FILE - Laphonza Butler, D-Calif., smiles during a re-enactment of her swearing-in ceremony to the Senate to succeed the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, Oct. 3, 2023, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Butler made history as the first Black and openly lesbian senator in Congress, when California Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed her. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
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Focus on big issues,
not minor differences
Re: “LaPhonza Butler just got to the Senate, but she’s not planning to stay in position long” (Page A1, Jan. 1).
I am taking an online course describing the origins and eventual horrors of the Spanish Civil War.
What is most frightening are the similarities between the roots of the Spanish Civil War and our polarized U.S. society.
When neither side is trusted to govern in an inclusive fashion; when each side demonizes the other as destructive of the nation’s future, then hatred builds and the ability to compromise withers, potentially destroying our democracy.
As your recent article on Laphonza Butler highlights, we need to focus on problems that affect us all (access to medical care, income inequality, crime and yes, illegal immigration) rather than focus on the mostly minor issues that separate us.
Ed Taub
Mountain View
Racist cop shows need
for better screening
Re: “Former cop behind racist texts had large stockpile of weapons” (Page A1, Dec. 29).
About your recent article concerning former SJPD Officer Mark McNamara, who aspired to use his position to abuse, persecute and shoot black citizens, I was struck by the comments of Police Chief Mata and Mayor Mahan. They decried McNamara’s behavior as “disgusting,” “horrible,” “vile” and unbecoming of what is expected of SJPD officers.
No one could disagree with such sentiments, but to me, it sounded like more ineffectual “thoughts and prayers.” I would rather have read that our police command structure was planning to institute major reforms in the selection and training of new officers, including updated psychological screenings, in-depth background checks, stress testing, annual follow-ups and other screening methods that would weed out monsters like McNamara before they commit mayhem under color of the authority conferred on them.
G.A. Braun
Campbell
Take a stand against
Trump autocracy
Donald Trump admits he will be a dictator.
Trump has said he will use the military to advance his agenda on Day One. All immigrants are in danger of being interned or deported immediately. He threatens to imprison journalists and political foes for disagreeing with his authoritarian ideas. The next months are potentially more dangerous. He will likely dismantle the foundation of American democracy and implement a Christian nationalist agenda.
Trump has spoken very highly of Vladimir Putin. Our allies in Ukraine will receive no support in defending themselves against his brutal invasion. Putin would be able to move against Poland and the Baltics, and eventually all of Europe. Trump has used Nazi rhetoric to rally his base against our allies and toward authoritarianism.
If Trump wins again he will undermine democracy at home and around the world. We must take a stand before it’s too late.
Melvin Andrew Ross
San Jose
No high road during
the era of Trump
Re: “Newsom made right call about Trump on ballot” (Page A7, Dec. 29).
Columnist Mark Barabak opposes removing Trump from the 2024 ballot based on the 14th Amendment to the Constitution. Barabak argues that “[Trump] and the MAGA movement need to be defeated — soundly and unequivocally — at the ballot box.”
The problem with this argument is that it calls for an impossibility. For Trump and the MAGA movement, there could be no defeat. There are only two possible outcomes: the election can be either won by Trump or stolen from him. Trump will be a martyr and a victim whether he is defeated in November 2024 or removed from the ballot before that.
Given the threat to our democracy Trump represents, it would be foolish to give up on an additional protection mechanism no matter how unlikely it is to succeed.
In the age of Trump, there is no such thing as taking the high road.
Alex Rozovsky
Sunnyvale
Hamas could end
conflict with surrender
All good-hearted people want the bloodshed in Gaza to end. If we stay focused on how the 2023 Hamas War started, the way to stop the bloodshed is clear. Hamas initiated the war on Oct. 7 when, on an otherwise quiet day, several thousand Hamas terrorists invaded Israel, raped and mutilated living victims, and murdered 1,200 men, women and children, and kidnapped an additional 240 men, women and children.
Hamas chose when to start the war, and the quickest way to end the war is for Hamas to choose to end it. Hamas could end the war today by releasing the remaining 135 hostages, halting the use of innocent Palestinian civilians as human shields, laying down their weapons, and accepting exile to their chief sponsors, Iran and Qatar. Anything less just rewards Hamas for initiating the bloodshed.
Lee Gavens
Saratoga