Readers sound off on disability insurance, Haitian TPS and Europe’s heat wave

Paid leave helps employees and employers

Manhattan: A lot has changed since 1989, but one thing that hasn’t is New York’s temporary disability insurance program (TDI). Thirty-seven years later, eligible employees still receive no more than $170 per week for a maximum period of 26 weeks for paid medical leave. Only New York has a paid medical leave program that offers workers much less for paid family leave — here, one-tenth the benefit level.

Although some argue that updating TDI benefits isn’t related to the workplace and would hurt small businesses, entrepreneurs support changes. Small Business Majority network member and Brooklyn-based business owner Dave Bolotsky saw firsthand how inadequate New York’s TDI benefits are after one of his employees was hit by a car on the way to work and hospitalized. While his company has continued to pay his salary as he recovers, most small businesses can’t afford to do so. This puts them at a competitive disadvantage with large corporations that offer robust benefits like paid leave.

Entrepreneurs believe that robust paid leave programs such as TDI can improve employee morale and team cohesion and help employers retain talented workers. When employees don’t have to choose between their health and keeping their job, small businesses benefit. Being stuck in the past isn’t helping small businesses or their employees. It’s time to update the TDI program to bring paid medical leave into the 21st century.

Lindsey Vigoda, director, Small Business Majority New York

Unsolicited AI

Manhattan: To those trying to figure out how to remove the AI that just showed up on your smart TVs without your consent: Go to settings, uninstall the update and turn off automatic updates. And to Google and the other tech companies: The only thing that’s inevitable is the bursting of the AI bubble. Stop trying to shove AI down everyone’s throats to stave it off.

Angela D. Lipsman

National pride

Brooklyn: I noticed that when the Knicks and Spurs stood for “The Star-Spangled Banner,” some of them could not stay attentive for very long. During the World Cup, I noticed that the Japanese and the Swedes stood at attention, arms linked, smiling and singing their national anthems. Did any other Americans notice?

Marian Mondiello

Costly spectating

Brooklyn: My wife and I enjoyed watching the NBA championship series on ABC for free. We’re now watching the FIFA World Cup soccer championship for free thanks to Fox. However, we sadly witnessed hundreds of thousands of people resorting to attending outdoor watch parties. We feel so sorry that in these hard economic times, people can’t afford a television in their home. Then we have thousands paying $98 roundtrip to take NJTransit to see the FIFA games, paying exorbitant ticket prices, hundreds paying exorbitant ticket prices to see the NBA Finals games, and several New Yorkers reserving a spot on the Knicks championship parade route for $750. I’ll have to check my flip phone to find out what’s going on!

David DiBello

Lead by legislation

Manhattan: Bramhall perfectly captures the anxiety and dismay of the abandoned hospital patient whose nurses have been deported to Haiti, a country the State Department tells Americans to avoid. The Supreme Court just OK’d President Trump’s desire to withdraw Haitians’ Temporary Protected Status, their legal standing for living productive lives in our shared communities while Haiti is too dangerous, but it’s not the end of the road for justice. It’s up to Congress to intervene. The House has already voted to extend TPS. Now Sen. Chuck Schumer is leading an effort for the Senate to do so as well. Let’s see Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand join the effort and both call out the need to protect our neighbors. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito twisted himself into a pretzel trying to justify why kicking out Haitians wasn’t racist, yet the only immigrants the U.S. is welcoming right now are white South Africans.

Carol Hillson

Royalty role play

Astoria: As we approach our year 250 celebration, with the country in turmoil and at an existential crossroads, our P.M. (preeminent manipulator) thinks of himself as His Royal Highness and demands to be treated as such. A more appropriate title is His Royal Heinous. Happy birthday, America!

Karen N. Pearlman

Forgotten genocide

Somerset, N.J.: I wish to correct an often misstated historical fact printed in your newspaper recently. I don’t dispute that the massacre of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire during the First World War was a genocide, but it was not the first of the 20th century. The first genocide occurred in a lesser-known part of the world. To maintain peace with Germany, Great Britain turned over to that country the southern African territory they named German West Africa, later called Southwest Africa — today, Namibia. When the Germans came to take control, the Herrero and Nama peoples rose against them in 1904. After the German victory over the rebellion, achieved with superior weapons and at the cost of many German soldiers, the Germans systematically massacred up to 90% of the populations of the rebellious areas. Long before Hitler, this was the first genocide of the 20th century.

Morris D. Fried

War-crime watch parties

Brooklyn: Voicer Michael Udolf’s letter is off the mark on so many levels. Genocide is genocide. No equivocations are allowed. Face it, Michael: Israel is a sick society. The monstrous actions of Benjamin Netanyahu, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir are the rule, not the exception. But there is hope for humanity because Iran’s technology is eclipsing that of Israel’s, and lots of Israelis are leaving. I give it another year before the odious project is dismantled. My other hope is that in the aftermath, Zionists will wise up and learn how to live with people different from themselves. Zionists everywhere should jump at the chance to avail themselves of this learning opportunity.

Nick Smith

Hard-won sovereignty

Margate, Fla.: With due respect to Voicer Susan Cassano’s right to her opinion, Mayor Mamdani, as a card-carrying progressive, has made clear over and over that he denies the Jewish people’s right to their 3,500-year indigenous homeland, Israel, established as a sovereign Jewish state in 1273 BCE, decolonized in 167 BCE and decolonized for a second time in 1948. Of course, Judea, Samaria and the eastern part of Jerusalem were decolonized in June 1967 after being illegally occupied by Jordan for 19 years in violation of Article 80 of the UN Charter.

Richard Sherman

A/C relief

Bronx: Almost 1,000 French people have died in the sweltering heat. In America, most buildings have air-conditioning. It saves lives. Elderly French people might be considering spending the current heat wave in the United States. Come to America and save lives.

Kevin Harrington

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