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  • Masks don’t belong on ICE agents — or on campus

    Masks don’t belong on ICE agents — or on campus

    When was the last time you changed your mind?

    That’s one of my favorite questions to ask students. I want them to scrutinize their most deeply held beliefs. When you do that, I tell them, you sometimes find out you don’t believe them any longer.

    A few weeks ago, a student put the same question to me. I thought about it for a few days, and then I came back with my answer: I changed my mind about protesters wearing masks on campus.

    I used to think they should be allowed to cover their faces, and that it was a mistake for universities to prohibit them from doing so. But I think differently now.

    And my reason has three letters: ICE.

    Like many other Americans, I’m appalled by the presence of masked agents from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on our streets. Even before they killed two protesters in Minnesota, I was afraid of them. Now, I’m terrified.

    And I’m proud of Democrats in Congress for demanding that ICE agents be prohibited from wearing masks that hide their identities. Blocking a GOP spending bill that lacked any new curbs on ICE, the Democrats forced a partial shutdown of the federal government over the weekend. They should hold out until the mask ban is in place.

    I also support a proposed City Council measure that would block law enforcement officers in Philadelphia — including ICE agents — from obscuring their identities with facial coverings.

    A demonstrator in Los Angeles wears a mask in front of an image of Renee Good during a protest last month to denounce the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement polices.

    But now I believe campus demonstrators — like ICE agents — should also be barred from wearing masks. Their facial coverings stoke fear, too. And they make it next to impossible for officials to keep everyone else safe.

    If you think otherwise, consider what happened at Haverford College earlier this month. Interrupting a talk by a pro-Israel speaker, several masked demonstrators burst into the room. One of them shouted into a bullhorn that “Israeli occupation forces” were killing children. “When Gaza is burned, you will all burn, too,” she said.

    Most universities already have rules barring disruption of public events. But masks add something worse: intimidation.

    When the masked protesters entered the room, a Haverford professor said he thought they were “terrorists trying to get in and kill us.” Another witness said she worried she might be attacked.

    “No one knew who they were or whether they were armed,” the witness added. “Imagine fully masked people entering through emergency exits, hiding objects under their coats, blocking basic points of egress. It is reasonable to fear for your physical safety.”

    And it’s also reasonable for colleges to ban masks. In a statement, Haverford officials said the protester carrying the bullhorn was not a member of their community. But nobody could know that when she entered the room.

    Masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents escort a detained immigrant into an elevator after he exited an immigration courtroom in New York in June.

    How can we keep the university safe if we don’t know who is from the university and who isn’t?

    At the University of Pennsylvania, where I teach, only nine of 33 people arrested during the clearing of pro-Palestinian encampments in May 2024 were students at the university. At Swarthmore, just two of nine arrested demonstrators were members of the college community.

    I opposed the disbanding of the Penn encampments back then, and I still do. I also opposed the university’s new guidelines on open expression, which prohibited protests that “threaten or advocate violence” against “individuals or groups” on the basis of their race, religion, national origin, or sexual orientation. Under that rule, the Haverford protester’s comment about Gaza — “you will burn, too” — might be banned.

    It shouldn’t be. We need a free and open dialogue about Israel, and everything else. And that’s also why we should ban masks, which inhibit that same dialogue. You can’t have a conversation if you don’t know who is talking.

    I used to think masks were a form of free expression, so universities should allow them. I also thought protesters needed to hide their identities so they wouldn’t get doxed, which would subject them to violence and harassment.

    Then the Trump administration said the same thing about ICE agents — they need masks to protect them from doxing — and I changed my mind. Regular police officers don’t wear masks; instead, they wear numbers and name tags. That’s how we hold them accountable for their actions.

    Putting masks on ICE agents does the opposite: It lets them act with impunity. The goal of the masks is not to protect the agents. It’s to foster fear in our communities and our nation.

    They need to take their masks off. But so do we.

    Of course, we should make exceptions for people who cover their faces for reasons of health, religion, sports, or entertainment. I’d hate to see a college kid barred from wearing a Halloween mask, for example.

    But a protester? Let us see who you are. Don’t cower behind a mask. That’s what ICE does.

    Jonathan Zimmerman teaches history and education at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of “Whose America?: Culture Wars in the Public Schools.”

  • At Munich Security Conference, European leaders commit to protect Western values that White House abandons

    At Munich Security Conference, European leaders commit to protect Western values that White House abandons

    MUNICH — Last year, at the Munich Security Conference, where top U.S. and European leaders gather each year, Vice President JD Vance gave a shocking speech that nearly broke the NATO alliance of democracies that had kept the peace in Europe for 80 years.

    Vance claimed the threat to Europe was “not Russia, not China,” but rather came “from within” our NATO allies themselves — falsely accusing European democracies of stifling the radical, pro-Russia, and sometimes neo-Nazi parties that the Trump White House openly supports. The veep never even mentioned the threat from Russia, or its war on Ukraine.

    The acrid impact of that speech has hung over U.S.-European relations and the future of the NATO alliance over the past year.

    At Munich Security Conference, Trump makes it clear: Europe and Ukraine are on their own. | Trudy Rubin

    “Under Destruction” was the title of this year’s conference, held at the elegant Bayerischer Hof hotel. Its annual security report opened with these grim words, aimed at the “current U.S. administration”: “The world has entered a period of wrecking-ball politics. Sweeping destruction — rather than careful reforms and policy corrections — is the order of the day.”

    And yet, this year, I heard a startlingly different tone from European leaders. Stunned by Trump’s demands and disdain, awakened by Russian aggression against Ukraine and much of Europe, furious at President Donald Trump’s threats vs. NATO ally Denmark to seize its sovereign territory of Greenland, European leaders have woken up to the need for dramatic changes — though not in the way envisioned by Trump.

    “Europe has just returned from a vacation from world history,” stated German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who like other leaders here, recognized they had depended for too long on an American ally they trusted for their postwar defense.

    Merz chose to speak first at the conference, taking a European leadership role (while insisting, with a nod to his country’s history, that Germany would “never again go it alone”).

    “The international order based on rights and rules is currently being destroyed,” he said. “But I’m afraid we have to put it in even harsher terms. This order, as flawed as it has been even in its heyday, no longer exists.”

    Merz added, “It does not mean that we accept it as an inevitable fate. We are not at the mercy of this world. We can shape it. And I have no doubt that we will preserve our interests and our values in this world if we step up together with determination, with confidence in our own strengths.”

    U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks at the Munich Security Conference Saturday.

    Indeed, the message of this European leaders meeting in Munich, in sharp contrast to European paralysis at Vance’s onslaught last year, was that they must and can organize to defend against Russia while protecting democratic values — and Ukraine — even if the United States won’t.

    Of course, skeptics, including Trumpers, will claim that Europe has become irrelevant. But what I heard this weekend is far more realistic than Trump’s fantasies about a Ukraine deal that bows to Putin and envisions big business deals with Russia.

    Pressed by Trump (and this was a good thing), NATO allies have significantly increased their defense budgets. Now that the U.S. has cut off almost all aid to Ukraine, Europe is paying for all U.S. weapons that are purchased for Kyiv, and the EU has pledged to cover most of Ukraine’s military budget for the next two years.

    But, unlike the U.S. president, the Europeans recognize that Ukraine is a symbol of the threat posed by an imperialist, aggressive Vladimir Putin.

    “With the beginning of Russia’s aggression, we entered a new phase of open conflict and wars, which changed the [security] situation more than we ever thought possible a few years ago,” Merz continued.

    The Kremlin also pushes claims of defending its “Russian civilization” to include any territory where it falsely claims that Russians are mistreated. This could include the Baltics, Poland, parts of the Arctic, all of Ukraine, Moldova. The list goes on.

    European officials are acutely aware of Russian threats, since they are the constant victims of Russian sabotage, underwater cable cutting, and political assassinations, all of which the White House downplays.

    Vladimir Putin killed Alexei Navalny. It is a stark warning to the West. | Trudy Rubin

    During the conference British intelligence announced they had proof that Russia had assassinated opposition leader Alexei Navalyny in prison with a rare toxin, just as Russian agents murdered a Russian dissident on British soil.

    What I heard over and over was European astonishment that the White House ignores the massive slaughter of civilians by Putin, while pressing only for concessions by Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke bluntly at Munich about the need for more air defenses, but only Europe is responding.

    Indeed, Ukraine was central to the whole conference, with many speakers, warm applause, and frequent sessions featuring Ukrainian military innovations, while Europeans emphasized the importance of Ukraine’s trained army to Europe in the future.

    There was constant praise for Kyiv as the defender of Western values, holding the line between Russia and the democratic West.

    Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, left, and German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius talk during their visit of drone producing company Quantum Frontline Industries near Munich Friday.

    Yet, it was clear from the American position at Munich that the administration sees the world entirely in a different light.

    No doubt aware that Vance redux would have been booed off the stage, the White House dispatched the somewhat more diplomatic (but far less powerful) Secretary of State Marco Rubio who soothed European fears slightly with an emphasis on continued U.S.-European ties. However, Rubio pointedly never mentioned the Russian threat hanging over Europe in his speech. He pushed the same nationalist MAGA line about the main threat to “thousands of years of Western civilization” coming from immigrants and multilateral ties.

    More disdainful was Deputy Secretary of Defense Elbridge Colby, who praised Secretary Pete Hegseth repeatedly and fulsomely, and insisted that the essence of Trump foreign policy was “hard-nosed common sense.”

    “You can’t base an alliance on sentiment alone,” he insisted, in a discussion held in the Bar Montez at the Rosewood Hotel, without taking any questions. “Maybe there is a difference in values.” Then he laughed that he had only heard the words “rules-based international order” once in Munich so “that is a piece of progress.”

    It is not clear whether the Europeans can achieve the weapons production goals they discussed and develop an integrated military force that takes over ground protection of Europe within NATO by the end of this decade. And leaders I spoke with recognize they can’t succeed alone without active partnership with — not subordination to — the United States.

    But what I heard in Munich made clear that they are far more aware of the threat democracies face and the values that need to be protected than is the White House.

    “We will preserve our interests and values if we step up together,” said Merz.

    That is wise advice that the White House continues to ignore.

  • Letters to the Editor | Feb. 16, 2026

    Letters to the Editor | Feb. 16, 2026

    Get active

    Primary election season is approaching, but for some reason, most Americans do not bother to participate. Typically, in nonpresidential election years, somewhere around 20% of voters take part. So often, because of the poor turnout in the primaries, a tiny fraction of the population decides which candidates will represent the two parties in the general election. This often leads to a situation in which many voters complain that neither candidate excites them. You should keep in mind that about 95% of elected offices are held by either a Republican or a Democrat, and they were all nominated in a primary election. And for those who have decided to register as independent, be aware that in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, the primaries are closed, meaning only Republicans can vote in the Republican primary, and only Democrats in the Democratic primary. Rather than bemoan the system, why not take 10 minutes, look at the party platforms, decide which one comes closer to your worldview, and change your registration so that you can be part of the solution? Registration can be done online in two minutes, and it is free of charge. This year, why not make an effort to get back in the habit of being part of our great democratic process? Your country needs you.

    Patrick J. Ream, Millville

    Opposing ICE

    I am grateful that Sen. John Fetterman has voiced his opposition to the planned immigrant detention centers in Berks and Schuylkill Counties. His reasons, which focus primarily on the strain to the local communities, are valid. But he doesn’t talk about the effect on the people who might be sent to those centers. Since Donald Trump became president, at least 30 people have died in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody. Centers have been reported to have inadequate food and housing, and now that the government won’t reimburse for it, medical care is almost nonexistent. Most of these detainees are not dangerous criminals. Most make valuable contributions to our communities. They are our neighbors.

    Almost as troubling is the profit made by the wealthy, well-connected few. For example, records show a Berks County family sold a property for $1.5 million in 2021. It was sold again, in 2024, with a warehouse on it for $57.5 million, and ICE bought it for $84.5 million. Then, there are the profits of the private companies that run the centers and often have no demonstrated capacity to do so.

    Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency established last month that a human life has no value. ICE confirms it.

    Emily Davis, Philadelphia

    Closed schools — or closed minds?

    Twenty public schools are scheduled for closure in Philadelphia, where 90% of the student population is African American and where half the seats are empty. This may seem like a problem, but with imaginative thinking, it can present a great opportunity. Educators should continue to teach in one half of the buildings and use the other half for community services that support building skills for young people, such as operation of retail stores run by students, teaching them about businesses and financial literacy, spaces for town watches and police, protecting the schools and the community, and spaces for the homeless. With hundreds of seats in these school buildings closed, hundreds of minds in our school administration may be opened.

    Leon Williams, Philadelphia

    Truth hurts

    In a recent letter to the editor, Mark Fenstermaker took offense to what he believes is the left-handed slant of The Inquirer. Without citing any factual support, he says that 95% of viewpoints in The Inquirer are slanted to the left. He writes that he hopes the paper would strive to present “unbiased, factual reporting and opinion.” That does not mean the editors at The Inquirer should abandon reality in favor of artificially balancing the number of left vs. right-sided opinions. It seems to me that, like the current herd of Donald Trump followers, truth and facts are your kryptonite. If you don’t like the truth, demean it. If facts get in the way, ignore them. Yes, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has a legitimate goal in policing illegal immigration. Dressing up like Nazi brownshirts and wearing face masks does not advance that goal or engender public support. And killing two innocent people is “slaughter” under any reasonable definition. By the way, the writer’s MAGA hat is showing: neither of these victims “chose to put themselves in danger.” I find the letters policies of The Inquirer quite fair. If not, why was I subjected to the opinion of Mark Fenstermaker?

    Jim Lynch, Collegeville

    . . .

    In a recent letter to the editor, Mark Fenstermaker asks why The Inquirer does not cover the “tens of thousands” of migrants who have committed violent crimes.

    It’s a fair question in the current climate, where our top officials falsely accuse Haitians of eating dogs and where the president’s comment about “shithole” countries echoes years later. The fact of the matter is, according to the American Immigration Council, violent crime among immigrant populations — both documented and undocumented — is about half what it is among the native-born population. There are not “tens of thousands” of cases to cover.

    During times of economic unrest, immigrant populations have become scapegoats for larger social issues. In fact, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the scapegoats were often Southern Europeans, particularly Italians. Earlier, Irish immigrants were assumed to bring increased crime to the U.S. During this time period, fear of Catholicism was baked into the anti-immigrant propaganda, much like fear of migrants today targets Muslims.

    Considering the historic pattern of attacks on migrants helps us understand the propaganda currently promoted by the White House and circulating on social media.

    Ann E. Green, Bala Cynwyd

    . . .

    To rebut statements by the obviously biased person from Warminster: “Tens of thousands of violent, criminal, illegal immigrants” removed from our streets? A gross, unproven exaggeration. About 30% of those arrested have criminal charges pending. Speaking as a retired Philadelphia police sergeant, the two killings by ICE personnel were both manslaughter. The shots were fired by agents who were in no danger, thus making it unnecessary to take innocent lives.

    Words of exaggeration and gross generalization matter.

    Larry Stroup, Warwick

    Toxic brew

    In response to the article about the city no longer dumping snow in the Schuylkill: Granted, the snow piled up on the side of our roads does contain a toxic brew of chemicals, but where does one think those chemicals go when the snow is collected and moved to land-based locations? Do they magically evaporate, never to be seen again? Of course not. The snow melts, and those chemicals are released to either wash into the river or soak into the ground, where they, too, will most likely end up in the river. That part of the argument against dumping accumulated snow into the river doesn’t hold water. Pun intended?

    Tim Reed, Philadelphia

    Learn all history

    I write this having just finished reading the Feb. 8 Opinion section of The Inquirer, which was entirely made up of essays about the 100th anniversary of Black History Month. What a treat to learn about the evolution of what was Negro History Week in 1926 into what became Black History Month in 1976 — and to learn, from the seven essayists, Philadelphia’s role in its growth until now. I concur that “studying the history of Black achievement is integral to understanding the American Experiment.” I am a “Johnny come lately” in learning about the heritage of our African American brothers and sisters. I was studying at Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., and was able to take an Afro-American studies six-credit course in 1970. It was quite an opportunity for this young white woman from suburban Philadelphia to become someone “ahead of her times” in learning the names, achievements, and obstacles of prominent African Americans such as Alain Locke, W.E.B. Du Bois, Phillis Wheatley, James Weldon Johnson, and Mary McLeod Bethune. As one of the writers in the section, Harold Jackson, pointed out, now, “instead of celebrating individuals, Black History Month should focus more on the events and ideas that continue to impact how Black and White people coexist in an America that continues to struggle with covert and subtle racism.” Black History Month is a good time to reflect on “the uncomfortable reminders of what America was, and to take the steps to avoid slipping into a past we need to remember but not repeat.” We are still being called to a “more perfect union.”

    Mary A. McKenna, Philadelphia

    Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.

  • No, ICE isn’t ‘retreating.’ It’s loading up to invade your town.

    No, ICE isn’t ‘retreating.’ It’s loading up to invade your town.

    It was understandable and probably justified when a surge of roughly 3,000 masked and gun-toting federal agents into Greater Minneapolis was described in martial terms, as a kind of modern-day Battle of Stalingrad fought in a snowbound U.S. prairie metropolis.

    Watching the icy slips of the clumsy U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, and the remarkable pushback from whistle-blowing neighbors braving subzero cold, the writer Margaret Killjoy quoted a friend: “ICE made a classic Nazi mistake: they invaded a winter people in winter.” So when border czar Tom Homan stood at a Minneapolis podium last week and declared an end to “Operation Metro Surge,” many in the media raced to cast the move as a major pullback.

    “The Occupying Army Retreats,” proclaimed the American Prospect, in a tone that was echoed across numerous outlets. “The announcement of ICE’s withdrawal from Minnesota, like that of the British from Boston 250 years ago, marks a victory for people power.”

    But the smell of victory didn’t travel the nearly 1,200 miles east to the South Jersey suburb of Lindenwold, where on the very same morning Homan announced the end of the Minnesota surge, residents were shocked by an ICE raid that targeted a bus stop for an elementary school in a district that is 60% Latino.

    A Ring video from the Woodland Village Apartments, where about 44 kids were waiting for the bus, captured the alarming scene as fourth and fifth graders — some screaming “ICE! ICE!” — ran away from the masked agents in tactical gear who’d pulled up in unmarked vehicles. School officials believe no child was apprehended, although there were conflicting reports on whether any adult was arrested. But the suburban community, some 15 miles southeast of Philadelphia, was shaken to its core.

    In a video recorded during an emergency “Ice Out” demonstration in town, a bearded white man with a large American flag slung over his shoulder tried to give voice to the community’s anguish.

    “I never protested before in my entire life but …,” he said, choking back tears. “I watched fourth- and fifth-grade kids run away from our own government. I never want to see that again.”

    Unfortunately, America is all but certain to see this again. While Homan’s public proclamation of a drawdown in Minnesota seemed a small concession to crumbling political support for ICE, what happened in Lindenwold was a window into a dystopian near-future of more immigration raids — not fewer. This would allow an undeterred authoritarian Donald Trump regime to fill a $38 billion gulag archipelago of coast-to-coast warehouses with newly handcuffed human beings.

    Even Homan said as much last Thursday, if you listened closely. “And let me be clear, mass deportations will continue, and we’re not rolling back,” he said. “President Trump promised mass deportations, and that’s exactly what the American people are going to get.”

    Let’s also be clear. What happened in Minneapolis since the start of the year really was a landmark victory for democracy, and the notion that everyday Americans can defend their neighbors. At the cost of two lives, the great personal risks taken by Minnesota’s ICE resisters ended in both an unforgettable moral triumph and some real tangible gains.

    The actions taken by ICE watchers — who blew their alert whistles, recorded the government’s maneuvers on their phones, or volunteered food and rides to help immigrants stay safe indoors — prevented the arrests of scores and maybe hundreds of law-abiding neighbors. The courage of their resistance drove a huge shift in public opinion against the immigration raids, forcing rare concessions from the Trump regime. This heroism probably did cause ICE to scale back its Minnesota operations sooner than planned, and even pressured the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate two agents whose version of a shooting didn’t fit reality.

    But Trump’s mass deportation drive — with an inexorable inertia created when Congress threw a whopping $170 billion toward this effort last year — refuses to obey the normal laws of political gravity.

    U.S. Border Patrol officers walk along a street in Minneapolis last month.

    For starters, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has lied repeatedly to the American people, which means there’s no way of truly knowing to what extent the Minnesota surge has even ended. The day after Homan’s announcement, a St. Paul-based journalist noted 100 reports of ICE activity, still more than any other state.

    But even more importantly, a flurry of reports last week about a massive ICE expansion for the rest of the year with many more agents in the field, more offices to support them, and more detention camps to hold thousands of new arrestees showed that what happened on the streets of Minneapolis was not the beginning of the end.

    It is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

    The fact that ICE is ending its surge in Minneapolis — similar to what happened in 2025 in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte, N.C., and New Orleans, albeit on a smaller scale — seems less significant than the fact that the agency has, under Trump, more than doubled the number of field agents from 10,000 to 22,000, with many just hitting the streets.

    Indeed, the drive to recruit new agents isn’t letting up. A Times of London reporter described the push as “a breakneck operation” as he watched officers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection — which also had its biggest hiring year in a decade — work the crowd with promises of a $50,000 bonus at a sold-out professional bull-riding event in Salt Lake City.

    Can we really celebrate a “retreat” from Minneapolis when WIRED reported last week that ICE is also rushing to close leases on as many as 150 new offices — an average of three in every single state — to house its growing roster of agents and the attorneys and other back-office staffers needed to process the thousands of new arrestees?

    Barricades block a drive outside a warehouse as federal officials tour the facility to consider repurposing it as an ICE detention facility on Jan. 15.

    For example, multiple outlets confirmed last week that Homeland Security just inked a lease for high-end office space in the Westlakes Office Park in Berwyn, in Philadelphia’s Main Line suburbs, reportedly to house ICE attorneys and related personnel. A planned office in Philadelphia’s Chinatown, at 801 Arch St., is also listed by WIRED.

    Indeed, the regime’s glum vision for the future of mass detention in America is laid bare by news that DHS is currently spending $38 billion from last year’s legislative windfall to buy as many as 23 massive warehouses that critics see as concentration camps on U.S. soil.

    From Big Lots to warehousing humans: ICE plan sparks fear in Schuylkill County | Will Bunch

    Experts say the logistics of converting these rectangular behemoths — like the 1.3 million-square-foot warehouse in Schuylkill County, Pa., that used to distribute cheap consumer goods for Big Lots that DHS claims can house up to 7,500 detained immigrants — into even remotely humane facilities is daunting, if not impossible. Yet, DHS is plowing ahead with stunning speed, clearly expecting a pending spike in arrests.

    In rural Social Circle, Ga., ICE is claiming it will convert a one million-square-foot warehouse into a detention site for as many as 10,000 people — double the town’s population — as soon as two months from now. Project Salt Box, which is tracking the rapid gulag expansion, says DHS is using a legal maneuver to fast-track bidding to allow large private firms like the Geo Group to run these detention centers.

    Neither Trump’s plunging approval rating, nor the rapidly rising level of ICE resistance from everyday citizens like that flag-waver in Lindenwold, nor the Democratic demands for major reforms that have caused a DHS shutdown (with, ironically, no impact on ICE or Border Patrol) has put a dent in this unyielding drive toward rank inhumanity.

    A newly bloated ICE wants to create a Minneapolis in every state, even as more and more Americans are willing to take considerable risks to stop them. What we are witnessing just over one year into the Trump regime is less a retreat and more an escalating game of chicken — with the forces of democracy and fascism headed for a dangerous collision.

    If you’re part of the growing American majority who is disgusted with what ICE is doing in our streets, now is the time to get your whistle, attend a training session on what to do when the secret police arrive at your kid’s bus stop, attend a protest like the next “No Kings” event on March 28, and join the movement to protect your neighbors.

    In the spirit of John Paul Jones and the revolutionary American founders, we have not yet begun to fight.

  • Out to lunch | Editorial Cartoon

    John Cole spent 18 years as editorial cartoonist for The (Scranton) Times-Tribune, and now draws for various statesnewsroom.com sites.

  • Letters to the Editor | Feb. 15, 2026

    Letters to the Editor | Feb. 15, 2026

    Seditious behavior?

    Donald Trump has accused six Democratic officials of sedition for saying U.S. service members should refuse to obey illegal orders. He ordered his prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against them, but the grand jury to which Trump’s officials presented the claim thankfully refused to return an indictment. All of this begs the obvious question that no one has posed to Trump: Does he believe members of the U.S. military should carry out orders that are patently illegal? There are legal safeguards in place to protect members of the military who refuse to carry out such orders. How does Trump circumvent them? The Nuremberg trials established as a matter of international law that “I was just following orders” is not a legally valid defense. Why is no one holding Trump’s feet to this fire?

    Ben Zuckerman, Philadelphia

    Lead with love

    The Bible, Torah, Quran, and other sacred texts all call us to care for our neighbor, yet this founding tenet of our various and mutual faiths has been twisted throughout our history as humans. You, as I, may have once considered that America could be different. Though we have gone terribly astray within our 250 years from the intentions of our Creator, we have also struggled to become a people more worthy of our aspirations. Yet, within this one year, we witness a vicious tearing asunder of the justice and fellowship we have striven to achieve.

    This is the very moment we must rededicate ourselves to one another. To seek the truths of our lives, knowing we are all connected. That we need one another. Let us shine the light of our lives in all the dark places we have allowed to grow within and around us. Taking our courage in new and daring directions, not least of which is the voting booth.

    Marilyn Frazier, Ambler

    The apprentice

    Our company has made a terrible error. We have given a uniquely powerful position to an employee who has proven to be untrustworthy, even dangerous. He has intentionally ignored or altered fundamental policies of our organization. He actively avoids accountability and changes the rules to his benefit. His words and actions sow division among us and soil our reputation here and abroad. He has shared proprietary information with our competitors. He expresses bigotry against people of color, women, and minority groups. His reports are replete with lies and exaggerations to the point where he cannot be trusted. He has enriched himself, his family, friends, and business associates at our expense. Many of us tolerated his behavior, thinking he could change, but ignoring it has only emboldened him and weakened us. To placate him is to destroy the 250-year-old organization we have worked so hard to build and sustain. Our situation has become intolerable. It is time to fire him, now, before it is too late.

    Carol A. Stein, Dresher

    Join the conversation: Send letters to letters@inquirer.com. Limit length to 150 words and include home address and day and evening phone number. Letters run in The Inquirer six days a week on the editorial pages and online.

  • Daniel Hilferty: We know Philadelphia can shine on the FIFA World Cup stage. Let’s show it.

    Daniel Hilferty: We know Philadelphia can shine on the FIFA World Cup stage. Let’s show it.

    Last June, I was in my office at the Xfinity Mobile Arena when I saw sparks flying on Pattison Avenue. That’s not a metaphor. I saw literal sparks, plumes of red and black smoke, and heard a steady beat of drums. Thousands of people were marching toward Lincoln Financial Field, chanting, with all the gusto in the world, to a soccer match.

    It was 10:30 a.m.

    As a lifelong Philadelphian, I know our love of sports. I’ve witnessed my fair share of tailgates, and in the last three years, I’ve seen that devotion, up close and personal, in my role as governor of the Philadelphia Flyers. But as I stared out my office window and watched this parade of passion, I was struck by the extraordinary power and potential of the FIFA World Cup ’26 in Philadelphia this summer.

    Since 2000, we have experienced some of the largest and most significant events ever to take place in our city, from the papal visit in 2015 to the Democratic National Convention the following year, to the 2017 NFL Draft. I’ve had the privilege of helping to lead many of these civic efforts and, no doubt, 2026 promises to be a game changer with America’s 250th anniversary, PGA Championship, ArtPhilly, and Major League Baseball’s All-Star Week.

    Wydad AC fans cheer during the FIFA Club World Cup match in June against Manchester City FC at Lincoln Financial Field.

    But what I learned last summer, as Moroccan fans flooded the stadium complex, was that soccer is the world’s love language. It unites sports, culture, and national pride. Fans live and breathe every minute from opening kick through stoppage time. There is no arriving late to a match, and there is no movement from one’s seat during it.

    I’m frequently asked, “Are we ready for 2026?” The answer is yes, because Philadelphia hosts major international events so well. But what I’m not sure we are ready for is what a spectacular celebration the FIFA World Cup is.

    I’m not sure we understand just how important this sport — and this tournament — is to the world. And I’m not sure we realize there is no host city more ready to embrace the fans who will come for this party than Philadelphia.

    The Inquirer’s complete guide to the FIFA World Cup in Philly

    That’s what makes this so exciting for 2026 — and so important beyond this year.

    FIFA chose Philadelphia to host six of the tournament’s 104 matches here, including a Round of 16 match on July 4. We have been asked to play host to soccer fans from around the globe, especially those who will root for Brazil, the Ivory Coast, Croatia, Curaçao, Ecuador, Haiti, France, Ghana, and a few yet-to-be-determined national teams.

    It’s crucial we recognize that among the many reasons Philadelphia was selected by FIFA was our authentic passion for sports and our unabashed pride for this place we call home.

    The match pennant is held by Stefan Lainer of FC Salzburg as he walks out prior to a FIFA Club World Cup match in June against Real Madrid CF at Lincoln Financial Field.

    We know Philadelphia can shine on the world stage. We know that hundreds of thousands of visitors will walk our streets, dine in our restaurants, and experience our neighborhoods. The global media will spotlight our skyline and highlight our stories. Investment will flow into tourism and community development. But to unlock the economic, cultural, and civic potential of the FIFA World Cup, and of 2026, we need one important thing.

    We need you to be here. We need every Philadelphian to help us welcome the world.

    So, how can you do that?

    Come to the FIFA Fan Festival at Lemon Hill, which will be free to enter during the tournament. And don’t just come once!

    Adopt a rooting interest among the teams coming here, in addition to our U.S. men’s national team.

    When visitors ask where to eat (and they will!), give them your best hidden neighborhood gem.

    Paulinho of Palmeiras scores his team’s first goal past John of Botafogo during a FIFA Club World Cup at Lincoln Financial Field in June.

    If someone asks what they absolutely must do or see when here, tell them your favorite experience, whether it’s in arts and culture, history, culinary, or even shopping.

    And when you’re asked to take a picture at the top of the “Rocky Steps,” happily do it!

    What makes Philadelphia special is its people. It’s why we won our bid in 2022, and it’s why this year has the potential to be a launchpad for Philadelphia as a global destination. This summer, the eyes of the world will be on us, and we want them to see the best of who we are: welcoming, inclusive, fun, proud, and united.

    But to show that, we need you to be here. We need you to be part of the action. And we need you to help us make history together.

    Daniel J. Hilferty is the chairman and CEO of Comcast Spectacor and governor of the Philadelphia Flyers. He has served as cochair of Philadelphia Soccer 2026 since 2021, alongside Michelle Singer.

  • The cost of climate change is measured in people, not dollars. Save the endangerment finding.

    The cost of climate change is measured in people, not dollars. Save the endangerment finding.

    While countries around the world strive to protect their citizens from climate change, the U.S. government is attacking its citizens through climate regulations. Repealing the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2009 “endangerment finding” hits Americans where it hurts: their health.

    This all started last year, when the Trump administration convened a group of five “climate contrarians” who have profited from their fringe views denying climate change and called it a “Climate Working Group.” The group quickly threw together a report full of cherry-picked data and other bad science. It was soon disbanded in the face of widespread scientific criticism, but the damage was done. The EPA — or a gutted version of it — used this sham Climate Working Group’s conclusions to propose a repeal of the 2009 endangerment finding, the foundation of our ability to regulate the polluting emissions that cause climate change and endanger human health.

    Instead, it wants environmental regulation to be based solely on costs to businesses — effectively valuing human health at $0 in its scientific models.

    This battle of reports and regulations might seem abstract, but it threatens real people. In the nearly two decades since the endangerment finding was issued, the impacts of climate change on health have only become clearer. Air pollution and extreme weather cause hundreds of thousands of premature deaths in the U.S. every year, impacting everyone from newborns to working-age people to older adults — and it’s only getting worse.

    Doctors understand this reality beyond the science. Pretending health has no economic value passes the cost of climate change and air pollution onto people who are sick.

    In this 2023 file photo, buildings in downtown Erie, normally visible from West Grandview Boulevard, are shrouded in a smoky haze caused by smoke from Canadian wildfires.

    These are our patients — the truck driver in Cleveland having an asthma attack because of smoke from the Canadian wildfires, the gig worker who wiped out on her e-bike in a torrential storm, the day laborer who gets kidney failure working day after day in extreme heat — and they are sacrificing their health to pay their rent and feed their families. It’s no surprise that 120 leading patient care organizations (including Doctors for America) signed a letter urging the EPA to save the endangerment finding.

    None of this seems to matter to the Trump administration.

    A geyser of runoff rain water spouts from the sidewalk along 12th Street outside Reading Terminal Market as storms with damaging winds and significant flash flooding, as well as localized rainfall in amounts as high as seven inches, impacted the Philadelphia region last July.

    The EPA officially repealed the endangerment finding Thursday. As doctors, we can’t believe we’re having this conversation again. The evidence is clear: Climate change is making us sicker and sicker, but we can limit that harm with better policy and regulations. This government is trading our health for the interests of big business.

    We’re tired and angry, but we’re also scared. We’re doctors, but we’re also people.

    We’ve been the new mom afraid to bring her newborn home from the NICU under skies turned orange by wildfire smoke. We’ve sat in our driveways during a flash flood warning, wondering if it’s worth risking our safety to get to work on time. We stay up at night worrying about an America where a livable environment is a luxury.

    The America we want puts its citizens over politics. It cares more about people than dollars. Repeal of the endangerment finding has made that America a pipe dream. Only real science, a government that protects its people, and strong climate regulations can get us there.

    Madhury “Didi” Ray is a public health physician, a Drexel Med alum, and a Copello Fellow in Health Advocacy with Doctors for America. Olivia Rizzo is a pulmonologist from northeast Ohio and the cochair of the Public Health Taskforce for Doctors for America.

  • Harrisburg just can’t quit the sketchy tax revenue from skill games

    Harrisburg just can’t quit the sketchy tax revenue from skill games

    When Josh Shapiro first ran for state attorney general in 2016, I asked him during a meeting with The Inquirer Editorial Board what he thought about the spread of legalized gambling in Pennsylvania.

    He gave a thoughtful and passionate response detailing the reasons why he hated gambling and thought it was bad public policy. It was music to my ears, which is why I still remember it nearly 10 years later.

    So it is sad to see now-Gov. Shapiro roll out another state budget that proposes taxing skill games. For two decades, lawmakers in Harrisburg have turned to new ways to boost gambling tax revenues.

    Funding the government with billions of dollars in gambling losses from individuals is beyond scuzzy. And of all the exploitative and predatory forms of gambling that exist, skill games are among the scuzziest.

    Shapiro said as much years ago, but Harrisburg is hooked on gambling. It is a problem Shapiro inherited, but now he’s helping to fuel more gambling. Last year, Shapiro signed a bill designed to grow the lottery, and an agreement that allowed online poker players in Pennsylvania to compete with those in other states.

    Screen shows skill games and cannabis regulation and reform as Gov. Josh Shapiro makes his annual budget proposal in the state House chamber in Harrisburg Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026.

    Here is why the gambling monster keeps growing: Gambling interests are among the biggest donors in Harrisburg and hold huge sway over lawmakers. Meanwhile, lawmakers reluctant to raise taxes find it easier to bleed more gamblers.

    The latest golden goose is skill games.

    Despite the name, there is not a lot of skill involved. The games are similar to slot machines, but only worse because of how they disproportionately target poor and working-class communities.

    Like slots, skill games can be addictive. The Pennsylvania Council on Compulsive Gambling has received more than 400 calls about skill games since 2021, including from many already enrolled in casino self-exclusion programs, according to Josh Ercole, the gambling council’s executive director.

    Skill games operate in a gray area. They are not taxed or regulated, but they have proliferated to nearly every corner of the state.

    Unregulated gaming devices known as “skill games” in a gas station connivence store in Philadelphia in August.

    There are more than 70,000 skill game machines in Pennsylvania. They can be found in bars, restaurants, gas stations, truck stops, VFW halls, and even at the end of a food aisle in a convenience store. By comparison, Pennsylvania has about 25,000 slot machines in 17 casinos.

    The tax rate on slot machine revenues is 54%. Shapiro proposed a 52% tax on skill game revenues, while Senate Republican leaders backed a plan to tax skill games at 35% of gross revenue.

    It is mind-boggling that Harrisburg is trying to tax and regulate skill games after allowing them to spread across the state. If lawmakers cared about protecting vulnerable communities, a better policy would be to ban skill games. That is what Kentucky did in 2023.

    But Harrisburg has long turned a blind eye to the unsavory aspects of gambling.

    Some of the initial slots licenses were awarded to politically connected operators who had never run casinos, including one man who had pleaded guilty to fraud and was later charged with lying about ties to mob figures. The charges were dropped.

    Meanwhile, skill games have been allowed to operate in the shadows, even as they attract crime that has led to killings and a recent police shooting. Philadelphia City Council banned skill games in 2024, but the court lifted the measure while it is on appeal.

    Pace-O-Matic, the leading developer of skill games, spends millions of dollars lobbying lawmakers in Harrisburg. The company’s former compliance director, who was also an ex-state police corporal, recently pleaded guilty to accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in kickbacks in return for quashing complaints about illegal gaming machines.

    Despite the sleaze and legal trouble, Harrisburg remains addicted to gambling. Since 2004, the state has legalized more and more gambling, starting with slot machines, then adding table games in 2010, and online gambling, sports betting, and mini casinos in 2017.

    Pennsylvania rakes in more tax revenue from gambling than any other state in the country. In the last fiscal year, Harrisburg collected a record $6.4 billion from gambling.

    The state celebrates the record tax haul as if it were a public good. The sad reality is that people lost billions of dollars. State lawmakers helped make their constituents poorer.

    Casinos add little value to the local economy. In fact, they subtract dollars that could be spent on other goods and services.

    Las Vegas, at least, attracts tourists who spend money on other things. Most of the gambling losses in Pennsylvania come from locals. Few tourists plan getaways to the casino in Chester or King of Prussia.

    But here is the worst part: The business model for all forms of gambling largely depends on addiction. Casual players are not the target audience.

    Casinos actively try to lure customers back with incentives, from free meals to free play certificates. Slot machines, which generate the majority of profits for casinos, are designed to addict users, research professor Natasha Dow Schull found.

    A study in Massachusetts found 90% of casino revenues came from problem and at-risk gamblers. The industry argues addiction rates are low, but that is for the general population, not the customer base.

    An entrance at Mount Airy Casino Resort in Mount Pocono, Pa. One study found that 90% of casino revenues came from problem and at-risk gamblers.

    Years ago, an executive at the Parx Casino in Bensalem boasted that many of its customers visited more than 200 times a year — or five times a week.

    That is quaint compared with online gambling. Smartphones allow people to bet 24/7. Gambling sites are engineered with sophisticated and predatory techniques, including frequent notifications, designed to keep users betting.

    This has resulted in a surge of addicted gamblers, including many young people. The rise in sports betting has led to efforts to fix games, which has tarnished the integrity of sports.

    The Philadelphia region is the No. 1 market for online gambling companies, topping Las Vegas and New York. Since 2021, the number of calls about online gambling problems has increased 180% in Pennsylvania and 160% in New Jersey.

    Harrisburg lawmakers are too busy counting the tax revenues and campaign contributions to consider the lives destroyed by legalized gambling.

    Tragic stories abound.

    If ‘skill games’ cannot be banned, Harrisburg must act to regulate and tax | Editorial

    An executive who helped run a large Black fraternity headquartered in Philadelphia pleaded guilty in 2022 to charges after embezzling nearly $3 million to fuel his gambling addiction.

    That same year, a bookkeeper at the Delaware River Waterfront Corp. was sentenced to more than four years in prison for stealing more than $2.6 million to pay for her gambling addiction and trips.

    A former judge in Chester County pleaded guilty in 2021 to stealing thousands of dollars in campaign funds to fuel a “six-figure” gambling habit at area casinos.

    An attorney at a major Philadelphia firm who had a gambling problem was convicted in 2019 of stealing $100,000 from an 88-year-old client. A priest in Delaware County was sentenced to eight months in prison in 2018 after stealing $500,000 from a fund to care for aging priests that was used to cover gambling losses and pay for trips.

    Most stories don’t make the police blotter, as thousands of other gamblers struggle in silence. Studies show that gambling problems lead to increased bankruptcies, suicide, and divorce.

    The state Gaming Control Board website has a special section dedicated to the hundreds of people a year who leave their kids locked in cars or hotel rooms while they gamble for hours at a time. That is not entertainment; that is a problem.

    Has anyone in Harrisburg ever wondered if the tax dollars are worth the harm?

    Obviously, each person is responsible for their actions. But state lawmakers take an oath to protect the citizenry. Yet, they enabled the proliferation of gambling that has ruined many lives.

    The same goes for the online sites and casinos that actively market to keep people gambling.

    Just listing a toll-free number for people to call to get help is as disingenuous as the latest effort to tax predatory skill games.

  • As nonprofits face growing pains, the city must be careful with taxpayer money | Editorial

    As nonprofits face growing pains, the city must be careful with taxpayer money | Editorial

    Amid the surge in murders and shootings that plagued Philadelphia following the pandemic, City Hall directed millions of dollars to dozens of nonprofits to try to stem the violence.

    But an Inquirer investigation in 2023 found the city’s $22 million anti-violence program devolved into a politicized process that steered funding to nascent nonprofits that were unprepared to manage the funds. A city controller’s report the following year backed the reporting.

    Now, along comes another Inquirer investigation, this time detailing the rapid rise and financial struggles of a nonprofit that received millions in taxpayer funds from the same program.

    Soon after the nonprofit New Options More Opportunities, known as NOMO, received a $1 million grant to combat gun violence in 2021, city grant managers raised red flags about the lack of financial records and controls, the recent investigation by Inquirer reporters Ryan W. Briggs and Samantha Melamed found.

    The story detailed a number of issues surrounding NOMO, including multiple eviction filings, an IRS tax lien, and five lawsuits regarding unpaid rent. But even as problems mounted, money from city, state, and federal sources continued to flow.

    In a lengthy statement to the Editorial Board, Rickey Duncan, NOMO’s executive director, denied any wrongdoing. He said that NOMO “faced difficulties” several years ago, but they have been addressed. He stressed that all the funds received by his organization had been properly spent.

    Rickey Duncan, the CEO and executive director of the nonprofit New Options More Opportunities, or NOMO, on South Broad Street, in 2023.

    Since 2020, NOMO has received roughly $6 million in city, state, and federal funds. Duncan’s salary has increased from $48,000 to $145,000. His profile grew, as well: In November 2023, Mayor-elect Cherelle L. Parker named Duncan, a former volunteer at NOMO before he began leading the group, to her transition team.

    According to The Inquirer investigation, NOMO was one of only two organizations in 2021 to get the maximum grant of $1 million, which was roughly triple its operating budget. The report found that a nonprofit the city contracted to manage the grant program raised immediate concerns that NOMO provided no balance sheet or audited financial statement.

    Over the years, NOMO expanded its gun violence prevention efforts to include youth after-school programs and a short-lived affordable housing initiative.

    At one point, NOMO leased an apartment complex near Drexel University’s campus at a cost of more than $500,000 a year. But it appears no one questioned how the housing plan fit with the organization’s core anti-violence mission, according to The Inquirer report.

    In fact, the city tried to give NOMO more money. Last year, the city wanted to award NOMO a $700,000 contract for homelessness prevention, but the organization couldn’t meet the conditions, so the funds were not disbursed.

    In January 2025, the city drew the line when Duncan tried to get reimbursed $9,000 for season tickets to the Sixers. He said the tickets were “an innovative tool for workforce development.”

    But a grant program manager responded: “Season tickets to the Sixers are not an acceptable programmatic expense.”

    From left, Rickey Duncan, Dawan Williams, and Rasheed Jones discuss a T-shirt design during a workshop on how to create clothing designs hosted at the NOMO Foundation in October 2021.

    The entire saga may underscore the need for stronger vetting and oversight of fledgling organizations that are well-intended but lack the practical experience to manage a program entrusted with hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars.

    Adam Geer, Philadelphia’s chief public safety director, stressed in an interview with the Editorial Board that the Parker administration has implemented stronger oversight and support systems that did not exist when the initial anti-violence grants began.

    He said those safeguards helped flag problems and put a stop to some of the spending that concerned city officials. Geer conceded there were “growing pains” when the anti-violence program launched, but he argued that nonprofits like NOMO played a key role in the steep drop in shootings in Philadelphia.

    Duncan defended his organization’s anti-violence track record.

    “There’s a reason why the city has continued to support the work NOMO is doing,” he wrote. “We are having a real, positive impact on people’s lives.”

    Indeed, gun violence prevention programs can work — but the organizations charged with putting them in place must have the proper screening, support, and oversight.