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Fellas, I need 50 Republican votes for Joe
Taking Former President Trump as my role model, the aim of this letter is to convince 50 Republican voters to vote for Joseph Biden.
You’ll recall, of course, what the Former Guy said to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger: “All I want to do is this: I just want [you] to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have … Fellas, I need 11,000 votes, give me a break.”
Everyone heard it. Everyone’s listened to the tape (except for Fox News blindfoldees). Everyone knows the Former Guy was committing election fraud. Republicans: By the end of this letter, 50 of you will commit to voting for Joseph Biden. Read on!
Trump-appointed federal attorney and Garland-named special prosecutor David Weiss has led the investigation alleging that Hunter and Joseph Biden demanded $5M each in bribes from the Ukrainian energy giant Burisma. Yesterday, Mr. Weiss arrested his chief witness, Alexander Smirnov, when Mr. Smirnov arrived in Las Vegas from abroad. Smirnov has testified under oath that Hunter Biden had promised that his father, then-Vice President Biden, would protect Burisma “from all kinds of problems” in exchange for protection money. The problem with this scenario is that Mr. Smirnov had no contact with Burisma and its internal workings until 2017, when Mr. Biden was no longer vice-president. Mr. Weiss’s office has sufficient proof to catch Mr. Smirnov in a web of lies.
Mr. Weiss has prosecuted, and continues to prosecute, Hunter Biden on tax and gun charges. He’s no friend of Hunter Biden. But he’s a man of rectitude. He knows a lie when he sees it and is willing to acknowledge that the floor has dropped out from under his Burisma case when his key witness commits perjury. According to the New York Times, “Mr. Smirnov now faces two charges of making false statements and obstructing the government’s long-running investigation into the president’s troubled son. If convicted, he faces a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison.”
Mr. Weiss is capable of changing his mind. His loyalties are to the law, to justice and to the United States of America. I’m making a guess that if he saw an armed and angry mob assaulting the U.S. Capitol, he’d call it an insurrection, one led by the outgoing president against his own government. I’m guessing that if he heard the Former Guy demanding 11,780 votes, he’d see it for the election tampering it is.
Over recent years, when I bicycle and drive through southern Ulster, I see many versions of “Lock Her Up!” and “The Election Was Stolen” on people’s lawns and the sides of barns. But it’s my impression that the number has dwindled, because reality has a troubling way of seeping through the soil of countless lies. I’m willing to make another guess: that Republicans are slowly losing their blind loyalty.
Republicans, aren’t you tired of defending the indefensible? Haven’t you actually seen through the tired lies of multi-time loser Donald Trump, the multiply bankrupted Donald Trump, the mightily failed Donald Trump who’s overseen one election defeat after the next since Putin put him in office? Are you just too afraid about what your friends will think of you for turning your back on him on America’s Most Famous Pot-Bellied loser?
All I need (from this letter, anyway) is 50 Republicans willing to say they’ve made a mistake. 50 Republicans: admit you’re going to vote for Joseph Biden in November.
Why? Because the Former Guy is a loser who loves only himself and burns everyone around him. (Go ask Rudy.) He would burn our nation to a cinder for the sake of building a hotel in Moscow. Joe Biden is a winner who loves his country and is willing to fight like hell to preserve what is decent and whole about it.
At time of writing, the Former Guy has LOST a $350M + interest judgment in New York State Supreme Court, as well as the right to hold a business certificate in New York State for three years. Banks will never lend him money again. With all respect to the late, great Levon Helm: Trump’s a loser — if we ever did see one.
William Weinstein
New Paltz
The Biden blues
With the presidential election drawing near, it’s no surprise that a few of Neil Jarmel’s TDS apostles are coming out of the woodwork. Joining Neil in the art of Trump bashing in varying degrees last week, we have William Weinstein, Tom Cherwin and Steve Romine.
Tom Cherwin refers to Biden’s support of Israel as a “blot” (singular) on Biden’s record. I guess Tom, somehow, missed all the other more significant and numerous “blots” of the past 3+ years … an extremely poor economy, a record crime wave encouraged by a cashless bail program coupled with a now impotent judicial system, a corrupt two-tiered judicial system to boot, cancelling conservative few speech, weaponization of our DOJ and FBI purely for political purposes, and last but hardly least is the out-of-control border crisis. This last issue, alone, is a grave threat to our democracy and national security. Because of this, we have record fentanyl deaths, well over 10,000,000 illegal immigrants and counting, known terrorists and vicious gang members from various countries, Chinese nationals, etc. We will never know how many more of these dangerous elements are in our country due to pathetic vetting and around 1,700,000 “gotaways.”
In spite of all the above, William Weinstein is proud to predict a Biden reelection! I definitely want to stay away from William’s Kool-Aid. And, if his prognostication isn’t bad enough, William has the audacity to stand up for and defend poor Alejandro Mayorkas, our “brilliant” Secretary of Homeland Security … you know, the guy who’s trashed his sworn oath to protect our borders by refusing to uphold and enforce our existing immigration laws. I would rate his competency and honesty somewhere between a kumquat and a three-toed sloth.
I must compliment Steve Romine for at least having the sense to vote for a man with a functioning brain, RFK, Jr. It’s a shame we’ll never get to see a Biden – RFK, Jr. debate because it would take the custodial staff quite some time to mop up the indistinguishable remains of Biden. Trump would reduce Biden to mere dust in the wind.
If even half of the TDS crowd’s assertions against Trump were true, who would vote for such a radical? Why did so many people elect this horrible man over “stellar” Hillary Clinton in 2016? If Trump is a tyrant, why didn’t he immediately set up his dictatorship on day one of his presidency? Why did he bother wasting his time crating a record pre-pandemic economy with never-before-seen unemployment numbers, especially for blacks and Hispanics? As I asked Neil a couple weeks ago, why would anyone vote for a Hitler?
On a scary side note, Kamala recently said she’s “ready to assume a leadership role should Biden not to be able to continue as President.” GOD HELP US ALL!!! She couldn’t even handle the one and only real job Biden gave her, the border fiasco. Of course, neither could William Weinstein’s golden boy, Mayorkas.
John N. Butz
Modena
The HOTF proposal is flawed
The group effort by HOTF members and supporters to post letters in last week’s paper was admirable but contained several omissions and various untruths.
Susan Goldman’s letter began by blaming Bennet Ratcliff, then went on to defend Kirk Ritchey stating HE founded the Housing Alliance in late 2022. However, she failed to mention that SHE was also one of the original founders. This came about from a recommendation by the Housing Committee of which she was also the chair. It was not created in late 2022; it was filed with the NYS DOS on July 14, 2021. All public information.
Their two years of hard work were done in secrecy. The name HOTF was changed three times, starting off as a committee, then settling on a task force. In reality, they were a “committee of committees” and, as such, should have been following the Open Government Law.
Goldman, Ritchey, Collins, McKenna, Ricci and Courtis, all had one agenda on the different committees and boards, which was to pass the HOTF proposal. It would only require three votes from McKenna, Ricci and Courtis who were already on board. So, the amount of opposition and public outrage is no surprise.
Saying our group was led by Bennet Ratcliff to attack everyone behind the HOTF is not true. We’re a large group of independent homeowners and residents. When our opposition began, the HOTF referred to the concerned homeowners as “this crowd, fear mongering, untruths, pure fantasy, NIMBYS.” They failed to mention those attacks in their letters.
I worked my entire life to purchase a home surrounded by forest. I don’t want my wooded view cut down, wildlife displaced, to be replaced by a six plex in my backyard. Home values will plummet when the forest turns into apartment buildings destroying scenic country roads filled with charm and wildlife.
Using their own words, we too are appalled that so many volunteers had the gall to fill different boards and committees to push their agenda. Judith Kerman omitted in her letter that she was also on the planning board, one of the yes votes for future development requests coming out of the HOTF proposal she promoted.
Through hard work, research and studying both versions of the law, we came to our own conclusion: The HOTF proposal is flawed. Articles presented that show upzoning doesn’t work continue to fall on deaf ears. Affordable housing can better be achieved with Rupco.
Marcia Zwilling
Woodstock
Last week’s dilemma
Bittersweet penance:
Ash Wednesday on Valentine’s —
dust or chocolate?
Patrick Hammer, Jr.
Saugerties
Sewer plant planning grant
EF (C) yeah! Last summer we applied to the NYS Environmental Facilities Corp (EFC) for an Engineering Planning Grant (EPG) to pay for a study to make sure we are treating sewage at our plant as effectively as possible so the plant is protected from floods or storms, and therefore, the Wallkill River is protected.
We are pleased to share we have been awarded up $50,000 from the EFC so we may evaluate alternatives and identify improvements for our wastewater treatment plant on Huguenot Street.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
Super Bowl 58
As the dust settled on Super Bowl 58, amidst the clamor and spectacle reminiscent of ancient gladiatorial combats, a moment of tender humanity pierced through the din, starkly contrasting the violence that unfurled on the gridiron. It was not the thunderous clashes of titans that resonated with me, but the exchange of simple yet profound declarations of love between Jim Nantz and Tony Romo. “I love you, Tony,” said Nantz. “I love you,” Romo replied. In this, the zenith of the game for me lay an echo of something far more profound than the spectacle itself. This was the most-watched TV show ever, a modern coliseum where warriors battled not to death but to victory, punctuated by a moment of raw, unguarded emotion.
No one in my circles has brought this moment up, yet it struck a chord with me, daring in its vulnerability after hours of watching what I perceive as sanctioned savagery. It was as if, in that instant, the veil lifted, revealing a glimpse into the soul of humanity that lies beneath the armor and the spectacle.
The prelude to this battle, with Post Malone’s rendition of “America the Beautiful,” his face a tapestry of tattoos, set a poignant stage for my evening. Once, the lure of the Super Bowl for me was the creativity of the commercials, an inventive interlude during conflict. This time, however, only a few managed to keep my hand from the mute button.
This Super Bowl, in its entirety, seems to mirror the unconscious of America in its current state — embroiled in the specters of war and death that infiltrate our daily lives, wrestling with the fear and hatred that characterizes the other Super Bowl played out in our politics. It’s as if the game itself, with all its brutality and brotherhood, its spectacle and solemn moments, serves as a microcosm of the broader battles we face, both within and without.
In the gentle exchange between Nantz and Romo, I found a call to remember our shared humanity, even as we engage in the grand dramas of our time. Their simple yet profound words remind us that beneath the roles we play on the world’s stage, there lies a capacity for love and connection that transcends the fray. In these moments of vulnerability, we find our true strength, a beacon of hope in the tumultuous arena of life.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
In terms of real estate
God is, to use the language of real estate, an absentee landlord.
Sparrow
Phoenicia
Republiclown Party!
The Republicans, including Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, have seemingly retreated from their position on the U. S. southern border.
Ever since Joe Biden became president, they have argued and argued that his administration has left the border completely open to illegal immigration, drug transport and criminals. They have hammered this point over and over, making it the focal point of their entire political campaign. Now, they suddenly tell the American people that we don’t need any changes at the border. As usual, the Republicans are more concerned about their political talking points than doing something about the border problem and passing the bipartisan bill. They don’t want to fix immigration,
Trump, GOP, well, they’d rather hurt Biden. Their agenda is to just craft a way to blame Biden and the Dems and use it as an issue to run against. The hell with the countrymen, right? In other words, it’s time to stop giving the GOP the upper hand on immigration. They clearly have no interest in fixing the issue as our apparent border chaos gives them a fear button to keep hitting like rats getting delivered pure dopamine in the lab.
Just more follies from the Republican Party. Face it, their politics is nothing more than Trump’s dog-and-pony show. He has them jumping through hoops. They need something to whine and complain about because they have no platform except taking away women’s healthcare, taking away voting rights, hurting minorities and giving tax breaks to the wealthy which increases the national debt. They are only good at crashing the economy, railing against science and investigating private citizens. Hunter Biden … yes, their conceptualization of “policy” is to issue a new set of ill-informed rhetorical exaggerations every few days.
Ignorance and bigotry are poison to a democracy. Republican members of Congress have told us many times that they want to keep immigration as a red meat political issue to rile up their xenophobic base. Sadly, the Trumplandia base is so gullible they continue to allow themselves to be conned.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Who’s their Jesus?
Well now Jesus save me! I’ve read that the Hobby Lobby family — among other haters — is behind the Jesus Gets Us ads which were featured during the Super Bowl. Now up is down and down is up. I’ve almost never seen anything so disingenuous as this.
Hobby Lobby is one of the most hateful evangelical companies/families around! They preach hate. They ooze hate. They use their money to spread hate. They go to court in the name of hate.
Who’s their Jesus?
Jo Galante Cicale
Saugerties
Who is exhibiting arrogance and ignorance?
I really wish that Steve Romine would go back to being anal-compulsive in his quest about electricity (I believe that was what he was obsessed with for quite awhile) instead of his new “obsession” over Israel!
I am sure Romine either didn’t see and/or chose not to read a New York Times opinion piece by Bret Stephens on Wednesday, January 17 (“The Charges against Israel are a Moral Obscenity”). If he had, he would have realized that his constant ranting and railing about Israel’s genocide marks him as (will leave that blank for the readers of this letter to fill in). So for his information I submit the following:
The definition of “genocide” is precise, i.e. “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
Israel is committed to “destroying” Hamas and not Palestinians. On the other hand, Hamas has made it very clear that it is dedicated to destroying Israel and its Jewish population!
Further, Stephens points out that if Israel was indeed trying to commit genocide, it would not be allowing humanitarian relief to arrive and would just be killing Palestinians everywhere. Further, Stehens describes Hamas’s double strategy of hiding between, behind and beneath Palestinians (i.e. using them as human shields) thus incurring Palestinian fatalities to gain international sympathy and diplomatic leverage. They are using genocide against their own people as a weapon and Romine seems not to even be aware of this.
Quoting from Romine’s recent tirade he says “…they (Butz and Civile) demonstrate once again the ignorance about genocide and arrogance in the face of documented facts.”
Tell me dear readers of HV1, who is exhibiting ARROGANCE AND IGNORANCE?
Susan Puretz
Saugerties
American, disparate
They killed the babies with the American-made bombs
while I watched the Super Bowl
They leveled the buildings with the internal exiles inside
and still I watched the Super Bowl
Sniper bullets tore the mother’s and the daughter’s bodies apart
while I watched the seven-million-dollar commercial
for the latest AI program
They blew 67 innocents to bits
in order to free two hostages
while I watched Usher in the half-time show
They used the precision bombs, the guided missiles, the German tanks,
and their bright bevy of drone systems
all of which I contributed to the purchase of
with my U.S. tax dollars
to maim/slaughter/un-house/de-populate
Gazan families
and still I watched the Super Bowl
All around the world
people watched the Super Bowl
Even in Tel Aviv
people watched the Super Bowl
The thrill of the game
between Kansas City and San Francisco
was undeniable
But so was the killing
that went on unheeded
We all got to see Taylor Swift
in her VIP glass box
rooting for her footballer boyfriend
And all the celebrities at the game,
their private jets jockeying for runway parking spaces
The disparity
of the millions of lives enraptured by a millionaires’ game
versus the millions of lives endangered by the bloodiest and most ruthless of wars
tells you all you need to know
about how much a past-time
means to me, and those like me,
The New Normal of The Daily Genocide
enacted in my name, with my silent consent
Martin Haber
Woodstock
Woodstock’s STR permit fee increase
We wrote this to the Woodstock Town Board about the sudden, exorbitant increase in their short term rental (STR) annual permit fee:
We have been area residents for over 30 years and Woodstock homeowners since 1999. We put our daughter through school here and are enthusiastic contributors to the community on a year-round basis. This is our only home.
Our STR income is modest, but necessary. We’re not getting rich. We rely on our STR income for not only college expenses but also property taxes and upkeep. We have never been the subject of a noise, parking, or garbage complaint, nor have we ever required a visit from the police to remedy guest problems, because we are always on-site. We greet our guests in person when they arrive and we do not allow groups or parties. It’s a fact that owner-occupied STRs are overall much less trouble for neighbors and the town.
Too many second home owners, or who may even be LLC developers with no connection to Woodstock, have been allowed to take advantage of the Woodstock tourism appeal. To those people, this new fee is most likely negligible and therefore not a deterrent. But for small, subsistence owners like us, the fee is too high. It is punitive. If such fees are to be levied, they should be levied against non-owner occupied STRs only.
A 700%+ increase, applied with no warning or public input, is simply unfair, excessive and not justified for owners like us. The previous fee level was reasonable and was not government overreach. STR-related town services and enforcement salaries should be paid by those owners who are the actual cause of problems because they are not here to troubleshoot and oversee their rentals.
Brent Robison & Wendy Klein
Mt. Tremper
Hateful or factual
In response to Sarah Stone’s letter, “Addressing Hate …,” in last week’s HV1 issue.
First, contrary to Sarah’s erroneous implication, nowhere in my past letters, is there evidence of hate unless Sarah considers that to be any opposing views.
Second, Sarah to implying that I and others who oppose genocide would ever want a Jewish person dead is simply just far-fetched pure propaganda, with no truth in it.
Third, to say slaughtering 35,000 unarmed Palestinian civilians (mostly women and children) and starving and dehydrating a million people to death slowly is genocide, is not “exploiting” the term, but fitting the exact definition of genocide of the Genocide Convention, which Sarah apparently thinks is “meaningless.”
Fourth, Sarah’s four “basic truths” need some editing and additional facts:
1. The invasion by Hamas did not begin in a vacuum on October 7th, but was the result of 75 years of brutal oppression and apartheid by Israel, which Sarah conveniently fails to make any mention of.
2. On “human shields,” Gaza is so densely populated due to Israel forcefully imprisoning and blockading them, civilians can’t help but be a human shield if Hamas takes any military action.
Furthermore, human shields doesn’t have anything to do with Israel committing genocide by purposely starving and dehydrating a million Palestinian civilians to death.
3. Palestinians, understandably, are hostile to their apartheid oppressors, as were the blacks hostile to their white oppressors in apartheid South Africa and why Nelson Mandela sympathized with the Palestinians. Not all Palestinians are violent though, as many tried to peacefully and non-violently protest en masse on their own land in the Great March of Return of 2018? Sarah fails to mention the IDF responded with merciless violence, that she only ascribes to Palestinians, shooting children and women in the back, killing 213 unarmed Palestinian civilians. As far as Palestinians not “open for peace,” in 2000 Palestinian negotiators were willing to accept Bill Clinton’s two-state solution brokered by Ambassador Dennis Ross, but one man, Arafat, cowardly backed out ruining it for the Palestinian negotiators (https://www.npr.org/2023/10/19/1207243717/23-years-ago-israelis-and-palestinians-weretalking-about-a-two-state-solution).
4. Sarah alleges Zionism does not officially call for “the destruction of any other state, violence or ethnic cleansing” but must have her rose-colored glasses on because that is exactly what Israel has been doing to Palestine for the past 75 years and what the Zionist Netanyahu war criminals are clearly doing now. Can Sarah, after reading the Balfour Declaration, tell me that Israel has protected the civil and religious rights of Palestinians, mandated by that initial agreement? Sarah’s fellow genocide-deniers John Butz and George Civile have not replied to that same question. I guess the International Court of Justice must be hateful, biased and anti-semitic also, because it has told Israel in so many words, self defense is no excuse for genocide.
Steve Romine
Woodstock
Love letter to Woodstock
My sweet Yerry Hill
how many times
my feet trekked on you
so intimate, I knew
your every curve and rise
you were mine
I’m far from you now
flung out on sand
And will I see you again?
I can’t say
but I wish it to be true
Patricia Gibbs
Kitty Hawk, NC
Ethics findings
Kirk Ritchey and I both recently received findings from the Woodstock Ethics Board.
Regarding Kirk’s findings, I worked with Kirk on the Woodstock Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 2018, and for over two years on the Housing Oversight Task Force (HOTF). Woodstock has been tremendously lucky to have Kirk, with his talent and passion for getting things done and helping Woodstock. Kirk’s leadership of the Comprehensive Plan and co-leadership of HOTF was great. He always came to meetings prepared with discussion topics. His leadership style is that everyone speaks, and decisions take into account everyone’s input such that almost every decision was a unanimous decision, and all decisions were consensus decisions. The HOTF proposal reflects what many people think. This proposal is now with the town board, who should make decisions on this law, considering public comment, and based on the words in the law and whether they agree with those words.
Regarding my findings, I was part of a sensitive conversation with Alex Bolotow in March of 2023. Alex has talked a lot publicly about that meeting. I believe in freedom of speech. I defend Alex’s right to share her view of things even though, as one close to the details, I know she consistently omits or distorts key messages. Because the March 2023 meeting was a personnel meeting, it is not appropriate for me to publicly clarify details.
The Woodstock Ethics Board is a volunteer board made up of dedicated people who are experts in Woodstock’s ethics law. They found that Kirk should adjust his committee involvement, which he did. They found that in the course of the March, 2023 conversation with Alex, I should have done two things differently. In my case, their recommended corrective action is training for the entire town board. Supervisor McKenna is scheduling ethics training for a future town board meeting, where others will be invited to also share in the training benefit. I look forward to us all receiving this training.
There is a lot to be done for the Town of Woodstock. I thank our Woodstock Ethics Board for their part in making sure that in the future, as we work on doing the right things, we do them the right way. Let’s keep Woodstock moving forward!
Laura Ricci
Woodstock Town Council Member
Town board should respect and appreciate its volunteers
Most town boards understand the important contribution of volunteers for the successful government of the town. Volunteers staff planning boards and ZBAs, contribute to committees, commissions, and task forces and generally help make the town a better place to live.
Few volunteers expect a bouquet of roses from the town board for their services, but respect and some appreciation is deserved.
The fabricated charges of sexual harassment brought against Alex Bolotow, former chair of the environmental commission, for a self-deprecating comment about her boobs was an instance of extraordinary retribution by a board member against a volunteer.
Ethics complaints were filed against board member Laura Ricci for abuse of her position and false accusations against Alex Bolotow. In fact, the ethics board was the only forum where the actions of board member Ricci could be contested. The ethics board supported Alex’s complaint and returned a formal determination to the town board with a curious recommendation.
Although the town board wrote and adopted the ethics law, and board members sign a financial disclosure form each year to certify they have read and understand the ethics law, the ethics board recommended that the town board receive training on its own ethics law.
Ken Panza
Woodstock
Change the speed limit
We need to consider how the increase of the speed limit just past the SUNY exit from 40 to 55 contributed to the death of Raymond Rattray. Another reader noted that walking facing traffic could have saved him. Also, if the driver had made a call, “I think I hit something,” his victim might have survived instead of lying in the woods for almost 24 hours. Hypothermia may have been the final cause of his death. Route 208 beyond the speed limit increase has student housing, no shoulder to speak of, a straightaway, sweeping downhill curves with many warning signs. Jansen Road enters from the left and Cedar Lane from the right at the bottom of the hill. Many accidents and near misses have happened there. 45 mph should be the speed limit until past Dressel Farms.
Susan Mischo
New Paltz
Support the traffic safety board
On February 5, I went to check out the Ulster County Traffic Safety Board meeting in Kingston. It takes place every month and the public is welcome to come and speak. I was very impressed and moved by the mostly volunteer members of this board. They mean business, they care about what is happening on our roadways and they need the public’s support. HV1’s front-page article last week about how deadly Route 28 is was extremely important, but we have to keep the conversation going. We can’t give in to cynicism that nothing can be done. I live half a mile away from where those beautiful young men died by the bridge on Route 28. Those of us who live here and drive over that section every day will never forget what happened. I think we all see the dangers on our roads and a lot of us have valid opinions on what can be done to stop some of these tragic car crashes from happening. They could put a sign up right now making it a no passing on the shoulder zone, a flashing light warning of the dangerous intersection with 212, start the process of lowering the speed limit … something, anything. We shouldn’t have to wait months for the DOT and the engineers to come up with a plan. Eventually, we all end up knowing someone hurt or killed in accidents involving cars. Accidents that often could have been avoided and should have been. As the board reiterated, it’s the three E’s — education, enforcement and engineering. Collectively, we can and should weigh in and support the people who are trying to address this very complicated crisis. Please come to their next meeting at the legislative building in the DMV in Kingston on March 5 at 6 p.m., write letters, speak up. Let’s keep this momentum going.
Molly S. Holm
Mt. Tremper
Righteous or biased?
Douglas Murray, British journalist and author, has visited a number of sites in which the aftermath of war crimes could be observed. Recently, he viewed video recorded by the perpetrators of the October 7th attack. Murray described seeing a man decapitating a victim with a shovel and then phoning his family to gleefully report that he had killed ten Jews with his own hands. His family was elated. With this in view, senior Hamas official, Ghazi Hamad, in an interview with Lebanese channel LBC on October 24 — stating that the existence of Israel is the root of all violence and pain — promised: “We will repeat October 7 attacks until Israel is annihilated.” (I wonder if the not antisemitic and not anti-Israel, Steve Romine, favors this “anti-Zionist wet dream?” If he does not, why, then, is he silent on this statement? And if he is against civilian casualties, why has he never demanded that Hamas stop creating Palestinian “martyrs” by the practice of fighting from within the Palestinian civilian population? (I’m sure even Steve’s experts would acknowledge that this practice is a violation of the Geneva Convention.) Steve cites Psalm 11:5 and Ephesians 5:11 (both asserting the soul of THE LORD hates violence) to support his claim that the letters he has written about Israel’s “documented” crimes of genocide against Palestinians do not make him antisemitic or biased, but righteous. However, Steve never criticizes those who chant “from the river to the sea Palestine shall be free” which is a clear call for “violent genocide” against Israel. Nor does he acknowledge the truthfulness of the statement that if Israel laid down their weapons, there would be no more Israel, but if Hamas or Israel’s enemies disarmed, there would be peace.
I suspect that the not antisemitic Steve thinks that the “soul of THE LORD” only hates violence when it comes from Jews defending themselves. And Steve, contrary to your claim, I and others have addressed and disputed the majority of questionable facts and issues you presented in your past letters, and you have not rebutted but ignored them as “tit for tat” or repeated the claims of “your” experts.
Finally, in view of Mr. Romine’s letters, it’s easier for me to believe that Neil Jarmel is not anti-Trump and not anti-his supporters than it is to believe Steve and his experts do not have an anti-Israel bias.
George Civile
Gardiner
The horse is out of the barn
In over 30 years as a resident of Woodstock, I have seen hundreds of people become volunteers on various boards. The process began with an ad in the local newspaper saying that there were vacancies on various boards and committees. It was believed that placing ads, and having individuals go through an interview process with the town board and the chair of the board or committee, the town would wind up with a larger pool of knowledgeable and caring volunteers.
Why didn’t McKenna make the resolution to have the town clerk put an ad in the local newspaper advertising the vacancies before many of them were filled? Could it have been that if he handpicked specific individuals to fill the vacancies, he would have more control over the various boards? Bill, Woodstock is a democracy, not your special fiefdom.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Standing by Sarahana Shrestha
I would describe myself as a moderate Democrat, with a wary eye to some of the Progressives in my party. I wasn’t a supporter of Sarahana Shrestha in her bid to unseat State Senator Cahill. But when I emailed Senator Shrestha about an issue I was concerned about on a Saturday night, I received a personalized response from HER within an hour.
While our politics may not always align, I am highly impressed by her dedication to her constituents. I will vote for Sarahana Shrestha in both the primary and general elections.
David Held
New Paltz
Fools, damn fools and judges
The law is important. Fairness in court keeps us from duels, like what took from us Alexander Hamilton. Fairness lets us solve our problems like good, decent people. You may hate Trump, but that incompetent, spiteful jerk of a judge in NYC, who fined Trump $355 million dollars when NOBODY has claimed harm, is one giant step for mankind in the wrong direction.
Trump brags, and Stormy Daniels puts out for money. Alvin Bragg, the Manhattan-DA does not hold criminals in jail. He does not prosecute (enforce) prostitution laws, so pimps and child traffickers have less to worry about. We are learning not to trust the courts. When injustice is done, attention must be paid.
Paul Raymond
New Paltz
Climate change emergency
In this winter that wasn’t in the Mid-Hudson Valley and the Northeast, it is appropriate and indeed worthy to mention to readers of Hudson Valley One that the Super El Nino and the effects of climate change we are all experiencing in 2023-24 winter season, is but an affirmation of what James E. Hansen, the famed climatologist wrote about and published on November 2, 2023 (along with 12 other climate scientists) in his Global Warming in the Pipeline, perspective article, published by Oxford Open Climate Change that “under the present geopolitical approach to GHG (Greenhouse Gas) emissions, global warming will exceed 1.5 degrees C. in the 2020s and 2 degrees C. before 2050.”
In Hansen’s peer-reviewed scientific paper, Hansen emphasized “required actions” mandate 1. “A global increasing price in GHG emissions” and accompanied by the construction of more clean “dispatchable” energy sources, 2. East-west cooperation that “accommodates developing world needs” and 3. “Intervention with Earth’s radiation imbalance to phase down today’s massive human made “geo-transformation of Earth’s climate.”
All the manifesting and worsening symptoms of unchecked global warming and rising atmospheric C02 levels, (now over 424 PPM as measured at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii), melting glacial ice, rising sea levels, the shifting AMOC (Atlantic Meridonal Overturn Circulation or Gulf Stream that moderates European and American climate), extreme weather events, shortening of the northern spring season, snow and rain drought, slowing jet streams and thawing methane escaping permafrost are all tied to the climate change effects that Hansen cited in his paper largely ignored by the worldwide media and much of the public. Critical to Hansen’s thesis in paper is that increasing polar ice cap melt and rising sea levels and the cessation in the use of sulfur-based aerosol fuels in ocean going ship traffic in 2010 “should increase the 1970-2010 global warming rate of 0.18 C. per decade to a post 2010 rate of at least 0.27. C. per decade,” which is in excess of the IPCC predictions and the end of century UN limit of worldwide temperature of 1.5 C agreed to by the 2015 Paris Climate Accord Treaty.
Sulphate aerosols in the atmosphere act as a suspended sunlight reflective particles that have historically lowered the worldwide climate temperatures and have been identified as key volcanic gasses such as in the 1815 Mt. Tambura eruption (responsible for the 1816 Year Without A Summer) and Mt. Pinatubo volcanic eruption in 1982 in the South Pacific that dramatically lowered the world’s temperatures by several degrees.
I urge all Hudson Valley One readers to read Hansen’s paper to better understand the science and symptoms of our climate change emergency and to take personal and collective action to help stem the climate apocalypse around us.
Victor C. Capelli
Ulster Park
I support Sarahana Shrestha for NY Assembly District 103
I’m endorsing incumbent Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha in the Democratic primary. Sarahana has done something that many politicians refuse to do: connect with her constituents who have felt left behind through face-to-face conversations. Ulster County residents have shared countless stories with me about how Shrestha and her staff spend hours listening to their concerns and supporting them as they seek to change laws or navigate state agencies. Shrestha campaigns in the same way, by turning out dedicated volunteers to knock doors and reach out one household at a time.
Those relationships allow her to bring the perspective we need in Albany. Ulster County’s problems are not unique. Constituents fear the ongoing climate crisis, struggle to make ends meet, and suffer from declining state institutions. These are Shrestha’s core concerns, and she’s notched major policy wins that address them. From passing the Build Public Renewables Act to break our dependency on corporate energy companies to winning operational aid for SUNY New Paltz in the state budget, Shrestha is delivering transformative change for our towns and villages. She knows we need more than changes around the margins to fix our crumbling society and she’s already delivering. We should keep supporting her as she demands strong tenant protections to address our housing crisis and fights to make the rich pay their fair share.
Establishment elites created the problems we deal with today. Sarahana is solving them, and that’s why Ulster County Democrats should support her reelection.
Megan Sperry
Ulster County Legislator District 17
Towns of Esopus and New Paltz
Palestine
I’ve been trying to wipe
The blood from my hands
By wiping the evidence
Of my senses from my mind.
But my mind stubbornly refuses
To go deaf, dumb, and blind —
Refuses to unhear the guns fire,
Or the bulldozers crush,
Or the bombs detonate,
Or the maimed moan,
Or the murdered go mute;
Refuses to unscream my protests
At the walls and into the wind
As if they were Netanyahu’s ears
And his ears were not unhearing;
Refuses to unread the reports
Of the devastation as it drones on,
Day by day by day by day,
Death by death by death.
And refuses to unsmell
The blood on my hands.
For I am complicit in my silence:
Guilty of registering my rage
Only with the walls and the wind
While the dying wails fill my ears;
And as I idly ponder that these wails
Are reaching a fearsome crescendo,
Could soon become a unified chorus
Of long-strangled voices
Whose sound — and whose fury —
Will drown out October seventh
And dwarf even the slaughter
That has followed in lockstep.
I am complicit in my paralysis:
For speaking up little
And rising up less
As the sad history of Palestine
Is transcribed in blood and guts
Into boldface headlines I can’t unsee,
But relegate to the back pages;
As the sad history of the world
Careens toward a judgment day;
As the time draws near
When there’ll be no wiping
Of my hands, my mind, or my heart
That will ever make them clean again.
Tom Cherwin
Saugerties
Join the family! 
