The story of Howard County
Regarding “The anthropological and archival art of curating with Karen Falk” (Last Word, Oct. 14):
Thank you for the article about the Howard County Jewish History Project. We at the Jewish Federation of Howard County, which initiated and funded the project, are indeed excited by the opportunity to tell the story of how a Jewish community formed itself.
In addition to the fine work by Karen Falk, we also want to recognize her colleague, the senior historian on the project, Deborah R. Weiner. Deb and Karen have been a great team, and we’re looking forward to a public presentation of their research next year.
JOEL FRANKEL
The writer is executive director of the Jewish Federation of Howard County.
Not a peaceful petition
Regarding “He’s got it backward” (Letters, Oct. 14):
It is amazing that Marc Caroff seems to insist that the Jan. 6, 2021, incident at our Capitol was just a peaceful petition of citizens expressing their concerns. What about those “peaceful” citizens storming our Capitol building with wooden bats and poles trying to break doors and windows to “peacefully” enter the building, attacking the police with fire extinguishers and harmful spray guns? What about roaming the building looking for Vice President Mike Pence, yelling “hang Pence”? What about Pence being escorted to safety so that he could later perform his constitutional duty to confirm the election?
How could an intelligent person not believe non-partisan, worldwide coverage of these savage acts?
ALBERT JACOBS
Silver Spring
Both-sides-ing the reader
There is no “other side of the story” to the Jan. 6 insurrection. It was awful. It was violent. And the goal was the overthrow of a democratically elected government — incited by the former president. WJW, you’re both-sides-ing us to death.
Stop giving voice to people who are telling us to ignore what we see with our own eyes. These lies are a threat to democracy. I welcome Mr. Caroff’s views on policy. Because reasonable people can have differences of opinion about policy.
But giving voice to insurrectionist-fueled propaganda only hurts and divides our greater community.
ADAM KUHN
Bethesda
ID the voting process
In “The hidden dangers to our democracy” (Opinion, Oct. 7) Michael Gelman details actions that suppress voting, which have been defended under the pretext that IDs are needed for many things, so why not have Voter IDs? Fair, but besides ID’ing the voter, why not ID the voting process? How? Do you accept the $100 price for eggs and milk without asking for the receipt to show the manager? Why not have a receipt or paper trail of your vote?
Do you get money from the ATM and see the transaction in your account? Why not have access to a database documenting your voting choices? Maryland regulates casino gambling by auditing and managing the central monitor and control system. Why not audit and monitor voting machines and systems? And if you want to shop, do you travel to a distant office for approval at great inconvenience so you can shop? Why all this to let you vote?
The Supreme Court has condoned states hunting for those with crooked IDs, but dismisses unfair and crooked voting processes. Will it now condone overruling legitimate votes?
MARK Y. CZARNOLEWSKI
Silver Spring
Incredulous about endorsement
How could you endorse Terry McAuliffe for governor of Virginia? (Editorial, Oct. 14).
RICHARD LEVY
Washington
In my opinion, Albert Jacobs’ and Adam Kuhn’s letters contain nothing more than ad hominem attacks against the views I expressed in my letter (“He’s got it backward,” Oct. 14). As such, one wonders what is to be gained by printing letters of no substance.
Mr. Jacobs chooses to distort my views to mean the opposite of what I intended. I certainly did not say that the incident at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 was “just” a peaceful gathering of citizens. To say otherwise, as Mr. Jacobs has done, is disingenuous.
Mr. Kuhn chooses to admonish WJW for publishing my letter because in his view “there is no other side to the story” and, according to him, my letter contains nothing more than “insurrectionist-fueled propaganda.” It is sad to see that Mr. Kuhn has become part of the cancel culture crowd who are apparently unable to continence views that threaten their dystopian fantasies.
It is astonishing that in their frenetic rush to distort and dismiss my views, Jacobs and Kuhn have failed to directly address the main point of my letter which was to contend that the many serious threats to American democracy today come not from Donald Trump or the Republican Party but, rather, from the Biden presidency and the Democratic Party — a party that has drifted to the far left of the political spectrum by catering to its most radical members.
Excuse me, I misspelled the word “countenance” as “continence” in my comment above. I apologize for any confusion that may have caused.