Kavanagh's folly
I found an interesting contrast in this morning’s Arizona Daily Star. In the Tucson and Region section, “A delicious competition” photograph showed two TUSD students celebrating after having been chosen winners of the inaugural garden-to-table competition. This innovative award deserves praise for encouraging students to use vegetables grown in the school garden for their charcuterie board.
Directly above the photo was the article, “Lawmaker blocks U of A borrowing amid flap over ‘anti-Israel' picture,” describing Republican senator John Kavanagh’s effort to block the University of Arizona’s borrowing plans because of a painting that he views as one “That’s associated with wiping out the state of Israel and its link to Hamas,” a painting scheduled to be removed at the end of the week. Surely, Senator Kavanagh can find more productive use of his time in his representation of Arizona voters.
Roger Shanley
East side
Border wall steel
What is all the talk about President Biden selling off steel that was supposed to be used for the southern wall that the convict Trump is talking about. Why do we have steel that was supposed to be used for the wall? As I remember the convict’s previous campaign, Mexico was going to pay for the wall. If Mexico was going to pay for the wall we would not have parts of it to sell. They would be Mexico’s problem. Did he flip on that too? President Biden should not be the one the convict is talking to.
Jose Salgado
Northeast side
Holiday thoughts
It's beginning to look a lot like "Money Owed,"
everywhere we go.
The house tax bill arrived today,
And by December 31st must be paid.
It creeps up higher every year,
There will be coal in our stockings, we fear.
At least coal can be burnt as fuel,
since the heater conked out near Yule.
Then insurance bills arrived with a clatter,
We looked at our checkbook; what did it matter?
There's still enough left to share some good cheer,
With our favorite charities & those we hold dear.
Santa, if you're out there,
please pay us a call.
"Happy holidays & warm wishes,
to Tucson, Y'all"!
Marlene C. Skinner
Southwest side
Prop 14 deception
Tuesday’s opinion piece in support of Prop 14 omitted one crucial detail. Thanks to the Arizona Legislature’s flat tax on the rich, and school vouchers for the rich, Tucson and Pima County are receiving $60 million less in state revenue this year. That money was supposed to go to funding for public safety, but now it’s going into rich people’s pockets while regular folks are facing a tax hike to make up the difference. This is par for the course for today’s Republicans, who never miss an opportunity to further enrich the already rich while impoverishing everyone else.
Duncan Stitt
Midtown
Transgender athletes
I am concerned about transgender females (born male) competing in sports as a female. It started many years ago when a transgender female (born male) competed in tennis tournaments and more recently when a transgender female (born male) won a collegiate swimming event by several laps and took a medal away from a female (born female) who had trained many years for this event, and then there was the volleyball debacle at San Jose were other teams forfeited rather than play against a team with a transgender female (born male).
Have you ever seen a transgender male (born female) fighting to participate in college athletics? Of course not because he would be at a physical disadvantage having never gone through puberty as a male, just as transgender females (born male) are at a physical advantage having gone through puberty as a male. If little Johnny want to play spots he should do so as a male and go through conversion later in life the way Bruce Jenner did.
Terry Anderson
Northeast side
Escalation of hate
Since Trump won the election, I have noticed an escalation of hate for the “other”. The “other”, being anyone who is not aligned with Trump. This intolerance for the other/left has only been emboldened by Trump’s victory. A gloating, sadistic and vicious attitude is clearly seen in our social media platforms by Trump acolytes. This escalation of hate can easily evolve into what happened in Germany in the 1920s: violent clashes between the left and right. The left (and others) had been scapegoated as the problem with Germany. That set the stage for their punishment and the descent into fascism. In the U.S., long-term propaganda from the right has created a mindset where the left is not only hated but not believed in anything they say or write. The left is portrayed as a putrid force, destroying nations. Fascism always polarizes nations into the righteous “us” versus the evil “them.” Trump’s creation of this mindset has been masterful in a fascist sort of way.
Steve Rasmussen
Foothills
Toilet-to-tap flap
Toilet to tap has been going on long before the toilet was invented. Consider every organism (animal) in the oceans, lakes and rivers lives in their own waste water that has recycled through effective symbiotic relationships. One organism’s waste is another organism’s food.
However, surface water is generally reclaimed/purified through evaporation. Over millions of years, simple to complex organisms have produced waste water that has been recycled. I expect virtually every molecule of surface water has been recycled waste water at some point in Earth’s history.
So, toilet to tap? 100% natural before humans figured out ways to expedite the purification process. Of course, whenever humans are in the mix, things may or may not go sideways.
James Abels
Midtown
Billionaire political donors
What billionaire is most influencing our political processes today? I hear you shouting Elon Musk since he has now replaced the also-conservative Koch Brothers but you’re wrong: The correct answer remains the masterful George Soros.
In 2016 Soros began donating paltry sums to the underfunded campaigns of progressive criminal-justice reform proponents in local district attorney elections. When his candidates won, prosecutorial nullifications began and law enforcement was neutered. The repercussions of his influence are now eroding the fragile social framework of our inner cities.
In mid-2024 a Soros-linked fund cheaply acquired more 200+ local radio stations and Biden’s FCC fast-tracked approval before the election. This grassroots investment will promote his polarizing and destructive agenda.
I still hear you; what about Musk’s overpriced buyout of Twitter? Well he immediately released the Twitter Files detailing prior free-speech abuses, promoting all voices.
Musk is the good guy.
Jeffrey McConnell
West side
It's no mandate
Look at the 2024 Presidential election by the numbers. I am tired of hearing that the message of the Democratic Party is flawed. That's just bull. 152.3 million votes were cast. Trump got 77.3 million and Harris got 75 million. Trump's margin of victory is 1.5% or 2.3 million votes. That is a thin margin of victory and all Democrats should understand the importance of staying in the fight. There is nothing wrong with our message. How do you lose 2.3 million votes? You need to take 46,000 racist misogynists multiplied by 50 states. It was not the message of the Democrats that lost the election. It was a very old and ingrained personality flaw that cost Vice President Harris the election. There are people in America that will not put a Black Woman in the White House. It's that simple. That's the message.
Richard Bechtold
West side
Chaos returns
I am not a fan of CRs! Congress shouldn’t adjourn without passing all 13 appropriation bills prior to October, each year. But a private citizen threatening members of Congress with primaries should they vote for the current CR is, frankly, crap! Musk may have tons of $$ to threaten with, but he is still one citizen. The current CR contains much-needed funds for disaster relief and farm aid, which Americans need and which Congress couldn’t be troubled with earlier this fall. Furthering their suffering isn’t politics, it's hubris. Unfortunately, government by chaos can’t be patient enough to wait for January 20th.
Norman Patten
Midtown
Make America Great Again
Who out there can tell me why a government of the ultra-wealthy, by the ultra-wealthy, for the ultra-wealthy makes America great again? In that regard, after Trump, the need to make America great again may be very real.
Larry Gray
SaddleBrooke
Abortion surveillance
Like so many other Democrats, I get the feeling that Katie Hobbs has mixed up the definitions of various words, after all, Democrats can't explain what a woman is. It appears that Democrats consider murder based on the age of the person whose life is ending. Anyone between conception and birth can be murdered without concern, but for people after birth, they are protected whether worthwhile or not. In truth, biology says that life starts at conception and that life has the same or better possibilities as anyone that has been born. However, some people believe that mistakes in their lives can be corrected by ending the life of a fetus so they don't have to deal with the consequences of their actions. Of course, this is normal Democrat/Liberal approach. Consider all of the people whose student debt is being eliminated because they don't want to deal with the consequences of their actions. Seems like responsibility and holding people accountable needs to be reinstated.
Loran Hancock
Northwest side
