House migrants at White House
Much has been written and said about where to house migrant families and children.
Why not the White House? It’s way too much room for two people and if the president is so amenable to inviting them into the country, then surely he can personally help care for them.
Gerri Breyfogle
Green Valley
Biden and the ghost of LBJ
Re: the May 1 article “Will Biden channel Lyndon B. Johnson’s ghost?.”
Opinion writer James Jay Carafano warns that Joe Biden risks “channeling Lyndon B. Johnson’s ghost” and his alleged domestic and foreign policy failures. What failed and divisive policies is he referring to? The Civil Rights Act? Voting Rights Act? Medicare? Medicaid? Social Security expansion? Head Start? Immigration Reform? These and other landmark great society bills have been supported and often expanded upon by virtually every president, Democratic and Republican since LBJ, including Nixon, Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush and Obama.
People are also reading…
All of these programs helped make the country more prosperous and just. Only Donald Trump defied this consensus. Vietnam, of course, tore the nation apart and wrecked Johnson’s presidency. Historians, myself included, debate the wisdom of that doomed conflict. Few argue that expanding that war sooner would have ensured a better outcome for anyone. Far from representing folly or weakness, Biden’s decision to terminate the forever war in Afghanistan is heartily endorsed by at least one past president, Donald Trump.
Michael Schaller
Foothills
Facts on tax inequity
Today, top earning CEOs make over 300 times the average worker’s wage.
There are about 630 billionaires in the US and all benefited from Trump’s tax cut of 2017.
During COVID-19 the billionaires increased their wealth by almost a trillion dollars while many were losing their jobs.
Corporations received the largest tax breaks from Trump’s tax cut of 2017.
GOP “Trickle Down” has sadly never worked.
This is why President Biden wants to tax the very rich people and big corporations and create good paying jobs with his proposed Infrastructure Bill that will help all Americans. The middle and poor classes will not be taxed. This fact is often misrepresented. Recall that President Bill Clinton was able to balance the budget by having more fair and equitable taxes and everyone benefited.
Janet Pipes
Northwest side
Structural racial inequalities
Re: the April 4 article “Tucson’s south side is a blistering heat island, study finds.”
I think the Arizona Daily Star is a Democrat-progressive biased publication, entrenched in structural racial inequalities.
A few weeks ago, the Star’s Tony Davis did a story of how South Tucson, inhabited by more Latinos, is hotter and drier than the rest of the metro, especially the northwest side, blaming it on structural racial inequalities, instead of topography and chosen lifestyles.
Now another story by the Star’s Alex Devoid blaming the same inequalities for minorities, especially Latinos in Arizona, having a lower percentage of being vaccinated for COVID. No consideration that the reasons for it might be cultural in nature.
Throughout the whole COVID pandemic, Tucson’s south side has been the hot spot for virus infections. Again, the Star blamed racial and economic inequalities instead of cultural reasons or personal responsibility. The COVID vaccines have been available to all over age 16 since April. Nobody has been kept from getting them. I think the Arizona Daily Star is entrenched in their structural inequalities arguments to justify minority population issues.
Paula Martin
Vail
GOP at risk
I am a WWII veteran and my compatriots are few and feeble, but veterans and patriots are not. Read and believe there is a potential threat to American democracy.
Trump’s 2015 campaign tactics were like Adolf Hitler’s: Find an enemy and attack, disregard truth, facts and science, develop a base of believers, be elected, repeat in office (Trump tried and lost). The insurrection failed and Trump remaining atop GOP. If Trump’s sycophants win in 2022 elections then Trump could be elected in 2024, or we see a repeat of what happened Jan. 6, 2021, but this time successfully, and the United States will not celebrate its 250 years as a democratic republic.
Billy Conn
North side
Biden and the border
Again, I call for the impeachment of President Biden. The crisis at the Southern border is of his doing.
His, and his administration’s lack of action at the border are, at best, total incompetence and are probably grounds for treason. Every border sheriff is pleading for help and is being ignored. No country can survive with unlimited immigration. That is why the United States has laws and regulation for a managed and humane immigration policy.
Are we not a country of laws and is not he and his administration responsible for enforcing existing laws? The people flooding our border will require an immense amount of support for years, your tax money that could either not be spent, or could be funneled to the very real problems that currently exist in our country.
Pudge Johnson
Oro Valley
Third political party necessary
This past week there have been two letters to the editor suggesting a need for a third political party in Arizona. I agree.
I disagree with most of the bills being passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature, which seems to disregard voters other than the far right. I foresee a similarly unjust disregard should the Democrats gain control of both houses, even though I might agree with their proposed bills.
I have been a registered independent for the past 30 years and know that independents do not have the opportunity to offer up candidates. Our only voting choices are for candidates nominated by the state’s recognized political parties.
My goal is that a third party develops out of registered independents and moderate Democrats/Republicans. If candidates of this third party capture enough seats, then neither existing party would have a majority in both houses. This would result in the legislators of the dominant parties needing to negotiate in order to pass their bills.
‘Tis time to start organizing.
Randy Garmon
Midtown
The meaning of truth or lie
Perhaps never before in the history of the United States has the meaning of truth or lie had the relevance it does today. I offer the following: Truth doesn’t mean anything, it just is. Lies have meaning, it is deceit.
Larry Gray
SaddleBrooke
