Attention, Republicans

With the death (God bless her) of RBG, Republicans no longer need to vote for President Trump. Those who have said they only vote for him due to Supreme Court and Roe vs. Wade can stop holding their noses and help vote Trump out of office. president of the United States has any integrity, he will not nominate a replacement until after the election.

Pierre Messerli, Pacifica

Climate challenge

Regarding “As wildfires ravage West, Biden avoids climate focus” (Front Page, Sept. 13): So Joe Biden hasn’t prioritized climate change in his campaign and rhetoric. I get how disappointing that is: I’m a climate activist living in today’s California! But blaming Biden distracts you from doing something productive about it. Biden’s job right now is to win an election.

If you’re a politician out to win, you pay attention to what voters tell you. And voters, particularly in battleground states, are putting the environment and climate change toward the bottom of their priority list. A meaningful action is to take part in the getoutthevote campaign for voters who prioritize the environment. The Environmental Voter Project is an organization contacting inactive environmentalists and then turning them into consistent activists and voters. If we get enough environmentalpriority people to become reliable voters — politicians will start to talk climate sense. Don’t blame Biden for listening to voters — go get environ

mentalists to vote!

Donate to fire victims

Thousands of Californians have lost everything in the fires. Many fled their homes with only the clothes on their backs. This means they are without even the basic necessities like underwear or socks.

I went through my closet last night and picked out jeans, shoes, shirts and sweaters I never wear. I’m guessing you could do the same thing. Let’s all pull together and donate these and other items to Californians far less fortunate than we are now.

End the ‘War on Drugs’

Regarding “Blame open drug dealing as overdose deaths soar” (Bay Area, Phil Matier, Sept. 13): Is it not time to deal with drugs as a public health issue, generally ending the socalled war on drugs?

Criminalizing drugs is no more effective than Prohibition was with regard to alcohol. I say legalize, regulate and tax all drugs. Drug use should become criminal only if the user commits a crime while under the influence.

GOOD WEEK

Agatha Hoff, San Francisco

Grow firefighting force

Two recent letters rightly called for action regarding climate change. However, in addition to longrange actions, such as far more renewable energy and electric cars, we also need immediate action to tackle the climate emergency.

Fire season requires fast action to prevent the degradation of our lives, not to mention the probable reduction of property values.

The brave and hardworking people at Cal Fire are woefully undermanned for the scale of climate emergency we are seeing. How about a modern and large firefighting force that has an air force (manned and unmanned) and massive and wellequipped groundcomponent divisions?

Do we need 100,000 people? Probably. The new fire prediction center at San Jose State University would fit right in with this new force.

Perhaps a twoyear commitment for a young person out of high school would get them free college tuition (a state G.I. Bill). It would cost a lot, but higher property taxes (on the ballot now) might be just the way to pay for this and protect our property. The social and environmental benefits could be enormous.