Letters: November vote | Clinton let off | Not pro-Palestine | Align with peace | Breeding enemies
East Bay Times Letters to the Editor for May 5, 2024
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November vote willimpact Supreme Court
Courts are obligated to decide only actual not hypothetical controversies. The Jack Smith indictment alleges that Trump engaged in illegal schemes to remain in office after his legal challenges to the 2020 election had failed. No such actions were official acts. They were the private acts of an office seeker.
In delaying the Smith prosecution on the pretext of needing to state rules about when a president can be immune for truly official acts, the Supreme Court showed it is ruling on a hypothetical controversy and revealed itself yet again as highly partisan. The tragedy of it all is that while they are acting politically, we cannot vote them out of office.
Anyone voting in November should remember this: Only one of the two candidates who can win appointed three justices who are willing to let abortions be outlawed without exception and to let a president be king.
Jay ChafetzWalnut Creek
Hillary Clinton islet off too easy
Re: “Press is playing role in Trump’s notoriety” (Page A6, April 30).
A letter-writer claims that Hillary Clinton wasn’t a sore loser.
I guess the writer doesn’t follow Mrs. Clinton because almost everyone knows that she complained bitterly about her loss to Trump. To this day, she claims the 2016 Election “was not on the level” and “we still don’t know what really happened.”
Getting the facts right might diminish some of the divisive rhetoric in this country.
Douglas AbbottUnion City
Some protesters’ aimis not pro-Palestine
Why does the media, including the East Bay Times, refer to the protests and protesters exclusively as pro-Palestinian?
Large numbers of them are not pro-Palestinian. They are not only anti-Israel and antisemitic, but are pro-Hamas.
It is Hamas, a terrorist organization, whose subjection of the Palestinian people has resulted in the deplorable conditions they have been subjected to for many years.
Robert CoffmanMoraga
We should alignourselves with peace
We call on all people of faith and good conscience to reject the criminalization of these protesters’ voices so clearly aligned with the Biblical call to “learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the oppressed” (Isaiah 1:17). As our youth embrace the gospel demand to stand with “the least of these” (Matthew 25:40), so too must we have their back through prayer, solidarity, humanitarian aid and support.
Instead of working to silence those crying out for the human rights of the Palestinian people, we must raise our own voices and focus our efforts on promoting an immediate cessation of violence and the provision of a just resolution for all.
Laurie ManningUnited Church of Christ PastorSan Leandro
Brutality of Israel’s warbreeds more enemies
On April 23, NPR reported on-the-ground observations from Gaza.
Rafah resident Ahmed Barhoum’s wife and 5-year-old daughter were killed when Israelis bombed his house. Saqer-Abd el-Aal’s wife and six children were bombed in their home.
What happens when a man loses all possessions, his wife and his children? His future taken, he has nothing to live for, nothing to build a future for. Perhaps the only thing giving his life meaning is dedication to revenge and retribution.
While Israel’s government contends it is destroying Hamas, it’s creating more enemies, dedicated. with nothing else to live for, to Israel’s destruction.
One shouldn’t conclude, however, that Palestinians are innocent and only Israel is evil. Hamas’ extreme brutality on Oct. 7 sparked Israel’s overreaction, by design. Now, more civilians are dying, along with some militants. Meanwhile, partisan protesters are polarizing our sensibility.
Can peace and empathy return? Yes. Starting with each of us.
Bruce JoffePiedmont