Are Jews Easy Targets?
Dear Editor:
Blacks gathered at a hip-hop party a few days ago in Canarsie—it spilled onto the street with about 100 people in attendance. The Mayor said nothing.
Two days ago, the Blue Angels did a fly-over NYC. Thousands of people stood shoulder to shoulder to watch the sight. The Mayor said nothing.
But this sect of Orthodox Jews actually notified the police dept. in advance that they were attending the funeral and the police worked with them to control the crowd, which turned out to be larger than expected. The Mayor blasts “the Jewish community.”
Jews are easy targets…
Sincerely
Howard B. Weber, Esq.
Disinfecting Subways & Buses
Dear Editor:
Glad to hear that Governor Cuomo has called for the MTA to scrub clean all trains daily. I suggested this weeks ago. Everyone has known for decades that the subway, bus, commuter rail and ferries are a Petri dish for catching a cold, the flu or other communicable diseases. The rise of a growing homeless population, who ride our subways and live at stations have made matters worse. They clearly have little ability to maintain personal hygiene.
The previous announcement by MTA Chairman Pat Foye in response to the threat of the corona virus growing was disappointing. His commitment to have transit workers deep clean the entire system using an “enhanced daily cleaning procedure,” or scrub strategy, including bleach and hospital grade disinfectant should have been the norm for years. The same is true for sanitizing “commonly touched surfaces” at stations including turnstiles, exit gates, platform floors, bathrooms, Metro Card vending machines and benches on a daily basis. Deep cleaning subway cars once every 72 hours during this crises was always insufficient.
Between homeless on board and rush hour standing room only crowds, they need to be thoroughly cleaned on a 24 hour basis. The odds increase for spreading a communicable disease when you are trapped on a crowded bus or subway for long periods of time. Millions of New Yorkers ride the subway, bus or commuter rail. They should not have to wait once every three days for a complete cleaning of vehicles.
It should not have taken the potential spread of the corona virus for the MTA to properly clean equipment and stations. Safety and security of the riding public should always be the number one priority.
Sincerely,
Larry Penner
(Larry Penner is a transportation historian, writer and advocate who previously worked 31 years for the United States Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration Region 2 New York Office. This included the development, review, approval and oversight for billions in capital projects and programs for the MTA, NYC Transit, Long Island Rail Road, Metro North Rail Road MTA Bus, New Jersey Transit along with 30 other transit agencies in NY & NJ).
Joe Biden and the Media Need Rehab
Dear Editor:
The media and Joe Biden, should be taking advantage of self quarantine to undergo Rehabilitation for their relentless, false blaming of Israel for Gaza’s woes. Rehab programs have a Ten Step Program. Try Step One for a start: Ethics 101 which requires you fact check and check your bias, before spewing ignorant, false blame.
JNS, “Democratic presidential contender Joe Biden was just the latest to blame Israel for Gaza’s woes. However, once again, facts prove these media and observers wrong: The principal source of Gaza’s isolation and desperation is, in fact, Egypt. Why does the media ignore Egypt’s critical role in keeping Gaza boxed in and isolated? The answer is simple: When in doubt, blame Israel…Egypt could open its border with Gaza tomorrow, declare a free trade zone to aid the shattered Gazan economy. So why doesn’t Egypt open their arms to their Gazan brethren?
Simple—thanks to Hamas and PIJ, Gazans are thoroughly indoctrinated in militancy and terrorism. Islamist elements that have made it into Sinai from Gaza have murdered Egyptian citizens and soldiers on a large scale. What’s more, Egypt has enough trouble containing the Muslim Brotherhood on its own territory—remember the Morsi regime? The last thing Egypt wants is to allow the free movement of Hamas operatives into Egypt; Hamas is, after all, the Gaza branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. The focus on Israel as the culprit in Gaza’s misery is misplaced and hypocritical.”
Gatestone, “While Israel is working overtime with Palestinians to curb and prevent the spread of the coronavirus, the Arab states appear to be doing what they do best when it comes to helping their Palestinian brothers: nothing at all. Israeli delivered 200 coronavirus testing kits to the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, sector despite the thousands of rockets and incendiary and bomb-carrying balloons that the ruling government, Hamas, has launched from there towards Israel, and coordinated the transfer of 20 tons of disinfectant material from Israeli factories to the Palestinian health sector. It is worth noting that Egypt, which has a shared border with the Gaza Strip, did not send any test kits or disinfectant materials to the Palestinians living there.”
So to the media and to Biden, may your time in quarantine be well spent-undergo Rehab for Fact Checking and Ethics Training. I would also recommend you give up your addiction, your myopic, relentless obsession with Israel and instead, start reporting and giving speeches about the true atrocities in Syria, and elsewhere in our world. Try it. You’ll sleep better.
Sincerely
Sylvia Mankowitz
