Rent control worsens lack of affordable housing
In “Jews United for Justice to D.C. Council: ‘Close the loopholes — this year’” (Oct. 27), Adas Israel’s rabbi states everyone needs to know that shelter is secure and that that is the responsibility of the community.
However, it is not the job of the for-profit housing market, but of charities. Rent control makes the lack of affordable housing much worse. The only people who benefit from rent control are the tenants who feel they have a right to have something they cannot afford, and the politicians who want their votes. It hurts everyone else. Anyone truly interested in seeing more affordable housing would repeal those laws so that much more of it would be built.
Some people will have to move, as they should have years ago. They deserve our deepest sympathy. If JUFJ does not want this to happen, they should all contribute to helping such tenants pay their rent. If they are not willing to dig into their own pockets, why should landlords have to? If the D.C. Council member [Elissa Silverman] is not willing to help her own brother pay market rent for his apartment, why should the landlord subsidize him?
JUFJ should consider how they would feel if tenants were legally forced to pay higher than market rents because the landlord was elderly or had disabilities and needed more money. They would justifiably be furious. They are fighting for something similar.
Spoiled children think they have the right to things they cannot afford. Intelligent adults understand they cannot. Tenants under rent control should thank their stars they have lived off the backs of their landlords, as they pack their bags and start the next part of their lives.
DEBBY PRIGAL
Washington
Trump repeats Russian propaganda
Kudos to Washington Jewish Week for its seasonally appropriate — i.e., Halloween — op-ed by Lynne Kessler Lechter entitled “This Jewish grandmother is riding on the Trump train, (Voices, Oct. 27).” Scary.
The author is a real-life Philadelphia lawyer (and we all know what that means). In a frightening presentation she enthusiastically promotes the candidacy of a nativist, misogynist, habitual liar, who, in the words of one Jewish pundit (Anne Applebaum in The Washington Post, Oct. 28): “Regularly repeats propaganda lines lifted directly from Russian state media. Donald Trump has declared that Hillary Clinton and Obama ‘founded ISIS,’ a statement that comes directly from Russia’s Sputnik news agency. He spouted another debunked conspiracy theory — ‘the Google search engine is suppressing the bad news about Hillary Clinton’ — soon after Sputnik resurrected it.” Moreover, “The Russians also have a major interest in our election. Since last summer, when Russian hackers tried to spoil the Democratic National Convention with leaked emails, it’s been clear that Russia prefers the Republican nominee, a man who has repeatedly stated his admiration for Putin and his dislike of U.S. allies.”
The author even lambastes Obamacare as a “monstrosity” — a ploy which automatically calls into question her Jewish and Zionist bona fides. Why? Because “Jewish religious law regards health care as a right, not a privilege. According to research conducted by Rabbi Alan J. Yuter (a Republican, by the way, whose Orthodox ordination is from the Chief Rabbi of Israel), it even prefers a single-payer system. Which is what the citizens of the State of Israel today enjoy. And it works quite well. So how could it possibly be that what is good enough for the Holy Land is not good enough for the United States of America?” (Baltimore Sun, Feb 4, 2014). The Israeli verdict is dispositive: Hillarycare is the way to go.
To its credit, WJW counterbalanced Lechter’s toxic trick with Art Abramson’s nourishing treat (“Donald, Israel and the Jews,” Voices, Oct. 27).
STEVE WEISSMAN
Baltimore
Why didn’t Obama demand Iran recognize Israel before deal?
I found the article entitled, “How to Teach Trump” (Oct. 20) to be interesting.
OK, I know Trump is an immature, arrogant jerk, but where are the articles on this horrifying Iranian deal that President Barack Obama agreed to in 2015?
I am a lifetime Democrat, and I am very disappointed that people of all races and religions have not asked, “Why didn’t President Obama demand that Iran recognize Israel and stop supporting terrorism before agreeing to this deal?” This is the $150 billion question.
Iran continues to spew anti-Semitism, hatred for the United States, hatred for Israel, and supports Hamas, Hezbollah and Syria. In fact, CNN wrote on June 2 that the State Department found that Iran is still the No. 1 sponsor of terrorism in the world.
In the late 1930s, we underestimated Hitler. And now I see President Obama, Hillary Clinton and many others underestimating Iran in 2016, which openly admits that it wants a second Holocaust and continues its hateful ways towards the United States, Israel, Jews, Christians and Sunnis.
I am not a fan of Donald Trump, but it is hypocritical when people call him a Hitler when it is Hillary Clinton that supports this Iranian deal that puts Jews in their biggest threat of a Holocaust since Hitler.
I would like to know the answer to the $150 billion question before I vote on Nov. 8. Have we not learned anything from the Holocaust and “never again”?
NEIL KELLER
Rockville
Democrats moving country in wrong direction
Though I’m not particularly happy about it, I’m voting Republican. I see that Democrats, when in power, ram through major legislation against the will of the people. They’ve used the IRS to go after their political opponents. This administration has politicized the Department of Justice, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Environmental Protection Agency, and ordered our border patrol to stand down. This administration has stood in the way of America’s energy development.
This administration shrinks our military, then uses it for social experiments in political correctness rather than national defense. Unable to work with Congress, this president governs by executive decree.
On these and many other issues, I believe Democrats are moving us in the wrong direction and my hope is the Republicans would reverse these excesses. I am certain another Democrat administration will not.
Most disturbing to me is the ever-growing animosity in the Democratic party towards Israel. Left-wing activists have been moving away from Israel for a long time. That distancing is clear on our campuses, in our elite media and among ‘progressive’ policy makers. This year three anti-Israel activists were placed on the Democratic platform committee. This president came into office promising to put daylight between the United States and Israel — and in that, he has succeeded. Against the will of the American people and the Republicans in Congress, the president forced through the Iranian nuclear deal. The Democrats were largely unwilling to challenge that deal — a deal that potentially puts Israel’s existence at risk. I don’t want to see these same Democrats in power for another four years.
Republican support for Israel is strong.
I am voting for the people who embrace Israel and spurn Iran rather than the people who embrace Iran and spurn Israel.
ROSALIND SLOAN
Arlington
