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To the Editor:
Re “Raising Stakes, House Passes a TikTok Bill” (front page, March 14):
The bill passed by the House of Representatives would require TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, to sell the platform to an American company in order to continue operating in the United States.
We understand that TikTok has inspired joy and creativity for millions of users. But we also know that the Chinese Communist Party has used similar technology in the past to steal sensitive information and make Americans less safe.
We simply cannot allow entertainment software — no matter how fun and engaging it may be — to compromise our national security. Therefore I support this bill and encourage ByteDance to divest, so that Americans can continue to enjoy TikTok with peace of mind.
Paul Bacon
Hallandale Beach, Fla.
To the Editor:
Re “TikTok Creators Travel to D.C. to Fight a Ban” (Business, March 15):
TikTok creators descended on Washington to fight for an app they claim changes lives. For them and a very select few this might be true, but what about most people who use the platform?
Kids spend hours glued to a screen while short clips of their peers living it up, some of them making millions doing it, are fed to them. This cannot be good for their mental health, and China’s limits on the app’s use by its own children confirms it.
I’m not an out-of-touch boomer trying to ban it, as one of the creators you interviewed said of those pushing for the bill. I have been freaking out about turning 30, and I understand how TikTok works. I just don’t think it’s a net positive, especially for developing brains.
Ann Grace Evans
Raleigh, N.C.
To the Editor:
Re “What Trump’s TikTok Flip-Flop Tells America” (column, March 18):
David French rightly points out Donald Trump’s incoherent and inconsistent foreign policy when it comes to the question of banning TikTok. But he and almost every commentator on the subject fail to mention the reason for Mr. Trump’s original opposition to the app. It was only after a group of K-pop fans on the app embarrassed him by reserving thousands of seats for no-shows at a Tulsa rally nearly four years ago that he suggested banning the app.
Mr. French is correct to examine the transactional nature of Mr. Trump’s change of heart. But it suggests his sea change started from a principled policy position, rather than — as is always the case — petty grievances and score-settling.
Chris Bowers
Brooklyn
To the Editor:
China has banned Facebook, Google and WhatsApp among many other apps and websites that bring out inconvenient truths they would rather keep their nation unaware of. It is long overdue that we understand its approach and simply give it a dose of its own medicine.
Wolfgang D. Fernández
Millbrae, Calif.
Mr. Trump, Don’t Tell Jews How to Vote
To the Editor:
Re “Trump Condemns Jews Backing Democrats” (news article, March 20), about the former president’s assertion that they “hate Israel” and “their religion”:
There might be an American somewhere whose lecture to me about my Judaism would be less grating than Donald Trump’s, but I can’t think of one.
My votes for Democrats this year won’t come because I hate my religion or I hate Israel. I love both. My vote against Mr. Trump and the Republicans will come about because I love America and our nearly 250-year-old democracy, and I don’t believe that Mr. Trump and his followers feel the same.
When the votes are counted in November, I will accept the outcome. If Donald Trump and his followers would do the same, we would all be better off. Until then, stop telling the Jewish people how we should feel or vote. We’ll be better off thinking for ourselves.
Elliott Miller
Bala Cynwyd, Pa.
Meddling in the Other Party’s Primary
To the Editor:
Re “Democrats Are Meddling in Republican Primaries,” by Lisa Lerer (On Politics newsletter, nytimes.com, March 18):
Ms. Lerer correctly observed that the Democratic campaign tactic of meddling in Republican primaries could risk undercutting President Biden’s overarching campaign message about “the threat to democracy” these days.
Ms. Lerer pointed out that a Democratic group recently spent $2.7 million on an ad “boosting” the Republican Senate primary candidate Bernie Moreno as “a MAGA Republican” who is “too conservative for Ohio.”
Sure enough, on Tuesday Mr. Moreno won the Ohio primary by more than 15 percentage points over the runner-up, Matt Dolan, a more moderate candidate who supposedly would have been a tougher opponent for Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, to beat in the November general election.
The cynical incentive for one party to meddle in another party’s primary could perhaps be reduced with ranked-choice voting.
That’s because empowering voters to rank their preferred candidates — instead of voting for just one candidate — could make the election outcome harder to predict and thus harder to game through boosting.
And perhaps there would be one less “threat to democracy” to worry about.
Bob Ryan
San Francisco
Kids Selling Candy on the Subway in New York
To the Editor:
Re “Officials Shrug as Youths Miss School to Work” (front page, March 14):
I urge New Yorkers not to call children’s services or the police on families selling candy in the subway.
Let’s be clear: Children should be in school. But children should also have enough to eat. They are selling candy to help their families pay for necessities such as food, clothing and shelter.
New York does have a solution to migrant children who sell candy on the subway: Dozens of charities and mutual aid groups, many of which receive government funding, enroll children in school, distribute food and connect adults to work. The New York Community Trust has funded these efforts for decades.
Parents are in the best position to decide how to balance the needs of their families. When they need help, nonprofits — rather than the police or the child welfare system — are the best place to turn.
Eve A. Stotland
Queens
The writer is senior program officer, education and human justice, at the New York Community Trust.
To the Editor:
For the last few months, every time I’m at the 34th Street-Herald Square subway station, I’ve encountered children selling candy — on the stairs, in the station and on the trains. That New York City’s child welfare agency has not gotten more directly involved is close to negligence.
I’ve seen toddlers playing at their mothers’ feet on the station platform, just five to six feet from the tracks. Simply put, is it going to take a child getting killed for Mayor Eric Adams to wake up and send the proper authorities into the stations to safeguard these children?
Another question: How is it proper for an infant, toddler or child to be in a subway station all day with the constant noise and congestion? To me, that, together with the purposeful absenteeism from schools, is child abuse.
Aaron Isquith
Brooklyn
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