Rarely have we seen such a display of moral cowardice and hypocrisy as in two stories in the Thursday, March 21 newspaper. Half the members of the Santa Ana City Council can’t distinguish between freedom of speech and bullying. They don’t see the problem with protesters showing up within 300 feet of private homes to intimidate anyone who disagrees with their views, thus robbing them of their privacy and frightening potential political candidates out of running for office for fear of seeing their own families threatened. Meanwhile, many UC Regents subscribe to the notion that freedom of speech includes physically threatening and even attacking others, while blocking them from speaking or hearing any speakers who disagree with the bullies. Freedom of speech does not mean the right to terrorize, threaten, intimidate, block or physically attack others.
— Jackie Hyman, Brea
Abortion
Although I am personally a “pro-lifer,” and believe abortion — terminating a human life — is wrong and definitely is too often the go-to for convenient birth control rather than legitimate health issues, Donald Trump’s support for a federal 15-week ban demonstrates he is philosophically on his own island and is only masquerading as a conservative. The Roe v. Wade reversal by the Supreme Court was correct, not because it resulted in making abortions more difficult to get but because it returned the decision on their legality back to the individual states. A law in my own state making an abortion after 15 weeks illegal would get my support. But a national ban on abortion is just as wrong as is a national right to it.
— Bob Cunningham, Cherry Valley
Prop. 1
Re “Voters approve Proposition 1 in a razor-thin win” (March 21):
If you have a calculator, the $6.38 billion to build 4,350 housing units calculates out at $1.47 million per unit. I will become homeless or an addict if I can be guaranteed to get into one. And Newsom in the accompanying photo is gleefully laughing and clapping at you. How could the voter be so clueless as to vote for this fraud? It’s hard to believe that there are a majority of mentally impaired or addicts as voters in California. But I don’t know who else would vote for this!
— Tom Hersh, Newport Beach
Thanks for the Sunday COVID section
Unlike my fellow reader in Mission Viejo (March 20, Letters), I did read all the “I told you so” opinions on COVID Sunday, March 17. Contrary to her uninformed view, the governmental and bureaucratic overreach did matter because it soon became apparent (to me and many of my friends and Dennis Prager) that the lockdowns and masks mandates were counterproductive, causing unnecessary deaths rather than saving lives; and yet innocent citizens were arrested and fined for standing up for their rights to not be imprisoned in their residences or muzzled. Our elected and unelected leaders were not interested in keeping us safe, but rather used fear of the pandemic to increase their power. I was pleased to see in an almost mainstream media like this that “California’s … mandates led to sharp losses in overall economic activity but had little to no impact in saving lives” (Jim Doti). Disappointingly, the growing evidence of healthy young men dying shortly after being vaccinated and the therapeutic benefits of ivermectin and the hydroxychloroquine cocktail were not discussed. Finally, now that all the lies are coming out, isn’t it time to stop using euphemisms like COVID-19 and call this virus what it is, the Fauci authorized and paid for Chinese Wuhan-lab virus? Oh, and Doug MacIntyre, Jan. 6 was not an insurrection, it was a protest that got out of hand. It pales in comparison to what happened during the 2020 summer of love.
— Warren Scheinin, Redondo Beach
Bullet train
I can not take seriously anything the state of California is spending money on or wants to spend money on as long as the choo-choo train to nowhere continues to move forward.
— Paul J. Ladden, Redondo Beach
![Re “Should abortion be left to the states?” (April 21): Although Rafael Perez makes a compelling argument for abortion rights being a federal issue, he overlooks a crucial distinction. If it is nationally mandated, one way or the other, it is the federal government taking sides. And that would unnecessarily alienate roughly half of the population. If left to the states, the opportunity for all philosophies is maintained. If a state bans abortions after 15 weeks, for example, a woman in that circumstance has the option to travel to a state allowing such abortions. But that also allows those who […]](https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2018_1008_generic_mailbox_letters_to_the_editor3-15.jpg?w=513 "Re “Should abortion be left to the states?” (April 21): Although Rafael Perez makes a compelling argument for abortion rights being a federal issue, he overlooks a crucial distinction. If it is nationally mandated, one way or the other, it is the federal government taking sides. And that would unnecessarily alienate roughly half of the population. If left to the states, the opportunity for all philosophies is maintained. If a state bans abortions after 15 weeks, for example, a woman in that circumstance has the option to travel to a state allowing such abortions. But that also allows those who […]")
![Once again with “Impeachment of Mayorkas rightly dismissed” (April 19), the newspaper editors show their priorities in failing to even mention the present and growing multi-faceted danger of our open borders. No doubt most all Americans want our immigration policies reformed, but what we overwhelmingly expect and must demand first and foremost is a secure border. With this administration, we have no border security and effectively no border. For Americans now so in peril throughout the country, we must do all we can to demand a secure border like we enjoyed prior to Biden and Mayorkas. If Mayorkas’ impeachment could […]](https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2018_1008_generic_mailbox_letters_to_the_editor3-14.jpg?w=513 "Once again with “Impeachment of Mayorkas rightly dismissed” (April 19), the newspaper editors show their priorities in failing to even mention the present and growing multi-faceted danger of our open borders. No doubt most all Americans want our immigration policies reformed, but what we overwhelmingly expect and must demand first and foremost is a secure border. With this administration, we have no border security and effectively no border. For Americans now so in peril throughout the country, we must do all we can to demand a secure border like we enjoyed prior to Biden and Mayorkas. If Mayorkas’ impeachment could […]")
![Peace is unlikely Iran’s launch of over 300 drones and missiles into Israel is just the latest attempt by Iran to damage and ultimately destroy Israel. Peace is a word thrown around by diplomats who have shown little progress in achieving anything as meaningful as peace over the 50 years I have read about conflict in the region. Iran and its proxies have no intention of reaching peace. They want to destroy Israel. That is their goal and it has not changed. I am disheartened by the complete incompetence of the current administration. If you want peace, you need to […]](https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2018_1008_generic_mailbox_letters_to_the_editor3-13.jpg?w=513 "Peace is unlikely Iran’s launch of over 300 drones and missiles into Israel is just the latest attempt by Iran to damage and ultimately destroy Israel. Peace is a word thrown around by diplomats who have shown little progress in achieving anything as meaningful as peace over the 50 years I have read about conflict in the region. Iran and its proxies have no intention of reaching peace. They want to destroy Israel. That is their goal and it has not changed. I am disheartened by the complete incompetence of the current administration. If you want peace, you need to […]")
![The April 18 letter by John Waters is a perfect example of how misinformation can be spread, especially in regard to Donald Trump. He states that “the Supreme Court, unanimously 9-0, decided that the criteria for insurrection were not met.” That’s factually incorrect. The court decided that only Congress — and not the states — can enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, so Colorado could not remove Trump from the ballot. They did not rule on whether the criteria for insurrection were met. Unfortunately, now many people will believe differently because of that letter. — Bob Horvath, Long Beach […]](https://www.redlandsdailyfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/2018_1008_generic_mailbox_letters_to_the_editor3-12.jpg?w=513 "The April 18 letter by John Waters is a perfect example of how misinformation can be spread, especially in regard to Donald Trump. He states that “the Supreme Court, unanimously 9-0, decided that the criteria for insurrection were not met.” That’s factually incorrect. The court decided that only Congress — and not the states — can enforce Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, so Colorado could not remove Trump from the ballot. They did not rule on whether the criteria for insurrection were met. Unfortunately, now many people will believe differently because of that letter. — Bob Horvath, Long Beach […]")