Barnes’ success rankles some
Bravo for Coach Adia Barnes! Seems some male coaches can’t stand the fact that Coach Barnes has become a national rock star and has brought her team into the top 10 in a few short years. She’s a class act. So happy to see she’s not intimidated by an angry, foul-mouthed, explosive male. You go, girl!
Sandra Katz
Foothills
Sinema’s actions belie her words
The Democratic voters in Arizona who voted for and worked strenuously for Sen. Kyrsten Sinema have been cheated. We elected her in good faith that she would abide by our party’s goals and we were deceived. To not vote to modify the filibuster so that basic voting rights could be protected is a travesty.
Ironically, the filibuster was most famously used by white Southerners to block civil rights legislation during the 1950s and ‘60s. Ms Sinema talks out of both sides of her mouth. She claims to support the proposed Voting Rights Act, but at the same time she has prevented it from being passed.
Ellen Shenkarow
Midtown
Roberts court harms democracy
Chief Justice John Roberts has surpassed the ignominy of Justice Roger B. Taney, who denied the humanity of slaves in the Dred Scott decision. Roberts has dealt repeated blows to democracy for all citizens. Citizens United has paved the way for the rich and special interests to buy elections anonymously. It rolled back protections that states had to protect their elections against just that. Throwing out the protection of parts of the Voting Rights Act has allowed states to deny voting rights to millions of people in the country and demonstrated how wrong Roberts was about no longer needing those protections. Refusing to address blatant gerrymandering and allowing corrupt politicians to skew voting precincts to partisan advantage shows the court’s disregard for fairness or justice. Using the shadow docket to dodge accountability further erodes our democracy. Justice Roberts isn’t merely incompetent, he has now become the most destructive anti-democratic, one-man wrecking ball to the Constitution. Shame on you.
Barbara Moore
East side
Misplaced blame on voting rights
One problem with blaming the current failure to amend the Voting Rights Act on Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Joe Manchin is that it provides cover for the Republicans, who are unanimous in opposing the amendment, presumably to protect the Republican state legislatures that are enacting unnecessary and potentially harmful voting legislation supposedly aimed at protecting elections against nonexistent voter fraud. Republican senators did little to pass legislation while they were in the majority under Donald Trump, instead contenting themselves with passing a massive tax cut and filling the federal bench with staunch conservatives. We can expect total gridlock if Republicans take control of the Senate and House in the midterms.
Sean Bruner
West side
Don’t let Robson become governor
Gubernatorial candidate Karrin Taylor Robson is spending $500,000 to advertise her vows to finish the wall and send National Guard troops to the border to stop the “invasion” from Mexico. Robson is a hateful candidate who will appeal to very few people.
I just returned from a week in Oaxaca, Mexico, and the reality is that Mexicans are charming, friendly and they like Americans. Everyone in Mexico wore masks, stores required people to use hand sanitizer before entering, and I always felt completely safe. The trip made me like Mexicans even more.
The people trying to cross the border from Mexico, El Salvador and Guatemala are desperately escaping from drug cartels, blackmail, kidnapping and poverty. This is similar to Jews escaping Germany in the 1930s. We should help them, not build walls. America should be training the border crossers to be bricklayers, drywall installers, pipe layers, carpenters, sheet metal workers, and plumbers to fix the labor shortage in these skills.
Larry Bodine
Foothills
Guns on campus an atrocious idea
My daughter is a U of A grad student. I worry that if Senate Bill SB 1123 becomes law, concealed carry of guns will be allowed at public colleges. She’s in a condensed and stressful program with students who are over 21 and with some who own guns. I’m fine with that, not with bringing concealed guns into her classrooms at such a stressful time in these students’ lives. Imagine a student finds out that a professor gave them a failing grade and irrationally thinks that a career to which they’ve dedicated many years and money is ruined. They’ll have a gun with them already but won’t have time to reflect, talk with professor, other students, a counselor. As a Moms Demand Action volunteer I’ve learned this isn’t far-fetched; people under 25 have an undeveloped prefrontal cortex. Students will be able to act on irrational thoughts immediately. My daughter can get injured or worse. Graduate programs are already stressful; let’s not make them deadly, too.
Nevine Melikian
Oro Valley
Can’t believe I
backed Sinema
Dear Sen. Kyrsten Sinema,
I really wish I could undo what I did when you were running for the Senate. I went door to door for you, thinking that you believed in the same things I do. You have shown me that you don’t. It is obvious you don’t believe in voting rights, that it should be easy for all citizens to vote. I wasted my vote on you thinking that if we could get a Democrat back into the Oval Office you would have his or her back and be supportive; you are not. I believed you were a person who would not be swayed by corporate money; I was wrong. I regret every minute I voluntarily campaigned for you. I will do everything I can to dissuade voters from voting for you when your present term ends.
With sincere sadness for the difficulties I have helped cause our president.
Warren Popa
Southwest side
Dems blame GOP for own failures
The president of the United States, Joe Biden, goes to Georgia and gives a speech complaining about “restrictive” voting rules in Georgia, amongst other states.
The U.S. Senate is split 50-50.
The Democrats can not get their proposed voting law passed because two Democrat senators refuse to change the filibuster rule. Ironically, the Democrats blame the Republicans for this failure and not their Dem colleagues. The proposed law is in reality not a voting “rights” law but in fact a voting “rules” law. Everyone has the right to vote if they are of age and not a felon. Article I of the Constitution grants the states the right to determine the manner (rules) of voting and as such even if this proposed law were to pass it would probably fail in the Supreme Court.
Jerry Bich
Oro Valley
