The Alleged Editor

Here Comes the Judge

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Judge Amy Berman Jackson started the week off with a bang. Because hardly anyone seemed to be listening, and because the Memorandum Opinion she signed on May 3rd explained a matter of great import exceedingly well, and because it suggests that there is some slight possibility that justice—real justice—might someday actually prevail, we’ll quote her memorandum below, at considerable length. Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington [CREW] had asked the Justice Department for two documents. Jackson ruled that CREW was entitled to get one. That may be enough. Take it away, Judge Amy Berman Jackson: On Friday, March 22, 2019, Special Counsel Robert S. …

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The Good, The Bad, and the Absurd

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We have good news, and bad news. That, in itself, is not news, of course; the news is always good and bad, commingled. Such is the human condition. Limited by the subjectivity of our own perceptions—not to mention the disorientation caused by an unending current of events frog-marching us into the future—we lack the chutzpah to declare whether this fortnight’s mix trends towards one pole or the other. We can say with confidence that every day, in every way, the news keeps getting more absurd. The good news is that 81 percent of people around the world believe that democracy is important. The fourth annual …

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A Civics Class About January 6th

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To the editor: If I were teaching a civics class, I would ask students to consider what was at stake on January 6th, when protesters stormed the U.S. Capitol. An investigation is underway, with one guilty plea thus far. We would review the First Amendment right to “peaceably assemble” and ask for redress of grievances. Noting that some states are passing laws to ban protests (and even give immunity to people who drive vehicles into protesters), I would ask students to compare protests against racist police brutality to the event of January 6th, in terms of purpose and in terms of violence. I would make …

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New Hampshire’s Environment and Energy Resources

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by Rob Werner and Peter Somssich While New Hampshire is not rich in home-grown energy resources, our environmental beauty and clean natural environment is admired around the country. How can our future energy needs as a state be met in harmony with our attractive natural environment while addressing the climate crisis? In a 1999 book entitled Natural Capitalism, Paul Hawken and others identified the enormous value in environmental services provided to all of us by our natural environment free of charge. If we had to pay nature’s services to clean up dirty air, filter out pollution from our soil, treat our water until it is …

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The Tricky Thing About Equality

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To the Editor: Let’s say a non-commissioned officer leads a squad of men. The NCO says to them, “You are all equal and will be treated equally.” They all run the same obstacle course, eat the same food and are dismissed together at the end of each day. One day the NCO needs one soldier to do something that is considered desirable. The NCO picks one soldier by some truly random method known to all and sends that soldier off to do it. The NCO had to pick one, did not in any way play favorites, and has made clear a policy of equality, but …

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The Final Tyrannical Assault On The Constitution

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To the Editor: It has been 100 days of the Biden Administration and to date five Constitutional protections are being attempted to be destroyed [sic] with impunity by Democrats in total disrespect to the people of the United States. They are: States rights to control their elections, freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, the District of Columbia as the seat of federal government to be a State, and separation of the Judiciary, the Executive and the Legislative branches and each their power of influence. [Deleted: 814 poorly chosen words, assembled into an incoherent argument, apparently intended to support the anti-democratic agenda of Donald …

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