Letters To The Editor

Election Endorsement

I applaud RLN for its recent endorsement of Michelle Chambers for State Senate in the 35th District.  Ms. Chambers is also endorsed by the Los Angeles Times, the California Democratic Party, a majority of the State Senate Democrats, the entire L.A. County Board of Supervisors,  and a broad swath of elected leaders, organized labor, environmental, women’s, LGBT groups, and community groups.

I write to highlight a recent encounter that I had with her opponent, Laura Richardson, at a recent candidate forum.  Richardson, who served  in Congress from 2007-2013, was regularly listed as one of the dozen most corrupt members of Congress. In 2012, the House of Representatives reprimanded and fined her for violating federal law and House rules by pressuring her Congressional staff to campaign for her.  The House Ethics Committee found that she not only withheld evidence but also engaged in the “alteration or destruction of evidence and [attempted] to influence the testimony of witnesses“.

I spoke with Richardson about the Committee’s findings, explaining  that, as a lawyer, I found this behavior very disturbing and that it demonstrated a lack of respect for the institution in which she served. I asked that, given that corruption and a lack of respect for the institutions of government is viewed as disqualifying at the top of the ticket, why was it not disqualifying here. Richardson gave a long-winded answer in which she refused to accept full responsibility for her conduct and concluded that she had not screwed up in fifteen years. This is not a convincing argument (especially since she has not been in office since then) and the people of this district deserve much better.  (It also may explain why no Senators have endorsed her.)

I bring this to your attention because many of the same people who are aghast at the tribalism of Republicans who are willing to ignore Trump’s corruption, are willing to give Richardson a pass on her corruption and history of nasty campaigns because she has lived in San Pedro since 2012.  We must convince our neighbors on both sides that we are all better off eliminating corruption and toxicity from our politics.  

Michelle Chambers may not be from San Pedro, but her campaign evokes San Pedro’s values of hard work and helping others far more than a corrupt career politician who refuses to own up to her past.

Bennet Kelley

San Pedro

No One is Above the Law

I want to state this plainly: No one is above the law.  That includes presidents and elected officials — and that also includes police officers. 

I am proud to have filed 129 cases against 144 law enforcement officers. I am proud to have filed cases regarding officer-involved shootings and excessive uses of force. And I am proud to say that I take this critical element of public safety seriously. Whether on- or off-duty, no officer is above the law.

But it’s not without consequences: Law enforcement has been backing my conservative opponent because they know that Nathan Hochman prefers the old days and the old ways.

That’s why they’re spending over a half a million dollars to get him elected.

But I have you on my team – and I know that the majority of Los Angeles County believes in holding those in power accountable for their misdeeds.

George Gascón, LA County District Attorney

10 Ways Kamala Harris Can Win the Anti-War Vote:

1. Stop Arming Israel. Ceasefire. Emergency Massive Aide NOW for Palestinians and Lebanese.
2. Hands-off Iran. Admit it was the U.S.’s CIA coup against their president Mosaddeq in 1953 that began the tensions. Our Cold War. Our Fault.
3. Abolish NATO. Back off from Imperial intentions to balkanize Russia. Demilitarize Europe. Russia WILL agree to follow suit.
4. Admit the U.S. Cold War in Central America terrorized and devastated the region. Including NAFTA and the militarization of Mexico in Bush’s Plan Merida, they have le to the crisis for refugees at the U.S. southern border.
5. Stop encircling China with U.S./UK/Australian military, or “AUKUS”. Hey, Australia! Help your land after your 2019 climate wildfires burned 1 BILLION ANIMALS to death. Hey, Americans! How ’bout you stop shopping so much? Maybe our trade imbalance with China would improve, no? China is Not Our Enemy. Our anti-Asia foreign policy is increasing anti-Asian hate here at home, too. A shame, and a sham.
6. U.S. Get the ** OUT of Africa! Abolish AFRICOM. Support the African Sajel’s massive, beautiful, multinational reforestation effort called “The Great Green Wall”. (Much preferred by the Youth, fyi) #DecomAFRICOM
7. Don’t Privatize the VA…or even the POW/MIA’ers will come after you in both parties! Support Veterans for Peace and other efforts to help U.S. Veterans get housing, help heal the land-and themselves-and move beyond war.
8. Declare a Climate Emergency. Shut down the over 750 U.S. military bases in over 80 countries. Gross. (There are over 5,000 military installations spread throughout the United States, too. Yikes) Demilitarize Space. Slash the $1 Trillion Pentagon budget paid for by Americans having to leave their families and go to work all day in some disempowered job that’s probably killing the planet anyway, to have half their tax dollars go to pay for War. #JustTransition military workers into the vital and life-sustaining #PeaceEconomy.
9. Reverse Trump/Biden policy and take Cuba OFF the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism. End the Blockade. Open trade and travel to Cuba. Let Cuba Live. And Venezuela and Nicaragua for that matter.
10. Let the better angels of all of us on this Land called America, or Turtle Island, do what we need to do: Heal the Land and Heal our Communities. Together. In Peace.

You would win in a Landslide, Maam. We are tired of War.

Rachel Bruhnke

San Pedro, CA

My Theory 

I have a personal theory about the malaise we are experiencing because of Trumpism and the notion that we are headed for a global collapse of civilization. My theory is open to any challenges you may have.

Hoping you read that “Bye Bye Civilization” article and somewhat agree with it, my theory is this: 

The root cause (additional to what that article said) is simply because we have too many humans now and that we’ve never had so many. We have become unreasonable and ungovernable because of our own ignorance, hubris and hedonism. Our civilization glorifies nice “things”, pretty objects and pretty people (I call it Bogus Beauty) and thus, requires us all to compete unequally – for basic security. 

Wars and weapons are also more deadly now and we fight over resources and who controls them (land, sea, air and space). Too many people with not enough resources, facing a changing climate and our fellow man with more resources and more weapons, puts distrust of each other politically and globally. Living under this kind of fear for the future, for those of us who are older and were younger in a different time, also now sense the future differently. It’s not necessarily wisdom but actually future shock.

It’s hard to believe this is happening to America. 

Richard Pawlowski

Oregon