Letters 8/4/2025

• A Boring Hoax?
• Huff The Bold
• Jail The Boss, Not The Worker
• Imagining The Good I Could Do If I Had A Billion Dollars
• American Greatness & Trumpian Doublespeak

---

A BORING HOAX?

To the Editor:

Is it just me, or does it seem as if President Trump is overreacting, even by Trumpian standards, to the Jeffrey Epstein case?

Especially if, as he insists, it is boring and a hoax.

Tom Fritschler

Port Angeles, Washington

---

HUFF THE BOLD

Editor,

I read a piece in the New Yorker, ‘Follow the Leader: A culture of obedience reigns in Washington.’ In Trump’s Washington,” Antonia Hitchens writes, “the imperative has never been more plain: if you want to get ahead or stay out of trouble, praise the President as much as he praises himself.” She lists myriad instances of obsequious bootlicking from Cabinet members to congressmen to media figures. A mere whisper of dissent will land a person in the crosshairs, their lives threatened by MAGA zealots if they should oppose King Donald.

The one bright spot in the article was when the House Natural Resources Committee convened to consider Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposal to rename the Gulf of Mexico the Gulf of America. That’s when, Hitchens writes, “Jared Huffman, the ranking Democratic member, leaned into the microphone. ‘There is crazy, destructive, incompetent, corrupt things happening in the executive branch of our government right now, and the independent branch of government, Article One branch that our Founders created in order to serve as a check on Presidential abuses of power, as a check on corruption and incompetence, is totally missing in action.”

I’m glad we have someone like Huffman, speaking truth to power, representing us in Congress, and not another shameless, craven, groveling Republican bootlicker.

Michael Morey

Forestville

ED NOTE. Congressman Huffman roars out when it's safe to roar out. Even if he had a principle or two, and even if he did speak out in defense of them, his district is gerrymandered to keep a Democrat representing the Northcoast forever.

---

JAIL THE BOSS, NOT THE WORKER

Editor:

Let’s be honest. If the federal government were really interested in going after people or corporations who were breaking the law and encouraging undocumented workers to risk their lives to enter the country, they would enforce the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 and go after employers who hire undocumented immigrants. Only a handful of individuals and no companies face criminal charges for violating that law each year.

Agriculture and the hospitality and construction industries would have us believe American citizens won’t do that work but Cesar Chavez knew better when he opposed using undocumented workers in the fields. He saw them as scabs who were brought in to break the back of the union that was fighting for better wages and working conditions. Though it is legal for undocumented people to file complaints about being cheated or mistreated, how many are going to do that and draw attention to themselves, particularly under the present circumstances?

Both Democrats and Republicans have turned a blind eye for decades, and now the Trump administration is stumbling over itself to carry out its vendetta. Perhaps they could bring in white South Africans to do the work.

Richard Bloom

Cotati

---

IMAGINING THE GOOD I COULD DO IF I HAD A BILLION DOLLARS

Editor:

If I had a billion dollars, here’s how I’d spend it:

First, I’d invest $600 million with a goal of earning 2% annually — about $1 million a month. Then, I’d buy five houses at $10 million each. Add furnishings at $2 million each, $10 million for cars, boats and planes, $6 million for taxes and $24 million for a contingency fund. That leaves $300 million for donations to fight hunger, homelessness and other needs.

According to Forbes, the United States has 813 billionaires with a combined net worth of $6.72 trillion — averaging about $8 billion each. If the “average” billionaire followed this plan, each would own 40 homes valued at $10 million, have income of $8 million per month and $2.4 billion left for charity. If all 813 did this, we’d see $2 trillion going to urgently needed social programs. (To grasp what a trillion is, consider: a million seconds is 11 days; a trillion seconds is 31,700 years.)

However, these morally bankrupt billionaires demanded tax cuts for themselves, debt and health care cuts for the rest of us — and Republicans gave it to them. Regardless of political persuasion or social standing, we all need to come together, have mercy on these poor misguided souls and save them from eternal damnation by taxing the hell out of them.

Eric Peterson

Santa Rosa

---

AMERICAN GREATNESS & TRUMPIAN DOUBLESPEAK

Editor:

The Trump administration is notorious for “1984” doublespeak — calling something the opposite of what it really is. The Big Beautiful Bill is a good example. It is nothing of the kind unless you are one of the ultra-wealthy. But let’s look at the MAGA movement. Traditionally the greatness of America has been due to leadership in science and technology, a good education system, respect from foreign nations for our humanitarian activities and philosophy, effective trade relationships and strong diplomatic partnerships with our allies. Mr. MAGA is systematically going about destroying all of the above.

Leland Davis

Santa Rosa