More letters: Feb. 11

Dear Editor,

False prophets are not just a fixture of ancient times. In April of 2020, experts predicted that as many as 60,000 people might die from Covid-19 in this country. People reacted in disbelief.

In a nation with such great technology, a fervent commitment to rule of law, churches inspiring neighborly behavior, and schools, parents, and workplaces emphasizing personal health, that could never happen here.

The expert predictions turned out to be false not because of overreach, but underreach. Today, in February of 2021, the nation is hurtling along toward 600,000 deaths.

At the end of 2019, our leaders were also assuring us that kids were learning plenty in school, the economy was strong like a steel girder, the health care system could heal all ills, the two-party system was robust, and violence was disappearing in America.

Wowza! Our best predicters and promisers—scientists, politicians, economists and religious leaders—clearly were not half as smart as they thought they were.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Downtown

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Governor Ducey is diverting $134 million in federal CARES Act funds intended to benefit the Arizona’s unemployed into the state’s unemployment insurance fund, thereby lowering tax rates for businesses. Now we learn he also put $400 million into various state agency budgets, thereby creating a huge budget surplus. That one-year surplus is now being used as justification to lower income tax rates. Connect the dots, federal funds intended to support Arizonans most harmed by the pandemic are being used instead to justify tax cuts for the wealthy and for businesses. This is how you engineer a K-shaped recovery.

Gary Woodard

Midtown

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Mr. Trump, please take your minions and form a new all-powerful party. The mainline Republicans just are not up to your magical thinking. You should call it the National Party, that has a strong historic background and fits you well.

Thad Appelman

Northwest side

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

Re: the Feb. 3 article "House Dems: Trump put lives of Congress members in danger."

So now we have a seven foot razor wired fence surrounding the Capital "their HOUSE" house of representatives with heavily guarded gates. Why? The vast vast majority in and around the capital are peaceful not EVIL. So why the fence. The fence prevents evil from entering. Right? Does this strike a cord in your mind? The 30 food fence on our southern border. It's not a wall. It's designed to keep evil out. To protect our home! Do we count, isn't our home as important as their house. I haven't heard a sound of protest against the capital fence. The lack of sound is deafening. Nancy Pelosi proclaimed our border fence immoral. Does that mean us Tucsonians who have a wall, door, gate, fence are immoral. In reality they are not immoral. What this country needs is terrific immigration policy, and to achieve this you can not have a open border. A 30 foot fence.

Valentine Ferraris

Northeast side

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.

President Biden and Vice President Harris won the 2020 election and have been sworn in. Yet the Arizona Senate President Karen Fann is trying to force the Maricopa County supervisors to turn over all voting records and machines to the senate to hunt for the voter fraud claimed by EX president Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Sydney Powell and others. Donald Trump in his desperation to stop the confirmation of the election by the U.S. legislature has been impeached for a second time. Giuliani, Powell and Fox News have been sued by Dominion Voting Systems and Smartmatic USA for baseless allegations of fraud through their voting machines. The litigation total is four $4 billion. Senator Fann wants an audit because 54% of Republicans believe that Trump won the election. I think they believe that because of the intense campaign of misinformation conducted by Trump, Giuliani, Powell and Fox News. Does Senator Fann know that Arizona runs certification tests on its voting machines?

Robert White

Foothills

Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.