Utah Is in Failure Mode
It is astonishing the extent to which Utah's leadership is unable to man-up and protect the people from dire threats. And many of those threats are nurtured or soft-shoed by the so-called leaders themselves.
We see failure to protect the people against crime, ignorance, licentious liberty and environmental disaster. There is an obvious failure to promote and protect free enterprise in its most authentic, ethical forms: small business enterprise; humane loan rates for the working poor; housing for the ill and destitute; and bargaining power for working folks.
Politicians reflexively invite massive, debt-financed federal bailouts for locally solvable problems. There's a transparent inability of educational institutions to find the right mix of curriculum and student discipline needed to raise new generations capable of helping democracy succeed.
And there's a reluctance of the churches to give worldly concerns priority over after-life promises.
There's a devil-may-care attitude among the citizenry about the importance of living healthy lives and helping neighbors and fellow citizens avoid stumbling blocks.
The cities are dangerous and declining. The suburbs are sterile. The countryside is parched and unproductive. The mountains and canyons are fuel-filled and ready for fire. The desert has lost its occasional bloom.
And the people do not have eyes to see or ears to hear.
KIMBALL SHINKOSKEY
Woods Cross
"Stroke Averted," July 28 Private Eye
This was one of John Saltas' more entertaining columns in memory. On a practical level, since he asked, here is how I solved my own account-deleting dilemma. It worked for LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, Snapchat and Messenger (some say it works for the IRS, too; I'll let you know).
First, I Googled deep-breathing exercises and followed one of hundreds of such pages to get to a good starting point. For you, try www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/wellness/breathing-exercises.
Second, having reached a calm sense of equilibrium through conscious breathing, I deleted all the apps, access points and icons on my various phones, tablets, laptops, desktops and other devices. These accounts still may be in various social media user counts but, except for Elon Musk, who cares? For me, they no longer exist.
Third, I added all the offending social-media email sources to my spam filter so that I will never be tempted by them again. I have kept Facebook (for now), but all the rest are gone, baby, gone.
If my success is incomplete, it's because one class of offenders has continued to elude my efforts and continues to violate my personal space: Political campaigns. For some reason, I am beloved by members of both major parties.
In spite of all my spam filtering efforts, I receive hundreds of personal messages from BFFs like Nancy Pelosi, Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis and every Utah GOP and Democratic candidate. I get several pleas to defend freedom from the rascals on the other side every day.
So, Private Eye, I've solved the social-media problem and I suggest that you can, and should, do the same.
As for defending yourself against politics? Ain't gonna happen. I guess that's the price of "freedom."
STAN ROSENZWEIG
Cottonwood Heights
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