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You hit harder when you don’t hit back

I’m grateful for Tim Steller’s Oct. 29 column: “Feds trying to criminalize protest in Tucson, elsewhere.” Yes, “they are trying to figure out the shadowy entity behind the protests.” But there is none. The June and October No Kings Day marches and demonstrations have been joyful, non-violent gatherings. The celebratory costume parties and naked bicycle rides of Portland are models for effective opposition to the growing authoritarian threat of Trump’s administration.

We are blessed, all these decades later, by the example of Dr. Martin Luther King and the Civil Rights Movement. John Lewis called it “making good trouble.” We need it more than ever, right now, to save our democracy.

Greg Lewis

Midtown

Vote yes on 414

It’s easy to say “no” from behind a screen. What takes real courage is standing up for our kids and saying “yes” to a stronger future. Proposition 414 isn’t just about funding — it’s about values, priorities, and trust.

Tucson Unified has made real progress in financial transparency and accountability. From launching its first digital budget book to earning national recognition for reporting, TUSD is showing taxpayers that every dollar counts.

Prop 414 builds on that commitment by helping attract and retain quality teachers, and by protecting programs in fine arts, preschool, and career and technical education. As a TUSD parent, I’ve seen firsthand how my boys have benefited from these opportunities — and every child deserves that same chance.

Saying “no” might feel easy, especially when misinformation spreads online, but our students — my kids, your kids — deserve better. Real courage means believing in public education and investing in our children’s future.

Vote yes on Proposition 414 — because our kids are worth it.

Ricky Hernandez

Sahuarita

Sarcasm at its best

Re: The letter of the “Democrats’ nonsense”

What a great sense of sarcasm! Except for the fact that you seem to be confused, even while you know the accusations to be false.

For one thing, autism is not even close to 1 in 12, nor 1 in 20,000. If you look it up, it is approximately 3 in 100.

Are you taking after your “leader” and making up your own facts?

Regarding the second statement, you were dead on.

A very famous man once described our nation as having been “conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”

I certainly would not deny that women played a part, but many a man “gave birth” to the idea of freedom.

And you, among many other men, have given birth, e.g., to the idea that approximately 50% of the population is loony.

My only question is, of what purpose is your letter? What does it accomplish?

David Hatch

Southeast side

Demolishing the ‘People’s House’

Not because the people wanted it, but some companies decided to fund it.

Military contractors, including ‘for hire’ military personnel and private prison contractors, Google, a tobacco company, and an AI company, among others. Lay off workers, pay off the regime.

These companies were called “Patriots” for funding this destruction.

Remember, these companies don’t pay much in taxes, have international offices and agendas, so I guess they can easily afford the $250-$300 million to bribe our government.

“Patriot” seems to be widely used to describe engaging in destruction of the WH property, the Constitution and our ‘representation’. And our government keeps wasting hard-earned taxpayer money.

Side note: We sealed the payment of $20 billion of taxpayer money to Argentina to enrich friends of the Treasury Secretary. But we can’t afford middle-class healthcare subsidies.

This is not winning.

What say you, Ciscomani? You are quiet, getting your paycheck but not working for the people.

Did the AZ Young Republicans (adults under 40) disband yet?

Carissa Sipp

Midtown

I’m a Democrat

I just read an LTE about what the Democratic Party has become. I do see the points the author makes, and as absurd as they are, some are close to reality. However, I feel it’s necessary to point out that the former GOP is now the Trump Party. Nothing shows loyalty to a dictator more than boot-licking Mike Johnson and the other “flying monkeys” representing the Trump Party. They apparently don’t have functional brain cells to determine what is right and wrong. They just go with what their glorious leader tells them to go with.

You can say what you want about the Democrats. We (or most of us) know the difference between a political party and a band of miscreants. I don’t agree with all the Democratic Party has become, but at least I know that it beats being part of the butt-kissing alternate party.

John Bingham

Northwest side

There is no future without a past

We know that Trump is destroying institutions. He is gutting the Constitution with his imperial presidency. He has gutted the Justice Department. He has demanded that colleges and universities sign his compact stipulating what may be taught and how. |He has reduced Congress to a rubber stamp to achieve his personal ends. He has made a mockery of “No one is above the law” through his pardons of criminals. He is ripping off all Americans by using his position for personal gain. And he is committing a worse crime: He is erasing our historical memory. He is rewriting our history, for example, by erasing mention of slavery and internment of Japanese Americans during WW II. Perhaps most important of all: He is destroying the symbol of our nation by adding the ballroom to the White House, which will ultimately dwarf the original structure. He is eradicating the White House, the universally recognized symbol of the United States. How will we know how to construct our future if we eliminate our past?

Barbara Benjamin

Foothills

Defund Congress

This would be a good time to cut off all federal funding for elected officials because they are not able to keep the government operating anyway.

Michael Armstrong

Foothills

Immigration

Now that ICE is permitted to use language as a factor to use when stopping people, I am beginning to understand why Trump wants to make Canada the 51st state. Since Quebec province currently has a population of around 8 million people, and most of them do not speak English (their official language is French), ICE will be able to easily find many persons to stop, arrest and deport when they hear these people talking in French. Surely this will make it much quicker for Trump to accomplish his deportation number goals.

Alan Roehl

Green Valley

Democracy

In any true, honest and functioning democracy, Trump would be behind bars by now.

Terry Louck

East side

A new chorus

I am confused because the United States gives foreign aid all around the world while we have a $30 trillion dollar debt. $20 billion to Argentina for what? We are set to abandon millions of people of their health care, while spending recklessly on “pork projects” around the nation and world. Knee-jerk spending for the squeaky wheel demonstrates neglect of that wheel.

The Congress and Executive branch are like an orchestra playing whatever tune gets them the most attention. Good press, bad press, it is press no less. It doesn’t matter what you say about me as long as you are talking about me is the norm.

I have written before, re-elect no one. Send every Representative home, along with one-third of the Senate. The Electorate needs to simply act and take the power away from the status quo. Democrats are unhappy, Republicans are unhappy, the electorate is unhappy. How long can this marriage last?

Next November, bring in a new chorus. It is as simple as that.

Ed LeGendre

East side

Safe havens

I find it interesting that many of President Trump’s top aides and cabinet secretaries are opting for living on secure military bases with their families away from their actual homes and neighbors; this is reminiscent of Adolf Hitler’s top aides preparing to leave Germany for a safe hideaway in Argentina at the end of WWII. Like the refugees escaping Hitler’s war-torn Germany to hide from justice and the vengeance of other nations, the present refugees hiding at a military base have no concept of the harm they are doing or have willingly participated in as they followed a corrupt Trump administration to deny civil rights, participate in unlawful actions and injure others at the behest of their leader. One aspect I’m sure they didn’t consider was that while they may feel safe now hiding behind the military on base, it will make it that much easier to find and prosecute them for their criminal actions — so their safe haven may eventually become their prison.

Richard Rebl

East side