Letters to the Editor | Jan. 24, 2023

The memory is seared in my mind. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis steps to the podium, then turns to students protecting themselves with face masks. He rebukes them, calling it all “performative COVID theater.” There is neither a smile nor warmth. The Union League is a private club free to honor those they feel are deserving. But we should know what DeSantis is selling. The governor’s “anti-woke” agenda is simply different phrasing for censorship. He is now reaching into school systems and a private college to influence how and what they teach. Republicans used to call this government overreach. In September, he sent a plane of unknowing asylum-seekers in Texas to Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts. The performance got headlines but achieved nothing other than exploiting vulnerable immigrants. Some political analysts believe that DeSantis is “Trump lite.” He is not. He is still the guy who took the opportunity to humiliate the students to make himself look bigger.

Elliott Miller, Bala Cynwyd

People who respect traditional thought aren’t surprised Philadelphia School District employees are being confronted with threatening and violent behavior by parents of unruly pupils, as reported in The Inquirer. We live in a time when large parts of the American population find ways to justify riots in the streets. In another arena, individuals possessing the same mentality are willing to rationalize prejudicially aggressive confrontations against police officers even when they are legitimately carrying out designated authority in a responsible manner. Thinking adults know ruffians with hateful worldviews will act hostile toward teachers, even when their own child is the source of negative conduct. Decades of educational decline should have taught us to push back against the foolishness that enables this situation.

Stew Bolno, Philadelphia, stewbolno@comcast.net

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s twin-track foreign policy gambit has U.K. Conservatives stalling European Union negotiations over trade issues while pushing a controversial amnesty bill to bury the legacy of murder by British security services in Northern Ireland. A vote in Parliament has been scheduled for later this month to adopt the so-called amnesty bill, which no one in Ireland or Northern Ireland wants. The timing is no surprise to observers. Appearing to negotiate on EU trade issues makes sense and pleases President Joe Biden. But it is being used to distract Americans and U.S. probing media. The record of more than 1,000 unsolved killings in Northern Ireland has drawn wide criticism from members of the U.S. Congress. The British strategy is to have “clean hands” when seeking a U.S.-U.K. trade rescue from their disastrous exit from the EU.

John M. Corcoran, chairman, American Brexit Committee, Philadelphia, corcoranesq@aol.com

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