Donald had to know what Jr. did
Cedar Grove, N.J.: It is difficult for me to believe that Donald Trump had no knowledge of the meeting between his son, his son-in-law and his campaign manager with a Russian national who supposedly had damaging information on Hillary Clinton. Trump is a control freak. Junior would not have taken the meeting without his father’s consent and he would have briefed him afterwards. The ultimate proof is not there just yet, but the string of this sordid tale has yet to be completely unraveled. Keith Biesiada Pensacola, Fla.: Is it against the law to talk to an attorney from any country? Free speech is one of America’s core values. The news media and the Democrats seem to think that the Trump family is breaking the law, even to claim that it is treasonous to talk to a Russian. People say Trump is “not my President” because he didn’t get a majority of popular votes, etc. How about Abraham Lincoln at 39%? Nine states didn’t have him on the ballot. Or Bill Clinton at 43%.
The Clinton administration gave North Korea two nuclear reactors; Clinton also gave North Korea $5 billion to be nice and not to develop nuclear arms or missiles to use them. Are the news agencies reporting any of this as it relates to our current international problems with North Korea? No.
As a lifelong Republican, the mainstream media assumes I’m a disadvantaged, uneducated, common man. I have earned MBAs and a USCG merchant marine “Master”; I am moderately well traveled, to about 21 countries. I resent the tar and feathers you put on me.
The media should be broken up to about 50 or so independent companies. The news has become an oligopoly and is not representative of the citizenry. Richard J. Wittig
What about Jared?
Chester, N.J.: Using Donald Trump’s logic from when he proposed a Muslim ban, we should revoke Jared Kushner’s security clearance “until we figure out what is going on.” Twice Kushner has had to revise his application for security clearance when it was clear that events he had not disclosed were being made public, and this is a document that makes Kushner chargeable with perjury if it is falsified. That is reason enough to revoke it, at least while the investigation into the Russia connection is completed. The release of the emails by Donald Trump Jr. makes it completely clear that there was indeed contact with Russians with express purpose of impacting the election, and the emails were forwarded to both Kushner and Paul Manafort. There is a lot of smoke coming from this dumpster fire presidency. David J. Melvin
Get real
Scarborough, N.Y.: Fake news? No, the news is real because the evidence came from a Trump — in a tweet, no less. Fake Americans ran a fake campaign, resulting in a fake President.
Thomas F. Comiskey
A hero must rise
Eugene, Ore.: Thank you for Errol Louis’ “Democrats, stand for something” (column, July 11). I’m as nervous about the Democratic National Committee as I am with this President. They’re angry men who whine, blame and do a lot of talking but have no developed platform. I am sad to say it, but this is what Hillary did too. And she whined, complained and blamed. We need a fabulous contender. Who is that person?
Jennifer Hoover
Adjust your sets
Brooklyn: It’s amazing that whenever there is a Spectrum cable outage, the company is quick to tell the media it was sabotage done by the union currently on strike. This is the only time the media gets involved and talks about the strikers. Maybe Spectrum should start blaming the executives of the company who refuse to bargain with the employers and would rather keep them locked out of their jobs and picketing. They are the ones breaking their franchise agreement. What happened to the media that they don’t even report on the striking workers?
Marilyn Vazquez
Don’t do it again
Queens Village: On Monday, I turned onto Jericho Turnpike at the Cross Island Parkway, just after 3 p.m. I was behind a white Honda. The woman driving the car was talking on her cell phone, holding it up in her right hand, steering her car with her left hand. She drove this way from Bellerose all the way to New Hyde Park. I noted her plate because it was a City of New York plate: AX 6771. Someone should tell this woman it is against state law to drive while talking on a cell phone.
Linda Ward
Songs say so much
Lodi, N.J.: This message is for Scott Shannon of WCBS-FM or whomever else reads this: Please play songs like I just heard on the radio approximately 9:40 a.m. on Wednesday, July 12. It was an early 70s slow song sung by a black American singer. You must continue to play these songs for individuals such as me who are in their 60s and 70s. We need this music very badly. Please do so ASAP. It makes us all very happy, and in times such as these, it so important to feel good listening to that kind of music. Janet Piazza
New York’s Finest Family
Middle Village: “Familia” means family. To honor Detective Miosotis Familia, shake hands, say “thank you” to a police officer and add, “Mi familia.”
Mary Dunne
Think globally, hire locally
Manhattan: I live within a few blocks of the Columbia University expansion project and have read many articles about the benefits of this project (“Columbia University says new campus will boost local economy,” July 11). As is often the case, there are two different worlds: one, where the president of Columbia, Lee Bollinger, extols the great benefits that this expansion is bringing and will bring to the community, and the world of the young men and women of the public housing developments in the area who only wish they could work on this expansion site. While Bollinger recites the number of “local” residents employed, truth be told, very few of these residents are as local as the neighborhood itself. If Columbia really wanted to make a good-faith effort to hire local residents, an apprenticeship program would have been the first place to start. The expansion is a union site, and without a union card, you are not even eligible for consideration as a construction worker. It’s still not too late for Columbia to do the right thing here, this is a longer term project with many jobs to come. Victor Edwards
Tough pill to swallow
St. Johnsville, N.Y.: On July 11, the Daily News featured an Op-Ed by Gov. Cuomo (“A health bill retreat from opioid crisis”). The governor makes a compelling case supported by facts and numbers. He asks that New Yorkers stand together for the afflicted, but also against those who “seek to afflict them further.” Cuomo should set an example by standing up against his own health department and its suppression of facts in cases involving the prescription and overprescription of opioids, particularly to the elderly. Transparency should be the mantra of any elected official charged with protecting the public trust.
James Mastracco
Why we protest
Manhattan: Regarding Jonathan Greenblatt’s Op-Ed condemning the boycott of Israeli theater groups (“A narrow and hateful assault on a complex play about Israel,” July 11): The objection is not to the content of the play but to the financial backing and to the theater companies’ performances in Israeli settlements. Those of us who support such boycotts are not “blinded by animus toward the Jewish State.” On the contrary, our eyes are open to the destruction by that state of its indigenous people. As for there being “no whitewashing” in these plays, the goal of the Israeli Foreign Affairs office is to portray the state as precisely what Greenblatt says it is in his article: “the real Israel: the beauty, the thoughtfulness, the humanity and yes, the messy, flawed, complexities.” But the situation, while complex, is also simple: Colonial domination, and a non-violent boycott as a response from the victims. Are we to treat dispossession as a normal event? It is not, and we reject it. Mindy Gershon
Celiatholics, unite
Roanoke, Va.: The Pope’s refusal to allow gluten-free wafers could potentially keep celiacs from fully participating in Communion. It also exposes us to the risk of cancer of the small intestine. I hope that the scientists at the Vatican convince Pope Francis that this is not a good decision.
Julio J. Vazquez
Summer of swell
AP Syosset, L.I.: No delays, no crowding on the LIRR: better than ever. Can they please do this track work more often? Drew Oringer