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Promise of technologyhas become nightmare
Back in the late 1960s-90s, the emergence of Silicon Valley was hailed as a window into a bright future. We thought highly of those many technological entrepreneurs and their young techie workers, whose dreams and ideas fueled many innovations that improved our lives.
However, in more recent times, Silicon Valley has become a source of ominous foreboding. The once positive humanitarian dreams of its entrepreneurs, who are now reveling in the billions in their portfolios, have turned into nightmarish longings for power and control. Their technology is no longer geared toward providing jobs and raising the standard of living for all, but instead, eliminating jobs through such things as AI, driverless cars and information algorithms. Instead of holding aloft a useful, new product, they wave chainsaws on stage in a sadistic dance of hate towards others’ work.
Young techies now engage in dismantling our institutions, not enhancing them.
Robert ThomasCastro Valley
Only Lee has gravitasto lead Oakland
As a longtime Oakland resident and former councilmember, I know that Barbara Lee is the best choice to be our next mayor. I was proud of her for representing us in Congress for so many years and am excited for what she can do as mayor. Her accomplishments at the federal and state levels couldn’t have happened without her ability to bring people together, even across disparate interests.
Just in the past few weeks, she already brought business and labor leaders together to collaborate on solving some of the Town’s toughest challenges. That’s the kind of leadership Oakland needs — someone who will bring us together to restore and rebuild. Barbara Lee is the only candidate with the gravitas to be able to do that.
Dan KalbOakland
Oakland must stand upagainst antisemitism
Re: “Oakland leaders are ignoring the city’s antisemitism problem” (Page A8, March 9).
Thank you for Mark Cohen’s opinion piece. The fact that over 400 antisemitic graffiti incidents have occurred around Lake Merritt and Lakeshore within one year reveals the severity and persistence of this problem. Highlighting this disturbing pattern ensures that the voices of our entire community — Jewish and non-Jewish— are clearly heard.
Oakland’s leadership and the City Council should take immediate action by issuing a public condemnation of antisemitism, forming a dedicated antisemitism task force, and enforcing existing laws against hate-driven vandalism. Our leaders must send a clear message that hatred has no place here.
Bruce BurgerOakland
If DeSaulnier won’t fight,vote for a rep who will
I have supported Rep. Mark DeSaulnier in every election, but I will vote against him in the next primary unless he starts fighting back. We are facing an authoritarian takeover. Donald Trump, with a thin mandate, is ruling by decree, dismantling democratic institutions while House Democrats stand by.
His record on education has been strong, but as Trump guts the Department of Education, where is his outrage? Where are the press releases, the urgent calls to action? Instead, we get tepid statements while federal workers are purged, civil liberties are trampled and democracy is shredded.
Leadership means taking risks. It means fighting back. A rare few Democrats are physically confronting this destruction — why isn’t he standing with them? His silence is complicity. The Democratic base is done with milquetoast politics. Rise to the moment or be replaced. We need warriors, not bystanders.
Jesse MacKinnonPleasant Hill
Look through Fox’sGOP smokescreen
Fox News does an incredible job of sanitizing Donald Trump’s and Elon Musk’s words and actions. If you don’t think there is a full-scale assault on federal departments and agencies, their services and our financial protections, along with the demise of the free press and freedom to protest, you need to switch channels. This goes way beyond efficiency improvements and Sean Hannity’s tagline of “promises made, promises kept.”
Your grandchildren will ask, “Why didn’t you do anything?”
Barry BrynjulsonPleasanton