Tucson Speaks Out: May 26 letters of the day

Re: the April 28 letter “Biden is a political genius — but gutless.”

I just read the letter stating that Joe Biden is a political genius but spineless. Let me ask you — how would you stop the war in another country that you have zero control of? All you letter writers that express discontent over the Israel-Hamas war explain how it’s OUR president’s fault?

From my understanding, Hamas attacked Israel, and now Israel wants to destroy Hamas. How did Joe Biden start this exactly, and why is it his fault that Israel won’t listen to reason?

John Bingham

Northwest side

Trump leading in polls

The polls lately seem to have Trump leading by a fair margin. It also seems like the Democrats and mainstream media are just giving half-hearted support for Biden.

I have a conspiracy theory. I think liberals and the Democrats are willing to let Trump become President again. I think they feel they can live four years under Trump in order to get a younger, more charismatic candidate in four years.

But four more years of Joe Biden may ruin any chance for a Democratic President for years to come.

Scott Langpap

Sierra Vista

Dripping with irony

One letter writer claims that ‘leftist’ readers validate their opinions by reading letters from other ’leftists’, which I find ironic in the extreme.

I listen to the right-wing AM radio. I’ve noticed you’re inundated with a nonstop diet of spoonfed opinions in the morning that are then regurgitated verbatim that very same evening across the right-wing social media scape. Every topic, every opinion consists of talking points and opinions couched as facts.

Bobbleheads bobbling.

Until the people are capable or wanting to discern opinion from fact and what we want to believe vs what is true these political schisms will only grow exponentially worse. There is an entire world of information at our fingertips, but we are living in a world where typing words and pretending they are facts is how the sides are consuming information.

Trump was the most prolific liar in American political history, an opinion that has been back up by fact checkers.

So, fact or opinion?

Mark King

Northwest side

Blame the wife!

Senator Bob Menendez blames his wife, Nadine, for the gold bars and hundreds of thousands of dollars hidden in their home.

Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito blames his wife, Martha-Ann, for the upside-down “Stop-the-Steal” American flag in their yard.

Now I’m waiting for ex-president Donald Trump to blame Melania for the hush-money payments to Stormy Daniels.

James Nesci

East side

CO2 in the air

The most important greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide (CO2).

It is common knowledge that the CO2 will linger in the air for more than 100 years, maybe many more. I am astonished to read that some people argue that because we are stuck with the stuff for the rest of our lives, the rest of our children’s lives, and probably the rest of our grandchildren’s lives, we shouldn’t worry about adding as much more CO2 as we want. I think that’s the wrong direction. There is an old story about a man who is stuck in a hole that he doesn’t know how to get out of. What should he do? Well, the first thing he should do is stop digging.

We know from air bubbles in the deep ice on Antarctica that the CO2 in the last 800,000 years (yes) never got above about 300 parts per million. Until now. Now it’s around 420. My God, when do we stop digging?

George Yost

Vail

Mike Johnson, Trump subservient

Mike Johnson’s support of aid for Ukraine was not only support of Ukraine’s survival, but it was actually support of our Democracy.

For an instant, Johnson flashed legislative legitimacy (unlike his Republican stablemates who don’t understand the significance of a Putin success in Ukraine, and our commitment to the defense of our NATO allies). However, legitimacy was fleeting. Johnson reverted to his acolyte form, fearful of Trump’s vengeance if he doesn’t toe the line should Trump be re-elected. Johnson’s pilgrimage to New York to rant Trumpish blather in front of the trial courtroom, along with a bunch of fellow acolytes (and VP hopefuls vying for Trump’s smile), is no different than the homage paid to Trump by his deposed predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who, after condemning trump for orchestrating his attempted coup on Jan. 6, crawled to Mar a Lago to beg for forgiveness.

Jack Graef

SaddleBrooke

State treasurer’s social perspective

So, it is illegal to divest state money from Israel, a law that Republican state treasurer Kimberly Yee helped to craft when she was a state senator.

Yee also increased investment in Israel following the attack by Hamas in October, as well as divesting from Unilever, the parent company to Ben & Jerry’s, based on their pro-Palestinian stance. However, she said that the state treasurer’s office has a policy affirming it will not make investment decisions based on a ‘social perspective.’

What? Her decisions to invest more in Israel and divest from pro-Palestinian sure sounds like she makes choices based on her social perspective.

Melanie Bell

Midtown

Christian Nationalism

Some Christians have conservative theology.

Unfortunately, they are making alliances with conservative politicians to force those views on us all — including non-Christians. Christians agree on the basics. However, there are differences in theology — the status of communion, the existence of purgatory, praying to saints. There are cultural beliefs — all firmly believed and based on interpretation of scripture — the status of women, abortion, treatment of homosexuals and even racial minorities. Conservative Christians have the right to believe and practice whatever they want, but they have no right to force those beliefs on other devout Christians much less members of other faiths. They certainly do not have the right to make U.S. laws conform to their beliefs!

Nancy Ward

Northwest side

Read the transcripts

Re: the May 19 letter “Was it better four years ago?“

I see the “drinking bleach,” from President Trump during the COVID-19 era, lives on. But that “solution” from Trump for the coronavirus needs to be exposed as the Biden-inspired lie for what it is.

On June 11, 2020, PolitiFact reported presidential candidate Joe Biden saying: “... other than (Trump) predicting the virus would disappear, or maybe if you drank bleach, you may be OK, Trump has simply given up.”

After a review of transcripts of President Trump, PolitiFact’s ruling was: “Trump did not specifically recommend ingesting disinfectants (Trump never said bleach), but he did express interest in exploring whether disinfectants could be applied to the site of a coronavirus infection inside the body, such as the lungs.”

It was the undersecretary of Homeland Security, William Bryan, who related from a report, “... cleaning agents like bleach can kill the virus when it lingers on surfaces.” Read the transcripts, folks.

Daniel Pryor

West side

Conservatives vs liberals

I just read another letter calling letters from liberals cartoonish. Just for the S&G’s of it, I looked it up.

Here’s what Webster says: Conservatism: A political philosophy based on tradition and social stability, stressing established institutions and preferring gradual development to abrupt change.” Kind of like the ’50s in the US.

Liberal on the other hand is: “willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one’s own; open to new ideas.” I too laugh but not at the liberal letters, but the conservatives that are appalled by the liberal LTEs.

By definition, Liberals are more thoughtful and more open to other ideas.

Whereas gushing Conservatives just want to go back to the ’50s when Caucasians ran the world. Nothing new, just stuck in a past world that no longer exists.

John Bingham

Northwest side

Ousting the judges

Re: the May 23 letter “Ousting of judges.”

I agree with the letter writer. I have also voted to oust judges every time I vote. I am glad to know there are others that realize what the retaining of judges means.

Martha Brooks

Green Valley

Trump’s downplaying of COVID-19

Reminder that Trump was briefed on the virus in Jan. 2020 and warned of its dangers.

In his Feb. 2020 interview with Bob Woodward, he acknowledged that it was airborne and “deadly stuff.” In their Mar. 2020 interview, he admitted that it was even more deadly than he thought.

He also said that he had played it down to the public from the beginning and planned to continue doing so, which he did.

His explanation was that he didn’t want to cause a “panic.” This from a man who regularly tried to scare the public about various issues when he thought it was to his political advantage, such as immigration, hurricanes, crime, and a depression if he lost the election.

This was not leadership.

It was a betrayal of us all.

Linda Schulman

Northeast side

Republican hypocrisy

I don’t want to hear one more word from Trump, Kari Lake or any other Republican about the border and immigration.

After months of bipartisan work on the most comprehensive immigration reform bill in decades, the Republican party refuses to allow a vote on it because Trump and others want to campaign on it.

They really don’t care about the border other than as a campaign issue.

Craig Miller

Northwest side

Judicial system

Road rage incident where Jason Jameson shot Jeffrey Honer in the back. I expected to see letters about Judge Alex Ball deciding there was not enough evidence to bring charges of felony second degree murder against Jameson. Instead, the judge chose to reduce the charge to involuntary manslaughter.

Second degree murder, “when someone intentionally causes the death of another person without premeditation.” Involuntary manslaughter, “the unlawful killing of another human being without malice.”

What a travesty of justice. My heart breaks for the family of Jeffrey Honer. I speak from experience. When my sister was murdered, we were expecting to go to trial to see her killer charged with first degree murder. The day of trial, they gave the murderer a plea deal. He pled guilty to second degree murder and got a lesser sentence. He was finally tried for first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole when he murdered his second wife.

Donna Pierce

Northeast side