Readers sound off on JetBlue buying Spirit, prayer in schools and Fox News viewers

Miami: Re (“Feds move to block JetBlue buy of Spirit Airlines,” March 8): The Justice Department is right to sue to stop this merger. Spirit and JetBlue are apples and oranges. Spirit has no first-class like JetBlue has. JetBlue plans to take an average of 30 seats off of all Spirit airplanes (roughly 15,000 seats a day out of the U.S. market), which will result in higher costs for the consumer. This is also not good for tourism.

Due to a shortage of airplanes and pilots, no other ultra-low-cost carrier has enough planes or pilots. JetBlue has said that it is buying Spirit for its planes and pilots. This will also result in higher prices for consumers going from the Northeast to Florida, Texas, Michigan and Nevada, along with other places. Spirit is growing in Newark, with more gates and flight slots that benefit the consumer, which will not happen if the buyout happens.

Since JetBlue’s business model as a low-cost airline means it doesn’t fly into Atlantic City, Myrtle Beach, Latrobe, Pensacola, Manchester, Louisville, Columbus, Indianapolis, Memphis, Oakland, and certain countries, i.e. Nicaragua. When the two airlines are combined, JetBlue will probably pull out of these markets since they are only supported by ultra-low-cost airlines.

This buyout is about taking a strong competitor (Spirit) off the playing field. JetBlue also benefits by acquiring planes and experienced crews in a very tight market for both. This is bad for the public, bad for industry competitiveness and pricing, and bad for the airline industry as a whole. Mark Grogan

Clearwater, Fla.: Re “Chris Rock addresses Will Smith slap on Netflix special” (March 4): Rock needs to expand his vocabulary. The man appears to be on a profanity-laced tirade. Let’s hope that no one would want their children to listen to his foul-mouthed schtick. He is certainly no role model for impressionable young children. Sadly enough, Rock doesn’t appear to know any better. And to think that some people actually pay to listen to his blasphemy. Asinine! JoAnn Lee Frank

Delray Beach, Fla.: How far will James Dolan go in using facial recognition to ban people who are enemies of him? If a player on teams playing the Knicks and Rangers turns out to be associated with a law firm suing him, can he ban that player from playing in Madison Square Garden, or ban a performer at Radio City Music Hall? I’ll bet he would try. Jeff Gold

Bronx: Mayor Adams has only himself to blame as President Biden shuns him in his request for funds for the surge of illegal immigrants. Adams continually blames Republicans instead of the person who is really to blame: Biden. The president knows he doesn’t have to shell out a single penny because NYC Democrats will run interference for him and cover up the disaster he created. After Bill de Blasio, I see there’s a new liar in town. Mr. Mayor, you should’ve told the truth from the beginning. At least you would’ve received hush money. Stephen Hill

Smithtown, L.I.: Why doesn’t the city offer Medicare Advantage as an option to retirees rather than making it mandatory? Many non-city government retirees take an Advantage plan over traditional Medicare. Maybe the city will find that there’s plenty of interest in these plans before forcing it on all retirees. Then, going forward, you can make it mandatory for current employees who benefited from these union negotiations. Andrew Ross

Atlanta: To Voicer Frederick R. Bedell Jr., who praises Mayor Adams for wishing that prayer could be reinstated in the city’s public schools: NYC probably has the most religiously diverse public school student body in the world, with Christians of various denominations, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Unitarians, Wiccans, Jains, Sikhs and, of course, atheists and agnostics. What type of prayer would be appropriate? I have little doubt that Adams, who claims he was anointed by Jesus to be mayor, believes it should be Christian prayer. And what would become of the many non-religious students and teachers who refuse to participate? Should they be expelled or fired? Let’s provide these 1 million students in public schools with a decent secular education that will prepare them for success in the 21st century. Leave the issue of religion and prayer to their families, where it belongs. This is a free country, not a Christian nation. Ed Buckner

Flushing: The Tucker Carlson comedy show is presented in the best traditions of that master of agitprop, Joseph Goebbels. Carlson is fooling no one who has half a brain and knows the truth about Jan. 6. There are none so blind as those who will not see. Lester Simon

Hyde Park, N.Y.: Voicer Linda Stewart seems to be a typical Foxie in that she just cannot accept facts and truth over the misinformation that the network puts out. There are actual emails from Tucker Carlson and Sean Hannity that show they didn’t even believe the stolen election nonsense. So instead, she throws out Hunter Biden’s laptop (of course, typical Foxie), COVID vaccines not preventing the virus (which nobody ever said — they prevent illness and death) and that “the 2016 election was rigged” (did anybody ever say that? Hillary conceded on Election Night!). It’s sad that there are people out there who still feel this way in spite of all the facts staring them in the face. Jack Cregan

Millburn, N.J.: I don’t know the politics of Voicer Peter J. Peirano, but in his letter complaining about your dropping “Dilbert,” he makes the same mistake that many right-wing politicians make (knowingly or unknowingly). Whether or not the Daily News publishes “Dilbert” has nothing to do with the First Amendment. That bars Congress from abridging freedom of speech and of the press. It does not apply to private businesses. The Daily News, like any publisher, has the right to choose what appears under its name. Ed Marks

Bronx: Thanks for your excellent article “10 top ear-benders in the city revealed” (March 8). I laughed out loud when I read that former New York State Chief Judge Jonathan Lippman co-chairs the Civil Rights Foundation with Rev. Al Sharpton. The former chief judge has always maintained that his father, Ralph, who managed a large housing cooperative on the Lower East Side since 1956, was his biggest hero. In a 1987 civil rights lawsuit, Huertas v. East River Housing Corp., a federal court determined that Ralph Lippman “discriminated against Blacks and Hispanics purposely and specifically.” Ralph’s associate, Sol Mildworm, is quoted as telling a prospective white resident that “the buildings are 90% Jewish, 9% Italian, 1% Black and Puerto Rican, and we intend to keep it that way.” Until Jonathan Lippman publicly denounces his father, he is nothing but a charlatan and a fraud. Charles T. Compton

Manhattan: Like Voicer Michael Ilardi, I too question why the Daily News changed the poster of Rosie the Riveter to a fictitious woman of color. Rosie was a white woman, New York philanthropist Rosalind P. Walter, whose estate remains a major contributor to PBS programming. She worked the night shift driving rivets into the metal bodies of Corsair fighter planes at a plant in Connecticut — a job that had almost always been reserved for men. A newspaper column about her inspired a morale-boosting 1942 song that turned her into the legendary Rosie the Riveter, the archetype of the hard-working women in overalls and bandannas. Please honor one of our very own New Yorkers who got things done during World War II and continues to do so after her passing a few years ago. Phoebe Bardot

Cambria Heights: To Voicer Michael Ilardi: Changing the color of the figure in the WWII poster is called inclusion! Are you even remotely aware of the contributions of African-Americans in both WWI and WWII? Black fathers, brothers, sons and husbands gave their lives for this country — only to come home to lynching, castration and denial of GI benefits that were freely given to white veterans, as well as countless other indignities. Terri Gilbert