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Take your anger
to the ballot box
It’s good to get angry occasionally. People use anger to motivate them into action. Many voters are angry about losing abortion rights, about gun violence, racial injustice and the attack on our democracy.
Our next election is in November. It’s hard to stay angry for four months. Potential voters get distracted and lose interest. For example, only 16% of the 22 million California primary ballots were returned.
To keep abortion rights and enact tougher gun laws, Democrats need to stay engaged. To end racial injustice and keep our democracy, we need to do more than just vote.
Step up and get involved locally and nationally. Vote and organize. Vote and protest. Vote and volunteer. Vote and donate to political causes.
This November your vote will be critical, but you need to work to ensure like-minded folks get to the polls to amplify your vote. Remember, don’t just get angry voters. Get even.
Rene Wise
Fremont
Jan. 6 hearings are
gathering all evidence
Re. “Hutchinson’s secondhand testimony hurts media,” Letters to the Editor, Page A6, July 5:
I want to point out that if anyone watched the Cassidy Hutchinson hearing they would hear from her that the information about the lunge for the steering wheel was secondhand knowledge. Also, this was a hearing, not a trial.
The committee is gathering testimony under oath and by deposition on all information about the Jan. 6 Capitol riot. I heard Donald Trump himself say he would be with the gang marching to the White House. Until the Hutchinson testimony I thought Trump simply egged the rioters on, and then watched on his television at the White House while they did his bidding.
That day was not a routine day of visiting the Capitol — not with climbing walls, setting up a noose for Pence, crashing through barriers, breaking windows and attacking Capitol police.
Gae Mora
Concord
Decisive action needed
to save our republic
Are Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, Sen. Dianne Feinstein and Sen. Alex Padilla awake, yet? Are they ready to do what’s required to save this republic? So far, it looks like they have no idea the threat we’re facing. They have put their faith in broken institutions and the christofascists have outplayed them at every turn. We’re running out of time, and their pathetic play-by-the-rules approach is a failure.
While there’s still time:
• Indict the insurrectionist ringleaders. If Attorney General Merrick Garland won’t, replace him.
• Impeach justices who perjured themselves in nomination hearings. Clarence Thomas improperly used his position to protect his insurrectionist wife from investigation. Remove them.
• Expand the court. Dilute the power of any one justice.
• Admit Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico as the 51st and 52nd states. If the undemocratic Senate can’t be disbanded, at least do what you can to balance things more favorably to the actual will of the people.
Todd Walker
Walnut Creek
Social media a leading
issue in mass shootings
We envied the Viet Cong’s AK-47. It did not jam and was superior to our M-16 in every way. An 18-year-old can buy an assault rifle that makes the Vietnam armament seem like a water pistol.
The mass shooters have things in common. They use assault rifles. They are loners. The most overlooked and ignored facet of their rampages is their addiction to social media. Facebook, Twitter and Tik Tok are designed to addict the user. Violence, anger and hate are commonplace rants in cyberspace. Smart people have their devices in their faces as they cross the streets. Yet social networks will not heed the warning signs since the more it is used, the more money they pocket. The last thing they will do is acknowledge their complicity.
Like arms manufacturers, the more guns, bullets, wars and hate, the more profits. Wake up America. Love and talk to your neighbor.
Norman Weiss
Orinda
With the filibuster,
the minority rules
With the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v Wade, Congress needs to reinstate our rights. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla are strong abortion rights supporters, but Congress will not be able to codify abortion rights legislation without the Senate revoking the filibuster.
We are in a situation where justices approved by a simple majority of the Senate are able to subvert the will of the majority of Americans because we require a super-majority of senators to vote to pass anything. This affects so much besides abortion rights; perhaps most crucially it affects climate emergency legislation.
This has created minority rule. Several of those justices were appointed by presidents who didn’t even win a majority of votes. With minority rule, our democracy is lost. Sens. Feinstein and Padilla must get rid of the filibuster. It must be adjusted to require a 1/3 minority to stay on the floor continually to actually filibuster.
Pamela Tellew
Albany
Source: www.mercurynews.com