Regarding “Don’t Palestinians have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?” (Feb. 27):
Unfortunately, the short answer to your question is … no. At least, not until the so-called right-wing Christian Nationalists, who ignore the teachings of the Christ and follow the edicts of an Israelite war god, wake up and realize that they are destroying the oldest Christian community in the world. Palestinian Christians can trace their faith back to their conversion at the hands of Jesus and his apostles more than 2,000 years ago.
These Christians, along with their Muslim neighbors, were driven from their homes, farms, and churches by European immigrant survivors of the Nazi Holocaust. Now, Trump, Netanyahu, and their Zionist “Christian” allies are seeking to destroy the last vestige of Christianity in Palestine in order to build resorts on the Gaza coast. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem and for our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters suffering under Hamas and the Trump-Netanyahu campaign of genocide.
Regarding “Santa Maria Valley students protest immigration enforcement tactics” (Feb. 27):
Kudos to Cesar Vasquez for making “good trouble” (John Lewis). As an old man who marched with Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta in the 1970s, it does my heart good to see that the torch has been passed to a new young generation that will need all the torches they can get to illuminate the darkness of the storm that now confronts us.
Thomas Jefferson wrote in 1787 that “the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants; it is its natural manure.”
Let us all pray that Cesar, and others like him can turn Musk’s manure and Trump’s sh*t into compost to grow the Tree of Liberty!
Stephen Siemsen
Orcutt
This article appears in Mar 6-16, 2025.