Early on in the pandemic, we learned that the purpose of face masks was not so much to protect the wearer, but to prevent infected people from spreading the disease. Requiring people to wear masks was like requiring people to use toilets — a matter of public sanitation not open to personal choice. For the measure to work, everyone had to comply.

This reality hasn’t changed. Some epidemiologists are warning that there will likely be more deadly waves of variants ahead. Wearing a face mask indoors is a minor price to pay in helping prevent them.

In keeping with past practice, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has chosen to confuse the matter with more mask-on, mask-off complexity — putting local officials who are trying to control the disease in the hot seat. I applaud the resolve of Gov. David Ige in holding fast and keeping indoor mask mandates in effect until March 25. I will not be surprised if they are needed well after that date.

James Young

St. Louis Heights

Thiessen distorts facts to criticize Biden

I honestly believe and support a newspaper’s desire to print a variety of political viewpoints. However, it is a struggle for me to swallow the drivel put out by Marc Thiessen.

In a recent column he parsed, diced, split and skewered every comment, sentence and pronouncement of the Biden administration — most of which he used out of context and out of sequence (“The White House’s pathetic response to Putin’s invasion,” Star- Advertiser, Feb. 25).

He all but wound himself into a corkscrew trying to create support for the Donald Trump position that Putin is a great leader to have walked in and taken over all this land.

Please, please, please find us a thoughtful, coherent, intelligent columnist. We’ve suffered this fool long enough.

Andrea Bell

Kailua

Carbon tax can have good results in Hawaii

Clint Churchill and Lindsey Dymond claim carbon taxes increase the cost of living with “no productive effect,” and they cite British Columbia as an example (“Carbon tax expensive, does little good,” Star-Advertiser, Island Voices, Feb. 27).

However, a 2019 article from Reuters states, “A growing body of research has found that the BC carbon tax reduced consumption of gasoline and residential natural gas as well as overall emissions. It also prompted greater uptake of fuel-efficient vehicles, all without loss of jobs or harm to low- income households.”

They also cite Australia’s repeal of its carbon tax to discredit this type of legislation. The primary champion of that repeal, Conservative Prime Minister Tony Abbot, has publicly referred to climate change as “absolute crap.” It’s clearly not “real and obvious” to him.

Hawaii has already inspired other U.S. states to enact aggressive climate legislation through our landmark 2015 100% renewable energy mandate. We need to do the same for a carbon tax.

John Cheever

Kalani Valley

DMV doesn’t evaluate skills of applicants

There are voices in the Legislature in favor of extending the current two-year validity of drivers’ licenses for those above the age of 72. This could be a serious mistake.

While the present regimen does nothing to validate the driving ability of an applicant, it does serve to validate cognitive skills in three other areas:

>> The applicant demonstrates the ability to complete the application form.

>> The applicant proves mobility in that they are able to present themselves at the satellite city hall and await their turn for a new temporary license.

>> The applicant proves solvency by paying the fee to the state for the new license.

Should you note a degree of sarcasm here, good for you.

Mike Spengel

Mililani

Don’t claim equivalence with Maddow, Carlson

I heartily agree with Lawrence Goldstone’s article on censorship (“Censorship in schools,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 25). If every book that a parent objected to were removed from schools, there would soon be nothing left to read. We’re approaching “1984” or “Fahrenheit 451” territory. It may have cost Terry McAuliffe the governorship of Virginia, but there is a reason we entrust education to educators.

However, Goldstone made an error common to many “neutral” observers, and that is one of false equivalency. He characterized Rachel Maddow and Tucker Carlson as “self-serving ideologues.” This makes it appear that they are equally radical. Nothing could be further from the truth.

To equate Maddow’s left-leaning information with Carlson’s blatant misinformation is patently unfair. Even in the article Goldstone ridicules Carlson’s screed against vaccines, but ascribes nothing comparable to Maddow (because there is none). Watching MSNBC might make you angry, but watching FOX News can get you killed.

Jim Keefe

Waikiki

Putin may have gone too far with invasion

I wonder if Russian President Vladimir Putin has sown the seeds of his own destruction with the Ukraine invasion. He has:

>> Caused severe financial restrictions on his oligarch power base.

>> Caused severe economic problems for the country as a whole.

>> Sparked protests from Russian citizens despite their knowing how dangerous it is.

>> Caused NATO to pull together and put more forces on Russia’s border.

>> Made veiled threats of using tactical nuclear weapons.

>> Perhaps even alienated his military leaders by plunging them into a costly war against an enemy who was thought of more as a brother.

Maybe it’s just a dream, but maybe he has finally gone too far.

Jim King

Waikiki

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