Abolish the
death penalty
Re: the Aug. 22 article “Arizona AG says availability of lethal drugs could pave way for resumption of executions.”
I can’t believe what I just read in the Daily Star in the year 2020. We have an attorney general who’s attacking our governor for not killing anyone during the whole six years he’s been in office! Gov. Doug Ducey should be praised, not attacked. Attorney General Mark Brnovich said he’s offered twice “to help the governor and the Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation and Reentry to find a legal source of lethal chemicals.”
So how does the death penalty fit in with “corrections, rehabilitation and reentry?” Brnovich doesn’t realize how crazy that sounds. If we were truly a civilized country, we wouldn’t be talking about finding means to kill people!
Capital punishment is legal in only 14 countries around the world, and the U.S. is one of those 14. May Ducey keep listening to that higher law rather than the law in Arizona. The death penalty must be abolished.
Aston Bloom
East side
Vets deserve better than McSally
As a bereaved military spouse, I know veterans deserve better than someone like Martha McSally. I haven’t forgotten her voting record in the House of Representatives and that she put the asbestos industry above veterans’ rights. Victims are disproportionately military veterans.
In 2016, and again in 2017, she voted to send the FACT Act to the Senate. This bill would have put the asbestos industry’s interests ahead of a victim’s right to justice and compensation by creating barriers and delays for sick and dying cancer victims to obtain compensation. It would have created significant privacy risks by publicly posting very personal information on the internet. Fortunately, this act did not become law.
More than 50 countries ban asbestos; but not the U.S., along with Russia, China, Brazil, India and Kazakhstan. Current legislation in the Senate seeks to ban asbestos use in the U.S. and still has no Republican co-sponsor.
Sherry Massie
East side
It’s political ad season
Thankfully there are only about 60 days until “silly season” is over and the constant bombardment of irritating and misleading political ads ceases. Enduring a dozen or more an hour is cruel and unusual punishment.
John Trojanowski
SaddleBrooke
Flake doing his anti-GOP thing, again
Just in time to distract from the Republican National Convention, former Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, a Trump hater, and 22 former Congressional “establishment” Republicans are announcing their support for Joe Biden. It was Flake who colluded with Democrats to hold up Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination vote over outrageous and unfounded sexual allegations. Flake polled so low in Arizona that he did not run again.
Haven’t these RINOs seen how Trump was abused by the FBI and Department of Justice during a two-year phony Russia collusion investigation and a pathetic Democrat partisan impeachment? Trump appointed a record number of conservative federal judges, including two to SCOTUS. How many will Biden appoint?
Trump cut taxes and had the best economy in decades. He is adamantly pro-life. All Republican tenants! These RINO Republicans say vote for Biden to bring back moral decency, well tell that to Tara Reade and the other women who accused him of sexual misconduct. Biden has a history of lying, too, as well as bullying and plagiarizing.
Aida Reed
North side
McSally stays silent on USPS
I called appointed Sen. Martha McSally’s office today to ask what she is doing to restore the USPS’s capacity for timely mail delivery following the decommissioning of some 600 sorting machines by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy.
Her staff responded that she has no statement on that issue. Given that this is a national concern in view of DeJoy’s conflicts of interest and evident actions to cripple USPS capacity and public confidence in the integrity of our mail service, it seems that McSally ought to have a position.
In a time of pandemic and GOP efforts to disenfranchise voters and suppress the vote in many states, she owes Arizona voters her strenuous and vocal support for a safe, efficient way to vote, and for a postal service with full capacity to deliver medications, disability payments, and other important mail to her constituents. Anything else is dereliction of duty.
Jeff Anderson
Foothills
Double standard for Trump
Question: Were the deaths attributed to H1N1 ever said to be Joe Biden’s fault or Barack Obama’s fault? I don’t recall, but think not. However, in today’s politically charged environment, COVID-19 deaths are frequently said to be Donald Trump’s fault, in one way or another.
Be that as it may, where is the logic? The plan Biden proposes to deal with the virus has essentially been put into place by the present administration, much of it formulated by non-politicians. Leading scientists. Major manufacturers.
But today’s deaths are still attributed to Trump’s lack of leadership or something. The answer: no logic. Simply politics as usual. The double standard. And stroking the emotions of those who believe that the end justifies the means.
Don Weaver
Midtown
Biden and Harris are tough on crime
It seems that the problem of crime and lawlessness has increased under President Trump’s leadership over the past few months. Whether it is in Minneapolis or Kenosha or Portland, he has failed.
Perhaps the prime example of his incompetence is how he dealt with a mob in Washington, D.C. He had the military use tear gas so he could walk onto the street with a Bible. I guess that any criminal with half a brain watched that and thought, “Wow, this guy likes to look good but doesn’t know how to handle street problems.”
Let’s face it, television personalities are just that. They know how to get on TV and perform. That is what Trump does. Performing is not the same as leading and making decisions.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have been and are decision-makers. You probably would never know it from watching TV, but both have been accused of being too tough on law-breakers.
John Geiger
Green Valley
A better trained police force is needed
To serve and protect? According to the Washington Post, 1,019 lives were lost to police shootings in the U.S. in the last year. I was a police dispatcher for 25 years and have some insight into the problem. Police departments need to recruit, vet, train and supervise applicants who want to serve and protect.
They must respect all people, not be adrenaline junkies or power hungry or racist. After being hired they need to be trained particularly in people skills. The power of their presence and humanity can go a long way toward de-escalating a tense situation. Also, more training in use of less than lethal force.
A well-placed baton to the shin can temporarily incapacitate a suspect without killing him. They need to be supervised. Bad behavior must be punished. Unions shouldn’t be able to get bad cops off without consequence. A civilian review board should oversee all abuse of force complaints.
Yes, we need the police, but they must serve and protect us!
Leadawn Anderton
Southwest side
RNC failed to justify four more years of Trump
The Republican National Convention strategy is to make Republicans fear a hypothetical four years under a President Joe Biden.
Let’s look at actual events from just one year under President Trump’s watch: More than 180,000 people have died from coronavirus because of Trump’s mismanagement and refusal to listen to expert advice. A second outbreak caused students to stay home from school, businesses to shut down and the highest unemployment since the Great Depression, which has decimated our economy and could have lasting effects far into the future.
Trump has failed to address the concerns of racial injustice while his rhetoric to encourage violence in our streets has resulted in a rising death toll from police shootings and no end to protests in sight. Vigilantes are encouraged to murder people in cold blood after Trump glorified the actions of Mark and Patricia McCloskey. The border patrol policy has separated infants and children from their parents.
The only way to combat this deadly regime is to vote against it!
Misty Atkins
Oro Valley
Treat distracted drivers as criminals
How many times do we have to read about someone else being killed because a driver could not put down their cell phone? Distracted drivers should be treated and charged the same as any driver under the influence. They make the choice to disregard the traffic laws that make us all safe.
Why do we insist on protecting these willful acts of unsafe driving? It is about time that we treat distracted drivers as the criminals they are especially when they kill or maim others on the roadway. Put down your cell phone and drive as though your life depended on it.
Bonnie Poulos
Midtown
Voting: the cure for magical thinking
Magical thinking is the belief that one’s thoughts can influence actual events. This summarizes Donald Trump’s strategy to combat the pandemic. He simply thinks he can wish it away.
Magical thinking does not work. I have been wishing away Trump, Mike Pence, Mitch McConnell, Bill Barr, Betsy DeVos and so many others, but alas, they are still here. What will work is voting.
The only way to wipe this scum off the soles of our shoes, and off the soul of society, is to vote them away. Please vote.
Rick Jones
Downtown
