Letters to the Editor | Aug. 30, 2024

Does Donald Trump just not understand team sports? When he rambles on about Vice President Kamala Harris replacing President Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee as a “coup,” I know he sees his defeat coming in November and is throwing up anything to see what sticks. But this argument, like its creator, is a loser.

Maybe Trump doesn’t know this, but sports teams switch out the players on the field all the time, according to who can best do what. Anyone who voted for Biden in the primaries knew they were voting for Harris should something happen to the president (which is, literally, the definition of what the vice president does). And something did happen: Biden became unable to perform his duties as candidate, so the Democratic team called up Biden’s backup to step up to the position that Biden himself chose her for, a decision he called “the best decision” he ever made in 50 years in political life.

Imagine if, when the Eagles beat the Cowboys in the Super Bowl next January, Dallas tried to get the Lombardi trophy taken away from Philly because the quarterback they wanted to play against — and expected to play against — wasn’t who showed up on the field. You would expect this kind of whining from the Cowboys, of course, but you’d hope we’d be above it in national politics. I understand Trump is such a narcissist, and the Republican Party is such a one-man band (all Trump, all the time), that the concept of a team eludes him. That’s why Trump is going to lose in November, and why he should lose. He doesn’t get team sports, and America is our team.

Linda Falcão, North Wales

Recently, Jim Kohlberg pledged $30 million to New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice, and President Joe Biden has planned to prioritize U.S. Supreme Court reform — both intent on changing the tenure and functioning of justices. These court reforms will receive overwhelming support from congressional Democrats. However, you can be assured that any discussion of term or age limits will not be proposed for Congress or the presidency. Besides the obvious hypocrisy, limiting tenure could create a serious dilemma for members of the court — particularly the adherence to stare decisis (i.e., commitment to precedent).

As a former federal human resources officer, one of my operating philosophies, inculcated in my staff, was the understanding that HR decisions were made by the HR department, and not by individual managers or specialists. Thus, stare decisis was also a guiding principle of mine to avoid the possibility of willy-nilly, cavalier, or arbitrary decision-making by individuals. The organization’s credibility was of paramount importance. Be wary of any initiatives altering our legislative, executive, or judicial branches regarding their selection, tenure, or power.

Ron Smith, Brigantine, ronaldjsmithsr@comcast.net

The Carbon Dioxide Sequestration and Primacy Act, Senate Bill 831, would allow the oil and gas industry to inject carbon dioxide into the ground to store captured carbon emissions without landowners’ consent. Our state government recently passed this hugely consequential bill without even a hearing. Carbon dioxide and sequestration is a hypothetical process that has never worked. This is a false climate solution with potentially disastrous consequences. What assurances exist that carbon dioxide gas won’t seep back into the atmosphere? What effects will this process have on animal life and our groundwater? Carbon dioxide sequestration has been tried in Oklahoma, occasionally spurring earthquakes.

SB 831 would transfer long-term liability for the process to the state and not to the oil and gas company. Our tax dollars continue to subsidize the oil and gas industry while it rakes in profits and pollutes our atmosphere. We should be transitioning to renewable energy, not holding on to processes that degrade our environment. We all share the responsibility to protect our environment. Please join us in contacting your state legislator and asking them to repeal SB 831. Together, we can make a difference.

Kathy Cook, Food and Water Watch Pennsylvania, Exton

An SCI-Phoenix correctional officer was savagely assaulted on July 29. The officer was stabbed 11 times in his head, back, and neck. It’s a miracle he’s still alive and is expected to recover. This should never have happened, because the warning signs were there. SCI-Phoenix has suffered the most violent incidents of any state prison in 2024, according to state Department of Corrections records. This includes inmate-on-staff assaults, as well as inmate-on-inmate assaults and fights. It also has the second-highest number of assaults committed against prison staff (21).

Some areas of the prison have been searched and weapons have been found, but these events collectively should’ve triggered an automatic lockdown of the entire facility so the corrections emergency response team (CERT) could search for weapons and other contraband. The Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association made this request, but no facility-wide lockdown and search has been done. One can only conclude staff safety isn’t a priority for this department. The Department of Corrections must take all necessary steps to protect the public servants who bravely serve at SCI-Phoenix. Lock down this entire jail now and allow CERT to do its job.

John Eckenrode, president, Pennsylvania State Corrections Officers Association, Harrisburg

I applaud the Spot Period Hub for highlighting and combating period poverty as the country’s first menstrual hub and uterine wellness center. As a pediatrics resident, I hope more members of the medical community will recognize and support its work as it recovers from flood damage. Since 2019, the price of pads and tampons has risen faster than the price of food. In 2021, one in four high school students reported financial and material barriers to accessing menstrual products, and lower-income students and students of color were disproportionately affected. This has damaging effects on health and wellness, such as increased urogenital infections, mental health issues, and school absences. The Spot Period Hub seeks to end period poverty by providing menstrual products to local community members and partners. In supporting its mission through donations and exposure, we can come one step closer to ensuring access to menstrual products is a basic human right.

Will Li, Philadelphia

Are those new SEPTA commuter trains designed to be driverless, and to have autonomous controls like the airport tram cars that take us from terminal to terminal in big airports, and like the hundreds of Waymo taxis cabs in San Francisco? If not driverless and not autonomously controlled, why not? The sophisticated Waymo cab computers drive through thousands of variables of car and bus traffic in San Francisco; our SEPTA commuter trains merely go straight on fixed steel rails, stop 10-20 times at the exact same places, and return. Very easy for a computer to do nowadays. With SEPTA’s operating costs always an issue, why pay for jobs computers can do, similar to highway toll collectors, whose jobs were replaced by the technology of our car transponders? SEPTA should use the drivers’ skills elsewhere in the system.

Gardner A. Cadwalader, Philadelphia, gacadwalader@gmail.com

Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 200 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.