Readers sound off on positive stories, a lying congressman and Jan. 6

An uplifting holiday issue with lessons for us
New Rochelle, N.Y.: We live in the worst of times. Mother Nature ravishes us with her armament. Formidable enemies are close to our gates given that they possess weapons of mass destruction.
The Daily News gets it, both from the positive fantasy embracing little Virginia (“Yes, Virginia,” editorial, Dec. 24) and a kind, mythical Saint Nick (“A Visit from St. Nicholas,” op-ed, Dec. 24) and some real treasures needed in a Christmas Eve issue. It showed us the strength of our best and brightest families, domestically and from a land beset by the butcher from our former ally, Russia. We saw the best of America on page 8, the Lawton Corbett family (“Honoring NYPD vet, 102,″ Dec. 24). That 102-year-old patriarch served his nation with honor and passed his strength, endurance and values down to a number of generations. You only need to glance at the photograph to see what this meant to us. Indeed, Corbett is the man we all need to be.
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Page 14 produced the fruits of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s orchard, a group of heroes burying a fallen comrade. Look at the strength of these men and visualize what they have done to keep the monster at bay in Europe and potentially from our shores. Anyone from the GOP or any other party or social clique should take note of what the leader of these people said to us: “Your aid is not charity”; we are protecting you and others from the beast.
Yes, Virginia, there truly is a Santa Claus and he lives in the spirit of all right-thinking and courageous men and women throughout the world. Warren Gross
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Retired NYPD detective and World War II veteran Lawton Corbett holds a frame that showcases his medals in Brooklyn on Friday, Dec. 23, 2022. (Theodore Parisienne/for New York Daily News)
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Point Pleasant, N.J.: To Voicer Roberta Seidner: The News posted an announcement more than a month ago that there would no longer be a Parade magazine due to its publisher closing. Apparently, you missed it. Gene Speroni
Gone digital
Manhattan: Voicer Roberta Seidner: The magazine is no longer being printed and is only available if you access your account online. I emailed The News and complained because my 90-year-old mom isn’t going to go online to read a magazine that has been a part of her subscription for years. I don’t think The News thought this through. Vanessa Enger
Human trafficking
Patchogue, L.I.: The bus drivers who offloaded migrants who they knew were ill-equipped to deal with the often deadly below-zero temperatures should be charged and their buses impounded. The defense that they were just following orders didn’t hold true at Nuremberg and it won’t hold true now. Simple common sense tells you that a kid in a T-shirt is going to suffer on the sidewalks of D.C.! I’d ask Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to defend his actions but all he can say is look what’s being done to us. But still, two wrongs don’t make a right. Ronald G. Larson
Rewarded for lying
Massapequa, L.I.: George Santos was elected to be my congressional representative. He took a play out of pumpkinhead’s playbook and put the lies into the Kool-Aid, and the fools that voted for them fooled us again. I can’t wait for the explanation this week. Santos doesn’t have the balls to step down. He will take the oath in name only, as did pumpkinhead. I am stuck with a liar for two years to represent my neighbors and me. Ron Boehning
Plays the part
Bronx: George Santos’ election to Congress reminds me of Mel Brooks’ movie “The Producers” about a Broadway play so atrociously bad that it was doomed to succeed. I thank him, however, for epitomizing what most politicians do for a living and taking it to the extreme. Each of them tells a log-cabin story, embellished with exaggerated, self-serving accounts of personal glories told to play on the desires and gullibilities of their various audiences, a different face and spiel for every occasion. Inside them beats the heart of a con man. Look for Santos to become chairman of the committee on government reform. Fred Smith
Call-out
Mineola, L.I.: If the late Bob Grant were still living, he would say to George Santos, “You, sir, are a fraud, a phony and a fake!” Philip Martone
Speak the truth
Cincinnati: I really hope someone in the Republican Party says to the youth of America that lying is wrong. People with character do not lie. The older I got, the more I realized that the truth will set you free, no matter how hard it is. Donald Trump and George Santos condone lying as a norm. Mark Jessee
Fits right in
Monroe, N.J.: What is the fuss about Congressman George Santos fabricating his resume and life? He fits right in with his Republican Party. Lies, exaggerations, fake charities, deflections and media accusations are all part of the Republican philosophy. After all, someone who is the model for this philosophy is running for president! It’s disgraceful that no one is standing up for the quality of America’s elected officials. Katherine A. Moloney
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Par for the course
Carmel, N.Y.: At least Congressman-elect George Santos showed his false colors. He should fit perfectly into our Congress. Liars, cheats and thieves have become the norm. Susan McCormack
More to come
Dayton, Ohio: Regarding Republican Congressman-elect George Santos: We may believe that this pathological liar is an anomaly. We would be wrong. He is actually the prototype for many of the politicians who will be running for office as Republicans in the November 2024 elections. Vic Presutti
Asleep at their post
White Plains, N.Y.: I spent most of my career as an executive recruiter. Verifying educational credentials and past employment was standard procedure. Positive references were always contingent upon an offer to a leading candidate. I never assumed someone must have done these procedures (verification of resume info) before me. Shame on the Democratic Party for not vetting the opposition. Randi Bernstein Feigenbaum
Redirect the industry
Manhattan: Thank you, Climate Action Council member Raya Salter for so clearly laying out the tremendous benefits to New Yorkers of the council’s new scoping plan (“A new, cleaner climate plan for New York State,” Dec. 27). New York is now a national leader in confronting the climate crisis and providing justice to communities unfairly burdened with polluting gas plants. Too bad Gov. Hochul appointed three council members representing the gas industry. Their input kept false solutions like hydrogen and renewable gas in the plan out of sheer self-interest. If the fossil fuel industry wants to stay in business, it’s going to have to radically reinvent itself. Geothermal heating and cooling projects are one direction. Converting gas plant sites to renewable energy hubs, like huge Ravenswood Generating in Queens is doing, is another. Laurie Joan Aron
Perp rally
Manhattan: One would have imagined that Voicer Tom Scott could have distinguished a riot from a rally in viewing Jan. 6. From his well-off, white, suburban vantage point, he might have noted the absence of cheerleaders displaying their spankies and pom-poms for the cameras. Michele P. Brown
Rally-colored glasses
Staten Island: The delusional justification of Voicer Tom Scott is appalling. The Jan. 6 “rally,” as he characterized the insurrection, doesn’t factor in the 165 cases of 800-plus that have been adjudicated thus far, or that 140 federal prosecutors have worked on this case. What about the deaths, the noose for Mike Pence, the destruction and theft of federal property and the bludgeoning of Capitol Police with the flags those “patriots” were carrying? There was bear repellent sprayed in those officers’ eyes, Tom! The small percentage you claimed entered the Capitol was more like 2,000-2,500 people. Brass knuckles are legal in 12 states, illegal in 21 and allowed with permits in 17. Facts are facts, and you don’t get to rewrite them to shore up a pathetic, flimsy defense. The only ridiculous political propaganda was what you attempted to serve up. Ellen Settanni
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A nasty normal
North Brunswick, N.J.: What kind of world do we live in where common is the news of people being bashed in the head, shot, scammed, shamelessly defamed, gloried for ignorance, politicized as pawns, dehumanized, forced-fed lies and subject to cult-like normalization. I don’t see our collective way out of this rabbit hole, do you, Voicers? l’m talking about America, ostensibly the leader of the free world! Ea A. Mingo