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    Vote Green, Not for Genocide!

    Guest Contributor
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    Vote Green, Not for Genocide!

    by Michael Sukhov

    As I sat down to my morning coffee and paper today I was again greeted with the news
    that the Israeli military continues to slaughter innocent civilians in the West Bank, Gaza,
    and Lebanon. None of this would be possible without U.S.-manufactured and supplied
    bombs, drones, and other weapons that our government continues to provide to the
    Israel “Defense” Forces (IDF), in violation of both U.S. and international law. (See
    “Biden’s Gaza,” truthout.org, May 26, 2024).

    As a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, I lived through the unspeakable
    horror of U.S.-funded acts of genocide against the Vietnamese people. So I can no
    longer remain silent while our government continues to aid and abet acts of genocide by
    Israel and the IDF against civilians in the Middle East, which have resulted in the
    murder of more than 42,000 Palestinian men, women, and children since October 7, 2023.
    (Watson Institute, “Costs of War” project, “United States Spending on Israel’s Military Operations and Related U.S. Operations in the Region, October 7, 2023 – September 30, 2024,” https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/papers.) More than 900 Palestinian medical workers have been killed by the Israeli military during this same
    period, including at least 165 doctors and 260 nurses. (Middle East Eye, “Nearly 1,000
    Palestinian health workers killed by Israeli forces in Gaza named,” September 17 th ,
    2024, https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/nearly-1000-palestinian-health-workers-
    killed-israeli-forces-gaza-named.) In addition, according to the Lebanese Health
    Ministry, Israel’s airstrikes on Lebanon over the same period of time have killed 2,865
    people so far and injured 13,047 people since the conflict began in October 2023, as well as the forced relocation of hundreds of thousands of others.As a Hawai’i Green Party member and a person of conscience, I am committed to the protection and preservation of human and all other forms of sentient life on this planet, as well as to peace, non-violence, authentic, grassroots democracy, and social justice.

    Michael Sukhov

    In view of the IDF’s ongoing atrocities, I cannot vote for the Harris-Walz ticket in next
    Tuesday’s Presidential election. Ms. Harris not only has publicly refused to support calls
    for an arms embargo against Israel – which is required by Congressional statute and
    international humanitarian law – on the contrary, she has promised to continuing flouting
    these laws by continuing the Biden-Harris administration’s policy of ongoing, open-
    ended military support for Israel in its genocidal campaign against the Palestinian (and
    now Lebanese) people.

    Well before Hamas’ brutal attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Biden-Harris
    administration already had been providing billions of dollars annually in military aid to
    Israel. This lethal aid has been used to maintain Israel as an apartheid state, and to
    keep Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza in what amounts to an open-air prison,
    under brutal and inhumane conditions. Meanwhile, substantial numbers of American
    citizens continue to suffer from lack of adequate income, medical care, and nutrition, as
    well as access to an affordable, quality education. At the same time, only a fraction of
    the annual U.S. military budget – likely less than one percent – would be needed to eliminate hunger and malnutrition in the United States. (“How much does the US spend on the military?,” August 1, 2024, https://usafacts.org.)

    As members of the Green Party, we strongly contest the fallacious claim, continually
    being propagated by the Democratic Party, that voting for the Stein-Ware ticket means
    voting for Donald Trump. This specious “lesser of two evils” argument has been used
    by the Democratic Party virtually every four years for decades, going back at least to the
    early years of the last century. In our view, no appeal to this “lesser of two evils” canard
    can justify voting for Kamala Harris in the midst of Israel’s ongoing genocide in the
    Middle East, which she apparently supports.

    The so-called “Democratic” Party, through its continuing efforts to marginalize, discredit,
    and spread false and misleading information about Jill Stein and the Green Party,
    continues to demonstrate – in its foreign policy as well as in its domestic political
    behavior – that it certainly is not democratic in any meaningful sense of the term. Vote
    Stein/Ware for President/Vice President in 2024!

    Michael J. Sukhov is a sociologist, media journalist and educator who lives in Honolulu.  He currently is a research associate at the University of Hawai’i West O’ahu, and an Affiliate Faculty member at the University of Washington at Tacoma.  He enjoys teaching, writing, singing, dancing, playing guitar and harmonica, and the wonderful sunshine and aloha of these islands. Mike is a member, Green Party of Hawai’i and Jewish Voice for Peace, Hawai’i*

    The Role of Social Media Platforms in Disaster Response: A Call for Change

    Daniela Stolfi-Tow
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    The Role of Social Media Platforms in Disaster Response: A Call for Change

    As the admin for 808 Viral, I unexpectedly found myself on the front lines of communication during the Lahaina wildfire and what I experienced was nothing like I had ever experienced before.

    As the community, government and traditional media scrambled to get their footing, people turned to pages like 808 Viral—the leading independent entertainment platform in Hawaii—for immediate updates and information. The benefit of being independent, is the ability to quickly receive and share content unencumbered by red tape. When the national media began reporting, the entire world turned its eyes to Maui, and that is when the disinformation began flooding the feeds.

    It was obvious from the very start, that the algorithm prioritized the disaster profiteers, clout chasers, scammers, conspiracy theorists, and foreign actors, over verified information. By the time first responders, security experts, and officials from Katrina tried to warn us about the looming challenges, the damage was already done. Everyone in Hawaii was fighting to get out vital communication and battling against the disinformation that was blocking victims from getting the help they needed. We formed volunteer chat groups attempting to identify and report damaging content but NOT ONE THING WAS REMOVED.

    The Problem: Bots, Impostors, and Misinformation Overwhelmed Crisis Communication

    During the Maui wildfires social media platforms moderation efforts failed to keep up, or act at all. We pleaded with the platforms to prioritize content relevant to the affected areas, because accurate and vital information was being drowned out by misinformation spreading fear and confusion faster than the storm. This pattern isn’t new. The same thing that happened during Katrina and Lahaina happened during Hurricane Helene. The same misinformation and fraudulent campaigns flooded social feeds.

    In fact, I was able to debunk the Maui laser disinformation because I just happened to recognize the same imagery used on other Direct Energy Weapon conspiracies.

    The consequences of this were severe: people became suspicious of legitimate aid, unsure whether to trust the very organizations trying to help them. Those ripples of distrust remain, leaving a lasting impact on affected communities.

    Foreign influence campaigns found these moments ripe for exploitation. Russian and Chinese-linked accounts were highly visible during the Maui wildfire response, amplifying disinformation and sowing distrust in government institutions. Political opportunists latch onto these crises, manipulating narratives to divide the public and undermine coordinated recovery efforts.

    Everyone I talked to, from mainstream media to first responders all said the same thing. “We have never seen anything like this before.”

    This is an urgent call to platforms to Implement the following: 

    1. Take immediate action to improve its detection and removal of fake accounts. Bots and scam accounts are still rampant on Youtube, Instagram, TikTok and Facebook, eroding trust and making it harder to find credible information during emergencies.

    2. Content Prioritization during disasters – amplify posts from trusted emergency services, local government agencies, and verified accounts. Critical updates need to rise above other content so people can quickly access the information they need. Geo-targeted algorithms already exist and can be leveraged to ensure local updates reach the right audiences in real time.

    3. Identity Verification for Trusted Sources – Meta should pre-prioritize verified accounts in emergency zones, ensuring that official agencies, relief organizations, and community leaders can cut through the noise. Clear disaster response protocols would allow emergency posts to bypass regular algorithms, ensuring they are seen and shared widely.

    4. Real-Time Disaster Protocols – these platforms must recognize the stakes and implement formal disaster response protocols to manage communication during crises. Lives depend on it. Emergency information can’t compete with the noise from scammers, bots, and disinformation campaigns.

    5. Consequences for spreading harmful disinformation – The case of Alex Jones is an example of why disinformation must face legal repercussions. Jones profited from propagated false narratives about the Sandy Hook shooting and misled millions. It inflicted real harm on the victims’ families. When individuals or entities profit from “rage baiting” and conspiracies, the consequences must extend beyond demonetization. Permanently disabling their channels can help curb financial incentives. But legal and regulatory measures send a clear message that spreading dangerous disinformation will not be tolerated. To protect vulnerable communities from the psychological and emotional damage from harmful content, content creators should be held to ethical standards. With influence comes great responsibility.

    The Time to Act is Now

    The chaos that unfolded during the Maui wildfires serves as a warning: The platforms need to be better equipped to serve the public during disasters. When critical updates are lost among a flood of misinformation, people suffer. With hurricanes, wildfires, and other natural disasters becoming more frequent, the need for reliable, real-time information will only grow.

    Meta has the technology to make these changes and stop enabling disaster profiteers and foreign actors who exploit these situations for personal gain or political agendas.

    Politicians and Disinformation: A Widening Threat Beyond Crises

    In recent elections, we’ve seen that disinformation isn’t limited to disaster responses—politicians and campaign strategists are now adopting the same manipulative tactics. Instead of working to unify and protect communities, they often use social media to amplify divisive narratives, push unverified claims, and even fund disinformation efforts that undermine democratic processes. Politicians leverage bot accounts, echo conspiracy theories, and stoke public fear to sway public opinion, often distorting the reality of their opponents’ platforms or pushing exaggerated crises to gain votes.

    The consequences are profound. Just as in disaster scenarios, this flood of misleading information confuses voters, disrupts informed decision-making, and reduces trust in legitimate sources. By amplifying fear and misinformation, politicians are undermining democracy in ways strikingly similar to disaster profiteers.

    Preventing Campaign Interference: A Call for Social Media Accountability

    To protect both public safety and democratic integrity, platforms must address the misuse of algorithms and prioritize transparency, especially during election cycles. Implementing real-time disaster and election protocols will help ensure that accurate, trusted information isn’t drowned out by manipulation. As social media becomes an even more dominant source of information, its role in both crisis response and election integrity must be reassessed.

    The clock is ticking. In the next crisis, will the platforms leaders step up—or will misinformation cost lives?

    Magpul’s Santini Aviator Glasses–a blast from the past

    Robert Kay
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    Magpul’s Santini Aviator Glasses–a blast from the past

    Magpul’s Santini Eyewear is one of the newest incarnations of iconic Aviator Glasses. The company has an entire line of eyewear for use at the range but the Santini model is relatively new for them.

    Of course Aviator glasses have been around for decades.

    A lot of manufacturers make them but there’s a natural connection between aviator eyewear and Magpul, considering the genesis of the original product was developed for the Army Air Corps in the early stages of WWII.

    Before we get into the review I think it would be instructive to look at the history of aviator eyewear.

    Like many items we take for granted (like duct tape, superglue, microwave ovens, kleenex, silicone gel and epipens) aviator sunglasses were invented by the military as early as 1935.

    Unlike other eyewear, aviator sunglasses were meant to be worn under headgear. Instead of being flat, the lenses are slightly convex.

    Why convex?

    No this is not some Hollywood star. Lt. Mike Hunter with AN6531 sunglasses (1942) was an Army Air Corps test pilot. (United States Library of Congress)

    Aviators are designed to fully cover the field of vision, minimizing light from entering the eyes from any angle. A signature feature of aviator sunglasses is the double bridge across the nose. Some models also include flexible cable temples that wrap around the ears for a more secure fit.

    The next incarnation emerged in 1941. Produced both for pilots and sailors, it met the specs of both the U.S. Army Air Corps and the U.S. Navy, leading to the designation AN6531 — AN for Army/Navy. (See photo above).

    The lenses are slightly convex, minimizing light from entering the eyes from any angle. A signature feature of aviator sunglasses is the double bridge across the nose. Note the resemblance to the glasses worn by Gen. MacArthur, Lt. Hunter (above) and Col. Buchli (below). (Courtesy Magpul)

    These sunglasses introduced the now-iconic teardrop-shaped lenses, chosen to assist pilots who frequently looked down at their instrument panels while flying. Initially, the lenses were green, but they later shifted to a rose smoke tint to provide better protection against sun glare. The frames, made from a copper alloy and nickel-plated, were designed to avoid interfering with compasses.

    Aviators go Hollywood

    Although available to civilians before WWII, it wasn’t until after the war that they became popular. General Douglas MacArthur wore the frames as he landed on the beaches of the Philippines, as depicted above.

    Hollywood ran with it the look beginning with Marlon Brando’s 1951 film The Wild One to 1986’s Top Gun (which just got its long-awaited sequel). Like him or not, our current president is a fan.

    Nope this ain’t Tom Cruise. It’s US Test pilot and NASA astronaut James Buchli wearing HGU4/P sunglasses (1989). (Courtesy MASA).

    The present day brings us back to Magpul, which as most folks know, manufactures innovative gear, particularly its polymer-based magazines such as the PMAG.

    Beyond magazines, Magpul is also famous for stocks, grips, and other tactical items.

    Thus it’s a sort of no brainer that this company would also have a line of aviator glasses (in addition to a wide array of other eyewear).

    The Santini Aviators are designed for durability and protection while maintaining a casual, versatile look.

    The Santini’s feature anti-slip and adjustable rubber nose pads (courtesy Magpul)

    Keeping the UV at Bay

    Key features include polarized, gray-green lenses that provide excellent clarity and contrast while blocking 100% of harmful UV rays. Keep in mind, local readers, that Hawaii has the highest UV index in the entire nation due to our closer proximity to the equator.

    Prolonged exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays can accelerate the development of various age-related eye conditions, including cataracts, macular degeneration, pterygium—a  growth on the eye’s surface that can develop due to UV exposure. Photokeratitis, often referred to as “sunburn of the eye is also a condition can occur from intense UV exposure.  

    Back to the Santinis.

    The lenses are impact-resistant and excellent for outdoor use, however according to Scott Creed Director or Marketing at Magpul, “they don’t have the required wrap around the sides of the eyes to earn the ANZI 287.1 rating”, which means they are not officially approved for the range.

    The glasses come with a sturdy case. Very nice touch. (Rob Kay photo)

    That said, they are premium sunglasses, says Creed, “on par or exceeding the Randolph and Ray Bans’ premium features.” 

    They also differ because they are not made of glass. They are ballistic thermoplastic lenses with an oleophobic coating to repel water, oil, sweat, and chemicals, ensuring they remain clear in various conditions.

    I can attest that they are very comfortable. They are equipped with anti-slip, adjustable rubber nose pads and a low-profile temple design. This ensures a snug fit even when wearing hats or ear protection (that’s your choice), making them excellent for both casual wear and active use. They fit me perfectly. There’s a teeny bit of tension on the temple tips which keep the glasses in one place without causing irritation.

    At $149 they are much more reasonably priced compared to the competition.

    Lt. Hank Carbonell, Luke Field, AZ, 1942 (courtesy Kay Family)

    Remembering Hank Carbonell

    Since we’re on the topic of pilots and Veteran’s Day is coming up soon, I’d like to honor a family friend, Lt. Henri (Hank) Carbonell, who died when his P-39 Airacobra fighter plane crashed, shortly after takeoff, on July 21, 1943 at Hato Field in Curaçao. Hank’s squadron was in the Dutch West Indies hunting for U-Boats and ensuring that Venezuelan oil would fuel the war effort.

    Top image depicts Gen. Douglas MacArthur (center) along with some other highly ranking officers landing in Leyte with their aviator glasses. (courtesy By U.S. Army Signal Corps officer Gaetano Faillace)

    Robert F. Kay is a columnist for the Honolulu Star Advertiser, a health nut, the author of two Lonely Planet guidebooks and Fijiguide.com. He is currently writing a family memoir about his father’s WWII service and friendship with Hank Carbonell.

    Historic income tax cut exactly what Hawaii needed

    Grassroot Institute
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    Historic income tax cut exactly what Hawaii needed

    By Keli’i Akina

    It always amazes me when I hear people criticize the historic personal state income tax cut that our Legislature and Gov. Josh Green enacted into law this year.

    Finally, Hawaii’s lawmakers listened to the people and did the most effective thing they could to significantly lower our incredibly high cost of living: They decided to let us keep more of our own money.

    Yet, we hear from naysayers who claim the state can’t “afford” the tax cut, and suggest that it should be rolled back or offset by tax increases.

    Meanwhile, if you’ve been paying attention to the way prices have been rising in our state, you know that tax increases are the last thing we need. 

    Just last month, the Congressional Joint Economic Committee released its updated state-by-state inflation analysis, and according to its calculations, the average Hawaii household now spends $1,234 more per month to buy the same goods and services as it did in January 2021, for a total of $33,365.

    For individual Hawaii households, that equates to $183 more per month on food, $279 more a month for housing, $137 a month for energy and $284 more per month for transportation.

    What does this mean? It means that Hawaii’s 2024 state income tax cut came at the right time to help us offset the runaway inflation that has made the past few years so difficult for working families.

    Put another way, it’s not that we wanted a significant tax cut. Rather, it’s that we needed it.

    If you would like to see exactly how much you might benefit from the cut, check out the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii’s tax cut calculator. Basically, a married couple with one dependent making $83,102 a year is going to see their state income tax decrease by 74% by 2031, saving $19,109 over that period. The tax savings won’t negate inflation completely, but it will give us a bit more breathing room.

    It is true that we could do more to lower the cost of living in our state, and I support policies aimed at increasing economic freedom and making Hawaii more prosperous. That includes this year’s state personal income tax cut, which, by the way, was supported unanimously by every state legislator.

    Politicians who now say they voted for the cuts “with reservations” are of course free to try to reverse the tax cuts and make Hawaii even more expensive. However, as president of the Grassroot Institute, I will do all I can to protect the progress we’ve already made while advancing new policies that will help our people, communities and businesses thrive.
    _____________

    Keli‘i Akina is president and CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

    Self-Insurance Is No Insurance

    Tom Yamachika
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    Self-Insurance Is No Insurance

    One of our newer lawmakers recently penned a piece, “Consumer-Centered Property Insurance Can Help Condo Owners” (Civil Beat, Oct. 18), floating the idea that condominium associations should consider self-insurance as one way to deal with the difficulties, costs, and practicalities of getting insurance for condominium common areas.

    The author notes that self-insurance entails putting away a large amount of money in reserve for disasters, which is what insurance companies insuring such disasters do.  Can’t you just cut out the middleman then?

    The short answer is that self-insurance is no insurance.  People have to rely on the self-insuring company’s size, availability of large monetary reserves, and ability to raise more money should the need arise.  That’s why governments sometimes insure themselves.  The federal government, for example, self-insures against traffic accident liability.  It’s big enough to pull it off, and it has the power to tell states that mandatory insurance coverage laws don’t apply to it.

    In contrast, the typical condominium association is several orders of magnitude smaller than a typical government.  Lenders, both lending to the association and to its constituent members, often impose strict insurance requirements as conditions for providing new or keeping existing financing.  In addition, condominium associations are always facing pressure to deal with occasional but costly results of aging such as concrete spalling, road deterioration, and water incursion damage.  They simply might not have the ability to keep a large wad of cash around while association members clamor for reducing maintenance fees.  In short, the typical condominium association would have a tough time maintaining self-insurance.

    One variation on the idea that might be more easily accepted and accomplished is called captive insurance.  In a typical captive insurance scenario, one large company or a collection of several companies with common interests pays into a fund.  The fund then gets turned into a mini-insurance company so the fund can’t be touched unless a disaster, or other risks that the captive company agrees to insure, occur.  One advantage to doing it this way is that a captive insurer is a legitimate insurance company and, as such, is allowed to buy reinsurance on the secondary market (a privilege denied to mere mortals and ordinary companies).  With reinsurance, the insurer can elect to cover losses up to a certain size, for example, with the reinsurer stepping in when losses go from bad to ridiculous.

    Another advantage to this route is that Hawaii has plenty of experience with captives since it became a captive domicile in 1986.  Indeed, at about this time last year Hawaii received the 2023 Domicile of the Year Award at the U.S. Captive Review Awards held in Vermont.  The award was given in the so-called heavyweight category, domiciles that were able to boast gross written premiums of more than $5 billion.  At the time, Hawaii had 263 captive companies from across the U.S. as well as Asia and the Pacific. As of December 31, 2022, Hawaiʻi was ranked as the fifth-largest U.S. captive domicile, and the eighth-largest globally, by number of captive companies licensed. In addition, in 2022, the Hawaiʻi captives had written premiums of $15.6 billion, an increase of $3.3 billion from the previous year and the largest increase in captive written premiums of all captive domiciles globally in 2022.

    We offer this as an alternative to self-insurance for folks trying to find options in our current insurance crisis.

    Making Money is a Waste of Time

    Sydney Ross Singer
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    Making Money is a Waste of Time

    It’s common American folk wisdom, apparently started by Benjamin Franklin, that “time is money”. You would expect a capitalist country, focused on finance, to worship the dollar and define time in terms of cash. It gives people a reason for working as much as possible, producing as much as possible, to make as much money as possible. 

    In this dream, or perhaps nightmare, of living on an ever turning treadmill of financial production, the winner is the one who dies with the most money. 

    Perhaps there is a time in one’s life when it’s a good idea to dedicate one’s time to money. The more money you can make through work when you are young, the more money can work for you when you get old. 

    However, there is more to life than making money. At least, there should be, especially after you have enough money to live on. 

    When you think about it, time is life. We all have our own lifetime, and we spend that time, like we spend money. In this sense, time is like money. We can invest our time, or our money, to obtain something else. In this sense, time and money are means to an end. 

    But money can be made again, while time spent is time lost. As we age, money increases and accumulates (hopefully), while time decreases and depletes.

    Here’s is another big difference between time and money — you know how much money you have left. 

    The uncertainty of when time runs out should make us value each moment, as though it might be near our last. But many people take their time for granted, assuming that they will continue to rise in the morning along with the sun. So they squander their time, wasting it like there will always be a tomorrow. 

    The problem here is that, unlike money, you don’t need to earn time. You just get it at birth, like some government entitlement program. This makes time valueless, since there is so much of it.  

    Of course, once you realize that you are running out of time, each minute becomes extremely valuable. 

    This means that young people, who assume they have all the time in the world, are willing to spend lots of time making little money, while older people, who are aware that the clock is running down, are willing to spend lots of money making a little more time. 

    Sometimes, you have too much time on your hands, and that apparently can get you into trouble. But you never hear anyone having too much money on their hands. People also get bored with too much time, and don’t know how to spend it. But most people do know how to spend money. 

    Money is not good or bad, but money can buy you a good or bad time. That’s because money is just a quantity of purchasing power, which can be spent on quality time. Quantity and quality are different things. 

    However, there are cases where the quantity of money is used to determine the quality of the person. Since we live in a society where our time is used to make money, we can now calculate how much a person’s lifetime is worth. After all, if time is money, the more you can make per hour the more valuable will be your lifetime. This is why some people have a greater “worth” than others, and why we value rich people more than poor people. 

    Money also can be transferred between people, with the same dollar going through innumerable hands. But time is personal, nontransferable, and there are no refunds.

    You can live on borrowed money, and pay it back another day. But when you live on borrowed time, there is no pay back. At the end, you’re just done. 

    Clearly, time is a means to lots of things that money cannot buy. Time can help you develop your ideas and personality. Time allows you to explore the intangible aspects of life. Of course, you need time to do this, and if you spend your time making money, then there may not be much time left for other activities. 

    This is why equating time and money is bad. It makes it seem as though the only good use of time is to create money. Time is the means, and money is the end. This leads to a life devoid of quality and focused solely on quantity. But is the goal of life to convert time into money? Are we all just money-making machines? 

    The answer is yes, if you are an employer. Workers are paid by the hour to make money for the employer. Both worker and boss share the same goal — making money. But what is the cost to society of our obsession with making money at the expense of time? Is there more to life than just increasing the quantity of money you have? In our money-obsessed culture, the rich are on top of the pile. It doesn’t matter what they do with their money. Being rich buys respect and privilege. Quantity is valued over quality, so we judge people by how much money they own, not by how much good they have shown. 

    All this leads to a culture that is devoid of value and virtue, apart from the virtues of thrift and hard work. We have become a quantitative society, with everyone having a price tag reflecting their monetary worth. But when you lose quality and virtue you lose morality and connection. We make money, instead of making friends. We see the world as ours to exploit for money. We see others as ours to exploit, to make money. Money is the ends that justifies the means. People will lie, cheat, steal, and kill for money. And when they become rich, they are respected for their wealth, regardless of how they spent their time generating that money. 

    That’s not the way to have a mentally healthy, socially integrated, happy society.  Wealth does not equal health. Often, it is healthier to focus on the intangible things of life. Beauty, love, friendship, communing with nature, the search for truth and meaning in life – these are all intangible aspects of living that impart quality to life. Spending time to make yourself a better human being may not make you money, but it will make you a better person. 

    Does it pay spending your time to increase your quality of life? Or should you spend your time to increase your quantity of money? That choice is something people rarely consider in our culture. We are brainwashed into believing time is money. Breaking away from that thinking will destabilize our culture. Employers, who are the ones with the money, need people to make them more money. We need money-makers, not people who want to spend their lives exploring the possibilities of what it means to be human. We are treated like the machines and robots they are wanting to use to replace human workers. The human element in society is disappearing. If robots can make more money for employers than humans workers, it’s a simple calculation to see where the future is headed. 

    Note that this is not an attack on capitalism, or a promotion of socialism. It is recognition that we are all born with time on our hands, and a culture that uses our hands to make money. We serve the machine. It’s time for that to stop, and for people to start looking for the qualities of life that money cannot buy. These are the things that make life worth living, even if it does not make your life worth more money.

    Hawaii Island homeowner at wit’s end over nightmarish permitting snafu

    Grassroot Institute
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    Hawaii Island homeowner at wit’s end over nightmarish permitting snafu

    By Keli’i Akina

    Imagine buying a house with the intention of remodeling it, doing everything you’re supposed to do — obtain permits, begin remodeling, schedule inspections — only to have the county tell you to tear it down.

    That’s not just a hypothetical nightmare situation used to illustrate the power of the state over the individual. It’s a real-life example of how a broken permitting system and burdensome regulations continue to make life difficult for Hawaii residents and exacerbate our housing crisis.

    As the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reported on Monday, Shahzaad Ausman bought a 336-square-foot beachfront cottage in Milolii for $275,000 in May 2021. The previous owner had obtained a remodeling permit in 2020, so Ausman thought everything was good to go, and in 2022, he began remodeling. 

    Finally, he called the county to schedule an inspection. 

    After a few months of cancellations and delays, an inspector appeared in June 2022 and gave Ausman unexpected bad news: His permit had expired the previous day. Yes, the previous day! But it was not the remodeling permit that had expired. That was still good until 2025. It was the original building permit from 1987, which apparently had no record of ever undergoing a final inspection.

    “That’s not possible,” Ausman reportedly told the inspector. “If the building permit doesn’t have a final, you would not have issued me a remodeling permit.”

    But the inspector was unswayed, and in October 2022, Ausman received a letter from the Hawai‘i Department of Public Works saying that he would have to “pull all new permits, bring the house to current code, lift it and move it out of the (shoreline management area) and all that — basically, asking me to tear the house down.”

    Ausman appealed to the county’s Board of Appeals but lost.

    “There’s nothing I can do,” Ausman told the Hawaii Tribune-Herald reporter. “I can’t move the house. I can’t bring it to current code. And they don’t want me to live in the house. They have not offered any reasonable accommodations, nothing. They’ve just been like, ‘No’ the entire way, except, ‘Move your house, pull your permits’ — which I’m not going to get because I don’t have an SMA permit.”

    The county apparently even revoked the 2020 remodeling permit.

    Barred from living in his home and unable to rebuild because of strict shoreline permitting rules, Ausman is trapped in a bureaucratic nightmare. His only remaining option — which he is now pursuing — is to sue the county.

    And frankly, I wish him good luck. 

    I talk a lot about Hawaii’s regulations and approvals that hold up homebuilding, but people such as Ausman are the face of that problem. Bureaucracy and zoning rules are hard enough to navigate if you’re in the homebuilding business, but ordinary people can be left without a home.

    Some might say that these permitting errors are due to insufficient staffing or outdated software. But those issues are just the tip of the iceberg. There is far more lurking beneath the surface.

    The bottom line is that Hawaii badly needs to overhaul its permitting and zoning rules so homeowners such as Ausman are not left with allegedly illegal homes they can’t live in. 

    In particular, we must simplify and streamline county permitting rules so we are no longer plagued by costly uncertainty, confusion and delays when it comes to homebuilding or remodeling. 

    The people of Hawaii deserve better.
    _____________

    Keli‘i Akina is president and CEO of the Grassroot Institute of Hawaii.

    Uluniu – Niuversary at Kūkaniloko

    Albie Miles
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    Uluniu – Niuversary at Kūkaniloko

    Saturday, November 2, 2024, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm

    Please join us as we celebrate Makahiki and gather to mālama niu. On November 20, 2021, we planted 108 coconut trees in Kūkaniloko. Every year, we return to share food and take care of the trees we love so much. Please bring a meal to share potluck style, as well as water, shoes, a hat, sunscreen, and ALOHA! All ages are welcome, and the gates will be open at 8:00 am, map location here. Contact Aunty Manu at manu@hawaii.edu or Ioane at ioane@ainakaiaulu.org for more details or if you have any questions. Mahalo nui, a Lonoikamakahiki!

    Autocorrect, Now Pay Up!

    Tom Yamachika
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    Autocorrect, Now Pay Up!

    Most of us with smartphones are aware of the “AutoCorrect” feature that sometimes can be a great help, at other times a major annoyance.  Simply put, when I am typing something, the computer sometimes replaces what I type with what it thinks I intended to type.  So, one evening I sent my wife a text, “Let’s get dinner from State,” when I actually typed the last word as “Stage,” which is a restaurant near Ala Moana Center.

    The Department of Taxation’s computers have an AutoCorrect function, too.  And, like the smartphone function, it doesn’t necessarily tell you when it changes some of the information that’s been input.  Recently, I looked at a general excise tax return that showed income of $100,000 and deductions of $3,000, with a net taxable amount of $70,000 and tax paid on that amount.  (The numbers have been changed to protect the innocent.)  Apparently, the poor taxpayer was missing a “0” from the deduction column.  But that’s not what the computer saw.  The computer AutoCorrected the taxable amount to $97,000 ($100,000 minus $3,000) and assessed tax accordingly.  Because tax had been paid on the $70,000, the computer determined that tax had not been paid on the $27,000 and, after a couple of months, tacked on a penalty of 20% for not paying all of the tax with the return.  Of course, the taxpayer never knew this happened until several years later, after it was too late to file an amended return and 8% interest had been steadily accumulating on both the tax and the penalty.

    This example was a return that was filed on paper more than 10 years ago. These problems should be avoidable today if the amounts are typed into the system directly with an online filing, because the system will do the math for you and prevent errors like this.  Also, the Department’s fillable forms have been upgraded so that they perform many of the computations right on the form.  But there may be other AutoCorrect rules that the system has in place that we might not know about until it’s too late.

    Adding to the frustration, however, is that there are places where it is simple and logical to AutoCorrect but the system doesn’t do it.  Another taxpayer filed a withholding tax form for the fourth quarter of 2016.  But, instead of putting “12/16” in the field for the ending month of the quarter for which the form was filed, the taxpayer put down “01/17,” which is the month in which he filed the form.  There, the Department’s computer figured that the return was actually for the first quarter of 2017 and credited the payment to that quarter.  As a result, the computer concluded that the taxpayer had shorted the State for the year 2016 and assessed tax and penalties accordingly.  In this case, however, could the filing have been for the “quarter ending January 2017”?  That certainly would not have been consistent with the taxpayer’s previous filings that showed he was on a calendar year for tax purposes so his first fiscal quarter didn’t end in January, but in March.  (To be clear, the system credited the payment to the quarter ending March 2017.)

    At a bare minimum, if the system is not going to AutoCorrect something like this (or even if it does), some kind of notice should have gone to the taxpayer informing him that his return was being interpreted this way.

    “To err is human,” the saying goes, “but to really screw things up takes a computer.”

    At this point, I just know that some software developers working on tax software for government agencies are staying up nights wondering how to make Artificial Intelligence apply to AutoCorrecting tax returns.  I’m not looking forward to the result.

    The $4 Billion Maui Wildfire “Settlement”

    Tom Yamachika
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    The $4 Billion Maui Wildfire “Settlement”

    There have been a lot of sharp words in the news lately surrounding a $4 billion “global settlement” relating to financial responsibility for the Maui wildfires.  Homeowners’ property insurance has paid fire victims more than $2.3 billion and expect to pay $1 billion more, according to Property Insurers for Hawaii, a coalition of more than 160 insurers.  The so-called global settlement puts together about $4 billion that seven defendants, including Hawaiian Electric, Bishop Estate, and state government, have agreed to pay and that the individual plaintiffs’ attorneys seem to be willing to accept.

    The wrinkle, however, is that property insurers have “subrogation rights.”  Almost all property insurance policies provide that if an insurer pays a claimant under its policy, it then succeeds to the claimant’s rights to sue whoever caused the damage.  If the damage was purely caused by a natural disaster such as a hurricane, the subrogation rights aren’t worth much.  But if the facts point to legal fault of one or more bad actors, then the insurers can try to recoup the money they have paid out from those bad actors.  If the insurers are able to do that, the cost of insurance goes down except perhaps for the bad actors, who are then motivated to change their behavior so that they aren’t found to have fault in the future.  So, in January more than 140 insurers filed a separate lawsuit in Circuit Court in Honolulu to do this.

    Recently, the legal infighting has focused on these subrogation rights and whether the settlement process can force the insurers to give these up.  Plaintiffs’ attorney Jesse Creed is quoted as saying, “At every step of the way we are facing obstacles and challenges from the insurance industry, every step of the way. They fought us every step of the way because they don’t want to see this settlement happen. They’ve rejected the settlement.”  Governor Green also weighed in, saying that it is disappointing “that mainland insurance companies continue to demonstrate their contempt for the people of Hawaii as they put profits ahead of people.”  The insurers, however, maintain that they have legal rights and are simply enforcing them.

    This legal problem seems to be created by plaintiffs’ attorneys.  They drafted a class action complaint that specifically excludes insurers, but in the global settlement terms they are insisting on releases of any insurers’ subrogation rights.  Perhaps they thought that Hawaii is far enough out in the woods that they could persuade our politicians and courts to approve a “deal” that stomps on the insurers.

    Looking at the situation objectively, though, it’s clear that there is no agreement to settle the case.  To have a settlement, all parties with legal rights must agree to release, or extinguish, those legal rights in exchange for something, such as money.  Like it or not, insurers have legal rights, so they need to be part of the agreement.  If the courts force the insurers to agree to the “deal” and give up their subrogation rights, it isn’t a settlement.  It would mean that the legal system is forcing the property insurance industry and market to bear additional costs, which would then translate into either higher premiums or the exodus of the insurers from the market.  This danger is not imaginary.  We are already seeing drastic changes in the condominium insurance market, enough for the Governor to issue emergency proclamations regarding condominium insurance stabilization.

    Instead of name-calling and getting worked up before TV cameras, it’s time to go back to the bargaining table.  There are new reports and evidence coming out that must be considered.  It’s possible to negotiate a settlement fair to everyone involved, so let’s do it.

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