Taking over
Vladimir Putin’s excuse for invading Ukraine was that it belongs to Russia because it used to be part of the Soviet Union. I don’t think any American bought that idea. Now, Donald Trump wants to take over Greenland for our national security before Russia or China takes it over. Does anyone buy that argument now? Why was it wrong for Russia to invade Ukraine, but it is OK for the U.S. to take over Greenland? Since when is it OK for the U.S. to take over another country? How about an autonomous territory of a NATO ally? How can any American (Republican, Democrat, independent, MAGA, progressive) think this is all right? Trump says he’s doing what his voters want. Did anyone who voted for Trump want him to take over Greenland?
June Siegel, Elkins Park
Fear or anger
After reviewing the multiple videos of the horrific shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis, we are asked to believe the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent was motivated by fear for his life as he got out of the way of Good’s SUV. I would suggest another emotion that motivated him: anger. In other videos, an expletive directed toward Good can be heard. After the ICE agent shoots through the front windshield and the SUV passes him by, he continues to shoot through the open driver’s side window when he is no longer allegedly in danger. If one wanted to explain the term gaslighting, there are few better examples than the interpretation of this video we are hearing from ICE and Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem. In other words, “Don’t believe what you see.”
Pasquale Procacci, West Palm Beach, Fla.
Circle of violence
The story of Nyshyia Thomas is gut-wrenching. While her one son was killed as an innocent victim of a random shooting, her other son and her partner devastated their family through pure recklessness. Despite the second son owning his gun legally, he and his formerly incarcerated father prioritized violence over their family by arming themselves and running toward gunfire rather than retreating. Thomas blames “the system” for swallowing the two men — but the reality is that the system has no hunger for people who don’t marinate in guns and violence.
Rosamond Kay, Philadelphia
It’s time
On Sept. 11, 1976, 1,500 people gathered at the Lewis Quadrangle at Independence Hall. They were there to launch a time capsule created by the Women For Greater Philadelphia (the nonprofit stewards of historic Laurel Hill Mansion in East Fairmount Park). Children 10 years old or younger were asked to include their names in the capsule. The 816 children whose names were included received a certificate. It charged each one to open and reseal the time capsule in 2026, and tell their children to open it again in 2076. A letter from then-Mayor Frank Rizzo, written to the current mayor, and from Gov. Milton Shapp to the people of Pennsylvania, is also in the capsule.
The capsule will be opened sometime this fall during a ceremony with representatives from the state as well as other dignitaries. If you were present at the filling of the time capsule in 1976 and received a certificate charging you with the privilege and responsibility to carry the “Spirit of 76” forward to future generations, we’d like to hear from you at womenforgreaterphiladelphia.org/time_capsule.html.
Barbara Frankl, chairperson of the board, Laurel Hill Mansion, Blue Bell
Flu surges
Americans are terribly exhausted and stressed. Chronic anxiety over the affordability of basic needs like food, housing, and healthcare wears people down. Rapid technological changes like artificial intelligence and robotics are threatening U.S. employment. The climate change crisis continues, and people fear violence. No wonder there is a flu surge this season — our immune systems are shot, rendering us vulnerable to not only influenza but also other infectious and noninfectious diseases.
Richard A. Lippin, Southampton
Legal shield
The recent arson at the Beth Israel Congregation synagogue in Jackson, Miss., is the consummate example of antisemitism. What is not antisemitism is criticizing the state of Israel for the genocide it is implementing, the famine it is enforcing, and the ceasefire it is violating under the guise of national defense. House Bill 6090, which allows for the criticism of the government of Israel to be considered as antisemitism, passed the U.S. House, with Pennsylvania Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, Madeleine Dean, Brendan Boyle, and New Jersey Reps. Jeff Van Drew and Donald Norcross are all voting to squash your right to free speech in order to protect the state of Israel from criticism. This is anti-American.
Roy Lehman, Woolwich Township
Two questions
Growing antisemitic violence worldwide — with hate sanctioned through sentiments like those expressed by Vice President JD Vance at the recent Turning Point USA conference — compels me to share a personal story. The Baltimore of my youth was a time marred by disgraceful, degrading Jim Crow laws. Large signs were posted throughout neighborhoods and establishments reading, “No Jews, Negroes, or Dogs.” With regularity, our school classes traveled to Philadelphia to visit the Liberty Bell, which is inscribed with words from Leviticus 25:10: “Proclaim liberty throughout the land unto all inhabitants thereof.” No teacher ever referenced the disparity between these words and life as endured in Baltimore.
Following the April 4, 1968, assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., parts of inner-city Baltimore erupted in flames. My father’s business, a fuel oil company started by his father, was destroyed, including the trucks that serviced families with necessary heating oil and the accounts receivable. Although most of his customers lived far from the business location, my father cared about those living near his business, providing heat for countless families, never expecting payment, contributing to all charities he knew about, and, when invited, attending church services with our family. On April 10, eight months pregnant with my first child, I stood in front of my father’s former business, scorched and burned, the smell of destruction ever-present. I heard a man my dad recognized taunt us with a slur. My anguished mother quietly responded, not to the man but to me, “Why are we so hated?”
Our beloved rabbi, Uri Miller, urged my father to declare bankruptcy, but he refused. My parents sold their comfortable home, most furnishings, and cashed in savings. As soon as his debts were paid, he and my mother moved to a small apartment in Florida. My father believed he had dishonored his father’s name, failed his wife, and disgraced his family. Eventually, my father kept his promise to my mother, bringing her home to be buried in the same Baltimore cemetery as her parents. Several years later, he was buried beside her. More than 30 years after her death, my mother’s haunting question remains: Why are Jewish people so hated? Or to draw on the prescient, thought-provoking insights of Holocaust survivor and activist on behalf of the protection and well-being of all people, Elie Wiesel: Are Jews only spoken up for once we are dead?
SaraKay Smullens, Philadelphia
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