First Amendment
isn’t an issue here
An alarming number of people obviously didn’t pay attention in high school civics classes. Donald Trump has not lost his First Amendment rights. He can issue press releases or hold a news conference as all other presidents have done. I’m not on social media myself but these are private companies; the people that use them must agree to their policies. I personally read the paper, look at Fox news, CNN, Google news, etc. It’s important to know what others are thinking, especially those you don’t agree with. Too many on left and right listen to echo chambers that just reinforce their already held beliefs.
Craig Miller
Northwest side
Beaten and threatened, media did its job well
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Although there is little to be proud of in the Jan. 6 insurrection in Washington, I’m proud of members of the Fourth Estate who stood strong and did their job in the middle of that chaos.
National news dispatches noted, “Reporters were beaten and threatened with death and their cameras and equipment were smashed and burned.”
Reporters don’t always get the complete story in the midst of gunshots and tear gas clouds, but they do their damnedest to keep the public informed.
Lee Allen
Midtown
Not a good look
when lawmakers sulk
My life is full of good men. My brothers taught me the rules of fair play learned through sports. Like this from “The Art of Manliness”:
“In any sport, sometimes you lose. The sooner you accept this the better. When you lose, don’t sulk, throw a tantrum, or cry like a little boy. Be a man. Give a congratulatory handshake. Don’t blame your teammates or the officiating.”
In my 76 years this was the accepted American norm. Coaches, teachers and parents taught it. How was this basic American ethic lost?
It is embarrassing and un-American when American senators and representatives turn their backs on this foundational American standard. To those leaders, history has its eyes on you, and so do we. If this is the new standard for leadership, why shouldn’t people look elsewhere?
Kitte Robins
Green Valley
Curious endgame
for Republicans
If the Republicans succeed in installing Trump despite the election results, what do they plan to do next? I guess they figure that the 81 million Biden voters plus many tens of millions of Americans who believe in the rule of law will just say “OK” and go on with their regular lives.
Republican legislatures will make elections one party only, like in Iran. If they allow elections at all. Or, will Trump having succeeded in reducing the Republicans to his toadies, dissolve the legislatures and the courts, even in states?
After all, 70 millions voters, after watching the debacle of the last four years, thought he was deserving of another term. It used to be said that the United States was a land of law, but it now appears it is a land of the lawless.
Marilyn Pollow
East side
Football ‘tradition’
at UA is novel concept
Re: the Jan. 3 article “Fans’ outrage over Fisch’s hiring stems from process.”
I, like all UA fans, still don’t know why they have gone to this and cannot figure out why they hired this coach. But I do have one question for the fans: What tradition are we talking about? The football team has always been garbage. Maybe one season during the Rich Rodriguez tenure and then during the average years of Dick Tomey? The UA has really never been more than a stop for coaches. You may not like it, but it is what it is.
Jose Riendier
North side
Show proof
of sanity
Candidates for president must show that they are not only physically fit but also mentally stable.
Some accept that a self-described “stable genius” is by definition fit to be handed the nuclear football.
I think otherwise; I mistrust anyone vain enough to self-describe as a “stable genius.” I might announce so when drinking beer with my friends; it is quite different for a president to announce it to the nation and a world containing enemies, friends, and those sitting on the fence. Many recipients of the message might see a self-described “stable genius” as neither stable nor a genius.
Current events show that we must demand that candidates with such power undergo psychological screening! If the president is at the top of the command chain, it is common sense that psychological testing should at least be equal to what the military does for the recipients of those commands!
Michael Burdoo
West side
To impeach
or not to impeach
Recent opinions pertaining to impeaching President Trump are trending toward just letting him run out the clock.
This would be a huge mistake. The president solicited insurrection by his words and actions this past Wednesday and he must be held accountable. Failure to do this will allow the next tin pot dictator to run roughshod over the Constitution. Failure to hold him to account would be tantamount to giving the president absolute powers and zero accountability for his transgressions.
While impeachment may be an exercise in futility, it is a necessary one so that should we foolishly elect another person of Trump’s caliber, there will be precedent for removing them from office and punishing them when justified.
Should the House and Senate pass on this they would be tacitly endorsing acts of sedition, insurrection and the ultimate demise of the Constitution and the United States of America.
Steve Arnold
Foothills
Rep. Finchem un-American
Rep. Mark Finchem’s recent actions continuing to dispute the Arizona and presidential election results after numerous legal decisions to the contrary is anti-American. His actions ridiculed and shamed the many workers and volunteers from all political parties who spent untold hours ensuring our elections occurred efficiently and accurately and he attempted to disenfranchise Arizona voters. Shame on him.
Further, by taking his fraudulent message in person to the Jan. 6 rally in Washington, D.C., he is complicit in the resulting insurrection, in the deaths and injuries of Americans and untold physical destruction to our Capitol building.
In my opinion his actions are treasonous and display a lack of ethics, morality and decency befitting a government representative who is charged to uphold our laws and Constitution, not break and ignore them. He is unfit to continue to represent us in our government and I hope our legislators have the fortitude to expel him.
Lex Herron
Sierra Vista
We need to keep an eye on these lawmakers
The saying, often attributed to Mark Twain — “No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the legislature is in session” — has never been more true for Arizonans. With the likes of Rep. Mark Finchem espousing baseless conspiracy theories and participating in the Washington, D.C., riots, to Eddie Farnsworth proclaiming the “absolute authority” of the Legislature to subpoena election records, Arizona needs to be vigilant of the mischief they intend. Today’s Arizona GOP has lost its way and has morphed into something very dangerous to our life, liberty and property.
Sheldon Clark
Vail
Don’t disrespect
our election workers
Election workers from all political parties in all states worked hard, at risk to their own health, to carry out the 2020 election and ensuing recounts. Voters overcame health and safety obstacles to vote. The elections were certified by every official, every state, every court, that validated our votes and our states’ Electoral College votes.
To encourage with falsehoods, to riot, to trash our nation’s Capitol building and offices, to injure, to kill, during a lethal pandemic when our truly dedicated citizen pollworkers, dealt with record turnout, huge numbers of mail-in ballots and so much else, is disgusting, carven and much else that is unprintable.
Rioters and those who egged them on should face consequences, but also reflect on their neighbors who do the constructive hard work to make our democracy work — and honor them, even belatedly. Ultimately, we are all in this together — like it or not.
Carolyn Leigh
West side
Strange way of making America great again
When I saw Trump’s name stamped on the American flag being carried by his legions I was aghast. This display of loyalty to a man over a nation is both disgusting and objectionable. Trump’s name on the American flag is in league with the “Stars and Bars” of the Confederate flag flown back during the Civil War.
I saw photos of the Stars and Bars being bandied about inside the halls of Congress, and I wonder how this “Makes America Great Again.”
I watched Trump and his cronies incite the attempted takeover of our election process resulting in the murder of a police officer, the destruction of government property and the racial slurs against African American police officers and I wonder how this “Makes America Great Again.”
These are the leaders of the “new confederacy” who partied while they watched on “Fake TV” with glee those “patriots” breaking windows, doors, property and, yes, the heads of police officers, and I wonder how this “Makes America Great Again.”
Richard Harper
Northeast side
The importance
of accountability
It’s noteworthy that President Trump was sworn into office amid mass domestic and global protests. During his four years, Trump has systematically applied the Mussolini strategy to subvert our democracy with fascism. Trump’s fascist recipe: Denounce the media, lie and promote conspiracies to a select contingency, methodically weaken governmental agencies while replacing leadership with hand-picked loyalists, promote fear and hate among the populace.
His speech on Jan. 6 encouraging his “soldiers” to march on and attack our Capitol building and seek out lawmakers is what Mussolini did in his march on Rome (1922), establishing Fascism as the ruling party and he as the ruler.
During Trump’s term, our diplomatic relationships have suffered to the point where our diplomats have united to publicly denounce Trump’s speech encouraging violence. If we are to reverse Trump’s attempts, it is vital that the world witness America enforce accountability with punishment for Trump (and his loyalists) regardless of how long it takes after he leaves office. The world is watching.
E.T. Saccani
Foothills