An Urgent Request
Montauk
July 17, 2023
Dear David,
This is an urgent request to friends and foes, locals and tourists, the young and old alike: Please take a bag with you to the beach and start cleaning up. The garbage that flowed into the roads, streams, and rivers in New England has washed into the sound and made it around the Point to our beaches.
There’s everything imaginable, from tampons to car parts to hypodermic needles and broken glass. This is beyond the David Sedaris-types who walk around cleaning up everything in sight. We need every able-bodied citizen to pitch in. Those tiny pieces of plastic and Styrofoam will wind up in the food chain. Translation: That’s the fish you eat!
In search of clean beaches, thanks in advance.
Respectfully,
RAV FREIDEL
Walking With Eden
Springs
July 16, 2023
David,
Came across a newly popular photo of a seahorse. I love, like many, the sea and beaches, have the good fortune of always being nearby.
In 2012 right after hip surgery, I started walking every day. First in Lion Head, our neighborhood, then on Napeague Beach, or along Gardiner’s Bay.
In May 2017, Dao Spencer, a friend across the way, got a big yellow Lab. She right away came by with the Lab, named Eden, told me I could take her anytime.
Went by the next morning to take Eden, without a leash, for a walk along Gardiner’s Bay. Anytime quickly became every day. Eden goes in the sea or bay, barring extreme weather, every time we walk. Dao said Eden was a water dog. That’s for sure.
Years back, I started, during my daily walks with Eden, collecting all sorts, including driftwood, shells, and rocks. For example, I have a collection of lava, all found on the bayside.
About a year back on Napeague Beach, we found two seahorses, first time ever and never again. They were in the sand, close together.
Walking along the shore with Eden and surfing are my best outdoor activities ever.
Semper fi,
JOSEPH GIANNINI
Kids
Kids in the world
They all gotta eat
Clean water to drink
And shoes for their feet
Common all you rich guys
With the millions you made
Reach deep in your pockets
There are many to save
No one should starve
While many so prosper
Let kids be kids
You won’t be a pauper
There’s “Wings Over Haiti”
And “Hoops For Hope”
Schools in Nicaragua
All blessed by the Pope
When you sit down for dinner
With your own healthy food
You’ll smile at your kids
And your wife next to you
You feel so grateful
And know in your heart
The light shines within you
For the kids a new start
LEWIS SAUL
Amagansett
Wainscott, N.Y.
Montauk
July 16, 2023
Dear Editor,
It is both amazing and disturbing that Wainscott, New York, whose ZIP code suggests one of the more affluent pockets of our township, has repeatedly refused to allocate funding for quality primary education.
Sincerely,
PERRY DURYEA III
Not a Tea Party
East Hampton
July 13, 2023
Dear David:
I was hired by East Hampton Town Police Chief Tom Scott in 1985 to join the detective squad as a psychotherapist to counsel victims of child abuse, sex crimes, domestic violence, adolescent issues, and organizing workshops for teachers and health professionals to prepare for mandated reports of abuse. The day Chief Scott hired me there was a murder of a local woman at a well-known club on Three Mile Harbor Road. I always thought that the violent crime against a local woman was another factor in my hiring.
Chief Tom Scott was a visionary in many ways. He also sent me to the Rotary Club to champion my idea for a new community project that resulted in the Retreat, our first domestic violence shelter on Long Island. Also, I would never have had the chance to treat Katie Beers, the kidnapped 9-year-old who was fostered in East Hampton. The town police guarded her (and me) as we went to court and as I treated her for 10 years. I am forever grateful that the recommendation to be her psychotherapist came through the East Hampton Town Police. I am grateful that they kept Katie safe.
For over the next 38 years I have worked with the East Hampton Town Police Department in a paid and unpaid capacity, often called in for tough cases and later called for help when officers were facing trauma. (I have also recently become a consultant for the East Hampton Village Department.) I have been extremely grateful to the department as I started my own private practice in that my work with the department offered me “cred” in a community where I was a young newcomer. I have known Chief Scott, Chief Sarris, Chief Ecker, and Chief Sarlo. I have worked closely with Detective Sgt. Ryan Hogan, Lieut. Dan Toia, Sgt. Wayne Mata, Sgt. Greg Martin, Capt. Chris Anderson, and many officers who responded to serious problems in my private practice and the community. I worked with many detectives before them; where we were successful in bringing down child abusers and hundreds of difficult sex crime cases.
The atmosphere at a police department is not a tea party. I was tested in certain ways in the beginning and there was much teasing and, yes, pranks and sexy remarks. As much as it was given, I felt comfortable giving it back! Taken out of context, certain remarks would be “shocking.” I never felt disrespected. I was the first female professional; Detective Tina Giles arrived several years later and she, too, became a good friend and a trusted professional.
I am truly sorry that Officer Kess has experienced an atmosphere of disrespect. To be clear, I do not know her or her situation. I am simply stating that in my long tenure and association with the East Hampton Town Police I know you have to possess certain qualities. Thick skin, a sense of humor, and a complete dedication to getting the bad guys. Confidentiality, trust, and respect of each other is paramount. I know certain people did not particularly like me or understand my position in the department. But so what? To this day, detectives, officers, and administration have been available to me and were helpful, honest, and intelligent. I rarely took any personality issues personally.
All of the men named in this lawsuit and many other members of the police department remain professionals who I count on in emergencies. I remain friends with countless retired members of the department. It is painful to read this public accusation of people I care about and trust. I know there are always problems within any organization or family! I am deeply sorry that Officer Kess has not taken advantage of the mediation I read was offered to her. We have become a litigious society. Mediation is the best way to go to solve problems.
Sincerely,
MARY BROMLEY
Affection and Respect
Amagansett
July 16, 2023
Dear Mr. Rattray,
A couple weeks ago I read in The Star the obituary of my friend and colleague Jeff Dell. I hadn’t known of Jeff’s passing, so the news was of course upsetting. We weren’t close friends, but we’d worked on projects together decades ago, when Jeff was a commercial editor and owner of his own business. Years later we developed a warmer relationship over many encounters (and beverages) at Nick & Toni’s, where he and his wife, Bunny Dell, had a standing reservation every Friday night. A shared sense of humor further bonded us in that place.
I decided to call Bunny to express my sympathies and warm wishes. That’s a really tough call to make — so much easier to send a card and sign it with love and prayers, that whole thing. Thankfully she seemed happy to hear from me. I said, in my most sympathetic voice, that this must be a difficult time, after many decades of marriage, to lose her loving companion. And it was, Bunny said, especially so now because her sister had passed away a week before my call. Jesus! I offered that she had many friends and family members who loved her and would be there for her. She was grateful for my good wishes, then, to my utter surprise, said, “Lyle, why haven’t I seen your letters in The Star lately? I miss them!”
And I thought, “Okay, I guess we’re through talking about death and Jeff, but the letters?” And it’s true, Bunny was a fan and would occasionally call me to praise some particular thing I’d written. She’d also called to give me shit about the letter I’d written after Betty White died, describing in detail how Betty had sort of inappropriately “come on” to me 65 years ago, when I was 12. I’d explained to Bunny at the time that I’d just made it up, and had never even met Betty White (which I admitted in the same letter!). Bunny wouldn’t have it and took me to task, hard. Okay, not everyone appreciates inappropriate humor, I get it.
Anyway, she wanted to know why I hadn’t written to The Star in almost a year. You know the reason, Mr. Rattray. And I shared it with Bunny, that I was pissed your paper would make no mention of the beautiful book I’d just published. I assumed (and wrote to you personally) that you were never happy with frequently being the brunt of my humor over the years, which, upon reflection, would be understandable. Never heard back from you so I thought, that’s it — I need to stop indulging my ego in The Star’s pages. Again, Bunny wouldn’t have it. “I always thought David was your friend! You always mentioned him in your columns!”
“But Bunny, half the time I was poking fun at him, scolding him for not remembering my birthday every year.”
“Nonsense, Lyle, I’m sure he doesn’t feel that way!”
I paused to think. Then I said, “Okay, Bunny, I’m gonna write a letter to The Star and dedicate it to you and Jeff.”
“Now don’t feel you have to do that!”
“Well I’m doing it ‘cause I love you, so look for it the week after next.”
So here it is, the long-awaited letter about almost nothing. Except my affection and respect for Bunny Dell. And now this is being written on the heels of another obituary, of a woman we loved dearly, Jeanne Frankl. Such an amazing force, intellect, and energy source in our community. An ambassador for fairness and quality of life who, along with her dear friend and my neighbor, Betty Mazur (who passed two years ago), was the activist conscience of the East Hampton Democrats. I have no doubt that Jeanne would have supported the recent protest at East Hampton Airport, at which 14 climate activists were arrested, including the great-niece of Walt Disney, the activist Abigail Disney. (Wish there’d been 1,000 in attendance!)
So farewell to Jeff, farewell to Jeanne, and love to you, Bunny. Oh, and there’s just two weeks till my birthday, Mr. Rattray — 912 months! You have the mailing address, right?
Cheers and godspeed,
LYLE GREENFIELD
Next Year, More
East Hampton
July 10, 2023
Dear David:
I read with interest three pieces in The Star’s July 6 edition, one regarding Midtown congestion pricing, another suggesting traffic circles for Springs-Fireplace Road, and a third, a history of the rise and fall of East End ferry services. I suspect that congestion on the roads of the South Fork could compete well with that of Manhattan, London, Stockholm, and Singapore. Traffic circles in Springs will address symptoms but ignore the disease. The quashing of ferry services by a railroad presages the later competitive success of the automobile industry over public transit systems.
There was a time, before the automobile, when there were no cars on the South Fork. Today, there is an infestation of vehicles. Next year, there will be more. Are we to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result?
If we think of the South Fork as an island, separated from the mainland by the Shinnecock Canal, this arrangement presents an opportunity for taking control of our traffic. Here are some suggestions.
Install electronic toll gantries on the two roads crossing the canal. Contract with Google Maps and/or Apple Maps for a real-time feed on the number of vehicles moving about the roads on the South Fork. Automate real-time adjustment of the toll being charged at the canal in order to modulate traffic by increasing the cost of entry, whenever necessary.
Issue bonds to design and implement supplementary means of transportation, e.g.: rail and/or bus service from an UpIsland transfer station to South Fork train stations and feeder services to and from train stations (minibus, ride-share, Citi Bike, etc. (Tradespersons could leave their vehicles on job sites and commute to work on public transit; day trippers could be encouraged to explore using public transit.) Ferry services, other solutions, innovate. Think outside the box. Pay the debt service of the bonds with revenue from tolls and public transit fares.
Fixing the traffic problem will improve all our lives, save hundreds, maybe thousands, of human hours wasted daily sitting in traffic, and make it easier for all of us to move about and do the things we want to do, without the stress of the road. Let’s try something different.
Sincerely,
DON ROBERTSON
Springs Gateway
Springs
July 15, 2023
Dear Mr. Rattray,
We support your July 6 editorial “Room for Improvement in Springs Gateway.” We appreciate your support for improving the management and regulation of the commercial and industrial heart of East Hampton.
The long-awaited consultant report, Springs-Fireplace Road Corridor Study, is available for public review on the town’s website, and we hope your readers will take the time to read and comment on its executive summary. In general, the problems are well discussed, and numerous solutions to the land use, traffic, environmental, and streetscape issues are presented.
If we can make one clarification to your report, the study discusses but does not propose any new traffic circles “at the present time” but defers consideration for five years. They do recommend that the town encourage the county to “channelize” the traffic on North Main Street at the juncture of County Roads 40 and 41 (Springs-Fireplace Road) when they renovate County Road 40 (Three Mile Harbor Road) in 2026.
The problem we see will be implementation. What we need is the town and its consultants to put these good recommendations in place.
We, along with the Springs and East Hampton citizens advisory committees and others, have worked with the town for over five years to improve the conditions for residents, neighbors, and users of the roads. There are numerous unregulated businesses in the corridor, some lacking site plans, others never completing them, or having completed them, doing nothing to get building permits and complete the obligations in their site plans. An ordinance to monitor groundwater on mining operations has stalled, and dust and drag-out onto the roadways continue despite the best efforts of the town (and some responsible businesses).
Unfortunately, there are plenty of scofflaws that just pay fines instead of completing screening and plantings to make their property more attractive. The town stresses voluntary compliance, which may work well with residential property owners, but it fails repeatedly to getting commercial and business owners from caring about anything other than their bottom line. Some of the worst offenders are successful in ignoring, delaying, or obstructing regulations that they are required by ordinance to follow.
So, this excellent report is just a new beginning in a longstanding conversation that, up to the present, has not yielded significant improvement in the experience of residents, neighbors, or the many folks who use the corridor each day. We hope their waiting will be rewarded with real changes led by our town government.
JOHN POTTER
Corridor Watch
Know the Need
East Hampton
July 16, 2023
Dear Sirs,
I want to thank you for your coverage of my presentation at last week’s East Hampton School District Board of Education meeting. As you very accurately described, this is a new approach to a specific housing issue that plagues the East End. Local schools, hospitals, health care, the Town of East Hampton, businesses of all sizes and types are finding it almost impossible to staff properly because there is no available housing for workers. This is a facet of the overall affordable housing issue, a facet we feel confident we can address through private projects like the one described for the board of education.
Why private? Three basic reasons: First, by not taking any public funds we can restrict the sale of these units to East Hampton-based businesses only. Second, we feel confident we can provide the units more quickly than the current pace of publicly funded projects. Last, we know we can provide the unit at extremely affordable prices because of our use of private contractors.
It is our aim to use this template to work with as many private and public owners as possible. In some cases, like the East Hampton School District, we will build units on their land; they will own and administer as they see fit. When we work with the town-owned land, we will long-lease the parcels, build the units, sell them to appropriate qualifying businesses, and maintain and administer them. If we discover private landowners to work with, we will devise any combination of the above to satisfy their needs and the public’s.
Our focus is simple: to build the most units possible, in as much harmony with the location as possible, and continue to deliver them in a timely, affordable way. I am confident we can do just that. The only real question is when? This area is hemorrhaging workers at an unsustainable pace. The cost of living here is beyond the ability of 95 percent of local workers. That corrodes any ability to sustain health care, teaching, and business in general.
We expect to meet with the Town of East Hampton shortly to begin discussions on projects on their land. They know the need as well as anyone. I am confident they will seize this opportunity to confront an existential danger to this town and let us begin our work. I appreciate any support in this effort.
Sincerely,
KIRBY MARCANTONIO
Whalebone Housing
Ten Times the Mojo
Amagansett
July 14, 2023
To the Editor:
This is in response to Edmond Chakmanian’s letter defending Justice Baisley and ex-Judge Catterson in the matter of the more than $1 million in fines the latter has obtained from the former against the Town of East Hampton (and calling The Star’s editorial on the subject “odiferous,” which “Garner’s Modern American Usage” describes as an “erroneous shortening”).
Something I remember from the first week of law school (and maybe Mr. Chakmanian does too) was John Adams’s statement, writing as “Novanglus” in 1774, that a republic is “a government of laws, and not of men.”
So, Mr. Chakmanian, I invite you to conduct a thought experiment with me. I, too, have sued the Town of East Hampton and been unhappy with their actions. I never moved to hold the town in contempt but (here’s the experiment part) if I had made the same application to the same judge, would I have received the same attention and gotten the same outcome Mr. Catterson did? Can you tell me with a straight face (as a litigator based in Hauppauge) that you believe I would?
And, if not, please don’t try to tell me that Mr. Catterson is 10 times the lawyer anyone else is. He is certainly competent, if cocky, but he is not the reincarnation of Learned Hand. However, it should be obvious to anyone who has had the chance to watch him in action that Mr. Catterson has 10 times the — it’s hard to find the right word here: mojo, access, juice, privilege? — of most lawyers opposing him. You know what I mean. And that, my friend, is why he is now the go-to attorney when very wealthy people wish to sue the town.
New York’s highest court said in 1985 in the case of Charles A. Field Delivery Service (in a phrase almost as powerful as John Adams’s) that “the policy reasons for consistent results, given essentially similar facts, are to provide guidance for those governed by the determination made . . . to deal impartially with litigants; promote stability in the law; allow for efficient use of the adjudicatory process; and to maintain the appearance of justice.” Read that twice. What the “appearance of justice” means in that sentence is not only that the court would have still awarded $1 million if I had made those motions instead of Mr. Catterson — but that I know that to be true; that every time I enter the doors of the courthouse in Riverhead, I experience the glowing certainty that, in a nation of laws, it is perfectly irrelevant whether Mr. Catterson applies to fine East Hampton $1 million, or me.
But, you see, I don’t believe that — and I seriously doubt that you do either.
For democracy in East Hampton,
JONATHAN WALLACE
Dragged Its Feet
Springs
July 17, 2023
To the Editor,
I found your coverage of the forest problems in our area to be timely and, let’s hope the town will finally take some proactive steps to improve the situation.
Unfortunately, the town did little when the pine beetle problem first arose a few years ago and blamed the state for not providing more funding — we can see how that has worked out with more than 70,000 trees dying. In addition, the article pointed out the town has apparently been studying the effects of the oversize deer population on the plants and forest development for nine years now yet still isn’t sure what to do.
You also had an excellent article in the past about the potential use of “four-poster” units that other towns in our area are trying to implement that could significantly lower the number of disease-carrying ticks in our area. Nothing has been done since I was told it was “too expensive” a year ago. If the town administration doesn’t realize it, Lyme and the growing number of other tick-borne diseases are a serious health risk in our area.
Since this is an election year, a few other problems I would add are water quality issues in our local aquifer. The town for some reason doesn’t spend any money to do its own soil testing for lead at an airport that still uses leaded gasoline or at the gun range — both sit atop the main aquifer. How expensive could this be, and why are we not being more proactive?
Another safety issue is the terrible cell reception for a town of 22,000 residences. The town has dragged its feet for a decade now without making much real progress. Now, apparently after paying consultants for two years to study the problem, the town has said it may take another decade to get the proper towers in place. Does anyone wonder how other towns seem to make these things work?
The largest shortfall though has been the lack of investment in sustainability to lower the town’s own operational greenhouse gas footprint — making investments in solar, electric vehicles, better lighting, heat pumps, etc. — would actually save taxpayers money in the long run if the town would spend any of its own money.
Moreover, the town has been making unrealistic emissions pledges (100 percent reduction by 2030) for the entire town as far back as 2014, and yet, if they were honest, they would have to admit they have most likely increased in that period. If the town were serious, the most obvious step would be to access the community preservation fund to create a sustainability fund to help local residents make renewable and energy-efficiency upgrades, as it did to set aside a pool of money for commercial and residential septic upgrades. Instead, the town’s environmental consultants recently stated that 80 percent of all emissions will be gone somehow by 2040 even if the town does nothing — that sounds like the current strategy.
One of the common themes for these issues is the town never seems to have any money to spend, unless of course it is for high-priced out-of-town consultants. Normally it just relies on some small grant from the state to take the simplest step. That needs to change given the financial resources that our town possesses and the seriousness of some of these problems.
The above list is not comprehensive, but I hope somebody from either party running for local office this year finally starts to talk about real issues that affect the town and what exactly they would do to solve them.
BRAD BROOKS
A Sick Planet
East Hampton
July 14, 2023
To the Editor,
Last week it was hard to keep up with news of the escalating climate crisis: Vermont’s inland capital inundated by flooding, Canadian fires blanketing the Northeast in poisonous air, 95-degree ocean water off Florida killing coral reefs and setting the table for megahurricanes. Since 1979, we have instruments in place to record temperature worldwide and instantly determine the average temperature of the planet. We had record highs four days in a row around July 4. News articles inevitably quote somebody calling this climate “The New Normal.”
“The New Normal” has a soothing ring to it. It suggests to those of us still luxuriously housed, well fed, flying around the planet, and continuously entertained by our phones and televisions, that we’ll continue to be fine in this new normal.
When a person has a temperature of 104, nobody says that’s his new normal. It is a sick person. We have a sick planet. By the accounting of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, billion-dollar climate disaster costs have gone up 85 percent per decade since the 1980s in inflation-adjusted numbers, $95.7 billion in the 2010s therefore projects to $1.771 trillion in the 2020s, with 2021-22 numbers suggesting that may be conservative. Please focus on that number; it means we will lose as much on climate disasters this decade as we are spending on the Inflation Reduction Act.
This is not the abstruse science behind climate change that most of us struggle to understand. This is simple arithmetic applied to the facts on the ground. Even if you have no empathy for the direct victims of these disasters happening worldwide, even if you don’t fear the rising sea on Long Island, even if you are unconcerned about the next big hurricane to ride the heated water onto our shore, perhaps you will connect the dots that your taxes and insurance are going to pay this decade’s $1.771 trillion disaster bill. You might applaud the essential investment happening now to slow it down before it destroys the modern economy on which we all rely.
And yet, in this same week of the hottest world temperature ever recorded by manmade instruments, Republican politicians in a televised congressional hearing claimed it is not getting hotter at all, and climate change is a liberal grift. This is absurd.
One can debate why these politicians would take such a ridiculous position. Are they brainwashed by the 40-year campaign of disinformation from fossil fuel profiteers? Or are they smart enough to know better, but corrupt enough to say the opposite because they are dependent on dark money to stay in their jobs? The result is the same: Republicans voted in lockstep against the Biden bill with $550 billion in incentives to address climate.
I don’t know much about Nick LaLota, our new Republican congressman, his record, or his stance on climate. I don’t have to. We know where they stand and how he will be forced to vote, no matter what misleading pablum he might use to campaign. I urge all to learn what you can about Democrats running to unseat him and pick one, then vote. What good is Democracy if you don’t use it?
DON MATHESON
Follow Through
Amagansett
July 15, 2023
To the Editor,
The town is looking to change town code Chapter 255. Remember, enforcement will be a key factor in any implementation. Unfortunately, past precedent will show an unwillingness to follow through on what is already written.
If the town wishes no moratorium, that would be fine. But if development results in overclearing, vegetation should be replanted immediately. The now-wait for such a violation should be five years for replanted trees to establish themselves in those areas. That’s how long it takes.
The supervisor spoke of protecting public-access areas. I think we know a spot with an obstruction and no permits. Then again, geotextiles will be on the public agenda on Aug. 3.
Still here,
JOE KARPINSKI
Brought Own Ideas
East Hampton
July 3, 2023
To the Editor,
Elation and trepidation? The elation! I’ve been very glad for the local response in favor of reopening the Maidstone Gun Club. In the past weeks there have been about three dozen heartfelt letters to The Star expressing how much this institution means to our East Hampton Town community. I share the feelings with those who put forth the effort to write those letters.
I was exposed to outdoor activities via the Cub Scout, Boy Scout, and Explorer Scout programs and it changed my life. I grew up in Huntington and in my early 20s I could see what was happening to the western part of Suffolk County, and the preservation of natural spaces took a real back seat to development and commercialism — dollars first, Mother Nature step aside.
I had several memorable exposures to the eastern North Shore, Shelter Island, and the Hamptons. I felt that that’s where I wanted to migrate to and I eventually did in the early 1970s, first stop: Montauk. For me, it was the Beginning not the End. I have been a year-round resident here for 53-plus years, local fire and rescue for nearly 50 years, and worked on the South Fork all that time. My heart and soul are both here.
Now the trepidation. I feel that too many things have changed too much for those of us who treasure some of the local traditions, customs, and pastimes that have been here for decades and centuries. In my mind, it started with 9/11: Some urban and suburban people started to feel like they needed to get out of the cluster, congestion, densely populated areas that attracted maniacal acts that endangered many innocent people. Those who were tech-advantaged realized that they could work remotely “out east,” upstate, etc. Then, Covid!
Apparently, many of these transplants brought their own ideas of how “paradise” should be managed and used and, in many instances, in direct contradiction to the values, habits, cultures, activities, and other traditions of the local, established populations. Too many wanted to dictate not assimilate.
Significant outfalls of all this have resulted in the issues like Truck Beach and the Maidstone Gun Club. Entities with bottomless pockets of money using their influence and wealth to bury such local traditions with endless litigious pursuits that bankrupt their targets. They are the bourgeoisie, and the locals are their proletariat.
To punish 1,200 plus or minus members of a conscientiously run local gun club for a magic bullet that had many other possible sources than the gun club, is horrific. Previous letters to the editor on this subject have detailed all the efforts the gun club has made to ensure the facility is a safe, respectful place in the community providing a perfectly legitimate forum for private citizens, law enforcement, and local military personnel to practice and hone their skills with firearms.
I have been a member of this gun club for many, many years and have enjoyed shooting sports there with family, friends, and strangers. It’s an invaluable sanctuary, resource, and asset to our town. Let’s get it reopened.
Very optimistically,
TERRY O’RIORDAN
What We Have
Montauk
July 17, 2023
Dear David,
This is what we have. This is what is being jammed down our throats: President Biden, his alleged addict son, Hunter, Hunter’s laptop filled with information.
We also have whistle-blowers (with plenty of proof), all employed by the Internal Revenue Service. Merrick Garland filled with pure hate for Donald Trump, also protector of Joe Biden.
The country has Christopher Wray, who follows in the footsteps of crooked Jim Comey. Mr. Wray seems to think he should run the F.B.I. the same way Mr. Comey did.
How much trust do you have in the Secret Service and the C.I.A.? A bag of cocaine found in the safest place in the country, the West Wing of the White House. Two years ago, weed was found in the White House. In that case, they found the person who owned it. In the cocaine case, the Secret Service cannot figure out whose it was. Imagine that.
In God and country,
BEA DERRICO
In a Dark Fog
East Hampton
July 16, 2023
Dear Editor,
When Trump met Putin early in his presidency in Iceland, he publicly took Putin’s word over United States intelligence regarding the election tampering. During the next four years, he did his best to marginalize NATO by antagonizing the pro-democracy states and flattering the autocrats, resulting in the Russian attack on Ukraine.
During his presidential campaign, Donald Trump described himself as a pussy grabber, admitted to hiring hookers while still married, and essentially described women as body parts to be used and abused. Feeling energized by Trump’s sexually debasing women, conservative Christians and Republicans began an all-out culture war culminating in the House of Representatives passing a defense budget loaded with references to gender and abortion.
Culture wars are almost always about abuse and deprivation of rights and freedoms. It becomes complicated when sexuality is a central component because large parts of the country live in a dark fog of ignorance. What Trump did was to simplify sexual interrelations to its bare-bones elements. We no longer had to consider love, pleasure, sensuality, or compatibility in sexual relations; we were relegated to the state of bonobo monkeys minus the pleasure they seem to experience.
The history of using sex as an inexpensive mechanism for controlling populations is probably 8,000 years old. By defining sexual parameters with taboos and prohibitions, governments, in conjunction with churches, assume the role of determining what or what isn’t allowable, eradicating people’s natural inclinations. Sexual politics is an obscene yet effective way of keeping people in line and ensuring compliance.
Most Americans are immune to the Trumpian sexual mystique and reject the oppressive sexual mores promulgated by our religious institutions whose staggering ignorance on the subject rarely goes beyond how to abuse parishioners and get away with it. The belief in privacy and choice is fundamental. Yet, real sex between people or on their own is hardly a major preoccupation. There is no debate between procreation and fornication. We tend to live in our private fog where sexuality plays a relatively small role.
What’s more absurd? A 10-year-old girl declaring her sexual preference or the response of classmates’ parents (through their children) abusing and debasing her? Where are we as a nation that finds this type of behavior acceptable? How can anyone believe that sexual behavior beyond what they consider normal is contagious?
Using children as proxies in a gender battle that nobody really cares about is a sickness. Using gender as an object of political disagreement is even sicker because it is fabricated drivel that has no basis in reality, which serves no real purpose except for political masturbation. There have to be more exciting alternatives.
In sexual-reality terms, this culture war is the outgrowth of the syphilitic brain, not transmitted sexually, but by political discourse. It is a single-minded infusion of pain and misery that creates a fog of incomprehension. Normally treated with penicillin, this variety is resistant and untreatable. Denial and fabrication overwhelm truth and reality.
NEIL HAUSIG