Pip: Tony Retrosi is writing from Iceland, which feels about right for the vantage point this episode requires.

Mara: He's looking back at two hundred and fifty years of American history — what the country built, what it chose, and what it put on the White House lawn to mark the occasion. Let's start with the anniversary itself.

America at 250

Pip: The premise here is simple and brutal: a quarter-millennium of unmatched power and resources, and the question is what we actually have to show for it.

Mara: The post opens with a quote from Oliver Kornetzke that sets the frame, and then the piece itself extends that frame into a list. Here it is: "250 years. Two hundred and fifty fucking years of the most powerful, most resourced, most theoretically capable nation in the history of human civilization and here is what we have to show for it."

Pip: And what follows is the accounting — forty million on food stamps, thirty million without health insurance, the highest incarceration rate on earth, an opioid crisis past half a million dead, infrastructure collapsing, life expectancy going backward.

Mara: The list runs long deliberately. The point is accumulation — that no single failure is an accident when they all arrive together, sustained across decades, across administrations, across every available opportunity to choose differently.

Pip: And then the anniversary gift itself arrives: a wrestling arena on the White House lawn. Not a hospital. Not a school. A wrestling arena with cranes and pyrotechnics.

Mara: The post is direct about what that means. "Truthfully, this is not a departure from American values. This is the fullest possible expression of them. Because this is what we chose. Every single time the choice was presented."

Pip: That's the turn the whole piece hinges on — not outrage at a single bad decision, but the argument that the decision is consistent. The football coach making forty times what the physics professor makes. The Nobel laureate's school getting a budget cut while the state championship school gets a parade.

Mara: The military spending section makes the same case in harder numbers: more spent on defense than the next ten countries combined, while veterans sleep on the streets of the cities they returned to.

Pip: Rome had bread and circuses. The post's version lands a little differently.

Mara: "Rome had bread and circuses. We Americans have food stamps and a wrestling ring outside the Oval Office." That's the closing image, and it earns its place.

Pip: Two hundred and fifty years is a long time to confuse the noise you make with the work you never did.

Mara: The question the post leaves open is whether naming it clearly is the first step toward something else. We'll see what comes next.

Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s press release about running ads in NYC inviting businesses to move to New Hampshire is posted at the end of this op-ed.

By Rep. DAVID PREECE, D-Manchester

Governor Kelly Ayotte wants the country to believe New Hampshire is thriving under her watch. But no billboard truck rolling through Manhattan—or Manchester, for that matter—can hide the simple truth: Ayotte has spent her term defunding the very foundations that make a state worth moving to in the first place.

Ayotte touts “economic opportunity,” yet she cut state support for public schools, forcing local property taxpayers to shoulder even more of the burden. New Hampshire homeowners—especially in cities like Manchester, Nashua, and Rochester—are already paying some of the highest property taxes in the nation. Under Ayotte’s budgets, that pressure only worsens. A state that refuses to adequately fund its own children’s education doesn’t become a magnet for innovation; it becomes a cautionary tale.

She boasts about “freedom” while presiding over some of the lowest investments in culture and the arts in the country—slashing grants that drive tourism, downtown revitalization, and the creative industries that power modern economies. Arts and culture are not luxuries; they are economic engines. Ayotte cut them anyway.

As for economic development, New Hampshire has fallen behind its neighbors because Ayotte dismantled programs that help small businesses expand, attract workforce talent, and modernize infrastructure. Instead, she pours her energy into political theater—billboard stunts that insult entire cities but do nothing to address New Hampshire’s real challenges: sky-high housing costs, a shrinking workforce, unaffordable child care, and gridlocked transportation systems.

Calling New York City “communist” from the comfort of a billboard is easy. Fixing New Hampshire’s housing crisis is hard.
Mocking another state’s mayor is easy. Building a 21st-century economy takes work.

Ayotte chooses the former every time.

While she rents flashy trucks in Manhattan, Granite Staters struggle with rising energy costs that are among the highest in the country. Families brace for another year of inadequate school funding—despite court rulings declaring our current system unconstitutional. Workers leave the state because child care is either unavailable or unaffordable. Businesses can’t expand because employees have nowhere to live.

If Ayotte actually cared about economic opportunity, she would stop strangling public services and start investing in them. She’d fund the arts instead of gutting them. She’d strengthen public education instead of undermining it. She’d support small businesses by backing real, structural economic development—not gimmicks designed to score Fox News airtime.

And if she really cared about Granite Staters, she would stand up to the reckless tariffs imposed by her ally Donald Trump—tariffs that are actively driving up costs for New Hampshire manufacturers, farmers, and small businesses.

But she won’t. Because Ayotte’s politics are performative, not productive.
She governs by spectacle, not substance.

New Hampshire doesn’t need a governor obsessed with billboards.
We need a leader willing to fund our schools, invest in our communities, and build long-term prosperity—not tear it down for national political points.

Kelly Ayotte may think New Hampshire is her prop.
But Granite Staters deserve more than a prop governor.

Rep. David Preece

Below is Gov. Kelly Ayotte’s press release

🗳️ Breaking: Democracy Functions as Intended. MAGA Nation Devastated.

Democracy Is Working — Please Remain Calm

Apparently democracy worked this week, and MAGA Nation is furious about it.

In New York City, a democratic-socialist was elected — which sent a shockwave through conservative media. Judging by the online meltdown, you’d think Karl Marx had just been sworn in at City Hall. Spoiler alert: he wasn’t. But I’m fairly certain most of the people screaming about “socialism” couldn’t define it if you spotted them the first five letters.

Then, in Virginia and New Jersey, Democratic women won major elections — and that really seemed to push some folks right over the edge. Suddenly, democracy was “rigged,” “stolen,” or “a sign of the apocalypse.” Funny how that works.

When their candidate wins, it’s all:

“Sit down and take it!”

“Stop being a snowflake!”

But when their candidate loses, it’s:

“THE END IS NIGH! RELEASE THE KRAKEN! PUT UP THE GALLOWS!”

Tell me again how much you love democracy? I guess it’s easy to love when the person looks like you, talks like you, and stands up when they pee.

The lack of basic civic education in this country is honestly terrifying. So much so that the Kentucky Secretary of State had to send out a PSA reminding citizens of two very important facts:

Kentucky wasn’t voting yesterday. (Their elections are next year.) No, you cannot vote for the mayor of New York City.

That’s right. Somewhere in Kentucky, people were trying to figure out how to cast a ballot for an NYC race they have absolutely nothing to do with.

So maybe, before storming the Capitol again, it’s time we all took a deep breath, cracked open a civics textbook, and remembered what democracy actually is: people voting, candidates winning and losing, and government continuing to function — whether you like the results or not.

Democracy worked this week.

Please remain calm.

🗳️ Public Service Announcement

This has been a message from the Department of Elections for People Who Need to Chill Out.

Please consult your nearest high-school civics teacher before posting, tweeting, or constructing homemade gallows.

— Tony Retrosi

Dover, NH — November 2025

Thank You, Dover

Election Day in Dover was cold, blustery, and classic New England — but that didn’t stop democracy from showing up in full force.

I want to thank everyone who ran for office, from School Board to City Council. It takes courage, time, and a deep sense of service to put your name on a ballot. Our city is better for the people willing to step up, listen, and lead.

A special thank you to the voters of Ward 3 for your confidence and support. It’s an honor to continue representing you. I don’t take that trust lightly, and I’ll keep showing up — prepared, practical, and ready to work.

And to the volunteers from both parties who stood outside in the cold and wind, holding signs, greeting neighbors, and helping educate voters — you are the heart of our civic spirit. You remind us that local politics can still be respectful, neighborly, and grounded in community.

There’s no rest after Election Day. At City Hall, we’re right back to work — with a workshop tonight to review the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP), and a Housing Summit tomorrow as we continue tackling one of Dover’s biggest challenges.

Our best years are ahead of us — and I’m grateful to walk into them with all of you.

— Tony Retrosi

City Councilor, Ward 3

Let’s make sure NH stands for science, safety, and community

Sept. 8 − To the Editor:

Florida’s decision to end vaccine mandates is a terrible mistake − and it is one New Hampshire should never consider repeating.

For most of human history, the average life expectancy was only 30 to 35 years. People lived on organic food, breathed clean air, and consumed no artificial additives. And yet—they still died young. As Neil deGrasse Tyson has explained, lifespans only increased when science got involved. Vaccines, antibiotics, and public health measures changed everything.

By rejecting this progress, Florida risks a tragic return of diseases once thought eradicated and a rise in preventable deaths. That is not freedom—that is recklessness.

Here in New Hampshire, we pride ourselves on common sense and responsibility to our neighbors. Vaccines are not just a personal choice; they are a social compact that protects the most vulnerable among us—children, seniors, and those with health conditions.

There will also be a huge economic toll from plants and factories initially temporarily shutting down because of the spread of diseases (like during covid) to businesses moving to locations where this will not be an issue. In my work, I spend a great deal of time in Europe, and I already hear of families canceling vacations to Florida and even the U.S. because of health concerns. Do we want New Hampshire associated with that same reputation?

Public health should never be a partisan issue. It is about protecting lives. Let’s make sure New Hampshire stands for science, safety, and community—not politics that put us all at risk.

Tony Retrosi

Dover