Tucson Speaks Out: April 1

More than a 'weakness'

An LTE writer would like to separate Cesar Chavez’s sexual abuse of girls and women from his legacy. The letter writer offers other widely known examples of powerful men whose legacy includes sexual misconduct or “weaknesses”. However, the difference between Clinton, JFK, and King’s extramarital affairs is consent and the age of consent.

Trump, an adjudicated rapist, and Chavez, whose sexual misconduct has been corroborated, used their status and power to rape and control girls and women. What continues to distress me is that there are far too many men who cannot see the difference between mutual consent and sexual predation of girls and women, and how morally vile it is.

Karen Allison

Three Points

We elect presidents, not kings

What part of this self-explanatory statement does the writer not understand? That is the whole point of the protests. We don't want a king, a ruler, an emperor with no clothes who ignores the law, bypasses Congress, lives by threats and intimidation, and profits from the presidency — bigly. We need a "President." Trump ran on a specific platform and has failed on all of his promises. If you voted for this, his actions, really? If you always vote for a Republican, he should not have been your man. Problems solved, no. A man who has created innumerable problems, yes. Championing strong national defense (going to an unsanctioned war is not strong national defense), human rights, no. Bipartisan cooperation? Nope. Ethical leadership, campaign finance reform, free trade, and firm American intervention against foreign authoritarianism? Nope. No more wars? No. Limited government? Nope. Lower prices, no. Environmental trauma, yes. On and on. Day one promises, nope. (He says the Dems are sick, failing to look in the mirror.)

Peter Bisschop

East side

Trump the socialist

Trump told farmers he was giving them $12 billion to help with increased costs. He failed to mention the cost increase was due to the war he started in Iran and his crazy tariffs.

Farmers are portrayed as the hard-working backbone of our society. For the most, that is true for the small farmer, who I worked for as a kid and admire. But, nowadays, a majority of crops are grown on mega farms owned by large corporations. Those farms get a vast majority of subsidies.

What is a subsidy? Someone or a business is given money by the government because they are struggling. Does that not sound like welfare or socialism, the very thing those Midwest, independent-minded, conservative farmers say they hate so much?

Let’s not help the single mother living in a rundown apartment in inner city Baltimore, but shell out a few hundred thousand to a corporate farmer living in a large house on 5,000 acres in Iowa. Welfare comes in handy for them.

Gary Haslett

SaddleBrooke

Real ID

Is a real ID required to fly domestically? Yes, as of May 7, 2025. If one has an old AZ driver’s license, will TSA allow entry? No. Entry will be refused. One must go through the hoops to obtain a real ID because that is the law. In a similar vein, the current law states that only United States citizens are allowed to vote. Therefore, one is required to present evidence of citizenship. Yes, it may cause some time and annoyance to obtain the evidence, but it is not an insurmountable task. Probably no more difficult than obtaining a birth certificate. If one has just had a vital doctor retire, obtaining a new doctor is far more harrowing and time-consuming. If one believes that free and fair elections are the foundation of our country, how can the notion the proof of citizenship, a key foundation, be rejected? Why is that not an irrefutable fact?

Loyal M. Johnson Jr.

Oro Valley

New $2 million homes

I’m sure all we Tucsonans were thrilled to see that there is a new community planned by a Canadian company: Cielo Sonora, within the master planned The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Dove Mountain, in the Tortolita Mountain foothills. I guess this Canadian company will be importing all water and electricity for this community that very few Tucsonans could ever afford.

Maggy Zanger

Midtown

2024 presidential election results

Come on ADS. You publish a letter to the editor claiming Trump won the popular vote by 7%, actually 1.5%. Won the electoral college by 14%, not 19%. I participated in a No Kings protest across the nation of 8 million, larger than Trump's 2 million margin in the 2024 election. Don't go down the rabbit hole of Bezos. Don't print alternative facts!

Frank E Montez

East side

Buyers' remorse

Letter writer Alan Kohl states in his short missive that Trump won the popular vote by 7% and is therefore not a king but a popularly elected President. He argues that No Kings is therefore somehow illegitimate. First of all, Kohl is wrong about the popular vote. Trump won by 1.57%. Adolph Hitler won a democratic election to become Chancellor of Germany. After his narrow victory, Hitler canceled democracy, eliminated civil rights and declared himself Germany's Leader for life. Does Kohl believe the German people would therefore have been wrong to protest against Hitler? No Kings participants are not arguing that Trump lost the election. They are arguing that Trump, like Hitler, betrayed democracy by embarking on an authoritarian agenda. Trump could not win an election today, as he has the lowest approval ratings of any President in history. It is well-documented that many of his 2024 voters now suffer from an acute case of buyers' remorse.

Jon Dorschner

Midtown

In every situation

"In every situation, each of us must decide: To do the best thing, is the right thing to do; the next best thing is the wrong thing to do; to do nothing is the worst thing you can do." Theodore Roosevelt.

Our President is waging a war without the Congress or people's support. What can we do? One of the simplest things and likely a very effective thing to do is to encourage our Congressional Representatives to take action/s to either show or disavow support for this war.

You can call Juan Ciscomani in Washington at (202) 225-2542 and/or his Tucson office at (520) 881-3588. Ask him to speak out for or against this war and let him know that doing nothing will surely lead to his election loss.

Vincent Allen

Northwest side

Just asking

I was flabbergasted by how quickly Cesar Chavez's statue was removed in Tucson. This happened 2 to 3 weeks from when allegations were reported nationally. How come there is no such reaction to a rich white abuser with a bad comb-over?

Barbara Moore

East side

Iran war

If we put "boots on the ground" in Iran, will Israel also? This is a joint war, and if our troops are put in harm's way, is it right that they take the same risk? I don’t buy the excuse that they are currently fighting an extensive ground war and can’t spare any soldiers. They chose to enter Lebanon, but they have enough reserves on hand, that can send in some to fight along U.S. service personnel. Why are only our soldiers going into the country?

Mike Dai

Midtown

Real vs. illusion

Now that Mr. McConnell has added standing shoulder to shoulder with Cesar Chavez to his prior assertion of marching with Dr. King, it might leave some readers asking ... how did someone who says he mingled with these iconic champions of the working class, people of color, the oppressed and the disadvantaged end up being a vehement (if not virulent) supporter of masked, brutal ICE thugs and people like Donald Trump and Charlie Kirk, both self-obsessed champions of white, Christian nationalists (only), and neither one of whom could or ever did give a damn about any of the groups King and Chavez fought for? What an extreme transformation. As it seems to contradict 99.9% of his past submissions, Mr. McConnell's recent letter seems somewhat disingenuous, especially his laughable complaint about "erasing history," as no one has tried to whitewash American history more than his hero, DJT, and his sycophants. Calling it as I see it.

Hope Gastelum

East side