Letters to the Editor | Feb. 26, 2023

I truly believed that Josh Shapiro was a gubernatorial candidate with integrity and courage. How disappointing to read Spotlight PA’s reporting that he violated his own gift ban within a month of taking office. No amount of rationalization or verbiage spinning from either the Shapiro administration or Team Pennsylvania can excuse Gov. Shapiro and his administration for accepting a full travel package to the 2023 Super Bowl. Team Pennsylvania definitely has financial relationships with the commonwealth. As a financial adviser, who by law cannot accept or give a gift worth over $100, I am appalled and disappointed with this revelation.

Patricia Picardi, Pottstown

I’m calling on Mayor Jim Kenney and Gov. Josh Shapiro to take on the vexing problem of guns in Philly. Mayor Kenney’s astute observation that guns could and should be regulated like our liquor is an easy solution. Proof of identity and residency, access to background checks, and registration are prudent ways to control, not deny, gun ownership in Pennsylvania. (Maybe the rest of the nation will catch on.) Encourage the idea that, like car registration, gun purchases need to be part of a simple regulated process, and fine the gun shops that do not comply. It’s not a rights issue, it’s a safety issue. Isn’t that why people buy guns, to “feel safe”?

Vimukti Aslan, Philadelphia

Over the years, the U.S. has given $150 billion in aid to Israel. We continue to do so to the tune of more than $3 billion per year, despite Israel’s status as one of the wealthiest and most technologically advanced countries in the world. The U.S. has never done a real audit of how Israel has used the money we have given it. Never. My question is: How much emergency aid has Israel given to aid the people in eastern Turkey and western Syria devastated by the recent earthquake, or to the Ukrainian people rendered homeless by the Russian invasion? Perhaps we should divert all of the aid we continue to give Israel to help the truly needy.

John McCann, Doylestown, pard1.mccann@gmail.com

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy turning over 44,000 hours of security video from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection to Fox News host Tucker Carlson should raise concern for all Americans. Carlson portrays himself as a great communicator, ready to expose the real “truth” to protect the American way, but he supplies a steady stream of misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies. Carlson has praised Vladimir Putin and has been used as a propaganda tool in Russia to prop up the invasion of Ukraine. He has praised Hungary’s far-right prime minister, Viktor Orbán, who has cracked down on press freedom, immigration, and LGBTQ rights. What do you think Carlson and his pro-Putin supporters will do with the information provided by McCarthy? Who will they share it with? How much undermining of our institutions and our democracy will the Russians use for their misinformation campaign? How much editing can be done to 44,000 hours of video to manipulate the information for a 60-second segment on Fox? What was McCarthy thinking? What is Fox News thinking? Ratings? Certainly not the health and welfare of the Capitol Police, or protecting America against all enemies, foreign or domestic. Fox News’ slogan should be “Ratings at all costs.” The truth be damned.

Patrick Thompson, Media

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