Senzel Ahmady plays Jasmine and Adi Roy is the titular character in Disney’s “Aladdin,” which Broadway In Tucson brings to Centennial Hall Sept. 5-10. Tickets go on sale Friday, June 9.
Political parties
Re: the Sept. 8 letter “Political parties.”
I have to disagree with the letter writer, he wrote that center right members of the Republican Party that were elected to become independent party members have no say in who is selected to run for political office.
I am one of the people the letter speaks of. I, too, was a lifetime Republican who is now registered independent because, as he wrote, the Republican Party “is not what it used to stand for.” What the letter writer apparently doesn’t know is that as an independent voter I have the ability to vote in either party’s primary. All I have to do is advise the county which ballot I want to use to vote in an upcoming primary election. That way I can vote in either primary election which actually gives me more options than remaining in a political party.
Dan Watson
Oracle
Centennial Hall needs help
Re: the Sept. 7 article “’Aladdin’ brings magic, humor to Tucson”
A huge thank you to Ms. Allen for pointing out the deficiencies of Centennial Hall. We do not attend any shows at this venue because of the embarrassingly poor acoustics. As an architect, I have often thought about how I would improve this structure. I feel that the best solution would be for the city to find new property to construct a new Tucson Hall for the Performing Arts: for symphonies, ballet, plays, musicals and other shows. The next best option would be to completely renovate Centennial Hall to give it a fresh, up to date feel, and most importantly to hire an excellent acoustical engineer to mitigate the hall’s poor sound quality. Whatever approach is undertaken, something should definitely be done to help this tired building. The City of Tucson deserves nothing less.
Larry Holcomb
Foothills
The Roberts Court: A supremely bad example, allowing outright bribes for decisions
Justices Thomas and Alito have repeatedly accepted gifts worth great sums of money. This goes against all ethical restrictions placed on justices of every lower court. No one expects less of the Supremes, but rather more. They shouldn’t need rules to know what is right and wrong, which is what the Supremes should be arbitrating. They knew it was wrong because they did not report the gifts until outed. Taking the gifts shows these justices have no ethics or morality. The gifts amount to influence peddling and bribes, to encourage the justices to make decisions favoring the wealthy and big business or to directly favor the donor in their pleadings before the court. It is a disgrace, leading to no public confidence in unbiased decision making. They should be impeached to restore confidence in the Roberts court, under whose watch this is occurring.
Karen Junghans
Foothills
Not sorry
Americans — a sorry lot?
Victims of a vile orange rot
Indictment No. 4 — for shame!
Destroy our country is his game
Violent thugs on Capitol Hill
Donald watches — what a thrill!
Hate is at an all-time high
Who to thank? The orange-haired guy
War on teachers, women, gays
Truly this might be “end days”
Keep burning oil, hey it’s your right
As Mother Earth loses the fight
Price of gas makes us see red?
Go electric, use our heads
No gun control, the kids keep dying
While orange man he just keeps on lying
Sorry now? Nope, not me!
I cast a vote for DECENCY
(Not for a dictator wannabe)
Deb Klumpp
Oro Valley
Impeachment
The Rs are fascinated by the word “impeachment” and I am not sure they know or understand what it means.
“Rs say I want it, what you want, I do not know but I want it.”
Rs should be doing what they were sent to Washington to do and that is the needs of the voters.
Will our democracy survive? Who knows?
If they do get an impeachment it will be like the dog catching the car. Now that I caught it, what do I do with it?
To paraphrase George Wallace impeachment today, impeachment tomorrow, impeachment forever.
It will diminish the value of impeachment to a political football and further weaken our democracy
Donald Plummer
Northwest side
Waste of time and money
Three years ago, the Dems in the House impeached Trump, twice, but the charges went nowhere in the Republican Senate. Now the GOP will impeach Biden to get even and those charges will go nowhere in the Democratic Senate. This is all about trying to score political points, further polarizing the nation. There are many truly important issues that need Congressional attention, but these tit for tat impeachments are not one of those issues. A childish waste of time and money. We deserve better!
Loring Green
Foothills
SCOTUS and Democracy are at stake. Deja vu?
A reminder to voters in 2015, that the sane people in this country reminded everyone that the Supreme Court and democracy were at stake in the 2016 and 2020 elections.
As we now know, both of these prophecies have been proven. The “Sovereign” who won that election created an insurrection, terrorized the country, made up his own laws, denounced democracy and the Constitution and took a blasphemous oath. He used not one but two Bibles, one a gift from his mother at age nine, the other the very Bible used by Abraham Lincoln in 1862 (thereby desecrating Lincoln and religion together).
As it turned out, using the Lincoln Bible was a direct slap at Obama who was the first president to use that Bible since Lincoln.
As many of No. 45’s mistakes over four too long years have been rehashed, we cannot forget his biggest, most dangerous action (except for treason) — his lifetime SCOTUS appointments.
Sheldon Metz
Northeast side
Chaos and blame
Re: the Sept. 12 letter “Acceptance of mediocrity.”
The Republicans are loyal to Donald Trump. The Republicans are loyal to the MAGA voters that will keep them in office. The Republicans are not loyal to the American people. The writer points out that the Dems are doing nothing about our poor world standing in education. According to the writer we are 27th in the world. The writer states that the Republicans could solve the problem. True, they could, as the GOP is the majority in the House of Representatives. Where is the legislation? Is this the same Republican party that blames the Dems for a high crime rate and wants to defund the FBI. They are loyal to chaos and blame.
Jon Langione
Marana
We live in a desert
Re: the Sept. 16 article “Feds to spread $5 .4 million in Tucson to plant trees.”
Hello! Apparently all the people here touting the Federal Government’s grant of $5 million to plant trees in Tucson, have forgotten about the fact that we live in a desert. Trees are beautiful and no doubt provide shade. However, mature mesquite trees, which are what will be planted, are called “arid invaders” in Texas, are heavy water consumers that can absorb about 20 gallons of water per day. Even if only 100,000 trees are planted that will amount to around two million gallons of water per day when the trees mature. Combine this with the water required by existing trees and by the proposed mining operations in the Santa Rita’s, and we are setting the stage for a water crisis in Tucson and its surrounding areas. We have to get beyond the human trait of solving one problem, which gives rise to a set of new problems.
Gerry Maggiora
Foothills
Labor force participation rate
President Biden has been boasting about all the new jobs that have been created and the unemployment rate that has been under 4% for several months. However, the labor force participation rate is a more meaningful figure than the unemployment rate. The labor force participation rate is the share of everyone over 16 who is working or looking for work. This rate was 59% in 1950 and it hit a high of 67% in 2000. The BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) monthly reports disclose the rate fell from 63.3% in November 2019 — just before the pandemic — to 62.6% in July 2023. This decrease of .7% (63.3%-62.6%), adjusted for population gains, represent 2 million more Americans are on the sidelines today than they were during the first three years of the Trump administration. When it comes to labor force participation, Biden has no reason to boast.
Douglas R. Holm
East side
Opposition to EATS Act
As an Arizona citizen and a retired RN, I strongly oppose the proposed inclusion of the 2023 Ending Agricultural Trade Suppression (EATS) Act in the 2023 Farm Bill, and I urge your readers to take note of this critical issue. The EATS Act threatens to nullify over 20 Arizona regulations governing agriculture, food safety, public health, animal welfare, and the environment, and over a thousand laws and regulations nationwide.
The EATS Act infringes on states’ rights to establish their own agricultural rules by concentrating all authority at the federal level. This bill overlooks the varied requirements and preferences of local Arizona communities, allowing for foreign corporations to expand their agribusiness.
I call on your readers to contact their representatives and express strong opposition to the EATS Act. We cannot let the EATS Act jeopardize our citizens’ well-being, animal welfare, the environment, and the integrity of our legal system.
Melinda Rogers, retired RN
Foothills
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