Where are Thou Lloyd?
Imagine that you are in charge of an important meeting and the head of one of the divisions expected at the meeting is not there. You ask the No. 2 person in that division, “Hey where is your boss”? You are told that the boss is working from home.
Several days pass. You are told the same boss is still working at home, but that no one has actually spoken with the boss. “Why not,” you ask, What is going on here?
Days pass and finally you are informed that the boss had complications after an elective procedure and was hospitalized and remained in the ICU for 3 days after the procedure. Now that boss may deserve some privacy and maybe we shouldn’t ask why they chose to keep this procedure a secret, even to their own team members.
This may be how things work at a law firm in the private sector.
However, now imagine, gentle reader, that your hard-earned taxes are going toward the Department of Defense. The world is currently on fire. Issues in Israel, Ukraine, the U.S. southern border. Important stuff happening here and around the world. Meetings and important briefings being held all over Washington and all hands need to be on deck. Your tax dollars need to be spent on the best and the brightest to fix the problems around the world. You need the bosses to assemble at the White House.
Imagine, though, that the same boss who missed the very important meeting was Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin. The meeting was in the White House. The people who were not told of the Secretary of Defense’s whereabouts were the president, the vice president, the Secretary of State, the National Security Council, the Deputy Secretary of Defense, the Pentagon spokesperson, etc. You get the picture. Not good and not a good look at all for the Department of Defense.
We, of course, wish Secretary Austin a full and speedy recovery. Meanwhile let us remember that the grown-ups are in charge now. Nothing to see here. So glad that things are running smoothly and professionally in the Biden administration.
November 2024 cannot come fast enough.
John Farley
Somerton
GOP should support Ukraine
I’m a registered Republican who is frustrated by my party’s resistance to support an ally in Ukraine. We, as a country and as a party, must stand up to Russia’s totalitarian aggression.
Fighting for independence is fundamental to who we are as a country. But when we fought for our independence, we didn’t do it alone. We needed allies to help us achieve freedom from subjugation.
We are in the best situation possible. America has spent less than 5% of our annual defense budget and hasn’t sent a single American to Ukraine. Ukraine is not asking us to fight for them, they only request the weapons needed to free their country from Russia. Providing them with weapons will only shorten the war, not prolong it.
If Russia succeeds because of our lack of resolve, Russia will be emboldened to attack other neighbors and continue to be aggressive in Syria and across the Middle East. Russian victory will embolden China to advance their ambitions to take Taiwan. This is a risk we cannot take.
I ask my fellow Republicans who question aid to Ukraine: If an enemy invaded our country, killed and tortured our people, and leveled our cities, would you want our allies to aid our defense, no questions asked? How would you react to their hesitation?
Michael Sarachman
Newtown
Buck does not stop here
Cherelle Parker certainly got what she wanted. She has added Thurman, Platt, Harris and Boyer (head of the Building Trades union who seems to be our un-elected mayor). Then you can add into the mix Geer, the safety director. She has created a system of, we don’t know who to blame because “it’s not my job” or “so and so was supposed to do this or that.” There is an old adage called KISS: “Keep It Simple Stupid,” which seems to work in the business world but not in government because it adorns itself with too many extra players and responsibilities dispersed far and wide. I wish her well but we will see on the first blowup who’s on first.
Richard Donofry
East Torresdale
In this corner
In this corner, we have a newly elected first woman mayor in Philadelphia: Mayor Parker is advocating “Quality of Life“ concerns; tough-on-crime stance; stopping shoplifting in stores; embraces the controversial tactics such as stop and frisk; end the open-air drug market in Kensington; and declaring a public emergency.
And in this corner, we have a twice-elected district attorney: District Attorney Krasner who doesn’t believe stopping “Quality of Life” crimes decreases more serious crimes; doesn’t prosecute shoplifters; is more interested in how police do their job than the way criminals commit crime; refuses to prosecute first offenders in drug trafficking; and stated the way to stop the gun revelry on New Year’s Eve was to tell the citizens of Philadelphia that, “What goes up, must come down.”
Being they are both Democrats, it will a light-hitting bout the first year or so, with a jab here and a jab there, but hopefully, come November 2025 (district attorney term expires), the voters of Philadelphia will decide whose policies they favor.
Joe Nadolski
Academy Gardens
