The power of the people to speak truth to power
New Rochelle, N.Y.: The Daily News is truly the most impartial newspaper in the city. The proof of this claim can be seen in the great variety and passion of the people who contribute their views. Many things are challenged, be it about the evil that lurks in the hearts and minds of world leaders or crossword puzzles that don’t provide adequate size or print quality. All are accepted by The News and, I would surmise, the readers.
The world is in a constant state of unrest, and we are pressured by failures in our stewardship of the world’s nature and resources, hostile warmongers who possess the ultimate weapons of mass destruction, and the veniality and fragility of our own leaders, national or local. Yet, what is still blessed with honor and worthiness of heart, mind and spirit? In my view, God, country and the voices of our people who stand up for their beliefs and neighbors, and for what is simply right. The last seems arguable, but can be open to change.
The Daily News’ Voice of the People is a powerful testament for good citizenship and community. The Voicers who were shown to me in the March 23 issue of The News were the best examples of vox populi, a multi-dimensional assortment of open and outstanding thought ranging from a modern Greek poet, patriotic fervor and political common sense.
The greats — Jimmy Breslin, Pete Hamill and others — surely beamed down their lights from above. There will be more tomorrow. Warren Gross
Deterrence
Naples, Fla.: I am ashamed at what NYC has become. The MTA is $690 million in debt just this past year from turnstile jumpers. So, let’s install new gates at $700,000 per station to help resolve this, along with a $15 entry charge for vehicles below 60th St. I have a solution: Arrest the fare-beaters. Fine them or jail them up to 14 days. Clear warrants, recover weapons and make the transit system safer — all paid for by old tax dollars. If you don’t, the crooks will create a whole new TikTok challenge of jumping the new gates. Michael Calabria
Public accounting
Staten Island: Please, I beg you, can anyone tell me where all the money from the red light cameras goes? How much goes to the contractor and how much goes to NYC? Is it used for the good of the city? God only knows, and the public will never get a straight answer. Michael Modafferi
Lawmakers and order
Yonkers: How many more innocents will be murdered, mugged and mauled by sanguinary, recidivist thugs and mentally ill individuals, none of whom belong unfettered on the streets of New York City and state, before the left-wing Democrats restore law and order? We now have a young police officer, Jonathan Diller, wantonly killed by a career lawbreaker. From Gov. Hochul to Speaker Carl Heastie to Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, and all those who continue to ignore the destruction and mayhem caused by their years of criminal-coddling criminal justice “reforms,” the blood of so many victims drips from their hands. If New Yorkers want this to change, they must change those in public office now leading this city and state on the road to perdition. Requiescat in pace, Officer Diller. James McCaffrey
Asset hunt
Brooklyn: While I read with interest the informative March 24 op-ed authored by Messrs. Neil Pedersen and Adam Pollock, “Donald Trump and the sheriff,” I am left wondering how the N.Y. attorney general will be able to determine which LLCs are actually owned by Trump so as to seize the membership interests “within days” of execution. I would expect that the contest to identify Trump’s assets that are not readily visible would be at least as spirited as the one that produced the judgment in the first place. Stuart R. Lang
Fortunate son
Blairstown, N.J.: Trump’s father paid off a doctor to keep him out of the Army. It happened often in the Vietnam era. I had an uncle and aunt who paid off a doctor in New Jersey to keep my two cousins out of the Army and Vietnam. While in college, Trumpty Dumpty played golf and tennis every weekend. But now the Trumpster has to take orders from his boss, Vlad the Impaler, the Commie who is killing and wounding thousands of people in Ukraine. Putin has a lot of dirt on the Trumpkin. But bone spurs — what bone spurs? Ron Cristi
Take better stock
Bronx: Voicer William Cook’s comments concerning my deciphering the MAGA enigma was a typical Trumpian response, a blindness to reality. Cook is in total denial of President Biden’s accomplishments concerning the economy: the lowest unemployment in 50 years, a booming stock market, a GDP beyond expectation, more than 100,000 new manufacturing jobs, a bipartisan infrastructure program that will have a lasting effect on our economy for many years, and we finally produce our own computer chips. Biden made America healthier by making medicine more affordable. Yes, he could have done a better job at the border, but Trump and his MAGA followers don’t want to solve this problem. They defeated a bill formed by bipartisan senators because it would have helped Biden. What idiots! Gilbert M. Lane
Draw the line
Rockaway Point: Talk, talk, talk. Enough. Time for action, and close the damn borders. Congratulations to the Texas governor for doing the right thing. It’s a disgrace that Americans are fearful. Regina Mangan
Boon, not boondoggle
Swarthmore, Pa.: While the rising number of immigrant apprehensions at the U.S. border with Mexico has sowed political division and in some cases xenophobia, there’s one place where almost everyone seems on the same positive page: Wall Street. Last month, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office calculated that immigration will generate a $7 trillion boost to U.S. gross domestic product over the next decade. “Immigration is not just a highly charged social and political issue, it is also a big macroeconomic one,” said Janet Henry, a global economist. She also said that no advanced economy is benefiting from immigration quite like the U.S., and “the impact of migration has been an important part of the U.S. growth story over the past two years.” When someone tries to fearmonger about how immigrants are stealing American jobs and ruining our economy, try countering this pernicious myth with facts. Ken Derow
Top propagandist
Bronx: Once again you give Alan Dershowitz half a page in your paper (“Hamas turns Gaza’s hospitals into ‘Hamaspitals,’ ” op-ed, March 21) to support genocide against the Palestinians. Richie Nagan
Reign of terror
Marlboro, N.J.: I’m so damn tired and disgusted by all the haters and blamers looking at Israel as the one that started this war. It is, was and always has been Hamas and all the (Iran-backed) terrorist groups that want to rid the world of Israel and every last Jew. If you don’t know that, then you have your head so far up a canal. Hamas is on the verge of losing, but it is not done yet. They will regroup and come back stronger with all the antisemite funding and backing that exists. Why won’t they lay down their arms and surrender to save their people instead of cowardly hiding amongst them, using men, women and children as human shields? No! They believe in sacrificing thousands of their own and the destruction of their cities in the name of Jewish genocide! That’s the damn truth. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it! Howie Winick
Legal error
Kew Gardens Hills: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has proven she is a better mixologist than she is an authority on the law. She challenged businessman Tony Bobulinski to name a crime that would apply to President Biden. He referenced the RICO statute and she swiftly admonished him by saying the statute was a category and not a crime. So much for the dilettante. My sympathy to her constituents in the Bronx and Queens. Phil Serpico
Root check
Massapequa Park, L.I.: Someone please check AOC’s hair roots to make sure she is not a natural blonde. If not, she just proved herself to be the dumbest woman in Congress. Raymond P. Moran