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Fix Our Forests would
improve fire resiliency
Re: “Legislation would worsen California wildfire threat” (Page A8, Dec. 28).
In this opinion piece, the author presents one side of an admittedly controversial bill. On the pro side of the Fix Our Forests Act (FOFA), studies have shown that forest thinning, when done right, does protect forests. The current version of FOFA supports a community-centered, science-driven approach to wildfire resilience.
It has also removed problematic forest industry giveaways. FOFA is supported by The Nature Conservancy, Environmental Defense Fund, Audubon Society, National Wildlife Federation and Citizens’ Climate Lobby.
Trish Clifford
Richmond
Memoriam misses
Walnut Creek luminary
Re: “Many prominent residents lost in ’25” (Page A1, Dec. 31).
I was saddened to read today’s Page 1 article about the Bay Area notables who died in 2025, not just because of all the great high school coaches and albino alligators we lost, but because there was no mention of Gwen Regalia who served more than two decades on the Walnut Creek City Council, mentored countless local leaders and played a key role in shepherding Walnut Creek on its journey from a quiet suburb to a thriving, vital cultural and commercial hub.
She died this past November at the age of 92, and her life of selfless community service holds lessons for us all.
Peter Magnani
Walnut Creek
Failed Obamacare
faces a reckoning
Obamacare is a miserable failure.
“If you like your health care plan, you can keep it.” This was called the “lie of the year” by PolitiFact in 2013.
“Obama and the Democratic Party created this disaster, lining the pockets of massive insurance companies while healthcare costs for Americans skyrocketed,” declared Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. Premiums have increased 80% since 2014. Obamacare passed without a single Republican vote, and Democrats knew it would funnel vast sums of money directly to insurance companies through subsidies and cost-sharing payments. This created a reverse incentive where insurance companies are paid more when premiums rise. Premium spikes? Extend subsidies. Insurers demand higher payments? Extend subsidies — endlessly.
Democrats now are crying that Republicans are kicking people off their insurance, even though the policy was explicitly set by Democrats to end Jan. 1. Americans have been had, and the Democrats think they can continue fleecing American taxpayers.
Jon Rego
Clayton
We must rebuild base
to preserve nation
We, the people, did well at self-governing, fulfilling the dreams of our Founding Fathers, until we became necessary only as “the bottom line.”
This form of corporate capitalism in government asks how much a person must be convinced to consume at as high a price as possible, from fewer and fewer choices, while being paid less and receiving less from the government they pay for. Thus, We the People become the bottom line for the peak of the pyramid scheme that has become the government of the United States.
Now that sounds degrading. But if the base disappears, the whole pyramid falls apart. That’s power, if we use it.
To continue the metaphor, We the People must rebuild, strengthening the base and flattening the peak. We must increase our bottom line to grow small, independent businesses and encourage diversity. To let the pyramid tumble would be disastrous and unnecessary.
Nancy Thornton
Concord
Trump’s defacing of
institutions will fade
As 2025 ends, President Donald Trump seems more unhinged than ever. At war with the world, his hate-fueled mania and behaviors now appear more like the flailing of a failing, unpopular plutocrat or kakistocrat.
While my disgust and distrust of Trump and MAGA grow daily, I take solace in knowing that everything this madman is doing — all of his egomaniacal attacks on American institutions — can be erased. Following the demise of this debacle, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts will return, cleansed of the desecration that has recently befallen it. The “gaudy chic” ballroom, if completed, can be razed and replaced by a big, beautiful rose garden. The “golden fleet” will never materialize. Mount Rushmore will remain a respected monument.
The list goes on, and it represents a checklist for change. I like to think of it as a return to sanity. Happy New Year.
Jon James
Pleasanton
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