President Donald Trump addresses the audience Wednesday at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
EU: Two can play the extortion game
Congress, you could be in a double bind. See how your constituents like this, if you don’t act immediately against Greenland tariff threats and “buying a country.” If Trump continues, the EU should begin instituting 15% tariffs on all U.S. agricultural products. Throw in alcohol, metals, planes. Systematically begin cashing in US bonds, exposing our debt. Invest in German Bund, other countries welcoming investment. EU, keep escalating, responding to Trump.
Congress, you could alleviate a financial disaster. Do your constitutionally mandated job. Control the megalomaniac avoiding the Epstein files and disrupting world balance: 1) Grow a spine and take control of Trump’s Greenland tantrum. You hold the purse, the law. Rule against him. Don’t fund defense. Don’t allow tariffs. (Is the Supreme Court waiting for you?) 2) Demand release of unredacted Epstein files. 3) Then, once courageous, impeach Trump for corruption in acquiring billions while holding office, laws broken, and likely pedophilia. If you don’t our economy could dump as EU says “checkmate.”
Nancy Jacques
Northeast side
Trump not afraid to send troops
As a 91-year-old Korean War Veteran and AZ Daily Star delivery route 7A boy in the 1940s, I have a little different view of what constitutes being tough. My father, brought here as a child, from Mexico, tried to serve in WWI and was told that his work as a copper miner contributed more to the war effort than stopping a bullet. He worked hard from age 10 to a little over age 65, raising a family of 11 children. Eight of his children served honorably in the militar,y participating in WWII, Korea and the prelude to Vietnam.
Gerardo M. Aguilar
Midtown
An English lesson
Some MAGA LTE contributors to the STAR complain about “name-calling” aimed at their leader. Here’s why they’re off base.
Name-calling is mislabeling — the use of degrading, demeaning terms meant to insult or belittle. Examples from your leader: fallen American soldiers at Belleau Wood “suckers and losers,” former advisor Omarosa Manigault Newman “crazed, crying lowlife dog,” correspondent Catherine Lucey “Piggy” when she asked about the Epstein files, CNN and anchor Kaitlan Collins “low-rated people who hate our country,” adult film actress Stormy Daniels “horseface.” The list could fill pages.
Naming or labeling, by contrast, is a generally accurate identifier a term distinguishing one person or thing from others, like “Greenland,” “next door neighbor,” or “Democrat.” So when I or other letter writers use words like “fascist” and “dictator” to label Trump, we are coming very close to identifying exactly what he is, based on his own words and actions.
Jim Christ
East side
Meat of the issue
Jan. 21, Page A1: Arizona anti-lab meat bill.
Republicans claimed to be laissez-faire regarding business matters. No more. Rep. Lupe Diaz is pushing a bill to eliminate consumer choice by not allowing the sale of lab-grown meat in Arizona. He asks, “…what’s the issue with cattle?” Obvious answer, methane. Land use and soil pollution, also.
Diaz stated he is supporting cattlemen, implicitly not consumers.
A cattle ranch is an open-air "lab" with less environmental control than an environmentally controlled facility that produces meat by cellular division. Both the ranch and facility use cellular division to effectively create virtually the same product. Reiterating, a facility is a cleaner environment.
Rep. Quang Nguyen is proposing to provide information to consumers in a laissez-faire manner. He’s not picking winners and losers.
I’ll buy lab-grown meat, if competitively priced, with preferred qualities.
James Abels
Midtown
The systematic destruction of the USA
We all know, when an elephant stomps through a porcelain store, not much will be left of the precious items. Since WWII, the entire West has established a delicately balanced power structure that has brought both peace and prosperity to all people. Major trade alliances have, disregarding never-content critics, been a boon to the economic entities and the consumers. The Soviet Union fell in 1990, and many new countries have emerged that have since then enjoyed their freedom and unheard-of developments profiting everyone. Unfortunately, the proverb has now become a reality, and the pile of shards is growing every day. We could call this elephant personified insanity, but it has a concrete name and one instigator. Russia is equally led by a dictator, also insane and extremely power hungry. These two elephants are storming through the much-loved store of our lives and destroying everything generations have come to rely on: solid healthcare, good education, clean water, affordable housing, and peace, above all. This nightmare has to stop.
Albrecht Classen
Midtown
Buying Greenland
The President wants to take over/buy Greenland. In 1917, through "The Treaty of the Danish West Indies," the U.S. purchased the Virgin Islands from Denmark for $25 million and an agreement that the U.S. would "not object to the Danish Government extending their political and economic interests to the whole of Greenland." If the President wants to void/negate/renege on that treaty, Denmark would pay $25M back to the U.S., take back ownership of the Virgin Islands, and restore the various interests in different parts of Greenland. It would also, of course, make the idea of entering into a treaty with the U.S. very hazardous. Something to think about.
Alan Brown
East side
Vote yes for safer streets
As someone who recently ran for Tucson City Council in Ward 6, I spent months talking with residents about what works and what doesn’t when it comes to transportation. I heard the same priorities again and again: safety, reliability, and dignity for everyone who uses our system.
Propositions 418 and 419 invest in safer streets, better transit, and a transportation system that serves the people who depend on it, all while not raising taxes. RTA Next provides our region with a cohesive and coordinated plan to meet our needs as Tucsonans, both within the city and beyond. That’s why I support both measures.
As a bicycle commuter, driver, and parent, safer roads matter to me. Every project in the plan includes safety upgrades such as bike lanes, signalized pedestrian crossings, sidewalks, improved street lighting, and other proven enhancements.
I urge voters to say yes to Propositions 418 and 419.
Leighton Rockafellow Jr.
Midtown
How to make America poorer
Abandon diplomatic and soft power options. Discontinue foreign aid; withdraw from international institutions to ensure the U.S. loses influence in global initiatives and events.
Alienate trading partners with tariffs to reduce customer bases for U.S. goods (soybeans, anyone?) and encourage the formation of free-trade zones without U.S. participation.
Politicize the Fed to raise borrowing costs and undermine the dollar as the world’s reserve currency; help China supplant it with the yuan.
Cripple U.S. science and technology by slashing spending, driving top researchers overseas and reducing domestic training in critical fields.
Refuse to fund renewables. Cede leadership in next-generation energy technologies to China.
America benefited enormously from leading the post-WWII international order through cooperation and alliances. The emerging one shaped by our retreat and isolation may not be so pleasant.
‘We are watching one of the wildest things a nation-state has ever done. A superpower is (dying by) suicide because the (Republican) Congress is too cowardly to stand up to the Mad King.” (journalist Garrett Graff)
Barbara Hall
Midtown
Trump impeachment coming
Think of it, in just one more year, the Democrats could control the House and Trump impeachments can finally resume. Which of the hundreds of horrific crimes they should peruse first? Let me assist.
On the domestic front, perhaps impeach for being a fascist, tyrant and self-anointed king. The problem is that he aggressively pursues dismantling his executive branch of government, slashing his inherited cabinet and regulatory governance; returning that power to the ‘several states’ where it rightfully belongs. Trump obeys all court orders from the puppet-king federal judges. So we need to look elsewhere.
On the international front, maybe impeach for war crimes. Sadly, he has prevented or ended several bloody wars, saving many thousands of lives with zero American deaths, and a big one is still pending. He prefers negotiation, threats and tariffs over bullets.
What’s your top impeachment crime? Pro tip: ‘orange hair’ work.
Jeffrey McConnell
West side
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