Making America’s “Bagels” Small Again

Dear Editor:

When I was a boy, bagels came in just two flavors, the classic ‘water bagel’ that was crusty on the outside with white, chewy dough on the inside, and the ‘egg bagel’ with yellow dough inside. Water bagels of course, were the ‘true, traditional bagel’, made in basement bakeries in predominantly ‘Jewish’ sections of New York City, Philadelphia & Baltimore. Bagels were a Jewish thing, like pizza was an Italian thing. The American public had yet to discover these two ethnic comfort foods.

Jewish bakers always wore a sweaty, schmutzica kerchief around their heads and invariably, they wore a sleeveless undershirt and an apron as the de riguer outfit-of-choice. And too, it seemed that invariably, they were in a bad mood and were likely to be dangerously hostile if disturbed in their routine – understandable, given their work environment.

Then, shortly after World War II when the secret about bagels was out, the innovators began to do: raisin bagels, onion bagels, pumpernickel bagels and the ubiquitous ‘everything’ bagels. Plus, some uncaring fool thought that if he doubled the size & weight of a bagel, he could charge more. Then, the large commercial bakeries jumped onto the bandwagon and began to package over-sized, tasteless dough they called, ‘bagels’.

My world has never been the same.

Please Pres.Trump, put this tragic situation near the top of your agenda: “Let’s make America’s bagels small again.”

Sincerely

Benny Kamowitz

Schumer Wrong on Infrastructure Program

Dear Editor:

Senator Charles Schumer is incorrect when saying funding under his proposed $1 trillion infrastructure program could also pay for completion of the Long Island Rail Road East Side Access to Grand Central Terminal.

The original Full Funding Grant Agreement between the United States Department of Transportation Federal Transit Administration and Metropolitan Transportation Authority for East Side Access was approved in December 2006 at a total cost of $6.3 billion. The $2.63 billion federal share of funding under the FTA Full Funding Grant to MTA remains unchanged (virtually all of which has already been spent) with the MTA as local sponsor legally required to cover billions and growing cost overruns. Ten years later in August 2016 the FTA amended Full Funding Grant Agreement was signed off by both FTA and the MTA. After years of negotiations, the MTA and FTA finally came to an agreement which would reflect the true current cost and schedule. Both the cost went up and first revenue day of service slipped once again.

Taxpayers may end up paying $12 billion in direct costs for this project. The original completion date of 2011 will slip to December 2023. The last construction contract for MTA Long Island Rail Road East Side Access to Grant Central Terminal was awarded in 2016. The MTA previously programmed local funding within the 2015–2019 Five Year Capital Plan to pay for all remaining work. Any additional unforeseen future cost overruns would have to be paid for out of the next MTA 2020–2024 Five Year Capital Plan.

Sincerely

Larry Penner

The Manipulation of America’s Kids

Dear Editor:

Now we know what that “civilian army” that President Obama was always telling us about consisted of. We saw them in force all over the country last week. Throughout his eight years in office he was secretly forming legions of youth shock troops under the tutelage and leadership of the teachers’ unions to be called out into the streets to fight the battles of his radical, progressive ideologies. And how well he and his union cadre operated on their first mission out of the classrooms into the battlefields of the streets and beamed into the homes of every American via his well coordinated media accomplices. A startling success for his war on the constitution and the future of our country.

These kids, supposedly spurred on by the horrible shootings in Parkland, Florida, were immediately rounded up by local Democrat politicians and their TV and press subordinates to ballyhoo to the world that this nation is controlled by of all organizations, the NRA and that they, the teen-aged spokespeople for humanity and decency were demanding that all licensed, trained and law abiding gun owners should be deprived of their constitutional rights. And of course, that President Trump should be impeached. Like locusts, these uninformed kids, left no doubt that they will return in force whenever “democracy” was again threatened.

Randi Weingarten, the head of the millions strong teachers’ unions did not spend her hours in the White House idly “wasting time” discussing the educational deprivations of the current school system. No way! Her time was well spent learning to politically organize her minions to psychologically prepare the kids of America to use their weaponry of youth, innocence and fragility to overturn the freedoms their grandparents and forefathers fought so hard to secure.

Of course with the liberal, progressives planning student marches, bus trips, media interviews, all taking place during school hours, where were the voices of those who should have demanded that any demonstrations or the like must not be conducted during learning times but on off hours and week-ends? What of the kids who wanted to remain in school during these day trips all over the country? Who was left behind to teach them and care for their needs? Did communities hold votes to approve these actions? Were the parents of those kids ever afforded the respect to be called before cameras and given the opportunity to voice their disapproval of using their kids as shock troops, marching and demonstrating like a bunch of Al Sharptons and Black Lives Matter thugs? Was the safety of these kids who were basically ordered out of the security of their classrooms ever considered?

Again, we have seen just the beginning of the Progressive forces within our country utilizing unsophisticated, easily led, school kids for their political purposes. This is a dangerous precedent. Never before have school system leaders authorized and approved of schools being closed for the purpose of their students being dangerously put in the front lines to fight the battles for which they are not properly emotionally, educationally nor sophisticated enough to wage. This Obama planned strategy is an ominous sign that the forces planning to overthrow our democracy are well funded, planned and on the march.

Sincerely

James Prescott