Bad look for Arizona Bowl
It looked to me like the Tucson college sports scene was ready for big things ahead with the new hires of quality coaches loaded with character, Jedd Fisch, Tommy Lloyd and Chip Hale. Then came the gut punch. I just read that our Arizona Bowl is getting in bed with Barstool Sports and their controversial founder Dave Portnoy.
With an “Animal House” mentality, they like to gin up their customers with a good dose of bullying and misogyny. It doesn’t take a seasoned investigator to find plenty of examples. A business model that thrives on clicks, eyeballs and circulation does not achieve success by being “nice guys.” Just check with ESPN, which canceled their contract after only one show on the network. Is that what Southern Arizonans want to name their bowl after? Maybe so, but don’t count me in.
Ray Lindstrom
Oro Valley
Sen. Sinema: You’re blowing it
It should be low-hanging fruit when a politician is handed an opportunity to simultaneously serve the country and their own electoral interests.
That is why Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s procedural blocking of the For the People Act is so puzzling. While I appreciate her efforts in support of infrastructure, that issue is not nearly as existential as preserving the right to vote. I urge Sen. Sinema to not allow the Senate’s undemocratic filibuster rule to block a vote for the Act. If she continues to do so, I suspect her legacy will be one of failing the country on her way out the door as a one-term, soon to be forgotten senator.
Bruce Skolnik
Northeast side
Governor Ducey
Does Gov. Doug Ducey realize the impact of his edicts concerning masks and vaccines?
It wasn’t praying that got us to the moon and back, it was science. It is that same science that got us to the vaccine and the value of wearing a mask. So that makes me think, is he really making a decision on our well-being based on something other than science? I wonder what that could be? Science is a wonderful thing. Come on, Ducey, use it.
Frank Flasch
North side
Science literacy should be guide
Finally! Gavin Newsom set aside politics when he analogized, “You don’t have the right to go out and drink and drive and put everybody else at risk including your own life.”
Three cheers for our abandoned Constitutional Law earning precedent in 1905’s Jacobson v Massachusetts. Resting on his 14th Amendment right to liberty (sound familiar?), Plaintiff Jacobson deserved his fine when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld mandatory small pox vaccines and affirmed “the law was a legitimate exercise of the state’s police power to protect the public health and safety of its citizens. Local boards of health determined when mandatory vaccinations were needed.”
There are no conspiracies. There are no injustices. Rather science literacy and case law should guide those entitled who desperately need reminders of our social contract.
Jill Arowesty
Foothills
Critical Race Theory
Re: the Aug. 1 article “Critical Race Theory: What it is and isn’t.”
Michael Schaller’s guest opinion is a crystal-clear history lesson by a retired history professor that lays out in precise, accessible language what every informed reader needs to know about CRT.
Fundamentally, he writes, CRT does not focus on the beliefs or actions of individuals, but examines “how past and present legal, cultural and economic structures embody racist concepts” that foster inequality.
He illustrates this distinction with several facially neutral laws that in their fine print or implementation have had widely disparate impacts, including the Social Security Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, Public Housing Administration, GI Bill, Federal Highway system, and the war on drugs. Each description is sadly familiar.
Prof. Schaller’s essay is an invaluable one-page dissertation on a vital concept and a tremendous boon to all of us struggling to understand American race history. Many thanks to Prof. Schaller and to the Star for running this piece.
Regula Case
Midtown
The false arguments for the ADU
The Accessory Development Units (ADU) argument has turned from a question of a few more square feet to add to a home to an investor-driven argument for a replacement for mini-dorms.
More ADUs available will not translate into more affordable housing. The hidden driver in the housing crisis is the emergence of investors, or absentee landlords, who are buying up homes on cheap credit. The investor wants to literally have two homes on a parcel instead of one, thereby doubling the revenue stream for the same parcel without lowering rent. They don’t care about housing affordability.
The investors are using the more-availability housing argument to also politically wedge the lower-income against those who live in historical-district areas, a poor against the rich false narrative. This false narrative pits normally allied neighbors against each other thereby allowing the investors to gain at everyone else’s expense.
The ADU process by the city of Tucson should be halted immediately. It is a charade.
Matt Somers
Midtown
Faith in the 21st century
Re: the Aug. 2 letter “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
The letter writer hit on a point that prompted me to think about another truth. Thirty or more years ago, people of faith could generally find support for their beliefs in cultural norms. That is to say what faith taught us to believe was evil was pretty much accepted as evil.
That is not so today. Faith-based beliefs are no longer accepted as cultural norms. Whether the subject is sanctity of life or sex vs gender, left-wing spokesmen have redefined cultural norms. Faith-based people must now rely on support from their inner God, because they can no longer rely on the culture that has evolved.
Brad Adair
SaddleBrooke
‘The farm’ needs protecting
I’ve lived in Tucson for most of the last 45 years and received UA undergraduate/graduate degrees and Master Gardener certification. I’ve spent many hours volunteering and attending presentations at “the farm.”
I also live nearby and have felt immense joy witnessing the beauty of this land. Whether it’s researching the best variety of sunflower, amaranth or landscape grass, there’s been valuable information and instruction right here in Tucson’s backyard.
I’ve often seen car passengers, cyclists and walkers stop to watch the horses, sheep and cows in the fields. Recently I saw a young man holding a little girl’s hand at the fence; she was ecstatic to see one of the horses walking up to her to say “hi.”
As Arizona’s land-grant university, we have an obligation to preserve the Campus Agriculture Center for future generations. I urge Mayor Regina Romero and council members to begin the necessary steps on Aug. 10 to designate the farm as a historic landmark.
Stephanie Frederick
North side
What Critical Race Theory is
Re: the Aug. 1 article “Critical Race Theory: What it is and isn’t.”
Michael Schaller is to be commended for his illuminating article.
Unfortunately, those who could benefit most from this article — State Rep. Jake Hoffman and legislators who supported legislation to ban CRT as an instrument for understanding in Arizona schools and government agencies — display limited capacity for recognizing that systemic racism does exist, especially in the criminal justice system as well as health care and housing.
Critical Race Theory is not a Marxist or Martian plot to undermine democracy. It is simply a legitimate analytical tool to aid in understanding the sad reality of oppression in the history of the U.S. and the structural racism still festering today that needs to be addressed.
James McIntosh
East side
