Tucson Speaks Out: May 15 letters of the day

Desert blooms on time despite climate change

So the wet winter and spring has resulted in wildflowers blooming all over Tucson, especially now with the Brittlebush yellow flowers. I see orange and purple hedgehog flowers blooming, and paloverde trees are beginning their yellow flower blossoms. I have already seen prickly pear cacti full with flower buds. They will be blooming yellow flowers next. Then the Cholla cacti with purple, yellow and orange flowers. In May will be the iconic saguaros blooming with their clusters of white flowers. I expect a good turn out this year due to our abundant desert rains. I am always amazed by all this beauty in the desert during the spring. It has been occurring for ions and continues right on schedule despite climate change, which I was led to believe by climate alarmist activists would have destroyed all of this by now.

Marsella Mavis

North side

More misguided criticism of Hudbay

Re: the May 4 article “Wake up developers and oppose Hudbay before you lose millions.”

Opinion writer Gerry Wolters, in his guest opinion on 4 May, states, “Wake up developers and oppose Hudbay before it costs you millions.” He tries to convince Star readers and scare developers of homes, businesses, etc. in the Corona de Tucson region that they may get sued for millions if water and air pollution issues arise from Hudbay’s Copper World project in the Santa Rita Mountains.

Mr. Wolters might think that mining companies have never faced such criticism. Hudbay will likely point to the Sierrita copper mine that has operated literally on top of Green Valley and Sahuarita, population of ca 56,000 (versus 9,000 in Corona de Tucson), for 65 years with no major air and water issues save for dust from mining trucks, largely abated today by water trucks in the mine pit. Hudbay will also point out that green energy wind and solar farms are impossible without copper.

Steve Sollenberger

Foothills

RTA Next

Rex Scott asks us all to work together to make RTA Next happen.

I’ve got news for Rex. It ain’t gonna happen. I live in Tucson. The RTA has been a scam for those of us who live in Tucson. Marana and Vail get the roads and we pay for them.

There’s an old saying. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. I won’t be fooled again. I cannot imagine how RTA Next could be configured to win my vote. I will be voting against it and encouraging my fellow Tucsonans to do the same.

Steven Brown

Midtown

Full context really is needed in Gaza debate

Re: the May 10 article “Full context necessary in Israel debate.”

Tony Zinman raises interesting points. He criticizes another piece that praised the pro-Palestinian student encampment at the University of Arizona for never mentioning Hamas. But he doesn’t comment on the 34,000 mostly women and children killed in Gaza.

Mr. Zinman also states: “Most Jews are terrified as to what we are seeing at these ‘student’ protests.” Yet it is innocent Palestinians in the United States who have actually been murdered, shot, and attacked.

Several protest chants are listed by Mr. Zinman as calls “for Israel to cease to exist.” Not mentioned is Shimon Boker, vice-chairman of the World Likud, saying: “I think we should have gone into Rafah yesterday. There are no uninvolved civilians there. You have to go in and kill and kill and kill.”

Mr. Zinman worries about antisemitic sentiments in the United States. If he wants “full context,” maybe he should also worry about the Israeli murder of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians.

David Devine

Midtown

Omitting important context

Re: the May 9 letter “Biden mishandled COVID, not Trump.”

Fully recognize his penchant to omit important context.

Yes, more COVID deaths occurred in 2021 during Biden’s term, than in 2020 under Trump. However, he deliberately omits several very crucial points.

Early in 2020, people in the US were not dying in nearly the catastrophic numbers we unfortunately became accustomed to by the end of the same year.

According to the CDC, we had 4331 total COVID attributed deaths by the end of March 2020. Through the first 20 days of January 2021 (before Inauguration), the US was averaging over 3,000 per day.

In President Biden’s first full month in office, that number had dropped to 2,400 per day.

A number of very important additional factors must also be included. New variants emerged, Trump downplayed the severity of the crisis from the outset, resistance to masking, false vaccination conspiracies, and an outright refusal by some to vaccinate at all.

Not coincidentally, COVID deaths also increased worldwide in 2021.

Glen Vann

West side

Lock him up!

It’s long overdue and I’m wondering how many more warnings the trial judge gives Trump before finally sending him to jail. But the more perplexing question to me is when Trump goes to jail will his Secret Service detail go with him. Will they share his cell with him or just stand on the other side of the bars guarding him 24/7? And is that scenario even addressed in their procedural manual? Lock them up!

Jeff aronson

Northeast side

Short memories

Re: the May 12 letter “Hard to believe.”

I read this letter with some amazement and amusement at her feigned outrage over the behavior of Donald Trump, and her lack of facts pertaining to the president. First let me say that the “Access Hollywood” tape’s were a bad day for Trump, his wife, and the family, no one can debate that. However, the letter writer states that Trump has been “convicted of rape” that is a total lie, Trump has never been convicted of rape and for that matter he has never been charged with rape, nor has he ever been charged or convicted of insurrection. Please remember to mention the following American Presidents and leaders who were sexually active with others then their wives during their time in office. Franklin Roosevelt, JFK, Lyndon Johnson, MLK, RFK, Bill Clinton, all Democrats. So watch the stone throwing when you live in a glass house.

Kevin Acorn

East side

Violent demonstrations over Palestine

Resorting to violence to fight violence in a bitter war pitting Israel and Iran over the control of the eastern Mediterranean is a tragic and infantile reaction characterized by a profound ignorance of history, economics, religion, geography, politics, and cultures of that region. In light of numerous exchanges with Israeli colleagues, Egyptian friends, and Arabic scholars from various sides, there seems to be a consensus emerging these young people attacking our police and copying Hamas here in the USA are apparently not even aware of. But that consensus will only be possible if both the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Hamas regime will be removed: 1. All military operations must stop, particularly those by Hamas; 2. return of all hostages, alive or not; 3. the two-state solution; 4. the establishment of real democratic structures in Palestine; 4. new elections in Israel; 5. the end of new Israeli settlements. Remember, Iran is the key player in this entire conflict and uses Hamas and the Palestinians to confront the West.

Albrecht Classen

Midtown

Israeli training of US police

Re: the May 12 letter “Rubber bullets still lethal.”

As an emeritus professor of Middle East history at UA and author of “Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict,” now in 10th edition, I have viewed with alarm reports of police using rubber bullets to break up student demonstrations nationwide, including here on the UA campus. A recent letter writer noted that they are lethal. Aimed at the head they can kill at short distances. At least 1,000 American police departments have sent members to be trained in Israel on Israeli methods to crush Palestinian nonviolent demonstrations. Local police use of rubber bullets suggests the Tucson PD may have received such training. Such brutal police assaults on nonviolent protests have no place in our society. That they have occurred because of guidance by the military of a foreign country using tactics imposed on Palestinians, not on fellow Israelis, is disturbing and should be strongly challenged, not least because here the methods are used against fellow citizens gathering in support of Palestinians. Is this a coincidence?

Charles Smith

North side

SJP and student protests

The organization, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), founded in 2001 at the University of Berkley but was quickly decertified by that University for anti-Semitism. SJP and its chapters on various campuses are not 503.c (3) organizations so their funding is obscured although some campus chapters do receive university funding. It is known that SJP nationally is funded by organizations and donors who also fund Hamas and/or are associated with Hamas connected organizations. On October 8, 2023 the national SJP released press notices fervently supporting actions of Hamas on October 7, 2023 and continues to support Hamas and antisemitism. It is a shame that US students do not know the actual history of Palestine in that the UN, US and Israel supported chances for the Palestinians to form a separate State multiple times but the Palestinians refused in order to pursue “River to the Sea”, i.e. the elimination of Israel and extermination of all the Jews.

Art Kopcsak

SaddleBrooke

Far Right extremists

I see the term “far right” used by the AP daily, but I never see “far left”. I was hoping someone there could give me their definition of far left, or a left wing extremist.

Thank you.

Johnathan Thurman

South side

A meaningful purpose

This is a letter about reaching clarity. I have recently been diagnosed with cancer (for the second time). This one is aggressive. The first one started 3 years ago. Now it is back with a vengeance.

As I accept this dreadful scourge, I want to thank AZ. Oncology for the wonderful care given to my precious partner, Tom Crawford. We were able to have 5 more beautiful years because of the caring, most efficient staff there. I now trust them all implicitly.

What’s important now is the belief in this country — so wonderful, beautiful and sacred. We must cherish our freedoms. We must put our faith in honesty, decency, unity, honor and justice. We must support and vote for leaders who do the same.

May God be with us all. May God protect America.

Janice Campos

Foothills

Not so Supreme Court

There have been some corrupt courts in our history, called “kangaroo courts.” While harmful, they were snuffed out before they spread.

Now we’ve skidded into an unplanned exit that may spell our demise as a republic. Our Supreme Court’s head-scratching logic will hobble and may topple the world’s beacon of democratic ideals. Their rulings are cheered by bounders and zealots everywhere. This is their chance to make another January 6 stick. Then conservative politicians will feel safe harnessing minority rights, and keeping women tucked back some.

The all-men majority here have uncurled any hint of a smile and opted for steely stares while facing humane and honest chances to strengthen our way of governing with wizened decisions. They pass.

The lasting impression the Court leaves is not of justice and intelligence, but of a curtain of legality masking crafty schemes. Those tricks of law can be expected by the new kangaroos.

Ron Lancaster

North side

Democrats’ threats to our democracy

Democrats seem to forget that in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 election, Democrat activists were making death threats, sending hate emails, calling and harassing electoral college voters who had voted for Trump, into switching their votes to Hillary Clinton. An organized subverting of the election results. While this was happening, Clinton and her campaign staff, including Jake Sullivan now in the Biden administration, remained silent and did not denounce it. A newly elected vindictive hateful President Trump had the FBI hunt them all down and appointed a Special Counsel to prosecute them on a laundry list of federal crimes, including Conspiracy to Interfere in an Election. Remember that? It never happened! Some ended up being charged with state misdemeanors and paid small fines. This election cycle, we have had several Democrat states removing candidate Trump from the upcoming November voter ballot. Depriving voters of free choice and interfering in a presidential election. Thankfully, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against this. Evidence of Democrats posing threats to our Democracy.

Martin Wagman

Green Valley

Left turn arrows and the nanny state

A writer recently opined that the new “hard left” (red) left turn arrows at certain accident-rich intersections are too much unnecessary government interference. With that logic I guess the writer would prefer no traffic control at all — no lights, no lines, just a free-for-all.

I turn north (left) from eastbound Grant at Craycroft twice a week. My anxiety has gone away now that I don’t have to watch the idiot in front of me turn left against three lanes of oncoming traffic that I can see from my correct position behind the crosswalk, but he can’t see from his position in the middle of the intersection, because of the giant truck in the left turn lane on the opposite side.

Holly Finstrom

West side