It’s Biden’s fault
For all of you pro-life, pro-birth, pro-family Republicans out there who blame President Biden for the baby formula shortage, you should know that on May 19, your pro-life, pro-birth, pro-family elected Republican senators blocked a $28 million aid package to address the baby formula shortage. But, of course, it’s still Biden’s fault, right?
James Nesci
East side
Replacement theory
History is a continuum.
I find it rich with all the talk about replacement theory that conservatives do not acknowledge that:
Black people were imported into this country against their will. I think conservatives are still trying to get rid of Black people through various means, but they are still here.
People are also reading…
The Southwest was part of Mexico until the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. Mexican Americans are still here. Native Americans were always here. Chinese laborers were imported into the United States to build railroads. In spite of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, they are still here.
I think it’s too late to think about replacement.
M. Gordon Magruder
Downtown
Baby formula crisis the cost of capitalism
The free market is what produces supply chain breakdowns by promoting profit taking, discouraging investment in safety and understaffing regulators so that bad actors can take over a market. From the societal point of view, no critical industry should be allowed to operate with a potential single point of failure. Military systems are more expensive because they are redundant. Safety requires redundancy. From a balance sheet perspective, money spent on a crisis that does not happen is money wasted.
An economy run primarily for profit has more pain and suffering than one run primarily for the general welfare. Protecting the vulnerable is a social thing, a socialist thing, a collective thing, a commonwealth thing. I think our “conservative” ideology opposes conservation and demands return to the past. This is reactionary, not conservative. It is insane. Several original colonies were founded as Commonwealths. That is the only past to go back to.
David Vernon
East side
Thomas thinks her voice counts
Ginni Thomas, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’s wife, was texting Donald Trump’s chief of staff, Mark Meadows, to overturn the results of the national election on Jan. 6. Turns out that earlier she contacted Arizona legislators to get them to elect a “clean slate of electors,” or rather electors that would overturn the will of Arizona voters and elect Trump rather than Biden.
That’s my vote she wanted to throw out — who does she think she is? Oh yes, Clarence Thomas’ wife. Remember him? He is in the majority of the leaked Supreme Court opinion that would throw out Roe v. Wade, and with it, the power of women all over the country to make choices about their own bodies. Recognize a theme? These people think they deserve to rule our lives. Stand up for voting rights and for a future Supreme Court that represents the people, Arizonans!
Molly Hunter
Midtown
No compromise
Everybody complains about the stalemate in Congress. It seems that nothing gets done.
This is not surprising to me. About half of the states are blue (Democrat). I think they elect the farthest left (Socialist) people to represent them. The representatives go to Congress with an agenda they believe the people that elected them wants enacted.
Meanwhile, I think the red (Republican) states elect the farthest right (conservative) people to to represent them. They also go to Washington with an agenda.
Both groups intend to pass their entire agenda even though the agendas are in complete opposition.
Once, compromise was considered an honorable word. No one got everything they wanted, but everyone got something.
Now, compromise is a dirty word. Each side wants their entire agenda each morning.
The only way this stalemate can be broken is if more moderates, both Democrat and Republicans, are elected to Congress.
Thomas Wenzel
East side
Guns, guns, guns
Fox TV (or, a local TV station) has been advertising the upcoming Tucson Gun Show. The newest high-powered weapons and associated products, from companies and dealers. Really? Maybe a little insensitive at this moment?
“Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” Why do most massacres and many other crimes involve a gun? Why not a knife, hatchet or sledge hammer? Duh? Oh, Second Amendment.
Politicians mention various solutions, but surprisingly not guns. Having researched how much the NRA donates to politicians, in some cases over $1 million in a year, it’s not surprising what money can add to a quest for power and re-election. How about the little kids just murdered and mutilated in Texas?
What is wrong with this country?
Peter Strauss
Marana
Support assault weapons ban
My understanding is that the safety officers at Uvalde were hesitant to approach the shooter because he had an assault weapon. My question is if policemen, sheriffs, Border Patrol etc. are worried about being being shot, possibly killed, why are they not at the forefront in demanding an assault weapons ban?
Linda Rodriquez
South side
Good guys vs. bad guys with guns
Sen. Warren Petersen, chair of the Arizona Senate Judiciary Committee, refused to allow a roll call vote on legislation to forbid people from buying firearms unless they first have a background check, using the rationale that “It takes a good guy with a gun to stop a bad guy with a gun.” Really?
According to Newsnation, “In 2019, KXAN News in Austin worked with the ALERRT Center at Texas State University to compile data on 316 mass shootings in Texas between 2000-19. The data showed that citizens stopped shooters 50 times out of 316 but only 10 of those instances were by using a gun. The other 40 times, the citizen used either their hands or another weapon.”
Quit using empty words Sen. Petersen. Show us the facts. Also, just wondering, who is the “good guy” in the domestic violence/suicide cases?
Dianne Lethaby
East side
Creatures from another world
Reporting from the AZ Legislature must feel like you are dealing with creatures from another world … we will keep out potentially essential workers and make public schools (foundation of the U.S.) struggle even more. Schools may be falling apart but, by God, the Legislature will be re-decorated and have new furniture. AARGH!
Judi Brauns
SaddleBrooke
Political ads
Dear Editor,
I am sick and very tired of the political ads on television saying I should be fearful of immigrants crossing the southern border. Am I supposed to be fearful of these individuals as they might rip me off, take my job, or, God forbid, try to harm me? I have not heard of an immigrant committing a mass shooting. Instead, I want to hear how a candidate is going to protect me from my fellow Americans who may kill me and many others at one time in my place of worship, my market, my hospital, my school, or elsewhere. Do promise me that and then I may consider giving you my vote!
Frank J. Perez
Foothills
How to cope
A crazy man halfway around the world started a war to take over a country, killing innocent men, women and children point blank. When first seen, the unthinkable was gruesome to watch. When COVID first hit, the daily headlines included the unbelievable numbers that were dying, the number of people who had lost jobs with foreclosures on the rise. Now, the news leads off with stories about inflation with the charts showing the dramatic swings in the markets and how bad it is for everyone. Right after the Buffalo killings, the reporting of the mass killings of elementary student in Uvalde lasted longer than usual, made more horrific with reports about the unrecognizable, mutilated bodies. It is almost impossible to flee the news of the decline of humanity. And there is no way individually that we can fight disease or the world’s predators. So, to cope? It may sound callous but becoming numb may be the new way to escape it all.
Cathey Langione
Marana
Hold officials accountable for Jan. 6 riot
Republicans who were complicit in the violence and insurrection of Jan. 6 must be held accountable. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Rep. Ann Kirkpatrick and Sen. Mark Kelly were there. They know who those colleagues are. We, the American people and constituents, demand accountability. I think the House must eject those who collaborated with Donald Trump’s crimes. The Senate must immediately eliminate the filibuster and protect voting rights and women’s bodily autonomy from the radical and illegitimate Trump-Mitch McConnell Supreme Court. It is Sen. Sinema, Rep. Kirkpatrick and Sen. Kelly’s job now to show the same spine as Chairman Bennie Thompson and Vice-Chair Liz Cheney and defend and uphold our Constitution and democracy. I urge them not to falter or fail in their obligation to history and to the American People.
Myra Donnelley
Catalina
Pima College salaries
Re: the June 11 article “PCC raises property taxes to increase employee pay.”
The news that Pima Community College is raising salaries via a property tax increase is promising, but disheartening. Currently, the starting salary for high school teachers nationwide is about $41,000. If an adjunct professor at Pima earns $870 for one credit of teaching (and assuming that 30 credits is a year of full-time teaching), that works out to an annual salary of $26,100 no matter the level of experience, and probably doesn’t include benefits like health care or a pension.
Community colleges are the bedrock of post-secondary education, the source of so much credentialing that many jobs require. Without adjunct faculty, they couldn’t function at all. We need to celebrate these saints working for a salary somewhere between an already-low K-12 starting salary and a volunteer job. According to the article, our state Legislature provides hardly any support. Why, when they’re so flush they want to lower taxes? Again, where funding education is concerned, the bottom of the barrel is too high.
Denice Blake
Midtown
Sky was a blast to watch
Re: the June 12 article “Sky led league in fun during title run.”
Going to the Tucson Sky volleyball matches at Catalina High School gym was the most fun that I have ever had at a sporting event. I remember going to the “Jimmy Carter can’t make it tonight night” and several other games and the gym was always packed with enthusiastic fans, so we were surprised when the league folded. I had forgotten that it was a co-ed team but that must have made it more interesting. Thanks very much to Greg Hansen for including the Sky in his Top Teams series.
Bill Ridlinghafer
Foothills
Tucson trash cleanup
I have been cleaning a road in Tucson for the last 10 years called Adopt-A-Roadway. It’s free and you get a wonderful sign on your road at each end. I have dedicated my sign to my parents.
I clean four miles every other month. I normally pick up four bags of trash. It makes me feel great every time I clean the road knowing I’m doing something great for my community. Also having my parents name on the road sign is pretty darn cool.
Instead of using tax dollars, we need more people in our community to adopt more roads. I consistently see signs that are available to adopt.
Here is a question — why do we have so many terrible people littering and how can we prevent it?
As I’m cleaning the road someone will litter, I have even had to complain to trash companies. I constantly see trash flying out of trash trucks.
Let’s keep Tucson clean and beautiful.
Lisa High
Northeast side
Everyone can help save water
“If it is yellow, let it mellow; if it is brown, flush it down.” This phrase evolved in the 1980s in the San Francisco area during a previous water shortage.
We all need to think about how we can contribute to saving water. Reducing the frequency we flush the toilet after urinating is easy. Other proposals for saving water include changing your diet, removing your lawn, and sharing a shower, to name a few. But none are as easy as not flushing every time you use the toilet.
The potential water savings for the Tucson area could be millions of gallons every day.
Robert Wample
SaddleBrooke
