Correspondents’ dinner shooting
The apparent goal of an armed domestic terrorist was to change the course of history by assassinating the president at the long-standing and iconic annual White House correspondents’ dinner at the Washington Hilton. Thank God he was not successful.
There is no justifying it or making sense of it — and it must be universally condemned. This cannot be the way political disputes are settled, yet throughout our history, they too often have been.
The president said in reaction to the incident that our country must commit to opposing political violence. Will he lead the way by finally offering measured speech rather than the demonization of anyone who dares to disagree with him? Will he stop indicating that some of his foes have committed treason by challenging him? Will he finally seek to unite rather than to divide and turn us against each other?
Oren Spiegler, Peters Township
. . .
As we hear news of yet another gunman targeting the president at the White House correspondents’ dinner, we learn there were no casualties and that the Secret Service and other law enforcement officials at the event offered world-class security and protection for the attendees.
If only we could say the same about the victims of school shootings in places like Newtown, Conn., Parkland, Fla., Uvalde, Texas, and so many other places. We remember the parents whose children died in those slaughters who would be watching their children mature into adulthood. If the victims of murder at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, the supermarket in Buffalo, and the church in Charleston, S.C., weren’t victimized because of their race and their religions, they could have gone on to lead peaceful lives.
I’m happy the people at the White House correspondents’ dinner were so well protected. Otherwise, it could have been a massive tragedy. We have massive tragedies every day, and there are victims whose families won’t recover from their losses. They did not have the same privilege of protection available to them. We should never forget.
Elliott Miller, Bala Cynwyd
Elevate caregivers
When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says caregivers shouldn’t be paid, it cuts deep for the millions quietly holding families together every day. Caregivers sacrifice sleep, careers, financial stability, and even their own health to ensure loved ones are safe and cared for. This is not optional work. It is essential, skilled, and often invisible labor that our entire healthcare system depends on.
Dismissing that work as unworthy of compensation doesn’t just miss the mark; it devalues real sacrifice and pushes already strained families closer to the brink. Caregivers save the system billions by keeping people out of institutions, often with little to no support themselves.
They deserve more than gratitude. They deserve recognition, respect, and fair pay. Anything less ignores the reality of what they carry every single day.
Sara Emerle, Albrightsville
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