Politicians need to work together

Our elected officials in Congress need to stop telling half-truths that support their party’s position and blaming the other party for our country’s problems. They need to grow up and act like adults.

Our country is not a playground for little children. Problems are not solved by accusing each other. This win-or-lose fighting mentality solves nothing. Our country has a lot of problems that need to be fixed. As elected officials it’s their responsibility to fix it.

Cliff Toyama

Moanalua

Change rules for fast-pitch softball

Ashley Ogata deserves to be congratulated for pitching a perfect game and striking out all 15 batters she faced (“Pitcher perfect day for senior Ashley Ogata, Mililani softball team,” Star-Advertiser, May 11).

However, her feat illustrates a problem with fast-pitch softball. Batters are almost always overwhelmed by pitchers and this makes the games boring. There are too many strikeouts, fielders see little action, speedy runners don’t get rewarded and the scores often resemble those of soccer.

Who wants to watch a game where the fielders just stand around doing nothing? Watch a game of slow-pitch softball and see how much more exciting they are. The fast-pitch rules should be changed to give batters a chance. Specifically, the pitcher’s mound should be moved back about five feet.

Kurt Butler

Makawao, Maui

Other data can be manipulated

Thank you for the extremely well-written article, “The take on TikTok” (Star-Advertiser, May 12). I felt it rare to have an article written by an articulate author who has studied the topic in depth. I enjoyed the article immensely.

It viewed the perspectives from different angles — especially the different ways that the Chinese government can manipulate data.

Although the topic was TikTok, I learned how my own data can be manipulated, regardless of TikTok.

I learned to catch myself better if I am leaning in one biased direction.

Glen Tanaka

Kahala

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