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Recrimination observations

I don’t know what planet Mr. Johnson lives on, but he should ask James Comey, John Bolton, Letitia James and Liz Cheney, etc. regarding free speech recrimination. In addition, the No Kings Protest of some 7 million concerned individuals was absolutely peaceful, with only one minor vehicle use arrest in South Carolina. This rally was not sour grapes to make them feel belligerent and powerful.

That characterization is reserved for Donald Trump alone. As for the pardon of George Santos and the January 6th insurrectionists, Santos plead guilty, and the Capitol invaders deserved to be subjected to hard time for their horrendous criminal act. One of those “rehabilitated” pardoned criminals, Christopher Moynihan, was just arrested for threatening to kill minority leader Jeffries. None of Loyal’s Trump-loving Republicans will address this outrageous action.

Mr. Johnson continues to criticize Joe Biden and all Democrats, but refuses to answer why he can support our convicted criminal president.

Chuck Cabrera

Oro Valley

Send in the clowns

I believe the appointment of Patel and Bongino was a terrible decision. They are both unqualified, loyalist clowns.

They lead by fear and intimidation.

They make press releases and take credit for the hard work of the brick agents.

They polygraph agents to determine their loyalty.

They purge agents who were assigned to work the Mar-a-Lago legal search warrant.

They purge agents who investigated the assault of police officers in the Jan 6th riots.

They fired FBI agents and leaders without due process.

They have politicized the bureau, purging senior officials perceived as insufficiently loyal.

They hastily announced on social media that a suspect was in custody in the Charlie Kirk case.

They assigned almost a quarter of the agents to immigration matters, jeopardizing national security.

They transferred hundreds of senior, experienced investigators to become street cops all over the country.

They have turned the FBI I knew, served, and loved into a Bureau of retribution and revenge.

Send in the clowns.

Tom McGorray

Northwest side

Middle East peace revised

I want to express my appreciation to President Trump for sending Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio to the Middle East to counter the Israeli parliament’s West Bank annexation initiative covered in Friday’s (10/24/25) front page article, “Vance: West Bank vote an ‘insult’”. “Hope springs eternal” in the quest to find a lasting peace in the Middle East. Thank you, President Trump, for keeping the peace process going. Keep up the good work.

Richard Pierson

West side

Evict the White House tenant

Trump has destroyed the east wing without the landlord’s permission. Since the most corrupt Supreme Court in history has granted immunity to the president, he can’t be prosecuted for the destruction of a federal building.

I believe that, as one of the landlords, he should be evicted immediately in order to prevent further destruction. I think that housing may be located on a military base. There is probably some room on Guantanamo Bay, which the president may enjoy developing into a golf resort. I prefer that we don’t enrich him further by having him do business at Mar-a-Lago or Trump Tower.

Barbara Moore

East side

Demolition of East Wing

After we pay President Trump $230 million for the pain & damages he’s suffered (caused by Biden’s Department of Justice), we should give his wife, Melania, a medal. Mrs. Trump’s gracious sacrifice of her White House East Wing living quarters is noteworthy. Not every spouse would accept such a forced separation. Indeed, I think Melania’s charm rivals another first lady, Mrs. Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, the one who installed the White House Rose Garden that was also recently renovated.

Mary DeCamp

Downtown

Senate, open the government

Senate Democrats are being unreasonable. The True Shutdown Fairness Act includes paying furloughed federal workers during the current shutdown. Furlough is a temporary, unpaid leave of absence. They want to pay non-working people, while essential Working federal employees missed their first paycheck and are no longer being paid.

Senate Democrats vote for the Biden CR so everyone goes back to work and gets paid.

They think that the COVID ACA premium tax credit enhanced subsidies due to expire this year should be indefinitely extended. The pandemic has passed, subsidies are costly, inflationary, and fraud-prone. These subsidies removed the 400% poverty spending cap, some one-third goes to individuals with incomes above 400% of the poverty line. Per the Cato Institute, enrollment fraud is rampant, with “more than 6.4 million improper enrollees, costing taxpayers $27 billion in 2025.” These funds have fueled enrollment fraud, higher health care prices, and insurer profits. Letting these wasteful Covid subsidies expire would simply revert to the Obamacare subsidy levels that existed before Covid.

Pamela Furrie

Oro Valley

Work requirements for the House

House Speaker Johnson and the GOP consistently demand increased work requirements for Medicaid recipients. How about us taxpayers demand work requirements for the House of Representatives? In light of our government shutdown and POTUS running roughshod over the Constitution, the Speaker has extended the House recess into its 5th week — AKA a “working vacation.”

Johnson and his fellow GOP members should all lose their health insurance and paychecks until they get back to the business of governing, following their Oath of Office, and working for the American people — all the American people.

Kathy Krucker

Midtown

Long live the King

Bill Dowdall seems to think opposition to Trump is laughable. He lists what he thinks are accomplishments of the Trump administration (most of which are arguably not true). He fails to note that all of this has been done without consulting Congress. He notes changes other Presidents made to the White House without mentioning whether or not they got approval. Trump demolished the East Wing without consulting anyone.

In other words, Trump is behaving like a king. Mr. Dowdall appears to be quite happy with this. Yes, it’s easier to get things done if you don’t have to get permission or agreement. I think Bill needs to admit that, like Speaker Johnson, he prefers a King to a President.

Steven Brown

Midtown

Trump’s accomplishments?

Indeed, previous presidents have made changes to the White House, but all were minor in comparison to what DT has in mind. Let’s remember not to refer to this addition as “Trump’s ballroom” because you know he wants his name attached to it in some way.

Does anyone honestly believe that DT has accomplished anything that improves the lives of Americans? The promise that he would end the war in Ukraine has not happened, the promise that he would lower food prices has not happened, our international trading partners are looking elsewhere to do business due to the new higher tariffs, and the so-called peace deal to end the Israel-Palestinian war was not agreed upon by all parties involved and is likely to not come to fruition.

Personally, I am quite tired of reading about all Trump is doing for us. I need less news about the actions of DT and more about what is happening in my local town.

Catherine Lurvey

Foothills

Monument to corruption

Every day brings me closer to fleeing this despicable tyranny. The level of corruption and malfeasance is beyond compare in our country’s history. Trump’s vulgar video of dumping s**t on participants in the recent No Kings March said it all: an “f-you” to anyone who dares oppose him.

The desecration of the Oval Office with his gaudy, tawdry gilt decorations was just the start. Trump is a monster feeding insatiably on raw power, money, and greed. The obscenity of the godawful Louis XIV ballroom, embellished with all the excesses of Marie Antoinette, will now forever both literally and figuratively overshadow the presidential residence—the People’s House— and be a permanent reminder of the complete capitulation of the toadies and sycophants who chose no longer to check the lawlessness and excesses of their increasingly mad king.

Barbara Liguori

Northeast side

No clowns, no crowns

A friend recently passed along an ancient Turkish proverb.

“When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.”

I can’t vouch for the proverb’s purported age or Turkish roots, but looking at the Big Top formerly known as the White House, I can fully appreciate its wisdom.

Remember when clowns were fun to watch?

N.J. Vitale

East side

Strange choice of heroes

Loyal, this is America and people share their ideas, LTE Oct. 24th. You should be happy to see ‘No Kings’ rallies because your side is on top, and these demonstrations have been directed at your leader. Complaining about the signs was too small of a nit to pick.

What is most galling in your LTE is your choice of heroes. George Santos is a scummy, failed politician who, in normal times, would serve his whole sentence and be forever disgraced, and then the guilty J6 insurrectionists pardoned from their well-deserved ‘bad time’. Spare me the mulling about those incorrigibles. They should have lost their liberty and rights for longer than they got, and Trump (Felon47) should be with them in the “Big House.”

Ted Morrison

Midtown

Love and violence in a time of chaos

It may be said that we, as humans, “love” many things. It is natural to do so. If we seek fulfillment in both our “personal” and “social” lives, we should put our “loves” into balance and perspective. Heart and head should not be at war. Balance and perspective, to reduce anger, rage, and violence — but “love” is the key.

If you love thyself too much, you become antisocial with a severe personality disorder.

If you love thy neighbor too much, you risk losing the uniqueness of your identity.

If you don’t know your identity in relation to others, but you keep looking for it, you end up being a net plus to the species. The pursuit by most of us would reduce violence toward one another.

Gerald Farrington

SaddleBrooke