Western Springs, Ill.: The Supreme Court has decided to limit the EPA’s authority to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, saying Congress should have that power. It was a 6-3 decision with six Republican-appointed justices in the majority.
Corporations, including fossil fuel companies, contribute hundreds of millions of dollars to elect sympathetic politicians who support the nominations and confirmations of sympathetic judges, including Supreme Court justices. Corporations spend millions more on advocacy groups that push their agendas on the politicians and judges they helped put in office. This is the first of many cases in the pipeline funded by these corporations and brought by state attorneys general who are also funded by the companies.
Congress, with little experience in acting on climate change, has delegated this decision-making to the EPA, which has the necessary expertise. Despite a clear increase in the frequency and severity of disruptive climate events, federal action on climate change may be in limbo, helping only fossil fuel companies. They single-mindedly focus on their profitability even when it threatens the habitability of our planet. They wield enormous influence over elections and politics through unlimited contributions, which were allowed by the Supreme Court’s 2010 reversal of Citizens United — also decided by Republicans.
The United States is the only Western nation whose major conservative party denies climate change. It is also the only such nation that allows unlimited political contributions. If we want decisions to be based on merit and a habitable planet, we need to replace big money with public funding of elections. Richard Barsanti
Greenburgh, NY: I would like to propose that all men and women in Congress who vote against assault rifle bans, background checks, and other reasonable measures to protect Americans be required to explain to the families of mass shooting victims, face to face, their reasoning for their vote that way and apologize for failing to keep those family members safe. Stephen Howell
Staten Island: I love the NYPD, but you’d have to be a moron to believe them when they say shootings in the city are down 24%. Please be honest about this epidemic. Lying does not improve the situation. Fred Marcucci
Briarcliff Manor, NY: More than 100,000 people, mostly young people, died from drugs in the US last year. That’s roughly 274 deaths per day. If you factor in all the mass shootings in the US in the last 10 years plus the roughly 58,000 young Americans who died in the long Vietnam War, it would not add up to 100,000. And you talk about banning guns? What about drugs? Where is the daily drug news? Where is the death toll that CNN had 24/7 for COVID-19 deaths in the same time period? All young lives are precious. Why the silence? Gary Urban
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Irvington, NY: I loved the great photo tribute to Sir Richard Starkey (“Look back at the life and career of Ringo Starr”) that you posted on July 6th, the day before his birthday. I just wanted to point out that there is an error in the caption identifying Ringo’s parents in the 1965 photo taken at his wedding to Maureen Cox. Ringo’s mother, Elsie, was married to Harry Graves, Ringo’s stepfather, at the time — and the photo shows Harry with her, not Ringo’s biological dad, Richard Starkey (Elsie’s first husband). Elsie took Graves as her married name after marrying Harry in 1953. Assuming I’m correct about the typo, it may have been AP. Getty Images also has the same error. An identical photograph is correctly titled in “RINGO: With a Little Help” by Michael Seth Starr (and Harry is also mentioned on page 142 as having attended the wedding with Elsie), and in other sources. Staton Rabin
Bronx: Why isn’t “The View,” one of the best daytime TV shows, on repeat at night for those of us who sometimes miss it? The panelists are just as sharp, informed and witty as those on the weekly “Meet the Press,” “This Week” or “Face the Nation” shows. Other talk shows are shown again at night. Whoopi, Sara, Joy, Sunny, Anna and the conservative lady of the week give us the female point of view in an intelligent and logical sense. I learn a lot from them. I’m fed up, saturated and stunned by stupid and insinuating series, and “The View” is an alternative for adults and inspiration. Rose Mary Lancaster
Brooklyn: In Manhattan, a district attorney who releases same-day felonies now decides he wants to lock up a bodega owner who had an argument with a man who came behind the counter to attack him because the owner was killed in the fight. The deceased had no business behind the counter at all. He decides he doesn’t like that a woman can’t pay for something. In the video, you can see how the owner physically fights with him. I think it would be the other way around, this man would hurt him a lot. I and many others have lost faith in the backward justice of the justice system, letting criminals go free and imprisoning people who are rightfully defending themselves against criminals. Joseph V. Comerchio
Fort Lee: I have the utmost respect for SE Cupp, as she is one of the few in the media who is not in an ideological straitjacket, therefore an independent thinker. But she’s wrong about the Supreme Court justices. Their job is not to follow public opinion, but to follow the law and justice. Gary Schwartz
Somers, NY: Voiker Helena Mecca, I’ll call your bluff. Since I can’t find a report that Donald Trump authorized the National Guard on January 6th, and you blame the “liberal media” for not reporting it, give me an actual, official statement that former President Donald Trump authorized the National Guard. It should be pretty easy to detect if it happened. He simply told his followers that they would have to “fight like hell” or “they would have no more country.” Sounds like he wanted a confrontation. He had no comment for 180 minutes during the riot. I find it hard to believe that he wanted to quell the riots. Michael Gold
Rahway, NJ: To Messenger Steven Malichek: Thank you for showing me the error of my ways and pointing out my closed mindedness. I should be more open-minded like you and completely dismiss the two or more hours of violence I’ve witnessed on various videos, documentaries and news shows, and ignore the speeches I’ve seen from Donald Trump and others calling for protesters to march on the Capitol and ” fight like hell”. And all those people who were arrested and convicted in connection with the violence that day were probably victims of hearsay. Also, I find it refreshing to know that you will believe the testimony of two Secret Service agents if they testify. Perhaps in your next letter you can express your distaste for the former president for siding with Vladimir Putin over the side of the US Department of Justice while in Helsinki in 2018. Thanks for clearing me up, Steve. Robert Varady
Manhattan: To Messenger Richard Warren: Life is all about binary choices. Our presidential elections are among them. I understand that Bernie Sanders supporters, like Donald Trump supporters, are masters of the art of holding grudges and not accepting losses and are stuck in a utopia that exists only in their heads. Sanders lost the primary to Hillary Clinton in 2016, just as Sanders lost to Joe Biden in 2020 and just as Trump lost the 2020 election to Biden. It’s past time for Bernie supporters to accept that reality. The rest of us will deal with the reality that dangerous idealists like you helped create. Geidy Perez-Storch
