San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Drinking straws add up
Regarding “Drink up to new laws, sans straw” (Editorial, Jan. 1): I was extremely disappointed in your editorial’s dismissive tone toward the Legislature’s efforts to reduce the harmful and unnecessary proliferation of plastic drinking straws. You referred to the law as “minutiae” and “micromanagement.” While use of a single straw seems insignificant, consider the estimated 500 million used daily in this country alone.
To grasp this amount more fully, picture 125 school buses a day filled with straws, totaling more than 45,000 buses per year. These single-use items pose a well-documented threat to all living creatures, whether on land or in the sea. The microbits formed as they slowly break down are invariably consumed by humans as they enter the food chain. Minutiae? I don’t think so. Unless you are disabled, please say no to plastic straws!
Marianna Raymond, Redwood City
Fearful questions in Trump era
I am a Holocaust survivor speaking in high schools, and a student’s question about President Trump had a similar effect on me as did Trump’s immigration policy on the Lebanese immigrant and CEO of your article. It was March 2016, still early in the presidential campaign, and I was speaking at a San Francisco high school about my childhood survival during the Holocaust in Poland. I wrote a book and started speaking six years earlier, and until then the questions from students after my talks were about the Holocaust, my personal life, etc., but never about current politics.
Yet that day a student asked: Is Trump’s campaign similar to Adolf Hitler’s in the 1930s? I was surprised, thought for a moment, and answered that it was similar: Both Trump and Hitler were demonizing the press (fake news), the judiciary (the so-called judge), immigrants (criminals and rapists) and dividing the populace into us versus them.
Starting with that event in March 2016, I continue to get similar questions from students, all voicing their fears, so I have doubled the number of talks I give in schools to 45 per year. Sadly, the fearful questions continue.
George Elbaum, San Francisco
Secondhand hookah smoke
“S.F. tobacco law’s cloudy impact on hookah bars” (Page One, Jan. 1) ignores the issue of exposure to employees and customers who do not wish to breathe whatever their neighbor elects to inhale. Our lungs are not evolved to handle small particulates, whatever the source. Drinking may not be good for you, but it never requires that the entire establishment imbibe along with the drinker.
Carol Denney, Berkeley
President is catering to base
Concerning “Battle over border a symbol of walls separating parties” (Insight, Dec. 30): Whatever words are used to describe President Trump’s border wall, he has not, as columnist Jonah Goldberg insists, been willing to compromise on being given billions of dollars for this unnecessary monument to nativism. Instead, Trump’s decision to shut down the government because Congress will not allocate this money for his ridiculous vanity project is a case of governing by extortion (or temper tantrum). This president — the face of the GOP — would rather cater to his base, whining commentators like Rush Limbaugh and the talking heads on Fox News, than ensuring that our government can meet its obligations to its workers and be respected by all of its citizens.
Dylan Seeger, San Francisco
When seniors are ready to travel
The article “The future of travel” (Travel, Dec. 30) neglected to mention one of the most comprehensive sources for senior tours, Road Scholar, a not-forprofit, lifelong learning organization. Having taken 35 of their trips since 2002, I can attest to the amazing breadth and depth of their programs. Road Scholar is very singles friendly: After traveling for nine years with my husband, I have continued solo for another nine years since his death and have always felt welcome. Offering over 5,000 tours to 150 countries and all 50 states, their trips combine travel with educational content and are ranked for different ability levels, from armchair to hiking/biking/rafting. They also offer grandparent/grandchild tours, which my two grandchildren have thoroughly enjoyed. In 2019, I will be traveling with Road Scholar to the Florida Gulf Coast in January, then Sardinia and Cinque Terre in May, perhaps followed by a river cruise in Germany in the fall. Join me?
Carol Van Schaack, Menlo Park
NASA’s distant exploration
Regarding “Spacecraft starts year by exploring object past Pluto” (Nation, Jan. 2): It was encouraging to read that NASA’s New Horizons explorer successfully phoned home in the new year. Of course, at that distance, it will take a while to get the pictures of Ultima Thule, the odd-shaped 20-mile-long space rock. I just wish the first photo would show a big sign on the rock reading: Make Pluto Great Again!
Dana Scott, Berkeley