Medicated Weed: DOH Hires Contractor to Track Every Seed
Jail Near You? 11 Sites Identified for OCCC Relocation
Dante Carpenter: Tulsi Gabbard ‘Cliches Galore’
SA: …Prominent Hawaii Democrats were cautious in their reactions Monday, saying they want to see what Gabbard actually does before passing judgment.
Dante Carpenter, a former Hawaii Democratic Party chairman and member of the party’s State Central Committee, said Gabbard’s statement about her meeting with Trump was puzzling.
“You gotta like the lady; she’s a very headstrong, independent person. On the other hand, I’m not exactly sure what the real scoop is,” Carpenter said. “She can talk in cliches galore that all sound very nice, but I’m not sure what her real message is, frankly.”
If Gabbard sought the Monday meeting with Trump to try to get an administration job less than two weeks after she won a third term in the Congress, “she would have, how should we say, used her candidacy as a launching pad to further her own ambitions, versus committing to do the job she was running for and elected to,” Carpenter said.
And if Gabbard does take a position in the Trump administration, Carpenter said, he does not know whether she would ever be welcomed back by the Hawaii Democratic Party. “I hope not but you never know,” he said….
MN: McKelvey ‘Morally Outraged’ at Gabbard for being ‘A Favorite’ of so-called White Supremacist Bannon
SA: Gabbard in the Big Apple with Trump—Sounds Reasonable
Yesterday: Cabinet Position? Donald Trump meets with Rep Tulsi Gabbard
read … Hollow Rhetoric from Hollow People
Howard Dean: Tulsi Gabbard: ‘Extremely Ambitious With Flexible Principles’
WFB: …After MSNBC host Chris Matthews described the meeting between Trump and Gabbard, which was reportedly meant to discuss a possible top job for the Democrat in the next administration, as “amazing,” he turned to Dean for his opinion on the subject. Dean was quick to criticize Gabbard.
“Well, I mean, she’s an interesting person, and the people from Hawaii basically have her tabbed as extremely ambitious with flexible principles,” Dean said.
“She was a lefty for Bernie [Sanders], and now she’s talking about running against Mazie Hirono, who’s a left-wing or liberal senator from Hawaii,” Dean explained. “So who knows what this is all about?” ….
Sunday: Borreca: Tulsi Gabbard will be White Supremacist Candidate for Senate in 2018
read … Its About Chris Butler, duh!
Tsuji not Even Buried Yet, but Democrats Scramble for Plum Legislative Appointment
HTH: …The party sent an email to members Friday announcing the vacancy. The deadline to register is 5 p.m. Nov. 28.
As of early Monday, Alameda said three people had requested nomination applications: Dennis Onishi, Christopher Todd and Moana Kelii.
Onishi is a Hawaii County Councilman whose term ends Dec. 5. He unsuccessfully ran for Senate District 1 against Kahele in the Democratic primary. He did not return a request for comment by deadline.
His brother, Rep. Richard Onishi, represents House District 3, which borders House District 2.
Kelii, who also couldn’t be reached, ran unsuccessfully for County Council District 3, which Onishi currently represents, in the general election.
Todd, 28, is a distribution manager at Hawaii Paper Products who coaches football and track and field at Hilo High School. He’s also the son of Bobby Jean Leithead Todd, environmental management director for Hawaii County.
Jon Wong, who ran against Tsuji in the Democratic primary, said he will throw his hat in the ring.
Wong, 36, has a degree in environmental science from the University of Hawaii at Hilo and described himself as a “practical progressive.”
Janis Cowser, who also ran against Tsuji in the primary, said she wasn’t aware he died, but said in a later voicemail that she planned to seek the nomination.
District and precinct representatives will interview candidates starting at 9 a.m. Dec. 3 at Keaukahaka Elementary School cafeteria, Alameda said. The meeting will be open to the public.
Alameda acknowledged the timing of the meeting isn’t the best.
“Out of respect it would have been great to hold this process after his funeral services,” he said. Alameda said the Thanksgiving holiday presented some scheduling issues.
Local party officials have 21 days following the vacancy to submit three nominees to the state party chair, according to party rules. The chair then has three business days to send those to the governor for review.
Ige has 60 days following the vacancy to make an appointment, according to state law. That person will complete Tsuji’s two-year term, according to the governor’s office.
Applicants must be residents of the district and party members. They also need five signatures from party members in the district. Forms can be obtained by emailing Barnes at greenhi3@yahoo.com or calling Alameda at 319-3371.
The next legislative session starts Jan. 20….
read … Pinata
Attorney: Officer Crash All About Discrediting his Testimony Against Kealoha
SA: …Megan Kau, the detective’s defense attorney, said that contrary to media reports, her client never told police he was not driving. She said he was confused about what happened after the crash.
Kau said she has never seen such a large amount of resources being used to investigate a vehicle collision. She said a police detective obtained a search warrant from a judge in the middle of the night to collect DNA evidence from her client and to search his SUV.
“We believe that the way that this case has been handled from the beginning is retaliation,” she said. “They want him to be fired so that his credibility is shot when he testifies against them.”
She said the police retaliation stems from her client being a witness for more than a year against Kealoha and his wife, Katherine, in a federal probe looking into potential abuse of authority by the chief….
As Explained: Officer Testified Against Chief Kealoha on Day of Crash
read … Officer claims retaliation in crash probe
Caldwell: Obama Said No to more Rail Money, But Trump May be Better
HNN: “I have already asked the current administration for additional money, directly face to face,” Caldwell said. “I’ve been told now twice ‘No,’ but they also told me wait until the new administration comes in. So I am going to do what they advised. I am going to wait for that person. I’m going to go up and ask for the money.”
read … Trump Trumps Obama?
OHA Fed Rec Plan Proven Foolish by Trump Election
CB: (Skip 11 paragraph anti-Trump rant) …Under the specter of Rice v. Cayetano and other anti-Hawaiian U.S. Supreme Court rulings, federal recognition advocates fret over the anticipated loss of federal funds Hawaiians have become dependent on to revive our still threatened ʻŌlelo Hawaii and other foundational pillars of our culture.
Fear of losing these programs and funds drove our trustees at the Office of Hawaiian Affairs to invest an estimated $43 million, on various attempts at federal recognition, that we now see has been spent for naught.
Gambling on a tag-team effort by back-to-back Obama and Hillary Clinton administrations to carry their federal recognition dream into reality, our trustees have been caught with their pants down.
How foolish to think tying our futures to the vagary of American politics was the safest course….
read … Bye Bye Indian Tribe
Lower Electric Bills Coming Thanks to Donald J Trump
CB: President-elect Donald Trump has called (pointed out that) climate change (is) a “hoax” and “bullshit.”
On the campaign trail, he pledged to dismantle clean energy plans, (which were just schemes to take money out of your pocket and deliver it to Silicon valley Dem campaign contributors with phony green energy scams companies) pull out of an international agreement to reduce carbon emissions and ease regulations on coal, oil and gas production as part of his plan to “Make America Great Again.” ….
read … Good News
New Kakaako homeless shelter seeks to place families quickly
HNN: …Case workers at the center are tasked with connecting families with their own apartment in less than 90 days.
And since the center opened Sept. 28, the center has been full to capacity with 12 families (totaling about 47 people).
So far, two families have been housed and three more are on the verge of moving out….
Half of the families who live at the Family Assessment Center were once living on the streets of Kakaako….
SA: Get Rid of Recycling to Reduce Homelessness
read … New Kakaako homeless shelter seeks to place families quickly
State DOT actions forcing out general aviation
SA: For the past several years, GA has been subject to predatory actions by DOTA. Simple violations such as incorrectly parking an aircraft or having non-aeronautical items in a hangar (a cart to move aircraft or a bicycle to ride to the bathroom) have resulted in criminal citations being issued to pilots and aircraft owners. A criminal citation to a pilot is a career-ending or -limiting event.
The General Aviation Council of Hawaii (GACH) had supported bills in past legislative sessions to change the criminalization of minor infractions but the bills were rebuffed by DOTA.
Airport security access badges are normally authorized for two years, but are issued to GA users for only a year. Electrical charges for T Hangars are flat-rated by DOTA since it was easier for it to charge a one-rate-fits-all system; GACH recommended electric sub-metering but DOTA rejected the proposal.
DOTA facilities leased to GA aircraft owners and aviation businesses are on a 30-day revocable permit, which makes it difficult for businesses to improve their areas or to get a bank loan. It is also practically impossible for a private individual wanting to lease land at an airport to erect a hangar. No written guidance exists, and leases presented are written for a commercial operation.
The Hawaii administrative rules that govern DOTA operations are outdated; DOTA has not made a concerted effort to update the rules in 20 years. The final coup de grace was DOTA’s recent announcement that GA rent for facility use will increase approximately 44 percent for hangars at Honolulu Airport and 225 percent for aircraft tie-downs at Kalaeloa Airport. There was no consultation with users, as required by the Federal Aviation Administration.
Aircraft owners do not have a choice since all airports in Hawaii (except one) are managed by DOTA and aircraft must be parked at an airport (unlike cars or boats that can be parked on private property). DOTA has a monopoly.
We need legislation to break this monopoly and restore proper management to our airports by providing an oversight authority, not under DOT. We also need the support of legislators and Hawaii’s people to join the GA community in stopping this unreasonable facility increase.
HNN: Small Honolulu airport tenants to see big rent hike
read … State DOT actions forcing out general aviation
Star-Adv: Ag Dep’t Must Take Anti-GMO Idiots Seriously Because some of them are Rich
SA: The GMO issue has ignited a national fight between camps….
GMO products have been demonized uncritically and far too broadly. There’s simply no call for a categorical ban or any casual action that unfairly penalizes an industry that employs a lot of people….
It’s fair to say that the fight has been powered in part by money, on both sides. The anti-GMO lobby has raised a lot of it nationally, (Money Nationally—watch for it!) helping with the organization of numerous local campaigns….
The anti-GMO movement has national standing, (That’s the reason. National Money.) so these questions must be addressed….
(Translation: Make this into a source for national Democrat campaign funds.)
read … Idiots
Taxi, Uber drivers vent anger on rules
SA: Alana Alvarez, a Lyft driver, told a panel of Department of Customer Services officials at the Mission Memorial Building that a back injury she sustained about a year ago curtails what she can do to earn a living but that she is able to drive.
Alvarez opposes the imposition of new regulations because they “will only make it harder and more expensive for me to drive.” She questioned the need to pass a written exam on traffic laws and customer service when she’s earned a five-star rating after carrying some 2,500 passengers.
“The people that come into my car, they enjoy taking my car and they rate their experience,” she said.
But TheCab driver Jazmine Theus brought along her driver’s certificate, her meter, her commercial insurance card and taxi dome, and everything else she needs to drive her taxi as visual aids to make her point. All of it takes $600 and weeks of legwork, she said.
“You gotta go here, you gotta go there, you gotta do this,” she said. “I’m not complaining, because I’m legal.”
It’s a fairness issue because “they’re not regulated,” she said. “Why do I have to get everything and they don’t need to get nothing?”
read … Rules
New telescope proposed for Valley Isle
SA: Kahele Dukelow of Kako‘o Haleakala, the group that organized last year’s opposition to the 140-foot-tall Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope under construction on Maui’s 10,000-foot summit, said Monday she disapproves of the effort.
“The continued presence is a desecration (unless they pay OHA rent),” said Dukelow, assistant professor of Hawaiian studies and language at University of Hawaii Maui College.
Hundreds of people last year blocked a wide-load delivery of parts and components to the yet-to-be-completed $340 million Inouye solar telescope, and 20 were arrested in an unsuccessful attempt to prevent another delivery.
The civil disobedience was inspired by the Hawaii island protests that blocked crews from reaching the $1.4 billion Thirty Meter Telescope construction site near the top of Mauna Kea that year.
UH officials say the PLANETS telescope will require no wide-load deliveries.
The proposal, they said, will feature a thin, 1.85-meter mirror specifically designed to fit within an existing 1,619-square-foot facility with minimal alterations, reducing potential impacts to environmental and cultural resources.
The existing structure is so small it is dwarfed by neighboring observatories.
“It literally can’t be seen from outside Puu Kolekole,”said Mike Maberry, assistant director of UH’s Institute for Astronomy. Puu Kolekole is the home of the Haleakala High Altitude Observatories Site, sometimes called Science City.
Despite its diminutive size and relatively low cost, the PLANETS telescope would offer “unprecedented scientific capabilities” and “the potential to lead to discoveries in areas related to exoplanet detection, circumstellar environments, and extrasolar planetary atmospheres,” according to its environmental assessment.
“No other telescopes currently exist that have these capabilities and are able to provide such a high level of contrast in low scattered light and during nighttime,” it says.
The university is now seeking a conservation district use permit, allowing it to launch two years of work, including four months of construction, with a target operational date of January 2019.
(How much will OHA get?)
Big Q: Do you favor a new telescope being proposed to replace an existing one atop Haleakala, Maui? 88.5% YES
VIDEO: TMT Case – Ceded Lands Question Rejected
read … Let the Games Begin!
QUICK HITS:
Trump + Energy = An Uncertain Future
TFC Wants to Design Its Own 21st Century Utility—and It’s Starting With GridPoint
Caldwell Signs Bills
Townhall Meeting with the Nation of Hawaii at Waimanalo
Hawai`i Rate Cases & the New NARUC Manual
Should fluoride be added to Hawaii’s water to help prevent tooth decay?
Cameras Coming to 213 Park Restrooms
Fake Tech Companies Doing Great Thanks to your Tax Credits and Grants