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Very disappointed to read New Hampshire Senate passed a so-called “Parental Bill of Rights,” Senate Bill 72, a law that claims to empower parents but that will actually endanger students. As a former high school and middle school counselor, I witnessed too many cases of child abuse of students 11 to 18 years of age perpetrated by family members. The most damaging involved a teenage girl impregnated by her own father and another 12 year old girl consistently raped by a half-brother brought into the family home by her mother’s remarriage. Both girls ended up in my office because they were afraid to tell the spouse of the offending parent or that it was his son in one of the cases. As a mandated court reporter, like all school counselors, I supported each girl while she told her parent with the appropriate law officer in attendance. Tough and painful decisions were made in both instances. Tess Sumner, student at Newfound Regional High School, is right when she said in her My Turn that students need safe places and people to go to when they need help and support solving problems. Teachers, coaches and counselors are often people they turn to when their parents are not available. As to SB 72 allowing parents the right to exclude their students from sex education curriculum, that law has been in existence since I was a child 50 years ago.

I am writing to express my opposition to HB 524, which repeals the NH Vaccine Association. Despite over 3000 Granite Staters signing in to oppose, the Republican members of the House Health, Human Services & Elderly Affairs chose not to listen to their constituents and have instead moved this proposed legislation forward. It is now being considered by the House Ways and Means Committee.

Israel was entitled to reply to the murder of its 1,200 citizens and the kidnappings of more than 200 people by Hamas. But the Israeli army has gone far beyond a reasonable response. It has flattened hundreds of thousands of buildings in Gaza, including 90 percent of the housing. It has caged most of the people in massive desert concentration camps, moving them every few weeks to new sites, while blocking trucks with food and humanitarian aid at the Egyptian border. Millions of people, mostly women and children, face starvation. Heaven help them if the fighting resumes unchecked. They are the hostages of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, an un-prosecuted war criminal, also charged with corruption prior to the war in his own country. He is our co-defendant in the court of world opinion, which doesn’t like America very much right now, thanks in large part to our rouge president. Trump is making our democracy a dictatorship like Russia and the former democracy of Israel as fast as possible.

The State of New Hampshire and Gov. Ayotte have reached a new low in their plan to help balance the state budget by levying a tax on the salaries of Medicaid recipients. A family earning approximately $68,000 per year with a single parent and two children would be levied a tax of approximately $280.00 per month, money needed for food, fuel, rent, car payments and clothing. Meanwhile, Gov. Ayotte and the Republican legislators are happy to freely provide Education Freedom Account vouchers totaling $10,000 per year to a family of four with an annual income of $110,000 in order to send these children to a religious school, a private school or to be homeschooled. These vouchers deprive our public schools of necessary money and resources and in the process will increase towns’ property taxes. This would appear to be a reverse Robin Hood: rob from the poor to feed the rich.

As the mom of two adult sons who live with a disability, our lives are challenging. We must think about our day in a way other families do not, from building in extra time to go out to wondering if the places we need to visit will be handicap accessible. The big challenges come when we navigate our health care system. For the most part, it is not well-equipped to treat someone who rolls up in a wheelchair. What might be a minor illness for people without a disability can turn into a serious illness. Two years ago, my son Ben and I sat in an overcrowded emergency room for hours and it wasn’t until our pulmonologist, who was away at a conference, made a call to the ER that Ben was finally admitted to the ICU. Ben’s life was saved that day. If New Hampshire legalizes assisted suicide, going to the hospital with a respiratory infection could turn into a more serious situation because doctors, according to a Harvard survey, do not all view Ben and Sam’s quality of life as equal to yours or mine. If we normalize suicide, doctors will steer people with disabilities towards assisted suicide instead of treatment. It has been proven in Belgium, Canada and in other states. We cannot accept this risk, nor should our legislature. This is especially true since we already have options to manage the end-of-life journey with hospice and palliative care.

Ever since Donald Trump was inaugurated in January, Democrats have been organizing, mobilizing and working hard to tell the American people the truth. Just this weekend in Concord, hundreds of Democrats and even some independents lined Main Street in front of the State House holding signs and showing which issues matter most, like saving Medicaid, basic freedoms, taking climate action, gun reforms and holding extremists accountable. They were on the streets from morning until evening, waving to voters, protesting peacefully and understanding everyone’s opinions. The Democratic party will continue to organize in New Hampshire to ensure that every voter gets the correct information.

It now appears there is no expectation of any building aid from the state to partially offset the cost of a new Rundlett Middle School, which would cost approximately $164 million. Previously, School Board deliberations included some level of aid to reduce the total expenditure. With this financial setback, I suggest that the Board pause any further expenditures for the architects until they provide Concord taxpayers with a cheaper alternative for review. It appears the contract with HMFH architects says that “If the District does not receive state funding in the next bi-annual funding cycle (2025-26, 2026-2027), the contract may be paused until such funding is made available for the project.” A pause would allow time for the Board and the people of Concord to explore all possibilities.

Elon Musk, who gets more money from the government than anyone else, called social security a Ponzi scheme on a recent podcast. Nothing could be further from the truth. A Ponzi scheme assumes there are limited investors that will reap the majority of the fraudulent scheme. Social security is a benefit that every taxpayer will at some point in their life be able to use. On the other hand, what is going on is a Pyramid scheme, primarily benefiting the top 10 percent of wealthy individuals and corporations. It started with Reagan’s trickle down theory. The idea is: Let’s give tax breaks to billionaires and corporations, and they will automatically reinvest. What a crock. Tax cuts to the wealthy have been the primary driver of our national debt. Recently, I had to find myself in agreement with Steve Bannon. He is against tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations. In his view, the 2017 tax cuts did not provide any economic boost. These individuals and corporations used the money to fill their own pockets, through stock buybacks and high dividends payments. So now, President Trump wants to continue this Pyramid scheme to the tune of 4 trillion dollars. No strings attached, just collect your money. And what do we get for it all? Absolutely nothing, except for cuts to Medicaid and education because we have to pay for this free handout to billionaires somehow.

As an estate planning/administration attorney for more decades than I want to admit, I write to provide support for the Social Security Administration. Without a doubt, SSA is the most efficient government agency with which I work. When a person dies, the SSA immediately upon notice of death from a funeral home withdraws that month’s payment. In a timely manner, the SSA notifies the surviving spouse of the benefits they will receive, which is the higher of the husband’s or wife’s monthly benefit. If you have a question, the SSA office actually answers the phone and provides answers to questions. You are treated with respect.

On March 7, for the second time in a row and the second time since President Trump was elected, the redesigned SpaceX starship exploded — or, as SpaceX put it in a sublime example of Orwellian Newspeak, the starship had a “rapid unscheduled disassembly.” Plus, according to the New York Times, it is probable that the same problem that caused the first explosion caused the second one. Yet, the U.S. pays SpaceX billions of dollars for government contracts. I don’t know whether any taxpayer dollars were used to fund the rocket. Even if not, given the latest failure, how about putting SpaceX contracts under DOGE’s axe? Only that, for Elon Musk’s personal use and benefit, “DOGE” means Department of Government Extravagance.

At the Oscars, delighted cheers went up for the film “No Other Land,” a documentary about an Israeli and a Palestinian sharing friendship and resistance in the West Bank. The Israeli director, Yuvla Abraham, told the crowd, “When I look at Basel, I see my brother. But we are unequal. We live in a regime where I am free under civilian law and Basel is under military laws, that destroy lives.” Co-director Basel Adra has not been free his entire life. The entire population of Gaza, the majority of whom were forced out of their homes generations ago, is not free — not even to flee 2,000 pound bombs. Gazans are not free to go back to their homes. They are not free to go for hospital care. They are not free to sell and buy goods from the rest of the world. Director Abraham continued, “Can’t you see that we are intertwined? That my people can be truly safe only if Basel’s people are truly free and safe?” It is not possible for Israel to enjoy peace while actively denying freedom to occupied Palestine. Abraham knows that Israel has the power and could choose the path to peace for all. As we approach a vote in our senate to send billions more in bombs to blow the people in Gaza and the West Bank to pieces, we can call our senators. Use your voice to show Basel and Yuval that you support safety and peace.

The world lost one of its few remaining Holocaust survivors last month when Martin Turski died at age 98. As a teenager, Turski was shipped from Poland’s Lodz ghetto to the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. His father and brother were killed there. Altogether 39 of his family members were murdered by the Nazis, but Turski miraculously survived, and he dedicated his adult life to warning the world about the danger of indifference to injustice. In 1965, just 20 years after the liberation of Auschwitz, he joined the Selma-to-Montgomery civil rights march led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Why? In a 2020 interview, he warned: “The 11th Commandment is important: Don’t be indifferent… Do not be indifferent when you see historical lies. Do not be indifferent when any minority is discriminated against. Do not be indifferent when power violates a social contract.”

Since President Trump has threatened and now imposed tariffs on many goods coming from Canada, I sent Gov. Ayotte a number of emails asking what plans she had to deal with the severe economic impacts these tariffs would have on New Hampshire’s economy. Canada is New Hampshire’s largest trading partner, including lumber, fuel oil, electricity and gasoline. The loss of Canadian tourism is another potentially severe economic problem for New Hampshire.

In 1972, Title IX was signed into law. Over the years, it’s been tweaked and adjusted. Now, both Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan voted against keeping men out of women’s sports. Common sense says this is not an adjustment Title IX needs. Please, remember when these women run for election again, they care more about an agenda than they do about your daughters.

China is the world leader in the manufacturing and export of wind turbines, solar panels and electric vehicles. They’re investing in the infrastructure necessary to support EV markets. Tesla currently has a project under construction, building a 50-acre battery manufacturing plant larger than Boeings facility in Seattle with the help of the Chinese government. The strategy is to strengthen the energy storage business by creating the largest battery manufacturing facility in the world. The U.S., in the opposite move has pulled out of all environmental organizations, canceled tax incentives, halted leases for offshore wind farms ready to start construction after years of delays and programs designed to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. I guess this is one area the U.S. doesn’t want to be number one.

Rep. Lisa Mazur has introduced a bill to keep transgender youth under the age of 18 from accessing puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones. She accused the medical community of “rushing minors into irreversible medical interventions.” She ignored the fact that every major professional medical and psychological association approves these treatments and that both individual testimony and gender care clinics show there is no rush involved. She showed compassion when speaking of individuals she had talked with who regret their decision and detransition, but she admitted she had had no conversations with people who were happy and thriving after transgender care. Only 2% of trans individuals regret their decision, so perhaps speaking to some of the other 98% would have helped her craft this bill, or better yet, scrap it. She did not have a single question for the young people or their parents who came to testify. I don’t know why I am surprised. I’m a constituent and she refuses to talk to me. Legislators who see themselves as only representing those who agree with them do not truly represent us. When asked if she has a moral objection to transgender people, she said, “I love everyone.” I’ll believe it when I see it.

While testifying against anti-trans healthcare bans, a piece of my testimony was quoted by the Concord Monitor and WMUR saying “Why would I want this for my child?” I want to be clear that what I never wanted for my child was the hate, vitriol and political attacks aimed at them and other trans, intersex and gender non-conforming people. My trans child has given our family a wonderful gift. We are more comfortable in our skins and in the ways we don’t meet impossible standards of the gender binary. We are more understanding and are more willing to seek to understand. We are fiercer and more likely to stand with those being marginalized and most importantly- we have more love because we have created an amazing community for ourselves. My child’s transness is a tiny part of who they are, and a part of them that I love deeply. Having a trans child is not what brought me to tears at the State House, having a trans child who is being demeaned, threatened and attacked by our local and federal government is. My child deserves to play sports, see books that reflect who they are, use a restroom in public without threat, have documentation that matches their name and pronouns, be safe in school, have access to the same medical care and live a long and happy life, just like other children.

It appears to me that the New Hampshire School Fairness Funding Project (NHFFP) is a politically motivated group advocating for higher taxes to increase financial support of public schools. I have questions. Take for example, the Kearsarge School District budget of over $55 million which will represent a $33,000 cost per student per year because there are only 1,668 students in the district. Was the Kearsarge Superintendent and School Board advocating that all New Hampshire school districts should spend $33,000 per student by hosting a recent meeting for the public with the NHFFP? Does spending more per student equal better outcomes?

The heavy hand of the state is poised to come down hard on a small group of children who want to play on their school sports teams. Why do our elected legislators propose so many cruel restrictions on the rights and opportunities of transgender children who are a tiny percentage of our population? I think they do it because, at heart, they want to live in a society where minorities are kept segregated and inferior rather than respected and embraced — an undemocratic, white supremacist society. Restricting access to bathrooms and sports teams may seem small matters, but together with other legislative initiatives to curtail health care, ban books, eviscerate school curricula and even to defund public schools, it all adds up to a vicious attack on democratic society and specifically democratic concepts of equality. The late Sen. Paul Wellstone was fond of saying, ”We all do better when we all do better.” In this case, the inverse of that is “when we beat up on our minority children, we all lose together.

I’m writing to you as a retired educator, mother and grandmother. Nothing matches the sheer joy and pride of a child, teen or young adult learning a new skill, reaching a personal goal, feeling exhilaratingly excited and glad to be themselves. The equation doesn’t change, no matter the skin color, economic background or gender. Good parents know this, whether parents of binary, non-binary or transgender children. As the South Pacific song says, “You’ve got to be carefully taught” to hate and fear someone perceived as “different.” When you have personal experience with queer young people, you see these individuals as the human beings they truly are, not through the lens of fearful, preconceived stereotypes the current administration wants to teach you to use. The lies told by those who fan the fears of citizens lacking in empathy or personal experience are a travesty and nothing but hateful.