The Fauci hearing displayed our decline
Richmond, Va.: I read with interest the editorial “Prosecuting Tony Fauci is an affront to justice” (Aug. 9). Thank you for writing this piece. I agree with every word.
As an imperfect American, I sense that “from sea to shining sea” our country is eroding. In James H. Cone’s book “The Cross and The Lynching Tree,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. told his wife after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, “This is what is going to happen to me also. I keep telling you this is such a sick society.” Sadly, King was correct — we are a sick society. Fauci and his family received credible death threats, requiring Fauci to have a security detail. Unfortunately, threats against our public servants aren’t new. James E. Ryan’s book “Five Miles Away, A World Apart” documents threats against U.S. District Court Judge Robert R. Merhige Jr. in the early 1970s based on Merhige’s orders for multiple school systems in Virginia to desegregate. Merhige endured “being spat upon, threats to his family, the family dog was shot, and a cottage on his property where his mother-in-law was living was bombed.”
Of course, during the hearing, U.S. Sen. Bernie Moreno only added to the disrespect toward Fauci with his inappropriate language. I hope America’s “unhealthy obsession” with disrespect, incivility, division and the truth will not be our end.
Bill Pike
Tax return
Ridgewood: Since 2017, the national debt has increased by $20 trillion. President Trump in 2017 lowered the corporate tax rate from 34% to 21%. This rate was to be in effect for eight years (including President Joe Biden’s term). The One Big Beautiful Bill made it permanent. In that timeframe, the number of billionaires has doubled. If that hadn’t taken place, the national debt would have been much, much lower. That tax rate should be returned to 34%.
John Sendlein
Crypto cronyism
Manhattan: Whether you understand the ins and outs of cryptocurrency or not, its principle uses are to hide money laundering, sex trafficking and the drug trade, plus to help the powerful get wealthier. Trump’s crypto earnings in 2025 were $1.4 billion in a scheme that lost ordinary investors 97% of what they put in. The Clarity Act, which would leave crypto regulation all too loose, managed to fail in the Senate, but it’ll be up for a vote again. Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand have been particularly weak-kneed on getting Americans a good deal on crypto regulation. The Trumps are even planning to set up their own unregulated crypto bank. The bill requires 60 votes to pass. Democrats and whoever of the GOP are willing to stand up to naked greed need to stop the Clarity Act and pass crypto regulation that actually regulates.
Trish Anderton
Dodging prosecution
Barnegat, N.J.: Our crime boss in chief has really perfected the art of the steal. He can pick our pockets and purses while he looks us right in the eyes. Now we’re all on the hook for his dance hall, the jet, the pool and the slush fund, and including tax fraud immunity. I guess he doesn’t want what happened to that crime boss in Chicago back in the day to happen to him. Make America great again — what a hoax.
Jerry Serillo
Thanks, Bill
Patchogue, L.I.: First, Sen. Bill Cassidy votes to confirm RFK Jr. to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Now he votes to confirm Todd Blanche as attorney general. Good job, Bill. Just wanted to say thanks for nothing.
Lynda Welsh
Not exactly
Staten Island: I take issue with fellow Staten Islander MAGA-roni Voicer Tony Anastasio’s comments lest all Staten Islanders be painted with this same brush. He proudly represents the low-information, uneducated group that DJT loves so much by demonstrating he doesn’t understand the difference between a democratic socialist, which our mayor is, and a communist. He’s either clueless or twisting the truth to give credibility to his point when claiming our mayor is allowing e-bikers and cyclists to ignore stop signs, red lights and endanger pedestrians. What he did was change the way the police punish low-level crimes, shifting penalties from criminal court to civil traffic violations. It’s not a ban on issuing tickets. This action did not grant e-bikers and cyclists the right to disobey traffic laws. Stop trying so hard to disparage our mayor.
Ellen Settanni
Handout hyperbole
Manhattan: To Voicer Susan P. Siskind: So you feel new graduates are “entitled”? That’s rich coming from the generation that could buy homes, send kids to college from two middle-class salaries and got to retire. I educated my child with no loans. She’s just under a six-figure salary, yet she can’t afford to live in this city that I raised her in — because of people like you. The ones who got what they needed when they needed it and then pulled the ladder up behind them. No one wants anything handed to them. They want to be able to afford to live in the city they were born in. You don’t get to take that from them because you think they should struggle! What kind of a parent wants to see their child needlessly struggle? Not a good one. I see Shady Pines in your future.
T.S. Fallani
Lack of services
Chatham, N.J.: The News frequently reports assaults committed by people with known or likely histories of mental illness. The recent attack on worshipers in Manhattan’s Central Synagogue is a case in point. Larry Montes faces 20 years in prison if convicted of the “hate crime and criminal mischief” he committed. Your article reports that Montes was arrested multiple times since 2019, and his cousin claims he has exhibited abnormal behavior for years. It’d be helpful if The News also noted the drastic reduction in housing and care facilities for the mentally ill since at least 1970. New York State closed numerous psychiatric facilities but failed to fund local community health centers as promised. By making this history known, The News could help inspire public pressure on state officials to make good on that long overdue promise. It could reduce the number of victims “randomly” mugged, shoved off subway platforms, etc.
Paul A. Denk
Let ’em play
Hamilton Square, N.J.: To the Yankees brass: Please let these Baby Bombers play out this season. They’re hungry and exciting. And by the way, can we get a new batting coach?
Eileen Johnson
New poison
Fresh Meadows: I was heartsick yesterday upon reading an email from a dear friend about a new street drug, tranq, poisoning the South and Southwest especially. A new combination of life-destroying ingredients. I think it’s more than a coincidence that the legalization of marijuana is coinciding with these criminal occurrences. Let’s not legalize any more poison or we will not have a happy future in this country!
Lesley Paulos
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