Opinion Voices

Letters to the Editor: It's good that Canadians are traveling to the U.S. less, but it's not enough

'Canada has been a great ally, a friendly neighbor and a proud member of the North American community of people for many, many years. We deserve better than this,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Granderson: The slur 'woke' highlights what Trump fears most

For the president who said, 'I love the poorly educated,' information is an existential threat.

Contributor: In all the uproar over Epstein, remember the victims

It really shouldn't be a story about boldface names. It's a story about dozens of underage girls abused for years.

Contributor: The Supreme Court's tariffs decision sends a clear message to Trump

The president has long treated tariffs as something he can impose or rescind at will. On Friday, six justices put an end to that.

Contributor: GOP voting bill prepares to subvert elections, not protect them

Even without passing, the SAVE America Act serves three strategic purposes for Republicans.

Letters to the Editor: We need to do a better job of holding students accountable for bad behavior

'Without consequences, students will continue to misbehave. If my own kids knew there wouldn't be consequences for not cleaning their rooms, do you really think they would do it?,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Altadena should take the opportunity to go solar as it rebuilds

'Rebuild and restore Altadena's beloved neighborhoods and lead the way to a solar-powered future for the whole USA,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Democrats need to start a campaign now to rebuild voter trust in elections

'I propose that Democrats immediately make a plan to blast our cities, counties and states with a mass campaign, telling the truth about voting and how safe it really is. The future of our democracy depends on it,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Pam Bondi should follow the U.K.'s lead after the arrest of former Prince Andrew

'How much longer do we have to wait before Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi takes action? If she is waiting for orders from President Trump, they will never come,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Jesse Jackson advocated for all working-class Americans, and they appreciated it

'In an Atlantic City hall largely full of white, working-class men, mostly in their 50s, Jackson got four standing ovations, more than any other speaker at the convention. On picket lines, in union halls, and in his candidacies, he had earned it,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Regulation of nuclear weapons is an international job, not the U.S.' alone

'Trump should find an offramp and pull our naval forces out of harm's way before a missile barrage takes a massive but unnecessary toll, potentially launching more than just regional conflict,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Hamas must also answer for Palestinian children's mental health crisis

'There's no question that the children of Gaza have suffered, both physically and emotionally, from the war between Israel and Hamas. But we must ask ourselves to what extent that suffering rests at the feet of Hamas,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Contributor: The choice between tax reform and total disorder

At our current pace, by 2036, virtually every dollar the government collects in taxes will pay for entitlement programs and interest.

Letters to the Editor: Regulators have given us little reason to trust massive hydrogen expansions

'After pipeline failures, explosions, methane leaks and the ongoing Aliso Canyon disaster, we are now being asked to trust the same system with a more volatile fuel and billions in new infrastructure,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: To this reader, Robert Duvall will always be Boo Radley

'While barely speaking a word, Duvall portrayed Boo [Radley] perfectly. His sunken eyes, pale skin and fearful manner, trying to make himself small behind the door, reflected Boo's fear of the outside world,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Lawmakers will likely take no action against AI-generated email campaigns

'I'll wager that nothing will be done about this. That means our public policy, which relies on opinions from constituents, will furthermore be influenced by individuals working with companies to generate AI email blasts,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Younger generations could learn a lot from KCRW's Michael Silverblatt

'Today, we know that students arrive at college struggling to read an entire book. I hope some of them stumble across the KCRW archive of Silverblatt's glory and blaze anew with its purpose and meaning,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Citizens have been shining a light on solar power in streets for some time now

'For 19 years, Plexus has been a shining success, improving safety and quality of life in [Venice]. But for so long, the city was not interested in continuing the program,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Contributor: Hegseth's war on diversity is eroding America's military edge

Shrinking the pool of Americans who can serve while signaling that only certain types of people truly belong limits whose judgment shapes U.S. strategy.

Calmes: Clinton, Bush, Obama and Biden, please speak out against Trump

Presidents who could speak truth to power are so constrained by their devotion to norms that they won't confront a president who's shattering the norms of this democracy daily.

Contributor: The planet's other forest crisis

Struggling kelp forests like those along the California coast show why 'out of sight, out of mind' is not good climate change policy.

Letters to the Editor: Less pavement and more shade trees would help everyone in L.A.

'We must require new buildings to include space for big shade trees planted in the ground for a livable and healthy city,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Venice residents voice differences over controversial housing project

'Venice, being an epicenter of the homeless problem, does need housing for the homeless. But [Venice Dell] is not the answer,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Facts are facts, even when they don't bolster your own beliefs

'In the end, free speech is precisely that: free of conformity to anyone's definition of it. You pretty much get to say whatever you darn well please, but saying it doesn't make it so,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Contributor: Spotify needs to start labeling AI-generated music before it's too late

We're barreling toward a future where AI-generated music is the soundtrack to our lives, and most don't even realize it.

Contributor: City leaders are sabotaging parks and nature spots across L.A.

The city's park system has fallen from 49th to 90th place among the top 100 cities in the U.S. in just five years.

Column: Marco Rubio is the only adult left in the room

The secretary of State's Munich speech was one JD Vance should have given, if the goal was to offer a serious argument about Trump's vision.

Contributor: What 'America' meant before 1776, and who 'Americans' are today

The label is often wielded now to exclude brown people, but these two continents have been a melting pot since long before the U.S. was founded.

Contributor: Blending hydrogen into gas pipelines would enrich utilities and harm Californians

Experiments with natural gas pipelines are only a stalling tactic and profit grab that will prolong pollution. The real solution is to go electric.

Letters to the Editor: We have to come up with new solutions to encourage safer driving

An L.A. Times reader proposes installing 'Ring-like' cameras in DUI offenders' cars to confirm that they're not finding ways around a breathalyzer.

Letters to the Editor: Casey Wasserman could learn a thing or two from Peter Ueberroth

'At a time when confidence in public leadership remains fragile, Ueberroth's example is a reminder that accountability and ethical stewardship still matter,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Contributor: Gaza remains a crisis of children's mental health

As a psychologist in the occupied West Bank, I thought I understood trauma. Then came the call from a dying 5-year-old trapped in Gaza.

Abcarian: In Venice Beach, it's taken nearly a decade to not build low-income housing

The Venice Dell project has been approved again and again, only to be stymied by local officials who oppose it.

Letters to the Editor: Vote to protect mountain lions bodes well for California's environmental legacy

'California has long prided itself on environmental leadership. This vote reflects that legacy and offers hope that future generations will inherit landscapes where mountain lions still roam,' an L.A. Times reader writes.

Letters to the Editor: We should cheer Trump's climate change reversal — if we don't care about our health

'Presumably, being able to buy cheaper vehicles and rejuvenating the coal industry should be worth it, one could reason. But it is not worth it for the children becoming exposed to unbreathable air and suffering lung ailments as a result,' an L.A. Times reader writes.

Granderson: There should be no partisan divide about naming Epstein's fellow abusers

Shielding sex traffickers of children is not politics as usual. It reveals a moral crisis.

Letters to the Editor: City Council shouldn't have blocked the demolition of Marilyn Monroe's house

'Monroe was and is loved. And she briefly lived at the house before dying there. But these are not good reasons to justify why the house is a benefit to the public,' an L.A. Times reader writes.

Letters to the Editor: Mask bans aren't enough. Democrats need to push harder against ICE

'Does Schumer think creating new regulations for current ICE employees will change their behavior? How will a name tag or an unmasked face prevent the gross civil rights infringements we see every day?' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: If billionaires were going to leave over wealth tax, they would've done it already

'It's time to stop the sensationalist attacks and start focusing on what matters: keeping California's hospitals and ERs open,' an L.A. Times reader writes.

Letters to the Editor: Mayor Karen Bass treated L.A. homelessness seriously. She deserves another term

'Karen Bass is the first to seriously bring an all-hands-on-deck disposition in addressing homelessness, recognizing it as the major issue needing to be addressed in our city,' an L.A. Times reader writes.

Letters to the Editor: A series of simple, yes-or-no questions for Atty. Gen. Pam Bondi

'Clear questions — and clear answers — create a public record that either strengthens confidence in our institutions or exposes weaknesses that must be addressed,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Contributor: Nation's challenge after Trump will be to seek justice, not retribution

How exactly does the country "move on" when a sizable slice of its elite class appears to regard liberal democracy as more an anachronism than a governing philosophy?

Contributor: Free speech is valuable, but only when it leads us toward the truth

The founders didn't protect free expression to secure "your truth" or "my truth."

Contributor: Congress may finally touch the third rail of U.S. politics

Legislators hope they can endlessly borrow to avoid unpopular votes on spending cuts or tax hikes, but inflation won't wait for debt to pile up this time.

Letters to the Editor: Prank calls were the cyberbullying of their time. It's good they're over

'No, online bullying wasn't a thing yet, but these "jokes" were the closest we had. I'm glad they're gone,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: As global warming continues, the Winter Olympics will be the least of our worries

'Any article bemoaning the lack of snow for the Winter Olympics should heavily focus on the role fossil fuel industries have played in the warming and drying of the planet,' an L.A. Times reader writes.

Letters to the Editor: It's good that citizens are taking a stand, but lawmakers need to act too

'More than can be done individually, much larger efforts need to take place. And it is those elected officials who need to make a "blow" aimed at Trump's raids, and much more,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Celebrating the students who learned from the lessons of civil rights heroes

'Between 1987 and 2018, I saw my students, among other activities, petition their principal for a "Free Dress Friday." They also organized and implemented an anti-bullying assembly and rally,' an L.A. Times reader writes.

Letters to the Editor: If voter ID laws are implemented nationwide, we have to do it right

'If voter ID requirements are passed, there must be at least a four-year window for the government to allow everyone to get their ID before the measures are implemented,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: There is already plenty of careful husbandry in aquaculture

'Those curious about aquaculture would gain far more by consulting practitioners than by relying on caricatured depictions that misrepresent the industry,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Contributor: Don't let natural gas exports wreck the Gulf of California ecosystem

Sempra, the California utility, is promoting one of the major new terminals for liquefied natural gas on the shore of a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Calmes: If he had any other job, Trump would have been fired by now

We're stuck with a president who daily models behavior that we don't accept in our schools and workplaces.

Contributor: Why tech giants shouldn't be liable for creating addictive platforms

A new case in L.A. Superior Court claims platforms like Facebook, TikTok and Instagram were built specifically to be harmful for children.

Contributor: Is there a duty to save wild animals from natural suffering?

If humans can grow meat in labs, we could feed wild predators and reduce predation in nature.

Letters to the Editor: Journalists should be standing up for one another against Trump's attacks

'We have three long years to go with Trump. Journalists need to start speaking up now, even at the cost of losing their credentials,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: There's no need to create unnecessary fear over the Burbank airport

'The air traffic controllers, these unseen heroes of the aviation system, know exactly where everyone is because all airplanes, including the trainers at Van Nuys, have transponders that emit a signal that is visible to ATC on the radar,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Bad Bunny's Super Bowl halftime show delivered a much-needed ray of hope

'The performance was widely well received and genuinely heartwarming. We saw kindness, respect and a sense of people believing in better things to come,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Didn't we learn anything from 'Bambi'? Wiping out Catalina's deer would be wrong

'Why are mule deer deemed less worthy than cougars? Don't we teach our children that all animals have a purpose on our planet?' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Contributor: Mexico's elections are a role model for the U.S.

The nation often has voter turnout double or triple the rate in the U.S., and it has led North America in democratic representation.

Contributor: L.A. is rebuilding for the Olympics, not the next fire

If the city continues to rebuild for the sake of optics rather than for resilience, it is choosing the spectacle over saving lives.

Column: Voter ID shouldn't be this controversial

Last year, Pew found that 95% of Republicans and 71% of Democrats favored people providing government ID at the polls.

Letters to the Editor: TrumpRx probably won't fix our unnecessarily high drug prices

An L.A. Times reader recalls a time when his prescription went from $170 to $12 for seemingly no reason at all.

Letters to the Editor: U.S. healthcare doesn't have to be this expensive or complex

'The rat's nest of our insanely complex and increasingly unaffordable insurance system doesn't have to exist. No other high-income country puts its people through such unnecessary real suffering,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Our systems already benefit the rich. They can afford a few more taxes

'A one-time 5% tax on $1 billion would leave the taxpayer a mere $950 million. Hardly abject poverty,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Why is Rep. Ilhan Omar's husband being scrutinized instead of the Trumps?

'The Trump family has made an estimated $4 billion since the beginning of his second term. Investigate them, Rep. Comer,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Trump shared an overtly racist video. We should all be condemning that

'When someone with national power displays this kind of racism, it does real harm. It signals permission to demean, exclude and scapegoat entire communities,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Contributor: Factory farming of fish is brewing pathogens

Aquaculture is critical for feeding a hungry planet, but it does not need to be as reckless as it is today.

Contributor: The lost art of prank-calling strangers

Endless misspent hours of telephone mischief became a coming-of-age story for generations of teens in the pre-internet age.

Letters to the Editor: Measles and tuberculosis outbreaks highlight the importance of public health

'No matter how rich and privileged you are, communicable diseases don't discriminate. If your neighbor can't get preventive care or early detection of diseases, beware. You could be the next victim,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: If Trump's running the government like a business, he's still failing

'Look at what Trump has done to the country, its finances, its employees, its customers, its customer satisfaction ratings, its failure to honor the corporate mission statement and its standing in the world in the last 12 and a half months, and tell me why he should not be fired,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Contributor: ICE has escalated to illegal home invasions. This will end poorly

Entering without a warrant from a judge violates the 4th Amendment, Supreme Court rulings and the agency's own handbook.

Letters to the Editor: Thomas Jefferson was right. Liberty is safest in the hands of the people

'Now is the time for all good citizens to show up and speak up for "Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness" for all,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Democrats need to use all the leverage they have to protect our rights

'That Republicans and the administration want DHS funding so badly means Democrats are in a strong position to not allow them to add voting restrictions into the mix,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Abcarian: Trump's attacks on journalists are just tired political theater

Should other reporters have stepped in when the president scolded CNN's Kaitlan Collins for not smiling when she asked a question about Epstein survivors?

Contributor: We celebrate civil rights heroes only after they stop making us uncomfortable

Black History Month should prompt more than commemoration. It should force us to ask why the figures we now hold up as icons were once dismissed as dangerous.

Letters to the Editor: The world cannot ignore famine in war-torn Sudan any longer

'Historically, America has led the response when famine takes hold overseas. But in Sudan, donations have not kept pace with the rising hunger and the U.N. World Food Program says it is running out of supplies,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: A cautionary tale of the dangers of self-certification in construction

'We should be wary of simple, ideologically convenient solutions to complex problems. The rush to recover from disastrous wildfires is no exception,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Granderson: Trump keeps reminding us why people support him. It's the racism

Why did Harris lose? A lot of single-issue voters just want a champion for their white supremacist worldview.

Contributor: Our era really is like the Civil War in one key way

Reaching for parallels in the Revolution and abolition, Americans are no longer debating conventional public policy. We are debating identity.

Letters to the Editor: Do we really think 'millions' are going to want to visit L.A. for the Olympics?

'Given the propensity of the ICE agents to arrest seemingly anyone for any reason (or for no reason at all), why would anyone from another country want to come here?,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: The U.S.' failure to address systemic racism has had dire consequences

'This nation is now in deep jeopardy of losing its democratic structures due to the lethal viruses of prejudice and bigotry that have not abated since the inception of this society in 1776,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: As the Washington Post shrinks, other newspapers need to carry the torch

'As we shed tears for the massive reductions at the Post, we need to hope that newspapers like the Los Angeles Times continue to carry the torch of the 1st Amendment and of the people's need and right to know,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: It's totally normal for Mayor Bass to review a major after-action report

'The fact that Mayor Karen Bass reviewed and possibly edited the draft report concerning the recent fires is what we expect from a top elected official,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Trump is trying to strip protected status from those who actually need it

'While inviting with open arms white South Africans ... to immigrate to the United States, the Trump administration has been working overtime to strip protected status from Haitians and other hard-working, law-abiding migrants,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Climate change easily slides into the background, but it's our gravest threat

'Climate change is slow compared to the pace of human life, and that is the single biggest reason it is usually ignored in the day-to-day bustle of the world. But it is inexorable,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Contributor: What's behind these wild new wealth-tax proposals?

Claims that taxing the rich in California, New York City and Illinois will "only hit billionaires" don't hold water. That's just not how economics works.

Letters to the Editor: How many students is LAUSD's $9-billion bond actually benefiting?

'We need transparency and comprehensive reporting to make sure our $9 billion actually yields the value it deserves,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: With proper intervention, dog aggression doesn't 'always' escalate

'Personal experience has shown me that with training, professional intervention, patience, love and possibly medication, aggressive dog behavior can be arrested and essentially conquered, at least in some instances,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: When child care takes a hit, where are our budget priorities?

'Accessible and affordable child care should be a basic state priority, especially given the fact that politicians are asking the general tax-paying public to fund other programs that consistently go off the rails,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: The Clintons shouldn't be the top priority in House Epstein probe

'Once the House committee has digested all the millions of files, then it might have a clearer reason to subpoena witnesses in addition to the Clintons,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Poor urban planning, not a lack of policing, is downtown L.A.'s problem

An L.A. Times reader disputes a recent op-ed's assertion that more policing 'should be the first order of business' in the road to improving downtown Los Angeles.

Letters to the Editor: Now is an especially important time for L.A. to crack down on human trafficking

'If city and county leaders want to change the city's perception, they must emphasize outcomes and be wholly intolerable, regardless of status or influence,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: More funding for wildlife crossings can help curb preventable animal deaths

'California is a leader in wildlife crossings, with nearly 150 initiatives already in progress. However, a lack of funding is preventing projects from connecting regions like Hillcrest Parkway,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Want this reader's vote for governor? Don't attack fellow Democrats

'I plan to narrow down the field in my mind by eliminating any candidate whose campaign is aimed against another Democrat rather than against one of the two Republican candidates,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Contributor: As Moira Rose, Catherine O'Hara taught me to roll with life's plot twists

I lived in 29 homes by the age of 46, so I knew a thing or two about displacement. Moira survived hers by turning it into theater.

Contributor: Why the global retreat from climate alarmism is a good thing

In recent years, Democratic politicians have shifted their focus to affordability, low energy prices and immediate economic relief instead.

Calmes: Misery has plenty of company in Trump's second term

Republicans are quaking ahead of the midterms as Trump says or does something each day to keep alive the disgust so many Americans share for him.

Letters to the Editor: Modern renewable energy was born in the U.S., yet we're falling behind

'U.S. citizens have no idea what energy and transportation could potentially look like here, what they will look like in Canada and the U.K., and what they do look like in China today,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Radio stations have enough fees to pay, and this one would be unnecessary

'Give [radio stations] yet another mandated fee to pay, and the result will be counter to the intent: More stations will drop music formats in favor of royalty-free spoken-word formats,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

Letters to the Editor: Is Stephen Miller truly the worst of the Trump administration?

'While I read daily news stories in the Los Angeles Times about fellow Project 2025 contributors ... it almost seems an impossible task to name the worst,' writes an L.A. Times reader.

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