Letter to the editor: Commute U.S. death sentences

If, like me, you dread the prospect of a second Trump presidency, please sign the ACLU petition urging President Biden to commute the sentences of federal death row inmates to life in prison before he leaves office.

We share Hal Cohen’s outrage at Hamas’s unspeakable recent murder of six Israeli hostages. No decent person could defend Hamas, which is, indeed, evil personified; but it is absolutely wrong to equate Hamas with all Palestinians or Gazans.

Sen. Bernie Sanders and several members of the House and Senate have announced that they will boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s scheduled address to Congress next month.

Though a second term for Donald Trump should be unthinkable, it seems possible that he could win a narrow victory if enough traditionally Democratic voters refuse to vote for Joe Biden.  

How can it be that after all these centuries of “progress,” we humans still try to resolve our differences by killing each other and destroying what we have labored to build?

In nearly all other affluent, modern countries, healthcare is a recognized human right, partly or wholly subsidized by the state, and available to all at little or no out-of-pocket cost.

Letters and commentaries attacking Article 22/Prop 5 are usually self-contradictory and disingenuous.

Only in the U.S. does the private insurance industry control and profit from every medical interaction while contributing nothing.