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‘Irreparable harm’ notlikely at Oakland airport
Re: “Oakland airport name change is blocked” (Page A1, Nov. 14).
For all who may be unaware, that body of water inside the Golden Gate is called San Francisco Bay. That geographic name is not owned by the city and county of San Francisco, and it is free to be used at will. Any attempt to block the use of a geographic name is a fool’s errand.
Both the introduction and the consideration of these frivolous lawsuits have eliminated what tenuous confidence once existed in the judiciary.
R CoteCastro Valley
Students don’t have’right’ to grade inflation
Re: “Grade inflation is spreading from high schools to college” (Page A6, Nov. 13).
Karin Klein’s essay on grade inflation demonstrates that “grade grubbing” harms learning.
As a Mt. Diablo Unified School District teacher in the 1980s, I was overtly pressured to pass seniors who had done absolutely nothing in my class. A couple of years later, as a teaching assistant in the English Department at UC Berkeley, I was “strongly encouraged” to pass a student who couldn’t write an essay without grammatical errors in every sentence.
Grade inflation was already well on its way due to pressure to move students on and up through the system. However, in today’s college environment, when students and their parents spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, going into debt for a college education, the student is the consumer with presumed “rights” to be satisfied with the product.
Kathryn JordanBerkeley
Denying new homesis immoral, illegal
Re: “California city sued over ‘unlawful ban on new housing’” (Nov. 5).
Blocking housing construction, especially for our most vulnerable residents like the homeless, during a housing crisis and shortage should be seen as an utterly disgraceful act and ought to be litigated more.
While I know that people tend to be stingy about what happens around their house, this stinginess has reached a point where the city of Woodside attempted to declare itself a mountain lion habitat to avoid building homeless shelters.
I don’t think this problem will be fixed by just suing cities; this is the result of decades of politics of homeownership, exclusion and politicians burying their heads in the sand. We have to fix this problem alongside the litany of others that we have to face.
Yusuke MoriDublin
Nation seems to havepivoted from justice
Re: “Justice Dept. ends pursuit of Trump” (Page A1, Nov. 26).
Of all the injustices cascading from this election, this one made me sick.
Donald Trump openly trampled the Constitution by trying to falsify the election results in 2020. Our justice system is so broken that he now will never be tried. He can claim total vindication. Case closed. I can’t stand it.
I fear for the pivot point we have reached here in my country.
Barbara MoritaEl Cerrito
School is out onthe rule of law
Re: “Justice Dept. ends pursuit of Trump” (Page A1, Nov. 26).
To all the students I taught American history: Remember how I emphasized the rule of law? To understand our democratic system of government it was basic to know that no one, not even the president of the United States, was above the law.
Guess I was wrong. Sorry, guys.
Nancy ThorntonConcord
Biden lacks authorityto OK use of missiles
Re: “Ukraine gets OK for use of missiles” (Page A1, Nov. 18).
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One wonders where, at this time, Joe Biden gets the moral authority to let Ukraine attack Russia with U.S.-supplied long-range missiles. Let us hope that Vladimir Putin doesn’t respond with his arsenal of super long-range hypersonic missiles targeting the United States.
Biden should stay low and be kept out of any key policy decisions. He was rejected in a coup by his own party. He has proven his incompetence in leadership many times. His limited cognitive understanding of his actions and his advisers are leading us closer to World War III. The sooner he and his corrupt administration are out, the better it will be for all of us.
Chris KnielOrinda