Tucson Speaks Out: Sept. 2 letters of the day

I promise I won’t bite you

“I didn’t have sex with that woman” (adult film star Stormy Daniels). “I didn’t call them ‘suckers’ and ‘losers’” (the crosses of the WWI and WWII American war dead buried in France). “I don’t know anything about Project 2025” (the right-wing blueprint for replacing American democracy with autocracy if Trump wins in 2025). Does Trump ever lie? If he shows you who he is, believe him!

A shortened Native American version of the Aesop fable “The Farmer and the Snake”: A young Apache boy encountered a rattlesnake cold and near death who said: “I can survive if you warm me with your body.” The boy said: “But you are a rattlesnake.” The rattlesnake promised not to bite the boy, so the boy gave in, picked up the rattlesnake and warmed it with his body. Revived, the rattlesnake bit the boy. Shocked, the boy asked, “Why did you bite me when you promised you wouldn’t?” The rattlesnake replied, “You knew I was a rattlesnake.”

Gerald Farrington

SaddleBrooke

Migrants

Many in this country fear the “hordes of immigrants” coming here. Why? In Green Valley, 40 miles from the border, we feel quite safe. Twelve years ago, four bedraggled migrants came to my door wanting water. They were drinking H2O when the BP officer drove up. Peacefully, they crawled into the back of his pickup. Since then, one migrant was shot while fleeing a BP agent in Green Valley. In Nogales, one BP officer emptied his weapon on a teenager who was on the Mexican side of the wall. Most of the shots were fired while the boy was on the ground. He died. The BP agents weren’t charged.

Now, we have the two major law enforcement unions endorsing a felon for president. Why? I fear those with badges, not those who are thirsty.

Border arrests dropped 30% in July. Undocumented immigrants paid almost $100 billion in U.S. taxes in 2022. Does that sound like hordes on the take?

Ray Omdahl

Green Valley

Thanks, Mr. Steller, in helping to oust Wadsack

Re: the July 28 article “AZ state Sen. Wadsack fights crazy.”

Republican AZ State Senator Justine Wadsack has lost her primary bid against former Republican State Senator Vince Leach. I can’t help but believe that columnist Tim Steller’s negative article about Wadsack published a few days before the primary vote may have tipped the scales of last-minute, in-person voters against her. She lost 48% to 52% for Leach. So now we have Mr. Leach going against the Democrat candidate John McLean. Democratic strategists in the state badly wanted Wadsack to face McLean believing he would have a better chance of winning, thus on the road to flipping the narrow margin of Republican majority to Democrats in the Senate. They have to be disappointed now. Wadsack’s own irresponsible actions tanked her re-election chances, but Mr. Steller helped that along with his column. I wonder if he regrets having written it?

Rory Smith

Marana

Friends and family, the political divide

Everyone I know has people in their lives, friends or family, who live in the MAGA world. I am talking about hardcore anti democracy and religious fanatics who are so brainwashed and so filled with hate and fear that MAGA goals genuinely appeal to them.

Do those friends and relatives know that by voting for Republicans in this day and age they are voting against their own self-interests? That they are voting to gut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security? Veterans’ benefits? Affordable health care? Public schools and children’s services? That they are voting to install a forever President, and there will be no future elections?

Please read about Project 2025 for yourself. Know what your friends and relatives are willing to do to all of us, perhaps unwittingly. Then, ask them which of these things they are willing to lose themselves and which they cannot afford to.

Tina Whitley

Northeast side

Funds better spent elsewhere

Anyone watching local TV recently probably witnessed an ad by Tom Horne, Superintendent of Education for the State of Arizona. However, it is a colossal miss in its intent, and an embarrassing misuse of taxpayer dollars. It’s titled “Raise your hand to lift the future.” This commercial begins with a voice over video of a nondescript school hallway followed by closeups of a series of presumably homeless children entreating mom/dad to educate them “for me”. Horne then comes to the rescue, explaining that an education can change their lives; and encouraging parents to “please visit “our website” (Azed.Gov/Homeless) for more info.

A strong message being pitched to homeless parents on the television involving accessing the internet?

That’s a stretch. Most, if not all, homeless families don’t have either.

Perhaps the funds that produced this self-serving, politically motivated ad could have been better spent providing real counselors and educators to personally guide those less fortunate in how to go about educating their children. Perhaps.

Darla Thompson

Foothills

Questions for Trump

Dear Mr. Trump,

I avidly follow your speeches and rallies, and have two questions for you:

1. How can I turn Black in order to take advantage of the Black jobs you keep mentioning? I am white and feel that I am missing out on something vital to my career.

2. I am also a Christian and want to know why if I vote for you in November, I won’t have to vote ever again.

Please answer my questions so I can make an informed vote.

Thank you.

Valerie Golembiewski

Southeast side

We must not go backward

Re: the Aug. 4 article “A win for ‘restorative justice’” and the Aug. 23 letter “Restorative justice.”

A frequent flyer in the Letters section once again took aim and fired. His complaint? The Star’s editorial affirming the vote of 2 out of 3 voters in Pima County to re-elect Laura Conover as County Attorney. Disregarding the tally and without any new or relevant information letter writer cries it’s “pathetic.” Here’s the thing: There is an order to the process. There is discussion and debate. A vote. And an official election result. Somebody wins and somebody loses, we all then move on to any of the countless other serious problems we face as a community. That’s what serious-minded people do. Like Tom Petty said, “It’s time to move on, time to get going.” We should not and must not go backward.

Paul Simon

Northwest side

Civil rights gone forever

Of all the rights and freedoms guaranteed the American people by the Constitution, which of them are you willing to give up?

Back to homepage

Subscriber Login

Keep reading with a digital access subscription.

Subscribe now

Your First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, peaceful assembly, free exercise of religion, petitioning the government for redress of grievances?

Your Fifth Amendment right to due process? Your Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial with an impartial jury? Your 15th Amendment right to vote? All of them?

If Trump is elected, losing these rights is what awaits every one of us. Your party affiliation, wealth, or social status will not save you. No one is immune to the whims of a dictator. No one.

Want to protect your civil rights before they are gone forever? Now is the time to raise your voice and vote the MAGAs out once and for all in DC and here in Arizona.

For your own sake and the sake of our democracy, elect Kamala Harris and every Democrat on the ballot while you still can.

Bobbi Zimmer

Midtown

Political ads

I am wondering when these political ads with all the negativity will end. These ads are getting out of hand, all negative about the candidates running for office. The American people are not dumb, I gather many and that’s including myself are tired of the constant barrage of ads, all channels are playing these ads, local and even national, after a while people turn off the televisions, or change channels to not hear these ads. If these ads have to be running on these channels, place these ads on MSNBC, or another affiliated channels who deals with political expertise. People do not want to hear all the negativity coming from the candidates who are running for office, especially children who hear the hate and anger coming from these candidates.

Sonia Heindel

South side

The meaning of words

Every election year, we are blessed with changes in the definitions of words that haven’t changed for years, until the Democrats needed a new angle for their sales pitch. This year, the change relates to our understanding of ‘Reproduction Rights’. So, the change in meaning is coming from the use of reproduction, assuming that everyone understands that this word refers to the actual birth of a baby, not the killing of it. So what is the reason for demanding the right to correct a mistake, not have a baby, but calling it reproduction. It seems like the demand is a “no way in heck I want a baby” right, instead of reproduction right.

So, the real question seems to be abortion, or better yet why? The Democrats are demanding reproductive rights, defining that to mean the right to abort anything that was the result of anything other than planned reproduction. So, what are the Democrats pushing for? Shouldn’t it be the killing of the reproduction consequences?

Loran Hancock

Northwest side

United States of America

I am perplexed as to this concept of “Give the decision back to the states.” First of all, it is such a cowardly statement/action. Secondly, this is the United States of America, not the “Individual States of America,” where you have more rights in some states than others.

Does anyone else find this to be discriminatory?

Monica Joyce-Walker

East side

Botched decisions

There are three things to consider when making or changing laws. 1. The legal definition of the law. 2. The longevity of already established laws. 3. The morality and will of the majority of the people. The Supreme Court has very badly botched two of their law decisions. The existing Roe v Wade law on abortion and the presidential immunity law. Where do they have the nerve to give the President full immunity? That’s not the way our country was set up. No one is above the law, not even the President. These laws should be put before the people in a general election to finally decide what the majority of the country wants. It should not be decided by nine judges, some with questionable leanings and decisions.

Hal Brown

East side

Headline news

“Trump adds RFK Jr. to transition team.” Trump needs a transition team to go to Leavenworth? I’m certain that the federal government will provide that for him! In fact, they will insist upon it. Dragging that dead bear cub behind him, Junior will only slow things down! Oh! Now I understand!

Rick Cohn

West side

What are we afraid of?

Last week, I had the opportunity to experience the Australian Pink Floyd show at the Fox. It was a wonderful experience, and I am very grateful to the Fox for bringing such outstanding entertainment to Tucson. Unfortunately, I had a rather negative experience getting into the theater. It seems that for some unfathomable reason they feel the need to conduct airport-level security. I was denied entry due to my 2” pen knife, which I carry with me everywhere because it is nearly impossible to open modern packaging without one.

Why was this? What is so threatening about a 74-year-old hippie with a pen knife? What could I possibly have under my hat that their medal scanner wouldn’t detect? More important, what the hell is wrong with us? Why do we put up with this? Have we Americans become sheeple?

Steven Brown

Midtown

Power of joy

Re: the Aug. 28 article “Our longing for joy, hope and unity.”

Dear Editor,

Pamela Hale makes good points about the power of joy and hope in creating unity. We all have the opportunity to make a difference with our positivity. We can also be bringers of hope by using our voices with those we elect to pass compassionate legislation that addresses the scourges of poverty: hunger, homelessness, poor health care and more. By asking them to pass legislation like the child tax credit that cut child poverty in half, a farm bill that expands the SNAP program to battle hunger, and more affordable housing, we can help bring hope to millions of struggling Americans.

Willie Dickerson

Downtown

Changes needed

Re: the Aug. 28 article “Child-pornography sentence is unconscionable.”

We commend the AZ Daily Star for printing the recent OpEd from Judge Leonardo. The piece offers a beacon of hope in addressing the extreme and disproportionate sentencing in these cases. Extensive research over the past 25 years shows that a retributive approach does not enhance community safety. Judge Leonardo’s dedication to justice highlights the urgent need for change in Arizona’s legal landscape.

Patricia and Terry Borden

Foothills