Dissent can mean invasion, oppression and death
Brick, N.J.: Once President Trump and his ICE Avengers get bored with Minnesota, which blue state will they target next? State sovereignty died with ICE’s victims in Minneapolis who were killed or abused!
Watching these killings recorded on numerous cell phones at numerous angles, one must wonder where these agents were trained, if at all, and who were the trainers!? It seems they’re instructed to bunch up on a single person, perhaps a mere bystander, then administer capital punishment whenever they fancy it. No probable cause, no danger to the agents. Five or six against one. No accountability. Such bravado!
Despite eyewitnesses and phone recordings at several angles, the bosses of these ICE and Border Patrol killer-gangs, namely Kristi Noem and Trump, denounce the victims as domestic terrorists deserving death, praise the shooters as dutiful officers of the law and prevent local law enforcement investigations. So much for innocent until proven guilty for the executed person. So much for our unalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness.
These agents are recruited from among angry white males enticed by a signup bonus of $50,000. Do these perps also get a bounty for each person they kill? The only limit to riches is your ammunition count. It’s time to denounce the Department of Homeland Security and its primary boss, Trump, who said that he could “stand in the middle of Fifth Ave. and shoot somebody” and he “wouldn’t lose any voters.” Trump is a mass murderer. How many more murders of innocent American citizens and others will be tolerated by Trump’s collaborators, the Republican Party, both elected and civilian? Nicholas Molinari
Refuse official reframing
Sunnyside: The cover page of the Sunday Daily News said, “Border Patrol says VA worker had a gun.” The sub-headline of the article was “Dept. sez he ‘approached’ Border Patrol officer with 9-mm. handgun.” But it was established before Sunday that video shows Pretti clearly holding a phone before he was shot, not a gun. Please don’t support or repeat misinformation intended to protect agents who kill innocent civilians. Michael Boatner
Agents of chaos?
Manhattan: Regarding the question of who this administration is recruiting to conduct immigration enforcement in our communities, here’s an interesting sentence from a federal website’s job posting for deportation officers: “The Department of Homeland Security encourages persons with disabilities to apply, to include persons with intellectual, severe physical or psychiatric disabilities.” I’m all for fair hiring practices, but what exactly is the plan here? Bruce McClellan
Our own dystopia
Manhattan: Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem’s immediate response to Border Patrol agents’ fatal shooting of Pretti was to blame the victim, evoking George Orwell’s “1984”: “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears.” Despite ample video coverage to the contrary, Noem’s lies were echoed vehemently throughout the White House. Sen. Chuck Schumer says he’ll keep the Democratic caucus together to put a stop to federal agents’ abusive behavior, like roving in masked gangs, grabbing people at will to meet quotas and battering down residents’ doors without cause. It’s the least Democrats can do, having failed to block $170 billion in funding that built the biggest police force in the country. The potential for a government shutdown over the DHS appropriations vote gives Schumer and the Democrats the chance to rein in federal agents and get the ACA three-year extension back, too. Susan Fountain
Force reforms
Manhattan: In city after city, peaceful opposition to federal invasion has gotten increasingly widespread as people have learned to protect and support their neighbors, and to resist invasion with their presence and their cameras despite tear gas and pepper spray. Still, it’s taken two more killings for Schumer to have gotten the courage of Minnesotans’ convictions. He’s holding the Democratic caucus together to withhold $64.4 billion in yet more funding for the DHS until simple, enforceable demands are met: independent investigations of officer-involved shootings, face mask bans, mandatory body cameras, no roving enforcement patrols or arrest quotas and the end of the invented “administrative warrant” that federal agents have used to batter down the Fourth Amendment. This is normal law enforcement 101. Danette Lipten
Non-transferable
Brooklyn: Imagine being so hungry for power that you would just give away a Nobel Peace Prize. Have you no shame, no pride, Ms. María Corina Machado? I wish the committee would take it back, crush it and remove your name from the records. June Lowe
Make it official
Flushing: Gov. Hochul declared Jan. 27 a statewide Holocaust Remembrance Day following its official enactment on Jan. 27, 2025. It behooves our mayor to follow suit with an unequivocal city-wide proclamation, as have several mayors across the country. As a 76-year-old Jewish woman, I don’t appreciate the mayor’s trivialization of wounds that will never heal in the minds and spirits of approximately 16 million Jewish people remaining on this planet. Does this mayor believe he’s going to placate and patronize the almost 2 million Jewish people in the metropolitan area by visiting Holocaust survivors in their homes for a photo-op? Mayor Mamdani posted a Holocaust remembrance missive on Twitter, revealing his insensitivity to 1.5 million NYC seniors who don’t necessarily follow that moronic tool. I have a message for him: You can’t fool the Yiddishkeit in this city, because we’re too old and too smart. That’s why we’ll always say, “Never forget!” Lisa Flanzraich
Teach the history
Brooklyn: A crucial aspect of International Holocaust Remembrance Day is remembrance, and that requires education. There are too many people around the world of various ages (not just the youth) who do not know of the horrors of the Holocaust, or they downplay and even mock those horrors. This situation is growing worse. We need to reexamine and even retool the ways we teach about the Holocaust. If we want to reach people, educate them and work to make sure it doesn’t happen again. We must educate and do so more wisely. It’s not an easy task, but it’s necessary. Ellen Levitt
Polar plungers
Brooklyn: I know the self-proclaimed “King of Coney Island” well. Steve Niese swims in Coney Island year-round and did describe the great benefits of cold water plunging in an article of a major newspaper. Steve gathers with a number of us who swim in Coney Island about twice a week. He’s the real deal. However, it’s an unwritten law that a king must be born in the kingdom he rules. That said, the true King of Coney Island is Gary Atlas, born and raised in Coney, who swam for 15 years in a row without missing a day. Steve was born in Wisconsin. I did research and checked with King Neptune. It’s great fun and an honor to plunge in the same ocean these two great athletes do. Louie Scarcella
Critter cruelty
Bronxville, N.Y.: While there’s a lot of unrest and ugliness happening all over the world today, I can’t help but express my dismay after reading about the cop who used that innocent raccoon at Rockaway Beach as target practice. The little guy was out there in the freezing cold, most likely foraging for something to eat (or maybe it was a mama looking for food for her babies). I highly doubt that it was acting aggressively toward the cop. No doubt it was way more scared of the cop than the other way around. The cop proclaimed he shot the little guy because he was moving aggressively toward a “group of people.” Please tell me where the hell there would be a cluster of people hanging out at the beach in 20-degree weather? Of course, the body cam didn’t show those people — because there weren’t any. Patricia N. Ravel
Public health diet
Norfolk, Va.: If you’re worried about the spread of bird flu — and want to help stop animal suffering and protect the environment — go vegan. Bird flu spreads like wildfire in animal factories. Why eat meat, eggs or dairy when there are tasty vegan options? When vegan eating becomes more mainstream, fewer animals will be bred for food, lessening the threat of a life-threatening outbreak and nationwide pandemic. Heather Moore, vegan living specialist, The PETA Foundation
