To the editor,
Mayor DeBlasio and his liberal cohorts will not be satisfied until they ruin all New York City schools. If anything, we’re supposed to be increasing the standards, not lowering them to admit students, many of whom will come to the prestigious schools with hidden disciplinary problems. Instead of working to improve discipline in the schools, the mayor and his subordinates refuse to admit that the problem exists and will only worsen things if his plan is allowed to pass. The elite schools will quickly go down the drain and then teachers will be accused of not being able to relate to the problem students.
The mayor’s own son made Brooklyn Tech under the current rigid system. He probably worked and studied hard and therefore deserved to get in. For every student that is allowed to be admitted under the excuse of furthering diversity, you shall be denying deserving students from attending these outstanding schools.
You can make all schools better by tightening up on your disciplinary procedures and adopting a policy of zero tolerance for any infraction whatsoever. Bring back the “600” schools so that chronic problem students are removed so that teachers can teach, students can learn and valuable time doesn’t have to be wasted on disciplining recalcitrant youth.
Let’s get our elected officials into the schools to see what is really going on, and not for the traditional photo-ops.Ed Greenspan
Sheepshead Bay
Spurned delivery
To the editor,
Let’s see, using the news reports of the past week…
An illegal immigrant is hired by a pizza shop to deliver pizzas. This fellow doesn’t reveal that he is an illegal nor does he state that there is a federal deportation order in effect, that will force him back to his home country.
This fellow is told by the shop manager to deliver a pizza to a high security United States Army base, Fort Hamilton. This fellow blindly, (or ignorantly), goes to the gate of this federal facility and is required to furnish proof of his identity before being allowed to deliver the pizza on the base.
This fellow displays his New York issued identity card (not a driver’s license I might add), whereupon the officers at the gate, doing their legally assigned duties, checked on this fellow to find that he really wasn’t who he said he was. The officers, following protocol, protecting the base and inhabitants, arrested this individual whereupon he was transferred to “I.C.E.” for processing and ultimate deportation. Do you see anything wrong here?
This fellow illegally crossed the border, was caught then issued the deportation order and, true to form, ignored the order, hopefully staying under the radar of officials. He would have stayed free in his illegal capacity if he didn’t make a dumb move, which is now all over the papers. And now, liberals from all over the country are coming to his defense supporting Illegal immigration. Now they are the ones that are truly dumb!
Robert W. Lobenstein
Marine Park
Re-thinking Nixon
To the editor,
Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani, now attorney for Donald Trump, says the President has the power to pardon himself for crimes he might have committed in office, but that might cause Congress to bring on impeachment proceedings sooner.
While the same might have applied with Richard Nixon, (although) he did not dare to think about it publicly, it should be noted, among other issues, (that) what Nixon’s detractors and critics took exception to was bombing Cambodia, which many people, if not most, believe he abused his power under the Constitution. However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled less than a month before Nixon resigned that he did not abuse his power, in an 8–1 decision. It was Justice William Douglas who dissented.
The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Peter Rodino, dropped that article of impeachment, but left intact the abuse of power issue and contempt of Congress for not releasing the tapes.
While Nixon did surrender the tapes, he resigned Aug. 9, 1974. Nixon himself said he actually impeached himself by resigning. What is not mentioned about Nixon and Trump is that they will have already imcriminated themselves under the 5th Amendment by pardoning themselves and would incite Congress to probe futher into other improprieties. While Nixon wrote books about foreign affairs as well as his memoir, he made a very bad mistake by not writing a history of all the Presidents before him — “The Presidential Myth,” revealing his own misconduct in full as well as (those of) his predecessors. This might have revealed that Nixon was one of our more decent Presidents.Elliott Abosh
Brighton Beach
Who’s at fault?
To the editor,
Once again our darling Councilmember Brannan is hurling blame at the driver who struck the bicyclist on Fourth Avenue and 88th Street without knowing the facts. Another “Chuck Schumer” who will say anything to get in print or on TV. The student had been warned several times by his teacher about his unsafe bicycling. The witness also said the car had the green light and that the cyclist jutted out into traffic from a driveway onto Fourth Avenue, and, by the way, going the wrong way. I also feel sorry for the poor driver who could not stop in time and is probably traumatized. Maybe now the 14-year-old bicyclist will have learned a tough lesson and hopefully follow the rules of the road in any future biking.Thanks for nothing, Justin.
Richard Hecht
Bay Ridge
In-Access-a-ble
To the editor,
I believe I can shed some light as to why Access-A-Ride doesn’t work — at least one of the reasons: The routes are mapped out in Texas, I learned. Yes, Texas — unless it’s changed from my last attempts at using the service. Need I say more?
Judith Mandiberg
Sheepshead Bay
Seeing pot-ential
To the editor,
Continuing keeping pot illegal makes no sense. Consumption of marijuana for both medical and recreational use is part of mainstream America, transcending generations.
Creative entrepreneurs will always provide the citizens’ desire, regardless of government approval. Consumers have voted with their dollars, making marijuana consumption a multibillion-dollar enterprise today. Legalize it and add a sales tax. Revenues will more than cover the costs of any abuse. Our tax dollars will be better used if police and judges spend more time prosecuting those who commit real crimes against individuals or property than going after those who consume or distribute marijuana. Significant space will be freed up in jails to incarcerate actual criminals.
Citizens have more to fear from murder, arson, rape, muggings, robberies, auto and identity theft or home break-ins than individuals who get high in the privacy of their own home. Law enforcement authorities should be free to pursue those who commit real crimes against citizens and property.
At 18, you are old enough to vote, be a parent, pay taxes, own a car, take out a bank loan, serve in the military and die for your country — but not consume marijuana. This makes no sense.
What consenting adults consume, inhale, perform, read or view in the privacy of their own home or private social club should not be the concern of government. Individual economic and civil liberties prosper best when government stays out of both the bedroom and marketplace.
Stop wasting billions of dollars on the war on drugs. End sending bribe money in the form of foreign aid to other nations so they can pay their farmers not to grow pot. Legalize the growth and sales of marijuana. Add a small national sales tax on all legal transactions. This could raise significant revenues and cover any medical costs for potential excessive consumption by some users. It would free up the military, courts and law enforcement to deal with other more important issues.
Let us hope that we have finally learned from the obvious failures of Prohibition. It is time to permit consenting adults to access any so-called illegal products or substances without fear from government harassment.Larry Penner
Great Neck
