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Expel politicians who
divide our country
Re. “California to weigh abortion amendment,” Page A1, June 28:
Your front-page photo describes well the culture of our current-day politics; two women facing off, one holding a sign, yelling, and the other (probably holding a sign?) blowing a whistle in the face of the first as if to say, “I don’t want to hear your argument, I don’t care what you think, I’m nullifying you.”
Politicians seem to want to keep everyone at a fever pitch, and it sometimes becomes violent. One wonders if these are the politicians we want to keep in office.
Joe Loduca
Piedmont
New, innovative voices
can help resolve issues
Re. “Are Biden and Feinstein too old to do their jobs?” Page A7, June 29:
Age and time served should be a factor for both elected officials and appointed officials. This requirement should also be applied to Supreme Court justices and federal judges.
These criteria should be considered in order to enable more candidates to participate in our democracy. Interpretation of the law varies as is seen in majority and minority opinions.
Granted qualifications and experience are necessary, but it is also important to hear new and innovative ways to resolve issues that confront our country.
Margery Bernstein
Walnut Creek
Hutchinson’s secondhand
testimony hurts media
Former Trump administration aide Cassidy Hutchinson’s hearsay testimony before the Jan. 6 Committee was breathlessly reported on by the liberal media as if it were entirely a firsthand eyewitness account.
The now infamous “lunge” allegation against Donald Trump was based on Hutchinson’s secondhand knowledge. She was not present at the time the alleged “lunge” took place. If this were a real court, her testimony regarding this would have been thrown out as hearsay. Despite that, the East Bay Times printed Wednesday’s article “Bombshells at Jan. 6 hearing” on Page 1 (June 29) that failed to mention Hutchinson’s “lunge” allegations were based on second-hand knowledge until well after the jump to page 5. Now, the Secret Service is disputing those allegations.
Once again, the bias of the liberal media has undermined its own credibility, leading to a further decline in institutional trust that it so often laments.
Kevin Briggs
San Ramon
Biden should keep
promise, protect wolves
When I voted for President Biden, I believed his promises to protect the environment and biodiversity. Climate change and wildlife protection are important issues for me. Sadly, President Biden and Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland have failed to protect wolves, despite pleas from conservation groups, Native Americans and the public.
Wolves are American icons. They are important to their ecosystems. They contribute to local economies as tourists visit wanting to marvel at their beauty and strength. They are sacred to Native Americans, representing courage, strength and loyalty. However, well over 500 wolves have been killed in Montana and Idaho since the spring of 2021. That’s out of a total population of around 2,600.
The Biden administration needs to stop the slaughter and get wolves relisted under the Endangered Species Act. I encourage President Biden to keep the promises he made to the people who voted him into office.
Deb Wills
Oakland
Instead of watching
Ukraine war, let’s solve it
It is beyond belief that we, as civilized people, can stand by and witness a bully beat to death a fellow human being in front of our eyes and do little to prevent it. Yet that is what we continue to allow Vladimir Putin to do with the Ukrainian people. Have we no shame? Humanity?
Yes, it is a complex geopolitical, historical problem but we are a complex problem-solving species that should have left behind brute force and murderous methods of problem-solving when we emerged from the jungle. We have shown our skills in putting a robot rover on Mars, a complex space telescope in the sky and decoded the complexities of our genome — why can’t we focus that creative energy on figuring out how to get along with each other? Yet we stand back and watch this slaughter. One wonders how such an advanced society can have no shame.
Paul Fillinger
Lafayette
Source: www.mercurynews.com