Host: Dave Smith, Surprise Guest: Bill Buckmaster
A Wake-Up Call for Tucson: Crime, Media, and Civic Responsibility
Tucson, Arizona, a city with a small-town heart despite its million-strong metro population, is grappling with a harsh reality. A recent tragedy—a man from Alabama brutally killed with a machete while waiting at a downtown bus stop—has sparked outrage and exposed deeper issues plaguing the city. This incident, coupled with a growing sense of lawlessness, demands a reckoning. As a former police officer who patrolled Tucson’s streets in the 1970s, I’ve seen this city’s rough edges. But what’s happening now feels different—a slide toward chaos fueled by apathy, propaganda, and a failure to hold the line against crime.
This isn’t just about one horrific act. It’s about a broader erosion of public safety and civic pride. Tucson’s buses, once a shared resource, have become a “tragedy of the commons,” riddled with crime and neglect. Homelessness is spiking, fear is creeping in, and the political class seems either oblivious or complicit. Worse, the local media—supposed to be the watchdog—often acts as a mouthpiece for the left, ignoring inconvenient truths and amplifying narratives that obscure reality. This article dives into the interconnected crises facing Tucson, from unchecked crime to media bias, and calls for a return to common-sense governance rooted in accountability and truth.
The Machete Attack: A Symptom of a Deeper Malaise
The killing of Mr. Couch, a visitor from Alabama, at a Tucson bus stop is a gut punch. He was sitting with his wife, minding his own business, when a young man approached, exchanged words, and struck him in the neck with a machete or hatchet. The suspect, now in custody, initially denied the act but confessed when confronted with video evidence, claiming he was drunk and didn’t remember. This isn’t an excuse—it’s a wake-up call. A man is dead, his family shattered, and Tucson’s reputation as a safe city takes another hit.
This isn’t an isolated incident. Tucson has always been a rough-and-tumble town, a mining and tourist hub with a gritty streak. But the current state feels like a descent into Third World conditions. Pedestrians and cyclists are killed at alarming rates—often leading the nation in such tragedies. Red lights are treated as suggestions, yellow lights as invitations to speed. The city’s expectations for civility have plummeted, and we’re reaping the consequences. Where’s the outrage? At a recent Pima County Board of Supervisors meeting, this killing didn’t even warrant a mention. Instead, they were busy appointing a new supervisor, business as usual.
The bus system, meant to serve the public, has become a microcosm of this decline. Empty buses roll through town, carrying a handful of passengers, some of whom are using them as mobile hubs for crime—burglaries, drug deals, you name it. Free rides, debated endlessly by the city council, only exacerbate the problem, turning buses into magnets for trouble. We’re tolerating a level of “civilizational decay” that would’ve been unthinkable decades ago. As a community, we must demand better—more police presence, stricter enforcement, and a bus system that serves the law-abiding, not the lawless.
Crime and Punishment: A System Adrift
Tucson’s crime problem isn’t new, but its persistence is maddening. The city’s police department, roughly the same size as it was 50 years ago despite a 25% population increase, is stretched thin. Budget neglect and misplaced priorities have muted law enforcement’s ability to respond effectively. Meanwhile, the justice system seems to scoff at the law itself. Social conflict theory—a Marxist-inspired idea that casts criminals as victims rebelling against capitalist oppression—has taken root in universities, courtrooms, and even some judges’ minds. This theory, popularized by criminologists like Cressey and Sutherland, excuses crime as a response to systemic injustice, undermining accountability.
The result? A justice system that often prioritizes “fairness” over moral clarity. Criminals are recast as victims, their actions rationalized as resistance to an unfair society. This mindset, pervasive in Tucson’s progressive circles, leads to leniency that emboldens lawbreakers. The machete attacker’s claim of drunkenness is a case in point—accepted as a mitigator rather than dismissed as irrelevant. Contrast this with James Wilson’s “broken windows” theory, which proved in the 1990s that punishing small crimes deters larger ones. The 1994 Crime Bill, championed by then-Senator Joe Biden, slashed crime rates by 2009 through tough enforcement. Yet today, that approach is vilified, replaced by de-policing and decarceration that let streets fill with chaos.
Tucson’s leadership must reject these failed theories. Sheriff Nanos, a holdover from an older era, needs to step up and serve the community, not just coast on the institution’s legacy. The sheriff’s role, dating back to King Alfred’s England, is to be the people’s protector—answerable directly to them, not the Board of Supervisors. We need a champion for public safety, someone who’ll push for more cops, better training, and a justice system that punishes crime, not excuses it. Until then, Tucson risks becoming a place where concealed carry—legal in this constitutional carry state—is less a right and more a necessity.
Media as Propaganda: Ignoring the Truth
The local media’s role in Tucson’s decline can’t be overstated. Far from holding power to account, outlets like the Tucson daily paper and TV stations often act as an “in-kind contribution” to the left. Stories that don’t fit the progressive narrative—like the machete killing—are downplayed or ignored. Meanwhile, figures like a Maryland gangster, deported after judges ruled him a criminal, are lionized as victims of injustice. MSNBC fawns over Senator Van Hollen for meeting this “father of the year,” glossing over his domestic violence charges and possible human trafficking ties. The contradiction is glaring: a man dies in Tucson, and crickets; a criminal faces consequences, and it’s a national tragedy.
This selective storytelling isn’t journalism—it’s propaganda. The media pushes talking points—calling critics “oligarchs,” “fascists,” or “Nazis”—while ignoring inconvenient facts. Take the Florida State University shooting, where a 20-year-old used his mother’s gun to kill. Because he leaned left, the story vanished. Compare that to the endless coverage of AOC, Bernie Sanders, or James Carville, whose bombast gets a pass while their ideas go unchallenged. The media’s trick is simple: highlight what fits the narrative, ignore what doesn’t, and fabricate when necessary. This erodes trust and leaves Tucsonans disconnected from reality.
Rush Limbaugh once said the left sends out a daily “memo” to coordinate talking points. Whether literal or not, the effect is real. Tucson’s media rarely critiques the political class, letting figures like the Grijalva family—entrenched in local politics—operate without scrutiny. Regina Romero, Adelita Grijalva, and now Andres Cano, an activist appointed supervisor, thrive in this environment. The media’s silence on their nepotism and focus on narrow constituencies—like Cano’s LGBTQ+ activism—lets them dodge accountability. Tucson deserves a press that digs for truth, not one that buries it.
Faith Under Fire: A War on Values
Tucson’s struggles aren’t just material—they’re spiritual. A war on faith, particularly Christianity and Judaism, is eroding the moral foundation that once held this city together. Communist regimes like Venezuela’s have tried to crush religion, yet 97% of Venezuelans still believe in God. The Soviet Union failed to kill Russian Orthodoxy; Stalin’s purges only drove it underground. Here in Tucson, the attack is subtler but no less real. Mocking religion, questioning its relevance, and sidelining faith-based solutions are now vogue. The left’s disdain for Western civilization’s values—freedom, individual responsibility, and moral clarity—fuels this assault.
Faith isn’t just personal; it’s practical. Christian remedies, like faith-based addiction programs, often outperform government handouts in tackling homelessness and drug dependency. Yet Tucson’s leaders lean on NGOs—non-governmental organizations that are anything but independent, feeding off taxpayer dollars without delivering results. Poverty grows, mental illness festers, and homelessness spikes, yet the metric for success remains elusive. The government’s answer—more taxes, more programs—fails because it lacks the moral core that faith provides. People are hardwired for belief, and without it, they drift toward despair or chaos.
This Easter, Tucsonans should reaffirm their faith, whether in God or the principles of liberty that built this nation. The Constitution, inspired by thinkers like Hume and rooted in the Magna Carta, protects our right to believe and live freely. But freedom requires vigilance. The left’s envy-driven policies—taxing wealth out of spite, not need—threaten property rights, the cornerstone of happiness as Jefferson originally wrote. We must stand for truth, reject propaganda, and demand leaders who honor the values that made America exceptional.
Bill Buckmaster: A Voice for Common Sense
Bill Buckmaster, a media veteran who’s covered Tucson for decades, joined me to reflect on the city’s challenges. A Chicago native who came to the University of Arizona in 1965 for its affordability (and party-school reputation), Bill has seen Tucson evolve—and not always for the better. He shares my frustration over the machete killing and the broader decline in public safety. “We really have to beef up law enforcement,” he said, noting the stagnation in police numbers despite population growth. Tucson’s budget priorities—favoring pet projects over cops and fire—baffle him.
Bill’s experience in law enforcement’s orbit runs deep. His uncle, Captain Arthur Hawkinson, served as a police chief in Wilmette, Illinois, a wealthy North Shore suburb. Riding along in his uncle’s patrol car as a kid, Bill saw firsthand the calm that strong policing brings. Wilmette’s low crime stood in stark contrast to Chicago’s chaos, a lesson Tucson could learn. He’s equally puzzled by Sheriff Nanos’ lack of urgency and the Board of Supervisors’ dismissal of common-sense voices like Steve Christy, who fights for fiscal restraint and public safety against a left-leaning majority.
On governance, Bill floated a bold idea: metropolitan government. Cities like Las Vegas and Jacksonville have thrived by consolidating city and county functions, eliminating turf battles and boosting efficiency. Tucson’s fragmented system—where the Grijalva machine controls both city and county yet resists unification—wastes resources. “It would improve efficiency so much,” Bill said, lamenting the “two pots of money” that fuel political fiefdoms. While the idea’s been discussed since the 1970s, entrenched interests make it a long shot. Still, it’s a reminder that common-sense solutions exist if Tucsonans demand them.
Bill also touched on Tucson’s water woes, a critical issue he’s covering with Tucson Water’s John Kmiec on his show. The city’s wells, once the largest well-fed system globally, faced an extortion threat in 1977—a little-known crisis I worked as a young detective. Today, differential water rates and aging infrastructure keep water at the forefront. Bill’s commitment to tackling these issues, from safety to utilities, underscores his role as a voice for Tucson’s public interest.
A Path Forward: Reclaiming Tucson
Tucson stands at a crossroads. The machete attack, the hollowed-out bus system, the media’s propaganda, and the assault on faith are interconnected symptoms of a city losing its way. But this isn’t a death sentence—it’s a call to action. We need more cops, not fewer, and a sheriff who’ll fight for the people. We need a media that exposes truth, not buries it. We need leaders who reject envy-driven policies and embrace the Constitution’s promise of life, liberty, and property. Above all, we need Tucsonans to get involved—question falsehoods, vote wisely, and live their faith actively.
This Easter, as we reflect on redemption and renewal, let’s commit to rebuilding Tucson. Celebrate your family, your faith, and your freedom. Demand accountability from the Board of Supervisors, the city council, and the media. Support voices like Steve Christy and Bill Buckmeister, who champion common sense. Tucson’s small-town soul is worth fighting for. Let’s raise our expectations, reject decay, and make this city a place where no one fears a bus stop again.