Rallies show Trumpopponents aren’t alone
Re: “Thousands rally in massive protests” (Web page A1, April 6).
I attended a rally Saturday in opposition to the nightmare that has descended for the reason that final election. No audio system, no well-known individuals, simply hundreds of plain residents gathered collectively, hundreds who made their very own indicators, making music, singing and strolling. I used to be touched to the verge of tears. I felt a part of an amazing tribe I had feared now not existed.
I can’t do it justice. Donald Trump continues to be president, and all of the horrible issues which may occur may nonetheless occur. However all these hundreds of individuals — strolling, chanting, singing, carrying indicators, some humorous, some not, all of them understanding the exhausting occasions we’re in — gave me hope that the battle isn’t misplaced but, and that I used to be not alone.
Michael SteinbergBerkeley
Polluters ought to payfor previous deceit
Because the earth warms, Californians pays extra for the damages attributable to local weather change, together with from disasters just like the Los Angeles fires which are extra extreme because of hotter temperatures. However we don’t all bear equal accountability for the disaster.
Oil and fuel corporations knew concerning the harms of local weather change for many years, however lied to the general public and lobbied legislators to gradual local weather options. They need to pay to wash up their very own mess. That’s why the state Polluters Pay Local weather Superfund Act of 2025 would assess the largest polluters a payment based mostly on their previous emissions, with the funding going towards local weather options like clear power, investing in firefighting and recovering from disasters.
Nicolas RianiOakland
Trump is dismantlingfreedom of speech
Re: “Trump requests details on profs” (Web page A1, April 4).
Donald Trump has relentlessly utilized strain to universities which are spreading the “woke virus,” and we’re seeing the results as college students vanish.
College students have been taken by ICE or left the nation after being accused of spreading Hamas propaganda. Just lately, we realized of UC Berkeley and Stanford college students having their visas revoked. Now, they’re going after professors at UC Berkeley who referred to as for help of Jewish workers and college students and the security of scholars and college with Palestinian household in Gaza. Displaying any empathy seems to be unacceptable.
This isn’t about defending nationwide safety. That is about silencing voices that don’t align with the regime’s imaginative and prescient for America.
We have to contact our representatives and put a cease to this.
Jackie CochraneRichmond
Non-public fairness makeswealth inequality worse
One of the vital critical issues in America is wealth inequality.
A considerable portion of that wealth is concentrated in non-public fairness (6.5% of U.S. GDP). Whereas initially a subject the place wealthy traders may legitimately revenue from dangerous investments, it has develop into a playground the place the wealthy purchase massive segments of industries (hospitals and senior care amenities, for instance), load these corporations with debt, increase costs, skim off massive items of the income, exploit the advantages of the carried curiosity tax loophole, and return the leftovers to the pension funds and endowments who initially supplied them with the capital they wanted to amass these corporations and monopolize these industries.
CalPERS plans to allocate 17% of its complete funding portfolio to personal fairness. Wouldn’t pensioners — and the remainder of America — be higher off if they didn’t should pay the extreme hospital payments due to CalPERS’ involvement in non-public fairness?
Jim WolpmanWalnut Creek
