Ray Hackinson News Today

Brooklyn: Department of Correction Commissioner Louis Molina and his sidekick, Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association President Benny Bosco, have spent the past year and longer insisting — I mean insisting — that the contraband, a.k.a. drugs and weapons, that find their way onto Rikers Island do so because visitors and family either sneak them in on the visiting floor or via packages and mail.

Brooklyn: When you visit Coney Island, you don’t feel the city. You can still see it but it’s a different rhythm. We share Long Island and Staten Island waters, beautiful beaches and, unfortunately, the Republican red wave.

Rockaway Park: After the strange judgments the Supreme Court has issued, I’m beginning to wonder if we really need them. I’m not aware of any other countries having a system like ours, and the lifetime tenure law was made under the mistaken belief that if the justices are given assurances that they will be able to stay in power for as long as they want, they will not be affected by outside influences.

Manhattan: Re “Delete the NYPD gang database” (op-ed, Dec. 19): The piece assembles a long list of misrepresentations to indict the database as a racist tool of oppression, including comparisons with poorly run gang databases in Chicago and California. The answer to whether the NYPD is “engaging in similar misconduct” to other jurisdictions is an unequivocal “no.”

Manhattan: Your editorial “Harassment and perspective” (Aug. 7) made the valid point that the attorney general’s report on the experiences of 11 women complaining of sexual harassment by Gov. Cuomo fails to take into account the gamut of the severity of those abuses.

Brooklyn: My parents came to the mainland from Puerto Rico in the 1940s. They believed in the American dream and taught us that the cornerstones of America are family, school, work and religion. They also taught us to fight for what you believe is right at all costs.