Honor our brave, compassionate nurses
I am a retired physician assistant who worked for 23 years in bone-marrow transplants. Some of my patients passed away because the therapy was their last option. Families could be there at the end, which was very important to them.
COVID-19 patients’ families are not allowed to be there, which is intolerable to family members. But, when I hear the phrase, “With only a nurse to hold their hand,” it seems to undermine their sacrifice.
Those nurses (and all medical staff) work long shifts, sometimes with inadequate PPE, risk their lives and use their own cellphones to connect the patient with their loved ones. The tragedy affects them as well, and they deserve our utmost gratitude.
Bonnie Parsons
East side
People are also reading…
Tucson’s own
speakers’ corner
A small group of people meets every Friday at 7 a.m. for an hour at the corner of Swan Road and Fort Lowell Road (not Camp Lowell), the Starbucks corner. The purpose is to speak out for change. It’s a peaceful group determined to share opinions with the public on how to make things better.
They are there for an hour. You can bring your own sign or use one of their many signs. Your opinion is welcome.
You will see signs about respect and justice and equality and voting and keeping loved ones alive in this pandemic, abolishing police brutality, inequality, hunger and poverty. There are many expressing how Black lives matter. There are several about human dignity, school opening and some about staying alive and saving the planet.
And some, like this one: “Be Kind.” Join the group or try it in your own neighborhood. It’s an easy First Amendment action.
John Gilmore
Midtown
We have entered a new dark age
The right-wing in this country peddles paranoia and conspiracy theories yet follows Dear Leader Donald Trump’s lies about our pandemic that has killed 150,000 Americans and counting. Meanwhile, GOP governors decide whether to keep the president happy or constituents alive. Trump tells states they are on their own fighting the virus but threatens to withhold funds if schools aren’t open.
He argues that more testing creates more virus cases and convinced some supporters that people who wear masks are enemies. Trump’s “logic” dictates that driving 100 mph down the highway is a right. He can solve the problem of people entering the U.S. illegally by not counting them. Then the number would be zero!
We have entered a new dark age. Scientists, medical professionals and facts are ignored or denigrated.
Trump supporters should dump their doctors and druggists and hire witch doctors and alchemists. They would be a lot cheaper, and they will tell you whatever you want to hear.
Vance Holliday
Foothills
Following the leader, wherever he may go
In my opinion, maskless Trump supporters are not stupid. They have been frightened into blind obedience. They need to see their master wearing a mask at all times along with an order to do the same, and to be invited to help punish anyone who is not wearing a mask. They have to be told by their fearsome dictator how to save themselves from his wrath.
And his wrath is mighty — look at the children he has separated from their parents, for example. Trump sycophants confuse cruelty with strength, and if they don’t have the guts to stand up for themselves, they become like their abuser.
Gretchen Nielsen
East side
America, there is a third way
Is this the best we can do? Two aged white men, both accused of sexual abuse, both showing signs of dementia, both draft dodgers. Trump can’t open his mouth without lying; Biden can’t without saying something inane. Trump couldn’t keep out of bankruptcy; Biden hasn’t had a real job since he was 29.
People say Trump is a racist; Biden worked to stop integration by forced busing. Trump cheated on his SATs; Biden plagiarized his class assignments. Trump says he’s the greatest president of all time; Biden falsely claimed to have outstanding academic credentials. Trump wants to cut social programs; Biden wants to spend trillions we don’t have.
There is a real alternative: Libertarian Jo Jorgensen. She has a Ph.D. in psychology and an MBA, is a senior college lecturer and successful businesswoman. If you’re sick of the incompetence of both major parties, look Jo up.
Alfred Westerfield
Southwest side
Kelly strays
from party script
Democratic Senate candidate Mark Kelly needs to get with the Democratic playbook on America. Doesn’t he know by now that we are racist, unjust and full of inequalities with no chance of success because of these oppressive factors? Yet Kelly has been saturating TV with a political ad wearing a tight black T-shirt working on his motorcycle.
During the ad, he discusses attending college and graduating, something his father doubted he could do. Then going on to become a military jet pilot and a space shuttle astronaut. Kelly says, “Everybody can achieve their dream in America if they try hard enough.”
Wow! That is totally contrary to the Democratic narrative claiming just the opposite. Maybe Kelly is really a closeted Republican?
He obviously has been a success through white privilege and does not comprehend it. He should be disqualified from becoming a Democratic senator and should repent for being white. There is no room in the Democratic Party for his kind of thinking.
Charles Tach
SaddleBrooke
A good deed
punished
I recently did something that I don’t ordinarily do: I donated money to a political campaign. Yes, I put my money where my mouth is, and isn’t that an odd (and disgusting) expression? I decided that the politician I disliked was so irksome that I should do more than just yell at the TV when a commercial for the incumbent was aired.
Since then, the candidate to whom I sent the money has inundated me with leaflets, pamphlets and e-mails asking me for more money! That’s right: The contender has seemingly spent all the donation that I sent to the campaign asking me for another donation to the campaign! Money well-spent? Hardly!
In life, I try to not make the same mistake twice. Hopefully, this time I have learned this lesson: No good deed goes unpunished!
Rick Cohn
West side
Stop blaming Trump for COVID-19
Let’s get some things straight about Trump and COVID-19. The virus originated in China. They covered it up and allowed it to spread internationally. In January, Donald Trump issued a travel ban on China and declared a public emergency, followed by travel bans on Europe, Mexico, and Canada.
In March he declared the virus a pandemic and a National Emergency. Yes, Trump initially down played the severity of the virus, but so did illustrious Dr. Anthony Fauci and others. Trump initiated historic public and government actions to acquire and manufacture millions of masks, gowns, face shields and thousands of ventilators.
According to a GAO report, COVID-19 required many more PPEs than the national stockpile could store. Trump got big health care insurers to waive testing costs and deductibles for COVID care. Trump launched the Operation Warp Speed vaccine program.
The White House and the CDC set guidelines for states to reopen. Some governors ignored them.
Jonathan Towers
Marana
Employers have responsibilities, too
I understand that a national liability bill is being or will be proposed to protect an employer from frivolous lawsuits. However, the employer must first provide a safe work environment in this COVID-19 time: requiring or providing masks, protective barriers or adequate space between workers, keeping the work area and restrooms clean and sanitized. Whatever is needed to protect employees from catching or giving COVID-19 to one another.
Any additional state requirements should also be met. A recent newspaper article showed farmworkers in very unsafe conditions: in the fields with no protection from sprayed herbicides, no masks, crowded together with other workers. And if they get sick, no pay. If they are not allowed to sue under those conditions, that’s not fair!
Betty Lu Holland
Midtown
Washington needs
to keep focus on people
I cannot believe how many projects and non-people-related items that the Republican Party wants to include in legislation that’s supposed to aid the American public during COVID-19. This is not the time for pet projects. Focus, people!
And if you cannot agree on $600 per week for unemployment insurance benefits, consider a diminishing payout, like $600 per week for August, $500 per week for September, and so forth. At least that would give people more time to go back to work or to adjust their living expenses.
Stop thinking people are avoiding work; it just needs to be safe. If customers don’t feel safe, then businesses, whether traditional or big, will not be able to run their businesses because customers will not patronize them. No customers equals no business. No business means no jobs. No jobs means no customers. Sheesh.
Andrea Edmundson
West side
