Letters to the Editor

DJT…Won’t He Do It?

You published my letter. Minneapolis events recently… Everyone must consider the obvious unlawful homicide and what might have happened in a neighborhood where military grade weapons were used. Could Donald Trump claim children were Liberal Terrorists? Only he would do it. 

Michael Rolenz

Harbor City

Remembering Jan 6 2020
We all remember what happened five years ago this week. Donald Trump sent a mob to the Capitol to steal an election.

He had just lost an election, fair and square, and he didn’t like the result. So he decided he was going to try to silence the voices of 81 million people.

It was one of the darkest days in the history of our country, but we made it through.

Now he’s back, five years later, and it’s the same scheme. His Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, is trying to silence me as we speak. He thinks he can make an example out of me, and intimidate others into staying quiet.

But here’s the thing: Americans really like freedom of speech. You sign an oath to defend it when you join the military. Trying to silence people into compliance is just about the most un-American thing you can do. Period.

There is nothing Trump or Hegseth or anybody in that administration can do to shut me up. I am going to keep fighting for our people, our democracy, and our Constitution.

We’re not going to let him win. Not a chance. So, five years on from January 6th, I want you to take this to heart: Do not be afraid. Do not be silent. Speak out.

We’re going to get through this the same way we did back then: together.

Mark Kelly, US Senator AZ

AI isn’t Authentic

The voice‑over world isn’t just changing — it’s being aggressively rearranged by technology that didn’t even exist a few years ago. Remote work is now the industry’s default setting, which means every actor is expected to moonlight as their own engineer, studio manager, and tech support hotline. And then there’s AI: the uninvited guest who showed up early, cloned everyone’s voice, and started auditioning without asking. Synthetic voices are getting frighteningly good, but here’s the twist — the better they get, the more clients cling to real humans for anything requiring nuance, trust, or, you know… feelings. Authenticity has become a selling point because the alternative is a machine that never gets tired, never asks for usage fees, and never complains about direction. Globalization is accelerating too, turning every project into a multilingual puzzle where cultural fluency matters as much as mic technique. Casting has gone data‑driven, so your voice isn’t just a voice anymore; it’s a statistic in someone’s dashboard. And the market itself is jittery — shaped by economics, politics, and whatever mood corporate messaging is in this quarter. Through all of it, the job has evolved from “sound good and read the copy” to “own your identity, understand the tech, navigate AI ethically, and stay adaptable while the ground shifts under you.” The craft is still the heart of the work, but the business now demands a whole new level of awareness — and a sense of humor doesn’t hurt either.

Ray Buffer

Orange County