Parade honors for a terrorist

Manhattan: Convicted terrorist Oscar López Rivera has been invited to be a guest of honor at the upcoming National Puerto Rican Day Parade. López Rivera and his terrorist group FALN are responsible for an attempted bombing of 1 Police Plaza that severely injured four officers on New Year's Eve in 1982. His terror syndicate also murdered four people in lower Manhattan during a bombing of Fraunces Tavern in 1975.

As an active NYPD detective during the attack and as a proud New Yorker and American, I am outraged and disgusted by his inclusion in what should be a joyful celebration of Puerto Rican heritage and culture. In protest of this turn of events, I will not march in the parade.

I implore other elected officials to follow the example of Police Commissioner James O’Neill and refrain from marching as well. A message must be sent to the parade organizers and the people of New York that any endorsement of López Rivera’s callous and murderous activities is disgraceful.

I am dismayed that Mayor de Blasio is willfully endorsing this terrorist by participating. I believe he would send a strong message to City Hall about decency and standards by abstaining.

I spent my career serving and protecting Puerto Rican neighborhoods in the city and I have a reservoir of love and goodwill for their vibrant culture and tight-knit communities. It pains me that I cannot participate in this event, but to do so would betray my respect for all of my brothers in blue and the values for which they work day in and day out to uphold. The City of New York is lacking leadership from its highest elected official, and I respectfully ask that de Blasio set a strong example by not marching in this event. Richard (Bo) Dietl

No terrorists welcome here

San Juan: We, the majority of the Puerto Rican people, don’t support terrorists. We will boycott any sponsor of the Puerto Rican Day Parade. Oscar López Rivera doesn’t represent us in any way. Melissa Mark-Viverito was elected to protect the people of New York City from terrorists like him. Nicomedes Morales

Elmhurst ER not that bad

Elmhurst: We find that the overall impression portrayed in your article about emergency department wait times at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst does not accurately capture our true care experience (“Elmworst Hosp,” May 24). While we deeply regret that wait times reached a high mark for a period of time in 2016, wait times have markedly improved in 2017, and patients with serious medical conditions experience brief to no wait times. As one of the busiest emergency rooms in the nation and the main trauma center for western Queens, we are committed to providing optimal care for our patients and look forward to further improving our wait times with the planned emergency department renovation and expansion. Israel Rocha, CEO, NYC Health

+ Hospitals/Elmhurst

Born free

Jamaica: Re “Wild horses could be sold for slaughter in Trump budget plan” (May 25): This is a travesty. Our iconic horses are displaced and held hostage by the Bureau of Land Management at the behest of greedy, freeloading ranchers. And it has to stop. Americans across the country have rallied for better treatment and release of these majestic beauties for way too long for the government to now turn their backs and subject them to foreign slaughter. Our horses belong free and wild, not on foreign dinner plates. We owe our history to these amazing beasts. This is not what makes America great at all.

Yvonne Williams

Ugly American redux

Brooklyn: Donald Trump’s antics at the summit meeting of national leaders from the NATO member nations will most likely revive images of the ugly American in the minds of many Europeans — the people the U.S. relies on as our most important allies. From nearly knocking over the prime minister of Montenegro, squashing the hand of the French president, and becoming the obvious source of smirks and laughs while publicly moaning that Europe owes the U.S. a “yuge” amount of money, Trump only further increased the impression that he is totally unsuited for the office of President. Dan Donovan

Donald and the Jews

Rego Park: To Voicer Cecile Low: Are you kidding? Donald Trump is an anti-Semite of the highest order. If you think he was happy when Ivanka married a Jewish man and converted to Judaism, guess again. The only reason he accepted it is because Jared’s father is wealthier than he is and he wants to be accepted into his circle of wealthy friends. A friend of Israel? I think not. Oh, and by the way, I too am a Jewish woman! He will never solve Israel’s problems with Hamas and the Palestinians. Beatrice Lemlein

No respect at all

Saugerties, N.Y.: I think it outrageous an avowed Catholic like Sean Spicer was not part of President Trump’s entourage to the Vatican. It is mean. After all Spicer has done for Trump, this is how he is treated?

Therese Donna Schmidt

Misunderstood quote

Bayside: To Voicer Diane Moriarty: With regard to the quote you cite — when it refers to Trump, you have it wrong. It should read: “Think like a snake but act with the heart of a ‘snake.’ ”

Jack Cohen

Misunderstood supporter

Brooklyn: So Voicer Diane Moriarty thinks we have the embodiment of wisdom in the White House. Think again, Diane. What we really have is a con artist committing treason who lacks wisdom and is taking our country down the tubes. Wake up! Barb Russo

A father’s love

Yonkers: Former FBI Director Jim Comey’s memos are going to be the lead paragraph in the obituary for the Trump presidency, itself a misbegotten train wreck (“James Comey’s father blasts Trump as ‘nuts,’ says President ‘belongs in an institution,’ ” May 20). Comey senior is a relic of an era when being a Republican was something a man or woman could be proud of. Karen Silver

No Muslim freedom fighters

Shrub Oak, N.Y.: I don’t care what Muslims say about terror. All I see are boatloads of militaryage Muslim men fleeing conflicts. There are no such accounts of rebel Americans not standing against the Brits. They were willing to die and many did to make a country free from tyranny. Talk is cheap. Show me!

Gabriel Pompe

Reba’s a moderate

Manhattan: I don’t know why Voicer Mike Schmidt has it in for Voicer Reba Shimansky. After all, what she has said in her letters — and she has written quite a few — are nowhere near as offensive as the things I have said in mine. Take the recent city Health Department report which found black women had the lowest birthrate in 2015 with “induced terminations” surpassing live births. Was it not I alone who had the temerity to suggest that that development, attributed in part to a drop in teenage pregnancies, would have a significant positive effect on the crime rate 10 years from now and, if sustained, for generations to come? I seriously ANDREW SAVULICH doubt the Queen of Ocean Parkway would ever stick her neck out that far. Aydin Torun

Roots of the opioid crisis

Wading River, L.I.: The Daily News does a whole series on the opioid epidemic and then publishes an article on a marijuana high (“Five pro-tips to come down from a marijuana high quickly,” May 26). Hello, ever hear of a gateway drug? Legal. . .ugh. Well, I saw a film where the legal marijuana grower who had pancreatic cancer goes out and urinates on the crop which gets harvested for commercial sale. Yeah, right, marijuana is harmless. So is walking in front of a bus.

Mary Hayes

Food stamp abuse

Bronx: So people want to boycott Home Depot because one of its executives said people use food stamps for drugs: Well, the truth is, they do. Right here in the Bronx there’s a man who hangs out at the neighborhood deli offering to use his EBT card to pay for your groceries if you give him the cash. If you think it’s for his rent money, I have chocolate wrapped in pure gold I can sell you cheaply. This goes on all over the city. On 149th St. where I work, I’m asked nearly every day if I can give cash for groceries purchased on someone’s card. I’ve even known people who sold their stamps for 50 cents on the dollar to dealers. So knock off the hoopla like this is new news.

Stephen Hill