Tucson Speaks Out: April 8

Warning

"This is not normal," is no longer an acceptable excuse for not acting. It's time to accept the fact that Donald J. Trump is seriously mentally impaired. He is a clear and present danger to the world. All living things are at risk. He must be removed from office now.

Robert Kafes

Midtown

Why are we tolerating this?

The biggest story in the world right now is that the President of the United States is a demented old man who takes pleasure in torturing and killing people and is committing crimes with impunity. And yet the press and legacy media outlets are too cowardly to tell the public the truth.

Terry Louck

East side

Where did the money go?

This brilliant bunch of thugs brought us DOGE, no foreign aid and reduced SNAP and other health care costs. Claimed to have saved us billions in taxes. So where did that money go? Maybe into the ballroom at the White House, or the smart bombs to murder fishermen in Latin American waters or to the Iran slaughter of schoolgirls. I will not expect a tax cut from this government. I will expect to see continued price increases in all goods and services as long as the Liar in Chief is POTUS and his merry band of thieves are his cabinet.

Jeff Rayner

SaddleBrooke

The ESA program is such a blessing

I wish to offer my sincere gratitude for the ESA program and it's administrators.

My oldest son is a kinesthetic learner. He learns best by doing. Since the first day of 4th grade, we struggled to motivate him to go to school, let alone participate meaningfully. We began our homeschooling journey because pulic school was not working for him.

With the help of ESA, we were able to purchase educational materials that fit his specific interests and needs. Although it was unconventional, he was allowed to try, fail, try again, and grow in his own way. He has now learned by experience that he can do anything he works at. He currently has big plans to be an entrepreneur and we feel he will be a positive contributor to the economy. ESA funds were instrumental in empowering him.

I am grateful to know that the state of Arizona has the best interests of each child at heart. I feel like I have an advocate because of Arizona’s ESA program.

Cara Richardson

Sahuarita

Betting on downed pilots

Representative Ciscomani would like us to believe that he cares about the 80,000 veterans that call his district home, but most of us know by now that he doesn’t. The list of ways he gaslights Arizona veterans is long, but his most recent surrender of basic American values is exceptionally brazen.

Rep Ciscomani’s absolute silence on Trump’s new Forever War with Iran should be the final straw for the veterans in his district. Not only will Ciscomani do nothing to oppose this insane war, now a month long with almost 400 U.S. service members dead or injured, but he will also do nothing as Trump’s rich cronies engage in illegal insider trading, making millions on sites like Kalshi and Polymarket, betting if two downed U.S. fighter pilots will live or die.

Rep Ciscomani's silence is shameful. A U.S. fighter pilot, who sacrificed their entire life to protect our nation struggled to survive in the mountains of Iran, and Trump's buddies placed bets on his survival.

Shelly Burgoyne

Foothills

Exploration or death and destruction

I am watching the amazing Integrity spacecraft pass around the moon and feel a sense of pride in this specific accomplishment, as well as the leaps in scientific discovery and American collaboration with the world.

Yet this accomplishment that could be the envy of the world is overshadowed by the bombing of innocent children and an inhumane Easter message by Mr. Trump.

For those who prefer to make everything about economics: The cost of the entire 9-year Artemis program reached $100 billion. This figure will be eclipsed after only two months of war in Iran and result in global suffering and complete loss of respect for the United States.

Robert Pitts

Downtown

The playbook

President Trump has taken a page out of Benjamin Netanyahu’s Gaza playbook for use in his own ICE detention centers.

Netanyahu killed or starved civilians, deprived the injured and ill and pregnant mothers of medical care and children of schooling, and displaced folks within their own country. His hope was that families would want to leave the country and never come back.

Now comes testimony from Leqaa Koria, a Columbia University student recently released from ICE detention after a year. She was refused any communication with her family or her lawyer and felt essentially “kidnapped.”

Conditions in the Texas detention center were like a “dungeon.” She slept on the floor. There was no sunlight in the room. No health care was made available to the sick, injured, or pregnant. The food was “worse than dog food.”

She summarized her experience in terms a Gazan would understand very well, saying the detention center was “designed to make you beg for deportation.”

Kimball Shinkoskey

Woods Cross, Utah

Trump the word maven

President Trump's eloquence and precision with the English language continues to enhance his thoughtful communication with the American people about the Iran war. Most recently, in a social media post interlaced with profanity, he swore, literally and figuratively, to bomb Iran's power plants and bridges, bombings that would qualify as war crimes under international law.

He posted “unless the crazy bastards” open “the f---in' Strait” (he used the entire word) to international shipping, by Tuesday, Iranians would “be living in Hell — JUST WATCH.” Later, he followed with a verbal explanation of the hand-held missile strike that hit an American F-15 fighter plane, noting succinctly “It's not like it is, totally whatever.”

Americans must be marveling at such craft of communication at such a pivotal time in our history.

Roger Shanley

East side

Weight-loss caution

The Washington Post recently had an article about a patient taking a compounded GLP-1 to help with weight loss, and ended up needing a liver transplant due to the ingredients the compounding pharmacist used. If that doesn't scare us away from some of these off-brand GLP-1s, I don't know what will. The fact is that until the FDA or Attorney General Kris Mayes cracks down on these knockoff GLP-1s, we are going to hear more and more of these types of stories. If you are thinking of taking a GLP-1, please do your research and look for ones that are approved by the FDA and other government safety agencies. There are too many shady operators out there right now, and caution should be taken.

Ellen Ingleside

Northwest side

Our real security

The government of the reputedly riches and most powerful country in the world has proposed a budget slashing healthcare, education, food programs for children and a myriad of other social programs in favor of an unequaled military budget. How is it possible that same administration cannot understand that the real security of the country rests in the wellbeing of its citizenry?

Barbara Benjamin

Foothills