Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.
Demand that Congress
protect Medicaid
I am deeply concerned about proposed Medicaid cuts that would devastate individuals with disabilities, the public schools that support them, and the countless adults with disabilities and their families who rely on these services for daily care, independence and dignity.
My son, Jacob, has Trisomy 9, similar to Down syndrome. Thanks to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), he was included in public education, teaching empathy and compassion to his peers. Now, as an adult, he depends on Medi-Cal for essential services like the Regional Center system and In-Home Supportive Services.
The Trump/Musk administration has openly disrespected people with disabilities, from Donald Trump mocking a disabled reporter to Elon Musk using the R-word as a slur. Their Project 2025 plan would dismantle the Department of Education and defund special education.
We must demand that lawmakers protect Medicaid and the rights of individuals with disabilities. Jacob and millions like him deserve better.
Julie Elfin
Pleasanton
Bill will make state’s
residents less safe
State Assemblymember Rick Zbur, D-Los Angeles, has introduced AB 1333, making it much harder for Californians to protect themselves against personal and property crimes.
The language of this bill puts the onus on the homeowner to determine the threat and act within the bounds of the law. Ridiculous. If you’re a single, hard-working mother living in poverty, how do you protect your family and those hard-won possessions?
The only law that should apply is the Castle Doctrine, the legal right of a person to defend himself against an intruder in his home or other property, even should the use of deadly force be required. Under this legal theory, the homeowner is not required to retreat, but may stand his ground to defend himself, his home, or his property.
Denise Kalm
Walnut Creek
Trump wasn’t equipped
for Zelenskyy meeting
Re: “Trump, Vance berate Zelenskyy” (Page A1, March 1).
It was disgusting to watch Vice President Vance acting the bully and behaving so arrogantly with President Zelenskyy, showing no respect for the horrors this man and his country have faced. Russia started that war.
The disgrace came from the outrageous behavior of our government officials, not from Zelenskyy. It seemed he’d been railroaded into a corner for a fight.
Zelenskyy was there to make a deal and sign over some of Ukraine’s mineral rights to the United States. Why should he be thanking us? This was going to be a contract. We help them, they help us. Since when does someone thank another before it’s all signed, sealed and delivered?
Those minerals would have been a valuable asset and could have helped the U.S. enormously. The Oval Office should not be a place for arrogance, bullying and confrontation but rather tact, decency, respect, common sense and sincerity.
Betsy Sargent
Alamo
Trump’s orders don’t
compare to others’
Re: “Trimming U.S. spending, workforce isn’t new” (Feb. 20).
Mark Blanchard compared Presidents Clinton‘s and Obama‘s executive orders to reduce the federal workforce to President Trump’s executive orders.
Clinton’s and Obama’s executive orders set up a process for reducing the federal workforce. The orders ensured transparency, set clear goals, created a process for determining which agency would be responsible for implementing firings, determined which positions were to be eliminated, and accounted for how the work being done by the positions to be eliminated would be reassigned.
Trump’s order is simply, pack up and get out.
Mike Tracy
Oakland