The helmet’s not political, but the IOC ban is
San Francisco: Ukrainian athlete Vladyslav Heraskevych was removed from competition by the International Olympic Committee for the transgression of wearing a helmet of remembrance for his countrymen killed by Russians in the invasion of Ukraine, adorned with pictures of about 20 Ukrainian athletes and coaches killed by Russian soldiers.
Heraskevych’s removal is a personal tragedy for an athlete who has given much of his life to achieve a level of excellence worthy of representing his country on the Olympic stage. And it’s a travesty that as his country’s cities and civilian infrastructure are being bombarded daily by Vladimir Putin’s invading army, the world is deprived of his message that transcends politics. It is an essential, vital statement of survival in the face of terror not seen in Europe since Nazi Germany.
The helmet’s symbolism directs the world to the atrocities being committed upon an innocent, sovereign nation undergoing ruthless destruction. The Kumbaya of the Olympics must not obfuscate or mask this reality. In its desire to put the Olympics above politics, the IOC is making the ultimate political statement that the personal conscience of a grieving athlete for the tragedy of his nation is on the same level of a political protest. The crimes committed by Russia against Ukraine far transcend mere political protest. And perhaps the greatness of Heraskevych will far exceed any medal he might have won at the games. Bruce Farrell Rosen
Burdensome bling
Melbourne, Australia: At a local mint, there’s a big gold bar with a notice saying that if you can pick it up, you take it home. This is when people realize how heavy gold is. The bar is still there. The message needs to be delivered to President Trump. If he covers a presidential plane in gold, as he has suggested, and the pilots try to take off, they’ll find that it flies as well as a brick. Beauty comes in many colors, not just gold. Dennis Fitzgerald
Pulling purchases
Fort Worth, Texas: While watching Trump’s masked police rounding up men, women and children and throwing them into overcrowded camps, I feel like I’m living in Nazi Germany. The final straw was watching as CBS banned Stephen Colbert’s interview of James Talarico, a Texas Democrat running for the Senate who’s obviously seen as a huge threat to the Republican Party’s continued dominance. Since I don’t have the money to sue CBS, I’m planning to write every advertiser at their network and explain that I will boycott their products until CBS renews Colbert‘s contract and starts broadcasting the truth instead of GOP propaganda. Sharon Austry
Underrepresented
Bronx: To Voicer Michael Abby: Voicer Richard Warren is correct about crime rates for immigrants, legal and illegal. According to the Cato Institute, “An estimated 1,617,197 native-born Americans, 67,813 illegal immigrants, and 58,515 legal immigrants were incarcerated in 2023. The incarceration rate for native-born Americans was 1,221 per 100,000; 613 per 100,000 for illegal immigrants; and 319 per 100,000 for legal immigrants in 2022. Illegal immigrants are half as likely to be incarcerated as native-born Americans. Legal immigrants are 74% less likely to be incarcerated than natives. If native-born Americans were incarcerated at the same rate as illegal immigrants, about 806,000 fewer natives would be incarcerated. Conversely, if natives were incarcerated at the same rate as legal immigrants, about 1.2 million fewer native-born Americans would be incarcerated.” Stuart Eber
Simple security
Lake Ariel, Pa.: To Voicer Lisa Allen: It’s not about access, it’s about who is casting the vote and if they’re eligible. Also, I don’t decide how every liberal Democrat thinks and feels. I just watch and listen. But I do know the ones in Washington, D.C. feel that way because they publicize it every day, unless they’re lying about that. And they’re the ones who must use ID every time they cast a vote in Congress. This way, they know the person who voted was entitled to vote, did not vote twice, was not dead for 50 years or wasn’t even a U.S. citizen. Joseph Beyhl
Couldn’t do it
West Orange, N.J.: To Voicer Russell Pinto, who asks why the Epstein files weren’t released during Joe Biden’s term: Ghislaine Maxwell’s case was still pending, both the trial and appeals, so legally, the Department of Justice couldn’t publicly comment. Also, it was not the Democrats but the Republicans whose campaign promised to release the files. Miriam Sheff
Emergency preparedness
Manhattan: It’s a good thing the angel at Chris Ortiz’s side when he collapsed of a heart attack at the gym was a nurse (” ‘In a cardiac arrest every minute counts,’ ” Feb. 16). In a situation when minutes matter, when the Mount Sinai Queens nurse spotted his medical crisis, Ortiz was in good hands. Yet, nurses are still on strike against NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital because they insist on safe staffing, while they’ve settled with Mount Sinai and Montefiore. They don’t want to care for so many patients at once that there’s a risk they’ll miss these “minutes matter” moments. They want the best care for patients, which NewYork-Presbyterian seems to be resisting. Laura Tavormina
A good pick
Wimauma, Fla.: Can one of the New York baseball teams make a deal for Los Angeles Angels player Mike Trout? He’s 34 and has been bogged down with a bad team for too many years. Unfortunately, he has been injured in the past few years, but I have a feeling he has no incentive to play with a team that’s usually out of the pennant race by August. He’s a New Jersey native, so he’d be comfortable in his New York surroundings. Joseph Cardinale
Genocide denial
Grafton, Wis.: Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has received strong pushback for asserting at the Munich Security Conference that unconditional U.S. aid to Israel has enabled a genocide in Gaza. However, Israeli Holocaust and genocide researchers Amos Goldberg, Omer Bartov, Daniel Blatman, Raz Segal and Shmuel Lederman have all identified Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide. Goldberg writes: “What is happening in Gaza is genocide because the level and pace of indiscriminate killing, destruction, mass expulsions, displacement, famine, executions, the wiping out of cultural and religious institutions… and the sweeping dehumanization of the Palestinians create an overall picture of genocide, of a deliberate, conscious crushing of Palestinian existence in Gaza.” The UN Genocide Convention placed prevention at the center of international law. By rejecting credible evidence of genocide, the U.S. betrays the postwar promise of “never again.” Terry Hansen
All stop
Hillsdale, N.Y.: It’s my understanding that in Massachusetts, traffic on both sides of the street must come to a full stop when a pedestrian enters the street, then continue onward when the pedestrian reenters the sidewalk. Sounds good to me, considering that that 11-year-old girl was killed by a school bus, as it appears in the video that she ran across the street in front of a turning bus. Maybe the bus driver didn’t see her entering the street, or the girl didn’t see the bus turning, but that accident was avoidable. Phil Antico
