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Johnson should not
condition fire relief
Re: “Fire response could make or break several political careers” (Page A6, Jan. 29).
The horrendous Los Angeles fires have destroyed over 15,000 structures and caused around $250 billion in damage so far. They may be the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has decided to exploit this tragedy by threatening to hold up disaster aid and extorting California for concessions.
Through food, trade, taxes and technology, California subsidizes the rest of the country. We regularly pay more in federal taxes than we get back in return. According to the Rockefeller Institute, Californians’ overpayment was over $83 billion in 2022 alone.
Mike Johnson’s home state of Louisiana, on the other hand, received nearly $34.5 billion more than it contributed in 2022, making it one of the more dependent states. Yet, Congress found the money to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina, as was appropriate. Mike Johnson shouldn’t throw stones in his glass house, lest he find his own repairs come with “conditions.”
Alexander Rony
Richmond
Trump won’t stop at
birthright citizenship
Donald Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship is an unconstitutional attack on the most vulnerable among us — newborns. It’s a calculated move to weaponize the state against its citizens and build the apparatus to target other groups in the future, working from the most vulnerable up to all of us.
As Martin Niemöller wrote about the Nazis’ rise to power: “First, they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a socialist.
“Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out — because I was not a trade unionist.
“Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out — because I was not a Jew.
“Then they came for me — and there was no one left to speak for me.”
If you don’t speak up now, there will soon be no one left to speak up for you.
Adrian Engstrom von Alten
Santa Rosa
Suspending foreign aid
endangers whole world
An egregiously negligent act was committed by the Trump administration on Jan. 24 when it issued a “stop-work” order for all existing programming funded by U.S. foreign assistance. This disheartening action will effectively put millions of more people into worsening health and unsafe conditions.
Devastating consequences include the termination of sanitation programs and initiatives for access to clean water and nutrition. Access to vaccines and the ability to mitigate emergency infectious outbreaks will be reduced. Many women will lose prenatal care and safe childbirths. Programs to combat human trafficking and to provide aid and shelter for those displaced by war and climate extremes will be lost. America itself will become less safe and lose our credibility as a progressive leader.
Members of Congress authorized many of these programs and their funding. They must now push for the immediate reversal of this “stop-work” order.
Ricardo Narvaez
Concord
Trump barbs exacerbate
suffering from crash
Re: “Passenger jet collides with Army helicopter while landing at Reagan Washington National Airport” (Jan. 30).
The Associated Press article about the deadly airline crash in Washington, D.C., quotes Donald Trump as making scathing accusations against the air traffic controllers, Joe Biden, the pilots and others, all said without citing any evidence. Unfortunately, this negative talk is not unusual for Trump, who shows a remarkable talent for taking a tragic situation and using it to make others look bad.
A 2016 article in the magazine Psychology Today, “Why Narcissists Need to Look Good So Badly,” sums his behavior up nicely: the tendency of the narcissist to blame others in ways that cultivate his own superior image.
Such inappropriate and unsubstantiated talk only adds to the pain of the grieving families and to all of us who mourn for those who are lost.
Teri Shikany
Danville
Trump taking revenge
with henchman’s help
Re: “Trump removes security detail from general as his retributions continue” (Page A4, Jan. 30).
One of our new Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s first acts is to remove former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Mark Milley’s security detail and security clearance and initiate an investigation. It’s right out of Donald Trump’s “get even” playbook. He’s petty and vindictive and uses innuendo to justify his actions.
If our esteemed late statesman U.S. Sen. John McCain, a Trump detractor, were still with us, Hegseth would probably remove any recognition of McCain’s distinguished military service in the Vietnam War. Just like Trump’s removal of the security detail for former NIH leader Dr. Anthony Fauci, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and former National Security Advisor John Bolton, Hegseth has violated an American tradition of protecting former leaders from threats arising out of actions they took in service to our country. Shouldn’t he, and Trump, be required to prove wrongdoing first?
Donald Waters
Pleasant Hill