Harris and Walz should engage voters, not Trump
Bronx: Kamala Harris should invest her remaining campaign days supporting her agenda for America and meeting voters. Do not waste your time agreeing to two additional debates with a felon who has so little respect for you that he chooses not to even learn how to pronounce your name. Do not debate a coward so narcissistic and egotistical that he chose to shrink from debating his fellow Republicans. Donald Trump opted instead to hug a podium and speak to a captive audience in rallies so he could spew his derisive language uninterrupted.
Do not waste your time prepping for two additional debates that will have to be fact-checked with every utterance Trump makes. Valuable time will be taken away from campaigning and allowing people to know you and Tim Walz. Instead, take a page out of Trump’s playbook and, following the upcoming debate, return to the campaign trail and continue using your time to wisely engage face to face with the voting electorate of this country in every state rally you and Walz can orchestrate.
There is no way to compress all the requirements a typical 14-month presidential campaign entails in the remaining 78 days. There has to be some compromise, and foregoing multiple debates with an “OG” who has no substantive issues to debate is an acceptable compromise.
Send a clear message. Fulfill the commitment to one additional presidential debate and move on. Trump can’t stop the tidal wave of support for real change. Pamela Butler
Bow out?
Manhattan: The way I see it, with nothing left to discuss and little, if anything, to be gained debating an uninformed, ill-mannered and uncouth individual — top aides who abandoned Trump’s ship early on in his administration said he “didn’t read” and “didn’t seek the counsel of others” — the only thing left to do, with Harris being a virtual shoo-in, is composing an appropriate concession speech and choreographing a graceful exit. Then again, considering the prima donna involved, that may be asking for a tad too much. Aydin Torun
Blatant sexism
Brooklyn: I am not surprised that Donald Trump is deriding Vice President Kamala Harris’ intelligence and ability to hold public office. He has long held politically powerful women in contempt. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he maligned Hillary Clinton, who served ably as a senator and secretary of state, as inept, crooked and unqualified. As president, he made little effort to conceal his disdain for British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, calling them both “disasters,” although he got along well with the murderous North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un and autocrats like Vladimir Putin of Russia and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Turkey. He had nothing nice to say about South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley when she opposed him for the Republican nomination for president, although of course now he welcomes her support. The most exalted status a woman can hold in Trump’s eyes is as one of his trophy wives. Dennis Middlebrooks
Free-speech warning
East Meadow, L.I.: To pro-Palestinian protesters who cherish the freedom to protest: Keep in mind that if Trump and his Project 2025 buddies win the election, the next place you may be protesting will be in Gaza. Jeff Tuck
Anti-union
Western Springs, Ill.: After Elon Musk came out in support of him, Donald Trump switched from criticizing electric vehicles to praising them. In a conversation between the two on the social media platform X owned by Musk, Trump praised Musk for firing workers who went on strike. The United Auto Workers filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board contending this could intimidate workers for the Trump campaign and Tesla who might want to join a union. History shows that working people made the most gains in wages and working conditions when they had strong unions. Then productivity gains were shared with workers and the middle class was expanding. President Biden, Kamala Harris and most Democrats support unions. Trump, Musk and most Republicans oppose unions. Richard Barsanti
RIP
New Windsor, N.Y.: Even though he lived to 98, I was saddened to hear of Peter Marshall’s passing. Though John Davidson and Tom Bergeron did fine on later versions, Peter was the true master of “Hollywood Squares” as announcer Kenny Williams called him. He did a great job playing straight man to nine celebrities, getting humor out of them but also keeping up with the game. A true gentleman who will be missed. Last year, we lost Bob Barker at 99. Now Winston “Wink” Martindale is the oldest of the old-time game show hosts; he turns 91 in December. Rest in peace, Peter, and thank you for the laughs. Todd Schuster
Depraved delicacy
Forked River, N.J.: I agree 100% with Voicer Kiley Blackman about the brutality of foie gras “farms.” These are more torture chambers than farms for the ducks and geese suffering daily in them. Imagine yourself in one of these places. First, your face is mutilated like these birds have their beaks cut off. Then you have a pipe shoved down your throat, pumping mush until your liver grows and explodes. The reason for this real-life horror movie is because people like to buy a food with a fancy-sounding French name to impress their equally vapid friends. The sale of foie gras was about to be banned until a spineless New York Supreme Court decided for this extreme cruelty to continue. Maybe some of the high-paid judges and lawyers enjoy foie gras. Jim Hughes
Good news
Omaha: Great article, news staff, on “Cops, woman pull off ‘miracle’ dog rescue” (Aug. 1). Tom Dahulick
Big mess
Rego Park: A judge’s recent ruling in favor of Forest Hills Stadium concerts is just another example of how this city is turning against the middle-class taxpayer resident in favor of the louder far-left minority. The open-air stadium, sitting in the middle of a dense neighborhood with a large Jewish population, promptly turned around and scheduled an all-day event on Yom Kippur. This is just the latest in affronts to the average, working-class outer-borough resident whose rights no longer seem to matter — mentally ill homeless people harassing citizens; fare-beaters; pedestrians dodging e-bikes; City of Yes zoning proposal; neighborhood stores closing due to rampant shoplifting and now vacant; pot shops springing up everywhere — the list goes on. A born-and-raised New Yorker, I can’t wait to leave. Oreg Tuttle
Seedy scenes
Manhattan: Please write an article with pictures about the horrid conditions over on Eighth Ave. Workers here must confront homeless drug addicts every day. I literally am stepping over bodies with needles still in their arms, passed out by our office doorway on an almost daily basis. It is a total embarrassment for tourist families to see this during this busy tourist season. There is no police presence on the streets here while these strung-out crazies are roaming around and shooting up in the open, leaving their needles all over the sidewalk. What are my chances of having my customers come to our offices with these kinds of conditions? The commercial market in the city will never bounce back until the city makes it inviting for the workers to be here! Bruce Larsen
Key content
Clifton, N.J.: I like the paper because of the comics, Voice of the People for their interesting letters, baseball’s pitching stats are good too, and with football approaching, Hammerin’ Hank’s Honeys. He always gives good updates and his thoughts on the teams he is picking. The rest of the important news items can be seen on TV. Steve Farawell
Consumer power
Pasadena, Calif.: Let’s protest market prices! Only buy items that you really need and try to purchase sales items while staying away from items that manufacturers put in bigger containers with less product and charge more! Look at the price of cereal! Do you realize that the corporations and the wealthy doubled their wealth during the pandemic? Corporate giants have no plans to bring prices down. In fact, their own executives are openly bragging about how they’re going to “expand margins.” Procter & Gamble predicted $800 million in windfall profits as input costs decline. Kimberly-Clark’s CEO said the company has “a lot of opportunity” to expand margins over time. It’s not inflation, we are getting ripped off by corporate greed. Richard A. French