Letters: Party of no | Repeal Second | Embarrassing office | Objectivity abandoned | Fundamentally racist
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GOP unlikely to actafter latest shooting
Re: “3 children, 3 adults killed in Nashville school shooting” (Page A1, March 28).
Well, it has happened again, and the GOP has the standard answer: “We are just devastated and our thoughts and prayers go out to the families.”
I wonder how they would feel if it was to happen to one of their own. Then they would know that prayers and thoughts don’t show much concern to a family who has just lost a loved one in this manner.
It is high time for them to get a backbone and stand up to their leaders and the NRA, but you know they will not do anything if it means losing their $1,000 suits, their $500 shoes or their cushy job.
Let’s see if they can take some action to do something about the problem of gun violence. I will bet not.
Robert KlingenbergAntioch
Repeal 2nd Amendmentto make nation safer
Re: “Body of teen suspected in Denver high school shooting identified” (March 23).
Imagine a country — our country — where non-law-enforcement citizens could not legally have guns outside of rural areas. Perhaps it would take 20 years or more of enforcement, but eventually, there would be very few guns in cities and suburbs. (Rural hunting, target shooting and gun storage could still be legal for those who cherish guns.)
Imagine experiencing, as other advanced countries with few guns enjoy now, almost no mass shootings, almost no school shootings, fewer suicides, fewer homicides, near-zero accidental shootings, far fewer children killed by guns, and far fewer parents worried about their kids experiencing gun violence.
Imagine police having more time to devote to protecting citizens rather than responding to actual or potential gun violence, and being trained and provisioned accordingly (not militarized).
Imagine annual U.S. gun deaths dropping from 45,000 to less than 5,000.
Repeal the Second Amendment. This is how to turn imagination into reality.
Jim BootsDanville
Alameda County DAembarrasses office
Re: “Judge rejects plea deal for man accused of 3 Oakland killings” (Page A1, March 24).
The current Alameda County district attorney is an embarrassment to the office and detrimental to public safety. She is a law enforcement hater and has ruined the morale of the office with her actions.
She is doing what she said she would do.
Christopher LuxRetired Alameda County district attorney inspectorSan Ramon
Article on LGBTQ+ kidsignores objectivity
The great thing about the longstanding journalistic norm of “objectivity” is it allows most if not all of us to share common information sources, which can promote social cohesion and reasoned debate.
The unfortunate thing about the present-day trend away from objectivity is it does the opposite.
The article “LGBTQ+ kids in the crosshairs as a surge of bills targeting gender identity reaches record high” (Page A1, March 27), for example, asserts without evidence that the following legislation is “anti-LGBTQ” and “targets” trans kids: “Banning trans girls from competing in women’s sports” and “Prohibiting students from using bathrooms that don’t match their biological gender.”
I find this absurd, and surveys suggest the large majority of Americans agree with me rather than the omniscient voice asserting these dubious “facts” in your pages.
Trans girls are usually biological males. Having them in women’s sports eliminates any rationale for separate women’s sports. Having them use female bathrooms likewise goes against virtually universally shared cultural norms.
Steve KoppmanOakland
Conservative comic isfundamentally racist
I am a liberal, but not quite “woke.” I read “Mallard Fillmore” for a different view on things. Most of the time, it’s just some stupid trope, usually more true on the Republican side than on the Democratic. Sometimes, it makes me think. Like the difference between “The Science” and science. Science is data-based and has error bars. The Science is political and is definitely, absolutely true. Except nothing is that true.
I was very disappointed by the strip on March 20, in which he said that the Biden administration was diverse but not competent. Racist is not a word I use lightly, but this idea crossed a line. The idea that diversity and competency are incompatible is fundamentally racist. Bruce Tinsley, clean up your act.
Cliff GoldFremont