Stuck in the Middle
Public life these days seems filled with charlatans, grifters, con artists, phonies, bozos, loud mouths and carnival clowns.
They come with all kinds of labels: liberals, conservatives, progressives, originalists, pundits, commentators, incumbents, fascists, independents, libertarians, autocrats, Democrats, Republicans, House speakers, Supreme Court justices, former presidents and chief executive officers, to name a few.
Most of them come and go, except for the few to whom people who just don’t know any better attach themselves to their ultimate downfall, and ours.
The antidote to all this always has been, is now and forever will be an educated, clear-thinking, demanding and skeptical public.
Craig J. Corsini
San Rafael
Ceasefire Plea
The entire world should protest and assert not only that a ceasefire be implemented immediately in the Israel-Gaza War; the 200-plus surviving political prisoners held in Gaza, citizens of multiple nations, must be exchanged for the countless uncharged, untried Palestinians, often held for years in Israeli prisons.
Haaretz reports that 2,000 prisoners in Israel are being transferred, including leader Marwan Bargouti, in order to sever ties. All parties must demand release of all political prisoners. I believe, and so do experts, that this action could be a cornerstone for the beginning of cessations of hostilities.
P.S. I am Jewish, and condemn the apartheid government of Israel and the treatment of non-Jews there.
Barry Barnett
Santa Rosa
