Mazie Hirono Blocks Bill to Revoke US Citizenship of ISIS Terrorists
Hirono is Biggest Spender in US Senate, Schatz not far Behind
Abercrombie Releases $335,600 to New Nonprofit Formed by Leader of Carpenter's Union
Obamacare’s Second Open Enrollment Starts in Two Months — and It Is Going to be Awful
ACLU: Lawsuit Settlement Means New Rules for Protests at Capitol
Lava Projected to Burn Through Center of Pahoa Town
Hawaii 5th Richest State
Auditor: Hawaii Health Insurers Should be Required to Cover Cleft Palate Surgery
Oahu defense contractor sentenced on espionage charges
Panos: Hoopili Traffic Assessments Untruthful
INFOGRAPHIC: The Abercrombie-Ige Policy Agenda By The Numbers
Aiona Only Candidate to Release Policy Initiatives
Caldwell to Tourism Industry: I'm Cleaning up Waikiki, Now Pay Me
CB: An hour before Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell signed bills designed to push the homeless out of Waikiki and stop them from urinating and defecating in public, his campaign fundraiser Mitchell Imanaka blasted out a message about an upcoming donor event at the Trump International Hotel....
“As you know, the Mayor has been highly supportive of our tourism industry, especially to our businesses in Waikiki,” Imanaka wrote. “If each of you can bring at least (5) people to this event, it will send a strong message that the visitor industry is appreciative of his Administration’s efforts to improve the visitor experience on Oahu.” ...
Imanaka is a Honolulu-based business attorney, and is the main organizer behind Caldwell’s campaign fundraisers. He’s also a lobbyist who has represented the tourism industry.
According to lobbyist disclosures filed with the Hawaii State Ethics Commission, Imanaka’s clients have included Turtle Bay Resort, Marriott Vacations Worldwide, Soleil Management Hawaii and Consolidated Resorts Management....
HPR: Tonight on Town Square: Honolulu's plans to help the homeless
read ... Caldwell Fundraiser Pumps the Tourism Industry for Cash
County: Panhandling limits constitutional
WHT: The police officer who cited a homeless man for soliciting money in June said the man was obstructing traffic, which was the root of the officer’s decision to charge him with aggressive solicitation.
Officer Mario Ochoa’s statement was included in Hawaii County’s response to a request for a temporary restraining order by the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of Justin Guy, a homeless West Hawaii man who said the officer told him he could not panhandle anywhere. Ochoa denied making that statement, and said Guy was still at the Luhia Street intersection with Kaiwi Street after receiving the citation.
The ACLU is asking a U.S. District Court judge in Honolulu to overturn Hawaii County’s ordinance banning aggressive solicitation anywhere and the blanket ban of panhandling in all county parks. A hearing was scheduled for 9:30 a.m. today in Honolulu.
The thing is, Corporation Counsel Molly Stebbins said in her response to the TRO request, Justin Guy was not cited under the latter ban, because no one has been cited for panhandling in county parks at all in at least the last five years.
Further, Stebbins wrote, the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld laws similar to Hawaii County’s aggressive panhandling limitations.
“Since solicitation for funds is inherently more disruptive and intrusive (than distributing literature), and prone to greater abuse, it is reasonable for the government to place restrictions upon it,” she wrote. “There is nothing unconstitutional about doing so.”
read ... Constitutional
Kauai Enviros Fight Agriculture, not Developers
KE: During an interview the other day on Hawaii Public Radio's “The Conversation,” host Beth-Ann Kozlovich asked me why the two big ag land sales at Princeville and Pilaa had gone virtually unnoticed.
My reply: Because Kauai environmentalists have stopped fighting development and instead are fixated on fighting agriculture.
That phenomenon is perfectly underscored by Malama Mahaulepu's formal opposition to not just Hawaii Dairy Farms, but a dairy of any size. What's more, it has bizarrely hopped into bed with the Hyatt — the very same resort that MM originally opposed because it opened the door to development along the Mahaulepu coast — by supporting its lawsuit against HDF.
Because opposition has greatly delayed the dairy, HDF has had to sell the cows it shipped from New Zealand to the mainland in anticipation of building a herd on Kauai. Yes, HDF can and will buy more — but only because it's funded by billionaire Pierre Omidyar. Any other dairy farmer would already have been driven out of business.
So even as Malama Mahauelpu characterizes HDF as an “industrial dairy,” it and the other so-called “environmentalists” who want to dictate how ag is practiced on ag land seem oblivious to this irony: their actions are effectively serving to make Kauai agriculture financially untenable for all but billionaires and corporations.
read ... About Reality
Kona: 100 Hawaiians Tell OHA trustees 'No Kanaiolowalu'
WHT: ...roughly 100 people attended the community meeting....
Many Native Hawaiians have voiced opposition to federal involvement in creating a government for the Hawaiian people, a process that OHA has supported. At public meetings on the Big Island over the summer, some residents called for no less than a return to the Hawaiian Kingdom, and rejected the notion of being treated like an American Indian tribe. The Department of the Interior held the meetings to ask for feedback on an administrative rule proposed by the Obama administration that would begin a formal process for re-establishing a government-to-government relationship.
The process, called “Kanaiolowalu,” began with Act 95 in 2011.
read ... No Kanaiolowalu
Another Sovereignty Mortgage Scammer in Court
HNN: Jennifer Ann McTigue, a 46-year-old Punahou School graduate, said the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom more than a century ago was illegal and because of that the mail fraud and money laundering charges against her are invalid.
Others accused of running mortgage scams have offered similar defenses. But even McTigue's alleged co-conspirators aren't buying her arguments.
"The motions she filed are completely ridiculous and we refuse to join in it and the court is now questioning her competence to represent herself," said Victor Bakke, attorney for co-defendant Marc Melton....
McTigue is just the latest sovereignty advocate to claim the federal courts have no validity.
Mahealani Ventura Oliver was found guilty last year of tricking distressed homeowners into paying for bogus bonds to stave off foreclosure.
Alan Murakami, litigation director for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, said courts have repeatedly shot down that sovereignty defense, adding that many homeowners who bought into the argument have been hurt.
"It puts (distressed homeowners) in a very dire situation especially if they had not been paying during the pendency of their lawsuit," Murakami said.
"It confounds the very legitimate concerns Hawaiian have on self-determination."
Meanwhile: Sovereignty Mortgage Scammer Keanu Sai at it again with help from Legislators, Maui Council, University
read ... Another Mortgage Scammer
Abercrombie’s Official Portrait Expected to Cost Taxpayers $45,000
CB: The portraits are normally unveiled in November or December before the next governor takes office. If Abercrombie’s portrait goes according to plan, the painting won’t be completed until May and the unveiling won’t take place until late June.
The foundation has yet to solicit potential artists. That’s expected to start Oct. 1 with a post on www.callforentry.org. Abercrombie and First Lady Nancie Caraway will then choose an artist Dec. 31, according to the timeline the board approved.
The budget for the portrait is $40,000, which includes $35,000 for the artist’s fees, airfare, hotel, car and per diem; $2,500 for the photographer’s expenses; $2,000 for the frame and plaque; and $500 for crating, shipping and insurance.
read ... Not Worth $45,000
Honolulu's Police Chief fires back at critics regarding a Sergeant shown in a violent video
HNN: HPD Chief Louie Kealoha says criminal and internal investigations take time and calls for swifter action are out of line.
"If people want me to deviate from these policies and procedures and deviate from my 30 years of law enforcement experience, training and education to satisfy public scrutiny, I'm not going to do that," he said at a press conference Thursday.
The video from September 8, shows Sgt. Darren Cachola repeatedly hitting his girlfriend inside a Waipahu restaurant. Lawmakers, legal experts, and the public have said the video should be enough to arrest Cachola and fire him.
"All these attorneys watching the videos and saying, hey, that's enough to arrest... Well... Let me tell you this, these are the same people who would not hesitate to turn around the next day and sue us because we arrested someone without having enough evidence," Kealoha said.
read ... Police
Soft on Crime: 34 Convictions, Out on the Streets Allegedly Selling Meth
MN: Vierra is charged with first-degree promotion of a detrimental drug, second-degree promotion of a detrimental drug, first-degree methamphetamine trafficking, third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug, three counts of possessing drug paraphernalia and three counts of fourth-degree promotion of a harmful drug.
Co-defendants in the case are Garrick Kanae, 53, of Wailuku; Chester Mahuna, 59, of Wailuku; and Kauila Houpo, 35, of Waihee. Houpo was the Baldwin girls volleyball coach through the 2012 season.
According to the Hawaii Criminal Justice Data Center, Vierra has 34 convictions, including ones for second-degree robbery, second-degree assault, third-degree promotion of a dangerous drug and drunken driving.
read ... Soft on Crime
Revolving Door: Sierra Club Director Quits to Collect Paycheck Directly from Solar Company
PBN: Robert Harris, who had been the executive director of the Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter for the past six years, has stepped down from his post and joined the Hawaii office of Sunrun, one of the nation’s largest residential solar energy companies.
Harris, an attorney who holds a law degree from the University of Hawaii William S. Richardson School of Law, told PBN that he left the Sierra Club in May to unsuccessfully run for a state House of Representatives seat.
“This past Monday, I joined Sunrun as the director of public policy,” he told PBN in an email. “My focus will be on ensuring customers can install rooftop solar and empowering them to be a part of Hawaii’s clean energy future.”
Meantime, the Sierra Club Hawaii, one of the most powerful lobbyist groups in the state, is in the process of selecting a new director, its vice chairman, Lucienne de Naie told PBN.
read ... Revolving Door
Blink: Chevron exploring sale of Kapolei plant
SA: Chevron Corp., owner of the state's second-largest refinery, has hired Deutsche Bank to identify potential buyers for the Kapolei facility.
Chevron's decision to potentially sell its 54,000-barrel-per-day Hawaii refinery comes one year after Houston-based Par Petroleum Corp. purchased Tesoro's 94,000-barrel-per-day Hawaii refinery and 31 Tesoro-branded retail stations. Chevron and Par Petroleum operate the only two refineries in the state.
read ... Blinks
Hanabusa, Gabbard oppose Obama's 'unwarranted' plan
Borreca: Somehow both Republican and Democratic leaders in the usually viciously split U.S. House got together to push through the resolution, but Hawaii's delegation said "nope."
Gabbard argued that the Obama mission made no sense, was not focused, and there wasn't even a clear idea of who America and its allies would be fighting.
"This proposed strategy actually reflects a lack of commitment to really destroy ISIL and the other Islamic extremist groups that we are at war with," said Gabbard in a House floor speech.
Hanabusa (preparing for a 2016 Senate rematch) was even more specific in her condemnation of the Obama plan.
"This kind of unchecked authority on a mission this dangerous is risky, unwarranted, and almost certain to lead to an even deeper involvement in a long-term conflict," Hanabusa said.
"Make no mistake, today's vote does not simply raise the possibility of war; the United States is already engaged in a war. This authorization just cements our continued involvement," Hanabusa warned.
Obama's announcement that "our strategy is to degrade and ultimate destroy this terrorist organization," relies on a yet-undefined coalition of countries to also support a military campaign in both Iraq and Syria, all the while also promising that the U.S. military would not enter another Mideast ground war.
The rightness of stopping the murderous extremists of the Islamic State was not an argument in Congress, but an apparent U.S. coalition of the unwilling Middle East countries fractured by their own opposition to each other makes it difficult to see a path to victory.
CB: Gabbard, Hanabusa Split on Auditing Federal Reserve
read ... ISIS
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