Tucson Speaks Out: Feb. 24

Voter’s remorse

I voted for Magas.

I did not vote for pardoning cop beaters, nor ignoring the Constitution, nor abandoning our allies, nor coveting foreign lands, nor billionaires to buy the presidency, nor the president to mandate “Elon muck up the government.”

I am disappointed that Johnson, Thune, and the Magas continue to guzzle “nospineatol.”

As conservative Republicans who believe in the Constitution and the rule of law we must organize and primary every Maga candidate in the 2026 election. By then the president’s endorsement will be worthless. Maga leadership realizes they will lose the House in 2026. They will screw with the voting. They will try to cancel the elections or not certify the loss of a Maga candidate. Be prepared for this eventuality.

Please consider avoiding: X (formerly Twitter), Tesla, Facebook, Amazon and any company whose billionaire contributed to purchase of our president.

If we have to partner with centrist Democrats to defeat the Magas, so be it.

John Taylor

Green Valley

Reply to Tucson car dealers on 414

Well Neil, there’s a simple solution; move out of the City where “many” of your customers live.

Tucsonans vote for sales taxes to improve our quality of life and become a smarter, more economically vibrant City. By passing Prop 414 and defeating RTA Next we keep our tax rate at 8.7% and generate $800 million to fund a comprehensive list of municipal projects that leverage even greater participation from the non-profit sector.

The car dealers’ shilling for RTA Next is patently misleading to get Tucson voters to subsidize suburban road widening outside of Tucson. The RTA plan is nothing more than a wish list of projects from each regional jurisdiction in search of a sales tax funding source.

RTA has no regional vision for what a 21st Century regional transportation system should look like. Only the City of Tucson has engaged in planning for our increasingly uncertain future and identified social fairness and climate/energy challenges as key to future mobility and overall quality of life.

Robert Cook

Midtown

Musk cut Alzheimer’s and kids’ cancer research

I called my congressman and told him that Musk defunded the Blount Alzheimer’s Research Center. Blount was a longtime GOP Senator. Also Musk defunded St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital which does cancer research for kids, especially on leukemia. Over 70% of the leukemia research findings are based on research from a 3-year-old girl whose parents, Barbara and George, donated her body so other families and children wouldn’t have to go through this. George Herbert Walker Bush went on to become President. The girl’s brother, George, also became President and he invested taxpayer money in prevention of HIV virus spreading and feeding the poor in Africa via USAID.

Alzheimer’s, cancer, and HIV political issues. All of us know people who’ve been affected by these horrible diseases. Research is needed to save lives and billions of dollars in treatments.

Please share with your Congressman.

Dr Pamela Farris

Oro Valley

No on Prop 414 — Tucson can do better

As a property manager, I see firsthand how Tucson housing policies impact both renters & homeowners. Prop 414 may have good intentions, it will ultimately hurt the people it aims to help by increasing housing costs & discouraging property investment.

To promote affordable housing & expand options for renters, we must reject Prop 414. This measure not only imposes a tax increase that burdens renters with higher living costs, but small landlords who provide much of our community’s housing, could pass on the increased costs, further straining tenants already struggling to afford everyday necessities. Increased regulations & financial burdens on housing providers lead to fewer rental options & higher prices for tenants, including fixed-income seniors. Instead of making housing more accessible, Prop 414 risks making it harder for families to find & afford a home.

We need real solutions that encourage housing supply & affordability, not tax increases that further burden renters while pushing property owners out of the market. To protect renters, seniors, and first-time homebuyers, I urge voters to reject Prop 414.

Susan Creedon

East side

Pentagon purge

Where else but in America can an unrepentant draft dodger enter an elected office that has the power to summarily discharge professional, accomplished, patriotic, and competent servicemen and servicewomen to fit his undemocratic and anti-America agenda? But then, we knew before that Trump was a low-level coward for whom self-interest was the driving force. His phony salutes are an affront to everyone who has worn the uniform. Piss off, Donald.

Hollis Moore

Oro Valley

Billionaires win, you lose

For decades, Americans have paid into Social Security under the promise that it would be there when they needed it. It’s not a handout — it’s an earned benefit, a commitment to future stability. Now, Musk and Trump aim to break that promise.

Despite his endless claims of protecting Social Security, Trump handed Musk the power to gut it, along with Medicare, Medicaid, and food assistance, all so billionaires can pocket even more tax breaks.

Musk is running the classic MAGA con: Invent a fake crisis, flood the zone with lies, and use it as cover to dismantle programs millions rely on. This is a bipartisan issue: Red-state voters, who depend on Social Security the most, will be hit just as hard, if not harder.

Social Security belongs to the people who paid for it — not to billionaires on a looting spree.

Kim Miklofsky Bayne

Foothills

Back to the Middle Ages

As a microbiologist who proudly served our heroic veterans for 33 years, I am appalled at the future of our health care system. Access to public health related information is now being curtailed or denied by Trump. He is silencing our government agencies such as the CDC, FDA, and NIH among others in order to prevent Americans from knowledge of any health issues. Remember Trump’s recommendation to drink bleach and insert a light inside the body to kill the Covid-19 virus? Now, RF Kennedy, a brain-dead drug addict with no knowledge of even basic health issues, has been confirmed as our national health secretary.

What a disgrace.

Norma Reis

West side

This is how a coup starts

This past Tuesday, after golfing all morning, Trump signed another executive order stating that only he or his Attorney General can say what the law is. He obviously never heard of the separation of powers where the Judicial Branch interprets what the laws and the Constitution of the United States says. This goes right along with his post of himself wearing a crown and gleefully stating, “long live the king!” I know he promised all you Trump voters a prosperous MAGA paradise, but is this really the path you want our country to take? You were warned so many times. Democrats did everything but set their hair on fire and hold up a sign. It’s too late for an “I told you so.” All of us, no matter what our political affiliation, are living with this horror, and we have to resist in any way we can.

Mary Zimmerman

SaddleBrooke

Pennies from heaven or hell

Boy Howdy! While the City of Tucson’s constituents are debating the merits of a measly half-cent sales tax increase to promote public safety, Sen. Jake Hoffman has introduced a taxation without representation scheme that is 10 times greater. He wants to tax money that is sent abroad and turn our law enforcement officers into bounty hunters. Who knows how or who would be responsible for monitoring the presumed cash flow. Thankfully, the chances of SB1111 passage are remote, but the message is clear. The MAGA crew is not conservative. They value neither family nor community. Their umbrellas are just upside down.

Sherry Ivester

Midtown

Rep. Ciscomani’s recent newsletter

I read with interest Representative Ciscomani’s newsletter of Feb. 20, 2025. Addressing the recent flurry of EOs he wrote:

“While Congress, as the Legislative Branch, is charged with writing and passing legislation, this process is often deliberative and drawn out. EOs are a tool for the President to deliver on their promises and start implementing their agenda from day one.”

This statement says to me that the U.S. House and U.S. Senate, both of which have a Republican majority, do not choose to work as a third branch in our government. Sounds like the U.S. legislature is sidestepping its responsibility. Perhaps Ciscomani and other legislators do not wish to challenge their president. The more than 75 Executive Orders that have been issued are about creating chaos and selectively targeting our country’s people. It’s time that Ciscomani and others take their responsibilities to represent their constituents seriously instead of kowtowing to a chaos-driven administration. And what about those grocery prices?

Patricia Scanlan

Oro Valley

Does he really know what he is doing?

Our very savvy President Trump wants to limit or stop the U.S. from building electric charging stations because he wants to drill, drill, drill. He wants gas-driven vehicles.

Then our very savvy President wants to buy $400 million worth of armored Tesla trucks.

Maybe he doesn’t realize that Tesla trucks are electric vehicles. Are we going to have these things stuck along our roads because of dead batteries?

Remember this is the guy whose businesses has filed for bankruptcy six times. Do we want him to make business decisions?

Jose Salgado

Northeast side

A national security failure

Because Russian president Putin is worshipped by the U.S. president, the security of Ukraine, the U.S. and Europe has become uncertain. Ukraine was attacked and lost thousands of troops but was not invited to a meeting to end that war. As a result, Putin has been empowered to attack the Baltic states and Poland.

The Secretary of Defense told European allies Ukrainian territories taken by the Russians would not be returned. Not only was Ukraine sidelined, but also European leaders as Ukraine is their neighbor and ally.

Our president has disrespected Colombia, claimed Canada has no right to exist, suggested seizing the Panama Canal and Greenland, and threatened tariffs on Mexico. All of which endangers long-held alliances that have made the world safe.

Almost overnight the U.S. has become a gangster nation, stabbing our allies in the back, and tarnishing our national character.

Tyranny requires fear and compliance. Speak out. Raise awareness. Our country needs us.

Teresa Jenkins

SaddleBrooke

Musk’s chainsaw video

I saw Musk on TV waving around a shiny chainsaw bragging about how he is cutting employees out of the government. Government employees were hired to do a job just like anyone else who applies, interviews and gets a job. Musk is making fun of people who now have no income, no health insurance, no money to feed their kids, and will probably lose the home they live in. Federal employees didn’t cause the national deficit. Musk sees the money, but not the people. Musk is the most heartless person I know, except for Trump, who put Musk in a position to hurt so many people. Have you ever lost a job? It is the most gut-wrenching experience a person can have. All of a sudden, a person has lost whatever they had dreamed of doing with their life. Musk’s Karma will be a giant payback for being heartless.

Richard Bechtold

West side

Trump’s golf costs

According to a Government Accountability Office report in 2019 (who knows if this office even exists anymore), each trip Trump takes to play golf at one of his properties costs the taxpayers $3.38 million. That means that since he took office this year we, the taxpayers, have paid $10.7 million for the nine trips he has taken. Since he has handed over governing duties to Elon Musk, I expect he will be spending even more time at his favorite pastime, where he charges the Secret Service exorbitant fees to house its agents in the resorts he owns.

For some reason, this irritates me no end. The rest of the stuff he and Musk are doing is ruining the country and disrupting the world order, but that is too much to contemplate. It’s the massive grift that gets my blood boiling.

Kathleen Dubbs

West side

Fools’ paradise?

We all know that some people “don’t suffer fools lightly.” But what about the fools themselves? Should they suffer? As it relates to the fools that voted for Trump, the answer is yes. The following fools, and more, should suffer with the rest of us:

*The fools that voted for him because they thought culture war issues should be our highest national priority.

*The fools who believed he could reduce egg & gas prices, and inflation itself, by simply waving his Magical Thinking wand.

*The foolish citizens with immigrants in their families who somehow believed his policies would never affect them.

*The foolish Arab-Americans, so mad at Biden/Harris, who somehow believed he would be better for Palestine.

*The foolish federal employees who never thought his arbitrary cuts would affect them.

*Any fool who believes tariffs can magically fund the government.

*And sadly, many more.

The court jester has become the king, thanks to the fools, and suffering is the new coin of the realm. Time to pay up.

Rick Jones

Downtown

Trump the negotiator

President Donald Trump is rude, a liar and an egotist; but many people don’t understand that he also is a very shrewd negotiator. Panamanian President Jose Raul Molino has made a quick concession to head off the possibility of the U.S. taking back the Panama Canal by force. Molino said Panama will not renew China’s Belt and Road Initiative, BRI, when it expires in 2027. Trump is doing the same thing in Canada and Gaza. He said Canada will be our 51st state and the U.S. will take a long-term ownership interest in Gaza. I predict Trump, the negotiator, will settle with some substantial long-term benefits for the U.S. in both of these areas.

Douglas R. Holm

East side

Rip Van Winkle

Van Winkle!

Wake me up in 20 years when the wicked are dead and I can know that democracy pulled through.

229 years ago, Thomas Jefferson wrote “All men are created equal” and enterprise by the free was unleashed on a global scale. There is not one of us that would not marvel at what came of it.

List what advances you can those first 250,000 years of despots and compare it with the last 000.01% of it, when free. Any list would make those first 250,000 years seem devoid of advance in either human comfort, health, convenience, or nourishment. Life today is with benefits beyond the imaginations of all those before, claiming to be above the law. This relationship between freedom and despotism isn’t coincidence.

Pride in our forebears should ooze from every American pore while the return of a despot boil everyone’s blood.

I’m going to doze off now, but with a hacksaw, on the chance I wake in prison.

Richard Kimball

South Tucson