Readers hold forth on NYC jails, gasoline stoves and hospital govt salaries

Brooklyn: Division of Correction Commissioner Louis Molina and his sidekick, Correction Officers’ Benevolent Affiliation President Benny Bosco, have spent the previous 12 months and longer insisting — I imply insisting — that the contraband, a.okay.a. medicine and weapons, that discover their approach onto Rikers Island achieve this as a result of guests and household both sneak them in on the visiting ground or by way of packages and mail.

Nonetheless, the latest case of corruption officer — sorry, correction officer — Karin Robinson smuggling marijuana into Rikers (”Pot bust at Rikers,” Jan. 7) is simply one other in an especially lengthy line of officers and employees who’re answerable for a lot of the contraband trafficked in.

On the November Board of Correction listening to, Molina insisted {that a} extra in depth search of the officers and employees upon arriving on the island for his or her shifts was not vital and never cost-effective. Actually, he doubled down on his fantasy that somebody mailed a sneaker into Rikers that was soaked in fentanyl, which is chemically inconceivable.

As a survivor of Rikers, a.okay.a. Torture Island, I witnessed officers and employees site visitors in narcotics and weapons repeatedly. So, my comrades and I who’re combating tooth and nail for jail and jail reform, in addition to an finish to mass incarceration, would admire it if Molina and Bosco would cease insulting our and everybody else’s intelligence and come clean with the catastrophe that’s the NYC Division of Correction, Rikers Island and the prevailing borough amenities. Eileen M. Maher

White Plains, N.Y.: So, Donald Trump’s right-hand monetary man and firm CFO will get a five-month sentence, albeit at Rikers, for crimes that you simply and I’d get 5-10 years for. His deal was to be truthful when he stated Donald knew nothing about his tax fraud offers, but Donald signed the lease on his tax-free condo and he needed to have seen firm returns and the falsified W-2 kinds. How is that telling the reality? He’ll be out in three months with good habits. He’s additionally nonetheless getting his $640,000 wage and $500,000 vacation bonus from The Trump Group, which most likely helped him pay the $2 million of taxes, penalties and curiosity prematurely of his sentencing. Oh, to be a wealthy felon. Jeff Gold

Backyard Metropolis, L.I.: All flights had been grounded as a consequence of a technical glitch? Unplug the modem, wait 15 seconds, reconnect. Drawback solved! Paul Falabella

Montrose, N.Y.: Re “Safer, extra reasonably priced N.Y. my objective” (Jan. 11): Gov. Hochul should be applauded for making local weather motion one of many cornerstones of her State of the State deal with. Clearly, the insurance policies that she proposed will assist us with our twin challenges of dangerous carbon emissions and skyrocketing power prices. They could even assist us decrease our well being care prices. We’re studying that as much as 19% of New York’s childhood bronchial asthma might be from gasoline stoves. A commonsense local weather coverage amongst her proposals final 12 months was lacking this time: Repeal the terrible gasoline hookup subsidies that pressure everybody to chip in by means of our gasoline payments to pay free of charge connections to new prospects (as if gasoline payments aren’t already crushing). I’m wondering if her employees forgot a easy copy and paste? Dennis King

Brooklyn: I want to recommend two new additions to the normal listing of the three greatest lies. They might be: 1) that the 2020 presidential election was stolen and a couple of) that Ukraine and the NATO Western allies instigated the battle towards the Russian Federation. Donald Kempler

Tuckerton, N.J.: Why would anyone surprise why a healthful, great-looking child like Trevor Bickford would flip jihadist and wish to homicide regulation enforcement, not in his hometown however in New York? It’s my opinion that this man wanted extra parental steerage than he ever acquired. The primary factor a baby wants steerage with is faith. Apparently, his mother and father had been of the opinion that he ought to simply select what he wished. That is lazy parenting with no effort. What does any teenager find out about life? No steerage; incorrect selections. Rose S. Wilson

Ozone Park: How foolish are these pillars of upper studying going to get? The College of Southern California goes to drop the phrase “subject” from its curriculum and change it with “practicum.” They determined this phrase doesn’t offend descendants of slaves or immigrants. Are they going to rename the traditional film “Discipline of Goals” to “Practicum of Goals”? Ray Hackinson

Whiting, N.J.: I want to inform the writers of the “Jumble” that in keeping with Webster’s Dictionary, there is no such thing as a reputable phrase “oomph.” They’ll look it up however I’ll wager they received’t discover it. I’m dissatisfied within the “Jumble” as I spent a great period of time making an attempt to determine it out. They need to notice that they misled us “Jumble” gamers and I’m involved they may do such a factor once more. Please follow reputable phrases! John Brandenburg

Staten Island: Mount Sinai is a nonprofit, due to this fact its financials are public information, together with the compensation of its top-earning executives. Most make seven figures, with the chief govt incomes near $6 million a 12 months. The most recent Kind 990 on file is from 2019, so I’m certain that wage is now even larger than that. The highest 14 earners had a complete money compensation value $32.8 million (plus different advantages that aren’t included). They’re no completely different than massive for-profit organizations the place the few on the prime reap the rewards on the backs of 1000’s of employees. Shameful! Gina Ottrando

Greenlawn, L.I.: Congress has seated mendacity, deadbeat, highschool dropout George Santos. He’s not, nonetheless, the person the voters elected. They voted for a totally completely different particular person — a credentialed faculty graduate, an alumnus of Goldman Sachs and different respected companies. To be clear, they voted for a listing of credentials purporting to signify a dwelling particular person. It didn’t. It doesn’t describe a dwelling, respiration ”George Santos” who was on the poll. He wasn’t elected to something. He doesn’t exist. Helen Hill Updike

Lindenhurst, L.I.: How may somebody like George Santos, who lied about virtually each side of his life, in the end turn out to be a deciding vote to offer Kevin McCarthy a victory as speaker of the Home? Was there not one Republican who would vote for Hakeem Jeffries, who constantly garnered essentially the most votes in every preliminary spherical? Most of the Republicans who supported McCarthy are election deniers and had been complicit in the course of the Jan. 6 riot, with some actively collaborating. That alone may have swayed independent-minded Republicans to vote for an honorable man like Jeffries. It’s known as voting with a conscience. But not one Republican may help him? It’s apparent that Republicans are the social gathering of partisan politics. Larry D’Angelo

Brooklyn: In 2010, Sen. Richard Blumenthal proclaimed, “We have now realized one thing necessary because the days that I served in Vietnam.” The difficulty is Blumenthal by no means served in Vietnam. He obtained at the very least 5 navy deferments from 1965 to 1970 and took repeated steps that enabled him to keep away from going to battle. President Biden is the king of plagiarists. He additionally has by no means met a lie he didn’t like, from his childhood upbringing to just lately stating he, because the occupant of the Oval Workplace, inherited $5-a-gallon gasoline, when in truth it was $2.35 a gallon on Inauguration Day. So, George Santos will match proper in! David DiBello

Manhattan: Thanks, Voicer Bob Pascarella, for at all times placing your ft in your mouth. As soon as once more, your letter blames Biden for the whole lot your cult chief, Donald Trump, is definitely answerable for: creating an immigration disaster, illness (pandemic!), an increase in crime (hate crimes, protests, Jan. 6 riot), ineptitude, failure, non-sequiturs, flubs, fabricated tales, a lack of actuality and the politicization of the whole lot. It should be terrible dwelling in your head, Bob, the place essentially the most confused particular person of all is your self. You’re past flustered. As you wrote: “Savvy, no. Sorry, sure.” Sam Katz