In losing, Kaepernick’s a winner
Cedar Hill, Tex.: Wow, what a great column (“Colin Kaepernick is never going to play in the NFL again, and why I’m OK with that,” Nov. 1). I Googled Kaepernick Wednesday morning after my husband (Cowboys fan) told me (Washington fan) the Patriots were going to sign Kaepernick. I was all excited and clapping my hands. Then I considered my source — a husband who has been known to share fake news. Anyway, Carron Phillips’ column came up in my search results. I would have loved to see Kaepernick back in the NFL — before I read this article.
More than seeing him play, I would love to see the NFL owners understand the message he and the other NFL players who take a knee during the national anthem are trying to convey. Therefore, I agree with Phillips’ last sentence: “We need Colin Kaepernick to stay right where he is so that we can move past where we are.” Cherryl Holden Bowie, Md.: Now, this is a brilliant article — and brilliantly written too. Whether you agree with his point of view or not, Carron Phillips has laid out Mr. Kaepernick’s case, the reason why the NFL will not, cannot bow to this kind of pressure without losing fans and countless of millions, which in turn would hurt everyone involved, mostly Kaepernick’s colleagues.
He has made his point and aroused a nation that stands accused. May we be stirred up enough to address the issues he has raised.
Give Mr. Phillips a big fat bonus check. Colin Mapp
What principles?
Brooklyn: In light of Tuesday’s terror attack, Voicers Sheila Cohen, Patrick Doyle and Jeff Kulikowski in shocking ignorance born out of fear would have us throw out our Constitution and have our law enforcement agencies target people of a different ethnicity and religion the same way they do criminal organizations. They would jail innocent people because of the actions of a family member just because they have had enough of these kind of attacks. Well, I wonder how they would react if the same thing they want was to applied to white Christian males who commit mass murder with assault weapons? I will be waiting for a reply.
William Gabriel
Yes to a convention
New Baltimore, N.Y.: I am a survivor of child sexual assault, and I want to share my experience and fears with voters making a decision to hold a constitutional convention in New York. I returned to Albany last January to reform New York’s statute of limitations for child sexual abuse laws, known to be the worst in the nation. What you think would be a no-brainer helping protecting kids is not the case in Albany. How can a legislature refuse to act for decades? You cannot blame the public for reelecting incumbents when the system is rigged. Incumbents have created safe, gerrymandered districts, with unions and corporations paying to play the game. My fear, if we vote no, is that the Child Victims Act will again quietly be killed in committee by incumbents with decades-long tenure. By voting yes, we will give New Yorkers a real chance to participate. Vote
Anybody but Karen
Forest Hills: Voicer Gary Sclar expressed his dislike of City Councilwoman Karen Koslowitz. I would like to join him. Koslowitz promised me this past summer that a staffer of hers would contact me in a day or two regarding a the status of a bill she was co-sponsoring. Absent a phone call from her office, I sent her a letter via snail mail. That was in August. I am still waiting for a response. As to the bike lanes: I used to patronize several mom-and-pop stores on Queens Blvd. in Rego Park and Forest Hills — no can do, cannot park anywhere for the necessary 10 or 15 minutes. All I can do is enjoy the beautiful green of the bike lanes — which are entirely disregarded by the bike messengers and bike delivery service people. Koslowitz is running unopposed. I will exercise my right to vote for a write-in candidate: my neighbor’s cat Lucy. She would, if elected, better represent her constituents.
John H. Szalkay
Battling bigotry
Manchester, N.J.: To my fellow Jerseyite Voicer John Scott, please disabuse yourself of the notion that you are some righteous bearer of the American credo. Any reasonable reader would look at your original letter and immediately understand that race was not lying somewhere in the background, but was there in capital letters for everyone to see. Your further describing Rep. Frederica Wilson as, “Not a black pimp, not a white pimp. Just a pimp,” says it all. You see there, John, I’m a big, old white guy who has taken on bigger and smarter bigots than you. People who think that they have the inside track to what is right are most always wrong. The hack in this story is most definitely you.
Charles Morgan
Can’t compromise with evil
Whitestone: How ironic that Voicer John Scott defends himself as not being a racist by saying he will side with “the John Kellys of the world” on the day Kelly says the inability to “compromise” was what caused the Civil War. Compromise. On slavery? Slaves: We are not your property, Southerners: Yes, you are. I guess they needed an arbitrator. And Scott proudly stands with Kelly even after video evidence proves Kelly’s statements about Frederica Wilson were lies! Never mind siding with a disgraceful excuse of a President who says some of the Nazis in Charlottesville were “very fine people.” Not a racist? Really? Just a clueless denier of facts? An idiot? Hmmm. As for Kelly, he should know what a pimp looks like. A pimp is the person who sends the once distinguished Kelly out to speak to the press and repeat the crap his pimp commands him to spew. And if Kelly has a pimp, what does that make him? Mr. Scott, many people don’t know you, either. But they now know who you are.
Robert LaRosa
General lies
Ossining, N.Y.: To Voicer John Scott: I understand why you take the position you do on the John Kelly-Frederica Wilson debate. Like most of Trump’s supporters, facts do not get in your way. Please take the time to watch Kelly’s speech, and then watch Wilson’s. There is not a single thing Kelly said about the congresswoman’s speech that was true. Not a single thing. You are entitled to your own opinion, not your own facts. I too respect Kelly’s service and I had hopes that his service and experience would bring some dignity to the White House. This incident dashed those hopes.
Joseph E. Wooley
Cohen’s theses
Brooklyn: Richard Cohen’s column commemorating the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther’s challenge of the Catholic Church was disingenuous. Cohen, in recognizing a man who had the temerity to call the Catholics on their hypocrisy, did more to chastise Luther than honor him. The overall negativity of his opinion is a prime example of the divisiveness in today’s media.
Tom Rochaus
We’ll ride them some day
Brooklyn: I am a city gal, but reading Susan Wagner’s column makes me angry (“Congress targets our wild horses,” Nov. 1)! Greedy ranchers and uninformed politicians are a bane on the mere existence of these wonderful animals. Where would our Western films be if we couldn’t see these wild horses thundering across the plains on a wide movie screen? Haven’t we lost enough wild life, i.e. the passenger pigeon MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ/AP for one? Once obliterated, we can’t get them back. Shame on those individuals! Zelda Multz
Let them run free
Jamaica: Thank you for bringing the very real peril our wild horses are facing to light, and the arrogance of those who are supposed to protect them finally exposed, pushing for slaughter and bowing to the “welfare” rancher special interests. Our horses need us now more than ever. Proven humane management plans are consistently ignored while the Bureau of Land Management continues to steal horses from the range and covertly send them to slaughter. It’s time for that to end. Over 80% of Americans want our horses returned to freedom, yet our voices remain unheard. Stand up, America, and protect our iconic wild horses. They belong wild and free, not on dinner plates!
Yvonne Williams
No puns, please
Manhattan: Though I suffer in silence at the perpetual parade of pitiful puns perpetrated by your paper (“Cards” decked by sex scandal”; “Brit-storm for Harvey”; “Storm of money woes for Puerto Rico” — and that’s just in one edition), I have to say that the Nov. 1 headline rhyme-time, “Bike Path Bloodbath” is just too ignorant and not half as cute or clever as the writer(s), I’m sure, congratulated him/her/themselves to be. Tone it down; or here’s one you can try: “Paper sidelines Headline head.”
Kevin Gallagher