Letters to the Editor | Nov. 11, 2024

Veterans Day is a revered holiday here at IBEW Local 98. Many of our members served in the U.S. military, and we are incredibly grateful for their service and sacrifice. To honor them and ensure they are receiving all military benefits due to them, we formed the first veterans committee in the 100-plus-year history of our union. We routinely support events, organizations, and causes that honor and assist veterans, including the Veterans Multi-Service Center here in Philadelphia and the Travis Manion Foundation. We’re also providing in-kind electrical work to repair the Philadelphia Vietnam Veterans Memorial, which was sadly vandalized last year. Just yesterday, we hosted our members and their families at our new Navy Yard Union Hall to celebrate with a massive birthday cake the 249th birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps, which was founded in Philadelphia on Nov. 10, 1775. Happy Veterans Day, America, and thank you to all who served.

Mark Lynch Jr., business manager, IBEW Local 98

Veterans Day is today. As we honor the men and women who served, we need to recognize that many struggle with their mental health. According to the 2023 National Veteran Suicide Prevention Annual Report, there were 6,392 veteran suicide deaths in 2021 — the second leading cause of death among veterans under age 45. Of all veteran suicides in 2021, 72% were by firearms. The firearm suicide rate among veteran women was 281% higher than nonveteran women, and the firearm suicide rate among veteran men was 62% higher than for nonveteran men in 2021.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs found a variety of factors that may increase the risk of suicide. Some of these are substance abuse, PTSD, traumatic brain injury, depression, anxiety, insomnia, higher doses of opioid medications for pain control, and acute psychosocial stressors. Veterans who misuse drugs and alcohol are more than twice as likely to die by suicide than other veterans.

The VA has mental health resources. A good place to start would be to visit vetcenter.va.gov or call the Veterans Crisis Line by dialing 988 and pressing 1. Veterans can also text 838255. For people with hearing loss, they can call TTY: 800-799-4889.

The Jason Foundation is another valuable resource. It is dedicated to the prevention of suicide through educational awareness programs that equip people with the tools and resources to help identify and assist at-risk youth and adults. If you have a friend or loved one who is a veteran and struggling with their mental health, it is important to know the warning signs and risk factors associated with suicidal ideation. Knowing this information could be key to saving that person’s life. For more information and to find the closest affiliate near you, visit jasonfoundation.com.

Scott Knight, senior division, director and education specialist, Jason Foundation, Hendersonville, Tenn.

Were you all listening to Donald Trump’s final rally speeches before Election Day? I am directing this letter to Philadelphians, Pennsylvanians, and to the state attorney general. Trump was maligning your state’s election apparatus and workers by saying that there was already massive voter fraud going on in Pennsylvania. Of course, Trump never has any proof to support any of his claims. However, I submit that the attorney general could mount a very good case to prosecute Trump for the act of defaming the entire state of Pennsylvania. If Trump could be found guilty of defamation against E. Jean Carroll, and Rudy Giuliani could be found guilty of defaming Georgia election workers, why should Trump not be held responsible for this? I think it should be worth at least a couple of hundred million dollars from Trump’s fortune, paid into the Keystone State’s treasury.

Gerald Lance Johannsen, Carlsbad, Calif.

As an educator of high school, undergraduate, and graduate-level international students for over 50 years, I have devoted much time to teaching tolerance and respecting people with different backgrounds and points of view. Thus, I’m having a very hard time with myself over my inability to be accepting of Donald Trump supporters. I simply can’t justify respecting people who clearly care so little about the messages their vote has signaled to our children and grandchildren — that lying, cheating, abusing, threatening, bullying, narcissism, and racism are OK. That threatening the reputations, even the lives, of good people who facilitate our elections, run for office, and work in government doesn’t disqualify you for the highest office in our country. In fact, you can be rewarded for rejecting the results of a legitimate American election and encouraging an insurrection that caused great physical and emotional harm to many people. I wish I could be more tolerant, but if I were, what example would I set for my own children?

Alexis Gerard Finger, Bala Cynwyd

My reaction to Donald Trump’s election? I’m applying for Social Security now. My goal is to save myself from the cuts already teed up by Republicans. I’m 64, and while I’m not eligible for full benefits (I’d have to wait for age 67 for that), I can get a percentage of the full benefit, and there’s precedent for grandfathering your benefits from future cuts. In March, 80% of House Republicans advocated for a budget that would reduce your Social Security check by an average of $3,500 a year and raise the full-benefit retirement age from 67 to 69.

The tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that Trump has promised have to be paid for somehow. And while Amazon for a long time has avoided paying corporate tax on Jeff Bezos’ billions — and in 2020, finally made to pay taxes, but limited to a 1.2% tax rate — Trump will want to thank his buddy for blocking the Washington Post’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, and nothing says thank you like, “You don’t have to pay taxes this year.”

There’s also a second effect of cutting Social Security that is equally attractive to Trump’s real constituency, i.e., owners of wealthy corporations. A worker who knows they have Social Security coming up, secure and at a specific time, is not desperate to remain employed in the way a worker who doesn’t have that safety net is. Who do you think benefits when workers are terrified and vulnerable? That would be the corporations who employ them. If you’re scared and desperate for that next paycheck, you’re not going to demand wage hikes or better working conditions or go on strike. Social Security is your money. Get it while you still can.

Linda Falcao, North Wales

I continue to be amazed that the proposal to put the Sixers arena next to Chinatown is advancing, despite support from only 18% of Philadelphians, as reported in The Inquirer. I work near the site. I can say that 18% figure will likely decline once there is a sports venue disgorging large numbers of people simultaneously. Even now, with one lane of Eighth Street closed for only half a block, the area frequently gridlocks during normal rush hours. It’s not going to help existing businesses if their workers and customers find themselves trapped on the surrounding streets when they’re trying to leave. Public transportation, which doesn’t run to the suburbs at those late hours, is obviously not an alternative.

Yes, building an arena would create construction jobs, but so would building affordable apartments for young adults early in their careers. The entire premise of the move is that the Sixers want more control of the revenues from the arena. They’re going to do everything possible to keep attendees spending money inside the arena, not in the surrounding neighborhood. I’m disappointed that the only City Council members willing to express real opposition are the members of the Working Families Party. Do Philadelphia’s Democrats feel so invulnerable that they can ignore their constituents to this extent?

Eileen K. Carpenter, Philadelphia

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