National deficit
I just read an LTE concerning "the taxpayers' dime," and it comes to mind that the subject of the deficit hasn't been mentioned since last January. Our current administration is on a spending spree like a drunken sailor on shore leave with nary a peep. The promised tariffs will resolve that situation it was suggested, but we see how that is going. I see our tax dollars being used as a bribe to support the current administration's activities in hopes it will get them reelected by rebates. Now he wants to increase our defense budget and take it out of our domestic budgets to support the Iran incursion.
But not to worry, it's all on our dime.
Fred Thompson
Midtown
Medicare Advantage
I understand Luci Messing's trepidation about the loss of funding to Medicare Advantage plans. These plans offer vision and dental benefits as well as health care through private insurance. The GOP has long supported privatization of many government functions. These private companies are in the business of making profits for shareholders. The downside is how they have scammed the government by upcoding and charging $500 billion for unwarranted charges. If all advantage patients were on traditional Medicare, it would cost $85 million less. Insurance companies are also profiting by refusing or delaying legitimate medical care. People are dying to make people rich. The Trump administration is now looking to cover the trillions of tax breaks it gave the richest people in the GOP Big Beautiful Bill. Also in the BBB, Republicans have deprived affordable health care for many people under 65. It doesn't make sense to have health care for profit. It doesn't make sense not to pay for physician and health care providers education.
Barbara Moore
East side
MAGA voters own this
If you are upset with the man occupying the White House, do not forget the MAGA voters who put him there.
MAGA voters own the incompetence and dysfunction with which Trump is running this country, as well as his Cabinet.
MAGA voters own Trump’s war with Iran as well as the deaths of our brave service men and women fighting a war of Trump’s choosing without a strategy or goal or understanding of history.
MAGA voters own the murder of American citizens by ICE agents.
MAGA voters own the failing economy, rising gas prices, as well as the rising cost of everyday goods and services.
MAGA voters own the demise of our Democracy by the weaponization of the DOJ, FBI, Department of Homeland Security et, al.
MAGA voters own the looting of our country by Trump and his cronies, enriching themselves in unprecedented fashion.
Trump certainly has lied about Making America Great Again!
Lane Randolph
East side
Chavez and the farm movement
We were all shocked to learn that Cesar Chavez had sexually abused women. His holidays revoked, streets renamed, statues taken down, his name now remembered with distaste.
But have we so quickly forgotten why he was honored in the first place? In the 1960s, he brought a nation’s attention to the farmworkers who labored under inhumane conditions to bring us the produce that we need. The work was physically brutal, with no restrooms or clean drinking water. Wages were meager, housing was squalid, and their children worked alongside them as farmworkers were excluded from labor laws. Using nonviolent methods, the farmworker movement led strikes and boycotts, created a union, and got workers registered to vote. True, he is no longer a hero, but his crimes do not undo the lasting good he did. So can we have a Farmworkers Day? Can we spend just one day a year recognizing both those who fought the fight and those who work the fields, people who deserve our gratitude and respect?
Susan Green
Foothills
Misrepresenting Bisbee
As a long-time subscriber to the Star and published Bisbee historian who remembers when the paper was delivered to our doorstep each morning, I've seen good and bad writing in your paper. The article headlined "Cozy Arizona" written by Paige Moore that appeared in the E-Edition of your April 3 edition is one of the worst. It is a recycled article that periodically appears in the Arizona Republic under different headlines. It describes Bisbee as if the writer did a superficial internet search rather than a visit, as having a thriving art district (which it does) some historic hotels and "is said to be the home of many ghosts." It hypes the Bisbee Ghost Tour by name but mentions nothing about our Smithsonian-affiliated Mining & Historical Museum or the Queen Mine Tour, both of which tell Bisbee's story in accurate terms. Ghosts only "appeared" here when tourists did.
Mike Anderson
Bisbee
Cameras in nursing homes
Cameras in the rooms of individuals in assisted living is just one more way to dehumanize and exploit the elderly. Remember, you too will be old one day. Many people in nursing homes have bedside commodes; would you want surveillance cameras in your bedroom and bathroom? It amounts to voyeurism under the guise of helpfulness. There has to be other ways to determine if someone is getting the care they need. Do not legitimize cameras.
Cindy Hansen
Foothills
Social Security benefits
I appreciate Allison Schrager’s concern about the welfare state and her suggestion to cap the Social Security benefits of “wealthy retirees.” She doesn’t mention, though, that these benefits are not a handout from the government; it is sharing money from a fund we paid into our entire working life. If her concerns are legitimate, why doesn’t she focus on the annual $18 billion handout of our tax dollars to Boeing, Amazon, Intel, and other enormous corporations run by CEOs and CFOs and other Os who are also magically the wealthiest people who ever existed in the history of the human race?
David Gilbert
Foothills
$689.90 x 12 x 2
April 3: $100,000 … is too much. If a couple receives the maximum Social Security of $99,864 during 2026, they will pay $16,557.60 annually in Medicare premiums. That said, capping benefits it isn't unreasonable, sans means testing.
It would be more sustainable to tax all income in the same manner and eliminate the SS wage cap. Investment gains/losses could be recognized, not realized, at period end. Eliminate favorable tax treatment for dividends, carried interest and carve-outs. All income could be subject to SS/MC deductions when recognized. If all income received by natural persons is subject to the same tax treatment, I speculate SS/MC deductions reduction of 70-80% to a combined rate of about 3.06-4.60%, instead of 15.30%. SS/MC could remain solvent.
As an investor, SS/MC deductions are acceptable.
James Abels
Midtown
Getting a qualified sheriff
The most recent revelations about the background, or lack thereof, of the Pima County Sheriff seem to bring up a more important question: Did the voters know of the concerns before the election or were the gaps hidden, and if so, who was behind the hiding of these details? Based on the background, the sheriff is not a Tucson native, which sounds like a planned conspiracy to bring in the Sheriff to Tucson so that cases could be managed in a desired manner. What sounds like the most interesting question is "What needs to be hidden and who would need this service?" Is there something going on in Pima County that we, the residents, would want uncovered? Speaking from a conservative perspective, Tucson has been under Democratic control for too long, and this influence could be why.
Loran Hancock
Northwest side
Kudos: Oro Valley protesters, first responders
No Kings 3 demonstrations were held on Saturday, March 28, across this country, where 8-9 million people gathered to protest the president's policies, including the cruelty of the Trump regime's ICE policy and concentration camps being built across the country. Our theme at 1st and Oracle was Oro Valley Neighbors for Democracy. We counted 3,550 participants on both sides of Oracle Rd. between 1st Ave. and Pusch Ridge Ln. There were another 650 participants on Magee and Oracle, over 8,400 participating along the Oracle Road corridor between 1st Ave. and Wetmore Road, and several thousand surrounding Tucson engaging in their constitutional right to protest. I commend Officer Eric Larter, his OVPD team, Oro Valley Fire Department and EMTs for their professional, responsive and positive interaction and support of our event, along with dozens of volunteers. The event was joyful and safe. I am proud to live in Oro Valley, where our community OVPD and Fire Department are so highly regarded by our community to keep us all safe.
Rachel Rulmyr
Oro Valley
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