The letter by Chip Fletcher (who modestly declined to mention that he is a leading climate-change authority) spurred me to film the recent and never-before-experienced effects of high surf at Kualoa Park and post it on YouTube (https://youtu.be/YRSSF6TSGJ0) (“Climate-change lies obstruct progress,” Star-Advertiser, Feb. 12).

As a regular walker in the park for the past 32 years, I have watched the coastline get chopped away bit by bit and watched the sand cover more and more of the lawn. This year, for the first time, the ocean overflowed the large lawn of the park during high surf a few weeks ago. There is every reason to expect that this phenomenon will occur regularly during high east surf.

This is clear evidence of the heating of the atmosphere. How will Hawaii survive as a viable entity if the high-end scenario of an 8.5-foot sea level rise comes to pass, and what is humankind doing to prevent it?

Not enough, it is clear.

Paul R. Brandon

Ahuimanu

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Caldwell fixated on taxes and rail

Mayor Kirk Caldwell is onto something. Imagine riding above the Kahala traffic nightmare on our new railroad. No need to fix our crumbling sewers and roads.

Just keep raising our taxes (seems he’s already started) and cover our entire island with rail.

Bill Thomas

Kalama Valley

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Prostitution bill promotes violence

House Bill 1533 would legalize prostitution, allowing gorilla pimps to beat women on the assumption that they are sub-human, and therefore without civil and human rights.

Pimps engage in physical and psychological bullying even to the death of the enslaved, who are seen as mere body parts, not persons deserving of respected boundaries.

It is a paradigm that constantly bleeds over into everyday society. One consequence is the rape epidemic in America, with rape kits not processed. So too is “domestic” violence, a travesty of rhetoric, which provides the same entitlement to violate the boundaries of the victim at will.

The rape by pimps of girls to destroy their ability to resist is ignored by a bill that hides evidence in the name of access to female bodies.

There is a reason why America is incapable of electing a woman president.

Susan Liang

Waikiki

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Yes, U.S. is guilty of spreading war

Your article, “U.S. also guilty, Trump answers regarding Putin” (Star-Advertiser, Feb. 6), contains some valid quotes from President Donald Trump.

Trump is quoted as saying on the Fox channel, “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think, our country’s so innocent?”

He also said, “Take a look at what we’ve done, too. We’ve made a lot of mistakes.” He then referred to the Iraq War.

Against that unfortunate country, President George W. Bush in 2003 started a war on the fraudulent premise that Iraq had stored chemical and biological weapons. That war continues to this day, having caused untold numbers of Iraqi deaths, injuries, refugees and other suffering.

Other terrible wars have been unjustifiably inflicted by the U.S. on Afghanistan, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam. In the Vietnam War the U.S. killed 3 million people by means of carpet-bombing, tactical bombing, search-and-destroy missions, and other devastating methods.

“We’ve got a lot of killers,” indeed.

Oliver Lee

Makiki

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Gabbard represents Hawaii, not Syria

In my opinion, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard needs to take a moment to remember who she is. She was elected to Congress mostly because people were voting against Mufi Hannemann. She was re-elected mostly because the weak Republican Party in Hawaii could not come up with a credible opponent for her seat.

Yes, we know full well that the Syrian people are suffering in unspeakable ways. That does not mean we should support Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The situation in the Middle East is extremely complicated and its people have been hating and killing each other for thousands of years.

Yes, Gabbard is entitled to her opinion about what to do about it, but I suggest she spend her time in Washington, D.C., looking for ways she can advocate for the people of Hawaii and find solutions for the problems we face here.

She should study, research, learn and get to work for her constituents.

Judy Soares

Waipahu

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Gabbard shows courage, aloha spirit

Our interventionist approach to forcing regime change on Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya has failed. What we leave behind is a legacy of instability and suffering, while unintentionally empowering our enemies.

Rather than repeat these same mistakes in Syria, U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard went to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Her trip met all congressional ethical requirements. She is reimbursing the costs personally.

Her visit was not about “legitimizing” Assad, but rather about seeking out a peaceful resolution to the brutal and unrelenting Syrian civil war.

Now she has introduced a bill to prevent taxpayer dollars from going to support terrorist groups. These are positive steps worth celebrating.

Instead, Gabbard is being met with negative publicity, including here at home. Attacking her for seeking out peace is absurd.

Gabbard truly embodies the aloha spirit of Hawaii. If we want a peaceful future, we need more courageous leadership, not less.

John Parks

Wilhelmina Rise

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Don’t change name of Honolulu airport

On the issue of renaming our airport, what’s wrong with Honolulu International Airport? Honolulu, like the word Hawaii, conjures up visions of paradise, hula girls, coconut palms and rolling surf throughout the world. Why try to fix what is not broken?

Barbara Wong

Kaneohe