Standing Up to Dangerous Rhetoric
Dear Editor:
I am writing in full support of Councilwoman Vickie Paladino’s recent letter.
The rise of radical left rhetoric is deeply concerning and poses a real threat to public safety and democratic values. We have already seen troubling examples abroad, where public gatherings and holiday celebrations have been restricted because governments admit they cannot protect their citizens.
When political leaders and activists chant slogans such as “from the river to the sea” or refuse to denounce calls to “globalize the intifada,” these statements are often excused as free speech. Yet when Councilwoman Paladino warned about the dangers of this rhetoric and the hatred it fuels, she was met with criticism instead.
This inconsistency reflects a troubling double standard.
Tzippy Feldman
Gift Givers
Dear Editor:
Oh, Kislev! What a wonderful time of year! This is true for everyone except poor gift givers.
Despite numerous suggestions such as, “Look at her beautiful eternity band!” I’d get oven mitts. Some people have a knack for gift-giving, while others experience a black hole. “You said we needed a new toaster.” I did—but then we need a new garbage can, and neither one is appropriate for my birthday.
I bring this subject up because Kislev is my birthday. (Insider joke: It’s either December 10 or 11, so I celebrate two days.) Reader, please note: Don’t get married in close proximity to your birthday or Chanukah.
The Wall Street Journal, noting everyone’s anxiety over gifts, published a list of 75 relatively inexpensive gifts for all your relatives—none of which I wanted (the gifts, not the relatives). Do I really want a handcrafted grater that fits into a bowl for cheese or vegetables and costs $148? Instead, give me the pair of earrings for $21,000 that appeared on another page.
Also appearing in the paper was a full ad for slip-on Skechers sneakers. It showed two excited children smiling as they viewed their Skechers present. P-l-e-a-s-e! Maybe tickets to a Knicks or St. John’s game would be more appreciated.
For men, the answer to gift-giving is easy: seforim or multicolored socks. You can’t go wrong with either choice, and the colored socks make it easy to pair them. However, men, beware! If you tell your wife to buy whatever she wants, don’t be surprised when she comes home with Manolo Blahnik red-soled shoes or a Prada handbag. You know she deserves these presents.
Debbie Horowitz
When Criminals Are Treated Better Than Citizens
Dear Editor:
Mr. Zwiren recently made a very important point: Career criminals are given more compassion than law-abiding citizens. However, this issue is not limited to local Democrats in New York. Unfortunately, it is now a position embraced by the Democratic Party nationwide.
Democratic legislatures have passed ludicrous laws such as cashless bail. This has tied the hands of local law enforcement, so someone committing a small crime—such as jumping a subway turnstile—is not arrested or prosecuted. How many Democrat-run cities have become so overrun with crime that President Trump had to bring in the National Guard to restore order?
Yet Democrats scream bloody murder, calling the president a dictator and a fascist for doing so. It’s a dog whistle and a joke that Democratic mayors won’t do anything to stop crime themselves. The president takes swift action, and they try to score political points off it.
Look at the Democrats’ reactions to ICE gathering up the illegals that Biden let into this country. Day after day, we hear Democrats claim that entering the country illegally isn’t a crime. How preposterous! The rhetoric could make your head explode. We all know opening the border was done intentionally to change the electorate, especially in Texas. Once Texas flips blue, Republicans will never win another presidential election.
Another example is the Democratic Party’s reaction to blowing up narco-terrorist boats in the Caribbean. Congressman Jim Himes of Connecticut went on television and said he saw video of two survivors of the first explosion trying to save the drugs and put them back into a boat before a second explosion took them out. Instead of stopping there, he defended the drug smugglers, claiming the survivors posed no threat to American security and that the second strike was unwarranted.
Last week, a massive $1 billion fraud scandal was uncovered in the Democrat-run state of Minnesota. The scandals appear to stem from the Somali community in Minneapolis. If you call this out, you’re labeled a racist and an Islamophobe. Being brought to the United States from a war-torn, third-world country should inspire appreciation. Instead, some mooch off the state and rip off the taxpayer.
Elon Musk was an immigrant to this country. Look at him now—successful and paying enormous taxes. Then look at Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who trash this country despite being elected representatives of a nation that took them in. They represent today’s Democratic Party.
Shalom Markowitz
Election Truths and
Political Reality
Dear Editor:
We have been lied to by the media and the Democrats. The false narrative was that Trump made up allegations of massive election fraud in the 2020 election. Warren Hecht and others have repeatedly stated that Trump is a liar, and Warren supported criminal prosecutions against Trump and others.
Now we have the truth. Fulton County admitted that 315,000 unsigned votes were counted in the 2020 election. Now we know what happened. Trump was about to win the election, and suddenly the counting was stopped. The Democrats worked to come up with phony votes to rig the election and put Biden in.
In a previous letter to the editor, someone wrote that Biden has the decency to respect elections and Trump does not. That statement has been proven false.
We should be grateful that we have Trump as president. With antisemitism rising, we need a strong, pro-Jewish president in place. The Democrats have become more radicalized and support antisemitism. Warren Hecht’s answer to this is to vote Democratic. I cannot understand his logic, but maybe he can explain it to us.
Martin Berkowitz