蜜柚直播

Thank you, Juan (seriously!)

As a recently relocated resident to CD6, I want to thank Rep. Ciscomani for voting for the recent spending and tax reform plan. Though there are flaws in the legislation (as there are in any congressional spending package, even if the press rarely covers the weaknesses of Democratic bills), the fact that 2017 tax breaks for the middle class were permanently instituted while tax breaks to blue-state billionaires via the pre-2017 SALT provisions were prevented was enough for me to support this bill. I also support a work requirement for able-bodied non-caregiver persons to continue to receive Medicaid benefits.

Much ink has been used by this paper the past few days on the potential backlash for swing district members of Congress who supported this bill. I wonder, should this bill bring about a continued economic revival, will the same space and conjecture be placed on swing-district legislators who voted against this act?

Tom Furlong

East side

Not everyone

I am also represented by Juan Ciscomani and am pleased with his actions in Washington, D.C. I am also sure that I am in the majority that voted for him. You may not see this type of response in the LTEs, probably because the Star will not print those types of opinions. Another of your readers made this comment: 鈥淚 cannot understand such hatred and vitriol simply because folks have a different world view or set of values.鈥� Honestly, have you read the 90% plus LTEs published by the Star that demean, eviscerate, chastise, ridicule, bully, degrade, humiliate and shame anyone who dares question Democratic policies and supports the current Administration? Shame for 鈥渢he pot calling the kettle black鈥�.

Loyal M. Johnson Jr.

Oro Valley

Project Blue or Project Voodoo?

Project Blue says it will 鈥渞eplenish 100% of consumptive water losses in partnership with 蜜柚直播 Water,鈥� which defies the laws of physics.

There are only two water sources for 蜜柚直播: local rain and CAP. Our aquifer is not a third source, just a natural underground storage.

We call CAP and rainwater that we鈥檝e used and flushed down the drain 鈥渞eclaimed water.鈥� It鈥檚 not a new source of water.

PB鈥檚 鈥渞ecreational鈥� catchment basins will not bring in new water. The reclaimed and/or rainwater they will hold will mostly evaporate due to our extreme heat and low humidity, so little (if any) will reach our aquifer.

This project is a disaster. And when our water鈥檚 gone, out-of-state investor/owners will have to declare bankruptcy, leaving us with an empty aquifer and unemployed workers.

Plus, TEP must build infrastructure to accommodate the center. That cost will increase all our electric bills.

Lee Stanfield

East side

Project Blue and water

Thanks to Tony Davis for the July 2 article 鈥淧roject Blue might get much bigger.鈥� 蜜柚直播 is in a drought and desperate for water. Desert plants and animals are dying. As usual at this time of year, we are anxiously waiting to see if the monsoon will provide our much-needed water. It seems a peculiar time for the 蜜柚直播 City Council to approve the Project Blue Plan, which is projected to use enormous amounts of water and electricity. I consider this to be an abuse of our public trust and certainly will not support a politician who votes for it.

Anne Gooden

Midtown

Adelita Grijalva

Adelita Grijalva鈥檚 guest opinion, published in the Star on July 7, mentioned the historic role that Mexican women played as warriors 鈥� soldaderas 鈥� during the Mexican Revolution. While the details are debated, the term 鈥淎delita鈥� may have referred to Adela Velarde P茅rez, a young woman from Ciudad Ju谩rez who joined the revolutionary forces as a nurse and who became the subject of a popular song, 鈥淟a Adelita,鈥� during that era.

Grijalva did not mention that her given name is particularly fitting in more ways than one. It has a Germanic root, meaning 鈥渘oble.鈥� Yet, the surname Grijalva is even more fitting: it means 鈥渨hite church.鈥� In the 7th Congressional District race, the people of 蜜柚直播 will determine if the apparent allusion to our beloved San Xavier Mission is merely a coincidence, but I hope it is more like a prophecy.

Salvador Gabald贸n

Oro Valley

Climate change gaslighting

On July 6, the Star published D. Wolfe鈥檚 LTR stating, 鈥渢here is zero proof human carbon emissions are the cause (of climate change)鈥�. He cites a chart presented by Joe Rogan. What he failed to disclose is the chart was produced by The Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT). Media Bias/Fact Check described the group as 鈥淎 quackery-level pseudoscience source based on the complete rejection of the scientific consensus on climate change and the promotion of anti-climate propaganda that is either false or misleading. This is not a credible source of scientific information.鈥�

The latest issue of The Union of Concerned Scientists, Spring 2025, details how the petroleum industry engaged in a 鈥渃ollusive deception campaign known as the Roadmap Memo.鈥� The plan was to increase uncertainty among the public. Tactics included paying 鈥渋ndependent scientists鈥� to confuse the public by accentuating climate uncertainties.

Mr. Wolfe, we also can鈥檛 conclusively 鈥減rove鈥� gravity 鈥� yet we trust its effects daily. Scientific consensus is the best tool we have for navigating reality.

Edward Espinoza

Southwest side

Biden and immigration

Blaming the Biden administration is a feeble argument. The Biden administration in 2021 created the 鈥淚nfrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. The best infrastructure legislation in recent history had huge support from Republicans and Democrats. The Legislation helped more red states than blue due to the poverty and neglect in so many red states.

In early 2024, they created a 鈥渂ipartisan immigration bill鈥� that was cheered by most high-profile Republicans. A bipartisan law was ready to be signed, and it favored conservatives. Trump threatened the Republicans and sabotaged the legislation in May 2024. Trump even said he needed immigration to run on. Trump was right, he had nothing else to offer American Voters. He continues to milk immigration with no clue of the economics, damaging many industries and already hurting consumers. Tariffs are a sales tax and it is failing and will hurt business and consumers. Now, just wait until the big ugly bill hurts the majority of Americans.

Dan Bannon

Midtown

Masked ICE is new Ku Klux Klan

ICE agents wearing masks while carrying out their activities tells you everything you need to know about Trump鈥檚 America. Not even Hitler鈥檚 henchmen wore masks, and yet here we are seeing them used by law enforcement in America.

The Ku Klux Klan wore masks to carry out their extra-legal terrorist activities against African Americans. Wearing a mask hides one鈥檚 real identity and psychologically allows the wearer to assume a much more malevolent personality.

In a democracy, masks are to be used to protect other individuals, not to intimidate them.

Masks promote a lack of transparency, a diminished ability to inform authorities about misbehavior, and a lack of accountability.

That is why Ku Klux Klan members wore them. And that is why ICE agents wear them today. It covers up their increasingly brutal assaults against would-be immigrants entitled to a presumption of innocence.

Kimball Shinkoskey

Woods Cross, Utah

Energy independence

The July 6 Douglas Wolf LTE incorrectly states America emits 4% of emissions heating the planet, and that there is no proof that climate change is related to fossil fuel burning. Both statements are wrong. The American emission number is 11% with 4.2% of the Earth鈥檚 population. With 4.13 times the population, China emits 30% of the pollution. China is very concerned and has increased solar and wind by 21% and 18% between 2023 and 2024. Heat trapping by CO2 has been known since 1856. This is not just 鈥渇eel-good.鈥� Climate change is economics: the cost to 鈥渃lean up鈥� after hurricanes, tornadoes, and wildfires due to drought was around $500 billion in 2024. Climate change is certainly related to CO2 emissions and America should lead the way to a cleaner atmosphere and cooler Earth. Tax incentives cut from funding need to be restored to grow the economy and lower emissions.

Bill Jones

East side

Flash flood science lab axed

Don鈥檛 worry, I鈥檓 not going there, connecting Trump鈥檚 budget cuts to the tragedy in Texas. Let others spin that however they can. Nope, where I鈥檓 going is a lot less like connect the dots and more like connect no dots. In that bastion of liberal politics, Norman, Oklahoma, the budget guillotined the National Severe Storms Lab, a cooperative organization dedicated to understanding storms and protecting lives and property. Been there in Norman for 60-plus years, employing over 220 people.

Their pedigree? Shiftless con artists sucking from the public trough? Nope. More like some of the most sophisticated weather warning systems ever created. Ongoing research projects now in absolute jeopardy have long names that take up too much space in a letter, but they are the backbone of severe storm warning and flash flood research with 3D hourly analyses of their weather environments.

Oklahoma? Tornado Alley? If Trump hates the Democrats so much, he can鈥檛 be their president; how about those who would die for him?

Rick Rappaport

Oro Valley

Thanks to Hobbs, Mayes

Thanks to Governor Katie Hobbs for her vetoes of the many bills passed by the 蜜柚直播 Legislature that were unconstitutional, dangerous, and/or unnecessary. Also, thanks to Attorney General Kris Mayes for joining with attorneys general from other states to legally challenge many of the terrible executive orders and proposed policies of the Trump administration.

Paul Marion

Oro Valley

Re: 鈥楥onstitution: Words matter鈥�

Mr. McConnell has challenged us to consider whether 1st Amendment rights to free speech and peaceable assembly pertain exclusively to American citizens. Let鈥檚 end the suspense. The answer is no. The 14th Amendment assures that 鈥淣o state shall...deny any person within its jurisdiction the right to equal protection of the law鈥�. Despite heated controversy over whether 鈥減erson鈥� and 鈥渏urisdiction鈥� pertain to non-citizens, the Supreme Court historically has ruled that they do. Therefore, regardless of citizenship equal protection applies, as do all rights under the law. Q.E.D.

Regarding his rhetorical challenge to whether 鈥減eaceably鈥� includes criminal acts, no doubt alluding to the recent LA riots and intimating that non-citizens were to blame, I would simply direct his attention to January 6th where the perpetrators 鈥� primarily American citizens 鈥� committed acts orders of magnitude more egregious than the comparatively trivial events in LA, and remind him that while crime is an individual act, it is occasionally committed collectively, and remains a crime regardless of who commits it.

Robert Gavlak

Midtown

The Petty Prez

The President sends warm condolences to the Governor of Texas, a MAGA sycophant, after the horrific flooding. But after the assassination and attempted assassination that left two dead and two seriously wounded in Minnesota, he said it would be a waste of time. As we know, Minnesota voted against the Prez, the victims were Democrats, and Gov Walz had the temerity to run on the ticket against the Prez last year. Such a very small, petty, vindictive person we have in the White House. There was a time (just last year as one example) when we had Presidents that cared for all Americans.

Vance Holliday

Foothills

Trump is no FDR

Mr. Jack Walters recently wrote that Trump is a 鈥渕odern FDR鈥� and, that realization might make, even those who hate, him, support him. Trump is no FDR. FDR brought this country out of a great depression by instituting programs that lifted people up. Trump鈥檚 actions are focused on benefiting the rich our expense. He made the Republican Congress cede its role and power to him through bullying and threats. This allows him to issue a slew of Executive Orders that hurt and punish people with few checks and balances. Luckily, the courts found many of these orders unconstitutional. FDR won three terms, not by lying to the American people, as Trump has over and over again, but by making it possible for 鈥渁ll鈥� Americans to get ahead. FDR never said he hated half of Americans. Trump says he hates Democrats. FDR didn鈥檛 use crude and vulgar language as Trump does. FDR was presidential. Trump is not. So, no, Mr. Walters, we won鈥檛 support Trump. The midterms will prove it.

Rosalinda Barrios

Southeast side

Alligator Alcatraz

Alligator Alcatraz is a concentration camp. How does that reflect American values?

Patricia Desai

Foothills