A big win for the workingman
Brooklyn: I am one of the workers who recently joined the Teamsters union at Sims Municipal Recycling in Brooklyn, with the support of the Daily News. During the organizing campaign, I was demoted from a mechanic position because I was supporting the union, so I filed a labor board charge against Sims. In March, our general manager and Voicer Thomas Outerbridge wrote in these pages, “Sadly, it is often the case in organizing efforts that unfounded charges are made as a negotiating tactic. We are confident the investigations of the National Labor Relations Board will find we did nothing wrong.”
I am happy to report that the NLRB investigated my charge and gave Sims two choices: settle or the government would proceed with the charges and hold a trial. Sims elected to settle, gave me back my mechanic job and post a notice in our break room that it will never violate our union rights again.
Thank you to the Daily News and all the New Yorkers who supported us. We are well on our way to securing our first union contract and economic security for our families. Juan Pineda
Tip the carwasheros
Yonkers: I thoroughly understand the frustration, especially with owners of car washes not paying workers properly, but until these owners are made liable to pay properly, it won’t happen (“The bare minimum owed carwasheros,” June 5). And there’s another dark side. These owners will turn around and have fewer employees to do the same job because labor costs have a high impact on profit. Perhaps the cost of the car wash could be raised a bit and notices put up concerning tip policy to customers unaware. I tip, but didn’t know that workers made less than minimum wage. Besides, people are real cheap about car wash costs. I always see the car wash busiest at the end of the day, but cheap pay gets a bad wash. I pay a bit more where I go and my car gets cleaned, not just rinsed off. Maria Rose
Prescient Khrushchev
South Ozone Park: Nikita Khrushchev was absolutely correct when he addressed the Western ambassadors at the Polish Embassy in Moscow on Nov. 18, 1956, and said the following: “We will take America without firing a shot. . . .We will bury you! We can’t expect the American people to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can assist their elected leaders in giving them small doses of socialism, until they awaken one day to find that they have communism. We do not have to invade the United States, we will destroy you from within.”
Kenneth Kucinskas
Violent liberals
Burlingame, Calif.: James Hodgkinson, the Virginia shooter, volunteered on Bernie Sanders’ campaign and asked “Are you a Republican or Democrat?” before he shot Republican Congressman Steve Scalise. Democrat Kathy Griffin holds up a severed head of President Trump, Rep. Maxine Waters says she wants to impeach Trump before he’s sworn into office, and Democrat Mayor Sam Liccardo instructs San Jose cops to not protect elderly seniors attacked at a Trump speech by Mexican flag-waving gang members. In Berkeley, the mayor instructs police to let anarchists, thugs and other Democrats physically shut down a speech — i.e. , “spoken words” — by conservative Milo Yiannopoulos. The liberal media create false Russia conspiracy stories and run daily cartoons and fake news to delegitimize Trump. This is only five months into Trump’s four years in office. Democrat politicians have created this mess where gun-bearing Republicans must now defend themselves with weapons. Not good. Mike Brown
Why so much firepower?
Scarsdale, N.Y.: What does gun control mean? Why does a lunatic like James Hodgkinson need and own a semiautomatic weapon? For that matter, why does anyone in a civilized society need a military-style automatic or semiautomatic weapon?
Harvey Wielstein
Democrats downing Don
Oakland Gardens: There are two ways to raise one’s stature: one is by winning esteem with hard work and diligence; the other is by diminishing your opponent. After their crushing defeat this past November, the Democratic Party has opted for the latter. In their clueless (and shameful) quest to regain power, the Democrats have abandoned the American public and have set their sole priority — impeach President Trump by any means necessary. To the impartial observer (a new political oxymoron?), the result is a blatant display of corruption and greed, the emperor with no clothes. The Democrats are on a no-win agenda. If by some miracle they do succeed in impeaching Trump, they will place in power a unified, ultraconservative, hard-core Republican administration.
Robert Capraro
Jail the lying pols
Manhattan: Sen. Dianne Feinstein said Loretta Lynch should be investigated for colluding with the Clintons? Wow. Baby steps are better than nothing. I mean, it’s not even a secret that the Clintons appointed Lynch years back, or that Lynch had to recuse herself by law (but didn’t), and also couldn’t legally meet (privately!) with a major defendant and witness (her former boss Bill Clinton!) in several cases she claimed to be investigating (Servergate, etc). The only debate this nation should be having is what is the right punishment for Lynch’s crimes. I’m bipartisan: I think most Republican and most Democrat politicians are lying liars who should be jailed. Jefferson warned us that they would all be corrupted by power, and he was right.
Kalan Silver
Keeping God out of our laws
Manhattan: A recent News Op-Ed, “The silly American fear of sharia law” (June 8), notes that civil code in this country already accommodates religious practice of various kinds. Therefore, it argues, we should cease our fear of sharia; we already live with religion in government. I agree, but unlike the author of that Op-Ed, I think that state of affairs is something to decry rather than celebrate. Our great strength, our genius as a nation, is our precept of religious liberty combined with religious neutrality; we should fully embrace that precept. “One nation under God” stated in our Pledge of Allegiance and “In God We Trust” printed on our money and inscribed on our courtroom walls may be passed off as innocuous symbols. But there are many Americans who can’t shrug off their implication, namely, that we’re far from the secular nation we claim to be. And that implication becomes explicit — and dangerous — when politicians employ religious rhetoric as a way to sell or kill legislation. Only when this country lives up to its First Amendment, our most glorious contribution to world civilization, may we piously instruct others on how to separate church from state.
Judy Richheimer
Doobie-ous research
Manhattan: I am quite perturbed by your article citing the BDS Analytics correlational study between marijuana smoking and happiness (“Is smoking marijuana the key to happiness?” June 13). A look at the BDS site shows marijuana users are more prosperous, healthier, industrious, etc., than rejecters. Is this the logical conclusion? First, what is BDS? A marijuana marketing firm. Their goal — to increase marijuana usage. Second, how did they gather their sample? Was it random? Was it double-blind? What instruments were used to measure outcomes? What statistics were used to determine the significance of their findings? Was statistical significance obtained? Were the results peer-reviewed? Just because the “researchers” have 30 years of experience doesn’t make them competent researchers. Your reporting is misleading. Did your reporter actually read the entire study — or just the press release? Please use writers with legitimate understanding of research outcomes before you publish this arrant nonsense. Please publish a retraction of your story. Fake news is bad enough; it’s even worse when it wraps itself around the cloak of science. Sharon R. Kahn, Ph.D.
Losing a winning Bette
Cottonwood, Ariz.: Does anyone question the wisdom of “Hello, Dolly!” producers’ decision not to allow a full production number to be performed at the Tonys? Bette Midler will not be in the production forever and they missed a marketing opportunity to promote the show post-Bette and to promote national tours of this latest version of the show. I’ve seen over 225 productions in NYC alone over the years and this made me less inclined to go see the show. Their decision not to allow Bette and the cast to perform in the show was pure arrogance. David Hyde Pierce is a great performer but his little number did not sell me on the show. In my view they made an asinine marketing decision. James Scheid