Letters to the Editor | Sept. 21, 2025
Inquirer readers on the need for more commonsense gun safety laws and the forced hiatus of Jimmy Kimmel's late night talk show.
Laughter dies, tyranny wins
First Stephen Colbert, now Jimmy Kimmel. Two late-night comedians silenced — treated like a national threat, while conspiracy and hate still get prime time. When did we decide laughter was more dangerous than lies?
Comedy has always been more than entertainment. From Ben Franklin’s wit to today’s late-night stage, satire exposes truths speeches can’t. That’s why authoritarian regimes fear it — and why we should, too, when we silence comedians.
Kimmel’s disappearance isn’t about decorum. It’s about fear. Fear that someone watching at 11:30 p.m. might laugh at the emperor’s nakedness. Fear that humor might wake us up when punditry puts us to sleep.
Here in Philadelphia — the birthplace of free speech — this should alarm us. Franklin warned, “Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.” If he were alive today, he’d add, “… and the freeness of laughter.”
Michael Pierce, Delran
Pro-guns isn’t pro-life
The greatest threat to America are the Republicans who still refuse to denounce Donald Trump for inciting the violent Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection attempt to end America’s tradition of peaceful transition after presidential elections.
The second greatest threat to America is the Republicans who repeatedly offer only useless “thoughts and prayers” after every violent gun shooting.
Approximately 58,000 American soldiers died during the Vietnam War, which lasted about 20 years. In 2022 and 2023, nearly 92,000 Americans died as a result of gun violence.
If Republicans are truly pro-life, they’ll start by supporting a military-style assault weapons ban to begin ending “America’s Gun War” against itself.
Reggie Regrut, Phillipsburg
Inflammable speech
Now that Republicans are wringing their hands over political violence, I’d like to remind them of how their supreme leader sees violence as a legitimate way to resolve political differences and has been calling for violence for the last decade. Below are a few of his comments, deeds, and recommendations:
About Hillary Clinton: “Lock her up” chant.
About a heckler during a speech: “I’d like to punch him in the face.”
About the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va., in 2017: “You had very fine people on both sides.”
About Liz Cheney: Let’s put her somewhere with “guns trained at her face.”
About the torture of prisoners: “I’d bring back a helluva lot worse than waterboarding.”
About protesters: “Can’t you just shoot them?”
About the Proud Boys: “Stand back and stand by.”
About another heckler during a different speech: “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of ‘em. I promise you I will pay for the legal fees.”
Herm Boehm, Micco, Fla.
Picture of hypocrisy
Thank you for publishing the ultimate picture of hypocrisy: Benjamin Netanyahu and Marco Rubio praying at the Wailing Wall while they (we) are starving, bombing, and murdering millions in genocidal violence.
The hypocrisy is stunning.
Jeffrey Plaut, Elkins Park, jeffrey.plaut@gmail.com
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