Tucson Speaks Out: July 24 letters of the day

Humpty-Dumpty

Watching Donald Trump make his sleep-inducing acceptance speech took me to the edge of reality and dropped me down the rabbit hole into a strange land with its gathering storm. I still wanted to yell, “Drone on, Master.”

I heard him tell many lies, then I realized that Trump is the home of the whopper.

His wound at the tip-top of his ear marks him as a fighter, someone the MAGA crowd can admire for standing there without concern for himself, taking a nick in the ear for the cause. A legend is born! More replicas of ear patches to sell.

Of course, he is our modern-day Humpty-Dumpty aloft on his high perch, wobbly yes, but held steady by the twin beams of deceit and hubris.

When he finally topples, later or soon, his legacy will live on of a nation up from the strange place, but never the same.

Ron Lancaster

North side

Jette well-qualified Democrat

Laura Conover, facing well-qualified and popular challenger Mike Jette in the Democratic primary, is running scared. Conover has resorted to mudslinging lies, tempting to falsely paint Jette as a Republican sympathizer.

Let’s set the record straight. Over the past 31 years, Jette was Republican for merely 12 months more than a decade ago. Like Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes (previously a Republican), Jette left the Republican Party for good reasons and is a strong committed Democrat. He is pro-choice, promotes environmental protection and opposes the death penalty.

Jette never previously had run for an office, let alone as a Republican. Democrats and independents who want competence, integrity and commitment to justice should vote for Jette.

It is time for a professional County Attorney who knows how to secure our safety, understands the variants of criminal law, has legitimate concern about mental health and substance abuse disorders, who will safeguard our environment and water supply. It is time to elect Mike Jette as Pima County Attorney.

Richard A. Block

Northeast side

Wikipedia

Re: the July 20 letter “Abbreviated explanation.”

A letter writer claims Project 2025 and Agenda 47 are laid out in simple terms by searching on Wikipedia. Really?

No wonder our public has difficulty seeing reality.

One of the first media literacy lessons we taught to our elementary students was that Wikipedia could not be cited as a source because it is edited by the public whose qualifications cannot be determined.

One of the second lessons was the importance of using many sources and evaluating their accuracy. Maybe we all could use a media literacy course?

Anne Groth

Oro Valley

Perpetuating liberal nonsense

Re: the July 7 article “What happens if disaster strikes the presidency.”

One can always count on Tucson Opinion writer Terry Bracy to deliver the usual obsequious Democratic Party propaganda and his most recent column didn’t disappoint with his fantastical vision for a second Biden term.

After a perfunctory and very brief mention of Biden’s disastrous debate performance, Bracy then waxes on about Donald Trump’s weight. And not willing to take a definitive stand on whether Biden should cede his nomination, he then dreams up a fairytale scenario where an incapacitated Biden would be surrounded by his court of advisers to carry on the Presidency. Unbelievable. Always pandering to anything “Democrat”, it will be interesting to see how long Bracy tries to play both sides of his party on Biden staying in the race.

Diane Nelson

Foothills

Badge of courage

One of my earliest childhood memories is when I watched JFK’s inauguration with my Irish Catholic mother. Less than three years later, I was in my 2nd grade classroom at St. Mary’s grade school, when I learned that he had been shot!

Last week when Trump claimed that God had saved him, my first thought was, “Why didn’t he save that firefighter as well?” And what about Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley, JFK, MLK, and RFK? Is Trump more important than any one of them? Finally, what about all the Christian martyrs, and Old Testament Prophets, did God forsake them as well?

The obvious answer is that God doesn’t interfere in the affairs of men, that’s the devil’s forte! I believe that the devil orchestrated the whole assassination attempt, so his boy could wear that tiny “Badge of Courage” at the RNC!!!

John Balsbaugh

Midtown

Wrong on border issue

Re: the July 22 article “Biden is leaving a shameful and disastrous border legacy.”

I don’t know David Burford from Adam but what I do know about him is that he’s completely wrong about the border issue. Writing an opinion piece about the border and being 100% wrong about it shouldn’t have been published.

He states that Biden’s border issue is 100% Biden’s fault. David apparently didn’t go to civics class when it taught what Congress does for a living.

The immigration policies of this country have been kicked down the road for a number of years now.

Biden put a nonpartisan policy (agreed to by enough of the GOP) on the table to help stabilize the border and the GOP listening, to a fool, decided to vote against it, even when they knew it was the best thing for the country.

Maybe David should be writing his GOP representatives to complain to them because it’s their fault, not President Biden’s.

John Bingham

Northwest side

Trump border issues

Re: the July 22 article “Biden is leaving a shameful and disastrous border legacy.”

It’s impressive and even borderline humorous how David Burford got through seven paragraphs and hundreds of words about “Biden’s disastrous border legacy” without once mentioning how Biden and Republicans had the strongest border law in years ready for a vote — even endorsed by National Border Patrol Council, which endorsed Donald Trump for president in 2020 — and then those same Republicans scuttled their own bill because convicted felon Trump told them to so that he could improve his election chances.

If you’re mad about the border, Biden isn’t your problem. It’s a craven narcissistic felon who only cares about himself and is happy to compromise the border and anything else if it serves him personally.

Matt Mizenko

Vail

Trump lies about Biden

Trump repeatedly states that Biden is the worst President ever.

This is a lie, as are most of Trump’s misstatements.

Gallup Poll surveys show Trump with a 61% below average to poor rating. They list Trump as the 41st Worst President ever. The Guardian ranks Trump the 45th Worst President out of 45 Presidents. They note Joe Biden is ranked 14th best, above Woodrow Wilson and Ronald Reagan.

USA Today lists Trump as 3rd Worst ever, and the Number One Worst President in terms of Presidential Greatness. The Democrats need to stress these facts and not let Trump’s false claims stand.

Kenneth Budic

SaddleBrooke

Biden’s bloodless coup

President Joe Biden has announced that he will not seek re-election.

He is now being hailed by Democrats politicians and his many news media allies as having done a selfless act for the good of the country.

Selfless would have been his not running for a second term knowing of his physical and cognitive problems.

As of the end of last week, Biden was saying he was still running and had campaign events scheduled. Dozens of Democratic members in Congress turned against him, fearing losing their seats in November. Behind the scenes, he lost support from Pelosi, Schumer and Obama, who have long known the truth about Biden and had enough.

Biden was reportedly angry at those who had turned on him. In the end, Biden really had no choice but to get out. It was an embarrassing bloodless coup of a man on a physical and cognitive downward spiral.

It all could have been avoided to begin with by a selfless act of not seeking a second term.

Gary Beachwood

Green Valley

Welcome to Democracy!

On July 21, the presidential puppet masters clipped the strings — and our Rehoboth Beach chaise-lounger-in-chief plummeted into instant obsolescence.

For four years, during a glaring mental and physical decline, we were assured by the shills of Donkey Land that President Biden possessed the whiz-kid intellect of a 1957 Bobby Fischer and athletic vigor of Usain Bolt. Then after a “one-off” bad debate due to “jet lag and cold,” suddenly “Beaker” Biden gets dumped in the Muppet bin!

Hey, DNC, are you going to uphold the democratic process and let the people’s voices be heard with a do-over vote? Or as the self-proclaimed defender of democracy, are you going to toss the vote to deep pockets, party bigwigs, and backroom shenanigans?

To America’s voters: I give you the queen of marijuana convictions, Ms. Southern-Border Fixit, and word-salad master chef — your favorite cackler and mine, eleventh-hour Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris!

Scott R. Hammond

Downtown

Missed opportunity

Republicans talking about the border crisis means nothing to me. Recall we had a bipartisan Secure the Border Act of 2023 with most everything the Republicans wanted, hammered out after months of work by well-meaning folks on both sides of the aisle.

There were many Republicans and some Democrats that disagreed as it did not go far enough to address root cause issues, but it was a start. The final “nail in the coffin” was when Trump stepped on his Mike Johnson and told the Speaker to kill it so Trump and Republicans would have a campaign issue.

Trump is numb to what is best for the country unless it also benefits him. Probably why he didn’t feel anything when he stepped on it.

Spencer Elliott

Oro Valley

Trump bashing

Every day there is another liberal Democrat making derogatory remarks about Donald Trump.

Accusing him of being a traitor, Hitler, a serial liar.

These are the same people that get all of their news from CNN, CNBC, or the View (all hate the conservatives in this country) however when he was in office his policies were spot on. He had our country energy independent.

Biden’s first week in office ended all drilling on government land and started buying our oil from dictators in Venezuela and the Middle East.

Biden ended building the wall and opened our borders to millions of undocumented. Not to mention the tons of drugs that also crossed. The disaster that he created in Afghanistan was a total disgrace.

He gave the Taliban billions of dollars’ worth of our military equipment including Bagram airport which we built.

It’s time to kick the Democrats that are ruining our country to the curb and bring back Trump.

Dennis Jacobsen

Northwest side

Media fairness

Now that Biden has passed the baton, I’m looking forward to the media devoting just as much attention to Trump’s age and obvious mental decline.

Pam Parrish

West side

Inflation

In 2021, U.S. companies logged their most profitable year since the 1950s, as many took advantage of economies of scale and other more efficient processes.

Yet, firms held on to the savings they gained from these reduced costs, rather than passing them on to customers via lower prices.

These facts come from the Harvard Business School. On the plus side, consumer prices are continuing to lower, with June data showing U.S. inflation is cooling after high readings earlier this year. The new report could bolster the case for an interest rate cut from the Federal Reserve in September.

Consumer prices declined 0.1% in June from May, with inflation curtailed by lower gas prices and a smaller increase at the grocer. On an annual basis, inflation registered at 3.0%, down from 3.3% in May, indicating that inflation is cooling faster than expected.

Some politicians solely blame the President for inflation, but no President can contact car manufacturers or grocery store owners and ask them to lower prices.

Eleanor Navarro

East side

Myth of the open border

During the first 21 days of May 2024, U.S. Border Patrol agents recorded a daily average of approximately 3,700 apprehensions of migrants between official ports of entry. That represents a 54% decrease from the 8,000 daily average in December. These facts debunk the so-called “open border”. Another immigration myth was that caravan made up of thousands of criminals from Mexico and Central America that was poised to invade the U.S. a few years ago.

Eleanor Navarro

East side