Give up indoor dining
I think the last time we saw Mr. Kenney eating indoors was in Chinatown. He wanted to assure the city that you couldn’t catch COVID there. He should probably eat outside, because he seems to create an uproar when he eats indoors.
Richard Donofry
East Torresdale
Fill the Ginsburg seat now
I voted for people for designated terms in office and I expect them not to abdicate their responsibilities prior to their term expiration.
This Supreme Court vacancy should be determined by the current Senate and president.
They were elected to serve a term that currently runs through to a date in January 2021 and, depending on the November election, well beyond.
Two-thirds of the current Senate are not up now for election and will continue to serve until 2022 and 2024.
It wouldn’t be fair to the current plaintiffs and defendants to spend all that money and time to get to the Supreme Court, just to possibly get a 4-to-4 decision.
Just remember that there have always been “lame duck” political decisions, and elections have consequences.
Mayer Krain
Modena Park
A tribute to Justice Ginsburg
Before Justice Ginsburg was an influential associate justice on the Supreme Court, she was a formidable advocate for her clients. On Oct. 5, 1976, Ruth Bader Ginsburg argued for the appellee, Leon Goldfarb, in the case Califano v. Goldfarb. The appellant in the case was U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare. Joseph Califano was the secretary of department at the time.
In the case, Goldfarb was a widower who applied for survivor’s benefits under the Social Security Act. Despite the fact that his wife Hannah had paid into Social Security for 25 years, his application was denied. According to 42 U.S.C. Section 402, in order to be eligible for benefits, he must have been receiving half his support from his wife at the time of her death. The statute did not impose the same requirement on widows whose husbands had recently passed away. The constitutionality of the statute was challenged under the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York. That court ruled the statute was unconstitutional. The government appealed to the Supreme Court.
The legal question here was: Do the gender-based requirements for survivor’s benefits in Section 402 violate the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment?
In the Court’s 5-4 decision, yes, the court affirmed the decision of the district court. The statute was held to be unconstitutional. Justice William J. Brennan wrote, “This situation is indistinguishable from the one in Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld, where a similar statute was invalidated.” In that case, a female worker’s “archaic and overbroad” generalizations that a wife is more likely to be dependent on her husband than a husband on his wife was rejected by the court. Furthermore, the notion that gender roles were not sufficient to justify the different treatment of widows and widowers was in violation of the Due Process Clause.
The case discussed above is just one of six landmark cases she argued before the Supreme Court. Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an American hero. She began law school during a time at Harvard when women were chastised for “taking a man’s spot.” Even after law school, she faced discrimination in the workplace that was common in the 1960s. That changed when her favorite Columbia Law professor refused to recommend any other graduates before U.S. District Judge Edmund L. Palmieri hired Ginsburg as a clerk, where she then worked for two years.
Much more can be written about Justice Ginsburg. This is only a snapshot of her impactful life. As I said above, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg is an American hero. She persisted and persevered.
Matt Jackson
Bustleton
Trump is terrible
This is getting so dumb, it’s almost humorous. Backers of the biggest liar who ever lived accused Biden of lying about his school records. No one even knows Trump’s scores because daddy paid his way into school because he couldn’t make it on his own and would not allow his records to be shown, just like his tax records. Then they said we should be nicer to each other. When has Trump ever said anything nice about anyone? Then they claim that Biden wants to raise your taxes. That is the biggest BS that you can even think of. He does want to bring back the enormous tax cuts Trump gave to the billionaires, which cost us $2 trillion. He promotes hate every time he opens his mouth and then says he’s not a racist. Wow.
Rus Slawter Sr.
Bustleton
Respect the flag
First, I’d like to offer my hearty support to Cathy from Bustleton in the 9/16 issue. And not just because she’s my mother. We do occasionally disagree.
What compelled me to write was the antics of NFL players. Almost as one, they sided with the so-called protesters, who as far as I can see, have done little more than declare, “I’m so angry, Walmart owes me a free 84″ TV!”
If you listen to BLM speakers, the truth is what they really mean is, “ONLY black lives matter.” Proof of that is anyone even daring to say All Lives Matter is denounced as racist. If anything, Blue Lives Matter is considered even more offensive.
But, back to the NFL, similar behavior back during the 1968 Mexico City Olympics was rightly described as “ignoble,” “juvenile” and “unimaginative.”
The truth is I was already borderline with the Eagles, hoping they would fire the player whose last name I happen to share for his racist anti-Semitism. After what I saw, just days after commemorating 9/11, I mailed my Eagles pennant to Mr. Lurie, saying, “From an ex-fan.”
Joseph Jackson
Bustleton
Questioning herd immunity
There has been a lot of talk recently about herd immunity. What would that involve? The first thing to consider is that achieving herd immunity assumes that once you have the disease, you cannot get it again. We don’t know if that is true for COVID-19. There are many illnesses for which that is not true. I have had shingles three times. The World Health Organization and the Mayo Clinic agree that, to achieve herd immunity, 70% of the population has to be affected. The current population of the U.S. is 331,425,767. Taking 70% of that means that 231,998,037 people in the country would have to get COVID-19. The mortality rate for the US is 2.96%. Which means that 6,867,142 people need to die to achieve herd immunity. If we add up the death tolls of the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, The Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, the Korean War, Vietnam, the Gulf War and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the total number of dead comes to 1,279,253. An additional 5,587,889 would have to die from COVID-19 to get to the number of deaths needed for herd immunity. That is the equivalent of 911 happening 1,865 times. Is this an acceptable choice? Remember, Sweden initially tried to go for herd immunity but quickly abandoned the idea when it had the highest death rate in Europe.
Ronni Flitter
Somerton
Not in my neighborhood
I have never felt unsafe in my neighborhood until I saw the group of Trump supporters at Frankford and Knights. They seemed frenzied, possessed. They were shouting and screaming without masks. They were standing on the median and interfering with traffic. It was scary. I rolled up my windows at that red light and prayed they didn’t approach my car. I wondered how many had concealed firearms. It was not a “BLM” group. It was not an “Antifa” group. It was a Trump group that made me feel unsafe in my own neighborhood.
Speaking of “Antifa,” or anti-fascists, I’d like to recall Mussolini’s slogan of the National Fascist Party, “Credere, Obberdire, Combattere,” or, “Believe, Obey, Fight.”
Your belief in Trump is clear. Your obedience to Trump is clear. But who are you trying to fight? Is it your neighbors? If so, why?
When this is done, I’ll remember. I’ll remember names and faces. I’ll remember that you rallied around a racist. You praised a womanizer. You cheered an adulterer. You idolized a liar, a deceiver. You spit your filth in the face of science. I will remember what you are, long after you take off that pretty, red hat.
On a final note, the Trump campaign would like to thank your group for buying his merchandise as well as providing free advertising and your unpaid labor. Thanks. You tools.
Theresa Adamczyk
Millbrook
