蜜柚直播

We recently received an email from Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R) asking his constituents鈥� opinion of President Trump鈥檚 Executive Order regarding the use of paper straws.

Really? Well, I don鈥檛鈥� have any strong opinions about straws but I wonder why he hasn鈥檛 asked about the abolition of USAID? Or mass government firings, unlawful deportations, targeting of Justice Dept. officials or threats to annex Palestine, Canada and Greenland? Just to name a few.

Well, Congressman, since you haven鈥檛 asked, I鈥檒l tell you. We鈥檙e against all of these policies and plan to aggressively campaign against all elected officials who support them.

Joe L. Smith

Oro Valley

Could there be a conflict of interest?

Trump and his minion, Elon Musk, want to dismantle the Department of Education. Think of the money that can be saved by denying hungry children school lunch. The surplus wheat and soybeans of midwestern farmers will no longer be bought by the Government for foreign aid. I assume that this is what red-state farmers wanted. Then, there is the idea of taxing scholarship money. Making it harder for low-income students to attend college is a great idea since Trump said he loves the uneducated. Eliminating subsidies to pay for heating costs and rent during a brutal winter certainly makes sense. Then there is the idea being put forth to buy $400 million worth of Tesla trucks for the government. Does anyone see a problem here?

Mary Zimmerman

SaddleBrooke

More guns in the hands of the unstable

Front page of the Feb. 13 paper was a story that an 蜜柚直播 lawmaker wants to expand legal weapon choices to include rockets, Molotov cocktails, silencers and fully automatic weapons. The writer claims that those weapons of war are needed to keep the government in check and to protect him individually. Might I remind the reading public that some of those weapons were used in the Jan. 6 insurrection against the government. Isn鈥檛 it enough that we can barely regulate the AR-15s that are favored by mass shooters? Those weapons, he claims, are a way to keep our 鈥済overnment in check.鈥� Would he use them against president Musk and his work-wife, Trump? The mind boggles at the insanity of this.

Jean Getek

Foothills

What if the courts win?

Trump鈥檚 Muskovites are cutting government funding and dismantling agencies. Republican Congressmembers鈥� response? Zip. When taking the oath of office, they swore to uphold and defend our Constitution. Apparently, they鈥檝e forgotten that Article I, Section 8 grants spending/cutting authority to Congress, not to an unelected businessman.

Supposing the courts succeed in stopping Musk. Republicans who ran on a small government, waste-cutting platform will lose credibility and possibly also their seats.

Attention, Democratic Congressmembers: You should insist on putting the fate of each agency to a vote. Two things to impress upon Republicans:

(1) If Republicans gain the votes to dissolve an agency, Democrats may complain, but Republicans can rightfully point out that they abided by the Constitution.

(2) If Republicans lose their bid to dismantle an agency, they can truthfully tell their constituents they made a good-faith effort to pursue their fiscally conservative agenda. They have fulfilled their Constitutional duty and may even manage to keep their seats 鈥� a win-win for Republicans and the Constitution.

Cynthia Coan

East side

Inflation and eggs

Remember when the candidate stood in front of a few tables of food products and claimed the food and staples we live on were way overpriced and he鈥檇 bring the prices down? His quote, 鈥淲hen I win, I will immediately bring down prices, day one.鈥� He also stated he鈥檇 lower inflation. Has anyone found a dozen eggs on the shelf lately? Or have they decreased in price yet? Has inflation dropped since 47 took over? You鈥檒l have to answer those questions yourselves. Those who voted for reduced prices and reduced inflation aren鈥檛 getting what they voted for. Instead, we get mass deportations and DOGE. It鈥檚 easy to cut programs and funding that helps millions with the stroke of a pen. And 47 has done that. Why won鈥檛 he work on bringing down prices as he promised on day one? Four more years of lying to the public.

John Bingham

North side

Correction to a previous letter

Do Elon Musk and DJT really think that having a 4-year-old boy sitting atop Musk鈥檚 shoulders is going to distract listeners from his unconscionable speech regarding his DOGE 鈥渄uties鈥�? OK, the kid is cute. But he does not belong in that picture. He merely serves as a weak form of manipulation. Ahh ... manipulation. Just because it works so well on the MAGA crowd, doesn鈥檛 make it work for me. I鈥檓 assuming that the next press release will be showing both Elon and Donald holding kittens.

Sue Thompson

SaddleBrooke

Trump鈥檚 agenda

I took an oath to defend the U.S. Constitution when I joined the military. Elected members of Congress take an identical oath. Republicans continue to ignore their solemn oath and continue to blindly support Trump鈥檚 ludicrous policies. Republicans have been told to toe the line on the President鈥檚 agenda or face retribution, i.e., meaning an alternate candidate, funded by Elon Musk, running against them in the next election. For newly elected Senators, this shouldn鈥檛 be a concern. A third of the Senate is elected every two years. In Nov. 2024, Republicans won 15 of 34 seats. Fifteen senators are safe for another six years from veiled Musk threats. Imagine the congressional power they鈥檇 yield if they formed a unified coalition. Sadly, they have put politics over country.

Lastly, Fox 蜜柚直播 continues reporting Trump has a mandate from the people. A mandate equates to more than half of voters鈥� approval. Trump did not receive a majority of the vote. He has no electoral mandate from the people.

Gale Nelson

Southwest side

鈥楥hristians鈥� allowing the Chinese to win

The Herter Committee helped set up the initiation of the Marshall Plan in 1948 as a way to fight growing Communist influence in Europe and not abandon Europe to the USSR. Republican John Davis Lodge was quoted as saying the Marshall Plan supported America鈥檚 鈥�... democratic system and its moral and spiritual values.鈥�

USAID was set up in 1961 as a continuation of this emphasis on the building Democratic systems. In FY 2025, USAID was to spend $2.3 billion promoting 鈥渄emocracy, good governance and the rule of law,鈥� per its website. But China has taken note, and with its Belt and Road Initiative, is in competition with the USAID for the hearts and minds of people everywhere.

We now find the Destroy or Gut Everything (DOGE) initiative is headed by the richest man in the world, who鈥檚 taking food out of the mouths of the poorest children in the world. Yet 鈥淐hristians鈥� back Trump鈥檚 policies.

Matthew 7:16 鈥淏y their deeds you shall know them.鈥� The New Messianic Version Bible.

Matt Somers

Midtown

Illegal orders

Federal Statute 5U.S.C. section2302(b)(9)(D) provides that a Federal Employee may refuse to carry out an illegal order if that would cause the individual to violate a law.

If Trump makes an order and a federal court overturns it, and Trump insists on the order, does that make it an illegal order that federal employees may refuse to carry out?

Ken Newman

East side

Some non-political levity

While I support efforts to discontinue minting the penny for fiscal and practical reasons, as the last living member of my immediate family to carry the name, I do hope its elimination is not an omen of my demise.

Laura Penny

Foothills

Corruption? Fraud? Show us the proof

I am sick and tired of Trump justifying his dismantling and reducing valued agencies and consumer protections with justifications that he is rooting out corruption and fraud without any evidence. If anyone found corruption or fraud, Trump would announce in a press conference and make it front page news. All we get are his lies that only his true believers will swallow and not ask for proof.

It is time for judges and Congress to demand proof before allowing Trump to proceed with his sledgehammer tactics.

All Trump鈥檚 cost-cutting and staff reductions are making it so his cronies and big business can rip off the public with impunity, and so he can justify another tax cut for the wealthy and corporations. Wait and see.

Dave Abbott

Southeast side

Trimming government waste

Trimming waste in government is not necessarily a bad thing, if it is done with care and precision not with a meat axe, but that seems to be the instrument that Elon Musk is currently using. He can apparently get into a government bureau with his coterie of young computer geeks, and within a very short time determine who is corrupt and who is wasting government funds. He then removes these individuals en masse, problem solved. The fact that he can determine the transgressions of so many employees and remove them in such a short time is, frankly, amazing. Interestingly, many of the cuts, which will affect a large segment of the US population, appear to be made in order to fund tax cuts for billionaires that are unlikely to be renewed unless around three trillion dollars is 鈥榝ound鈥� somewhere in the federal budget. Hence, the basis of Musk鈥檚 cost-cutting efforts now appears to be quite clear.

Gerry Maggiora

Foothills

Gun show rules

I applaud Molly McKasson and Mike Humphrey for their perseverance in attempting to keep the citizens of Pima County safe by requiring background checks on all gun purchases. This is now the law of the land, and everyone should be required to abide by it. Even the majority of gun owners believe there should be universal background checks to make sure guns do not end up in the hands of those who would abuse their Second Amendment rights.

Kathleen Dubbs

West side

Childhood Cancer Day

I have attended the funerals of two local children in the last 10 days who passed away from cancer. This is devastating for their families and friends. Xavier 鈥淴avi鈥� Santiago Goodman age 13 and Alaina 鈥淟ainy鈥� Sharpe age 14 were both precious to their families and change-makers in their communities. Saturday, Feb. 15 is International Childhood Cancer Day, a global collaborative campaign that takes place every year on February 15 to raise awareness about childhood cancer and to express support for children and adolescents with cancer, the survivors and their families. Please consider how you might help local children and their families as they navigate the long-term treatments and the devastating financial impact it has on them. Approximately 70 children are diagnosed and treated for cancer in Southern 蜜柚直播 each year and it is the number 1 cause of death by disease of children in 蜜柚直播.

Beverley Tidwell

Midtown

No surprise

So, no commitment from Trump about including President Zelensky as an equal member of the peace process.

Threw Ukraine under the bus in record time while quickly resuming his role as Putin鈥檚 lap dog.

Margie McDonnell

East side

Rebate for shortened newspaper

I think all 蜜柚直播 subscribers should get a rebate for the shortened newspapers we have been getting. You will probably very soon start getting cancellations for the paper.

What do the rest of you subscribers think?

Herman Lucero

Southeast side

What goes around comes around

After spending millions of his supporters鈥� money on criminal defense attorneys over the last four years, Trump was able to avoid accountability for multiple federal felony indictments. Attorney General Garland and a glacial federal judiciary share blame for this perversion of the judicial process. Now, however, the 鈥渟hoe is on the other foot.鈥� After issuing a raft of arguably illegal executive orders, Trump and Musk have been subjected to dozens of lawsuits challenging these orders. These lawsuits have been met with administration attacks not only on the plaintiffs, but also on the judiciary itself. But much more concerning has been the administration鈥檚 decision to ignore court orders issued by several of the judges. If this practice continues, it sets up a constitutional crisis much more serious than that which occurred during the Watergate scandal. It makes a mockery of the oath of office which Trump took less than a month ago where he swore to uphold and defend the Constitution. Just another lie!

James Dolian

SaddleBrooke

Reminiscence

Nice country we had here. Too bad we elected to put an end to it.

D. R. Lee

Midtown

Tulsi Gabbard

The Feb. 12 蜜柚直播 printed an article that stated that both Senators Kelly and Gallegos voted against confirming Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence. It seems strange to me that both members, former military members, apparently believe that a lieutenant Colonel, as well as as former fellow Democrat, cannot keep secrets? Was the vote strictly Democrats trying to sabotage President Trump鈥檚 agenda?

Thomas Wenzel

East side