38 THE QUEENS COURIER • DECEMBER 10, 2015 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com editorial THE QUEENS PUBLISHER & EDITOR CO-PUBLISHER ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER EDITOR-IN-CHIEF VP, EVENTS, WEB & SOCIAL MEDIA ART DIRECTOR ASSISTANT TO PUBLISHER ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR ARTISTS STAFF REPORTERS CONTRIBUTING REPORTERS WEB EDITOR EVENTS MANAGER CLASSIFIED MANAGER CONTROLLER PRESIDENT & CEO VICE PRESIDENT VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS BOB BRENNAN ROBERT POZARYCKI AMY AMATO-SANCHEZ NIRMAL SINGH ALAN SELTZER STEPHEN REINA RON TORINA, JENNIFER DECIO, CHERYL GALLAGHER ANGY ALTAMIRANO, KATRINA MEDOFF, ANTHONY GIUDICE ANGELA MATUA, ALINA SURIEL CLIFF KASDEN, SAMANTHA SOHMER, ELIZABETH ALONI ANGY ALTAMIRANO DEMETRA PLAGAKIS CELESTE ALAMIN MARIA VALENCIA VICTORIA SCHNEPS-YUNIS JOSHUA A. SCHNEPS Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 www.queenscourier.com editorial e-mail: editorial@queenscourier.com for advertising e-mail: ads@queenscourier.com Entire Contents Copyright 2015 by The Queens Courier All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should include a full address and home and offi ce telephone numbers, where available, as well as affi liation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request. LETTERS TO THE EDITOR, AS WELL AS OP-ED PIECES IN NO WAY REFLECT THE PAPER’S POSITION. No such ad or any part thereof may be reproduced without prior permission of THE QUEENS COURIER. The publishers will not be responsible for any error in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Errors must be reported to THE QUEENS COURIER within fi ve days of publication. Ad position cannot be guaranteed unless paid prior to publication. Schneps Communications assumes no liability for the content or reply to any ads. The advertiser assumes all liability for the content of and all replies. The advertiser agrees to hold THE QUEENS COURIER and its employees harmless from all cost, expenses, liabilities, and damages resulting from or caused by the publication or recording placed by the advertiser or any reply to any such advertisement. SNAPS QUEENS A sunset over the lake in Kissena Park Photo by Kirsten E. Paulson Send us your photos of Queens and you could see them online or in our paper! Submit them to us via our Instagram @queenscourier, Facebook page, tweeting @queenscourier or by emailing editorial@queenscourier.com (subject: Queens Snaps). What do you think people should do to prevent climate change? “I honestly think people should just accept it and prepare for it. I think it’s going to happen anyway.” Frank Rappa “I support the idea that people should reuse water bottles.” Alexa Brennan “I think people should fi nd new source of fuel.” Indrania Sharma “People should try to consume less and to change car less often.” Marcel Lim BY IRENE SPEZZAMONTE “In my opinion people should not litter.” Sammie Scaffi di street talk “In my opinion, people should fi rst know what climate change is and become environmental friendly.” Khadiga Nakui “I think people should take the subway.” Elizabeth Dolgos “I think people should recycle and ride bikes.” Bailuy Whiffen Tolerance to defeat the terrorists This nation is at war with terrorists, but we will not win this war simply by bombing their holdings abroad or segregating people at home. Thousands of Queens residents happen to be Muslims, as Mayor Bill de Blasio pointed out during a visit on Dec. 4 to a Jamaica mosque. They are here for the same reasons Christians, Jews, Sikhs, Hindus, Buddhists and those of other faiths or no faith are here: to build better lives for themselves and their families. When we accept people as they are, we build a stronger borough, a stronger city, a stronger state and a stronger nation. Everyone wants to be accepted; no one wants to feel like a pariah. We are fi ghting an undeclared war against an enemy that hates acceptance and tolerance. ISIS reaches out through social media to recruit Muslims who feel excluded from society. They use as their propaganda the divisive garbage coming out of people like a certain presidential candidate who shall not be named (hint: it rhymes with “dump”), who announced on Dec. 7 that he would ban Muslims from entering the U.S. if the said candidate were somehow elected. No one could have written a better ISIS recruitment ad than that which came out of this candidate’s big mouth. He won’t dare apologize for it, but even if he did, the damage has already been done. The terrorists will almost certainly use his words to recruit scores of people to their side — these people will take up arms against our forces in Iraq and Syria, or plot and (God forbid) carry out terrorist attacks here and abroad. The American military, as it already does, should continue bombing ISIS targets into the ground until they are defeated. But we must destroy ISIS not only with missiles but also with humanity. We, as Queens residents and Americans, must denounce and reject outright any and all divisive rhetoric against Muslims or any other member of our community. The vast majority of people in this place, regardless of their background, want to live in peace with each other. When we do this, we win — and the terrorists lose. An exercise in voting futility Sometimes the actions — or inaction — of New York State’s government can cause one’s head to ache, largely from banging it against a table repeatedly in frustration. Take, for instance, the state’s election system, which many acknowledge as hapless and broken. For years, the turnout for elections that aren’t presidential in nature has been downright abysmal. The state hasn’t done anything substantial to address the apparent voter apathy statewide — either by making it easier for people to vote or by consolidating the voting process to save time and money. Next year is, of course, the presidential election, but there are also races for statewide legislative offi ces, all of New York’s seats in the House of Representatives and one of its two Senate seats. There will be primaries for each of them, and the smart thing would have been to try and streamline the process so voters wouldn’t be asked to vote more than twice in a year. Lo and behold, common sense did not prevail. New York State will hold four elections: an April presidential primary, a June Congressional primary, a September statewide primary and the November general election. Four votes in seven months. What an exercise in voting futility! As we’ve said before, it’s time for New York State to bring its voting system into the 21st century through early voting, online voting, same-day registration and (now) a consolidated primary system which allows people to exercise their rights without inconveniencing them. Voting may be a priceless right, but our democracy shouldn’t be this absurd.
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