It is a frightening shame that more parents are declining or delaying vaccine shots for their infants and children [“Doctors: LI parents push back against vaccinations,” News, June 16]. I remember my mother telling me about the 1950s, when parents would dread summer, which seemed to precipitate the arrival of polio cases.

Children were crippled, paralyzed, put into iron lungs to breathe, and many died. The discovery of the polio vaccine by Dr. Jonas Salk was hailed as a miracle. The demand for this lifesaving vaccine was worldwide. Salk campaigned for mandatory vaccinations, which he felt was a moral commitment. Later, Albert Sabin developed an oral poliovirus vaccine, which I recall receiving on a sugar cube.

Thankfully, we do not have to worry about our children becoming paralyzed or struggling to breathe, going deaf, blind, contracting encephalitis, or becoming disfigured because of vaccines’ effectiveness.

Now, many seem to be rejecting all logic and research, especially when Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. removed all 17 members of a scientific immunization committee of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Whereas the United States was at the forefront of intelligent science research, I fear we are heading back to the Dark Ages.

The news of former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, being killed by someone apparently politically motivated is shocking [“Minn. suspect visited others: prosecutors,” News, June 17].

We know how to end this but are too chicken to admit that many politicians should be held responsible for encouraging and influencing easily suggestible people.

With free speech comes responsibility. You can’t yell “Fire!” in a crowded theater and not expect casualties.

I am so afraid for this mother and her children [“LI mom of 5 held by ICE, being deported: lawyer,” News, June 17]. She was detained during a scheduled visit with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, as per guidelines. Her children, some autistic, would be left motherless because their father was killed. This mother, apparently with no criminal record, isn’t being treated like a human.

I’m so disgusted by our country’s way of dealing with this. Let’s find a way to make the immigration system work before someone you know gets kidnapped by agents in masks. Who have we become?

GOP officials wrong on ‘No Kings’ rallies

As a protester at the Huntington “No Kings” rally on Saturday, I’m compelled to call out the comments by David Laska, director of communications for the state Republican Party, and Suffolk County GOP Chairman Jesse Garcia [“Thousands gather for ‘No Kings’ rally,” News, June 15].

To disparage our protests as juvenile tantrums or as “putting the interests of illegal criminal migrants ahead of American citizens” is a gross misrepresentation of our values and intentions. Neither our acts nor our chants denigrated America. Rather, they were rallying cries to bring out the best in the country we love.

Decrying the attempted politicalization of the military, rejecting practices that deny due process, denouncing the consideration of suspending habeas corpus and opposing the banning of books — all policies or ideas of President Donald Trump — are in the best tradition of our country.

If Laska and Garcia had attended our rally, they would have seen hundreds of American flags being proudly waved — not trampled on.

A reader wrote that Saturday’s parade in Washington was a celebration of the Army’s 250th anniversary and that the protests only eroded our country’s pride [“Military parade only celebrated our Army,” Letters, June 17].

The parade, which cost tens of millions of dollars, is something Donald Trump has long wanted and was initiated only after he was inaugurated in January.

The protests, which are guaranteed in our Constitution, were about love of our country.

I find it incredible that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, who served in Congress for eight years, did not recognize California’s senior senator, Alex Padilla [“Dem senator forcefully removed by fed agents,” Nation, June 13].

She must have passed him once or twice in the halls of power. As soon as Padilla said his name, perhaps she should have raised her head to see if that was him.

Then, when he was removed from the conference room, he should have been allowed to show his identification, not be thrown to the ground and handcuffed.

Who will be next?

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