Geraldo Rivera’s recent escapade seems to qualify him for that run for the US Senate that he was mulling (“I Was Drunk and Lonely: Geraldo Explains His Half-Naked Selfie,” July 23).
This an example of another phony who was propelled into the public domain by news media that operate with virtually no discretion.
Rivera touts himself as a lawyer, yet his experience in that once noble profession is limited to his representation of a street gang in his early years.
The only place in which he ever practiced law is in the so-called “court of public opinion,” a venue where rumor and innuendo rule, motivated by the quest for ratings.
Jerome Levenberg, Cedarhurst
Choosing therapy
In “A Low Attack on Same-Sex Therapy” (PostOpinion, July 22), Jeff Bennion equates Sexual Orientation Change Efforts, or SOCE, with the right of patients to determine their own course of therapy.
Unlike Bennion, however, who had SOCE therapy in his 20s, SOCE patients are often minors who have no say in the matter. Moreover, studies have shown that efforts to change sexual orientation are likely to fail and risk severe harm to patients, which is why the practice has been condemned by the American Psychiatric Association and many other medical organizations.
I’m sponsoring legislation in Albany that would ban mental-health providers from practicing SOCE on patients under 18, because kids need support and understanding, not condemnation under the guise of therapy.
Brad Hoylman, state Senator, Manhattan
Counting on Bush
In these troubled times, when wickedness seems to be rewarded and goodness is regarded as vice, thank God there are still men like former President George H. W. Bush (“Still a Class Act,” Editorial, July 26).
He is solid as rock compared to Anthony Weiner and Eliot Spitzer, whose corrupt souls will haunt our politics to the end of days.
Gary Schwartz, Fort Lee
Suffering Syrians
In Benny Avni’s excellent article, “What Peace Won’t Bring” (PostOpinion, July 25) there is a picture captioned, “No time to care about Israeli-Palestinian peace: A Syrian refugee carries her little sister in Keternaya village outside Beirut, Lebanon.”
Over 100,000 people have been killed in the Syrian civil war. Countless others have been seriously injured. There are many refugees in Lebanon, Jordan and Israel.
Where are all the leftists? Flesh-and-blood Arabs are being killed, wounded and made homeless. Even if one doesn’t favor intervention or military aid to the rebels, one can show concern for the suffering.
Where are the demonstrations and prayer vigils?
Reuven Solomon, Forest Hills
Who’s the phony?
President Obama said that gridlock has worsened, partly because of the phony scandals (“Peeved Prez Rips ‘Slash-and-Burn’ Congress,” July 25).
Which of the scandals are phony? Was the IRS scandal phony? Was Benghazi, “Fast and Furious” or the one about the AP? Was it the one with James Rosen, or maybe the Eric Holder perjury case? Maybe he meant Solyndra.
Obama stated that this needed to stop. He is right, if he is talking about himself not addressing any of these so-called phony scandals.
Jesse Blaze, Brooklyn