Letters to the Editor | Aug. 12, 2026

As a retired federal employee, I am proud of my years of public service and the opportunity I had to serve the American people. Like many retirees, I planned my retirement carefully, expecting the benefits I earned to help provide financial security throughout my retirement.

Unfortunately, retirees under the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) do not receive the same full annual cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs) as retirees under the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) or many Social Security beneficiaries. During periods of high inflation, that difference can significantly reduce the purchasing power of a retiree’s earned annuity, making it more difficult to keep up with the rising costs of housing, groceries, healthcare, and other everyday necessities.

The Equal COLA Act (HR 491/S 624) would correct this inequity by providing FERS retirees with the same full annual COLAs received by CSRS retirees. It’s a matter of fairness for the men and women who devoted their careers to serving our nation.

Bob Downey, Marlton

Rosemary McDonough from Narberth submitted a letter to the editor that rightfully complimented Luis F. Carrasco’s recent column on immigration. In that letter, she asked an excellent question: If U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement were succeeding in arresting the “worst of the worst,” why isn’t this front-page news? The answer to McDonough’s question is clearly not that ICE has been unsuccessful. If anyone chooses to access the ICE website, they would find a section that identifies 27,400 of the “worst” illegal immigrant criminals it has apprehended. There are 3,425 pages (eight per page).

The answer to her question appears to be that the media is unwilling to cover that side of the ICE situation — preferring to align themselves with the liberal narrative that demonizes the people working so hard to resolve the ponderous immigration situation they created.

Mark Fenstermaker, Warminster, markfense@gmail.com

I read Jonathan Zimmerman’s column on the Cheltenham hazing incident and was struck by what was left out. Although I don’t disagree with what Zimmerman said, what he left out is important to fully wrap our heads around this heinous story. Nowhere did Zimmerman mention that we elected as our president a man who stated he could grab a woman’s private parts whenever he wants and was convicted in civil court of sexual assault. Despite that, he was elected twice and is still defended by followers, including many elected officials. Zimmerman’s right: This is who we are. If we want different, we must all fight for the change we want, and not just at one moment of trauma or in one school district.

Diane Payne, Philadelphia

Do we need more proof of our draft-dodger-in-chief’s disdain for the military? More proof is the latest news about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s detention and deportation of families of active-duty service members.

Really? This, after recruiters inform men and women during the enlistment process that their families would enjoy immigration benefits.

It is beyond outrageous and cruel. And once again it shows that Donald Trump has no regard for our service members. Of all persons, he who dodged the draft is condoning this action.

“Duty, honor, country” is the motto of the U.S. Military Academy. “… to keep our honor clean” is in the Marine Corps hymn (I served as an officer). I imagine the other military services have similar promises they make to America. Trump and his enablers have no concept of honor, and we Americans and the whole world know it.

Luis W. Morales, Paoli

Now that hearings are underway to look at the crowd control tactics of the police during Pride in June, Police Commissioner Kevin J. Bethel seems to be taking all the heat. His police force, his responsibility. But it would seem there are other players we should be looking at. Mark Squilla is the City Council member for that district. Where was he in the decision-making process over whether or not to close the streets in the Gayborhood? Rue Landau is leading the inquiry over the event. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, does she not have contacts in the Gayborhood? Did she not consult them? The rest of City Council? Hell, where was Mayor Cherelle L. Parker throughout this? Did anyone reach out to the bar and other business owners for input? I’m not attempting to minimize Commissioner Bethel’s responsibility over his officers. I’m just saying he shouldn’t bear it all.

Tim Reed, Philadelphia

We have to be honest about what happened around the appointment of a permanent U.S. attorney general. Sens. Thom Tillis of North Carolina and John Cornyn of Texas, both of whom will be leaving the Senate, got absolutely nothing in terms of concessions from the White House after threatening to oppose the nominations. In the end, they caved — plain and simple. No one can legitimately say they stood up to President Donald Trump. They merely gave cover to all the vulnerable Republicans in Congress who, for obvious political reasons, were reluctant to vote on the nomination. Tillis and Cornyn, it should be remembered, are first and foremost Republicans in Trump’s Republican Party. As has been the case since Trump was reelected in 2024, Republican leaders doth protest too much. At first, they feign concerns, and then acquiesce when the critical vote comes. Enough said. Please stop insisting Tillis and Cornyn are heroes; they are cowards — RINOs in sheep clothing. They represent what is wrong with politics in the age of MAGA.

Richard Cherwitz, Austin, Texas

Anthony Fauci, a public health researcher, has served under seven presidents. The current and former president, Donald Trump, awarded him a presidential commendation on the last day of his first term. Today, the 85-year-old Fauci must have full-time security. The secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., copied Fauci’s diaries so Republican Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul could distribute them so they would become available to the public. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has possession of Fauci’s phone and is investigating its contents.

As the witch hunt continues, and while the nonscientists on the Republican side of the aisle run a revisionist history of the COVID-19 scourge, there are a few pieces missing. More than one million Americans died of COVID. Many spent their last days and hours on ventilators as their families watched them die through hospital windows. Body bags were sent to freezer trucks in some cities. Some still suffer from the debilitating effects of long COVID. The coronavirus was novel and contagious and deadly. Fauci steered us through this scary time as we all navigated this together. He exercised extreme caution, steered us away from crackpot quick fixes, and with the help of the vaccine, helped us get beyond it. But the crackpots have taken over. Fauci is paying the price. We only have to watch the measles statistics and the scary trip down the produce aisles to recognize that the Trump administration and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are putting us all at risk for worse to come.

Elliott Miller, Bala Cynwyd

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