Need to promote dialogue on diversity
City Council President Marion Porterfield is right; the City Council needs to know what they don’t know. Bias training is a dialogue that would be helpful for all in Schenectady, and dare I say the country.
Ms. Porterfield, know how much I appreciate your willingness to confront and acknowledge this underlying issue.
I belong to a church that is currently studying a book and discussing how personal bias effects everyone.
I hope Schenectady Public Library will revive their One County – One Book program to promote a dialogue and study of the challenges and benefits of diversity. We need to come together with mutual respect and understanding.
Liz Mastrianni
Schenectady
City litter initiative a worthwhile effort
I was thrilled to read about the anti-litter action plan (“City lawmakers seek to address littering”) “It Starts With me…” in the Sept. 27 Gazette.
City Council members John Polimeni, Carmel Patrick and Doreen Ditoro’s plan hopes to reduce litter through education and cooperation from community partnerships, laws and enforcement. It is a most ambitious plan but it’s a great beginning to make the city a healthier and more beautiful place. Initiatives such as managing garbage, educating people to take pride in their neighborhoods and community spaces are worthy goals.
Jean Wildgrube
Rexford
Writer missed facts on inflation causes
In his Oct. 9 letter (“Be honest about inflation, solutions”) it seems that Mr. Dufresne has made some misleading statements during his speculation about the causes of inflation.
He stated that the M1 money supply went from $3.99 trillion to $20.58 trillion from 1/1/20 to 1/1/22 due to the government’s “printing and spending dollars.”
However, he didn’t mention that banking regulations were changed to allow savings accounts to be included in M1 on April 24, 2020.
A chart produced by the St. Louis Fed shows the effect of this: April 2020 M1 = $4,779.8T; May 2020 M1 = $16,232.9T, meaning that $11.4 trillion changed from M2 to M1 by redefinition alone.
Any such comparisons must be made from May 2020 onward for the sake of definitional consistency.
His comment about the federal debt “skyrocketing” since January 2020 is also misleading because he neglects to mention that the U.S. deficit increases and decreases over time for a variety of reasons and provides no context for the current increase.
He ignores the pandemic economic problems of 2020 and 2021 that caused “increased government spending related to widespread unemployment and health care, [which] caused spikes in the deficit” according to the U.S. Treasury webpage on deficits. That page also states that “[c]ompared to the same period last year (Oct. 2020 – Aug. 2021), our national deficit has decreased.”
Lawrence D. Mulvaney
Schenectady
Vote to ensure gun rights are protected
I feel the new gun laws are a joke. Most mass shootings happen in gun-free zones. so why does a place of business have to put up a sign to allow law-abiding citizens to carry concealed?
lt definitely makes it easier for any wacko to decide where to commit a heinous crime.
No sign makes the business fair game. In a shopping mall in the state of Indiana, a good gun stopped a bad gun 15 seconds after the bad gun started shooting, still three innocent people died. Just think how many more people could have died if a good gun wasn’t there.
The new gun laws are intended to make it harder for law-abiding citizens to get a pistol permit.
You have to take a 16-hour course and go to a range and qualify with a gun you had never seen before, crazy. It also discriminates against low-income families because I hear the cost could be over $600. Now will somebody tell me what that has to do with fighting crime?
Make sure you vote. I’m voting for Lee Zeldin, Liz Joy and Elise Stefanik. People who will protect our constitutional rights.
Donald Kingsley
Charlton
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Categories: Clifton Park and Halfmoon, Letters to the Editor, Opinion, Schenectady
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Thank you Mr Mulvaney for an excellent fact filled letter great start to the morning.
The justification for not indicting Trump on the charge of stealing government documents and keeping them in unsecured locations is that it would be seen as politically motivated, unfairly disadvantaging Republicans in the upcoming elections. Some of these documents were marked with the highest top secret designation. The information in them, if revealed, would harm the security of the United States. They likely contain information about human assets in foreign countries whose lives would be endangered.
But, doesn’t the failure of the DOJ to do its job give Republicans an unfair advantage on 11/8?
When the question to indict or not is fully analyzed, it is clear that the right decision is to indict a man against whom the evidence of guilt is overwhelming.
Trump recently falsely stated that the documents belonged to him, saying at a rally “it’s mine, it’s mine”.
He has also claimed he declassified them while in office and that the FBI planted them.
He has led chants demanding that Hillary Clinton be “locked up”, forget due process, for far less serious mishandling of government documents. He has falsely accused former presidents of taking government documents when they left office.
Let’s prove to the world and ourselves that we believe no man is above the law.
Let every candidate campaign on ideological and practical issues. Let’s end the malignancy that threatens the soul of our nation.
When the question to indict or not is fully analyzed, it is clear that the right decision is to indict a man against whom the evidence of guilt is overwhelming.
Unless, of course, that man is Hillary Clinton.
Mishandling of government documents is mishandling of government documents. A duck is a duck. Do you see how quick you are to make excuses for the democrat? This is what I am talking about. I don’t make excuses for Trump – if he did it, he SHOULD be in prison – just as Hillary should be.
The facts are that where the papers came from is unproven. One party says this, one party says that. We weren’t there, we don’t know. Were they planted? It certainly is not beyond the realm of possibility, in fact it is more likely than unlikely. As far as the democrats not wanting to look like they are unfairly disadvantaging the republicans, Come ON, man! That is ridiculous.
The DOJ and the FBI did not do their jobs relating to Hillary and they did not do their jobs relating to Trump. I’d say thats equal treatment of two scumbags who should be imprisoned for life but will instead enjoy their vast wealth living lives of luxury while us serfs pay for it.
Ignatious–Hillary didn’t STEAL documents, say someone planted something on her computer, while at the same time declaring they’re HERS (doesn’t even make sense). 45 LIED about having top secret documents for months and unlike Hillary, loves dictators (he has nefarious intent).
This article claims that “although there is evidence of potential violations of the statutes regarding the handling of classified information, our judgement is that no reasonable prosecutor would bring such a case.”
https://www.fbi.gov/news/press-releases/press-releases/statement-by-fbi-director-james-b-comey-on-the-investigation-of-secretary-hillary-clinton2019s-use-of-a-personal-e-mail-system
What she did was certainly careless and cost her the presidency. She was held accountable, whereas traitor 45 never is…but hopefully now. Your argument is another false equivalence.
We should also note contradiction and meaningless ambiguous assertions in Ignatius’ post:
“I don’t make excuses for Trump.” followed by: “Were they (the documents) planted? It certainly is not beyond the realm of possibility, in fact it is more likely than unlikely.” There is “0” evidence that the documents were planted.
“We weren’t there, we don’t know.” This is in reference to the source of government documents that Trump was keeping illegally. He had no right to those documents. Where they were being kept prior to his illegal act, moving them to Mar a Lago, is irrelevant. Who does “we” refer to? Does the “we” referred to have to be at every crime scene in order to indict or convict?
Is speeding merely speeding whether the violator was going 65 or 120 in a 55 mph zone?
I am not saying the Democrats, a political party with no power to indict, are not pursuing an immediate indictment; it is the DOJ that I see as failing to follow through with an indictment.
Hillary Clinton cooperated with the investigation FULLY and was exonerated.
Trump’s contradictory statements about how the documents wound up at Mar a Lago is evidence that he is lying. There are still missing documents.
I don’t think either person is a scumbag. Hillary Clinton was the victim of political persecution and Trump, well, I think he is seriously mentally ill and a sociopath.
Ignatious P. Reilly I love it …..”But Hillary”…….I never tire of the Republicans main go to. Republicans are great at picking a single piece of corn out of a pile of manure and say ummmm I think I’ll use this ….Not admitting it is still just a pile of manure they are spewing …..Bravo!
Anthony Santos your are correct that the stench of sedition is overwhelming around Trump but I’m sure you agree the justice department needs to complete the process they are engaged in. AS Trump’s stunts continue to fail as miserably as everything else he touched did the DOJ case just becomes more concrete
I believe the investigation has uncovered enough evidence to indict the ex-president now! I just saw a story about a 16 year old Black man who spent three years in hell on Riker’s island awaiting trial for stealing a backpack. That was more time than he would have spent if found guilty. His experience at Riker’s was so catastrophic he committed suicide shortly after his release but not before he got his story out. This dual system of justice, one for the poor and minorities and another for the White and wealthy, must end!
Donald Kingsley remark about taking away Constitutional Rights is laughable. Any sane American believes in the 2nd Amendment, but wants more gun safety. It’s Zeldin, Joy and Stefanik that want to strip away females’ rights to what happens to their own bodies! How about a 50 year precedent being taken away, causing confusion, back alley abortions, possible deaths when this a private decision between a female, her family, and her doctor?
Anthony continues to write about the danger of 45, and this was just another devastating outcome of his presidency–3 ultra conservative Supreme Court Justices chosen from the Federalist Society trying to make America a Christian Nationalist nation.
When a kid throws a rock at another kid on a playground, do the teachers try and get all the other kids to carry rocks to defend themselves?
Yes, if the teachers are selling the rocks.
(Which of course is an absurd idea, but follows the analogy through)
I agree that making it easier for Americans to own guns and carry them wherever they want results in more guns in public places and hence more, not less, gun violence. Lobbyists for the NRA, representing the interests of gun manufacturers and retailers, bribe legislators into making the purchase and carrying of concealed guns easier. It is the gun industry, lobbyists, and cooperating legislators who gain. The American public, including gun enthusiasts who accept obvious misinterpretations of the second amendment, lose.