During these tumultuous days, I can think of none better equipped to help us steer the course for the future of our children than Jesse Barlow.
I served with Jesse during my term on the State College Borough Council and can vouch 100% for his honesty, integrity and commitment to this community. He listens carefully and can always be counted on as a voice of reason during difficult situations.
Jesse would bring outstanding experience to the school board, having served two terms as a State College borough councilman, including as president. His work with the Centre County Advisory Council for the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission has helped familiarize him with state and federal civil rights law. He has lived in State College since 1981 and has two SCASD-educated children!
As a member of the school board, Jesse promises a school district that is welcoming of all students and parents, maintains a high-quality education and defends strong public schools.
Please join me in supporting Jesse and vote for him for State College Area School District Board of Directors on primary election day on May 20.
Deanna Behring,
State College
Eliminate Antisemitism, Embrace DEI
Trump’s dual rampage against antisemitism and DEI (diversity, equality and inclusion) is both phony and dangerous. Eliminating antisemitism is only possible if we embrace DEI.
DEI represents our country’s decades-long effort to create a just and equal society, fulfilling our founding principles, codified in our anti-discrimination civil rights laws. Put simply, DEI is about promoting the fair treatment and full participation of all people in a world increasingly plagued with power imbalances.
· “Diversity” – welcoming differences in qualities such as race, age, sex and gender, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation and physical ability.
· “Equity” – providing equal opportunity to all (NOT guaranteeing equal outcome).
· “Inclusion” – embracing a culture in which everyone, regardless of social status or identity, can express their ideas and perspectives.
Despite efforts to misrepresent DEI, it does NOT mean lowering standards.
DEI confers tangible economic and social benefits. For example, research shows that decision-making and business profits are improved when leadership teams are diverse.
Protecting the rights of one group means protecting the rights of all groups. It’s not possible to battle antisemitism without also battling racism, sexism and other forms of discrimination.
Diversity is our country’s strength. This administration dishonors America when it scrubs government websites of the accomplishments of women and Black Americans, saluting only white men, and censors books that celebrate diversity (while retaining Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”).
If Trump wants to eliminate antisemitism, as claimed, he must be honest about DEI and restore DEI initiatives. Anything else is a sham.
Sheri Berenbaum,
State College
What Americans Are Losing
It’s tempting to tune out the shock and awe strategy of Trump’s second administration, but to do so is foolhardy. The American way of life is disappearing.
Thanks to federal cuts to universities and other research agencies, much of the nation’s cutting-edge medical research is screeching to a halt. The impact on patient care will be devastating—and long-term (consider that 1/3rd of all cancer medicines currently in use were discovered by academics). To make matters worse, this administration is also actively pushing medical misinformation.
Safe food, clean water and worker safety be damned! The administration’s all-out attack on federal regulations puts corporate profits ahead of the health and well-being of the American people. Popular myths that regulations harm the economy ignore the far-reaching benefits, and cost savings, associated with protecting human and environmental health.
Trump’s trade war is blowing up retirement plans! The U.S. stock market is in turmoil, prices are rising, retirement accounts are shrinking and the probability of a U.S. recession are real and growing.
Adding to the madness, Trump threatens to deport American citizens who commit crimes to El Salvador’s brutal prisons! Trump’s acknowledged “errors” in deportations to date, his failure to provide due process and his record of political vengeance reveal a broader authoritarian bent that threatens all Americans.
Not scared? You should be. But remember this: The Trump administration admits to “flooding the zone” to provoke fear and paralysis. Don’t let them! Stay engaged—practice resistance and fight for justice.
Martha Young,
State College
What Is the Point of Trump’s Tariffs?
Americans reasonably assume that the president of the United States will put our nation’s financial well-being ahead of his own self-interest.
So, Trump’s fixation on tariffs and trade wars just doesn’t make sense when virtually all economists, and even the conservative Wall Street Journal, say that tariffs increase inflation, lead to layoffs and force hardworking Americans to watch their retirement savings evaporate.
The radical imposition of tariffs was one of the major causes of the Great Depression.
Financial deregulation, another one of Trump’s priorities, led to the mortgage crisis and recession of 2008-09.
The whole world relies on a strong U.S. dollar and Treasury bills as a safe haven for investments in uncertain times. Trump’s trash talk and threats of firing the Federal Reserve’s chairman, whom he himself appointed, spooked the stock and bond markets as investors lost confidence in the U.S. economy because of the uncertainty created by this recklessness.
Since Trump’s hurtful tariffs have done nothing to bring down inflation or strengthen our economy, he clearly must have another more self-serving motive.
Tariffs are being used as a mafia-like strategy to amass power by extorting obedience from impacted nations and businesses. Sadly, this cowardly Republican-led Congress has done nothing to protect us from Trump’s unconstitutional power grab.
Americans deserve better! Call your representative and senators to demand they do their job and defend our Constitution and nation from this dictator-wannabe who’s completely willing to incinerate our economy so long as he gets to rule over the ashes.
George Polycranos,
Port Matilda
Actually, He Can’t Do That
Executive orders can be legal, constitutional and smart. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has signed a blizzard of “Executive Orders” that are illegal, unconstitutional and stupid. Courts are rightfully striking them down one after another.
A president cannot use executive orders to bypass laws made by Congress.
A president cannot use executive orders to shutter or gut federal agencies created by Congress.
A president cannot use executive orders to defy the Constitution, as Trump’s “Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections” tries to do. Trump issued that order on March 25. On April 23, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly soundly rejected it. Why? Because the Constitution grants states and Congress the power to regulate voting and elections. Not presidents.
Trump supporters complain that no other president’s orders have been met with so many rejections in courts nationwide. There’s a simple reason why: Before Donald Trump, no other president has insisted on trying to rule by just firing off orders. (That’s what a king does.)
Congress, do your job. Use your constitutional power now, before you lose it. Impeach this loser. Get him out of office. It’s what most Americans want.
Randolph Hudson,
Ferguson Township
