Thursday, November 21, 2024
Hawai'i Free Press

Current Articles | Archives

Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Downtown Café Serves Crooked Politicians -- but not Trump Voters
By Andrew Walden @ 1:32 AM :: 8939 Views :: Ethics, First Amendment, Politicians, Small Business

A Hawaii restaurant has reportedly posted a sign alerting supporters of President-elect Donald Trump that they aren't welcome. (Facebook/@Te-Chang Lin)

According to a sign on the door at 1067 Alakea St, Café 8 1/2 won’t serve the 29.4% of Hawaii voters who cast ballots for President-elect Donald J Trump….

Fox News December 27 reports:

…the café was founded by Robert Warner, a former hair stylist for Vidal Sassoon in San Francisco and former restaurateur in Seattle, along with his wife Jali.

Reached for comment Tuesday, Jali downplayed the sign's supposed ban. She told FoxNews.com the restaurant is not actually asking customers whether they voted for President-elect Trump, and said even if they see a customer with a Trump shirt, “we don’t put anything different [in] your food.”

“Robert just wants to express how much he doesn’t like Trump,” Jali said. “If people take it personally or it hurts them, we cannot help. That’s why we say they have [a] choice if they want to come or not come. We don’t force them.”

She said three people called to complain about the sign when it first went up, “that’s it.”

“We don’t want to create trouble,” Jali said. “There is enough trouble in the world.”

While Jali is soft-spoken, Warner, some customers note, is known to channel the “soup Nazi” persona of New York City and “Seinfeld” fame -- “throwing pots and pans,” “telling off customers,” and “hanging not-so-friendly reminders on butcher paper for his customers to read.”

But another Yelp reviewer took issue with the attitude and the sign, writing: “It was funny on Seinfeld, but this place can rot away. Stay away. Hawaii ain’t like this. There's a lot of better places on the island than to have deal with extra crap like this.”

The sign begs a Really Obvious Question:  If Trump and the 128,815 Trump voters in Hawaii are Nazis—then why are the Café 8 1/2 owners not yet in a Concentration Camp?

Maybe they are collaborators.

They appear happy to ‘collaborate’ when some Hawaii’s corrupt political elite slither in from The Mandalay after yet another lobbyist-rich campaign fundraiser….

Nestor Garcia Cafe 812

Here is an image of ex-Honolulu Council Chair Nestor Garcia posted on the Café 8 1/2 Yelp page.  Akamai readers will remember Garcia—who rotates between politics and ‘journalism’--paid largest fine in the history of the Honolulu Ethics Commission after to a decade of wrong-doing on the Honolulu Council from 2003 to 2013. 

Now the (ahem) KHON assignment editor, Garcia

…agreed to pay thousands of dollars in fines related to ethics violations from his time as a Honolulu City Council member….

He paid an $8,100 civil fine in connection with accusations that he accepted prohibited gifts from lobbyists and failed to disclose conflicts of interest when he voted on legislation that affected those lobbyists….

In January of that year, the Honolulu Ethics Commission found probable cause that Garcia had violated laws regarding acceptance of prohibited gifts as well as the failure to disclose conflicts of interest.

Garcia accepted more than $1,700 worth of gifts such as free meals and golf to talk to lobbyists about rail, transit-oriented development, growth in Kapolei and other issues before the Council, the commission determined.

Garcia was also fined $6,500 by the commission, in 2012, for breaking conflict of interest rules and misusing city resources in his paid capacity as the executive director of the Kapolei Chamber of Commerce.

Yelp: Café 8 1/2 

UPDATE Dec 29, 2016: Restaurant removes anti-Trump sign

 

Links

TEXT "follow HawaiiFreePress" to 40404

Register to Vote

2aHawaii

Aloha Pregnancy Care Center

AntiPlanner

Antonio Gramsci Reading List

A Place for Women in Waipio

Ballotpedia Hawaii

Broken Trust

Build More Hawaiian Homes Working Group

Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii

Cliff Slater's Second Opinion

DVids Hawaii

FIRE

Fix Oahu!

Frontline: The Fixers

Genetic Literacy Project

Grassroot Institute

Habele.org

Hawaii Aquarium Fish Report

Hawaii Aviation Preservation Society

Hawaii Catholic TV

Hawaii Christian Coalition

Hawaii Cigar Association

Hawaii ConCon Info

Hawaii Debt Clock

Hawaii Defense Foundation

Hawaii Family Forum

Hawaii Farmers and Ranchers United

Hawaii Farmer's Daughter

Hawaii Federation of Republican Women

Hawaii History Blog

Hawaii Jihadi Trial

Hawaii Legal News

Hawaii Legal Short-Term Rental Alliance

Hawaii Matters

Hawaii Military History

Hawaii's Partnership for Appropriate & Compassionate Care

Hawaii Public Charter School Network

Hawaii Rifle Association

Hawaii Shippers Council

Hawaii Together

HiFiCo

Hiram Fong Papers

Homeschool Legal Defense Hawaii

Honolulu Navy League

Honolulu Traffic

House Minority Blog

Imua TMT

Inouye-Kwock, NYT 1992

Inside the Nature Conservancy

Inverse Condemnation

July 4 in Hawaii

Land and Power in Hawaii

Lessons in Firearm Education

Lingle Years

Managed Care Matters -- Hawaii

MentalIllnessPolicy.org

Missile Defense Advocacy

MIS Veterans Hawaii

NAMI Hawaii

Natatorium.org

National Parents Org Hawaii

NFIB Hawaii News

NRA-ILA Hawaii

Obookiah

OHA Lies

Opt Out Today

Patients Rights Council Hawaii

Practical Policy Institute of Hawaii

Pritchett Cartoons

Pro-GMO Hawaii

RailRipoff.com

Rental by Owner Awareness Assn

Research Institute for Hawaii USA

Rick Hamada Show

RJ Rummel

School Choice in Hawaii

SenatorFong.com

Talking Tax

Tax Foundation of Hawaii

The Real Hanabusa

Time Out Honolulu

Trustee Akina KWO Columns

Waagey.org

West Maui Taxpayers Association

What Natalie Thinks

Whole Life Hawaii