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Residents need help with fireproofing homes
Re: “New data reveals risk of ember-driven fires” (Page A1, June 7).
This story makes it abundantly clear: Defensible space around a home isn’t enough to combat wildfires because it won’t stop flying embers. The home itself needs to be fire-resistant. It is a shame not only that most homeowners with vulnerable residences cannot afford the cost of hardening measures, but also that our governor ignores this fact.
After the L.A. fires, rather than advocating for increased funding to assist homeowners in paying for needed retrofits, Gov. Newsom mandated sterile “Zone 0s” in extremely high-risk areas. According to recent studies, this approach may increase homes’ vulnerability to embers. Additionally, his extensive funding for backcountry logging serves to degrade forest ecosystems and accelerate climate change, but does little to reduce wildfire risk.
Too many Californians face significant risk from wildfires. We need better leadership for real solutions to this very real problem.
Jennifer Normoyle Hillsborough
‘No Kings’ offers chance to be heard
At the end of “Goodnight and Good Luck,” George Clooney’s play about the extremist 1950s Sen. Joseph McCarthy and journalist Ed Murrow, one of the few who challenged him, Clooney turns to the audience and asks, What will you do to save democracy? His question is a timely reminder of the need for upstanders in a world of bystanders.
I have signed up for the “No Kings” event this Saturday, a 7 x 7 Protest (7 miles, 7,000 people), a human chain stretching from Palo Alto to Sunnyvale along El Camino Real. Four members of my book club will be among the thousands peacefully protesting Donald Trump’s authoritarianism. That is one thing we will do, George.
Remember Los Angeles, where the president of the United States has ham-handedly ordered our National Guard to deploy, his response to people who do not agree with him and his policies.
Virginia Carpio Los Gatos
Trump worsens protests with troop deployment
On the first day of his second term as president, Donald Trump pardoned over 1,500 people who stormed the U.S. Capitol to protest the outcome of the election of Joe Biden. Some of those people resorted to violence that injured many peace officers and caused property damage. Trump watched it all on television without raising a finger to quell the violence. How ironic and hypocritical today that he deploys the National Guard and provokes more violence.
Most of those who are protesting today embrace the power and effectiveness of nonviolence, and I hope the press will give appropriate attention to them rather than feeding into Trump’s false narrative that they are a danger to our country.
Jim Purcell Los Gatos
Trump’s parade will show how weak he is
There has never before been a president in this country who would have imagined calling himself a king — they all, at least, respected our democracy enough never to do that. And now this self-styled king has decided he should throw himself a parade, costing taxpayers up to $45 million and likely destroying the streets in the process.
Such a parade only demonstrates his weakness — no one with real confidence in himself would think a self-instituted parade is strength. The truth is, such a parade is pathetic — the kind of thing a tinpot dictator in a banana republic would do.
Theresa Rieve San Jose
Rabbis offer alternative narrative on Zionism
Are anti-Zionism and criticism of Israeli policies really acts of antisemitism? According to several rabbis, it’s not the case.
Rabbis Dovid Feldman, Yaakov Shapiro and Elhanan Beck offer an alternative view. For good measure, try scholar Richard Forer, an ex-AIPAC member who changed his outlook completely. It explains why we see pictures of ultra-Orthodox men being beaten for not wanting to join the Israeli army and seeing them carrying Palestinian flags at demonstrations. They see modern Israel as a nationalist creation that is hijacking a noble religious tradition in order to justify their behavior toward the inhabitants whom they see as in their way.
These folks offer a needed narrative that definitely goes against the general consensus we are usually presented with. They offer valuable advice to enable us to exist together going forward. It’s a small planet, and an alternative one isn’t readily available.
Mike Caggiano San Mateo
Apple’s AI reticence should be a model
Re: “Apple unveils software redesign as hurdles rise” (Page C7, June 10).
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AI’s core engine is data science-based “predict the next word” software, which means AI can’t reason or think, and that it works best in more closely controlled domains.
The rest of the world should follow Apple’s lead.
Karen Brenchley Santa Rosa
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