Family misses John Delatori

This is a message of the celebration of one year (June 4, 2020) since my “Big John” left us on his journey.

In the early morning sun by the area between Jodo Mission beach and the Mala Wharf beach, where he grew up playing in the late 1920s and ’30s!

We had a wonderful life together since December 1975, and our 43 years of joy in our marriage were my blessings with a big, strong Hawaiian Man who also served this country for six years in World War II overseas.

I am so very proud of his service!

Thank you to all the fabulous friends and family who shared our journey. Maui no ka ‘oi.

Forever in my heart, I am his loving wife, missing him every day.

ALOHA. A HUI HO, MY DARLING!

ARLENE DELATORI, West Maui

Beware of barbecue bugs

With COVID-19 gradually releasing its deadly grip, this summer, we can focus once again on the threat of our outdoor grill. Yes, that. Folks who grill hamburgers and hot dogs face a nasty choice.

The U.S. Meat and Poultry Hotline advises grilling at high temperature to avoid food poisoning by E. coli and Salmonella bacteria. But the National Cancer Institute warns that high-temperature grilling of processed meats generates cancer-causing compounds.

Fortunately, we no longer need to choose between food poisoning and cancer!

A bunch of enterprising U.S. food processors have met this challenge head-on by developing a rich variety of convenient, healthful, delicious plant-based veggie burgers, veggie dogs and soy nuggets.

These products don’t harbor nasty bugs or cancer-causing compounds. They have no cholesterol, saturated fats, drugs, hormones and pesticides like their animal-based alternatives.

And, they are waiting for us in the frozen food section of our favorite supermarket, along with nut-based cheeses, milks and ice creams.

In the shadow of COVID-19, let’s stay safe in more ways than one!

LEX NAKAHARA, Lahaina

Trump to face grand jury

Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. just announced the impaneling of a special grand jury focused on the Trump Crime Family/Organization, not long after New York State Attorney General Letitia James notified the public the state’s civil investigation of the Trumps has now become a criminal inquiry as well.

No wonder desperate Donald Trump drew his infamous “red line” prohibiting Justice Department investigators from looking into the Trump Crime Family’s crooked, fraudulent finances while Trump was in office.

Too bad for delusional orange-collar criminal Donald, but his red-flagging of his own criminal business enterprise (in addition to unsuccessfully attempting to hide his tax returns for so long) led legal authorities to right where Trump’s business bodies are buried. And now they’re being dug up.

Indictments are sure to follow. You don’t create a special grand jury to last for six months for nothing. Deranged Donald and his evil brood had better find a better lawyer than Rudy “Tutti Frutti” Giuliani, otherwise the Trumps can expect a long, less than luxurious stay at Rikers Island Penitentiary.

JAKE PICKERING, Arcata, CA

Peace or war after the cease-fire?

U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres urged Israeli and Palestinian leaders to go “beyond the restoration of calm to start a serious dialogue to address the root causes of the conflict.”

Noble idea, but don’t expect anything of the sort. Both sides claimed victory, and both sides are far more likely to pick up where they left off than forge a new path to a just peace.

Netanyahu will look to the war as demonstrating his right to continue in office with a hard-line agenda. He’ll calm his right-wing critics who think he should have gone for the jugular with Hamas — that is, destroy it completely. But the so-called center and left will have nothing to say by way of criticism, for “Bibi” has made himself the indispensable man.

As for Hamas, it will claim to have held the line against the Israeli military onslaught, and to have earned U.S. support for rebuilding Gaza. Palestinians are back on the streets, not to condemn Hamas for bringing destruction to Gaza but to celebrate the cease-fire and protest in Jerusalem to protect their al-Aqsa mosque.

The U.S. cannot claim victory, though Biden is trying. In truth, he has put himself in the same position as previous presidents, unwilling to make demands on Israel for a new deal with the Palestinian Authority.

Instead, he is being hailed by Netanyahu as a true friend who went the extra mile in support of Israel, waiting days before urging a cease-fire, rejecting UN Security Council resolutions to halt military action, pushing for new military aid to Israel and saying nothing about the Palestinians’ right of self-defense.

To be sure, after the cease-fire was declared, Biden said he believes Palestinians and Israelis equally deserve to live “safely and securely” and supports a two-state solution. But unless he pressures Netanyahu to deliver on those words, they will be just that: words.

Netanyahu will literally laugh at U.S. initiatives to make life better for the Palestinians. Victors in war, especially people of his mind-set, do not grant peace with justice to their enemies.

As Roger Cohen writes, “He has treated the Palestinian conflict as a problem to be contained, not resolved. Separation supplanted peace as Israel’s aspiration.”

Now Netanyahu will have abundant public and Knesset backing to resume evictions, resume denying Gaza citizens basic services, and resume treating Palestinians as second-class citizens. As for “reining in Israeli extremists,” count on Netanyahu to do the opposite: keep them in his cabinet and curry favor with their Knesset members.

Some observers credit Biden for his quiet diplomacy, in contrast with the shuttle crisis diplomacy of predecessors. But so long as a right-wing nationalist regime remains in charge in Tel Aviv, it’s hard to see the cease-fire lasting, let alone creating a path to human rights gains for the Palestinian people.

MEL GURTOV, PeaceVoice