Citizenship question is a high court test
Manhattan: Although skimming about 1,000 online pages of “Mandate for Leadership” (i.e., Project 2025) yields no specific reference to birthright citizenship, conceiving its dismantling seems too clever by half to have been devised by the president, so it is assumed that at least some of the Heritage Foundation’s authors were involved in the plot to strip away citizenship.
The Supreme Court’s ruling in Trump vs. Barbara is awaited to discover how much influence the crazies on the court possess to advance the argument that the 14th Amendment refers solely to freed American slaves. History belies that interpretation, as prior to the amendment, common law prevailed and all (except Blacks, Amerindians and offspring of diplomats) were regarded as citizens at birth (one of the unenumerated rights of the Ninth Amendment).
A lengthy explication by a Heritage-connected scholar may be found in the current “Imprimis” online. Its reasoning, undermined by the absence of mention in the amendment of generational loyalties, is that alien parents are not fully under the jurisdiction of the U.S. because of divided allegiances, and that a “minor’s allegiance should follow that of his or her parents.” By that rationale, the noted birthrighter Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has acknowledged his parents’ primary loyalty to Cuba, might want to prepare his raft for a return to the land of his ancestors.
Michele P. Brown
Speak up to uplift
Brooklyn: I was watching “The Great British Bake Off” when a friend texted that there was a shooting at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. So I turn on the news and scroll social media and start reading comments. Staged? That’s something my brain doesn’t go to. My reaction is to hope everyone in that room is safe, as well as law enforcement. Don’t forget that the room has both sides, red and blue, and everyone in between. I think we’re at a point where our harsh, negative words are fueling the fire. I think we have to rethink how to get our points across in a better light that solves instead of creates more hate. So I urge Voicer Sue Arsenault to make positive language a daily practice. It’ll be more beneficial to you and those around you. I wish peace and safety to all.
Mariann Tepedino
Intended target?
Woodland Park, N.J.: Was the shooter’s intent to shoot the president or the press?
John Dent
A real phony
Manhattan: President Trump called for unity at his press conference after the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. This is the same man who has called Democrats the “radical left,” “extremists,” “socialists” and “communists.” He has commented about their intelligence and has suggested they are harming the country and don’t have America’s best interests at heart. He has given Democrats derogatory names like Crooked Hillary, Sleepy Joe and Crazy Nancy. His call for unity is plain hypocrisy!
H. Wayne Mirsky
Next-gen ‘-isms’
Kew Gardens: Written history glorifies conquerors. Yet, the beneficiaries of the conquests were mainly royalty and others at the top of society. Those who did the actual fighting returned to being farmers, common laborers or slaves, as they were previously. Most of us have been indoctrinated rather than educated about wars of conquest. What we are experiencing today is no different from the past. In due time, the fallacious justification for going to war will be exposed, while those at the top reap the benefits of imperialistic expansion, valuable resources and increased wealth. Military technology has become more sophisticated, but the minds justifying its use are stuck in the past.
Glenn Hayes
Human duality
Jackson Heights: I’m 84. I’ve come to realize the stupendous creativity of human beings, from the safety pin and egg beater to the rockets to the Moon and discovery of black holes in space. I’ve also learned of the greed and cruelty that exploit our fellow man, wage wars and commit atrocities. Our country is made up of these same humans. We have the ideals in our founding documents and the neighborliness of our communities, but also have the mean streak seen in our injustices to poor and working people, and our cruelty to minorities and to people who have what we want. People have flocked to our country because of the promise of our ideals. How can we put those ideals into practice and minimize, guard against and control those other aspects of our nature so we can become a country “with liberty and justice for all”?
James V. Rescigna
Filthy rich
Itasca, Ill.: Just when rumors of war, gun violence, inflation and starvation have almost sapped my dwindling optimism, a ray of light softens the dark. In case you haven’t heard, Elon Musk sits on the cusp of becoming the world’s first trillionaire. Did someone say, “Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy”? I didn’t think so.
Jim Newton
Fear of flying
Brooklyn: How many more near misses do we need before something gets done about them at airports around the country? Last week alone, we had one in New York and one in Nashville. When we had the crash earlier this year just outside Washington, President Trump blamed the Biden administration. What has Trump done to correct the issue? We hear about planes just missing each other all the time now. They say there’s a shortage of air traffic controllers. If that’s the case, cut back on flights. Not only do we get near misses, but planes crash while landing or before taking off. We’ve seen examples of both this year. What more evidence do we need to say enough is enough? How many more people must die before someone steps up to the plate and puts a stop to it?
John De Angelo
Slow the speeders, not us
Staten Island: The “Stop Super Speeders” bill is yet another policy meant to hassle regular people who are just trying to get by in this city instead of attacking actual malefactors. We now have artificially low, unreasonable speed limits everywhere, like 30 mph (soon to be 25!) on stretches of six-lane Hylan Blvd. on Staten Island that haven’t seen a pedestrian in years. Absent-mindedly drift over 40 mph on these empty thoroughfares at 2 a.m. and you get banged for $50. Now the safety do-gooders want to intrude into your car to install speed limiters if you get six such tickets in a year. Why not go after people who are actually dangerous? Speeders doing 60 in a 30 zone, people who cause accidents and unlicensed and uninsured drivers, especially non-English-speaking aliens. Probably because that would entail enforcing personal responsibility — anathema to our elected officials.
John Colella
Waste on space
Brooklyn: To Voicer Richard Mark: Can you just imagine what we can do with the $4.1 billion wasted on Artemis II? What’s the plan, to build condos on the Moon?
Josie Oliveri