More tax money taken out of my paycheck (“Council staffers could cash in,” 4/13/23). It was a travesty last year when the City Council gave itself a 20% raise and now they want to do the same for their staff. By the way, I got a 3% raise last year.

I wonder if they would be open to donating 10% of that raise to the poor and underprivileged people they are always taking our tax money for. My guess is no, but let’s at least ask the question so we can see what the character of the City Council is truly made of.

Michael Westen
Malden

Brigham McCown’s op-ed suggesting that climate lawsuits threaten national security isn’t to be taken seriously (“McCown: Climate lawsuits threaten national security,” 4/14).

First of all, the military does whatever it wants. If they need to ensure a supply of petroleum products to perform strategic functions, citizen lawsuits aren’t in any way going to prevent that. Moreover, the US Department of Defense is itself aggressively pursuing renewable energy, and not only because of climate change. Renewable energy is cost-effective and makes supply-chain logistics vastly simpler on the battlefield.

The reason that Big Oil gets sued so often is that it has consistently denied, delayed, and deceived the public about the effects of its products.

Perhaps McCown is unaware that, according to a DoD website, the military considers climate change a national security priority. Or, maybe McCown is simply another ally in Big Oil’s propaganda campaign to preserve the fossil fuel status quo.

Frederick Hewett

Cambridge

In your editorial taking President Biden and the EPA to task for introducing more stringent emissions standards (“Buying an EV? You may not have a choice,” 4/14), you ask an important question: how will manufacturers meet these (more stringent 2032) standards?” Answer: by doing what manufacturers do! They are increasing their output of EVs, widening the range of EV models, and realizing economies of scale and innovation to meet the demands and wallets of their customers. In other words, the Democrats have chosen to seek a market solution to the auto emissions challenge. Why do this? Because we have no choice. Burning fossil fuels in our vehicles, our homes, our factories and our power plants is leading to an unlivable climate. Climate change is already here in droughts, floods, and wildfires, and more emissions will only make conditions worsen. Why leave that deadly legacy to our future generations?

Brent Whelan

Allston

Abortion continues to roil both political parties but while Democrats provide work-arounds, hard-line Republicans pose election-loss dilemmas given recent polling data indicating that the general public desires legal abortion with limits. Republicans should craft legislation that the majority of center-right voters will accept, including making abortion legal when pregnancy results from rape and incest, when severe fetal abnormalities are detected and when maternal life is at stake. Extremists on both sides are suffused with certainty. It is time for compromise.

Paul Bloustein
Cincinnati, Ohio