Letters: Conflicts with cops wouldn’t happen if people just respected authority

Police authority

Re “Sacramento officer who punched alleged jaywalker returns to duty after investigation” (sacbee.com, Nov. 20): I am not condoning the excessive reaction by the police officer. But if all people would obey the commands of an officer to stop, some of these incidents might not happen.

School shootings

Re “Pizza and hugs – School targeted by shooter tries to move on” (sacbee.com, Nov. 19): Two articles in The Sunday Bee about the Rancho Tehama mass shooting describe a “family fun day” featuring “pizza and hugs”; security measures, such as lockdown drills; and counseling for children. The term “gun control,” though, is not mentioned. Nor is it mentioned that American children are killed by guns at a rate 12 times higher than in other, high-income democracies. If school counselors want to be honest with children, they should tell them to move to some other democratic country where grownups love children more than their guns.

Net neutrality

Re “FCC chairman sets out to scrap open internet access rules” (sacbee.com, Nov. 21): Many years ago, my K-12 classroom was the first on the internet through a grant by BBN, Pac Bell and UC Davis. I saw the difference that it made to my students. Those who were recent immigrants could write students in their native countries. Students were able to follow the breakup of the Soviet Union in real time, with my students delivering the information to Social Studies classes throughout the high school every morning.

Now, teachers use virtual reality, and students use the internet to do research. Because classes often are taught in one-hour segments, it is important not to slow down internet connections just to give telecommunications companies a financial advantage. It is appalling that students should be denied what is now full access to information. Please write to your representatives to ask them to vote against the Federal Communications Commission proposal.

Obamacare

Re “California’s uninsured rate drops to new low” (sacbee.com, Nov. 21): This is exciting. Even after Republicans’ unsuccessful attempts to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, people are enrolling at faster rates than ever before. As a student of public health, I’m glad the ACA is standing strong. As an anti-poverty advocate, however, I have a few critiques. With such a short enrollment period of 45 days, folks who are illiterate, home-bound or afraid to access services due to their immigration status may have to wait until the next round, while being penalized for being uninsured. The ACA can undergo changes, such as longer enrollment periods or increased outreach, that do not leave vulnerable populations out of the picture.

Roy Moore

Re “Trump all but endorses GOP’s Moore despite sex accusations” (sacbee.com, Nov. 21): What kind of world are we living in when the president of the United States defends an accused child molester and candidate for the U.S. Senate, while trying to make us believe his opponent is the one who is soft on crime? The accused child molester, ex-judge Roy Moore, was twice removed from the bench for “disregarding a federal injunction and demonstrated an unwillingness to follow clear law.”

Moore’s opponent, Doug Jones, is a federal prosecutor who is known for prosecuting two members of the Ku Klux Klan who were the perpetrators of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. I’m telling you, it’s getting Orwellian.

Infrastructure

Re “Trump calls Democrats ‘obstructionists’ on taxes” (sacbee.com, Nov. 17): Where in the GOP budget and tax plan is the money for the major infrastructure improvements that we need and Donald Trump promised? Our nation’s roads, power grid and air traffic control system are very old. Corporations aren’t going to fix them with their tax cuts. And the budget just passed doesn’t plan funding for growing climate disaster needs or a $54 billion wall. Instead of directly investing in infrastructure, Republicans are giving even more tax cuts to the rich and corporations that will just make the rich richer. Then the deficit hangover we get will make it impossible to invest in infrastructure – unless they cut Medicare and Social Security.

Tax reform

Re “Trump calls Democrats ‘obstructionists’ on taxes” (sacbee.com, Nov. 17): I think we all can agree that tax reform should start with no offshore accounts for individuals and companies that use them to hide money – money that they don’t pay taxes on, which could be used to offset the proposed tax cuts to needed programs. Even Trump, during the campaign, bragged about how Congress let him get away with it. If real tax reform is the quest, then let’s start there.

Al Franken

Re “Donald Trump, Roy Moore, Al Franken, and the elephant in the room” (Jack Ohman, Nov. 20): It seems Jack doesn’t have his elephants straight. The real elephant in the room should have the picture of Al Franken, showing him groping with a silly grin on his face. The Roy Moore thing should show a “she said, he said” from 30 years ago that just “happened” to come up weeks before an important election the Democrats need to help tip the Senate majority.

Nuclear weapons

Re “U.S. general says illegal nuclear launch order can be refused” (sacbee.com, Nov. 18): Congress is considering what might happen if President Trump ordered a nuclear strike. Congress should also consider requiring the Personnel Reliability Program test. It already must be taken by all military staff having access to nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. The Department of Defense established the test specifically for nuclear weapons during the Cold War. It’s a security, medical and psychological evaluation program designed to let only the most trustworthy individuals have access to such weapons. A denial might be temporary or permanent.

Since the president is ultimately in charge of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, our president should have to pass the test, too. This will make an unnecessary war less likely. Trump has already threatened North Korea.

RT cyberattack

Re “Hackers attack Sacramento transit system and demand $8,000 ransom” (sacbee.com, Nov. 20): This time we were lucky. Nobody was put in any real danger. But that cyberattack on Sacramento’s Regional Transit system ought to get us thinking long and hard about the potential risks of putting all of our transportation eggs in centralized, vulnerable computer systems. When everybody is riding in digitally controlled driverless cars, a terrorist won’t even have to come over here and rent a truck. He can just hack into our systems from half a world away and kill more people than the 9/11 bombers.

Sexual misconduct

Re “They reported sex harassment in state jobs and found ‘retaliation is alive and well’” (sacbee.com, Nov. 20): The answer to saving the taxpayers of this city, state, and country from having to pay for the harassment perpetrated by our elected officials is they should be required to carry malpractice insurance. People in the medical field are required to carry it, even physical therapists, so, why shouldn’t an elected official? Maybe they would think twice before behaving badly if a settlement came out of their pocket, not ours.

Oak Park mural

Re “Watch Sacramento Black Lives Matter protest removal Oak Park mural” (sacbee.com, Nov. 18): Painted on the wall of a privately owned building and without the permission of anyone, was a “mural” of “black men killed by the police.” The “mural,” perceived as vandalism, was removed. Black Lives Matter Sacramento staged a protest on the street and is now calling for the “return” of the “mural.” Any group truly concerned with depicting black lives for the public could pool its resources, get permission from a building owner, and paint a mural to memorialize black men murdered by other black men.

 

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This story was originally published November 25, 2017 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Letters: Conflicts with cops wouldn’t happen if people just respected authority."