Keep Trump golfing, for all our sakes
Where does Trump put the largest chunk of his time? Playing golf. Some estimates are that 20% of his time is spent on the golf course.
Judging from what we see of those efforts, he isn’t very good at that, either. In fact, former President Barack Obama could take him!
We might ask the question, what kind of return are we getting for those massive public expenditures on transportation, security, caddy fees and new balls?
The best answer might be, as there isn’t anything in his toy chest that in the least prepares him to do the job of leader of our country, the safest investment for everyone on planet Earth is to keep him playing golf.
When we finally see the bill for years of Trump’s golfing truancy, it will still (probably) be cheaper than a full-out war with the country-du-jour.
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Play on!
John Ball
Green Valley
UA women’s hoops
is close to breakthrough
Kudos to the UA women’s basketball players, coach Adia Barnes and her staff, and the awesome community support for a great weekend of competitive basketball. Though the team came up just short, they did themselves proud. Both Oregon and Oregon State fans commented how well the Cats played. The best is yet to come. Bear Down!
Jerry Andy
Downtown
If this is climate change, I’ll take it
The latest winter rainstorm brought the total rainfall amount in Tucson for the year to over 13 inches, about 2 inches more than the average.
Mount Lemmon received a foot of snow. The snow base at Arizona Snowbowl near Flagstaff is about 50 inches. The snowpack in the Sierra Nevadas is at 113% of average, meaning plentiful water for California’s dams, reservoirs and lakes. Earlier in the year, some dams were so full of water that it had to be released.
Just a few years ago California was in a historic drought that climatologists predicted the state would likely never recover from, due to human-caused climate change.
Well, here they are with plentiful water. Some climate changers previously predicted the end of ever seeing snow again.
As for Tucson, yes we were warmer during the year, but above average in rainfall. I will take that. And many areas in the metro area received more than the 13 inches recorded at Tucson International Airport.
David Burford
Northwest side
America’s quick trigger
doesn’t speak well of us
One sign that America has been at war too long is that killing is our first response. Without more details on why President Trump sent a drone to attack and kill Qassem Soleimani and approximately five others outside Baghdad International Airport, we are forced to assume that he was guilty of something.
Yet we don’t even discuss why he was not arrested or captured. I haven’t heard these questions even discussed anywhere. We could have traded Soleimani for Americans imprisoned by Iran, while making the strong but diplomatic point that Iran should not be attacking Americans in Iraq.
Our unnecessary violence brought us to the edge of war with Iran and, most sadly, during their measured response they accidentally shot down a commercial airliner, killing 176 travelers.
Violence begets violence. If we had better leadership and were better people ourselves, we would not be so ready to escalate conflict with a nation whose people don’t hate Americans but whose government is disliked by us and many Iranians.
Roger Barthelson
West side
School volunteering
a rewarding experience
I’m a retired senior who volunteers at a local public school. I help a first-grade teacher and do whatever she needs me to do. It is so rewarding to be needed and to be of help to children.
I urge all retirees to volunteer at a school.
Frank Pisut
West side
Thankful for rainbow community of Tucson
Re: the Jan. 10 opinion piece “Supportive community can keep transgender children safe from harm.”
As a senior, transfeminine intersex person who was forced to play male most of my life, only able to live authentically, safely and with access to proper health care for the six years I’ve lived in Tucson, I can’t adequately express how grateful I am to be a member of the local rainbow community with all these happy kids and successful trans adults who live here.
I give little prayers of thanks every time there’s a murder, beating or some gross violation of a transgender person’s human rights that makes the news or my siblings complaining about a microaggression they constantly face in their communities. These things don’t happen here.
If I get misgendered, I say that I’m not male and most people apologize. I hardly ever have to even give the “Trans 101” rap to anybody. For that, we can all thank parents like Meghan Mogan and all the other parents in the Southern Arizona Gender Alliance.
Tommie Wasserberg
Downtown
GOP has no shame regarding redistricting
Republicans have no shame. The Independent Redistricting Commission was set up by Arizona voters and approved by the U.S. Supreme Court to determine voting district boundaries to eliminate gerrymandering.
As a poll inspector and voter for fair elections, I object to the partisan effort to load the commission with Republicans and independents and not appoint any Democrats.
This is what the Senate Republicans voted to do and what the governor has done.
When the Legislature’s Republicans had the power to draw legislative districts, they were not fair and able to determine the districts without resorting to gerrymandering.
They are still at it, notwithstanding the fact that the people of Arizona have voted for a process that is not supposed to be dominated by one political party.
Have they no shame, no sense of fairness?
Kenn Block
Oro Valley
Demand a full (and fair) impeachment trial
The House of Representatives has voted to impeach the most corrupt president in modern history. Sen. Mitch McConnell has publicly vowed to rig the impeachment trial in favor of the defendant.
If an ordinary citizen threatened this in advance of a trial, they would be disqualified from serving on the jury. Yet we have one of the jurors in this Senate impeachment trial planning to do just that. It’s reprehensible, and it cannot stand.
I demand that Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Martha McSally push McConnell for a fair and complete impeachment trial in the Senate. This requires every senator to carefully review all documents and to listen to all key witnesses with an open mind. Those who cannot do so should recuse themselves. Our republic depends on a full, fair impeachment trial.
Jennifer White
Vail
TEP rate increase isn’t justified
Re: the Jan. 12 article “TEP meets pushback in quest for substantial rate hikes.”
TEP argues that it needs a rate increase to pay for fossil-fuel generated energy because solar- or wind-generated electricity is intermittent. While it is true that solar and wind are intermittent, it is not true that fossil-fuel generated energy is the only alternative.
Utility scale batteries are used both in the United States and the rest of the world to provide electricity when needed, and on the near horizon are multiple other ways of storing energy for use when needed. Asking ratepayers to bear the burden of paying for an unnecessary investment in gas-fired engines that pollute the air and worsen climate change is unjustified.
The only way to stop such foolish investments is to price carbon emissions at their real cost, including costs to both the environment and to human health. It’s one more reason to support the adoption of HR 163 in Congress, which will do exactly that.
Mike Carran
Southeast side
