Devon Archer, Hunter Biden’s former business partner, arrives Monday on Capitol Hill to give closed-door testimony to the House Oversight Committee in Washington.
Dems have much to fear from Lake
With a little less than a year and a half until the 2024 elections, Democrats have much to fear from Republicans. With Kari Lake still in the news with her stolen election bit and the possibility of Sinema running as an independent and with Rep. Gallego being not well known in Arizona, Sinema and Gallego will split the Democratic and Independent vote leaving Lake the winner. Lake has already proven herself popular with Republican voters having gathered 49.7% of the vote against Hobbs’s 50.3% there is no doubt she will win with both Sinema and Gallego spiting the Democratic and Independent vote. If Sinema does not run, and with Gallego being not well-known, odds are with Lake. If just Sinema and Lake run, Sinema should win because she beat McSally by 5% while Hobbs only beat Lake by 1.34%. I think the only hope Democrats have next Nov. is that Trump is not on the ticket.
Clyde R. Steele
Oro Valley
Speaking of schadenfreude
Re: the Aug. 8 letter “Facts prevail.”
Regarding the gentleman who referenced the Devon Archer testimony and called out the Star on publishing the facts of the testimony once the transcript was released, it so happened that the same day, the transcript was, in fact, released. To the surprise of nobody, Republicans lied again. Devon Archer repeatedly and point-blank testified under penalty of perjury, that President Biden did nothing wrong. No bribe, no blackmail, no shady business dealings, no business discussions. For those keeping score at home, that’s one star witness that turned out to be a foreign agent and fugitive arms trafficker, one Trump-appointed Special Prosecutor who says he was not at all restricted in his investigation by the Biden DOJ and now a much-anticipated star witness who says this is a nothingburger. But the big takeaway here is that Donald Trump is facing 78 felony charges, including trying to defraud the US government and take away our right to vote. All the Hunter Biden nothingburgers in the world will not change that.
Jennifer Larson
Northwest side
Biden business
Re: the Aug. 3 letter “Biden business.”
It is interesting that the comments regarding President Biden and Hunter suggest they are guilty of corruption. Of course, I would suspect that in the case of Donald Trump, he would only be guilty if convicted in a court of law. It is difficult to differentiate the tone of the editorial-”Moreover, it SEEMS POSSIBLE that he was actually participating in negotiations with Ukrainian Gangsters” — GUILTY as charged.
Perhaps, another article written several years ago would be of interest to those who think Donald Trump can do no wrong: “Trump’s Corruption: The Definitive List” (editorial), New York Times, Oct. 28. 2018.
Trump, in a recent speech, stated he was the “retribution” for all those mistreated citizens due to government corruption. It sounds as if he is speaking to his golf buddies at Mar-a-Lago. I do not see where he has helped any of those downtrodden citizens. Seems he is responsible for many of his fans going to jail!
Brian Smith
Vail
Access to healthcare
Re: the July 26 article “Medicaid expansion hurts mental health of the needy.”
For many years, increased access to health insurance has been the focus of attempts to improve health outcomes in the US. But health insurance is not health care. The referenced article points out that once affordability is addressed by insurance, access to providers can become an issue. The current system, by default, addresses this by increasing the load on providers and by extending access times. (Insurance companies also reduce access by denying referrals and rejecting claims.) If universal health insurance is adopted at some point, the problem will worsen.
Increasing the number of providers is the obvious solution to the problem of accessibility. Recognizing this, the Arizona Board of Regents has proposed establishing a new medical school at ASU and expanding the capacity of the one in Tucson. Accelerated certification for medical personnel trained in other countries and expanded use of telemedicine can also increase accessibility. More providers will reduce stress on patients and pressure on medical personal.
Barbara Hall
Midtown
General welfare, not creeping socialism
Re: the Aug. 3 letter “State Legislature and what we should drive.”
The author decried state legislative mandates that new cars must be powered by electric batteries as “creeping socialism.” He couldn’t be more wrong. Our supreme law, the Federal Constitution, requires promotion of “the general welfare.” Consequently, all new cars must have seat belts, anti-lock brakes and other safety devices. The question is “Does burning fossil fuels damage “the general welfare”?
We have the hottest July ever recorded. We know that CO2 released by burning fossil fuels lays a blanket in the atmosphere. Heat that formerly left the surface of the Earth and returned to outer space is trapped by that blanket. Consequently, it is getting hotter and hotter with disastrous consequences for all living things on the planet.
Promoting an end to cars powered by fossil fuels isn’t “creeping socialism”; its governments promoting our general welfare. The Arizona Legislature should do the same.
Mike Carran
Oro Valley
Fossil fuels are killing the planet
Re: the Aug. 3 article “Fossil fuels are killing the planet.”
Mr. Carran hits the mark. If you do not believe the opinion, then read the DOD report from 2019 stating climate change is a National Security Threat. At least 79 US facilities are threatened. The health effects of pollution are very high. One report suggests burning fossil fuels costs about $800 billion/year in America. This cost is over $2000/citizen/year in health-related costs. A report this week in Time magazine about heat-related illness, injuries, and death. An estimated around 50,000 illnesses and injuries are created by extreme heat. What can be done? First, Congress can pass the PROVE IT Act (S1863) to investigate the costs of pollution. Second, reintroduce and pass the Forest Act prohibiting importing products from countries where deforestation occurs illegally. Third, pass clean energy permit reform to rapidly build the electric grid of the future. Senators Kelly and Sinema, and Representative Ciscomani need to take bold action in our overheating State.
William Jones
East side
‘Controversy’ of ‘Sound of Freedom’
Re: the Aug. 3 article “’Sound of Freedom’ stands tall.”
I saw this movie in a small town in Iowa this week. I had no problem finding it in a theatre or obtaining tickets.
The writer “looked for some hook that would justify the rejection of this film by the intellectuals on the left.”
Huh?
I think the “controversy” with this movie is purely manufactured by some on the right. Why? No idea, except they can once again falsely portray the left as somehow protecting or defending pedophiles.
Mary Jordison
Northwest side
Climate change
It appears that there is group of moms that formed a new group called ScienceMoms and everyone is supposed to accept the claims because they use words like science. Wasn’t there a group of scientists from CDC working with Fauci that made all kinds of claims that ended up being false? Basically, this group claims that the Climate Change is the cause of wildfires, there is no clue as to a solution but baseless claims to try and tie the two topics together to raise the fear factor. This is not the only group making claims, but, like all other claims there is only conjecture and no viable solution. Perhaps there is not solution but wouldn’t all of this attention from science be better used to solve instead of pointing fingers. The first question should be why we can’t control wildfires in environmentalist-controlled California? Don’t believe the ads, the hot air from all these claims is adding to the carbon dioxide.
Loran Hancock
Northwest side
What happened to Republicans?
Imagine Congressional Republicans passing expansive civil rights legislation and making the US government the guarantor of individual civil rights, including equal protection of the laws. Imagine Republican state legislators passing laws to improve the lives of citizens by significantly expanding public education, funding major public projects, and lessening taxes on the poor and middle class and increasing taxes on the wealthy.
This is not some “woke” liberal fantasy. This is the Republican Party of the post-Civil War era. During the so-called Progressive Era of the early 1900s, Republicans like President Teddy Roosevelt cracked down on big monopolies like today’s tech and pharmaceutical giants. Arizona Republicans created a state constitution in 1912 with broad citizen initiative rights. The utter decay of the Republican Party into a party that now seeks to limit voting rights, kill public education and protect only the wealthy is both sad and detrimental to our democracy.
Gail Kam
East side
Chatbots
Re: the Aug. 8 article “Can chatbots be cured of hallucinations?”
Signs the Apocalypse is near: News headline reads, “Can chatbots be cured of hallucinations?”
John Yoakum
Midtown
School vouchers
Re: the Aug. 8 letter “Voucher insanity.”
This letter prompted me to do some research of my own. The average voucher in Arizona is reported as $7,200. The average private school cost is reported as $9,770 for Elementary Schools and $13,854 for High Schools. With the vouchers, that leaves $2,570 or $6,654 for parents to pay for each enrolled child. With 42% of students attending schools that qualify for the free or reduced lunch program, it is unrealistic to believe these families at or near the poverty level can afford these costs. Is it any wonder that the vast majority of the voucher money goes to families in the wealthiest zip codes? The claims of parental choice of schools for all seems to ring hollow when looking at the actual program.
Jack Garner
Southeast side
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