The flank of a horse is a very tender, sensitive area where the rear leg joins the hip and hindquarters. No rider should grip the flank with their legs, as it is located too far back from the saddle. More important, the pressure would undoubtedly cause the horse to buck.
At rodeos, the bucking strap is placed and tightened at the flank before the broncs are let loose from the chute. This guarantees a wild ride for the cowboy.
I am sure Washington rode his horse properly and used his thighs and lower legs to grip the horse’s barrel near the saddle girth and along the length of his stirrups.
Because The Post is not just a national newspaper but also a local newspaper for the Washington metropolitan area, it would have been helpful for the Feb. 18 front-page article on Sinclair Broadcasting’s ownership of local television news stations, “Sinclair’s recipe for TV news: Crime, homelessness, drugs,” to mention that Sinclair owns WJLA, the local ABC affiliate based in Arlington.
Miriam R. Miller, Arlington
I enjoyed the Feb. 14 Metro article “What do people love about living in D.C.? Readers share heartfelt thoughts.” In particular, the section titled “I never failed to marvel,” by Vivian Otteman, was good enough to cut out and save and forward to family members.
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What made the essay so good was not only the wise advice from Queen Elizabeth II quoted at the end. It was also the description of the author standing there with her cane remembering the beautiful views and interesting places in D.C. that she used to run through and “marvel at.”
The Feb. 11 front-page article on special counsel Robert K. Hur’s report on President Biden, “Hur report’s critique seen as affront to DOJ norms,” noted that former attorney general Eric Holder, one of Biden’s many defenders, is “a Democrat.” But it failed to report that Hur, who is far more central to the story than is Holder, is a Republican or that he has been a donor to multiple GOP candidates, former Maryland governor and current U.S. Senate candidate Larry Hogan and now-deceased Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) among them. What explains the discrepancy?
James Devitt, Larchmont, N.Y.
Wait, there’s a CRT in our schools even worse than cathode-ray tubes?
Kudos to The Post for reprinting with the Feb. 10 Free for All letter “A textbook case of fake news” the illustration on the title page of Chapter 29, “How the Negroes Lived Under Slavery,” from “Virginia: History, Government, Geography,” a book given to school kids in Virginia from the late 1950s through the late 1970s. The picture taught students that after a transatlantic voyage of at least a month, usually more, a still-intact African family, having no doubt repaired to their stateroom to freshen up and don their Sunday finery, were welcomed with a hearty handshake and a friendly pat on the shoulder by their new employer, to begin their lives as “Negroes Under slavery.”
How could anyone have drawn with a straight face something so absurd that it could easily be mistaken today for a cartoon from the Onion? The nonsense that such a scene could ever have been remotely close to the truth reveals the complete lack of intellectual honesty of those who produced and published it, many of whom today are still described as historians, and not the rank propagandists they were.
It is also one of the many examples of the pernicious presence in our schools for over a century of CRT — not critical race theory but the real CRT: Confederate revisionist theory.
Ralph F. Camilli, Annandale
Stars (and Bars) fell on Alabama
Finally! After 150 years, my ancestors in the 1st Alabama Cavalry Regiment are getting recognition — in the Feb. 18 “Doonesbury” strip. I am proud to be descended from Southerners who were on the winning side, from those stubborn patriots who found themselves in enemy territory when Alabama seceded.
When my great-great-grandmother was taking food to her brother, who was hiding in the hills to avoid Confederate conscription, she met the infamous Home Guard. When they demanded the food, she threw it on the ground and dug it in with her heel. My relatives lost their farm when they had to become refugees to Tennessee, which was partly under Union control.
People tend to make assumptions when they hear my Alabama accent. Know this: There are no hoop skirts in my closet.
Nancy Strickland Hawkins, Bethesda
Don’t let the stars get in your eyes
A character in Mike Lester’s Feb. 14 “Mike du Jour” comic strip asked why there are no stars visible in photos of the moon landings.
With so many divisions in the country today, why bring up bogus old controversies, especially when the objections have been answered long ago?
The surface of the moon is very bright; the stars are much dimmer. Every photographer knows that when you expose for a bright subject, faint unlit objects will not show up.
Michael Hoyt, Silver Spring
Let this star get in your eyes
I rarely read the Sports section, but my husband suggested I read Candace Buckner’s Feb. 18 column, “The crucial link between sports and U.S. cities is fraying.” Not only was it beautifully written, but it also skillfully captured and presented the problem faced by D.C. and all cities, particularly regarding sports venues. Even I, a fair-weather football fan at best, knew that moving the Washington football team to Landover was a dumb move. It diminished the team and the fan base and left a gaping hole in the city.
I hope Buckner’s column will be shared and expanded on, and serve as notice to Post management that she has insights and abilities to be used on commentary about the metro area, the national scene, and even world and international news.
When you wish upon a star
I am delighted, relieved and energized by Robin Givhan’s return to The Post. Her wordcrafting is a delight: Consider her precise declaration that Edward Enninful’s British Vogue cover is a powerful “visual retort to the insinuation that diversity represents a dilution of quality and skill” [“Enninful’s last British Vogue cover makes room for all,” Style, Feb. 9]. Or her vivid rendition of Fulton County, Ga., District Attorney Fani T. Willis’s recent testimony as a display of “gobsmacking fury” [“Fani T. Willis’s outrage was precise and laser-focused on the stand,” news, Feb. 17].
I’m relieved that Givhan’s recent “book leave” wasn’t code for or precursor to another “retirement” by a talented Post columnist. Mostly I’m energized by her insights on how bigotry about age, race, gender, size, profession or appearance can infiltrate our daily conversations, and I’m grateful for her commitment to helping us all learn to do better.
Hey now, you’re an all-star, get your game on — but, say . . .
I suppose I need to establish my bona fides before making what might be considered an audacious request: I am a Virginia high school softball umpire. My wife and I are season ticket holders to the University of Virginia women’s basketball.
Now the request: Could The Post please clearly identify whether it is discussing a men’s college basketball game or a women’s college basketball game? As a casual fan, I find myself searching through the mentions of first names to figure this out. A Jan. 10 headline was a case in point: “Terrapins falter late in rare loss to Spartans.” Hmm. It doesn’t seem so strange that Maryland would lose to Tom Izzo’s team. Oh, wait. This was women’s basketball; that was a pretty big deal. I might be blamed for not recognizing that the second sub-headline mentioned “Frese” (as in Maryland coach Brenda Frese — again with the names!). But, that aside, leave the puzzle-solving to the Style section.
I live in daily fear that there is a basketball roster out there filled with Pats and Terrys and Chrises and Jordans and Taylors and Danas. A little help, please!
Michael McDonald, Ashburn
Hey now, they were rock stars, got the show on, got paid
Chris Klimek’s Feb. 17 Style review of “Private Jones” asked whether there is such a thing as an antiwar musical. Obviously yes, “Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical,” which shook up Broadway in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War. “Hair” was so groundbreaking and influential, it is hard to understand why this is even a question. Just had to “let the sun shine in” on this musical memory.
James S. Robbins, Alexandria
And all that glitters ain’t gold
A disturbing trend I’ve been noticing more and more is explicit wording indicating the authors’ biases in news articles. A case in point is this sentence in the Feb. 19 news article “Facing fines, Trump sells $399 shoes”: “Aside from the infamous ‘Make America Great Again’ red hats, the former president’s lines of merchandise have included shirts sporting his mug shot as well as Trump-branded vodka, cologne, shirts, ties — even furniture.”
“Infamous”? I might think so; the author might think so — but it is wholly inappropriate for that bias to show up in a factual article about former president Donald Trump’s new merchandising campaign. Stop telling me what to think, Washington Post. Let me draw my own conclusions based on the facts you report and keep opinions to the op-ed page.
I thought I had reached my limit on the varieties of media coverage of the former president. Shockingly, not so. The media coverage (including The Post’s) of the gaudy, greedy $399 sneakers being hawked by the aforementioned is an affront to professional and moral standards. Journalists apparently abandoned the discussion “how should the media cover the former president?” I doubt covering fundraising by selling extravagant footwear would be deemed appropriate.
Connie Maas, Silver Spring
That ain’t Lake Minnetonka
Most of my relatives live in the Midwest, a region known as “flyover country” or the “heartland,” depending on one’s perspective.
The Post published a rare article about the region on Feb. 19: “With snow absent and abnormal warmth, Midwest experiences ‘lost winter’” [news]. How disappointing that the photograph that accompanied the story was of Lake Winnipesaukee, located in the decidedly Eastern state of New Hampshire!
Perhaps the Midwest is simply flyover country to The Post.
Lynn S. Baker, Keswick, Va.
I can think of no better example of the self-centered Anthropocene era than the Feb. 19 news article “With snow absent and abnormal warmth, Midwest experiences ‘lost winter.’” There was no mention at all of the effects of higher-than-usual temperatures, lack of lake ice and dearth of snow on the native plant and animal populations in and around the Great Lakes and the Midwest.
Woe is we who can’t play hockey, ice fish or ski. What about white rabbits that used to blend in with the snow when the landscape is now brown? What about animals that use snowpack to insulate their winter burrows when there is none? What about plants that bud out in January only to have those tender buds die in a late freeze? What about the systems that have taken millennia to establish and are being threatened by a rapidly warming planet?
If there is one thing we need to acknowledge about the effects of climate change it’s this: It’s not all about us.
Elizabeth Kingery, Kensington
Eleven out of 14 ain’t bad
As a Post subscriber who travels to northern Thailand every winter, I was dismayed by the Feb. 10 The World article “Techies, moms and stoners: For Chinese feeling boxed in, this Thai town offers release.” The name of the city, Chiang Mai, was misspelled multiple times. In the subhead and two captions under the large photographs, Chiang Mai was misspelled “Chang Mai.” In the text of the article, the city’s name was spelled correctly all 11 times it was mentioned, indicating that your headline and caption writers’ work needs to be checked more carefully before publication.
Joel R. Ferris, Alexandria
One out of 20 ain’t good
As a citizen concerned about our country’s unsustainable national debt, I was heartened by the Feb. 8 news headline “Biden-McCarthy deal will limit debt growth by $1.4 trillion, report finds.” But, alas, the article revealed a dire outcome totally at odds with the rosy headline: “The report issued Wednesday by the Congressional Budget Office said the national debt will still grow substantially over the next decade — adding an estimated $18.9 trillion.”
Statistics can be used to support alternative points of view, but the article’s headline, though technically accurate, clearly misrepresented our nation’s calamitous path toward driving off a fiscal cliff.
Two standards for two Joes ain’t fair
Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin III announced he was not entering the presidential race as a third-party candidate. In view of the ongoing national discussion of President Biden and his challengers’ ages, the Feb. 17 news article “Manchin won’t run for president, ending speculation of third-party bid” missed the boat in not mentioning Manchin’s age.
The senior senator from West Virginia will be 77 on Nov. 5, Election Day. Ages of potential candidates matter in this current public discourse, right?
Barbara Jo Harrick, Falls Church
Crazy rules on the crazy ruler
Kathleen Parker wrote in her Feb. 19 op-ed, “Take Trump literally when he speaks,” “I’m not permitted to use the words I find irresistible to describe this manic miscreant,” when referring to former president Donald Trump. Why is she not permitted?
Individuals who continually insist they are right when proven wrong by evidence are usually described as not being able to comprehend reality. Terms such as “lunatic,” “crazy,” “crackpot,” “delusional” are in common use to describe the speech and behavior of people who are incapable of understanding what goes on all around them and believe in things that are proven false.
Please allow opinion writers and reporters to tell it like it is.
I am a crossword enthusiast who was bamboozled, frustrated and infuriated by the Feb. 11 “Loss of Down” puzzle. As a seasoned solver with 70 years of crossword experience, I must say, this creation left me more perplexed than a cat trying to understand quantum physics.
Allow me to elaborate on my bewilderment.
1. The Eightfold Path to Confusion: Instead of the usual Sunday crossword, Evan Birnholz unleashed eight mini-crosswords upon us. It’s as though he decided to host a crossword party and invited seven of his closest confounding friends. Bravo! I haven’t felt this disoriented since I tried to fold a fitted sheet.
2. Meta Madness: And let’s not forget the pièce de résistance — the double meta answers. Because nothing says “relaxing Sunday morning” like scouring eight separate crosswords for hidden meanings. I half-expected to find a secret treasure map leading to a cryptic crossword utopia.
In conclusion, dear Birnholz and esteemed Post, your crossword wizardry has achieved the impossible: uniting the masses in collective head-scratching. I imagine you chuckling maniacally in your crossword lair, sipping Earl Grey tea while plotting our downfall.
But fear not — I shall persevere. Armed with my thesaurus, a magnifying glass and a dash of existential angst, I’ll decipher those across-only clues. And when I finally crack the code, I’ll raise my coffee mug (or perhaps something stronger) in your honor.
Ivan D. Socher, Rockville