Tucson Speaks Out: June 14

The Colosseum

It is very crass and tasteless that the President/Emperor Trump wants to have cage fights in front of the White House for his birthday. Cage fighting is as close to gladiator fighting as you can get. I hope he doesn't let Hegseth kill the loser. All we need to do is change the name of the White House to The White Colosseum. Is this what Trump has reduced us to? Thumbs down to this deplorable spectacle.

Richard Bechtold

West side

SCOTUS threatens fair representation

Recent Supreme Court redistricting decisions have weakened protections that help ensure minority communities have fair voting power. When voting strength is diluted, democracy itself is diminished.

I currently serve as Vice Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party Jewish Caucus, which stands in solidarity with the Black community. Our own history with prejudice and antisemitism has taught us to recognize threats to representation, which demands that we organize, speak out, and support efforts that defend every community’s right to meaningful representation.

When one group’s political voice is weakened, the whole system becomes more vulnerable. Democracy depends on all of us paying attention to the rules that determine whose votes count.

Do not look away. Support fair-map efforts, partner with Black-led organizations and remain engaged beyond a single election. Democracy can only survive when people demand fair representation and stand together to protect it.

Maureen Salz

Oro Valley

Aid to Israel but not Ukraine

One would think that after 2 1/2 years of bombings and missile strikes in Lebanon and Gaza, and starting a war in Iran, Israel would have run out of arms. But that is not the case. Thanks to American largesse, Israel's supply of bombs and missiles remains limitless, resulting in thousands of deaths in Lebanon, and now impeding a peace deal with Iran. At the same time, America's support for Ukraine — a country attacked by a power-hungry Communist dictator — has waned to almost nothing. Nonetheless, Republican politicians remain unconcerned by this hypocrisy. In particular, our Congressional Representative has insisted that "US aid to Israel must be Congress's top priority," while recently denying aid to Ukraine (June 4). There was a time when America stood for peace and democracy, but it appears that our Congressman does not support such old-fashioned values.

John Prugh

Foothills

DOJ under DJT

The cartoon of the DOJ under DJT and its accompanying red light MAGA hat on a lantern outside the door entitled Red Light District is about as brilliantly succinct an exhibit of "A picture is worth a thousand words" as I've ever seen. Powerful impact delivered immediately, brilliantly. The idea of the culture inside that door leaves no moral doubt.

Richard Broderick

Vail

Our elections aren't rigged

Ever since Donald Trump became the Republican candidate for the 2016 presidential election and continuing in his second term, he still pushes the lie elections are rigged. He filed at least 60 suits to prove his point and lost every case. His lies caused January 6, 2021, which should never be forgotten. The same unproven and bogus claims by Trump and his minions continue today.

Trump's latest conspiracy theory is that all the ongoing 2026 elections are rigged because it is taking too much time to count ballots. Where's the proof of fraud of any kind? Again no proof provided but more lies.

Louisiana took five weeks to count approximately 750,000 ballots. Having 23 million registered California voters will certainly require more than five weeks to count ballots. Isn't that a reasonable assumption?

Still more lies, unfounded allegations and again no proof.

The question now is not WHAT is the problem, but rather WHO is the problem?

Sally Mayersohn

Northwest side

NBA Finals

Neither the San Antonio Spurs nor the New York Knicks deserve to be in the NBA Finals, or to win the 2026 NBA Championship. Why? NY Knicks owner James Dolan is a major Trump supporter/donor and Mar-a-Lago club member. San Antonio Spurs owners from the Holt family along with owner Michael Dell have also chosen to be big-time supporters/donors to Trump’s vile schemes. The fact that both franchises are entrenched in the values/worldviews/and behaviors of Trump-ism, and that the players and coaches, rather than boldly speaking out in protest, are instead putting basketball ahead of civic duty, honor, decency — well, it’s inexcusable.

Trump-ism is not just another legitimate political viewpoint. It is a short- and long-term trashing of God’s creation, including of human decency. Teams that better understand integrity should be entertaining us during this post-season.

Ron Rude

West side

I don't understand

I am confused. We bombed Iran for a number of weeks. Then we were told we had done pretty much everything that needed to be done. Two months later, we have two separate attacks centering on radar sites on the Strait of Hormuz. How did the two brainiacs forget about radar sites on the Strait of Hormuz, and its importance? I'm guessing they missed that potential problem when they did their in-depth one-hour plan on how to conduct the war and potential problem scenarios, and that is after decimating our intelligence community. Now they finally realize the problem, and that is after the Iranians controlled and terrorized shipping for the last 2 months. Twenty-nine Billion dollars later-and counting -they are still trying to figure it out. A part-time talk show host and a reality TV star leading the war are killing us. November can't come soon enough.

Steve Gorenstein

Northeast side

Fight on the White House lawn

In my long life as an American, I have never been so outraged as I am right now hearing about a fighting ring being built on the White House Lawn to celebrate our 250th anniversary. Our country is not about people fighting each other; it's about standing up for good causes to create a positive image of our country to the rest of the world. We can not keep our standing as a democratic country using our 250th anniversary having a public fight on our White House lawn. There must be something our Senators can do to stop this ridiculous image of who we are as a country. Seeing people beating each other up is not a positive image. Arizona's elected officials should stand up to the president for what he is planning to do on the White House lawn. I am hoping our senators and their colleagues will use whatever power they have to see that this doesn't happen.

Deane Ford

West side