San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
March to protest mistreatment at southern border
Why hasn’t a nationwide march been called for to demand proper treatment for the immigrant kids we’re harming on a daily basis? Are we only capable of marching for annual events that don’t interfere too much with our lives?
Are we capable of marching only when the issue might affect us directly? These are either children in detention or they’re refugees. If it’s the first case, we have legal minimum conditions for how kids must be treated in our juvenile detention facilities.
Those rules must apply here. If it’s the second case, why hasn’t the Red Cross been called in? What about Doctors Without Borders?
If it was any other country, we’d demand it. I’m calling for a nationwide march on July 4 to protest and demand that these immigrant kids be treated properly. If the government doesn’t have the resources or the will to do it, they must allow nongovernmental organizations and volunteers in to do what they cannot.
Terrible conditions
So John Sanders, the acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection, is going to step down in the coming weeks? He has already presided over an agency that has terribly mistreated detained migrant children by denying them access to showers, clean clothing or sufficient food for many weeks.
In my opinion, Sanders, the president and all administration members who have been responsible for these conditions should be tried by the International Court of Justice at the Hague for crimes against humanity.
Unsung fire safety hero
Regarding “Struggling to fend off third year of disaster” (Page One, June 23): An unsung hero dedicated to reducing the risk of wildfire to California communities is the California Fire Safe Council. A statewide nonprofit organization based in Sacramento, the CAFSC delivers homeowner and community fire safety education programs on defensible space and fire safety. More importantly, the council operates the Grants Clearinghouse that provides funding to a network of over 150 local fire safe councils and volunteer fire departments to undertake fuel reduction and other fire protection efforts around homes and communities.
This is a highly efficient and costeffective process. The U.S. Forest Service through its regional office in Vallejo deserves heartfelt gratitude for providing several million dollars a year to the Clearinghouse to be regranted by the Fire Safe Council. A few insurance companies have also provided funding. But much more needs to be done. Other state and federal agencies, corporations and foundations should provide funding to the Clearinghouse so more communities can protect themselves.
Those monies would be leveraged several times over. Support the Clearinghouse and protect Californians from our now annual years of flame!
Wealth as identity
Regarding “From the very rich: Yes, raise our taxes” (Open Forum, June 25): The article on the wealthy wishing to be taxed is commendable and the signatories seem to be a significant example of the 1 percent in America.
My take on this issue of wealth is fast becoming an observation of a societal mass mental illness. Those 1% exhibit a sociopathic response to money. Their wealth is their identity, sharing or empathy to others in society is beyond their comprehension.
Theirs is a life of accumulation of more wealth even to the detriment of society, a “hoarding” that is almost fanatical. We should look at their mental condition as a threat and an illness. Taxing them may wake them up to how deranged they are and maybe help society. But I doubt that will happen.
Limited real estate
J.K. Dineen’s “Huge Candlestick project moving full speed ahead” (Page One, June 25) begs the question about sea level rise. Surely investors know that lowaltitude real estate has a very limited future on this planet?