Letters to the editor (3/23/22)

Adding context

Camilla Bradley’s full-page “column” on March 16 needs some objective context.

Her purpose is clearly to gain sympathy and approval for the past practices of her father, John Bradley, and herself, in “preserving” their property on the Shawangunk Ridge. Why does she feel the need to do this? Because for some reason she continues to evade the reasonable requirements of Gardiner zoning law governing development in Ridge special zones 2 and 3, as well as setbacks from streams and campground permits. She is aware that hikers have noticed with horror the geodesic domes plus outhouses situated right on the protected Palmaghatt stream, and that the environmental organization Friends of the Shawangunks (of which I am a Board member) has been urging the Town to require her adherence to its Ridge zoning laws. In other words, a public outcry has developed against this lawless behavior and so she hopes to forestall any restrictions imposed on her — as she sees it — ancestral right to use her land (for profit) as she wishes. She could simply submit a site plan to the Planning Board. Why she continues to refuse and feels the need instead to gain public sympathy suggests that either there are violations she doesn’t want discovered, or she simply believes the law should not apply to her.

She is aware that public outrage at her father’s proposal to build 350 big houses on his land on the Ridge rubs off on the name Bradley: “Our family doesn’t deserve continued punishment.” That kind of says it all: being expected to comply with the law, like everyone else, is punishment?

Oh, and it wasn’t even his plan, somehow he got hoodwinked by his partners? (At least Roger Beck of Chaffin/Light, the development firm he hired, had the decency to meet with neighbors in attempts to describe the project and listen to their fears.) Bradley — painted by her as the innocent victim of partners he “misjudged” — of course knew exactly what the plan was (we all knew!) and as the landowner, could have influenced or even nixed it.

Ms. Bradley knows how to talk the talk, and her protestations of environmental heritage and awareness are appealing. But when will she walk the walk? And when will the Town of Gardiner enforce its own laws, which were written to prevent the Shawangunk Ridge’s “death by a thousand cuts?”

Patty Lee Parmalee, Coordinator
Save the Ridge

Be prepared

I’m getting cranky about inaction on my call for an extended swimming season at my town pool.  Other towns with pools also need to extend their seasons for the health of young and old alike.  The season should be all day for three months.  Instead, the first month is weekends only.  True, I did ask for BOCES to build solar water heaters (I’m delicate), a reach for the unimaginative.  But mostly, a great resource in most Hudson Valley towns is under-utilized. Swimming is good exercise.  Sunshine on skin makes vitamin D.  A nearly 50% increase in usage of a resource that’s ready to go has no excuse for being closed except  town and village governments indifference.

Paul Nathe
New Paltz

Why are we living in the past?

After reading the letters between Carol Bergman and Deborah Fialkow, it brings me to a much more basic and curious view of all the rhetoric on racism as opposed to the reality of racism in our country, today.

Of course, there is ongoing racism in today’s society.  And, sadly, I don’t think racists of any color will ever completely disappear.  But I have quite a problem with the extent to which racism has been greatly blown out of proportion in the recent past.  If we were to believe in the recently manufactured political terms of “systemic racism” and “white supremacy,” the left and their media accomplices would have us acknowledge that we were still in a time warp somewhere between the period of slavery of more than 150 years ago and the civil rights movements and resultant civil rights laws of 1964/1965.

“Systemic racism” has been defined as discrimination against minorities in every level of society, corporate institutions and government.  Google anyone’s definition of this term and you’ll get basically the same total inclusion of discrimination at all levels.  “White supremacy” is a term we all knew when reference was made to the Klan.  Sure, there are white supremacist groups today, but they represent an extremely small percentage of our society and hardly refers to a nearly out-of-control metastatic movement.

Contrary to the beliefs of those who eagerly wave their race cards on a daily basis, there have been gradual yet astonishing improvements ever since the civil rights movements and laws of the mid 60’s.  There are countless successful black surgeons, lawyers, financial stalwarts, etc. as well as Asian and Hispanic people at the same levels of accomplishment.  Look at Clarence Thomas, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, Barack Obama, Robert Unanue (CEO of Goya), Satya Nadella (CEO of Microsoft)……..just the tip of the iceberg of positions that many, many whites could only dream of achieving.  Eight percent of all millionaires are black.  That may seem like a low percentage, but it translates into 1,488,000 black millionaires.  So I ask, how could these outstanding accomplishments be even remotely possible in a country that reeks of “systemic racism” and “white supremacy,” as the left and their robotic lemming media would have us believe?

We all need to move forward in a positive, compassionate manner as we, individually, continue to dissolve any racial divisions we may see in our own one-on-one interactions with each other.  It’s a lot easier to love and serve one another than to waste our time and energy being obsessed with and frozen in the inequities of the past.  Besides, WE’RE the ones who stand a much better chance of recreating unity, rather than our governmental “leaders” who seem to relish in their efforts to maintain the fanning of the flames of division.

John N. Butz
Modena

Spectrum cable’s free month for seniors

Thanks to Hudson Valley One and Mayor Tim Rogers for the government news brief about a Spectrum senior citizen free 12th month of service for those who paid on time for the prior eleven months. I called today and initially found that the customer service rep had never heard of this discount. I read the article verbatim and politely asked her to speak with a supervisor about the franchise agreement. She came back on the line a few minutes later and pleasantly confirmed the discount. As they say in TV spots, “Call now! Operators are standing by.”

Don Cohen
New Paltz

Down to earth

You must truly understand gravity before you can fly.

Sparrow
Phoenicia

Learn about the reach into Medicare

Millions of us seniors and Medicare beneficiaries are quietly being enrolled into a pilot program called “Realizing Equity, Access, and Community Health (REACH) https://youtu.be/zvWyqLG2gcM. This program is administered by the U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services which contracts with third-party middlemen. This is occurring without our full knowledge or consent. If left unchecked, the REACH program could radically transform traditional Medicare within a few years, without input from us and without any Congressional oversight. 

  This program was developed by the previous administration and moving forward in the current administration, the REACH program allows commercial insurers and other for-profit companies to “manage” care for seniors enrolled in Traditional (fee-for-service) Medicare. Instead of paying doctors and hospitals directly for seniors’ care, Medicare gives corporate middlemen a monthly payment to cover a defined portion of each senior’s medical expenses. REACH investor entities are then allowed to keep what they don’t pay for in health services, a dangerous financial incentive to restrict and ration seniors’ care. While Traditional Medicare requires 98 percent of its budget to be spent on patient care, REACH requires only 60 percent, thereby allowing up to 40 percent of the payment received from Medicare to be used for their own profit and overhead.  According to Dr. Susan Rogers, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhGtZMZIvVE, a retired internal medicine doctor and president of the 24,000-member Physicians for a National Health Program, “this establishes a dangerous incentive to ration and restrict seniors’ care; if left unchecked, REACH will hand Traditional Medicare to Wall Street investors, without input from seniors, doctors, or even Congress.”

When I learned about this program, I called fellow Medicare recipients and they had not heard about this. One of those fellow recipients called their doctor and was told their doctor was now part of this “network.” That seemed harmless enough but then learned that if she would not be able to choose other doctors out of the network, like I can with Traditional Medicare.  After reading more, I called our Congressman in January and learned that at that point in time, the staff hadn’t heard about it. I have since contacted our US Senators and the Biden administration and haven’t received any indication that they know about the REACH program concerns. Consequently, I am turning to the public to learn about this program.  Do some research (see the Physicians for a National Health Program/pnhp.org) and talk with your neighbor. At my end, I and fellow seniors from Ulster Activists and Indivisible Ulster will continue following this program to advocate for its termination. I encourage others to do the same. REACH will not realize equity, nor access nor community health.  It will limit our choices of doctors and divert Medicare dollars away from our care and into the profit pockets of corporations. 

Maggie Veve
New Paltz

There are two main heroes in the battle for Ukraine

There are two main heroes in the battle for Ukraine. Zelenskyy is widely praised for his valor and determination to keep Ukraine a democracy and free of Russian domination. The other hero is Joe Biden. He rescued NATO from Trump’s undermining. Biden led NATO to make plans to support Ukraine in the event of a Russian invasion and now we see that NATO is a major player in the war. The Soviet assault is stalemated and Russia is slipping into an economic depression.  Republicans care about nothing but winning elections, supporting their ambitions with endless criticism of Biden. We are fortunate that Biden is a match for Putin and a fitting partner for Zelenskyy.

Hal Chorny
Gardiner

Coming to a town near you

Hey, you guys keep up with dem sit-ups – the Solar Plexus Gang is in town!

Gladys Q. Flitchnick
Ulster Park

Help preserve unprotected land

In Gardiner, following in the footsteps of New Paltz and Red Hook, a group of volunteers is working to establish a Community Preservation Plan that will help preserve unprotected land that has outstanding qualities in terms of water resources, wildlife habitat, agricultural value, forests, historic and cultural significance and scenic vistas. Funding to implement this plan will derive from a modest (two percent or less) one-time real estate transfer tax that a buyer will pay only when a property changes hands in Gardiner – and only on the amount of the sale price that exceeds the median Ulster County real estate sale price for the prior year.

Funds accumulated under this plan will go towards the purchase of development rights (rather than outright purchase of acreage) – from willing landowners – on properties that have been ranked under a scoring system based on Gardiner’s Natural Resources Inventory. Residents will soon be receiving a survey to elicit their views around this proposal, and details of the plan will be posted on the www.townofgardiner.org website, among other media. We volunteers are excited to be developing a way to actualize the open space goals laid out in Gardiner’s latest Comprehensive Plan.

Neil Rindlaub
Gardiner

The Master said

The Master said, “Sending people to war without educating them first: That is called throwing the people away.” (XIII:30)

A dear friend, Peter Pitzele, who has just written a book titled Tea with Confucius, sent this quote to me yesterday. We had a brief phone call where we both mentioned that we should chat about what we both saw as profound insight: that only the educated should be going into war.

So that marble of thought has been rolling around in my mind. What does it mean to educate someone for war? As an ex-combat Marine, I know I got educated to hate my enemy enough to kill him. The Marines taught me to fire various weapons, from an M-79 grande launcher to an M-50 machine gun. I have a hard time seeing Confucius behind a machine gun. I don’t believe that the kind of education he refers to has much to do with suppressing our morals and compassion for other humans. He must have meant education for your soul, containing elements of ethics, kindness, honor, power, ego, rage and knowing the location and voices of these energies within yourself and others.

I was surprised that Confucius would even consider sending educated people to war. Perhaps he believed that war was an inevitable reality for human beings, so if those sent to war were educated, they would not tolerate endless killing and violence. The educated would know it’s the leaders that decided to go to war, and killing innocents would only guarantee the lengthening of the aftereffects of war. Vengeance and rage driven by grief last many generations. An educated warrior would find compassion for his enemies, poor and weak. Showing this concern will undermine their leadership.

A true warrior waits for the inevitable backlash that always comes when war is declared so he can use the organic wave of resistance from those who will fight him. He knows that the longer his enemy sits still in their trenches waiting for their deaths, the more likely they will turn against their leaders, using them as cannon fodder.

An educated warrior knows that his enemy is just like him. He carries the exact needs, loves his family as he does, holds the same dreams of returning home again. This knowledge is far greater than those leaders who use only fear, violence and devastation to win. The educated warrior honors the enemy who has bravely fought against him. Uneducated dictators make enemies of those who fight for them because they recognize their lives are spent like capital.

Zelensky is showing the world what an educated warrior is.

Larry Winters
New Paltz

Must-see TV

John N. Butz (and I paraphrase) from his “Letters to the Editor” (3/9/22) opined that “for balance, he tries and watches CNN, MSNBC et cetera. But he can only stay tuned for 10 to 15 minutes at a time before reaching for his airsick bag. Their bias is so nauseatingly incredible when we consider how many trivial stories they manufacture into calamities and how many stories they fail to report on, simply because they conflict with their narratives.” Mr. Butz also strongly promoted Fox News as an honest and genuinely factual outlet to hear “real news,” after dissing the cable TV news outlets above.

Now we have learned from a leaked Kremlin memo to Russian media: “It is essential to feature popular news anchor Tucker Carlson of Fox News and promote and disseminate fragments of his broadcasted Russia punditry.” Specifically, Carlson routinely touts, via his network’s TV amplification, straight-up Russian propaganda as he sells Vladimir Putin’s invasion and war against Ukraine, which is a peaceful and democratic country. When you listen to Carlson’s primetime show, he’s practically plagiarizing Putin himself. Now that he’s been outed, it’s kind of an inconvenient truth for his supporters.

Yep, Carlson’s sharp criticism of the United States and NATO is heard and spread on a nightly basis here and in Russia. He is considered a friend of the Kremlin dis-info campaign, which helps Russia’s Putin and his own state TV broadcasts. One of Putin’s favorite comments being pushed on Kremlin TV is, “Tucker Carlson wonders why US elites hate Putin.” Putin owns all news platforms in his country, and it appears that Fox News is here visiting from Russia.

How do people like Tucker Carlson steadily spew misleading misinformation, bottom-line lies and justify or rationalize this behavior to themselves? What is their exact motivation and reward for misleading our society and basically helping our enemy?

Can you say, “Russian agent”? So, this was what the MAGA movement was all about? At least they got the hats right: Russian red! Ha-ha, I knew it; Tucker Carlson has always been Putin’s cheerleader.

I’m pretty sure most people already knew Tucker was anti-democratic and anti-free speech when it involves anyone he doesn’t agree with. So, it’s not surprising he’s being praised by people who think the same and who push his favorable pro-Russian punditry as much as possible.

IMHO, this brand of Fox News is the “Mother of Alt-F*cks,” err, faux facts, with its fake journalism. It’s amazing that in 2022 we have our own Tokyo Rose – I mean, “Tucker-yo” Rose – ensconced at Fox News, whose goal is to demoralize or confuse our citizenry with his bullshit rhetoric while simultaneously helping bolster Putin’s lies on Russian state media. Stunning how many idiots work for Fox. This network needs to be investigated for false reporting, as too many people believe that shit.

The Fox TV news station doesn’t do any reporting of news. They only opine about news gathered by journalists, of whom they have none. Most of their talking heads purposefully are unable to discern truth from lies. And yes, they’re misinformation babblers and propagandists…and with that, this major news network has become a subversive broadcast outlet that leaves people like me aghast from this most recent revelation.

With the value of the ruble plummeting, I wouldn’t be surprised if Comrade Carlson’s overall wealth is now considerably diminished. Anyway, he should move his propaganda show to Moscow. He loves dictators, he loves our enemies and he certainly hates our friends and allies. We all know the Republicans like to forget a lot of things; but we also know they only believe what Tucker Carlson tells them, and they often repeat his faux talking points.

“I come from a long line of middle fingers and going against the extreme right-wing flow, as well as pushing back faux talking points of paleoconservatism television. Lies.” It now becomes obvious that Fox makes it their standard.

Finally, as for a rebuttal to my letter, “There is no ifs, ands or Butz!”

Neil Jarmel
West Hurley

High-handedness

Bill McKenna wrote on Nextdoor that “The Tree Committee is an advisory board to the Town Board; it has no jurisdiction.” As supervisor, why does he fall back on pointing out to the public, when he disagrees with certain boards, that they are advisory and have no jurisdiction? He did that with the Commission on Civic Design when all they wanted to do was fulfill their obligation regarding the application you sent them asking for their opinion regarding the Comeau addition. And now it appears he is doing the same with the Tree Committee, which is just pointing out that the Tree Law requires that, before anyone cuts down trees within 20 feet of Route 212, between Plochman Lane and the Bearsville/Wittenberg Road, they make application to the Town Board.

Woodstock is not a dictatorship. The volunteers on these committees were appointed by you and the Town Board members. They are representative of those of us living in Woodstock, and their input should count, not be belittled.

Howard Harris
Woodstock

Slow down, save lives

This is the time of year when young animals – furred, feathered, scaled and finned – emerge into a new and unknown world.

They don’t know the difference between safe grassy spaces and paved or blacktopped roads. Some dash across the streets (not looking both ways before doing so), some crawl, some slither, others hop. Many move very, very slowly.

So, when we humans are driving, we need to keep a careful eye out for these young ones and for the parents accompanying them.

The sad little bloody carcasses on our roads – Glasco Turnpike, Plochmann Lane, Route 212 and Route 375, among them – demonstrate that our human impatience and inattentiveness can have deadly consequences.

If you slow down, you’ll still reach your destination. But if you don’t slow down, they may not reach theirs.

Mary T. Yelenick
Woodstock

Can big IBM center become afterschool free tween hang?

Warren’s big plan? I don’t know why there are so many outsiders buying up Kingston, but not really giving back to Kingston – such as the Brickyard, owned by someone out of state. Yet we could have big-time filmmakers and musicians rent the space and the rent goes back to Kingston, or at least half. We need it to build up our community, such as better sidewalks and places to ride bikes. We could be the next Holland and create an almost no-car area and ride bikes safely. No more White bikes; let’s keep people alive!

So, the big space at IBM – how do we make things happen? I have some ideas, so I am just going to share them and see if someone takes the ball, ‘cause I am just a little person and need the bigger connections.

I am a mother of a tween and teen, and they need a place to go. This property like the Brickyard could give back to our community.

There is plenty of space to have two indoor Olympic pools and two outside. There is plenty of space to have artist studios. There is plenty of space to have kilns, film studios and gardens.

The plan would consist of artists, filmmakers, cooks and farmers, who would get spaces for rotating time teaching young adults and tweens. No one pays.

They get a garden, a place to swim or a place to paint. And they get to teach what they love and know to kids who need to apprentice and use this time they don’t get in school.

How would it get paid for? By renting out the larger studios, like in LA, to filmmakers who put the money back into the dream.

The buses bring the children directly to this site after school directly and take them home, just like in the Onteora School District.

We have a lot of amazing possibilities, so let’s make a great future for our children!

What do you think? Can you make it happen? How do we do this? I got the ideas, but I need the help.

Sasha SUN
Kingston

Mr. Feedback Writer II

This is a further challenge to Bud Lavery’s list of Trump’s broken promises. While I should address every item on Bud’s misleading list, I’ll only deal with one now, because I need the words for my parody below: 1) Bud claimed that Trump was the first POTUS since Herbert Hoover to end his term with fewer Americans employed than when he took office. However, he failed to mention – according to the May 8, 2020 updated report by CNN’s business reporter, Anneken Tappe – that in April of the pandemic, 20.5 million jobs were lost, with unemployment growing from 3.5 percent to 14.7 percent (by far the most sudden and largest decline since the government began tracking the data in 1939). Those losses followed steep cutbacks in March as well, and more than doubled the 8.7 million jobs lost during the financial crisis of 2008. Bud also failed to report that prior to the pandemic, Trump’s policies and negotiations resulted in millions of jobs being added to an inherited, stagnant, Obama economy.

For best results, please imagine the parody of “Mr. Tambourine Man” below being sung by “thoughtful and informed” feedback readers to Neil Jarmel and Messrs. Lavery and Reiss, simply because it’s the right thing to do.

(Chorus)

Hey Mr. Feedback Writer tell the truth to me

I’m not foolish and I know where you are coming from

Hey there Ms. Feedback Writer the truth will set us free

In the morning or the evening when your letters we read

(Stanza)

There are so many words we read

Expressing opinions and giving news

Whose authors don’t hide their biased views

With minds that seem to always choose

Harsh words for differing thoughts

And all they stand for

They sound just like dear Neil Jarmel

When he’s on a “hate Trump” roll

They give unfiltered thoughts control

As they write to those who cheer

Their words so full of fear and crazy bias

(Chorus)

You might have pointed questions

About the writing of this song

‘Cos you might think that it’s so wrong

To send a message loud and strong

That contradicts all of the views

You hold so dearly

But this song is a parody of Dylan’s

Mr. Tambourine Man

Why don’t you take your pen in hand

And write your version if you can

In a style and cadence faithful

To the author’s

(Chorus)

Let’s hope the love for truth sets free

The mind of every captive soul

May truth be every heart’s first goal

May it expose the biased views

Of writers of false news

And those who always choose

To speak words that distort truth

And bring great sorrow

Yes to walk beneath a clear blue sky

In a land where speech is free

Where truth is not owned by you or me

Its seeking praised and goals increase

Causing all prejudice to cease

And biased rantings to decrease

From falsehood’s grasp bringing release

Let us search for truth today and

Again tomorrow

(Repeat Chorus)

George Civile
Gardiner

Social Security

Just recently I received an AARP bulletin brief regarding Social Security. I will recount here for the readers pertinent information from this bulletin that all of us drawing benefits should be aware of. Most of it is all paraphrased from the bulletin, combined with the author’s opinion.

According to the bulletin, America’s retirement is referred to as a “three-legged stool.” This refers to a pension from work, ample savings and a monthly Social Security payment. The pension system is a dying breed here in America and too few Americans have savings – a nest egg to ride through the later years of life. Therefore, the most stable, reliable one of the three is the Social Security, which has been proven steadfast and strong.

Social Security is one of the most successful anti-poverty programs this country has ever created; without Social Security benefits, 21.7 million more Americans would be below the poverty line.

Every one of us drawing benefits today have paid into this OASDI (Old Age Survivors and Disability Insurance). It is the amount of money paid into the system by those working, which was us at one time, and those now working, which provides payouts to the retirees. Any funds left over after payout go into trust funds, now totaling $2.91 trillion. These funds will be tapped when taxes coming into the system aren’t enough to cover ongoing payments to the beneficiaries.

When that happens, the SSA will start drawing on these trust funds to make up for any deficiencies of money coming into the system. This will occur in approximately 2034. However, once the reserve trust funds are completed, all Social Security benefits will still be payable, though only about 78 percent will be covered from the payroll taxes that will still be coming into the system. And still, if nothing is done, Social Security is projected to still be able to pay roughly three-quarters of promised benefits for the remainder of the century.

Why is this happening? There are various reasons this will occur. One, a decline in the nation’s birth rate, meaning less people paying into the system. Two, people are living longer and therefore drawing more benefits. Three, the system is not an equitable one.

What are the solution(s)? One: Adjust the cap. Right now, someone making a million dollars a year pays the same tax as someone making $147,000 a year! Why shouldn’t they be taxed on, say, $400,000? In other words, raise the cap on the taxes these billionaires and millionaires would pay. Or, two: Raise the rate on which they are taxed. In either way, the rich are not paying their fair share of the tax load. The wealthy have found different ways to ship money overseas into tax shelters, all kinds of tax dodges, to prevent this – particularly the Republicans. Three: Broaden the base. Not all state and local employees are covered by Social Security (I believe anyone working for the federal government does not draw Social Security). Four: Cut benefits for new recipients. Five: Up the retirement age. Six: Reduce the COLAs (cost of living adjustments).

Absent any changes in the law, Social Security trust funds – the funds that the program draws from when the payments going out are less than the taxes coming in – will be out of money. When this happens, the program will have only ongoing tax revenues to fund 78 percent of promised benefits.

There it is, boys and girls: Our benefits are on the line more than ever. There are different solutions to address the coming shortfall, but the most important one is the elimination of the tax cap on the wealthy or have the wealthy paid a larger share of the tax load. In the next letter, I will address the 2022 elections and the effect this election can have on our benefits.

Robert LaPolt
New Paltz

Protect bail reform

The safest communities are those that have the most resources, not the highest jail populations. We need to protect bail reform and make immediate investments in high-quality, low-cost housing, excellent schools, good jobs and full mental health services in communities that need it the most.

Pretrial detention – a practice that keeps people in jail before their day in court – is a racist system that destabilizes communities, separates families and costs people their jobs and housing, while doing nothing to address the root causes of harm and violence.

Decades of disinvestment from black and brown communities has led to overpoliced and underresourced communities. Investment in these communities – from housing to public health to restorative justice programs – creates a safer world for all of us. Addressing these root causes of harm is racial justice and how we create safe and secure communities for everyone.

I am calling on [insert your state legislators’ names] and Governor Hochul to protect bail reform and invest $1 billion in immediate resources to communities most affected by gun violence.

Elena Schaef
Kingston

New Paltz Town & Village fighting climate change?

I applaud Hudson Valley One for your aggressive reporting (Erin Quinn) on the climate crisis, “Town, Village of New Paltz team up to address climate change.” It is a relief to me to see your reporters challenging our local officials as to their actions on this potentially tragic front and to see that in New Paltz Mayor Rogers and Supervisor Bettez are working together to help reduce New Paltz’s carbon footprint. It would seem as though they are working hard to move us forward on the green front.

I would ask, though: Is it a good tradeoff to cut down trees to make a bike lane on a slow road that has stop signs on every block (Henry W. DuBois Drive)? Is that necessary? And why isn’t there an initiative to capture the methane that comes from the sewer treatment plant?

Those of us who are frustrated with the slow pace of change in the face of impending disaster due to our addiction to fossil fuels are looking for more concrete and effective measures. My friends and I have been on the forefront of climate change protests for decades. We have since discovered Extinction Rebellion (XR). XR provides for a non-hierarchical, nonviolent foundational structure where people who are concerned about climate devastation, biodiversity loss, social unrest and fossil fuels can gather and make decisions about what actions they would like to pursue together.

Please come to our Heading for Extinction talk at Elting Memorial Library in New Paltz on March 27 at 4:30 p.m. to learn more. Please join us.

Janet Apuzzo
Wallkill

An interesting juxtaposition

A few issues ago, George Civile wrote a letter about how Biden doesn’t keep campaign promises while Trump did. I wrote a letter pointing out ten unkept Trump campaign promises, with a link to 30 more. I expected a response from Mr. Civile, but not the one proffered. Not once in his letter did he address the promises, other than to claim that Trump had unprecedented opposition to his agenda where Obama didn’t. If memory serves me, Republicans controlled both the House and Senate when Trump was elected. I wasn’t sure if Mr. Civile was trying to show that Obama was as bad as Trump, or that Trump was as good as Obama. 

I was then surprised to see my name in a letter by John N. Butz, claiming that I have terminal TDS (Trump Deranged Syndrome). First, how does questioning someone’s statements make one “deranged,” according to Mr. Butz? Second, his challenge to discuss government without invoking Trump’s name harkens back to Trump’s first years when Republicans couldn’t exhale without the invoking the name Obama. Case in point; Mr. Civile’s letter, described above, in the same issue. 

Let me be clear, I loathe Trump for his mocking people with disabilities, for encouraging violence against people who don’t agree with him, for his lying and especially for his blatant disregard for democratic principles. But how all of that comes about by simply questioning claims about Biden v Trump is curious. 

BTW: If there is a button that states “I have TDS,” I want one. 

Ted Reiss
New Paltz