Forum Letters: Kamala Harris is unfit for office and President Trump, the authoritarian
President Trump, the authoritarian
“Here are 15 signs of authoritarianism that we’ve seen under the Trump administration” (sacbee.com, July 25):
With all due respect, I believe there’s a 16th sign to be checked: accusing others of what he himself is guilty of. Check.
Chain migration: Trump imported his wife’s parents citing their relationship to her, then closed the gates. Double check.
Voter Fraud: Trump has tried to register in two states, New York after he vehemently declared that he was no longer a resident and Florida where he doesn’t have a residence. Mar-a-Lago is a business, not his residence. Florida does not allow a business and residence at the same address.
Where exactly does this guy live?
Robin Robar,
Chico
Disappointing news judgment
“Black Lives Matter rally met by All Lives Matter counter protesters in Loomis” (sacbee.com, July 26):
I’m extremely disappointed by your misleading headline and selective video from Saturday’s Black Lives Matter rally in Loomis.
I live in Rocklin, but my children have attended public school in Loomis for their entire lives. I also attended the event. Your presentation of this news event that day is the epitome of false equivalency. Based on your story, you would think the whole event was hostile and that were an equal number of “All Lives Matters” protesters. You were there. There were maybe 2 dozen “All Lives Matters” protesters. In contrast, the BLM movement was well over 200. You also fail to point out the hostility was the result of the “All Lives Matters” protesters walking across the street to engage with the BLM movement.
This is an important moment in our history. You can do better.
In fact, you must do better.
Mark Aschemeyer,
Rocklin
Keeping track of COVID-19 cases
“When contact tracing fails: Testing delays thwart California COVID-19 trackers” (sacbee.com, July 26):
California should get a waiver from federal privacy laws and start publishing names and zip codes of everyone testing positive for COVID-19.
I witnessed Fiji, a tiny developing nation, track down and test every passenger after a steward on their flight tested positive. They published names in local newspapers and on the internet and the entire nation helped get the job done quickly.
By publishing names of recently infected individuals, we can all help tracers find others who might have come in close contact with the virus.
Marcia Fritz,
Sacramento
Poor comparison
“Jack Ohman cartoon: The T-Bomb” (sacbee.com, July 29):
Typically I enjoy Jack Ohman’s editorial cartoons.
They are insightful, ironic, speculative and at times very funny. But the cartoon in the July 30 print edition shows a lapse in judgment. His comparison of COVID-19 deaths to the deaths from the A-bomb dropped on Hiroshima angered me. How can you compare the indiscriminate deaths from a non-thinking virus to the purposeful killing of mostly civilians? What a ridiculous comparison. I can’t believe you don’t have a few more minutes to think about a better way to make a point. It is sad enough that so many have succumbed to this horrible non-discriminating virus. I see absolutely no need to pair it with ANY other mass destruction of life whether it is by a natural calamity or the actions of a sick and demented nation.
Take the day off if you can’t think of a tasteful way to make your point.
Thomas Wallace,
Sacramento
A disservice to Kamala Harris
“Biden will likely pick Kamala Harris for VP. Here’s why Karen Bass is a better choice” (sacbee.com, July 31):
Ouch! Where to begin?
First of all, I wouldn’t characterize some of our country’s greatest leaders as having had calculating and ruthless ambition. Second, the editorial seems, California-centrically, to imply that Harris and Bass are the top contenders for VP.
The seldom mentioned Susan Rice has a long and comfortable relationship with Biden and he has been getting to know other currently prominent women, as well. But the entire tone of the article seems to be that Karen Bass is a superior choice over Kamala Harris because she began as a community activist and was not ambitious or self-promoting, how 1950’s.
Bass deserves much credit for the work she has done, but no-one reaches goals without ambition, and the addition of the word ruthless in the very first sentence of the article was a big disservice to Harris.
Lorraine Gervais,
Sacramento
Kamala Harris is unfit for office
“Biden will likely pick Kamala Harris for VP. Here’s why Karen Bass is a better choice” (sacbee.com, July 31):
Your contention about Biden picking Karen Bass, not Kamala Harris, as his VP candidate is accurate, although incomplete.
In her first political campaign for San Francisco District Attorney, Harris signed an oath under penalty of perjury that she would not spend over $250,000 if qualifying for public financing. The voter information handbook so noted of her candidacy and had gone to print. She spent about $1,000,000 to defeat incumbent Terrence Hallinan in November 2003. She violated a sworn oath and got away with it.
She’s unworthy of public office at any level.
Quentin Kopp,
San Francisco
Brave high school graduate
“Rocklin teen wants town to recognize dark past with Chinese laborers. Here’s his push” (sacbee.com, Aug. 1):
Diego Liebman is quite a credit to his community.
The story in The Bee provided some history that most of us, certainly I, had never heard before. Though a lot has been written about the Chinese laborers’ contribution to building the transcontinental railroad, it is largely sanitized — no mention of lynchings, forced expulsions of ethnic Chinese families from hundreds of communities in California and the torching of their homes. We cannot sit in judgment of the racism in the south and rest of the United States without acknowledging and addressing the roots of racism in our own state and culture.
Our thanks to Mr. Liebman for speaking up and educating all Californians.
Ian Boase,
Granite Bay