Letters to the Editor | Aug. 29, 2025

Well, it’s back-to-school time — pencils, crayons, bullets. Bullets? Yes, there was a shooting during the first week of school, and two precious little souls were taken because the gun lovers value their weapons much more than children.

We have book bag packing events to make sure the little ones have enough supplies. The gun lovers always seem to have enough bullets; they never seem to run out. Why is that?

Of course, we must include “thoughts and prayers” whenever there is a shooting. But the children were in church when they were shot. They were praying. There must be a solution, and we must find it before more children die.

Sheryl Kalick, Philadelphia

Scientists? Forget ‘em. Vaccines? Good luck. Books? Only “certain” ones. Immigrants? Who needs ‘em? Voting rights? A thing of the past. Public transportation? Figure it out on your own.

But guns? We have guns galore in our big, beautiful America.

We are all victims. We are a country traumatized by our sick priorities.

Sara Wenger, Ambler

I just hit the $2,000 cap on out-of-pocket prescription drug costs for Medicare Part D enrollees. Yay!

Last year, I spent $5,164 on prescription drugs. Thanks to President Joe Biden and the Inflation Reduction Act, I will save over $3,000 in drug costs this year.

Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s “Big Beautiful Bill” (beautiful for billionaires, that is) cuts Medicaid, and will trigger automatic cuts to Medicare because of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010.

It’s pretty clear to me that I was much better off with the Biden administration than I am with the current people in charge.

Martha B. Bryans, Kennett Square

I read with great interest Wendy Ruderman’s article on Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia’s fight against a Trump administration request to divulge the names of young people seeking gender-affirming care.

Imagine going to the doctor and sharing the most intimate, personal details of your health with your trusted provider, knowing your information is protected within the privileged provider-patient relationship, governed by federal privacy laws. Next, imagine your child doing the same.

Under the Trump administration, this privileged relationship is being jeopardized and dismantled, targeting not only CHOP doctors providing gender-affirming care, but also their adolescent patients. Under privacy laws, federal prosecutors subpoenaed these particular patient records to investigate and disparage gender-affirming care, which CHOP has continued to provide while other institutions have pulled back because of governmental pressure. I applaud CHOP for standing firm in protecting its most vulnerable patients while continuing to deliver the care they deserve. In an era with significant strain between our government and healthcare systems, it is more important than ever to remain vigilant and continue advocating for patients’ rights and privacy.

Grace Lucatamo, Philadelphia

In his thought-provoking column on the FBI raid of John Bolton’s home, Will Bunch opines, “Maybe the most striking thing about the last few days of news flashes about the decline and fall of American democracy has been the disgruntled conservatives or recovered ‘objective’ journalists now forced to concede the true nature of the Trump project: fascism.” The president has been governing by executive fiat, based on alleged “emergencies,” and adhering to the goals outlined in Project 2025. Although the president has denied he will stay in office beyond his constitutional limit of two terms, we should still be haunted by the events of Jan. 6, 2021, and his comments last year that there may be no need to vote again if he were to win a second term. As he has demonstrated repeatedly, we should not take such comments in jest. The methodical dismantling of governmental institutions and encroachment on civil liberties are setting the stage for an “emergency” to cancel the November 2028 election.

Warren R. Heymann, Haddonfield

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s warnings about the possible National Guard takeover of Chicago — and his calling out the national authoritarian power grab that is happening across the country — should be heeded carefully in Philadelphia and by all Pennsylvanians. The recent op-ed by Paulette Whitfield shows how this script-flipping is happening in our own backyard, with Harrisburg Republicans trying to change the narrative to blame Democrats for the SEPTA funding crisis and the state’s budget impasse. This is all an effort by Republicans to continue implementing Project 2025. Beware.

Beth Logue, POWER Interfaith Education Justice Team, Philadelphia, elizabeth.logue44@gmail.com

President Donald Trump is trying to take over Democratic-controlled cities by force, using the lie that those communities are more crime-ridden than those controlled by Republican mayors.

The fact is that crime exploded under Trump’s first term. Democratic mayors of America’s big cities have been fighting to reverse the tide since the president first left office, and the crime rate has declined. Cities have reduced crime not by sending in the military, but through programs and policing techniques that have proven effective. The funding for some of those programs has been cut by this administration. If Trump were serious about fighting crime, maintaining those programs — and perhaps hiring more police where warranted — should be top priorities. Sending in the National Guard where there is no emergency is a waste of taxpayer money and a misuse of the troops’ time. They are not trained for policing.

Our country has already experienced a tragic outcome of the National Guard being used to quell protests. Demonstrators were holding a rally against the war in Vietnam at Kent State University on May 4, 1970, when four students were killed and nine were injured by National Guard troops who had been deployed there. We cannot sit by while our fellow citizens risk the same fate.

Maria Duca, Philadelphia

President Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that the immigrants being detained and deported are hardened criminals. In fact, a significant number of immigrants detained have no criminal history or committed misdemeanors, some many years ago.

We face a greater risk of assault, robbery, or murder from American citizens than from immigrants. Children are at a greater risk of dying from an overdose of drugs brought into our country by American citizens who face less scrutiny crossing the border. The drug-producing Mexican cartels are armed with weaponry illegally exported to Mexico by American citizens.

The administration invokes inflamed rhetoric by cherry-picking tragic crimes that inspire prejudice and hatred toward immigrants.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is not looking for specific immigrants. It is raiding farms, car washes, Home Depots, and other businesses with immigrant workers in order to meet quotas. While a few immigrants may have serious criminal histories and should be deported, most have no serious criminal history and contribute to our economy, our communities, and our culture.

Blaming immigrants for America’s ills is outrageous, discriminatory, and racially prejudicial. This hurts our country and is not who we are.

Gerald Koren, Exton

In 2016, President-elect Donald Trump broke with tradition by opting not to receive the President’s Daily Brief, a highly classified, daily summary of national security issues, claiming it was unnecessary because “I’m, like, a smart person.” That break with tradition continued throughout his first term in office, where the Daily Brief was infrequent, at best.

Apparently, not much has changed in his second term. During an Oval Office media availability, Trump was asked about an Israeli strike on a hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing 20 people, including five journalists. His response: “When did this happen? I didn’t know that.” Despite widespread reporting from Reuters, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, BBC, CNN, and the New York Times, Trump was oblivious.

Diminishing the importance of the Daily Brief can lead to inconsistent policymaking, which may explain Trump’s failure at brokering peace settlements in both Gaza and Ukraine.

Jane Larkin, Tampa, Fla.

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