Letters for Nov. 21, 2019

Re: “What’s at stake in 2020 election” by Sasha Abramsky (Feature, Nov. 7):

Despite his proclaimed expertise, the guy is obviously not up to speed. There is no such thing as “democracy” anywhere in sight in this country.

Josef Mayr

Grass Valley / via Facebook

A smear against Gabbard

Re: “A Russian ‘nesting doll?’” by Foon Rhee (Feature, Nov. 7):

I am shocked and disgusted at the McCarthyistic, duplicitous smear piece SN&R published against Tulsi Gabbard. If she is “barely a blip in the polls,” why mention her at all?

She couldn’t be clearer that she won’t run from a third party or as an independent. If you can’t argue against the message, discredit the messenger. Bucking Hillary Clinton to endorsing Bernie Sanders in 2016 and calling out the DNC for rigging the primaries against him then and against her now, criticizing her own party’s interventionist foreign policy and endless wars (those trillions of dollars could have been spent at home), calling out the media for their reprehensible smears against her and much more, Gabbard has shown the spine, fortitude and integrity the Democratic party has been missing for decades.

Jan Bergeron

Sacramento / via email

Key supes race

Re: “Why a Sacramento County supervisor election is so important” by Jeff von Kaenel (Greenlight, Oct. 3):

This column is right on the mark, and the final paragraph says it all. Not only is Gregg Fishman a solid guy, his positions line up perfectly with the mainstream opinion in Sacramento County supervisor District 3 as Susan Peters has become more and more out of touch.

Witness her latest vote to green-light no-fault evictions prior to 2020. Fishman would never support such a thing. He knows that today’s tenant evicted for no reason other than a landlord’s greed simply adds to tomorrow’s homeless population whom we all then have to help to their foothold on life.

Bill Pieper

Sacramento / via email

Unintended consequences

Re: “The last minute gouge” by Scott Thomas Anderson (News, Nov. 14):

It is sad, but state lawmakers had no reason to believe the rent hikes and evictions wouldn’t occur, so they share some of the blame. As we saw with the defeat of the rent control ballot measure (Proposition 10), the very threat of looming rent control spiked rents and forced evictions.

History has shown us what happens with other bans (and let’s not mince words, because price fixing is just another iteration of a ban). For firearm limits, there is always a huge spike in purchases. Legislative meddling into the finances or business dealings of the people always creates unintended consequences, and in this instance people have been forced out of their homes.

Matthew Gray

Sacramento / via email

What would Jesus do?

Re: “Tents and tiny houses for the homeless” by Jeff von Kaenel (Greenlight, Nov. 7):

Donald Trump caters to patriotic bigots, church bigots and racists. Underneath all of our garbage everyone’s the same. Nobody’s better. When Christ says, “Have ye faith,” he’s saying, “Have we the ability to let go of who we think we are? We can accomplish everything.”

Rich Davis

Citrus Heights / via email