Is Trump the new Teflon Don?
Even though he’s the only U.S. president in history to be impeached not once, but twice, he seemingly always comes away from other court proceedings unscathed and smelling like a rose. Nothing sticks to him, just like mobster John Gotti, after three high-profile trials in the 1980s resulted in his acquittal. The two prosecutors leading the Manhattan district attorney’s investigation into whether Trump inflated the value of his assets to obtain favorable loan terms from banks abruptly resigned. Multiple federal and state investigations are ongoing regarding the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, his handling of confidential documents and his family business. Every time Trump asks for money, his Trumpers step up to the plate and send him blank checks and millions of dollars, which goes to the most expensive lawyers in the country. Republicans really want Trump back in 2024? Good Luck!
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Max LaPlante
Southeast side
What’s it going to take!
What’s it going to take for the Republican Party to repudiate their former president who has endangered our national security? Maybe a handwritten letter from Vladimir Putin expressing thanks and offering him a villa or a super yacht near Steven Seagal’s home. Maybe one of our professional operatives captured and executed. The Republicans question the tactics used to secure our vital and classified information, but cannot say the obvious. They wanted Hillary Clinton locked up and famously declared that she was unfit for office.
I believe that many people would assume that if someone other than the former president had committed the crimes he is accused of, they should be indicted, tried and if convicted, imprisoned for many years.
It is a fair question to ask every Republican running for office or currently serving in office: What’s it going to take? When will you stand up for democracy?
James Robinett
Southwest side
Department of Justice, not injustice
Re: the Sept. 8 letter “Department of un-justice.”
I read the letter from an octogenarian man that stated he was a registered Independent, and a nonsupporter of Donald Trump, who was angered and confused by the lack of fair play and justice in America. He then goes on to mistakenly state many lies as facts. I understand that some people don’t like the president and for that, they are taking out their frustration on the Department of Justice, since they feel it’s become a political arm of the administration. This man feels that Hillary Clinton should have been prosecuted for supposedly destroying 33,000 emails. Why? When it was found many years ago now, that she didn’t break the law. He mentions a “raid” to retrieve illegally removed documents that were of the highest secret classification when in fact it was a “search” of a criminal’s home. The Department of Justice is doing their job, period.
John Bingham
Northwest side
Don’t elect extremists
In recent years, the Arizona Legislature has been reduced to a battlefield for culture war issues while ignoring climate change, health care and public education. This November, we have an opportunity to elect moderate legislators who will address critical issues, such as assuring that Arizona has an adequate water supply and a tax system that benefits all Arizonans, not just the top 1%.
Unfortunately, the so-called “Freedom Team” of Republicans running in LD 17 — Justine Wadsack (Senate), Rachel Jones and Cory McGarr (House) — will push legislation that is anti-women’s right to choose, anti-public schools, and anti-fair tax. They’ll also waste our money supporting the “Big Lie” and making it harder for most of us to vote.
I urge moderate Republicans and Independents to reject the LD 17 radical Republican candidates in favor of the moderate slate of LD 17 Democratic candidates — Mike Nickerson (Senate), Dana Allmond and Brian Radford (House). It is time to quit electing extremists who have dominated the Arizona Legislature for the last decade.
Eileen Hollowell
Oro Valley
Climate change effects
Name change inevitable. Miami will become Miasma, Fla.; LA-Lost Angeles; Seattle-Seasaddle; NYC-Knew York City; Knew Haven, Conn.; Knew Port News, etc. My beloved Marana will become Marina, AZ. I better buy a boat.
Joe Sanchez
Marana
Justice will be served
Re: the Sept. 8 letter “Department of un-justice.”
Hard to believe the writer is a “nonsupporter of Donald Trump” when everything he mentions reads like a Trump script. Regardless, I implore all who have read his letter to research everything he mentions — from the tenuous connection between violent crime and the reformed bail system, the 80-year-old man who exceeded self-defense when he shot in the back and ultimately killed a fleeing woman, the significant differences between the Trump and Clinton situations, the virtual nonexistence of defunded police departments and the myth of the “Hunter Biden cover-up.” Also, as the writer agonizes over violence, does he have the same attitude toward the savage mob that desecrated the U.S. Capitol over Trump’s shameful Big Lie?
And finally, the ludicrous notion that the FBI’s necessary use of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago was to “embarrass Trump’s future run for the presidency.” Utter nonsense. Justice will be served when 45 is called to account for his endless egregious acts.
Hope Gastelum
East side
Goldwater wouldn’t approve
Barry Goldwater, conservative U.S. senator, said, “I believe in democracy and the separation of church and state.” Yet MAGA is using your tax money to push their religion into schools, controlling your private life. Americans lose separation between church and state, and reproductive rights. Goldwater said “A woman has a right to an abortion. … That’s a decision that’s up to the pregnant woman, not up to … do-gooders or the religious right.”
Goldwater said, “The conservative movement is founded on the simple tenet that people have the right to live life as they please as long as they don’t hurt anyone else in the process.” MAGA “freedom” from vaccinations jeopardizes public health. It is causing the return of contagious diseases like polio and measles. MAGA extremists infect parents with baseless fears about “grooming” and CRT, and ban books. American children lose.
Cindy Doklan
Midtown
Really? I beg to differ
Re: the Sept. 9 letter “Biden’s name-calling.”
In response to the letter writer regarding President Joe Biden, what rock have you been under for the past six years? Name-calling was former President Donald Trump’s mantra and add to that the instance when he made fun of a man with muscular difficulties. Yes, Biden is behind the power curve in some areas, but name-calling isn’t one of them. It would take him forever to catch up. Also, how many politicians have moaned and groaned for almost two years since being defeated? And, how about stopping the assault on the Capitol? The letter writer needs to get their facts straight about this before throwing stones.
Maureen Gagliardi
East side
Cryptoquip paper changes
What was your reasoning for removing cryptoquip? If you need the space, reduce the crossword size. Why not try to accommodate readers rather than eliminate a favored puzzle? There’s little left in the paper that’s enjoyable, and this was my favorite puzzle, please reinstate.
Marion Hopkins
East side
You’ll be called a fascist
Re: the Sept. 9 letter “Biden’s name-calling.”
I have been around for 71 years and never heard a former president insult half the people of this country. In my view, his followers are white supremacists, 3%ers, Proud Boys, neo-Nazis and fascist.
Traveling around the world, I have witnessed firsthand the love and admiration that everyone has for America from 1776 to 2016.
This person thinks Biden will foment a civil war. The seeds were already germinating before Biden because of you-know-who.
Whether you’re a conservative, Republican, Trumper or QAnon, my great-grandfather from Poland said, “No matter what kind of dog you lie down with, you wake up with fleas.”
Finally, why would anyone bring a young child (11 years old) into this discussion? This is truly passing down hatred from one generation to the next.
Thomas Plesniak
Midtown
Don’t mess with comics
Looking at the new comics half-page, my immediate response was “Ack!” The comics are the little bright spot to my day. And Lee Enterprises just turned off the light. I understand the need to cut costs but don’t see why you can’t have one full page of comics? Also, why not do a survey to see which comics Tucson customers prefer in print? I imagine it’s not “For Better or for Worse,” which is just reruns. Heck, if you’re running reruns I’ll gladly take “The Far Side” instead. Please don’t tell me I can just read “Dilbert” or “Zits” online. I can’t, as it will give me vertigo. Every time I pay my quarterly subscription, I cringe. But I pay it because I need to have a local paper available in print. Please let us have a voice in which comics are printed!
Karen Greene
Downtown
Facts wrong
Re: the Sept. 8 letter “Berkman’s sour grapes” and the Sept. 10 letter “Unqualified for op-ed pieces.”
The Arizona Daily Star published my guest opinion concerning what I considered County Attorney Laura Conover’s unreasonable delay and her conflict of interest in handling the prosecution of former police officer Ryan Remington.
My guest opinion was met with personal attacks containing falsehoods about me and unsubstantiated allegations against my former colleagues in the form of published letters to the editor from the former chair of the Pima County Democratic Party and a lawyer in the community.
To the Star’s credit, they agreed that they failed to properly vet the letters for accuracy. As a result, the Star has allowed me to respond.
Neither of the letter writers knows me. One accused me of never bringing a police officer to trial. Not true. When I was chief criminal deputy, I was lead prosecutor on a case tried against an officer for endangerment and DUI. Under my leadership of the criminal division, we also brought other cases against officers, one involving serious sexual misconduct.
Their “sour grapes” allegations based on the claim that I had career ambitions are laughable. I was retired when Barbara LaWall asked me to come back for nine months to act as her chief criminal deputy. It is true I supported another candidate, not Conover, but I had no plans to work anymore after the new county attorney took office. My only career ambition was to break 80 on the golf course. My motivation in my guest opinion was to bring Conover’s failure to properly handle the Remington prosecution to the attention of the community. I believe our county attorney should operate competently and ethically.
David Berkman
Northwest side
Puzzling changes
Yes, you’re getting another letter because it’s 7:55 a.m. and I have just finished going through this morning’s hard copy of the newspaper. Really, is six pages of sports necessary compared to a half-page of awful comics and a half-page of puzzles? I realize there are subscribers that want the sports news — can’t they go online to read it? I can’t sit with my coffee and pencil enjoying the challenges of all the puzzles as I did before these arbitrary changes were made.
We’re seriously thinking about canceling our subscription, after 20 years. Not only has it become something we’re not looking forward to getting, it also is costing us more and more and more. Not worth it!
Carol Rohr
Oro Valley
A suggestion
We are paying a fair amount to the Star every year, and you won’t even give us a decent comic page? Come on! If you feel you need to cut something for financial reasons, please consider cutting the national news, which is available from numerous free sources online and is usually more up to date.
The following are the main reasons we subscribe:
1. News about Arizona, especially Tucson and Southern Arizona.
2. The Opinion page with articles from local and national opinion writers.
3. The Letters to the Editor, (my personal favorite.)
4. Two full pages of comics and puzzles in print that’s large enough to read.
5. The Sports section, at the request of my husband.
There must be ways to save money at your end and continue to provide your readers with a reason to subscribe.
P.S. I get more information about living life from “Luann” than from that astrology section.
Judy Willmott
Green Valley
