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The sister’s heartbreak is ours, too

The deaths of these lovely young people with so much potential broke my heart, also. And rekindled my anger at the wealthy oligarchs in our country that are taking everything from us, including our lives. Decades ago, another rich boy drove his Jaguar under the influence at high speeds at night on the windy two-lane 17-Mile Drive in Pebble Beach. He crashed it, killing his girlfriend. His parents had high-priced lawyers spend enormous sums on tests of Jaguars. They successfully convinced a couple jurors the “faulty” car “might” have been responsible and earned an acquittal.

It would be righteous if this entitled young man would plead guilty to vehicular manslaughter and spare us and the families the cost and agony of a trial but I doubt it. They probably have enough money to prove the Porsche Boxster is guilty. Can we guess their political party?

Dee Maitland

Marana

Presidential oath

“I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States ...” The oath does not say President of just the red states of the U.S. And what exactly are the red states? No state voted all Republican (red) or all Democrat (blue). Every state has Republican, Democratic, Libertarian and independent voters, yet Mr. Trump speaks as though states that did not have a majority of Red votes are enemies of the country, but especially of him.

While the President brags about his prowess as a dealmaker, he has also stated he will not negotiate with Democrats. Why not? This is your job. Show us what a great negotiator you are, Mr. Trump. Bring the two parties together in a deal that will benefit all residents of our great country. Show us that you will uphold the oath you took as President of all the United States. Show us you care about all of us.

Eleanor Arnold

Northeast side

1,320 feet

The construction of West 6th Street between North Stone Avenue and the old Tucson Electric Power Company building to the west is about the same distance in length as the Empire State Building is in height (1,454 feet).

This area has been under construction for five years. During this time, we’ve been zigging and zagging through the construction zone and dealing with traffic that can occasionally back up to Grande Avenue on St. Mary’s Road during rush hour.

It took 13 months to complete the construction of the Empire State Building, with groundbreaking commencing on March 17, 1930, and its completion roughly 13 months later.

Wiliam Kendall

Downtown

Hunger

What kind of president or person, for that matter, starves people to get what they want? This is insane. Cruelty is the point with the Trump regime.

Terry Louck

East side

Answer to LTE

In a letter to the editor published in the Nov. 4 Daily Star, Mr. McConnell asked readers to offer 14 reasons why Republicans are on the wrong path. I can offer 275 reasons — 53 Republican senators and 222 Republican representatives who will not stand up to an autocratic president who is enriching himself, his family and his billionaire friends at the expense of all other American citizens, and also acting as judge, jury and executioner when ordering the military to kill people in boats far away from our shores.

Gary Kordosky

West side

Cicsomani’s tipping point?

Rep. Ciscomani: Have you exceeded your personal tipping point with the actions of the current Republican administration? Have their wildly undemocratic actions finally caused you to reconsider your support for the Republican Party? Is it time for you to take action in line with your changed thinking? Are there higher values in play here than party loyalty?

Actions you could take include changing your party registration to Democrat or Independent. The most powerful thing you control are your votes in the House. Vote by vote, if you joined with other like-minded Members to make a new majority, some important outcomes could be achieved. By making this move, you might accelerate the tipping points of other Members and thereby begin the process of reasserting the powers rightly belonging to Congress. The multiple thousands of CD6 residents now in fear of or actually hurting from the actions of this overreaching government will support your principled move.

Donald Ijams

Midtown

Why not single-payer?

Like many other Americans, my health insurance premiums are about to increase dramatically. My increase is 170%. I know that others are looking at an even larger increase. I appreciate the Democrats’ call for continuing the tax credits, but what would be even better would be a single-payer system. Medicare for all. Why do we need to pay the insurance middlemen?

We pay more than any other country in the world for healthcare, and our health outcomes, including life expectancy, are not better. The US is the only developed nation in the world that doesn’t have a single-payer system. Why don’t we?

I’ve lived in two other countries that had single-payer systems. Great healthcare, affordable, and with similar wait times to here. America can afford it. Why don’t we have single-payer systems?

Melanie Bell

Midtown

SNAP benefits

Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Benefits (SNAP) are provided to 45 million individuals, 17% of the adult U.S. population. Each individual state decides eligibility for this program; 45 million people receiving SNAP benefits appears to be far more than expected in a bountiful country like ours. Are there truly that many people in need who actually require assistance? Or, as in so many cases involving federal spending provided to states, have a significant number of the recipients, including illegal aliens, found that it is an easy and lucrative way to receive these benefits in lieu of actually providing for themselves? Are the states just issuing SNAP benefits without regard to the ability and requirement to work or even perform valuable public service? Is it just too easy to obtain SNAP benefits without justification? When you observe the daily demonstrations regarding ICE, one wonders how these people, day after day, are surviving without jobs. Have they outfoxed the general public by gaming the system?

Loyal M. Johnson Jr.

Oro Valley

Health insurance denials

We want to thank Maria Martinez for sharing her experience with health insurance denials. We have been there too. Denials are devastating when you have a serious illness. Like Ms. Martinez, we are health professionals. We have appealed several denials and want to encourage others to do the same. With Medicare Advantage, recent studies find that most denials are overturned on appeal. If you don’t appeal, you’re giving up on good odds. It’s important that you appeal along with your physician. Only you can describe what withholding the treatment means to you. To get help preparing appeals, you can ask your health care team, consumer assistance programs, and companies that charge a small fee. Recently, someone reached out on social media for help with a denial for life-saving medication and received almost 200 responses, including offers of assistance. Insurance companies issue millions of denials every year. If you receive one, you’re not alone. Take action — it makes a difference.

Gerri Lamb

North side

America First?

In this era of America First, we can’t use the emergency $4 billion to give the needy their full allotment of aid but we can give Argentina $40 billion to prop up Trump’s buddy and import more of their beef cuz, ya know, our ranchers are just too greedy.

Rick Unklesbay

Midtown

One question

Jeffrey McConnell asks for 14 reasons why Republicans are on the wrong path. I will give him one. Republicans have replaced our Republic with a Kingdom. If we lived in a Republic, policy would be debated in Congress, voted on and implemented by the President. Donald Trump governs by executive order. Nothing he says or does is debated in Congress. If we lived in a Republic, I would have a Representative in the House. I don’t.

During Biden’s Presidency, McConnell liked to remind us we were in a Republic. So, Jeffrey, answer me this: When did you decide a Kingdom was better than a Republic?

Steven Brown

Midtown

Trump’s money tree

Trump thinks he’s a master economist. Let’s view the U.S. economy as a blue palo verde stand along the Rillito River in Tucson, gloriously flowering yellow each spring. Tariff costs to people are like sucking nutrients from plants. ICE is like a root disease or longhorn beetle larvae killing brown roots, hurting strength, and losing vitality (taxes, spending, jobs, culture). AI centers guzzle water and light (=energy). Diseases thrive with healthcare and vaccine cuts. During drought, palo verdes lose entire branches. Surviving scraggly stumps take decades to regrow. Losing branches for construction, retail businesses, agriculture, tourism, etc., as well as Medicaid, rural hospitals, hard-won disease immunities, and international trade balances will cripple the economy. Trump’s “black thumb” economy — cutting federal funds and jobs and soaring costs for food, healthcare, medicines, water, energy, Barbies, and billionaire-care — is killing the trees.

Tom Van Devender

North side

Debacle

As I reflect on Trump’s embarrassing “60 Minutes” interview, I am reminded why he has said he prefers the uneducated. If he were any other public official, the calls for his resignation would be overwhelming. But his MAGA base either does not comprehend what occurred or is willing to accept his manifest incompetence. I also note that we have not been subjected to letters from our MAGA contributors commenting on his performance. Their silence is deafening.

James Dolian

SaddleBrooke