Tucson Speaks Out: April 29

Is this a reason for a ballroom?

Was the incident at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner really a surprise?

1. In an interview, I heard the president say that this was the reason “his” ballroom plan was so necessary “for security reasons.” There are more than 2,500 people who attend this event every year. The ballroom can only accommodate 1,000. The president is supposed to be accessible to the citizenry. Whoever is president is not supposed to be ensconced in a castle.

2. The security at the Washington Hilton was much improved after Reagan was shot outside the hotel. The security worked as it was supposed to during this event. It is much better security than at political and election rallies, which the president wouldn’t think of missing.

3. Our whole country is replete with gun activity. Too many incidents are perpetrated by unstable individuals who should never have handled a gun.

Maybe, instead of a ballroom, the U.S. needs better gun control laws, mental health treatment and community law enforcement.

Cindy Soffrin

Northeast side

Gerrymandering

So, our frequent correspondent, Loyal Johnson, has discovered that gerrymandering is a danger to democracy, however only if perpetrated by Democrats. Unfortunately, his letter betrays his ultra MAGA historical ignorance and bias. This particular form of political deviance is almost as old as our country.

The current variant of this practice did not escape from a laboratory in Wuhan, China, or from a demonic cabal of Democrats in a cave under the state capitol in Richmond, Virginia. It was initiated and propagated by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and spread to states like Florida, Missouri and Ohio. None of these plans was ever approved by actual voters. The Democratic plans in Virginia and California were on a statewide ballot and approved.

Mr. Johnson would do well to heed the advice of the ancient sage Confucius: “It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” Enough already.

James M Friedman

Northeast side

Perfect

An article in The New York Times disclosed that the U.S. Mint is mixing gold that has been extracted from a South American gold mine owned by drug cartels with gold mined in the U.S., despite a 1985 law prohibiting the same. That means that possibly the new DJT gold coin may include drug cartel gold. How fitting.

Kenneth Haber

Northwest side

Congress: We are fed up

Dear do-nothing-but-hurt-constituencies Congress: I request the following from you. I suspect many others agree. Foremost, grow spines. Stop being afraid of a windbag bully and take back your power. Earn our respect for a change. Speak out. Stop stripping social programs. Stop stripping sciences, especially no to the Climate Shakedown Act. Stop attacks on the Forest Service, endangered species and pollution laws. No funding DHS without humane, legal rules for ICE.

Cancel the extra wall — a total waste — and pass humane 21st-century immigration laws protecting intellectual competitiveness for the future, and now. Protect the lives of people desperate for asylum, including Afghans. You promised. No on spying on your own people via FISA. No to the SAVE Act. Our elections are safe, and we should be proud.

The public is sick of repeated lies and political games, and news that reads like a rejected Monty Python script. Reader, if you agree, copy/paste this to Congress and say so. We’re finished with corrupt, farcical governance.

Nancy Jacques

Northeast side

Parroting Pelosi

It has been documented on film that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi reacted to the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol with a firm insistence on returning to the Capitol to finish their business. President Trump reacted to the assault on the White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner in exactly the same way, insisting that the event continue after the assailant was arrested. He also added in a Fox interview that “I hated a guy like this — a sick, bad person — I hated somebody like that changing the course of our country,” a sentiment held by many about the Jan. 6 assailants.

Ed Waymire

Midtown

The Tucson Four

Cara Bissell's self-serving column argues that she and three other “anti-Jim Click” demonstrators should be found not guilty of criminal trespass for their refusal to obey a lawful order to leave the property. She was part of a group that staged a protest on the property of a Click dealership to protest various government policies and Jim Click's support for Juan Ciscomani. After being told to leave and that they were trespassing, the majority of protesters complied. Eight chose not to comply and were arrested. Four of them pleaded guilty. Bissell and three others did not. They now must face the music. I agree with her comments that private property rights matter, enforcement should be based on behavior, and that businesses do not need to tolerate chaos. If people are told to leave and refuse, that refusal matters. She made a choice and now must accept the consequences for her actions.

Dan Watson

Oracle

Segregation history

It was good to see another letter from Steve Sollenberger. I was wondering what happened to him. Unfortunately, his letter commits the same error he accuses others of. Everything he said about Democrats is true. However, he fails to mention the most pertinent fact.

In 1964, when the Democratic Party pushed through Congress the Civil Rights Act, the 11 states of the Confederacy had 22 Democrats and 0 Republicans in the Senate. The “Dixiecrats,” opposed to civil rights for Black Americans, began their trek to the Republican Party. This was capitalized on by Richard Nixon with his “Southern Strategy” of moving Southern Democrats to the Republican Party.

Today the 11 states of the Confederacy have 18 Republicans and 4 Democrats. The Republican Party, once the anti-slavery party, is now the party of segregation and white supremacy.

Mr. Sollenberger, your attempt to ignore history is a dismal failure.

Steven Brown

Midtown

Norah O'Donnell maintains grace under fire

Some years ago, while substitute teaching, I saw a poster in a classroom that read, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words may break my heart.”

I thought of that quote recently while watching journalist and news presenter Norah O’Donnell’s tense interchange with President Trump on “60 Minutes.”

After she read some very insulting words to him, allegedly written by Cole Tomas Allen, who is accused of crimes committed at the media dinner, our commander in chief directed provocative comments toward her, calling the media “horrible people” and referring to her as … “a disgrace.”

Whatever O’Donnell felt at that moment (hurt? humiliated? angry?), she did not respond in kind; instead, she retained her composure, bypassed his comments and continued with the interview. She is a shining example to us all of maintaining control of our response regardless of words directed toward us. Michelle Obama said, “Words matter.” I add: Yes, I agree, and our reaction matters just as much.

Barbara Russek

North side

What's in a name?

Not sure how Ron Rude’s excellent opinion piece (“The evil ideology of Trumpism...”) of April 21 launched Steve Sollenberger’s tirade about Civil War-era “Democrats.” Rude’s piece only passingly refers to anything related to that topic. Sollenberger’s statements about Southern Democrats of that era are essentially accurate. My point is, what’s your point, Steve? This is more a question of old news and “what’s in a name?” Importantly, by the mid-20th century, there was a total ideological shift between the Democratic and Republican parties, and currently all the worst elements of Civil War-era “Democrats” are embodied in the Republican Party — including (but not limited to) grotesque Trumpism, raging racism, and even some Republicans talking about their states seceding from the Union. I don’t think Rude’s piece seeks to “ignore history.” I think Sollenberger is trying to distract from and distort what the piece was actually about. In that attempt, Mr. Sollenberger’s letter was the dismal failure.

S. Ross Emmanuel

Southeast side

Racist covenants

Congratulations to the San Clemente Neighborhood Association for amending their covenants to remove the racist restrictions. As I understand it, the 2024 legislation (SB 1432) allows homeowners associations, not neighborhood associations, to amend their covenants by a vote of the board of directors. For neighborhoods that are not in an HOA, the 2024 law allows individual homeowners to amend the covenants as applied to their property. I suspect that the San Clemente neighborhood used a procedure in the covenants themselves to amend the covenants. Such covenants can typically be amended by a majority vote of the property owners. The Mitman Neighborhood Association has prepared instructions and a form for recording an amendment using the form specified by SB 1432. These instructions and a form are under Resources at mitman.org.

Treasurer

Mitman Neighborhood Association

Harold Hallikainen

East side