Trump supporters
got what they wanted
Donald Trump paid off porn stars and models days before the election. Also he planned a hotel in Moscow. Don’t you feel the least bit defrauded?
You cling to your assault rifle, believing your Second Amendment rights allow you to own a weapon used only to kill humans.
Cruel immigration policies benefit “for-profit prisons.”
“Energy independence” opens up millions of acres of public land to his friends for extraction.
Judges? Really? They are all pro-corporation, anti-civil (human) rights.
No complete deals anywhere, sold out farmers and us, with tariffs. He inherited the strong economy. Fifty corporations paid no federal taxes in 2017 due to cuts.
People are also reading…
The strategy for the Middle East is falling apart. Defense contractors love that he pushed NATO to spend more.
We’re at a crossroad. 2020 will decide, oligarchy or Green New Deal?
Yet he’s still your man? For your “wall” he waved environmental rules, and eminent domain. That permits a fracking rig in your front yard. That is what you voted for.
Larry Robinson
Northwest side
Climate change deniers shouldn’t be in office
Climate change deniers should not hold public office. Global warming is a scientific fact, despite the Koch brothers misinformation campaign, and our response to this threat will determine whether the planet lives or dies.
Those are strong words, but in an age where over a million species are threatened and our president is rolling back environmental regulations at an astonishing speed, our lives depend on having elected officials who will take immediate climate action.
LD 11 is represented by Senator Vince Leach, Rep. Mark Finchem, and Rep. Bret Roberts. I encourage them to make a public statement about their views on this issue. I’d also like to personally invite them and the rest of the public to a free climate presentation at the Joel Valdez Library on Saturday Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. in the downstairs meeting room.
Let’s work on this problem together. Our voices matter. Our choices matter. Our votes matter.
Carol Fiore
Northwest side
Concerns about
two Wednesday letters
I wish to address two letters from Wednesday’s edition. One writer wanted to give gun lovers what the Constitution promised. Be aware that at the time of the Constitution, citizens had the same weapons, with the same firepower, as the armies of the day. Using this logic, citizens would be allowed fully-automatic weapons today, which they are not. The Second Amendment has been restricted to account for modern weaponry.
Regarding the letter about Trump corrupting leaders, the JTR (Joint Travel Regulations) apply to all military members and federal employees. If the property offers the government rate, there is no restriction to using the property. To consider this as an appearance of improper conduct is stretching facts into fiction. At the government rate, most hotels barely break even, but it allows them to fill empty rooms. The choice is up to the traveler, even when Trump is president.
Raymond Trombino
Green Valley
Progressive Caucus wrong to censure Sinema
1976 was quite a year. Our nation’s bicentennial, five channels on TV. I was in fourth grade. And the last time a nonincumbent Democratic U.S. Senator was elected in Arizona. So, 11 losing campaigns later, Kyrsten Sinema broke the 38-year losing streak in 2018 running for U.S. senator as a centrist and appealing to independents.
Now, she is being punished by the Progressive Caucus with censure because she votes with the Democrats 80% of the time. This is a red state that is trending purple. The Progressive Caucus lives in a fantasy world of purity where a far-left politician can win a statewide race in Arizona. These are the folks that saw Hillary Clinton and Trump as the same in 2016, and stayed home or voted for Jill Stein, thus enabling Trump to be president. Will they learn their lesson for 2020?
Tony Zinman
Foothills
Current capitalism quashing competition
of capitalism is this?
In a recent book, there is a claim that what we have today is a mutation of capitalism. With extensive mergers over the years and the formation of monopolies, duopolies and oligopolies in virtually all major sectors of the economy, we have stifled competition.
There has also been an increase in monopsonies, (workers having little choice in employer options due to few companies buying their labor). All this has led to a lack of competition, the reduction of free markets, price fixing, lower wages, increased income polarization, union busting, declining innovation, higher prices and fewer startups. If free markets have been contorted and reduced, does what we have still meet the definition of capitalism? Maybe. Modern antitrust legislation is badly needed to bring back competition.
Steve Rasmussen
Foothills
‘Assault rifle’
all about context
I read and hear the expression “assault rifle” just about every day. In the Army or Marines, if you are at the bottom of a hill, ready to take it, it is an assault rifle.
If you are on the top of that hill, now defending it, is it still an assault rifle?
The word assault is over used to make any rifle sound like it is a weapon for an aggressive person.
Eugene Conway,
Korean Army war veteran
East side
It’s not just about getting electric buses
Electric buses are a positive step for Tucson. But how much will it matter, for air quality or carbon emissions? That will depend entirely on the size and robustness of our bus system. For the technology to have an impact, the share of bus trips versus car trips has to increase dramatically.
Many are aware that ridership has declined. Fewer may be aware of the three main strategies being pursued by communities that are committed to shifting trips from autos to buses: adjusting networks and hours so more people can get where — and when — they need to go; making service more frequent; and reducing friction, that is, getting buses moving faster and more reliably.
That’s done by making it easier to find information, pay fares, and board quickly; and by using tactics that get cars out of the way of buses instead of the other way around.
Suzanne Schafer
Downtown
Does character matter anymore?
A reporter recently asked Donald Trump what he intended to do about Iran. He said he hadn’t decided, but “we have plenty of time to do some dastardly things.” Which leaves me wondering if we have a functionally illiterate president who doesn’t know the meaning of the word “dastardly” (cowardly, treacherous, underhanded) but who uses it anyway, or one who is proud of his lack of character and principles?
The question was answered for me in California when he showed that his main concern about homeless Americans was that they were lowering real estate values in our cities. Are we Americans seriously considering keeping that kind of person in office, just because we perceive that he may put a little more money in our pockets? If so, we have surely lost our way.
Carol Conniff
Foothills
Hey, don’t forget pedestrian violations
Re: the Sept.19 article “Tucson police are expanding efforts to boost pedestrian, bicyclist safety.”
All efforts are directed toward drivers. And rightly so. There is no effort toward pedestrian nor cyclist education. Pedestrians jaywalking. Cyclists riding on sidewalks. Cyclists riding on streets going the wrong direction.
Yes, auto drivers should always be observant. Enforcing laws aimed at pedestrians and cyclists is imperative. Jaywalking citations should be issued. Cycling lawbreakers should be cited. Those issues are ignored.
Our family has lived through the trauma of death by auto. We know exactly what victims families are going through. Public Service Announcements are not enough. Not even. Until law enforcement deals with pedestrians and cyclists as well as drivers, these unfortunate deaths will continue. Citations for all.
Steven Garcia
South Tucson
