Tucson Speaks Out: July 23

Ciscomani is jacking up costs

I recently read a letter describing Ciscomani as a “key leader” for lowering costs, but that could not be further from the truth.

Ciscomani’s laundry list of raising costs on Arizonans keeps growing: he repeatedly voted to protect Trump’s tariffs, he voted against ending the war in Iran, and he allowed health care premiums to skyrocket. Thanks to Ciscomani, prices are rising on groceries, gas, and everyday goods. Families are struggling to get by, small businesses are being weighed down, and farmers are being priced out of work.

Is this Ciscomani’s grand plan to lower the cost of living?

We need change. We need a fighter. We need someone like JoAnna Mendoza, a former Marine and the daughter of farm workers, who knows what it means to put hardworking Arizonans first. We can’t afford Ciscomani anymore. This November, I hope you join me in supporting JoAnna Mendoza with your vote.

Carmen De Backer

Midtown

Focus on affordability issue

The reasons we have high prices causing the affordability issue are threefold: Trump’s war with Iran that costs us billions each day with no end in sight; Trump’s inane and always changing tariffs, which raise the cost of goods imported into the United States; and the corruption by Trump’s government which favors the rich at the expense of the poor. If Democrats want to win, they need to say what they would do to address the cost of living, which is going up daily. Hating Trump is easy. But the real issue is fixing affordability, preferably jointly with those Republicans who put the country first before politics. As James Carville said, “It’s the economy, stupid.”

Michael Mount

Foothills

Military machine

I find it interesting to note that while Mr. Hegseth ruthlessly follows President Trump’s commands to the very edge of being declared “war crimes,” he seems to turn a blind eye to several incidents that were clearly against regulations — the most current being the Navy’s acrobatic team, the Blue Angels, flying too close to an occupied beach in Florida. Whether Mr. Hegseth thinks that the current regulations are out of date or clearly trying to “bond” with these elite flyers is unknown; what is known is that the regulations exist for the purpose of ensuring the safety of both military and civilian personnel. Secretary Hegseth must realize — with his vast store of military knowledge - that when he loosens one bolt on the “military machine”, the entire military mechanism will come loose and fly apart.

Richard Rebl

East side

Pedestrian fatalities

On Saturday, July 18, the Star carried an LTE stating that “82% of pedestrian victims who underwent a toxicology screen tested positive for drugs”.

That statement is meaningless without knowing what percentage of the total number of victims were tested.

Hugo Wessels

Midtown

Communism as a threat

I don’t remember the worst days of the McCarthy period, but I know thousands of people’s lives were ruined by innuendo, bigotry and the use of fear as a tactic. Well, welcome to McCarthy Part 2. The White House has started a new campaign alleging that communism is going to take over the country. Their definition of communism is, essentially, any ideology that does not specifically align with Trump’s. Secretary Rubio’s speech about the administration’s opposition to “radical left terrorists” and “antifa” in particular continued the attempted scare tactics. Antifa, by the way, is a short form of anti-fascism and does not exist as an organization of any kind: look it up. Opposing fascism, aka authoritarianism, seems like a good thing, but apparently, according to Stephen Miller, no normal person takes part in anti-fascism demonstrations because only those with inner hatred participate. Frankly, for Stephen Miller to be condemning anyone else’s inner hatred is the height of hypocrisy.

Nancy Atherton

Foothills

Vietnam Redux

According to AI:

“They can’t bomb us into surrender, and we can’t bomb them into submission.” This line is widely attributed to President Johnson in retrospective accounts of his private comments during the Vietnam War.

Johnson’s privately expressed frustration became a key theme in later historical analyses of the war: the U.S. could inflict damage, but Hanoi’s political will remained intact. The quote is often used to illustrate the strategic stalemate and the limits of air power in coercing an ideologically committed adversary.

Does history repeat itself?

Daniel Smejkal

Oro Valley

Negative, unethical ads

Dear Mr. Ruetz: It appears that you have been lured in by the misinformation that the less-than-ethical candidates approve of in their negative TV ads. They hope to influence the uninformed like yourself who choose not to do their due diligence and properly research each candidate. Your criticism of retired Marine Joanna Mendoza was typical Trumpism, lacking truth, honor and integrity. Ads such as these mirror the candidate's misguided moral compass, highlighting their lack of confidence and their insecurity, which leads to the failed theory that the end justifies the means ... whatever that means may be.

Phil "Bulldog" Bentley

Major, USAF A10s retired

Foothills

South Tucson is getting better!

Tim Steller says South Tucson is in a dire moment due to the drug epidemic, but damn near everywhere is in the same struggle. In truth, South Tucson is actually getting better.

We on City Council have worked hard to improve public safety. We now have 15 full-time cops in our one-square-mile city who actually respond, unlike severely understaffed TPD. We repeatedly instructed our police not to cooperate with ICE or Border Patrol, and we passed a $6 million bond to upgrade our fire department.

Food City said they left South Tucson in part because of our tax on groceries. So we eliminated this so that people will pay less for food and attract new grocery stores to come help us economically develop South Tucson.

Furthermore, every property Casa Maria bought is now housing for working-class people who would otherwise be homeless. Whether reelected or not, we will unapologetically fight gentrification and secure more housing that people here can afford.

Roxanna Valenzuela

South Tucson

Misdirected outrage

Re: July 19 letter by Steven Ruetz. He is voting for Juan Ciscomani because they both have daughters and don't want "men" in women's locker rooms. The number of transsexuals in college sports is 7 out of 500,000 — .0014%. The minuscule number of trans athletes has become the scapegoat target of Republican politicians, whose blind allegiance to a mentally unstable, unpopular president has become more and more desperate. It's surprising that the fathers of these daughters are not up in arms over the Trump cover-up of the Epstein scandal - egregious pedophile sexual misconduct cases that warrant extreme outrage, exposure and accountability of perpetrators. Crickets from Juan on this matter.

Rick Klumpp

Oro Valley

Testosterone

So Pete Hegseth wants to test all military members for testosterone. How much will that cost? If they have a low T score, Pete says the government will provide testosterone medication. What are the long-term effects of this therapy? Cancer is one of them.

Donna Hefley

East side

The fool on the hill

Not exactly what Paul McCartney intended, but here goes:

He denounces climate change.

He denounces the importance of science.

He denounces the contributions of immigrants.

He denounces those who disagree with him.

He adheres to the teachings of Fred and Roy.

He adheres to retribution as a way to govern.

He adheres to golf courses as the best way to experience nature.

He adheres to trappings of gold as a sign of importance.

Truly, he is a fool on the hill.

Ted Fleming

Northwest side

Untrustworthy elections

In last Thursday's speech, Trump's basic message was that the voting system can't be trusted. So why did he not challenge the outcome of the 2024 election or at least explain why that election was trustworthy? His reasoning is therefore not logical, i.e not rational. Instead, his decision-making is primarily emotionally based. Good leadership requires reason-based decision -making.

Dale Gehring

Midtown