Letters to the Editor of the Pahrump Valley Times

Veteran has a better idea for billions we send to UN

The United Nations (UN) condemned the attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities. Secretary General Antonio Guterres publicly stated the strike was “perilous” while strongly criticizing our military! For 80 years the U.S. has been the major funding source for the UN’s 193-member annual budget of $3.59 billion. We pay 22% of the regular budget and 27% of the peace-keeping branch. Yet time and again they vote against us. Freeing the world from the Mullah’s fanatical death cult and their nuclear annihilation ambitions would surely create an arms race in the Middle East. The “function of the UN peace-keeping branch is to maintain international peace and security.” Sadly, the aforementioned is no joke, it is from a Google search. Instead of condemnation the UN should authorize the payment for the $132 million cost for the Midnight Hammer Raid.

I agree with my close friend in a recent discussion. He said, “Why are we paying the majority of funding for an organization that continually votes against us!” “It’s time to tell the UN to halt their ongoing 2-billion-dollar reconstruction project, take their 25,040 employees and get out of New York and our country.” The 18 acres in Midtown Manhattan would make a great park plus the 2.7 million square foot headquarters complex would make a phenomenal museum.

America is back; we just showed the world that we bounced back after four years of neglect and are no longer a “paper tiger.” I don’t claim to be a military strategist, but 34 years in the Navy, a Command Master Chief and six years as the 13th Naval District Congressional Liaison for the Navy, Coast Guard and Marine Corps qualifies me better than many to criticize the UN. Their latest action toward the U.S. leads me to ponder: the billions we give this organization, whose members seldom, if ever agree with us, would be better spent supporting our veterans, improving our military, and building our own iron dome, as Reagan advocated years ago.

Gene Fisher

USN Retired

This could be the best deal ever for building prisons

Is this too far-fetched?

The aircraft carrier USS Kittyhawk and the John F. Kennedy were sold to International Shipbreakers Limited for one cent each in Brownsville, Texas. The Kittyhawk CV-63 sent to scrap May 31, 2022. It took 18 months to cut up. The JFK CV-67 departed the Philadelphia naval shipyard in January 2025 headed to its death. For one cent — what a deal! The taxpayers get it in the backside again.

How about converting an aircraft carrier into a prison?

It takes 5,000 to 6,000 personnel, including the air wing to operate this ship. Strip the military equipment, remove all that won’t be needed. Make it totally secure deck by deck.

So now it can hold 10,000 inmates. Take the worst of the inmates from across the United States (for a fee).

Anchor the ship 12.5 miles out, in international waters, so the ship falls under maritime law.

Just thinking out loud.

Jim Wardlow