The Cardins: Giving thanks for Dan Rodricks

Reading that Dan Rodricks has written his last column for The Baltimore Sun hurts (“Dan Rodricks: In Baltimore, a dream job and a wonderful life. Thank you.” Jan. 10). He may not be a Baltimore native, but it’s hard to tell.

For 45 years, Dan worked his way into every neighborhood and community issue across our great city. He kept elected officials and others honest as he held up a mirror for us to see the good, the bad, the curious and the extraordinary. He rooted for Baltimore and its people with all his might, as well as quality journalism and the reporters who make it happen.

Dan shared his personal perspective and invited others to get involved. There have been countless mornings that we’ve picked up our paper, read Dan’s column and thought, “he nailed it,” before emailing it around to family, friends and staff. What we love the most about Dan is how he sees such tremendous potential in Baltimore during celebrations and during its darkest, most challenging times.

As Dan would say, “nobody asked us, but,” we will miss his insight and wit. He is a treasure and a friend. We write to share our thanks for all he has done for Baltimore and for us.

— Myrna and Ben Cardin, Baltimore

Trump II: Better than ever or pompous windbag?

On Jan. 20, Donald Trump will be sworn in as President of the United States. Again. The country will be served another helping of his bombast for the next four years. Everything seems to be “better than ever before” or, as he said after the election in November, “This was the greatest political movement of all time!”

Recently, the “Art of the Deal” author has expressed a desire to make Canada the 51st state, to buy Greenland and take back control of the Panama Canal. He stated that he might use military and economic force to achieve these goals (“Trump refuses to rule out use of military force to take control of Greenland and the Panama Canal,” Jan. 7). People in a crowd might cheer these grandiose statements as impressive, but they do not have any real meaning or effect. These goals have a negligible chance of ever occurring.

Like most elected officials, Trump enjoys hearing a response from people listening to him give a speech. However, there’s often more truth in what a local leader might say than in a meandering Trump speech. Maybe if he pays more attention to the responsibilities of his office this time around, he can avoid having a historian in 40 or 50 years describe him as a pompous windbag.

— David C. Hill, Forest Hill

Why not require greater transparency with vaccine data?

Would you ask A.J. Russo, the retired Mount St. Mary’s University biology professor, to follow up on his recent commentary, “Next administration to have a dangerous dose of vaccine skepticism” (Jan. 13)? First, let’s agree that we don’t need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. But the bathwater is so dirty, if it hard to see clearly through it.

Maybe Professor Russo would explain why there needs to be mercury or aluminum in any vaccines? Could the increased vaccine load result in adverse events (I probably had less than 10 growing up, but hear that kids can get up to 60 doses now)? Why do newborns get a vaccine for Hepatitis B? Are they at risk? Why isn’t the cause of the exploding autism rate being studied relentlessly? These are just a few of the questions people like me have and we can’t seem to get any straight answers.

Who would oppose greater transparency in sharing the vaccine safety and efficacy test data? Does that bolster faith in our public health institutions? I look forward to Secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Dr. Jay Bhattacharya (who has been nominated to lead the National Institutes of Health), Johns Hopkins University’s Dr. Marty Makary (who has been chosen to run the Food and Drug Administration) and Dr. Dave Weldon, the former Florida congressman picked by Donald Trump to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, pulling back the curtains, changing the culture and restoring our faith in our government institutions.

— Scott Graham, Baltimore