Letters to the Editor | Aug. 6, 2024

Ever since Israel launched its attacks on Hamas, the United States has involved itself in Israel’s defense. Besides sending significant amounts of military aid, the U.S. has intercepted Houthi missiles and drones fired at Israel as well as launched strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen. Additionally, the U.S. intervened to help defend Israel in Iran’s attack in April. Now, we are deploying more military assets to support Israel against another potential Iranian attack in retaliation for the assassination of Hamas’ political leader. Yet, when it comes to Ukraine, the U.S. provides limited military aid.

As Trudy Rubin has articulated in numerous columns, we fail to provide Ukraine with the necessary armaments to more effectively repulse the Russian invasion. Why the disparate treatment? Fear of Russia’s nuclear armaments while knowing Iran poses no such threat? If so, then this unequal treatment exposes the hypocrisy of U.S. foreign policy in protecting democracy. With few repercussions for military actions in Syria and Crimea, Vladimir Putin uses the threat of tactical nuclear weapons to keep us on the sidelines. The U.S. needs to support Ukraine in the same manner as Israel. Anything less is not only disparate but also duplicitous.

Taylor McCormick, Drexel Hill

I am a pediatric resident physician and former public high school teacher. I have cared for many adolescents — both as an educator and as a physician — who have had firsthand experience with the juvenile justice system. I was disheartened to learn of the closing of Philadelphia’s first-ever Juvenile Assessment Center, less than a year after its opening. The Inquirer article optimistically states that with the closing, there are opportunities to divert youth from the justice system before they are charged.

However, youth who are not diverted are processed (with long wait times) at police booking facilities designed for adults, rather than at a trauma-informed center specifically for youth. Adverse childhood experiences and trauma lead children into the juvenile justice system. LGBTQ youth experience increased rates of abuse, and youth of color are disproportionately represented in this system. While I agree that it is imperative to divert youth from entering the justice system, significant resources to support the unique needs of children must be allocated within our communities.

Elizabeth Zeichner, Philadelphia

To the delight of legions of hackers, businesses are relentlessly pushing forward to make all transactions and records paperless. In the name of progress and simplicity, there is a tidal wave pushing changes to eliminate paper documents and paper trails to make all transactions by electronic methods. Thus, we are creating a no-man’s-land in our financial system where all activities will disappear into a supposedly secure domain that leaves no paper footprints or written remains. Lacking electronic computers or passwords, consumers and companies will have no visible means of proof for activities or ownership. Does this make our world safer, or is this the ultimate victory for the AI army?

C. Tom Howes, Havertown