A deadly feud that started with a neglected dog
Forked River, N.J.: A woman, Shashamanie Thompson, in a Bronx apartment building was stabbed to death by neighbors over her dog being left in the hallway. I read the story to maybe understand how and why this happened. Apparently, the neighbors upstairs were fed up with this dog being left alone in a hallway repeatedly.
I read that the father of the woman said she was “nice” and “kind” with a good heart, but then I looked at the photo. I saw her dog, a Dalmatian, in a crate behind her as she took that selfie. Sometimes people buy a dog like a Dalmatian because their kids saw them in Disney movies like “101 Dalmatians.” Some people buy a dog because it matches the color of their couch, or as a cheap burglar alarm. That’s sad. People should get a dog because they want to give that animal a good life and a warm, loving home.
When I saw that Dalmatian, I knew that breed of dog needs to run for miles every day to burn off energy. Imagine being an athlete and spending most of your day stuck in a small cage or alone in a concrete hallway. You spend lonely days filled with anxiety, trying to figure out what you did wrong to deserve being a prisoner.
The whole event was tragic and preventable, and I have empathy for her family, especially her 9-year-old son. Whether it comes to human life or the lives of our pets, we need to do much better. Jim Hughes
Be like Mike
Merion Station, Pa.: My 2026 wish for New Yorkers is for Zohran Mamdani to metamorphose into another Mike Bloomberg rather than an embarrassment like Eric Adams. Paul L. Newman
Dyed in the wool
Margate, Fla.: Randy Mastro naively ignores the fact that since he was at Bowdoin College, Mamdani has enthusiastically supported Students for Justice in Palestine, an organization exclusively made up of Zionophobes (“How Zohran Mamdani can succeed as mayor,” op-ed, Dec. 28). As Daniel Pearl’s father Judea Pearl, the chancellor’s professor of computer science and statistics at UCLA and director of the UCLA Cognitive Systems Laboratory, has described: “Zionophobia is the absolute denial of Israel’s right to exist.” Zionophobic leopards do not change their spots. It is naive and dangerously myopic to think so. Richard Sherman
Cheers to all
East Elmhurst: Happy New Year to all of us in the U.S.A. Love one another, share and respect each other. Gerson Fernandes
Return to traditionalism
Forest Hills: My wish for the new year is that people who think they are conservative actually know what it means — because they are not. As per Barry Goldwater, “Government does not belong in your doctor’s office or your bedroom.” I think he also spoke about actually conserving resources, which produces steady markets, but what do I know — I might be some kind of lefty as per the N.Y. Post. One more thing: It was Goldwater, that nasty conservative, who convinced Richard Nixon to resign for the good of the country. What would he do with President Trump? Stew Frimer
Added burden
Yonkers: Adding to Voicer Thomas Bell’s comments, send a few million immigrants up there to those Nordic countries and see how their medical benefits and economy works out. John Hodio
Hunting the innocent
Jackson Heights: We are not safer when an immigrant father is picked up while reporting to federal authorities as required, when some mere child is taken to be deported, or when desperate essential laborers are rounded up at some menial job site. Yes, arrest the murderers, drug lords and gang members, thieves and smugglers. Why is our tax money wasted on preying on workers in construction, agriculture, health care and grocery stores? Must ICE agents demean themselves and our government that assigns them to lurk outside of clinics, schools, churches, federal check-in offices, etc.? We taxpayers have to demand a more intelligent, effective and decent approach to the immigration “problem.” James V. Rescigna
Similar satire
Manhattan: Voicer Steven M. Stein asks, “How many others have the guts to do what Jimmy Kimmel does nightly?” Stephen Colbert does. Raymond McEaddy
Contempt by Congress
Amityville, L.I.: What the hell is happening in America today when Congress is more interested in the Epstein files than its populace in terms of food, shelter and medical stability? The members of the House of Representatives and the Senate are all aiders and abetters of the sitting president. It is an abomination, a sin and a shame before God that all these illegal actions are being allowed to occur (too many to name in this space). They all must be very proud of themselves. The entire world is laughing at us. Barbara Reynolds
Short-term security
Beechhurst: During their infamous Feb. 28 dust-up meeting at the White House, Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskyy’s perfectly reasonable request for a U.S. security guarantee was scoffed at by the president and his attack-dog veep. But now comes the amicable Mar-a-Lago meeting wherein Trump has seemingly seen the light by proffering a 15-year security guarantee (way below Zelenskyy’s ask for a 50-year guarantee, I might add) to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty. My guess is that 47 thinks Czar Putin will take that impropriety as a pro forma guarantee because the Russian land grab he may pitch to Ukraine’s legislature (the Verkhovna Rada) will light up the latter’s eyes. In any case, it’s a real possibility that “Who lost Ukraine?” could become a question that dogs DJT’s second-term foreign policy legacy. James Hyland
Lashing out — of fear
Hamilton Square, N.J.: An injured animal becomes more dangerous when cornered and scared. Trump has become more irrational as he realizes that his power is waning and his MAGA minions are deserting. Is a war with Venezuela not a big enough red flag? If he can declare that we are at war (even though only Congress can do that), he will deny the citizens an election. Beware the rabid dog. Eileen Johnson
He’s our guy
New Rochelle, N.Y.: OK, you idiots who think you can say anything about my president who won in a landslide — he has done more in one year than we ever expected. Think and cry about what America would be like if the dumb lady was elected! Sleep well tonight, Donnie has our back. Dom Mastropolo
Historical preservation
New Rochelle, N.Y.: I sincerely hope the National Archives has the Declaration of Independence well secured before another signature is added above that of John Hancock. Richard Rodrigue
Follow the money
Brielle, N.J.: If you want to deal with the gun violence in the U.S., find those in Congress who take contributions from the NRA and do not vote for them. Marion K. Reilly
Ruined roster
Saddle Brook, N.J.: Brandon Nimmo, Edwin Diaz, Pete Alonso — gone. Me too. A Mets fan since day one — over. Good luck, Mets. Who’s next? M.J. Crandall
Blew it big-time
Bayonne: I have been a Mets fan since the beginning. I have seen a lot of bonehead plays over the years, but what happened last month was the biggest bonehead play of all time. You let Nimmo get traded, you let Diaz walk and then you let your franchise player walk. What a shame. Alonso is a future Hall of Famer. You should have paid him. Robert Manning
Nowhere to sit
Brooklyn: Long Island has better bus shelters than NYC. Recently, I was in Great Neck and I saw a bus shelter with a bench that can seat up to five or six people. Yet, here in NYC, benches at bus shelters can seat no more than three. We need better bus shelters in our city. We also need many more of them, especially where there are no subway trains or other means of transportation. Not everyone in NYC can afford a car service or taxi. Victor Malyar
A pale deer
Calverton, L.I.: On Tuesday, a white deer with brown patches, also known as a piebald deer, was spotted here. Such sightings are extremely rare — one in 30,000 deer are born with albinism, but white deer can also be piebald. Logan Kramer
