Letters to the Editor | April 24, 2025

In an address some years ago, the late Pope Francis said, “My wish is that the dialogue between us should address us not as enemies or rivals, but that we should all see us as brothers and sisters to love and embrace.” It was a wonderful and sweet message that just feels so sorely out of place in the U.S. in the Trump era, where love and fraternity have been replaced by hatred and unbridled competition. I know this era shall pass, but sadly, I fear the residual effects will linger for many years to come.

Ken Derow, Swarthmore

Er ... I’m confused. If a leaker is someone who shares confidential information with unauthorized people, isn’t Pete Hegseth thus a leaker? And if “once a leaker, always a leaker,” doesn’t that mean he is saying he will continue to leak national security information to people who should not receive that information?

Having a leaker in charge of a department that condemns leakers who admit they will continue to leak seems either a sign of incompetence or hypocrisy. Or both, which is the more obvious answer.

Hegseth has provided evidence against himself and thus should resign or be fired. I don’t know how else to make sense of his own words.

Cheryl Wanko, Coatesville

If Independence Blue Cross is serious about “leading the charge against health inequity in the Philadelphia area,” it might reconsider its dramatic increase in copay charges for weight-reduction medications like Wegovy and Ozempic. Since January, my monthly out-of-pocket cost for Wegovy has jumped from approximately $25 to $750 monthly. That 2,900% increase has prohibited me from continuing to use a medication that was providing significant improvements in terms of weight reduction, hypertension, and decreased blood sugar levels. Like lots of other Philadelphians in lower-income brackets, I sadly can no longer afford the copay. I have regained 15 of the nearly 40 pounds I’d lost on Wegovy, and my blood pressure has risen to its previous high levels. For the sake of myself and other city residents in my position, I beg IBX to return to more manageable out-of-pocket costs for its subscribers and really help make health equity a priority for all.

Anthony Nannetti, Philadelphia

Congress has been so thoroughly rendered ineffective that we don’t even think of the notion of impeachment anymore. But recent events suddenly clarify for us the curious vagueness of the term “high crimes.” Imagine if a politician stood in front of a microphone in Washington and said: “I am immediately ending these three things: due process, rule of law, and Congress’s power of the purse. And the government will determine what speech is free. Have a nice day.” Above all other tenets, these four are the foundations of our nation. The administration, enabled by a prostrate legislature and an acquiescent court, has not ever uttered these words; it has skipped right to doing them in broad daylight — by abducting people off the street, pardoning insurrectionists en masse, and defunding what Congress funded. We now know not only what “high crimes” were reserved for, but what precisely would constitute the highest.

Jack Bellis, Wyndmoor, jackbellis@hotmail.com

I’m hoping I missed the announcement. Otherwise, do we still really not have a fully functioning bus terminal in Center City? After the closure of the one on Filbert Street (most likely to make way for the 76ers arena that never materialized), there don’t appear to be any serious investigations into a new location. Next year, we will be hosting the Semiquincentennial, six World Cup matches, and the MLB All-Star Game. That sounds like a lot of visitors to me. For a major city to still not have a bus depot with full amenities seems ridiculous.

Faith Steigelmann, Philadelphia

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