Tucson Speaks Out: Aug. 31 letters of the day

I am confused as well

Re: the Aug. 24 letter “Confused.”

If we accept the premises offered by the letter writer, the issues we face are the fault of liberals only. At best, both liberals and conservatives share the blame and the lack of solutions.

The nation has suffered inflationary periods under liberal and conservative leadership. No political party has offered real, sensible, and/or compromised solutions for undocumented immigration that can be accomplished (DACA as an example). Both liberals and conservatives play the blame game to win elections rather than to work together to solve problems.

There always will be an illegal drug issue as long as the demand remains high enough to support illegal supply activities.

Arizona continually supports private education with public funds without also demanding that private institutions meet state standards and provide the same reporting evidence to the public — shameful.

Under the continued leadership of people like Trump, the U.S. not will remain a constitutional democracy. We will be similar to Russia under Putin.

Craig Whaley

Oro Valley

Unite, not divide

Re: the Aug. 27 article “Researchers map Tucson’s history of race-restricted neighborhoods.”

The article reported that Mr. Peter Williams, chair of Tucson’s San Carlos Neighborhood Association, successfully removed legally the unconstitutional racist discriminatory language in their neighborhood code, thus leading the way for all neighborhoods in America facing similar offenses. Alas, not all Americana are like Mr. Williams and his neighbors! For example: Florida’s SB 264 bans, in the name of “national security,” many Chinese immigrants, including scientists, professors, students, and employees, from buying a home in large parts of Florida. Remember the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act that lasted till 1943 and the Japanese internment camps in 1942-1945?

America is a unique piece of fabric woven with a diversity of ability, culture, gender, race, and religion, by the shared belief in democracy, equality, and liberty for all — E Pluribus Unum! Be vigilant to safeguard our fragile unity against all forces, internal and external, trying to tear us apart. Elect officials who work to unite us!

Ke Chiang Hsieh

Midtown

Wealthy Arizonans love ESA’s

Re: the Aug. 12 letter “School vouchers.”

Recently a letter writer indicated he doesn’t believe the facts about why Arizona is $1 billion dollars in the red because of school vouchers. As a fiscally responsible Republican, I would think he would have done his research and been appalled by what he found. Perhaps he is just averse to facts.

Headed by Arizona Superintendent of Public Instruction and Republican Tom Horne, the Arizona Department of Education will be spending $10,000,000 to promote and advertise ESA’s even as he acknowledges that 75% of wealthy Arizonans who can afford private schools are getting our tax dollars and cashing in. No wonder wealthy Arizonans love school vouchers. They are the ones benefiting the most from them.

Rachel Rulmyr Ed.D

Oro Valley

Trump’s $7.1M income

The IRS should be getting its “troops” ready for an income grift. Income from the sale of “mug” merchandise is said to be for the campaign. If it is being funneled to legal costs for his trials that may be mislabeled and he needs to be transparent to his donors!

This sniffs of an IRS audit. Any income regardless of the source is taxable!

Paula Palotay

Marana

Ciscomani and Grijalva — common ground?

Re: the Aug. 24 article “Congressmen find common ground in bipartisan talk.”

I want to the thank the Tucson Hispanic Chamber for recently hosting a conversation with both southern Arizona congressmen. I wonder if the Daily Star reporter was at the same event as I? The only common ground I saw was the one where we stood. Rep. Grijalva began by saying he believes that “government plays an important role in the lives of the American people.” Rep. Ciscomani wants the private sector “to take care of us.”

I think we are all aware of what happens when we let the private sector “take care of us.” Last year oil companies took in $419 billion in profits. Shareholders got $219 billion in dividends, executives got their million dollar bonuses and the rest of us got high gas prices and more devastation from climate change. I am grateful for Rep. Grijalva and others in government who appreciate the important role government plays in protecting us and investing in all of the American people.

Lori Cinnamond

East side

Liberal diatribes provide comic relief

While watching a particular NFL game last season, the announcers commented that the playing was “so bad it was good.” That describes many of the Arizona Daily Star Letters to the Editor and Opinion page contributors. Their anti-Republican words rival the comics page for the most humorous section of the paper. The hyperbole, the vitriol, the sweeping generalizations. All great material even better read aloud, like a really bad B movie script. If these Chicken Little progressives stopped idolizing anyone with a (D) after their name and acknowledged the foibles and problems caused by liberals from a local to national level, then maybe their submissions would get serious attention. But since that’ll never happen, keep writing because what is so bad is just great entertainment.

Diane Nelson

Foothills

Ideology taught in Public Schools

Re: the Aug. 29 article “Force-feeding ideology instead of critical subjects.”

Cal Thomas considers LGBTQ+ characters in books read aloud in public schools as force feeding ideology. I knew when I was 6 years old that I was not like the other girls and learned early on that I would have to hide in a closet or risk being stigmatized. If I had heard of characters in books with differing sexual orientations it could have spared me a lot of grief. I eventually grew to live in honesty and wholeness but not every child feels safe and supported. Statistics show that 45% of LGBTQ+ youth attempt suicide. Reading about LGBTQ+ people does not interfere with anyone’s right to practice their religion, and who I am is not an ideology. Characters in books do inform children that our world is made up of people of many stripes.

Karen Allison

Three Points

The border wall container boondoggle

Re: the Aug. 29 article “End of case adds to cost of containers.”

I make an effort to respect and understand non-MAGA Republicans, those in the spirit of a John McCain or a Jeff Flake. Even Doug Ducey didn’t appear to be completely off his rocker.

Then I read Howard Fisher’s accounting of the cost of Ducey’s storage container debacle wherein undocumented immigrants were to be kept from crossing our border by lining and stacking up these containers over approximately 11 measly miles of the Arizona-Mexico border. Fisher breaks it down: $2.1 million + $95 million + $66 million = $163 million at a minimum. Guess who picked up the tab? We Arizona taxpayers, of course. And that’s not even considering the remediation that will be necessary to restore the disrupted land where the containers sat. Gee, I wonder what else could have been done with that $163 million. I might suggest raising teachers’ salaries so they don’t leave the profession.

Peter Bourque

Midtown

Cancel subsidy for UA sports

Re: the Aug. 8 article “Robbins: UA ‘best direction’ is Big 12.”

University of Arizona President Robert Robbins and Athletic Director Dave Heeke have secured financial stability for sports. Now, how about they do something for the rest of the student body?

Like cancel the $100 annual fee each undergraduate pays to subsidize sports.

UA sports will get 27% more TV revenue in the Big 12, at $31.7 million annually. The Pac-12’s TV deal brings in $25 million a year.

That should allow the UA to rescind the $100 it nicks from each student. By the way, that fee brings in nearly $4 million a year. Coincidentally or not, men’s basketball coach Tommy Lloyd is paid nearly $4 million a year.

Let sports actually be self-supporting, as opposed to the long-held myth that they are. Use the increased revenue to give a break to student non-athletes.

Michael A. Chihak

West side