Stand for the anthem and more: Letters to the Editor July 26, 2026

Kudos to Bob Chavez, a Vietnam veteran who slapped a young man at a Chicago Cubs game for not standing for the national anthem (“Say can you stand,” July 22).The slap should have come from this young man’s parents.Our national anthem is a sign of respect, which should be taught at home.

Thankfully this dispute was settled amicably, without knives or guns, and this young man learned something.Maria MusolinoStaten IslandI was surprised to read the obvious MAGA hit-job article by Niall Ferguson and John-Clark Levin (“The algorithms of antisemitism,” July 23).They blamed only conservatives and far-right extremists for the current trend of rising antisemitism in this country.There was not a single mention of the charges of Palestinian genocide and war crimes against Israel by progressives and socialists or the general abandonment of support for Jews by mainstream Democratic leaders.

What a one-sided piece of lefty propaganda.Anthony ScroWhitestonePart of the problem of New York City’s public-school spending lies with the Bloomberg administration’s “co-location” policies (“Addition & subtraction,” July 20).Mayor Bloomberg thought it would be beneficial to break up large schools, believing that students would get more individual attention and academic achievement would increase.As a school nurse, I worked at two co-location sites.Classrooms had to be converted to offices and there was a net loss of valuable extracurriculars since no one small school could offer what the larger schools did.

And academic achievement did not improve.It’s time to reconsolidate: one school in one building.The savings and benefits to students would be enormous.Ilene HellerManhattanNew York’s parole system is a sick joke and repeat-offender Zaki Smith is glaring proof (“Fiendish Subway ‘pusher’ on parole,” July 22).This punk, who has 14 prior arrests, pushed a 70-year-old woman onto the subway tracks.

The idiots in Albany who passed the no-bail laws shoul...