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SJ customers should push for civic utility

Re: “PG&E set to step up power surge” (Page B1, Feb. 11).

PG&E scaling up to provide power to new data centers is beyond comical. They can’t even deliver reliable power to residential customers. My area of San Jose, including my own home, has experienced over a dozen power outages since 2022, the longest lasting eight and nine hours back-to-back during the 2022 heatwave.

Before we rely on PG&E to supply power to these new data centers, city leaders should be asking the utility how committed they are to serving their residential customers. We are not willing to be short-changed. Residents can still band together to get our own public utility in the city of San Jose, one that is responsive to the needs of residents, not shareholders or big business.

Nina SethSan Jose

Look for a candidate of the people, not the rich

Re: “Tech titans and wealthy back Mahan campaign” (Page A1, Feb. 12).

I have been a supporter of Matt Mahan as mayor of San Jose: pragmatic policies and a sophisticated understanding of outreach. But with a long list of tech bros giving to his campaign, who can support his bid as governor?

Do they care about homelessness? Affordability? Public safety? That Sergey Brin, of Epstein file fame and obscenely rich, should get involved with Mahan is weird. Why take money from this man?

For all his touted bio as a scholarship recipient to Bellarmine and then Harvard, Matt Mahan has been sniffed out as a tech bro: in the circle. Let’s look instead at candidates who support the lives of regular people.

Jennifer ThompsonSan Jose

West must make noise for journalist’s release

Re: “Dissidents silenced as the West moves on” (Page A7, Feb. 12).

The 20-year sentence handed down to 78-year-old Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai is a devastating blow to press freedom and a heartbreaking injustice. After being detained since 2020, this latest conviction under the Beijing-imposed National Security Law serves as an effective life sentence for a man who did nothing more than advocate for democratic freedoms through his reporting.

Lai’s punishment demonstrates the complete dismantling of Hong Kong’s once-vibrant independent press and the rule of law. By silencing a prominent voice like Lai, authorities are attempting to extinguish any remaining dissent, turning a free city into one ruled by fear. The international community and America must not remain silent. We must continue to push for his immediate, unconditional release and uphold the principles of freedom that Lai has sacrificed his life for.

All the political leaders of the free world need to lobby for Lai’s release.

Mohan RajSan Jose

Science plays by rules even if EPA doesn’t

Re: “EPA to nix scientific finding affecting U.S. climate policy” (Page A4, Nov. 11).

With a stroke of a Sharpie, Donald Trump has rescinded the laws of thermodynamics that dictate global warming and climate change.

Next, he might do the same for the law of gravity and Newton’s laws of motion. Such edicts will make global air transport simpler and cheaper, and will enable space travel reaching to the stars. He might even win his coveted Nobel prize.

But no. Just as nature adheres to the laws of science, so must nations obey their own constitutions and the rules of international affairs. It is not permissible to annex or usurp the government of another country. It is not permissible to extort, by the threat of tariffs, compliance from another country. It is not permissible to accept blackmail to fund the construction of an Arc de Triomphe across the Potomac from the Lincoln Memorial.

In science and in geopolitics, one must play by the rules.

Campbell ScottLos Gatos