Discouraging attacks on journalists
After 50 years as a journalist reporting on a wide range of aeronautical subjects including aviation safety, a shelf full of awards for accurate and truthful reporting and a veteran of honorable military service, I was discouraged to learn two years ago that my journalistic colleagues and I are enemies of the American people and that reports we devote our careers to research and write are fake news.
Consequently, it was a surprise this week to hear that our “hypocrite in chief,” in an impromptu eulogy to the five journalists gunned down in the newsroom of the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Md., praised the news media as an essential component of a healthy democracy. This, after years of disparaging journalists and claiming that we propagate lies and heresy and are un-American. Because the president serves as a role model, he validates certain behavior among those who make up his support base. By depicting journalists as dangerous and antithetical to American values, he gives tacit permission to attack them or others he disagrees with.
David Esler, Berkeley
Interesting history
Regarding “An immigrant wrote ‘God Bless America’ ” (Datebook, July 4): I very much enjoyed the article about Irving Berlin’s writing “God Bless America” and its history. While I have not been a great fan of the song, I now see it in a different light and when I sing it now, I will think of President Trump and his efforts to keep immigrants from moving to America in search of a better life or fleeing from violence at home. God bless America. Roger Wood, Fremont
Vote Democratic
How low does President Trump have to go before his “base” abandons him? For the past several days, Trump’s tweets and the official White House Twitter account have attacked Democratic senators, including California’s Sen. Kamala Harris, and accused Democrats of supporting crime, “loving” the MS-13 gang and “declaring war on law and order.” They’ve labeled the media the biggest “enemy of the people” and suggested ending due process for immigrants seeking asylum in the U.S. In Montana, he attacked two other senators — Elizabeth Warren and Jon Tester — ridiculed the #MeToo movement, and made fun of former President George H.W. Bush’s “thousand points of light” phrase. The debasement of American ideals and the office of the president continues. And no one in the Republican Congress has stepped up to condemn this behavior.
A vote for Republicans in November is a vote to continue bullying, pathological lying, racism, obstruction of justice, conflicts of interest, tax cuts for millionaires, denial of health care for pre-existing conditions, an end to free trade, separation of immigrant families, alienation of allies and kowtowing to dictators. Is that really what our country stands for? We must end the madness. Vote Democratic on Nov. 6. Gary Cavalli, Danville
Juxtaposed photos
Regarding “Toxic waste” (Editorial, July 6) and “Hot dog-eating champion” (Letters, July 6): I loved the juxtaposition of photos of ex-Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt and hot dog-eating champion Joey Chestnut, two guys doing basically the same thing, but employing different media. What Chestnut did with Coney Island hot dogs, Pruitt did with other people’s money. Come next Fourth of July, I can see Pruitt, having embarked on his true calling, at Nathan’s competing for the coveted Mustard Belt. Tom Ruppel, Dixon
Transit dilemma
Regarding “Richmond ferry terminal spurs optimism, concern” (Page One, July 6): The Richmond ferry terminal opening this fall highlights a difficult, but not unsolvable, conundrum. A decade ago, communities worried that transit-oriented development wouldn’t appeal to suburbanites and that affordable housing would increase crime and lower property values. Expanding transit access was the right thing to do however, to protect the environment by decreasing dependence on the private automobile and to afford access for everyone, regardless of age, income or physical ability. The primary concerns today are gentrification and displacement. Transit and transit-oriented development are so popular, they’re under attack, blamed for escalating property values as people seek relief from highway and parking congestion. Of course, we must keep building better transit. The very viability of our species, poor and rich alike, depends on weaning ourselves from our overdependence on automobiles. We must also ensure a solid base of residential and commercial affordability.
Peter Albert, San Francisco
Flawed theory
Regarding “Wrong kind of fire rescue” (Editorial, July 5): The editorial discussed the unusual California legal doctrine called “inverse condemnation” under which a utility could be held responsible for damages caused by fires and other natural disasters — even if the utility followed established inspection and safety rules.
Imagine trying to operate your own business or even your household if you were financially liable for harm under these untenable conditions. It would be similar to a newspaper like The Chronicle being held liable for defamation damages even when it printed a truthful article.
Holding anyone liable for damages when they are not at fault is not a sound legal theory. And California is an outlier in applying this flawed theory to investor-owned utilities like Pacific Gas and Electric Co. We also want to point out that extreme weather, longer droughts, higher winds and dangerous fire conditions are now proven facts, not conjecture. “A new normal” in our weather is not a talking point, it’s science.
We can say clearly you make one point with which we absolutely agree — no company should escape liability if it is found to be negligent. In no way do we seek to be shielded in any case when we are proven to have been negligent. What we do seek is a fair legal structure in which we can have the certainty it takes to keep investing in more renewable clean energy and a safer and more resilient energy system that can withstand our changing weather.
Tim Fitzpatrick, chief communications officer,
PG&E, San Francisco