The article describing Mike Rowe’s support for skilled tradesmen was refreshing.  Plumbers, electricians, carpenters and a host of other skilled tradesmen can and do make a six-figure salary.  Vocational high schools and shop classes need to become entrenched in our public schools, again.  Also, entering the Armed Service with a goal of learning a trade is another viable option.  Free Community College is not the answer.  It is only extending the high school experience with more book learning instead of hands-on career building.

Donald Houghton

Quincy

China & climate

Your editorial raises an alarm about the possibility of a Chinese spy base in Cuba (“Editorial: Climate least of our worries as China eyes Cuban spy base,” June 9). The fact is that China already spies on us through numerous other channels. And certainly, the US spies on China, notably from within Taiwan, which is the same distance from China as Cuba is from the US mainland. This has been going on for decades.

Yet, the editorial leaps to the conclusion that we should not negotiate with China on climate change because of our adversarial relationship. Perhaps this is just reflexive criticism of anything that involves John Kerry. Still, in any case, it’s misguided to allow the hypothetical possibility of a base in Cuba to derail ongoing climate discussions.

As is often pointed out, China is the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases. Short of a shooting war, we cannot afford to stop working with them to decarbonize the world economy. Spy versus spy kerfuffles will come and go, but international cooperation on addressing climate change is the task of the moment. It would be foolhardy to drop the ball now.

Frederick Hewett

Cambridge

Christie campaign

I like rock ‘em-sock ‘em politics especially when the beanbag is tossed around with vigor, and Chris Christie is just the Republican to bring the entire burgeoning GOP field of presidential wannabes to account. The former New Jersey governor is sharp-witted, informed, articulate and fearless, just the attributes primary voters and others in the general electorate require to separate wheat from chaff. Right now there are two Republican lanes – Donald Trump and everyone else. Mr. Christie is New Jersey loud, and will generate noise enough to rival the most celebrated loudmouth in the field, going mano a mano with Mr. Trump. This will provide a third lane and an off-ramp for those whose Oval Office appetites are larger than their talents. Winnow the political poseurs, Mr. Christie, sharpen the arguments against the frontrunner and you will be heralded far from Hoboken.

Paul Bloustein
Cincinnati, Ohio

Hunter’s turn?

Shopping at the supermarket today. After the Trump indictment was announced a few days back everyone at the market had the same question. Where is the Hunter Biden indictment? You see, people are not as stupid as the DOJ thinks and know when a cover up is going on.

Paul Quaglia

Billerica

—

It is good to see creative solutions such as Senator Collins’ now Senate-approved proposal to explore the use of converted ships to provide important and needed support services to Boston and the region. For the first time, the Commonwealth is seriously considering an alternative to address this immediate, urgent need, rather than the far-off solution proposed in the Shattuck Hospital site redevelopment, which is 5 or more years away from fruition.

Many of the challenges in cities today are land-based: space is needed for parkland, for housing and so much more. We have to remember that the solutions we build will last centuries, not just decades; and so restoring open space to historic neighborhoods of color such as Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury must be prioritized. In fact, just this week, the national nonprofit Trust for Public Land issued its annual nationwide park evaluation for the country’s most populous cities, and Boston’s score suffered due to an unbalanced distribution of park space in lower-income communities and neighborhoods of color. By restoring 13 acres to Franklin Park, we can address inequity in one of Boston’s largest areas of need.

Karen Mauney-Brodek
President, Emerald Necklace Conservancy

Trump indictment

“Fair is foul and Foul is Fair” – the words of the witches in the opening scene of Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” are in many ways reminiscent of scenes from daily life in some parts of our beloved nation nowadays. Our Constitutional Republic is on the verge of collapse with lawlessness and disorder. For a law-abiding spectator of politics it is indeed a sad sight to watch and bear.

Trying to take ex-President Trump out of politics by any means by the Democrats and those afflicted with Trump derangement syndrome has been going on for the last 7 years. There even appears to be a competition among prosecutors (Manhattan, Atlanta, Miami) to indulge in creativity to do so.

Our current administration in Washington has been politicizing the Department of Justice to foster a two-tier justice system, one for itself and one for its opponents.

The announcement by the DOJ of the indictment of ex-President Trump on criminal charges as opposed to civilian charges related to classified documents is certainly driven by political considerations. This announcement came shortly after the Congressional investigation of Hunter Biden scandal findings of corruption and misdeeds by the sitting president.  Is this move by DOJ is intended to shift the public attention away from the Hunter Biden scandal? One expects such things under Russia’s Stalin and Putin rule and in banana republics but not in our corner of the world. Note that ex-President Trump is a leading opposition candidate in the upcoming 2024 presidential contest.

This indictment can not be viewed anything but an “election interference” and a mini insurrection of our Constitutional government and justice system.

Pichai Gopal

Braintree

In the wake of Pet Appreciation Week, we can all honor the human-animal bond by supporting our local animal shelter. Local animal shelters play a pivotal role in our communities, tirelessly caring for homeless animals and providing them with shelter, medical aid, and the chance for a better life. These shelters are powered by devoted volunteers and staff members working selflessly to advance animal welfare.

Shelters need the help, too. Many people think the ASPCA and the Humane Society of the United States are national offices for local shelters. They aren’t, despite the similar names, and these national organizations spend more on raising funds than on grants to local shelters.

Consider volunteering your time, donating essential supplies, or even adopting a pet in need. Small things can make a big difference in the life of a pet in need of a home.

Will Coggin

Managing director, Help Pet Shelters

Trump vote

After reading the Department of Justice’s 49-page, 37-count indictment against former President Donald Trump regarding his handling of classified documents after leaving office, I remain thankful that a vote for Donald Trump for president will never be listed on my resume of life.

Mike Rice

Wellfleet

Indictment

With the caveat that both sides of a dispute must be heard before a legal decision is determined, it certainly seems as if the scales of justice are altered with respect to Donald Trump, leastways for an indictment, the weights and measures being assessed differently from those which were utilized for Hillary Rodham Clinton and, almost certainly, will be used for President Biden’s burgeoning legal difficulties. Political shenanigans are one thing, but when the innards of our justice system are mangled to achieve indictments, the first step on a very slippery slope to autocracy is set in motion. If Mr. Trump is guilty, then by all means throw the book at him buy, for the sake of our republic, the scales of justice must be evenly measured.

Paul Bloustein
Cincinnati, Ohio

Classified docs

Former president and front running republican candidate Donald John Trump indicted on at least 7 federal charges by Department of Justice – are you kidding me, what about President Joseph Robinette Biden and former Vice President Michael Richard Pence having classified documents? Here’s what the Bible says about hate, 1 John 2:9 “Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in the darkness “.   What in God’s name is going on?

Tony Meschini

Scituate

I read the article titled “Bad cops booted.” I have no problem with suspending officers accused of felonies. I do have a problem with them being tried in the media. Police officers are just human beings. There are good cops and bad cops. Just like every segment of the population. In the past few years, the media and society has victimized all cops, tried and convicted them.

Most Police officers are good and honorable people. Just like most teachers, counselors and doctors are good and honorable people. Somehow all police officers are vilified and convicted every time a “bad cop” is accused.

Somehow, they are treated differently. I realize they have the trust of society on their shoulders, but so do teachers, counselors and doctors. If a teacher or counselor is accused of a heinous crime, we don’t decide we don’t want any teachers or counselors in our schools. We allow the system to decide if that one person is guilty and we move on.

By vilifying all cops, we are hurting society and allowing our schools, cities and towns to become incredibly scary and dangerous. When people don’t trust police officers, they don’t report issues. Children are put in danger. Some good changes have been implemented to make people more accountable, but this has gone on long enough. Allow good police officers to do their jobs!

Joan Gonfrade

Ashland

Gambling

I find it amazing how our society has taken a true backwards step when it comes to gambling.  While gambling may indeed be fun to some degree, the vast majority of gamblers will come out losing their money in the long run, as casinos are in business to make money, and they know how to do that far better than any gambler does. Casino earnings come directly from the people who gamble and lose, and it will never, ever change in favor of the gamblers.

We’ll never see an article about a casino going into Chapter 7 status, as they know how to succeed and prosper, all at the expense of gamblers who all lose far more money than they will ever win at gambling.  I suppose educating high schoolers on the negatives of gambling is good, but it should not detract from the time that should be spent teaching them what they need to succeed in high school, college, and beyond.  In summation, avoid gambling like the plague.

Tony Siciliano

Framingham

Celtics

The Boston Celtics did not deserve to make the NBA finals for several reasons. Their inability to win games at home as their losing three games out of four games to a Miami Heat team that barely made the playoffs. Second, the coaching staff’s inability to make in-game adjustments such as going to the basket more instead of shooting ill-advised three point shots. Finally everything was set in place for the Celtics to win the championship with both the Golden State warriors and Los Angeles Lakers eliminated. The experience from last year’s final and more overall talent than the Denver Nuggets would have given the Celtics the edge in the finals. They choked in game seven at home and blew the best opportunity they had to win with this team.

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

The Boston Herald recently editorialized, “States must address downside of legal weed” and in doing so, missed a tremendous opportunity for cannabis consumers, patients and its readers to learn more about the important public health, public safety, and prevention and education work being done in Massachusetts to help keep kids and drivers safe. That editorial along with previous cannabis editorials have omitted this valuable information.

As you may know, Massachusetts became the first adult-use cannabis state in the nation to adopt a curriculum to educate residents about the risks of marijuana-impaired driving. I was a proud partner in developing “Shifting Gears: the Blunt Truth about Marijuana and Driving,” which Cannabis Control Commissioners endorsed in January and will be taught to about 50,000 young drivers a year.

Safety remains paramount to our agency. From its inception, the Commission has ensured regulated cannabis products do not appeal to children by adopting child-resistant packaging requirements as well as restrictions against bright colors, items imitating foods and beverages, and those featuring cartoons or resembling items associated with minors.

In addition to stringent industry regulations, it is parents and guardians that play a critical role in keeping children safe from accidental cannabis exposures, and it is clear they must do better to ensure purchases are safely and securely locked up. Numerous reminders exist on legal products to remind consumers to keep marijuana out of children’s reach, including mandatory labels and universal symbols warning these are “Not Safe for Kids.”

Whether we are talking about young children or teenagers just getting a driver’s license, this is the first generation to grow up with legal cannabis. Adults must keep their cannabis products out of reach of young people and when age appropriate, speak with them about the risks of underage consumption. Conversation starters are available on our website, MoreAboutMJ.org.

Commissioner Kimberly Roy, Public Health Appointee to the Massachusetts Cannabis Control Commission

Quincy taxes

The City of Quincy is seeing another huge property tax increase, and we the taxpayers of this city have nothing to show for it. Tom Koch, the mayor of Quincy has been spending our money on frivolous spending such as the general bridge as well as the statues in front of city hall and we the taxpayers have no idea what they are costing us.

What really bothers me is that the city council has approved the way Koch is spending our money. I believe it’s time to replace the mayor as well as the police chief and start bringing revenue back to this city. This city also needs a new hospital as the mayor had our hospital replaced with more houses and condos that this city doesn’t need.

Charles Dennehey Jr

West Quincy

A wheezing noise has emanated from Capitol Hill in Washington of late. It is a last gasp to stop America’s progress on the climate crisis. House Oversight and Accountability Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., recently said the following to Fox News:

“(Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry) was not confirmed by the Senate. He is not held accountable by the American people. He is skirting congressional oversight, and that is unacceptable. For the past two years, the Biden Administration has withheld information on John Kerry’s role within the Administration for the past two years despite the committee’s many requests.”

“His reported upcoming negotiations with the Chinese on climate topics, an action which he has done on numerous occasions, is inappropriate and potentially undermines U.S. interests and domestic energy security,” he continued. “Mr. Kerry’s continued engagement in shady negotiations will be met with intense scrutiny by the committee.”

Grasping for technicalities rather than addressing the most pressing issue on hand, climate change, the senior committee chair was surprised that the president and not Congress had appointed the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate.

Kerry has gone rogue with Congress to push a global transition from fossil fuels to green energy. He has jetted around the world and attended high-profile climate summits and diplomatic engagements on behalf of the U.S., all with little oversight by the State Department.

Rep. Comer sounded the alarm stating, “His reported upcoming negotiations with the Chinese on climate topics, an action which he has done on numerous occasions, is inappropriate and potentially undermines U.S. interests and domestic energy security.  Mr. Kerry’s continued engagement in shady negotiations will be met with intense scrutiny by the committee.”

In May, according to Comer, speaking with Fox News, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was told the following by a State Department official: “Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry reports directly to the President. The Secretary of State consults closely and regularly with the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate to ensure policy coordination. We have established a variety of mechanisms and channels to ensure robust coordination between their respective staffs, including regular meetings between the Chiefs and Deputy Chiefs of Staff and other senior policy advisors.”

President Biden was wise to separate the diplomatic work of the State Department from that of climate change. China has pledged to reach carbon neutrality by 2060.  This is an insurmountable challenge because China is currently the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for approximately 28% of global emissions. The United States, once the worst, is today the second largest emitter, responsible for around 15% of global emissions. China can only succeed by working collaboratively with the USA by including American-built climate solutions and world-best practices.

Dr. Rob Moir is president and executive director of Cambridge-based Ocean River Institute, a nonprofit providing expertise, services, resources, and information unavailable on a localized level to support the efforts of environmental organizations. 

While President Biden’s policies are shoving down our throats climate change mandates which are fueling inflation, taking away our freedoms of choice on many issues – cars we can own and drive, how we cook our food, how we heat our homes –  his supporters are in the streets taking away people’s rite of passage, picketing businesses, occupying buildings, demanding all kind of drastic measures to protect the climate. John Kerry, the “Climate Czar,” who should know, admitted that the US reducing its emissions to zero wouldn’t make much of a difference in the global climate change fight.

So you see we are “not the bad guys” as we are using technology to reduce our carbon footprint in a timely fashion while the politicians are jumping off a cliff with mandates that have not been thought through – some of which enrich our enemies, others that enrich their friends

Paul Quaglia

Billerica

Hillary Clinton

Regarding Joe Battenfeld’s article  “Hillary Clinton waiting for Joe Biden to stumble in 2024:” Joe Biden’s reelection bid began sinking well before he announced his intention to run again for president in 2024 and the “political sharks” smell blood in the Democrat-primary water. Unfortunately for Hillary Clinton she more resembles the “Landshark” from “Saturday Night Live” in the mid 1970s than the bloodthirsty beast from the movie “Jaws” and is a laughable shadow of her former self.

James Murrin

Marshfield

Redistricting map

As  I read Joe Battenfeld’s latest commentary on the ongoing saga of the Boston City Council trying to redraw a new district map, (“Redistricting ridiculousness, “Boston Herald, May 23), I had to agree that going back to the City Charter and returning back to the way things were before 1983 when Boston had one 9-member elected Boston City Council and no district  councilors messing up everything.

Originally back in 1981 when voters chose at the municipal election that year to go the district representation route, I opposed the reform for just the very reason we see today, where a fragmented city council cannot get anything done right with all the bickering over neighborhood lines. Do we need districts where district city councilors only care about their own fiefdoms and to hell with the rest of the city?

The former 9-member city council lasted from 1949 to 1983 and worked well for all the city’s neighborhoods. Maybe it is time for a new ballot question for all Boston voters. Is it time to go back to the future? And while I am here, how about returning to the old elected  5-member at large Boston School Committee too? Just thinking.

Battenfeld is so correct, all this current nonsense in the City Council Chamber is ridiculous indeed.

Sal Giarratani

East Boston

Once again the state is wasting your hard earned money (“Move to silence cell phones,” 5/24/23).

The state is going to use $1 million to add “cell phone restriction policies” in schools. Because the state uses our money to pay for ridiculous things like this, money is no object. How many hard working people living in Massachusetts can say the same thing?

Here is a solution that does not cost one red cent: if your phone rings in school you are expelled for one day! It is the same principle when I went to school, if you talked in class you got in trouble.

Michael Westen

Malden

Biden on Twitter

Joe Biden trolled Ron DeSantis after DeSantis’ presidential launch streaming broke Twitter, posting “This link works” on his own personal Twitter account and linking to a Biden24 donation page. Well, since Joe Biden is roughly twice as old as the internet he can probably be excused for not understanding how it works, but basically Joe – who had trouble filling a parking lot with his own launch party in 2019 – when a site gets too much traffic it breaks. And when that site is one like Twitter with massive load balancing infrastructure in front of it, you can be assured the amount of traffic in play was massive. But I am glad the dozens of people still supporting you were able to make their donations and buy Hunter’s art projects through your site Tuesday night.

Nick McNulty

Windham, NH

Reparations

No one on earth, especially a Democrat in favor of slavery reparations, could have nailed it any better than Peter Lucas did.  As he stated, “It would then force people who never owned any slaves to pay money to people who were never slaves.”  I’ve yet to see any Jewish people going after money from Germany due to the horrors of the Holocaust. Instead, they did their best to put it behind them and move on, despite the horrors that they endured.  Slavery was dead wrong, as was Jim Crow, but they are both light years behind us.  A large percentage of Blacks have moved on from those injustices, while getting educated, having good careers, and raising families.  That is the way to succeed in America, versus waiting for an ill-advised government handout.

Tony Siciliano

Framingham

Ron DeSantis

For those 2020 Joe Biden voters who are unenthused or actively disgusted with his bait-and-switch from moderate campaigner to paternal socialist Bernie Sanders lookalike, and for those fans of Mr. Biden who are alarmed by his cognitive decline and weak Democratic bench, and for those voters who dismay of a Trump administration reprise of retribution, Ron DeSantis is now on offer. The fury and ferocity of the Trump camp’s national ad spending against him is a very loud signal that Mr. Trump fears him bigly. Mr. DeSantis begins with a substantial biography and weighty record as governor of our fourth largest state who won reelection by a landslide in 2022. He will need to flesh out the policy manual on foreign affairs and fiscal/monetary matters, but to dismiss him with hyperbolic criticism as Mr. Trump and some Democrats are doing, plays right into his hand.

Paul Bloustein
Cincinnati, Ohio

The new angle of the Democrats is to twist the verbiage in the 14th Amendment in order to raise the debt limit; the hell with Congress. Biden created this spending dilemma by ramming through legislation that our government could not afford. Read the 14th Amendment.  Paragraph one states that all persons are granted equal protection under the law. Joe Biden wants to cherry-pick phrases in the Amendment to serve his agenda while ignoring the FBI and DOJ’s shameless assault on former President Donald Trump.  Equal protection be damned!

Donald Houghton

Quincy

Biden clueless

Boston Herald reports that Warren & Healy are going the road to support Biden. That means they support OPEN BORDERS, approve of high Inflation, agree with rule by Executive Order and support a guy who needs someone in the crowd to remind him that he just came back from a trip to Ireland because he could not remember.

I did not think much of either Liz Warren or Maura Healy beforehand and now know neither cares about the future of the country by supporting a man that is clueless

Paul Quaglia

Billerica, MA

Redistricting mess

I have been following the news concerning the redistricting map created by nine city councilors and was not at all surprised that when this case made it into federal court, it would be shot down (Judge tosses redistricting map, Boston Herald, May 9). While the nine councilors who proposed and supported the gerrymandered map stated it did not violate the Voter Right Act, it clearly appeared to me to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

As US District Court Judge Patti Saris ruled the proposed map likely was unconstitutional and has been thrown out. A new map must be drawn by the Boston City Council that doesn’t use race as a reason to gerrymander districts. District 3 City Councilor Frank Baker stated correctly, “Gerrymandering is gerrymandering whether in pursuit of progressive or conservative goals. The court saw that an unfair map would deprive the residents of District 3 and the citizens of Boston of their time-honored role and stature.”

Everything is now back in the council’s court and time is of the essence as nomination papers are already out there for this fall’s city council elections. The time is now for all 13 members to return to the table and create a new redistricting map that passes constitutional muster. Stop playing politics and consider the rights of all Bostonians first. Political agendas and name-calling do not serve the citizens of Boston well. Just do your job.

Sal Giarratani
East Boston

Our Republic

To many of us, the true proof of a democracy lost is when no matter the law broken, those who break the laws can boldface lie about it, and laugh in the public’s face even internationally. Finally, after those violators demand investigators demand the truth be brought forward, after all of the biased work is done, the accusations of those being prosecuted (or persecuted) are found to be illegally established. We now have too many examples and the highest levels of authority have little to say other than, what are you going to do about it; defiantly. The worst part of is that a” free press”, now works in concert with the politicians and the half of the electorate who feels regulating and controlling the masses is worthy of being sheltered from equal justice. The plan seems to be working and they only have to get away with it until it is too late to fix it. It is time for the people to realize that we have gone through a coup attempt. Now there is only one way to prove if the coup was a failure or a success. We will find out in Nov. 2024.

Al DePaoli
Woburn

Well, one down, Rachael Rollins, and many, many more from both sides of the aisle to go. Arrogance is one of the worst traits along with greed and selfishness a human being can have. Seems Ms. Rollins had it all.  I am not surprised at what she did but I do applaud her actions (resignation) Not everyone, even those caught red handed do the right thing and exit.  Ricardo Arroyo the Boston city councilor says he won’t resign even as he threw Rollins under the bus. Pitiful.  Voters in the city of Boston should take notice of his cowardice and toss this individual.

The auditor of Massachusetts is doing her best to hold the awful speaker and senate president’s feet to the fire.  Even as Karen Spilka is reducing her budget.  Speaker McCarthy at the federal level should hold the line and make Biden lower the spending spree he’s been on for two years.  We have a limit, so should he.  Otherwise we won’t even be able to afford the interest on our mounting debt.

David Kelly
Norfolk

Ricardo Arroyo

The two most important qualities in any leader are integrity and good judgment.  It is clear to me that Ricardo Arroyo possesses neither of these traits.  The people of Boston deserve better.  He should resign immediately.

Steve Burnham
Danvers

Classified

The Massachusetts Air National Guardsman who posted highly classified documents on social media should not have received a top secret security clearance or any security clearance based on his terrible background. He discussed violence and murder and use of an assassination van on social media. He also looked up mass shootings and government standoffs on his government computer. He was suspended from high school for discussing use of Molotov cocktails and other weapons; and making racial threats.

Why didn’t an FBI background check, which is required for high level security clearances, expose his past and disqualify him for the security clearance?

My wife and I held top secret security clearances back in the 1960s, and our background was thoroughly checked by the FBI. Neighbors, classmates in school, teachers and employers were interviewed before we received our clearances.

We have to tighten up the system for obtaining security clearances; and disseminate classified information on a need to know basis. We need a federal office responsible for the oversight of the dissemination of national security documents. When I was on a Navy staff back in the 1960s we had a top secret control officer responsible for the control of all top secret documents.

Donald Moskowitz

Londonderry, NH

Trump-Russia probe

Durham/Clinton/Schiff in Trump’s 2016 campaign and its alleged ties to Russia is unconscionable but to me what’s really uncomfortable is that major news stations talked about this as being factual and truthful. The old days of Walter Cronkite and his departing catchphrase “And that’s the way it is” is unfortunately gone.

Lately much of the news we get is fake news.

Tony Meschini
Scituate

You’re robbing a bank and look out the window and the building is surrounded by a hundred cops and a SWAT team. Can you announce you’re stepping down as a bank robber and go home? Evidently politicians live by different rules than the rest of us. After the scathing report of all the law-breaking acts, including lying under oath, our U.S. Attorney for Massachusetts has now been reported to have committed ,stepping down from office appears to be sufficient punishment. Unbelievable.

Jack Moon
Ipswich

Budget cuts

Congress has a responsibility to pay the bills it runs up. For decades, this was not an issue. But now House GOP leaders are refusing to pay unless they get deep cuts to SNAP, Medicaid, housing assistance, and core global poverty programs. For them, people struggling to make ends meet are the problem, not reckless tax cuts for the rich Congress has enacted over the last 40 years.

These proposed budget cuts would force deep hardship onto tens of millions of people still recovering from the COVID economic downturn and rising costs of basic needs. Even worse, a debt default would trigger a deep recession and throw millions of Americans out of work.

Instead of being responsible, House leaders are holding the U.S. economy hostage to punish Americans experiencing poverty. This must stop. I strongly urge President Biden and congressional leaders to reject any budget cuts that would increase poverty and to lift the debt ceiling immediately.

Jim Strickland

West Roxbury

Boost for wealthy

I am frustrated that the House of Representatives wants to protect wealthy people at the expense of Americans struggling to make ends meet. As part of their disastrous budget plan, the House plan cuts money from the IRS designed to go after wealthy tax dodgers.

If Congress wants to do something meaningful on taxes, how about expanding the Child Tax Credit instead? In 2021, Congress expanded the CTC to all low-income families and sent it as monthly payments. As a result, child poverty dropped because parents finally help with paying for food, rent, childcare, and other basic necessities. But the Senate let the expansion expire. Not surprisingly, child poverty is on the rise and families are again struggling.

Congress should be protecting children, not wealthy tax cheats. I urge our members of Congress to expand the CTC to all families with low incomes this year.

William Deignan

Medford

Inappropriate ESPN

ESPN and announcer Karl Ravech both owe Boston Red Sox first baseman Triston Casas an apology for the inappropriate question regarding his mother’s death when he and his brother were younger. It was an inconsiderate and inappropriate question to ask at anytime and to especially ask it on Mothers Day made it even worse. This and the disruption to the players’ ability to be able to concentrate and do their job especially when they are playing defense is why these stupid in game interviews need to be ended.

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

Rick Sobey’s reporting on the arrest of former Governor Baker’s son (“Ex-gov Baker’s son charged with OUI,” May 15) reminds us that it’s not the younger Baker’s first brush with the law.

Paul Stewart
Quincy

Progressive leaders

It’s hard to feel much sympathy for residents in Chicago or New York City – they recently had the chance to elect mayors that would address crime and chose to double down on public union-backed Woke Warriors. And the same goes for New York and California – both had the chance to swap out far-left ideologue governors – Hochul and Newsom respectively – and instead retained them and the current results of disintegrating cities, insane-asylums on their streets, and radical prosecutors were totally predictable. Elections have consequences.

What my elected leaders at the state, local and federal levels can do to protect me, their constituent, is to ensure that political firewalls are erected keeping moneys flowing from my state into these socioeconomic sinkholes the progressive left is creating. Let the people there pay for their choices, the rest of us should be shielded from their social and economic destruction.

Nick McNulty

Windham, NH

Ja Morant

The NBA needs to suspend for the 2023-24 regular season Memphis Grizzlies Ja Morant who obviously did not learn his lesson from his previous eight-game suspension for posing on social media with a gun in his hands. Now that Morant was stupid enough to pose again online flashing a gun a stronger punishment needs to be administered. He obviously needs some type of psychological help as well to deal with whatever off court issues he is currently dealing with.

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

Ron DeSantis

Finally Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will confront his main rival for Republican primacy, former President Donald Trump. As the confrontation draws close, Trump is burning midnight oil to discover an insult that covers DeSantis. His first assay, Ron DeSanctimonious, drew little commotion, so the struggle continues. DeSantis is a Trump target because he is the chief executive of an important state who has established a winning record of achievement without groveling for votes. He explains the issues in a straightforward fashion without ugly descriptions of opponents, in other words, as our politics should be. Trump does not growl or grumble, nor does he do humble, for he has earned a reputation as an abrasive and fiery insulter, garnering guffaws but, like the late comedian Rodney Dangerfield, no respect save from those who indulge his confabulations of massive electoral fraud in 2020 and consider the Jan. 6 Capitol attack an appropriate display of patriotism. Those events should disqualify Trump, especially as Gov. DeSantis draws a distinction by traveling around the country explaining the center-right policy manual in a mature manner.

Paul Bloustein

Cincinnati, Ohio

Sometimes a president is a bold, determined leader of the country and his political party and sometimes a figurehead. Joe Biden is the latter, a placeholder for whomever Democrat comes next. He takes orders from party stalwarts, as when he was commanded to place a female of color on his ticket for vice president regardless of competence. Ditto with appointees to cabinet positions, so we have a lying Secretary of Homeland Security who claims our southern border is closed, a Secretary of Education who presides over failing public schools, a Secretary of Energy who had no experience in the field but is a female, a Secretary of Treasury who parrots the party line on inflation, a Secretary of Interior who makes a hash of congressional testimony, and a Secretary of State who engineered the Hunter Biden laptop coverup so the head of the Biden Gang could get elected.

Now we hear that, proof pending, Joe Biden as vice president conspired with his ne’er-do-well son to accept millions of dollars from foreign sources in an influence peddling scheme and funneled the money through a variety of shell outfits to launder the funds. If proven true, then this incompetent figurehead as president was a very competent criminal.

Paul Bloustein

Cincinnati, Ohio

Immigration rules

My grandparents entered America through Ellis Island legally in early 1900’s. Really don’t understand what the immigration rules currently are, but I do know one thing, it appears our government officials don’t know either.

Tony Meschini

Scituate

Trump on CNN

I have two “take-aways” from Trump’s CNN Town Hall.

The first, Trump was asked a question by an audience member what would be the first thing he’d do as president to remedy the inflation scourge that is ravaging so many millions of American families. Trump instantly responded, “Drill, baby, drill.” He then gave an accurate dissertation of how increasing our energy supply — re-achieving our energy independence that he already accomplished and was immediately surrendered by the Biden administration — would dramatically reduce inflation.

Isn’t Trump, in effect, telegraphing to the American people that all they must do is survive until the next presidential inauguration, Jan. 20, 2025, and he’ll provide immediate financial relief in fighting inflation?

If my assertion is correct, wouldn’t Trump adopting the campaign slogan, “Survive ‘Til ‘25” resonate deeper with the American people over his outdated 2016 slogan, “Make America Great Again?” This is a golden opportunity for Trump to re-connect more — not just with his 74 million voters—but with millions of disenchanted independents and remorseful Biden voters.

The second thing I took away was the moderator’s insistence on bringing up the recent rape trial that just concluded in New York. Even if Trump were found guilty, why would this be considered such a big deal? Joe Biden, after all, was accused of being a racist and sexual predator by his subsequent running mate, Kamala Harris! And he went on to garner a record-setting 81 million votes. So why again is this a big deal to the leftist media?

Eugene R. Dunn

Medford, NY

I disagree with just about everything Jeff Robbins writes (except his support of Israel), but I want to thank him for a wonderful column on Charlie the Golden, Head of Social Support.  It’s refreshing that the entire political spectrum shares a common love of dogs.  Thanks, Jeff

Brian Miller
Boston

Redistricting

I have been following the news concerning the redistricting map created by nine city councilors and was not at all surprised that when this case made it into federal court, it would be shot down (“Judge tosses redistricting map,” Boston Herald, May 9). While the nine councilors who proposed and supported the gerrymandered map stated it did not violate the Voting Right Act, it clearly appeared to me to violate the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.

As US District Court Judge Patti Saris ruled the proposed map likely was unconstitutional and has been thrown out. A new map must be drawn by the Boston City Council that doesn’t use race as a reason to gerrymander districts. District 3 City Councilor Frank Baker stated correctly, “Gerrymandering is gerrymandering whether in pursuit of progressive or conservative goals.. The court saw that an unfair map would deprive the residents of District 3 and the citizens of Boston of their time-honored role and stature.”

Everything is now back in the council’s court and time is of the essence as nomination papers are already out there for this fall’s city council elections. The time is now for all 13 members to return to the table and create a new redistricting map that passes constitutional muster. Stop playing politics and consider the rights of all Bostonians first. Political agendas and name-calling do not serve the citizens of Boston well. Just do your job.

Sal Giarratani

East Boston

Fighting fentanyl

While making fentanyl test kits available to drug users is admirable, why doesn’t Sen. Markey do something really bold and attack the source of the problem?  U.S. officials have identified two Mexican drug cartels as the main transporters of the drug into this country.  Mexican authorities are apparently unable to stop them.  As a result, the United States has suffered over 70,000 overdose deaths annually.

Because the senator is such a first-level thinker, he naturally gravitates toward a photo op and a statement about “making all the tools available to understand current trends in the opioid epidemic…and provide people the care they need.”  The only way to reduce fentanyl overdose deaths is to attack the source of distribution of the drug.  The U.S. has substantial military resources.  We should coordinate with Mexican officials and destroy the fentanyl traffickers.  If we could train a team to go in and eliminate Osama Bin-Laden, we should be able to take care of the cartels.

Sean F. Flaherty

Charlestown

I recently read an AP news story in the Boston Herald concerning legislation in the state capitol in Austin, Texas paying  teachers extra money to carry guns in public schools in response to the Uvaldi school attack. I believe a better way would be to add more armed police in schools. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Florida has proposed an $80 million federal program to train and fund armed officers in schools across America. Obviously the number one priority among parents and educators is to ensure our schools are safe for all our children.

Closer to home, the Boston Herald reported (“Parents focus on school safety”)  polls show sizable support for more police and metal detectors by BPS parents in their children’s schools. A new MassINC poll  expressed concern for safety in the classroom and three-quarters of parents would support the use of metal detectors and a return of a police presence inside schools.

Our children can’t learn if they are afraid inside a classroom. Parents want to know their children are safe during the school day. We have had  too many horrible school shootings and all our elected official both state and municipal, should make safe schools their number one priority. We live in dangerous times and our elected officials all must do whatever they can to make sure our children are in a safe place when they get dropped off for a school day.

As a retired police officer and currently a full time substitute teacher,  every school must be  a safe learning place. Nothing less will do.

Sal Giarratani

East Boston

Field interviews

While Major League Baseball has made great strides with the new rules to speed up the game one thing that should be abolished is players being interviewed on the field, especially on defense by the national networks. It’s all well and good that baseball wants to give its fans access to what players are doing and thinking, it is in my opinion disruptive to their ability to concentrate and do their job.

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

Green energy

Regarding your May 5 editorial “Keep your promise, Biden – green jobs for Americans”, I see a pattern. Green energy alternatives such as wind farms are a threat to the future prosperity of the fossil fuel industry. This fossil fuel cartel, possibly the wealthiest and most powerful industry in the history of humanity, has significant influence on elections- if they’re not funding your campaign, they’re funding your replacement. Lawmakers who are seated with support from the fossil fuel cartel are pushing legislation to prevent foreign workers from participating in wind farm construction. This legislation would effectively derail the speedy completion of these wind farms by obstructing highly specialized and essential crews from participating. Are you connecting the dots? This legislation has only one clear purpose- to delay and obstruct the transition to clean energy. Something the fossil fuel cartel has been doing for decades.

Kerry Castonguay

Leominster

So the Wu administration plans to pump $6.2 million to address ‘squatters’ and drug activity on Mass & Cass, these 105 lottery winners, who according to the cities own Chief of Housing Sheila Dillon, “are not homeless”. So roughly 105 drug addicted squatters will be given $59,000 in taxpayer funded services.

Sheila Dillon states that the city doesn’t know who has no place to go at Mass and Cass, but they will seek out. these future lottery winners.

I’m sure the residents of Mass and Cass prefer to be sleeping in tents, experiencing the traumatic suffering they incur on a daily basis. These people have nowhere to go? The sad part is as a former SUD counselor and someone who has personally lost family to drug OD’s, getting one’s life back requires addressing the trauma, and in the nine years I spent as a counselor, where my PT lived in transitional housing not one PT was willing to address his traumatic past

Mark Howland
Weymouth

Congressional Ethics

Following the election of a new Speaker of the House, Congress can now carry out the work of the American people. One place they could start is by tackling an issue that Republicans, Democrats and everyone in between all agree on: corruption. But I was shocked to read that, as their first move after taking power, the new House majority approved a rules package that includes weakening the Office of Congressional Ethics.

The Office of Congressional Ethics is one of the only safeguards against corruption in Congress. It provides independent nonpartisan oversight and accountability, ensuring that members of Congress work for the people, not special interests. Over the years, it has done its job: shedding light on shady dealings by representatives of both parties.

It should go without saying, but nearly every American wants less corruption, not more. What possible explanation could the new majority have for opening the door to less transparency and more corruption? Confidence in government is already low because Congress consistently fails to deliver on the issues people care about. Gutting this important ethics office will only make things worse.

I am disappointed that the House voted to open the floodgates to corruption. The American people are watching. I hope the 118th Congress reconsiders and makes anti-corruption a priority.

Talisa Rafferty
Topsfield

Ron DeSantis

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis violating the constitutional rights of the Walt Disney Company, and continuing to battle that company, is like a crazed minnow battling Moby Dick. No doubt DeSantis will end up losing and his chances of winning the White House left floundering.

Say goodbye to your presidential dreams, Ron. You fried them.

Mike Rice

Wellfleet

Freedom

Joe Biden tells Americans that Donald Trump will “Take freedoms away”… and he is not? Telling you what kind of car you can drive, how you can heat your home, how you can light your home.. if taking way your choices is not taking away your freedom what is? What is next?

Paul Quaglia

Billerica

The Boston Bruins completed the biggest choke job in the 99-year history of the franchise. Up 3-1 in the series vs the Florida Panthers they allowed the Panthers to come back to win three in a row and win Game Seven when the Bruins were less than a minute away from moving onto round two. While the players deserve the majority of the blame, most of the blame has to be laid at the feet of head coach Jim Montgomery. Up 3-1 in the series he should have gone to Jeremy Swayman in Game Five because it was obvious to anyone who had watched the first four games that Linus Ullmark was both injured and tired from playing six consecutive games in a row. We have probably also seen the last of two great Bruins veterans David Krejci and Patrice Bergeron. It will take years for this team to recover from this choke job.

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

Disappointing loss

It was disappointing to watch the Boston Bruins lose in the first round the Stanley Cup to Miami after such a great regular season win record. It took me a long time to get over the Patriots’ loss to the Giants in the Super Bowl  after a great regular season, so what’s next – Go Celtics.

Tony Meschini

Scituate

Bruins heartbreak

It is with a heavy heart I write this. I was born in Woburn 74 years ago, a Bruins, Sox & Patriots fan the last 60 years.

I put this loss on the coach…neither Bergeron or Krejci were well enough to play…the team played better with the younger players who played the last 15 regular season games. I highly question bringing back 2 injured men. This is the 2nd time I have seen this…Coach Cassidy put an injured goalie in net…Rask. With a healthy goalie on the bench.

I have NEVER been more disappointed in the Boston Bruins than I am today. So much so I may find another team to root for.

David Martini
Wellesley Island,  NY

Too much trash

Perter Lucas was spot on with Climate column of May.  Ed Markey, AOC, John Kerry and now our newly elected Governor Maura Healy are all very quick to tell us what is good for us in the name of saving the planet.

The Green Energy scams are proliferating in Massachusetts and the entire country, wasting billions of our tax dollars.  The only beneficiaries appear to be politician’s reelection accounts and the wallets of these “climate resilience” experts

Massachusetts has always gotten the tag “Taxachusetts,” but to Lucas’s point,  we may as well change it to “Trash-achusetts”. It is disgusting and depressing to drive along our highways and seeing mile after mile of trash littering the medians and shoulders.

Our state has one of the nation’s highest dollar/mile spending for road maintenance and upkeep, yet our highways look like a trash heap. I recently drove back from South Carolina and every state I drove through was noticeably cleaner than Massachusetts.

I suggest that Gov. Healy, Ed Markey and company get back to green basics and devote a big piece of the $100 million in environmental spending to clean up our state’s roads and highways before tackling the planet’s salvation.

Dick Farren
Lowell

I would be remiss if I didn’t wish former AG Bellotti a belated happy birthday.
My father, who passed in 2003, loved the guy.  He hated politicians and pretentious
jackholes as do I. The fact that he reads the Herald every day proves to me that he’s
just as with it as he has ever been.  Bellotti and Barbara Anderson were the best.

Unfortunately, we will be lucky to go the next two years wit the current regime and come out intact on the other side of inflation, high interest rates, migration costs, wokeness, high gas prices and on and on.

The Brandon shuffle is the dance we are all stepping to. Like walking on hot coals.
Of course coal is verboten, except in China and India that is. If 2024 ends up like the midterms the American way of life will disappear….

David Kelly

Norfolk

Bellotti stands out

I’m afraid we won’t see the likes of Frank Bellotti ever again.  He served his country and his state, with honor and humility. How many of today’s public servants can say that?  They are a mere shadow of this great man.  Happy birthday Frank.

Sean F. Flaherty
Boston

Lofty place in history

Thanks to Joe Dwinell (“Happy birthday Frank Bellotti”: May 8;) for reminding us what a transformative person Bellotti was and is. Frank has a lofty place in the Commonwealth’s political history. His former employees and mentees have done remarkable things for the Commonwealth both in and outside of government.

I don’t have the space to name all the amazingly talented individuals – nor their accomplishments – with whom I interacted during my tenure working for Attorney General Bellotti. I was also fortunate enough to meet my wife (of 36 years) who worked in the office as well.  Thank you, Frank!

Paul Stewart
Quincy

In a story on a convention of Satanists in Boston, the Herald reported that Mayor Michelle Wu and City Council President Ed Flynn condemned, as racists, one of the groups protesting the gathering, (“Boston mayor, council president: White supremacist groups are ‘not welcome here,’ ” 4/29).

There was no mention however, of any condemnation of the Satanists.

On its website, the Satanic Temple — the organizer of the event — admits to conducting Black Masses. This ritual entails the theft, desecration and destruction of a Catholic Eucharist, which is a hate crime.

As the Boston Herald noted at the time, the Satanic Temple was behind the failed attempt to perform a Black Mass at Harvard University in 2014.

If our city leaders can condemn racism, they certainly ought to be able to condemn crimes against Catholics.

C. J. Doyle,

Executive Director

Catholic Action League of Massachusetts

Boston

Biggest polluters

Are extremist groups striving to weaken the United States by dismantling and throwing into disarray our energy platform? Groups such as Extinction Rebellion Boston – insurrectionists who have trespassed in the lobby of Governor Healey’s office, and Tyre Extinguishers – who recently deflated multiple SUV tires on Beacon Hill.

Two of the world’s biggest polluters are China – the world’s biggest contributor to CO2 emissions – and India. Beijing is the dirtiest city in the world, followed closely by New Delhi. As reported by the Associated Press on April 6, the worldwide coal fleet grew by 19.5 gigawatts in 2022. The Global Energy Monitor reported that nearly all newly commissioned coal projects (92%) are in China, as coal is China’s main energy source. And the Chinese government cleared nearly 100 gigawatts of new coal power projects with construction to begin this year.  Alarmingly, it has been reported that China is reluctant to cut carbon, arguing that the West should go first and farthest to rein in CO2. A good strategy by China, if their real objective is to dominate the West by weakening our energy platform at the same time strengthening their own.

Also reported by the AP, India is one of a few countries that has added both new coal plants and announced new projects. During 2022, India added about 3.5 gigawatts of new coal power capacity to their electricity grids.

In comparison, the AP reports that the United States retired 13.5 gigawatts of coal power in 2022, or half of the world’s 26 gigawatts of retired coal power!

While vigorously condemning the use of fossil fuels worldwide, has Extinction Rebellion Boston and Tyre Extinguishers dared to demonstrate, slash tires, trespass and block thoroughfares in China and India? Have they demanded these countries expedite the retiring of fossil fuels? Have they confronted China about their newly commissioned coal projects? If not, why not? Is their reluctance a demonstration of – along with targeting only Europe and the United States – hostile actions against Democratic nations? Will the United States wake up and acknowledge this possibility, and respond in kind?

R. Valanzola

Mansfield

Councilor Coletta states “the rats are going to hate us”  when realistically they will be laughing at the city council.  Female rats start breeding at about 8-12 weeks and have about 20 pups each gestation period, and can become pregnant after giving birth, producing hundreds of pups each year.  So hiring a rat czar is about as productive as a drug czar trying to stop drug trafficking.  Czar is defined as a person having great power or authority. By definition a rat czar will have no power or authority over rats.

The city council has never been good at having common sense.

Councilman Arroyo  believes a rat czar is what the city needs only validates his lack of common sense . Good luck in trying to control something that you (the city) has no control over, like Methadone Mile and drug trafficking.

Mark Howland

Weymouth

Biden on debates

Joe Biden is the croupier at the gaming table our our politics. He is gambling that Donald Trump will not roll snake eyes and crap out before claiming the Republican nomination. By bruiting that he may not enter primary debates, Mr. Trump may be doing just that. He may be bluffing about debates, but without him on that stage there is no show and he and his fans know that. However, if the possibility of not debating is not a head fake, then many more serious Republican candidates may announce and one or more may catch fire and stall the nomination blitzkrieg he expects. He still has not figured out that his victory in 2016 was only because his opponent was the only one he could have defeated, as shown in 2020. Mr. Trump may be holding a losing hand, just what Democrats want.

Paul Bloustein
Cincinnati, Ohio

Journalistic integrity

“Integrity in short supply” (Boston Herald, 4/25,) hits the nail squarely on the head by pointing out the fallacies of the cable news network in disseminating false narratives disguised as “news” to push their own agenda.

The editorial’s reminder that “the news media needs integrity now more than ever” is a timely one with the 2024 presidential election just around the corner. No one of sound mind wishes another 2020 election cycle.

The 2020 presidential election ended with several questionable issues, some do not merit any considerations but a few certainly tipped the scale unduly in favor of one candidate due to lack of proper coverage by trusted news outlets. Case in point is the suppression of the Hunter Biden laptop scandal which was dismissed as “Russian disinformation.”

It is disheartening to note that the tentacles of dishonesty have spread into government institutions such as the Department of Justice, FBI and Intel Committee. They have their fingerprints on this scandal. The 51 bureaucrats of the House Intel committee made the voting public believe that the “laptop saga” was  Russian disinformation and the news media never took a step to challenge it.

It has become clear now that this is utterly false. Yet there were no apologies from any one of the top 51.

Truth always matters in both in our private life as well as in government circles for us to thrive as a proud nation.

Pichai Gopal

Braintree

Re: “Fare-Free Idea Back On Track,” 4/25.

What’s the difference between a progressive and a conservative?  Progressives think services are free if the federal government picks up the tab.  Conservatives, not surprisingly, think “How are supposed to pay for that?”

Instead of repeatedly chasing windmills in a lame attempt to “advance justice and equity,” why doesn’t Sen. Markey do something useful like say, urge his party to repeal the Jones Act?  This 100-year-old statute costs the United States over $1 billion annually.  It makes no economic sense to continue with it.  It may even be unconstitutional.  Markey would become a bipartisan hero if he actually thought creatively for ways to save money instead of always coming up with ways to spend it.

Sean F. Flaherty
Boston

Biden vs. Trump

Liberals can’t see the forest for the trees. Crooked Joe Biden and his administration are destroying this country. He is senile, weak, corrupt and ineffective. His socialist woke agenda is a detriment to America. Open borders, a failed economy due to high inflation, energy dependence when we have more resources than any country in the world, nonsensical parts of the Green New Deal and CRT are a few of these horrendous policies. Say what you want about ex-president Trump’s coarse rhetoric, his policies are overwhelmingly more desirable and effectual for all Americans.

John Rapa

Methuen

Democratic Party

Democrats are looking for anything they can to deflect from the incompetence of the party leader. When they don’t get their way, everybody is fair game for accusations that have no merit – Russian collusion, Benghazi, Afghanistan withdrawal. They will try to cover by manufacturing a crime against a Republican. The latest epic in the Saga of Accusations is Clarence Thomas, Supreme Court Justice. Fidel Castro-loving Congressman James McGovern, noted for doing nothing for many many years, is the new accuser and the attack dog. Are we ever gonna get sick of this – one-sided justice is ruining our country!

John Koster

Woburn

Lithium batteries

I am at once astounded and annoyed that Peter Lucas trashes the Biden administration’s electric vehicle policies because “China dominates the world in the production of lithium batteries” (Lucas: Biden to China is ‘a gift that keeps on giving’, 4/24).

Here are the facts. The Inflation Reduction Act (which passed with zero Republican votes), is driving enormous investments in battery manufacturing here in the United States. Ford is building a mammoth plant in Kentucky. Hyundai is one of several companies that will make batteries in Georgia. LG is building a huge EV battery factory in Arizona. In 2022, companies sank $73 billion into EV battery manufacturing in this country. And we’re just getting started.

Biden’s policies are obviously working to bring the lithium battery supply chain inside US borders, which will mean jobs for Americans and greater energy security. Lucas should include all the relevant facts instead of twisting the truth to support his bias.

Frederick Hewett

Cambridge

That same document also states very clearly that the powers not enumerated in the Constitution — and therefore not bestowed upon the federal government by the duly appointed representatives, of we, the people — were “left to the states.” To dispel any confusion, this was again reaffirmed in the 10th Amendment to the Constitution, “Retention of the People’s Rights,” ratified in 1791 and stating with zero ambiguity, “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

Bestowed upon the Legislative branch was the power to make federal laws, to oversee and to fund government, and to make war on behalf of the nation. Bestowed upon the Executive (the Presidency) was the power to conduct international diplomacy and to execute (or veto) the laws from the Legislative branch, and bestowed upon the Judiciary was the duty and power to ensure that the actions by and laws adopted through all three branches were constitutional and therefore legitimate.

What the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) ruling did was quite simply to right a long-standing wrong, in which an activist court invented a constitutional right to abortion from whole cloth. The current Supreme Court correctly ruled that no such right existed anywhere in the text nor subtext of the U.S. Constitution, and that legislating abortion — absent any legitimate federal legislation — falls back to the states and their local governments.  This position is neither pro nor anti-abortion, it is purely well-deliberated originalist jurisprudence that strengthens the rule of law and reclaims some much-needed legitimacy for our modern bloated, fiat-currency-gorged federal government. It neither says abortion is legal nor that it is not, merely — and irrefutably — that such a right does not exist within the U.S. Constitution.  That is the end of the Supreme Court’s purview in this matter.

Now, were people to make arguments that overzealous Republican politicians have reacted to this ruling by jamming punitive anti-abortion laws through friendly state legislatures or that overzealous Democrats are similarly jamming overly permissive abortion laws into being in Blue States, well those arguments can and should be aired by the Americans that hold them. Just as both sides of the argument should be making well-reasoned, persuasive arguments for their positions both within their state legislatures and through their federal delegations to the U.S. Congress, that is how our government works. It does not work by shutting down the internet if you don’t like the news being reported nor by amassing enough chess pieces in the Supreme Court to invent rights (or in the case of congressional term limits in 1995, to abolish them). Illegitimacy of government and banana republics that way lies.

Nick McNulty
Windham NH

Lance Reynolds’ April 20  “Environmental vandals deflate tires of 43 SUVs in Beacon Hill” was a really good news article. Why? It did an excellent job of explaining two points of view about a controversial issue without taking sides. The tires of several dozen luxury SUVs, none of which had handicapped plates, were deflated at some point before the morning of April 20. A group identifying itself as the “Tyre Extinguishers” left a leaflet that explained the climate and pollution impacts of SUVs.

Can vandalism ever be OK? Here is some background. SUVs aren’t governed by the pollution laws for cars. Why? Thanks to auto-industry lobbying, they are classified as trucks. Automakers managed to get Transportation Department regulators to agree that any vehicle with a weight greater than 6,000 pounds was used for commercial purposes or farming, not going to the store for a gallon of milk.

The result? The average mileage of US passenger vehicles has gone down, not up, with 50% of new vehicles sold being SUVs. These vehicles will put more than 4.4 billion tons of planet-heating carbon dioxide into the atmosphere over their lifetimes.

It was 97 degrees here on April 14. We’re living in an overheated world built by fossil-fuel corporations and their lobbyists. However you feel about the Tyre Extinguishers, federal regulators need to get rid of the lobbyists’ loophole that encouraged American passenger vehicles to get so big.

M. J. Else

South Hadley

Vandalism

This group goes around the country committing random vandalism by deflating tires of SUVs because they emit too many gases into the air.

This is nothing but vandalism that if you were caught doing it “back in the day “ you were locked up. Now it’s “ nothing to see here”. Maybe they should gain access to Kerry’s jet and let the air out of its tires

Stephen Lynch
Middleton

Online lottery

t’s bad enough that Massachusetts has legalized sports gambling  allowing people to use credit cards and debit cards. But now the idea to allow people to play the lottery is even dumber. Currently you cannot use credit or debit cards to play the lottery in person so why should you be allowed to online?

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

Presidential choices

I am an independent voter with libertarian instincts. I have voted for both Democrats and Republicans in past presidential elections, but kept my vote in my pocket during the last two contests. I could not even hold my nose and cast a vote in 2016 and 2020. If President Biden and quondam President Trump are the standard-bearers again, I will reprise my decision with extreme regret. Many talented and vigorous natural-born Americans of proper age are available, some even in the professional political class, but specific electoral dynamics on both sides may put the same-old, same-old right back on the ballot. And same-old is inadequate. And dangerous for our nation. Won’t someone of distinction hear an old man’s cry?

Paul Bloustein
Cincinnati, Ohio

Extracting additional revenue from high-income earners is the cornerstone of every progressive tax plan.  Their established view on tax policy is that wealth creation is harmful to society; therefore, the legislative process must be reengineered to preempt the flow of income to those at the top.  It matters not whether the income is earned or unearned, realized or unrealized.  What matters is that wealth never be concentrated, especially at the very top.

That this type of social engineering seeps into every aspect of progressive tax policy is indicative of their desire to affect equal outcomes.  Certainly no one can spend tens of millions of dollars in their lifetime, therefore it must be redirected through the legislative process to those on the opposite end of the income scale.  This mindset is at odds with effective tax policy, which should never be used to affect outcomes.  Tax policy should be used to generate tax receipts sufficient to fund the commitments of the state and not a penny more.

Andrew Farnitano, of Raise Up Massachusetts, makes it plainly clear that a flat, fair tax system in which tax rates on income and capital gains are fixed at a point that keeps Massachusetts competitive as well as fully funded is not his primary consideration.  He wants a tax system more punitive than that.  He’s willing to accept a tax system more likely to discourage job creation, entrepreneurism, and self-sufficiency if it eventually produces an outcome desired by his constituency.

Like it or not, wealth creation is a marker of success.  Using the tax code to discourage success in an effort to create more equality in society goes against the principles of capitalism and freedom.  Progressives will never go so far as to admit that, but they’re hoping to establish these policies without you noticing.

Sean F. Flaherty
Boston

Mental health system

Sal Giarratani’s letter (“Mental Health,” 4/18/2023) highlights the problems of the “catch-and-release” paradigm that has governed the mental health system for too long. The fact is, the prospects of a lengthy involuntary confinement in a state hospital provides the badly needed incentive some people need to stay off booze and drugs and comply with the demands of recovery. And for others, a long term stay in a facility gives them a chance to take stock of their lives and make some choices they can’t even consider while living in the weeds or in their parents’ basement. The threat of long term commitment may seem inhumane, but so is letting people die of preventable overdoses.

Dexter Van Zile

Brighton

Green New Deal

Senator Edward John Markey, elected from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, introduces a $92.9 trillion plan for the Green New Deal. Markey’s counterpart in Congress is Alexandria Ocasio Cortez from New York’s 14th congressional district. Where is this money coming from? I know:  you and me. On a positive note it’s under a quadrillion.

Tony Meschini
Scituate

As someone who worked for the Massachusetts Department of Mental Health in the Metro Boston area DMH Police for 40 years,  I read with much interest the news story (“New bill would allow judges to order treatment,” 4/09/23). I feel really bad for the parents in this news story feeling helpless with their adult son’s mental health issues.

What they are going through happens to many parents of adult children who have the right to refuse treatment even if they really need it. In 1975 when state psychiatric facilities instituted a new reform called “deinstitutionalization,” facilities unlocked their in-patient units and people were released to the streets. This new found freedom I believe made life worse. In 1982, the state created a new reform. This was called “community-based care’ except there wasn’t nearly enough care to be found in the community.

I am not too sure that giving judges the power to force somebody into out-patient care is really the answer. Some say it is better than the status quo, but is it really?

Today, the reforms of the ’70s and ’80s have proven to be not nearly the panacea many thought they would be. We see the evidence all around us in the streets of our communities: homelessness, drug addiction and mental illness.

Parents agonize with adult children who have short stays here and short stays there and many times without any real medical continuum.

I worked as a mental health counselor (six years) and 28 years as a DMH police officer. I was there when the reforms came into being. I used to see many patients remain in locked units I thought too long and then I saw what happened when psych care went in the wrong direction too. Too many were discharged with little out there available for them.

I believe involuntary commitment sounds much better than it is. People  have to want to get better.  You can’t force anyone to get better.

\We don’t spend nearly enough on treating the mentally ill. We don’t spend enough on chronic care too. Simply put, we still don’t treat mental illness as a real illness. Until we find real equity between mental and physical illnesses, the problems of  the many who fall through the cracks will only multiply.

Sal Giarratani
East Boston

Gun control

The Bill of Rights consists of the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution. For sure, the one amendment that is discussed, debated and criticized is the 2nd Amendment that  protects the right to keep and bear arms. Machine guns were banned in 1986, and it’s time this country bans any gun that is similar. I’m tired of the mass killings throughout our country and representatives we all vote for pointing fingers at each other and saying we got to do something, but that something never happens. It really doesn’t matter what I feel should be done to address this issue because I unfortunately believe our elected officials would listen but do nothing as usual.

Tony Meschini
Scituate

More tax money taken out of my paycheck (“Council staffers could cash in,” 4/13/23). It was a travesty last year when the City Council gave itself a 20% raise and now they want to do the same for their staff. By the way, I got a 3% raise last year.

I wonder if they would be open to donating 10% of that raise to the poor and underprivileged people they are always taking our tax money for. My guess is no, but let’s at least ask the question so we can see what the character of the City Council is truly made of.

Michael Westen
Malden

Energy & security

Brigham McCown’s op-ed suggesting that climate lawsuits threaten national security isn’t to be taken seriously (“McCown: Climate lawsuits threaten national security,” 4/14).

First of all, the military does whatever it wants. If they need to ensure a supply of petroleum products to perform strategic functions, citizen lawsuits aren’t in any way going to prevent that. Moreover, the US Department of Defense is itself aggressively pursuing renewable energy, and not only because of climate change. Renewable energy is cost-effective and makes supply-chain logistics vastly simpler on the battlefield.

The reason that Big Oil gets sued so often is that it has consistently denied, delayed, and deceived the public about the effects of its products.

Perhaps McCown is unaware that, according to a DoD website, the military considers climate change a national security priority. Or, maybe McCown is simply another ally in Big Oil’s propaganda campaign to preserve the fossil fuel status quo.

Frederick Hewett

Cambridge

Electric vehicles

In your editorial taking President Biden and the EPA to task for introducing more stringent emissions standards (“Buying an EV? You may not have a choice,” 4/14), you ask an important question: how will manufacturers meet these (more stringent 2032) standards?” Answer: by doing what manufacturers do! They are increasing their output of EVs, widening the range of EV models, and realizing economies of scale and innovation to meet the demands and wallets of their customers. In other words, the Democrats have chosen to seek a market solution to the auto emissions challenge. Why do this? Because we have no choice. Burning fossil fuels in our vehicles, our homes, our factories and our power plants is leading to an unlivable climate. Climate change is already here in droughts, floods, and wildfires, and more emissions will only make conditions worsen. Why leave that deadly legacy to our future generations?

Brent Whelan

Allston

Abortion stance

Abortion continues to roil both political parties but while Democrats provide work-arounds, hard-line Republicans pose election-loss dilemmas given recent polling data indicating that the general public desires legal abortion with limits. Republicans should craft legislation that the majority of center-right voters will accept, including making abortion legal when pregnancy results from rape and incest, when severe fetal abnormalities are detected and when maternal life is at stake. Extremists on both sides are suffused with certainty. It is time for compromise.

Paul Bloustein
Cincinnati, Ohio

Biden wants to rewrite the history books on the shameful withdrawal of the U.S. from Afghanistan.  A brief document created by the his administration’s National Security Council with input from Biden himself is quick to blame President Trump.  Biden owns the botched withdrawal.  He left $80 billion worth of weapons, ammunition, and vehicles behind.  Our troops left the Bagram Air Base in the middle of the night without telling our Afghan allies.  President Trump had left a detailed plan for an orderly withdrawal with specific criteria  that the Taliban had to adhere to or the withdrawal would stop.  This plan was thrown out by Biden.  Former Marine Sgt. Vargas-Andrews spoke at a congressional hearing on the withdrawal and said, it was a “catastrophe” and an “inexcusable lack of accountability.” Biden’s blame game is Joe’s weapon of choice.  I’m tired of it.

Donald Houghton

Quincy

School shootings

There is an urgent need to develop new means to protect our students and staff from the ongoing deadly active shooter incidents inside educational facilities. We need to form a federal commission made up of legislators and highly qualified life safety professionals to study and then implement any and all safeguards that will either deter or terminate a school shooting incident from occurring.

The task is daunting as there are over 300 million firearms in the U.S. Their goal should be to revoke the sales of automatic weapons, provide mental health assistance for those who manifest homicidal tenancies, provide funds for metal detectors and automatic locking steel doors with bullet proof glazing activated by sound of gunfire or other means.

There are many more safeguards that will need to be explored both active and passive. Our students and staff deserve these protections in place now.

Bob Sweeney

Warwick, RI

Close loopholes

It’s time for our lawmakers to take serious steps to close loopholes in the laws that allow people with mental health issues like the shooter in Tennessee who was undergoing treatment for mental health issues but  was still able to legally buy weapons from five different locations. And the hell with what the NRA and the gun companies who have the politicians in their pockets think. There is no reason why anyone but law enforcement officials and the military need to have AK47s and other such weapons designed for one reason – to kill as many people in the fastest way possible

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

Language check

Advice for Erica Faginski-Stark, who has been offered the position of superintendent of schools in Easthampton after the offer to Vito Perrone was rescinded because of his use of the term “ladies.” Be very careful how you address the males on the school committee. If the word “ladies” is a microaggression, then I presume the word “gentlemen” is too. “Guys” is too informal. May I suggest “dudes?”

Peter Bochner

Wayland

The juxtaposition of these two articles spoke volumes about our society today. In one, a person uses the word “ladies” and is denied a job opportunity by a chairwoman who had a problem with word usage. In the other story, a very militant-looking person in a Star Wars outfit toting a realistic weapon is investigated at a T station where, I guess,  there was no evidence of wrongdoing.. Still deciding which of these incidents infuriates me more.

Jack Zaccardi

East Boston

Barney on Biden

I wish to thank Barney Frank for listing the many failures of Joe Biden’s presidency.  The facts speak for themselves about the poor leadership and constant lack of ownership that Joe Biden has for the dismal performance of his stewardship. The buffoons that hold positions of power in Biden’s administration have weakened our country.  The “buck” never stops at Biden’s feet.  His blame game is tiresome to hear.  We are surrounded by wolves who smell a decaying “city on a hill.” The Marxists and the media enablers are watching America’s defeat.  We are witnessing the decline of our Republic and citizens are not even aware of the rot that swirls around us.  When do we open the windows and yell, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”  Thank you Barney for opening your window and making your voice heard.

Donald Houghton

Quincy

Many problems

The Taliban are back and ruling in Afghanistan, China is getting closer and closer to taking control of Taiwan, Iran is getting closer to manufacturing a nuclear weapon, Russia will never leave Ukraine, North Korea is constantly threatening South Korea and the US allegiance with Saudi Arabia is slowly fading. With all this happening our country has problems with individuals crossing the southern border, crime increasing throughout the states, increased fentanyl use and inflation. So what is the major issue that American news stations focus on, Donald Trump. Personally, I really only care about everything but Trump.
Tony Meschini
Scituate

Janet Yellen

Janet Yellen was an esteemed economist and public servant when serving as president of the San Francisco Fed and later as chair of the Federal Reserve. Her reputation as Treasury Secretary has suffered now that she is flacking for an administration seeking a second term. She would do the country a solid by telling the truth instead of dissimulating for political points.

Paul Bloustein
Cincinnati, Ohio

Kerry & Transparency

The Biden Administration claims to be the most transparent presidential administration in history. Then there is Climate Czar John Kerry. He has refused to turn over operational documents requested by Congress. He evades direct questions from members of Congress. He ignores or slow rolls Freedom of Information Act requests. His departments’ budget and staffing are a mystery.  He is apparently using his own Gmail account to conduct government business. He is spending OUR money, not HIS money and WE have the right to know how and where it is being spent.

Robert Perry
No. Dighton

Before the COVID-19 vaccine was available, my brother-in-law was sickened by that deadly coronavirus and was transported by ambulance to a hospital whereupon he was admitted to the ICU and put on a ventilator. After three weeks on a ventilator he was slowly improving but suddenly suffered a series of strokes which left him in a vegetative state.

On April 24, 2020, after my sister-in-law, niece and nephew said their final heartbreaking and tearful good-byes and left, he was taken off the ventilator and died shortly thereafter.

On the other hand, another family member of mine who is currently battling a life-threatening illness was recently sickened by COVID-19, but since he is vaccinated and boosted against that hideous disease his symptoms were mild and short lived. Thankfully, he survived COVID-19.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed paperwork to run for president in 2024 as a Democrat. I’m willing to bet that Kennedy doesn’t have a prayer of winning the Democratic nomination given that he is an anti-vaccine activist.

Mike Rice

Wellfleet

Defense budget

Our proposed defense budget of $842 billion, which is 3% of GDP, does not meet our national security needs when facing an expansionist Russia in Europe; China’s buildup and threats in the Pacific; North Korea’s war-like attitude towards South Korea; and Iran’s moves in the Middle East. We should be spending 6% to 7% of our GDP on defense; and should increase the proposed budget to $892 billion.

The Army needs another 20 brigade combat teams, including infantry, armored and stryker units; and combat aviation brigades. This will help it to deter our adversaries and conduct potential combat operations in Europe, the Middle East and the Southeast Pacific. Our Air Force needs more stealth bombers, and it must increase the inventory of fighters, bombers, tankers, and airlift aircraft. The Navy has 298 active ships, including 11 carrier strike groups, and needs another 100 ships, including two carrier strike groups, to meet minimum requirements to project our sea power, patrol the oceans and conduct naval wartime operations. The Marine Corps needs another five infantry battalions, and another five fixed wing squadrons. Additionally, we have to restock our ammunition inventory which has been depleted due to the commitment to Ukraine.

Donald Moskowitz
Londonderry, N.H.

Blame game

Now, the Biden administration is blaming Trump for their foolish decisions in regards to
the Afghanistan withdrawal. They also blamed Trump for inflation and  for the train derailment in
Ohio. All I know is gas prices were in the $2 to $3 range, heating oil was $1.50 less
and electric bills were $100 cheaper per month.  Food wasn’t scarce or non existent,  baby formula, toilet paper as well as other things.

I don’t know how Americans can stand for this.  Mid-term elections were underwhelming to say the least.  If a Democrat wins in 2024 this country will be all done.

David Kelly
Norfolk

I read the news (“City Councilor jumps ship,” Boston Herald, April 6) of Mayor Wu’s announcement that City Councilor Kenzie Bok would be appointed as the new Boston Housing Authority administrator starting next month. Bok will resign her District 8 council seat effective April 28.

According to our city charter, a special preliminary and general election must be called this summer (June and July)  to elect a candidate to finish out the term. This same scenario occurred in 2021 when Lydia Edwards won a senate race while serving as District 1 city council seat at the time.

If memory stands correct,  in a special election on May 3, 2021 the voter turnout  was dismally low . Then in September, in the regular scheduled  election, another preliminary and general election was held again for a new full term.

Seems quite expensive to elect a city council candidate in July whose term would end Dec. 31, doesn’t it? When a city council at large seat gets vacated, the runner-up who finished in 5th place simply finished out the unexpired term. Why not change the charter provision and select the runner-up in a district race too?

Sal Giarratani
East Boston

Prevention of Cruelty to Animals

April is Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Month, and we all have an opportunity to improve the lives of homeless cats and dogs in our community. How? By helping your local animal shelter. With kitten season around the corner, pet shelters could use donations of food, toys, supplies, or simply your volunteer time.

Unfortunately, your local shelter isn’t getting much help from national animal groups like the ASPCA and Humane Society of the United States. Despite their names, these two organizations are not affiliated with local SPCAs and humane societies, and give little of the $500 million they raise every year to local shelters.

Local animal shelters work tirelessly to shelter, feed, and care for homeless pets in need, but they desperately need more support to continue their lifesaving work. Help a shelter near you today.

Will Coggin

Managing Director

Help Pet Shelters

Crime in Boston

This is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard (“City Targets Homicides,” 4/5/23). Michelle Wu has put together the Violence Reduction Center to meet with police  and community leaders, in her words “to reduce gun violence in the city”.

My three questions are, did you invite the criminals and do you care about any other type of violence or just guns because it keeps you in the headlines?

Did you also include prosecutors who are constantly pleading down cases and judges who are letting out dangerous repeat offenders with a slap on the wrist?

Finally, when I grew up there was a law on the books that said if you are caught with an illegal gun it is a one year mandatory prison sentence.

Is that still the law or have we decided to ignore that one as well?

Michael Westen
Malden