The United Nations Security Council is made up of 15 members. It acts as an executive committee for presenting resolutions to the larger body. Any member of the Council may veto a resolution and it automatically fails.

The other day, the Council sponsored a resolution calling for a cease fire in Gaza.

The only benefit from that would be to grant Hamas time to reorganize and stunt Israel’s effort to eliminate this despicable terrorist organization.

Since the United States supports Israel in its effort to survive, it seemed clear that the Biden Administration’s response would be to exercise its veto and defeat the Resolution. Astonishingly, Biden abstained from voting. The result was 14-0 and the resolution passed. What in God’s name was Biden thinking to allow this to happen?

There’s an obvious answer. Biden is a political prisoner of the Progressives who hate Israel. He’s afraid of them. Very frankly, Biden didn’t have the courage to oppose them with a veto.

I hope that all voters remember this when the polls open on election day. Anyone who is disgusted by Biden because of this should.

Frank Olivieri

Wilmington

Impeachment

Ian Sams, White House spokesman for oversight and investigations, sent a taunting tweet to the House Oversight Committee Chair, James Comer, apparently trying to intimidate the co-equal branch into not performing one of their core oversight roles enumerated in the U.S. Constitution.

Sams’ tweet said “Comer knows 20+ witnesses have testified that POTUS did nothing wrong…. This is a sad stunt at the end of a dead impeachment. Call it a day, pal.”

Really? 20+ witnesses? Are they like the White House physician that skipped a mental acuity test for the first time in modern history and told us Joe Biden was mentally and physically fit? Or more like the 51 retired “Intelligence Leaders” who declared in October of 2020, during an election, that the Hunter Biden laptop story was a Russian disinformation operation?

Thanks, pal, but I think we the people will trust, but verify, as a far better president of ours once told us to do.

Nick McNulty

Windham, NH

Biden & Iran

President Joe Biden freed up $10 billion of frozen Iranian assets.  Iran supports terrorists by providing money to groups like Hezbollah and the Houthis.  Iran does not allow inspections of its nuclear energy facilities.  The mullahs chant, “Death to America” and are on friendly terms with Russia, China and North Korea.  Biden abruptly pulled out of Afghanistan against the advice of his generals and left behind $80 billion in weapons, ammunition and military hardware.

On the other hand, President Trump had strong sanctions on Iran and was crippling Iran’s economy.  Under Trump, the leading state-sponsored terrorist, Iranian Major General Qassem Soleimani was killed with a pinpoint missile attack.  In 2014, Obama’s Defense Secretary Robert Gates, stated that, “Joe Biden has been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the last four decades.”  A failed foreign policy is nothing new for our commander-in-chief.

Donald Houghton

Quincy

The MBTA has been running at deficits for years, now the recent article “Discount fares, Chinese-built cars on track” illustrates even more losses. Sixty thousand low-income riders will receive half-off tickets and passes. I understand low income and assistance but it just shows another loss. The contract with a Chinese company for new cars was updated, for huge losses and more time waiting. The T will now pay the company $148 million more…on a bid!? They will also forgive $90 million, and another $37 million in damages spelled out in the bid may be forgiven.

Why wasn’t there rebidding when the Chinese company defaulted? Are there any US companies who bid and were within $275million of the awarded company? Why aren’t these questions being raised for an agency hemorrhaging money away?

John Cerulli

Salem NH

Biden fundraising

Pull back the curtain and you will see why Biden had the biggest fundraising event in history. The total net worth of the top 1%, defined by the Fed as those with wealth over $11 million, increased by $2 trillion in the fourth quarter.  All of the gains for the elites came from their stock holdings.  Super rich Democrats love Biden, while working class Democrats struggle to put food on the table.

Biden couldn’t draw a crowd by headlining the event himself.  He had to share the stage with Bill Clinton and Barack Obama and they were hawking photo shoots with the former presidents.  Second row seats were going for $500,000. Did anyone reading this attend the fundraiser?  I doubt it, because Bidenomics doesn’t work for working-class people.

Donald Houghton

Quincy

Baltimore bridge

t’s refreshing to hear that our governor has pledged to help Maryland Governor Wes Moore with support in the Key bridge disaster.  It’s great news to see intergovernmental cooperation between states. Now if Gov. Moore was a Republican, would Healey be so quick to offer him any kind of help? A huge tragedy has been taking place on our southern border, here in Massachusetts, Healey has only admonished Texas Governor Greg Abbott and former President Donald Trump. When will Gov. Healey call and extend the same courtesy to Gov. Abbott? A tragedy has been occurring at our southern border for over 3 years and yet Gov. Healey hasn’t even attempted to extend any support or assistance to stop it.

Democrats help Democrats and Democrats suffer cognitive dissonance and continue to  blame Republicans, Trump and MAGA for the disaster on our southern border.

Mark Howland

Weymouth

Timeless adage

A long time ago, an elder from the Greatest Generation told me that “You can’t beat City Hall.” Now that I have become an elder, I can see that government is trying now to make that an absolute fact. If we allow that to become the absolute truth with our votes being negotiable to tax- and-spend politicians, then democracy will, or perhaps already has been lost.

Al DePaoli

Woburn

Your editorial of March 26 decrying the constant judicial delays in the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev capital punishment case, in which he was sentenced to death and is still kicking around, very much alive, in a federal supermax prison, is completely understandable. After all, the foul and cowardly deed was done in 2013, more than a decade ago.

However, when dealing with capital punishment, and with all of the horrendous crimes for which defendants are sentenced to death, cooler heads should prevail. There is a systemic problem with the death penalty. Our criminal justice system is flawed, along with all human institutions. Errors are made. While it is true that the Boston Marathon bombing has resulted in one of the most clearly accurate and well-deserved convictions in recent memory, the problem is systemic: If capital punishment is inflicted, it is virtually certain that an innocent person will eventually be executed. The National Innocence Project has uncovered many cases of unfairness or even unlawfulness is capital cases, and recently even discovered the case of an innocent man who was executed. I was not surprised, as it was inevitable.

Harvey A. Silverglate

Cambridge

Right to shelter

Our governor and legislators are placing blame on the federal government. There is plenty of blame to go around, but they need to look themselves in the mirror and realize a good portion of the Massachusetts immigration issues are caused or exacerbated by their own actions, or lack of action.

They won’t change or clarify the Right to Shelter Law (which was originally put in place for homeless Massachusetts citizens) and have not even thought about creating Massachusetts’ own laws to limit immigration to legal immigration. Meaning laws like we used to have when people waited their turn to come here legally, prepared to work and had a clear path to citizenship.

Instead, they offer migrants free housing, free medical, driver’s licenses, breaks on education and then they limit the information our RMV can give out to law enforcement!

Now our taxes will be going up to support a situation which by no measure is sustainable. Costing this state alone almost $1B a year! They are bankrupting our state. If they are worried people have been leaving, just wait…

Right now,  more migrants are coming into this country every four days than we have citizens in most towns. No other country would allow this.

Where is the common sense?

I do not blame the immigrants — why wouldn’t they come?? Anyone in their situation would. I do blame our state AND federal government for allowing our borders to be overrun, for the increase in crime in our cities, towns and schools and for the undermining of our police and justice systems.

Stop the blame game and use the laws we have or change them as needed to get control of our state back before it is too lat. Then collaborate with other states to force the federal government to close our borders and bring back the immigration laws that worked.

Joan Gonfrade

Ashland

The recent piece by Seth Borenstein highlights a critical issue — the impact of climate change on food prices and inflation. This remarkable study underscores the pressing urgency to address climate change. Researchers calculate that “weather and climate shocks” will cause the cost of food to rise 1.5 to 1.8 percentage points annually within a decade or so, even higher in already hot places like the Middle East, according to a study in the journal Communications, Earth and the Environment. That translates to an increase in overall inflation of 0.8 to 0.9 percentage points by 2035, caused by climate-caused extreme weather, the study said. By 2060 the impact on inflation will be over 2%.

This development results in individuals who can least afford it grappling with skyrocketing food prices. And the worst of these impacts will be experienced by the Global South. Greater focus needs to be placed on the economic strain created by climate change that accompanies the catastrophic damage to the physical environment. Climate change is not just a weather problem. It’s an economic, social, and humanitarian crisis. We need to address it as such.

Marvin Berkowitz

Needham

“Climateflation”

“Higher temperatures mean higher food and other prices. A new study links climate shocks to inflation” — Boston Herald

This article introduces us to a new term: “climateflation.”  Our prices, especially in the supermarket, are going up slowly but surely every year along with rising temperatures. To stop rising temperatures and related price increases we need to drive our tailpipe and smokestack emissions down — way down. If you can’t afford an electric car, know that you can reduce your emissions and transportation costs by following President Nixon’s long ago mandate, issued as a gas saving measure during the OPEC oil crisis in 1973: Go 50 mph or no more than the speed limit and use cruise control. Keep your tires properly inflated and drive gently  —it’s a money and emissions saver.

Grassroots mechanics from all over the world have been working on converting gas cars to EVs and even plug-in EVs. The cost and time for installation is minimal. Keep looking for climate solutions — it’s the way to go.

Jan Kubiac

Hyannis

RJK Jr. candidacy

Nothing screams “No longer the party of Kennedy” quite like Democrats trying to prevent John F. Kennedy’s nephew from even being on the ballot this fall.

Nick McNulty

Windham, NH

How long must families wait? It’s been nearly two months since the House passed a bipartisan expansion of the Child Tax Credit and sent it to the Senate. Estimates are that this bill will benefit 16 million children in families with low incomes, including 5.8 million kids under the age of six.

You would think that in an election year, Congress would be eager to pass a tax cut for families (and small businesses). But a few senators are blocking it for political gain. Families should not have to wait months for Congress to pass something that is both popular and necessary.

It is time for senators to show us their hands. If the bill passes, families win. If it fails, senators can explain to voters why they chose to keep children in poverty.

When the Senate returns to Washington after Easter, I urge our senators to demand an immediate vote and then vote YES on the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act.

William Deignan

Medford

Illegal immigration

The Biden administration, and many leading Democrats, have some kind of a plan that massive illegal immigration will immensely help the Democratic Party to gain complete control of our nation.

Yet, as millions upon millions cross our borders, the consequences of their plan is placing our people, and our nation, in grave danger. Contained within them are serious criminals and terrorists who want to destroy our country. We are also accepting the deaths of over 100,000 per year of our people from fentanyl.

What we now have at our borders is insanity. It MUST stop! Our federal government has abdicated their responsibilities. Responsible states must take charge as Texas is heroically trying to do.

Al DiLascia

Chicopee

Patriots documentary

The recent release of Apple TV’s  ten-part documentary on the New England Patriots’ success was more an issue with team owner Robert Kraft finding fault with Coach Bill Belichick and blaming him for the team not returning to the Super Bowl in recent years.

Coach Belichick took the Patriots to seven Super Bowls winning six,  a feat that may never be achieved by another National Football League team but Kraft takes the low road with his anti-Belichick post-dynasty blame game. He deflects the blame for the recent season’s downturn onto anyone but himself as the owner.

Coach Belichick has been positive taking the high road with no negativity toward Kraft’s comments on the documentary.

Fran Bogdanowicz

Longmeadow

Nuclear energy

Our government is willing to pour money into unreliable solar and wind energy. Can you spell Solyndra? Nuclear energy is clean, safe and reliable. The hysteria that swirls around nuclear power is misguided.  The technology required to build small, efficient, nuclear plants exists now. Nuclear energy needs to be a larger source of power for America’s growth. Government subsidies that are propping up solar and wind power are making some people rich but does not provide enough energy to make the US energy independent. Nuclear energy is a viable alternative to fossil fuel and should be a growing industry.

Donald Houghton

Quincy

Re: “Lawmakers call on Fed to lower interest rate,” March 20

We’re blessed to have congressional members in this state with such conviction about the role monetary policy plays in housing affordability, among other concerns.  MA lawmakers Pressley, McGovern, and Warren seem convinced that a restrictive Fed funds rate is to blame for “housing market imbalances and the unaffordability of home ownership.”

It’s not that simple.  Lower interest rates are stimulative.  They create demand for capital.  Lower mortgage rates will boost housing demand, bringing more potential buyers into the housing market.  Naturally, that additional demand, without a corresponding increase in supply, will cause prices to rise, not fall.

Furthermore, the Fed’s fight is for price stability, not affordability.  Given that inflation is still far from the Fed’s 2% target, the last thing Fed Chair Powell wants to do is stimulate the economy and end up having to reverse course later.  And a 5.25% to 5.50% Fed funds target rate is far from “excessively high.”  For that you need to go back to March of 1980 when the rate was 20%.

Instead of browbeating the Fed, Pressley, McGovern, and Warren would serve their constituents best by working with their colleagues to reduce spending and leave monetary policy to the experts.

Sean F. Flaherty

Boston

RFK, Jr.

In your edition of March 21st, you  have an editorial cartoon joking about the voters’ scant choice this year, obviously a reference to Donald Trump and Joe Biden. However, it is crucial to remember that there’s an important third candidate – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.  He has been picking up steam lately, and should not be written off lightly.

Harvey A. Silverglate

Cambridge

Illegal immigration

The column by Betsy McCaughey provides insight into the lies the Biden administration continues to offer relative to its horrific and purposeful program of illegal immigration.  DHS Secretary Mayorkas, with his numerous public utterances, consistently has misled the American people as to the true nature of what has been occurring at our borders since the current administration took office and the resultant consequences of their open border policy.

For example, according to previous news reports, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations statistics for fiscal year 2022 alone reflects more than 44,000 arrests of noncitizens with criminal histories including assault charges, sexual assault charges, weapons charges, homicide-related charges and kidnapping charges.  These statistics do not account for subsequent time periods and for so-called “getaways.”  Nor do they account for the huge cost to taxpayers who will be mandated to pay for the foreseeable future the housing and health care costs for millions of illegal immigrants.  All of which is secondary to the unbearable loss of loved ones like Laken Riley.

Brian J. Sullivan

North Reading

Statesmanship is sinking and Massachusetts is still boarding passengers. Illegal immigrants are swarming into our state because Massachusetts provides housing to asylum seekers.  Gov. Maura Healey is draining our state budget to provide services and supplies for illegal immigrants.  Democrats scramble to solve an unsolvable problem because of Joe Biden’s open border policy.

Senator Ryan Fattman, a Sutton Republican, called for a residency requirement for people in shelters.  Sutton’s proposal is a sensible place to start. The recent alleged rape of a 15-year-old migrant teen by migrant Cory Alvarez, 26, living in the Rockland Comfort Inn should never have happened.  While politicians talk, taxpayers continue to pay the freight and regrettably a teenager has paid a lot higher price.

Donald Houghton

Quincy

Spending

Our country is $34 trillion in debt which is basically impossible to straighten out. What are we doing about it? Handing out more money left and right — everybody seems to want to be in on the gravy train. Reparations for slavery that happened 150 years ago, unemployment that gives people more to not work, illegal immigrants costing us billions, giving billions and billions of assistance to foreign countries. Take a college loan – don’t worry about it. Let the people who paid their bills take care of it. Try working hard, studying hard, and you can be a success!

John Koster

Woburn

Rachael Rollins

Another day, another example of our two-tiered system of justice and equity in our society (“Big Surprise,” Boston Herald, 3/13).  I had to laugh reading both the news story on former US Attorney Rachael Rollins losing her right to practice law in Massachusetts and then her soft landing, according to Howie Carr. Rollins got herself a part-time no-heavy lifting job at Roxbury Community College for a mere $96,000 a year. The hackerama in Massachusetts just keeps going round and round like an old amusement park carousel.

Should we really have to wonder why so many registered voters stay home on election days? Government is our business. Either we run it or it runs us, It will only be as good as we want it to be or as bad as we allow it to be.

I have lots of friends who have moved out of state, I wonder why but then I really don’t. Good luck to Rollins in her new job. I am sure Roxbury Community College knew what they were doing when hiring her.

Sal Giarratani

East Boston

Lance Reynolds’ report that the town of Brookline’s ban on tobacco sales to anyone born in the current century has been upheld by the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts is just one further step to creating the quintessential “nanny state.” One does not have to approve of smoking (and I don’t – cigarettes killed my father at age 48) in order to see the lack of wisdom in such a regulation. Anyone who thinks it will keep young people from smoking is self-delusional. They will have older people buy them cigs. They will buy cigs from the thriving black market that would result. And so forth.

This is just another example of government officials engaging in actions that make them feel virtuous. But, in the long run, such virtue-preening will backfire, as it has with, for example, our nation’s ill-fated experiment with liquor prohibition, and attempts to criminalize marijuana (still a federal crime, but Massachusetts gave up the futile attempt) . As the Spanish philosopher George Santayana put it: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

Harvey Silverglate

Cambridge

Mac Jones trade

As is the case of some idiot fans and media members, they can’t let a player be traded until they get in personal cheap shots. Mac Jones joins a long list of outgoing former Boston pro sports players who fans and media alike feel it’s OK to take venomous personal shots at. Only in Boston do we feel the need to do that, circumstances be damned, such as an aging head coach who set him up to fail by promoting two clueless people as offensive coaches. And the lack of talent set Jones and the Patriots up to fail. Good luck Mac Jones, New England does not deserve to have a good person like you representing the team.

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

John Kerry

Make no mistake, John Kerry is not “resigning,” he is vacating the scene of the crime before the authorities show up. Like Anthony Fauci “retiring” just before the Republican congress and its subpoena powers were sworn in, Kerry is heading for Davos before President Trump can come into office and open the books on what this climate change charlatan has been doing with our money and illegitimate projection of U.S. diplomatic power.

Nick McNulty

Windham, NH

It is so disheartening. We live in the greatest country the world has ever known. We should be so grateful.  If you have the means, you can go anywhere and live anywhere you want.

So many people have an axe to grind.  They like to tear our country down. I call them small, self-important people.  Now the axe grinders can jump on me. I want my proud and patriotic country back.

Ralph Holmgren

Sagamore Beach

Trump on ballot

We live in a nation that is still defined by the critical legal principle that you are innocent until proven guilty.  Former President Trump was never found guilty of anything related to the Jan. 6 melee despite efforts to impeach him for it. Regardless, Democrats want to remove his name from the ballot, and thus, remove Americans’ freedom of choice to vote.  This is disgraceful.  Democrat “leaders” are literally willing to turn our nation into nothing more than a Third World banana republic where justice is selective as an instrument of political will and tyranny just to prevent Donald Trump from running for president again.

These politically motivated actions have only further alienated Americans from our political class/system, and divided America further.  They only make Trump more popular as a political outsider as we approach the elections this November.

I’m glad that the Supreme Court has settled this issue once and for all.

Michael Pravica, Ph.D.

Acton

Rematch

I for one have zero interest in a presidential rematch of two crooked over-the-hill octogenarians.

It’s too bad that our two parties refused to throw more support behind younger more vibrant people like Nikki Haley. Come election day I am taking a page from the Richard Pryor character in “Brewster’s Millions” and voting for none of the above. I urge all of the country to do this so neither of these bums get enough electoral votes and Congress will have to decide.

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

Shrinkflation

Biden’s rant on shrinkflation highlights his lack of economic sense.  If a bag of 10 potato chips cost $1, not many consumers notice that the bag now has only 8 chips in it.  The cost remains $1, but the consumer is cheated out of 2 chips.  Without shrinkflation, the cost of the 10 chip bag would inflate to $1.25.  We would all notice the higher cost and feel the sting of Bidenomics.  Shrinkflation is Biden’s best friend and our worst enemy.  In November,  let the chips fall where they may.

Donald Houghton

Quincy

State of the Union

I listened to a small portion of the president’s State of The Union Address and was embarrassed that this guy is leading our country. It was nothing more than a rambling of an angry old man put out a bunch of half-truths. He is looking for another 4 years to finish what he started …destroying this country.

Paul Quaglia

Billerica

While I have nothing against a motion by Boston City Councilor Brian Worrell looking to create a monument or statue in honor of Crispus Attucks (“Councilor moves to honor Crispus Attucks,” Boston Herald, March 6),  I don’t know why all five patriots killed by British soldiers on March 5, 1770 shouldn’t be equally honored. They all died as Americans. Why is there this need to divide up our heroes based on race or ethnicity?

I know Worrell’s heart is in the right place but all five men killed 243 years ago are honored together as they died together. In a sense, this Attucks’ honor is part of a history erasing project. March 6 should not be renamed Crispus Attucks Day any more than renaming this anniversary after Sam Maverick or Patrick Carr, etc.

I remember back on March 5, 1970 I stood in a crowd of folks near what is now the Irish Famine Monument at School and Washington Street on the 200th anniversary of this pivotal event that led up to the American Revolution. I stood there for all the Americans who died that day at the hands of the British soldiers. Let’s honor them all equally. They all were all American heroes and should be remembered and honored by all of us. They still represent all of us.

Sal Giarratani

East Boston

State of the Union

A loud, angry and bitter president shouted the State of the Union address. Democratic myrmidons, acting like trained jumping Jacks and Jills, completed the annual spectacle by robotically acclaiming Mr. Biden’s exaggerations, boasts and outright lies. This was not a SOTU address; it was instead a compilation of prevarications more fit for the campaign hustings than the House chamber. I learned nothing about my country. The speech did, however, reinforce my inclination to mute further Biden tirades.

Paul Bloustein

Cincinnati, Ohio

Vengeance

I usually always agree with everything Peter Lucas writes about but I disagree with him about his column “Trashing Trump could come back to haunt Healey,” on March 7.

Unlike Maura Healey, Donald Trump is not a vengeful man and would never do anything that would hurt the people of Massachusetts. Sorry, I meant to say the taxpayers of Massachusetts.

I know that vengeance is how many politicians operate in this new world, just ask Michelle Wu, but when Donald Trump gets in office that will stop.

Michael Westen

Malden

A bus arrives with migrants from the United States southern border and Governor Maura Tracy Healey decides to shelter them at a terminal in Logan Airport. More migrants arrive and the governor decides to shelter them at Melnea A. Cass Recreation Complex in Roxbury. Another bus arrives and the governor decides to shelter them at Fort Point in the Seaport area of Boston. Well governor, I’ve got an idea, send some migrants to shelter in Arlington, Massachusetts. You ask why there, governor you know why.

Tony Meschini

Scituate

Shrinkflation

Our resident in the Oval Office is all in or out on shrinkflation. Where has he been for the last 40 years? This has been a practice for a long, long time.  The candy bar is the last straw, apparently.

He wants to make the practice illegal.  Forget about the people who are costing taxpayers billions. It’s the candy bar that will ruin this country.  So if he gets his way the products will go back to their original size and of course we will all pay the Biden prices which will be about 40% more than before the candy man was some how elected. MSNBC will undoubtedly cheer this bold step.

An elderly man with a poor memory.  That will no doubt be used in many defense lawyers’ strategies in the future.  If the American people should have learned at least one thing in the last seven years:  There are now at least three things that are certain in life, death, taxes and Democratic lies.

David Kelly

Norfolk

AOC on asylum

Boy, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez was sure vocal on the subject of stopping the deluge of illegal criminals into our country, tweeting: “Seeking asylum is a legal right of all people. In the face of authoritarian threat, we should not buckle on our principles – we should commit to them.”

Then a 22-year-old nursing student was murdered by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant who had been arrested previously in New York City and released.  AOC has declined to comment since.

Nick McNulty

WIndham, NH

Political jousting

In the political world of knives and knaves, no one is unscathed if a partisan can gain even a scintilla of perceived credit against an adversary. Thus, we find Democratic knaves discrediting special counsel Robert Hur’s exhaustive and cogent investigation of Joe Biden’s classified documents retention case and Republican knives out for attorney general Merrick Garland for special counsel Jack Smith’s conclusions in Donald Trump’s classified documents case. The political commentariat, partisan auxiliaries on both sides, is a den of vipers, honesty and accuracy wanting. And they pay no price for their dishonest reporting, for they have no shame.

Paul Bloustein

Cincinnati, Ohio

“What you get to say and what you get to help us with is a tremendous amount of help to make this work and work well for you and for us,” replied General Scott Rice, Healey administration emergency assistance director in response to a concerned resident over the decision to house migrants in Fort Point.  This will go down in local history as one of the all-time most illogical, even Kafkaesque statements ever uttered by a state official.  No wonder residents were furious that the administration made this decision without soliciting any input from those most impacted by this decision.

Sean F. Flaherty

Boston

Housing migrants

I do not understand why the residents at Fort Point are so upset (“This is ridiculous,” 2/29/24). My first question is how many of those residents voted for Maura Healey? To those residents I say you got what you deserve.

It is very obvious that democracy in this state (and the country for that matter) is gone, Michele Wu and Maura Healey will do whatever they want, because unfortunately in the new world, they can do whatever they want.

They know all the judges they appointed will agree with them or face backlash, just ask the town of Milton!

In this new world democracy is gone and has been replaced by dictators and that seems to be fine with the Massachusetts voters.

Michael Westen

Malden

Auditor payments

I take issue with Joe Battenfeld’s unfair characterization of payments by the state auditor to out-of-state signature gathering firms (‘Auditor ballot initiative used signature companies:’ 2/29/24). Using out-of-state firms is “…hardly a sign of overwhelming support from Massachusetts voters” according to Battenfeld. You’re missing the point, Joe. To succeed in getting that question on the ballot, those firms have to acquire signatures of more than 74,000 registered Commonwealth voters. Regardless of who gathers the signatures they have to be certified (as registered voters) at the city and town level prior to submission to the Secretary of the Commonwealth in order to get the question on the ballot.

If the effort succeeds I would say there are more than 74,000 voters in the Commonwealth fed up with having no insight into the opaque operations of our state legislature.

Count me as one voter who will vote to open up the legislature’s books if given the opportunity.

Paul Stewart

Quincy

Joe Biden

President Biden tells you what a great memory he has. During his inauguration speech he was telling you he was going to president for all Americans, even those who did not vote for him. These days he is trashing anyone who does not agree with his agenda… seems he forgot about what he said. He is knocking people who did not support the “border bill” that would let almost 2 million illegal immigrants in in a year.. that’s a “Closed Border”?

Paul Quaglia

Billerica

Another round of sanctions on Russia is not going to strangle the Russian economy and stop the war in Ukraine?  In fact, Russia is flush with cash. Russia has more money to fund its war in Ukraine than ever before. The U.S. used to be a huge exporter of oil with many happy customers.  Biden’s war on energy has stifled America’s ability to fill the energy needs of growing economies.  Last year, India imported over 1.79 million barrels a day of Russian crude oil.  What makes sanctions a joke is that the U.S. is the biggest purchaser of refined oil products from India.  So in effect, the United States is funding Russia’s war machine.  The joke is on us.

Donald Houghton

Quincy

Student killed

It makes me sick to my stomach, a college student in Georgia jogging around her school abducted and killed by illegal immigrant that was arrested and released in New York. How can any citizen in the United States believe this border policy is OK, it’s nothing but invading our country and wanting free stuff.

Tony Meschini

Scituate

Ukraine war

I am sick of the logical fallacies coming from the uniparty pro-war faction of American politics.  Ukraine is suffering losses in the war against Russia for lack of arms amongst other things, and pundits on all corporate media – left and right – are blaming this squarely on “a lack of U.S. support.”

For one thing, Ukraine is in Eastern Europe, not the Eastern United States, last I checked there were a whole bunch of affluent nations over there that are wont to tell us between world wars how superior their way of life is to ours, so feel free to start sending some aid to Ukraine EU members. Maybe sell some yachts docked down in the French Riviera or some private planes in the Swiss Alps ski resorts?

Second, that nations a half a world away are addicted to aid from the United States to maintain basic military operations is an indictment of both European helplessness, and America’s complicity in enabling that to come into being.  Break the cycle now, we have our own problems to worry about.  We are meeting and exceeding our NATO commitments, time for Europe to do the same.

Nick McNulty

Windham, NH

What many articles regarding the NO vote in Milton leave out in the zoning for 1,000 units to be built from East Milton Sq. to and including the Flatley building on Granite Ave. is the horrific traffic jam every morning with cars trying to get onto the expressway to Boston, etc.  Many times that traffic is back up to the Fruit Center in East Milton Sq.  And even now trying to find parking in East Milton Sq. to go to businesses is a big problem. Plus these units are not near any rapid transit where you can walk to, including the trolley line which I used going to Hyde Park High in 1952.

They are claiming that many people will not have cars and who are they kidding?  Even if only 500 had cars imagining trying to get on the expressway or anywhere?

That would be a great area for another senior center like the Keystone in Dorchester where they have a waiting list.  This is a senior center based on your income at 30% and many of these seniors worked all their lives and need help now to live in a safe and secure facility.  Put all the facts out there when bashing the No vote and I think Gov. Healey should also put out that truth.

Dotty Fahey

Milton

School sports

Kudos to the head basketball coach for the Collegiate Charter School of Lowell for pulling his team off the court and forfeiting the game. Boys should play sports against boys only and girls against girls only. The fact that three young girls got hurt should wake up anyone who feels it’s okay for transgender people to play sports against the opposite sex.

Boys are bigger and stronger, thus the risk of injury to girls is greater. The MIAA should not bow down to the politically correct crowd and allow this to continue. Didn’t the MIAA learn anything from the girl from Dighton-Rehoboth who was severely injured from a boy’s shot during a field hockey game last fall? I would support any girls team that refuses to play against a team that has boys on it. Also the stupid rules that allow boys to play on a girls team if there is no boys team is equally absurd. The solution is either form a boy’s team or they will have to find some other sport to play.

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

Liz Warren

I can’t help but notice that our esteemed senator, now confronted with a possible Republican opponent, has suddenly begun to appear everywhere! She actually showed up for a photo opportunity in Fall River!!! And that was after she appeared in Wareham.

By allowing the current administration to turn our border into a third world nightmare without standing up for those who you are supposed to represent, I believe you have been seriously derelict in your sworn oath to our country and the taxpaying people here in Massachusetts. Please, go away.

Mike Napert

Fall River

What many articles regarding the NO vote in Milton leave out in the zoning for 1,000 units to be built from East Milton Sq. to and including the Flatley building on Granite Ave. is the horrific traffic jam every morning with cars trying to get onto the expressway to Boston, etc.  Many times that traffic is back up to the Fruit Center in East Milton Sq.  And even now trying to find parking in East Milton Sq. to go to businesses is a big problem. Plus these units are not near any rapid transit where you can walk to, including the trolley line which I used going to Hyde Park High in 1952.

They are claiming that many people will not have cars and who are they kidding?  Even if only 500 had cars imagining trying to get on the expressway or anywhere?

That would be a great area for another senior center like the Keystone in Dorchester where they have a waiting list.  This is a senior center based on your income at 30% and many of these seniors worked all their lives and need help now to live in a safe and secure facility.  Put all the facts out there when bashing the No vote and I think Gov. Healey should also put out that truth.

Dotty Fahey

Milton

School sports

Kudos to the head basketball coach for the Collegiate Charter School of Lowell for pulling his team off the court and forfeiting the game. Boys should play sports against boys only and girls against girls only. The fact that three young girls got hurt should wake up anyone who feels it’s okay for transgender people to play sports against the opposite sex.

Boys are bigger and stronger, thus the risk of injury to girls is greater. The MIAA should not bow down to the politically correct crowd and allow this to continue. Didn’t the MIAA learn anything from the girl from Dighton-Rehoboth who was severely injured from a boy’s shot during a field hockey game last fall? I would support any girls team that refuses to play against a team that has boys on it. Also the stupid rules that allow boys to play on a girls team if there is no boys team is equally absurd. The solution is either form a boy’s team or they will have to find some other sport to play.

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

Liz Warren

I can’t help but notice that our esteemed senator, now confronted with a possible Republican opponent, has suddenly begun to appear everywhere! She actually showed up for a photo opportunity in Fall River!!! And that was after she appeared in Wareham.

By allowing the current administration to turn our border into a third world nightmare without standing up for those who you are supposed to represent, I believe you have been seriously derelict in your sworn oath to our country and the taxpaying people here in Massachusetts. Please, go away.

Mike Napert

Fall River

The president was quite angry when asked at a recent press conference about his late son.  So was I.  He has waved the bloody shirt too many times for us to now accept his indignation as anything but a glorified political ploy.  Most people who have lost adult children to social pathologies or incurable disease have little interest in advertising their distress.  Biden is not much more than a cartoon character living in a comic book world of his own devising.  The sooner we move on from this buffoon the better off we’ll be.

Thomas Mehan

Lynn

Kamala Harris

I am old enough to remember when President Dwight Eisenhower was gearing up for reelection in 1956 and there was speculation about replacing Richard Nixon as vice president. Eisenhower was asked what had Nixon done during the first term and he answered that if given a week he would think of something. President Eisenhower was not being cruel, he was simply being truthful. Kamala Harris was designated by President Biden to deal with problems at the southern border and failed spectacularly. She is manifestly unfit for the presidency.

President Biden should have replaced her with a more competent vice presidential choice months ago. Democrats have dozens of talented men and women who could have filled the ticket without the manifest problems Harris has demonstrated. I suspect that such discussions were held and the president felt that a more competent candidate would lead to speculation about the head of the ticket. Harris had been insurance for Biden, but after special counsel Hur’s report, has become a liability. And so it goes in topsy-turvy election year 2024.

Paul Bloustein

Cincinnati, Ohio

Bill Speros

Bill Speros hit a grand slam with Wednesday’s article about the Boston Red Sox. Speros used facts, not circumstantial evidence, to prove the ineptitude of Red Sox majority owner John Henry.

Henry has no interest in the Red Sox winning games. In fact because of his silence, it is obvious he could care less about the franchise’s direction.

Of course the propaganda officer, Sam Kennedy, stated season and individual game ticket sales are equal to last season.

Amazingly, the next day, the Red Sox placed seats on sale, two for $49, with food, for a limited time. Really?

Hopefully Speros will continue his campaign against the Red Sox , a true voice of reason.

Maybe the TV pictures of empty red and blue seats will at least make the ownership change their attitude. Red Sox fans deserve better.

Richard Maged

Stoughton

The American government is spending more money than at any other time in our history, as a matter of fact it is actually spending more money today than any other nation in the history of the world.  Our illegal immigration numbers are at an all time high in the history of our government, as a matter of fact they are higher than illegal immigration numbers into any sovereign nation in the history of the world.

In the face of this, the Biden Administration says it needs new laws and new money, despite the fact that our borders were closed 3 years ago when the federal government had less money on hand and the same laws in place we have today (namely the Immigration and Nationality Act, which Alejandro Mayorkas now stands impeached for actively subverting since 2021). These are not serious people – not serious about fixing problems important to Americans in any event. Throw the bums out in November.

Nick McNulty

Windham, NH

Congestion pricing

Congestion pricing may sound scary in our auto-addicted culture. But we’re not the first to try it!  London has had congestion pricing for 20 years now.  The air is cleaner, more people are using public transit or other environmentally friendly ways to get around – yes, even bicycles!  – and they are expanding it.

Surely if the Brits can do it, we can. And we could use the income to improve the T!

Susan Donaldson

Northampton

2024 election

As I read the remarks made by Donald Trump down in South Carolina (“Appalling and Dangerous,” Boston Herald, Feb. 12), I wish I could say I was surprised by Trump’s needless remarks which drew instant rebuke from both opponents and supporters.

With the recent news about special counsel Robert Hur’s report basically calling Joe Biden too old and cognitively impaired, all Trump needed to do was keep his mouth shut and he couldn’t. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida tried to cover for him, but he shouldn’t have had to do that.

Biden is going back to his bunker and hiding out until Election Day. No speeches, no press conferences,  no interviews and most of all no presidential debates with Trump.

The polls keep sinking in on Biden and his Democratic lackeys keep propping him up. It all reminds me of the Great and Powerful Oz behind the curtains. If Biden can’t do a speech, answer reporters’ questions, can’t do interviewers and can’t debate his Republican opponent, how can he be fit to get re-elected president of the United States?

I think Napoleon said this hundreds of years ago, “Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.” Everybody should be talking about Biden’s fitness for office but Trump now has everybody talking about him, Putin and NATO.

I voted for Trump twice already, but this year, I’m keeping my eye on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. I might end up going third party. Trump needs to wise up.

Sal Giarratani

East Boston

Boston has the fourth worst traffic in the world (Global Traffic Index, 2022), and it’s only  getting worse. I strongly support the idea of congestion pricing being proposed by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce. There are so many plusses to this proposal, we’d have to be insane not to begin figuring out how to implement it. By incenting people to drive less in the city we cut down on asthma-producing air pollution, save on gas and the burning of fossil fuels, prevent mind-numbing traffic jams AND we create a revenue stream that can be used to improve public transport and address equity concerns. If New York City can do, so can we. As Jim Rooney said in the article, “doing nothing is not an option.”

Meg Clough

Belmont

Red Sox

What would it take for the Sox to win 90 games?  First, field a team, not a bunch of temporary Band-Aids® at key positions.  John Henry, woke owner of the Sox and Globe needs to start funding the operation at a higher level.  Boston is not Tampa Bay. Also, manager Alex Cora needs to stop operating on the premise “you don’t chase wins.” I have seen the Red Sox just miss the playoffs many times because they didn’t win just a few more games.  Some of his strategy, especially in the late innings is awful. This past season it wouldn’t have taken much to push this team forward.  But instead you could see them give up.  It was pitiful.  Breslow and Epstein won’t make a bit of difference.  We need players and a manager that knows how to manage, not be good at just stealing signs.

David Kelly

Norfolk

Biden’s health

There is definitely and unfortunately something happening with President Joseph Robinette Biden’s health. Citizens who support the president just say it’s Joe being Joe, but would any one of those citizens think his health issues will get any better in the next four years. This country is in tough shape, really time for a change, even if it’s a third party.

Tony Meschini

Scituate

‘Lesson in humility’

Americans are a good and forgiving people but their president is not. Joe Biden forgets many names, places and dates, but does not forgive those who spotlight his deficits. His unilateral decision to open the southern border on day one of his presidency has led to an avalanche of undocumented immigrants numbering in the many millions. The fentanyl trade has blossomed and we now suffer over 100,000 deaths annually from this drug alone, making Biden an accessory to this drug-pushing trade. What voters in November must remember is that all Democrats are guilty because they were silent as a party for years as this travesty developed.

Paul Bloustein

Cincinnati, Ohio

Congress has to pass the 2024 Farm Bill which includes a provision to provide oversight and the restriction of foreign companies and governments from purchasing U.S. farmland. In particular it must address purchases by companies and other entities from China and other adversarial countries.

Although these companies might only own a very small percentage of U.S. farmland, recent purchases by Chinese companies have increased in recent years, including the purchase of Smithfield Foods, the world’s largest pork producer.

Several Chinese companies have tried to purchase farmland near U.S. military bases. In 2021 a Chinese company tried to purchase land about 12 miles from the Grand Forks, ND Air Force Base. The base houses top secret intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and communication facilities. The deal was killed by intervention from the Air Force.

We have to stop allowing companies in countries like China, Russia, North Korea, Iran, Cuba and Venezuela from purchasing our farmland and corporations.

Donald Moskowitz

Londonderry, NH

Lesson for Biden

Columnist Peter Lucas is spot-on in suggesting that President Joseph Biden might learn something about presidential humility by recalling that President John F. Kennedy took full responsibility for the “Bay of Pigs” military disaster when he gave the ill-fated order to invade Fidel Castro’s Cuba.

However, this misses an even more iconic example of a president who was clear about presidential responsibility. Harry S. Truman uttered the iconic line: “The buck stops here.”

Harvey Silverglate

Cambridge

MBTA Zoning

I am writing to express my agreement with Milton’s rejection of the MBTA Zoning. This zoning makes no sense. You can’t force people to not have cars or walk everywhere. There is no possible way to guarantee that living near an MBTA station will ensure people will take the T to work. In small towns, everyone needs a car to shop, pick up kids from school, go to doctor appointments etc. I believe most families have a car, and they like it that way.

The state didn’t say it would be forcing zoning laws on towns when the MBTA Stations were built. The MBTA was supposed to help towns, not force them to destroy their towns. Small town infrastructure cannot withstand this kind of development. I would argue that the water supply is limited also. Where is the MWRA going to get the water to support all the building that is being forced along its corridor? If that “well” dries up, where will we be? Who is going to pay for all the new schools?

I do not understand why an AG who came on after the law was passed is allowed to change the requirements and penalties of that law on her own. Now in addition to withholding grants that should be distributed fairly, she is going to “fine” and possibly prosecute towns that don’t comply??

The fact that they are holding hostage grants paid for by our taxes is appalling to me. I sincerely hope the towns will band together to fight this.

Joan Gonfrade

Ashland

I read Ed Gaskin’s report on the state of corrections and recidivism.  I was a correctional officer for 14 years. There were many programs including GED classes, a drug block and wood shop.  Inmates painted, did landscape work and other things. The problem was they couldn’t stay clean from drugs. You can’t teach that. I would say that at least 70% returned to jail within a year or coded on the street.

Until we get a handle on drugs and other illegal activities we will continue to see people returning to jail. Think about the difference between being a cook, a landscaper, construction worker and a drug dealer. The money isn’t even close. Civilians don’t realize how many chances people get before they are actually incarcerated. Work in a prison and you’ll understand why the people are there. While incarcerated they are actually not that bad but in society it is a different story.  It’s all about drugs and the Benjamins.  No amount of preparedness or vocational training will solve it.

Education needs to be done in elementary school. Enabling bad behavior needs to stop. Until all children have a stable home with caring parents or guardians any revamp of prisons is a waste of time and money. When kids as young as 13 or 14 are joining gangs or just getting into trouble it’s almost too late because they will end up in the system. Few get out once they are in.

After working in the system and speaking to numerous people I think it’s in better shape than our immigration system, but that’s not saying much.

David Kelly

Norfolk

Donald Trump

The hardest part of watching SCOTUS discuss whether or not Trump should be on the ballot in Colorado is that America watched the speakers, including Trump, who ginned up the riot.  They watched rioters prepared for violence, taunt Nancy Pelosi, threaten to kill Mike Pence, use bear spray on Capitol Police, defecate in the Capitol and the ultimate death of five people.  Americans learned the president watched the violence for hours on White House TV.  It is unthinkable that such a person should be allowed to run for office. Thank you Colorado for doing the right thing.  SCOTUS is worried that other states may follow Colorado – if only they would.  What does SCOTUS want for America?

Jan Kubiac

Hyannis

Iran

We should promote an amendment to our Constitution adding to the qualifications for president the standard of an undergraduate grade of C or better in psychology. President Joe Biden, mentored by former President Barack Obama and quondam Iran negotiator John Kerry, continues to hanker for an acknowledgement that the Shiite terrorists in Tehran, who are abetting a religious war with the West, will play nice with him. He knows that erstwhile President Donald Trump had General Qasum Soleimani, a top Iranian commander, terminated in January 2020 without a major escalation, but still yearns for a pat on the back from Ayatollah Khamenei. Our president’s desire for a glad-hand from terror-central is embarrassing and may cost him votes in November.

Paul Bloustein

Cincinnati, Ohio

I have nothing against Taylor Swift. She globe-trots around the planet in a private jet.  When she returns from her Tokyo concert to watch Travis Kelce in the Super Bowl she will travel in her Dassault Falcon 7X. The jet will release more than 40 metric tons of carbon emissions. What is my point?  It is ludicrous for Taylor to give up private jet travel. It makes no sense. All the rich elites who traveled to Davos, Switzerland, also believe it makes no sense to travel commercial. Just ask John Kerry. It also makes no sense for America to give up fossil fuels and shut down our capitalist juggernaut.  Capitalism has pulled more humans out of poverty than any other economic system on earth.  Fossil fuel provides the energy to lift people out of poverty.  Without gas to feed Swift’s private jet, she’d be stuck in Tokyo and miss the Super Bowl.

Donald Houghton

Quincy

Senior moments

As a person born in the first FDR Administration, I would like to apologize to President Biden after being a staunch critic of his political career. In one action or inaction he has furnished a great alibi for every senior male in the USA. The next time an authority questions my actions, or a mistake on my part, my response will be: “I’m just a well meaning elderly man with a poor memory.” In addition to that, my wife told me that she will never criticize the condition of my side of our garage. What is it with the Democrats? Joe doesn’t know who put the files in his garage, Hillary doesn’t know how the Whitewater files appeared in her home or what happened to the State Department emails. Then, of course we have Hunter Biden, who is an additional chapter.

John Lucente

Lexington

Maura Healey

I’m OK with Maura awarding cushy jobs to qualified ex-partners as long as she continues with politics that benefit Massachusetts. It is NO coincidence that almost $400 million for the Cape Cod bridges was awarded just days after Joe Biden’s successful, write-in win in the New Hampshire primary. A primary in which the Massachusetts governor heavily campaign in New Hampshire for Joe. It’s also NO coincidence that there was not a single mention of our senators in that announcement, especially Liz Warren. Liz has done almost nothing for Massachusetts, her only goal is to get her face on national TV and eliminate jobs from iRobot. It is time for Liz to go, but we cannot have her replaced by a Squad number or an ultra liberal mayor. Vote Maura.

Tom Buffinton

Plymouth

Kudos to Bill Speros for his continued constructive criticism of the Boston Red Sox front office. He is the only writer in the city who continues to knock the ineffectiveness of the three stooges who are in charge of the Red Sox.

Where is John Henry? Tom Werner continues his ridiculous quotes concerning the direction of the team. Sam Kennedy continues to release statements that insults Red Sox fans.

For obvious reasons, as constituted, this team is going nowhere in the standings. Start with lack of starting pitching. Enough said.

More writers such as Bill Speros are needed.

Perhaps continued heat on this ownership will hurt the attendance.
There has to be a way for ownership to sell this team. Probably a pipe dream.

Will another Bob Kraft please step forward and make on offer to buy the Boston Red Sox?

Richard Maged

Stoughton

Politicians

I was in sales for over 40 years. One of the cardinal rules was never to knock your competition but to sell the advantages of the product you were selling and how it would benefit your customers. Always worked for me, so it might be worth the politicians giving it a try to sell themselves and let the other person make a fool of themselves.

Paul Quaglia

Billerica

Migrants

As usual both the state of Massachusetts and the federal government have their well-intended priorities mixed up. We should be taking care of US citizens and our military veterans first (both those born here and the immigrants who did it the right way by applying for and being granted US citizenship) before spending any taxpayer money on illegal migrants or other such individuals. People are being denied the use of hotels just so those immigrants can stay at taxpayer expense. And what about those with criminal records – after seeing those four illegal migrants foolishly released on bail in New York after they allegedly attacked and assaulted two police officers? Where in the hell does it end? Governor Healey and our so-called “leaders” need to tell the federal government to shove off.

Paul J. Baranofsky

Waltham

For-profit healthcare

So  how is a for-profit urgent healthcare provider a threat to a non-profit healthcare provider? It’s not.  Erin Murphy cited the number of vaccines that were given, I believe the health center was compensated extremely well by taxpayer money as it was taxpayer money which funded the vaccines that the government told us we needed and it the taxpayers who are paying for the healthcare centers now.

So let me explain something to the politicians who oppose a for-profit (capitalism) healthcare providers over non-profit (socialism), your demographic group (MassHealth) is not going to pay for healthcare when they are getting it for free, and the people who can afford to pay  for their healthcare will make a choice to go to either either healthcare providers. That’s the joy of living in a free society: options.

Mark Howland

Weymouth

I agree with Stephen Moore’s article, “Biden elites painfully out of touch.” When will the Democratic working-class realize that the Democratic Party run by these out of touch elites take your vote for granted?  The rich, snobbish, millionaire class look down on the working class.  They expect to get your vote because they have a D in front of their name on a ballot.  The Black community just learned this lesson, again. Migrants are kicking citizens and children out of the Melnea Cass Recreational Center. The elitists like Maura Healey don’t want to upset the rich Democrats in Amherst, Concord, Newton or Somerville even though these are sanctuary cities.  Not to worry, though, Roxbury residents will still vote for anyone who has a D in front of the name on a ballot.

Donald Houghton

Quincy

Housing migrants

A major story the other day was about closing MCI Concord as a cost saving measure. Other stories covered taking the Roxbury center for providing a safe, but expensive, when combined with the hotel rooms the city is paying for, refuge for the migrant families and individuals needing cover in Boston.

It seems to me that utilizing Concord for temporary housing might be a possible solution for some of the problems in Boston. Each of the several hundred “rooms” already has beds and semi-private facilities that might be transformed to comfortable and warm place for our visitors to get out of winter, at what might be a lower cost than currently utilized.

Of course a system must be developed to avoid the stigma of staying in what used to be a prison, but it should be better than on the floor at Logan airport, and we already own the prison.

William Nichols

Wenham

Border woes

Re:  “Border standoff flares as Trump torpedoes migrant bill; Texas tensions rise,” Jan. 28.

Every state has the Constitutional right to defend itself from an invasion.  That’s why the National Guard was established.  This was essential in getting the original 13 states to “sign on” on agree to amalgamate/confederate themselves into the United States.

This issue of states’ rights clashing with Federal “rights” will provoke a Civil War and possibly a war of secession if the Biden regime/administration continues down this anti-American/treasonous path that is destabilizing and jeopardizing American national security at our southern border by allowing millions of immigrants to illegally enter this country with no restrictions.

At this time of great polarization in America, it would be wise of President Biden to step back and reconsider this march toward chaotic disaster.  A nation without borders is just not a nation.

Dr. Michael Pravica

Acton

I don’t usually agree with what Jeff Robbins writes in your newspaper, but his devastatingly accurate commentary on the  United Nations Relief and Works Administration (UNRWA) is right on the mark. (“UN Agency guilty of criminal insanity,” Jan. 30, 2024).

UNRWA is a demonstrated patron and active supporter of the evil empire known as Hamas. The Biden Administration must follow up its suspension of aid to the UNRWA with an immediate and outright termination of funding.

Attorney Robbins should have gone a step further.

I suggest that it’s long overdue for the United States to withdraw from that racist, do-nothing organization known as the United Nations that insults America every opportunity it gets. The delegates and their staff can evacuate the building in New York, give up the mansions, condominiums and clubs that they maintain within the city, and relocate to some other country. Additionally, the millions of dollars our country will save will be well worth it.

Frank Olivieri

North Ft. Myers, FL

Donald Trump

Regarding your recent article by Peter Lucas: “Nikki Haley is Joe Biden’s best weapon against Trump,” actually Donald Trump is his own worst enemy given that he has more baggage than a carousel at Logan and he keeps adding to it.

For example, Trump recently stated that he hopes the economy and stock market crash this year, and is trying to kill the border bill now working its way through Congress. All because he wants to destroy Joe Biden’s bid for reelection. What a sad platform for Donald Trump to run on.

Nikki Haley is just pointing out the obvious.

Mike Rice

Wellfleet

Right to shelter

Why is nobody in the local media even asking “should the right to shelter law be appealed”?

This virtue signaling by our supposed leaders was not the intent of the original law, but as long as the governor and mayor build their cred in the right circles it doesn’t matter if other needs are not met.

Folks who have put into the system like our elderly and veterans and other needy groups have to scrounge and look for scraps while people whose first act in this country was breaking into it are getting everything handed to them.

None of the more toney towns are getting a taste of this self-inflicted chaos but the middle and lower classes are as is the usual for the NIMBY gated community crowd.

Legal immigration is the most awesome thing to see when they do the swearing in ceremonies, it is what is truly great about this country, watching cowardly leadership acting in their best interests is just about the worst.

Thomas C Wahlberg

Dedham

Hundreds of immigrants are now sleeping at Logan Airport and more are coming into our cities and towns every day.  We have no idea if they are sick, have been vaccinated or are criminals. We have thousands of people going through Logan Airport every day and possibly being exposed to illnesses we thought were eradicated.

When will our state wake up and change the Right to Shelter Law? When will our federal government wake up, close our borders and go back to the immigration laws we had all my life that worked? There was a process, not only to vet the people coming and limits to make it manageable, but to also give them a path to citizenship. All we have now is chaos!

I don’t blame the people who are coming into this country illegally. I blame our government for inviting them into our country and our state.

This must stop!

I only hope that in this election year we have people step up and run who aren’t afraid of the far left or the far right.

People who will:

Close our borders to illegal entry

Make AR15s illegal

Require background checks to purchase guns

Support the Red Flag law

Protect our children

Make schools safe

Start prosecuting criminals and keep them in jail

Make the distribution of fentanyl a crime of murder or attempted murder

Stop allowing open drug use

Take care of the disabled

Expect able bodied people to work and pay their own bills

Respect everyone

Respect all of our laws

Allow the illegal immigrants already here to get a right to drive card, not a regular license

Respect our first responders

Reduce Inflation

Joan Gonfrade

Ashland

Natural gas

Who really benefits from the LNG terminals? Certainly not the American people as the Herald’s recent editorial, “Biden out to appease progressives on fossil fuels,” implies.  The proposed terminals serve a narrow interest group, not the citizens or the environment. Liquified natural gas, bound for Europe and the Far East, actually might increase the cost of electricity and heating in the United States.

Environmentally, it’s a false ‘green transition’ solution. Studies have shown that released methane is 80 times more harmful to climate change than CO2 over a 20-year time period.  The terminals and the required infrastructure are not just environmentally detrimental; they threaten the health and well-being of nearby, often disadvantaged, communities.  Contrast this with the massive profits for a handful of corporations, and the true nature of the Herald’s opinion becomes clear.

President Biden’s decision against these terminals isn’t about appeasing ‘woke liberals:’ it’s a stand challenging the powerful fossil fuel lobby, prioritizing our planet over the interests of a few.  We must support this stand against disastrous climate-harming fuels and towards sustainable energy solutions that truly benefit the American people.  Let’s applaud President Biden’s political courage and not be swayed by the fossil fuel industry’s narrow agenda.

George Gaines

Boxford

Our southern border is a complete disaster with 7 million reported illegal immigrants – including confirmed MS-13 members, terrorists, murderers and child rapists – having crashed into our country during the Biden years, and rather than spending time and money to stop that, the Biden administration is suing border states that are erecting any kinds of barriers to stop this. If this is not grounds for impeachment, I don’t know what is.

Nick McNulty

WIndham, NH

Natural gas

Responding to: “Biden out to appease progressives on fossil fuels.” (Jan. 26, 2024).
LNG terminals and methane gas are not just bad for our future
environment, they immediately harm the health of nearby communities,
This is something many readers of the Herald need to be aware of.

When methane is released, it’s 80 times worse for the climate than CO2, over a 20-year span. Big fossil fuel companies stand to make a ton of money from the expansion of gas. Customers stand to pay higher bills. We, the people, take the risks and the corporations reap the benefits.

When President Biden says “no” to these terminals and LNG, he is
saying “yes” to cleaner, sustainable energy solutions that actually
benefit consumers. By putting the planet first instead of catering to
corporations and the fossil fuel lobby he is acting for all of us.
President Biden is acting for our present health and our future
survival. If that is “woke” maybe we all should become insomniacs.

Norah Dooley

Royalston

John Fetterman

Apparently the 6’8” senator from Pennsylvania has recovered from his stroke and ensuing bout with depression. Lately, however, he’s being plagued by an even deeper affliction that is not endearing him to his fellow Democrats. It’s called common sense.  He’s calling out certain aspects of the left’s agenda and that’s making Republicans smile.

Another Democrat has seen the light and it’s more red than
blue.

David Kelly

Norfolk

Raising taxes

Governor Healey files legislation to allow municipalities to raise taxes.
Then she says the bill itself is “not raising taxes.” She says it merely allows communities to increase revenue for services like schools and parks. Cross out “schools and parks” and write in “teachers’ unions and government employees.”

What absolute gall to actually say that with what I assume is a straight face. It’s a classic example of Progressive Double Talk.

If I didn’t laugh, I’d cry.

Frank Olivieri

North Fort Myers, FL

Priorities

As the 2024 presidential election heats up, what are the American priorities for a safe and prosperous life that they would like the winner to support. Depending on where you live and your status they may vary and you may not find the candidate who can fill all your needs.

A few surveyed priorities are: inflation, jobs, heath care, immigration, abortion, civil unrest and violent crime.

Also bearing on the election this year is the funding and supply of military hardware to the wars in the Ukraine and Gaza. With a $34 trillion national debt we will have limited resources for both.

Our current leading candidates have both been elected president and have a history of their ability to solve difficult concerns. Our living standard is at stake with the results of this year’s presidential election.

We will need a strong, intelligent and resourceful leader.

Bob Sweeney

Warwick, RI

Trump ballot

Chris Van Buskirk’s report in your issue of Jan. 25, that “a bipartisan group of voters” are challenging Donald Trump’s eligibility to be on the presidential primary ballot in Massachusetts, is a perfect example of how hyper-partisanship has tossed all notions of propriety to the winds.

Massachusetts is part of a larger democracy. It has the oldest Constitution in the Western hemisphere, with a Declaration of Rights older than the federal Constitution’s Bill of Rights. And yet Attorney Shannon Liss-Riordan has asked the oldest continuously sitting tribunal in the Western Hemisphere, our Supreme Judicial Court, to disqualify a citizen – Donald Trump – from appearing as a candidate on the presidential primary ballot. Such decisions rightfully belong to the voters, not to unelected judges. I say this despite the fact that I am not a political supporter of the former president.

Harvey A. Silverglate

Cambridge

(Silverglate is a criminal defense and civil liberties lawyer and writer. Disclosure: He is co-counsel for John Eastman, a co-defendant of Trump in the Georgia prosecution.)

Debates

Hopefully Joe Battenfeld had tongue firmly planted in cheek when he wrote that former president Trump should force the debate issue with President Biden demanding three 90-minute debates with his successor. (“Biden Playing Chicken Over Debates,” Jan. 25). Isn’t this the same Trump who eschewed debating members of his own party on a number of occasions? Let’s assume they are their party’s respective standard bearers, which is looking like a fait accompli, do we really want to see two angry old (emphasis added) men on a stage yelling at and complaining about each other?  Rehashing old ideas and trying to convince the American people who is the least corrupt?  I don’t want either and am hoping No Labels follows through with its teased presidential candidate. To turn a Howie Carr phrase, how can we miss Biden and Trump when they won’t go away?

Paul Stewart

Quincy

So, Gov. Healey, after three years of a pandemic when restaurants and hotels suffered you now want to stifle them even more by asking them to make their customers pay more taxes to take care of a state revenue shortfall ? Let me think…do you think maybe you made a huge mistake in letting illegal immigrants live off the taxpayers’ dime? By the way governor, we’re still waiting for you to announce you are letting the aforementioned “immigrants” use the three other bedrooms in your Arlington home. We are waiting with bated breath.

Jack Zaccardi

East Boston

Donald Trump

The vast majority of the American people have spoken. They are the ultimate jury concerning the numerous charges brought against Donald J. Trump in an attempt to derail his bid to regain the presidency. In addition, people are hopping mad over the attempts to get his name off the ballot in several states. This has all backfired against the corrupt Democratic Party leadership in an attempt to interfere with a presidential election.

What the American people know, and what his opposition fears, is that Trump is the one person who has the proven ability to fix the multitude of serious problems now confronting our nation.

Al DiLascia

Chicopee

Dem playbook

Kudos to the Boston Herald on its editorial (“Dems dismiss Trump supporters at their peril,” Jan. 17). What happened in Iowa at the caucuses will be repeated in the upcoming New Hampshire primary. Your newspaper’s editorial succinctly points out why Trump remains quite popular at the polls and why Democrats keep going back to their tired old playbook.

I voted for Donald Trump as a Reagan Democrat in 2016, I voted to re-elect him in 2020 and I plan on voting for Trump a third time this year. The Democrats have moved so far to the left they have become unrecognizable. They have forgotten about most of us in this country suffering from having the worst president in our nation’s history. Compared to Biden, Jimmy Carter now looks like Thomas Jefferson. Actually if Carter were on the ballot this year, I would vote for him over our incumbent taking up space in the White House.

What has happened to the Democrats is unbelievable. They have become the anti-party. They stand for public discord.

Republicans for the most part are almost as useless as Democrats which is why Trump keeps rising higher in the polls. Forget about the Ukraine, forget about Hamas, most Americans – thanks to inflation – are living day to day and things like the price of a dozen eggs will get people lining up at the polls to vote Trump. Democrats just don’t seem to understand how angry and frustrated voters across this nation are. Biden’s poll numbers are down to a 33% approval rating.

Trump is listening to the American people while Democrats are still preaching how good things are. Their message is pure nonsense. If Democrats don’t start listening to the voters, they deserve to lose in November.

Sal Giarratani

East Boston

In a recent interview Michelle Obama said she is “terrified” about the possible outcome of the ’24 presidential election.

I am too, to think it is possible Joe Biden would get reelected as he leads this country down the wrong path domestically and on the world stage. As far as I can make out the Democratic Game Plan is to run a campaign of fear and buying votes with taxpayer money while neglecting the needs of America’s middle class.

Paul Quaglia

Billerica

Biden performance

Why is it even a thought as to whom to vote for in the 2024 presidential election? This current Biden administration is destroying America. Open borders, inflation due to overspending & fossil fuel reduction, weaponization of the DOJ against their political opponents, surging crime due to defunding police & woke DAs, energy dependence when the U.S. possesses greater resources than any other country in the world, CRT, GND, & DEI policies that have minimal support. The list goes on! Some see Donald Trump’s coarse rhetoric & business acumen as very unpleasant but his MAGA policies are more desirable and effectual for America.

John Rapa

Methuen

Border control

Biden now says the border isn’t secure.  It hasn’t been for ten years. He says Republicans won’t give him money to do the job.  What he’s not saying is he wants the money to hire migrant processors not border control officers. In other words the same number will continue to cross, money or not. The money will go to getting the backlog into the country quicker, not stemming the tide like Trump did with the remain in Mexico policy.  Biden could get his money if he went back to that policy.  He refuses to admit his mistakes.  He also claims he inherited inflation because of COVID/Trump.  He’s not being truthful about that either.  Inflation started after November 2020 when he won.

David Kelly

Norfolk

EVs and cold

As your editorial states, electric vehicles, like gas-powered vehicles, don’t perform as well in cold weather (Editorial: “Electric vehicles in the cold do not pass go,” 1/18). So, I guess that means EVs are not suited for colder places like New England?

Norway has resoundingly disproved that proposition. More than 90% of the new vehicles sold in Norway in 2023 were EVs, an increase from the previous year. The temperature in Oslo today was -4 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite the anecdotes in your editorial, the Norwegians have demonstrated that with adequate charging infrastructure and good planning, EVs do just fine in cold climates.

The editorial also fails to mention that newer EVs have efficient heat pumps to keep the cabin comfortable and thermal management systems that warm the battery to reduce charging times. Technology moves forward.

The Herald relentlessly criticizes EVs, dismissing the imperative to make the transition to clean energy. The alternative is to allow the Chinese and the Europeans to dominate this critical technology. We need to take a balanced view of EVs, assessing their merits objectively rather than through a political lens.

Frederick Hewett

Cambridge

Representatives Matt Gaetz of Florida and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia and joined by Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri have made wild statements and taken absurd positions. The three of them want to abandon Ukraine, which will allow Russia to overrun Ukraine. Their geopolitical ignorance is astonishing. Greene stated “Under Republicans, not another penny will go to Ukraine, our country comes first”. Gaetz proposed a resolution calling for an end to aid for Ukraine and Hawley said the U.S. policy of supporting Ukraine’s survival has to stop.

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida has joined them by saying the Ukraine War is “not a vital national interest but a territorial dispute.”

These government officials put politics first to the detriment of our country. They are trying to make President Biden look bad, and don’t consider the impact of their positions on the world stage. Thankfully, the majority of our government officials understand the world situation and the need to stand up to Russian aggression. They should not allow politics to threaten our national security and the security of other countries.

Preventing Russia from conquering Ukraine, attacking NATO countries, and then drawing the U.S. into a major war with millions of casualties and costing hundreds of additional billions of dollars should be a very high strategic priority.

Donald Moskowitz

Londonderry, NH

Biden approval

One third of U S adults disapprove of what Joseph Robinette Biden is doing as president but if you listen to Joe, all he can say or whisper is that MAGA Republicans are a threat to democracy.  Mr. President, stop the blame game and focus on what your plans are for the next four years.

Tony Meschini

Scituate

Electric vehicles

EV’s are not reliable in the cold. They sell, if at all, because a $7,500 kickback from the government helps in affordability.  It is a progressive sleight of hand that creates a fake economic push to help dealers move a product nobody wants.

Hertz is selling off 20,000 EVs from its fleet because customers don’t want to rent them.  I also heard that about 100 private jets a day were landing in Davos, Switzerland, where the elite globalists were meeting to plan the future for you and me. These same people want to stop oil and gas energy production.  How much do you want to bet that their planes don’t run on solar or wind power?

Donald Houghton

Quincy

The Transparency and Accountability in Procurement Act (HD 4759) described by Ed Gaskin (“Supplier diversity can reduce racial wealth gap,” 1/10/24, Boston Herald) is no doubt well-intentioned, but I hope the state Legislature will consult representatives from private industry, and seriously listen to their answers, before proceeding with the requirements for all private organizations over $100 million in annual revenue to report on their supplier diversity spend.

As a career (private sector) procurement professional, I can attest to the serious efforts that have been made to increase spending with certified minority, women, veteran, disabled, and LGBTQ+ owned businesses. However there are significant challenges associated with converting intent to contracts.

To be certified, diverse suppliers must be privately held by individuals who meet the socially defined requirements. Because they cannot accept funding that dilutes their ownership, these businesses are often small and poorly suited to supply businesses over $100M in revenue. In addition, it is expensive to secure and maintain a diversity certification, meaning that these businesses are constantly re-thinking their choice to hold one. The effort required to keep supplier diversity records up to date is not only costly and time intensive, it can open buy-side companies up to repetitional risk if a certification has lapsed but their spend is still included in reports.

The effort to increase supplier diversity is ongoing and worthwhile, as evidenced by the fact that companies have run formal programs since the 1960s and continue to invest in them without regulation. Before making the state of Massachusetts less business friendly on yet another front, the Legislature should hear what the companies who would be covered by this Act have to say.

Kelly Barner

Shrewsbury

John Kerry

The departure of John Kerry from the post of presidential special envoy on climate is an event that deserves some discussion (“John Kerry, the US climate envoy, to leave the Biden administration,” 1/13/24, Boston Herald). Kerry has been a  highly courageous public servant to Massachusetts and the nation. As climate envoy, with his prior experience in the Senate and as Secretary of State, he was able to  engage with major international players and make important contributions in the fight against climate change.

His first entry into Massachusetts politics was marked by similar courage. As a veteran with Purple Heart, silver and bronze stars for his service in Vietnam, he returned to the Commonwealth to speak out against the Vietnam war as a spokesperson for the Vietnam Veterans Against the War.

We reserve the term “statesman” for individuals showing both dedication to public service and major accomplishments on the national and world stages. Kerry is just one such statesman.

Bill Beckett

Watertown