BoE Announces Transsexual Bullying Policy--How Many HSTA Members Will be Fired?
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VIDEO: Abigail Kawananakoa Releases Edited Interview
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Exposed: Big Oil Behind Push for Hawaii Carbon Tax
IM: … Dictatorships are efficient. Democracy is inefficient and messy. Limiting solutions to one option is efficient. Questioning definitions and assumptions are inefficient. Monetization is efficient. Externalities are inefficient….
Coffman then presented the Carbon Tax Plan proposed by the Climate Leadership Council, was published in the Wall Street Journal in January 2019.
“Our carbon dividends plan is the climate solution where all sides win,” stated James Addison Baker III. The plan calls for implementing carbon taxes and getting rid of pollution regulation.
Baker served as White House Chief of Staff and the United States Secretary of the Treasury under President Ronald Reagan, and as U.S. Secretary of State and White House Chief of Staff under President George H. W. Bush. …
(Translation: Baker represents Big Oil.)
…A carbon tax should increase every year until emissions reductions goals are met….
…A sufficiently robust and gradually rising carbon tax….
…It would also create an incentive for other nations to adopt similar carbon pricing…..
…political viability of a rising carbon tax….
Rhoads and his staff found that his carbon tax on gasoline would actually reduce the price of gasoline by 11 cents a gallon. (He then began giggling uncontrollably as worried-looking aides ushered him off the stage….)
read … Hawai’i Carbon Tax Proposals Presented
Hawaii Legislature First to Pass ‘Regressive-Progressive’ Agenda Items
CNN: …In recent years, bills that might seem too bold to gain traction in other state houses have become law in Hawaii, gaining worldwide attention.
Policymakers in the overwhelmingly Democratic state House -- with 1 Republican state senator and 5 Republicans in the state House -- have pushed forward a wave of ambitious progressive legislation. The state has banned certain kinds of sunscreen, raised the legal smoking age and committed to the Paris climate accord's goals.
Lawmakers say the new laws are driven by a sense of urgency (hordes of lunatics chasing a headless chicken around the big square building)….
(See next article)
read … Hawaii has passed some bold progressive legislation over the past few years
Hubris: State Fails to Force Abortion Ads on Churches, Must pay Opposing Counsel $60K
CB: … Hawaii taxpayers are on the hook for more than $60,000 to pay the legal fees of anti-abortion pregnancy service providers on Oahu that claimed the state violated their First Amendment rights.
They successfully challenged a state law that required them to provide information on contraceptive methods, public programs for family planning, and other pregnancy-related services. Attorney James Hochberg wrote in court documents in 2017 that the law prevented the church-affiliated pregnancy centers from fulfilling their pro-life mission.
U.S. District Court Judge Derrick Watson ruled in favor of the plaintiffs last September, saying the law was unconstitutional.
That settlement is just one of 13 involving state government that is expected to cost taxpayers $1.1 million. …
Timeline:
read … Taxpayers Hit With $1.1 Million Tab After State Settles Lawsuits
Fighting To Keep The Kealoha Case Open To The Public
CB: … As the trial nears in a high-profile case involving widespread corruption in Hawaii law enforcement, a silent legal battle is being waged in the background over courtroom transparency.
The fight stems from a series of motions filed under seal last fall by Katherine Kealoha and the U.S. government in its ongoing conspiracy case against her and her husband, former Honolulu Police Chief Louis Kealoha….
The Civil Beat Law Center for the Public Interest filed papers in December in the U.S. District Court of Hawaii to unseal 12 motions that had been filed by the Kealohas and federal prosecutors over a three-month period.
What those motions involve, however, is still a mystery. Their descriptions in the court record are so ambiguous and vague that it effectively bars the public from understanding what might be going on.
In his motion to unseal, Civil Beat Law Center Executive Director Brian Black said this presents several problems, especially in such a high profile case that involves questions of serious misconduct within the criminal justice system.
“With such charges of public corruption, it is especially important that this Court ensure the public remains informed concerning the progress of the case,” Black wrote.
He said the public also has a long-standing First Amendment right to access the courts, and that any attempt to restrict that access should be narrowly focused and thoroughly justified.
Since December, Black has used this same argument to push back against ongoing attempts by the Kealohas, other defendants and the federal government to block access to certain information, including defense arguments for dismissal of the charges.
For the most part he’s found a friendly ear in U.S. District Court Judge J. Michael Seabright, who’s presiding over the case.
So far Seabright has denied several requests to seal records, including those that reveal more details about the Honolulu Ethics Commission’s investigation into the Kealohas and an attempt by at least one co-defendant to get the case dismissed because he believed prosecutors tricked him into providing false information to a grand jury.
Federal prosecutors also seem to have acknowledged that the secrecy has gone too far and that they’re open to more information being made public….
read … Fighting To Keep The Kealoha Case Open To The Public
Drugged driving kills
SA: … Drugs, especially marijuana, are turning up more often in traffic fatality reports nationwide. In testimony against SB 686, the state Department of Transportation noted that 22 percent of fatal crashes between 2013 and 2017 “resulted in positive findings for marijuana in drivers, bicyclists or pedestrians.” The Honolulu Police Department also opposes legalization, citing the threat of impaired drivers.
Public health policy also comes into play. The therapeutic and pleasurable effects of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychoactive agent in marijuana, make it a popular recreational drug. But studies have shown that heavy use, especially among adolescents, can be harmful.
It’s likely true that the general public has grown more tolerant of recreational marijuana. It’s also likely that full legalization — making smoking a joint as socially acceptable as, say, having a glass of wine with dinner — would accelerate that trend. Lawmakers must consider what that could mean.
Colorado legalized recreational cannabis in 2012. A 2018 report by Colorado’s Department of Public Health and Environment used surveys to identify trends in marijuana use in that state. Among the things that increased in 2017:
- The number of adults using marijuana within the past 30 days;
- The frequency of daily or near daily use among adults;
- The variety of ways adults consume marijuana (smoking, eating, drinking, vaping, dabbing, etc.);
- The number of homes with children where marijuana is stored, possibly increasing secondhand exposure among children;
- The use of edibles among high school students, with a decline in smoking marijuana.
read … Drugged
Incrementalism: Hawaii lawmaker drops plan to ban cigarettes until age 100 (for now)
SA: … A lawmaker who wanted to restrict the sale of cigarettes to people who are 100 years old or older backpedaled from his proposal today, suggesting instead that his bill be amended to limit cigarette sales to people who are age 25 or older. However, the bill failed anyway.
State Rep. Richard Creagan, (D, Naalehu-Captain Cook-Keauhou), originally proposed in House Bill 1509 that the legal age for purchasing cigarettes be increased to 30 years old next year, to 50 years old in 2022, to 60 in 2023, and to 100 years of age in 2024.
During testimony before the House Health Committee this morning, Creagan proposed that his bill be amended to raise the age to purchase tobacco products from the current age of 21 to 25 years old….
House Republican Minority leader Gene Ward noted that Creagan’s proposal to essentially outlaw smoking received a great deal of media coverage, and other lawmakers in other places might embrace the idea.
“So, Dr. Creagan has not introduced this in vain, and it’s probably only a temporary thing before it rises itself either here or some other place in the world,” said Ward, (R, Kalama Valley-Queen’s Gate-Hawaii Kai)…..
(See how this works?)
read … Hawaii lawmaker drops plan to ban cigarettes until age 100
Shelter Refusers Demand End to Sweeps (again)
HNN: …During a news conference under several monkeypod trees, Kaulupali called on the government to cease homeless enforcement in the area. He also asked the city to work with the camp to find a temporary site for the estimated 100 people who live there.
“It’s time for the homeless people to speak out,” said Kaulupali. “I know for a fact the people here want housing (meth). But they cannot meet the requirements that they have to meet to get a place (due to being tweekers). How can they go to work (buy meth) if they are afraid to leave where they’re at because somebody just might take their stuff (which is so very valuable)?”
Since October, members of the Kakaako camp have organized into a group called Ka Poe o Kakaako, which means The People of Kakaako.
They, alongside a group of concerned citizens called Hui Aloha, (claim to) have coordinated several park clean-ups.
…What’s the city’s reaction to the effort?
Marc Alexander, the head of the Mayor’s Housing office, told HNN he’s always happy to sit down and talk story with people in the community.
When asked if the city would consider stopping sweeps, Alexander said the administration’s primary concern is the health and safety of the entire community and for that reason homeless enforcement won’t stop.
"The park is unfit for human habitation,” said Alexander. “We know being homeless, their life expectancy is reduced by at least 20-years. That concerns us.”
He also shot down the idea of legalizing a temporary campsite, saying there are a variety of shelter options for people who want off the street.
“We are not going to allow safe zones,” said Alexander. “In that area just this morning there were 25 empty shelter beds available.”…
read … Tweekers Union
Oneula 30,000 lbs of Homeless Garbage Hauled out
KHON: … Penny Parnes says she used to run at One'ula Beach Park, but she doesn't anymore. Now she's one of the people who participate monthly to clean it up.
"We're collecting between two and three thousand pounds of rubbish each cleanup, and thats just during the organized cleanups that we're actually weighing and measuring," said Parnes, a resident of Ewa Beach herself. "Thats not even counting the individual weekly cleanups that members and other volunteer groups and other community members are doing."
She says they've had to pick up things from tires, industrial cleaners, rugs, patio doors and even human waste.
"So if you total it up thats 30,000 pounds of rubbish in the past year that if 808 cleanups was not picking up... I mean you've seen Oneula beach park. Its not perfect. But now picture it with another thousand pounds of rubbish on it," said Parnes.
She says 808 cleanups has had to adopt it as one of the parks they clean monthly….
KHON: Fate of homeless crackhead on trial for manslaughter in the hands of an O'ahu jury
read … Ewa Beach community seek to end dumping and trespassing at local park
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