Tucson Speaks Out: June 7 letters of the day

Bill Walton a one-of-a-kind human being

I met and spoke with Bill Walton on a handful of different occasions over the years. He was truly unique. But that’s just part of it. My twin sons had their picture taken with Bill (at a middle-school basketball camp he hosted with BJ Armstrong) and Bill stood between them with a hand on each their shoulders. My son met Bill again almost 25 years later while riding with Bill at a Challenged Athlete Foundation (CAF) ride along the California coast. After the race my son went up to Bill to say, “You might not remember me, but I met you at a basketball camp many years ago.” Bill’s response, “Of course I remember you, Tom.” That was just the kind of man he was. He made you feel like you mattered. He was truly a great man and person.

John Bingham

Northwest side

Trump trial

Why not mea culpa?

Having read the ex-president’s 34 factual criminal indictments, it is hard to understand why the defendant’s legal adviser didn’t recommend a plea of “nolo contendere” with a dash of “mea culpa” to a judge. A jury trial is wasteful. The judge could grant leniency showing the unbiased nature of the legal system.

Now, perverse conjecture kicks in. They want a jury trial. They win regardless of the verdict. Endless news-channel coverage, a forum for the defendant to claim legal evilness and to further polarize the voting public. Calling defendant witnesses that support the prosecutor, selecting lawyers on the jury making findings ironclad, and having the defendant pass on taking the witness stand; all guarantee a guilty finding.

What we have now is a fired-up Joan-of-Arc martyr to arouse voter sympathy wearing a “hair shirt” at the GOP convention; a sign of penance even under a biased legal system. This trial did one other thing. It delays the “executive privilege” decision.

John Foltz

Northeast side

Democracy

Supporting Donald Trump and supporting democracy are mutually exclusive.

Larry Gray

SaddleBrooke

Fauci was voice of reason

Re: the June 4 article “Fauci again in hot seat.”

Have they no shame? The one steady voice of reason during those first few terrifying months of 2020 was Dr. Anthony Fauci. And I have no dog in this political fight- I am an Independent. I let logic and reason guide my politics. And Dr. Fauci was the voice of reason during those terrifying Dark Ages.

For him to be vilified after guiding us through the darkest days of the pandemic is shameful.

And I can’t imagine a rational right-winger drinking bleach because his party leader told him to.

So let’s do the honorable thing. Build a statue to honor him. Believe me his name will live on as one of the true heroic visionaries of the 2020 pandemic.

Let’s put politics aside and let reason prevail in a tribute to a great man of science.

Karen Papagapitos

Northwest side

Enough

First it was assertions about mail-in ballot fraud, then “stop the steal” claims about voter fraud, now the criminal justice system is corrupt. I have had enough, Mr. Trump. I am not afraid of all your terroristic threats and neither are most of my fellow Americans. Bring it on Trump, we are ready to take you on and vote you out! I know I will anger many of my “Trumper” friends, but I still love all of you.

Corene Johnson

Foothills

Biden’s border executive orders

Yesterday, June 4, Biden signed executive orders limiting illegal entries to 2,500 a day who can then apply for asylum, others would be turned around and removed. That amounts to 912,000 a year. Combine that with the 1,500 allowed daily to apply for asylum at the ports of entry via CBP One, which totals 547,000 a year. Then add the 30,000 monthly allowed to enter from Haiti, Venezuela, and Cuba via commercial airlines under Biden’s Parole program and that equals 360,000 a year. All total a whopping 1,819,000 that will still be allowed entry under Biden’s Executive action on the border, something he said he did not have. Maybe he could not remember saying it? This is nothing but smoke and mirrors by Biden to fool the public into thinking he is serious about the border. A blatant political stunt done by him before the election. Biden created this border catastrophe by reversing Trump’s border policies on his first day in office.

Marty Jacobs

Green Valley

The trouble with faith

Re: the May 26 article “Faith misleads, doesn’t deliver its promises” and the May 31 article “Belief in reason and reason in belief.”

The thoughtful pieces by Gil Shapiro and Wade Thompson on the role of faith. To use Shapiro’s definition, faith is a “firm belief in something for which there is no proof.”

Thompson says “All of us take a position on faith … or feelings of ‘rightness’ if you prefer.” These “feelings of rightness” are most worrisome. When people are raised on the idea that it’s good to have faith in concepts for which there is no factual basis, then it becomes acceptable, even encouraged, to ignore facts that contradict established beliefs. This extends far beyond religious beliefs.

Today, our divided politics is driven by MAGA feelings of rightness despite the overwhelming evidence that their leader is a con-man, a pathological liar, and a convicted felon. This faith makes people vulnerable to disinformation that is causing serious damage, even to the point where some MAGA followers are rejecting our justice system and itching for civil war. In these contexts, faith is utterly irrational and dangerous.

Thomas Ryan

East side

Biden’s cognitive decline

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) spoke with 45 Congressional members, both Republican and Democrats, who reported on Biden’s cognitive decline. He is 81. In particular, the WSJ cited a meeting from last January where Biden met with Congressional members to negotiate a Ukraine deal. It was reported that Biden spoke so softly that he could barely be heard, read from notes, paused for extended periods of time, and closed his eyes for such a long time that people wondered if he fell asleep. The WSJ reported other incidents where Biden met with Congressional members and seemed to forget details, mumbled, and wandered off. All of this is more reaffirmation of what many Americans already believe about Biden’s cognitive decline based on their own observations of him. It is obvious that he is not cognitively fit for office and his decline will just get worse if re-elected for four more years. Remember, Special Counsel Robert Hur did not charge Biden for Mishandling Classified documents because of his cognitive issues.

Ardel Francis

Northwest side

Biden takes a step to fix what he broke

President Biden didn’t hesitate to use his executive power for such things like “forgiving” billions of dollars in student loans, and halting border wall construction. Now, 41 months into his term, he finally takes a step toward control of illegal border crossings which has been in crisis mode since he entered office. His handlers obviously realized the political implications of the total failure of the Biden-Harris-Mayorkas created disaster at our southern border and supplied Joe with an action plan to attempt to finally make him look concerned about the problem. Strictly a political motivated move. Sorry Joe, but 41 months of your administration’s total failure cannot be undone by claiming that the problem is the result of Republican inaction a few months ago. Your faithful will still make that claim, but there is actually no one to blame but you.

Matthew Scully

Sahuarita

What am I voting for?

The issues in America are inflation, immigration, NATO, Israel and Palestine, climate change, women’s rights, medical care, education for everyone, etc. I am not voting exclusively for any of those issues. I am voting for a government system that is able to solve all problems, now and in the future. The issues are not the problem. The inability to govern cooperatively is the problem. There is a Greek proverb that sums up what I am voting for. “A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit.” It’s not our problems we should be fighting over. We need to fight for a system that allows us to solve problems together as a society.

Richard Bechtold

West side

Wool

I’ve been trying to figure out how to remove the wool that was pulled over the eyes of so many by the Don. If I succeed, there would be more than enough to knit sweaters for all America. To my companeros Hispanos: No dejes que Don poner la lana sobre tus ojos. Puedo escuchar a Hillary: “Encerrarlo, encerrarlo”.

Joe Sanchez

Marana