People walk near a site of an Israeli strike Wednesday in Mar Elias, Beirut, Lebanon.
The real story of the Iran ceasefire
For Israel’s Netanyahu, “ceasefire” means “bombs away,” kill as many civilians as I can in Lebanon while everybody thinks there is actually a ceasefire.
America’s Trump is complicit in this little charade. He looks away and pretends he has no power to influence Netanyahu, his good buddy.
Israel’s Netanyahu is the butcher of Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon. America’s Biden and Trump have been the suppliers of the butcher of Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.
Iran and the United States apparently didn’t put the current 2-week ceasefire in writing. This was on purpose, so Trump could let the issue of Lebanon fall between the cracks, and Iran could let the issue of Hormuz fall between the cracks.
In other words, the whole ceasefire affair is a sham designed to give despotic rulers on all sides time and space to make the most politically of the “ceasefire” before they go at it again.
Kimball Shinkoskey
Woods Cross, Utah
Why do people swear?
When I was a young teenager, my grandfather suffered a stroke, lost his ability to speak and needed to live in a nursing home. My brother and I visited him regularly. One day he became very frustrated and swore at one of the nurses. I had never heard my grandfather swear. I asked the doctor "why did grandpa swear?" He answered that swearing was just a reflex and that people are not using their brain when swearing.
I used this explanation whenever my children or grandchildren used a naughty word. I would say they weren't using their brain when they swore. Only unintelligent people swear.
I think of this whenever I read in the newspaper, or hear on the news about any important person who uses profanity to express themselves.
Sharon Landshut
Green Valley
You can’t have it both ways
We are often told that this administration inherited the worst economy in history, a broken immigration system, global instability, and failures across every policy area. According to this narrative, everything associated with the Biden administration was, in essence, a disaster. Yet at the same time, we hear that the United States has the greatest, most powerful military the world has ever seen.
So, which is it? You can't blame the Biden administration's total failures while also claiming credit for our military success. A world-class military doesn't develop in a few months; it’s the result of years of budgets, training, procurement, alliances, and strategic planning.
Contrary to Trump’s pronouncements that only he can fix what is wrong with America, everything Trump has touched, except his bank account, has harmed the American people.
As for me, I prefer the competence and mental acuity of the other old man over this one’s incompetence, ignorance, and dishonesty.
Lawrence Mazin
SaddleBrooke
Worse than any king
Last week, protesters gathered and chanted “No Kings!” because although “No Fuehrers!” is more accurate, it’s much trickier to vocalize. Try it and see.
They chant because history is repeating itself. Adolf Hitler also began by rounding up The Worst of the Worst into detention centers, ignoring due process. Then he included the Second-Next Worst, the Troublesome Agitators, and so on down, until detention centers became death camps and millions of innocent people died. Millions more submitted, so they wouldn’t be next on the list.
Hitler also built up the military and invaded other countries, an excuse for further suspension of human rights and neatly dividing citizens into Patriots, blindly following orders, and Traitors, just about anyone else. As Trump often asks, “We know what happens to traitors, right?”
So, no, Trump is not likely to become a king. He is turning into something much, much worse. It happened in Germany. Please don’t let it happen here.
Gail Gibbs
Oro Valley
Kudos to DeCamp
Mary DeCamp ended her LTE on 4/09 with the word "kakistocracy." That is a word we seldom hear or use. It is defined as a government run by the least qualified, most incompetent, or most unscrupulous citizens. It describes a system where merit is replaced by cronyism or ineptitude. It is characterized by lack of skills or knowledge in leaders, officials who are often corrupt, dishonest or unethical, positions filled based on loyalty rather than merit and by dysfunction. Thank you, Mary, because though we may not know what it means we are living it.
Tim Canny
Oracle
Nuclear war
Trump recently told Iran that, I'm going to kill an entire civilization, never to be brought back again. If you read that as I did, it means Trump is threatening the use of nuclear bombs on Iran. He would, intentionally or not, begin World War III. If you believe that the action he is speaking about would mean the end of our life, as we know it, please please please take steps to stop this moron. He will be dead and gone but your children and grandchildren will face the aftermath. If you doubt that it could happen look at the nutso who is allegedly leading us.
Philip Reinecker
East side
Falling birthrates, national priorities
Given how freaked out our nation's leaders supposedly are regarding our declining birth rate, you'd think there'd be more than lip service from the White House - or at least HHS - to support parents needing childcare, the cost of which rivals monthly rent. Evidently other priorities have taken over: ones that focus on aggression and flexing our military muscle.
Consider: the annual cost of running one immigration detention center such as Alligator Alcatraz could fund pre-K for 45,000 3 and 4-year-olds. A conservative cost estimate of the Iran War — $500 million per day — could fund childcare for over 12 million kids on an annual basis. We need to get our priorities straight. National and border security are important; members of my family have served in the military for many generations. Since our military ethos is "Leave no man behind," it would be smart to make sure there's also a generation left behind for us to protect.
Jennifer Prileson
Foothills
Medicare Advantage is not Medicare
Re: the April 8 article from Bloomberg, "Health insurers pare back some prior-approval requirements." That is a good thing, but the article states "That would mean about 6.5 million fewer requests in Medicare and some commercial plans." This is not true for traditional Medicare, which does not require prior approval. The reference is to Medicare "Advantage" programs, which use your Medicare $$ to fund for-profit insurance plans run by Humana, UnitedHealth, CIGNA, etc., and do have prior approval processes, as well as often limited networks of doctors and hospitals. Seniors need to know the difference; despite the misleading advertising, Medicare "Advantage" plans are not Medicare.
Joshua Freeman
North side
War with Iran
The left-wing media accuses Trump of being a warmonger and when he announces a stay of 2 weeks they say he is capitulating. There has been no mention of using annihilation as a bargaining tool, Iran realized it as a real threat which brought them to the bargaining table. World markets will stabilize including global oil prices. The true test will be capturing the enriched uranium. I suspect the pause will be temporary as Iran will not fully cooperate and the true test of Trump's word will be realized. Their religious fanaticism will not go away the only way is to eliminate it with the help of our allies. If we don't, we will be the recipient of a LRBM with a nuclear warhead destined for our East Coast sometime in the near future.
Bill Dowdall
Oro Valley
Trump puts the "ME" in America
Most US presidents looked at America, thought of its greatness, and imagined it getting better. Trump thinks "How can I get my image in it better?" For starters: White House renovations, coins, national park passes, airports, roads, banners on government buildings bearing his mugshot stare, etc, etc. He is overshadowing the America 250 celebration with his Freedom250 agenda which includes National Mall car races (will children be able to attend these "drag" races?) and the South Lawn gladiator UFC fight. No doubt he will jump in the ring and defeat them all on his 80th birthday. This event includes weigh-ins at the Lincoln Memorial. Any doubts his scowling image will be superimposed on Lincoln's statue? After the lawn is torn up for the gladiator games, he will probably replace it with a Trump miniature golf course. No more Easter egg rolls. It's just the beginning. He's got 2+ years to look at America and think "What's in it for me?"
Dianne Lethaby
East side
Yellow blossoms for Nancy Guthrie
Driving through Nancy Guthrie's Catalina Foothills neighborhood, I see yellow ribbons still festooning mailboxes and tree branches in remembrance of her kidnapping. It has struck me that, seemingly in unison and solidarity with these heartfelt gestures, is the riot of yellow palo verde blossoms blanketing the same streets. The Sonoran Desert speaks, no?
Diane Dittemore
Foothills
Democracy in trouble
It is beginning to become apparent that our democracy, as it is now structured, does not work. The three branches of government are intertwined.
It worked when the majority of politicians believed in it. They followed the unwritten norms and the law.
The whole system is being controlled by fear from Trump, and it is working.
Donald Plummer
Northwest side
Law of the jungle
The Anglo-American Allies in World War II never tried to assassinate Hitler because murdering heads of state is contrary to international law, and they wanted a post-war world based on rule of law instead of rule of the jungle. Trump and Netanyahu assassinate Iran's leaders and murder innocent Iranian civilians, including schoolgirls, with indiscriminate bombing.
Hamas and Netanyahu's regime are opposite sides of the same coin, as shown by Gaza's sea of rubble. If nations descend to the same savagery as their enemies, then they have become their enemies, and even their own worst enemies, and no better than them. How can humanity evolve beyond barbarism, if past savagery like the deaths of thousands of German civilians bombed in cities in World War II, is used to justify today's atrocities? Such twisted reasoning is a failure of vision, morality and leadership.
With Hamas still in control and reputation sacrificed to mindless brutality, Israel achieved a Pyrrhic victory.
Ronald Pelech
Midtown
To fee or not to fee?
Most people I know agree it would be great to keep the ECA, but we also want the City to stop aiding and abetting TEP by using misleading wording about the Franchise Fee. Most folks think TEP uses its money to pay to the City, but that's not the case. The back of your TEP bill shows otherwise.
The language on the ballot (or at least in the pre-election info pamphlet) must clearly say that TEP does not pay its own money to the City for the Franchise Fee. The wording must disclose that TEP is actually billing us for the entire amount, so it's being paid by us, TEP’s customers!
And it would certainly help the chances of passing the FA and ECA if TEP would agree to begin paying its own franchise fee, instead of passing it on to us. Otherwise, a lot of folks just don't trust TEP or the City and will vote against the Franchise Agreement.
Lee Stanfield
East side
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