Shame on Sinema
So once again, more and more information is coming out about Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. She has told the White House she will not support a bill that has prescription drug support. This is a woman who has a master’s degree in social work. I guess the social workers I know wouldn’t advocate continuing to line the pockets of pharmaceutical companies while making you and me continue to pay more for our prescriptions. She seems more like a Sen. Mitch McConnell than her “hero” Sen. John McCain.
Many of us in the LGBTQ community in Pima County remember her disregard for us in the past. These actions do not surprise many of us. We can’t do anything about her current tenure, but we can primary her in 2024. We can’t continue to let her get wealthy while so many in our country suffer to cover their prescriptions. Shame on you, Sinema. Shame on you.
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Thom Melendez
Midtown
Potholes in Tucson streets
I never knew that the potholes in Tucson were so bad! Just a few months ago I started driving, and I have hit way too many potholes to count. There is a severe need to get these tire shredders fixed as soon as possible. The repair cost of hitting potholes is not cheap. Not only is the cost an issue, but it is very dangerous. A 2- to 3-ton car hitting a pothole going an average 40 miles an hour can cause people to swerve and hit others driving on the road or suffer hitting the hole leading to injuries, or in worst case it could be fatal.
This is very unsafe and unacceptable. Driving is a dangerous task by itself even without having to be cautious of potholes. Fixing these potholes can save drivers from repair costs, injuries or even their lives. To whoever drives in Tucson, please be careful while you drive.
Nathanial Miller
East side
Committed to sustainable beef production
Cattle ranchers, like me, are dedicated to caring for our animals and the land every day of the year.
For me to properly do my job I must consistently act in the best interest of the ecosystems on my ranch.
Our cattle grazing program allows the land to have extended rest which maximizes carbon sequestration and enhances soil quality. Grasses remove carbon from the atmosphere, storing it in the soil and cattle grazing accelerates carbon storage and creates more nutrient-rich soil. Optimally healthy land promotes an environment where about 15 endangered wildlife species thrive.
To further conserve the water supply we’re covering water storage tanks to reduce evaporation. My family takes great pride in knowing we’re providing the country with high-quality protein in the most sustainable way possible.
Consumers should feel good about eating beef, knowing it is produced on ranches just like ours, by people just like us, across America.
Iam Tomlinson
Sonoita
The three-ring circus clown
The dangerously extreme novelty of my state Rep. Mark Finchem performing his political circus acts in a statehouse office scares the bejabbers out of me. Now he is campaigning for Arizona Secretary of State, the person in charge of managing our Arizona elections. A genuine fox in the polling henhouse. Yikes!
Finchem speaks before QAnon conventions about overthrowing democracy. At the vicious, deadly Jan. 6 capitol riot, he served only himself with outlandish diatribes about speculative phantom voters. As a member of the Oath Keepers rebellious group, he tosses truth and violent, fanatical conspiracy theories around like cowpies.
Ever wonder who supports Finchem and his propaganda disinformation war? Read his many official Arizona Campaign Finance Reports on the internet. Learn who the prominent Tucson big money businesspeople are that constantly support Mark Finchem, the three-ring circus clown.
Jerry Wilkerson
SaddleBrooke
Voting rights opinion
In the fastest growing city in America, business owners, employees and customers are growing more diverse. A successful business owner knows if you want to serve more customers from all walks of life, accessibility is key.
If success in business requires accessibility and innovation, why don’t these same qualities apply when it comes to access to the ballot?
During the 2020 election voting rights laws resulted in the largest voter turnout in history. Here in Arizona and throughout the nation. However, partisan elected officials did not like the outcomes. Therefore, in 2021 legislative sessions, they put measures in place to limit the number of polling places for us to cast ballots and to remove voters from the rolls.
If business is a democracy where customers vote with their dollars, then why wouldn’t state legislators limit voting restrictions, to invest in democracy for everyone?
We need our senators to take lessons from the business community and do what it takes to pass the Freedom to Vote Act.
Michael Kelly
South side
Congress needs to help kids
Today, 1 in 5 children in Arizona may face hunger. But congressional action has significantly blunted hardship for many families.
Without action from Congress, policies that are helping feed kids will expire.
Congress must make the Summer Electronic Benefits Transfer program available nationwide. It helps get more food to kids in need when schools are out of session by helping parents buy groceries in the summer months.
Additionally, the enhanced Child Tax Credit is helping more families than ever before pay for food and other essential items. If Congress doesn’t extend the enhanced CTC, 27 million kids across the country, including 690,000 kids in Arizona, will lose out on this critical benefit.
Expanding a program called the Community Eligibility Provision would help make sure more kids have access to the healthy meals they need so they can focus on learning and not their empty stomachs.
Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly: kids need your help. I urge you to prioritize these policies and programs in the Build Back Better plan.
Erica Olmstead, Field Manager for the No Kid Hungry Campaign
Downtown
Who created the Afghanistan pullout?
Republicans attack President Joe Biden for following the surrender his predecessor Donald Trump actually signed in February 2020. When the latter signed the pact, agreeing to all of the Taliban’s requirements, including leaving our equipment, Republicans cheered the decision as “good.” Today, it’s all Biden’s doing and “bad.”
During his 2016 campaign, Trump said he wanted to end all foreign wars. Well, he ended one, in a way. But, unfortunately, he brought it home, creating a domestic conflict.
By the way, Trump’s administration never began making plans for that surrender until — never. Biden began formulating plans immediately. When they found time was against our removal date of May 1, moved it back to Sept. 11. People were upset with that “sacred” date and it moved to Aug. 31.
I want to ask a typical Republican, not a corporation-bought Republican politician, what is the difference? Is it because Trump was a member of his own Republican Party or because Biden is a Democrat?
Sheldon Metz
Northeast side
Let Marine retire with dignity
Lt. Col. Stu Scheller is a Marine who has served his country faithfully for 17 years. He is in solitary confinement for speaking out against the outrageous disaster that has just occurred in Afghanistan. His trial will be swift, after which he will be sentenced for many years in prison. He has already lost his pension and health care for his wife and three small children.
He certainly broke the code of silence that all military personnel are required to adhere to. I am not aware of the normal punishment for doing so, but it appears to me and others I have spoken with that he has been singled out for swift punishment to discourage others who feel the same as he from also speaking out.
I am requesting that you join with others and let him retire with dignity with an honorable discharge and for his pension and health care to be restored.
Jack Walters
Northeast side
