RIMPAC is now officially underway. It’s a good time for us to reflect on the blessings we enjoy as the result of our nation’s strong sea services and our like-minded RIMPAC partners.

Notably absent this year is the People’s Republic of China. It has been justifiably “disinvited” to RIMPAC as the result of its militarization of the South China Sea.

Imagine if China were to build a military outpost near to Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument and claim sovereignty around it. Unthinkable, right? But this is the reality for several nations in the Indo-Pacific region who do not have the military wherewithal to resist China’s unwarranted and despicable actions.

Our nation’s only protection against this type of aggressive behavior is the maintenance of strong sea services — the Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard and U.S. flag Merchant Marine. Let’s ensure Hawaii’s elected leaders support them with adequate budgets.

Larry Osborn

Captain, U.S. Navy (ret.)

President, Navy League of the United States, Honolulu Council

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Immigrants have made nation great

In regards to the letter by Edward Lasky (“Dems humiliated by court ruling,” Star-Advertiser, June 27), I consider the court case against President Donald Trump’s Muslim travel ban by former state Attorney General Douglas Chin to be an honorable act because Chin is willing to fight for the rights of the minority — in this case, Muslim immigrants.

We as citizens of our great nation must never forget the hard lessons learned from history: that the power and control exerted by anti-Semitic groups resulted in the Holocaust; that war-induced fears resulted in the internment of Japanese nationals and Japanese-American citizens in World War II; that before the Civil Rights Act, African-Americans faced intense and unreasonable discrimination (and still do).

We should welcome immigrants into our nation, for is this not what made our nation great? It is the melding of various cultures — including that of Native Americans and Native Hawaiians — that contributes to the strengthening and the beauty of the fabric of our great nation.

Myra Taketa

Mililani

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Privileges should be earned, not given

Those in the “new” Democratic Party who like Bernie Sanders, and those in the “far left” of their party, should call themselves the Communist Party.

Why sugarcoat what they really are? They are communists by any description of their message, ideals and hopes. Free health care for everybody, because it’s a right, Bernie?

No. It’s a privilege borne off the backs and hard work of American taxpayers. Free college or trade schools? Who the hell is going to pay for this? Us senior citizens? Why?

I earned my current status in the jungles of Vietnam, on the pavement of numerous jobs, and serving in the armed forces of my country.

Gary Suzukawa

McCully-Moiliili

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Yoo wrong about Asian-Americans

The commentary by John Yoo, advocating Asian-Americans abandon the Democratic Party for the Republicans because of the issue of admission to elite universities, is absurd (“Asian-Americans should reject Democratic Party that hurts them,” Star-Advertiser, June 27).

Loyalty to a political party is multifaceted and should not be driven by a single issue, even as a moral choice of supporting purely merit-based admissions or not. Yoo is a GOP party hack and cannot speak for morality — he is the one and same attorney who authored the “torture memo” for the George W. Bush administration “authorizing” waterboarding and other interrogation techniques against military prisoners.

We are witnessing both through the Trump administration and the Supreme Court, the gutting of liberal values and the implementation of racist measures: diminution of the Voting Rights Act, immoral border separation of immigrant children, support of business over science and the environment, a Muslim immigration ban and more.

The obsequious GOP members supporting Trump in such an unconscionable manner must be defeated. The difference between what is legal and what is just are clear.

Paul Mizue

Aiea

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Developers shouldn’t get more exemptions

Avalon Group’s Sky Ala Moana project is yet another example of developer bait-and-switch tactics.

For years, projects in the hot Kakaako construction scene have gotten after-the-fact exemptions on original building plans.

Avalon claims it can’t comply with its initially mandated “affordable” unit ratio and density, saying it was “feasible” many months ago, but now it isn’t. That often- used excuse is suspect.

Developers have analysts looking where the market will be in a few years. Avalon’s goal is profit, of course. Fine.

The pattern of freely granting developer exemptions that exacerbate the housing problem is not fine.

Sean Goodspeed

Ala Moana