Hawaii Republicans set Presidential Caucus for Tuesday March 12, 2024
Dozens Of Leading Democrats Call For State Party Chairman Dennis Jung to Resign
CB: … Prominent Democrats including more than two dozen members of a key Hawaii Democratic Party committee are calling on state party chair Dennis Jung to resign, citing lackluster fundraising and other problems during his yearlong tenure.
Critics say Jung should not have fired executive director Erynn Fernandez and another key staffer last month without consulting other party leaders. They’re also alarmed that Jung suggested the party may not have enough money to carry out plans for a presidential preference poll next year.
(CLUE: Screw RFK.)
Last week 29 members of the Democrats’ state central committee and a half-dozen other prominent state Democrats including Hawaii National Committeeman Bart Dame signed a letter to Jung asking him to resign.
The Sept. 6 letter cited the firings of Fernandez and state party data director Marlo Ting along with other changes Jung is seeking in the state party leadership as evidence that “you can no longer be trusted to fulfill the obligations of the position of Chairperson.”…
Democratic Party Treasurer Larry Meacham, who signed the letter calling on Jung to resign, said the party under Jung basically failed to raise funds during the year after Jung became chairman in late May 2022.
The party’s cash reserves dwindled at a rate of about $11,000 per month for a year, from about $201,000 to $61,000 in June, Meacham said….
The party held a mail-in presidential preference poll in 2020 to allow Hawaii Democrats to cast ballots for their favorite Democratic presidential candidates, but repeating that process next year would cost the party about $250,000, Meacham said.
“We would have problems raising that even if we hadn’t had the problems with him,” Meacham said of Jung. Given the low level of party cash reserves today and the impact of the Maui fire disaster on any other fundraising, “it would be very, very difficult for us to raise that money now,” he said.
The rules and bylaws committee of the Democratic National Committee will consider the Hawaii Democrats’ plans for a presidential preference poll at a meeting on Thursday, but it is unclear what action the committee will take.
Dame said in an email last week that Fernandez was a key player in organizing and running the Democrats’ 2020 presidential poll, and described her firing as “sudden and ill-timed.”…
read … Dozens Of Leading Democrats Call For State Party Chairman Dennis Jung to Resign
‘Toxic Ash’ is excuse to keep residents away from burned homes
CB: … A ban on reentry to Lahaina, where 115 people perished in the fire last month, aims to protect people from toxic chemicals dislodged during the disaster. But many displaced families are growing impatient with the police barricades that went up a week after the fire and are preventing them from seeing what remains of their homes and businesses.
Some say laying eyes on their torched property is a critical step toward grieving the brutalities of the firestorm. Others long to comb the wreckage for jewelry, pottery or some other memento that might have survived.
Then there are residents who want to move back onto their land immediately, even if that means bringing in portable toilets and showers and makeshift dwellings, such as camper vans or shipping containers….
Gov. Josh Green has said his administration will decide who gets to reenter Lahaina and when…
The blaze created massive amounts of soot and dirty water that may contain harmful contaminants, authorities say. Some trees and partial structures still standing are prone to collapse. Wet ash may cause chemical burns and contain cancer-causing materials. Airborne toxins can make it difficult to breathe. ..
(REALITY: Ash is an irritant, not a toxin. This is just an excuse to keep owners out.)
SA: Health officials release preliminary air sampling data for Maui | Honolulu Star-Advertiser (staradvertiser.com)
SA: Post-fire housing solutions on Maui not easy or clear
SA: Health risks remain high for people returning to Lahaina
read … Going Home To Lahaina Won’t Happen Anytime Soon For Many Fire Victims
Maui wildfires: Outside fire investigators to start interviews
SA: … said Lopez in a statement to the Honolulu Star- Advertiser. “All state and county agencies answer to the people of Hawaii, and I fully expect that they all will voluntarily give interviews and provide documents relevant to the investigation.”
Speaking at a news conference Friday, Gov. Josh Green said he expects Congress to hold hearings on the fire….
“We are in the very early stages of our review. We have spoken with many people involved in the Maui wildfires and have requested data that will help us determine who to interview and the questions to be asked during formal interviews with county, state and HECO employees,” said Steve Kerber, FSRI vice president and executive director, in a statement to the Star- Advertiser. “We expect the data requests to be fulfilled soon so we can move forward and meet the established timelines.”….
read … Maui wildfires: Outside fire investigators to start interviews | Honolulu Star-Advertiser (staradvertiser.com)
Money Continues To Pour In For Maui’s Recovery
CB: … The Council on Native Hawaiian Affairs’ $7 million Kakoʻo Maui Fund, has distributed $400,000 of that to aid groups….Ilima-Lei Macfarlane, a professional fighter, raised $2.6 million through her Na Wahine Toa Foundation. The fund is now being overseen by Maui organizer Tiare Lawrence….
SA: Kokua Line: How is the Maui Strong Fund spending the money? | Honolulu Star-Advertiser (staradvertiser.com)
read … Money Continues To Pour In For Maui’s Recovery
Explosion of outrage
CB: … Have you noticed lately that almost every time the state or county government opens a community issue for public comment, we see an explosion of outrage? ….
2019: Kahuku and Waimanalo Protests show why Hawaii Needs Municipal Government
read … People In Hawaii Need More Of A Voice In Government Decisions Techniques
China Sows Disinformation About Hawaii Fires Using New Techniques
NYT: … Beijing’s influence campaign using artificial intelligence is a rapid change in tactics, researchers from Microsoft and other organizations say…
Caroline Amy Orr Bueno, a researcher at the University of Maryland’s Applied Research Lab for Intelligence and Security, reported that a coordinated Russian campaign began on Twitter, the social media platform now known as X, on Aug. 9, a day after the fires started.
It spread the phrase, “Hawaii, not Ukraine,” from one obscure account with few followers through a series of conservative or right-wing accounts like Breitbart and ultimately Russian state media, reaching thousands of users with a message intended to undercut U.S. military assistance to Ukraine….
Recorded Future first reported that the Chinese government mounted a covert campaign to blame a “weather weapon” for the fires, identifying numerous posts in mid-August falsely claiming that MI6, the British foreign intelligence service, had revealed “the amazing truth behind the wildfire.” Posts with the exact language appeared on social media sites across the internet, including Pinterest, Tumblr, Medium and Pixiv, a Japanese site used by artists.
Other inauthentic accounts spread similar content, often accompanied with mislabeled videos, including one from a popular TikTok account, The Paranormal Chic, that showed a transformer explosion in Chile. According to Recorded Future, the Chinese content often echoed — and amplified — posts by conspiracy theorists and extremists in the United States, including white supremacists….
HNN: Researchers: Disinformation campaign spread after wildfires slowed disaster response (hawaiinewsnow.com)
SA: Mistrust on cause of Maui fire fueled by Chinese disinformation | Honolulu Star-Advertiser (staradvertiser.com)
CB: The Sunshine Blog: Misinformation, Island Style
ILind: Lahaina and the tragedy of disinformation
read … China Sows Disinformation About Hawaii Fires Using New
Civil Beat: ‘Moms for Liberty’ is a hate group because they won’t let trannies near your 6 year old
CB: … A longtime Civil Beat reader from Kauai recently inquired as to whether there are any Proud Boys on the Garden Island. You’ll recall that a former Proud Boy leader from Oahu was sentenced to prison for his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, and more were sentenced just last week in the ongoing federal investigation.
Sadly, the Southern Poverty Law Center reports that there are indeed still Proud Boys (categorized as a general hate group consumed with conspiracy theories) in the islands (although apparently NOT on Kauai).
But there are also seven other so-called hate groups locally tagged by the SPLC. They include a Honolulu chapter of Moms for Liberty (an anti-government group), Vinland rebels (neo-Nazi) and Parents Involved in Education (anti-government).
In 2000, the SPLC reported that there was just one hate group in Hawaii, a Honolulu organization called the National Association for the Advancement of White People. They’re now gone from our shores.
CS: This Is the Number of Active Hate Groups in Hawaii
read … The Sunshine Blog: Love The Wine You're With - Honolulu Civil Beat
Soft on Crime Stratagems Pay Off: The Cost Of A New Oahu Jail Is Now More Than $900 Million
CB: … The Department of Public Safety is now estimating that the proposed new Oahu jail will cost more than $900 million, a dramatic increase from previous forecasts after years of delays.
The department has been stuck in the planning and design process for the new facility since 2014, when the state first allocated $5 million for planning, followed by another $5.4 million two years later.
The project, which would replace the aging and overcrowded Oahu Community Correctional Center, is expected to break ground in 2025. However, critics succeeded in holding back funds this year amid a push to focus on criminal justice reforms (letting lots and lots of criminals back out onto the streets) instead of building a new jail…..
read … The Cost Of A New Oahu Jail Is Now More Than $900 Million
Lahaina Fire News:
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