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Show support for
a four-day workweek
I would like to voice my support for Assembly Bill 2932 instituting a four-day workweek.
Having silent generation parents and being a slightly older than usual millennial has allowed me a fantastic view of employment patterns and mindsets of different generations. Remember when computers came around and we were going to get so much more time back in our pocket? We’re still owed that.
We’ve continued to use a dated Industrial Age workweek that doesn’t fit with the modern landscape, and it shows. With so many working from home and staying there and so many hopping from job to job, we have to wonder if it’s the structure that might be the problem.
Let’s join European countries in fostering this idea and lead the way, as California always does. I urge Gov. Gavin Newsom, Assemblyman Ash Kalra and state Sen. Dave Cortese to get this done.
Jeremy Robinson
San Jose
$1,000 fine falls short
of just punishment
Re. “Councilwoman cited after fatal shooting at October party,” Page B1, April 12:
Rebeca Armendariz should resign from the Gilroy City Council. She is a bad role model, flauts the law, enables unlawful behavior, and is a proven liar.
Her slap on the wrist fine of $1,000 is an insult to the community. She should be charged with felony manslaughter along with the other family members who planned this event that led to the death of one of the participants. She should hang her head in shame – not flippantly say “no comment.”
David Matuszak
Gilroy
Gilroy councilwoman
should resign office
Re. “Councilwoman cited after fatal shooting at October party,” Page B1, April 12:
I was shocked and disillusioned to read the article about the death at the party that resulted in a 120-page report.
Rebeca Armendariz was fined $2,450 but $1,250 was waived due to the late issuance of the citations. Elected officials should have more common sense and integrity. How can she make good decisions for the city of Gilroy if she can’t make good decisions for her own family?
She should resign and move out of town in shame.
Maureen Hunter
Gilroy
Get big money out of
politics for better world
The world is in turmoil with human atrocities we thought we would never see again. There are shortages of materials, housing and energy, coupled with skyrocketing prices on fuel and food. So how did this happen?
You just need to follow the money. In my opinion, it all changed when the Supreme Court found that companies are like people. The ruling sent a tsunami of money to every political action committee to affect every election and elected official. This gooey flood of moola is feared and wanted by all.
If we had finance campaign laws, our government at all levels would look entirely different. Neither Donald Trump nor Joe Biden would have been elected. Politicians could say what they mean instead of what they were paid to say. Remove the money, and fearless wise men and women of integrity and honesty can be elected. If not, this mess will consume all of us.
Mark Grzan
Morgan Hill
Half-steps won’t work
with Russia, Putin
In October 1935 Italy’s dictator Benito Mussolini invaded Ethiopia, one of only two independent countries in Africa. Emperor Hallie Selassie of Ethiopia asked the League of Nations, of which both countries were members, for aid to stop the invasion. The League of Nations decided to start minor and ineffective sanctions on Italy and then dropped them after Italy conquered Ethiopia in May 1936. Many historians consider this event the start of World War II.
This echo of history is playing out today between Russia and Ukraine. If history repeats itself we are seeing the start of World War III.
As the American philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
Phillip Doppelt
San Jose
Don’t blame Putin
for Trump or Le Pen
Re. “Beer flows, Champagne bubbles as Macron, Le Pen reach final,” Page A5, April 11:
Russia did not hack voting machines or stuff ballot boxes in the United States or France, or any other European country. The rise of the populist right is the result of the abandonment by the left of what was once their base.
In spite of Trump’s borderline criminal handling of the pandemic, 10.1 million more people voted for him in 2020. It is easy for Democrats to write it off as racism among White people without a college education. A Gallup poll of party affiliation of that group between 1999-2019 showed a tie between Republicans and Democrats in 1999 then the gap grew to 9 points before going back to zero between 2006-2008, and then it started diverging. The gap stands at 35 points today.
These are lower-income White voters; if the Democratic Party loses them by that much, what is the party for?
Laith Naaman
San Jose
Source: www.mercurynews.com