Tucson Speaks Out: January 3

The Kennedy Center ignominy

Until recently, an invitation to perform as an artist at the J. F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts was considered a high honor. Now it symbolizes Trump World’s degradation of America, and beyond. All artists with integrity will hopefully cancel any scheduled engagements.

In less than a year, Trump and his accomplices/supporters/excusers have managed to uncover and bundle together a storehouse of America’s most vile of values and most egregious of deeds, and intentionally employ them as political strategy. How sad. How inexcusable.

I believe history will judge Trump as a destructive misfit — both at the Kennedy Center and in the White House.

Ron Rude

West side

Indicting courage

In Tim Steller's column of Dec. 17, he brings to light the courage of a citizen who confronted a habitual criminal, Emery Kirk. Kirk was confronted and stopped by Andrew Anaya, who chose not to stand by passively and ignore the commission of a crime. While the action resulted in Kirk's death, I see this as a possible consequence of any criminal act.

Now, we read that our county attorney has charged him with manslaughter. How jaded has our legal system become when a local hero is being prosecuted for stepping up. While not always prudent or advisable, Mr. Anaya's courage must not be diminished or relegated to a criminal act. Many of us think that his actions should be rewarded, not condemned. Interestingly enough, his relatives thought his death was senseless over a pack of cigarettes. They fail to acknowledge that this was not his only wrong step. Criminal acts have consequences, intended or otherwise.

Ms. Conover, please dismiss these misplaced charges and pursue more significant issues.

Jerry Schuchardt

Foothills

Conservative value: fiscal prudence

Traditional conservatism in the U. S. valued personal and national fiscal prudence. People worked hard, carefully managed their money, saved for cars, houses, and college tuition, started businesses and donated to charities. They paid taxes and trusted the government to provide roads, schools, hospitals, etc. and to protect them from fraud, fire and crime. Today’s government is eroding economic opportunities as expenses and inflation rise. Tariffs burdening U.S. businesses are passed on to consumers. Massive tax cuts favor the rich while cutting funding for health care, social programs education, public media, science, research, and disaster relief are being slashed. Regulations protecting clean air and water, public lands are being removed to increase profits. The federal deficit is ballooning while Trump wastes tax money on a $40 billion Argentina bailout, a $400 million ballroom, needless war against Venezuela, unnecessary National Guard deployments, and much more. The American Dream is tarnished and fading.

Tom Van Devender

North side

The Trump House

The cartoon of Wednesday, Dec 31, naming all National Monuments after Trump, was very appropriate. Except it left out one item. The little island in the San Francisco Bay should be renamed.

Trump-catraz.

Even sounds a little poetic!

David Hatch

Southeast side

Eldercare LTE

Excellent point made by the recent LTE by Don Ries.

The Trump administration has totally forgotten the damage it is doing to older Americans. We need leadership that cares about older Americans who are not rich.

I suggest those who might agree start work soon, reaching out to others in their communities to help organize older folks to go vote and participate in politics. Young and old should make an effort soon.

Dan Bannon

Midtown

JFK Center

After reading an article in the Arizona Daily Star, I familiarized myself with the jazz artistry of a band named The Cookers. Been together for years, and their music, as I have found, is electrifying. As reported, they’re the latest artists who have canceled a scheduled appearance at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. Thank you, ADS, for this reporting, and thanks to the Commander for desecrating the Center’s name, thus inadvertently enabling my personal discovery of this fabulous group of musicians.

Tom House

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Midtown

Local leadership needed

A belated letter congratulating Tim Steller for his article (Dec. 10) regarding the ICE/IRS raid on Taco Giro. It was hardly a surprise that ICE would be conducting police activities with full military gear and hardware (gas, loaded weapons, etc).

What was surprising, given that this activity started quickly after the new administration came to office, with extensive media response (coverage, aggressive conduct by ICE) was that local leadership was not prepared with a plan. ICE is even arresting people who are "self-deporting" because they want numbers and do not care about following legitimate law enforcement practices.

Did TPD and Mayor/Council not expect this type of response by ICE? A civil warrant for IRS records and arrest of local residents was not unexpected. Why was there no plan or anticipation by our local elected leaders?

Kavanagh stops will continue: "brief detention to determine a Latino person's citizenship status."

Let us pray our elected leaders will be ready to respond to this madness.

Margarita Bernal

West side

Fascism/imperialism correlation

History shows us many examples of fascist leaders who were obsessed with expanding their territory. In 1935, Mussolini wanted to own Ethiopia and therefore attacked it. It’s well known that Hitler wanted to expand his empire by taking over Poland, Czechoslovakia, the USSR, etc. The Serbian leader and fascist, Slobodan Milosevic, wanted to expand the Serbian state to several surrounding areas, like Bosnia and Croatia.

Now we see Trump getting into the imperialist mode with his buildup of forces off the coast of Venezuela. He’s following an established fascist playbook. Not all fascist leaders were imperialists, but most of them have been. Trump’s imperialist actions just add to the evidence that he has accepted fascist tactics as his foreign policy. His intolerance of dissent domestically is also a symptom of fascism. Who voted for U.S. imperialism?

Steve Rasmussen

Foothills

Daycare problems in Minnesota

This was a failure of the many, local, state and federal. It should be seen as a sign of a broken system, with everyone failing along the way. It should not be seen as a local debacle, as it involves too many agencies. In essence, the "debacle" is a confluence of criminal acts, state-level oversight challenges, federal policy decisions, and pre-existing economic vulnerabilities within the child care system. To try to politicize a situation like this is wrong. If the Feds suspected something, as they apparently have for years, they should have tried to come up with solutions and taken positive actions. Instead, they make the problem political. There is a wide range of people who failed at their jobs both from the left, and the right specifically, who love to make issues they are involved in, they are partially responsible for, turn into some sort of political weapon.

Peter Bisschop

East side

Ignore your lying eyes?

Biden and Trump are both old men with old-age infirmities. Biden was roasted in the right-wing press for his infirmities, his stuttering and walk, when he was in office. Why is it unfair to criticize Trump for similar old-age problems? “To compare Biden to Trump is like comparing a sloth to the Energizer Bunny.” Really? Did Biden fall asleep at meetings? Mispronounce the names of countries in his speeches? Persecute his "enemies" by issuing frivolous lawsuits?

From a recent article in the New Republic:

— President Donald Trump was caught falling asleep during a meeting with his Cabinet members, raising concerns about his mental acuity.

— Trump has dramatically reduced his public appearances and domestic travel, with reports indicating he is distracted, out of touch, and unwilling to acknowledge pressing issues facing the country.

— Media outlets are beginning to address Trump's apparent cognitive decline, with some expressing alarm over the lack of moderating influences in his administration and the potential consequences of enabling his extreme impulses.

Morton Smith

Foothills

I'll take a sloth any day

Our Loyal friend has found another lie to keep him up at night. He's complaining that people see that his Hero and the black-hearted felon is in terrible shape, physically and mentally. So, he complains about Biden. Sure, Joe was slower in the last few years of his presidency, who wouldn't be? He was assailed by everything the GOP could throw at him. But all of us with any kind of conscience slept well at night. We didn't wake up each morning wondering if the Liar in Chief had gotten into a twitter/X battle and took us to war while we slept. I realize there is no changing the "loyalty" of some even when the facts smack them in the face. We're all human. But remind me exactly what our current occupant of the former White House has done with the price of eggs and our economy.

John Bingham

Northwest side