{"id":196609,"date":"2026-02-27T15:42:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T15:42:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/196609\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T15:42:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T15:42:09","slug":"vote-no-on-new-sales-tax-and-bart-boards-scare-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/196609\/","title":{"rendered":"Vote no on new sales tax and BART board’s scare tactics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Submit your letter to the editor via this form<\/a>. Read more Letters to the Editor<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vote no on new sales tax and BART board<\/p>\n

Re: \u201cRail future on shaky ground<\/a>\u201d (Page A1, Feb. 23).<\/p>\n

Regarding the scare tactics that BART is using against voters if we do not approve another bailout for this mismanaged transit agency, my reply is that my family cannot afford another outrageous sales tax increase.<\/p>\n

I live in Alameda County, San Lorenzo, and we are already paying an oppressive 10.25%<\/a> sales tax. Add another 0.5%, and we will be paying a wallet-draining 10.75% sales tax. Enough is enough. Voters have approved bailout after bailout for BART, and it is still being mismanaged into the ground.<\/p>\n

Considering the history of BART\u2019s managers, year after year, crying for more money from taxpayers, and that they still can\u2019t manage BART without demanding more and more money, it has reached the point where I do not believe a word they say. Vote no to the scare tactics and fire the whole BART board.<\/p>\n

Rocky Fort
San Lorenzo<\/p>\n

State of the Union full of lies and distortions<\/p>\n

Re: \u201cTrump seeks to calm country\u2019s economic jitters<\/a>\u201d (Page A1, Feb. 25).<\/p>\n

I am once again appalled by both the headline and content of the article the East Bay Times chose on Donald Trump\u2019s State of the Union.<\/p>\n

Instead of the obvious \u201cTrump repeatedly lies in State of Union\u201d as a headline or anything indicating he said nothing whatsoever to assure the country he would end his immoral, illegal, unconstitutional, murderous and immensely harmful polices, the article treats this pathological liar as a normal presidential address.<\/p>\n

Here are but a very few of the lies and exaggerations in his speech:<\/p>\n

\u2022 He claimed to end eight wars. Not true<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 He claimed inflation was plummeting: Food, electricity, natural gas and housing are all up<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u2022 He claimed tariffs raised money from other countries: 96%<\/a>\u00a0is paid by Americans.<\/p>\n

\u2022 He claimed $18 trillion in investments<\/a>\u00a0in the United States from other countries. No one knows where he got this figure.<\/p>\n

Why wouldn\u2019t the East Bay Times mention any of this?<\/p>\n

David Weintraub
Oakland<\/p>\n

In reality, Trump took food stamps away<\/p>\n

Re: \u201cTrump seeks to calm country\u2019s economic jitters<\/a>\u201d (Page A1, Feb. 25).<\/p>\n

Among Donald Trump\u2019s stream of distortions in his State of the Union address about how great the economy is doing was the claim, \u201cWe have lifted 2.4 million Americans, a record, off of food stamps.\u201d Lifted? Nice try. How about \u201ccut\u201d or \u201cthrown off\u201d?<\/p>\n

There was nothing given in replacement to these Americans. No services. No other programs. He is proud to make the poor poorer and claim another \u201crecord\u201d so there is more money for the rich, ICE, private prisons, ballrooms, Kristi Noem\u2019s plush jets, Kash Patel to party with the U.S. hockey team, and thousands of other things that do not benefit the majority of Americans.<\/p>\n

No wonder his approval rating<\/a>\u00a0is at a low of 36% (26% among Independents).<\/p>\n

Barry Brynjulson
Pleasanton<\/p>\n

Hold Trump accountable for kids still separated<\/p>\n

While we are mired in Trump 2.0, trying to balance costs of food, rent and daily living, let us not forget the heinous family separation policy of Trump 1.0 between 2017 and 2021.<\/p>\n

More than 1,300 children<\/a>\u00a0still have not been reunited with their families. Nine years of uncertainty, pain and trauma. Where are they now? When will this heartless administration live up to its vocal \u201cChristian family values\u201d vow and make amends?<\/p>\n

Do not let these children and their families be forgotten. Demand answers and responsibility now.<\/p>\n

Joanie Shicoff
Martinez<\/p>\n

What are odds Trump puts bite on high court<\/p>\n

Re: \u201cJustices strike down Trump\u2019s tariffs<\/a>\u201d (Page A1, Feb. 21).<\/p>\n

In 2014, the gambling site Betsson in Malta offered 175-1 odds<\/a>\u00a0that Uruguay\u2019s star Luis Suarez would bite someone during the World Cup. Suarez did have a history of biting opponents and had previously been suspended from professional soccer matches over biting incidents in 2011 and 2013. After Suarez bit Italy\u2019s Giorgio Chellini during a 2014 game, 167 bettors collected on those 175-1 odds, led by a Norwegian who collected about $3,300.<\/p>\n

Betting on sports and other events is now widespread in the United States, with heavy advertising for betting sites on television and the internet. Given Donald Trump\u2019s extreme thin-skinned and belligerent personality, I wonder when Betsson or some other gambling site will offer odds that Trump will bite a Supreme Court justice.<\/p>\n

Bob Benson
Lafayette<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Submit your letter to the editor via this form. Read more Letters to the Editor. Vote no on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[389,184,7,390,392,332,394,9267,181,2953,1564,2648,143,145,144,975,2650,3766,398],"class_list":{"0":"post-196609","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oakland","8":"tag-alameda-county","9":"tag-bay-area","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-central-contra-costa","12":"tag-contra-costa-county","13":"tag-east-bay","14":"tag-fremont","15":"tag-lafayette","16":"tag-latest-headlines","17":"tag-letters","18":"tag-letters-to-the-editor","19":"tag-martinez","20":"tag-oakland","21":"tag-oakland-headlines","22":"tag-oakland-news","23":"tag-opinion","24":"tag-pleasanton","25":"tag-transit","26":"tag-tri-valley"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196609"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196609\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}