To the Editor:
Re “Biden Condemns Trump as U.S. Remembers Capitol Riot” (front page, Jan. 7):
Finally! At long, long last President Biden leads the necessary fight. With a brilliant, forceful and stirring speech, the president explained in stark terms just how horrific the insurrection was, what a venal liar the former president is, how complicit the vast majority of Republicans are.
We can only hope this speech stiffens the spines of every Democratic elected official to take up the same battle cry, for make no mistake, this is, indeed, a battle. And let’s hope, against all recent evidence to the contrary, that at least some Republicans will snap out of their Trump stupor, will place country over their personal ambitions and will try to bring their party back to some semblance of sanity and truth.
And, let’s now hope the Justice Department will pursue, with increased vigor, the investigation and prosecution of all those complicit in these traitorous acts, regardless of the position those persons may hold.
MacKenzie Allen
Santa Fe, N.M.
To the Editor:
Re “Garland Vows to Pursue Investigation ‘at Any Level’” (news article, Jan. 6):
Attorney General Merrick Garland’s speech on the Justice Department’s response to the Jan. 6 attack was somewhat reassuring, but less than satisfying. It looks as if the department’s approach is to go after the puppets now, and get to the puppeteers later, disregarding the fact that the election clock is ticking.
If the Republicans win control of the House and the Senate in 2022, as some are predicting, the House committee on the Jan. 6 attack will be quashed, and the attempted coup will be for the history books — that is, if the books aren’t burned. The high-level culprits who masterminded this coup attempt will go scot-free. Only their minions will go to jail.
Subir Mukerjee
Olympia, Wash.
To the Editor:
I was just 8 on the freezing December 1956 night when we crawled across the bridge at Andau, Austria, to freedom. My dad looked back tearfully. Then looking straight at me he said: “If we can’t live in Hungary, America is the country to live in. You and your brother will have the opportunity to live and work and believe freely.”
The United States was the global beacon of hope — the promise of individual rights, democratic governance and economic strength.
Jan. 6 and the way we remember and act upon it is in the hands of “we the people.” We must protect the rule of law and independent truthful media here at home to build and sustain democratic forces globally.
We the people must step up urgently to protect and empower our democratic ideals and reality. Only in this way can we set a global example for the countries we left behind for a better future for all our families.
Stephen Fuzesi Jr.
Greenwich, Conn.
The writer is a board member of the Connecticut Institute for Refugees and Immigrants.
‘And He Did Nothing’: Trump on That Day
To the Editor:
As we look back on Jan. 6, a date that will live in infamy, here is one view of former President Donald Trump and his mob of supporters — with a nod to the German pastor Martin Niemöller and his harrowing poem “First They Came”:
First they chanted “lock her up!” — and he did nothing,
Because he, too, wanted her to be locked up.
Then they stormed the Capitol, with riot gear, brutalizing police officers while brandishing an American flag,
And he did nothing.
Then they roamed the halls, with nooses in their pockets, trying to hunt down his political foes and a long-devoted henchman,
And he did nothing.
And while reports streamed in of the injured and the possibly dead,
And trusted advisers and family members implored him to put a stop to it,
Still, he did nothing.
And late in the day, when he finally mustered up the courage to speak out,
He did something worse than nothing.
He told the perpetrators who committed those despicable acts that he loved them.
Andrew Sherman
New York
‘It Is Destroying My Mental Health to Go to School Right Now’
To the Editor:
Re “‘I Am Screaming Inside’: Parents Agonize as Schools Reopen, or Don’t” (news article, Jan. 5):
I am a high school student in New York City, and it is destroying my mental health to go to school right now. It’s incredibly crowded, with no room for social distancing, and masks aren’t heavily enforced.
I’m worried about catching Covid and bringing it home to my mother, who’s a health care worker. I’m worried about giving this disease to someone on the subway. I’m worried about killing my classmates.
I’m so anxious about hurting my classmates or my teachers or their family members that I can’t focus on any of my classes.
A vaccine mandate for schools would help me worry less about seriously hurting any of them, and I’m upset the state hasn’t put one into effect yet. After all, we have vaccine requirements for lots of things; why is this any different?
Rose Fleischer Black
Brooklyn
A Delay in Baby Furniture
To the Editor:
Re “Baby Grows, as Do Delays for Furniture” (Business, Dec. 31):
Let’s have some perspective! A delay in baby furniture is not a “nightmare.” The expectant mother who is profiled needs only warm arms to cradle her new baby. A box can do for a bed; a table will do for diaper changing. The car seat? I’m sure one can be borrowed.
These sorts of supply chain issues are problems that can prompt disappointment, but certainly not nightmares.
Laura Abramson-Pritchard
Denver
