Tucson Speaks Out: March 9 letters of the day

I believe the criminal and civil cases filed against Trump are tantamount to election interference. No complaints from Democrats, though. Trump left the White House on Jan. 20, 2021. Why did it take the NY State AG’s office until September 2022 to bring Civil fraud charges against the Trump Organization? Why did it take until November 2022 for USAG Garland to appoint a Special Counsel to investigate Trump, and not until June 2023 to indict him for Classified documents, in his possession since leaving office? Another Indictment followed in August 2023 related to Jan. 6, 2021. Why did it take the Manhattan DA’s office until March 2023 to indict Trump related to payments to Stormy Daniels made in 2016? Why did it take until August 2023 for the Fulton County GA DA’s office to indict Trump? Court cases usually take over a year to be adjudicated. These prosecutors knew that and purposely timed Trump’s indictments knowing the outcomes would be just before the November election. Democrats’ election interference!

Christy Daniels

Foothills

Aid for Gaza

President Biden has recently dropped aid packages in Gaza. While I understand there is a great need for the people of Gaza, I cannot help but remember the images of Gaza residents partying and dancing in the streets on 9/11. They clearly hate the people of the United States and were pleased at the deaths of all the innocent people who died on that day. Yet Biden is sending them aid at our taxpayers’ expense. If the U.S. wanted to really help them, they should not have been the only country to have vetoed a cease-fire of Israel. You will never hear any of the Gaza residents say even as much as a “thank you” to the U.S. for this aid. Why is the U.S. doing this, especially when there are many countries in the geographical area near Gaza that could airdrop aid into Gaza?

John Kaufman

SaddleBrooke

President elections

The presidential election has been a roller coaster ride. The media makes claims about crimes, but no one is indicted, tried or convicted. Leaders in Colorado remove Pres. Trump from the ballot, without cause, attempting to influence the elections. Not surprising, the Supreme Court nullified the Colorado action, ending the Colorado election tampering, stopping Colorado’s attempt to interfere in Democracy. It seems that most of the liberal activists have forgotten that Pres. Trump was already the President once before and the biggest concern from that time was the introduction of COVID from China. Prices were stable during the term and fuel was available, then Biden took over and prices have gone up 18% and fuel has been short supply, making Russia a prime supplier, providing the funds to invade Ukraine. So, Biden provided the means for Russia to invade Ukraine and then ended up providing munitions to fight the Russian invasion. I’m not sure who really won the last election, but it’s clear the American people lost.

Loran Hancock

Northwest side

PragerU offers alternatives to facts

“Liberals are trying to indoctrinate our school children to hate America. They want our children to believe we are a racist country. Tom Horne will stop them.” So stated on his website. Tom did a great job in bringing out the CRT boogeymen to scare you into thinking he was the savior for our public schools.

Meanwhile Tom has green-lighted PragerU into your children’s classroom. PragerU and PragerKids have no educational value or certification. It is funded by fracking billionaires, and people like Anti Public Schools former Secretary of Education Betsy Devos.

PragerU is an alternative to facts and truth. They spread disinformation regarding climate, LGBTQ, DEI, the issue of slavery, and other far-right insanity. (It’s about much more than what Killer Columbus may have said.) Prager’s doctorate is designed to indoctrinate your children into believing falsehoods. This may cause future letter writers to claim some pretty whopper statements, like the recent one about 2 million green cards issued in 2022.

Larry Robinson

Northwest side

Representative Ciscomani

Re: the March 6 letter “Ciscomani.”

To the editor,

This letter to the editor complimenting Representative Ciscomani for having an effective communications system but goes on to state that it glosses over the substance of a bad voting record.

I have sent three letters to Ciscomani since he took office. I received no response to any of them. I am a constituent disappointed in my representative who pointed it out in three brief letters. Even the gloss fictionalizing his record with a purported explanation would be an improvement.

Barry Kirschner

Midtown

14th Amendment needs legislative support

Re: the March 5 article “Justices rule in Trump’s favor.”

Judicial overreach in the Five Guys’ majority opinion overruling the Colorado Supreme Court decision on Trump v. Anderson, together with the minority opinions articulated by the four dissenters, makes it incumbent upon the United States Congress to plug the loophole in the law through which malefactors might escape.

The actual language in the court decision is more precise, but the AP article summarizes it pretty well. What needs to happen is for Congress to enact a law that allows Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment to be enforced without further niggling or ambiguity. Section 5 of the Fourteenth Amendment spells it out: “The Congress shall have power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.” Congress needs to enact that appropriate legislation.

John Leech

Foothills

May the best man win

Re: the March 6 letter “I see my dad in President Joe Biden.”

After reading the letter, I was reminded how I see in Donald Trump my good friend who has sadly digressed into physical and mental decline. Besides health-destroying obesity, his mental faculties render him incompetent. He often rambles verbal nonsense. I see the same with Trump. To me, he appears short of breath after walking 10 steps — he’s in terrible physical shape. His mental unfitness is glaring. Think about his suggestion of ingesting cleaning chemicals to kill COVID, his idea to detonate an A-bomb into a hurricane’s eye, and his recent bizarre and nonsensical diatribe about magnets and how they don’t work if put in water. Just a few of many examples that should have everyone questioning Trump’s mental fitness for any important position. There’s been much speculation about Biden’s fitness and capabilities. Here’s an idea — give both men civics/history/science exams, then have them square off in a one-mile road race. The highest performer becomes our next president.

Deb Klumpp

Oro Valley

Opinion letters and civility

I would like to see more civility in our opinion letters.

Civility to me means politeness and courtesy. It means respecting others. It emphasizes the importance of recognizing others as equals and respecting their rights and opinions. It also involves being willing to engage in civil discourse and debate, even with those we disagree with.

Civil discourse and debate are intertwined concepts that both involve the exchange of ideas in a respectful and constructive manner. Civil discourse should foster understanding and learning through the respectful exchange of viewpoints. Debate should present and defend opposing positions on a particular issue.

When I was on my high school debating team, we had to be able to defend both sides of an issue. This required understanding and empathy.

Too often our letter writers turn to name calling and sarcasm. We need to learn to listen and to be empathetic to other views.

Overall, opinion letters are valuable tools for navigating complex issues.

Let’s keep them civil.

Tom McGorray

Northwest side

Free bus fare

Re: the March 7 letter “Bus fare.”

We agree: Tucson deserves world-class transit. Reinstating fares won’t get us there, and ridership will plummet. We’ll all feel it: more congestion, less parking, more air pollution, overflow traffic in neighborhoods. Less visible may be the harm to those not making their trips. We don’t charge entry fees to our regional parks. Our library system is free to all. We fund roads and don’t (yet) charge for access. Why, for public transit — a system we claim we want more people to use — do we insist on a user fee? We must invest with permanent and sustainable revenue streams if our transit is to become world-class. We offered several ideas: surcharges on hotel stays, rental car fees, small increases in property taxes. Paying for quality transit doesn’t have to happen at the fare box. Transit benefits us all and it should be funded the same way as our parks, roads, and libraries.

Miranda Schubert and Kylie Walzak

Midtown

A pox upon us

Here in Arizona, we have been afflicted with a plague of biblical proportions, a pox on anyone who can see, hear or read. Other than living in a cave, there has been no escape from Kari Lake’s seemingly endless stream of bogus, whining lawsuits, all of which have been thrown out.

The latest statement from her lawyer says she is merely indulging in “mere rhetorical hyperbole.” That pretty much describes the whole, complete sum of what she does and says.

Tim Canny

Oracle

Visionaries

Ms. Haley, better to have lost the race than not to have entered at all. If only the Don had gone fishing in the Bermuda Triangle. Hal(l)ey’s comet shall return. The Don and MAGA remain. Or is it MAWA? Make America White Again. He sprinkles a little pepper and cinnamon into his flour base, trying to deceive us. The 4 R’s are cheering him on. The very Rich, the very Racist, the Russian named Putin and the very Reluctant not to believe him. A little Dorothy Thompson needs to rub off on us. She warned the Germans of Hitler’s propaganda in the ’30s. Expelled from Germany, she returned to America and warned us of the Nazi movement in the U.S. prior to World War 2. Now we have the Don’s movement. The Don and his Greed Breed want to dismantle democracy. Rule of law or rule of a ruler? What’s your vision?

Joe Sanchez

Marana

Free transit fares

I ride the bus almost daily. It is such a convenient mode of transportation, and I feel good not using a personal vehicle that spews more exhaust into our exhausted atmosphere. I love the equality and humanity displayed by my fellow passengers. People from all political stripes and every economic level are welcomed equally on the bus. It’s fast and easy to board without needing to keep track of a bus pass. The city will lose riders if fares are reintroduced. Expect more boarding delays and arguments, too. If other citizens can afford to pay transit fares, and they wish to pay their fair fare share, they should write a check to the city and designate it to be used for public transportation. UA President Bobby Robbins should lead the effort since so many of his students, workers and visitors benefit from all those free rides. It could help burnish his failed public image while narrowing our public transit’s fiscal gap, perhaps?

Mary DeCamp

Downtown

U of A controversy

U of A President Robbins has expressed a willingness to accept a 10% salary cut. How about a 100% cut?

Beverly Rutter

Midtown

Dumb laws

Opinion: LD 17 Senator Justine Wadsack continues to show her limited critical thinking abilities by supporting a ballot initiative to allow businesses and individuals to sue cities if they are unable to remove homeless people who are near their property. She fails to recognize that, first of all, cities themselves are somewhat constrained in actions they can take by federal laws. Second, successful lawsuits will result in cities having less money to provide both services to aid the homeless and fund police who would otherwise deal with homeless people who do break the law. She is essentially defunding the police.

Hopefully LD 17 voters will sack Wadsack this next election and vote down this stupid initiative.

Jerry Morris

SaddleBrooke

Free press

Interesting dialog in the NY Times this morning about Donald Trump’s admiration for “strong leaders” like Viktor Orban of Hungary and Vladimir Putin of Russia. In the dialog, the Times bureau chief for East and Central Europe, Andrew Higgins, says that Orban’s Hungary is not as much a police state like Russia or Belarus, but a “propaganda state,” without a free press. He notes that Russia, of course, is also a propaganda state.

Consider, if you will, the issue of the immigrants crowding our southern borders. Do you remember that it was Donald Trump who announced to the cartels that Joe Biden has opened the borders to anyone who wants to come? Open borders?

More than ever, we need the free press in our country to protect us from becoming Hungary and Russia — propaganda states. A free press protects our freedom.

Philip Silvers

Green Valley