Miller, Cats need
to play tougher slate
This unpredictable “season” aside, Sean Miller’s run as head coach has been extremely impressive, despite his teams’ inability to make the Final Four.
Still, I firmly believe the one glaring area that has negatively impacted the Arizona men’s basketball program has been the nonconference scheduling. In contrast, coach Lute Olson consistently welcomed the opportunity to play top teams year after year, and besides boasting an impressive nonconference record, clearly prepared his teams for the rigors of the Big Dance.
Mark Harlan on Coach O: “He would always mention that players loved to play in those environments ... he really felt compelled to give the fans those kinds of games because they were such an instrumental part of the program’s success.”
Not to mention the appeal it would have on current players and during recruiting.
Clearly, it would behoove those responsible for scheduling to take whatever means necessary to play a more demanding and competitive slate even if it means a few more losses.
Robert Feldman
Downtown
Woodward bombshell a dud
Bob Woodward, of Watergate fame, interviewed and taped President Trump 18 times in February and March. His “bombshell” revelation is Trump saying that he knew COVID was deadly but downplayed it to the public so as not to create a panic. If that was so dire and important to public safety, why did Woodward hold it off until now, six weeks before the election?
Trump mentioned several times in his COVID briefings that he did not want to panic the public about COVID. On Feb. 28, while in South Carolina, Joe Biden said that the virus was a crisis, but it was not a time for panicking. Dr. Anthony Fauci defended Trump, saying nothing Trump said to him or others during private COVID meetings differed from his public statements, and that there were no distortions and no dependencies.
I would suggest people look at the actions Trump took on COVID. The millions of PPEs, ventilators, shutting down the country for two months, fast-tracking treatments and vaccines, stimulus money, testing, etc.
Terrence Williams
East side
Scott has right stuff
to serve as supervisor
I would like to endorse candidate Rex Scott for the Pima County supervisor District 1 position for this upcoming election. I have known Mr. Scott for 14 years. He began as vice principal at Ironwood Ridge High School in the Amphitheater School District.
I’ve been teaching at IRHS since its beginnings. Rex is someone who left a positive impact on our school community. Rex was an amazing administrator who often did whatever he could to engage students and staff to positively build our school environment and community.
If there was conflict, he would handle it with ease. He really works well with others. If I needed anything, or to just chat, his office door was always open. He would listen to any of the issues and give back sound advice.
Mr. Scott is an amazing individual who will make a difference for our community. And most importantly, he will listen to the community. In November, he’ll have my vote for this upcoming election.
Chris Rohrer
Midtown
Media carrying water for Biden
Re: the Sept. 8 article “Chance for change, but obstacles exposed in a summer of protest.”
This article appeared on the front page of our Daily Star. The first sentence states that there is “momentum built around policing reform.” That seems pretty subjective to me, so perhaps this news is actually analysis?
The third sentence says that “Trump is seeking to leverage the violence that has erupted around some of the protests to scare white suburban voters and encourage them to back his reelection campaign.” Wait, this can’t be analysis; it is certainly opinion. The next two sentences instruct us that America has galvanized broad public support for the racial justice movement and our choice between Donald Trump and Joe Biden has been clarified. Full stop, this is not opinion, it is a campaign ad: Vote Biden.
What has happened to journalistic integrity?
Jeffrey McConnell
West side
Protect the budget
for international affairs
The International Affairs Budget supports critical development and diplomacy programs around the world. There are programs funded by the budget that create jobs for the U.S., improve our national security, and provide aid to countries in need. These programs include staffing U.S. embassies, pandemic response, natural-disaster response, implementing agricultural programs, supplying HIV/AIDS medications to millions and providing essential assistance to emerging democracies.
Currently, the International Affairs Budget makes up less than 1% of the overall budget. The current administration is proposing a cut of 22% for fiscal year 2021. During this already difficult time for many families around the world, I urge Sen. Kyrsten Sinema and Sen. Martha McSally to vote against the devastating cut toward the International Affairs Budget.
Sergio Islas
Midtown
Trump a cheerleader; we need a quarterback
President Trump is a cheerleader for himself and his agenda. What America was in need of, in February 2020, was a quarterback and not a cheerleader. He is now in the two-minute warning of his presidency.
If he can score a touchdown in this final drive, by uniting the fractured country, dealing with COVID-19 (and health care in general) and quash election interference by foreign powers, he may not get benched.
Roger Rinehart
West side
Biden lucked out with H1N1 flu virus
Joe Biden’s former and current top aide Ron Klain previously said about their response to and handling of the 2009 H1N1 influenza, “A bunch of really great, really talented people were working on it and we did every possible thing wrong. Sixty million Americans got H1N1 in that period of time, and it’s just purely a fortuity that this isn’t one of the great mass casualty events in American history. It had nothing to do with us doing anything right. It just had to do with luck.”
Politico ran a headline about H1N1 that read, “Biden has fought a pandemic before. It did not go smoothly.” Biden had went out making alarmist statements about the the virus and was accused of fear-mongering. Biden’s pessimism contrasted sharply with the reassurances President Barack Obama gave saying there was no need to “panic.”
Obama sent out Cabinet members to the media to quell Biden’s alarmism. The administration’s response to H1N1 included vaccine shortfalls, fights over funding and sometimes contradictory messaging.
Cherry Thompson
North side
Trump, not Obama, the true statesman
The Trump administration announced on Sept. 11 that it had brokered another historic Middle East peace deal, this one normalizing relations between the Kingdom of Bahrain and Israel. This comes just after historic deals brokered by Donald Trump between the United Arab Emirates and Israel, and Kosovo/Serbia and Israel. The leaders of Israel and Bahrain praised Trump for “his dedication to peace in the region, his focus on shared challenges, and the pragmatic and unique approach he has taken to bringing their nations together.”
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is in Afghanistan now continuing to broker a peace deal with the Taliban and the Afghan government. No U.S. soldier has been killed by the Taliban since February. Trump has been nominated by Norwegian officials for the Nobel Peace Prize and deservedly so!
Trump has actually done peace deals to warrant the prize, as opposed to how it was bestowed on Barack Obama for doing nothing. Obama and Joe Biden’s Middle East legacy was appeasing the terrorist state Iran by giving it billions!
Shane Foster
East side
Cognitive decline
of Biden is obvious
There have been two occasions recently, wherein Joe Biden was caught reading prepared answers to questions off a teleprompter. In one of those he said “move it closer,” referring to the teleprompter. In the other, he read a sentence unrelated to the question. So why is Biden using teleprompters to answer questions?
The only answer is that he cannot do so of his own cognitive ability, because he makes too many mistakes. If Trump were doing this, the liberal, biased news media would be all over him. This is a serious indication that Biden is suffering from cognitive problems.
He should stop denying it! Even his own stenographer of four years at the White House has said Biden’s mental sharpness has noticeably declined. Are the American people to wait until after Biden becomes president to see a man in rapid cognitive decline?
How can he take that 3 a.m. call? America should demand that Biden undergo a cognitive examination before the election and the results be made public!
Steve Denver
West side
Let’s keep Friese
and Hannley in LD9
Last Saturday, the Daily Star wrote about two Arizona State Legislators in Legislative District 9: Randall Friese and Pamela Powers Hannley. It would be tragic to lose either of these Legislators. They are so good about communicating with all Arizonans.
Every person living in this state should read Powers Hannley’s reports, Powers for the People, and get her updates. All reports for this past session are there. Try it and be one of the most informed of Arizona residents. I am not on her committee or one of her workers, just an Arizonan who likes to be informed.
Rosemary Hallinan
North side
Scott is clear choice
for Pima board
Voters in the District 1 Pima County Supervisor race certainly have a clear choice in 2020.
One candidate engages in personal, off-the-wall attacks (usually name-calling) from his Twitter account on a wide assortment of individuals, both Democrat and Republican. He takes great pride in being endorsed by the obstructionist outgoing current officeholder.
The other candidate, Rex Scott, has been a progressive, open-minded educational leader in Tucson for many years. Rex has had a number of leadership positions, including the principal position at an extremely challenging city high school. I worked with Rex during his years as an assistant principal at Ironwood Ridge.
He is hardworking and earnest. He has the ability to work with a wide variety of people, no matter what their political views may be. He is committed to helping individuals and the community.
Rex is the sort of person that we should want and need as the District 1 representative on the Board of Supervisors. He is clearly the easy choice here.
Gary Minor
Oro Valley
Trump lacks honesty, ability to persuade
Donald Trump’s lies to U.S. citizens about the severity of the coronavirus demonstrates that the only way he knows how to prevent a panic is to outright lie to us while calling the virus a hoax.
This is evidence that he lacks the leadership skills to be president. Honesty and the ability to positively influence the public are two important leadership qualities that our current president lacks.
If Trump were a true leader, he would be able to tell us the truth about the pandemic and use his communication skills and powers to influence the country not to panic. A good example is Franklin Roosevelt’s “we have nothing to fear but fear itself” speech.
The other leadership traits Trump is missing are: being a positive role model (he refuses to wear a mask), having empathy (he mocked a physically disabled reporter) and being humble (“I alone can fix it”).
Trump is a boss, not a leader!
Jo Ann Gelormine
West side
Homeland Security
has lost its way
Re: the Sept. 14 op-ed “Leaders at DHS have duty to protect human rights.”
Your recent piece by January Contreras bemoaning the egregious conduct by Department of Homeland Security personnel and the harm done to Arizona residents is spot on.
The largest department in the entire federal government after the Pentagon was created to bring harmony and coordination to our national preparedness, and to protect Americans from real threats.
Instead, DHS agencies have become political tools of President Trump while they denigrate Arizona lands and natural habitats, terrorize innocent residents and violate the law by placing political operatives of Trump in charge without the required approval of the Senate.
The DHS was born of reaction to our nation’s failures to anticipate the 9/11 attacks. Now it has been allowed and even ordered to veer away from its core mission of protection to carry nefarious and sometimes unlawful harassment of Americans.
As a Tucson (snowbird) resident, I am proud to endorse Ms. Contreras’ views.
William Banks
Northeast side
