JoAnna Mendoza
Misleading Article About Mendoza
You reprinted an article from the Arizona Republic saying that JoAnna Mendoza "wrongfully took home tax credit." This is extremely misleading. When you buy property in Arizona, you file an Affidavit of Legal Value with the assessor. For residential property, you say whether it is to be "owner-occupied or rented." The former automatically receives the tax credit. Ms. Mendoza did nothing wrong by categorizing each of them as her primary residence when she bought them. She failed to file a very rarely used form with the assessor to change the classification upon renting the first one. Only a few homeowners are even aware of the tax credit, and even fewer know about the need to file such a form. The article makes it seem like she was deliberately evading the law and is clearly trying to portray what is a very common occurrence as deliberate tax evasion.
Stephen Thomas
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Foothills
Socialism vs. the Constitution
Is anyone else tired of reading about the intricate distinctions among capitalism, democratic socialism, socialism and communism? If so, let’s address raw politics.
The official platform of the Democratic Socialist of America calls for abolishing the Senate, abolishing the Electoral College, and replacing the President and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress. I think this is a bad idea.
The 2025 Heritage Foundation’s vision for conservative government has been disparaged in countless LTEs since its publication. I support well over 50% of what they want to accomplish, and nowhere do I read that they want to nuke our Constitution to achieve its goals.
Which side are you on?
Jeffrey McConnell
West side
Opioid of the MAGAs
If Karl Marx put on a red MAGA hat and promised a tax cut, MAGAs would vote for him. Biggs is playing a shell game with voters, proposing to cut one tax and increase another. It’s going to bite him. 30 years of Republican majority in the AZ legislature proves they can't manage fifth-grade math.
Biggs blamed Hobbs for the budget shortfall of $2 billion. But it was the Ducey flat tax that tanked the coffers, hitting Hobbs in 2024. 70% of the cuts went to those earning more than $200k. Then the REPUBLICAN legislature forgot about 50,000 students already in private school in the ESA estimate. Add $350 million to the shortfall. AZ can’t afford to continue with this incompetence. So flip the legislature.
And Keep Hobbs. Biggs and MAGA congressmen let the Don raise prices with tariffs, start a war that hiked fossil fuel prices, and cut health care. Next? He’ll tell us about election fraud, another sign of desperation. We can do better.
Cindy Doklan
Midtown
A bridge too far
While I try to maintain an open-minded, fairly bipartisan perspective on politics, sometimes one has to speak up about what appear to be egregious actions taken by our government. I find your front-page article on Aug. 15 concerning ICE planning on using shock-inducing gloves on those whom they try to arrest truly over-the-top and "a bridge too far." While we read that these gloves emit only a "low-voltage" shock as compared to Tasers, are we to believe that abuse of this new law-enforcement tool won't occur? It seems to me that we're just one step closer to Mengele's inhumane and egregious experiments on Jewish prisoners during WWII.
And to add insult to injury, the estimated $10 to $20 million cost of these gloves when Americans are truly hurting .... one has to wonder.
My, America, how you've fallen.
Louise Heaberlin-Goff
Vail
Terrible A1 caption
Your Thursday A1 caption beneath a Reuters photo of Trump boarding the helicopter is so bad it nearly defies belief. I quote: "President Donald Trump, scene here boarding Marine One on Tuesday, says but that the plane he ultimately flew on following a secret war in Turkey was still more vulnerable than Air Force One." Why so bad? Specifically:
1. He was not "scene." He was seen.
2. He "says but the plane." Illiterate. How about he "says the plane"?
3. A "secret war in Turkey"? I didn't know about that. But I did know about a NATO summit.
Is anyone in your shop even reading news copy before publication any longer? I suspect not. As a former copy editor at the Star with 40 years' service, I believe I know what I'm talking about.
Ron Solomon
Northeast side
Unprepared for pandemics
No ophthalmologists that I know of have the training (or desire) to manage patients with AIDS, COVID, influenza, Ebola or biological warfare casualties.
John Halliday, library director from Oro Valley, incorrectly gives Rand Paul's opinions equal weight to Dr. Fauci's just because they are both doctors.
Infectious Disease doctors ask for assistance when our patients have eye issues, but that doesn't mean that ophthalmologists know enough to take over the patient's care from us.
We have decades of experience using antibiotics, managing ICU and general patient care and identifying patterns that allow us to diagnose rare diseases and manage side effects from drugs.
Listening to Paul and Trump spew misinformation also has national security implications. Our enemies with biological weapons know that half of us won't wear a mask or take a vaccine, making us easy targets.
Discrediting ID doctors and destroying our CDC / public health system are actions that threaten all of us. Please vote against anti-science legislators.
Steven Oscherwitz M.D.
Northeast side
‘Fraud, waste and abuse’
White House luxury renovations are estimated to cost taxpayers nearly $927 million, paid for mostly by channeling money from other agencies. This expenditure is a drop in the bucket compared to the cost of the Iran war, estimated to be between $34 and $100 billion as of late June. This, for a war that would not exist had Trump not torn up the JPCOA in 2018. The Administration ran a record-breaking $432 billion deficit for the month of July alone.
So much for reducing fraud, waste and abuse. Every single Republican needs to be removed from office.
Vote Democrat on Nov. 11.
Kathryn Pensinger
Foothills
Perpetuating a lie
The author of today’s lead headline does readers a tremendous disservice. Trump’s claim that “Swap made his flight riskier” is a bald-faced lie.
So tell us: What is the rationale for placing blatant disinformation, in the largest typeface no less, on today’s front page? Why not write a headline that distills the story AND reflects reality: “To save himself, Trump endangered others?”
Leslie Kanberg
Downtown
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