Tucson Speaks Out: May 8

I was very interested in reading the two different takes on Rio Nuevo providing $2 million to Live Nation, part of the Ticketmaster entertainment monopoly, to bring a comedy club to downtown Tucson. Because of this handout, Live Nation’s Punchline Comedy Club will replace space now occupied by two local businesses, Borderlands Brewing and Playformance. Fletcher McCusker’s view is that Rio Nuevo is doing what is best for the city financially. Maybe so. But many people, like myself, just see it as another handout of public money to a giant corporation run by billionaires for whom $2 million is lunch. The fact that this money is going to Live Nation/Ticketmaster, best known for junk fees and ticket bots making popular events beyond the reach of ordinary people, and who by some coincidence also controls tickets to all events at the Convention Center and the University, just adds to the anger and suspicion about this transaction.

I have been confused as to why half of America despises Trump and the other half follows him. I occurred to me that the issue is morality. Morality is defined as understanding the principles concerning right and wrong and good and evil behavior. A moral person knows right from wrong and good from evil. Here is the Oxford Languages definition of an immoral person: An immoral person promotes violence and harm, stealing and theft, lying and deception, dishonesty, breaking promises, discrimination, harassment, sexual misconduct, exploitation, and bullying, to name a few. Trump manifests every one of these immoral behaviors. Trump’s narcissism allows him to get attention by being an immoral “tough guy.” His immoral behavior gets attention and misleads people. If you follow and approve of Trump, then you are promoting immoral behavior. Our society has done good and bad things, but the compass has always been based on morality.

I was in the room when it happened. A week ago, last Monday, I took a pratfall and ended up at St Joseph’s. While waiting in ER for treatment, a man was wheeled up right in front of me. He was as brown and stoic as any ironwood sculpture. The nurse said he was taking him to surgery and that the man had a shard of his sunglasses embedded in his eye. He knelt beside him and pleaded for a Spanish speaker and meds for the patient’s anxiety. It was then I realized that my fellow traveler was probably scared stiff. Alas, it is abundantly clear it was for good reason. The Sisters of Carondelet did not protect him and neither did I. Now truth be told, I left the church, but it never left me. So, I ask “where were you when they crucified our Lord?”

When he was asked if the United States should have a military parade to “show off its might,” President Eisenhower said, “Absolutely not. We are the pre-eminent power on earth. For us to try and imitate what the Soviets are doing in Red Square would make us look weak.”

Interesting comparison displayed between strength and weakness of character.

Elon Musk said that people would have to “tighten their belts” in a town hall with America PAC. This resembles Leona Helmsley’s “Only the little people pay taxes,” said in 1989. Both of these cases are instances of the very wealthy demanding a free ride while others with less income pay for the maintenance of the society that made them rich. I will never make any transaction that contributes to the wealth of a man who wants to seal my Social Security and tax information to feed into his servers at xAI, the artificial intelligence company which he founded in 2023. Imagine what it would be like to have this arrogant man in possession of the personal financial information of every man and woman in the United States. This is not a good prospect.

An anti-Trump “journalist” asks him about due process for illegals, and upholding the constitution — implying that the constitution requires it. Definitely a legal question. All anti-Trump networks jump on his answer of “I don’t know”. One LTE even claimed Fox viewers were in the dark and uninformed. Fake news again. I watched it on Fox, and as they predicted, all the Trump hating outlets ran it, sensationalizing it. As any president, Trump has teams of lawyers and he did say he would defer to them, being as he is not a lawyer. Compare this with the last Supreme Court nominee — who was a lawyer, and a female, but could not define what a woman was. Trump is expected to know everything about constitutional law, but a female Supreme court justice who casts votes on legal battles, can’t explain what a woman is, and that’s ok. Bias anyone?

Dan Rusciolelli East side

During last night’s lack of sleep I mused:

I so wanted to buy 30 dolls for Christmas this year. Doesn’t everybody? Sad to be limited to two or three from Trump’s tariff policy. Perhaps sometime this decade a tariff deal will be announced to resolve this calamity.

I missed my chance for Trump’s $1.5M-a-plate fundraiser dinner. I couldn’t quite scrape it together during my eight decades on earth. Maybe I can make a future event in doggie years, but the main course had better be worth it.

Trump wants a bigly military parade on his birthday to satisfy his insatiable ego. Talk about government’s wasteful spending, where is DOGE when you really need them?

The GOP was looking for an impeachable business connection between Joe and Hunter Biden that fell short. However, the Trump family’s cryptocurrency business, and associated deregulation policy, are flaunted openly. Potential conflict of interest? Where’s the DOJ when you really need them?

I believe that Elon Musk is an American hero. The people we identify as heroes are those who embody characteristics that we admire and aspire to — the best versions of ourselves.

Musk has spearheaded companies like Tesla and SpaceX, which have significantly impacted the electric vehicle and space exploration industries. Tesla is considered one of the best and efficient EV’s. He used SpaceX to bring back two American astronauts. Musk is an immigrant who achieved remarkable success embodying the “American dream.” His business success is a testament to the opportunities available in the U.S. He is the king of American job creation. Elon Musk co-founded Neuralink in 2016 and provided substantial financial backing. Neuralink has made notable progress in its development of brain-computer interface (BCI) technology. They have made some progress on solving blindness and spinal injuries. Through his social media presence, particularly on X (formerly Twitter), Musk has significantly influenced public discourse on various topics, including free speech.

He is truly an American hero.

Tom McGorray Northwest side

This morning’s front-page article claims that a “Landslide UA faculty vote urges Trump fight.” The claim is based on 926 votes out of a total of 977 (myself included) who voted in response to a Faculty Senate referendum on the matter.

Unfortunately, the article fails to mention that the University of Arizona has over 5,000 faculty members, including over 4,000 active (part and full time) members and over 1,000 emeriti. It follows that fewer than 20% of voting eligible faculty have responded positively to the Senate referendum. There was no landslide vote.

To inform the public fully and honestly about events of significance, the media and its sources must not mislead by failing to provide a complete, unbiased picture of an event. Doing so may lead to misinformation and loss of public confidence in the media,

The Supreme Court in its infinite wisdom has ruled that the Trump administration can now summarily discharge trans service members even if they are serving honorably. Let’s be clear: Trans service members served with no systemic performance issues during the four years of the previous administration. This has nothing to do with their performance or their suitability for continued service. It is simply another example of the president pandering to his MAGA base and, in particular, to Christian nationalists. There are established procedures in all of the armed forces for dealing with performance issues on an individual level. The current administration’s decision to discharge these individuals en masse is simply another step in condoning and institutionalizing bigotry in our armed forces. As such it will impair, not promote, operational readiness. As a retired senior Navy officer, I am watching with trepidation the ongoing, accelerating deterioration of our military capabilities.

A recent article titled “Landslide UA Faculty vote urges Trump fight” does not present an honest reporting of what took place. The article leaves out context when it says that “of 977 votes cast … 926 votes, or 91%, were in favor … ” A quick check with Google reveals that there are 5,212 faculty members at UA, with 4,083 active and 1,129 emeritus. The 926 votes in favor ignore the far more numerous faculty who chose not to vote in favor. A deliberate misrepresentation?

I read a letter under ”Tucson Speaks Out” by Roger Shanley on April 27th, titled “Hopeful developments.” It was about Trump’s efforts to restrict voting rights by requiring proof of citizenship. Most of us have heard the saying: First they came for the Gypsies, then they came for the gays, then they came for the Jews, then they came for me!

Let me add a few more suggestions about who they might come for: First, they came for the brown-skinned people, then they came for their country of origin, then they came for their religion, then their politics, then the language they speak, then they came for the poor, and then they came for the uneducated.