The death penalty

Re “Gascón: Don’t execute killer of students” (July 28):

Today, George Gascón is dropping the death penalty, using Butler’s mental status as an excuse. That is unfair. First, he murdered two people in 1994. Then, he murdered his prison inmate. And now, Gascon wants to drop the death penalty just because Butler’s brain was not fully developed. That’s outrageous to let the murderers off the hook. Now we know why we need Gascón recalled.

— Alexandros Martinez,

Redondo Beach

GOP's future for 2024

Re “Trump, Pence speeches put stark GOP divide on display” (July 27):

I haven’t yet decided on who I will support for the Republican Party presidential nomination in 2024, but it won’t be Donald Trump. We absolutely need conservative leadership to retake control of our country’s direction, I’m not going to waste space here detailing the myriad failings of current President Biden — but Trump’s relentless insistence that the 2020 election was stolen serves absolutely no legitimate purpose and takes away from the obviously more urgent message that Democrats in control have been a recipe for utter incompetence. Former VP Mike Pence did the right thing in office by being supportive of his president, did the only thing feasible with his actions Jan. 6, and is most definitely doing the right thing now with his attempts to point the GOP’s focus on the future rather than an inconsistent and fictitious recent past.

— Bob Cunningham, Cherry Valley

Parking needs to be regulated by cities

Re “Leave parking decisions to the market” (July 27):

Whoever wrote the editorial “Leave parking decisions to the market” has never lived near an apartment complex or condominiums that don’t provide sufficient parking for their tenants. Most higherdensity housing is passed by city councils with the outdated minimum of 1.5 spaces per unit. Excess cars clog nearby neighborhoods or residents who arrive home late in the evening must park far away and walk home in the dark. We don’t let the market decide plumbing and electrical standards for buildings. Builders looking to squeeze every last dollar from their project will leave out parking entirely if not required to provide it.

— Linda Genis, Santa Ana

California's beloved giant sequoias are ablaze

Re “U.S. takes emergency steps to protect sequoias from wildfires” (July 24):

I read with anticipation the “emergency” steps that the U.S. government was taking to protect our beloved giant sequoias in California. Only the government would define their actions to a problem that is 84 months old as an “emergency action” and then estimate it would take another 24 months to implement their emergency action. Maybe, “government is not a solution to our problem; government is the problem.” Our forests are running out of time.

— Dana Johnson, Los Angeles

Welcome, columnist Mirjam Swanson

While recognizing former writer Mark Whicker’s farewell column (July 26), Mirjam Swanson provided a great segue with her inaugural column on “The Eye Test” and author Chris Jones’ questioning of today’s over-dependence on analytics. As a sports fan since the 1960s, the most captivating aspect of sports has always been the human aspect, the depth of good storytelling, and the multi-dimensional mosaic woven by fellow followers of athletic endeavors and aspirations. Think

Jim Murray, Vin Scully, Bob Costas, et al. That Ms. Swanson chose this topic for today’s column gives hope that there is still space provided by thoughtful editors for perspectives on sports that go beyond the two-dimensional, quant world of fantasy leagues and video games, which by definition are driven by algorithms and probability, more useful in poker and blackjack. But ask the fans of the Oakland

A’s, home of Billy Beane’s original Moneyball theory put into practice, or even this year’s San Francisco Giants, how enjoyable or entertaining it has become watching the manifestation of this trendy worshiping at the altar of analytics.

— Gideon Young, South Pasadena