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For safety, CPUC mustdeny AT&T request
Re: “Reject AT&T bid to shed its landlines” (Page A8, March 10).
Recently, AT&T failed wireless customers nationwide. At the same time, they have applied to the California Public Utilities Commission for permission to end copper landline service across our state, putting copper landlines under immediate threat.
In a Feb. 1 letter to the CPUC, Assemblymember Gail Pellerin, D-Santa Cruz, wrote that devastating natural disasters “have repeatedly underscored the indispensable role of landline services. … During such crises, when power outages are prevalent and cellular and VoIP services are unreliable, landlines have remained the sole means of communication for emergency services, medical consultations, and disaster-management efforts.”
Especially in emergencies, both urban and rural residents need never-failing, always-dependable copper landline services.
Don’t assume your VoIP phone, which fails without electricity, and your prone-to-failing-anytime cell phone can substitute for a copper landline.
Please tell the CPUC to deny AT&T’s application and preserve our irreplaceable copper landline services.
Connie AndersonKensington
Check sources forNovember election
With the November election coming, it’s crucial for voters to navigate through the maze of information with a clear mind and to think critically of sources to recognize biases that might tarnish the credibility of sources.
Evident from prior elections, false information and conspiracy theories can spread like wildfire, and it is imperative for voters to steer clear of these dubious sources to make an informed decision.
The most effective way to curtail the spread of unsupported conspiracy theories is to be wary of committing confirmation bias when researching an issue. This is the tendency to only seek out information that confirms the opinion one already holds, as it can limit the scope and quality of information available to influence an opinion.
Zachary HamiltonFremont
Democrats, GOP shouldagree on health care
Re: “Demand funding for global health, nutrition” (Page A6, March 8).
Thanks for publishing Ricardo Narvaez’s letter on International Women’s Day. It seems to me that there’s a lot of common ground between liberals who want to protect women’s health and conservatives who want to protect babies’ lives and, presumably, the lives of mothers who’ll take care of those babies and children already born.
Sadly, mothers dying during and within a year of childbirth is unnecessarily high. In the United States, the maternal mortality rate (the number of deaths per 100,000 births) is 32.9 and globally it’s 223.
I hope that the common ground mentioned above leads Congress to increase international child and maternal health funding to at least $1.15 billion in next year’s budget. Protecting the lives of babies, children and mothers through better health care is something we should all support.
Jim DriggersConcord
Biden crossed linelong ago with Israel
President Biden said on MSNBC Saturday that he has a “red line” in the war in Gaza. “You can’t have another 30,000 Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after (Hamas),” he said.
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So Biden finally has a red line regarding Israel. So far, Biden has done little beyond urging Israeli “restraint” with no consequences for continued indiscriminate killing and destruction.
Such pleas ring hollow while military aid keeps flowing. A recent Washington Post report revealed that since Oct. 7, the Biden administration has approved over 100 separate sales to Israel. Individually, the sales did not require congressional notification, but together they are a massive transfer of firepower.
Thus the United States is complicit in Israel’s war crimes. One former Biden official commented, “You can’t … transfer this level of armament in such a short time and somehow act as if we are not directly involved.”
Stephanie EricsonDublin