Author Cormac McCarthy
Tim Steller tells how you should feel
I read the article in Vanity Fair, regarding Cormac McCarthy and Augusta Britt. She was clear in the interview, she had a traumatic incident prior to age eleven, afterwards, was physically abused at home, and was in and out of foster care, where she suffered more abuse.
When she left Tucson with McCarthy, she had recently been beaten, and he wanted to get her out of the environment.
When Augusta states: “I really feel that had I not met him, I would have died young,” I believe her.
She was his muse, for all of his successful novels. She’s also a 64-year-old, adult, and registered nurse.
Best way for Britt to clarify her unique life, is to write an autobiography.
McCarthy left her in his will.
Kristie Barstow
Northwest side
As good as It gets
Memo to Oro Valley L and his MAGA cronies: As President Biden prepares to leave office, our economy is essentially at full employment, the stock markets are all-time highs, the dollar is strong against other major currencies and inflation is now under control and very close to the Fed target of 2%. Presumably, your guy has a concept of an economic plan to accompany his concept of a medical plan. Massive tariffs which will fuel inflation and lead to trade wars? Trashing existing international economic agreements? Wholesale deportations which will be economically disruptive, not to mention hugely expensive? Tax cuts for the wealthy, but not the working class voters who elected him because they were seduced by his ridiculous promises? What could possibly go wrong?
James Dolian
SaddleBrooke
How about fact-checking Letters to the Editor
The Arizona Daily Star “Letters to the Editor” section does readers a disservice by allowing misinformation to be published and amplified without comment. The regressive party’s social media outlets have claimed that Harris paid Winfrey and Beyoncé for their endorsements while both have strongly denied that was so (Beyoncé’s publicist told PolitiFact it was “beyond ridiculous”). Yes, Winfrey’s production company received help to put on an event attended by supporters outside Detroit on Sept 19, but Winfrey has said she did not personally receive a fee.
When letters contain such easily fact-checked assertions, fact-check them! If you decide to publish such letters anyway, consider adding “unsubstantiated” or “disputed.” The Star should not be a conduit for misinformation.
Stanford Lamberg
Foothills
U of A football
The U of A budget is out of control. Incoming A.D. Ms. Reed-Francois has some football decisions to make.
I could be wrong but “Coach,” I can’t remember his name, appears less astute than Mackovic or Sumlin. Coach could be fired tomorrow but that would cost millions. Until the Huskies lure this winner away, we should make Coach earn every last dollar of this contract. Per austerity he can transcribe athletic department meeting minutes, do light housekeeping at the previously filled stadium, entertain regents and donors on his own dime, drive during recruiting visits — flying is for those who beat ASU — and touch up the paint around Old Main!
Scott Thompson
East side
Election changes
Has anyone else noticed some of the societal changes that seem to shift after the last election? Four years ago, Target was going woke and pushed away many of the regular customers, you know, average everyday people, driving the sales, stock and earnings down. Now, like Bud Light, they want that revenue and sales to come back to their bottom line. So, the new approach is to bring in Kris Kringle and push Christmas, all for the purpose of recovering the customers that felt abandoned and ignored during the last management mind shift.
DEI was pushed heavily during the last four years, but most businesses have figured out it is more of a problem than an inspiration and have reversed course, bringing back excellence and quality. Remember when the cries of “Cultural Appropriation” were the big headlines? As much as it seems discriminatory, in the past, Santa has always been European white, but now, trying to drag in DEI, liberals have also taken that away.
Loran Hancock
Northwest side
President Biden pardons Hunter Biden
Why didn’t President Biden give Hunter’s pardon before Thanksgiving Day along with the other turkeys?
Kelly Sherwin
North side
Misleading headlines fuel distrust
The December 1st headline “Biden pardons his son Hunter despite previous pledges not to” reeks of bias and sensationalism. Why frame this as a betrayal while giving Trump a free pass for years of outright lies, self-dealing, and weaponized pardons?
Trump routinely bypassed the Office of the Pardon Attorney to grant clemency to loyalists like Roger Stone, Paul Manafort, and Joe Arpaio — blatant acts of political favoritism, not justice. And let’s not forget his grandstanding with the posthumous pardon of Susan B. Anthony. Give me a break!
This headline doesn’t inform; it inflames. By ignoring context — such as the legal rationale or precedent — it feeds the false narrative that Biden is uniquely corrupt. Meanwhile, Trump’s shameless abuse of clemency is treated as a footnote.
The press must stop enabling GOP spin and start holding all leaders accountable equally. Democracy depends on it.
Kim Miklofsky Bayne
Foothills
Response to Sheldon Metz’s opinion column
Twenty-five days after the national election, the December 1 over wrought opinion column from Sheldon Metz, “Start counting the campaign lies and promises,” represents the pluperfect example of multiple liberal opinion and letter writers to the Star who cannot process the fact that their political world has been soundly rejected by voters and about to be turned upside down, top to bottom. With a big smile on my face, I state with intense pleasure to Metz and all the rest of the hand-wringing liberals, “On January 20, 2025, Donald Trump will be your president.” :)
Steve Sollenberger
Foothills
Trump’s mandate
Re: Mr. Trump’s “mandate” (49.8% of the vote). As one of the 50.2% who voted against him, I have no say in what he is planning; only his avid supporters do. My question to them is, how much of his stated agenda and choices do you support? Did you want the grossly unqualified Gaetz as AG, Hegseth the talk show host as Secretary of Defense, anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy as head of HHS? Abolish the Department of Education and “give it back to the states”? (Remember segregation?) Deport 12 to 20 million contributing, innocent people at enormous social and economic cost? Abandon the Ukraine, abandon NATO and destroy the greatest alliance for good the world has seen? Or have the heads of all agencies and the armed forces selected as he said by one criterion: their loyalty (fealty) to him. Not the Constitution, or the people or the Country. Him. If this is not what you want, this might be a good time to tell him.
Abraham R. Byrd III
North side
Enough already
You need to replace your editorial board and stop printing 90% of the local letters that are still anti-Trump. He has four years to produce, so just print local letters about local Tucson problems, like the potholes, local crime, fix the homeless problems, etc.
The anti-Trump letters are usually from the same left-wing radicals. Newspapers should be writing about the news in an unbiased manner, but that is not the objective of the Star. Even the freelance writers are radically left, so you never are middle of the road. If you were, you might sell more newspapers.
Stuart Goldfine
Green Valley
“Cameras show how border barriers wall off wildlife”
My heart broke seeing the picture of the bewildered black bear examining the border wall. It got me thinking of why throughout history humans built walls.
The walls of ancient Troy had kept invaders out for centuries until one clever Greek, Odysseus, found a way in. And instead of keeping invaders out, the Trojans were all sitting ducks (or sleeping ducks).
A more recently built wall, The Berlin Wall, divided the people of Berlin economically to the detriment of East Berlin. In 1988, the people of Berlin tore it down.
And during the same time my blind Greek grandmother from Crete was telling me Homer’s great epic about the Trojan War, my mother would read me passages from the Bible at bedtime. One of my favorites was from the Book of Joshua, describing how the walls of Jericho came tumbling down from the shouts of the people.
Black bears should be patient. Either they will find a way in, or humans will destroy the wall.
Karen Papagapitos
Northwest side
Let him crow
Originally “Pudge,” now “Loyal,” this letter writer continues to crow about the election results. I say let him since he and Trump supporters have conditions exactly as they want. When the inevitable results of ludicrous cabinet appointments, tariff plans, and other Trump craziness take effect, Americans will witness the chaos. Hopefully, they will vote differently in future elections.
In the meantime, I plan to write letters about local stars like Matt Riccitello, a professional cyclist on Israel Premier Tech, and Tyler Stites, winner of the recent Tour de Tucson. Plus, I will continue to write emails to Arizona legislators, commenting on their latest shenanigans.
Roger Shanley
East side
Execution problems persist
There is a bottom line to all discussion on the death penalty. It doesn’t work. It does not do any of the things proponents want it to do.
The President of the Arizona Senate says it delivers justice, provides a deterrent, and is used on the “most heinous” crimes. The closer you look at it, the more you see it just doesn’t do any of that. For the President of the Senate, the bottom line is he can’t afford it. We the people can’t afford the cost. Endless appeals? Only those appeals required by the law and the Constitution can be applied.
It takes 20 to 30 years or more to carry out a sentence. That’s not justice. With Natural Life, already on the books, once a prisoner is locked up, they can only leave in a pine box.
Do away with the death penalty. It doesn’t work. Stay with what we can afford.
John Yoakum
Midtown
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