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U of A faculty enga

gement

While I applauded the Aug. 8 Daily Star’s opinion piece by members of the University of Arizona community regarding the importance of citizen engagement in protecting the environment, I was also reminded that I have been bothered for some months by the absence of faculty voices on other topics of urgent importance. Our country, our society, is currently in the grip of people in positions of power exhibiting unprecedented levels of ignorance, stupidity, mental derangement, mendacity, illegality, and just plain evil. Our laws, our political system, our economy, our emotional well-being, all are under threat. Scholars of constitutional and administrative law, political theorists and scholars of electoral politics, the presidency, the congress, and the courts, economists who study our fiscal and monetary systems and international trade and finance, psychologists, psychiatrists, and sociologists who can foreground the aberrations, the abnormalities, that beset us. You have years of training and work experience, plus knowledge gained from thinking in relatively independent circumstances. Where are you?

Stephen Ford

Midtown

Tariff fees

In the past week, I have viewed videos of President Trump, Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessent and Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt all stating that tariff fees are paid by China, EU, etc.

My understanding is that a U.S.-based importing company pays the import fee (tariff) directly to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency at the point of transfer from the foreign exporter. The importer then passes the dollar amount of the fee on to the product distributors/end-use customers.

Also, the exporting is not done by a Country (China, EU, etc.), but rather by a commercial exporter from those countries.

My question is to readers/LTE contributors of the ����Ӱ��AV editorial page: Please explain if you agree or disagree with my understanding of the tariff process. Am I correct, or is President Trump, et al?

Randy Garmon

North side

Where is Murrow when we need h

im?

Sorry to say, he died after an outstanding career of honest and impactful journalism. His challenge to Senator Joseph McCarthy is the type of confrontation we need now. It also seems his honesty and truth-to-power approach to journalism, if not dead, is in need of intensive care. When a President can ask a Governor to “Find 11,780 votes,” and blatantly violates Article 1 Sec, 8 of the Constitution by unilaterally imposing tariffs and duties on foreign nations, and to commit other acts contrary to the accepted norms of Government, the Fourth Estate has a duty, a responsibility to bring the issues to the people – and to keep them in the forefront until issues are officially adjudicated. Because journalism is now so bifurcated by social media and so-called influencers, voices of reason can no longer prevail. We sorely need another Edward R. Murrow, but I’m not sure one can emerge in this new age of social media.

Carl Foster

Green Valley

Aug. 2, 1934

Whether you are Democrat or Republican or Independent, there is one date in history you should remember: Aug. 2, 1934. That was the date when the Wehrmacht swore an Oath of Loyalty to Adolf Hitler. Up until that August, the German military swore their allegiance to the German Constitution.

I am sure that if a poll were conducted today, the overwhelming majority of Americans would respond with “That will never happen.” However, there are some who believe there is an ever-increasing chance that it will for a number of reasons. These same reasons existed in the 1930s in Germany, as any historian can tell you. So, I simply wonder, “Where will our country be on Aug. 2, 2026 or 2027 or 2028?”

Richard Janik

East side

Tools of war

Re: Clueless gun rant. My Vietnam platoon used weapons of war — M16s, Claymore mines, grenades — to target an equally well-armed enemy. We were responsible for causing casualties, but we used these tools to save our lives.

Cowards in America use military style AR-15s to target unarmed innocents in their homes, stores, workplaces and schools. They take lives, not save them, bearing full responsibility. While there’s disagreement whether the tool is to blame, it’s undeniable that without this tool, there are no deadly shootings.

The author’s response references a National Firearms Survey that claims an unlikely 2.5 million yearly defensive gun uses. However, the firm Centiment conducts these surveys online, with limited analysis and validation.

As a gun owner, I support the Second Amendment. But it’s not absolute and should have reasonable restrictions. If Democrats wanted to take our guns away, they would’ve done so in 12 years of Obama/Biden. Just another far-right fantasy.

Dan Gipple

Southeast side

Gerrymandering

Pleading with Ciscomani to do anything about fair elections in Texas, or in AZ for that matter, is a waste of breath. He and all of the other congressmen in Washington are truly powerless. The MAGAs in Texas who are fixing the election in favor of Donald Trump rather than representing the people are state representatives. Do you know your state MAGA representatives in Arizona? Here in Pima, the MAGAs are Rachel Keshel (Jones), Chris Lopez, Teresa Martinez, Lupe Diaz, Gail Griffin. The rest of the Arizona MAGAs blindly doing Trump’s bidding are Leo Biasiucci, Walt Blackman, Selina Bliss, and about 10 others who have the majority in the state house of representatives. In the Senate, Mark Finchem, Vince Leach (you must remember the horrible job those two did in Pima County), as well as Shawna Bolick and David Gowan, among others. They will try the same thing. It’s time for a change in 2026.

Cindy Doklan

Midtown

No shade canopies

We’ve been using Mister Carwash since they came to town with great success. Unfortunately, the latest locations they’ve built do not have the shade canopies. I tried complaining to them, with the only answer being “We’re evaluating this.” Are you kidding me? You’re in one of the hotter locations in the country, and you’re passing on the shade canopies to add a few dollars to your bottom line? What’s it going to take, someone passing out in the sun while they vacuum their car out? No doubt some MBA in the home office has determined it’s worth the chance.

John Soulvie

Sonoita

City Manager chief Project Blue booster

Now than the Project Blue data center proposal has been rejected by the City Counsel, I think a performance review of City Manager Tim Thomure is due. He manages the city’s functions, but should not be setting policy. He seemed to act as both the public relations officer for the project and a one-man chamber of commerce. His obvious enthusiasm for the project at public meetings was unseemly. A city manager should be more neutral, especially in the face of significant public distrust. His own judgment is now in question. His continued status in his current position needs to be reconsidered by the City Council.

Gail Kamaras

East side

Gaza

We all know that Israel has been pounding the Gaza Strip since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023; the intent to erase Hamas. Fast forward, urban scenes look worse than allied bombing of Dresden in WW2. I, for one, hope for some sign that the U.S. will join the world community to finally push a bold solution to an old problem.

It’s not hard to imagine what this looks like. I see an international reconstruction plan where Palestinians are housed immediately in temporary shelters; free of Hamas. Many feel broad international support and Israeli accountability along with deep Arab nations involvement is where a transformative solution begins.

As a visionary architect, I see the 25-mile coastal zone as a cutting-edge Mediterranean model cities project. I see a bold new city-state governance concept with its first citizens; Palestinian; bringing peace and stability to the region. I see the stretch transformed by international development. It would not be a first. It would be like another mythical Phoenix reborn.

Bill Ford

Downtown

TEP rate hike

I don’t imagine many read the full-page notice of hearing for TEP for Just and Reasonable Rates in the newspaper on Aug. 8. Hearings will be held in 2026; there are ways to write or go one line to voice your concerns. “Bill impacts: ... average consumption will increase by $19.43 or 13.7%.” That’s almost a $20 a month increase. Is this the same increase they requested two days after Project Blue hit the news, or a brand new one? I urge everyone to write, email, go online at and let TEP know this is an outrageous request on top of everything else that goes up on a weekly basis. You can’t complain later if you don’t speak up now.

Barbara Boyka

East side

TEP and high energy lines approval

After reading your report that TEP was granted 2 of 3 High Energy lines to traverse our city corridors against the Gateway Corridor Zone ordinances and the Zoning Examiner Cassidy’s recommendation, my vote on the next TEP franchise agreement is sealed with a resounding NO.

The ordinance was useless, as are the Mayor & Council majority votes and TEP’s value to our community’s interest.

Steve Poe

Midtown

Campaign promise

Rather than allow himself to be played again by Putin, here’s a way for Trump to save face and finally make good on his campaign promise to end the war in Ukraine in one day. When Putin arrives on American soil for the great Putin/Trump meet in Alaska, why not simply break with policy and recognize the authority of the International Criminal Court by executing their outstanding arrest warrant issued for Putin’s war crimes and expeditiously deliver him into their hands? Maybe we can even persuade Netanyahu to join them at the meeting. Two for one.

Robert Gavlak

Midtown

Big decisions

Wonderful to see the Democratic Tucson City Council cave to a vocal minority mob (Vox Populi semper insaniae proxima sit). Wonderful that the mayor and council were voted a 120% pay raise last year to make the big decisions. Maybe an investigation of how much water and electric power the University of Arizona physical plant consumes in a year would be enlightening. Typical Tucson knee-jerk political (and media) response.

Dewey Bidwell

Northeast side

Cell phone ban in schools

I have been teaching for over 18 years in Arizona. Teaching through the pandemic, l learned many skills and taught kids how to navigate the world of education online, with their technology. Often, their phones are better equipped with the tools they need to get things done. This year, we teachers are being asked to enforce the cell phone ban in classrooms. While I agree with this measure in a general way, it is akin to trying to wrench a bottle of whiskey away from an active alcoholic or wrestle a needle full of heroin away from a drug addict. Seriously. I was sent an email from staff members who had been in my room on this past Friday, noting, “... unfortunately, we observed two cell phones being used in your room.” One student was using it to translate the work from our PowerPoint, because he is still learning English. To take his translation tool away, or shame him into not having access to it, is not acceptable.

Patty Alice

Midtown

FBI firings

FBI job losses are unjust and counterproductive, disproportionately impacting women and people of color. FBI Leaders are forcing out senior officials in a move former FBI supervisors call “deplorable” and unprecedented in modern history. These agents were thoroughly vetted and promoted through a career board, regardless of who was in the White House.

At least 18 of 53 special agents in charge have been pushed out under the Trump administration.

Of the 18 special agents in charge pushed out under the Trump administration, half have been women or people of color. The purge also affects other top managers at headquarters and around the country.

This purge undoes decades of work to diversify top ranks, which was crucial for building public trust and bringing different perspectives to investigations. It’s an alarming pattern of discrimination, further evidenced by the reinstatement of a strict pull-up requirement that may disproportionately exclude female agent trainees. These actions create a climate of fear, demanding absolute loyalty, undermining the FBI’s independence from partisan politics.

Tom McGorray

Northwest side