Letters to the Editor | Dec. 12, 2024

As stated in a recent op-ed, the proposed Center City arena will be an “inward-facing structure,” perfectly reflecting the attitude of the 76ers’ owners who do not understand what Philadelphia needs. They only care about making more money and not how an unwelcoming facade will continue to discourage the revitalization of Market Street East. The owners also show a shocking disrespect for the Asian community that has been living in the immediate area and paying taxes for generations. The damage done to the neighborhood will be with us for years to come as the self-serving Sixers move on to other projects and leave behind a legacy of rich entitlement and a dead zone for all of us taxpayers to deal with — again. Let’s demand better for our city.

Faith Steigelmann, Philadelphia

Do the rules of justice apply to everyone? If a person commits a crime, should they not suffer the consequences related to that crime? I guess not Donald Trump. He may have been elected president, but he will not be sworn in until January. Therefore, up until that time, Joe Biden is still our president. I am disenchanted with the Department of Justice. Not only was Trump allowed to run for office, but any accountability has been deferred. Any other person committing the same crimes would be in jail. Historians will have much to explain to our future generations about the inequality of justice.

Gloria Gelman, Philadelphia

Political capital is a term that is rolled out as though we all know what it means, and as if it’s an immutable truth. In its most recent iteration, the phrase has been cited repeatedly to suggest that there is some calculable and accepted limit to the Senate’s advice and consent responsibilities. The term has been applied in the context of the nomination of a defense secretary who would deprive our military — at a time when recruiting targets are chronically unmet — by sidelining women or gutting the senior officer corps out of an overblown obsession with being anti-woke.

The limits of political capital have been cited as the reason for accepting a director of national intelligence whose beliefs, and possibly whose loyalty, have direct lines to Bashar Assad and Vladimir Putin. In truth, what we really are observing is not some fact of nature, but the prospect that too many senators will use the excuse of political capital as the fig leaf to rationalize their failure to exert their expressly conferred constitutional authority — just so they can engage in political and moral cowardice.

Robert M. Haas Jr., Devon

Donald Trump believes the so-called deep state, including 18 U.S. intelligence agencies, conspired to sabotage his initial presidency. Unsupported by factual evidence, this conspiracy theory is driving his selection of several controversial cabinet nominees who lack the requisite experience but demonstrate unassailable loyalty to him personally. The intelligence community’s mission is to collect, analyze, and deliver foreign intelligence and counterintelligence to America’s leaders so they can make sound decisions to protect our country. If there is a disinclination to present certain findings out of fear or fealty to Trump, Americans cannot be assured that those entrusted with their national security interests will remain resolute.

Jim Paladino, Tampa, Fla.

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