Now that the worst night of the year for pets and vets (veterans) is past, a comment or two. This fireworks obscenity that passes for patriotism must be re-evaluated before our enemy arrives at our western shore and finds we have pumped our fists and pounded our chests into such a false sense of security that they have no need to even launch their drones.

Security does not exist through glittering, PTSD-inducing pyrotechnics. It does not exist by having a “defense” budget larger than the next ten largest defense budgets in the world combined. It exists through constitutional education and democratic political action, both of which have virtually ceased in Utah and in America.

Can we not find a less supercilious approach to honoring our ancestors and promoting the safety of our grandchildren?

My neighbors in the Argyle Acres section of the township of Woods Cross, Utah, brought Bakhmut to my doorstep starting at around 9:00 p.m. on July 4th. The barrage was extensive and expansive and expensive and lasted about two hours. And there was a “finale” instrument of terror delivered by one homeowner that consisted of a spiraling battery of deafening explosives shot out low over the roofs of homes in all directions that continued until it completed several 360-degree circuits. The potential for fire and cowering was outrageously clear.

Why does Utah have to be a leader in all things emasculating and destructive of good sense?

Kimball Shinkoskey, Woods Cross

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