Yes, the circus is in town

Susan Shelley’s gleeful cheering Feb. 6 of the illegal activities of Elon Musk and his so-called “Department” of Government Efficiency is either uninformed or disingenuous. She celebrates the gutting of USAID because the agency spent “$1.5 million ... on DEI programs in Serbia.” But she does not mention that the vast majority (in the amount of billions, not millions) of USAID funding is spent on things like the World Food Program, UNICEF and Save the Children, helping save lives, create stability and encouraging pro-American sentiments in the poorest areas of the world. Destroying the whole agency because of a small amount of debatable “waste” is like throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Shelley also says Musk’s team of “geniuses” are “legally authorized” to do all this — but what law has authorized this non-governmental “department” to dismantle government agencies and access the Social Security information of every American?

— Tim Kranyak, Long Beach

DOGE: The melt down

The critical news of the last few days is the fraud and wasteful spending from USAID. Of course the mainstream news and this newspaper seem to either be unaware or purposely avoiding any news reporting. The waste should be disgusting to all Americans and the paper reports how Democrats are rightfully mad at being exposed by Musk and DOGE. The meltdown is extreme. It is not a mystery that mainstream news is not trusted by a significant majority and that people have moved to other sources for news and the truth. As mainstream news continues to flounder they need to look no further than a mirror to understand why. The real question is why subscribe?

— R. Steven Tungate, Trabuco Canyon

Trump’s Gaza Strip

If President Trump is serious about possessing GAZA, and evicting the Palestinians, the MAGA thing to do is move all the Palestinians to the U.S. It’s only 2 million people, and POTUS 47 plans on deporting 11 million illegal immigrants anyway. God has a sense of humor that allowed an “old man who blows smoke” to be elected POTUS. May Trumpers come to their senses!

— George Chung, Redlands

RFK should lead HHS

Re “RFK fails to meet the basic prerequisites for HHS” (Feb. 4):

I wholeheartedly disagree with Rafael Perez who doesn’t think RFK should lead HHS. The United States is the most obese and unhealthy nation. Our foods are full of chemical additives that are killing us. Western medicine mostly seems focused on prescribing prescription medication and we are the only nation subjected to seeing seven or eight pharmaceutical commercials during a one-hour television show. In regards to the COVID vaccine, people have suffered side effects but this information was censored on social media until recently. RFK has a lot of politicians nervous because he just might stand up to the Big Pharma machine that donates so heavily to politicians. We need change and RFK is exactly who we need to lead HHS.

— Scott Strong, Fullerton

No on RFK Jr.

The U.S. Senate must reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination. As we saw at the U.S. Senate Finance Committee hearing this week, RFK Jr. lacks the qualifications, experience and credibility required to oversee our nation’s health care system. The secretary of HHS must have the experience and expertise necessary to effectively lead the many critical departments under HHS that promote and protect public health. RFK Jr.’s track record is profoundly disturbing and shows that he promotes dangerous health misinformation and conspiracy theories that directly threaten public safety. Our families deserve leadership rooted in science, truth, and responsibility — not conspiracy and recklessness. I urge our senators to vote no!

— Cody Sloan, Los Angeles

Elon musk

Elon Musk has hijacked our American government. Taking over the Treasury Department is the last straw. Where are our cowardly Republican legislators and when will they stop him?

— Christina Waayenberg Miller, Riverside