‘He Really Is Beholden to No One — Not Even His Own Party’
Putin Ordered Hacking of U.S. Election
1. How is this election legitimate? How can we ever know how many people Putin influenced? Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania were decided by less people than could fill a football stadium....did Putin convince them? The tragedy is we will never know.
— Andre Pogacar on The Times’s Facebook page, responding to an article about President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia ordering an “influence campaign” aimed at disrupting the American election.
2. I agree with President-elect Trump, intelligence agencies have to be taken with a grain of salt. These are the same people who said WMDs are here and there in Iraq. If an organization lies once, then their authority should be questioned.
However, I also agree that intelligence is essential to take crucial decisions. Thus, Trump makes a good point in the Russian case. Even if the Russian hacked, they exposed the DNC collusion and rigging. [The] public should know those things before voting for a rigging party, and a corrupt crooked candidate. In my opinion, Russian hacking, even it happened, has occurred for the good of the American democracy.
— Karthy in Orlando, reacting to an article about bipartisan pushback against Donald J. Trump’s questioning whether the Russian hacking really occurred.
Don’t Gut the Ethics Committee ... Yet
3. He really is beholden to no one — not even his own party. This is why he was elected. He is right that there are issues with the Office of Congressional Ethics and how it can be used against people, but also right that this isn’t the right moment or right issue for the G.O.P. to start with — and certainly not something to do except as a bipartisan overhaul. I am hoping that by saying what he thinks and not being committed to party over country we make actually see some progress.
— Me in Minnesota, reacting to an article about Mr. Trump’s chastisement on Twitter of the Republicans for voting this week, in a secret session, to gut their independent ethics oversight committee.
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You Can’t Always Get What You Want
4. The Democrats need to focus on class, inclusive of all who make up that class, not on the hyphens of identity politics. But that will be difficult for those in the party leadership who are not of the working class. As a former campaign operative for Democratic candidates, I have witnessed many a meritocratic candidate try to establish his bona fides with working class voters. Many speak of ancestors who got off the boat at Ellis Island three or four generations ago and the stories they heard as children in their upper middle class homes. The more remote the connection, the more evident was their failure to win the hearts and minds of those voters. Senator Sanders has it right. A visceral understanding of working class issues, regardless of hyphenated identity issues that marginalize the white working class, is the only thing that will bring the Democratic Party back from oblivion.
— Amboycharlie in Nagoya, Japan, reacting to an Op-Ed article questioning what direction the Democrats should take in the wake of the 2016 election.
The Bureaucracy Talks Back
5. I have been a dedicated, competent, nameless, public servant for almost 30 years, in the field of environmental protection. (that used to be something that was a good thing.) Good luck to DT, or his buddies Pruitt and Perry, who want to rides into a government agency all angry and hot under the collar with six guns blazing. We are educated, experienced, and know what we are doing. (Try deregulating hazardous waste sites and see what “the free market” does with that.) With few exceptions, the rank and file public servants are people who actually believe we are a nation of laws, not men. We believe that the mission of government is to serve and protect, not to make a buck for the likes of the Kochs and their buddies. And, having lived through and survived many administrations, we sure do know a joke when we see it.
— R. Mackinnon in Concord, Mass., reacting to an Op-Ed article about the federal workers who will serve Mr. Trump in good faith despite the president-elect’s threats against many of their jobs.
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Defining the Heartland
6. The entire concept of “the Heartland” needs to be scrapped. Whatever it once designated, it’s now used to suggest that some parts of this country (and presumably the people in them) are more “American” than others. It’s divisive and dishonest, an idea that’s insulting to millions of American men and women.
— Maggie Mae in Massachusetts, reacting to an article that sought to define what parts of the United States make up “the heartland.”
Confronting Crime Face to Face
7. I served four years in prison for a DUI that seriously and critically injured two people, and it’s something I have to live with every day. A trivial consequence compared to what one of my victims and his family has to live with now. I can’t take back what I did or take the pain of my victims away. How do you live knowing you ruined someone else’s life?
— Fargo in Utah, reacting to an article about a restorative justice program in Kansas that allows crime victims to meet with the perpetrators of those crimes.
Out of Office. For 8 Whole Hours. Really.
8. Having recently moved back to the States from Europe, I have seen the French up close and I have to tell you that they are pretty happy with their lifestyle. As a result, they have an allegiance to their employers and are more engaged while at work. They have struck a balance between work and life that not only produces less stress and better health, but also more productivity. The basic motto of the French worker is that no one lie in their deathbed and say, “I should have worked harder.”
— Michael in New York, reacting to an article about a new French law mandating that workers have “the right to disconnect" from office emails and phone calls.
Telephone Schemes Target the Gullible
9. My 90-year-old father was tormented by these people for a year. He’s semi-senile so he believed they were going to fix his computer and he gave them his log in and password. And he paid them for lifetime service on his PC.
Then they started calling and threatening him to send more money. Said they would destroy his PC. I had Montgomery County Police (Maryland) come to the house and provided them the contact info. They said they see this all the time and there was “nothing they could do.”
I told them I had contacted the FTC but there was no one to speak with — only a Contact Us form — as if that would help.
I begged Dad to stop answering the phone but he didn’t because he’s lonely and that’s what his generation does when the phone rings.
Returned after a 3 day trip to find receipts on the table for $300 worth of iTunes cards on the table. Dad doesn’t even know what iTunes is.
So a feeling of total helplessness. No legal authority in this country is able to protect our elderly from this kind of fraud.
— DickeyFuller in Washington, reacting to an article about a financial scheme, based in a call center in India, that targeted fearful Americans, including many elderly people.
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O Canada!
10. Canada is Number 1 on this list — and I couldn’t agree more. Come and see us during #Canada150 celebrations this year!
— Justin Trudeau in Canada, the prime minister writing on his own Facebook page, linking to a New York Times report on the 52 top travel destinations for 2017.
P.C: http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/07/nytnow/he-really-is-beholden-to-no-one-not-even-his-own-party.html
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