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Court decision upholds
inhumane policies
I’m stunned by the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court to allow our country to send immigrants to foreign countries such as Sudan and El Salvador. It’s terrifying to me that people are being sent to prisons in foreign countries without any legal hearing or due process.
How horrific this must feel for families of people who have been taken by masked men and disappeared. It’s heartbreaking.
Where do we go from here? The Supreme Court is the highest court in the land. What’s happening to these people is immoral.
This administration seems to relish the cruelty of these actions. “Alligator Alcatraz” is an example of this. It’s in the Florida Everglades, with construction that won’t stand up to hurricane season, or the onset of mosquitoes that can carry disease.
There is no regard for people in these places. What can we do to stop these inhumane atrocities?
Sarah Creeley
Hercules
Congress should restore,
protect solar tax credits
Re: “Solar bankruptcies show US clean energy industry is teetering on the brink” (June 10).
For 18 years, I lived with asthma and chronic rhinitis growing up in Shanghai. At that time, I thought the whole world was like this. But when my family immigrated to the United States, something surprising happened — within a week, my asthma completely disappeared. For the first time, I understood what clean air really meant. What happens here in the U.S. doesn’t stay here. In the climate crisis, there are no borders.
That’s why I’m so disappointed and worried to see Congress pass a budget bill that drastically cuts America’s clean energy tax credits.
Since the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, California has gained over $16.5 billion in investments and has more than 500,000 clean energy jobs. Rolling them back would raise energy prices, hurt small businesses and slow climate progress. Congress must protect these credits — not just for California, but for a healthier and sustainable future for all.
Wenyue Wan
Berkeley
CEQA reform sets
stage for building
Re: “Newsom signs rollback plan to boost housing in California” (Page A1, July 1).
The California Environmental Quality Act was never meant to block infill housing or critical infrastructure. But too often, that’s exactly what it did.
That just changed. Thanks to Gov. Gavin Newsom and East Bay Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, California enacted the most meaningful CEQA reform in the law’s history. This isn’t about lowering environmental standards. It’s about raising our ability to build what the East Bay needs: housing, child care centers, wildfire safety projects, advanced manufacturing and transportation infrastructure.
At the East Bay Leadership Council, we know that the ability to build and maintain essential infrastructure is critical to a strong economy. When projects stall, families suffer, businesses struggle and the region falls behind.
With more than 10,000 East Bay residents experiencing homelessness and aging infrastructure holding back economic growth, the need has been clear. Now the tools are in place. Time to build.
Mark Orcutt
President and CEO, East Bay Leadership Council
Walnut Creek
Communities must
make up for federal cuts
Re: “House approves Trump’s tax bill” (Page A1, July 4).
With Congress passing the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” the stakes for our communities just skyrocketed. This legislation doesn’t just strip health care from millions — it also supercharges immigration enforcement, sending ICE’s budget soaring.
That means more raids in our neighborhoods, more families living in fear, and more communities torn apart. If what we’re seeing in Los Angeles — masked ICE agents sweeping streets and troops deployed against civilians — can happen there, it could easily happen in Oakland, Richmond, San Leandro or anywhere our neighbors call home.
Now’s the time for those of us who’ve been watching and worrying to step up. This moment demands more than private outrage; it demands public organizing. Building a Bay Area that’s truly safe and fair will take every one of us, together.
Kat Rosa
Livermore
Nation launched
into age of cruelty
On the Fourth of July, I was not celebrating. Recalling the famous speech by Frederick Douglass, “What to the Slave is the Fourth of July,” I decry the severe loss of freedoms and humanity represented by the president, Congress and the Supreme Court. We have entered the “Age of Cruelty.”
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These are the losses that will cost lives, livelihoods and the well-being of the citizens of the United States and the entire world:
• Massive cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and the social safety net.
• Destruction of FEMA and the Department of Education.
• Loss of due process and masked ICE thugs sending humans to black sites.
• Destruction of soft power from USAID, leading to millions of deaths and starving babies.
• Decimation of communities that have fed us, built our homes, cared for our children and elders, and cleaned our buildings and gardens.
Now, MACA: Make America Cruel Again. Wake up.
Scott Loeliger
Benicia