2 days ago
Readers sound off on Mamdani and Medicare, troops in L.A. and poor paper delivery
Flushing: Re 'Why I am the best candidate for mayor' (op-ed, June 8): Zohran Mamdani is a disingenuous, phoney-baloney socialist. He does not support the New York City Organization of Public Service Retirees' four-year battle to keep our earned public Medicare along with its Medigap Part B supplement, GHI Senior Care. Mamdani would prefer to have Henry Garrido, president of DC 37, endorse him. Garrido, along with Mayor Adams, is hell-bent on throwing NYC retirees into the fires of Medicare Advantage.
Mamdani forsook his chance to appear at the NYCORGPSR Mayor's Forum on April 17 at the CUNY Graduate Center to not displease Garrido. Apparently, his socialist platform ends when it comes to currying favor with a mean-spirited and despotic union president. NYCORGPSR has not endorsed Mamdani because he shows no palpable evidence or interest in supporting Medicare — not just for NYC retirees but for all who are Medicare-eligible. We retirees are fighting the good fight for all older Americans and the disabled. We are fighting against Project 2025, which will force all into Medicare Advantage by an AI-assisted default option.
Mamdani is no friend to seniors, the disabled, 9/11 first responders or the caregivers who need and who have worked for the benefits of traditional Medicare, as mandated by Lyndon Johnson in 1965. I would suggest that Mamdani school himself in protecting and advancing the agenda of health care for all New Yorkers instead of bowing down to the likes of Garrido, who has betrayed not only NYC retirees, but NYC employees as well, with a new health plan contract that will diminish their health benefits by 10%. Lisa Flanzraich
Flushing: I'm not a fan of Scott Stringer, but I just want to thank him for having the guts to call President Trump a schmuck on TV, something many of us would love to say to his face. Every time I hear it, it makes my day. Keep it up, Scott. H. Manuel DaSilva
White Rock, British Columbia: Apparently, without any tariff relief in return from the Trump administration, Alberta's government has lifted its ban on U.S. liquor imports. Maybe Alberta can also import Trump's new personal brand of his very own bottled used bathwater to sell to his Canadian fans? Trump can also claim that his fine product has been aged for 100 years. Indeed, it competes with some of the finest wines for sale out there! Sure, his supporters and worshipers everywhere know the number is simply not possible, but who's going to dare question His Holiness? Frank Sterle Jr.
Plainview, L.I.: Journalism the racehorse may now have finished second to Sovereignty in both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes, but journalism itself may finish 'out of the money' (about $500 million) if Trump's executive order to cease direct funding to NPR and PBS to stop their news coverage is enforced because our Congress does not oppose it constitutionally. Richard Siegelman
Brooklyn: I must say, I'm appalled that Trump so hastily sent National Guard troops to Los Angeles. After the Jan. 6 incident, I didn't realize he knew how. I can only surmise that Trump was in need of a bigger diversion to keep our minds focused on something other than the fact that he gave Elon Musk permission to gather all the security information on anyone in the United States. Did he not know that included him? I'm wondering if Musk kept copies of all this information. The saga continues. Mary Whitaker
Delray Beach, Fla.: Trump sends in the National Guard to L.A. to help quell what he claims are attacks by protesters against the police, ICE agents and federal buildings and other property. Yet, he had no problem when the Proud Boys and his other supporters were beating up and spraying with bear spray the Capitol Police officers on Jan. 6 and causing destruction to the U.S. Capitol Building. He's OK with that. He's such a hypocrite. Barry Rudd
Staten Island: If Trump actually cared about violence against law enforcement, he wouldn't have pardoned every single one of the dirtbags who attacked the officers who defended our Capitol on Jan. 6. Violence against police is permitted so long as you're doing it for him. Michael Rosenkrantz
Ormond Beach, Fla.: The progressive left has moved farther away from the values and beliefs of most Americans than ever with its position on supporting biological men in women's sports, bathrooms and locker rooms, its stance on open borders and interfering with the attempts by ICE to make our country safe, its support of DEI policies and identity politics, and its resistance to our attempts to make government more efficient and less corrupt. The left has taken this assault against America to a higher level with its attempts to normalize the rioting, destruction of property and assaulting police we saw in the George Floyd protests and those we're now watching in Los Angeles. Politicians who encourage this for their own selfish interests and anarchists who feed the flames of and participate in these destructive acts don't seem to have any clue that Americans reject lawlessness. We always have and always will. Charles Michael Sitero
Bronx: Protesting because of the deportations are one thing, but assaulting police, burning cars and looting is not protesting. It is criminal behavior. Sympathy has gone out the window because of that. What does waving another country's flag gonna do? If any of those people really respect the country that has given them a chance of living better than what they ran from, that is a nasty way of showing it. Burning the American flag is another form of disrespect that is showing the world that you are unhappy with America and need to go back to the country of the flag you wave. Arlana Solomon Girven Walker
Somers, N.Y.: Voicer Marc H. Lavietes is way off-base comparing Yankee Stadium to Citi Field. I am a baseball traditionalist too. If you don't like the 'digital noise' at Citi Field, don't go. The Mets engage with their fans throughout the game as well. Marc, you are sounding like an old, 'get off my grass' baseball fan. I've been to both ballparks and I can certainly converse when they play the music. And the best is Francisco Lindor's walk-up song, 'My Girl,' getting the fans to complete the verse. So good. And you don't like them pandering to young children? We want them to become baseball fans! And lastly, the Mets do put a very, very competitive team on the field. They actually have the best record in the National League and a better record than the Yankees. My advice: Take a seat! Michael Gold
Hauppauge, L.I.: As a retired Catholic physician, I have spent more than 40 years dedicated to keeping my patients healthy and alive. I am incredulous that the assisted suicide bill has gone as far as it has through the legislative process in this state. Those who vote to approve this bill, and the physicians who participate, will need more than just our prayers to be forgiven for this heinous act. Enrico Mango
Somers, N.Y.: Is it the tip amount that our Daily News carrier has decided to use to measure the distance from our front door to leave the paper? Two more inches and it would be in the street. Previously, it was always thrown very close to our front door since I'm a disabled Korean War veteran of 94. I simply can not go out that far each day to retrieve the paper. I give $50 at Christmas and recently, $20 on my renewal. Please let me know if the tip is inadequate and I'll try to be more generous. If the tip is adequate and the paper continues to be street-located, regretfully, I will have to cancel my subscription. R. LaGravinese
Brooklyn: To Voicer Morris D. Fried: You're confusing Jewish religious law with the laws of the Israeli government. Robert Braunstein
