Readers sound off on religious leadership, cyclist advocacy and Al Sharpton
San Rafael, Calif.: Re 'An American pope for the world' (editorial, May 9): You love the new pope because you see him as anti-President Trump and pro-climate change. Your vision of him is completely wrong. He was elected to unite the country and world with faith again, especially because he's from America. The pope knows Trump is a very Christian president, and he and the Vatican see Trump as a uniter. Immigration and climate have nothing to do with it.
But the editors at the Daily News are like the Democrats, who have no clue why they failed so badly, yet rave about the pope because they see him as anti-Trump. No wonder they lost the election. The Catholic Church said about Trump and Joe Biden that it was a matter of who is more evil. Biden loves abortion and Trump hates immigrants. But The News never mentioned Biden's problem. The pope sees immigration as a legal issue and not an anti-person issue. He sees Trump as a uniter of Catholic values and was elected to unite the Christian world, especially in America. You seem elated, but for the wrong reason. Trump will work with the pope to widen Christianity in the U.S., and the Vatican knows it.
You have no clue how effective Trump was in moral America. He actually flipped 10 counties in California. He will win more now that he's allied with the pope. They will work together to rid America of the perverted view some have, especially in the press out of corrupt NYC. Joke's on you, boys. God bless Trump and Pope Leo. Robert A. Casper Sr.
Dumont, N.J.: Thanks to Trump and MAGA world, we have a new definition of the slang '86,' which has always meant to 'deep-six,' or toss in the trash, to any educated adult other than the aforementioned president and his followers ('Ex-FBI boss wants me dead: Trump,' May 17). The revised definition means 'to assassinate,' according to the new MAGA dictionary. Interesting how a president and his followers now have the ability to rewrite the English language to suit their agenda and promote attacks on anyone who does not buy into the MAGA ideology, while most MAGA acolytes and their leader seem to possess, at best, a third-grade-level grasp of the English language. David G. Kay
Tomkins Cove, N.Y.: Does anyone doubt that Trump will call the Mexican Navy's training vessel hitting the Brooklyn Bridge an attack? He will direct Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to have our Navy commandeer the ship, make Mexico pay to repair the damage and have the DOD spend millions installing equipment to allow it to become Boat Force One. Then it gets turned over to his presidential library, joining the Qatari 747 as his severance package — if he leaves. Doug Slotolowicz
Holbrook, L.I.: I'm totally confused! Can any Voicer explain to me why Trump is threatening Walmart if they 'refuse to eat the tariff'? I had been told by Trump for years that only 'countries pay the tariff.' Why, then, is there any charge for Walmart to eat? Can somebody please explain? I'm so confused. I thought I knew how tariffs worked! Michael L. Wilson
Howard Beach: Nazi Germany normalized cruelty, brutality and inhumanity. It was the product of a lawless and perverted philosophy, not unlike what is brewing here. Once they flout the courts, particularly the Supreme Court, that's the end of the rule of law. Frederick Hausmann
Rockaway Park: I am sure that some who read this will think I am antisemitic, which I am not. I have noticed that thousands of innocent Palestinian women and children continue to be killed or starved by Israel, yet there is very little coverage by major news organizations anymore. However, one Jewish hostage who was born and raised in America but chose to leave the country and fight for Israel was released, which was followed by constant media coverage. There is something wrong with that picture. Anthony Johnson
Woodside: It's refreshing to see the NYPD cracking down on bikes, e-bikes and scooters for violating speeding and traffic laws. It's about time. Unfortunately, Transportation Alternatives is fighting this, since they seem to believe cyclists are immune from the rules of the road that everyone else are held to. Transportation Alternatives seems to think it's OK for cyclists to go through red lights, blow stop signs, go the wrong way on one-way streets and ride on sidewalks. When an automobile breaks the rules of the road, they are in front of any reporter demanding the city fix traffic patterns to make it harder for cars drive from point A to point B. Certainly, not all drivers are perfect, but maybe it's time for Transportation Alternatives to work with cyclists on the rules of the road and we will have safe streets across the board. Tom Rice
Belle Harbor: As I've said before, I disagree with Leonard Greene on almost everything politically. But his eulogies of colleagues, or columns on the universality of sports, we can all relate to. His account of taking his mom to a Knicks game ('Eric, restrain yourself,' column, May 18) is hilarious. Bobby Nelsen
Newton, N.J.: To Voicer Chet Jelinski: Pete Rose accepted a permanent ban from baseball, not a lifetime ban. 'Permanent' does not expire with death. Only the false reimagining of the word by MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred, clearly bowing to pressure from Trump, caused this change of heart. Rose does not belong in the Hall of Fame. And Roberto Clemente never bet on baseball. Michael Schnackenberg
Clearwater, Fla.: I am a 93-year-old lifelong Yankee fan. It was heartbreaking to see Oswaldo Cabrera lying on the ground in pain. In a matter of seconds, his teammates' concern was evident. They all rallied around him, and you could see by their expressions and tears how seriously he was injured. The Mariners were also showing their concern — that's sportsmanship! It was heartwarming to see all the fans standing and silently and respectfully showing their support. The people of Seattle are a class act. Thank you. This is what baseball used to be and should continue to be. Cabrera, please get well soon. We miss you. Charles Marullo
Manhattan: I am writing to express my profound concern regarding the perceived lack of accountability and transparency surrounding Al Sharpton's actions and self-proclaimed representation of American Descendants of Slavery and Black Americans. While acknowledging the complex history and diversity of Black Americans, I believe it's crucial to examine critically the extent to which Sharpton genuinely serves the interests of this population, particularly considering the disproportionately low representation of Black Americans in the benefits of DEI initiatives and affirmative action programs. My concern stems from observations of Sharpton's public pronouncements and actions. His frequent claims of advocating for Black communities contrast sharply with a perceived absence of tangible, verifiable benefits delivered to these communities. I urge a thorough investigation into Sharpton's activities, ensuring complete transparency and accountability to ascertain whether they align with the best interests of the communities he purports to represent. Heyward Johnson Jr.
Bronx: Anyone who would vote for Andrew Cuomo for mayor did not have a family member in a nursing home during COVID. Although my mom survived COVID, she and many others experienced cognitive decline due to isolation as a result of Cuomo's order to house COVID patients in nursing homes when there were other viable options — the Red Cross ship and the Javits Center. We were only allowed to visit (view) and talk with her on certain days for 15 minutes through a window. For two years, we stood outside no matter the weather while she was inside trying to communicate. She was a woman who read the paper every day, did word puzzles daily and loved talking with friends and family. When full visitation was restored (after two years), she was never the same mentally. The damage had been done. Christina D'Angelo
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
11 minutes ago
- CNN
Officers throw flash bangs to disperse crowd protesting immigration enforcement in Los Angeles
Federal immigration authorities carried out enforcement activities at businesses across Los Angeles on Friday, prompting clashes outside at least one location as authorities threw flash bangs to try to disperse a crowd that had gathered in protest. Immigration advocates confirmed at least 45 people were arrested without warrants across seven locations, including two Home Depots, a store in the fashion district and a doughnut shop, said Angelica Salas, executive director for the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA, at an afternoon press conference denouncing the activity. Federal immigration authorities have been ramping up arrests across the country to fulfill President Donald Trump's promise of mass deportations. Todd Lyons, the head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended his tactics earlier this week against criticism that authorities are being too heavy-handed. He has said ICE is averaging about 1,600 arrests per day and that the agency has arrested 'dangerous criminals.' Protests recently broke out after an immigration action at a restaurant in San Diego and in Minneapolis when federal officials in tactical gear showed up in a Latino neighborhood for an operation they said was about a criminal case, not immigration. In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass said the activity was meant to 'sow terror.' 'As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city,' Bass said. Salas, of CHIRLA, echoed that language. 'Our community is under attack and is being terrorized. These are workers, these are fathers, these are mothers, and this has to stop. Immigration enforcement that is terrorizing our families throughout this country and picking up our people that we love must stop now,' Salas said, surrounded by a crowd holding signs protesting Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE declined to discuss the details of its operations. The agency said it routinely makes arrests of noncitizens 'who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation's immigration laws,' said an emailed statement from an unnamed spokesperson. Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of ICE, told the Los Angeles Times that federal agents were executing search warrants related to the harboring of people illegally in the country. In Los Angeles, videos from bystanders and television news crews captured people being walked across a Home Depot parking lot by federal agents as well as clashes that broke out at other detention sites. KTLA showed aerial footage of agents outside a clothing store in the fashion district leading detainees out of a building and toward two large white vans waiting just outside in a parking lot. The hands of the detained individuals were tied behind their backs. The agents patted them down before loading them into the vans. The agents wore vests with the agency acronyms FBI, ICE and HSI for Homeland Security Investigations. Armed agents used yellow police tape to keep crowds on the street and sidewalk away from the operations. Aerial footage of the same location broadcast by KABC-TV showed officers throwing smoke bombs or flash bangs on the street to disperse the people so they could drive away in SUVs, vans and military-style vehicles. The station showed one person running backward with their hands on the hood of a moving white SUV in an apparent attempt to block the vehicle. The person fell backward, landing flat on the ground. The SUV backed up, drove around the individual and sped off as others on the street threw objects at it. Immigrant-rights advocates used megaphones to speak to the workers, reminding them of their constitutional rights and instructing them not to sign anything or say anything to federal agents, the Los Angeles Times reported. Katia Garcia, 18, left school when she learned her father, 37-year-old Marco Garcia, may have been targeted. Katia Garcia, a US citizen, said her father is undocumented and has been in the US for 20 years. 'We never thought this would happen to us,' she told the Los Angeles Times. Eleven of the LA City Council's 15 members issued a statement accusing federal immigration agencies of 'an egregious escalation.' 'This indiscriminate targeting of children and families not only harms the individuals who are directly impacted, but destroys our communities' sense of trust and safety in their own homes,' the statement said.
New York Times
17 minutes ago
- New York Times
Historic House v. NCAA settlement gets final approval, allowing schools to pay college athletes
By Ralph D. Russo, Stewart Mandel and Justin Williams A federal judge Friday granted final approval of the House v. NCAA settlement, a watershed agreement in college sports that permits schools to directly pay college athletes for the first time. The settlement, which resolves a trio of antitrust cases against the NCAA and its most powerful conferences, establishes a new 10-year revenue sharing model in college sports, with athletic departments able to distribute roughly $20.5 million in name, image and likeness (NIL) revenue to athletes over the 2025-26 season. Previously, athletes could earn NIL compensation only with outside parties, including school-affiliated donor collectives that have become instrumental in teams' recruiting. Advertisement The NCAA and the power conferences (ACC, Big 12, Big Ten, Pac-12 and SEC), as defendants in the settlement, also agree to pay nearly $2.8 billion in damages to Division I athletes who were not allowed to sign NIL deals, dating back to 2016. The damages will be paid out over 10 years, with most of the money expected to go to former power-conference football and men's basketball players. Universities can begin directly sharing revenue with college athletes starting July 1. Judge Claudia Wilken of the Northern District of California, who previously ruled against the NCAA in the O'Bannon and Alston cases, granted approval roughly a year after parties agreed to settlement terms and nearly two months after a final approval hearing on April 7, where Wilken heard testimony from more than a dozen objectors. Lawyers for both the plaintiffs and defendants noted that the number of objections and opt-outs in the settlement represent a tiny fraction of the nearly 400,000 athletes in the certified class. However, some of those objectors delayed approval, largely citing the settlement's new roster limits. These limits, which replace sport-by-sport scholarship limits, cap the maximum roster size per team while allowing for every roster spot to receive a scholarship. Schools can offer scholarship funds — partial or full — as they see fit, which creates more potential opportunities. But as schools preemptively prepared to comply with those new limits, they removed roster spots for thousands of walk-ons, particularly in football, and partial scholarship athletes in non-revenue sports. In late April, Wilken offered an ultimatum, instructing the settlement parties to revise the terms in a way that mitigated any lost roster spots as a result of schools preparing for the new roster limits, or she would deny the whole agreement. Settlement lawyers responded with an amendment that allows for voluntary 'grandfathering' of any athletes who lost roster spots as a result of the roster limits, a status that will follow those athletes through the remainder of their eligibility, whether they return to their original school or transfer elsewhere. Advertisement The initial House v. NCAA case — brought by plaintiffs Grant House, a former Arizona State swimmer, and Sedona Prince, then an Oregon women's basketball player — was filed in June 2020. It challenged NCAA policy at the time that prohibited athletes from being compensated for the commercial use of their NIL rights or from sharing in the revenue generated from NCAA and conference television contracts. The case was later consolidated with two similar suits, Carter v. NCAA and Hubbard v. NCAA. The cases had not gone to trial. The NCAA and Power 5 conferences, fearful a verdict might result in much higher damages, agreed to a settlement in May 2024. Wilken granted preliminary approval in October 2024. The NCAA's traditional amateurism model, in which athletes could not receive any compensation beyond a scholarship, began to crumble in 2014 when Wilken ruled against the NCAA in a suit brought by former UCLA star Ed O'Bannon, who objected to his image being used in an EA Sports video game without his permission. Wilken ruled for the plaintiffs, but after an appeals court struck part of her decision, the only tangible effect was that schools began offering cost-of-attendance stipends. The next major case, Alston v. NCAA, made it to the Supreme Court, where the justices ruled 9-0 against the NCAA. Often mischaracterized as a case about NIL, Alston's main impact was that it allowed schools to provide athletes $5,980 a year in academic expenses. However, the lopsided decision left the NCAA vulnerable to additional legal challenges regarding rules that limited compensation, and it was delivered on June 21, 2021, nine days before numerous state laws allowing NIL payments were set to go into effect. The NCAA quickly scrapped most of its intended restrictions on NIL. In the years since, many athletes have entered into deals with local companies and struck lucrative endorsement deals with national brands like Gatorade and New Balance, as intended. But a far more common practice involves boosters using purported NIL deals to lure recruits or players from the transfer portal to their favorite school. The NCAA's enforcement division initially sought to punish schools that used NIL as a form of 'pay for play' or recruiting inducement, but when the University of Tennessee came under fire in early 2024, the state's attorney general sued, and a judge issued an injunction prohibiting the NCAA from enforcing those rules. Advertisement The amount of money being spent in the NIL arena has skyrocketed since 2021. Last year, Ohio State athletic director Ross Bjork said the Buckeyes football team — which later won the national championship — was earning $20 million in NIL. CBS Sports recently reported that a number of men's basketball rosters have already topped $10 million for next season. To this point, collectives supporting specific schools have ruled the market, but administrators are hoping the House settlement will curtail that influence. In addition to schools being allowed to make NIL deals themselves, the new model also requires all outside NIL deals of more than $600 to go through a clearinghouse that will determine whether the payments are for a valid business purpose and reflect fair market value. Meanwhile, the settlement establishes an enforcement arm that will penalize schools that go over the $20.5 million cap. All of this will be overseen by the newly established regulatory body, called the College Sports Commission, which is in the process of shifting considerable oversight and control of college sports away from the NCAA and to the power conferences. The NCAA's Division I Board of Directors recently approved a series of proposals, pending settlement approval, that will strike 153 rules from the association's handbook and clear the way for the settlement terms to be implemented. The settlement represents a significant shift in college sports, but it will not mark the end of the NCAA's legal challenges. Among numerous ongoing cases, Johnson v. NCAA was filed in 2019 in Pennsylvania and seeks to have athletes classified as employees who are entitled to minimum wage compensation. The NCAA's efforts to dismiss the case have thus far been denied. Revenue sharing and third-party NIL constraints could also invite additional lawsuits on the basis of Title IX, antitrust violations and conflicts with state laws. NCAA and power conference stakeholders continue to pursue antitrust exemptions in the form of Congressional intervention, in hopes of codifying the settlement and its effectiveness moving forward. President Donald Trump has explored a new commission focused on the issues facing college sports, led by former Alabama head coach Nick Saban and billionaire Texas Tech board chair Cody Campbell, though it is paused as members of Congress pursue legislation.
Bloomberg
17 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Abrego Garcia Returns to US to Face Charges
"Balance of Power: Late Edition" focuses on the intersection of politics and global business. On today's show, Mary Lovely, Senior Fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, shares her thoughts on what to expect Monday as US and Chinese negotiators will resume trade talks in London. Leon Panetta, Former US Secretary of Defense, voices his concerns about the US Supreme Court giving DOGE access to social security data after Elon Musk and President Trump's feud. Zeke Hernandez, Associate Professor at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School, discusses Kilmar Abrego Garcia being brought back to the United States to face criminal charges. (Source: Bloomberg)
