We received a lot of letters agreeing and disagreeing with columnist Joanna DelBuono’s Feb. 3 musing “President Trump is locking the doors at night” — here are a few gems:
To the editor,
I have been reading [Joanna DelBuono’s] columns for years and find them very stimulating.
The best is the one on Feb. 3–9, Page 42. I loved your writing the truth. I wish your column was in a national paper so everyone would read it. Please send President Trump that article. Good luck for the future.
Arlene Sardell
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To the editor,
There is much to say about the Not for Nuthin’ column in the Feb. 3 issue of your paper. First, the author claims that people who live in high-rise luxury buildings have people to protect them and it prevents people invading their “boarders” (which is spelled “borders,” but I’m sure she knew that and it was a typo).
Well, the first lady is doing just that, and guess who’s paying for all that security? Yep. The City of New York. And while DelBuono actually does call it a “ban” (and depending on who you talk to — president, press secretary, or Kellyanne Con-job it may or may not be a “ban”) it comes down to the fact that any kind of discrimination based on religious beliefs is illegal. And also while the author claims it’s only temporary, it isn’t for Syria. Syria’s ban is not temporary, it’s indefinite.
And she also doesn’t mention that the countries that are banned have produced no known terrorists, while the countries that terrorists have come from, such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey, are not banned.
And is it just a coincidence that those are countries where the current president has business dealings?
People like DelBuono are the worst of Bay Ridge.
And the saddest part of all this is that she’s not alone. I grew up here and you see it in the bars and on social media all the time. Last week someone said to me that if I didn’t support the president, that I should be deported.
I tried to explain to him that it is not how Democracy works. He didn’t get it. And who is more stupid? The person who thinks all the protestors should be shot or the person who has to try and explain to him that you can arrest people but you can’t just execute them. (This second guy didn’t get it either)
And last week you ran an article that said there was a clash at the MLK Day march in Bay Ridge. It was billed as a march against hate. I was at the march start to finish. There was no clash, just four people with signs that caused no trouble. You also reported that it was on Fourth Avenue when it was actually on Fifth Avenue, so was your reporter even there?
There are good people in this neighborhood. I know many of them. But the us against them mentality is just wrong. And that is the current administration’s basic policy. If you can’t see where this is headed, you haven’t read enough history.
Michael Saccoliti
Bay Ridge
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To the editor,
Bravo! Clear analogy!
If Mr. Trump will make NY and America safer, I’m all for that! Everyone coming to America is not necessarily our friend!
To add to your analogy about locking our homes and securing them, how about the following?: Just as employers do background checks for prospective employees working eight hours a day at a company, shouldn’t our government require checks for people who could end up being my and your neighbor 24–7?
A case in point: About two years ago, two terrorists were arrested in an apartment building one block away from where I live! One of them was living with his mother who lived in the building. That was too close.
People’s lack of awareness makes a terrorist’s day. Let us not be so vulnerable! Thank you for your courage to speak up and put this message in perspective!
A person should be open minded — however, not so literally open minded that his brains fall out!
We need security!Shoshana
Flatbush
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To the editor,
In response to Joanna DelBuono’s Not For Nuthin article, let me begin with “tsk, tsk, tsk” Joanna. We that read your comments on a weekly basis have learned to agree and to disagree with you at times. However, your latest article does not allow one to sit idly by while alternative facts are being made.
Joanna, just because “celebrities” or those in the entertainment field express their citizen’s right to protest an action and/or deed by an official, does not mark or label them as “hypocrites” — unless you are also labelling yourself as the same.
They — like you — are working for a living. They, like you, have the right to vote, and stand on their soapbox as you have done through your columns. They — like you — have the right once their households settle down, to check all doors for security’s sake to protect themselves, their families, and their possessions as you stated you do each evening.
Every registered American voter — rich or poor — has the right to be heard. One may include those applying for citizenship too. For they are working hard, paying taxes, and supporting this great country of ours alongside us all.
The difference between Americans rallying against Trump, his supporters, and his staff are due to real facts, not alternative facts. Trump has repeatedly shown his overbearing ego, his divide-and-conquer tactics, the “do as I say, not as I do” attitude is bias thus “the people” will stand up against any and all injustices rendered, or deemed to be unfair and unlawful. Trump has “kingly” decided who or where the enemy is located and how they will be stopped.
Oh! By the way Joanna, bans on guns if not used by the military or law-enforcement agencies, is not “blah, blah, blah,” per your article. It’s another reason why you are checking your front and back doors to keep your family safe each evening Joanna.
By Trump’s own words during the primaries and during the general election, he has stated the unthinkable, for eight years he questioned the sitting president’s citizenship thereby tried to delegitimize his presidency.
He’s now the sitting president, yet he’s more concerned about the ratings and the host of his reality show than finding jobs for the people who need them badly. If you disagree with him you are a “so-called…”, as per the U.S. District Judge James Robart has recently been bullied and insulted in a childlike manner. Trump does not have presidential qualities — yet he is for the next four years?Debra Justin
Canarsie
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To the editor,
How dare Joanna DelBuono call us “whiners and to suck it up.” I will never accept Donald Trump — who is a racist, bigot, misanthrope — as my president. I, along with those who shouted “no” as he took the oath of office, know that Trump is not worthy of being called president. We are not “spoiled destructive individuals acting like toddlers in the terrible twos” but people who care about our country and what is happening to it.
No time-out for us — we will continue being vocal and protest whenever we see the injustice brought about by the election of Donald J. Trump.Rosalie Caliendo
Gravesend
Lobster hero
To the editor,
I am writing in regards to the Met Fresh Supermarket located at 9606 Third Ave. I wrote to them via their website and I did see a difference after my complaint. I don’t know if something was said or if it’s just coincidence. However, my complaint has risen again, so now I am writing to the paper to alert others about the community’s supermarket.
My complaint on the website was that I’ve seen lobsters stuck on their backs more than once. The facts are that lobsters are incredible creatures that can live to be more than 100 years old. They are intelligent, amazing beings that, given the opportunity to survive, they can take journeys covering more than 100 miles a year.
But this letter is about their now-miserable lives, what’s left of them in these tanks — suffering from stress, potential crowding, and low oxygen levels.
Can’t the employees give them a shred of compassion in their last days? Are they that lazy? I formerly would do it myself, but at last attempt (Jan. 25), the accessible lid seemed to be sealed shut. So this is what I’m resorting to. This is my attempt to speak for the voiceless and for workers to pay better attention to their surroundings.Victoria Booth
Bay Ridge
