberian despot, escapes from a Mass. prison with help from the CIA and DIA. 1982—Israeli Defense Forces surround…
September 15th 2026, 12:15 pm
Mon, Sept 14
The New Hampshire Gazette
2019—A solid gold toilet is stolen from Winston Churchill’s birthplace. 2008—At his gym, Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld gets punched in the face by a complete stranger. 2005—At the UN, during the World Summit, the Leader of the Free World passes a note to his Secretary of State saying, “I think I may need a bathroom break. Is that possible?” 2001—In Manhattan…
September 14th 2026, 3:31 am
Sun, Sept 13
The New Hampshire Gazette
2010—After calling for civility in the Primary, ex-Gov. John H. Sununu tells the N.Y. Times, “I came in [as N.H. GOP Chair] to clean the vermin [Democrats] out, then I’ll leave.” 2005—Two weeks after the catastrophe, George W.[MD] Bush admits the Federal response to Hurricane Katrina was less than ideal. 2001—Reverend Jerry Falwell says “The ACLU’s got to take a lot of blame for [9/11].”…
September 13th 2026, 5:45 am
Sat, Sept 12
The New Hampshire Gazette
2008—Hank Paulson, ex-Goldman Sachs, tells Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers “No Fed $ for you.” 2001—George W.[MD] Bush tells Richard Clarke, his top counter-terror guy, “go back over everything, everything [to] see if Saddam did this.” Told it was al-Qaeda, he says, “I know, I know but…see if Saddam was involved. … I want to know any shred.” 1996—Roger Stone is 86’d from Bob “Bob Dole”…
September 12th 2026, 9:16 am
Fri, Sept 11
The New Hampshire Gazette
2016—The GOP nominee for President tweets “best wishes to all, even the haters and losers, on this special date, September 11th.” 2012—Benghazi!!! 2006—At Ground Zero, for a photo op, President Bush and the First Lady stand on an American flag carpet. 2001—Four American airliners are hijacked by Saudis and crashed; thousands die. George W.[MD] Bush scurries to safety…
September 11th 2026, 12:45 am
Thurs, Sept 10
The New Hampshire Gazette
2008—Lehman Brothers execs say their firm has all the capital it needs. Five days later it declares bankruptcy. 2001—Donald Rumsfeld admits the Defense Department can’t account for about $2.3 trillion dollars. One day later, no one remembers—or cares. 1980—“Approximately eighty percent of our air pollution stems from hydrocarbons released by vegetation,” says GOP candidate Ronald Reagan.
September 10th 2026, 9:41 am
Wed, Sept 9
The New Hampshire Gazette
2008—Lehman Bros., the nation’s fourth largest investment bank, loses 45 percent of its value. 2005—“You know,” says Glenn Beck, “it took me about a year to start hating the 9/11 victims families…When I see a 9/11 victim family on television…I’m just, like ‘Oh, shut up.’ ” 1988—Dan Quayle, who got into law school via an “equal opportunity” program for disadvantaged minorities…
September 9th 2026, 7:54 am
Tues, Sept 8
The New Hampshire Gazette
2018—Secretary of the Army Mark Esper posts an anti-suicide message on Facebook. It features a photo of Army SSgt. Robert Bales, then doing life for murdering 16 Afghan civilians. 2002—The N.Y. Times publishes lies about tubes based on a White House leak; the White House cites that story as proof Iraq plans to build nukes. 1988—Dan Quayle says, “Republicans understand the importance of…
September 8th 2026, 1:40 am
Mon, Sept 7
The New Hampshire Gazette
2003—Warren Zevon sleeps. 1996—Two women walk into the Norfolk (Va.) Naval Base with a banner reading “Love Your Enemies.” They’re promptly arrested. 1988—“Today is Pearl Harbor Day”: WW II vet George H.[H.]W. Bush. 1977—In the Oval Office, Eric Gairy, Grenada’s PM, presents Jimmy Carter with an invitation to visit from the supreme leader of Titania, a moon of Saturn.
September 7th 2026, 3:39 am
Sun, Sept 6
The New Hampshire Gazette
2010—Alabama prison officials ban the reading of a Pulitzer-winning history of Black forced labor. 1978—The U.S.House opens hearings on the assassinations of JFK & MLK. On Dec. 30th they conclude that conspiracies were likely. 1966—The second term of South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd, the architect of apartheid, is cut short by five stab wounds. 1949—World War II vet and…
September 6th 2026, 1:23 am
Sat, Sept 5
The New Hampshire Gazette
2005—Barbara Bush says Hurricane Katrina was “working very well” for thousands of homeless refugees. 2002—Portsmouth loses Jay Smith, creator of the Press Room, Patron Saint of The Music Hall, &c. RIP. 1991—The D.C. home of Sen. Jesse Helms [R-N.C.] is covered by a giant condom, courtesy of ACT UP. 1990—Los Angeles Police Chief Darryl Gates tell the Senate Judiciary Committee that…
September 5th 2026, 2:38 am
Ruining America as a Business
The New Hampshire Gazette
Interesting: on Tuesday, “The Grey Lady” caught up with us. Ever since we snuck into Lord Kenneth of Fleet’s stable of newspapers and rode away on The Nation’s Oldest Newspaper, we’ve been sounding the same barbaric yawp. Our more recently established colleagues went on reporting as if governance was proceeding more or less along the lines laid out centuries earlier on parchment. In contrast…
September 4th 2026, 10:54 pm
Lake Trump
The New Hampshire Gazette
Dear Sir, Effective immediately and in perpetuity, I hereby officially rename the water in my toilet bowl Lake Trump. William D. Ehrhart Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania William: Well, that’s settled. Neatly done. We notice that you make no claim to exclusivity. Given the near-ubiquity of such facilities in separate and distinct real estate parcels all over the nation—and the world…
September 4th 2026, 10:54 pm
Russian Potato Dumplings
The New Hampshire Gazette
by W.D. Ehrhart I inherited a “fat gene” from my mother. She was maybe 5’4” or 5’5”. When she got married in 1943, she weighed 103 pounds. When she died in 1990, she weighed over 300 pounds. Her younger brother was in ROTC in college, so he couldn’t have been too heavy back then, but by the time I was old enough to remember him, he was badly overweight, obese really.
September 4th 2026, 10:54 pm
The Politics of Agency
The New Hampshire Gazette
by Richard M. Balzano The algorithm-driven debate-industrial complex recently gifted the internet another installment of its ongoing effort to merge cable news, professional wrestling, and civic collapse into a single monetized spectacle: Jubilee Media and Straight Arrow News released a video titled “1 Journalist vs 20 Trump Supporters” in which constitutional law attorney-turned-journalist…
September 4th 2026, 10:54 pm
Volume 270, No. 26
The New Hampshire Gazette
It is easy to see how a reasonable person keeping up with the news might conclude that the people in charge of this country are hell bent on destroying it. Either that, or we’ve been underestimating the destructive power of collaborative incompetence. Whichever it is, it’s distressing as hell. We, however, have gone to considerable effort to put ourselves in a position which obliges us to…
September 4th 2026, 10:54 pm
Fri, Sept 4
The New Hampshire Gazette
2019—To prove that his Hurricane Dorian prediction was perfect, Donald J. Trump displays a fake map. 1997—Bombs explode in four Havana hotels. Perp and ex-CIA asset Luis Posada Carriles later enters the U.S. illegally and lives openly in Miami. 1992—Ex-South Vietnamese fighter pilot Ly Tong hijacks an Air Vietnam Airbus out of Bangkok. As it flies low and slow over Ho Chi Minh City…
September 4th 2026, 1:08 am
Thurs, Sept 3
The New Hampshire Gazette
2003—Because life is sacred, Florida poisons Paul Hill, who shotgunned Dr. John Britton and his bodyguard because life is sacred. Rinse & repeat. 1991—Locked doors, dead phones, and a lack of fire alarms kill 25 workers in a North Carolina chicken plant. 1971—As Richard Nixon speaks at a Milk Producers’ convention in Chicago, an aide pockets his fee: a $5,000 bribe, which will pay the…
September 3rd 2026, 12:22 pm
Tues, Sept 1
The New Hampshire Gazette
2019—Meteorologist-in-Chief Donald J. Trump tweets that Hurricane Dorian will hit Alabama hard. Nope. 2005—New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin calls for George W.[MD] Bush and FEMA to “get off your asses and do something” about his flooded city. 1989—Narcs trying to score crack near the White House for a George H.[H.]W. Bush presidential photo-op get the drug on their third try but not the film…
September 3rd 2026, 12:22 pm
Wed, Sept 2
The New Hampshire Gazette
1983—Mississippi’s execution of Jimmy Lee Gray goes poorly; executioner T. Berry Bruce is drunk. Officials clear the witness room after eight minutes, as Gray gasps, moans, and bangs his head on a steel pole. 1945—V-J Day—Japan surrenders to General “Dugout Doug” MacArthur aboard a battleship named after Pres. Harry S Truman’s home state. 1945—Cribbing freely from the U.S.
September 3rd 2026, 12:22 pm
Mon, Aug 31
The New Hampshire Gazette
2019—Portsmouth’s Daniel Street Post Office closes for good. Thanks a lot, Councilor, Congressman, Governor, and Senator Judd Gregg. 1973—The Gainesville Eight, antiwar veterans charged with conspiracy to riot at the 1972 Republican National Convention, are acquitted. 1965—President Johnson signs a bill making draft card burning illegal. 1963—Robert Bork publishes an article…
August 31st 2026, 1:53 pm
Sun, Aug 30
The New Hampshire Gazette
2007—Unbeknownst to the pilots, a B-52 takes off from N.D. with six live nukes onboard. Arriving in La., it sits unguarded from noon to 10:00 p.m. 2004—To milk 9/11 for all it’s worth, the RNC convenes in New York City. Attendees mock John Kerry and wounded vets in general by wearing “Purple Heart” band-aids. 1979—Deftly wieldinga canoe paddle, President Carter fends off a deranged swamp…
August 30th 2026, 7:03 am
Sat, Aug 29
The New Hampshire Gazette
2013—Americans learn, thanks to Edward Snowden, that the annual “Black Budget” of the “Intelligence Community” is $52.6 billion a year. 2007—Due to careless accounting, an Air Force B-52 at Minot AFB in North Dakota is loaded with six live nukes, then left unguarded overnight. 1970—A 23-member band of Native Americans scale Mount Rushmore and re-name it for Crazy Horse. 1970—L.A.
August 29th 2026, 1:51 pm
Fri, Aug 28
The New Hampshire Gazette
2022—A Medal of Freedom given to mobster Meyer Lansky by Pres. Truman sells at auction for $48,000. 2014—The nation suffers irreparable harm; the President wears a tan suit. 2005—Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans and the levees break. 1969—Judith Love Cohen completes the Abort Guidance System—later used to bring Apollo 13 back to Earth—while in labor in the maternity ward…
August 28th 2026, 1:02 am
Thurs, Aug 27
The New Hampshire Gazette
2012—“We swept the vermin out,” boasts Chris Sununu, “[New Hampshire’s] now a solid Republican state.” 1991—An ABA panel rates Clarence Thomas. Two members find him “not qualified” for the Supreme Court; none find him “well-qualified.” 1980—FBI agents use C-4 to disarm a half-ton bomb planted in Harvey’s Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nevada. Result: a 50- by 30-foot crater.
August 27th 2026, 7:48 am
Wed, Aug 26
The New Hampshire Gazette
2016—S.F.49er Colin Kaepernick protests against racial injustice by sitting while the National Anthem plays. 2014—At an Omaha Wendy’s, cops shoot a suspect “armed” with a fake pistol. Also killed: a soundman for “COPS,” which was on the scene. 1980—Ex-Luftwaffe pilot John Birges, trying to recoup his gambling losses, plants a half-ton bomb at Harvey’s Resort Hotel in Stateline, Nev.
August 26th 2026, 2:01 am
Tues, Aug 25
The New Hampshire Gazette
1999—The FBI admits, six years after the fact, that the tear gas canisters it fired into David Koresh’s compound in Waco were incendiary—but still denies they started the fatal fire. 1995—Zany Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) announces his innovative new policy, sure to win the drug war: execute “27 or 30 or 35 people at one time.” 1985—Ronald Reagan admits that, as head of the…
August 25th 2026, 5:01 am
Mon, Aug 24
The New Hampshire Gazette
2020—Rep. Katie Porter [D-Calif.]: “You don’t know the cost to mail a postcard?” Postmaster Louis DeJoy, laughing, confesses: “I don’t.” 1970—Graduate student Robert Fassnacht is killed and three others are injured when peaceniks blow up a physics lab at the U. of Wisconsin. 1967—Abbie Hoffman and Jerry Rubin scatter 300 one-dollar bills on the floor of the Stock Exchange.
August 24th 2026, 3:00 pm
Sun, Aug 23
The New Hampshire Gazette
2010—Gareth Williams, money-laundering investigator for MI6, is found dead inside a locked gym bag in a London “safe house.” Metropolitan Police rule he died accidentally, alone. 2000—The 2nd Circuit Court rules that aspiring cops can be denied a job on grounds that they’re too smart. 1985—San Francisco cops wince as Mayor Dianne Feinstein reveals their evidence in the “Night Stalker”…
August 23rd 2026, 12:46 am
Sat, Aug 22
The New Hampshire Gazette
2016—The lift span of the Sarah Long Bridge is raised for the last time. 2008—On a tip from an Afghan, a U.S. AC-130 gunship shoots up Azizabad. The Afghan’s rival is among the 91 dead; the rest are mostly civilian women and children. Embedded in this bloody fiasco is Fox’s Ollie North, who calls it a great victory. 2002—The Bush Administration announces trade sanctions on North Korea…
August 22nd 2026, 7:15 am
Trying to Avoid Giving Up
The New Hampshire Gazette
by W.D. Ehrhart I have to confess that I have been struggling mightily for the past few months to resist giving in to utter despair. There’s no future in that. But increasingly I find myself thinking that there’s really no future worth bothering about. I just can’t shake the feeling that things in this country are not going to get any better. Remember when we thought no president could…
August 21st 2026, 9:00 pm
Ortega, Elections, and the Context Western Media Won’t Print
The New Hampshire Gazette
by Richard Balzano “Crackdown.” “Democratic backsliding.” “Authoritarian grip.” Journalists persecuted, opposition parties crushed—and now, according to the latest eruption from the Western press, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega has abolished elections. The peripheral left offers another interpretation: Ortega is preventing U.S.-backed political organizations implicated in subversion…
August 21st 2026, 9:00 pm
Greetings From the Forest
The New Hampshire Gazette
[No salutation necessary.] I’m sending you some stamps in hopes that it will help with the costs of mailing out copies of the Gazette. I don’t have to tell you the cost of one stamp!!! I thought I was going to pass out in the Post Office lobby when they told me! It’s like Old Willie said: “The World’s all going to ‘Pot;’ Whether we like it or not. The Best I can tell the World’s going to…
August 21st 2026, 9:00 pm
Time to Jump-Start Congress
The New Hampshire Gazette
Another fortnight has come and gone—and not just any fortnight. Continuing a trend that began in 2015—and mirroring, in the political realm, the ratcheting up of global temperatures and resultant climatic catastrophes—this has been the 290th consecutive fortnight to have been worse than the one before. Appropriately, this one kicked off under cover of darkness. In the early morning hours of…
August 21st 2026, 9:00 pm
Volume 270, No. 25
The New Hampshire Gazette
How bad is it? So bad we’re betting we don’t need to define “it.” “It” is everything you can think of, and a whole lot more that you never thought required your attention, all of it being intentionally made worse by a horde of trolls and cretins who should never have been given power over anything more dangerous than a marshmallow. Things have gotten so rotten that, for this fortnight…
August 21st 2026, 9:00 pm
Fri, Aug 21
The New Hampshire Gazette
2017—Taxpayers fund a $27,000 trip so Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Sen. Mitch McConnell can visit Fort Knox and fondle some gold. 1992—Samuel Weaver, 14, and U.S. Marshal W.F. Degan die in a shootout at Ruby Ridge, Idaho. Troubles ensue. 1982—The U.S.-trained Atlacatl Battalion murders more than 200 Salvadorans at El Calabozo. 1976—A two-day occupation of the Seabrook, N.H.
August 21st 2026, 12:12 am
Tues, Aug 11
The New Hampshire Gazette
2023—Police Chief Gideon Cody raids the Marion County (Kan.) Record. In a career full of idiotic and costly mistakes, this is his magnum opus. 2017—A “good person” rallying for White Supremacy in Charlottesville, Va. commits vehicular homicide. 1984—Reagan “outlaws” Russia. 1981—“Airman Fat Albert,” a 180-foot radar blimp gone AWOL, floating at 25,000 feet west of the Florida Keys…
August 20th 2026, 7:30 pm
Mon, Aug 17
The New Hampshire Gazette
2008—Confederate widow Maudie Hopkins dies in Arkansas at 93. She married William M. Cantrell in 1934, when he was 86 and she was 19. 2002—U.S. Generals admit that the U.S. assisted Iraq during its war against Iran knowing that Saddam Hussein would “use chemical weapons against his own people.” 1998—“It depends,” President Clinton tells a Grand Jury, “on what the meaning of the word ‘is’…
August 20th 2026, 7:30 pm
Thurs, Aug 13
The New Hampshire Gazette
1982—Malcolm MacArthur is arrested at the home of an acquaintance, Ireland’s Attorney General, where he’d been a guest since committing his second murder, nine days earlier. 1981—R. Reagan gives tax cuts to the rich and takes health care from the mentally ill; prisons become asylums. 1971—Criminal Attorney General John Mitchell announces that there will be no grand jury investigation of…
August 20th 2026, 7:30 pm
Sat, Aug 15
The New Hampshire Gazette
1977—Ohio State’s “Big Ear” radio telescope records a 72-second burst suggesting there may be intelligent life…out there, somewhere. 1971—With the U.S. budget busted by the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon reneges on the gold standard. 1969—Half a million half-naked, drugged-up baby boomers begin a three-day mud wallow in Bethel, N.Y. 1966—The New York Herald Tribune…
August 20th 2026, 7:30 pm
Wed, Aug 19
The New Hampshire Gazette
1999—The FBI adds the name of James “Whitey” Bulger—its partner in crime—to its “Most-Wanted” list. 1997—Anti-regulation fanatic Carl Drega murders two cops, a selectman, and a judge in Colebrook, N.H. The carnage inspires Vin Suprynowicz, future Signed Member of the Free State Project, to write an essay and a book sympathizing with the killer. 1953—Despite setbacks four days earlier…
August 20th 2026, 7:30 pm
Sun, Aug 16
The New Hampshire Gazette
2017—Free State reject Chris Cantwell posts a video online which earns him the moniker, “The Crying Nazi.” 2002—Army Times reports that the recent “Millennium Challenge” war games were “almost entirely scripted to ensure a [U.S. military] win.” 1971—John Dean writes his boss, Richard Nixon, a memo on how to “use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies.
August 20th 2026, 7:30 pm
Thurs, Aug 20
The New Hampshire Gazette
2018—Greta Thunberg strikes, demanding action on the climate crisis. 1998—Days after admitting he’d lied about sex with an intern, Bill Clinton throws 13 Tomahawk missiles at Sudan’s only pharmaceutical factory. 1986—Former Marine Patrick Sherrill “goes postal” in Edmond, Okla.; he kills 14 co-workers and wounds six. 1975—A bomb explodes in front of San Francisco Mayor Joe Alioto’s…
August 20th 2026, 7:30 pm
Tues, Aug 18
The New Hampshire Gazette
1996—The U.S. prison population hits 1,600,000, double what it had been just 10 years earlier. 1988—Accepting the GOP nomination, George H.[H.]W. Bush solemnly vows, “Read my lips: no new taxes!” 1980—Ronald Reagan, thanking the VFW for its endorsement, rebrands a criminal war as a “noble cause.” 1966—China’s Cultural Revolution gets a big boost when a million Red Guards arrive at…
August 20th 2026, 7:30 pm
Wed, Aug 12
The New Hampshire Gazette
2004—N.J. Gov. Jim McGreevey resigns after admitting he’s been sleeping with a man who is not his wife. 1985—A 747 with 524 on board, enroute to Osaka, crashes after the tail falls off. Many survive but, due to delays, only four are rescued alive. 1977—CBS reports that since the state won’t replace a washed-out bridge in Vulcan, W. Va., the town has asked the U.S.S.R. for foreign aid.
August 20th 2026, 7:30 pm
Fri, Aug 14
The New Hampshire Gazette
2023—Georgia DA Fanni Willis indicts ex-Pres. D.J. Trump for asking Secretary of State Raffensperger to help him try to steal the 2020 election. 2005—Steward Andreas Prodromou, the only person conscious aboard a mistakenly-depressurized 737 circling over Athens and running out of fuel, steers it away to crash elsewhere. 1945—President Truman announces Japan has surrendered.
August 20th 2026, 7:30 pm
Thurs, Sept 30
The New Hampshire Gazette
2016—N.H.’s Attorney General reports that ex-Rep. Kyle Tasker [R-Nottingham] sold pot to five other State Reps. for medicinal purposes. 2011—U.S. citizen Anwar al-Awlaki is smote by a drone in Yemen. Trial? We don’t need no stinkin’ trial! 1998—The GAO reports that Ken Starr had spent $40 million in a failed effort to nail Bill Clinton. 1962—César Chávez founds what becomes the United Farm Workers.
September 30th 2021, 3:53 am
Wed, Sept 29
The New Hampshire Gazette
2008—The Dow drops 777 points. 2006—Anti child-porn crusader Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) resigns after his lurid e-mails to young males leak. 2002—George W.[MD] Bush claims Iraq has WMDs, al-Qaeda terrorists, and a nuke coming soon. 1980—The Washington Post publishes Janet Cook’s Pulitzer-winning story about a fictional eight year-old junkie. 1976—The Hyde Amendment gives Congress the power to make...
September 29th 2021, 12:24 am
Tues, Sept 28
The New Hampshire Gazette
2014—Future President D.J. Trump tweets, “Every time I speak of the haters and losers I do so with great love and affection. They cannot help the fact that they were born fucked up!” 2001—To avoid further scorn in these pages, Fleet Bank removes its 18-foot tall green, illuminated sign from the middle of Pleasant Street’s sidewalk. 1964—U.C. Berkeley students protest free speech restrictions.
September 28th 2021, 12:38 pm
M0n, Sept 27
The New Hampshire Gazette
2018—Brett Kavanaugh whines, weeps, and shouts while badgering the Senate Judiciary Committee. 2002—Donald Rumsfeld says a phony link between al-Qaeda and Iraq is “accurate and not debatable.” 2000—Frank Wills, the guard who discovered the Watergate burglary, dies at 52, of a brain tumor, in poverty. 1994—On the Capitol steps, 350 GOP candidates led by Newt Gingrich take out a Contract on America.
September 27th 2021, 2:54 am
Sunday, Sept 26
The New Hampshire Gazette
2016—Two days before Jim Comey says the Clinton email investigation’s been re-opened, Giuliani says, “We’ve got a couple things up our sleeve that should turn this thing around.” 2001—The CIA invasion of Afghanistan begins: six or eight spooks in a Soviet Mi-17 helicopter, toting 66 lbs of $100s in three cardboard boxes [$3M]. 1983—Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov disregards Red Army computers...
September 26th 2021, 12:07 am
The Taliban Took Us By Surprise!
The New Hampshire Gazette
To the Editor: Why didn’t anyone predict that Texas would fall to the Taliban so quickly? The Taliban have launched draconian measures in Texas to keep women in their place and armed men in charge. They are paying rewards to informers to turn citizens in so they can be hauled before a judge. They have issued edicts drastically restricting voting rights, particularly for minorities. And...
September 25th 2021, 6:16 am
The New Hampshire Gazette Digital Edition Volume 266, No. 1, September 24, 2021
The New Hampshire Gazette
September 24, 2021 — To download this issue of our paper, just click on the image at right.
September 25th 2021, 6:16 am
Life’s Persistent Questions
The New Hampshire Gazette
Dear Editor, On this 20th anniversary of 9/11, we remember what happened in order to heal, and also to learn from the experience to avoid future catastrophes. We’ve learned about our strength in unity and also the dangers of rigid group-mind thinking. We’ve learned about the limits of our power and the power of division. Still, we haven’t learned enough. We need answers to these questions: Why...
September 25th 2021, 6:16 am
A Timely Revision
The New Hampshire Gazette
E Pluribus Unum? As if…. Clearly, in this day and age, our national motto meaning “Out of Many, One” is no longer operative. So, it’s time for a new one. We could go on at great length here, supplying one example after another to support this thesis, but why sift through the mountains of evidence just to insult our readers’ intelligence? Res ipsa loquitur.* Our proposal: “The Beatings Will...
September 25th 2021, 6:16 am
Why Did Sununu Go to Kentucky?
The New Hampshire Gazette
Dear Sir: In today’s Portsmouth Herald [September 7th], there was a guest column from Governor Sununu and Health and Human Services Commissioner (HHS) Shibinette. The column, “New Hampshire Leaders learned a lot about COVID in Kentucky,” highlighted some of the actions Kentucky has taken during their recent COVID surge. While I credit the Governor for trying to learn from others...
September 25th 2021, 6:16 am
Puppet Politics
The New Hampshire Gazette
To the Editor: Those of us long enough in the tooth to remember black-and-white TV may recall Edgar Bergen and his top-hatted sidekick, Charlie McCarthy. Charlie may have been a mannequin, but he was no dummy when it came to whipping out snappy one-liners guaranteed to pull his boss up short. If only Charlie’s twenty-first century namesake Kevin McCarthy were so adept! Unlike Charlie...
September 25th 2021, 6:16 am
Sanitizing American History
The New Hampshire Gazette
by W.D. Ehrhart In September 1814, as Francis Scott Key stood on the deck of a British warship watching the bombardment of Fort McHenry, he was inspired to write a poem that eventually became the “Star-Spangled Banner.” We hear that song a lot these days: at every football game from middle school to the NFL; at NASCAR races and hockey games and commencement ceremonies, and, well, at just about any...
September 25th 2021, 6:16 am
Never Again
The New Hampshire Gazette
by Paul Nichols Samrawit Silva’s powerfully impassioned letter in the Concord Monitor of September 6th describes the ongoing slaughter of citizens, including some of her family members, by government forces in Ethiopia. She ends the piece with references to the phrase, “Never Again.” But never again is happening again, this time in her home country! History matters. History repeats itself...
