Previously in this space, we spoke of various laws that were suspended by the Governor’s emergency proclamations. In a press release on March 17, 2020, entitled “Democracy Still Matters in Time of Pandemic,” the watchdog group Common Cause Hawaii pointed out that a Supplemental Emergency Proclamation, issued by Governor Ige on March 16, 2020, suspended many laws pertaining to transparency and accountability, including chapters 92 and 92F of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to open meetings of government decision-making bodies and public access to government records.
The Office of Information Practices, which enforces both of those laws, issued advice to agencies and boards on March 23, and, among other things, told agencies that boards and other public bodies holding meetings were encouraged to give notice and public visibility to meetings but it was okay to meet behind closed doors with no public notice. Public records requests made after the Supplemental Emergency Proclamation took effect could just be ignored. It told agencies that if they wanted to respond, they could say:
As this is a global pandemic and a serious threat to the safety and welfare of our state’s population, 92F was suspended to give government the maximum flexibility to focus its attention and personnel resources on directly addressing the immediate situation at hand. When the situation is stabilized and there is proper leeway to re-direct those resources, the suspension of 92F will be lifted.
Basically, the Administration’s attitude was something like treating concerned citizens like pond scum, and saying, “We’ll get back to you later. Maybe.”
In the Seventh Supplemental Proclamation on May 6, the Administration backed off a bit. With regard to public meetings, boards were now ordered to post meeting notices and accept written testimony from the public. Regarding records requests, agencies now needed to acknowledge them, respond to them as resources permit, and aren’t supposed to destroy either the requests or the requested records.
That modest progress happened because of the Civil Beat Law Center negotiating over several weeks with the Department of Attorney General on behalf of a coalition of nonprofit public watchdog groups including the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.
To me, however, justification for suspending these laws in the first place is and was sketchy.
Under the emergency powers statutes, the Governor can suspend any law that creates hardships and inequities; obstructs public health, safety, or welfare; or impedes or tends to impede emergency functions. Could someone explain to me how allowing public board meetings to be conducted in public creates hardships and inequities? Could someone explain to me how the public records laws impede emergency functions? Could someone please explain to me how or why the snuffing out of governmental accountability relieves hardships and inequities, or obstructs public health, safety or welfare?
The official explanation, that compliance with the laws will take away agency time and resources and otherwise would be inconvenient, could be applied to any law in any way restricting the power of government. At least the federal laws and state constitution can’t be suspended in this way.
The Common Cause Hawaii press release said it well:
Any reduction in public participation in government proceedings must not be exploited by any political party or interest group for personal, partisan, or other political gain. The same rules of access must apply to everyday Americans and well-connected lobbyists. This is a time for our country to be united to protect each other as we face COVID-19, and that includes respecting and protecting public participation in and oversight of government.
With over forty organizations, including the City and County of Honolulu, the Salvation Army, the YWCA, HPD and Hawaii Fire Department, allegedly ‘partnering’ with this organization that suddenly sprang up out of nowhere to deliver free masks to everyone on Oahu – who are these people?
The thing is, these guys went out and contracted with someplace in China to get masks and then lobbied the governor to legislate that we have to wear them!
So now they have all these volunteers going about and delivering them.
Started by Duane Kurisu’s (aio founder) son with his Punahou friends, it is not a stretch to understand how they got Peter Ho, BFF of Keith Amemiya, to bring all those masks to Honolulu on one of his Hawaiian carriers.
And with aio support the group is up and running with a huge presence on social media – acting like they are a non-profit.
Other “partners” include the ILWU, Hawaii Stevedores, Inc, TheBus, the Department of Education and numerous non-profit organizations and for-profit businesses.
How many people get to start a business, buy product, have it shipped at cost by plane from China, where it is manufactured cheaply, and then force legislation to make a market for your product? Hmmm.
In an article
in this space just a couple of weeks ago, we growled and grumbled about the
possibility that our Governor, having already suspended laws and chapters in
the Hawaii Revised Statutes in a listing seventeen pages long, would start
monkeying with the tax code.
At the time,
however, the Governor hadn’t touched the tax code at all.
That section
specifies how moneys collected from the Transient Accommodations Tax are to be
distributed. It is chock full of
earmarks. It now requires portions of
the tax to be sent to the Hawaii Tourism Authority for tourism marketing and
promotion; to the counties; to the Department of Land and Natural Resources for
protection, preservation, maintenance, and enhancement of natural resources,
including beaches, important to the visitor industry; to the Hawaii Convention
Center; and to paying off the cost of the Turtle Bay conservation easement.
Suspension of
the section means that all these earmarks have been thrown out the window. The money from the TAT, although perhaps a
whole lot less than the money that used to come in from the TAT in prior years,
is going to go where the Governor wants it to go.
This foray into
the tax code with the suspension pen will create victims. The most likely targets are the
counties. For at least a half dozen
years, the counties and the state have been bickering about how much TAT money
the counties are going to take home. The
latest version of the code gives them $103 million annually, with Honolulu
getting 44.1%, Maui 22.8%, the Big Island 18.6%, and Kauai 14.5%. That has now come to a screeching halt. As a result, the counties may discover that
they are going to have gaping holes in their budgets, which will mean greatly
increased pressure on county lawmakers to make up for it by revenue enhancement
measures. Such as property tax
increases.
At the same
time, we at the Foundation are wondering how the suspension of tax law could
possibly be called for by the emergency.
The emergency powers statute, HRS section 127A-13(a)(3), allows for
suspension of “any law that impedes or tends to impede or be detrimental to the
expeditious and efficient execution of, or to conflict with, emergency
functions.” What does distribution of
transient accommodations tax money have to do with the execution of emergency
functions? Are they saying they can’t
pay our emergency workers without this money grab from the counties? What about all the other money that is coming
in from all the other taxes, like the corporate income tax, the personal income
tax, and the general excise tax? And
aren’t many of the first responders, such as fire and police departments,
ambulance paramedics, and lifeguards, on county payrolls? Does it matter at all that the dollars that
might go to pay them are getting swiped?
When Julius
Caesar crossed the Rubicon in 49 BC, he went on to become dictator. Is our governor thinking about a similar
path? In the ensuing weeks, we will see
what is waiting for him on the other side of the river.
“Facebook announced Thursday that it will start warning users if they have liked, reacted or commented on harmful Covid-19 posts that the company has found to be misinformation and removed. The feature will roll out in the coming weeks…
“‘These messages will connect people to COVID-19 myths debunked by the World Health Organization including ones we’ve removed from our platform for leading to imminent physical harm,’ Guy Rosen, Facebook’s vice president of integrity, said in a blog post.”
Two things are quite apparent in this move. One, Facebook doesn’t believe the general public is smart enough (or worthy of the freedom) to research its own information. And two, they are invested in a single point of view narrative with no intention of allowing opposing viewpoints.
It is beyond arrogant to believe it okay to mandate what is acceptable information to consume. It is also reprehensible to bully people into acquiescing to your point of view. Facebook is doing both with its rollout of “warnings” about what people like. They are censoring – and, in fact, facilitating the expungement – of information that will allow people the opportunity to decide for themselves, and now they are attempting to intimidate those who don’t agree with their preferred narrative.
This is – and I mean this literally – the institution of Orwell’s “Newspeak”:
“Newspeak is the language of Oceania, a totalitarian superstate that is the setting of George Orwell’s dystopian 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four. To meet the ideological requirements of English Socialism (INGSOC) in Oceania, the ruling Party created Newspeak,[1] a controlled language of simplified grammar and restricted vocabulary, meant to limit the freedom of thought – personal identity, self-expression, free will – that threatens the ideology of the régime of Big Brother and the Party, who have criminalized such concepts into thought crime, as contradictions of INGSOC orthodoxy.”
Is this not exactly what Facebook is doing? They are deciding – foryou – what is harmful and what is not; what is truth and what is not; what is acceptable and what is not. They are dictating what the truth is, even as relevant questions abound on the issue of COVID-19 and how the government has handled the event. This is the very antithesis of freedom, by definition.
Facebook will hide behind their stance that because they are a privately owned company they have the right to execute censorship on such a grotesque level. But because their product has an extraordinary effect on shaping our cultural narratives, I suggest they are bound by laws that safeguard our First Amendment rights to freedom of speech, freedom to redress government, and freedom of assembly, titrated to the 21 Century modes of communication.
To that extent, it is without a doubt – and would be extremely hard to argue otherwise (although I am not about to be as hypocritical as Facebook as to say only my opinion counts) – that Facebook is:
Infringing on every user’s constitutional free speech right by way of filtering information to only a preferred narrative (censorship)
Infringing on every user’s constitutional right to redress their government by stifling opposing viewpoints to the government-issued narrative (censorship)
And infringing on every user’s constitutional right to freely assemble by way of intimidating people into demurring their true thoughts on a subject for fear of being openly ridiculed (read: warned) by the Facebook “community standards” thugs.
“…exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action; exclusive possession or control; a commodity controlled by one party…”
In that definition, they use an analogy by Helen M. Lynd that applies, “No country has a monopoly on morality or truth.” This necessarily needs to be true of social media behemoths as well. No all-encompassing social media entity has a monopoly on morality or truth. This is especially applicable to Facebook and Google (the former of which owns Instagram and the latter of which owns YouTube), who both have a disproportionate stranglehold on information on the Internet.
It is well past time that the US Department of Justice takes action against Facebook and Google in the form of antitrust lawsuits meant to break their monopoly over information on the Internet. The precedent for this move comes in the break-up of the Bell System in 1982.
We, the American people, are at a moment in time – boots on the ground real-time – when Facebook and Google are making a grab at our freedom to acquire information, all under the emotional guise that they are protecting the public interest. They are not protecting the public interest. They are stealing freedom from the people.
It is time that we stand up to this tyranny before Newspeak is commonplace, and freedom is redefined.
Author’s Note: It was such a great year – finishing my doctoral fieldwork in Thailand, defending my dissertation, graduation, sailing the South Seas and getting off the boat to begin a six-month consultancy with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Pacific Regional Office based in the Fiji Islands. After a long fruitless job search, it was my first big break back into the working world after half a dozen years in graduate school.
“UNICEF Pacific works with the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. These 14 countries and territories are home to about one million children under the age of 18, living in more than 660 islands and atolls covering an area the size of the US and Canada.” United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Pacific Islands.
Countries and Territories of the Pacific
The New Year 1996 began in the Fiji Islands at UNICEF’s Regional Office for the Pacific. I was on a six-month consulting assignment to investigate the impact of rapid social change on Pacific Island youth, in relation to substance abuse (alcohol, tobacco and Kava), and the implications for issues such as violence, crime, unemployment and sexual risk behavior.
In collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), UNICEF Pacific Islands organized and hosted a regional “train the trainer” workshop for government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community leaders from 14 Pacific Island nations to share experiences and develop targeted health promotion and prevention initiatives.
Participants in the Regional Workshop, Nadi, Fiji Islands
Far from uplifting, the drug and alcohol work was a welcome break from HIV/AIDS which had been the focus of most of my work in recent years. It was also a refreshing change to be tackling the complex issues related to misuse of alcohol, which are often overlooked, as responsible alcohol consumption is common and widely condoned, and yet at times also abused, including by those tasked to address alcohol-related problems.
Participants from a range of NGOs and government ministries were in positions to address these issues in their home countries. But the severity of the problem was brought starkly to the fore when an alcohol-related sexual assault occurred during the workshop, perpetrated by one of the delegates supposedly tasked to address these issues in his home country.
Workshop participants enjoying an ‘alcohol free’ break
On the positive side, important outcomes from the workshop included the establishment of laws regulating two key areas of alcohol marketing to reduce its impact on Fijian youth, both of which associated alcohol with youth sports. First, the logo of Fiji’s popular local beer “The Sportsman’s Beer” was changed to “Ahh Your Beer.” Second, all advertising of alcoholic beverages was banned from sporting events in Fiji.
The downside was that beer banners flying at sports stadiums were replaced with non-alcoholic, sweet fizzy drinks – which entail their own health problems, particularly obesity. But at least they were promoting an alternative to alcohol.
Jim with some of the workshop organizers
Kava is consumed widely in many Pacific Island communities both socially and ceremonially. The locally produced and culturally valued beverage ‘Kava’ is also promoted as a healthier alternative to alcohol. Even local churches promote Kava use over alcohol.
Known as yaqona or simply grog in Fiji, Kava is a mildly narcotic drink made from mixing the powdered root of a species of pepper plant with water and results in a numb feeling around the mouth, lips and tongue and a sense of relaxation. It is also an important export crop from major producer countries (e.g. Fiji) to other countries in the Pacific, and as an ingredient for health supplements and pharmaceutical products sold in Europe and the US.
Fijian visitors to Samoa are being served Kava as a part of a traditional welcome ceremony for special guests.
Kava is cheaper than alcohol, and thus less likely to be a drain on household finances. There is little scientific evidence of harm to physical health from drinking all but extremely large amounts of Kava. Both men and women drink it together in social gatherings.
Violence or assault, which is often associated with alcohol misuse, are much less common – especially sexual assault, due to Kava’s effect as a sedative and muscle relaxant (so it is not possible from the male standpoint!) And when the drinking stops, the usual result is simply to fall peacefully to sleep.
Village kids on Moala Island in the Lau Island Group, Fiji
During this time, I joined two WHO consultants to conduct a regional study on alcohol consumption in the Pacific, and published the findings in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review. Data were gathered in the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Samoa, the Solomon Islands and Tonga, and were reported along with a discussion of the nature of alcohol-related problems in the island nations.
Per capita consumption was found to be highest in the Cook Islands, which compared with other countries had the highest ratio of liquor outlets and lowest alcohol taxation regime. As an alcohol prevention measure, it was concluded that the promotion of responsible consumption, together with the option for abstinence for those who wish it, is an acceptable strategy for the Pacific.
Catch of the day!
After completing my consulting assignment with UNICEF, I agreed to assist Rob Kay, author of several popular Pacific travel guides (including the online “Fiji Guide”), to update his earlier edition of “Fiji: A Travel Survival Kit.” My research on Kava had taken me to some of Fiji’s more remote outer islands anyway, so I was also able to visit tourist and traveler destinations in these places for the updated guide book.
In such a small country, everyone at these places would know Rob, but not me. So my ‘undercover’ reporting was more likely to generate an unbiased opinion about the quality of food, accommodation and service at these resorts.
Village view, Moala Island, Lau Islands, Fiji
Flying Sunflower Airlines to the far-flung Lau Islands of Moala and Vanua Balavu to the east, then by ferry to Kandavu Island in the south, pampered at times in 5-star resorts, I took detailed notes on the quality of the food, general accommodation, cleanliness, room décor, bedding, pricing and service, etc. Elsewhere, I sweltered in ‘prison-cell-like’ but lower cost ‘budget’ backpacker accommodation.
Touring the rugged interior of Viti Levu Island, Fiji
In the rugged interior of the main island Viti Levu, I joined some of my former colleagues from the Fiji YMCA for some four-wheeling along ridge tops in the setting sun and through swollen rivers of Sigatoka Valley.
On to the Coral Coast, and then to Taveuni Island, I went scuba diving on the famous ‘white wall’ of live coral. Swept along with the strong current and entranced by the passing circus of colors, I lost track of my depth and suddenly realized that my dive partner was far above me – as I drifted deeper and dangerously into the early stages of nitrogen narcosis! Fortunately, I came to my senses in time to rejoin my dive partner at a safe depth.
Farewell Fiji – until we meet again!
My job networking finally paid off when someone I had met at a regional HIV/AIDS conference in Thailand called UNICEF Fiji and offered me the STD/HIV/AIDS Project Officer position with UNICEF, Cambodia! I would soon be a full-time ‘expat’ again!
Despite all the exotic travel around Fiji, I was pretty burned out, and ready for a change. The pervasive social problems of alcohol misuse, drugs and HIV/AIDS were wearing on me a bit. But it was all still rolling along, back to Asia, and to all that Cambodia had to offer, including: Pol Pot, poverty, civil war, corruption, beggars, amputees, HIV/AIDS…
Stay tuned for more stories, coming soon!
You can read more about Jim’s backstory, hereandhere.
Hui Hānai announced today that it has published The Diaries
of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii, 1885-1900. Penned by the eighth and final
monarch of Hawai‘i, edited and extensively annotated by historian David Forbes,
and in collaboration with Barbara Pope Book Design, the book is the definitive
volume on the private writings of Queen Lili‘uokalani. It will be available for
sale through University of Hawai‘i Press beginning in May 2020. Funding for the
project was provided by Lili‘uokalani Trust.
“Hui Hānai is proud to be publishing this landmark
work,” said Diane Peters-Nguyen, president of Hui Hānai. “It will, for
the first time, allow readers to experience the journey of an amazing Hawaiian
leader during one of the most complex and politically charged eras in Hawaiian
history. In this book, we are able to explore her daily life with the intimacy
usually reserved for a close family member or friend. This is a riveting book,
reminding us that the lessons of the Queen’s inspiring leadership continue to be
relevant for Hawai‘i and Hawaiians today.”
Several of the Queen’s personal diaries included in this
collection were among the papers seized from Washington Place and confiscated
by the Republic of Hawaii officials in 1895, leaving Lili‘uokalani without access
to them when she wrote Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s Queen Liliuokalani (annotated
by David Forbes and published in a new edition by Hui Hānai in 2013) which recounts
the story of her life leading up to her overthrow in 1893. Four years after the
death of the Queen in 1917, these diaries were turned over to the territorial
government and are now held by the Hawai‘i State Archives.
From mundane, often charming details about quotidian life such as disbursing $2 to a member of her household named Manaiki for chicken feed, to her tireless efforts in Washington, D.C. for justice, this meticulously annotated collection of the Queen’s personal writings provides a researched and authoritative perspective on a well-known story. This comprehensive view into the private thoughts and actions of Lili‘uokalani’s life as heir apparent and monarch is the masterwork of noted historian David Forbes. His research for the transcriptions and annotations spanned a decade.
David Forbes is an internationally recognized
historian whose earlier work includes the four-volume Hawaiian National Bibliography
1780-1900 (University of Hawai‘i Press and Hordern House, 2003) as well as
numerous books, essays, monographs, and catalogues. The Forbes Collection in the Hawai‘i State
Archives includes his transcriptions and notes regarding significant documents
of the Hawaiian kingdom’s last royal family.
Barbara Pope has been editing, designing, and producing
illustrated books and graphics for thirty-five years and has received numerous
local and national design and production awards. Principal of Barbara Pope Book
Design and a founding partner of ‘Ai Pōhaku Press, Barbara produced in
partnership with Hui Hānai The Queen’s
Songbook (1999) and Hawaii’s
Story by Hawaii’s Queen Liliuokalani (2013).
Hawai‘i State Archives,
Bishop Museum, and Louise Koch Schubert generously provided David Forbes with
access to the diaries and related documents and photographs within their
collections. Jason Achiu and Puakea Nogelmeier provided assistance with
Hawaiian-language translation.
Hui Hānai, a private, non-profit organization, was established
in 1969 to assist in carrying out the objectives of Lili‘uokalani Trust and to
perpetuate the memory and legacy of the Queen and her accomplishments. The
organization produces and disseminates educational materials and information
about Queen Lili‘uokalani, her era in Hawaiian history, and the social process
of the Hawaiian people. Just over a year ago, in collaboration with noted
filmmaker Edgy Lee, Hui Hānai produced a new feature documentary entitled Reflections of Our Queen, which aired
on Hawaii News Now and debuted with screenings at various locations. Other
books published by Hui Hānai include the Nānā I Ke Kumu
series (Volumes I and II), The Queen’s
Songbook, and Hawaii’s Story by Hawaii’s
Queen Liliuokalani.
The
Diaries of Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii, 1885-1900
Here we are,
still amid the COVID-19 emergency, and there appears to be some confusion over
what laws still apply. The Governor and
Mayors have put out orders using emergency authority, and the Governor has
suspended many laws.
We need to keep
in mind that most of the laws we have still apply, and we need to think about
the consequences if we are going to break them.
Sometimes, it
is very tempting to think that when we are trying to do good then all laws
should fall by the wayside.
For example,
consider Maui Brewing Company. A recent news
article pointed out that the company donated more than 1,000 gallons of hand
sanitizer to first responders and others.
The company then decided to give away some bottles of sanitizer to
customers who purchased food, drink, or both – and got into trouble with Maui
Liquor Control because you’re not allowed to offer incentives to purchase
alcohol.
“Of course
we’re trying to encourage some business, but is it wrong?” the company’s
president is quoted as saying. The short
answer is that yes, it is wrong. We
expect no liquor licensees to offer incentives to purchase alcohol. If we think the law needs to be changed,
there’s a process for doing that.
The Maui News
reports that the sanitizer will be sold going forward.
Another
interesting story involves an Oahu nurse, as reported by
KHON2. She was worried about the
shortage of personal protective equipment for health care workers like
herself. But she didn’t just accept her
fate. She found someone with access to
N95 masks in China. With her daughter,
she started a GoFundMe page. The page
raised more than $20,000. She took the
money, bought personal protective equipment including N95 masks, and then
donated the equipment to many local hospitals.
That may sound
like a heartwarming story, but it does raise a couple of questions. For example, why can a random nurse here in
Hawaii buy personal protective equipment in China while thousands of hospitals,
clinics, states, counties, and towns here and elsewhere in our country are
scouring the universe looking for this stuff?
Is the equipment reliable, or is it going to be a cheap knockoff of a
reliable product that either is contaminated to begin with, or is destined to
fail in hours or minutes? And what kind
of price is being paid? Is our nurse
getting gouged? And is anyone concerned
that $20 grand is leaving this country and is going to China?
Also, and we
hope our big-hearted nurse realizes, there are taxes that need to be paid. If anyone – a business, an individual, or a
nonprofit – imports $20,000 worth of equipment, that someone must report the
import and pay Use Tax of 4.5% on it. It
doesn’t matter that the importer “intended to do good.” It doesn’t matter that the imported goods
were donated to tax-exempt 501(c)(3) hospitals.
(If the hospitals imported the equipment themselves, they would be
liable for the tax.)
A genuine
desire to do good, or to do the right thing, is not a license to disregard all
other laws that might get in the way of that desire. If I, in my excitement about delivering five
cartons of N95 masks to Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center, barrel down
the H-1 freeway at 90 mph with the equipment, I should be prepared to deal with
the consequences of perhaps getting a speeding ticket or, God forbid, getting
into a motor vehicle accident. Maybe
some laws should be suspended under the circumstances; but I don’t have the
authority to make that call.
“Governor Ige
has emergency powers,” one alert reader said.
“Can he raise our taxes by himself?”
The answer
appears to be “no, but.”
The Governor’s
emergency powers relating to enforcement of existing laws are in Hawaii Revised
Statutes chapter 127A. Basically, this chapter
says that the Governor has the power, during an emergency, to suspend laws that
are getting in the way of emergency efforts.
He does not have the authority to decree new laws by himself. That is the Legislature’s job, emergency or
not.
So, there won’t
be new tax laws, but…
What if the
Governor said, “We have a bunch of tax exemptions and credits that are getting
in the way of collecting revenue that we absolutely need for our government to
function. We are getting rid of them as
of now.”
This is not a
far-fetched scenario. You may recall about
a decade ago our lawmakers passed Act 105, Session Laws of 2011, which suspended
twenty-three different General Excise Tax exemptions, including some for the
contracting business and some helping those who sold tangible goods to the
Federal Government, for a two-year period starting on July 1, 2011. (It initially started off as a five-year
suspension, but testifiers almost uniformly blasted the bill, and lawmakers cut
it down to two years.) The suspension
lasted until June 30, 2013, but thankfully was not renewed afterwards.
The governor’s
authority to order suspensions, according to the law cited in his emergency proclamations,
is Hawaii Revised Statutes sections 127A-12 and 127A-13. Section 127A-12 allows the governor powers
relating to emergency management, but it does not once use the word “suspend”
or any recognizable form of it. Section
127A-13 allows the governor additional powers during an emergency. Paragraph (2) allows the governor to relieve
hardships and inequities, or obstructions to the public health, safety, or
welfare. Paragraph (3) allows the
governor to suspend any law that impedes or tends to impede emergency functions.
Does a tax
exemption or credit impede emergency functions?
Does one create hardships or obstruct public health?
Sure, a tax
credit or exemption costs money, in the sense that revenue won’t be coming in
the door quickly enough to pay off things we already are obligated to pay, such
as salaries, post-employment benefit payments (such as the ones going to the
Employees’ Retirement System or the Employer-Union Trust Fund that pays health
benefits), rent, and bond interest. If
any fiscal cost of a tax credit or exemption can be seen as impeding emergency
functions, creating hardships, or obstructing public health, then the same can
be said of anything else the state is obligated to spend money on, or devote
any effort to (because we need to pay the people who exert that effort). So, at least to us, the justification for
that type of suspension paints with too broad a brush and for that reason appears
bogus.
In this time of
crisis, we must have government functioning legitimately and we, the people,
must have confidence that it is doing so.
Now is not the time to use specious arguments to justify tactics that
likely would be a surprise to the legislators who granted the Governor those
emergency powers in the first place. We
need to know that the tax money government spends and the other resources that it
manages are handled fairly, wisely, and above board. This is too important a matter for the
government to fail us.
As I post this article, the nation is in the midst of Corona mania. Among other things, health professionals tell us that we need to keep a safe distance, eat right and exercise.
Well, forget about the gym. The time to take long walks and runs is here.
In this piece we’ll review two athletic shoes from La Sportiva, the Italian firm with US headquarters in Boulder, CO. La Sportiva has been manufacturing boots and shoes since 1928. In addition to footwear they also make ski gear and clothing.
The company is probably best known for sponsoring Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson who completed the first free climb of the Dawn Wall of El Capitan. In fact the shoe that Caldwell used to make his ascent of the iconic Dawn Wall was a product of his collaboration with La Sportiva.
Hellios III is comfortable and terrific looking.
Hellios III
Hellios III, as the name implies, is the third incarnation of this model. The tweaks that were made on this version include an updated upper which means a newly designed tongue and more microfiber around the ankle for better bracing for the back of your foot. There’s also more ventilation on the side panels. The lacing has also been redesigned for better support.
With only 4mm of heel-toe drop and a low 15mm of stack height in the forefoot, the Helios III is as low-profile a shoe as you can get.
It’s incredibly light (7.7 oz)—any extra cushioning that may have been on the drawing board was trimmed.
They call the wavy midsole design “morphdynamic” which essentially means the’re able to cut out a lot of rubber on the sole while still maintain some cushioning. For those interested, it’s made from EVA, which is pretty standard cushioning material for high end shoes these days.
Think of it as a ballet slipper on steroids. You’re going to feel every pebble on the trail with this minimalist design.
The grippy FriXion (which is what La Sportiva call the material on the bottom of these shoes) affords plenty of purchase if you’re scrambling on lava rock, which everyone who hikes in Hawaii specializes in.
The wavy midsole design on Hellios III affords great purchase. The red rubber on the sole is extra grippy.
Credit the outsole, which adds significant traction despite that the lugs themselves are not very deep.
I think these shoes are excellent for Hawaii or another tropical locale. They afford a great deal of breathability—you’re not going to be sweating. In addition to their lightweight, they are quite flexible and pretty spiffy looking, with red accents on black. They aren’t as stable as a more robust shoe, but if you add an insert, it will help.
If you really want to be close to the surface, this is your shoe.
They are great for double duty and incredibly comfortable. Thus I can see buying a pair for casual use that you can also take on short day trips. And, you can even run on trails with them, which is of course what they were designed for…
Retail Price is $125
Check out the lugs on Akyra. It’s all business on the trail.
Akyra
While the Helio III can do double duty as a crossover product
for running the trail or running errands, the Akyra
is all business. La Sportiva calls it a trail running shoe, this is a bit of a
misnomer. It’s really a kind of a transgender hiking boot stuck in an athletic
shoe body.
Just a glance at the high-top cut of the upper and the outsole pattern makes it evident
that the shoe was designed for serious hiking. The high wear areas on the heel
and toe use hexagon shaped lugs while the rest of the sole has prominent
chevrons. The lugs are huge and provide great traction. They are widely spaced
and very deep, so you’ll get purchase on all kinds of surfaces.
The outsole in my book is the real secret sauce for the Akyra. It utilizes the FriXion compound that combines two different types of rubber. One is sticky (the red stuff) and a higher abrasion, harder rubber for areas on the sole that will experience more abuse. The combination of grip, traction and durability are pretty compelling.
The toe on Akyra is fortified, so fear not.
This
makes the shoe ideal for Hawaii (and other tropical locales) where you’re going
to encounter everything from mud to lava rock.
Space
age materials and engineering are evident throughout the rest of the shoe too.
The top layer of the Akyra upper consists of a MicroLite
Skeleton, which is La Sportiva’s oown design—a TPU thermal adhesive that provides
structure and flexibility. It overlays a mesh layer that also allows for
breathability. Overlaying that is what the manufacturer calls a “TrailCage”
midfoot wrap, essentially a frame to provide lateral stability. The shoe has a
gusseted tongue to keeping out dirt and debris. There’s also a toe guard for
protection. I don’t’ know how many times this has been a lifesaver.
Moreover, it’s comfortable and if soaked, will dry up fairly
quickly. This is really important because you don’t want to be stomping around
the rainforest in soaking wet shoes all day.
For an all around super lightweight, trail running/hiker the Akyra is a winner. Price is $140 on Amazon.
“New evidence
supporting credibility of Tara Reade’s allegation against Joe Biden emerges.”
– Susan
Sarandon, has-been actress, and wife of cuckold Timothy Robbins
After weeks of stories in conservative outlets about Tara
Reade’s sexual assault claim against presumptive Democrat presidential nominee
Joe Biden – and after weeks of deafening silence from the Progressive Left and
specifically the #MeToo movement, now, only
after the story’s become a thundering echo in the canyons of social media, are
we starting to hear Uber-Liberal
voices address the issue.
Reade filed a lawsuit earlier this month claiming Biden
sexually assaulted her in 1993. As reported
at NPR.org (hardly a conservative outlet:
“When Reade met up with the senator, she said, he pinned her up against
a wall and penetrated her vagina with his fingers…‘His hands went underneath
my clothing and he was touching me in my private areas and without my consent,’
Reade told NPR. She said Biden asked her whether she wanted to go somewhere
else…Reade said that she pulled away and that Biden pointed his finger at her
and said, ‘You’re nothing to me, nothing.’”
Reade’s lawsuit comes after years of blowing the whistle
on Biden. Reade quite publicly accused Biden of inappropriate touching over a
year ago and just recently a 1993 clip from Larry
King Live surfaced that document’s Reade’s Mother exposing Mr. Biden for
his actions.
But Reade isn’t the only person to call Biden out on his
inappropriate behavior. As The Washington
Timesreported
on April 12, 2020:
“Biden’s conduct towards women first came under scrutiny just before he
announced his presidential campaign last spring. Eight women, including Reade,
came forward with allegations that the former Vice President made them feel
uncomfortable with inappropriate physical displays of affection…Biden acknowledged the complaints and
promised to ‘be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future.’”
This presents a question.
Aside from the overriding fact that in the United States
everyone – everyone – is innocent
until proven guilty, it is reasonable to be cautious when a single complaint is
leveled against someone. That it is a singular complaint doesn’t exonerate us
from examining the allegation, but caution in determining truth is prudent.
Someone’s guilt or innocence should never be determined because of media
coverage (or non-coverage); the court of public opinion, though lethal, has
never been a legitimate venue for determining guilt or innocence.
But when eight people have been brave enough to come
forward – especially in the American political sphere – to call out
inappropriate behavior by an established heavy-hitter, our degree of caution
must start to wane. Both legal and public examination of misconduct of public
(read: elected and/or appointed) officials should
be the order of the day, not adjudication, examination.
Yet, the glitterati who gratuitously take to the
spotlight under the banner of the #MeToo movement have, for the most part,
remained in their guarded mansions silent on the issue even though they
bastardized the spirit of the moment for their own personal gain:
“I want people to know that this movement isn’t
stopping. We’re going to move forward until we have an equitable and safe space
for women.” – Mira Sorvino
Ashley Judd professed that she chose to come
forward about being sexually harassed by Harvey Weinstein to “shame back on the
perpetrator” instead of on the victim.
“I don’t know how many times I can say it. I
don’t know how many different people need to tell their stories before we
realize these aren’t isolated incidents; there’s a culture that supports this.”
– Gabrielle Union
“I want the conversation [with men] to be like
the conversations I have with my kids: You did something wrong and here is how
you rectify your behavior. I will be watching while you rectify your behavior…”
– Kristen Bell
“If #MeToo has made men feel vulnerable,
panicked, unsure, and fearful as a result of women finally, collectively,
saying ‘Enough!’ so be it.” – Soraya Chemaly
And after eight women came forward to complain about the
misogynistic behavior of Joe Biden, the petulant child Alyssa Milano had the
unmitigated gall to defend Joe Biden:
“I had not publicly said anything about this- if you remember, it kind
of took me a long time to say anything about Harvey [Weinstein] as well –
because I believe that even though we should believe women… but that does not
mean at the expense of giving men their due process and investigating
situations…It’s got to be fair in both directions.”
This is not to say that all people associated with the
#MeToo movement are hypocrites and spotlight seekers. Rose
McGowan has been calling for an investigation into Biden’s sexually
predatory behavior for quite a while. Today she existed unabashedly in Reade’s
corner, labeling Milano a “fraud” and castigating the mainstream media as well:
“This is about holding the media accountable. You go after Trump &
Kavanaugh saying Believe Victims, you are a lie. You have always been a lie.
The corrupt DNC is in on the smear job of Tara Reade, so are you.
SHAME…”
The abusers of the #MeToo movement – and I call them
abusers because the spotlight whores are doing great harm to the many women
(and children) who have been sexually abused – are threatening the
de-legitimization of the movement’s voice. Their silence on Joe Biden’s
misogynistic and wholly inappropriate behavior towards women and young females
serves as a betrayal to the movement; a tacit and politically motivated defense of the man.
Imagine their outrage and ire if the perpetrator was fishing
on the opposite side of the pond ideologically and politically from where they
stand. They would be foaming at the mouth.
To sum up, I will apply some lyrics from an old Bonnie Raitt song,
whose music I love but whose silence on this issue saddens me to no end:
“Hey! Shut up. Don’t lie to me, You say I’m blind, but I’ve got eyes to see, Hey, mister, how do you do? Oh, pardon me, I thought I knew you, Would you stand back, baby, ‘cause I want to get a better look, The big man who couldn’t handle the little bit of love you took…”
Government in the Darkness
Previously in this space, we spoke of various laws that were suspended by the Governor’s emergency proclamations. In a press release on March 17, 2020, entitled “Democracy Still Matters in Time of Pandemic,” the watchdog group Common Cause Hawaii pointed out that a Supplemental Emergency Proclamation, issued by Governor Ige on March 16, 2020, suspended many laws pertaining to transparency and accountability, including chapters 92 and 92F of the Hawaii Revised Statutes, relating to open meetings of government decision-making bodies and public access to government records.
The Office of Information Practices, which enforces both of those laws, issued advice to agencies and boards on March 23, and, among other things, told agencies that boards and other public bodies holding meetings were encouraged to give notice and public visibility to meetings but it was okay to meet behind closed doors with no public notice. Public records requests made after the Supplemental Emergency Proclamation took effect could just be ignored. It told agencies that if they wanted to respond, they could say:
As this is a global pandemic and a serious threat to the safety and welfare of our state’s population, 92F was suspended to give government the maximum flexibility to focus its attention and personnel resources on directly addressing the immediate situation at hand. When the situation is stabilized and there is proper leeway to re-direct those resources, the suspension of 92F will be lifted.
Basically, the Administration’s attitude was something like treating concerned citizens like pond scum, and saying, “We’ll get back to you later. Maybe.”
In the Seventh Supplemental Proclamation on May 6, the Administration backed off a bit. With regard to public meetings, boards were now ordered to post meeting notices and accept written testimony from the public. Regarding records requests, agencies now needed to acknowledge them, respond to them as resources permit, and aren’t supposed to destroy either the requests or the requested records.
That modest progress happened because of the Civil Beat Law Center negotiating over several weeks with the Department of Attorney General on behalf of a coalition of nonprofit public watchdog groups including the Tax Foundation of Hawaii.
To me, however, justification for suspending these laws in the first place is and was sketchy.
Under the emergency powers statutes, the Governor can suspend any law that creates hardships and inequities; obstructs public health, safety, or welfare; or impedes or tends to impede emergency functions. Could someone explain to me how allowing public board meetings to be conducted in public creates hardships and inequities? Could someone explain to me how the public records laws impede emergency functions? Could someone please explain to me how or why the snuffing out of governmental accountability relieves hardships and inequities, or obstructs public health, safety or welfare?
The official explanation, that compliance with the laws will take away agency time and resources and otherwise would be inconvenient, could be applied to any law in any way restricting the power of government. At least the federal laws and state constitution can’t be suspended in this way.
The Common Cause Hawaii press release said it well:
Any reduction in public participation in government proceedings must not be exploited by any political party or interest group for personal, partisan, or other political gain. The same rules of access must apply to everyday Americans and well-connected lobbyists. This is a time for our country to be united to protect each other as we face COVID-19, and that includes respecting and protecting public participation in and oversight of government.