Why Trump is criticized
Richard Amacher (Your Views, Sept. 25) complains that Donald Trump is attacked in the media because he is an outsider to national politics. Donald Trump is criticized because he is a con artist who only cares about getting more money for himself.
During his 2016 campaign for president, he gave boot-licking praise to Vladimir Putin. Trump did not expect to win the election, but he hoped to be favored to build a Trump tower in Moscow after bringing the Miss Universe contest there in 2013.
During the presidential debates, he boasted about the years he did not pay taxes. This was because he undervalued his assets, for which he is finally being sued (undervalued for taxes, overvalued for bank loans) for fraud in New York, and because he had write-offs from hundreds of millions of losses as a horrible businessman building casinos.
He had made money earlier in real estate helping newly minted ’90s Russian oligarchs move their unstable money out of the collapsed Soviet Union and then again later with his TV show. There was, however, the failed Trump University tuition scam and always the variety of stiffed contractors faced down by Trump’s lawyers.
Trump is criticized, because in his post-presidency fundraising, he preys on the paranoid QAnon conspiracy theories of his base voters.
Even if he were writing in New York, Mr. Amacher need not worry about the FBI actually knocking on his door at 5 a.m. and throwing him in a dark place with no sunshine. In his mind, he is apparently already in one.
William Mautz
Kurtistown
Cruise ships ‘bad news’
The cruise ship industry is dumping its exhaust gas-scrubber wastewater into marine waters where coral reefs are located. This harms the reefs themselves, threatening marine wildlife that depend on them, and contaminating oceans.
Cruise ships are bad news for all marine creatures, dumping huge amounts of food, plastic and glass which ends up in the bellies of turtles, fish, whales, dolphins, sea lions. (Do your health a favor: Consume less or no fish. I do!)
Whales suffer violent collisions with all ships. These ships are so big they are not aware of an accident until they arrive in port, where they find a dead whale across its bow.
The noise created by skyscraper-sized ships negatively impacts the whales’ hearing and behavior.
Call your state senators and representatives to voice your concerns. Call Michael Regan, director of the Environmental Protection Agency. His number is (202) 564-4700. Call the Pacific Islands EPA office at (808) 541-2710, or write to 300 Ala Moana Blvd. No. 5124, Honolulu, HI 96850.
Thanks for your activism!
Gary Harrold
Hilo