ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥

Tesla protests

I’ve attended peaceful Tesla protests in ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥. Across the country, Tesla dealerships have had thousands of protesters with few episodes of violence.

Nevertheless, as protests have increased, Trump announced that property destruction at Tesla dealerships is “domestic terrorism� and the perpetrators will “go through hell.� We know violence at protests is illegal and isn’t protected by the First Amendment to “peaceably assemble� and “to petition the government.� No one should condone it.

Trump is using the situation to intimidate people — one way that authoritarians exert their power.

Trump’s words are ironic, given his propensity for inciting violence when it suits him as calling for the death of General Milley and guns “trained on� Liz Cheney. He hounds protesters but pardoned over a thousand convicted felons for assaulting police and obstructing Congress; pardoned 2 policemen convicted of murdering a black man; and pardoned 3 military men involved in war crimes and murder in Afghanistan.

Philosopher John Locke warned: “Wherever law ends, tyranny begins.�

Therefore, we will continue to protest.

Linda Dugan

Midtown

Ciscomani voted for Medicaid cuts

The new federal budget continues to advance, thanks to Rep. Juan Ciscomani’s vote to pass it two weeks ago.

His vote aims to slash Medicaid. For the bottom 20% of our population (based on income) this translates to a 7.4 % loss of income. Meanwhile, the top 1% would see a 3.9% increase in income — billionaire greed.

In his vote, he aimed to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the rich. When finished, the total price tag to taxpayers for that exceeds $4 trillion, or $15,000 per person. So, for a family of four, $60,000 has been stripped from their pockets over the ten years of the tax breaks. Two weeks ago, Ciscomani voted to renew that insane tax policy.

That is rampant corruption, plain and simple. Ciscomani has no town halls planned. He is hiding because he is a corrupt coward. Remember that next election.

Jeff Herr

North side

What’s next after Proposition 414

The City of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ should prepare a blended package of proposals and a related 0.5% sales tax to be voted on in November 2025. This package would include some transportation priorities along with elements of the recently voted down proposition 414. If voters approve, the package would take effect on July 1, 2026 when the RTA tax expires. If ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s voters pass the blended package and do not pass RTA Next, the sales tax rate would remain the same and some of ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥â€™s priority needs would receive significant support.

Donald Ijams

Midtown

What does 414’s defeat mean?

One of the principal functions of government is public safety. As blue as ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ has become over the years, I’d have thought Prop 414 would sail through fairly comfortably. Why didn’t it? Will this rejection finally be seen as a referendum on city leadership? Or will it be perceived by the mayor and city council as business as usual: “There go those voters again … tightening their wallets and wanting something for nothing!â€� To really make a difference, voters need to also reassess what the city’s current leadership has done, or not done, as the case may be. I’m hoping ÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ will follow through by demanding a major change in the city’s administration or there’s just no consistency in the message this vote will send. Worse, it will only engender more bad faith or costlier efforts to solve the city’s budget woes and public safety shortfalls.

Justin Carroll

Midtown

NATO

For nearly 80 years, NATO has been a deterrent to brutal dictators intent on expanding their empires and attacking their neighbors. It is arguably the most successful alliance for peace and democracy the world has ever seen. But now with Trump’s attacks on NATO and threats to unilaterally withdraw, his insults to our allies, and his adulation of dictators, he has shown the world that the United States cannot be counted on to honor our commitments or defend democracy. Halting aid to the Ukraine, refusing them satellite access and thus aiding Russian bombing is overtly designed to coerce them to capitulate to Putin’s demands. The world learned the lessons of appeasement and paid for it in blood in World War II. Appeasing aggressors only encourages them and China and North Korea are watching. But Trump admires Putin, labeling his brazen lies “genius�. I pity the MAGA Republicans who bought Trump’s lies. But we and our children will pay for the markedly more dangerous world he is creating.

Abraham R. Byrd III

North side

Bud Light revenge

Are you one of the people that laughed at the collapse of Bud Light when they merged with Dylan Mulvaney to promote the beer brand while ignoring the consumer while promoting a woke agenda? It took forever for the people at Anheuser Busch to admit the mistake of the relationship and return to serving the consumer with the only problem being that the consumer didn’t forgive and forget. While Bud Light was collapsing, a new entry in the beer market got started by promoting themselves as Conservative Dad’s Ultra Right Beer, because this beer was anti-woke (since Bud Light was ultra left this new beer was ultra right.) Bud Light changed directions and wants to be forgiven but the consumer was more disgusted than forgiving so the only option for Bud Light was to force the Ultra Right into bankruptcy by filing a lawsuit over the use of the word “ultra.� When a loser doesn’t have integrity, they resort to liberal left tactics. Boycott Bud Light.

Loran Hancock

Northwest side

Rebuttal to ‘the national debt’

Recently Pete Kasper from the Foothills said that seniors should just opt out of Social Security, saying that they take out more than they put in, hence reducing the national debt. Pete is aligning himself with the clueless Elon Musk billionaire who said that Social Security is a Ponzi scheme, which is far from the truth. American citizens were promised a retirement plan with by contributing into it and obtaining a benefit so they could retire, something unheard of in the day. Pete needs to be reminded our government borrowed funds from Social Security for all sorts of wars and projects then left an IOU. So, Social Security never was allowed to grow as a solvent retirement plan and was mismanaged by the government. How would Pete feel if his company pension, IRA, Roth or 401K plan was just borrowed against his will and he never was paid back?

Curtis Urban

Vail

The folly of on-shoring

Flush with self-congratulatory bombast, the President now proposes to augment his wildly successful tariff program with an industry on-shoring program. He wants us to believe that the two programs will “make America great again�. Apparently, no one has explained to him why these industries moved offshore in the first place. Manufacturers determined that their product could be produced less expensively abroad, and American consumers were more concerned about the price of the product than where it was manufactured. Not only are there substantial, one-time costs and time-lags involved in opening a new manufacturing facility, but also raw materials and labor costs will be higher, all of which mean higher prices borne by the American consumer. Are American workers prepared to accept wages equivalent to those paid to a worker in Vietnam, Bangladesh or China? I think not. Well done, Mr. President!

James Dolian

SaddleBrooke

Ciscomani family photo

A few days ago, another email arrived from our Congressman Juan Ciscomani. Everyone should know about and pay particular attention to the first photo in the message. It shows Ciscomani and his wife proudly standing on each side of a seated Trump, all broadly smiling.

Subsequent photos and words go on to extol our representative’s good deeds, such as meeting with veterans and Boy Scouts, both alluding to his all-American values.

But it is that first photo that rocked me off my seat. There Ciscomani stands in full agreement with a Russian stooge, a betrayer of our allies and traitor to 250 years of American democratic values. Take another look and if you are in any doubt, remember that first photo when the 2026 election time comes around.

Gretchen Winters

Oro Valley

DEI vs merit

Demonizing diversity, equity and inclusion has become a Republican sport. They champion a “merit� system apparently to preserve patriarchy, the hierarchy, and wealth. Without DEI in our diverse nation, we risk losing innovation, creative problem-solving and shared patriotism. Initializing merit results in the following: Male-Entitled-Rapacious-Intolerant-Traditionalists.

All these traits remain frozen in time and inflexible. MERIT will not result in hiring the best people because it severely limits the hiring pool. In their prime working years between 20-49, women represent 50.1% of eligible hires — and 41% of the college-educated ones versus only 32.2% college educated men. Eliminating non-white applicants reduces the pool even further by 42.2%.

This frat-boy MERIT system could decrease retail sales as customers don’t see themselves in a company’s products, and would in turn limit ingenuity, growth, prosperity and our standing on the global stage. Besides being limiting, misogynistic and bigoted, their MERIT system is just plain stupid.

Dee Maitland

Marana

Adios amigo, Raul Grijalva

Growing greenhouse shrimp in Puerto Peñasco decades ago, I thought I’d retire here with Raul and Sal. They were Chicano activists out to assure justice. Raul, ambitious and political, always put family first. Sal, modest and social, worked to establish Pima College, El Rio Neighborhood Centers and Medical Clinics, and half-way counseling housing for second changers. A close friend of iconic labor activist Caesar Chavez and UÃÛèÖÖ±²¥ Dean of Chicano Studies, my Cuñado Sal flooded local media with his message. So often they stopped publishing. Then, Sal signed my name. May Raul have a better place and Sal continue his mission.

Barney Popkin

Northwest side

Gutting social services

The efficiency of an engine is the work it produces per unit of energy input. Physics forbids 100% efficiency, even for the best case. In real life, the input must include the works to maintain, operate and deliver, which further reduce the engine’s worth. Human organizations producing needed services are often seen as machines, and assigned “efficiencies,� not based on quantifiable entries in the case of real engines. How does one quantify a worker’s expertise accrued through training and experience and his steadfast dedication in providing the needed service, and then be converted to dollars? How the current Administration assigns “efficiencies� to the various government agencies and contractors is neither transparent nor trustworthy. The qualifications of the Cabinet members indicate “efficiency� is only a cover, while the real goal is to gut the services such as, Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, etc. which the rich and powerful don’t need. Help the weak, poor and oppressed (Psalm 82:3) before you cast your next vote!

Ke Chiang Hsieh

Midtown

How is your 401k doing?

Republicans, do you really think that a man who has declared bankruptcy six times really knows how to improve the economy? Wouldn’t you like to have that vote back now?

Fred DiNoto

Northwest side

Incompetents

“The United States of America is going to take back what was stolen from it by other countries and, frankly, by incompetent U.S. leadership,� Trump said Wednesday. “We’re going to take back our wealth, and we’re going to take back a lot of companies that left.�

Hmm, let’s talk about incompetent U.S. leadership. Our President in his endeavors has led to six bankruptcies.

Let’s see, who is incompetent?

Jose Salgado

Northeast side