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DOGE’s cuts to IRS
will prove costly
Re: “IRS Loses 31% of /tax auditors to DOGE” (Page C7, May 6).
As a retired tax specialist, I am extremely angry with both President Trump and DOGE for cutting 31% of tax auditors.
These IRS auditors’ departures “are likely to hamper the agency’s ability to go after tax cheats.” For 32 years, I tried to keep my clients compliant with IRS rules so they would not become tax cheats. We need to go all out to get tax cheats “who may cause a loss of $159 billion over 10 years” of government money, which could be spent on Social Security, Medicare, education, conservation, climate control, etc. Instead, the irresponsible Trump and DOGE hastily make cuts to valuable services while promoting wasteful spending for a birthday parade and reopening Alcatraz.
Trump and DOGE must be stopped.
Susanne Mallory
Saratoga
Social media’s ills
run deeper than teens
Re: “Social media hurts my teen’s health. California must act.” (Page A6, May 9).
Kudos to Neveen Radwan for her insightful op-ed, but sadly, the situation she describes is not a California problem, nor a national problem. It is a global issue that has allowed social media platforms to become the instrument that organizes and directs hatred on an almost unimaginable scale.
Case in point, 25,000 to 40,000 dead Muslims in Myanmar, a genocide orchestrated via Facebook, while Meta employees in Menlo Park watched it happen in real time — and did nothing. Freedom of speech, says CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act has provided immunity from liability to tech giants for third-party content for more than 25 years. It is the real demon and must be revoked, the sooner the better. Please let your federal representatives in Congress know you want social media companies held responsible for content management, no matter the source.
Robert Varesio
Sunnyvale
Israel must stop
inhumane Gaza war
Re: “Gazans are dying daily. Do not forget us.” (Page A7, May 2).
Israel’s use of starvation to force negotiations is a war crime. Women and children are dying, and homes, hospitals and schools are being bombed. No food, water or medical supplies are allowed.
Americans must wake up to what’s happening in Gaza. To stay silent is not an option when our tax dollars go to supply bombs to kill innocent women and children; we are complicit in genocide.
Let’s not forget that Israel has had a decades-long occupation since 1948, when Israel was established and a blockade on Gaza was imposed. Only negotiations have rescued many of the Israeli hostages, but Israel is the one that backed out and broke off negotiations after the first part of the deal ended.
My fellow Americans, it’s up to us to ask our government to put pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu to stop this inhumane punishment and end the war.
Helena Vella
Burlingame
Israel seems bent on
destroying Palestinians
Re: “Hamas’ attack opened door to horrors in Gaza” (Page A6, May 9).
The Jewish insurgents who participated in the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in April 1943 against their Nazi aggressors are still celebrated for their courage and determination even if it was ultimately a futile action.
Now imagine living your entire life under a brutal and smothering occupation, where the conditions only continue to deteriorate, and there is no hope in sight, and your oppressors have all the military advantages. It is understandable if you finally decide to fight back.
This war did not start with the October 2023 Hamas attack. To justify Israel’s response of resorting to a total elimination of food, water and medicine, and to bomb Gaza into smithereens, and to target hospitals and United Nations safe zones would be the same as trying to justify the Nazi response.
What we are currently witnessing is not merely “crimes against humanity,” it is genocide on a massive scale.
Jerry Gudeman
Santa Clara
U.S. must end its role
in Gaza slaughter
Re: “Gaza hit hard as Israel plans to displace more residents” (Page A3, May 8).
What Benjamin Netanyahu is doing is monstrous. It is not so unlike what Hitler did to the Jews. He is attempting to exterminate the Palestinian people. I hasten to remind those who would think that he is doing this to eliminate Hamas that the Palestinian people are not Hamas.
Starving people, taking their land and threatening them with permanent occupation is not how you eliminate a threat. It’s exactly how you exterminate a spirited people that have existed for millennia, who were there pre-1948.
We are culpable for participating in this process by providing tax dollars to supply ammunition and bombs to pummel this ancient people. Shame on our government for this participation.
I will say that a vast number of Jews and Israelis are not in favor of this power grab by Benjamin Netanyahu. But we have blood on our hands.
Angela Boles King
Los Gatos