Letters to the editor: 06-11-18

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Questioning judge’s motives unbecoming

Not being a judge, Ms. Kerr, I cannot “Imagine as well the thinking that persuaded a judge to sign off on a warrant to seize the records of the attorney of a sitting US president.”

I am no legal or constitutional scholar, but like most folks I believe that judges doing their sworn duty think mostly about the law. So perhaps that judge was thinking about the evidence and affidavits presented by law enforcement officers requesting the warrants.

This is known as probable cause. Probable cause means there is sufficient reason based upon known facts to lead a reasonably intelligent and prudent person to believe a crime has been committed. Probable cause must be shown and sworn to by law enforcement officers for a judge to issue a warrant for arrest, search or seizure, as stated in the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution. Without probable cause such a search/seizure would be illegal and all evidence thus obtained be inadmissible in court.

In accusing this judge of judicial overreach, Ms. Kerr, you are inferring the judge issued these warrants based not on probable cause but for spurious reasons. One could logically “imagine” that you mean for political reasons, and that you truly believe that this judge issued warrants because the individual is “the attorney of a sitting US president.”

There are many regular folks like me who still believe that no one is above the law, even “the attorney of a sitting US president.”

Ruth Savakinas

Kailua-Kona

Tariffs a matter of national security

The recent press vitriol about Trump’s aluminum and steel tariffs is pure nonsense! This is not about jobs lost, saved or recovered; it’s simply about national security.

Our ability to produce steel and aluminum is vital to our survival as a country. Steel (the stuff tanks are made from) and aluminum (the stuff airplanes are made from) in my humble opinion, are kind of, well, essential.

Surely anyone who thinks otherwise is either an ostrich or lives on cloud nine. Many components of our most advanced fighter, the F-35, are now only available from either communist China, Taiwan or South Korea.

Wake up, America! We are being pillaged and our technology is being ripped out of us via our wallets. Apple is about to approach the acme, one trillion dollars of value in the stock market, a new milestone. It’s entire manufacturing base is in China — what a joke!

Sick joke, as I’m puking at the reality right now.

Dave Hurst

Holualoa