Tucson speaks up: Letters to the editor for the week of Dec. 12, 2025
- Updated
Our weekly round-up of letters published in the Arizona Daily Star.
- Robert Lichtenberg, Oro Valley
“Think it through” was a Learning Center game I gave my kids in the 1980s. Let’s play today.
1.) After all the bullshit and changing stories and lack of film, the one thing I know: Having capsized a 6-foot dinghy with friends as a kid, is that no 2 men are flipping over a craft with 4 motors attached. Having fish in the ocean, all you can do in this situation is hold on and wait if this were to happen.
2.) The boats have never proven to be from Venezuela.
3.) The boats would be carrying cocaine not fentanyl.
4.) Are the large oil reserves, which would be a boon for the industry, or the “rare earth minerals," the reason for trying to obtain ownership of Greenland, our true interest in Venezuela?
5.) If we can blow up boats with no proof, can we kill a person on the corner
who we believe is dealing drugs? Maybe that person was giving out new needles, condoms or spiritual guidance.
Robert Lichtenberg
Oro Valley
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
- Bruce Hilpert, North side
So, now the taxpayers will be giving $12 billion of welfare to American farm owners and corporations since China refuses to buy their soybeans due to Trump's incompetent policies. This is on top of the price increases we face due to his erratic and vengeful levy of tariffs.
While I don't begrudge reparations to family farmers, corporate welfare is a growing trend under the Trump administration. It seems that “welfare” is only bad when it goes to the neediest among us.
Bruce Hilpert
North side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
- Barbara Hall, Midtown
A new feature on X (formerly Twitter) has revealed that many popular accounts with divisive partisan postings, purportedly from Americans, are coming from Asia, Africa, and eastern Europe.
Foreign governments have used social media to spread disinformation (fake videos, news stories, and posts)
to manipulate voters and influence U.S. elections. But the platforms incentivize another motive: money. Clicks, likes, and reposts generate revenue for the person doing the posting, and it is well-known that divisive content increases these responses.
In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Rad and Schapira call for more transparency on an influencer’s location. “After all, posts from the “Ivanka Trump News” account with 1 million followers feel very different once you
learn the account is posting from Nigeria.”
They state: “Americans debating issues that affect their communities deserve a feed that reflects real local voices and the real local popularity of those voices.”
Of course, a personal response to this “rage-baiting” business is to think before responding, i.e. paying the poster.
Barbara Hall
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
- Gerald Schwartz, Foothills
A loyal writer appears to have a new hot topic. Crime. Yes, people who have been convicted of various crimes get released and then commit another crime. And it appears it is apolitical. View those pardoned by the current President. Some had prior criminal records, convicted of J6 violence, pardoned and have subsequently been charged and convicted of crimes and some serious felonies. One could spend hours researching recidivism rates of various groups. Maybe that is what our loyal friend should do in his spare time.
Gerald Schwartz
Foothills
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
- Andrew Kunsberg, East side
No mention of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran or Qatar, no mention of October 7th, no explanation for the failure of Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords before October 7th. What were they waiting for? No mention of the hostages. For me, the depravity and barbarity of Hamas are justification for what Israel has done to Gaza since October 7th. Destroying Hamas was a worthwhile goal. Clearly, millions disagree with us.
Was it genocide when we retaliated in WW2? Genocide is ethnic cleansing. When you go to church, do you need armed guards, or guards to any event? Israel has had enough of Iran and Hamas and Hezbollah. Israel is not a perfect democracy, neither are we, but they are a democracy, you should visit. Where is the outcry of Sudan and Nigeria where it is really ethnic cleansing? Oh, I know it does not involve the Jewish state of Israel. People globally support Hamas, I cannot understand the why.
God help us.
Andrew Kunsberg
East side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
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- Robert Lichtenberg, Oro Valley
“Think it through” was a Learning Center game I gave my kids in the 1980s. Let’s play today.
1.) After all the bullshit and changing stories and lack of film, the one thing I know: Having capsized a 6-foot dinghy with friends as a kid, is that no 2 men are flipping over a craft with 4 motors attached. Having fish in the ocean, all you can do in this situation is hold on and wait if this were to happen.
2.) The boats have never proven to be from Venezuela.
3.) The boats would be carrying cocaine not fentanyl.
4.) Are the large oil reserves, which would be a boon for the industry, or the “rare earth minerals," the reason for trying to obtain ownership of Greenland, our true interest in Venezuela?
5.) If we can blow up boats with no proof, can we kill a person on the corner
who we believe is dealing drugs? Maybe that person was giving out new needles, condoms or spiritual guidance.
Robert Lichtenberg
Oro Valley
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
- Bruce Hilpert, North side
So, now the taxpayers will be giving $12 billion of welfare to American farm owners and corporations since China refuses to buy their soybeans due to Trump's incompetent policies. This is on top of the price increases we face due to his erratic and vengeful levy of tariffs.
While I don't begrudge reparations to family farmers, corporate welfare is a growing trend under the Trump administration. It seems that “welfare” is only bad when it goes to the neediest among us.
Bruce Hilpert
North side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
- Barbara Hall, Midtown
A new feature on X (formerly Twitter) has revealed that many popular accounts with divisive partisan postings, purportedly from Americans, are coming from Asia, Africa, and eastern Europe.
Foreign governments have used social media to spread disinformation (fake videos, news stories, and posts)
to manipulate voters and influence U.S. elections. But the platforms incentivize another motive: money. Clicks, likes, and reposts generate revenue for the person doing the posting, and it is well-known that divisive content increases these responses.
In a recent Washington Post op-ed, Rad and Schapira call for more transparency on an influencer’s location. “After all, posts from the “Ivanka Trump News” account with 1 million followers feel very different once you
learn the account is posting from Nigeria.”
They state: “Americans debating issues that affect their communities deserve a feed that reflects real local voices and the real local popularity of those voices.”
Of course, a personal response to this “rage-baiting” business is to think before responding, i.e. paying the poster.
Barbara Hall
Midtown
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
- Gerald Schwartz, Foothills
A loyal writer appears to have a new hot topic. Crime. Yes, people who have been convicted of various crimes get released and then commit another crime. And it appears it is apolitical. View those pardoned by the current President. Some had prior criminal records, convicted of J6 violence, pardoned and have subsequently been charged and convicted of crimes and some serious felonies. One could spend hours researching recidivism rates of various groups. Maybe that is what our loyal friend should do in his spare time.
Gerald Schwartz
Foothills
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
- Andrew Kunsberg, East side
No mention of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran or Qatar, no mention of October 7th, no explanation for the failure of Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords before October 7th. What were they waiting for? No mention of the hostages. For me, the depravity and barbarity of Hamas are justification for what Israel has done to Gaza since October 7th. Destroying Hamas was a worthwhile goal. Clearly, millions disagree with us.
Was it genocide when we retaliated in WW2? Genocide is ethnic cleansing. When you go to church, do you need armed guards, or guards to any event? Israel has had enough of Iran and Hamas and Hezbollah. Israel is not a perfect democracy, neither are we, but they are a democracy, you should visit. Where is the outcry of Sudan and Nigeria where it is really ethnic cleansing? Oh, I know it does not involve the Jewish state of Israel. People globally support Hamas, I cannot understand the why.
God help us.
Andrew Kunsberg
East side
Disclaimer: As submitted to the Arizona Daily Star.
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