Democrats need to support ending the filibuster
Democrats won the majority, and they should act like it. They promised Americans bold relief, and they shouldn’t let Republicans use procedural hurdles like the filibuster to block their agenda. The best chance of keeping Republicans from permanently controlling the levers of power is by passing big, bold democracy reforms — and the only way we do that is by eliminating the filibuster. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is too eager to use it.
In his first few months as Senate minority leader, McConnell has given us a preview of how Republicans will behave for the next four years. They will use every tool at their disposal, like the filibuster, to cling to power and stop progress.
They used it to block civil rights legislation in the 1960s. They used it to block background checks for gun sales in 2013. And they’ll use it to block everything Democrats want to do in 2021. I am asking that California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla support ending the filibuster.
Wonderful love poems
Regarding Kirsten Menger-Anderson’s Valentine’s Day lament in “My search for love poems turns up bias” (Insight, Feb. 14): It is true that men have written the bulk of famous love poems. But definitely not all. Menger-Anderson should check out two of the most beautiful love poems ever written: one by Anne Bradstreet (“To My Dear and Loving Husband”) and one by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (“How Do I Love Thee? Sonnet 43”).
Fix the supply chain
Regarding “Auto industry bets future on batteries” (Business, Feb. 17): Behind the coronavirus pandemic, there is another crisis lurking around. It is now frequently ravaging through the country, inflicting extreme weather, causing wildfires and snowstorms, destroying homes, and taking lives. There is no time to waste in tackling the imminent threat of climate change.
Although electrification of vehicles and transportation fleets is a step in the right direction, without a sustainable manufacturing supply chain, it will fall short of its promises to mitigate the climate crisis.
Manufacturing batteries from scarce minerals displaces the carbon footprint from consumers to the supply chain, depletes natural resources and is not sustainable for production at scale. Research in the battery industry is rapidly growing; however, government-funded research must focus on solutions that are transferable to commercial products and can be used for manufacturing at scale. Otherwise, funds and time are wasted as the link between research and mass production is broken.
Don’t deny opportunity
Bureaucrats are not known for wisdom, as the San Francisco School Board has recently affirmed by its recent school renaming mania and especially the changes regarding enrollment at Lowell High School. If there is some racial or ethnic unbalance of opportunity, then find the reason for that and do something about it (such as improve education in the lower grades). It makes no sense to remedy the unbalance by denying opportunity for all.
Restaurant’s rights
Regarding “Restaurants may pay high price for ignoring employees’ values” (Front Page, Feb. 15): The coverage of the Girl & the Fig controversy mostly misses the point. At issue is whether a business has a right to keep its facilities apolitical. Or, alternatively, does a butcher shop have to let the counter help wear T-shirts saying “Meat Kills”? Does a property management firm have to let the receptionist sport a button that says “Rent is Theft”?
When a restaurateur invests maybe a million dollars to start a restaurant, can the front-of-the-house employees, by right, set a political agenda so as to offend and likely lose half the potential clientele? Righteousness of his cause notwithstanding, did Colin Kaepernick have the right to usurp the NFL stage for his own political purposes? The suggestion proffered by some Millennials that demands political transparency as a prerequisite for patronage would split the country already divided politically into one divided economically. We shop at our stores; they shop at theirs. Give me a break.
Curb PG&E’s power
Regarding “Judge says PG&E was ‘reckless’ before fire” (Business, Feb. 4): Pacific Gas and Electric Co. has a well-earned reputation for repeatedly failing to protect our public health and…