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Alameda County drops
ball on storm assistance
We live in Castro Valley, and our home was flooded when the atmospheric rivers overwhelmed local storm drains. We were shocked when Alameda was omitted from the list of Bay Area counties that reached out to FEMA for relief.
Finally, after calling Nate Miley’s office, we just received an emailed “flood damage survey” from Alameda County. This is fully 30 days after the storms.
What have our supervisors been doing all this time? They should have been out in their districts immediately and personally seeing for themselves just how much damage the storms did to so many of us. We needed help and the problem was ignored.
Bill Saltzman
Castro Valley
The police have
an American problem
America does not have a police problem as Francis Wilkinson so arrogantly stated in “Memphis symbolizes extent of America’s police problem” (Page A6, Jan. 31).
I was a police officer from 1994 to 2020. We lost the public trust as many times as we won it back. The police have an American problem.
You see, we police based upon a public expectation. As a result, expectations greatly differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
America must continue to encourage our best humanitarians to accomplish our mission in these tumultuous times. Make no exception, we must hire our best, retain and develop our best. Cops don’t go bad overnight.
Parents need to raise their children to be cops: curious, kind, selfless and compassionate. Cops are the buffer between good and evil. Help me fix American values. We need to put them in squad cars.
Mark R. Clifford
Moraga
Remove liability shields
for police and high tech
It is wishful thinking that companies must accept more social responsibility “Tech industry must accept responsibility,” Page A8, Jan. 29); maximizing shareholder value is the dominant corporate practice.
Unlike every other manufacturer (of cars, toys, etc.), gun manufacturers are, by law, shielded from product liability lawsuits, courtesy of politicians corrupted by NRA campaign donations. And unlike real-world publishers, online publishers are shielded by law from liability lawsuits for publishing false, defamatory, or violence-promoting disinformation.
Here is a simple solution: Remove the product liability shield for gun manufacturers, allowing them to be sued by victims of gun violence. This should motivate these wealthy merchants of death to begin promoting gun safety — or go bankrupt.
Remove the liability shield for online purveyors of false or defamatory information — including social media companies. This should motivate these wealthy merchants of falsehoods, Russian and MAGA disinformation, and hate speech to seriously moderate their published content — or go bankrupt.
Bill Charleston
Campbell
Religious words will
never unite nation
Re. “State advances school mandate on ‘In God We Trust,’” Page A3, Jan. 31:
Republican West Virginia state Sen. Mike Azinger and others seem to think that the words “In God We Trust” and “One nation under God” are unifying phrases. In fact they discourage unity and abrogate the personal responsibility needed to make unity a reality in our society.
Our previous national motto “E Pluribus Unum” (From Many One) is a much more apt descriptor of what this country should aspire to become.
Rohnda Stimson
Santa Clara
Men have no right
to outlaw abortion
People are angry and scared for the women living in this nation who are fighting for abortion rights.
No man should be allowed to make laws about a woman’s body. It is unacceptable and frightening. Women should have full rights over their bodies, and the state has no right to change that. Basic human rights should be given from birth, and I believe women should get to choose whether they want to carry a fetus or not. It is ridiculous that this was even discussed in the mouth of a man.
I am privileged to not carry and give birth to a human but to think there are thousands of women who are in a situation where they don’t want a fetus inside of them but are forced to keep it is horrifying. I demand a change. No one deserves this agony.
N.F.N. Sadia
Milpitas
Source: www.mercurynews.com