‘Right to Die’ signing reminds me once again why I’m a proud Illinoisan

 ‘Right to Die’ signing reminds me once again why I’m a proud Illinoisan

 

It took a while but I knew Gov. JB Pritzker would sign legislation allowing doctors to help terminally ill people end their lives. Illinois becomes just the 11th state to allow assisted suicide.

 

In signing the bill Pritzker said he was moved by supporters “dedication to standing up for freedom and choice at the end of life in the midst of personal heartbreak. Today, Illinois honors their strength and courage by enacting legislation that enables patients faced with debilitating terminal illnesses to make a decision, in consultation with a doctor, that helps them avoid unnecessary pain and suffering at the end of their lives,”

 

Right to die joins other sensible policy measures Illinois enacted to make life better for all Illinoisans.

 

In 2011 Illinois became the 16th state to abolish the barbaric death penalty. In the 14 years since just 7 more states followed Illinois’ sensible lead.

 

Two years later Illinois became the 16th state to legalize same sex marriage. Had not the Supreme Court legalized it nationally, Illinois would likely still be an outlier in respecting every person’s marriage partner choice.

 

Illinois has always been in the forefront protecting a woman’s right to choose. So much so that many from nearby anti-abortion states travel to Illinois for pregnancy care denied them by their cruel home states.

 

Just recently, Illinois government pushed back hard against Trump storm troopers masquerading as law enforcement but simply causing chaos and societal disruption on Chicago’s streets.

 

Illinois has problems. But overall it is among the most decent, caring states for anyone to reside in. I’ve been privileged to enjoy humane Illinois governance now for 80 years.

 

Walt Zlotow   Glen Ellyn IL

substack.com/Walt Zlotow

Chicago Tribune readers deserve both sides of Trump Ukraine peace plan

 Chicago Tribune readers deserve both sides of Trump Ukraine peace plan

 

On most contentious issues, the Chicago Tribune letters section is careful to present divergent views. That policy serves the public interest. Unfortunately, the Trib does not follow that wise policy concerning the war in Ukraine.

 

Case in point is Ethan Feingold’s letter ‘Peace in his hands’ blasting President Trump for his alleged one sided efforts favoring Russia to end the war approaching 4 years in February.

 

Feingold finds it “nauseating” that Russia will not end the war till its “root causes” are addressed, asserting that is merely “ a thinly veiled reference to Russia’s claims that Ukraine is being led by Nazis.” While Russia has charged the Kyiv regime being Nazi infiltrated, that is not among the “root causes” that must be addressed. They include no NATO membership for Ukraine allowing NATO nukes on Russia’s borders, Ukraine neutrality between Europe and Russia, and recognition that the Donbas, which suffered 8 years of Kyiv destruction prior to the 2022 invasion, will forever be part of Russia. Unless those sensible root causes are achieved thru Trump’s proposed peace plan, Russia will continue to achieve them on the battlefield.

 

Feingold is also wrong to charge Trump’s peace plan won’t succeed because “there is no common ground between Russia and Ukraine.” That is true but ignores the battlefield reality that Ukraine is near collapse with no chance of prevailing. That is precisely why Trump has bypassed Ukraine from the peace process. Until Ukraine accepts the reality of their defeat, there is nothing to negotiate with them.

 

While Ukraine seeks to fight till the last Ukrainian soldier is dead. Trump will eventually force the Russian terms on Ukraine to end the war. This will save the remaining Ukraine rump state from further destruction, allow millions to return home and begin Ukraine’s reconstruction. That is the best outcome Ukraine can achieve

 

Of course, this is merely my take as a counter to that of Ethan Feingold. It’s puzzling the Trib ignores good journalism to prevent its readership from getting two very different views on the unfolding catastrophe in Ukraine that warrants comprehensive consideration.

 

Walt Zlotow  West Suburban Peace Coalition  Glen Ellyn IL   

substack.com/@waltzlotow

US should exit lost Ukraine war, obsolete NATO

 US should exit lost Ukraine war, obsolete NATO

 
President Trump appears to relish killing innocents worldwide. He’s still enabling the Israeli genocide in Gaza that has killed over 100,000. He’s obliterated 20 little unarmed boats in the Caribbean killing over 80 hapless innocents. He’s bombed imagined bad guys in Somalia 111 times in 10 months. Why? Because he wants to and can.
 
But one killing field Trump wants out of is Ukraine. His predecessor Biden provoked the war there 4 years ago. It has largely destroyed Ukraine as a viable state with millions fled, dead, injured, with a shattered economy propped up by US, NATO treasure.
 
Trump is working with Russia to end the war largely on Russia’s sensible terms. No NATO for Ukraine which will remain neutral between Europe and Russia. No return of the seized territory containing the Russian speaking Ukrainians their government was systematically destroying. End of sanctions allowing reintegration of Russia into the European political economy.
 
This is good for Ukraine, good for Russia, good for Europe.
 
For Ukraine it ends further destruction which will alas, now be a rump state of its former self. Had Ukraine not allowed the US and NATO to sabotage the April, 2022 Istanbul peace agreement, Ukraine could have achieved peace then with no loss of territory and its economy largely intact.
 
For Russia, its security concerns regarding NATO encroachment allowing NATO nukes on its borders, and further destruction of Russian leaning Donbas Ukrainians will achieved be.
 
For Europe, peace will allow redirection of squandered treasure to the commons, ward off right wing political movements likely to topple pro war leaders, and buy cheap energy from Russia to revitalize their stagnant economies.
 
While Russia is on board, neither Ukraine nor Europe will have any of this sanity. Ukraine wants to fight on to regain lost territory that will forever be part of Russia. Hurling teens and grandfathers into the cauldron of lost war further cements Ukraine's destruction.
 
European NATO pretends defeating Russia in Ukraine is critical to preventing Russia from attacking NATO countries in their imagined obsession Russia is recreating the Soviet Union.
 
Ukraine and Europe continue in their delusions in spite of Trump’s clear message that the war is lost and must be ended to prevent further disintegration of Ukraine. Neither Ukraine nor Europe has anywhere near the military resources to continue the war largely financed by the Russophobic Biden administration.
 
Trump must not weaver in his efforts to exit the money pit of senseless war in Ukraine. But he should go further and exit NATO, allowing Europe to provide for their own defense. No US Sugar Daddy might be just the tonic to dissuade foolish European leaders like UK’s Starmer, France’s Macron and Germany’s Merz from endlessly screaming ‘The Russians are coming, the Russian’s are coming.’
 
Congress is starting to recognize the need to exit NATO. House Republican Thomas Massie and Senate Republican Mike Lee have both introduced legislation to end US membership in NATO.

Their common sense justification is long overdue fresh air. Massie noted, “NATO was created to counter the Soviet Union, which collapsed over thirty years ago. Since then, U.S. participation has cost taxpayers trillions of dollars and continues to risk US involvement in foreign wars. Our Constitution did not authorize permanent foreign entanglements, something our Founding Fathers explicitly warned us against. America should not be the world’s security blanket—especially when wealthy countries refuse to pay for their own defense.”
 
Lee observed, “America’s withdrawal from NATO is long overdue. NATO has run its course – the threats that existed at its inception are no longer relevant 76 years later “If they were, Europe would be paying their fair share instead of making American taxpayers pick up the check for decades. My legislation will put America first by withdrawing us from the raw deal NATO has become.”
 
Trump must support this legislation as he works with Russia to end the carnage that addresses Russia’s valid security concerns. Ending this war and exiting NATO will bring peace to Europe and revitalize the economies of all combatants. It might also avert something infinitely more ominous…nuclear war.

Walt Zlotow  West Suburban Peace Coalition  Glen Ellyn IL 

Dold’s statement supporting death of death penalty missed a major justification.

 

The Chicago Tribune obituary for legendary editor/publisher Bruce Dold laudably highlighted his 2007 Board editorial supporting abolishment of the Illinois death penalty with this justification: “The evidence of mistakes, the evidence of arbitrary decisions, the sobering knowledge that govern­ment can’t provide certainty that the innocent will not be put to death — all that prompts name.”

 

That was an obvious justification in a country that has executed hundreds of innocents during our 250 years. Since 1973, over 200 people sentenced to death in America have been freed, but the Death Penalty Information Center lists Carlos DeLuna and Cameron Todd Willingham as "possibly innocent" after execution. For every 8 people executed in the U.S., one person on death row has been exonerated. 

 

But Dold’s Trib Board omitted an overwhelming moral justification for death penalty abolishment. Execution represents immoral killing that serves no public purpose other than to satisfy the bloodlust of a citizenry the state concurs must be satisfied. One can argue that executions represent state sponsored murder no better than murder by an individual executed.

 

It may even be worse in the sense that individual murder is often motivated by mental defect or overwhelming outrage triggered by a real or imagined injury inflicted by the victim. But the state commits their murders under the guise of law after lengthy self-righteous deliberation. The executioner who administers the lethal drugs, sends current to the electric chair, or fires the firing squad gun, is considered a faithful public servant rather than just another cold blooded killer. So Is everyone in the state who participates in this barbarity still practiced by 23 states, thankfully not Illinois.

 

Tho based on just one rationale, Bruce Dold deserves the recognition noted in his storied career for his principled opposition to the Illinois death penalty which he championed 4 years before its enactment in 2011. 

substack.com/@waltzlotow