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Does the Alien Enemies Act apply here?
Hey. I’ve got an idea. Let’s all download Signal to our personal phones and use it to discuss matters of national security. It will be so neat. All our messages will disappear in two weeks. Federal Records Act? Never heard of it.
It will be so convenient. We can take care of business on the golf course or while sitting on the toilet. Even hands free while driving our Teslas. Sensitive compartmented information facilities? Nobody briefed me on those. Sounds like silliness from Get Smart. Russians and Chinese monitoring my phone? Get real. Why would they want to do that?
We’re just trying to maximize efficiency here. Let’s keep our priorities straight. Signal is a free app! What a great deal! What could go wrong?
Mauriac Cunningham
Saugerties
Woodstock should provide a percent for art
With so many non-profit arts organizations and so many visual artists, writers, filmmakers, musicians and other creatives located in and near Woodstock, it is time that the town and its for-profit businesses support art making and exhibition in the ‘Village of the Arts.’ Governmental support at the state and federal levels are diminishing and foundations are getting bombarded with requests including from our local institutions.
Since 1982, New York City’s Percent for Art law has required that one percent of the budget for eligible city-funded construction projects be spent on public artwork. Managed by the city’s Department of Cultural Affairs, the Percent for Art program has commissioned hundreds of site-specific projects in variety of media — painting, new technologies, lighting, mosaic, glass, textiles, sculpture, and works that are integrated into infrastructure and architecture — by artists whose sensibilities reflect the diversity of New York City. Percent for Art seeks to commission works from the broadest range of artists from all backgrounds. The Percent for Art Program continues to offer city agencies the opportunity to acquire, commission, or restore works of art specifically for city-owned buildings throughout the five boroughs.
Here in Woodstock it could take the form of providing needed support funds to retain our many nonprofit arts organizations. By bringing local artists and nonprofits into the conversation, the town’s arts community buildings would be preserved and enhanced and creatives retained and attracted.
Doug Sheer
Woodstock
The sheer incompetence of the group chat only gets funnier
Tell me more about the Trump administration’s commitment to hiring only the best people based solely on merit. Then again, I think he abandoned that plan in his first term when the “best people” kept telling him no. One simply did not do anything half-assed, lest one risk getting one’s entire ass handed to them.
In what may go down as one of the most absurd security breaches in modern U.S. history, the Trump administration’s top national security officials accidentally included The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg in a Signal group chat outlining airstrike plans against Houthi targets in Yemen. IRL, Hegseth’s resignation should come but as usual when questioned about this egregious error he was on defense where he’ll remain, and that’s the problem, isn’t it?
Meanwhile, the boss has his finger on the pulse of what’s important. Breaking: Trump signs Executive Order requiring the use of SnapChat with bitmojis enabled when exchanging classified information. Oh, one more thing. I woke up this morning, being bombed with texts from Pete Hegseth, warning me I had unpaid EZ Pass tolls.
Neil Jarmel
West Hurley
Ballcourt facelift after 100 years
Reconstruction of the courts is underway at Hasbrouck Park on Elting Avenue in front of St Joseph’s Church in New Paltz. There will be a new retaining wall, fencing and new court surfaces, for the new basketball court and two pickleball courts.
I asked Carol Johnson from the Elting Memorial Library Haviland-Heidgerd Historical Collection if she could find out when the courts were first constructed. She found that in May 1924 it was reported that “congested courts” on campus will soon be “relieved” once the new Hasbrouck Memorial Park courts are completed.
Our 2025 total project cost with engineering, construction and materials will equal approximately $318,000. Adjusted for inflation, $318,000 in 2025 is equal to $17,431 in 1924. Additionally, our local DPW team has done all the site prep work.
We are thankful $100,000 of the $318,000 cost will be provided via the grant we were awarded from the Ulster County government. The balance will come from the village’s parkland reserves.
We’ll share the spring/early summer opening date soon.
Mayor Tim Rogers
New Paltz
In response to Ms. Puretz’s ‘list’ in Hudson Valley One this week
I agree with many of your facts and they do paint a very difficult and painful picture in the Middle East.
However, it is a rather incomplete sketch and there are a couple of glaring errors as I see it.
While the phrase “from the river to the sea” is used widely by many who wish harm to Israel, the phrase actually originated in the Israeli ‘settler movement’ in the early days of Israel and is still used [though less loudly] in those quarters today. I’m sure you can guess that their meaning is no less horrible than when a Hamas spokesperson uses it. Many Israelis plan on an equally horrid ‘ethnic cleansing’ as Hamas and they seem to have gained a lot of power in the Israeli establishment.
You are clearly blind to the apartheid practices of the Israeli government. Please have a really closer look at that question and, if you want to be honest with yourself, I’m sure it is not hard to see. Palestinians are equally ‘the indigenous people’ of that land but are treated as at best, ‘unwanted’ and much worse in most cases by the government.
Israel clearly does ‘take hostages’ with numerous laws that allow indefinite detention with no right of appeal for a long and complex and quite vague list of ‘reasons’ and applies them broadly. Those so rounded up are equally ‘hostages’ if not in name. And there are a large number of documented, by many different organizations, cases of what any reasonable person would call torture in Israeli prisons that go unpunished by the authorities who broadly ‘look the other way’. Again, have an honest look if you want to wake up to the truth.
The Israeli government clearly is now and long has been intent on ‘absorbing’ the west bank into its legal territory, but not allowing citizenship for the occupant who are of Palestinian decent as it has done with the Golan.
I make no excuses for the crimes of Hamas and Iran. They are bad people of ill intent toward Israel. But, if you want to discuss in an open forum like this, please have the honesty to be open about all of the problems of that troubled land and peoples. I say honest, as I am guessing that you already know all I have pointed out above. If, however, I am wrong on that point, then please do a bit more homework and perhaps bring a more balanced view that may help us all to offer some deep healing to that land.
Jac Conaway
Olivebridge
Hawker?
The way McKenna spins facts one would think our supervisor’s other gig is as a disc jockey.
Howard Harris
Woodstock
Signalgate: The big lie bared
With the allegedly most powerful national-security infrastructure in the world, the Cabinet-That-Couldn’t-Shoot-Straight was using Signal to discuss defense secrets. Signal is encrypted in transit but not on your phone, where you need to read it. A rogue app can read it, too. National Security Advisor Mike Waltz’s Venmo list was public, and now the public has the list, which included lobbyists, journalists and members of the military. You can be sure our enemies have it, too.
Russia is one of those enemies. But everything Trump has done since regaining office has been for Russia’s benefit — the weakening of our nation economically, the destruction of our alliances, the evisceration of our nation’s credibility — so there’s no surprise there. Trump is Putin’s puppy.
Yesterday, at time of writing, the Russian asset burrowed into the White House announced a new round of car tariffs, to the tune of 25%. This will help to wreck our nation’s economy, not to mention the global one, and provide an enormous opening for China’s car industry. Expect China to build car factories in Canada and Mexico. Today it’s 20,000 layoffs at RFK Jr.’s vaccine-free zone, the Department of Health and Human Services.
Why is Trump enacting this tariff and ruining the lives of federal employees at this moment? To deflect attention from Signalgate. Trump’s MO is to dominate the news; his news-domination tactique du jour is the tariff. Signalgate is dangerous because it shows just how amateurish a group of cronies can be when crony-ness and phoniness are the essential qualifications to serve. That great sucking sound that Ross Perot predicted? It’s the all-day vibration humming in the inmost precincts of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Shhh! Zip it up!
Signalgate is dangerous to Trump and Co. because it’s fundamentally about the truth vs. the lie. Anyone who reads Jeffrey Goldberg’s account of the Signal chat knows the truth immediately: the nation’s security establishment, including the formerly serious Marco Rubio, was discussing national security secrets on an unprotected app, including the exact timing of the takeoff and arrival-on-target of American planes, potentially jeopardizing the safety of the pilots and the success of the mission.
The liars lied to cover it all up. Trump actually blamed it on Biden. (Look it up.) But lying is how Trump was re-elected. Why should he stop lying now? His re-election was not about a defection of Blacks, Hispanics and young Bro Voters. Those defections are an effect, not a cause. They stem from a constant litany of lies, none of which are ever retracted. Stephanie Grisham, one of Trump’s former press secretaries told her, “As long as you keep repeating something, it doesn’t matter what you say.”
Signalgate is the Big Lie Bared. Our nation’s stewards were schooled in the nation’s sewers. The Big Lie, from the beginning as the godlike descent on a faux-gold escalator, was that hatred of the other and cruelty in the service of ego are defensible. The Big Lie along the way meant that hugging and kissing the flag shows your love of country, that the 2017 inaugural crowd was the largest since Cecil B. DeMille parted the Red Sea, that armed thugs in the precincts of the Capitol were actually tourists, that the Gulf of Mexico is actually the Gulf of America, that Pete Hegseth is qualified to be Secretary of Defense.
To deflect Americans’ seeing the truth, Trump is prepared to upend the national security, the world economy and the welfare of the ordinary American.
Magas, is this what you signed on for? Some of you must surely be willing to defect, finally. Please make it public so that others can follow your patriotic example.
William Weinstein
New Paltz
This is not normal
The anxiety, anger, grief, bewilderment, all the feels all at once all the time — it is NOT normal. This tyrannical administration of incompetent misfits is NOT normal. Media calling it the “Musk/Trump regime” is NOT normal. Folks being deported and snatched off the street by masked folks is NOT normal. Being lied to and gaslit every day by this corrupt admin is NOT normal. Do not normalize. Normalization is capitulation. Join a hands-off! rally near you this Saturday, April 5.
Myriam Bouchard
New Paltz
Democratic “leaders” continue their ignorance
Tom Cherwin’s concern about how the Democrats must now restore the scales of justice are absurd and unfounded. In reality, it’s a Trump goal and necessity to do just that — “restore the scales of justice in America.” To achieve this, he must get rid of the biased cancerous elements responsible for the severe judicial imbalance championed by the Biden/Harris sideshow. The Democrats are calling for this “needed” process accusing the Republicans of “weaponizing our judicial system and agencies.” Isn’t that a rich characterization, considering that’s exactly what the Democrats orchestrated for the past four years against Republicans/conservatives?
Democratic Michigan Senator, Elissa Slotkin, gave her rebuttal to Trump’s congressional speech a couple weeks ago. Of course, her partisan job was to attack Trump, Musk, DOGE and others. Yet, not too long after her rebuttal, she did a complete 180, suddenly contradicting herself by saying that the Democrats needed to stop bashing Trump but, instead, come up with a solid game plan to meet the needs and concerns of the people … you remember, the same people who the Harris campaign totally ignored and turned a deaf ear towards when putting all their eggs in the “abortion and climate change” basket resulting, of course, in the predictable election shellacking the Democrats experienced.
Continuing their “deaf ear campaign,” we now have AOC and Bernie Sanders going on their “fighting oligarchy” tour. Just what their voters are looking for to address their concerns and fears! Recent reports actually suggest that AOC is a serious challenger to be a Democratic “leader” who will replace good ‘ol Chuckie Schumer. She’s ticked off at Schumer for supporting the prevention of a government shutdown — an event AOC would have been very happy with. Just what the Democratic voters are looking for in new leadership, a continuing “resistance game plan” headed by an over-the-hill 83 year old and a 35 year old whose strongest talents are that of a bartender.
I’ll finish off by calling out jackass judge James Boasberg, head of the district court in Washington, DC and an Obama appointee to push a liberal agenda in the swamp. What a surprise! He would rather stand up for and defend illegal animal criminals from quick and appropriate deportation rather than protecting the citizens of the U.S. who count on him and others like him to ensure their safety and well being. I think it’s a safe bet that if any of these heinous crimes by illegals were perpetrated against any females in his family or circle of friends, this mindless judge would clearly be singing a different tune!
John N. Butz
Modena
How could anyone be against this?
The Catskill Mountain Railroad (CMRR), in partnership with a private property owner, has proposed building a train station terminus. CMRR would do the work to extend the track from the current Polar Express end of the line to the proposed Basin Road terminal. The new terminal would rent bikes for use on the adjacent Ashokan Trail, which would be extended back to the Basin Road terminal. Bicyclists will be able to board the train at the Kingston Plaza with their bikes. They would then get off at the new Basin Road terminus to enjoy biking on the Ashokan Trail and then return to Kingston Plaza on the train. In addition, the current dangerous entrance to the Ashokan Trail Parking Lot would be moved to the traffic signal at Basin Road. In summary, this project would combine the CMRR train with the Adirondack Trail to make a powerhouse tourist attraction.
How could anyone be against this win-win proposal?
Ralph Mitchell
Kingston
Let’s unite!
As we know, immigrants and refugees, so vital to our country’s culture, are among the huge “cuts” Donald Trump and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) have in their sights — to paraphrase the song, Trump’s dreaming of a white country/just like the one he used to know. There have been mass arrests of immigrants in large cities across America, but the story is local, too: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers have made their presence felt in Kingston, where the frightened immigration population — every man, woman and child — is being forced to live a life in the shadows, underneath a dark cloud.
It’s a tragedy. Our foreign-born neighbors have proven themselves to be good, honest, friendly, hardworking people — people just like us. Native-born citizens have employed them and/or become good friends with them, and consider them every bit as much a part of the social fabric of the area as the rest of us. They ARE us; after all, most of us were immigrants once.
But now, all of a sudden, they are fugitives.
There are ways to help. The Ulster Immigrant Defense Network in Kingston has long provided services to the immigrant population, and can always use more volunteers. UIDN can be reached at ulsterimmigrantdefensenetwork@uidn.org or by calling (888) 726-7276.
In Woodstock, there’s Woodstock Immigrant Support, reachable at wdstck.is@gmail.org.
Under the thumb of this administration, immigrants both current and past are vulnerable. But in unity there is strength. Let’s unite!
Tom Cherwin
Saugerties
With hope and thanks
As we slowly move into springtime, always recognize signs of new possibilities in nature, in relationships and in community. Gardens will reappear, animals that we haven’t seen in some time will return, and issues needing attention may be addressed. Despite the many challenges that we are reminded of each day, with determination/courage/ vision, each one of us can help to create a world in which every person and the natural world are nourished. Take the time to recognize and acknowledge the unnoticed, encourage learning between the generations and stand up for those who might be marginalized without support.
Let me send a reminder to store firearms securely — locked, unloaded, away from ammo and children — especially if you or someone you know is having a tough time emotionally. If you identify someone or yourself as a serious threat to one’s life, don’t hesitate to call 988 (the suicide prevention hotline). When you notice that the world doesn’t listen to someone, be the person who does.
Thank you to the concerned residents of Woodstock who have been championing: source tracing of PFAS contamination of the town’s water; the cleanup of contamination in Shady; respectful and responsible resolution of issues within the Woodstock police department; and the need for Woodstock to provide a healthy and safe location for those affected by harsh weather. It is imperative that our community ensures an atmosphere where any resident or group of residents can express their concerns for individuals or groups within the town. Opinions may vary on how to remediate shortcomings and disagreements can occur. But, with humility and keeping an eye on a desired outcome, constructive dialogue can hopefully take place. With the political season a reality, I urge the public to restrain from making questionable assertions about candidates with whom they disagree. Remove the plank from your own eye before looking for the splinter in someone else’s eye. Let us grow peacefully into this glorious springtime.
Terence Lover
Woodstock
A good way to spend taxes
This past weekend, New Paltz High School put on their spring musical Big Fish. The performance was delightful.
This was a big cast – a lively show involving many students and they and all did a very nice job. Their director, Nancy Owen, deserves a great deal of credit in taking on a very ambitious show and turning it into a wonderful evening for all those who attended.
High school productions like this have great value because they bring so many students together to work collaboratively and to provide a setting which fosters self confidence in all the young people who participate.
Bravo to all. This is a good way to spend our tax dollar.
Linnea Masson
New Paltz
Evaluating Woodstock land for housing
The Woodstock Housing Committee is currently working with the engineering firm, Fisher Associates, to evaluate the feasibility of building affordable housing on town-owned land. Stage 1 of this process was recently completed: Fisher’s report provides preliminary evaluation of five town-owned parcels so that we can choose three for more detailed study. As Nick Henderson recently reported in HV1, we presented Fisher’s findings to the town board on March 24.
Following feedback from the town board and the community, and with additional consultation with Fisher Associates, we have decided to pursue further study of these three parcels:
1. Mountain View parking lot (2.5 acres in the town hamlet)
2. Zena-Highwoods Road (11 acres in Zena)
3. Three mile class LT 21 (31 acres in Zena)
In the coming months, Fisher Associates will be doing a deep dive into the three parcels, providing detailed information that will be crucial to understanding the trade-offs associated with building housing on each of these parcels, as well as information about the type and amount of housing that could be built in each location. In addition, we hope that during the coming months, the town will conduct a careful study of parking and traffic — two issues that the town needs to address regardless of whether housing is ultimately built in the Mountain View parking lot. We are ready to assist in such a study.
We hope that concerned members of the community can be patient and will keep an open mind about the various housing options. The next step, which we are taking now, is to obtain information about the limits and possibilities of the three parcels, as well as about parking and traffic issues. With this information, we can have the important conversations in the community that are crucial to making decisions about what options could best serve the community. We anticipate these conversations will occur sometime during the summer.
Katherine Tegen, Co-chair
John Huber, Co-chair
Sabina Barach
Rebekah Brooks
Deborah DeWan
Gregory Stanford
Anna Womack
Woodstock Housing Committee
Are We Ready
This village,
these stores,
we the people
have elected to
dedicate ourselves
to art, music, literature
and love.
Are we far north
enough upstate?
Are we safe enough
between the bluestone
of the Catskills
and the Hudson?
Are we strong enough
to resist any evil thing
decreed upon us
by dictators or bombs?
Are we ready to agitate,
bring back, sanity
and real democracy?
One day soon we may
be imperiled and have
to meet at the corner
of Market and Main,
to take a decisive stand,
and go from there…
Patrick Hammer
Saugerties
Misleading assertions
I was disheartened to see HV1 is continuing to amplify specious claims regarding the issues facing the Onteora Central School District in an article it published, then un-published, over the weekend. (“Rock the Woodstock Vote”, 3/30), in which Adam Snyder promotes a political event aimed at defeating Onteora’s capital improvement proposition in May, because, he claims, doing so will keep Woodstock Elementary open indefinitely. Mr. Snyder further claimed Woodstock Elementary is “thriving.” Both assertions are significantly misleading.
Had Mr. Snyder engaged in even the most superficial way in the community sessions, detailed presentations at BOE meetings, or news coverage of imminent serious threats to Onteora’s state funding, he’d know that the superintendent and the board have been transparent about the fiscal realities, and that consolidation is likely to be forced by the state, whether or not the bond passes. It’s understandable that a parent of a child at WSE would, from their personal perspective, see the many wonderful aspects of that school as a thriving culture (which it is!) but the truth is, from a school system perspective WSE has been busing in kids from neighboring towns to stay at only around half capacity for years now.
It’s doubly disappointing that the Golden Notebook, a bookstore, and Rock Academy, a music school, two local institutions I revere, appear to have endorsed the premise of Mr. Snyder’s misinformation event. Are they really actively trying to thwart a public school district’s attempt to chart a fiscally sustainable future for its students and protect its music and literacy supports, among other things? This is Onteora’s first request for a bonded capital project in over 20 years, one that will address multiple improvements for the entire K-12 program. Our community deserves the straight story.
I speak for myself, not the BOE.
Rick Knutsen
Woodstock
DOGE
The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) was set up by President Trump to eliminate waste and fraud in government spending. However, because of growing controversy over Trump’s appointment of Elon Musk as DOGE’s head and questions about his methods and powers, iconic entertainer, Madonna (who once admitted to thinking “a lot” about blowing up the Trump White House but thought better of it) was moved to rework her hit song “Vogue.” The purpose of this reworking was to encourage fans to drop any TDS inspired prejudices and seek to determine the truth about Musk and this new agency. The legendary singer reasoned that most people are in favor of the goals of DOGE and her new song could motivate many — despite its missteps — to investigate the accuracy of the claims of DOGE’s harshest critics. (Readers should not be discouraged from imagining “Madge” singing the song backed by Hudson Valley One’s notorious Feedback TDS sufferers (“Voguing” or “DOGE-ing” while singing) dressed in appropriate Madonna “concert back-up singer” attire.)
(Introduction to be spoken)
What are you frightened of?
Just be bold:
Learn of DOGE (DOGE. DOGE)
(Stanza)
Look around every where you hear complaining
It’s on every liberal show (look around)
You believe most everything they tell you
because you think they’re in the know (what do you know?)
You think that if Kamala…had won
things would be so much better…today
But admit the truth and you’ll be okay:
That’s what the truth’s for
It knocks on the door, so
(Bridge)
DOGE (DOGE)
Let your mind consider its vision (visions can be true!)
Hey, hey, hey
DOGE (DOGE)
Renew your mind, go with the flow (It’s right you know)
I bet you can do it!
(Stanza)
All you need is to use critical thinking
Don’t lose it, that’s what will help you (that’s what will help you)
Seek the truth for your finest inspiration
The truth will help you be free (help you be free)
It makes no difference if you’ve been deceived;
if you are Left or Right
If the truth is spoken it will give you true life:
It’s the guiding star,
that shows where you are…you know it!
(Bridge)
DOGE (DOGE)
Let your mind consider its vision (end your derision)
Hey, hey, hey
Learn of, DOGE (DOGE)
Renew your mind, go with the flow (It’s right you know)
I bet you can do it!
(Stanza)
Truth’s found when you seek it
with a heart longing to find it
The truth is not mystical
It makes one’s soul feel beautiful
Clean and pure, don’t need more
Truth’s knocking on your heart’s door!
Truth’s found when you seek it
so let your heart long to find it!
(To be spoken)
Elon Musk’s on the go
but “The Donald” runs the show
Bobby Jr., Pam Bondi
say “the truth will set you free”
Bon-gin-o, Kash Patel
make the FBI work well
Rubio and Zeldon, Lee
working hard for you and me
They have substance, they have grace
Elon’s rockets conquer space
Ratcliffe, Gabbard, Lutnick too
Peter Hegseth, we love you!
J.D. has an attitude; Donald Trump has fortitude
Stop complaining, you can do it
Seek the truth: get down to it!
DOGE, DOGE
DOGE, DOGE (learn what it’s doing)
DOGE, DOGE (get in the know)
Ooh, you’ve got to
hate propaganda
Ooh, you’ve just got to:
let your mind seek after truth
DOGE (DOGE)
Ooh, (learn of) DOGE…
George Civile
Gardiner
The way business operates
In my letter dated December 5 of this year, I mentioned in the last paragraph and I quote, “the next four years will be anything and everything, but placid it will not be.” I was dead on in that regard. Of course, the subject of that article was Donald Trump. I predicted that he would be going slow in his addressing the ‘deep state’, allowing for the country to adjust to his administration as he addressed the revisions and eliminations of ‘waste’ as he thought. I knew he would be cognizant of the importance and necessity of maintaining control over the Congress (GOP), to ensure his keeping this control for the 2026 mid-term elections. And I predicted that the real damage would come during the last two years of his administration, if he did keep control over the GOP.
I have to admit, I was wrong. He is coming on full force immediately. A number of Congressional GOPs have faced angry constituents in their town hall meetings, due to the extent there is talk about them not attending at all. This I don’t understand. They can and will be voted out at these midterm elections, maybe? Why? Why not??I believe there are two reasons:
1. Trump won the electoral and the popular vote, signifying the American people affirmed his election; therefore, he has a mandate to move forward now.
2. The GOP almost to a man/woman are so under the president’s thumb. Why? I believe one can trace the answer to this question, if one goes back to the Great Depression of the early 1930s. The GOP by a vote of 81% and the Democrats of 87% supported FDR in becoming the 32nd president in 1933. They knew full well that once the federal government became involved in the social affairs of the states, their capitalistic days would take a turn for the worse, certainly not to their liking. There has not been a president, a billionaire, by the way, that could and would attack the existing system, to “streamline, eliminate, disrupt the liberal and socialistic innovations of FDR’S New Deal and LBJ’S Great Society of the past 92 years.” None of our previous presidents have demonstrated such cavalier and dangerous behavior.
To the GOP, this is the long-awaited day for their party. A billionaire president who wants to ‘drain the swamp’ and will support him regardless. I don’t have a problem with addressing waste, fraud and other criminal activities, but I feel there are going to be many, many people, mainly seniors who are going to be hurt, in other words, the ‘baby being thrown out with the bath water.’ The AARP and the (NCPSSM), National Committee for the Preservation of Medicare and Social Security, hammers away on this point consistently.
I am appalled at the attack the NCPSSM highlights, regarding the administration’s attack on Social Security and health programs. It seems to me a much more thorough procedure would be to implement a committee to study and make recommendations; this would be more appropriate and addressed accordingly. But that is not the way business operates; the biggest expense is always labor, staff; that’s where the layoffs are pinpointed. But I don’t believe a government is all business; there are too many variables, human needs for example.
Robert LaPolt
New Paltz
A public health crisis
As Women’s History Month comes to a close, it’s important to address a public health crisis that disproportionately affects women in New York — tobacco use. Smoking and secondhand smoke remains a leading cause of preventable disease and death, killing over 30,000 people each year in New York state. Women, especially those in underserved communities, are often targeted by the tobacco industry, particularly with menthol products, which makes quitting even harder. Thankfully, evidence-based solutions are available. Programs like the New York State Quitline offer free nicotine replacement therapies and counseling to help individuals quit smoking. The Center for a Tobacco-Free Hudson Valley also plays a key role in this effort. As part of the NYS Department of Health Bureau of Tobacco Control and a grant program of the American Lung Association, the center supports health centers and behavioral health facilities with tools and guidance to provide effective tobacco dependence treatment. Serving seven counties in the Hudson Valley — Dutchess, Orange, Putnam, Rockland, Sullivan, Ulster and Westchester — the center focuses on reducing smoking rates among populations most affected by tobacco use. The tobacco industry has long targeted women through manipulative marketing strategies.
This Women’s History Month let’s honor women’s resilience by supporting tobacco cessation efforts that empower women to live healthier, smoke-free lives. Together, we can create a tobacco-free future where all women in the Hudson Valley thrive!
For help quitting, call 1-800-Quit-Now or visit www.nysmokefree.com. For more information, visit nyhealthsystems.org.
Rebecca Padilla
White Plains
Pinocchio’s orchard and the end of the American Dream
Looking around today, I feel like I stand inside a room of mirrors, each reflection slightly twisted — just enough distortion to doubt what is real. Perhaps that’s how we ended up here, chasing an American Dream quietly reshaped into something slippery, something deceptively sweet. Leaders spin words like carnival candy, empty yet enticing, setting a rhythm we can’t help but follow. We wave our flags, proudly claiming the mantle of patriotism, ignoring how our Pinocchio noses stretch further with each comfortable lie.
Where exactly is the line between fiction and nonfiction now? Perhaps it faded while we worked overtime, believing hard labor alone would guarantee our rightful place. Instead, we’ve been selling ourselves short, trading honesty for applause built on manufactured patriotism. How else does one prove loyalty by buying into stories spun by politicians and influencers — masters of smoke and mirrors?
I recall hearing long ago that capitalism would bloom vibrantly, bearing fruit ripe and heavy, only to eventually rot beneath our feet. Now I stand in that orchard, thick with decay. Spoiled promises litter the ground like fallen fruit, bruised and fermenting. The air reeks sharply of broken dreams. People scramble desperately, hoping to salvage something nourishing, yet the fruit crumbles in their grasp, leaving only the sticky residue of regret. This orchard was meant as our reward for dedication and hard work. Instead, it’s become a graveyard of dreams we once trusted.
Who can we trust when everyone sells a different shade of truth? Politicians, influencers, salespeople — all marketing patriotism as if it were just another product on a shelf. Today, authenticity seems more like a liability than virtue. Could honesty even secure you a seat at the feast, or has the truth become obsolete?
The individualist, the dream-chaser, and the lone prospector panning for gold now seem faded figures from old films. Today, you own the orchard or the valley, or you’re left watching from behind fences, clutching baskets filled with fruit too bruised to eat.
Perhaps the American Dream as we once knew it has finally ripened and rotted. Or I’ve lost my taste for illusions. Standing here, I feel the unsettling shift beneath my feet, tangled in our carefully woven lies, uncertain where truth ever began.
Larry Winters
New Paltz
New Yorkers deserve a state government that is more representative and effective
As polls have demonstrated for decades, New Yorkers believe the state is on the wrong track, and the only way to get on the right track is to fix how we are governed. New Yorkers deserve a state government that is more representative, responsive and effective. Moderate and middle-of-the-road voters are frustrated by a two-party system that has polarized our politics, and has normalized the election of legislators who are incentivized to perform for a narrow, ideological section of their party base, rather than to govern effectively on behalf of all New Yorkers. To fix this we need lawmakers to embrace solutions that will give voters more democracy.
Unite NY (https://uniteny.org/) is a non-partisan movement that is fighting to evolve our electoral system so that people matter more than political parties. In order to achieve this goal, state leaders must pass legislation creating term limits, initiative and referendum, Ranked Choice Voting, open primaries and increased ballot access. These five specific reforms will give voters a greater say in government. This, in turn, will make our government work better. There are two such reform bills in the NYS Assembly right now (A90 and A5785). By urging our state representatives to support both of these bills, we will be helping to get our state back on the right track.
We need to tell our elected officials that it is time to adopt policies that will give more choices to more voices. It is time to support Bills A90 and A5785.
Ron Bath
New Paltz
Cowardice is the most terrible of all vices — M. Bulgakov, 1928
Take off your white hats. Send Liberty’s statue back to France. Become Ebenezer Scrooge to one and all. Call yourself an avenging angel and behave like a paranoid savage.
Seventy long days of unemployment, pillage, murder and incompetence. The swaggering as immense as the ignorance employed. Fear ripples out to cripple you.
Whatever freedom meant to you before, a spring redux is in order. Cultural images around you have been molded thru diversity because life, on this planet, is diverse. Our population is diverse. If God exists so does diversity. Our Democracy encourages us towards equality. Assuring each individual a human right that is UnAlienable has been and still is the goal.
Ask yourself these questions and imagine a different life:
What will YOU do if you can’t complain?
What if YOU can’t ask questions?
If you no longer get facts that match events?
Or you fear being overheard?
Your outrage met with self-serving excuses?
Or your protests are met with guns or imprisonment?
When there are no longer checks against overreach?
When it’s “Every man for himself?”
People who don’t like the aforementioned: Thieves, con men, dictators, authoritarians, people who are hiding things and abusive husbands/partners and parents.
For me the habit and practice of freedom i.e. voting, protesting, and this opinion are too ingrained to abandon.
“A controversial idea is freedom and the proof is the length to which a man, woman, or child will go to regain it once taken.
He will break his chains
He will decimate his enemies
He will try and try and try against all odds,
Against all prejudices to get home.”
John Quincy Adams
in defense of the Amistad defendants
This is my America.
Melanie Demitri Chletcos
Hurley
Why is it today?
Why is it today … when so many men and boys suffer suicidal-painful pointlessness. Why don’t more of us acknowledging how much paradoxically due to women’s’ hard-earned independence? Decades ago it was different. We women were no threat to men — no women priests; no leading roles; no governors; no soldiers; no soccer stars; few CEO’s; even few wage-earners.
So why are any of us now adding to this recently reversed inequality by still boosting our sexual power and allure? Recent TV ratings, aiming to appeal to more (male?) viewers now have the uniform long-hair sweeping softy over breasts and the obligatory cleavage on view. And ooops … apparently also to be noticed, the sometimes barely-clad administration members in Washington too.
Once I played a part in our binary game of attraction — the absurd eyelashes and impossibly high heels — but for most of us, thankfully that was then, this is now. Now with our species ever closer to an annihilating climate-crisis, are we not curious to recognize the roots of why? And do something about it? Especially with this, more extremely cruel than ever, misogynistic narcissism brutally monopolizing and jeopardizing our nation, and thus the world today. Why can’t those most basic fears of differences between us be brought into balance to unite us, before it’s too late to stop re-fueling this mind-blowing deterioration of our own — and all other species — upon this our Mother Earth? And what about this legacy we are leaving? Got grandchildren? Homo-sapiens have proved so mind-bogglingly brilliant and brave yet we still send soldiers to war to kill and be killed. Then we wonder why it’s so hard for so many men to express sensitivity and emotion? That more inner-related world more innately embodied in women and girls needs to give so much more understanding and encouragement to connect to all the good-hearts in men and in boys too.
The harmfully outdated expectations of masculinity need our universal acceptance to grow beyond the historic conditioning of men blaming women. This vs., we old feminists who must stop projecting upon ‘them’! Patriarchal priorities have harmed us all so it is for us all today — more than ever — to explore and deepen our understanding in ourselves and between each other. It is not time to better appreciate — rather than to automatically separate — our opposite anatomy? Time to move forward with our imperfect but loving and humbled and Universal humanity, together!
Judith Asphar
Woodstock
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