Tucson Speaks Out: October 22

Speaker Johnson sees himself

The Speaker of the House of Representatives condemned and smeared seven million No Kings protesters. He said that they hated America and its foundational values.

From Speedway Blvd. and Country Club to River Road and Via Entrada to North Oracle Road, I participated in three No Kings rallies. I saw protesters of all ages and colors holding homemade signs and chanting, No Kings! I witnessed many protesters waving the American flag.

Speaker Johnson described himself not the protesters. He could have echoed Thomas Paine and affirmed the importance of dissent and protesting. If Speaker Johnson truly believed in America’s representative form of government, he would have sworn in Adelita Grijalva weeks ago.

Speaker Johnson wants to believe that No Kings rallies are in “the rearview mirror.” They are just getting started! More and more Americans are not OK with Trump’s above-the-law, anti-democratic governing style.

Dave Gallagher

Foothills

ABC News has capitulated

For those watching ABC News Sunday night, the evening after the No Kings March, be aware that the story about Trump’s AI post with him dressed as a King, wearing a crown, flying a fighter jet, was cut short. If they had the guts to show the whole clip, viewers would have seen King Trump unload a bomb of feces on the No Kings Day marchers. This disgusting, vulgar, crass display of his lack of concern and respect for citizens of the United States (his subjects) was deliberately left out. ABC News is afraid to show us the real Trump.

Be aware that the mainstream media is bending the knee! You can’t rely of the TV news to be telling the whole story.

Ruth Soza

Northwest side

Charlie Kirk and the MOF

It is unfortunate that people seem to want to wax poetically about Charlie Kirk.

For those of us who have read his words, he is not the man and symbol they think he is. He definitely didn’t deserve the Medal of Freedom. He didn’t accomplish anything like Ralph Bunche, the first black to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for his mediation of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Or like Reinhold Niebuhr, who wrote about the moral ethics of religion. Or John Paul Vahn, a member of the US Agency for International Development (Trump has defunded USAID). Kirk is not in the league with James Watson, who co-developed the double helix structure theory for the DNA molecule.

Since the Reagan administration, Republican presidents’ picks for MOF have mostly lessened the value of the MOF.

Charlie Kirk’s words are like cheap jewelry— the more you try to polish it to make it look better, the uglier it becomes.

Matt Somers

Midtown

Defining assimilation

An LTE in Monday’s Star approvingly quotes Charlie Kirk’s statement that “Immigration without assimilation is an invasion.” If assimilation means that the language spoken in the home is English, that has always required three generations, according to the Pew Research Center. The first generation speaks the language of the native-born country in the home nearly 100% of the time. 61% of their children retain fluency in the parents’ language but are largely bilingual. By the third generation, the grandchildren have largely lost their grandparents’ language with only 17% continuing to speak that language at home.

If Mr. McConnell and Mr. Kirk are correct, we’ve been invaded by German, Irish, Norwegian, Swedish, Welsh, Scottish, Chinese, Czech, Slovak, Russian, Italian and other immigrants. Immigration enriches our nation, and assimilation has always taken time.

Take a deep breath and stop with the fear-mongering.

Mike Carran

West side

No king shaming

I participated in a local “No Kings” rally, yet I remain skeptical about king-shaming.

Many constitutional monarchies have much better governments than the United States. Proportional representation in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark reigns supreme over the archaic US political system.

Revolting slaveholders declared American independence from the British monarchy four years after the King’s Court ruled there was no legal basis for allowing slavery to exist in England.

In constitutional monarchies, the monarchy typically plays a ceremonial role with limited authority. Kings in constitutional monarchies don’t all act like sociopathic narcissistic dictators.

The United States has allowed far too much power to be concentrated in the hands of an imperial presidency.

Slaveholder Thomas Jefferson argued that a constitution could not bind future generations. Each generation should create its own constitution.

The archaic 18th-century U.S. Constitution should be replaced with a modern parliamentary system. Electing a unicameral Congress by proportional representation would secure fair, inclusive multiparty representation. A chief administrator chosen by Congress should have strictly limited authority.

Gary Swing

Northeast side

Re: Emma and Charlie

I’d say this letter was a shocker, but then I considered the source. Co-mingling the twisted views of bully con man Charlie Kirk and the words of Emma Lazarus is appalling. How would the letter writer define “assimilation”? Apparently, it means relinquishing any connection to your heritage upon entering the U.S. Sadly, ICE is currently engaged in brutalizing entire communities and lying about their violence, all while dismissing the concept of due process. The end of the “Emma & Charlie” letter is particularly ironic, considering the current Oval Office occupant. Learn English? Trump incoherently mangles rather than speaks the language. Work hard? Trump hasn’t “worked hard” a day in his entire entitled life. Pay taxes? With Trump, it’s more “avoid taxes” by cheating or any other means his money affords him. Respect the law? This is a joke, as Trump is the ultimate scofflaw. Lastly, the clearest example of cluelessness in anyone is maintaining the delusion that Trump “loves America.”

S. Ross Emmanuel

Southeast side

What is America’s role?

The 1900s were known as “the American Century” because we saved the world from dictatorship in World Wars I and II. It’s over. The ground has shifted under our feet — because we have abandoned the basis for our leadership, which is the commitment to democracy.

Other autocrats have lost no time in seeing their opening. Putin and Xi, each with his own eye on recreating an ancient empire, have thrown down the gauntlet. Putin wants the former SSRs back in the Soviet fold (the Baltics, Belorussia, Ukraine, with its access to the sea), and Xi wants Taiwan (at least).

Will the U.S. step up again today to defend Europe and Asia? Or is Trump too busy rubbing elbows with fellow dictators, blowing up civilian vessels on the high seas, sending troops into Democrat-led U.S. cities and building his Big Beautiful Golden resort empire on the Gaza Strip?

MAGA is an American campaign slogan; it does not travel. We — here in America — must dump Trump to survive.

Regula Case

Midtown

Jay Tolkoff for Ward 6

After reading the Tim Steller column regarding Regina Romero’s majority, if Miranda Schubert is elected, I am convinced we need a new voice in our City Council.

I live close to the corner of Speedway and Alvernon, and the Speedway Gas station, primarily at the free bus stop, is a constant gathering place for the drug addicts.

We don’t have the poor pitiful “homeless,” these are fentanyl drug addicts, and they are disrupting our quality of life.

There are many city resources, but their addiction keeps them from taking advantage of housing, so they live in our parks and alleys.

We need stronger voices in our City Council to get things done. Jay Tolkoff, Paul Cunningham and Nikki Lee support reinstating bus fares. That is who I support.

Nancy Huff

Midtown