I will no longer park in downtown Portsmouth: Letters

I will no longer park in downtown Portsmouth

Jan. 2 −To the Editor:

Just wondering how often this happens and is it even legal? Recently I was parked in the Worth lot and returned to my car with 15 minutes left on the meter.  I was surprised to find a parking ticket on the windshield because my time had not yet expired. I followed the directions and went online to dispute the ticket. I could not believe the response: they would “forgive” this ticket if I paid a supposedly outstanding ticket from 2 years ago. I have had a few parking tickets over the past 30 years but have always paid them. This also happened to someone else I know so I’m wondering if the parking powers that be aren’t running some kind of shake down scam. I will no longer park in downtown Portsmouth. I just take my business elsewhere.

Sharon Morrill

Kittery, Maine

Joe Biden is the best president in my lifetime

Dec. 30 − To the Editor:

Though he never was a TV star, Joe Biden is the best president in my lifetime. I very much hope you will join me and our thousands of other NH citizens in writing in Joe Biden on the NH primary ballot January 23^rd.

The DNC and New Hampshire Democrats have not always agreed on the proper primary schedule. Understandably the national big mucky mucks could see that a win in South Carolina for our president is most impactful toward a win in November. But we here are proud of the amazing work Joe Biden has already accomplished. Gas prices way down. Effectively fighting climate change. Raising employment figures. Equal rights justice. On and on. Oh yes and democracy, I hope you care about that conservative value! I sure do, though his predecessor clearly does not

Is Joe Biden a TV start like the orange one, hell no. He’s just a damn good president.

Writing in his name is wicked easy: the last blank line on the ballot. Just write in Joe Biden for President and mark the box next to it.

Burt Cohen

New Castle

Write-in Joe Biden in Democratic primary Jan. 23

Dec. 30 − To the Editor:

January 23, 2024 is an important date! It is the New Hampshire primary! On this day we will decide  the Democratic nominee for President of the United States. I urge everyone to make time to vote and WRITE-IN Joe Biden for president.

Jamie Marston

North Hampton

Painful labor shortage should cause us to rethink immigration policy

Dec. 29 − To the Editor:

In the first week of December, I called the garage I always use for my state inspection.  Instead of being given a date two to four days away I was told the first opening was January 3.  The next Friday my boiler failed leaving me with no hot water for bathing.  I went to Planet Fitness to get a monthly membership to use their showers only to find they were closed on the weekends because they did not have the staff.  These are just two symptoms of America’s labor shortage.

America lost 1.1 million people to covid.  People close to retirement decided to leave the workforce early rather than risk their lives serving others who refused to wear masks or get vaccinated. This country has shortages of teachers, bus drivers, nurses, doctors, nursing home and day care workers, truck drivers and many other professions.

Businesses have responded by raising workers’ pay by 20 and 30% and more for those at the bottom of the pay scale.  Still, they cannot find enough workers.  One reason is that workers can now earn the same amount working 40 hours at $15/hour as they did working 60 hours at $10/hour.  Thus, they are less willing to work two or three jobs at low pay.

The GOP’s response to this labor shortage has been to chant “build a wall” and stop asylum seekers from coming into this country.  It is amazing that those who scream the loudest about inflation also scream the loudest about stopping immigrants from coming here.

The time has come to admit America needs the people coming to our border and invite them in.

Walter Hamilton

Portsmouth

What Nikki Haley failed to say about Civil War says much about her

Dec. 28 − To the Editor:

In a recent visit to New Hampshire, presidential candidate Nikki Haley did not mention slavery as a cause of the Civil War when asked by a local citizen.  She cited other reasons such as "states rights", the federal government etc. Of course these were factors, but the overriding issue was the fear that the federal government would abolish slavery.  States rights was a code word for the south's desire to maintain slavery and even expand it to new states joining the union. In fact,  South Carolina, the first state to secede and Haley's own state, stated in its declaration of secession that "an increasing hostility on the part of non-slaveholding states to the institution of slavery," was a major factor cited for secession.  It is also noted that every state that seceded listed slavery in their declaration of secession.  To ignore, deny, forget or otherwise try to diminish the role of slavery as a cause of the Civil War is an insult to those who died fighting to end this abomination, including over 4,000 NH Union soldiers.

Unfortunately, the denial or rewriting of uncomfortable history, banning books, punishing teachers, disenfranchising voters, taking away women's rights, demonizing  LGBT people, immigrants and others has become the unwritten platform of the Republican Party.  And candidates like Nikki Haley are either too cowardly to speak the truth, or they have bought into this Trumpian/DeSantis version of historical reality.  This is especially hypocritical coming from someone like Haley.  A child born to immigrants who were not citizens when she was born here, yet she became a citizen at birth, something her party wants to deny other children born to immigrants.  A child whose father, an immigrant from India, was denied employment by 2 South Carolina Universities because of his dark skin, but was hired by a historically Black university in South Carolina.  Did Ms. Haley forgot this history as well?

America needs leaders who do not try to erase or minimize our historical mistakes , but acknowledge them and try to make sure those mistakes are never repeated and that the pain and suffering they caused is never diminished. Ms. Haley's refusal to acknowledge important history that still impacts our nation demonstrates her lack of the necessary integrity, character  and courage for the position she seeks.

Rich Dipentima

Portsmouth

US must stop arming Israel

Dec. 29 − To the Editor:

The escalating cycle of violence we are witnessing endangers us all, including Israeli and American citizens.  The Pope has condemned a recent bombing by Israel of a refugee camp in Gaza as a "massacre."  He also called the broader war on Gaza "pointless."  One need only look at a map of Gaza to understand that much of it has long been one refugee camp or another, crammed with civilians displaced by 75 years of Israel driving Palestinians from their homes.  Various Israeli leaders including the Prime Minister consistently call for purging Gaza of its population, a policy that amounts to ethnic cleansing.  These abuses of occupation have continued throughout what the US has perversely called "the peace process."

While United Nations resolutions repeatedly call for Israel to cease fire, hundreds of 2,000 pound US-supplied bombs continue to be dropped on innocent Palestinian civilians, a relentless campaign that even President Biden has called "indiscriminate."  A recent report by The Guardian reveals that Israel is the only country that the US allows to take arms from our warehouses now, and do the paperwork to justify it later.  While Israel is clearly ignoring President Biden's calls to protect civilians and wind down the bombing, his policies of "unconditional aid" have actually made the transfer of huge unguided American bombs even quicker, easier, and less transparent.

Existing US Laws from "The Leahy Law" to the 1961 Foreign Aid Act ban US arms transfers to Israel, whether that be because Israel has nuclear weapons or because of their gross violations of human rights.  Call Senators Shaheen and Hassan and Representative Pappas to demand an immediate end to this illegal enabling of Israel's atrocities.  Our complicity with Israel tells the world that no fair "rules-based international order" exists, only double-standards.

Steve Diamond

Barrington

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: I will no longer park in downtown Portsmouth: Letters