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Front-page story
celebrates disparity
Re: “Budget busters! The top 13 sales this year” (Page A1, Aug. 12).
I was appalled to see your article in full color on the front page today. We are barely affording groceries and the article proudly shows houses sold for $55 million in our area.
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Way to rub in the disparity between the “haves” and “have-nots” in this country. What would you suggest the rest of us do when every week prices increase in everything we do? Even The Dollar Store has increased their prices.
Constance Self
Concord
Letter reveals ignorance
on homelessness
Re: “Responsibility would most help homeless” (Page A8, Aug. 10).
On Aug. 10, a writer concluded his letter stating, “But many, if not most, homeless simply need to start acting like adults and take responsibility for their lives.’’
I hope his appalling ignorance of the depth and breadth of the causes of homelessness about which much has been written isn’t deliberate, and I suggest he read, “There is no place for us: Working and Homeless in America.” In it there are personal accounts of many Americans who lose housing not because they fail to “take responsibility for their lives’’ but because they cannot afford a place to live even when working one or more jobs.
This is just another result of the tragic wealth inequality in the U.S., and is the stuff of revolutions. To drive the inequality point home further, today’s front page features top single family Bay Area home sales (“Budget busters! The top 13 sales this year,” Page A1, Aug. 12) ranging from $25 to $51 million. Shameful.
Marilynn Gray-Raine
Danville
Is Trump hiding
evidence of guilt?
Re: “AG told Trump he was named” (Page A1, July 24),
A rhetorical question: Why would Donald Trump, who cheated on his wives, who said on the Hollywood Access tapes that he could grab women’s private parts, who was found liable for forcibly sexually touching E. Jean Caroll in a department store dressing room, who paid $150,000 to effectively kill a story about his affair with Karen McDougal, who was found guilty of falsifying internal business records to conceal a $130,000 hush-money payment to Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election, want the Epstein files kept from being released?
Hint: The Wall Street Journal on July 23, 2025, asserted that Attorney General Pam Bondi and her deputy told Donald Trump that his name appeared in the Epstein files multiple times.
If Trump is innocent, as he claims, release the files to prove his innocence. If he is guilty, then the files also should be released.
Larry Bieber
Castro Valley
BLS firing is fear
tactic for Trump
Re: “Remember those who wouldn’t dissuade Trump” (Aug. 11).
Donald Trump‘s reason for firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Erika McEntarfer, is preposterous.
He basically said that she “cooked the books” to increase the number of job losses. The head of the BLS gets input from over a thousand career professionals before publishing the quarterly report. That report indicated a significant drop in the number of new jobs since Trump took office, compared to the prior period. It’s far more likely that the main reason for the poor jobs report is all the uncertainty in the economy due to Trump’s tariffs, which are, by the way, nothing but a solution in search of a problem.
Companies are not hiring until they see the outcome of these tariffs. So the message to everyone in the Trump administration is clear. Forget the truth. If you bring bad news to the boss, you’ll lose your job.
Arthur Straus
Walnut Creek
Trump’s sole motive is
seizing, keeping power
Isn’t it interesting how the president and his followers who have for years made false claims about how elections are “rigged” and riddled with “voter fraud” (except of course the elections he won) are now leading a full scale drive to gerrymander congressional districts in multiple Red states ahead of the 2026 elections, just when his poll numbers have tanked and so many of his supporters are turning against him because of his refusal to follow through on the promise to release all the Epstein files.
If nothing else, this effort exposes the whining about “rigged” elections as nothing more than a smokescreen for the naked attempt to retain control and power no matter what. Transparency, truth and fair elections mean nothing to the Donald Trump cult; the only thing that matters is seizing and holding on to power to drive their anti-democracy agenda and protect the rich and powerful.
Jamie Harris
Lafayette
Trump’s actions demand
constant opposition
Re: “Booker’s stunt proves party’s powerlessness” (Page A6, Aug. 12).
So David M. Drucker thinks Democrats should just shut up, roll over, and take it; just cede the fight to Donald Trump. What lousy advice.
Yes, we know we have no power until (or unless, since it may not happen) the 2026 election, but that does not mean we don’t make noise. It’s our duty as citizens to shout to the rooftops and resist this slide into authoritarian rule.
George Mathews
Antioch