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Senate Dems’ leaderacted in nation’s interest
Re: “6-month funding bill averts government shutdown” (Page A4, March 15).
Bravo, Sen. Chuck Schumer. Sometimes, you have to be the adult in the room.
Donald Trump’s troops don’t look better for successfully getting their way in gutting agencies and programs, and the majority of Democrats wanting to fight and allow a shutdown sounds like partisan politics as usual instead of for the good of the country.
Sometimes, you have to choose the lesser of two evils, and in Congress, you should do what’s best for the country. Without a doubt, avoiding a shutdown is best for the country.
Lynda MartinezSan Jose
Trump is destinedto repeat history
Re: “This won’t end well as Trump ignores history” (Page A6, March 13).
We have two classic examples of how the tariff wars ended. The first is the Fordney-McCumber Act (1922) and the second is the Smoot-Hawley Act (1930). They ended in disasters.
The consumers and the stock market are already reacting in sync to Donald Trump’s tariffs and predicting a recession.
DOGE is operating without accountability. What if the sensitive information gathered by the staff falls into the wrong hands? Who will be held accountable?
The NATO alliance is in distress, and they may not trust America anymore. They may have to go alone. Instead of negotiating a ceasefire with Russia with strength, Trump calling Ukraine the aggressor is foolish.In the end, Ukraine will be sacrificed and allow Vladimir Putin to act on his plan.
The anti-immigrant sentiment, coupled with dumping DEI measures, make us move back to the past.
The saying “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” is relevant.
Mohan RajSan Jose
U.S. arms industry is bigforeign policy winner
Re: “Trump pressures Columbia in pursuit of deporting protesters” (Page A2, March 12).
Secretary of State Marco Rubio ordered the arrest and deportation of a legal U.S. resident, Columbia University Palestinian student Mahmoud Khalil, because Rubio believes that Khalil’s presence may have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences for the United States,” according to a court filing.
With Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Trump told the world about U.S. foreign policy, which amounts to the ethnic cleansing of about 1.8 million Palestinians from Gaza, which is a war crime, so that the U.S. can “own” the Gaza Strip and build a Gaza “Riviera of the Middle East.”
Last year, this was foretold when Trump’s son-in-law and former presidential senior adviser, Jared Kushner, called on Israel to move the Palestinian population out of Gaza and clean it up because the Gaza “waterfront property” may be “very valuable.”
This U.S. foreign policy pours fuel on Middle East wars and terrorism, a bonanza for the U.S. arms industry.
Diane SecorCampbell
State can’t changewithout two parties
Re: “No DOGE here, but there’s still lots of cutting” (Page A6, March 14).
Zac Townsend is correct that California should have its own DOGE department, but it would just become another dysfunctional department of the California government.
The problem isn’t that government leaders don’t know where the waste is but that they benefit from it. Nothing can or will change until we become a two-party state again.
Ed KahlWoodside
DOGE works foroligarchs, not taxpayers
Re: “No DOGE here, but there’s still lots of cutting” (Page A6, March 14).
While I agree with Zac Townsend’s assertion that there is absolutely a need for fiscal efficiency in the California government, his claim in his opinion piece that the aim of DOGE is to save taxpayers money is patently ridiculous. The administration and Elon Musk don’t care about taxpayers.
The real aim of DOGE is to decimate both our social safety nets and other vital federal departments in order to privatize them for the gain of the oligarchy currently holding sway over Washington, D.C.
Laura WinterSan Jose
‘Mallard Fillmore’ bitesthe hand that feeds it
Re: “Mallard Fillmore” (Page B9, March 13).
The propaganda strip “Mallard Fillmore” last week took on the free press, suggesting that it is good for government and society to restrict access to official briefings and press conferences, as the Trump administration has done with the Associated Press.
This is, in fact, the worst thing that could happen. If Congress is unwilling to check the power of the executive branch, our chief defense against an authoritarian government is independent news reporting. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Our liberty depends on the freedom of the press, and that cannot be limited without being lost.”
It is neither wise nor legally required for a newspaper to give space to someone who would attack its primary function: reporting on what is said and done in the halls of power.
Dan ToftSanta Cruz