Measles is making a comeback. Should we be concerned?
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported an uptick in the number of measles cases around the nation since early December. If the pace of infections continues to follow this trajectory, 2024’s total will top the surge reported in 2014 (667 cases), or even the 1,274 cases reported in 2019. Should we be concerned?
Letters to the editor for Wednesday, March 13, 2024
Reach agreement regarding Punalu‘u
Biden hams it up during stemwinder
In poll after poll, American voters have expressed overwhelming concern about Joe Biden’s age and fitness for office. Which explains the president’s over-the-top delivery in Thursday’s State of the Union address.
Dealing with false facts: How to correct online misinformation
Deepfakes of celebrities and misinformation about public figures might not be new in 2024, but they are more common and many people seem to grow ever more resigned that they are inevitable.
What a doctor sees when Joe Biden hesitates
As a geriatrician, I discuss the effects of aging with patients every day. I wish I had a chance to give my usual talk to everyone who chortles or tears their hair out about President Biden’s fitness for his job.
Letters to the editor for Tuesday, March 12, 2024
How many more people need to die?
Ask the right questions
“That’s the wrong question.”
What’s better for the planet: Going vegan or going solar?
When salespeople knocked on my door a year ago attempting to sell me solar panels, I declined, explaining that I couldn’t afford them and that I was already doing my part to combat the climate catastrophe by being vegan. But when they asked if I’d be open to hearing more information, I agreed, mostly out of curiosity. Six months later, I had solar panels installed on my home.
Make this your year for civic resolutions
If you failed to visit the gym, cut back on sweets or start a new hobby in January, never fear. Experts say it’s best to make resolutions a little later in any case. And the most important resolutions you make in 2024 may be less about self-help than about the nation as a whole.
Letters to the Editor for March 9
Nahale-a should have been approved
As I See It: Historical stunts
In 1942, George H.W. Bush was the youngest Navy pilot to be shot down. He was 18. He survived and went back up again. He followed the Navy with a distinguished career in public service. In 1988, he ran for president. It was not clear why but the opposition started calling the war hero a wimp. His candidacy looked dim until he arrived at a campaign rally driving a heavy-duty tanker truck, not just blowing the horn. The wimp label fell away.
The War on Poverty wasn’t enough
Sixty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared “an unconditional war on poverty.” Using policies and programs as weapons, Johnson focused heavily on health coverage and “human capital.” His Great Society agenda also included key political reforms like the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1968, the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act and the 1965 Voting Rights Act.
Bravo to France for enshrining the right to abortion in its Constitution — a worldwide first
The ripples of the U.S. Supreme Court’s terrible decision overturning federal protections for abortion have not stopped at our own shores. They have crossed the ocean and resculpted the abortion landscape in countries — well, at least one country — far from our own.
The Supreme Court was right to keep Trump on the ballot. Now voters should reject him
In ruling that Colorado — and other states — may not bar Donald Trump from the ballot, the Supreme Court has provided necessary clarity about the reach of a once-obscure section of the 14th Amendment aimed at preventing insurrectionists from holding public office.
Letters to the editor for Friday, March 8, 2024
’Kona deserves better health care’
McConnell’s wins, America’s losses: A Senate partisan departs
What is Mitch McConnell’s legacy as leader of Senate Republicans? A lot of procedurally astute but brazenly hypocritical moves to strengthen the power of his party in the chamber.
Longshot effort to disqualify Trump unanimously rejected
The Hail Mary attempts to keep Donald Trump off the ballot this November weren’t in vain. They managed to unify the U.S. Supreme Court.
Letters to the editor for Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Alabama’s high court got it wrong
Surge pricing for burgers leaves a bad taste in our mouths
After the Five Guys franchise went viral the other day over a $12 burger, the joke making its way around the internet was that customers would have to start going to Four Guys just to save a little money.
We need protection from harmful surveillance technologies
In December 2023, the Chicago Police Department quietly entered into a free six-month pilot for a database called CrimeTracer by SoundThinking, the company behind the controversial ShotSpotter technology. CrimeTracer is a police database and search engine, repackaging and sharing large pools of data across different agencies. The approval occurring without public oversight prevents a good-faith assessment of the hidden public costs large-scale databases can wreak, showcasing a larger pattern of U.S. cities’ rash tendency to adopt technology built on legacies of racist policing and state violence.
