It’s still not illegal to let your dog freeze
Brooklyn: Last week, the “Mutts” comic strip featured a well-known character named Guard Dog who is chained outdoors, depressed and dreams about running free. By Friday, I broke down and am still crying as I write this.
Years ago, our family lived in a small upstate town next to a neighbor who owned a collie. It was routine for the winters there to dip below zero degrees overnight and stay in the single digits during the day. The collie, Laddie, was tied outside beside a meager doghouse that did little to nothing to keep him warm. We used to see Laddie shivering in the snow with icicles clinging to his coat. My mom was indignant and spoke a few words to the man who owned Laddie: “It’s too cold, you should take Laddie inside the house.” The man, a corrections officer, replied: “I have to stand outside all day in the freezing cold. If it’s good enough for me, it’s good enough for my dog.”
Guard Dog has been instrumental in encouraging state laws restricting tethering nationwide. Other states have them. Astonishingly, New York has had Bill A5854A shuttling back and forth for years in the Assembly, being amended and returned, re-amended and re-returned and so forth. It’s currently in committee. This bill would restrict how long a dog can be tied without shelter, protect sick and injured animals, assure proper shelter including room to move around and fine anyone in violation.
It’s a shame that such laws are necessary. It’s a greater shame that the wheels of justice have evidently frozen like Laddie, with icicles hanging from their spokes. Joy E. Goldberg
No laughing matter
Brooklyn: For the past several weeks, my Sunday paper has been delivered without the comics section, leaving my inner child deeply disappointed. Ever since I was a little kid, reading the Sunday funnies has been a ritual (although now that I’m grown, I do read the actual newspaper afterward). Yes, I’m aware that I can read them online as part of my subscription, but some of us readers are loyal to the print edition and relish the experience of reading the physical paper — and The News should be supporting the folks who support its print edition and who do not want to see the demise of print publishing. Toward that end, please enlarge the Saturday back-page crossword! I end up with such a headache. Katherine Raymond
Man of action
Morristown, N.J.: Most people would not consider John Rote to be a “vigilante,” as your story suggests. He is actually a hero, unless you’re a bleeding-heart, gutless liberal. Glad to hear that the victim is fine, but she took the low road in knocking the very person who came to her aid. If there is a next time, there may be no one there to help. Then she’d be praying for a John Rote to appear. Coward Matthew Roesch, spineless enough to harass this woman, should have caught a bullet in the derrière. It might make him think twice about being a lowlife thug. Frank J. Perry
A dark future
Providence, R.I.: Re “Fighting Hamas with ‘full force,’ until total victory” (Nov. 12), which says that Benjamin Netanyahu “insisted that after the war, now entering its sixth week, Gaza would be demilitarized and Israel would retain security control there”: Retaining Israel’s harsh control / for Gaza, means a mortal toll / but Bibi vows to stay the course / and neither side displays remorse. Felicia Nimue Ackerman
Mere miscalculation
West Hempstead, L.I.: To Voicer Richie Nagan: Of course they did. There is no difference between Hamas and Fatah. Both support “from the river to the sea.” Both support death to Jews. Both say no Jews can live there at all. Both pay terrorists to kill Jews. So Israel wanted to weaken Fatah, not replace it. In 1979, the U.S. supported the return of the ayatollah to Iran. In the 1980s, we supported the mujahedeen against Russia and look where we are now. Not all decisions are wise or work out as planned. It does not excuse Hamas’ barbarity, nor does it lessen the justice and validity of Israel’s quest to destroy Hamas. Samuel Mark
Violence felt worldwide
Penticton, British Columbia: Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas has unleashed Operation Overkill — a genocidal war on thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians, particularly children. The inhumane suffering and complete destruction of Gaza by incessant Israeli bombing will go down in infamy alongside the Jewish Holocaust as the Palestinian Genocide. The Gaza demolition is creating worldwide protests that risk becoming violent, resulting in social unrest, destabilizing nations. Combined with Putin’s Ukraine invasion, climate change and ensuing hunger, this makes world peace a daunting challenge. Joe Schwarz
Teach what?
Bronx: Your apologist editorial on the role of the teachers union and other official organizations in organizing student walkouts in support of Palestine (“Protest lessons,” Nov. 11) did hit one solid note: the need to teach. Do we teach our children about the American hostages held in Iran for 444 days? Who Leon Klinghoffer was and why he was murdered? Are the 220 Marines murdered in Beirut ever discussed, or the 9/11 attacks on our nation? Do we explain to our children that these events were all linked by being carried out by Islamic extremists? That the same ideology was behind the Oct. 7 massacre of Jews in Israel, one that included dozens of our fellow Americans? Probably not, because either the teachers were not taught these things or they have embraced the woke ideologies that defame democracy, disdain civil discourse and denounce freedom in the name of universal victimhood. Damian McShane
Sanctioned support
Brooklyn: There seems to be a widespread pattern of people being denied job opportunities or being terminated from their employment because they showed just an ounce of sympathy for the Palestinian people and were highly critical of the Israeli government. How many people have been denied job opportunities or were terminated for denouncing Hamas and the Palestinian Authority and showing an enormous amount of support for the state of Israel? Just asking. Ronald L. Badger
AI ramifications
Bellerose Village, L.I.: Anyone ever wonder what’s going to happen when artificial intelligence takes control of a self-driving car and drives it into an innocent crowd of people? Peter O’Connor
Against our will
Brooklyn: It is clear that the current Republicans are the real enemies of the American people. They refuse to accept any election returns that go against them, whether it is their refusal to accept the reality that President Biden won the 2020 election or trying to force abortion restrictions on their voters. They lose every challenge, yet they are still trying to overturn the will of the people. They are also trying to defund the government and deny government workers their salaries. The Republicans are acting more like spoiled children than responsible legislators. Alan Podhaizer
Insulated
Kew Gardens: Interestingly, all three of Donald Trump’s children testified that they had no knowledge, skills or job responsibilities related to the accuracy of the Trump Organization’s financial reports. Their testimonies leave two people responsible: their father or the accountant. There is always a fall guy or buffer between Trump and punishment, which is a typical pattern for those who do business with this man. His concern is for himself only, a trait that the American people should be wary of. Glenn Hayes
Elevated status
Old Bridge, N.J.: If Fred Trump hadn’t had money, Orangino would still be in grammar school. Janet Cecin
Diminished
Staten Island: After their last month’s 16-31 loss to the Miami Dolphins, the New York Giants should have their name changed to the “N.Y. Lilliputians” — ouch! How’s that for “pun-ishment”? Douglas P. Baker
Mismanagement
Jamaica: To Voicer John Pasquali: I totally agree with your assessment of the state of the Yankees management, and I’m totally glad to see another person recognize the Jordan Montgomery blunder. I can see a great Bill Gallo sketch for this Yankee season: Hero and GOAT. World Series champion: Jordan Montgomery. GOAT: Brian Cashman. Carol Grant
