The health benefits of the Daily News munchies
Yonkers: I would like to thank the Daily News for my daily weight gain. You see, I need something to read when I eat breakfast, and because the Daily News is fun, entertaining and informative to read, I eat while reading the paper.
Well, I’m not so heartened by the crime stories with all their gore that seem to appear every day, but after digesting the news and sports, I go to my favorite parts of the paper, which are the op-eds, Voice of the People and the puzzles. The Jumble I can solve relatively quickly, but the Crossword takes a lot of time to do and that is where my main weight gain takes effect. All the while I am trying to solve it, I am shoveling cereal in my mouth. I’m pouring bowl after bowl while racking my brain to find the right words to fill in the boxes. I almost never finish the Crossword, so I leave it for lunch, dinner or a late-night snack where I continue to eat long after I should have finished.
But there is a health benefit to all this. To try to work off the weight I gain, I exercise. I run a lot, which I don’t particularly like, but since I can’t eat breakfast (and other meals) without reading The News (and especially doing its Crossword), running keeps me in shape and helps make me trimmer. And to all this I will add that doing that puzzling Crossword helps sharpen my brain. So thank you for the enjoyment and for making me work a little harder to enjoy it! Bruce Berensky
Fat chance
Central Islip, L.I.: The new sewer project in Central Islip is complete, which will bring more housing opportunities, etc., says the governor. Yeah, more overpriced apartment complexes like the ones already on Carleton Ave.! Thomas Sarc
Barriers to entry
Manhattan: More and longer wait times are in store for the riding public. The new barrier system unleashed on us will see to that. Chronologically, let’s review the method to the MTA madness. Many moons ago, the MTA raised the seriousness of assaulting an MTA worker to a felony, and train wait times increased. Then, the benches were removed — the elderly, frail and people with disabilities be damned — and wait times increased. Now we have the barrier system, where riders are corralled in pens on the platform, sorta like the cattle on “Yellowstone.” And wait times increased because the MTA doesn’t give a hoot about the riding public. And the congestion pricing penalty for having a car in this vicinity means no cars, so the public’s dependency on this neglected, rancid, ancient, derelict system will increase with absolutely no improvement in service. Thomas Bower
Toxic leadership
Gansevoort, N.Y.: The NYC Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) has recently adopted a new slogan, “OCME Cares.” This is true for the regular workers who directly serve the public, but not so much for their superiors, including the executive team, management and human resources. As a former medicolegal (death) investigator with the Forensics Investigations Department, I loved my job serving the community. However, my experience and that of my coworkers was marred by superiors who were thankless, disrespectful, abusive and incompetent. Other departments have had similar dissatisfaction. I am now retired, but in my 40-plus years as a physician assistant, including my final eight to nine years at OCME, I can honestly say that it was my worst employer. It’s too bad that my career ended with the worst one ever. Kathleen Liggio
Perfect fit
Lakewood, N.J.: Whenever you hear the Dr. Seuss song “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch,” have some fun and substitute Donald Trump for Mr. Grinch and sing along. It’s a perfect match. Apologies to the Grinch. Thanks to my wife for the idea. Frank Mongiello
God’s guiding hand
Levittown, L.I.: I’ve seen many people writing negative things about Trump and they always end with, “God help us all.” Well, God has answered you all by Trump surviving attempts on his life and getting elected. Thank you, God, for helping us all. George O’Neill
At odds with reality
Malverne, L.I.: Dear Voicer Anant Nagpur: I agree with you. However, I do not believe it will happen because just after your letter, there were four other letters disparaging Trump and the Republicans. This is because Trump Derangement Syndrome is a real thing, and many liberals suffer from it! I was hopeful that after an election that showed a complete and utter repudiation of the Biden/Harris policies as well as all the Trump nonsense from the left-wing media, people would finally give it a rest. Unfortunately, they still cling to their hatred and can’t help themselves from writing to the Voice of the People. Maybe they find it cathartic. At any rate, my advice to my liberal friends with TDS is this: The first step toward recovery is acceptance! Only then can they begin the process of moving on with their lives. Dave Kalin
Bad advice
Tamarac, Fla.: The people of the United States have a right to know exactly who has been running our country over the past several years. We know President Biden hasn’t been capable of making cognitive decisions for a long time, and we know his public speeches, answers and most decisions had all been scripted for him. We also know his vice president wasn’t up to the task of running a country, and we know his advisor Barack Obama was too busy buying flashy homes during the severe border and economic crisis. So, who exactly held the reigns while old Joe was still in office? While we wait to find out the names of his advisors, we are, however, quite sure about one thing: Those advisors failed, and failed miserably. Roberta Chaleff
Went back on his word
Armonk, N.Y.: Liar, liar, pants on fire, nose as long as a telephone wire — so the old adage goes. Just wondering what else your boy did that we don’t know about, but you do? You have brought a new, unpleasant odor to the office of president of the United States. Gary Miller
Hall of Fame shame
Melville, L.I.: To Voicer Stephen Louro: Wait, am I reading this right? Ottis “O.J.” Anderson — the greatest St. Louis Cardinal of all time for the first half of his super brilliant career and for the second half, what Bill Parcells called “the final piece to the championship puzzle” — isn’t already in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? How on God’s green Earth is this possible? How is the Giants management, after putting this current “soft as f--k” product on the field, not doing everything possible to eliminate this egregious and shameful snub? Of course the Giants should have a Hall of Fame awareness ceremony for one of their toughest all-time players! What better way to illustrate to this current roster what real smash-mouth football is all about than honoring the human wrecking machine, O.J. Anderson, and broadcasting to the gridiron world that this blatant injustice will not be stood for! Matt Lulley
Termination of life
Greenwich, Conn.: Voicer Barbara Barran obviously does not understand halacha (Jewish law), nor is she well-versed in the biology of pregnancy. Judaism was the first religion to ban child sacrifice and to sanctify human life from conception (nowhere in the Torah is abortion specifically mentioned; unfortunately, liberal Jews make their own interpretations of passages to fit their agendas). Moreover, a pregnant woman may not be able to feel movement until 20 weeks, which seems to contradict Barran’s notion that it is fine for abortion to take place at any time during pregnancy. I could spend a long time educating Barran on Jewish law, but I’ll end with some basic theology: I don’t know what God Barran believes in, but I’m pretty sure the God I believe in doesn’t approve of the decapitation and dismemberment of babies in the womb. Natalie Barklow
Eve of destruction
Richmond Hill: If you listen very carefully on YouTube, you can hear Prof. Tom Lehrer singing a goodbye song to mom as World War III heats up. Don’t you just hate when they get it right? Robert Clolery
