Hegseth’s ham-fisted tactics can’t cancel truth
Opelika, Ala.: The Daily News accurately described Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth as unfit and unqualified. However, Hegseth possesses in abundance what’s imperative to President Trump: Co-sign everything I say and do. Way back in 2018, Trump derided the press as enemies of the people. Therefore, Hegseth, as Trump’s extension, ostensibly created a policy to coerce the Pentagon press corps to abandon their First Amendment right to report the truth and not regurgitate government-concocted lies — what Hegseth euphemistically described as “explicitly authorized” information.
The News skewered Hegseth for his immaturity (“Hegseth’s First Amendment war,” editorial, Oct. 15) — he responded to the cauldron of criticism he’s received for his unconstitutional edict. On social media, he displayed a handwaving emoji indicating his flippancy while helming the nation’s dead-serious military machinery. The good news is that incisive reporting doesn’t depend on reporters being spoon-fed in news briefings.
Tom Bowman covered the Pentagon for decades. In 2003, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was ecstatic, insisting publicly that Baghdad falling proved America’s resounding success in invading Iraq. But in his NPR piece published this week, Bowman said that the truth was more complicated — that more troops would have to be deployed to Iraq to guard supply lines that Saddam Hussein supporters were attacking. Bowman persisted, digging and finally unearthing the truth. That’s journalism. Since the Pentagon desires puff pieces, employ military hacks to produce them.
Martin Luther King Jr. told the throng that had walked from Selma to Montgomery, “No lie can live forever… truth crushed to earth will rise again.” A courageous and truthful media ensures that reality. Marc D. Greenwood
The first to suffer
Manhattan: The ongoing federal government shutdown is putting our most vulnerable New Yorkers at severe risk. At Selfhelp Community Services, we serve more than 25,000 clients living day-to-day who often rely solely on Social Security or Supplemental Security Income to afford food, rent and medication. Agency closures and staff shortages at the Social Security Administration are making it impossible for caseworkers to resolve benefit issues, threatening evictions and hunger for those who can’t afford delays. Gov. Hochul has warned that the shutdown is undermining lifelines such as SNAP, WIC and housing assistance, with older adults and people with disabilities hardest hit. Even as the SSA says payments continue, reduced in-person services mean those least able to manage online are slipping through the cracks. Our staff witness daily the fear, confusion and destabilization caused by federal inaction. When essential systems fail, older adults and people with disabilities — not political leaders — suffer the consequences. Stuart C. Kaplan
Funding fancy
Scarsdale, N.Y.: Trump is wasting $300 million to build a ballroom in his gold-plated White House. He is indulging in this extravagance while American families are struggling with the everyday rising costs of groceries and many other necessities. It appears that King Trump is saying, as Marie Antoinette allegedly said, “If the people can’t afford bread, let them eat cake.” Harvey Wielstein
Aristocratic apathy
Merion Station, Pa.: When confronted by starving Parisians who didn’t have bread to eat, Marie Antoinette was said to have suggested, “Let them eat cake.” While the East Wing of the White House was being demolished to build a $300-million ballroom, Trump was asked about millions of federal workers who’ve gone without pay for three weeks. He allegedly responded, “Let them eat construction dust.” Paul L. Newman
Viral vulgarity
Bronx: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson justifies highly egregious behavior of Trump, including his hosting at the White House a dinner for investors in his meme coin and his use of AI to show him as a fighter pilot dropping excrement on people peacefully engaged in No Kings events, as evidence of his transparency and his clever use of social media. If I openly announced that I would do something reprehensible, such as hijacking a public bus, and then showed myself in an AI video gleefully shoving the bus passengers into a cage, would anybody on Earth compliment me on my transparency and creative use of social media? Miriam Levine Helbok
All for nothing
Bound Brook, N.J.: It’s amazing how many times the loony political left can waste time and energy. The professional protest crowd was in full waste of a good October afternoon protesting an idea that doesn’t exist and never will. Frank Higbie
Consumer squeeze
Kew Gardens: Back in the 1980s, Japan imported their cars duty-free, while Cadillacs and Lincolns shipped to Japan had to pay a tariff. That almost destroyed the American auto industry. Fast-forward to now: Trump has installed tariffs, saying they will benefit America. In what universe did American voters think the corporations were going to eat the cost of the tariffs? They simply passed the cost onto the consumer. The evidence is right in front of everyone’s faces, yet they choose to listen to the rhetoric from our politicians. Tell me how great things are the next time you buy a steak, a car or just about anything from Home Depot. Wake up, America! The politicians — both sides — all work for corporate America. The two worst institutions in America are politicians and conservative religion. They both lie to America to make money. Jeff Pullen
Top cop flop
Forest Hills: So both Andrew Cuomo and Zohran Madman have said they’ll keep Jessica Tisch on as NYPD commissioner. She has zero experience in law enforcement and never left her house to risk her life for the people of this city. Somebody who has served this city for a long time should be in charge. She’s a disgrace to the men and women in blue. Sherri Rosen
Eager for the inevitable
Belvidere, N.J.: I’m not actually rooting for Mamdani to be mayor of NYC, but if the polls bear out, he will be mayor by a safe margin. In that respect, I can’t wait for him to win. Someone I know (a fellow senior citizen) hopes “100% that Mamdani wins.” He was born in Cuba, lived there until he was 15, then his father sent him to live with relatives in Florida. At that time in Cuba, age 15 was the last chance to leave the country legally. If elected, he and I can’t wait to see the soft-communist Mamdani fall flat on his political face before his first year of mayorship is complete. Since Karl Marx, the new socialists always want the chance to present socialism the “right” way. Dan Arthur Pryor
A noble stand
Greenwich, Conn.: At an NYPD academy graduation ceremony in the late 1980s, Mayor Edward Koch said about his political modus operandi, “I don’t do the popular thing, I do the right thing.” The same may be said about mayoral candidate Curtis Sliwa. He shouldn’t step aside because of the many people asking him to do so. He is the best of the three candidates, so by staying in the race, he is doing the right thing. Moreover, no Republican should ever vote for the extreme pro-abortionist Cuomo. No matter how bad Mamdani is, Cuomo can never be forgiven for rubbing his radical pro-abortion stance in the face of pro-lifers by lighting up 1 World Trade Center to celebrate the passage of New York’s Reproductive Health Act, which has resulted in the killings of tens of thousands of pre-born babies. Natalie Barklow
No nukes
Brooklyn: Its advocates say it’s time for more nuclear power, but it is neither renewable nor clean, in direct opposition to New York’s climate mandate, and distracts from efforts to develop true clean, renewable power (“New York State’s nuclear power enters a new age,” op-ed, Oct. 22). Needing a constant supply of uranium, it produces permanent radioactive waste. The firm trying to clean up Indian Point has proposed dumping nuclear waste into the Hudson River. Nuclear power has huge construction delays and cost overruns billed to the taxpayer. It’s by far the most expensive form of energy. The cheapest is land-based wind with battery storage, costing half as much. Iowa already gets 63% of its power from wind. The next cheapest is solar. These genuinely clean, renewable sources are neither volatile nor unreliable and support grid reliability. Nuclear power will subject us to centuries of environmental risk. Ella Ryan
