With COVID divide, I miss 'happy days'

With COVID divide, I miss 'happy days'

During the 1950s and '60s, the greatest threat to America and our way of life came from far beyond the horizon. As a young boy, watching Nikita Khrushchev, the Soviet Union premier, during a meeting of the UN General Assembly, pounding his fists on a table while yelling, "Nyet, nyet!" was terrifying. The Soviet Union and the massive nuclear arsenal it commanded was apocalyptic.

At the time, I could never have imagined a greater threat to America coming from Americans. The reluctance of so many of our fellow countrymen and women to be vaccinated and follow COVID-19 protocols is incomprehensible. The scientific inquiry and common sense upon which this course of action is based should be accepted as a given, not imposed as a mandate. Yet here we are, having to issue mandates to preserve our health and welfare, only to have them opposed as a violation of civil rights, a government conspiracy and a fantasy authored by elitists with an agenda.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court's endorsement of a partial ban on mandatory vaccinations and the use of masks legitimizes the lunacy ["Top court halts Biden big-biz vaccine rules," News, Jan. 14]. The days of Eisenhower and Kennedy are looking much better.

Ed Weinert, Melville

Don’t put cheaters into baseball’s Hall

Laura Albanese’s column on the baseball Hall of Fame voting, gave me that old feeling of disbelief ["Checking out public votes," Sports, Jan. 17]. I get it every year at this time.

Has she has read the Hall of Fame’s mission statement? How the likes of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and numerous others are even on the ballot boggles the mind. And then to vote for their induction just sends the wrong message, and it dishonors those who have been inducted.

Everyone wants to win and be the best, but if you have to cheat to obtain your goals, where is the honor?

John Diehlmann, Massapequa