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Protesters impede
badly needed housing
Re. “Clashes halt housing project,” Page A1, Aug. 4:
It appears the current group of Berkeley protesters is having an existential moment.
On the one hand, they are protesting to protect the historical significance of People’s Park, and on the other hand, protesting against the attempt to provide necessary student and affordable housing. Apparently, the cause is just and NIMBY (Not in My Backyard) is alive and well.
I wonder what Mario Savio is thinking.
Manny Morales
San Jose
Supreme Court is
rewriting Constitution
Re. “Is California’s gun law, modeled after abortion law, constitutional?” Page A6, July 26:
Prof. Chemerinsky overlooks the blatant unconstitutionality of the U.S. Supreme Court’s June 23 decision on Bruen to “allow law-abiding citizens with ordinary self-defense needs to exercise their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms in public for self-defense.” There is no such Second Amendment right. Period.
The Second Amendment actually reads: “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed,” and was intended, as Hamilton makes clear in Federalist 29, to avoid the United States having a large standing army, instead relying on “well-regulated state militias” such as the National Guard, which was founded in 1636.
The right-wing extremist majority of the Supreme Court is unfit for their office due to their blatant rewriting of the Constitution.
Dave Whitaker
San Jose
All should vote with
climate change in mind
I agree with Anna Novoselov (“Climate change stakes are enormous for Generation Z,” Page A6, Aug. 4) that we have clear, actionable, science-based solutions to address climate change and what we need is the political will to really get things going.
I would call on all, and especially the 18- to 30-year-olds to vote. Close elections are usually won or lost by a margin far smaller than the people who don’t vote, and the largest group of would-be voters is Generation Z.
I can understand how they can become disillusioned and think voting does not matter, but it does. If everyone had voted perhaps we would not have had a four-year delay-of-game on climate change with Donald Trump, and perhaps now we would have a clear majority vote in Congress for the climate.
So I urge all to go vote, and vote like your life (the planet) depends on it — because it does.
David Coale
Palo Alto
Democrats are finally
getting messaging right
Re. “How supporters of abortion rights won in Kansas,” Page A1, Aug. 4:
I believe the abortion rights people won in Kansas because they framed the argument as an initiative that took rights away from the people. This attracted both Republicans and Independents.
Finally, the Democrats are starting to learn that how you frame an issue makes a difference. For example, the Inflation Reduction Act includes huge expenditures for climate change and health insurance. Democrats should forget the assault weapons ban and concentrate on The Responsible Gun Owners Protection Act which would, of course, ban assault weapons.
Robert Miller
Los Gatos
Media ignores heart of
Trump’s Jan. 6 speech
I noticed that almost all Mercury News letters to the editor and editorial cartoons degrade former U.S. President Donald Trump, accusing him of inciting the Jan. 6 riot.
In a Jan. 29 letter (“GOP must turn from path of Trump, violence,” Page A6, July 29), Chris Morrisey wrote that Trump endorsed violence and had “complete disregard for the impact of the words he used.”
Why is it that the Mercury News, and almost all other mainstream newspapers, fail to report one important sentence of Trump’s speech that was a key takeaway for me that day?
Trump said, “I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the capitol building, to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.”
Seventy-four million Trump voters heard him say that. The Mercury News disrespects readers by not reporting it.
Ronna Devincenzi
Palo Alto
Source: www.mercurynews.com