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End payouts from
government to Musk
Re: “Senate blocks ban on gas-powered car sales” (Page A1, May 23).
Recent Democratic administrations have inadvertently created a monster named Elon Musk.
In the early years of Tesla, it was on the brink of bankruptcy. The Obama administration guaranteed Tesla’s loan. Both the federal and California governments provided significant incentives to buyers of zero-emission vehicles. Additionally, there were regulatory credits, which provided annual payments to Tesla from major auto companies because their sales were not meeting zero-emission standards. Reports estimate the payments totaled $11 billion by January.
Many of these government gifts are still in place. It is time to phase them out. Isn’t Musk wealthy enough?
Gary Latshaw
Cupertino
High-speed rail is
worth cost, effort
If you like schlepping between San Francisco and Los Angeles by car on the freeway or by air travel, then you probably view the California high-speed rail project as a money-wasting, useless project. You probably are sold on the idea promoted by the oil and car industries’ idea that the best way to live is in a car culture.
But like the rest of the civilized world, I believe rail travel between major cities is a far superior way to travel. In the long run, California high-speed rail will be looked at like the Golden Gate Bridge, the Boston Big Dig and the Hoover Dam; projects worth funding.
A bonus to the project is the economic and cultural link that it will create between people living in our major metropolitan areas and the Central Valley.
Steve Eittreim
Palo Alto
U.S. refusal to stop
Israel arms is shameful
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert condemned his government’s actions in Gaza as war crimes, calling it a “criminal gang” in a May 2025 Haaretz op-ed.
His criticism aligns with a letter signed by 380 writers, including Zadie Smith and Ian McEwan, denouncing Israel’s actions as genocidal and urging a ceasefire and unrestricted aid. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the UN have echoed genocide concerns. The ICC has issued arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu and ex-Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes.
Yet, nations like the U.S. and the U.K. dismiss these findings while continuing arms support, revealing shocking hypocrisy. Protests, including those by Jewish Voices for Peace, are smeared as antisemitic to silence dissent. The devaluation of Palestinian lives for political and military interests is indefensible. Shame on those who enable it.
Jag Singh
Los Altos
CIF punishment of
sprinter is too much
Re: “The celebration that cost a California girl her state track title” (June 2).
Clara Adams’ disqualification was a pathetic move. Sometimes the adults in the picture forget that these are kids.
The purpose of being a kid is to learn what is acceptable, what limits are and who we are and how we fit in. We all learn by trial-and-error, even California Interscholastic Federation officials. Wouldn’t it be interesting if a reporter dug into their background when they were teenagers?
This focused, successful, hard-working young lady was robbed of her right to place in this competition for a silly stunt that hurt nobody and destroyed nothing. My advice to the California Interscholastic Federation officials: Grow up and shame on you. Probably if she were White, it would have just been a reprimand.
Barb Martens
Milpitas
Lofgren must lead on
kidney donation bill
The End Kidney Deaths Act is a simple yet powerful solution: It would provide a refundable tax credit of $10,000 per year for five years to individuals who donate a kidney to someone they don’t know.
These nondirected donations would go to people who have been on the transplant waitlist the longest. By the 10th year of this program, up to 100,000 people who would have died while waiting could receive a life-saving kidney transplant. In the process, taxpayers could save up to $37 billion by avoiding the high cost of dialysis, which averages $100,000 per patient each year.
The act would help end the kidney shortage that takes 15%-20% of dialysis patients each year.
Lila Kraai
San Jose
Waiting for court’s
birthright ruling
Re: “Birthright order would affect U.S. citizens” (Page A13, May 25).
No sooner than he assumed office, Donald Trump created an executive order to end birthright citizenship to children born to a parent who does not have citizenship or a green card. The Fourteenth Amendment, enacted in 1868, guarantees citizenship, equal protection and due process to anyone born in this country. The Supreme Court affirmed it in 1898 to Wong Kim Ark, who was born in America.
Federal judges in three states have ruled that Trump’s ban on birthright citizenship violates the 14th Amendment and placed nationwide injunctions.
Trump has appealed to the Supreme Court not on the 14th Amendment but on the legality of the nationwide injunctions by the federal judges against his policy.
This court has no problems in throwing away precedents set a long time ago. We need to wait and see what happens.
Mohan Raj
San Jose