To the Editor:
Re “Cancer Diagnosis Brings New Grief to Kennedy Family” (news article, Nov. 23):
In detailing her diagnosis in “A Battle With My Blood” in The New Yorker, Tatiana Schlossberg has given us nothing less than a profile in courage.
Published on the 62nd anniversary of her grandfather John F. Kennedy’s assassination, Ms. Schlossberg’s essay reminds us of what one Kennedy gave us as well as what another Kennedy is trying to take from us.
But more important, she has shown us how much is still possible to accomplish in the most difficult of times. She has sounded an alarm that will be difficult to ignore.
David Simpson Rindge, N.H.
To the Editor:
Tatiana Schlossberg’s essay in The New Yorker hit close to home for me. I have been living with an incurable 9/11 cancer diagnosed in my 30s, shortly after my wedding. My life, like Tatiana’s, will depend on immunotherapy, treatments that did not exist when I was diagnosed 15 years ago. My health also depends on access to vaccines, including the Covid vaccine.
This is why Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s assaults on vaccines, mRNA research and scientific progress feel profoundly personal. The same breakthroughs he undermines are the ones that will keep me alive, albeit temporarily unless a cure is found.
And, as Mr. Kennedy once did, I care deeply about the environment and am appalled by his unwavering support for an administration that rejects science and erodes critical environmental protections, further compounding harm to public health.
For those of us living with serious illness, gold-standard science is not a talking point. It is a matter of life or death.
Jacqueline Esposito East Hampton, N.Y.
To the Editor:
I remember many years ago reading that Caroline Kennedy had given birth to Tatiana and later seeing pictures of Tatiana in Central Park with her famous grandmother. Reflexively, every Nov. 22, I think of that day when I was in seventh grade and we were told that the president had been shot.
The family has had its share of tragedy and triumphs, but all I could think of when I read this moving New Yorker piece was that Caroline would have to experience the worst that every parent fears, the death of one of her children.
I hope that all of her family finds some peace.
And that short of any miracles being discovered before Tatiana leaves this earth, the hope and promise her grandfather offered so many reaches out and knocks some sense into those who have been foolishly put in charge of the nation’s health.
Stephanie Nicholas Acquadro Westfield, N.J.
Revenge Prosecutions
To the Editor:
“Charges Tossed for 2 Trump Foes, Comey and James” (front page, Nov. 25):
Americans should be livid that their tax dollars have been squandered shamelessly in these meritless Donald Trump revenge prosecutions of James Comey and Letitia James, now dismissed in a scathing condemnatory ruling.
The legal procedures for the prosecution were shown to be utterly flawed and the prosecutor herself unqualified. This is emblematic of the slipshod methods used by Mr. Trump’s lieutenants to satisfy his mercurial whims. Nothing like this should be tolerated by the public or its representatives.
William O. Beeman San Jose, Calif.
Investigating Mark Kelly
To the Editor:
Re “Pentagon Opens Inquiry Into Kelly’s ‘Misconduct’” (news article, Nov. 25):
First, it was the Department of Justice; now, it is the Pentagon that the Trump administration uses to threaten opposition leaders it disfavors.
The Pentagon’s investigation of Senator Mark Kelly — prompted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s claim that a video he made with five other Democratic lawmakers was “seditious” — is a troubling example. The weaponization of public institutions against political opponents is a hallmark of authoritarian regimes.
Secretary Hegseth’s charge also betrays a fundamental misunderstanding of sedition. Under U.S. law, sedition requires words or actions that advocate or involve the use of force.
Senator Kelly’s statement — that service members may refuse illegal orders — is not only a correct statement of the law, but it also contains no such element.
Ironically, the words and actions surrounding Jan. 6 provide a far closer match.
Michael Curry Austin, Texas The writer is a lawyer.
Donors to Universities
To the Editor:
Re “Billionaires Granted Bigger Role in Shaping Higher Education” (news article, Nov. 25):
While the impact of billionaires’ donations and resulting influence on elite universities can be debated, the potential malign impact pales in comparison to the risk of opaque foreign donations of billions to those same institutions from the likes of China and Qatar.
Daniel Wolf Teaneck, N.J.
The post Tatiana Schlossberg’s Profile in Courage appeared first on New York Times.
