Letter: Transgender sports raises questions

Cathy Young’s column [“Transgender questions roil sports,” Opinion, June 6] brings up questions concerning transgender athletes.

The whole issue is senseless and disturbing. Men identifying as women, and competing against them in sporting events is wrong on so many levels. Gay and lesbian groups that lobbied for their rights created this issue, and led everyone to believe that LGBTQ people can become whatever they identify with.

By speaking out, one is labeled a bigot. We live in an age when stating the obvious is forbidden, and women’s sports may never be quite the same again.

Charles J. Brown,

Levittown

Trump pressure on the Fed is improper

The June 11 editorial, “Trump invents trade crisis, then solves it,” suggests one disturbing rationale for the president’s tariff policies — that he was engaging in political theater to make himself look good.

For almost 50 years I was a registered Republican, so I’m hardly an anti-business liberal. However, Trump’s erratic, undisciplined economic actions are disconcerting to me. He appears to be pressuring his own appointed Federal Reserve chairman, Jerome Powell, to lower interest rates to stem market volatility brought on by tariff threats to China and Mexico. Rates are not normally lowered during a period of low unemployment and good economic growth. Will interest rates be manipulated as a remedy for the president’s reckless behavior? Isn’t the Fed supposed to be independent of political influences?

Margaret Bell,

  West Islip

Fine carriers for foreign robocalls

Legislation to stop robocalls needs to make clear that fines against U.S. carriers should apply to any call made from anywhere in the world [“Put a stop to annoying robocalls,” Editorial, June 9].

I told a telemarketer that her company owed me money for calling in violation of the Do Not Call Registry. She laughed and said, “We are in India, your laws do not apply to us.”

Since many calls are made to look like they come from a local number, there also should be a penalty for spoofing the originating number.

Karen Meyer Campbell,

  Copiague

Get far tougher on cruise line pollution

In 2016, Carnival Corp. was fined $40 million and was put on 5 years’ probation for discharging oily waste from Princess Cruise Line ships and covering up those crimes [“Carnival to pay $20M in fines,” Business, June 4].

But now that it has admitted that it continued to pollute the seas, prosecutors are fining it only $20 million.

The new fine should really be double or triple the previous fine, or company officials should be sent to prison. How else will the cruise line change its behavior?

Richard Siegelman,

  Plainview    

Cuomo should make cuts in budget

With respect to “Cuomo vows to fight IRS on SALT deductions [News, June 12], perhaps Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo should stop wasting his time fighting the Internal Revenue Service and start focusing on all the fat in his own state budget. If he really cared about his taxpayers’ money, he would cut useless programs and reduce our state taxes.

That he can easily do without fighting anyone.

Adrienne Bryant,

Northport

Parker conflates rape, abortion dilemma

Kathleen Parker [“Rapists custody rights defy morality,” Opinion, June 13] addresses a difficult situation involving a child born to a woman who was raped. Some states allow parental rights to the rapist. That certainly can change, even in Alabam.

As Parker acknowledges, “a child conceived through rape is surely innocent . . .” Many states have outlawed capital punishment. A convicted murderer still possesses the dignity of a human being. Executing him does not balance the scales of justice.

So how does a woman carrying a child as a result of rape act in a way that is just and reasonable? Ending the life of an “innocent” child hardly seems the way to resolve the matter. That would be to “defy morality.”

Too bad Parker ends her opinion with hyperbole about “public stoning” of women being on the horizon.

Bernard Zablocki,

Ridgewood

Retractable roofs or domes on stadiums

The postponement of Monday’s Mets-Yankees game due to rain [“Subway delays,” Sports, June 11] offers an opportunity to address the lack of foresight of both New York baseball teams to include either a dome or retractable roof on one or both of the stadiums, which opened in 2009.

We live in a four-season climate, and a dome or retractable roof should be required by Major League Baseball. In addition, such buildings would allow concerts and other events all year, helping to pay for the building cost.

Please try to retrofit something!

Kevin Enriquez,

Brentwood