Concerning “S.F. police show video of cop shooting man” (Dec. 18): Whether you agree or disagree with Police Chief Bill Scott’s assertion that a man who had attacked two police officers was carrying a possible deadly weapon, a glass bottle, was it necessary for this individual to be shot six times?

The use of lethal force by law enforcement has always been a contentious issue. Why can’t officers first use a taser or (as did not happen in this case) properly use pepper spray to subdue a criminal suspect, especially one who is armed with a glass bottle? When I read a news story like this one, a two-word expression come to mind: police brutality.

Dorothy Van Horne, San Francisco

Right to sue Juul

As the mother of two middle school girls, I’m glad to read “Bay Area school districts join suit against Juul” (Page 1, Business, Dec. 18). This e-cigarette maker profited by targeting adolescents with flavored nicotine liquid pods. It hooked millions of teens on its product, and caused school districts to spend significant time and resources trying to get them to stop vaping and to address their health problems related to this hazardous habit.

So why shouldn’t these districts now sue Juul and seek damages incurred due to their efforts? What Juul did is as bad as when the cartoonish Joe Camel ads were used to target youngsters to smoke cigarettes over a generation ago. As an old proverb goes, “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”

Jenny Wong, Daly City

Tourism hurt by politics

While it’s interesting to read in “Archaeologists unveil two rare ancient artifacts” (Dec. 18) that a statue of former pharaoh Ramses II and a small, well-carved sphinx have been discovered in Egypt, the only way this nation will get more tourists to visit its pyramids and see its antiquities is if its current president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, stops waging his campaign of intimidation, violence and arrests against political opponents, civil society activists and others who have simply voiced criticism of his government. Egypt needs a democratically minded leader, not another autocratically minded pharaoh.

Raneesh Patel, Redwood City

Trump’s self-interest

Concerning “Impeach and remove him” (Editorial, Dec. 18): The word “impeachment” begins with President Trump’s favorite letter in the English alphabet: I. Even before becoming this nation’s 45th chief executive, Trump expressed his fondness for this vowel and (if capitalized) pronoun when, upon accepting his party’s nomination at the 2016 Republican National Convention, proclaimed “Nobody knows the system better than me, which is why I alone can fix it.”

Well, Trump decided to put his self-interest ahead of our nation’s by withholding aid from the Ukraine until getting dirt on a potential rival in next year’s election. Sadly, 2020 will likely begin with Trump being acquitted of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress charges in a Senate trial, after having been impeached by Congress at the end of 2019. And the words that are found in the preamble of our Constitution, “We the people,” will be trampled upon by a would-be autocrat and his unrelenting supporters, who believe that I is more important than we.

Julian Grant, Pacifica

Rich candidates

Regarding “Won’t look past the wealth” (Letters, Dec. 17): President Trump’s wealth was in the 2016 election conversation mainly because Trump bragged about it as a qualification and promised we would all benefit from his success.

He touted the products, resorts and towers that shared his name but refused and refuses to let his claims be corroborated by anyone outside his organization. His penchant for exaggerating and overwhelming the Pinocchio scale has led to doubts on not only the size of his fortune but questions about how he got it, where it is and who else might own a piece of it. Mike Bloomberg and Tom Steyer are substantiated rich. That’s not a qualification for president, but being truthful should be.

Brent Parsons, Sutter Creek

Saddled with debt

Regarding “Raiders’ run to Vegas leaves sizable debt” (Dec. 18): As a longtime Oakland resident, I was furious to read Phil Matier’s column on the $65 million debt the Raiders are leaving us as they waltz off merrily to the far greener, as in money, deserts of Las Vegas. Former councilman Ignacio de la Fuente, now on the Coliseum Authority board, says he would do the deal again, but with better management. You think? Well-deserved sarcasm and ethics questions aside, we residents have infrastructure and service needs that cannot be met. Why are the city and county governments, by which I mean the taxpayers, being saddled with these debts?

Why are we subsidizing the business adventures of billionaire owners and millionaire players or the pastimes and gladiatorial obsessions of people willing to spend thousands for the right just to buy a ticket, quite apart from the cost of the tickets themselves, which could be astronomical? In short, why are we buying the idea that, contrary to experience, J. Wellington Wimpy really will pay us back on Tuesday for the stack of hamburgers he ate today? I can’t get my street repaired because there is no budget for it, but chubby Wimpy certainly will not go hungry. In two words: This stinks.

Ben Janken, Oakland

Waste of resources

I don’t support the impeachment process now going on. Has the president committed impeachable acts? Quite possibly. Will he be impeached in the House? Quite likely. Will he be tried and convicted in the Senate? No chance. Therefore, this is basically a feel-good exercise by the Democratic Party (as it was for the Republican Party with former President Bill Clinton). To throw our legislative process into disarray so party members can feel good is an utter waste of resources that could be used to advance our nation and deal with the many real issues we face. I’m disgusted with the Democratic Party. Putting together a list of legislation you say you’re working on at the moment doesn’t change this.

Until we can develop some form of bipartisan cooperation — give on some issues and take on others — gridlock will be our norm. While our nation is held hostage to gridlock, it will only decline. There’s a natural form of impeachment on the horizon — the 2020 election. If you (Democratic Party) feel this nation has been wronged — and you have something better to offer — show us what that better is and convince us it deserves our support.