Tucson Speaks Out: September 28

Swear Grijalva in

I am outraged that House Speaker Mike Johnson is finding ways to delay swearing in recently-elected Arizona Representative Adelita Grijalva. She won by a huge margin (with no dispute) and deserves to be sworn in right away to begin serving her constituents. Instead, Speaker Johnson is delaying, so that her vote will not be used to bring a vote on releasing the Epstein files to the House floor.

I encourage everyone who cares about democracy to call his office and express their anger over Johnson’s unreasonable and needless delay. I tried to send an email, but it would not go through, so I recommend calling his office at 202-225-2777. Let him know how we feel!

Karen Micallef

Oro Valley

Ciscomani, public lands champion

Arizona has over 30 million acres of federal public lands that serve many uses, one of which is giving access to hunters and anglers. I’ve lived in Arizona for over 30 years, and during each hunting season, I’m reminded of how fortunate we are to have access to such extensive public land for outdoor recreation.

Representative Ciscomani has cosponsored the Public Lands in Public Hands Act. This bipartisan bill solidifies protections for access and prohibits land management agencies from selling certain public lands. Rep. Ciscomani has also cosponsored a resolution celebrating National Public Lands Day on Sept. 27, recognizing their value to Americans and the economy.

Our nation had the foresight to set aside these public lands. The multi-use of our public lands helps drive Arizona’s economy. Keeping our public lands is critical not only for our hunting and fishing heritage but also for the multiple uses they serve.

Thank you, Rep. Ciscomani, for being a leader in protecting Arizona’s resources.

Trout Unlimited member,

Robert Rees

North side

Yelling fire

Noah Feldman’s Sept. 23 opinion quoted Oliver Wendell Holmes’ analogy of a man shouting “fire” in a crowded theater — where speech can have criminal intent. Consider Jan. 6, 2021, and Trump telling his supporters to “fight like hell or you won’t have a country” and “we will walk down to the Capitol” where some shouted “Hang Mike Pence”. If we had justice instead of Republican politicians deciding the issue — Trump would be serving time for treason.

Is that too complicated to understand? How would you react if Obama had said it?

Ted Morrison

Midtown

55% chance of thunderstorm

I see that today, tonight and tomorrow are all showing 55% chance of thunderstorms, as did the forecasts for much of last week and the weeks before. In fact, it shows 55% every time, not 40% or 70%. This is about the same as a coin toss. Is the weather service office still staffed?

Jim Davis

Northwest side

Irony

The irony of the indictment of James Comey by Trump’s DOJ (and believe me, it is DJT’s DOJ and not that of the American people) is that if it had not been for Comey’s action on Oct. 28, 2016 (11 days before the election), Trump might never have been elected president at all. It was that day that Comey told Congress that the FBI had started looking into newly discovered emails of Hillary Clinton. I believe this may have been the deciding factor on whether some people would vote for Clinton. Trump should be thanking Comey, not indicting him.

Kathleen Dubbs

West side

Letters’ content

I am saddened to see so many letters to the editor espousing a large degree of acrimony and hate. It seems that today, incendiary language has become a malicious tool for a form of debate. Interestingly and ironically, it doesn’t achieve the intended purpose. It only fans the flames of hate even further. To win a debate, one must be more astute than their opponent. Relying on hate is not elevating one’s position, but rather it sinks a debater into a defensive state, and the finer points of the arguments are lost simply because the level of sophistication has deteriorated. It would be refreshing to see opinions expressed in the letters that would reflect well on the individual, as well as making the comments factual and convincing. Only then can one respect what is being written and not regard the substance as just another descent into the well of discontent and abhorrence.

Robert Nordmeyer

Northeast side

So sad

I’m one of “THEM”: the lunatic left who believe children should be fed and educated; people have a right to healthcare; guns should be regulated; due process is essential; science and climate change are real; church and state should be separate; the wealthy should pay taxes; and the UN is necessary.

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I am not encouraging assassinations of the other “them.” I don’t have to. MAGA’s leader is taking care of their elimination for us. They are going to die from treatable diseases; guns in their homes; polluted air and water from removed of regulation; workplace accidents with demise of OSHA protections; miscarriages and lack of other healthcare; poverty caused by government-sanctioned corporate greed; despair from social media misinformation; and from violence brought on by Trump’s global aggression. More of them died during COVID than we did. More of them will die now. Unfortunately, Trump’s attack on education and the educated means they won’t have the knowledge or agencies needed to save them. Sad.

Dee Maitland

Marana

H1B visa cost

I say the $100,000 H1B visa charge is spot on.

The current system of essentially free visas for technical workers increases the availability of cheaper, highly skilled labor. It also has the serious side effect of lowering income (and thus enrollment) for STEM-educated Americans and serves to disconnect this industry from the educational system supposedly providing their workers.

Do we really think it’s good to subsidize the technical-based industry at the cost of discouraging STEM training? Right now, that’s what’s happening.

Richard Eaton

West side

Janet Wittenbraker: Come clean

The Arizona Daily Star’s policy on LTE states, “When writing about political issues, authors should fully disclose their relationship with an issue, campaign or candidate.”

Wittenbraker is the Republican candidate for Tucson City Council in Ward 3.

However, none of her four recent LTE mention her candidacy.

All the letters comment on significant issues before the Tucson City Council.

Why is Wittenbraker afraid to tell the Arizona Daily Star readers that she’s a candidate for City Council?

Instead, she’s using the Arizona Daily Star in a stealth campaign to attack the City Council and Kevin Dahl, the Democratic candidate for City Council in Ward 3.

I want transparency in government from the City Council.

Wittenbraker’s LTEs are the opposite of the transparency we need at all levels of government. She doesn’t deserve your vote.

Mari Jensen

Midtown

Cutting healthcare

Trump has cut $1 trillion in healthcare with his “Big Beautiful Bill.” And now we can’t even take a Tylenol?

Musk took his chainsaw to things without truly understanding the consequences, and Congress went along with it.

Our country is being run by a bunch of self-serving ignoramuses. The President needs to stop listening to them and then opining about things he knows nothing about. The health and well-being of all of us are at risk. If it means shutting down the government to restore healthcare funding, so be it.

Cynthia Herron

Northwest side

Hegseth’s meeting

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is feeling his oats. He recently summoned 800 generals and admirals to a meeting with no announced agenda. He could have met them all via Zoom meeting, which is the usual way to meet with a large number, and has been used many, many times before. I wonder if the message was sent via Signal, and included his wife, the Wall Street Journal, and others as addressees. It will be an expensive, out-of-budget event. Whether their travel is via military air or commercial air, just the travel expenses will be terribly high.

Jerry Lujan

Oro Valley

Yes, speech is absolute

Speech is absolute; however, all that follows in the LTE of Sept. 26 seems just bitter nonsense. So ironic to hear Mr. McConnell talk sarcastically about someone having the “Constitutional right to replace truth with fiction,” since his Dear Leader does that every time he opens his mouth. The fact that Mr. McConnell chose to disbelieve what Kimmel expressed does not make it a “fiction.” And, oh my, what alternate universe does one inhabit where the addled Elon Musk is attached to any sort of moral high ground? I doubt Jimmy Kimmel ever made Jeffrey McConnell laugh, so no loss there, but why he thinks he should speak for the rest of us is arrogant. Jimmy Kimmel has been on the air for 20+ years, and seems more relevant than ever now, so I guess we’ll just have to see what happens. Personally, the dominant “fiction” I see currently is the over-the-top glorification of someone like Charlie Kirk.

S. Ross Emmanuel

Southeast side