‘American’ copper
Big half-page ad in Sunday’s paper for Hudbay Copper, stating “Hudbay Arizona Copper Made in America.” All true, but they left out “owned in Canada.” As someone strongly associated with American Arizona Copper, (Magma, ASARCO USA, Cyprus-Miami), I have watched foreign companies come in and totally consume our precious Copper. We may be ‘the Copper State’, but the profits all leave for foreign companies. Magma was bought and shut down by Australian Broken Hill Proprietary (BHP). ASARCO was taken over by Grupo Mexico (that’s when I quit as Chief Chemist of Silverbell), ASARCO briefly got control back in the US, until some moron Judge in Texas gave it back to Grupo. Why is Arizona allowing this?
Thad Appelman
Northwest side
Vote blue, vote education
People are also reading…
Thanks for the story “Tucson voters to decide council seats, school bonds” that was in this past Sunday’s paper. It gave a succinct notice of the upcoming election.
With Trump’s attack on democracy seeping into local politics, I hope the city voters elect the three Democratic candidates for the Tucson City Council. With the type of leadership exemplified by Republicans Ciscomani and Christy, we can’t trust any Republican running for office.
A vote on Plan Tucson is a toss-up. It’s best to read the plan online.
As for the TUSD, Sunnyside and Flowing Wells bond overrides, I hope the voters vote “Yes” to support education. The awful Republic state leadership has forced taxpayers to self-tax to make up for Republic welfare for the well off. The Southern Arizona Leadership Council advanced arguments against Tucson Prop. 414 so taxpayers would vote “No” on Prop 414 and for RTA Next.
Education over asphalt. Vote “Yes” on the bonds. Vote “No” on RTA Next.
And vote America again — vote blue.
Matt Somers
Midtown
Repeat offenders
Last week, the current mayor of Seattle, in a debate to keep his job, gave us all an answer as to why repeat offenders so frequently end up on our streets to repeat their crimes. The mayor said that his priority “for that person who has committed six or seven crimes, is that we understand their life story.” He also said, “The issue is not how many crimes they have committed, but why they committed those crimes,” and that “I have no desire to put them in jail”.
Does the mayor realize that a criminal who is committing their sixth or seventh assault or rape might need some lengthy jail time instead of another social worker to “understand their life story”? I hope the mayor never has one of his family members be the victim of a violent crime, but he is condemning other Seattle families to that future.
With leaders like this, who needs enemies?
Tom Gordon
Northeast side
Operation circular reasoning
Donald Trump is smart. He knows that if he sends in National Guard troops to a Chicago or a Portland, it will provoke loud protests, perhaps some shoving and heckling and probably someone who crosses a real or imagined line. This will provide the pretext for establishing law and order and “proof” that the situation has gotten out of hand. He will blow it out of proportion just as he did when he sent several hundred Marines into Los Angeles to quell an isolated disturbance.
He is, without a doubt, purposely and vengefully causing a problem as an excuse to exert his power over cities that want to be left alone.
Peter Bourque
Midtown
Trump’s error
Isn’t it ironic that the man who lusts after the Nobel Peace prize should rename our defense department the War Department and allow the Secretary of that department to tell our high-ranking military officers that their troops are more likely to be deployed nationally rather than on foreign soil? Trump has declared war on his own country. Definitely not a peacemaker!
Susan Keeney
Oro Valley
Conover fails victims, community
As a former prosecutor, I am upset with the Pima County Attorney’s complete failure to seek justice in our community. Laura Conover abandons victims to give absurdly lenient pleas to violent criminals. She gave probation-available plea agreements to defendants in the Reddington Pass murder case. The victim’s family was outraged and wanted Conover removed.
Then she offered near probation to an armed defendant who threatened to kill school children with a gun. TPD was outraged.
This month, Conover offered a probation available plea to a man who shot an unarmed doctor in the back. The doctor died, and the defendant got probation. The original charge was mandatory 7 to 21 years in prison. The excuse for the light plea was “they were scared they couldn’t get a conviction!”
All these travesties of justice were orchestrated by Conover. A county attorney who treats criminals like her own clients and is afraid to try cases should find another line of work.
David Berkman
North side
Most masculine/sexiest?
I heard that a Fox News commentator deemed Donald Trump “most masculine president ever”. Qualifying traits must be his bullying, blustering, nasty rhetoric and promises of violence — so masculine! Such a strongman! I’m thinking that after perhaps a year on RFK Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” program, that the president might also be a candidate for People Magazine’s “Sexiest Man Alive” award. Following the MAHA plan, he could transform himself into a new model of male desirability (unlike all those “fat generals”). Women of America, stand by.
Deb Klumpp
Oro Valley
Trump’s concept of a plan
Now that we’re in the midst of a paralyzing government shutdown induced by the refusal of Republican plutocrats to negotiate affordable healthcare for Americans most in need, we plainly see that their brand of so-called conservatism amounts to little more than placing a thumb on the scale of social equity whenever gains are to be had while feigning allegiance to a higher principle of non-interference with the natural order.
Remember Trump’s “beautiful healthcare plan” — that once touted replacement for the Obamacare “disaster”? Always on the horizon, this “concept of a plan,” now revealed, was always to pull the rug out from under millions of Americans with compassionless disregard for the social destabilization sure to follow. As Trump and his cronies shamelessly pursue further wealth for the wealthy under the guise of conservative fiscal policy, ordinary Americans are being presented with the tab for this immoral extravagance at the expense of their health and stability. This flagrant hypocrisy makes America neither great nor healthy again.
Robert Gavlak
Midtown
Civics test
“U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced Sept. 17 the implementation of the 2025 naturalization civics test as one of its many stricter naturalization policies, such as evaluations of good moral character and stricter reviews of disability exceptions.”(The Arizona Republic, David Ulloa Jr.) I’d like Congress to pass the same test. Especially the “Good Moral Character” section. How many would fail the civics test? What a bunch of baloney.
Peter Bisschop
East side
Who is to blame?
Matthew Scully blames Democratic senators for the shutdown. He thinks there is plenty of time to negotiate over the health care cuts. And then, being a good Trumplican, he insults Democratic senators.
Perhaps Mr. Scully forgets that 10 Democratic senators voted for the continuing resolution back in March after being promised that their concerns would be addressed. They were not.
There is an old proverb that applies here. “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me.”
Steven Brown
Midtown
University of Arizona
Former U of A President John Schaefer wrote an excellent essay about the importance of current U of A President Suresh Garimella not giving in to the US Department of Education’s demands on the University. As Schaefer, and also Michael Chihak on the same day, so wisely point out, giving a bully your lunch money will only have him demanding your jacket next time. The government’s request for influence (read control) over hiring, courses, and political balance (whatever that means) is antithetical to academic freedom and the great strides our nation has made to improve our quality of life and protect the planet, as well as discover other planets in the universe. Those seeking federal grants want to win them because of superior ideas, not because of a thumb on the evaluation scale. Don’t fall for the shiny object of big money. Take the long view and preserve the freedom of inquiry.
Tim Steller’s analysis of why the U of A was targeted was very perceptive.
Margot Garcia
Midtown
This Democrat urges: Just say no
It is common knowledge that the only way to deal with a bully is to stand up and assert yourself.
What the Democrats are holding out for amounts to $1 trillion over the next ten years. These cuts will have far-reaching consequences for millions of Medicaid recipients who lose coverage. Currently, this means 80 million low-income Americans, including children, adults, people with disabilities and seniors in nursing homes. It also means that rural health care and hospitals will be devastated. Democrats are not insisting on Medicaid benefits for undocumented residents.
This Republican “beautiful” budget bill also includes tax breaks for the top 1% of taxpayers, amounting to more than $1 billion over the next decade, with over half of that, $500 million, accruing to the top 0.1% of earners.
The Republicans’ current spending budget starkly exposes their priorities.
It almost looks like class genocide.
Cindy Soffrin
Northeast side
