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US must not be beholden to Musk
The Wall Street Journal has reported that, with the president’s blessing, Elon Musk ordered a slowdown in the Starlink Satellite Network that provides Ukraine with the ability to defend itself against Russian missile attacks.
This revealed that, for the first time in history, a private citizen has the ability to directly impact the outcome of a war between two nations. Unfortunately, this ability is not limited to Ukraine. Under this administration, the United States has become increasingly dependent on this network for its defense.
This raises the possibility that Musk could hinder the ability of the United States to defend itself if he becomes unhappy with a subsequent administration or comes under investigation. This possibility should concern us all.
Barry Gardin
Hayward
Column should revise economics it uses
Re: “Political Influence for your wallet” (Page E1, Nov. 1).
Jonathan Lansner’s columns are often interesting, but he proves here that irrelevant statistics are completely useless — like a motorist checking the tire pressure when his car’s engine won’t start.
Lansner bases his flawed “Red-Blue” political-party equivalency conclusion on a flawed premise — personal income — instead of wealth inequality, which has reached historic highs in the United States, thanks to craven GOP legislators and Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” in which virtually all the tax cuts went to ultra-wealthy people and corporations — increasing our national debt by $4 trillion (13%).
Meanwhile, ultra-wealthy executives like Larry Ellison pay virtually zero income tax by exploiting loopholes such as receiving stock instead of income — and borrowing against their huge stock portfolios at interest rates as low as 1.5%, if they need cash to buy yet another private island, private jet or Ferrari.
Lansner needs to recalculate his “trusty spreadsheet” based on the real-life 2026 wealth gap, instead of his irrelevant, outdated 1950s economic concepts.
Bill Charleston
Campbell
Life in prison is worse than death
The death penalty makes no sense. It’s a harsher sentence to make a murderer spend the rest of his life in prison than it is to execute him.
Leaving a murderer in prison for life makes him suffer in horrific living conditions for the rest of his life. Executing a murderer puts him out of his misery. Ask people who have been to prison how bad the living conditions are.
People support state-sanctioned murder to punish murderers, but it actually does the opposite.
Ashu M. G. Solo
Hayward
US must renew leadership in TB fight
Tuberculosis (TB) is still the world’s deadliest infectious disease. Despite being preventable and treatable, recent funding cuts to global health programs have weakened efforts to protect our communities.
California now leads the nation in TB cases, with nearly twice the national incidence rate in 2023. The Bay Area is among the top three regions. TB is not a distant problem, and a sustained investment in prevention, testing and treatment matters everywhere. My conversations with peers and public health advocates have made it clear that infectious diseases don’t respect borders.
We must urge Congress to pass the End Tuberculosis Now Act of 2026 (H.R.10223/S.4751), which directs resources to communities most in need and strengthens accountability.
No family should lose a loved one to a disease we can prevent and treat. Let’s call on Congress to renew U.S. leadership in the fight against TB.
Debbie Driggers
Concord
ICE is off the rails with its lack of standards
Police and sheriffs’ departments have long said they are understaffed because they can’t find enough candidates able to pass background checks required to qualify. Yet ICE hires like mad, recently bringing on 12,000 new agents (“Records: ICE hiring spree enlisted questionable characters”). How many of them passed background checks?
It’s reported their training has been severely truncated, including almost nothing on the rights of those being arrested and detained.
What we have seen from these new hires are ICE agents who manhandle and kill people in our name. They probably were unqualified and inadequately trained. On duty, they wear masks that hide their identity. The result: Everything that could go wrong has. There are many horrendous examples. One of the worst is Kenis Adalberto Lopez Gonzalez. What ICE did to him makes me want to weep and vomit at the same time. ICE must go.
Susan Swope
Redwood City
Make animal cruelty easier to report
Cruelty against animals is a severe problem that requires more attention from our communities. Although there are reporting systems in place, a lot of people don’t know where they can report an instance of cruelty or worry that their inquiry won’t be addressed seriously.
A change is needed, and it’s possible through the exposure of reporting resources to society, educating them on cruelty against animals, and making sure that all reports are paid attention to. It is necessary to ensure the enforcement of animal welfare.
Our ideas must cover not only pets but all the animals that aren’t protected against cruelty and suffering. The strengthening of a simple and effective system for reporting abuse and cruelty will help us raise the number of reports, in turn, helping protect more animals.
Melanie Miranda
San Jose