Since the beginning of the Project Blue debate, the late Charles Bowden’s “Killing the Hidden Waters” has been on my desk. His foresight from 1977 is profound:

“It is not a revelation to learn that cheap energy makes societies boom, that groundwater in arid regions has negligible recharge, that humans tend to use as much of anything as they can lay hands on. We can ignore these facts and pump, mine, and combust with abandon, or we can recognize these facts and attempt to construct a sustainable society.”

A kindred spirit of Bowden’s, Joseph Wood Krutch, author of “Voice of the Desert,” wrote in 1954:

“If people destroy something replaceable made by mankind, they are called vandals; if they destroy something irreplaceable made by God, they are called developers.”

The Project Blue team has the hubris to state that they understand “Tucson values.” Tucsonans value a sustainable economy and wise stewardship of our natural heritage. We will respect the wisdom of the past as we shape a livable future.

Trump’s reasoning that bureaucrats were scheming to undermine falls apart upon closer inspection of the 73,000 new jobs added, but a downward revision of previous job numbers by 258,000. The worst period of job growth since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Trump also lacks an understanding of how the BLS routinely adjusts data; he also fails to grasp why interest rates are lowered in the first place. The Fed typically lowers interest rates when the economy is struggling to stimulate more economic activity. When the economy is strong, the Fed keeps interest rates higher as a means of preventing the economy from overheating and causing inflation to spike. Investors have long believed economic reports to help determine prices for stocks and bonds. But after weak jobs data, the importance of U.S. government data to investors suddenly comes into doubt. More importantly, who will believe the next jobs report?

Imagine you need a widget, which each year you buy from your local widget store. This year it costs $13.50, although last year it was just $10. So what’s the deal?

Canada now has a 35% tariff, and the widgets are made in Canada.

The widget maker HAS to increase his sales price to $13.50 to stay in business: to cover the 35% tariff and still pay for supplies, labor, and maintain his profit margin. Meanwhile, the extra $3.50 that you had to pay goes to our government as a tax payment. Thus, Americans are the ones who ultimately pay the price for Trump’s tariffs.

Presidential palaver assumes the U.S. will start manufacturing its own widgets, but that takes lots of time and money. Meanwhile, Americans cut down on (or do without) many purchases just to get by.

As a final insult, tariffs do not offset the enormous loss of tax revenue in Trump’s “Big Bullpucky Bill.”

Last week was the 80th anniversary of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. I was a 10-year-old boy living in Tucson at the time. My father was still in Europe, having fought in the European theatre from Normandy to the collapse of Germany on VE Day in May of 1945. When Truman announced the use of the bomb at Hiroshima, I asked everyone what an atomic bomb was, but of course, they were as clueless as I was. When Dad got home in October of 1945, he told us that he and all the officers of his unit, the 101st Airborne Division, had already been briefed after VE Day on their role in the invasion of Japan, in which they would have participated. It was estimated that there would have been over a million casualties if that had happened. I have always been grateful that things turned out the way they did, but I pray to God that nuclear weapons will never have to be used again.

In March, KGUN 9 did a report on failure to answer the phone promptly in the 9-1-1 system, causing delays in dispatching help. Why has the Star not followed up with its own investigation? Why is the problem still the same? Why is this so hard? It only takes a little money, not very much. We already know how to do it, because we did it before. Why delay help to people who may die? What is your No. 1 priority?

It’s election time. Maybe, we should discuss important stuff.

Former Emergency 9-1-1 operator for the City of Tucson

What are elected Democrats doing for all of us who are absolutely and sadly shocked at what is happening to our country under Trump and his administration? I receive text after text on how the Democrats need funds to help fight the administration, but I see no action. Where is the defiance that is needed from those we have elected to represent us? I don’t see or hear what action is being taken. Never did I think I would support all that Bernie Sanders stands for, but at this time, he and a few others are the only ones that are openly fighting for us. I pray that my children and especially my grandchildren will live in a respectful, affordable, supportive country that respects diversity, immigration, gender rights, science, arts and humanities, global warming, world human aid and more. I feel helpless, but most of all sick and frightened of today and the future. Please, elected Democrats, make your voices heard and take the necessary action.

She should immediately be replaced. I would bet an insane amount of money that she would criticize President Trump if he posted something similar in regard to Muslims? This behavior is unacceptable for an elected official.

Re: Ruffled Feathers. We have more guns than we have people. Guns, therefore, are readily accessible to any moron who feels they have an issue to solve. The U.S. has by far the highest death rate of any nation from gun violence, including children and adults. It seems the author can’t connect the dots between our high gun ownership and our high death rate. We allow civilian ownership of semi-automatic military weapons designed to maximize killing. As a Vietnam veteran, I strongly feel no civilian should have them. With regard to gun statistics, how many of those “justified” killings were the result of “Stand Your Ground” laws which promote violence and how many of our gun laws were written by the NRA who put in so many loopholes that they make it improbable to enforce. I have no problem with the 2nd Amendment, but only if common sense were to prevail to reduce the number of guns and allow effective laws to be written and enforced.

Theodora ‘Teddi’ Voss, who is Greek/American, has been a Tucson resident of Villa Hermosa Senior Living since May 2012, when she moved in with her husband, John, now deceased. She continues to be the first one in the dining room each morning.

She was a legal secretary for 40 years and still comes to the desk every morning to ask if she has any messages. Our reception team has created a box of personal messages for her to receive each morning, to her delight.

She is fluent in Greek and is currently teaching her daughter the language, with phone calls every night.

The Villa Hermosa team is thrilled to be part of her 100th Birthday celebration on Aug. 11 at 1 p.m.

Instead of a thumbs up/thumbs down attitude at the City Council, how about a little outside thinking …

What if some of the dormant land (Like Greyhound Park or old schools/shopping centers) in the PFAS contaminated aquifer areas could solve the concerns about water usage, be filtered and used for data center cooling and returned to the aquifer, actually reducing the chance of the contamination spreading. Those data centers would need power in the short term and be required to provide a plan to phase out of TEP power. This would also turn blighted land into a jobs hub, and the city/county should work to provide incentives to do so.

“Come on People, let’s get together, try to love one another right now”.

If the Democrats had not lost power in 2024, they were prepared to pack the Supreme Court, end the filibuster and end the Electoral College. This is about as radical anti-democratic as it gets. This is from the party that wants to “Protect “ our democracy.

Protecting our democracy by impeaching a president twice, raiding his private home while ignoring their bosses’ transgressions and trying to remove him from the ballot in 25 states.

Is this not the dictatorial, authoritarian government that you wish to protect our democracy from? This is on the Democratic Party. This happened on your watch of our democracy. Live with this reality.

Are we finally able to move beyond the false notion that Republicans are against excessive federal spending? It’s not true now, and it hasn’t been true for a long, long time. Case in point, the new spending law allocated nearly $200 billion to immigration enforcement. One component of that is paying new ICE recruits signing bonuses of $50,000. This is in addition to student loan forgiveness, and generous salaries. Just imagine the impact on the quality of education for American children if a similar signing and salary package was available to teachers. Now, try to imagine any MAGA politician supporting that level of spending for something so “woke” as educating kids. Ain’t gonna happen. It’s not the spending that MAGA Republicans oppose. If they can demonstrate how tough and mean they are, they’ll cheerfully spend away their grandchildren’s future.