Bakersfield’s homeless people need to go to work

This state is a total disaster. We are spending so much money on hotels being converted to apartments for the homeless. They are milking the system with almost everything free for them. We just had a job fair. I guarantee not one of the homeless that are given a place to live even went to the job fair. But we will continue to allow all these homeless people to just sit all day and not better themselves.

I drive around Bakersfield. And I’m ashamed how dirty it is, with weeds growing everywhere and trash scattered everywhere. Why not go by and pick up these homeless people at the hotels that we pay for and make them clean our streets and do some weeding? It would be a payback for them living in the hotels.

I lived in Ontario, Canada, and I will tell you this much: You don’t see trash and overgrown weeds. Freeways are well-maintained. Our Highway 99 is a dump. But this Democratic administration is a complete joke.

— Dave Stiner, Bakersfield

FACTS ARE FACTS

I would normally hesitate to write a response to a rebuttal of one of my previous columns (“US needs to change policy toward Netanyahu’s Israel,” March 9) but I feel compelled to do so in response to Steven Jacobs’ letter to the editor (“There is good and evil,” March 14).

I stand by the factual accuracy of the statistics laid out in my article, and I wish to completely refute his criticisms and baseless accusations, attacking the accuracy of those facts and of my motivations. In reality, the facts that I laid out describing the brutal, indiscriminate bombing and demolition of

Gaza and the unimaginable and wholesale slaughter and genocide of 31,000 innocent Palestinian civilians (and counting) at the hands of Netanyahu’s Israel, are just that, facts.

The statistics presented in my column are sourced by reputable agencies, such as the U.N., World Food Program, etc., as opposed to Jacobs’ baseless rant, offering only his opinions and parroting the company line of a highly unpopular, indicted, authoritarian-leaning Netanyahu.

Detailing the unconscionable amount of suffering in Gaza, from Israeli bombs and bullets, and the cruel deaths brought on by starvation, thirst and disease committed by Netanyahu is not the “parroting” of either side, it’s just the facts. Jacobs states that “there is good and evil,” which is an incredibly naive and myopic way of seeing the world, in its many shades of gray, but if there is evil in the world, I would have to surmise that it is Netanyahu and his terroristic and genocidal actions, as coming very close to meeting that definition.

— Richard Thesken, Bakersfield

SUPPORT OUR ALLIES

Just when I think that Washington politicians can’t get any more unhinged, Sen. Chuck Schumer just lowered the bar. Wednesday, he called for a recall election to remove Benjamin Netanyahu from his leadership post in Israel, effectively calling for a political revolt in a country that is, without a doubt, our most important ally in the Middle East. Israelis are the good guys in the grand scheme of things, but that didn’t stop Chucky from dreaming this idiotic idea, presumably to pander to the pro-Palestinian, anti-West mob.

How would we react if an ally of ours were to call for the overthrow of our government? Pure outrage, and rightfully so. I wish our leaders would remember which side our bread is buttered on and support our allies. Or at least mind our own business.

If Americans want to throw in their two cents to help solve the problems in the Middle East, they should be aware that they are a little late. These people have been squabbling with one another for about 4,000 years, and we don’t have the slightest idea of what is really going on over there, no matter what the elitist schoolmarms preach from their university pulpits.

It is in Israel’s, ours and all allied countries’ best interests to smash Hamas. They are the bad guys; Israel is the good guys. Simple enough.

SHUT DOWN HIGH-SPEED RAIL

An article in The Californian on climate stated that California’s cement plants have some of the planet’s most polluting cement plants. A two-pronged pollution solution and money saver is obvious. Shut down the high-speed rail project. It requires a large cement supply. If it were carried out to completion, Los Angeles to San Francisco, it is obvious the taxpayers are going to be paying for completing this major cost overrun project.

California can’t seem to keep from declaring a surplus when it wants to spend money then declare a budget deficit later. A tax increase is always a solution. Quit wasting our money.