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Stop Trump’s attacks
on public education
As a parent and a teacher in San Jose, I’ve seen how after-school programs, technology and teacher training enrich our children’s education and prepare them for the future. That’s why I am alarmed by the Trump administration’s proposal to slash $12 billion from public education, including $4.5 billion from these very programs.
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Instead of strengthening the public schools that serve the vast majority of American children, the administration is diverting taxpayer dollars into unaccountable private and charter schools — even as many charters close due to fraud or declining enrollment. This is not education reform; it is an effort to dismantle public schools.
Families in our community value our neighborhood schools, our teachers and the resources that help all students succeed. Congress must reject these cuts and protect every child’s right to a strong, well-funded public education. Our children’s future depends on it.
Robert Prola
San Jose
There’s nothing wrong
with being ‘woke’
I’m not sure anyone, especially MAGA types, can define “woke,” but I do know that that movement was a hard-fought attempt to include more people under the great American tent … but now for the great swing of the pendulum to the right.
Donald Trump and his acolytes miss the irony that their views on society are now every bit as exclusive. Gays, transgender folks, minorities, multinationals and, to a degree, women are being penciled out of the American dream.
I love my university, the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center, my national parks, Washington, D.C., my health insurance and NPR, and I want the Trumpers who lack taste, intellectual curiosity and empathy to keep their hands off.
I proudly am a proponent of diversity, equity and inclusiveness. If that makes me woke, so be it.
Bob Parker
San Jose
ICE arrests amount
to kidnappings
“ICE arrests stun Oakland neighborhood” (Page A1, Aug. 21).
Those seven people in Oakland were not arrested; they were kidnapped. Let us be clear about that.
When one is arrested, one is told why, the arresting officers are clearly identified, one is read their Miranda rights, and one is not spirited away out of the area where you have no contact with legal representation or your family.
If one is kidnapped, none of the above takes place; quite the opposite, in fact.
George Badger
Soquel
No more kicking the
can on climate change
Re: “U.S. struggles to build 5-minute EV chargers” (Page C7, Aug. 21).
If all this talk about climate change, more “green” laws, policies and taxes and a quickly deteriorating planet are sincere, then we need to act now.
Detroit has not moved fast enough to produce affordable EV cars for the masses, but China has beaten us again. Putting tariffs on BYD and other offshore car manufacturers only slows our response to ending our reliance on fossil fuels and the many associated problems that go with it.
Protecting American car manufacturers and the oil industry only kicks the problem down the road when we need to act now before more severe consequences are upon us.
Bruce Krutel
El Granada
Dash is a bad place
for a license plate
I know if our beloved Mr. Roadshow were still with us, he would be covering this subject, but someone has to.
I see an increasing number of cars in my neighborhood that keep their front license plates on their passenger side dashboards, either for appearance’s sake or because their car has no front plate mount.
Not only is this not a legal location to present a license plate, but it is extremely dangerous. In a collision, you now have a flat steel plate flying uncontrolled in the passenger cabin of your vehicle.
Every car sold in California must have a front plate mounted in the front. Any auto part shop would be able to source a mount. Please don’t gamble with a flying guillotine for the sake of aesthetics.
Tod Weitzel
Sunnyvale
Cut off funding to
slaughter in Gaza
“Activists call for end to funding for Israel” (Page B1, Aug. 22).
Thank you for publishing this excellent article outlining calls on our government to stop arming Israel. At a time when calling to end the collective punishment of Palestinians is censored and silenced, it is refreshing to see this article in print.
We, as Americans, are complicit and fully funding the genocide in Gaza. Each one of us paying taxes is responsible for Israel’s actions, including intentionally starving 2 million displaced Palestinians while bombs rain down on them, as well as the illegal land theft in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
It’s time for us to call it what it is: genocide and ethnic cleansing.
It’s time for us to take accountability for our role in this.
It’s time to stop arming Israel and keep our money here in America.
Enough is enough.
Dina Saba
San Jose