Readers sound off on school holidays, agent abuses and Bill Belichick

Instead of snow days, rethink school holidays

Lindenhurst, LI: Professor David Bloomfield has written insightfully about education over the years. His opinion piece (“Mamdani Must Bring Back Our Snow Days!” Feb. 2) on how schools follow the number of days of mandatory instruction when considering closing schools during winter storms is spot on and will likely spark controversy.

As a retired teacher, I always thought that to ensure that students don’t know anything about the meaning of vacations, they should be given a day off. Veterans Day and Columbus Day are not occasions to sell coats or appliances. Memorial Day is not a celebration of barbecues and the start of summer. Juneteenth became a holiday at a most inconvenient time of the school year: at the end of the school year and during Regents exams. Yet most students and even adults had no idea of ​​the significance of this holiday. What was supposed to be taught in the curriculum, as in the case of the study of the Civil War, had been largely ignored.

Some have suggested making September 11 a holiday, but when children are at school, they can observe moments of silence and hear their teachers talk about the events of that day. Respect for religious holidays is important, but not for the entire school population. Students observing these holidays must be granted an excused absence. We now have a whole host of holidays and, as Bloomfield suggests, it may be necessary to start the school year before Labor Day if we want to maintain this schedule. Most importantly, our students must understand the significance of these holidays and why they are observed. Paula-Madeleine Vidal

Complicit officials

Mayfield, Ohio: Support your local pedophile. Vote Republican in November. Clarence Rutherford

Facilitated violence

Cincinnati: Video shows a Border Patrol agent pushing a woman to the ground as hard as he can. He tried to hurt this lady. He then started pepper spraying. A big tough guy while surrounded by six other agents. Trumpers agree with these actions. As long as it’s a Democrat who is assassinated, they have no problem. The man was clearly murdered. Marc Jessee

Right to defend

Lackawaxen, Pennsylvania: Voice actor Charles T. Compton may be misinterpreting Minnesota’s “duty to retreat” law when helping another person (as multiple videos suggest). In essence, the intervener assumes the “self-defense” rights of the third party. Risky, because the facts leading up to the incident are not always obvious. John A. MacKinnon

Turned to violence

Richmond Hill: What voice actor Tom Ascher wrote was offensive. His claim that 56 people were killed during Barack Obama’s eight-year presidency is false. These immigrants were not killed; they died due to poor medical care. None were killed by ICE or kidnapped; all of them underwent trials and were dismissed in accordance with the law. Over the past year, under the Trump dictatorship, 40 people have died or been killed, including three American citizens. This is the highest annual death toll linked to immigration agencies, and Trump’s term is only just beginning. There were no violent clashes during Obama’s presidency. Under Trump, everything is violence and death. ICE agents act like street gangs. Mr. Ascher, are you wondering why there is hatred towards this president and why people are showing anger? Please look at exactly what happened. No other president has resorted to this kind of behavior, causing so much death and suffering. Ene Kelly

Frenzied

Dover, Del. : Apparently, voice actor Tom Ascher is a member of the MAGA cult who is willing to believe President Felon and his minions when they continue to lie to the American people! When have you ever seen an Obama ICE agent execute a mother in her car or shoot an unarmed protester because his holstered gun had been removed by one of the killers, repeatedly in the back? Any well-trained officer knows enough not to stand in front of a vehicle. Is Kool-Aid so intoxicating? Chalky white

Repeated mistakes

Bronx: In Trump’s America, we see news of how people, some of whom are American citizens, are detained and then disappear into prison camps run in horrific and inhumane conditions. This reminds me of stories I have read and heard about the detention camps where Japanese Americans were unjustly held against their will during World War II. Do our leaders never learn from our past mistakes? If a person aspires to a career in national politics in this country, unlike our current president, they should at least make an effort to educate themselves and know its history. This is the only way to avoid repeating past mistakes. Carlos B. Martinez

Well said

Jamaica: To the Leo Crowley megaphone on the historical pattern of popular uprisings and state collapse: Thank you very much! ‘Nuff said! Terri Gilbert

A scuttled public service

Pelham, New York: The dissolution of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting has been widely portrayed as a political dispute. But there is a simpler way to understand the consequences: microeconomics. A business reaches its “breaking point” when it can no longer cover its basic operating costs. Over the past year, federal rollbacks have removed the funding structure that kept many local public media stations above that threshold. This was a policy-induced supply shock in a market already marked by classic failure. Local information behaves like a public good: its benefits extend well beyond individual users, and private markets systematically fail to provide it, particularly in rural areas. When federal support represented 30 to 40 percent of a station’s operating budget, its sudden disappearance did not lead to “efficiency.” This pushed stations beyond the point of rational operation. Information, like roads or electricity, is infrastructure. Once dismantled, it costs much more to rebuild than to maintain. Brian MacColl

Unverified visualization

Glasgow, Scotland: I have a difficult decision to make. Should I attend the premiere of the movie “Melania” or head to my usual local pub for a few pints with my friends? Looks like I’m going to have a few restless, sleepless nights trying to make a decision. Wish me luck. Joseph Kay

His stats are valid

Brooklyn: A lot of people don’t like Bill Belichick. However, when you’re on a committee – in this case, the NFL Hall of Fame committee – you have to put your personal feelings aside. You’re here to vote on who deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. Belichick has won six Super Bowls and appeared in nine. He won 333 games as a coach, which puts him just behind Don Shula. Yes, he had a few obstacles in his career, one being stealing signs from the Jets. However, he was fined, and that was his punishment. This should not detract from his accomplishments as a coach. What he does in his personal life is his business. On the field, he built championship teams. Jean DeAngelo

Keep the classics

Lyndhurst, NJ: It doesn’t matter who buys Warner Bros., but they better not mess with Bugs Bunny or Road Runner, lest they end up like Elmer Fudd and the Coyote! Mark DeFrino