Rating Congress
Why is all of the badgering and hurling of insults really needed (even if it’s veiled as being sometimes quietly polite)? After nearly 40 years in the Senate, isn’t President Biden qualified to choose a qualified nominee? Are the quietly sarcastic white Republican men aware of the accusations that abounded when both Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh were selected?
Furthermore, are two Harvard degrees mere hogwash? Is the fact that our candidate is both Black and female really the main deterrents? The answer is who knows. Certainly we know that because of the stark divisions politically in the mainstream of this country, no one seems to be able to agree on much of anything.
Oh well, I did learn that creating porn and viewing it are two different things. I rate this Congress a minus-10!
Janice Campos
People are also reading…
Foothills
Someone’s life depends on it
Many of us Arizonans are parents/grandparents, who want to make sure that our kids are safe and well cared for. That includes LGBTQ family members, who may be struggling with their identity or who know that they are queer/transgender. We know that it’s hard enough to tell family the truth about ourselves, and even harder when the community will not support that truth. That’s one of the reasons that queer/transgender young people attempt suicide roughly four times more often than heterosexual youth.
Arizona Republicans are dividing our communities and families by demonizing our vulnerable family members with legislation.
Nancy Burton
Southeast side
Brnovich wants to take away your health care
Our state’s Attorney General, Mark Brnovich, wants to get rid of the Affordable Care Act, which has helped over 300,000 Arizona residents get health coverage. He filed a lawsuit in 2018 to try to get the Supreme Court to say the ACA is unconstitutional, which would have meant hundreds of thousands of people losing their insurance coverage. And this lawsuit was all for show. He just wanted the media attention and publicity. He wasn’t trying to help anyone except perhaps large private insurance companies who are making millions (even billions) on people who already can’t afford the medical care they need.
Brnovich must stop trying to make health care less affordable and less accessible. Every citizen of Arizona should be able to access affordable health care coverage. If our AG is so set on helping these private companies, maybe he should work for one. He sure isn’t doing his job as Attorney General, who is supposed to help the public, not hurt us.
Beth Smith
Oro Valley
Renaming the Chuck Huckelberry Loop
It is a shame. The Chuck Huckelberry Loop was supposed to honor his dedication to the citizens of Pima County in making the Loop possible. A testament to him hearing the community voices on what is important and taking action. His name, not the countless hundreds of others who probably worked alongside him to make this happen over the decades, adorns the loop. But he heard other voices too — one bespoken of greed. The county, like most major employers, has a dedicated HR department that facilitates on/off boarding of employees. One does not separate from employment from the county without HR knowing. Furthermore, HR typically works hand-in-hand with the employer’s functional management to make sure they, too, understand what is transpiring. And, finally, there is often a checklist that identifies the employee’s “thing to do” when separating from employment, like notify your supervisors which in this case would have been the Pima County Board of Supervisors. Somehow, the Chuck Huckelberry Loop designation doesn’t do it for me anymore.
Andrew Archer
Northeast side
Expand internet access
I’ll give you an idea to increase internet accessibility — open the whole valley to whichever internet company we want to use. Right now the area I live in only has Cox available to me. If the whole valley was accessible to any internet company, perhaps the prices would drop. Let’s have some good old fashion competition. Now that’s what would probably benefit everyone.
Joyce Harrison
East side
Ukraine deportations
The West has long lived comfortably in the assurance we will never again see the feudal practice of a king claiming new land as a legal right of conquest.
Now, today, in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin is serving clear notice he is asserting a right of conquest by grinding Ukrainian buildings, culture, and people into the dust of the earth. He has plans to rebuild the nation in his own image, likely granting his generals and favorites brand new lands of their own.
Chattel slavery was yet another right of conquest, and most recently, was sourced in Africa. Today, according to reports, ownership of human bodies and minds is a white phenomenon sourced in Eastern Europe. Many thousands of Ukrainians are being deported to Russia where they will work in concentration camps for their new owner, laboring without civil or human rights.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Downtown
Academic bonuses
Re: the April 8 article “Heeke planning on academic bonuses.”
The UA athletic director has announced he will administer a new NCAA academic bonus student athlete compensation program (almost $6,000 per year) similar to awarding “participant trophies” in youth sports. Grade point achievement will not be be considered; just staying in school and progressing toward a degree will be required. Isn’t that what students are supposed to do, anyway? The rationale is that considering actual achievement might hurt recruitment.
Last I looked, the word “bonus” had meaning. The value of a bonus incentive is totally undermined if virtually everyone in the pool gets the same award.
This is just another reflection of how big-money college sports are being corrupted by those who personally financially benefit from the professionalization of “amateur” college athletics. Leaders of college sports would be better served if they just abandoned the “amateur” fiction.
Jim Greene
Marana
Trump and Ukraine
Thank goodness that Donald Trump was not president when Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine. Trump would have invited Putin to take the Baltic states and Moldova while he was at it.
Alan Rubens
Northeast side
Advice for the President
To the Editor:
President Biden could score big points as he looks for ways to help struggling senior citizens and Americans in general. 1. Rescind the outrageous tax on Social Security and 2. Make sure Congress passes the bill that puts a $35 cap on insulin, the life-saving drug for those (including me) who are afflicted with diabetes.
Herb Stark
Downtown
