Letters are posted as we receive them during the week, and before they are printed in the paper, so check back frequently to see new letters. If you'd like to send a letter to the editor, use this postmarks submission form, or email your letter directly to [email protected]. Thanks for your patience.

Dear Editor,
    Rodeo Austin claims to be a "family friendly" event offering "something for everyone." While there is live music and rides, I refuse to support an event that condones animal cruelty as a spectator sport. Moreover, it is disheartening that the largest “no kill” city in the country continues to support rodeo violence as a family activity coinciding with music and carnival games.
    Animals used in rodeos experience abuse which guarantees that they will perform as expected. Cattle are shocked with electric shocks to ensure that they charge out of the gate. Calves are violently slammed into the ground.
    The Humane Society of America and other organizations oppose rodeos as they inflict unnecessary harm and torment to living creatures for profit. For this reason, I'm skipping the rodeo. Let's help Austin maintain a reputation for compassion.

Dear Editor,
    Austin is a progressive city filled with thinkers and people who lead the way on social issues. Let's stop this barbaric torturing of animals for fun. Let's say no to the animal part of the rodeo!

Dear Editor,
    I just wanted to thank Michael King for his “Point Austin: Primary Thoughts" of Feb. 26. As usual, well written, and good reasoning, for me at least – my Bernie-supporting friends will of course disagree. From what I've seen of Sen. Bernie Sanders I like him, but I wish he had come forward more often in the past.
    While I have some reservations concerning Mrs. Clinton, I do know that she knows her way around Washington and has been so chewed on since President Obama took office that she's got a pretty good idea of the snake pit she would be stepping into. And as for the Republican alternatives … makes me worry I've been reading too much sci-fi and have stepped into an alternate universe!
    Thanks again Michael for making “Point Austin” a must read, and I hope your time off will be good for mind and body.

Dear Editor,
    The mayor's appointment of a task force to help local musicians survive in the "live music capital of the world" a few weeks before SXSW is kind of breathtaking for its hypocrisy and ignorance [See "Playback: The Mayor's Plan to Save Austin Music," March 4]. Like global warming, it's already too late, dude. Enjoy what you and yours have got: big moneymakers in the form of annual music events spread out over the year, guaranteed to keep the rich landowners happy.
    Last year after the ACL Festival ended, a local TV station interviewed a young housewife who lived a few miles from Zilker Park in a big house up the river. She and many of her newly transplanted ilk were in complete opposition to ACL because they could "hear the music and it was too loud and it kept the kids up past their bedtime."
    I think given the size of Austin as it now stands, and with such a diverse and otherwise uninvolved new demographic of rich hipsters and self-absorbed trust fund babies who now call this sad shell of culture home: Just forget it, dude.

Dear Editor
    I rely on the Chronicle to print enlightening and informed political endorsements. However, I am still staggering from the feeling of a baseball bat slamming into my skull after reading "Chronicle Endorsements," News, Feb. 12. Bernie Sanders for Pres./Vice Pres.? The question that begs to be asked is vice president to whom? Since Clinton is specifically not endorsed for either position, implied is the Presidential post is unimportant as long as Sanders is VP. Has Sanders expressed interest in the vice president position?
    This Presidential candidate outlined extensive plans for reformation of our health & education federal programs but stated, "The pleasure of being an academic is I can just spell things out and leave the details to others. The details very quickly get very messy.” (NYT, Jan. 19)? Well, who came up with the original details?
    Sanders intends to keep the Affordable Care Act but there is no mention of citizens currently paying penalties for non-participation and if/how an opt-out is possible in "Medicare for All." Lastly, a fundamental misrepresentation in Sanders' statement is that a family of four making $50,000 annually would pay $466 [per year] for "free" health care. In contrast, Kevin Drum, (Mother Jones, Jan. 17) calculates that the same family will actually pay about $4,000 per year.
    I hope Chronicle "News" writers' pay grade eschews "messy details" in favor of truly reporting news. Maybe the periodical is really just an opinion publication which should be clearly noted in "News" sections. Inquiring minds want to know: Fact or fiction?!

Dear Editor,
    Of the 270 newspapers in Texas, yours is the first one looked at by this western Pennsylvania writer echoing Thomas Paine and delighted to find you already endorse Sen. Bernie Sanders in the presidential race ["Chronicle Endorsements," News, Feb. 12]. Almost overnight, early in 1776, Common Sense's argument for revolution and outline of a People's Republic changed British colonials into independent Americans. Their fight for economic and social justice inspired all the subsequent revolutions, from the French in 1789 to ours in 2016.
    What a thrill for us veterans of 1968. Ending the racist class war in Vietnam united the country then, while today the most urgent issue is the environment, except for Republicans and status quo Democrats like Hillary Clinton.
    There is too much carbon in the atmosphere and every day 130 species go extinct, far above normal. American ignorance and fear of socialism is the fundamental problem, making health care for all at half the cost seem unattainable, fossil fuels somehow preferable, and government of, by, and for the billionaires inescapable.
    The vast majority of Americans want and need fundamental change, and thanks to the Sanders campaign, all they have to do achieve it is register and vote. Thanks are also due the Declaration of Independence, the first post-colonial document, and U.S. Constitution, establishing the first secular federal government dedicated to the public interest.