Muhammad Ali was the greatest

How ironic is it that the same Supreme Court that voted 9-0 to force President Richard Nixon to release the tapes in the Watergate scandal also voted 9-0 to uphold Muhammad Ali’s right to refuse induction into the military during the Vietnam war on religious grounds (“Ali’s hometown joins together in prayer and celebration,” June 6).

Muhammad Ali was my generation’s Joe Louis who famously said that America would triumph in World War II because “we were on God’s side.” Mr. Ali uttered the simplest explanation of why so many of my generation were against the war in Vietnam when he said that “I ain’t got no quarrel with them Viet Cong.”

Like Joe Louis, his greatness transcended sports and like Mr. Louis, he was probably the most widely known person on the planet at the height of his power.

Let him now rest in peace. He has earned it. Marc Raim, Baltimore

Why was David Warren still on the streets?

Dan Rodricks deserves our community’s appreciation for his article exposing the incompetence and possible corruption of Baltimore’s state’s attorney’s office in the case David Warren, who allegedly shot five people on Memorial Day as they enjoyed a barbecue (“A person who should not be on the streets of Baltimore,’ ” June 5).

As described by Mr. Rodricks, David Warren is allegedly a career criminal and assassin for hire who has a long history of violent crime and who, incredibly in the case of at least six crimes for which he was arrested, managed to have all charges dropped by the state’s attorneys’ office.

An investigation is needed to get to the bottom of this and bring those responsible to justice if misconduct is found, including termination and criminal prosecution if warranted.

The Sun should be credited for first reporting this miscarriage of justice, and I further call on the paper to begin investigating in earnest.

We need to know what part the city or state played in each of these incidents, which when viewed together represent a shocking miscarriage of justice that may have resulted in the injury or death of multiple victims.

Local investigative news services are all that local communities have to protect them from bureaucratic malfeasance and even criminal behavior. Only The Sun can do that on our behalf. Mark Leuba, Ellicott City

Broaden the Earned Income Tax Credit

Thanks for publishing Sara Buckingham’s op-ed on the importance of food stamps in fighting poverty (“Cutting SNAP funds hurts children,” June 3).

Cutting food stamps will only require us to spend more money in the future as underfed children grow into struggling young adults.

Another critical anti-poverty program is the Earned Income Tax Credit, a refundable tax credit for low-wage workers. Together with the Child Tax Credit, it lifts 9 million people out of poverty every year.

Unfortunately, it does little for adult workers without children. Workers under age 25 are ineligible for the EITC. Instead of helping young workers as they begin their careers, we are taxing them into poverty.

Both House Speaker Paul Ryan and President Barack Obama agree that this must be addressed. They support a plan to double the credit for childless workers and to lower the age of eligibility from 25 to 21.

According to the Treasury Department, this proposal would lift 500,000 hard-working Americans out of poverty. Even in this climate of division and negativity in politics it is possible to work together to fight poverty.

I call on my congressman, Rep. John Delaney, and the rest of the Maryland delegation to do so by pushing to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit. Lisa Peters, Rockville