After 30 Years, Alarmists Are Still Predicting A Global Warming ‘Apocalypse’
DOTAX Litigation: Are Car Rentals “Tourism Related Services”?
Lawsuit: Kamehameha School allowed ACLU Child Molester to Victimize Students for Decades
SA: It was late 1991, and the Kamehameha Schools community was still reeling from the suicide of a psychiatrist who had treated hundreds of its students from the late 1950s to the early ’80s.
On Halloween that year, Dr. Robert Browne (a member of the Hawaii ACLU Board of Directors) shot himself — shortly after a former student confronted him about alleged abuse from years earlier, according to court records. (Browne sometimes took his victims to ACLU meetings.)
In the years after the suicide, school officials would hear of more allegations that Browne, a psychiatric consultant to Kamehameha, had sexually molested troubled male students during private counseling sessions, often at his soundproof office at St. Francis Medical Center….
Kamehameha officials did not report the accusations to law enforcement authorities or investigate whether more students had similar claims, according to depositions they gave last year for the lawsuit in which 34 plaintiffs accused Browne of sex abuse, mostly in the ’60s and ’70s. Most of the plaintiffs are ex-Kamehameha students.
One former school official questioned by the plaintiffs’ attorneys said he didn’t follow up on a 1991 phone conversation with an ex-student — who claimed he was going to confront the retired Browne about abuse from years earlier — because the psychiatrist killed himself the next day, the transcripts show….
Michael Chun, Kamehameha president in the 1990s, told the attorneys that his actions back then were guided by the institution’s lawyers.
Even though Chun concluded that two brothers were telling the truth about being abused by Browne and that he had concerns about the possibility of other victims, the president acknowledged taking no steps to try to identify the others, according to the transcripts…..
James, the California resident, told the Star-Advertiser that in 1966 he informed then-Principal Diana Lord that Browne had abused him during a counseling session, including fondling his genitals. When the abuse progressed farther, James, then 12, cried as Browne told him to stare at a nearby wall, according to James.
When James later asked Lord why Browne had to touch him all over, the principal said Browne was a doctor and could do whatever he wanted, according to James. “She just stonewalled it.” ….
Another plaintiff told multiple school officials in 1975 about his alleged abuse, according to the lawsuit….
read … ACLU Homosexual Child Molester
HGEA Threatens to Double-Down on Union Work Slow Protest at Mental Hospital
SA: … Six investigators from the state Attorney General’s Office are now tasked with piecing together how the escape occurred, and seven hospital employees tied to the incident have been suspended without pay. State officials did the right thing with those initial responses; now the public is due a candid, timely accounting of what went wrong and a strategy for avoiding future screw-ups.
The suspensions, however, are touching off workplace concerns that underscore long-standing problems at Hawaii’s only publicly funded, state psychiatric hospital.
The Hawaii Government Employees Association is rightly (pretending to be) worried about an emerging situation that has forced employees to work double shifts to compensate for tight staffing already in place before the suspensions. Unless the state finds relief, HGEA executive director Randy Perreira said, matters are likely to get worse at the facility that struggles with overcrowded patient conditions; an increasing number of high-risk, potentially violent patients; and ever-present concerns about employee safety.
The union had filed a complaint about mandatory overtime to the Hawaii Labor Relations Board before Saito walked off the grounds.
More Reality than the Star-Adv can handle: Hospital Crisis: How to Use Union Work Rules for Fun and Profit
read … HGEA Scam
Borreca: Homelessness Caused by Emptying of Insane Asylums
Borreca: …Reagan actually slapped the poor twice because while serving as governor of California, he presided over the deinstitutionalization in California of mental institutions, going from helping 37,000 patients in 1955 to only 2,500 now.
(Actually Reagan was governor from Jan 1967 to Jan 1975. But lets not get bogged down by silly little facts.)
There were not enough community services for former mental patients and many found their only treatment was on the street or through the criminal justice system. Later as president, Reagan signed the 1981 budget reconciliation act, which put the responsibility of mentally ill patients back on the states.
(And fortunately, after Reagan gave them the power, Hawaii Democrats have done such wonderful things with the insane! For instance—flights to California!)
read … Blame Reagan
Maui Council: Convert Kihei Park into Homeless Tent City, Junkyard
MN: A Maui County Council member is hoping to establish a pilot project to allow people (tweekers) to sleep in ‘their’ vehicles overnight at the county’s South Maui Regional Park.
(Better check your garage to see if your car is still there.)
Council Member Kelly King (scores $Millions in tax credits and subsidies for her biofuel schemes), who holds the South Maui residency seat, originally had hoped to get a bill passed by the council before Christmas by skipping the committee review process (illegal!), but the Department of the Corporation Counsel had legal concerns (see!) and is seeking comment from county department heads.
(Translation: She hoped to illegally slip this past you during the holidays.)
The measure calling for the “use of vehicles for human habitation” was referred to the council’s Housing, Human Services and Transportation Committee at the Nov. 17 council meeting.
“I don’t want to get hung up on making it perfect,” she said Wednesday, noting that the measure was meant as a pilot project. The idea of a pilot project is to work out the kinks and to see if a broader ordinance is doable, she said. (Quick, Quick! While nobody is looking!)
He estimated 15 to 20 families or individuals (tweekers) sleep in their vehicles in the Kihei area. (And when this is done, there will still be 15-20 sleeping in cars.)
the surrounding schools would be closed long before the cars park for the night…. (Thus making it easier to sneak in and strip all the copper.)
As for the pilot program’s costs, King there would be none “off the bat.” (IQ Test: Do you believe this?) She is looking for volunteer help. (To strip the insulation off the wires?)
The idea to give people a place to legally sleep in their cars came out of community meetings facilitated by King’s office to seek input on how to spend $1.5 million that developers put into a workforce housing development fund to address homelessness in South Maui….
(Now that she’s come up with a ‘no cost’ solution, maybe the $1.5M could be spent on biofuel.)
read … Bill would allow people without homes to sleep in their parked cars
Chin was picked for his expertise in blaming everything on Trump.
Shapiro: >> Gov. David Ige ordered Attorney General Doug Chin to investigate after psychopathic killer Randall Saito escaped from the Hawaii State Hospital and got to California before he was reported missing. Chin was picked for his expertise in blaming everything on Trump.
>> Saito, who claims he faked insanity to stay out of jail, said his escape proves he’s not insane and should now be set free. The only way that happens is if he finds a judge who is insane.
read … Shapiro
Rep Nakamura Pitches More Tax Hikes
KGI: …Nakamura said she is considering legislative options for 2018. One bill, for example, might add a rental car surcharge exclusively to improve trails, parks and tourist shuttle transportation on each island.
Another bill could substantially increase parking fines, all the revenue from which goes to the state, as laws are currently written, and make wider use of tow-away zones in particularly congested areas.
She advocates reallocating the lion’s share of HTA’s advertising and marketing budget to improve tourist infrastructure.
And Nakamura would wade back into the controversy over counties’ share of the Transient Accommodations Tax, which many local governments — Kauai’s included — feel has been hijacked by the Legislature and spent on Oahu.
Nakamura said she thinks a TAT surcharge for investment in visitor and resident park and other facilities is worth considering….
read … Tax Hikes
Tax Reform Mania—Lets Terrorize Lahaina!
MN: The West Maui Hospital and Medical Center project is stalled again.
This time, it’s because congressional tax reform legislation is threatening tax-exempt private activity bonds and cutbacks in Medicare reimbursements, said Brian Hoyle, president of Newport Hospital Corp., which is developing the West Maui facility.
On-site grading for the project began in August 2016 and was completed in June, along with most of the underground infrastructure. Work included installing water and sewer systems, electrical conduits and a drainage system.
The project financing is being held up because of the “ongoing difficulty” with “what’s going on in Washington, D.C.,” he said Wednesday.
The municipal bonds had been the planned financing vehicle to generate a loan of more than $80 million needed to pay for construction of the long-awaited, acute-care medical facility on 15 acres in Kaanapali.
The House version of the tax reform act pending in Congress eliminates private activity bonds, while the Senate version of the measure restores it, Hoyle said. The House approved its version by a vote of 227 to 205. The Senate has yet to vote on its plan.
The bills, if approved, would head to a conference committee where lawmakers would try to come up with a compromise version, he said…..
While the lack of tax-exempt municipal bonds in the House version would be a roadblock for project financing, another problem with tax reform legislation is proposed cutbacks to Medicare reimbursements for critical access hospitals, a measure that would have far-reaching impacts on hospitals in Hawaii and nationally, he said….
While a private activity bond is the best option to build the hospital, “we have other options” to get financing, he said, although those would take longer to obtain….
“We need resolution at the Washington, D.C., level before we can move forward,” he said….
(Translation: There is no threat of the Lahaina hospital not being built. The developers have a choice of what type of financing to use and they haven’t made their choice yet.)
read … Some Propaganda
Lahaina is Drunkest City in Hawaii
WS247: The drunkest city in every state … Hawaii:
> Drunkest city: Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina, HI
> MSA adults binge or heavy drinking: 21.8% (top 10%)
> State adults binge or heavy drinking: 20.5% (8th highest)
> Alcohol related driving deaths: 50.5% (top 10%)
Nearly 22% of adults in Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina either binge or heavily drink, a larger share than both the statewide and nationwide excessive drinking rates. Driving deaths that involve alcohol are often more common in areas with heavy drinking populations, and the Kahului-Wailuku-Lahaina is no exception. The metro area is one of only five nationwide in which over half of all roadway fatalities involve alcohol….
MN: Report: County metro area is ‘drunkest city’
read … Drunk
Three-Way Race for Kauai Mayor
KGI: Three qualified candidates have announced they will be running for the office of Kauai mayor.
The community leaders vying for the position are County Council Chair Mel Rapozo, Councilmember Derek Kawakami and Lenny Rapozo, director of the county Department of Parks and Recreation….
read … Here’s what it takes to run for local office
Student Loan Default? Hawaii Could Suspend License—but doesn’t
NWA: In some states, the laws are unused. Hawaii has a broad statute, enacted in 2002, that allows it to suspend vocational licenses if borrowers default on student loans. But the state's licensing board has never done so, said William Nhieu, a spokesman for Hawaii's Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs. He said no state or federal student loan agencies have given it the names of delinquent borrowers….
read … Student-loan debt costing livelihoods for some defaulters
HFD doesn’t need another fireboat
SA: …The HFD has already proven its inability to maintain a fireboat, letting its last boat, the Moku Ahi, fall into total disrepair while in its care. The Moku Ahi was commissioned in 1990 and would still be operational if it had been maintained by professional mariners. You can find many vessels operating in Honolulu Harbor much older than the Moku Ahi would be today.
If a fireboat is needed, then contract with a local tug company to outfit an operational harbor tug with the required water cannons and foam monitors. If there is an emergency, then firefighters along with professional mariners can respond to the scene. This tug with its firefighting capabilities would still have the ability to earn its keep by performing ship assist work, not just sitting idle in a firehouse….
read … HFD doesn’t need another fireboat
Prof: “Food Security’ Means Nothing for Most Hawaii Agriculture
SA: …It is important to distinguish between commercial crops that produce revenue, but little or no food that adds to our food security. Seeds, forests, flowers, coffee and macadamia nuts are not must-have items if the ships stop coming….
(Boats have been coming here for 200 years. Why would they stop coming?)
read … Meaningless
Global Warming: ‘One coast is in flames, the center and south is under water, and storms crash the East Coast’
SA: In 2017, the world realizes a response is needed now to stop the suffering facing societies. Even in America, one coast is in flames, the center and south is under water, and storms crash the East Coast….
(Maybe the warmers will now finally accept my generous offer--10% of assessed value for their oceanfront Hawaii real estate.)
read … UH Prof
QUICK HITS: