Letters to the Editor | Sept. 28, 2026
Inquirer readers on Sen. John Fetterman’s voting record and President Trump’s speech at the United Nations.
Mockery of peace
During his address to the United Nations General Assembly last week, President Donald Trump mused:
“I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran … or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly? … Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness for generations?”
An official threat to annihilate another country violates the U.N. Charter’s prohibition on the threat or use of force. If it contemplates destroying Iran’s people or denying them a future as a national group, it also raises the specter of the gravest crime in international law: genocide.
Words from a president carry extraordinary weight. They can normalize mass violence, intimidate civilian populations, and signal that international law is optional for the powerful.
The United States helped establish the postwar legal order to reject wars of conquest and collective punishment. A self-described president of peace should not stand before the United Nations and threaten an entire country with destruction.
Terry Hansen, Grafton, Wis.
Protect residents
How truly disappointing to read about Lower Merion Township’s gas leaf blower ordinance through the narrow lens of enforcement “stress.” The article reads like a script from the fossil fuel industry, to share as “news” that it just might be too costly to shield people from hearing impairment and carcinogens, the indisputable and long-proven dangers of gas-powered leaf blowers.
Lower Merion made enforcement cumbersome, and it must not now be weaponized to discourage protecting people from harm, which is the very point of gas blower ordinances nationwide.
My town, Montclair, N.J., is one of them. We have prohibited gas leaf blowers here year-round since 2023. Residents and workers, including municipal staff, are safer and healthier because of our ordinance.
Lower Merion’s officials should revisit its enforcement policy. If it’s the “burden,” “stress,” and “strain” they describe, they surely need to streamline their process. Would they talk like this about a new speed limit in a school zone?
Bottom line: For a machine this dangerous, protecting public health is worth it.
Anna Grossman, Montclair, N.J.
Uneven praise
It is a bit odd that, despite so much hand-wringing about partisanship, the state of our country’s politics, the divided electorate, and the purported need to work together, Sen. John Fetterman continues to be vilified.
Although his voting record has supported his party’s position and Democratic leadership policies about 80% of the time — with the exception of supporting Israel — his party’s Democratic caucus and their supporters in liberal media have been outraged.
When Sens. Thom Tillis, Bill Cassidy, Susan Collins, or Lisa Murkowski or former Sens. Mitt Romney and John McCain buck their party’s leadership or policies, they are praised as statesmen.
I don’t support many of Sen. Fetterman’s votes — and did not vote for his election — but is bipartisanship worthwhile in just one direction, and only when it’s accompanied by a heavy dose of TDS?
Daniel P. McCartney, Richboro
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