ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV

Senator Mark Kelly

Thank you for speaking up for all our citizens and military. Our President states you should face death. Our former Arizona congresswoman, your wife, had an assassin attempt to take her life. “Our president� states the same thing that attacked your wife should happen to you. How disgusting. It's sad how low our country has become. I am so sorry for our young people, as it’s hard to aspire to greater things when “life� is so negative.

Mary Beth Schneider

East side

Offensive words from Gallego

I will not argue if Kelly was wrong or right. What I will argue is that our Representatives do not need to give their opinions with f-bomb-laden sentences. Ruben Gallego’s comments regarding Kelly were embarrassing. I did not hear what he said, I just heard how immaturely he said it. On a national stage, he came off as a rude, crude and unintelligent individual. What a shame.

David Stombaugh

Foothills

Two

One man flew jets in combat; another can’t remember which foot he used for his draft deferment.

One man rode rockets; the other borrowed from enemy nations to cover bankruptcies.

One man has been called valiant; the other called his daddy.

One man understands duty, honor, country; the other practices dodge, lie, me.

Wes Ward

Oro Valley

Ukraine

The ex-minister of Finland was asked, "The way out of the conflict." The answer was, "The way out of the conflict is for Russia to leave Ukraine". How very simple and obvious, but true. Of course, it will never happen because it wouldn't allow Russia the land it wants from the conflict, and President Trump wouldn't suggest it because it might offend his great friend, Putin.

These so-called world leaders try to make something so very difficult and complex when a lesser person could solve it with ease.

Philip Reinecker

East side

Piggy

Greed will never be satisfied.

Millionaires long to become multimillionaires, who in turn lust to become billionaires and so on. Unfortunately, we ordinary people are living through a perilous time as we bear witness to the consequences of unchecked avarice.

Our own Piggy is a prime example. Why eat one Big Mac when you can gorge on a table full? Why imprison undocumented immigrants when you can launch an attack on all immigrants regardless of status? Why limit your cruelty to homegrown jails like Alligator Alcatraz when you can deny arrestees due process and deport them to the worst foreign prisons you can find? Why fire thousands of government employees when you can go whole hog and dismantle entire agencies?

There are lots of terms for those with such a destructive, insatiable appetite. Piggy is just one of them.

JB Marshall

Oro Valley

Dried leaves

Donald Trump makes a lot of money, and so does his kin. But it is a false profit they make with schemes using the smarmiest characters from dark places. Great is the dazzle of such riches, but they are ensnared in a spider web of their own weaving.

Donald is the king of the cheap stuff, pitching the groundlings his Bibles, hats, trading cards, and such. There is a fortune going low, and Trump goes there. Is there.

His children are higher-class operators, using daddy’s influence. To them, a million dollars is small potatoes when billions are at play with the sheiks.

Yet, pull back the curtain and witness the ruse. All they have is counterfeit: the money, the lifestyle, and the false friends.

They are mock-ups of real people.

Like dried leaves, they have no life.

Ron Lancaster

North side

Lost way

I must provide an independent's response to Jeffrey McConnell's short-sighted Star essay. Release without bail reduces crime: How about pardoning over 1,000 Jan. 6 insurrectionists? Netanyahu has clearly initiated genocide in Gaza. No guns means no shooters and no assault weapon deaths. The legality of Trump's tariffs are currently under scrutiny by the Supreme Court. The number of transgender men in women's sports is so small that it doesn't warrant consideration. Those who cross our border illegally cannot vote nor receive any benefits. America's current convicted president certainly appears to be a warmonger based on his illegal orders to use our military planes to attack supposed drug-carrying boats in international waters. America can spend its way out of its debt crisis: How about questionably accepting an aged plane from Qatar and spending millions to modify it, spending millions to tear down the East Wing and build a ballroom, shutting down the government for a month to escape an Epstein files vote? Forget left/right-wing politics.

Chuck Cabrera

Oro Valley

President’s Trump's tirade

If you are aware of current events, you would have noticed that President Trump is ready to send people to the gallows for daring to suggest that his orders to Secretary Hegseth and the United States military might in some way be illegal. One needs only to review his screaming in all caps with "seditious behavior" to realize that President Trump has a serious misunderstanding about his role as President and the control it gives him in issuing orders to today’s military.

In years past, crimes committed by the military have been overlooked — My Lai — but with the advent of satellites, 24 hour news, "whistleblowers," cell phones and leakers, and the rare survivor of said attack, it is largely a thing of the past and as so often happens, someone with a conscience will invariably alert their superior officer that a possible "war crime" may have been committed. At this point, the event will be thoroughly investigated despite any stonewalling from the Secretary of War or the Administration.

Richard Rebl

East side

Our lightweight administration

Between slapping tariffs on an uninhabited island and calling for members of Congress to be executed, even the most hardcore Trump supporter has to admit that we don't have a serious president. When Trump says things he knows, or ought to know, won't be taken seriously by anyone when there are so many issues demanding the President's full attention, one must admit we have a lightweight Administration. Calling for the court-martial of Sen. Kelly for saying one needn't follow an illegal order is absurd even for Trump, and that's a mighty low bar.

Dave Bertagnoli

West side

Simpleminded rant

Well, Jeffrey McConnell is back with an even longer unhinged rant proposing to define Democratic Party ideology than the usual 60-word format. No one could be less qualified for such a task. Witness his lunatic litany of phony, fallacious, fantastical, fanatical, fanciful imaginings: none of which actually describe Democratic Party ideology. Please, please, I beg of you, rational readers: Do not take the bait! Any effort to deconstruct and refute this dog's breakfast of delusional invention would be a Sisyphean task resulting in no edification for this writer anyway. The sensible response is to ignore it, as one would a poor soul barking at the moon.

Gary Susko

Midtown

Political parties

Here we go again with political parties. Looks like people here in Arizona who are not Republicans or Democrats now might become members of the new Independent Party. Can't anyone realize that we are in such a mess today thanks to political parties? All they do is spend all their energy trying to destroy each other. We all need to just vote for candidates we believe in, period. If you feel you must respond to people wanting to know your political affiliation, tell them what I tell them: "My two parties are the U.S. Constitution and the Statue of Liberty."

Bob Feinman

Foothills

Trump's racism

We all deplore the shooting of two National Guard members this week. President Trump's reaction is equally deplorable. The actions of one Afghan refugee are not indicative of the group. When the man who shot the members of the Mary Emmanuel church several years ago, did we question the status of all German immigrants? Almost every school shooter has been a white male, but we never question if it had anything to do with where they came from. When one black young man maybe made some offensive action or comment to a white woman in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1921, was that justification for the riot that killed hundreds of black residents and burned down Black Wall Street in Tulsa? We promised Afghans who helped us in the war that we would take care of them after they risked their lives to save countless Americans. Is this how we keep our promises?

Don Ries

Southeast side

What does 'permanently pause' mean?

Welcome to the land of oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. A pause, by its very nature, is not permanent. It was the Trump administration that coined the phrase "permanently pause," and the ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV simply copied it without any obvious evaluation. While it is unlikely that anyone was misled by this absurd caption, the ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV's reputation has taken a hit. I certainly find it offensive to be treated like an illiterate child, and I suspect most adults will feel the same.

I have not been a resident of Tucson for very long, just about six years. I've been a paying subscriber to the ÃÛÌÒÓ°ÏñAV this entire time because I believe in supporting local journalism. I am James S. Kay, and I have around 450 graduate-level credits and two master's degrees, one with a 4.0 GPA. I am also the top elected leader of the local American Mensa group. I can be reached at: jam@jimkay.us.

James Kay

Northeast side

New roles for well-paid City Council

On Dec. 2, three Tucson Council members who knew they would be paid for full-time employment — $96,600/year — will be sworn in. How should that impact Mayor/Council 's future?

No longer must public meetings be squeezed into second and fourth Tuesday PMs to accommodate other employment schedules. Departmental staff can present once in open, transparent Study Session meetings rather than going to each ward office; genuine discussions can ensue rather than pre-arranged agreements. Citizens who choose to serve on Boards, Committees and Commissions can regularly engage with Mayor/Council to make their work relevant.

In wards, elected officials attend easily scheduled appointments, walk-in office hours, regular listening sessions, and special topic meetings as needed.

2026 Mayor/Council face many challenges, but none is more important long-term than to engage the community in reconceptualizing its organizational structure and procedures. Given salaries of $8000/month, it should no longer be business as usual. It is time to build the framework for a more responsive government.

Ruth Beeker

Midtown

Political circus

Proverbs to ponder:

White House: When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.

Congress: In the circus, when something goes wrong, they send in the clowns to distract the audience. Well, something has gone very wrong with this circus, and the clowns are everywhere.

Richard Kimball

Midtown

Plans for desalination plants

I think the plans for desalination plants are a great idea. Not only will they provide water for Arizona, but all the coastal cities that will be underwater by 1995, due to global warming, will be saved.

Scott Langpap

Sierra Vista