My Turn: Massachusetts gun law closes no loopholes, solves nothing

By JOHN BRIARE

At first glance, Robin Neipp’s recent column “Massachusetts must continue to lead on common sense gun laws” [Recorder, June 9] might sound reasonable until you realize the writer is endorsing a law she clearly hasn’t understood. Chapter 135 spans 116 pages of sweeping new gun laws and mandates that only punish the law-abiding while doing absolutely nothing to stop actual violence or criminals. Criminals will not obey a single sentence of this 116-page law.

Amy MacKenzie: Tactical response team disturbing

I am profoundly disturbed by the response of the Greenfield and Turners Falls police force to a domestic violence complaint. A small army of men dressed up in tactical gear, complete with high-powered guns? According to an article in the Recorder, the woman had left the house and was out of danger. The alleged abuser was locked in a bathroom. What person in their right mind would unlock that bathroom door and step out of the house knowing that many guns would be directly aimed at his head? What was the goal of the official who decided to deploy such a force of strength? By far a better, more sane response would have been to bring in a few police officers who understood the value of and had well-developed skills in negotiation and de-escalation. Instead, it seems that those in charge employed the ugly, dark tactic of instilling fear, not only in the man cowering in the bathroom, but in the community as well.

Shirley Majewski: Something to crow about

Folks on Plain Road East must be getting pretty desperate if they are concerned about the noise from the proposed dog shelter. Hey, come my way. Now we have almost continual concerts about a mile away at the brewery and they play til 10 or 11 p.m. Good if you don’t work or like rock and roll and maybe if you don’t have little kids who need their sleep, like the neighbors.

Francis Gallo: More on the writ of habeas corpus

I greatly enjoyed Dorothy Storrow’s letter sketching out for us the defining characteristics and the value of the writ of habeas corpus. I had no idea it dated back to the Magna Carta. But I do know that the man who many consider to be our greatest president, Abraham Lincoln, suspended the writ in Maryland in April of 1861. When he received a letter from Chief Justice Roger B. Taney objecting to this action, Lincoln ignored it.

Christine Baronas: Questioning

Would a Trump supporter explain to me why, if the National Guard can be called out to protect ICE enforcement, why wasn’t it called out when the U.S. Capital was being attacked? He says he has the power today, 2025. He also had it in 2020 but didn’t use it when our nation’s Congress was overrun. It was a demonstration that got so out of hand that people did die. That leads to the question of what’s more important: ensuring the peaceful passage of a democracy’s power or making sure police can grab up criminals?

Deborah Potee: Superior Greenfield Public Schools leader

For anyone who was lucky enough to work with or under the leadership of departing Greenfield Public Schools Superintendent Karin Patenaude, the loss of her from this district is incalculable. Her high standards, work ethic, love for students and deep experience from being a beloved English teacher and highly respected administrator endeared her to staff, students and families in the district. To watch her talk to a quiet teen, a curious fourth grader, a distressed parent or a questioning teacher and see her treat each with understanding, kindness, respect and always an encouraging smile, is to see the very best that public education has to offer. Seen as a "teacher's teacher" by the educators at Greenfield High School, the spontaneous standing ovation that she received by the 900 people in attendance after her words of encouragement for the graduating class on May 31 spoke volumes of how beloved she is as our leader. Karin Patenaude set a standard that will be hard to fill, she will missed and I am grateful to have worked for her.

Patrick McGreevey: Our lord and savior

I have openheartedly and willingly accepted Donald Trump as my personal savior. There can be no other before Him. Obedience to His will is the only path to salvation. His second coming is ushering in a new millennium. All He demands is obedience, gratitude, and worship. But it must be total. Not just on Sundays, and not just for four years, but for a 1,000-year reign.

My Turn: Renewable energy and battery storage is the affordable choice for families. How do we get it right?

By JOE CURTATONE

Massachusetts is facing a familiar crossroads: our climate is changing, our grid is under strain, and our communities are rightly asking tough questions about safety, cost, and accountability. This is what communities need to do, but those questions must be met with facts, not fear.

Columnist Bill Newman: Signs of the time

By BILL NEWMAN

Last Saturday, “No Kings Day,” saw large demonstrations in Northampton, Easthampton, Greenfield, Springfield, Shelburne Falls, Sunderland, Cummington, Pittsfield, Amherst, Granby, Williamsburg, Ashfield, Orange and Boston. They were among the more than 100 protests in Massachusetts and over 2,100 across the country in cities and towns, big and small. The common denominator? Devotion to resistance and the fervent hope, if not always the firm belief, that we can mitigate, if not totally prevent, the fascist takeover of the United States now in progress.

My Turn: Free-ish since 1865

By TOLLEY M. JONES

On Jan. 1, 1863, The Emancipation Proclamation became law in the United States. It declared that “all persons held as slaves … shall be … forever free and the …Government of the United States … will do no act … to repress such persons … in any efforts they may make for their actual freedom.”

Pushback: Democracy requires more than 3-minute sound bites

By AL NORMAN

That government which is closest to the people, should be the most accessible to the people.

Jim Reis: Behind and speeding backward

Don’t go to Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark, and Norway) unless you want to be shocked by how advanced and better off they are than us, especially now. We just returned from a trip there. While I know there are big differences between our countries, and that they also have challenges too, we could still learn so much from them. Stockholm — no trash or dog poop anywhere to be seen. A person on our tour got sick and two hours later a doctor came to our hotel and wrote her an antibiotic prescription so she could rejoin the tour a couple days later.

Nancy Paciorek: Triad pet food

To the person who took the Triad pet food box from Foster’s, shame on you. The donations from that box is for seniors in need so they can keep their pets. If you needed help, a phone number was on the box.

My Turn: Any regrets?

By BEN CLARKE

Good news. Inflation is basically gone, the economy is roaring, and America is “hot” again. I know this because Donald Trump said so. And he’s a man of his word. Just ask his wives. Or bankruptcy lawyers.

Guest columnist John Berkowitz: Ukraine War — If we don’t face the music, it could blow up in our faces

By JOHN BERKOWITZ

I think it’s urgent that the current negotiations end the war in Ukraine soon, even if Ukraine has to make some territorial concessions and stay out of NATO. If we keep helping Ukraine escalate — such as its recent drone attacks on Russian bases housing nuclear-armed strategic bombers, and last year’s attack on Russia’s early-warning radars that damaged three out of a total of 10 — it will only bring even more suffering and devastation to Ukraine, while risking an unimaginably worse WWIII/nuclear war with Russia.

Doug Selwyn: Democracy is not dead

Franklin County Continuing the Political Revolution (FCCPR) would like to say thank you to all who made Saturday’s “No Kings” march and rally such an amazing experience. Three hundred and eighty-nine people signed up to attend the march through www.mobilize .com, so we expected that up to 500 might actually attend. Nearly 3,000 came out, nearly six times what we expected, a recognition of the outrage, concern, anger, and fear generated by the Trump administration’s attacks on our communities, our institutions, and our democracy.

Maura Morrison: Military parade ‘wasteful’ and ‘disruptive’

In case you missed it, the estimated cost of the military parade held on Saturday is $45 million. That number does not include the cleanup or repairs to the damage to the roads there from the tanks and heavy military equipment. Meanwhile, 7,000 soldiers will be corralled into two unused government buildings for their visit to Washington. The New York Times reported on May 15 that the thousands of visiting soldiers in Washington for the parade will stay in unused government buildings and sleep on cots, according to the Army. The soldiers are mere pawns in Donald Trump’s vision of himself in the grand viewing stand.

My Turn: A Constitution, not a king

By KARL MEYER

When Donald Trump proclaimed on the first day of his lame-duck presidency that the ancient, globally recognized Gulf of Mexico would receive his own new moniker from that day forward, I recognized what dictatorship looked like. His fundamental attack on common reality, on history, on the right to speech itself, was an opening salvo on democracy here in the United States. And places beyond. This international body of water was known to people across the globe by its centuries-old Aztec-derived name. Now, one petty soul on a planet of eight billion people was demanding all global maps be changed.

My Turn: ‘Face value’

By AMHAD ESFAHANI

Those who understand, really don’t have to say anything, and never is this more self-evident than within the Boston State House. Last week, I attended the “Massachusetts Muslim Day at the State House” put on by the state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and apart from the decorum, the diagonal waves of hidden intent left me reeling.