Letters to the Editor | July 1, 2025

On Sunday’s front page, Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran insists his actions aren’t politically motivated. But he gives the game away when he refers to his critics as the “lunatic left.” Liberals or left-leaning people aren’t lunatics. Caring about the civil rights of minorities isn’t lunacy, it’s plain common human decency. Our trolling culture has created an overheated, hyperbolic environment in the communication of ideas. It would serve all of us well to just take a breath and count to 10. Now, think for a moment about legacy. How do you want to be remembered? As someone baselessly calling people rude names in service to a man whose only interest is in self-glorification and self-enrichment? We were all raised better than that. History will outlive us all, and it won’t be misled by “alternative facts” or ad nauseam denials of reality. Try starting with the golden rule. You can look it up.

Eugene Ely, San Jose, Calif.

Thank you for publishing State Rep. Napoleon Nelson’s op-ed. He is correct that socially promoting failing students harms the student. House Bill 1535 — which would require that no student be promoted more than three grade levels beyond their reading proficiency, or more than four grade levels beyond their math proficiency — should be unanimously passed by the General Assembly. However, HB 1535 is 40 years too late. An adult with a third-grade reading ability is unemployable. Social promotions have created a permanent underclass. Pennsylvania school districts need to stop deceiving themselves and the people they are tasked with educating.

John H. Morley Jr., Philadelphia

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt’s recent comments, in a response to questions on Donald Trump’s culture of secrecy, inadvertently revealed that politicizing our civil service workforce is a key administration goal: “We expect every federal worker, whether they are a political or a career [sic], to respect their jobs and to respect the responsibility they have to the American people to execute on this Administration’s policies.” I beg to point out to Leavitt that federal workers take an oath to support the Constitution — and we taxpayers pay their salaries. Maybe she should read up on the history of the civil service, but then, this administration has learned nothing from history.

Ed Devinney, Delanco

A recent op-ed laments that Amazon is adversely affecting the “green transition.” A few pertinent facts: Amazon is not going away and provides a service for a portion of society who really depend on it (e.g., seniors with limited mobility). Amazon, along with other forward-thinking companies, recognizes that expanding data center capability is essential to support growing artificial intelligence needs. Resurrecting or slowing the decommissioning of existing nuclear power plants is an efficient way to fill the coming need for electrical power to meet AI requirements. There are not enough solar and wind projects planned to support this growing need. There are several different nuclear projects in the planning phase that will contribute significantly to the overall mix of the electrical grid. In my view, nuclear power does support the green transition since it does not contribute to climate change like other fossil power sources that emit CO2. America needs more nuclear power. To deny that is to be out of step with reality.

Tom Elsasser, Philadelphia, elsasser64@aol.com

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