Tucson Speaks Out: July 31 letters of the day

Democrats love to attack Trump and 70 million Republican voters as being a threat to democracy. But time and time again it has been Democrats who have demonstrated that. Democratic states removing Trump from the ballot, criminal indictments against Trump in an election year, a contrived letter orchestrated by the Biden campaign signed by 50 “intelligence officials” right before the 2020 election saying Hunter’s laptop was Russian disinformation, etc. Now you have Democratic Party elites in Congress and others pushing poor old Joe out of running for re-election. Why? Because they believed he could not win against Trump and would jeopardize their re-election chances. Now Kamala Harris is the presumptive nominee. This is not democracy. Nobody voted for Harris for President in the primaries, Biden’s name was on state ballots. So the moral to the story is, if the Democratic elites do not think you can win, even if you were chosen by the voters, they will oust you. That is a real threat to democracy.

Tom Galloway

Midtown

Vote for me and I’ll kill democracy

At a speech in front of a Christian group, candidate Trump asked the group to vote for him. That’s not news. What was news is what he said next: “You’ll never have to vote again.” “We’ll have it fixed” he said, apparently meaning that representative democracy will be dead.

Those words coming from someone who wants to be the most powerful person in the world are bad enough. Equally bad is the fact that someone in his position advertising his intention to kill democracy was not considered newsworthy enough to appear in my morning news feed.

The founders of this nation understood the importance of a robust free press to the continued functioning of democracy. Today’s news media needs to wake up and inform the public before they lose the right to do so.

Marian Weaver

Bisbee

Media coverage

Re: the July 29 letter “The stand-in.”

Again, my loyal friend in Oro Valley’s letter was published with the normal vitriol that he’s come to spew. He claims that many White House staffers left because our upcoming President Kamala Harris created a “hostile workplace.” Which of these many that left have come out against Biden and Harris? Being loyal to a felon, sexual predator may be good with your friends, but it’s not The American Way. It’s hard to understand how he can misrepresent four years of the worst president in history with some staffers that left the White House. Whereas his hero’s staff have now testified against him, called him a complete liar and wouldn’t work for him again. He goes on to claim that there was no support for Harris a week ago, yet now she’s looking like a true American President. And his hero won’t debate her. How convenient.

John Bingham

Northwest side

U.S. citizen vs ‘immigrant’ crimes

I have continually read Democratic writers to the Star citing higher percentages of crimes committed by U.S. citizens vs. those of “immigrants.” Stop it please! We are talking apples to oranges here. The argument is not over which category commits more crimes, but rather if the border was more secure and our immigration laws were fully enforced, it could “prevent” crimes committed by those here who entered illegally and their victims. Yet, open borders Democrats do not to want to acknowledge this. Instead, they blur the situation with, well citizens commit more crimes than immigrants. The argument is not over those who immigrated here legally going through the process with U.S. Embassy interviews, medical examinations and complete background checks. But rather, those who entered illegally, with no background checks done on them in their home country. A frustrated Border Patrol Agent just told the media, “I probably let terrorists in and released them.” Why? Because he and other Agents cannot access foreign law enforcements’ data bases and records.

Ardel Francis

Northwest side

Educate kids on science of reproduction

Dear Editor:

What we should be demanding access to is not abortion but education on the science of human reproduction. This science should be part of our schools’ core curriculum from puberty through high school. Teach kids what happens at conception and the subsequent growth and development during the 9-month gestation period. Kids have a right to know these facts so that they can make thoughtful, responsible decisions about their sexual behavior. Girls and boys should also learn the female fertilization cycle.

Barbara Vaughn

West side

Bravo letter writer

Re: the July 29 letter “Joe dropping out.”

I absolutely don’t know this letter writer, but was so impressed with their letter today just had to say “right on,” I haven’t read anything better, thank you.

Binky Luckhurst Woodward

Foothills

Wadsack, batteries not on a clock

Re: the July 28 article “AZ state Sen. Wadsack fights crazy.”

Arizona Sen. Justine Wadsack, R-LD17 (Marana, Oro Valley), makes no sense when she says (per Tucson Police body cam) that she was “racing home” at 71 mph in a 35 mph zone on Speedway Boulevard because her red Tesla was down to just 4 miles left on her battery charge.

The batteries on electric cars are not on a clock.

Anyone with an electric car should know that the faster you go, the fewer miles you can travel per kilowatt-hour (kWh). There is a real-time gauge on the dash to measure this.

If anything, her strategy should have been to drive slower to conserve energy if she feared running out before she could get a new charge.

Stephen Yozwiak

Northwest side

J.D. Vance’s fuzzy logic

While it rings true that people with children have more at stake in the outcome of an election, it doesn’t follow that their vote should count for more. There is no place for “thought experiments” when campaigning. People should know exactly what he means by saying this.

Melanie Fan

Midtown

Steller’s negative columns about Republicans

Re: the July 21 article “Tucson knows not to link political rhetoric” and the July 28 article “AZ state Sen. Wadsack fights crazy.”

Tim Steller is the longtime paid columnist at the AZ Daily Star. He is a liberal. There are no paid conservative columnists. Steller has continually written negative columns about Republicans. A couple weeks ago about the assassination attempt on Trump, falsely claiming the shooter’s family was pro-Trump. In fact the mother is a registered Democrat and the father a registered Independent. Neither attended Trump’s rally. Next he wrote a negative story about AZ Senator Wadsack. Her behavior was unbecoming of a public official, but did it warrant an entire column by Steller? He could not resist it. Steller continually attacked Trump’s border policies, but has remained silent about Biden’s policies that created a border disaster here in AZ. There have been no columns about Biden’s physical and cognitive decline. And silence about the de facto coup that just removed Biden from seeking a second term. Silence also about the democracy-threatening coronation of Kamala Harris for President. The sound of silence from Steller! Ah, but they are Democrats.

Bradford Davis

North side

Make America Great Again — 70s style

• When women, their spouses or partners and their physicians were the only people to decide whether to have an abortion, not a politician
• When no one ever contested the results of an election because it was an accepted, reliable tradition
• When the Supreme Court, although still missing a woman justice, had justices considered to be moderate and who did not necessarily push the law in a more conservative or liberal direction.
• When Norman Lear shows like All in the Family, Maude, and Sanford and Sons dealt with social issues such as prejudice, discrimination, and equal rights vs. vs. the non-reality reality shows of today.

This truly would make America great again. Go Kamala!

Terri Burchett

Midtown

Crack down on dangerous driving

I was back in Tucson briefly this summer to read about Tucson police cracking down on dangerous driving. I again got back in town yesterday. Today in an approximate four-mile trip to do much needed errands, I experienced that crackdown — not. In that short drive I witnessed two cars running red lights! I guess I couldn’t expect such a crackdown to be immediately effective.

Norman Patten

Midtown

If the racist shoe fits

Re: the July 29 letter “The stand-in.”

It seems that recent developments in the presidential race have disoriented so many on the right that they don’t know whether to spit, whistle or go blind in their reaction to Kamala Harris’s bid to beat Trump. A recent letter claimed that anyone opposing Harris would unfairly be labeled a sexist or racist. That letter was immediately followed by a similarly deluded and loyal fellow traveler who referred to the Vice President as a “baboon.” Both writers disparage Harris’s achievements, blindly ignorant of her positions on gun violence, the burden of medical debt, a woman’s right to choose, maternal health care and voting rights for all.

These writers fail to see the racist, sniveling and vile hypocrisy in their writings and cause any decent American to cringe.

William Muto

SaddleBrooke

Calling It Out!

Re: the July 29 letter “The stand-in.”

Directed to the Loyal Trump sycophant: It is beyond vile and outrageous to use a racist trope to refer to the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris. Your words are vitriolic, hateful, and malevolent. Stark racism, in print for all to see. The shame is on you. The AZ Star should also be called out for allowing such a letter to be published.

Frank P. Morello

Foothills

Abortion vs gun control

Abortion, while it should be a women’s right to choose in certain circumstances, rape, incest, health, etc., Abortion shouldn’t be used for birth control. If an abortion was done once, the women should be on a national list and it should not be done again unless under special circumstances. Since 1973 abortions in the US were carried out at the rate of about 9,000,000 per year. That represents about 390 years of gun violence in one year. (Gun deaths are about 23,000 per year on average) Everyone is upset about 23,000 gun deaths and rightly so, but they aren’t the least bothered by snuffing out the lives of 9,000,000 babies each year. Over 45,000,000 since 1973. That’s 13% of today’s US population. About the same amount that Mao Zedong killed, 45,000,000, and people were and are outraged at the casual taking of lives. But not unborn babies. So get off your gun soapbox, think about babies.

Thorsten Wohlstrom

Patagonia

Baboon reference in anti-Harris Letter

Re: the July 29 letter “The stand-in.”

The regular followers and contributors to the Arizona Daily Star comments and opinion page are well acquainted with the frequent misguided commentary of one, Loyal Johnson.

And, while we have witnessed and read numerous vociferous protestations by Republicans that their criticism and rejection of Ms. Harris is based heavily on racism and misogyny, Johnson’s inclusion of the comment that “left wing Democrats” “would vote for a baboon instead” of Trump, is the predictable follow up to his claim of her alleged incompetence.

Now, my contention will likely cause the usual fake outrage and numerous visits to the fainting couch by defenders of folks like Johnson, but it won’t alter the fact that his comment, whether intentional or simply ignorant, is unmistakable evidence of both the misogyny and racism that lies either right under the surface or has floated to the top.

He should get credit however, for getting one thing right: We would vote for anything or anyone before we would allow Trump back in the White House.

Glen Vann

West side