Letters: It’s safer outdoors, with or without mask; TMT, rail project would help restore economy; Election-result delays caused by Republicans

The city’s mask requirement says, “All individuals within the City shall wear mask coverings while outdoors in public spaces when maintaining a physical distance of six (6) from other individuals is not feasible.”

In other words, if you can maintain a 6-foot distance outdoors, you do not have to wear a mask.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the safest place to be is outdoors. Why? Because the air disperses the virus. Our trades are blowing 10-25 mph. Wearing a mask reduces your chances to near zero. If you’re not wearing a mask, it’s near zero if you maintain a 6-foot distance.

If you see someone not wearing a mask outdoors, don’t be paranoid. Don’t blame the tourists. They have done their test. Follow-up screening revealed less than 1% positivity. Locals are responsible for the recent spike.

Understand the virus. Control what you can control.

Robert K. Soberano

Moiliili

TMT, rail project would help restore economy

We have to revive the economy. In addition to bringing the tourists back, we need construction and high tech, among other things.

We already have the largest construction project in Hawaii’s history — rail transit. Let’s complete it to Ala Moana Center.

We also have a high-tech project: the Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea. Let’s remove the protesters who are illegally blocking the road and let this important project proceed.

Carl H. Zimmerman

Salt Lake

Issues of racism and the election are complex

I applaud the letter by Craig Kutsunai (“Racism out in the open this election season,” Star-Advertiser, Nov. 9). While I agree completely, there are three more huge concerns related to racism and the election: the issues of white privilege, male dominance and the polarity about moral principles.

As a white male, I’m finding the first two incredibly challenging. As a Christian minister, the disagreement over which moral principles to follow is equally challenging: Because half of our citizens support an understanding of virtues that are contrary to those held by many people of faith, it’s also disturbing.

We have moved from an understanding of justice as equity, to a place where this principle is manipulated in a way that has power and control over too many of our citizens.

Liberty and happiness have transformed into a concept of wealth that becomes another way of having control and power. From my perspective, power isn’t control but shared responsibility, and wealth is sharing our resources.

John Heidel

Kailua

GOP has crazy ideas about winning elections

Just when you think things are going to get better now that the elections are over, it’s just getting crazier.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham suggested that state legislatures could choose electors who will pick a Republican president regardless of whom the voters in that state chose. As crazy as it seems, this is not against the law. With most legislatures run by Republicans, this would guarantee a win for Donald Trump.

What other ill-conceived ideas will the GOP come up with to try and win an election? They have been gaming the system through gerrymandering because their electoral future is looking grim as the country gets more diverse and the white majority shrinks every year.

It is obvious that if the country does not come to its senses, the U.S. will no longer be a democracy but an autocracy, where the people will no longer have a government of the people, for the people or by the people. Has the party of Abraham Lincoln forgotten his legacy?

Jon Shimamoto

Mililani

Election-result delays caused by Republicans

Avoidable delays in vote counting were actually caused by President Donald Trump and complicit Republicans, who attempted to suppress the vote through misinformation and kneecapping the U.S. Postal Service. Aside from the fact that absentee voting is mail-in voting, few states declare winners inside of 48 hours. Certification can extend into December.

The totally different circumstance of the 2000 election arose because the result came down to the totals in a single state, Florida. There actually were ballot irregularities. Al Gore conceded only after the Supreme Court put its thumb on the scale and stopped the count short.

Thank goodness voters came out in record numbers to reject the corrupt Trump administration. Now, the cleanup and unprecedented purge begins.

Melvin Sakamoto

Palolo

Integrity of elections must be preserved

Investigating election fraud allegations is less about who has won the presidency in this election and more about the integrity of all future elections.

Jerry Mueller

Kaneohe

Mail-in voting easier than waiting in line

People complain about mail-in votes? It’s so much easier than standing in line for hours. I truly hope that the next election will continue to be by mail-in vote. However, more voting places must be set up.

Edith Esteban

Hilo

Planned Parenthood does more than abortions

Rosalie Tadda takes issue with federal funding of Planned Parenthood (“Biden doesn’t represent Catholic view of abortion,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Nov. 12). She apparently is unaware that Planned Parenthood provides mainly poor women of color across America vital health services, such as STD testing and treatment, well-woman exams, cancer screening and prevention, hormone therapy, infertility services to become pregnant and general health care, in addition to the abortion services she so disdains.

President-elect Joe Biden is an American who respects Thomas Jefferson’s concept of the separation of church and state and does not impose his Catholic God on the nation, as Tadda apparently wants to.

Gail Ishikawa

Wahiawa

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