Mayor Kenney welcomed the future Democratic voters. He said they would receive everything they needed. Maybe all the homeless should mingle with the refugees and get what they need.
Fred Wollner
Holmesburg
Martina is right on
Thank you for printing Rep. Martina White’s guest opinion, Progressive politics have made Philadelphia the nation’s murder capital, in the Sept. 8 issue (p. 8). The title of her article says it all and every word in it is true.
And thank you, Rep. White, for such a clear and logical explanation of who is to blame for our city’s crime problem. May you have a long and successful career in politics for the good of American society.
Leo Iwaskiw
Somerton
Judges are the problem
On Ms. Martina White’s comments about Philadelphia being the national murder capital, I agree with most of her comments but the problem about the murder rate here in Philadelphia has to do a lot with the judges who hear the case. As a retired Philadelphia police officer, I have made many gun arrests. I saw so many times in court that a gun charge is treated like someone stole a piece of candy. Sure we can blame the Dem or the Rep or that political party. We will always have gun cases and murder. How many people who commit murders have been committed by a person who has a record as long as your arm. Look at the little time spent in jail if given any for their past crimes. Look if they did their whole time that they were supposed to do. Example: DUI. How many times do we see that they have had many DUI before and are out on the street.
The only person who lets them out is a judge. No different with gun cases before the judges. Next time a person is arrested for a gun charge, let’s put the name of the judge who let them out or smacked them on the wrist and told them be a good boy. I suggest Ms, White listen to people who have made many arrests and see how the court works, and see what people who are out there putting their life on the line trying to suppress crime but end up seeing what little the courts do.
Robert W. McCann
Rhawnhurst
Virus police at NE Regional
I was at the NE Regional Library the other day when I was scolded twice by security for letting my mask slip below my nose. This was on a brutally hot day, and the second time, I was near the exit door.
I wonder if the mask police understand that many of us have a hard time wearing masks due to breathing or eyeglass issues. Consideration for the individual is now gone.
There is little evidence that masking a population is effective.
Viruses go right through the weave of a cloth mask, or around the edges as you exhale. In fact, masks can be quite harmful.
What is in exhaled air? Bacteria, carbon dioxide and other irritants. Do we know the price of re-breathing bacteria deeply into our lungs? And what is the psychological cost of hiding faces and smiles, and making everyone feel isolated?
I prefer to social distance, clean my hands and use a nasal wash. That should be my choice.
Masks do have a place, in a medical setting, when they are of high quality, and worn for a specific reason.
Masking is theater, and we doubters have become the villains in the cast. A great way to make a population fearful, demoralized and docile, isn’t it?
At some point, I feel I must resist. Will I be banished from social media and public activity, or carted off to jail?
Richard Iaconelli
Rhawnhurst
Fear mongering
Martina White’s attempt at gravitas would be funny if it wasn’t so pathetic. Her “canned” op-ed was straight out of the right-wing playbook. As always, it provided no real solutions, but just more of the same fear mongering and shallow empty platitudes to cops.
If White was truly against violence, her policy votes in Harrisburg would show she supports real gun control; it would show she stands behind the city’s attempt to implement its own gun laws. But no, she toes the line of the gun lobby and her fellow Republicans in the state Capitol. If she cared so much for cops, she would support strong gun laws that, in the long run, protect cops.
But she’s too busy trying to invalidate the votes of millions of Pennsylvanians along with her radical mob traitors like Jake Corman and Doug Mastriano. Philadelphia deserves better than this intellectual lightweight.
Timothy J. Lynch
Rhawnhurst
More incarceration not the answer
Every week, NE Times publishes rants from people who latch onto a shallow view of a huge problem and pour blame at a single cause such as the most recent elected officials. Martina White’s article on Sept. 8 is one. Her topic is the increase in violence and murder in Philadelphia and proposing more incarceration as THE solution. Philadelphia has been high on the national crime list for a long time. The fact is that violent crime has risen sharply in many cities across the country. COVID-19 has intensified desperation everywhere. The city has also been at the top in incarceration. Incarceration, which is itself a violent response to violence, has not solved the problem. For serious solutions, it is necessary to change the basic structures of society that cultivate desperation, which feeds violent behavior. Many people I know work hard to end homelessness, to guide the youth in the poorest sections of Philadelphia into positive social programs and counseling, to help the poorest children get a good education, and Ras Harrell who is doing fantastic work with returning citizens to help them gain the education and tools needed to integrate positively with society, and to find jobs that promote health for all — not things the police can or should be asked to do. All the people I know work with the police, and depend on honest law enforcement. To think that slamming criminals in jail is THE answer to solving the long-term problem is the same level of mindset as a criminal who thinks that stealing or murder will solve desperation. At the deepest level, we need to shift our own minds from combat to the healing of all.
Rita Varley
Morrell Park
Ricky Watters would be proud
The U.S. has spent over $1 trillion and a few thousand lives in the 20 years of war in Afghanistan.
We trained a few thousand of their army and supplied them with some of the finest of our military equipment to be able to secure their country when we would leave.
Everyone should have known better when the Afghanistan army’s motto is, “For Who, For What?”
Mayer Krain
Modena Park
