Letters: Barbara Lee isn’t the change Oakland needs

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Lee isn’t the change
that Oakland needs

Re: “Lee jumps into mayoral race” (Page A1, Jan. 9).

I see that Barbara Lee has decided to run for mayor of Oakland.

Do the people in Oakland so love the way the city has been run for the past 20 years that they want more of the same? Are the streets so clean, crime so diminishing, homeless issues so improving that they want more of the exact same thing?

This is part of why I left Oakland and my beloved home with a view. I realized that Oakland voters continue to erroneously believe that voting in people with the same views on problem-solving as those who just left office will never solve the problems. It is insanity.

Barbara Wilson
Dublin

Automate BART
before taxing all of us

Re: “To help BART, make rides free and raise taxes to cover costs” (Page A6, Dec. 11).

Michael O’Hare made some good points about taxing everyone and eliminating the fares for BART riders in his opinion piece last month.

My concern is the train operators. I’m old enough to remember when BART was being proposed that the drivers were to be temporary. Their overpriced computer to control the trains was supposed to replace them. A fully automated system would render them unnecessary.

BART train operators’ current average pay is $37.30 per hour. That comes to $77,584. But why do we still need them? Waymo has self-driving cars that can maneuver the traffic on the streets of San Francisco, dodge pedestrians and handle intersections, none of which occur on the BART tracks.

Let’s start by getting rid of these drivers, as originally promised. Then we’ll consider taxing the rest of us.

Jim Cauble
Hayward

Trump order is meant to
make workers miserable

Of all the awful executive orders Donald Trump signed (some made big banks cheer), one is about jobs and affordability, and it was to attack them for federal employees.

It is going to be harder to get a job, keep a job (especially for disabled people and parents) and pay for stuff since Trump raised their cost for transportation, food and childcare for no reason. Actually, the reason is to make their lives more miserable, so he can cut the federal workforce and cut more taxes for plutocrats like him and Elon Musk.

The blame is on the media and the left who keep talking about his lies and personal qualities, instead of exposing his bluff when it comes to helping regular workers and the middle class.

Roberto Garuti
Walnut Creek

Trump pardons create
unofficial army of thugs

Donald Trump successfully skated away from consequences for the seditious crimes he was indicted for, not because he was judged innocent, but because he manipulated our legal system with help from judges and justices. He even avoided punishment for the one crime for which he was found guilty (34 counts). Until Inauguration Day, these evasions from accountability were the most egregious attacks on the rule of law, and on our national security, that a public official has ever perpetrated.

Now, on Inauguration Day, Trump exceeded his previous deplorable, traitorous sabotage. With the blanket pardon of violent Jan. 6 rioters, Trump has subverted the legal system required for civil society. Setting free those violent insurrectionists gives them immunity to become Trump’s unofficial violent enforcers of fear and corruption, just like Nazi brownshirts were.

On Day 2, the criminal must be impeached. Contact your representatives in Congress.

Bruce Joffe
Piedmont

Conscientious citizens
must relentlessly protest

There will be a relentless protest against Donald Trump’s second presidential term. I will not be marching in the streets, but I will be working behind the scenes to undermine the cruelty and bigotry of Trump and the MAGA-hijacked GOP.

I will be strengthening the values of compassion and truth. The second Trump presidency seems to be a triumph of an international class of wealthy individuals and organizations who plan to bend society to their will. I will resist their greed and control at every opportunity. I know I am in good company.

Elizabeth Preston
Oakland

Short memories have
our nation in peril

Have we all become so complacent that none of us remembers Jan. 6, COVID, children being separated from their parents on our southern border, impeachments or felony indictments? Donald Trump lies so repeatedly, outrageously and with such volume there is little wonder that voters are confused and despondent.

With control of both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court, Trump’s reign over the next four years promises to be nothing short of chaotic and self-serving.

So here we are on the verge of scrapping our history only to inaugurate Trump for a second time. What has our collective humanity come to? I get that our government isn’t perfect, but if you are among the many who believe that Trump is the answer, I pray you can stomach the meal you are about to be served.

James Mills
Walnut Creek