Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor.
Biden put country
above personal interest
Once again, Joe Biden has put country above personal interest. His whole life has been devoted to public service. Thanks, Joe, once again.
Jerome Fishkin
Walnut Creek
Democratic nominee should
pledge to pardon Trump
The Democratic candidate for president this November should make a pledge: If he or she is elected, Donald Trump will never spend a day in jail on any currently pending federal charges. He will be issued a pardon — but only after he has been convicted of, or pleads guilty to, what he has obviously done, significantly mishandling classified documents, obstructing justice and trying to overturn a valid election.
People must know that willful mishandling of classified documents and obstructing justice is wrongful and dangerous to our security, and that fomenting distrust in our elections is wrongful and destroys our fabric as a nation. This pledge should be made to help unify our country. And it wouldn’t hurt that it could heighten that candidate’s chances of victory.
Jay Chafetz
Walnut Creek
Where will Harris be on
criminal justice reforms?
Where will Kamala Harris stand on criminal justice reform? Will she be a reformer or a punitive opponent of justice reform. She has switched sides before on this issue. As the San Francisco district attorney and as the California attorney general, she was leaning toward the reforms that are needed. But how will she as president impact criminal justice reform on the federal level? Is she for or against mass incarceration? Will she amend long-standing federal sentencing laws? As a justice reform activist, these are the questions I have. Her reforms will affect our nation.
Join Crosthwaite
Corcoran
Democrats must stay
focused on winning
Thank you Joe Biden for your service to the party and country. Now Democrats must keep the goal of winning this election in perfect focus. Although there’s a lot of excitement about it, the goal is not to elect a woman or a Black woman as president. Clear-eyed Kamala Harris knows the main goal and will get onboard. Poll-testing of potential candidates is critical. Time is of the essence. Democrats must put forth the best candidate to get the job done period!
Marcia Hulberg
Campbell
All immigrants crucial
to U.S. economy
Re: “Legal immigrants grow our economy” (Page A6, July 18).
I’m writing in response to Mike Heller’s letter extolling the benefits of legal immigrants to our economy.
That part is true. But he says, “This is what we need more of, not unskilled laborers who slip across our southern border.” Who does he think picks our strawberries and almonds? Who cleans our hotel rooms? Who builds our houses? Who staffs our nursing homes? We can argue about how our labor market should work, but at the present time it works because of unskilled laborers from foreign countries.
If Donald Trump gets the chance to deport 11 million workers, you will see how our economy doesn’t work without them. If you think Americans will bring in the harvest, just watch your food prices rise.
Jeanie Egbert
Alameda
DA calls out ‘bias’
where there is none
Re: “DA: Death row inmate should be released” (Page B1, July 18).
This article characterizes Alameda County prosecutors’ “systematically keeping Black and Jewish people off juries in death penalty cases” as “decades of racism, antisemitism and bigotry.”
No. That’s not what it was at all. It may have been illegal but it was not “racism” or “antisemitism,” terms your newspaper uses excessively.
Attorneys are given a number of potential jurors they can “excuse” before trial juries are formed, using these “challenges” to “excuse” jurors they believe are more likely to be “biased” against outcomes they seek.
Black and Jewish jurors are historically, probabilistically, less likely than average jurors to support the death penalty.
So, despite possible illegality, this strategy was pursued to help secure a “friendly” jury. It was not an effort to harm or degrade Black or Jewish people.
Excessive, inaccurate use of these terms poisons the civic air we must all breathe.
Steve Koppman
Oakland
Media must offer other
parties more coverage
Freedom of the press? Free to do what? Lead us off a cliff?
Related Articles
Letters: Thanks, Joe | Harris’ VP | Vance mindset | Dems’ focus | Clearcutting ban | Baldwin case | Three wars
Letters: Encouraging crime | Elevate birds
Letters: Harden homes | Artificial turf
Letters: Pass baton | Deserve the truth | Expanding settlements
Letters: Parents’ rights | Replacing Harris | Bold change
Why is the media shoving the Democratic and Republican parties down our throats? Where are the Independent, Green, Peace and Freedom and Libertarian candidates in their election “coverage”? Where are their views and policies? Are the two oldest candidates the only choices we have?
Stop devoting so much coverage to the two largest parties and shed some more light on the other choices that are out there. We’re not hearing it on the radio or television news either. The media has failed us and are complicit in our demise.
James Richardson
Cherryland
