Tucson Speaks Out: Oct. 13 letters of the day

Ageism is appropriate

Re: the Sept. 29 article "A letter from one old guy to another."

I don't usually give an opinion as open as a "letter to the editor" but the analysis written by Mr. Ray Lindstrom is hard to resist.

I am older than both Ray and Joe. I lived and worked in the corporate world located in Wilmington, Delaware for many years. The one and only time I supported Joe Biden was the tragic accident involving his wife and children. He was a young Senator and commuted daily on the Amtrak from Washington to Delaware to be with his surviving son in the hospital. I gave him credit for being a caring father.

Now on ageism. You bet. Joe Biden does not belong in yet another term as Chief Executive of this great country of ours. I'm with Ray Lindstrom on this one point. It's time for Joe Biden to retire. I will refrain from what I would say if in private conversation. Instead I will sign off as a concerned citizen for the future of the United States of America.

Joan Wolfe

Marana

Term limits, please?

With all due respect to the family and friends of Senator Dianne Feinstein, who passed away on Sept. 28 after serving 31 years in the U.S. senate.

She has been called “a titan of U.S. political history,” a befitting description for one who has given so much as a public servant.

However, the first question to be asked is, Can a 90-year-old function optimally as a member of the Senate — or, indeed, in any other political position? The second question to be asked is: Were there others behind the curtain functioning for her?

Mary Jo Swartzberg

SaddleBrooke

No on Prop. 413

The Tucson and council are asking voters to give them a pay raise tied to county board of supervisors.

The mayor would jump from $42,000 to around $96,000. The Phoenix mayor only makes around $62000.

We are being asked to give a pay raise when many people are struggling to make ends meet. Gas prices are high. Food cost etc. Tucson is having a huge homeless crisis right now. Our streets are falling apart.

This seems to be a very tone deaf time of the mayor and council to ask at this time. We also have a city manager that runs the city, so giving the Mayor a huge pay raise would mean we are paying two people for the same job.

I urge Tucson voters to think about this before voting yes on prop 413.

Michael Childree

Southeast side

Immigration

Re: the Oct. 6 letter "470,000 Venezuelans to stay and work."

I want to thank the letter writer for clarifying why Biden is so interested in allowing Venezuelans (and other immigrants) into this country. The unemployment rate of foreign-born persons in the United States is now 3.4% and they are filling jobs in agriculture, service, construction and maintenance. Their influx, though initially costly, will become more and more important as the Boomer generation ages and retires. We will need millions of new workers to keep the labor force constant let alone growing. If the letter writer hadn’t told us that they were here simply to “cement the Democratic party’s power and control of the country”, I would have ignorantly assumed they were here to escape either natural or man-made disasters such as poverty, violence and drugs and make a better life for themselves and their families (and incidentally help this country continue to flourish).

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Kenneth Cohn

Northwest side

Unknowingly accepting fascism

There is a small faction of far right Americans who openly embrace fascism. But most Republican voters deny that they support fascism. Our fascism experts have shown that Trumpism is fascism, so the support of Trump is also the support of fascism. Although there is also a small group of Republicans that rejects fascism, most Republicans support fascism unknowingly. This delusion is very logical psychologically because few want to believe that they would knowingly accept the destructiveness of fascism. So, it’s easier for them to deny that what Trump represents is fascism, than to admit that they support fascism. This is a classic psychological defense mechanism, where denial is used to protect our mind from anxiety. Mark Twain said that “It’s easier to fool people than it is to convince them that they’ve been fooled.”

But accepting fascism is the acceptance of using violence to accomplish your end goal, while giving up on democracy. Fascism is very real in America. It’s time to acknowledge it.

Steve Rasmussen

Foothills

President Trump's Abraham peace deals

During the last months of President Trump's term, he negotiated and secured several peace normalization deals between Israel and Arab countries, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, and Morocco. Saudi Arabia was to be next, but the election occurred. It was part of Trump's strategy of encircling Iran with countries friendly to Israel. The mega Democrat news media largely ignored and dismissed the deals as meaningless as they wanted their guy, Joe Biden in the White House. Under Trump there was no invasion of Ukraine by Putin, no collapse of Afghanistan, no large scale attack on Israel that we have just seen by Iranian funded Hamas, and our border was secure. Under President Biden we have a disastrous border, Putin's second invasion of Ukraine, a disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan leaving behind hundreds of thousands of small arms and ammunition to the Taliban and possibly now in the hands of Hamas, appeasement of Iran, and now war in Israel. A re-election of Biden would mean more of the same.

Haley Roberts

West side

War

There is a national TV station that states “we need to go to war” for our beliefs. Really … as we are seeing today do we want this now? War does not solve anything. Our Americans can feel very sad for what our fellow human souls are going thru but do we want this here? Don’t listen to this faction of communities. We need to work together. God, please look over our country.

Mary Beth Schneider

East side

Follow the money for incorporation

Re: the Oct. 10 letter "If it's not broke, why fix it?"

The author asks why the Southern Arizona Leadership Council (SALC) supports the incorporation of Vail. SALC works to improve the economic vibrancy and quality of life in Southern Arizona and the state. Our members are business leaders who are committed to helping our region thrive. Since its founding in 1997, SALC has strongly supported annexation and incorporation. State shared revenues are distributed to incorporated areas of each county. Indeed, as the author suggests, voters should ‘follow the money.’ While 97% of Maricopa County is incorporated, only 65% of Pima County is. That costs our region close to $50 million annually. The City of Tucson recognizes the economic impact and has been very active in annexing adjoining areas in the last few years. Vail residents should take notice and vote YES to incorporate and assert their self-governance, strengthen their representation on regional matters and increase funding to their community.

Ted Maxwell, President & CEO Southern Arizona Leadership Council

Oro Valley

Embellished financial statements

It’s nice to find humor in the morning paper outside the funnies. The latest source of comic relief is the fraud trial going on in New York. Apparently it’s a criminal offense to embellish a financial statement. That would be serious if anyone actually looked at them. I submitted countless financial statements to banks and they were never even looked at. In the five years as a Realtor and 50 years as a property investor, I never figured out what method financial institutions used to lend money. At first I had the Magic 8 Ball theory but decided on the paper weight method. When the paperwork took on a certain weight the loan was approved. One of my weight approved loans was called after five years of on time payments on a technicality. The bank took my money and borrowed it back out at 2% less. If banks can’t figure out basics of lending, I doubt prosecutors in New York will have any luck.

Gary Stoeger

Northwest side