A political
slogan to fear
When I was 7 I heard my first political slogan: “I like Ike.” I am now 76.
Dwight Eisenhower and Abraham Lincoln and probably all past Republican presidents would not like the party today.
The president laughs as his followers chant “lock her up,” regarding the governor of Michigan.
If all states had acted as she did, we would be more like New Zealand today. Not suffering! We would have this virus in check.
What kind of demented, cruel person laughs in America at the thought of harming a duly, legally elected governor? One who has had her life threatened for doing her job?
America, we are in trouble. We are on a slippery slope. Like the one that leads to dictatorship and terrible atrocities.
Edna Silva
Northwest side
President lacks
empathy, humility
As I watched a documentary on Pete Souza, photographer for the Ronald Reagan and Barack Obama administrations, my thoughts drifted to the similarity and differences between these two presidents and our current one.
The former could not have been more different politically, but they and the White House they occupied, shared certain values. Among them were empathy, humility and humor. These are characteristics that make up the essence of humanity.
Today, however, we have a president who, along with those in his administration, is identified by antipathy, hubris and narcissism.
There is neither joy nor laughter in our White House today. Our country is the poorer for this, and in four short years, has lost the nearly universal respect and admiration it achieved in over 100 years of international leadership in war and peace.
The future of our country, and perhaps the planet, may depend on our ability to work together to regain those attributes modeled by Reagan and Obama.
Harry Peck
Tubac
Nation’s character to reveal itself
Donald Trump has been fully exposed as an inept, mean-spirited, bigoted fraud. There is no longer any legitimate question about that. The question that remains is — is this the kind of president America wants? The answer to that question will reveal much about the character of our nation.
Mark Homan
Midtown
What’s Trump’s catchphrase again?
You had your opportunity to prove yourself to the American people as a leader, a voice of truth and protect us from foreign enemies, seen or unseen. But you have failed in many categories.
Sure, you had to endure the scrutiny from the other side of the aisle about your dealing with Russian election interference and justify your relationship with several people who are now in prison or who have been found guilty of improper conduct.
You fought through an impeachment trial. You worked through all your infidelities and cheating and lying and tax evasion.
But that is not enough, Mr. Trump. It’s time for you to step away from the office and maybe it’s the right time for you and your entire family to leave this country, all together.
Time to leave. You’re fired!
Bill Baker
Midtown
Dems employ filibuster in an act of hypocrisy
Tim Steller wrote a good opinion piece about the need for more federal support in Tucson during the virus crisis. But he omitted addressing one Republican bill that exposes the Democrats’ hypocrisy about the filibuster. The filibuster, although subject to abuse, does serve a useful purpose by requiring minority party participation.
Tim describes the bills proposed by the Democratic House and that the Republican Senate didn’t take up those bills. He notes that the Republican Senate did propose a relief bill in July. But he omits that they also introduced a bill in September.
The Democrats killed that bill using the filibuster, a procedural rule some Democrats say they will eliminate if they take control of the Senate!
And ask yourself, why won’t Mark Kelly tell us before the election if he supports abolishing the filibuster?
Tim, the Democrats’ use of the filibuster two months before the election is significant. How could you miss this?
James Tuthill
Oro Valley
Trump will keep economy humming
The Hoover Institute released a bipartisan analysis of Joe Biden’s economic plan involving tax hikes, government spending and regulations. It concluded that “in the long run, Biden’s agenda would reduce full-time-equivalent employment per person by about 3%, the capital stock per person by about 15%, real gross domestic product (GDP) per capita by more than 8%, and real consumption per household by about 7%. Relative to the Congressional Budget Offices’s 2030 projections for these variables, this suggests there will be 4.9 million fewer employed individuals, $2.6 trillion less in GDP and $1.5 trillion less consumption in that year alone. Median household income in 2030 would be $6,500 less.”
The Wall Street Journal’s Editorial Board points out that the housing market is booming, manufacturing is rebounding, small business is bullish and retail sales are high. All showing an improving economy, which will get better with a vaccine. The board predicted an economic boom in 2021 and 2022, with Trump!
Teddy Francisco
Three Points
The possum was right all along
President Trump is not the problem. Trump is simply the leader of a political party that has demonstrated that it will do anything to seize power and will descend to any depth to maintain that power. Regardless of his sexual assaults on women, his incompetence, his views regarding white supremacists, his refusal to make public his tax returns, his complete lack of any moral compass, his total narcissism, his questionable mental stability, his referral to fallen warriors as “losers and suckers,” his adulation of dictators, his pathological lying and his total disdain for democracy, Trump is not the problem.
Donnie is just a symptom. The real problem is that approximately 40% of Americans agree with the views of this would be Putin-esque dictator.
As Pogo the Possum so accurately observed many years ago, “We have met the enemy and he is us.” If we as a nation reelect this self declared “stable genius,” then we truly deserve whatever befalls us. May God have mercy on us.
Davjd Christopher
Benson
Trump a beneficiary
of the science he belittles
Donald Trump had no difficulty getting his help from Walter Reed Hospital when he had COVID. But this is a man who ignores and belittles science. So he uses science to save himself but tells the rest of us it is not valid. Disgusting.
Lorraine Whalen
Vail
‘Global gag rule’ causes human suffering
Trump obviously doesn’t respect the lives of women and girls.
His dangerous “global gag rule” makes it harder for people everywhere to access necessities. Family planning is significantly more difficult because the rule bars organizations from receiving desperately needed U.S. funding if they so much as mention “abortion.”
This chokehold on funding has forced clinics abroad to cut off access to essential reproductive health care, with life-threatening consequences. Every year, 300,000 women die of maternity-related complications and about 31,000 from unsafe abortions.
This is unacceptable.
A bipartisan group in Congress introduced the Global HER Act, which would permanently repeal Trump’s global gag rule. It’s symbolic of his administration that one of Trump’s first major decisions as president was to impose restrictions on women’s autonomy. For the safety and welfare of women, girls and people across the world, we must demand the immediate repeal of Trump’s global gag rule.
Kyrah Hughley
Downtown
Lies are coming home to roost
I read an email on my local electronic news forum, Nextdoor Digest, recently. A member complained that he can’t vote by mail because, as he is voting for Donald Trump, his vote won’t be counted.
It brought home to me the culture of lies and denial that has flourished since Trump became president. Deniers fear they might not win even through such tactics as making it hard for some people to vote locally; starving the USPS of needed funds, equipment and staff; or threatening violence on Election Day.
If our antiquated electoral system — Orwellian in its concept that “some pigs are more equal than other pigs” — does not ensure victory for Trump, his supporters have a way out. If he doesn’t win, it’s because the bags of mail containing votes for him were not counted, although all those for Biden were.
The absurdity of that position speaks for itself.
Miriam Burt
Green Valley
Trump and Pence don’t even care about you
I am an American senior citizen concerned with the well-being of all Americans.
How long will you put up with being used? Donald Trump and Mike Pence revel in your adoration, but do not care a bit about you. They hold rallies where COVID-19 is peaking. Hospitals are overburdened.
They are tested frequently for the virus, refuse to wear masks, don’t care if you wear a mask, but know it is a dangerous and potentially fatal disease. Some 220,000 people have died. They have convinced you it’s a hoax. That makes you and your loved ones more susceptible to the disease and death.
Reporters asked about holding rallies during a pandemic. Their responses related to their own safety, not the well-being of the attendees. They protect themselves while encouraging you to be exposed. At the recent rally in Omaha, attendees were left stranded in freezing temps for up to three hours. More than 30 people needed medical treatment. Several were hospitalized.
Al Benford
East side
Trump hasn’t earned respect
In response to the letter from Ms. Orta, I would refer to the age-old wisdom that “respect is earned and not given.” President Trump has not done anything as president to earn him that “respect.” Rather he has done things that only earn my disrespect.
Even before being “elected” president, he has pursued a life that has caused other people pain and grief, and nary an action to repair the wrongs he has done. Yes, the office of the president deserves respect, but only after President Trump leaves office!
Richard Rebl
East side
The ranchers
got it right
Re: the Oct. 29 article “A vote for McSally is a vote for a secure, prosperous AZ.”
Amid the record-breaking dollars spent on political advertising in 2020, the single most effective piece this year was by four ranchers in the Arizona Daily Star on Oct. 29. Their heartfelt account on behalf of Sen. Martha McSally was full of persuasive reasons to vote for her rather than accusative reasons to be against her opponent, who I support.
Thank you, Fred and Peggy Davis and John and Beth Ladd for your leadership and for reminding us in ways no ad exec will ever consider, that we are not buying soup, cars or furniture but electing a United States senator.
Steve Nash
Foothills
Family separation conundrum exposed
We commend the Arizona Daily Star for Tuesday’s article on the rising number of migrant deaths. The article followed Tim Steller’s detailed analysis on Donald Trump’s family separation policy on Oct. 5. Steller traces the lies the Trump administration used to initiate, implement, allegedly cancel and then continue the policy even while under court order to reunite the families. We comment on four issues from our lived experiences from decades of working in Central America, Mexico and our borderlands for the CDC and other health-related organizations.
First, to certify the horrific conditions of violence these families are fleeing. Second, 90% of legally qualified immigrants released into the U.S. do return for their asylum hearings, not the “catch and release” claim by Trump that most of them disappear. Third, local private/public partnerships like Casas Alitas and the Kino Border Initiative have provided the desperately needed food, transportation and health care to the families in transit.
Fourth, the DACA recipients exemplify the value of immigrants to our community where thousand serve as first responders.
Richard Collins, Carlos C. Campbell, M.D., M.P.H., Laura Monti, R.N., Ph.D., and Gary Paul Nabhan, Ph.D.
Sonoita
Big thanks to our mayor
Tucson is fortunate to have a caring, intelligent mayor who has our best interests at heart during this dangerous time of COVID-19 infections. She is encouraging each of us to wear a mask to make our community safe. It is a common-sense issue, based on science and not much of a hardship considering the lives it can save.
Marilyn Schnur
East side
