Letters for April 4, 2019

Re: “Reimagining the waterfront” by Foon Rhee (Editor’s note, March 21):

I disagree with your comment that Old Sacramento is boring. It is one of the few tourist destinations that I enjoy, and I have observed people young and old imagining life in the old West as it was.

Its funkiness is its strength and charm, and I was dismayed to discover some of the old plank wood walkways replaced with a composite plastic. Less Disney World please!

Loretta de Porceri

Sacramento / via email

Turn out the lights

Re: “SMUD: Better than PG&E, but not perfect” by Foon Rhee (Editor’s note, March 28):

Good article on SMUD, but its planned fees on rooftop solar need to be pointed out. The proposed monthly grid access fee of $16 for a typical rooftop system, for applications submitted after March 31, spells the end of residential solar and seems counter to California goals.

Thomas J. Meagher

Sacramento / via SN&R Extra

Newsom ignores voters

Re: “No executions on Newsom’s watch” by Laurel Rosenhall (News, March 21):

Gov. Gavin Newsom is a total hypocrite. He is undermining thousands of voters who favored the death penalty by deciding his opinion is more important. That’s a dictator, what he accuses President Donald Trump of.

Whenever a politician uses the word “I,” everyone better beware. This is not the voice of the people, it is the voice of one who tells you what’s right and wrong, good and bad. This elitist corrupt guy needs to be recalled, and soon. He has forgotten who he works for, or doesn’t care.

Daniel Akre

Granite Bay / via email

Fake news

We now know that we cannot trust social media such as Facebook and Twitter as a source of truthful news. Too much “news” is put out there by armies of full-time, professional trolls paid by enemy governments such as North Korea, Russia and China, as well as domestic hate groups. In one case it was found that some Russian trolls were acting as if they were African-American members of Black Lives Matter and encouraging their “brothers and sisters” not to vote in the 2016 presidential election.

Have you noticed this kind of distorted news, aimed at dividing and fooling us is starting to appear on YouTube? As I go to Facebook to socialize, I go to YouTube for music and entertainment. I do not expect to be manipulated, but that is changing.

At the end of some silly video, as usual, I was offered a choice of other videos to see. One caught my curiosity. It said something like “Mr. X Destroys Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in Congress.” It turned out it was nothing of the kind. It was a short tape of a fear-mongering and hateful member of the House trying, unsuccessfully, to make her look bad.

So it is not only social media you have to be wary of as a source of news. Even what used to be simply a source of music and entertainment is being used to manipulate the electorate towards division, hate and fear.

Mike Savino

Sacramento / via email