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Greed, cowardice doom
necessary police reform
I read with dismay that SB 731 didn’t even make it to the Assembly floor for a vote before the end of the 2020 session. I wondered how it was possible? After so many people came out onto the streets to voice their frustrations, and believe me there were just as many who couldn’t take the risk to go out but supported the protesters’ heroic efforts; after all of the chaos and the pain of this summer, why was a bill that would begin to protect our citizens from police misconduct allowed to just evaporate into the ether?
Thank you George Skelton for explaining it (“How needed police reform legislation was quietly killed“, Sept.15 ). The hold that police unions have over Democrats in California is exactly the same as the hold that the NRA has had over Republicans.
Why did SB 731 die? Greed for power and cowardice.
Shirley Modric
Santa Clara
Fight climate change
at the ballot box this fall
Smoky, orange-tinted skies and toxic air provide the perfect backdrops to a grim reality: In only a month, California’s 2020 record-breaking fires have already burned 3.2 million acres and resulted in damage costs exceeding $1 billion.
In “Scientists weigh in: NOAA says August second-warmest on record; researchers say temperatures gradually increasing,” (Sept. 15) the Bay Area News Group’s John Woolfolk clearly points out the disparate responses presidential nominees Donald Trump and Joe Biden had to the West’s wildfires. “It will start getting cooler” Trump reassured, while Biden blamed climate change for the increasing strength and frequency of natural disasters. While Trump’s prediction has no basis in scientific evidence, Biden’s views coincide with those of scientists, who warn that the warming trend will certainly continue if carbon emissions aren’t starkly cured.
Regardless of partisan divides, we must vote for politicians who will listen to the science, collaborate with experts, and enact policies to slow the catastrophic escalation of climate change and protect our health and safety.
Anna Novoselov
Citizens’ Climate Lobby
Saratoga
Laws to reduce carbon
here do little globally
Many folks have called for Californians to act to combat climate change. This is actually a euphemism for governments to enact mountains of rules and spew gushers of money to politically favored special interests.
The Union of Concerned Scientists — not known as a conservative organization — states that the United States emits 15% of the world’s total, and California 7% of that. If you don’t have China, India and Russia on board, what we do in California, or even the U.S., is trivial.
If you want to do something constructive, conduct some chemistry research to find a way to crack, convert or capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere in a cost-effective manner. Hint: it won’t be easy, and will require a great deal of energy.
Ken Imboden
San Jose
No excuses for people
resisting face masks
There is simply no excuse. There should be no hesitation. It is common sense, mandate masks in public.
It is not a matter of rights or freedom. It is a matter of life or death.
I simply do not want your virus to kill me or my family and I will do the same for you.
Mark Grzan
Morgan Hill
