Would you vote with your feet?
If economic conditions got bad enough, would you choose to live elsewhere?
That’s a recurring theme in the most recent edition of Rich States, Poor States, the ALEC-Laffer state economic competitiveness index written by Jonathan Williams, vice president of the American Legislative Exchange Council Center for State Fiscal Reform, and White House advisers and economists Arthur Laffer and Stephen Moore.
The report examines trends in economic growth, then ranks the economic outlook of the 50 states using 15 different weighted policy variables, from tax rates to labor policies.
For the 12th year in a row, Utah is ranked first overall, reflecting its commitment to pro-growth policies, including low income tax rates, a low sales tax and a business-friendly approach to labor.
Yes. Claire and I must live elsewhere. The cost of living here in Hawaii has grown too high. Maybe people like Mark Zuckerberg can survive here, but not ordinary people. We are headed to Indiana.
The Mauna Loa volcano is picking up the pace when it comes to volcanic activity. Scientists have begun monitoring the Big Island volcano, just in case, it could erupt violently.
Mauna Loa is impressively close to Kilauea, the volcano which erupted for weeks last May. An eruption last year by Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano destroyed more than 700 homes from May through August. Kilauea’s current alert status is “Normal,” but the landscape around the volcano has been permanently altered, creating 250 acres of new land.
Hawaii Department of Health Director Bruce Anderson is urging the Navy to relocate its underground fuel storage facility at Red Hill away from a major source of Oahu’s drinking water.
Anderson told lawmakers Thursday that the state has no power to force the Navy to move the tanks, which sit 100 feet (about 30.5 meters) above a major aquifer, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported on Friday.
Anderson hopes the Navy will agree to reopen a legal agreement entered into in 2015 following a fuel leak at one of its Red Hill fuel tanks.
Anderson said that amending the agreement could make that option more likely. The agreement lays out steps the Navy must take to address fuel releases and increase tank safety.
Tulsi's 65,000 Donors Qualify Her for June Debates!
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D., Hawaii) said Russian president Vladimir Putin "must be really happy" about the results of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, which found no conspiracy between President Donald Trump's campaign and Russia.
"So just because there was not enough evidence for a criminal charge of conspiracy does not mean that this very cozy relationship that Donald Trump has with Vladimir Putin—who, by the way, must be really happy that this came about—that this kind of cozy relationship that is not good for our country, in that it's not transparent, will continue," Hirono said during an appearance on MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports.
This from our Senator who did not know it is actually a crime to step across our border without permission.
Cause I'm a hungry man !
I strongly supported Mueller being allowed to complete his investigation and submit his findings. Now that Mueller has found no collusion took place, we need to set aside our partisan interests and recognize that finding the president of the United States not guilty of conspiring with a foreign power to interfere with our elections is a good thing for America.
If the president of the United States had been indicted for conspiring with Russia to interfere with and affect the outcome of our elections it would have precipitated a terribly divisive crisis that could have even led to civil war.
The train through paradise should have been complete by now.
The dream was an elevated rail system to bypass what has been some of the country’s worst traffic, whisking commuters from the farmland and swelling suburbs of West Oahu into the heart of Honolulu. The 20-mile route parallels one of the world’s most glorious tropical shorelines.
Amid angry shouts of “hewa!” (wrong!) and “illegal sales”, four parcels of land surrounded by the 700-acre estate of the Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, were auctioned Friday on the island of Kauai.
But in a surprise twist, the bidder backed by Zuckerberg won only three of the parcels, while a rival group prevailed on the fourth.
In a contentious transaction, attorneys bid on behalf of their clients. On one side was a group led by several members of the holdout Rapozo family; on the other was the retired Hawaiian studies professor Carlos Andrade, a relative of the Rapozos said to have the financial backing of Zuckerberg.
Tulsi Gabbard visited the San Francisco Bay Area last weekend. The three term Congresswoman from Hawaii is 37 years old and ethnically diverse. Remarkably, she has 15 years of military experience in the US Army and National Guard as well as substantial political experience. She was elected to the Hawaii State Assembly at age 21.
Tulsi Gabbard supports progressive domestic policy issues including criminal justice reform, healthcare-for-all, national and international steps to protect the environment. She has a high approval rating on gay issues.
What makes Gabbard really distinctive is her emphasis and approach to US foreign policy. While other candidates largely avoid the subject, Tulsi Gabbard says the issue is “central” to all other issues. She says we need to change the policy of “regime change wars” and “new cold war” with Russia and China. She advocates cooperation instead of conflict.
The state has warned the Honolulu rail authority that it will not release funding for invoices that are being scrutinized by the federal government as part of the ongoing federal investigation of the city rail project, according to state Comptroller Curt Otaguro….
As of the end of last year, DAGS had refused to reimburse HART for invoices worth $40.4 million until rail officials provide more information, Otaguro said.
Democrat presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard issued a statement in favor of free speech earlier today, calling on Americans to “stand united” against attempts by Facebook and others to “censor,” “stifle,” and “influence” public debate.
Gabbard, a Democratic representative from Hawaii who served in Iraq with the Army National Guard, is known for her opposition to interventionist regime change wars, and has opposed continuing U.S. intervention in Syria.
She added her voice to a growing bipartisan chorus condemning social media platforms for censorship.
Representative Tulsi Gabbard has made reforming United States foreign policy, particularly ending what she calls “regime change wars” and the “new Cold War and nuclear arms race,” central to her 2020 presidential campaign. She is virtually the only presidential candidate warning of the specter of nuclear war.
Hawaiian Airlines was the most punctual carrier in the US last year closely followed by Delta, new figures have revealed.
The US Department of Transport has released its official Air Travel Consumer Report, which details the on-time performance for America's 10 biggest carriers in 2018.
It also shows that the airline with the worst punctuality was Frontier, which was on-time just 69.4 per cent of the time.
Normally when a Democratic Party-aligned politician appears on such a show, you can expect jokes about how stupid Trump is and how badly they’re going to beat the Republicans, how they’re going to help ordinary Americans, and maybe some friendly back-and-forth about where they grew up or something. Colbert had no time to waste on such things, however, because this was not an interview with a normal Democratic Party-aligned politician: this was a politician who has been loudly and consistently criticizing US foreign policy.
A Magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck the south flank of K?lauea Volcano on Hawai?i Island at 12:55 a.m. HST early Wednesday morning.
The earthquake occurred at a depth of 6.3 km and was felt all across the Big Island. It was felt strongest in Volcano Village.
For a short time, the USGS website also measured the earthquake at a possible Magnitude 4.8, but later appeared to confirm a Magnitude 5.3 measurement. The strength of the quake was later revised to a 5.5.
Just kidding! It turns out Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) is a fan of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey's (D-MA) ambitious Green New Deal. Hirono was justifiably confused about how her Hawaii constituents would fare if the measure passed, considering it calls for things like reduced air travel.
Mazie Hirono, it must be remembered, did not know it is actually illegal for people to simply walk into this nation without going through the immigration process.
CB: … State lawmakers want to repeal an annual rail audit requirement in part, they say, to get out of the way of federal investigators now probing the multibillion-dollar transit project.
On Tuesday, the House passed House Bill 118, a measure that was overhauled earlier via the “gut-and-replace” procedure. The revised bill would free the state auditor from having to inspect Honolulu rail’s invoices each year, making sure those expenses comply with what state law allows.
A similar measure is moving in the Senate.
As part of their 2017 rail bailout, state leaders gave the Department of Accounting and General Services $400,000 to verify that all rail expenditures are legitimate — that they relate directly to construction — before reimbursing the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation for the costs.
South Dakota law school: Hawaiian Day is offensive. Hawaii state rep: No it's not.
“The lei is a symbol of our Aloha spirit in Hawaii, inclusive and welcoming. One individual’s objection to its use at a festive event is both patronizing and an insult to our island tradition"
Hawaii state Rep. Bob McDermott commented on the situation in a letter to the editor published by the University of South Dakota's school newspaper, The Volante, and claimed that usage of the leis is not offensive, but honorable.
CB: … the climate commission’s work has only begun. The 20-member group has adopted a landmark sea level rise report, which includes online mapping tools for the public and state agencies to use for planning. In November, it unanimously called on the Legislature to pass a carbon tax to incentivize people to change their habits for the planet’s well-being (environmentalists’ private profit)….
On the Senate side, the biggest is a proposed carbon tax — a sweeping environmental policy reform that would affect virtually everyone in Hawaii.
Senate Bill 1463, introduced by Sen. Karl Rhoads and six colleagues, unanimously passed the 25-member chamber. It was transmitted to the 51-member House on Tuesday.
It’s the only version of a carbon tax still alive. Two House bills, far different than Rhoads’ proposal, died without a hearing. One related measure, House Bill 1584, is still moving forward but it only calls for a study by the University of Hawaii….
A group of Hawaii state legislators wants Congress to repeal the right to bear arms — or at least specify that it is not an individual right. The resolution filed Tuesday in the Hawaii Senate, SCR42, is backed by freshman state Sen. Stanley Chang, best known for defeating the chamber’s last Republican in 2016.
Chang’s measure, which has four co-sponsors, would request Washington discuss either scrapping the Second Amendment altogether or clarifying that it only applies to organizations such as state militias.
Chang, a Honolulu attorney who studied law under now-U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, throws rocks at the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2008 Heller ruling that held the Second Amendment protected an individual right to arms.
Legislators in Hawaii, which has some of the most restrictive gun laws in the United States, moved this week to bring their concerns about the Second Amendment to the national level.
in light of the numerous tragic mass shootings at schools, work places, and public events, this body believes that it is necessary to repeal or amend the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution.
a"dopt a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution pursuant to article V of the United States Constitution to clarify the constitutional right to bear arms."
Our Hawaiian Congressional Representatives would certainly win a prize for being some of the most fact-challenged people on this planet.
They are NOT going to get this ratified by Congress, nor should it be.
The Second Amendment was placed there by people who understood what capricious leaders could potentially do against the citizens of their country; and it is this right to bear arms which keeps a capricious government at bay.
Of course, Congressional Representatives would NEVER in a million years, define themselves as "capricious".
And let's also take a look at Hawaii's state representatives, who signed of a Light Rail to Nowhere, which is now is way over budget, and massively off its schedule.
Some people made a lot of money on this deal; but it sure as heck wasn't most of the people living and commuting on Oahu.
December 018: The cost of the 20-mile elevated rail plan has surpassed $8 billion.
The FBI says a former Honolulu deputy prosecutor used cocaine with her brother and others involved in a drug distribution conspiracy and using her position to cover up their crimes.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Friday that the allegation is contained in an FBI affidavit to support a search warrant request on Deputy Prosecutor Katherine Kealoha's brother, physician Rudolph Puana.
Kealoha and Puana are charged in a February 7 federal grand jury indictment on drug charges.
Last week, the Hawaii state Senate Committee on Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs passed three anti-gun bills out of committee that could come up for a vote on the Senate floor.
Please contact your state Senator and urge them to OPPOSE Senate Bills 600, 621, and 1466. Click the “Take Action” button below to contact your state Senator.
First, one might imagine that she would be the dream candidate for the Democratic Party: she is a female, she is not White, she has impeccable “patriotic” credentials, she is obviously both very good looking and very smart, she does not have any skeletons in her past (at least none that we know of for the time being) and she is not associated with the notorious Clinton gang. So what’s there not to like about her if you are a Democrat?
Well, as we all saw, the putatively “liberal” legacy Ziomedia hates Tulsi Gabbard with a passion. Maybe not as much as that legacy Ziomedia hates Trump or Putin, but still – the levels of hostility against her are truly amazing. This may seem bizarre until you realize that, just like Donald Trump, Tulsi Gabbard has said all the right things about Israel, but that this was not nearly “enough” to please the US Ziolobby.
The Winter Weather Advisory has been extended and is now in effect until 10 a.m. for the summit of Haleakal? on Maui and the summits of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa on Hawai?i Island.
The National Weather Service says occasional snow showers will continue to impact the highest elevations through mid morning Saturday. Snow covered and icy roadways leading to the summits will make travel to the summits extremely dangerous.
Due to the life-threatening conditions, the National Park Service has closed the road leading to the summit of Haleakal?. Travel to the summits should be avoided until the roadways have been cleared from snow and ice and deemed safe for travel.
Across the country, people are getting fed up with large, expensive public works projects that siphon away taxpayer funds.
In January, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo canceled a plan years in the making that would have shut down New York City’s L Train for tunnel repairs. Instead, he opted for a substantially cheaper plan concocted in a matter of weeks by a team of unpaid academic engineers. What’s more, the new plan can be carried out on nights and weekends, so the city won’t have to shut down service for more than a year while it’s completed.
If Cuomo’s plan works, it will be a rebuke to big, expensive and time-consuming government projects — and a black eye for the agency that insisted big and expensive was the only option.
Nor is New York the only state exploring alternatives to a public works boondoggle.
What Early Spring? It's Snowing in Hawaii — and for the First Time Ever at One State Park!
Despite Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction for an early spring, winter isn’t letting go of its hold just yet — in fact, it’s setting records … in Hawaii.
A major winter storm that began rolling in over the weekend has forced many state parks across the islands to close, the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources reported in a Facebook post on Sunday.
Snow and ice shut down Haleakala National Park’s Summit District on Sunday, while downpours and strong winds took down power lines and trees, and high surf pushed boats ashore in West and South Maui.
The wintry conditions were brought on by a powerful storm tracking southward toward the Hawaiian Islands, bringing a band of enhanced moisture and predictions of up to 3 inches of snow on the summit of Haleakala, the National Weather Service said.
Shortly after noon on Sunday, the Summit District was closed due to snowy and icy road conditions, as well as power outages throughout the district, park spokesperson Nancy Stimson said. The closure was scheduled to remain in effect through at least 9 a.m. today, and today’s sunrise viewing was also canceled. Maui County officials also warned the public not to drive toward the summit.
Snow falls in Hawaii a few times a year in winter on the state's highest peak, Mauna Kea rising 13,803 elevation in feet, but the white stuff is rarely seen at elevations below 9,000 feet to 10,000 feet.
On Sunday, Maui's 10,ooo-foot Haleakala received a thick dusting and snow also accumulated at 6,200 feet in Polipoli State Recreation Area.
Officials at the Department of Land and Natural Resources say this could mark the lowest-elevation snowfall ever recorded in the state.
A deadly winter storm battered Hawaii over the weekend, bringing dangerous surf conditions, heavy snow and damaging winds.
Waves near Waimea Bay on the north shore of Oahu surpassed 60 feet Sunday afternoon, meteorologist Gavin Shigesato with the National Weather Service Honolulu forecast office told USA TODAY.
Surf heights hit 45 feet on another part of the island, according to observation reports. A 66-year-old California man died Friday after getting stuck in rough ocean conditions off northwest Maui, Hawaii News Now said.
A monstrous 191-mph wind gust was recorded on the peak of Mauna Kea on the Big Island Sunday, the weather service said.
A massive complex of 20 U.S. military storage tanks is buried in a bluff called Red Hill that overlooks Honolulu’s primary drinking water supply, 100 feet below.
The walls on the 75-year-old jet fuel tanks are now so thin that the edge of a dime is thicker. Each of the underground tanks holds 12.5 million gallons of jet fuel; 225,000,000 gallons in total.
In 2014, 27,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked through a weak spot on a tank that had been repaired with a welded patch. The welding gave way and the fuel entered the the water supply.
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI) expressed skepticism about progressive Democrats’ Green New Deal proposal Thursday, saying the goal of replacing necessary air travel with high-speed rail transport would be burdensome on her home state of Hawaii.
“That would be pretty hard for Hawaii,” Hirono said of the far-left environmental proposal unveiled Thursday by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), according to Fox News’ Chad Pergram. Hawaii is roughly 2,500 miles away from Los Angeles, California, with a flight time of four and a half hours.
When Tulsi Gabbard announced her plans to run in the 2020 presidential election, I predicted that it would disrupt war propaganda narratives and force a much-needed conversation about US interventionism, but I didn’t realize that it would happen so quickly, so ubiquitously, and so explosively. Gabbard officially began her campaign for president a mere three days ago, and already she’s become the front line upon which the debate about US warmongering is happening. Even if you oppose Gabbard’s run for the presidency, this should be self-evident to you by now.
Nothing good can ever come from the government dictating to people what they are allowed to put in their bodies, and that includes smoking. Are we free or not? Do we own ourselves or not? Governments assume they own us as tax cattle and therefore it’s their right to tell us how to live our lives. Unfortunately, too many bow down to the whims of the state while others enforce these nanny state policies.
Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D – HI) is a perfect case study with what is wrong with American politics. She represents fairly standard Democratic party positions on issues like gay rights, gun control, health care and redistributive tax policy.
But on the crucial issue of foreign policy she’s a dissenter. And, from what I can figure out, this dissention comes from a principled position.
And that makes her persona non grata in the current political climate of partisanship.
Anti-war American lawmaker, Tulsi Gabbard, has rejected a 2020 endorsement by David Duke, a founder and former grand wizard of the notorious Ku Klux Klan (KKK).
“I have strongly denounced David Duke’s hateful views and his so-called ‘support’ multiple times in the past, and reject his support,” said the first Hindu member of US Congress in a statement to The Hill on Tuesday.
“Tulsi Gabbard in 2020. Finally, a candidate for president who will really put America First?” he tweeted Monday.
But the whole story was a sham: The only “expert” cited by NBC in support of its key claim was the firm New Knowledge, which just got caught by the New York Times fabricating Russian troll accounts on behalf of the Democratic Party in the Alabama Senate race to manufacture false accusations that the Kremlin was interfering in that election.
A Kauai firefighter suffered several large lacerations to his leg Monday afternoon after an apparent shark bite in Kauai’s Hanalei Bay.
Authorities closed the popular swimming and surfing spot after the incident, which happened about 1:45 p.m.
Kauai authorities said the surfer injured in the shark bite was in stable condition.
The other day Hawaii congresswoman and Democratic presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard came out with what remains the strongest rejection of the Trump administration’s regime change interventionism in Venezuela out of anyone likely to run for the presidency in 2020.
“The United States needs to stay out of Venezuela,” Gabbard tweeted.
Boom. Unambiguous, unequivocal, and without any of the “Yeah Maduro is an evil monster, but” modifiers that other officials (including Bernie Sanders) have been prefacing their feeble objections to Trump’s campaign to topple the Venezuelan government with. Which of course outraged all the usual war pundits, including the Washington Post’s most reliable military-industrial complex fluffer Josh Rogin.
Sky gazers in Hawaii were treated to a rare treat of a super blood wolf moon on Sunday and Monday.
The celestial phenomenon occurs when a total lunar eclipse happens at the same time as a super moon — and in January.
“There’s one main issue that is central to the rest, and that is the issue of war and peace.” Those were the words of Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard, Democrat of Hawaii, appearing on CNN on January 12, as she threw her hat into the presidential ring.
Gabbard is one of the few Democrats in the 2020 mix who has experience as a combatant in war. Back in 2004, at the peak of fighting in Iraq, she volunteered for duty with the Hawaii National Guard as it was deployed to that country. So for her, as well as for all the other veterans of our recent wars of choice, America’s Middle East policy is more than an object for armchair strategizing.
Thus did Gabbard smile in agreement when CNN host Van Jones summarized her views as “hawk on terror, dove on regime change.” And most Americans would agree: that is, everybody wants an anti-terrorism policy, but few want more foreign wars and regime changes.
I was born within the Pacific Ring of Fire. Where I grew up in the North Cascades, I could see volcanos from basically every room in the house. Sauk Mountain you could sometimes see the indentation at the top. Mount Baker was nearby, and steam was sometimes seen coming out of it. Of course, there was Mount Rainier as well, towering over Seattle. Part of the reason my Dad thought it was a good idea to move back to his home state of North Carolina was that between floods and all the possible volcanic eruptions, it did not seem like a great place to be in the long term.
On 22 December 2016, a retired professor of Hawaiian studies named Carlos Andrade sent a letter to dozens of his relatives informing them that he was about to sue them.
The relatives were among hundreds of partial owners of four small parcels of land on the island of Kauai, the legacy of a shared ancestor named Manuel Rapozo. A neighboring landowner, Northshore Kalo LLC, was willing to pay the legal fees to clear up the title on the property – enabling Andrade to take full ownership and compensate his fellow descendants for their shares.
It wasn’t until nearly a month later that the Honolulu Star-Advertiser broke the news that Northshore Kalo LLC was not a taro farm, as some had assumed (“kalo” means “taro” in Hawaiian), but a shell corporation controlled by Mark Zuckerberg. The Facebook founder was pursuing eight separate lawsuits related to parcels of land that, like the Rapozo parcels, were surrounded by his 700-acre Kauai estate.
Hawaii Representative Tulsi Gabbard has announced her intent to campaign for President of the United States, and the entire political spectrum is shitting bricks about it. Mainstream liberals and neocons are calling her a Putin puppet and Assad’s BFF, leftists and progressives are criticizing her associations with right-wing factions in India and anti-LGBT comments she made in the early 2000s, conspiracy analysts are criticizing her Council on Foreign Relations membership, and the Zionist elements of Trump’s base are openly promising to destroy her candidacy. A lot of others, myself included, got a lot more interested in the 2020 elections when she threw her hat in.
A spokesman for Ed Case explained that the newly sworn-in congressman was referencing something that his Japanese-American wife says about him, but some accused him of trying to score political points by playing the race card.
Democratic Representative for Hawaii's first district Ed Case faced public backlash criticism for his comments on racial identity, prompting him to apologise.
"I'm an Asian trapped in a white body," Case claimed on Tuesday at a Washington, D.C. event dedicated to newly minted members of Congress with Asian American and Pacific Islander roots.
With China rising to become an ever greater threat to American dominance in the Pacific , the United States Air Force has started to rotate its premier long-range strike assets to the region as a counter to Beijing’s increasing belligerence.
Earlier this year, the Air Force deployed three Northrop Grumman B-2A Spirit stealth bombers to Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii in order to demonstrate America’s ability to hold any target on Earth at risk—including deep inside Chinese airspace.
Hawaiian Democratic Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard's just announced 2020 presidential bid has unleashed fury from both the right and the left, but more so from within her own party, and especially from corners long focused on regime change in Syria and who generally lobby for a more muscular "boots on the ground" foreign policy from Ukraine to Syria to Afghanistan. Some pundits have already gone so far as to say "keep an eye on her finances," suggesting illegal foreign campaign funding through Damascus or Moscow.
In 2012, the City and County of Honolulu broke ground on a 20.1 mile elevated rail transit system extending from Kapolei to Ala Moana.
We found that, as the Honolulu Rail Transit Project progressed and costs swelled from $5.122 billion in 2012 to $9.188 billion in 2018, HART began reporting information to the public that often contradicted its own internal projections or differed from what it was telling the Federal Transit Administration.
We found that HART’s inaccurate reporting of its estimated costs to complete the Project and the estimated date by which it expected to begin full operations undermined the Board’s oversight, obscured the extent of the Project’s financial problems, and eroded public confidence.
Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) is running for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. The Samoan and Hindu congresswoman is an Iraq War veteran and an outspoken critic of US ‘regime change’ policy in Syria.
“I have decided to run and will be making a formal announcement within the next week,” Gabbard told CNN’s Van Jones, the network revealed on Friday evening. The interview will air on Saturday evening.
“There are a lot of reasons for me to make this decision. There are a lot of challenges that are facing the American people that I'm concerned about and that I want to help solve,” she said, mentioning healthcare access, criminal justice reform and climate change as her key platform issues.
Tulsi Gabbard, the Democratic US representative from Hawaii, said she will run for president in 2020, CNN reported on Friday.
“I have decided to run and will be making a formal announcement within the next week,” she said in an interview with CNN that is scheduled to air on Saturday.
Gabbard is a 37-year-old Iraq war veteran and the first Hindu and first Samoan-American elected to the US Congress. She said “the issue of war and peace” would be the main focus of her campaign.
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard took aim at Democratic colleagues, including U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, accusing them of religious bigotry in their questioning of Brian Buescher, a nominee to the U.S. District Court of Nebraska, in an opinion piece published by The Hill yesterday.
There’s at least one Hawaii lawmaker who supports the idea of a Trump-Kim meeting in the islands.
Last March, state Rep. Gene Ward suggested just that as a way to start a dialogue with North Korea.
“Many in Hawaii, including myself, consider our island home to have the potential to be the ‘Geneva of the Pacific,’ a place where disputes can be settled," wrote Ward, in a letter to the White House.
The island of Hawaii was created by five volcanoes. In 2018, one of them seemed intent on destroying parts of it.
Kilauea, which has been erupting continually since 1983 at a volcanic cone called Puu Oo Crater, threw a geological tantrum in the spring that buried hundreds of houses and covered roads in a remote location on the east side of the island.
It also created a cloak of vog (volcanic smog) that fouled the air, dulled the skies and scared away scores of tourists and, with them, nearly half-a-billion dollars.
The casual visitor to Hawaii may be surprised to learn that a number of French chefs have been reimagining the islands' cuisine by incorporating a variety of ingredients and culinary techniques that are traditionally associated with France.
This blending of distinct cooking styles has resulted in the creation of some delectable specialties that speak "aloha" with a French accent, ranging from fresh seafood dishes to inventive and delectable pastries.
Why are residents leaving Hawaii?
Moving away has always been a fact of life in our islands, but lately it’s been getting worse. For the second year in a row, the state’s population declined. Between July 2017 and July 2018, we lost an average of 10 people per day. Yes, there were more births than deaths. Yes, there were 4,075 people who migrated here from other countries. But we also lost 12,430 residents who moved to the mainland.
There’s no mystery as to why so many people move away. The Christophers, Michaels and thousands of others are very willing to tell their stories … and many of them have, via the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii’s Facebook page.
It comes down to opportunity. Hawaii is notorious for its high taxes and excessive regulations. Land-use laws have throttled development, and housing here is ridiculously expensive. Hawaii’s cost of living is the highest in the U.S., but policymakers are unwilling to reduce the taxes, fees and other economic barriers that contribute to the problem.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is going to great lengths to protect his privacy on the Hawaiian island of Kauai, where he purchased a 700-acre plot of land in 2014 for more than $100 million. Starting last month, Zuckerberg began filing lawsuits against Hawaiian land owners who own small slices of his estate that were passed down from generation to generation, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser. As many as eight suits have been filed against hundreds of people, some of whom are dead. Notably, this isn’t the first of the social network exec’s attempts to buy his privacy; Zuckerberg’s plan to teardown and rebuild four of his Palo Alto, California homes surrounding his primary residence was denied last September.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi was spotted at a luxury hotel in Hawaii just before the partial government shutdown entered its seventh day Friday, with little sign of progress to end it.
The likely speaker didn't appear to miss out on any negotiations, as talks between the White House and Democratic congressional leaders appear to have ceased, even as hundreds of thousands of federal employees remain on furlough.
Pelosi's office says the White House hasn't contacted them since December 11, when Trump said at a tense meeting he would claim the 'mantle' of a shutdown.
It turns out the nearly 100-year-old federal law doesn’t just apply to shipping vessels, but other qualifying vessels such as surfboards and kayaks, which negatively affects workers' compensation insurance for small businesses in Hawaii.
The Jones Act or “Merchant Marine Act of 1920” is a federal protectionist law that governs maritime activities and provides seamen with a personal injury negligence remedy. The federal law increases costs to ship owners and consumers by requiring shipping vessels transporting goods between U.S. ports to be built in and flagged by the U.S. and also to be 75 percent owned and crewed by Americans. The federal law not only increases the cost of living for Hawaii residents, but now it also affects small recreational water-sport businesses.
A simple change in the federal law to exclude recreational water-sport vessels from the Jones Act would reduce premium costs for businesses, which would only have to purchase and comply with state coverage rules.
For the first time since statehood in 1959, Hawaii’s population declined for two consecutive years with fewer births, more deaths and a greater number of residents moving to the mainland.
The trend is alarming because without enough people economic growth could be affected, said Eugene Tian, state economist with Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism.
Routh Bolomet's fight to save her land has not only exposed rampant corruption in the "real estate" industry in collusion with the "State of Hawaii" courts, but it's raised issues of international law. The memorandum issued by UN Independent Expert, Dr. Alfred deZayas confirmed what we have been saying for years: that the United States' presumption of sovereignty over the Hawaiian Islands is unlawful, and that Hawaii is, as Dr. deZayas put it, under a "strange form of occupation."
The Hawaii Democrat, who has made visits to the first two voting states of the presidential primary, is looking to tap the same progressive firm that helped Bernie in 2016.
One constant in our city is that money always seems to excuse absurdity.
We saw it when Mayor Kirk Caldwell ripped the Trump administration for denying the dire warnings of its National Climate Assessment, only to practice his own climate denial when it came to Honolulu rail and the development around it.
It would be unthinkable, he said, to take advantage of new climate knowledge and stop rail at Middle Street or reroute it along Beretania Street to the University of Hawaii instead of continuing to aim it at a future swamp in Kakaako and Ala Moana.
“The investment, the infrastructure, the real property values are just too tremendous to do that,” he said. Even if all the money ends up underwater, apparently.
On Friday, September 21, officers from the Honolulu Police Department and the state sheriff’s office responded to a call regarding a purported threat of physical violence against Khara Jabola-Carolus, executive director of Hawaii’s State Commission on the Status of Women.
After investigating the incident, police concluded that there had been no physical threat….
Officials with the city, state and federal governments who spoke on condition that they not be identi­fied told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that they are aware of the federal inquiry, which involves the Honolulu branch of the U.S. Attorney’s office. An investigator with the state Attorney General’s office is also involved, according to multiple sources….
Sources who describe the interest from federal authorities as an investigation were unsure what aspect of the rail project is under scrutiny….
Some of the cost increases within the project budget have been breathtaking. HART documents show the budget for professional services such as engineering, project management and construction management for rail ballooned from $1.183 billion in 2012 to more than $2.08 billion today.
Another budget category called “sitework and special conditions,” which includes utility relocation work, increased from $1.1 billion in 2012 to more than $2.54 billion today….
Bruno Mars will mark the end of his massive "24K Magic World Tour" by providing meals to 24,000 Hawaii residents in need for the Thanksgiving holiday.
The Hawaiian-born singer announced Sunday he has donated money for the food to the Salvation Army's Hawaiian and Pacific Islands Division, which hosts an annual Thanksgiving meal program to help those in need.
Mars is set to perform the final show of his 200-date tour at Aloha Stadium in Honolulu on Sunday. It is his third consecutive night at the 50,000-seat venue.
Hawaii Civics 101: What's A ConCon?
A widely cited study issued last month by WalletHub erroneously stated that Hawaii public school teachers make a starting salary of only $24,409 when adjusted for cost of living, supposedly lowest in the nation.
In reality, Hawaii teachers make starting salaries that are $35,140 when adjusted for the cost of living, which is above the national average.
In response to a request for information from the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii, WalletHub said it assumed a cost-of-living index for Hawaii of 188.3. It attributed that number to a report by the Council for Community and Economic Research, which catalogues cost-of-living indices of urban areas nationally.
Initially, I thought she was exaggerating. But now when I look at the largely ineffective battle by the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation (HART) to control its costs, it occurs to me that she might have been right. A recent analysis by the Federal Transit Administration found that the project is costing more than HART anticipated. This, of course, is no surprise: In 2012 the city’s funding agreement with the FTA put the cost at $5.26 billion and completion by 2020, while the latest estimate is $9 billion and completion by 2025.
The only promise that is new about the promised peace plan is the way it will be forced on the Palestinians: no one has promised that the plan itself will be new. With Saudi Arabia and Egypt—the outside—brought onside with the promise of continued military aid despite their crimes against humanity and violations of international law and the Palestinians weakened by being silenced, economically crushed and stripped of any friends to help them, the United States and Israel are now free to attempt to impose a peace plan on the Palestinians.
And that’s one of the problems with the ballot measure to raise taxes for public education.
Hirono's assertion that there was corroborating evidence that supported Ford's story is false, as prosecutor Rachel Mitchell specifically noted in her 5-page memo on Ford's testimony. All the witnesses Ford claims exist have "either refuted her allegations or failed to corroborate them."
Hirono later suggested that the presumption of innocence should not apply to Kavanaugh because "this is not a court of law" and said that the FBI's investigation was a "sham."
"I want to ask you about the atmosphere. The president and Republicans, what they are saying is that Democratic protesters are -- quote -- 'an angry mob,'" Bash said as Hirono laughed. And what I want to ask you about is, you know, it is one thing to protest at the Supreme Court, to do it at the Capitol. That's been done for generations and, frankly, since the founding of this country."
Kilauea has once again started to show activity, after a month of rapid calm and relative stillness.
The USGS has recently put out their daily report monitoring the volcano, and have noted smoke emerging from one of the previously active fissures.
Fissure 8, which was explosive during Kilauea’s last eruption, has been spotted fuming over the last few days.
The report has not mentioned the composition of the fumes, but lava activity from within the fissures is likely what caused it.
The volcano didn’t start slowing down its eruptions until August. P?hoa in the Puna District was especially affected, leaving residents in a constant state of uncertainty.
And of course, the government failed to provide sufficient relief.
It’s no secret that the government – more specifically – FEMA, often fails to act adequately or quickly enough when disaster strikes. FEMA has been cited in on-the-ground reports to turn community help away when people bring food, citing ridiculous regulations. Yet some of the food they provided after Hurricane Matthew was allegedly mal-nourishing and didn’t meet basic calorie requirements. To make matters worse, a year after the hurricane, the crumbling infrastructure still needed repair and families still needed help – yet FEMA froze the Matthew fund, to send those monies to other, more pressing hurricane relief efforts.
I stopped watching 60 Minutes over 20 years ago, after watching a segment about something I was very informed about. After watching how 60 Minutes reported the segment, it was like a light bulb coming on in my head ! I knew instantly that 60 Minutes was NOT the "Crusader of Facts" that I thought they were. I began to wonder how many times 60 Minutes might have distorted the truth on untold numbers of segments I had watched over the years! I guess you can say I became a 'conspiracy theorist' from that day forward. I do my own research now, and I don't trust one source.?
Note: If you have watched this it would be rewarding to watch again. If it is the first time it is a must.
Travelers anxious to visit the newly reopened Hawaii Volcanoes National Park can take advantage of two new tours being offered by KapohoKine Adventures, the company announced Sept. 24.
People living in Hawaii weren’t happy with the “solutions” provided by the government for people displaced by Kilauea’s lengthy eruption. So instead of complaining, they banded together as a community and solved the problem themselves.
A national park in Hawaii has reopened after being closed for more than four months because of Kilauea volcano’s latest eruption, which caused widespread damage to park infrastructure and dramatically changed its landscape.
Months after eruptions at the Big Island's Kilauea volcano forced the record-long closure of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, the popular tourist destination will reopen Saturday without one key element — lava.
Back in April, a massive lava lake continued to boil and bubble at the park until eruptions beginning in May emptied the lake entirely of its molten rock. Now, all that remains is a large, gaping hole.
"Beginning in May, 2018, the lava lake that existed inside Halema‘uma‘u crater disappeared and lava flows from Pu?u ???? crater have ceased," the park warned on its website. "There is no molten lava or lava glow to see anywhere in or out of the park."
Claire and I were lucky to have visited the volcano while there were active lava flows!
Volcanic explosions shut down this national park. It’s about to reopen — without any lava.
For the last decade, a cauldron stewed inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park.
A giant lake of churning lava, over 500 feet across and hundreds of feet deep, drew visitors from around the planet to the lake's eerie red glow, visible at night as the sun set beyond Hawaii's Big Island. Just in April, the burgeoning lava lake overflowed its banks and spilled onto the floor of the volcano's summit.
But over four months later, the scorching lake is gone. Following an onslaught of volcanic quaking and explosions this summer, it drained, completely.
A Hawaii cat sanctuary that's home to 600 feral felines has become a full-blown tourist attraction known as the 'Fur Seasons'.
Kathy 'Kat' Carroll had the idea to open the sanctuary after she moved to the small island of Lanai in 2001 and was shocked to find hundreds of homeless and starving cats roaming the island.
Nearly two decades later, those cats are living a much easier life enjoying regular meals, massages and more than enough attention thanks to Lanai Cat Sanctuary.
Hawaii volcano update: Evacuation notice LIFTED - What is Kilauea doing now?
HAWAII was once under the fiery influence of the Kilauea volcano, which spouted metric tonnes of lava across the Big Island. Recently, Kilauea has calmed down, allowing evacuation notices to be rescinded, but what is it doing now?
Portions of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park will reopen next week.
On Friday, park officials said reopened portions including the Kilauea Visitor Center, the Kilauea Iki Overlook, and a stretch of the Crater Rim Trail between Volcano House and the Kilauea Military Camp.
The park closed in May amid explosive eruptions at Kilauea's summit.
But in recent weeks, those eruptions have quieted — though officials haven't said whether they believe they've stopped entirely.
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