Some suggestions for fact-checking
Thank you, Mr. James Igawa, for taking the time to express your opinion in (the Tribune-Herald and West Hawaii Today, “Trump is ‘cleanest’ person in DC,” Sept. 11) about political and election issues of importance to you. Not enough people do so.
I am afraid you may be getting your information from very limited sources. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but not entitled to their own set of facts.
It is an ever-increasing challenge in these present times to know that information you are hearing or reading is accurate. That is especially true if the source is social media and online blogs. On those platforms, you cannot be sure who is generating the information. There, falsehoods and incomplete information abound.
The best way to check interesting information is to see if other sources report it in a similar matter. Confirmatory sources should be quite distant from original source and with no conflict of interest.
For right wing, conservative fact-checking, try the Wall Street Journal owned by Rupert Murdoch, who also owns Fox News and the New York Post. The latter two admit openly to a right wing bias.
The Wall Street Journal is different in that the news staff remains mostly neutral politically, while the editorial staff is right wing. That is because money managers and investors demand accurate news, regardless who it helps or harms. Also, there is always Goggle search.
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is not true. The world of information is never black and white, but numerous shades of gray.
W.C. Seal
Kailua-Kona
Pohakuloa and mayoral candidates
Our Hawaii County mayoral candidates, Mitch Roth and Kimo Alameda, are a sad case regarding Pohakuloa Training Area’s dangers (Big Island Press Club mayoral forum, Sept. 21).
Mitch and Kimo need to know that the current Pohakuloa lease of 23,000 acres from the state at Pohakuloa is not $1 per year (as they both stated). It’s $1 for 65 years — from 1964 to 2029.
If you don’t even know that, what do you know about depleted uranium radiation (and other military toxins) spreading around our island and blowing in the wind from military bombing, the threat of military toxins to our groundwater, and the 892 admitted fires started at Pohakuloa from military activities since 1975.
One fire in 2022 burned more than 17,000 acres, including more than 12,000 acres off the base in endangered species habitat!
Why are you so ignorant about the elephant in the center of Hawaii Island?
Jim Albertini
Kurtistown
Quotations from Voltaire still relevant
During the congressional investigation of the Jan. 6 insurrection, U.S. Rep. Jamie Raskin repeated an appropriate quote by Voltaire: “Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.”
After watching the debate earlier this month, I was reminded of another by Voltaire stating, “I have never made but one prayer to God, a very short one: ‘O Lord, make my enemies ridiculous.’ And God granted it.”
Jeffrey Fendentz
Mountain View