Mahalo to Sen. Roz Baker

I was talking to Rita this last morning at Salvation Army related to the Public Access Room IRB Virginia Beck Legislation Reference Library. Did some thrift shopping also… no coupons?

We talked about the changes in county and state government. As you know, change is good.

Pointed out to Rita — who I think dearly of, as many do — this match-up of people and those running for political office in support of each other is a concern. She fell silent as we talked about many.

Other concerns related to the number of rental cars (not only on Maui) along with Josh Green’s ideas of building more government subsidy housing.

Also related to Mayor Mike — build, and they will come? At the same time, the island of Maui sinks from population world overflow. Knowing in New York City at a hostel, no passport and return ticket; big goodbye.

Kindest regards, and thanks for the well-spent political years you brought to West Maui of the Hawaiian Islands.

LEO JOSEPH THINER, West Maui

Support the Protecting Our Democracy Act

Republicans and Democrats should be able to agree that no president, regardless of party, should be able to obstruct and undermine the will of the American people or exploit weaknesses in our political system for personal gain.

That’s where the Protecting Our Democracy Act comes in. If passed, it would prevent future abuse of presidential power and corruption, increase transparency and ensure presidents of either party can be held accountable.

Strengthening the guardrails on presidential power is just common sense. If the average person used their office for personal gain, they’d go to jail. If the average person could pardon themselves, there would be no rule of law.

No president should be above the law. That’s why I’m urging Congress to pass the Protecting Our Democracy Act.

We must prevent future presidents of any party from abusing the power of their office.

SUSANNE KIRIATY, Paia

Trump loves Kim Jong-un and Vlad Putin

West Maui’s Richard Bodisco is just another right-wing Conservative who has been completely brainwashed by pro-Putin, anti-Choice Fox “News” and by listening to partisan GOP hate radio decade-after-decade of his bungled Baby Boomer life. Try reading a book someday.

He is such a clueless, “cancel culture” Conservative that he angrily insists anyone who dislikes deranged, demonic, crackpot cult leader Donald Trump — Bodisco’s personal hateful, hillbilly Haole hero — should be silenced, and is somehow, for some inexplicable reason, a “Marxist,” when it’s the GOP’s greedy old pervert Trump who clearly loves Communists.

It’s brainwashed Bodisco’s delusional, defeated former Putin puppet president who is notorious for waxing poetically about how enthralled he was with North Korean Communist monarch Kim Jong-un.

That’s right — traitor Trump has a moronic man crush on the very same Maoist monster who continually threatens to wipe the Hawaiian Islands off the map with nuclear weapons! Will Hawaii’s GOP support that, too?

Speaking of nukes and numbskulls, then there’s dimwitted Donald Trump’s true love, KGB Count Dracula Vlad “the Impaler” Putin, traitor Trump’s one-and-only long-term Leningrad buddy. These two lying losers, Trump & Putin, are perfect for each other!

Maybe those two pathetic peas-in-a-pod can bunk together in a prison cell, after Vladimir Putin is put on trial for war crimes and genocide in Ukraine, and Donald Trump is tried for treason and pandemicide by way of malign neglect during the COVID-19 catastrophe that has taken the lives of over one million Americans.

Donald Trump is a disgrace. Lock him up!

JAKE PICKERING, Arcata, California

The Biden inflation hits homeless elders hard

They’re called the “invisibles” — the homeless elders in hiding. These seniors may have a fear of homeless shelters or are just too proud to ask for help, and so they hide and take refuge on the streets. It’s a problem that has been with us for decades but has been underreported for the most part. The invisibles are a part of a much larger problem that is clearly exacerbated by the Biden inflationary spiral, currently at 8.5 percent, that makes it difficult, if not impossible, for older folk on fixed incomes to afford adequate housing.

So, who are the invisibles? You can see their faces and hear their stories at a website appropriately named Invisible People. It reveals the fact that when you’re homeless, whether you are young or old, it doesn’t matter. “People avoid eye contact. They step away from you. They don’t answer you if you address them, even if you wish them a good day! It’s painful. It’s debilitating. Over time, it gets worse, not better. There are a lot of bad things about being homeless, but being invisible is the worst!”

It appears that the conclusion reached in a study conducted by the University of Pennsylvania in 2019 is coming true. It projected that homeless men and women over 55 years of age will grow to 225,000 by 2026 mainly due to the fact that the numbers of Americans over the age of 65 are growing at the rate of 10,000 a day. And, says the AP, “Academics project their numbers will nearly triple over the next decade, challenging policy makers from Los Angeles to New York to imagine new ideas for sheltering the last of the baby boomers as they get older, sicker and less able to pay spiraling rents. Advocates say much more housing is needed, especially for extremely low-income people.”

And certainly, Bidenflation is making it worse for those homeless because of rising rents and living costs across the board.

JOHN GRIMALDI, Association of Mature American Citizens