GOP sends its members to die
As the world endures more than a year and a half of the worst pandemic in over 100 years, it seems the Republican Party is now a death cult. The really weird part is they seem mostly interested in killing Republicans. Almost everyone currently dying of COVID is unvaccinated, and most of them are Republicans. Opposing vaccine shots is now an established part of the party position these days. What kind of group goes out of its way to encourage its members to get sick and die of a horrible preventable disease?
It makes no sense for a political party that depends on being elected by majority vote to kill off hundreds of thousands of their most fervent supporters. Maybe that is one reason the GOP seems determined to get into a position where they can control and, if needed, overthrow elections. If you can’t keep enough of your supporters alive to win a free election, get the power to overturn them.
Graeme Williams
Southeast side
Blame recovery for pump prices
A recent letter writer just submitted a letter blaming the current abrupt rise in gasoline prices squarely on President Joe Biden. The letter writer basically parroted a bunch of false talking points from far right-wing media websites and news channels. In reality, presidents or any other political representative can do very little to influence or control the price of oil or gasoline on the open market.
It is not that complex and revolves around “supply and demand” and the price of oil on the open and international marketplace. Last year, the economy and manufacturing were stalled, and not very many people were driving or flying, thus less demand and a surplus of oil and lower gas prices. This year the economy and manufacturing are quickly recovering, and the majority of people are back driving and flying. Thus, demand is currently outpacing the supply of oil and gasoline. So yes, the economy is recovering rapidly this year, and oil and gas supplies will catch up with demand soon, thus lowering prices.
David Keating
Northeast side
Fox News is sent a strong message
A recent New York Times article noted that Jonah Goldberg and Stephen Hayes, two Fox News contributors, were quitting the network after the airing of Tucker Carlson’s special “Patriot Purge.” The online special promoted an alternative history of the Jan. 6 insurrection, of which Mr. Hayes stated about the show, “It will lead to violence.” Both Goldberg and Hayes displayed awareness that Fox News is culpable for the channel’s growing extremism and hyper-partisan reporting. If only their resignations could motivate other Fox News members and those Republicans who have aided and abetted irresponsible reporting to move in the direction of rational thought and factually based decision-making rather than seeking monetary, political and rating gains.
Roger Shanley
East side
Brnovich’s lies are worst kind
Politics is deal-making in avoidance of conflict. Deal-making requires hiding certain facts to maintain the integrity of negotiations. Hence, effective politicians must avoid truth from time to time. Critical thinkers understand and accept this fact. They also understand the difference between that and lying. The worst type of lying is when someone lies about their own values so much that those alleged values are corrupted.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich and his cronies are committing this type of lying while defending their onerous, anti-democracy laws. Basically, they are saying, “We didn’t pass laws just to block certain people from voting, but it’s a great side effect!”
This is a modern-day example of English settlers in the 16th century saying, “We didn’t massacre Native Americans in order to steal their land, but after we killed them, it was available for move-in so …”
Rick Scifres
Green Valley
Shame in a time of shamelessness
More than a few times I have read comments saying some of the ideas contained in critical race theory, if presented to schoolchildren, will make them feel guilty, bad, or ashamed of themselves for things that happened in the past they had nothing to do with. This reasoning presents an interesting rationale for obscuring our country’s history. The intention is not to make people feel guilty or ashamed, but to understand, to know, to acknowledge reality.
When I try to understand this thinking I always come back to: Exactly who is feeling “bad” here? The Black Americans who are descendants of slaves? I would think they feel “real bad” about many aspects of this country’s history. And that is some kind of understatement. Being afraid to own our country’s past reality and history is what we should feel guilty and ashamed of. And not permitting the discussion is even more shameful.
Fran McNeely
Foothills
The news won’t hit your porch
Star readers who are anxious to keep the paper locally oriented should google Alden hedge fund’s purchase of Tribune Publishing and specifically the Baltimore Sun. Alden is now the second-largest USA newspaper owner (behind Gannett).
Alden’s acquisition of Tribune group is similar to their plan to acquire Lee, the owner of the Star and its other dailies. The Sun papers were the heartbeat of all of Maryland: political coverage and sports reporting were constant Pulitzer Prize (and many others) winners for decades. No longer. It’s a shell of its former self. Alden immediately installed their president as chairman of the company, slashed staff and removed dissenters. (The only opposition was a noble effort by Maryland locals that planned to turn the paper into a not-for-profit operation.)
Subscribers and street sales to a hedge fund are inconsequential. It’s all about the Star trademark, reputation and Tucson.com. Eliminating personnel, and expenses of printing and distribution and going online 100% is where this is headed.
Baird Thompson
Foothills
Sonoran sewage around the clock
Thanks for three days of Sonoran sewage. It must be important to put it on the front page and the headline article for three days! This is the holiday season and we don’t want to continually read about sewage. It must be a slow news week. In America we are trying to bring good news to the country. Why on Earth would you run this story three days in a row? Instead, let’s celebrate America and the joyous Christmas season! Come on, let’s celebrate Tucson!
Rob Jones
East side
Yuma emergency, if you missed it
On Dec. 9, Yuma Mayor Doug Nicholls declared a state of emergency due to the border being overrun with undocumented entrants. Over a five-day period, an estimated 6,000 undocumented entrants crossed the border into Yuma. Nicholls stated, “The asylum seekers were without blankets, food or water and had to wait extended periods because there weren’t enough Border Patrol agents to quickly process border crossers for release to organizations contracted to provide temporary services.” Davis Ornelas and his 6-year-old daughter from Venezuela walked through shallow water in the Colorado River near Yuma, he stated, “I didn’t have to pay any smuggler, a lady told me where to walk to avoid deeper water and it was easy to get across.” Yuma County Supervisor Jonathan Lines said Border Patrol agents were “swamped and don’t have the time to come by and pick up the migrants to get them processed.”
Ardel Francis
Northwest side
Disasters tell us something
I am a concerned citizen of climate change and have been for 50 years. Many people, including the daily news, see that we are in “the beginning of a new normal.” No we’re not, we are at the end. The signs of climate change have been happening since the Jimmy Carter years as president in the 1970s. No one paid attention. Time rolls on and here we are in the devastation in Kentucky. We are still consuming mindlessly, living unsustainable lifestyles, filling shopping malls, spending stimulus checks, but still shocked by Kentucky. We are and will continue to experience devastating climate disasters until we come to terms with our mindless lifestyles. When people say on the news “we pray for the people in Kentucky” yes, sure but just don’t mess with my shopping sprees or my next airplane travel plans, or my boats and space travels. What is it we really care about?
William Joseph
West side
Keep close eye on right wing
Re: the Nov. 21 article “Burning books sends the wrong message.”
Four years of Donald Trump, culminating in the Jan. 6 attempted coup was a warning of just how fragile our democracy really is. However, the article about a Virginia school board calling for burning books was chilling. We should be reminded of the German poet Heinrich Heine, who said, “Where they burn books, they will ultimately burn people also.” As we know, that was tragically true under the Nazis. We need to be ever vigilant of the right wing and their so called conservatism slowly sending us down the path to authoritarianism.
Mary Zimmerman
SaddleBrooke
