Tucson Speaks Out: December 20

Trump's angry tirade

Several months ago, I submitted an LTE in which I questioned how people like the president and his closest advisors could become so hateful and bigoted. My answer lay in the Oscar Hammerstein lyric to a song from the Broadway musical South Pacific called, “You’ve Got to Be Taught,” which the Star published verbatim.

But emotions like anger and loss of self-control are also learned – in our youth, taught to us by our parents and those who are supposed to love us. Wednesday night’s angry, desperate tirade by Trump reminded us of what a troubled family he was raised in and has, in turn raised himself. Hmm. The sins of the fathers.

He has gathered around himself those with whom he can best relate — other angry and hateful people. When the rest of the country doesn’t echo his feelings, we get scolded and can expect to be punished. I can’t wait.

Shelly Fishman

Midtown

Math lesson for the president

Wednesday night, the President said he was lowering drug prices by 300% or 400% or 500%. Let's see what that means. If your drug costs $60, a 100% decrease would mean the cost would be $60 less or cost you nothing. The pharmacy would give you the drug for free. If the price was reduced by 200%, the price would be dropped by $120. Now the pharmacy would give you $60 along with the drug. If the drug was reduced by 300% the pharmacy would give you $120 plus the drug. Any businessman, and Trump claims he is a great one, would know no business could survive with this pricing structure. In addition, in January of 2025, the conservative magazine, "The Economist", called the U.S. economy the "Envy of the world". The even more conservative "Wall Street Journal" concurred.

Don Ries

Southeast side

Try to survive without a nurse

There is no reason to exclude nurses from the "professional" list. Nurses provide essential care, and there is a severe shortage of nurses. A Registered Nurse (RN) is absolutely considered a healthcare professional, with specialized education, ethical standards, and critical skills, able to make important decisions to save a patient's life. Nurses are highly trained, skilled professionals whose critical thinking, knowledge, and work ethic is highly coveted. They are professional lifesavers. Nurses are crucial because they provide direct patient care, act as patient advocates, educators, and coordinators, bridging communication between patients, families, and doctors, ensuring safety, managing treatment, and improving health outcomes through constant monitoring and compassionate support, making them the backbone of the healthcare system. Thank a nurse.

Peter Bisschop

East side

Unwell, unhinged and unfit

Never in history has there been a more vacuous, vain, venal, vicious, vile, vindictive, vitriolic, vituperative president. He is clearly unwell, unhinged and unfit. His entire administration is filled with unqualified, self-serving sycophants. It’s time for Congress to either impeach him or use the 25th Amendment to remove him from office before he does any more damage to this country.

Celeste Rogers

East side

Ciscomani's response

I am a new unaffiliated voter in the Tucson area and take seriously my responsibility to understand the people I may be voting for in the future. As part of that, I was very interested in how my new Congressman, Juan Ciscomani, might respond to President Trump’s post regarding the murders of Rob and Michele Reiner. I checked Rep. Ciscomani’s X posts and sent a note via his office’s web page asking for his position on the post. In both cases, there has been nothing but silence. This leads me to the following conclusions:

— The Congressman is either ok with Trump’s response or too afraid of Trump's retribution to speak up;

— That his office doesn’t care enough about a new constituent to respond;

— And, that I cannot see any reason to vote for Rep. Ciscomani in next year’s election.

I hope others will make the same assessment.

Bret West

Marana

Free speech at UA

In a recent LTE, conservative UA student Héctor Gúzman cited Tim Steller’s well-balanced editorial about Trump’s effort against DEI in universities as bias against conservatives. He complained that liberal UA students called him MAGA. If he is a Mexican citizen, he is not MAGA by definition, but very likely is from a wealthy Mexican family with similar right-wing conservative views. If he is an American citizen, he can wear the MAGA hat. He is attending the UA on the David R. Montaño Scholarship sponsored by the UA Freedom Center, a program to indoctrinate funded by the Koch Brothers. I’m sure both liberals and conservatives at the UA have heated political discussions, as is their First Amendment right. But Gúzman and anti-DEI activists reflect the Koch brothers' extreme conservative views of liberty by challenging Dems' free speech rights. He is on the path to be another MAGA Juan Ciscomani.

Tom Van Devender

North side

Egomaniac in charge

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Trump is the grandest egomaniac in history. He now has had his hand-picked sycophants wanting to rename the Kennedy Center for the Arts to include his name next to Kennedy's name. He wants the Washington Commanders football stadium named after himself. He has a sycophant in the Treasury Department suggesting a 250th anniversary commemorative coin with his image on it. He campaigned for the Nobel Peace Prize and said the winner called him and said he should have gotten the award. He has decorated the Oval Office with gold fixtures and frames making it look like an expensive brothel. At Trump's inauguration, all the big-shot corporate billionaires lined up to stroke his ego to make sure he makes them more money. Apparently, you can get anything you want from Trump if you just "pucker up", and it's not to kiss his ring either. Wake up.

Richard Bechtold

West side

Data center myths

Myth: Data centers don't increase residential electric bills.

Fact: Nationwide, data centers significantly increased residential bills in almost every community where they were built.

Myth: Data centers bring many new long-term jobs.

Fact: The number of long-term jobs at a typical data center is between five and 30.

Myth: Air conditioning a data center lowers its water use.

Fact: Air conditioning requires enormous amounts of electricity. TEP's generators are cooled by water. To generate all that electricity, TEP's generators will require even more water from our aquifer than if the data center had used evaporative cooling onsite. (Note: TEP has its own wells, so pays us nothing for water from our aquifer).

Myth: Data centers in Pima County will require TEP to generate more renewables locally.

Fact: Instead of using renewables generated here, TEP will purchase out-of-state renewables (with transmission loss of up to 5% of power).

Lee Stanfield

East side

Global authoritarian trend

Many nations seem to have given up on democracy, preferring far-right authoritarian politics. Not only are parts of Europe trending this way, but so are several nations in South America. Argentina’s political stance is far right with Milei in charge. He is very much aligned with Trump. The president-elect in Chile, Jose Kast, is also aligned with the far-right movement. He’s a big fan of the murderous Pinochet regime of years past. Pinochet was quasi-fascist, so those that like his political style are in the same camp. Kast’s father was aligned with the Nazis in Germany. Fascism always sells itself using patriotism, racial/political bigotry and fear of the other. It never benefits the “common good,” only the elites and business. Fascism promotes vices, while democracy promotes virtues, and yet voters get bamboozled into thinking that fascism is the solution that will save them. It’s an old strategy that worked well in Italy in 1922, but didn't end well.

Steve Rasmussen

Foothills

Education

I've been a teacher for 14 years. I've taught in 3 states — ages 1 to 80 — elementary/middle/high schools, and a college. I'm appalled and heartbroken by what I'm seeing:

— Schools overrun by students due to a total lack of disciplinary action

— Required online learning programs that implement "motivational" video games, despite the fact that many students are addicted to video games

— 50% of 5th-grade classroom students without the capacity to attend to a teacher for more than 30 seconds

— Young students deciding the fate of teachers with illegitimate "grievances"

— Textbooks entirely focused on one-sided agenda - viewpoints on gender identity, immigration, the definition of race, systemic racism, white privilege, the English language, history, and capitalism

— Professional development pushing agenda like intersectionality, unconscious bias, gender bias, privilege, and microaggression

— Initiatives that overcorrect antiracism and promote racism toward whites

— Content that bashes conservative beliefs/leaders without providing reasoning behind views

— Staff wages and disciplinary action dependent on race

Janine Schmitz

North side