Crossword out of date; soon we might be, too
I’m addicted to the Sunday New York Times’ crossword puzzles and buy them in books. Consequently, some of the puzzles are not current, but I’m old enough to remember many of the words and phrases that seem quaint now. However, I just completed a puzzle in which one of the definitions was not quaint, but definitely no longer valid; its answer broke my heart.
Definition: Arctic cover, answer: ice sheet. When I visualize the Arctic, the only image that comes to mind is one of a polar bear sitting on a floating chunk of ice no wider than the bear. But during this “hottest on record” decade, the melting “ice sheet” is not the only example of what awaits this planet. Just think of the future of Tucson summers.
Billie Kozolchyk
Foothills
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Looking for examples
of courage in this trial
I recently visited the Gerald Ford Presidential Library in Michigan. This quote is over the main room: “Our Constitution works; our Great Republic is a government of laws, not men. Here the people rule.” President Ford said this immediately after taking his oath of office. Soon after, President Ford pardoned ex-President Nixon to help speed the healing of Watergate, our long national nightmare.
He did so at great political risk, and it cost him the following election. This action also, 25 years later, earned him the JFK Profile in Courage award. This award is “to inspire other elected officials to follow their conscience regardless of political cost.” I wonder, will anyone from today’s long national nightmare receive a Profile in Courage award?
William Krauss
Downtown
Vouchers and SB 1224 bad for public schools
On the surface, school vouchers may seem appealing in a country where underfunded schools struggle to meet the needs of its students. But vouchers that help students access private schools that don’t have to meet the same standards and regulations as public schools are not the answer. Vouchers usually cover only partial tuition, leaving a large chunk which may be daunting for middle or lower-income families, but clearly benefiting the wealthy.
Worse yet, SB 1224 would take taxpayer money from local districts and channel it into private schools which aren’t necessarily even in Arizona. Last year, Amphitheater Unified District lost 81 students to private schools and took with them nearly a million dollars from the general education fund. SB 1224 would allow Arizona to send its state tax dollars to private schools in other states. This is a bad bill for an already stressed education system.
Jane Atkins
Southeast side
How we stop robocalls to our Cox landline
Robocalls are an irritant to all of us. I want to inform readers about a program called Nomorobo that stops these calls. It’s free on our landline with Cox, but is also available through other cable companies. It’s easy to set up, and once activated it recognizes when a call is a robocall and will stop the call after one ring. Non-robocalls will continue ringing. As far as I know it’s not available for free on smartphones, so on my iPhone, I simply restrict call rings to folks on my contact list. Other calls still go through, but the phone doesn’t ring. I then check recent calls for messages and, as appropriate, block the unwanted phone numbers.
Nomorobo has brought peace and quiet back to our home! Not only did it stop the incessant ringing, but it has reduced those calls by over 50%.
Jean Barkley
Southeast side
This impeachment
is a debate, not a trial
The discussion happening in Washington, D.C., defending Donald Trump cannot be called a trial. A trial consists of witnesses and documents to defend the accused from the accusers and present facts that can be proven.
This presentation can only be called a debate, each side presenting their individual views of the facts without trial requirements.
As stated by James Farmer Jr., founder of the Congress of Racial Equality in 1942 and a civil-rights activist, “The majority doesn’t determine what is right or wrong, the singular conscience does. Nothing that erodes the rule of law can be called moral.” How prophetic these words would be today if used during the Senate hearings.
What is happening today is as important as civil rights were in 1942. Now we are trying to save our democracy.
Today 75% of voters agree to witnesses.
Beatrice (Bea) Cutler
Northwest side
Let’s see if McSally trusts the public
Sen. Martha McSally recently brushed off a reporter, refusing to answer a question and calling him “a liberal hack.” Apparently desiring to keep media attention on the event, she wrote an oped about it for the Arizona Republic, then promoted it in her weekly email.
She explains her behavior by claiming reporters are biased, which she believes justifies refusing to answer questions. This position is unsatisfactory for her constituents. Reporters, whatever their personal views, are conduits of information for the public. Most of us can’t approach Sen. McSally to ask a question. We all rely on the press to gather information and report to the citizenry. Surely she trusts us to make our own assessments about the credibility of various sources of information?
I challenge the senator to demonstrate trust in her constituents: end the stonewalling, require witnesses and documents in the impeachment hearings and release the complete transcript of the call. Provide citizens the real evidence. We can decide for ourselves without senators or reporters spinning the facts.
Jim Armstrong
Green Valley
Unelected McSally lacks a constituency
Interesting to have Sen. Martha McSally label anyone who wishes to talk with her “hacks” and then claim she is representing her constituents’ wishes. Last time I looked, the senator did not win her last election for the Senate and was appointed to the current term to replace Sen. John McCain. Therefore, she has never been elected by a constituency (to the Senate). Who does she claim to be her constituency?
Alan Barreuther
Foothills
Senate needs
leaders, not evaders
In light of the damning news reports that John Bolton can corroborate the case for impeachment due to Donald Trump trying to extort the president of Ukraine for political gain, Sen. Martha McSally must participate by voting to call witnesses. There’s a legal definition for the actions of the Republican Party: Willful blindness, the deliberate failure to make a reasonable inquiry of wrongdoing (as drug dealing in one’s house) despite suspicion or an awareness of the high probability of its existence.
Willful blindness involves conscious avoidance of the truth and gives rise to an inference of knowledge of the crime in question and is a violation of senator’s oath of office. By any objective standard, Trump is an intellectually ignorant, emotionally immature, morally bankrupt man with no regard for another human being and a mortal allergy to the truth. And if the Senate GOP does not vote to call witnesses, they will be complicit.
Marisa Espinoza
Sahuarita