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    A note to Parents: Legal Protection for Young Adults is your responsibility

    Guest Contributor
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    A note to Parents: Legal Protection for Young Adults is your responsibility

    by Eileen Nims

    Your child just turned 18 and is off to college or work or is taking a gap year. Regardless of the choices your child made for starting his or her adulthood, it comes with a great responsibility. From here on out she is responsible for all contract, medical and financial decisions. This means that as a parent you are losing certain legal rights to make healthcare decisions, do financial transactions on your child’s behalf or take over the reigns when your child is not able to do so him or herself.

    If you do not want to be left with your hands tied behind your back when it comes to your child’s health, wealth or well-being, it is crucial you have the proper legal documents to do so.

    A Medical Power of Attorney allows young adults to designate one or more ‘agents’ to make medical decisions on their behalf in case they are deemed unable to do so themselves. Left alone, the “next of kin” will be given that authority, but family members do not always agree on who that would be or may not know what to do. In the mean time, the clock is ticking. Therefore it is of utmost importance for anyone over 18 to designate an agent and provide clarity during a time of chaos.

    A parent needs to consider the complexities of contract, medical and financial decisions that might impact young adults

    A Living Will allows the opportunity for the young adults to express their wishes on an advanced healthcare directive. This can be incorporated in the Medical Power of Attorney.

    A Financial Power of Attorney allows young adults to designate one or more ‘agents’ to make financial or other business decisions on their behalf in case they are deemed unable to do so themselves. Left undesignated, there is NO DEFAULT person who can stop educational or financial disasters from happening when the young adult is incapacitated.

    This document allows a designated agent to contact insurance companies, educational institutions, and landlords, and to address all other business and contract matters when the young adult is unable to do so. This will avoid any damage to educational standing or future credit scores when present circumstances prevent the young adult from acting on his or her own behalf.

    Based in Mililani, Eileen is a Trusts and Estates attorney who received her law degree from Richardson School of Law at the University of Hawaii. She is very familiar with Family Court and has also worked in the Circuit Court criminal division. Eileen also serves as a legislative attorney in the Hawaii State Senate and gives law clinics at Mililani High School. She holds a Masters’ Degree in counseling and has worked in that capacity for many years. Eileen believes in creating harmony and protecting families from preventable hardships. She can be reached at eileen@nimsesq.com or by phone at (808) 664-1834.

    The Fight Over Honolulu Vacation Rentals Begins

    Tom Yamachika
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    The Fight Over Honolulu Vacation Rentals Begins

    The fight over short-term rentals in Honolulu has entered another phase.

    On June 25, 2019, Honolulu Mayor Caldwell signed into law Ordinance 2019-18, formerly known as Bill 89.  The law took effect on August 1, 2019.  Basically, if you want to operate short-term (less than 30 days) vacation rentals, either “bed and breakfast homes” where the owner also occupies the premises or “transient vacation rental units” where the owner doesn’t, there are several new provisions and requirements.

    If you are in certain designated parts of the island, namely in a resort zoned district or certain A-1 or A-2 apartments, you may operate either a bed and breakfast home or a transient vacation rental unit.  If you are not in those parts of the island but you have a valid nonconforming use certificate, you can still rely on your NUC and you need to renew it every even-numbered year.

    If you are not in the designated areas and don’t have a NUC, operating a transient vacation rental unit is illegal.  If instead you have a bed and breakfast home, you need to register it; there are tons of requirements before you can register it; and in any event you won’t be able to register it before October 1, 2020, because the City is going to need some time to figure out exactly how to administer some of these requirements.  Yes, that means that if you are currently operating a B&B and need to register, you need to shut down for at least a year until the City gets its act together.

    Some of the requirements contradict themselves.  For example, there is a requirement that there be no two registered bed and breakfast homes within 1,000 feet of each other.  There is another requirement that no more than 50% of the units in an apartment building can be used as bed and breakfast homes with Association approval.  It will be difficult or impossible to meet both requirements unless only one unit in an apartment building can be used as a bed and breakfast home, which makes one wonder if the 50% requirement was supposed to override the 1,000 foot requirement.

    If you want to advertise, you must demonstrate in the ad’s text that the advertised rental is legal.  For example, the ad can say that the rental is for 30 days or more, or you can include the NUC number in the ad.  If the ad doesn’t conform, the advertiser can be cited and fined.  Operating a short-term rental without any required registration or permit is also illegal and the operator can be cited and fined.  Fines range from $1,000 to $10,000 per day.

    The requirements are summarized in a FAQ document that the Department of Planning and Permitting has put out.

    Opponents of the ordinance have filed suit in Federal court, citing several laws and constitutional provisions that they think have been violated.  Among them is the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishment.  This past February, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Timbs v. Indiana, held that this Amendment’s restrictions also apply to state governments, and need to be addressed even for civil asset forfeitures (the case before the Court involved the police seizure of a SUV because it was allegedly used to transport drugs, where the van’s value was more than 4 times the maximum fine that the van’s owner could have been liable for).  Applying the Eighth Amendment to this case, therefore, may be charting some new ground in the legal field.

    Whatever the ultimate outcome, the new ordinance represents a starkly different approach from the prior law that was difficult to enforce and that was probably winked at more than several times.  It remains to be seen whether the Mayor and the City Council have the political will to follow through with vigorous implementation of this new regime.

    Proof Positive That CNN Is a Propaganda Machine

    Frank Salvato
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    Proof Positive That CNN Is a Propaganda Machine

    For years, even as it has been more than obvious they exist just a bit to the left of Trotsky, CNN has claimed that it is a legitimate and objective news source. Even as the public became more aware of the agendized propaganda spewing forth from Chris Cuomo, Don Lemon, and Christiane Amanpour, and even as CNN uploaded partisans like David Axelrod and Van Jones, some still labored under the illusion CNN somehow was a legitimate news source. But this newest firing needs to serve as proof positive CNN has completed its transformation from news to opinion-propaganda.

    CNN vice president and spokesperson Matt Dornic took to Twitter to explain why their network executives made the decision to fire on-air contributor Eliana Johnson. Johnson is leaving her position as White House correspondent for Politico to take on the job of editor-in-chief at The Washington Free Beacon. While CNN categorizes Politico as a legitimate news source, they label The Beacon as a “conservative” publication.

    In the brief and unelaborated tweet Dornic stated:

    “This framing is misleading. Eliana is still a CNN contrib & will remain one through Nov. We signed her because, as you put it, ‘she was a top White House reporter’ who was ‘breaking significant news.’ She’s now pursuing a different career path and off that beat. Simple as that.”

    Because she is – and about to be was – an “on-air contributor” wouldn’t it make sense that an editor-in-chief would have access to more enlightening information that a single beat reporter? If she would have left the White House position to take on the editor-in-chief position at Huffington Post or The New York Times, would that have resulted in her contract termination? The answers are, respectively, yes and no.

    If an organization is going to make the claim they faithfully serve the public with a product they call “unbiased news” – and do so under the protection of the First Amendment – they have to satisfy that claim with their actions; words mean absolutely nothing. CNN has proven – beyond doubt – with this contract termination they have an ideological agenda and, therefore, have self-abdicated their right to the claim “unbiased”.

    Because we exist in a land where political free speech is protected (I know that comes as a shock to the Left who routinely attempt to censor and silence people who don’t believe as they do) the only recourse to exact pain on CNN for their deceiving of the American public is to starve their advertisers through boycotts attributed to their association with CNN.

    Short of that, I have always wondered why no one has sued organizations like CNN under the “Lemon Law”. They are, after all, knowingly selling a defective product to the public. Just sayin’…

    Thirty Years of State Tax, Part 1

    Tom Yamachika
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    Thirty Years of State Tax, Part 1

    Q:  The number 30 has been in the news a lot these days because of the telescope that’s supposed to be getting built on the Big Island.  This week, we’re going to look at the past 30 years of state tax. To help me is our intrepid researcher, the Hawaii State Tax Watch Doggie’s wife.

    A:  Glad to be here.  Where shall we start?

    Q:  Let’s start with some of the taxes that have changed the most dramatically in the past 30 years.

    A:  Then let’s start with the transient accommodations tax, or TAT. When it was passed in 1986, the tax rate was only 5%.

    Q:  That’s less than half of what it is now! 

    A:  At that time, the tax was just supposed to pay for the new Convention Center, but it got weighed down over time with earmarks to pay for many other things, and the tax rate gradually was increased over time.

    For example, in 1990 the tax was restructured to give 95% of the revenue to the counties.  In later years, the State took back revenue to feed the general fund and added more and more earmarks to pay for such things as the convention center debt service, tourism marketing, state land development, the Turtle Bay land purchase, and Honolulu rail.

    In 2013, another special earmark was put on the fund to ensure that the counties paid their annual required contribution toward the costs of their pension and health benefit plans for former employees.

    The earmarks now cost over $200 million a year.  It’s no wonder that the tax rate was escalated several times to keep up with the demands for more money.

    Q:  Now how about the changes in the “barrel tax”?

    A:  Thirty years ago, there was no barrel tax.  It was enacted in 1993.  Apparently, people had heard about the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill and were worried about a similar incident happening here.  So, we imposed a tax of 5 cents per barrel of imported petroleum product to establish a revolving fund to finance a response to an environmental disaster.  The legislative act that year required that the tax collection stop if the fund built up to more than $7 million.

    The bill introducing the tax started off in the House as the Hawaii Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act and wasn’t even a tax bill at all.  After it crossed over, the Senate Ways and Means Committee put in the tax provisions.  So, the bill with the tax provisions never even had a hearing in the House.

    Q:  But the tax got enacted.  It is considerably greater today, correct?

    A:  Oh, yes!  In 2010, the tax was dramatically increased from 5 cents per barrel to $1.05 per barrel.  43% of the revenues from the fund were sent to special funds to support energy security, energy systems development, agricultural development, and food security.  The remaining 57% went to the state general fund.  And, of course, the provisions turning off the tax when the environmental response fund was built up were scrapped.

    In 2015, the tax was extended to any imported fossil fuel, so it now applies to liquefied natural gas and coal in addition to petroleum products.  The only fossil fuel it doesn’t apply to is aviation fuel.  In fiscal 1995, the tax brought in close to $2 million.  In fiscal 2018, it produced almost $27 million.  That’s an increase of more than 12 times!

    Q:  And it looks like that’s all we’ll have time for this week.  We’ll discuss conveyance tax next week.  And by the way, what happened to your husband, the Hawaii State Tax Watch Doggie?

    A:  He was barking at the rubbish truck.  He might still be doing that!

    Loophole? On the Way to the Top

    Tom Yamachika
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    Loophole? On the Way to the Top

    On Wednesday, August 14, the Senate Committee on Hawaiian Affairs held an “informational briefing” so senators could question the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands over various topics, including on “Mauna Kea Access Road (ACT 14).”

    The Star-Advertiser summarized the issue:  “About 50 years ago, the Department of Transportation built Mauna Kea Access Road over Department of Hawaiian Home Lands property without permission. That road and others throughout the state that were built on DHHL land became part of a much bigger $600 million settlement that the state entered into in 1995 to compensate DHHL for the misuse of Hawaiian home lands. As part of that agreement, known as Act 14, [Session Laws of Hawaii 1995, 1st Special Session,] the state was required to compensate DHHL for Mauna Kea Access Road via a land swap.”

    The land swap never happened.

    This gave Sen. Kai Kahele (Dist. 1 – Hilo) a chance to pounce:  “If what you say is true, that the land exchange has never occurred, then without that compliance with Act 14, the state of Hawaii cannot claim title to Mauna Kea Access Road,” he told DHHL Chair William Aila. “That road belongs to the beneficiaries of the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act.  When you have a beneficiary, as defined by the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, sitting on Mauna Kea Access Road, what does not give them the right to be there if they are the beneficiaries of the trust and you just said it is still in your land inventory?”

    Let’s try to answer that question.

    Hawaiian home lands “are impressed with a trust whose co-trustees are the State of Hawai‘i and the United States,” our supreme court said in State v. Jim, 80 Haw. 168 (1995).  That means our state and federal governments are supposed to make sure the land is used in a way that benefits our indigenous population.  It doesn’t mean that anyone, even a native Hawaiian, can do whatever they please on the land.  The Jim case involved two native Hawaiians who were arrested and charged with criminal trespass after refusing to leave the Prince Kuhio Plaza, a shopping center on Hawaiian home lands on the Big Island.  Both defendants were demonstrating against perceived violations of the Hawaii Admission Act when they were arrested.  They were fined after pleading no contest but appealed, contending that the Big Island police had no jurisdiction to arrest them.  Our supreme court concluded that the state and county criminal laws applied, and upheld the defendants’ convictions.

    Let’s apply that to Mauna Kea Access Road.  Even if the lands under it are Hawaiian home lands, it’s still a road and blocking it is a crime.  Police can order that a road be cleared, and they did so.  The protesters refused to budge.  Criminal laws are still in force, even as to Hawaiian protesters demonstrating on Hawaiian home lands.  So, there are and should be consequences for blocking the road no matter who owns the road.  It’s a matter of public order, not property rights.

    There may be other consequences that were not yet thought through.  If the underlying land is DHHL’s, shouldn’t they have been taking care of it?  Our State (if it’s separate from DHHL, which the Senator seems to assume) has been maintaining the road, so isn’t the State entitled to some kind of compensation even if the State doesn’t actually own it?  Those issues need to be considered as well.

    So no, the protesters don’t yet have the State over a barrel with this new-found argument.  But instead of obsessing over it, the state should fix the land swap problem and stop the road blockages, not necessarily in that order.

    Just Like the Green Movement in Iran, There Is Much the US Can Do to Aid Freedom in Hong Kong

    Frank Salvato
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    Just Like the Green Movement in Iran, There Is Much the US Can Do to Aid Freedom in Hong Kong

    Amongst the headlines the mainstream media is pushing, hidden in the middle toward the bottom, is the news about the freedom fighters protesting in Hong Kong. Just as with the Green Movement that sought the overthrown of the oppressive Islamofascist mullahs in Iran, the United States has an opportunity to advance freedom in the world by aiding those who are fighting for it.

    In 2009, during the Obama Administration, tens of thousands of indigenous (read: Persian) Iranians (the Iranian mullahs are not Persian, they are Arab) took to the streets in what some called the Green Revolution and/or the Persian Spring. They did so to protest the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the extreme oppression of Islamofascist rule. They sought regime change; change that would return their country to a semblance of freedom. Sadly, at that moment in time, the Obama Administration (which turned out to be sympathetic to the mullahs) did nothing but serve up rhetoric as their contribution to the cause.

    ►LISTEN TO THE PODCAST

    The Persians of Iran remain oppressed by their usurper Islamofascist Arab occupiers (hey, if they can call Israelis “occupiers” then what’s good for the goose is good for the gander) to this day.

    Hong Kong is a bit of a different animal because of the agreement made between Britain and China; the agreement that facilitated the handover of the nation. In that agreement, it was stipulated that the Communist Chinese government would guarantee the achievement of universal suffrage and assure the continued existence of a capitalist economic system as well as governmental systems that would remain separate from mainland China.

    With China’s hybrid Communist-Capitalist system facilitating the manipulation of the value of its currency globally, the opportunity exists – through the vantage point of economics – for the Communist Chinese government to establish a metastasizing presence in Hong Kong. This is exactly what the freedom fighters of Hong Kong are addressing.

    The protests started in June of 2019 over a Communist Chinese imposed extradition bill that would affect those living in Hong Kong – a (now) province of China’s that was acquired with the guarantee of a separate governmental system from that of mainland China. By putting into power puppets of Beijing Communist China has expanded its governmental influence into Hong Kong to effectively render the autonomous governmental system moot.

    To be certain, this is a defining point in Hong Kong’s history and one in which the world should be taking a bigger interest.

    Today, the United States has a President who is not intimidated by the Communist Chinese. He is willing to suffer the slings and arrows of the milquetoast globalists as well as the Progressive-Fascists in Congress to finally address Chinese currency manipulation and their illegal acquisition of our intellectual property. This sets the stage for freedom’s opportunity.

    We have long heard about Donald Trump’s prowess in negotiating a deal. To date, he has plucked some low-hanging political fruit, even if the mainstream media won’t acknowledge the achievements. But the situation in Hong Kong offers him the biggest prize to date.

    If President Trump can turn up the heat so that the Communist Chinese are made to live up to their promise of maintaining a separate economic and governmental system in Hong Kong and pressure the Chinese to affect universal suffrage, he can go down in history as second only to Ronald Reagan for facilitating freedom internationally. The moment is at hand that will paint history, both for Hong Kong and for President Trump.

    Let’s hope we don’t see a repeat of the abandonment on the Green Revolution.

    This Is What Our Society Has Come To

    Frank Salvato
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    This Is What Our Society Has Come To

    We didn’t even hear the minions of the Progressive-Fascist Left say “f*ck him” when Osama bin Laden died, but in the aftermath of the death of Libertarian billionaire David Koch, the caustic Left is in full super-charged mode. This is what the Left has come down to; an arrogant horde of self-important malcontents who stomp on the graves of those with which they disagree.

    Shortly after Koch died of prostate cancer, the perennially unfunny Bill Maher used the limited reach of his worn-out HBO outlet Real Time with Bill Maher (why HBO continues with this elitist snob is a testimony to how they look down their noses at Conservatives and Libertarians) to issue this spit in the face to the deceased and his family:

    “Yesterday David Koch of the zillionaire Koch brothers died of prostate cancer…I guess I’m going to have to re-evaluate my low opinion of prostate cancer…As for his remains, he has asked to be cremated and have his ashes be blown into a child’s lungs…He and his brother have done more than anybody to fund climate science deniers for decades. So f— him, the Amazon is burning up, I’m glad he’s dead, and I hope the end was painful.”

    Maher, a less-than amusing, has-been comedian, learned well from his Alinskyite mentors. He ridicules (Alinsky Rule No. 5) and demonizes (Alinsky Rule No. 11) anyone and everyone he disagrees with on any given subject, even as he presents himself as a “moderator” on an entertainment debate show. In reality, he is more like the Caesar character in Hunger Games.

    Maher isn’t the only one stuffed like a foie gras goose with elitist venom. Many on the Left Coast vomited hatred for the recently passed Koch, Bette Midler among them.

    Whether you were a fan of Koch’s or not the man is dead and his family is grieving. Wishing that his death was painful is barbaric; it is the stuff of cowards, real Nazis, and the intellectually stunted. Post mortem, Maher’s words only slap the faces of those close to the deceased. What kind of a colossal a**hole spits in the faces of family and friends at the time of a person’s death?

    In contrast, Maher had this to say about the death of the then-most wanted international terrorist and the man responsible for the slaughter of 2,996 people on September 11th:

    “Capping thine enemy is not what Jesus would do. It’s what Suge Knight would do… Martin Luther King gets to call himself a Christian because he actually practiced loving his enemies, and Gandhi was so f*cking Christian he was Hindu…Jesus lays on the hippie stuff pretty thick. He has lines like, ‘Do not repay evil with evil’ and ‘Do not take revenge on someone who wrongs you’. Really. It’s in that book you hold up when you scream at Gay people…You’re supposed to look at that figure of Christ on the Cross and think ‘How could a man suffer like that and forgive?’ not ‘Romans are pussies, he still has his eyes.”

    Maher then goes on to give himself cover for future elitist screeds by saying he isn’t a Christian; reserving the right to be a caustic reprobate, self-important miscreant that he is.

    The elitist Left – of which Maher is a lieutenant – is apoplectic when anyone broaches the subject of climate change and they aren’t marching, ideologically goose-stepping, arm in arm. But that mentality spits in the face of science just like Maher spit in the faces of the Koch Family. Even a junior high school science student understands that science is more about proving a theory wrong, than issuing statements about “decided science.” Yet, the Kool-Aid drinkers of the Progressive-Fascist Left insist they are correct and Alinsky-ize anyone and everyone who dares to execute the exercise of science in its purest form.

    Maher uses this perceived slight against the intelligentsia by Koch and those they term “climate deniers” (attempting to equate it to Holocaust denial) to viciously lash out, knowing full well his traditionally unacceptable behavior will be championed by his elitist brethren.

    A man is dead and Maher is dancing on the dead man’s grave while flinging feces at the dead man’s family, like a diseased monkey, and the sycophants of the Progressive-Facsist Left applaud the monkey’s show. This is what the ideological Left has come to and it is the bane of society…any society. It is exactly what is wrong in our country – and the world – today. HBO and Maher’s “fans” should take a good long look in the mirror at what they have facilitated and become.

    Ladies and gentlemen…welcome to the final Hunger Games.

    And The Obama Propaganda Scheme Rolls On

    Frank Salvato
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    And The Obama Propaganda Scheme Rolls On

    If it wasn’t enough that they retained Valerie Jarrett to run their operations from a mansion less than ten miles from the White House, the Obama’s are now documentary producers. They join the ranks of the Carters and the Clintons in former First Families who stay in the spotlight long after their stints in leadership are over.

    Michelle and Barack Obama have formed Higher Ground, a production company that is now partnered with Netflix to deliver several titles. It’s first is called “American Factory” and promotes globalization via a storyline about a Chinese company’s employment of American workers laid off because of the effects of…wait for it…globalization.

    I have pointed out repeatedly that Progressives exist on both sides of the aisle. They also gather strange bedfellows in the short-term in their quest for the ultimate goal: the transformation of the free world to that of one controlled by an elitist oligarchy (witness how sympatico Progressivism, Islamofascism, Communism, and Socialism are when it comes to tolerance). Those who champion unbridled globalization are either Progressives, bedfellows of Progressives, or both.

    The term “unbridled globalization” is used because free trade is essential to freedom itself. In theory, the laissez-faire capitalist economic system is the best economic system the world has ever known. In modern times it has been responsible for the invention of the Middle Class and has raised more people out of poverty than any other economic system.

    But as James Madison said, “If men were angels no government would be necessary.”

    A certain level of government is necessary to ensure that the laissez-faire capitalist economic system is not manipulated by the powerful and the corrupt; to umpire so that a level playing field is accessible to all who seek the opportunity to take it.

    When we embrace “unbridled globalization” we necessarily skew the playing field in favor of maleficent players like China, Russia and myriad other countries that artificially support their individual economies on the “globalized” world stage. China’s communist-capitalist hybrid utilizes an underpaid labor force (by free-market standards) to create goods to be sold in a globalized market at prices mandated by that market. This is what President Trump is referring to when he talks about currency manipulation.

    This understood, by pushing the emotional sob-story about how a Chinese company “saved” the poor working people of Moraine, Ohio from unemployment, the Obama’s – and their likeminded Progressive and globalist brethren – are romanticizing globalization without explaining that it was unbridled globalization that created the unemployment of those people in the first place.

    Am I suggesting isolationism? No, I am not, by a long shot. What I am suggesting is a shift in societal mindset.

    We all see signs and social media posts that urge people to “buy local”. This effort helps small business (the overwhelming classification of business in the United States). Through helping small business we empower local economies. “Trickled up”, a societal mindset that gives preference – but not exclusivity – to products made in the United States would both support a “level playing field” for globalized trade and empower the US economy.

    So, while the Obama’s attempt to tug at your heartstrings with their new Progressive agenda propaganda vehicle let’s all realize that “nationalism” does not mean “supremacism”, it means taking care of our country while we exist as a member of the global community.

    To wit, if everyone “takes care of their yards” the neighborhood will be a beautiful place.

    Leadership on the Mauna

    Tom Yamachika
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    Leadership on the Mauna

    Leadership entails not only planning for possible obstructions to your chosen plan of action, but also having the resolve to follow through with your plan.

    Sadly, this is not what was demonstrated on Mauna Kea.

    Ever since the state issued its Notice to Proceed to the folks that are building the Thirty Meter Telescope, the state knew that there was going to be opposition and civil disobedience.  Its apparent plan was to have law-enforcement show up in force, not only with sheriffs, Department of Land and Natural Resources officers, and Big Island police, but also police from Oahu and Maui who were sent over for the occasion together with equipment such as helmets, long batons, and police vans.

    It was going to be “shock and awe.”  Law-enforcement folks were thoroughly prepared, specially trained, and were ready.  They would give the protesters plenty of time to disperse and, if they did not, were prepared to sweep them all off to jail. 

    Dawn broke on Monday, July 14.  Protesters gritted their teeth and braced for the worst.  And then?  The Governor caved. 

    What then happened to the specially mobilized forces?  They flew home.  

    All that preparation for shock and awe took place, and what were the results?  Bills.  The counties of Honolulu and Maui are going to send their bills to the attorney general, and they aren’t cheap.  Maui has racked up at least $68,000, and the Big Island spent more than $258,000.  Honolulu has yet to release its tally, but it sent roughly twice as many officers as Maui.

    And, of course, there is other collateral damage that the protest inflicts daily. 

    Staff in the other 13 telescopes already on the mountain were told to stay off the mountain.  But if they can’t get up there to maintain their instruments, they risk damaging the instruments, maybe permanently. 

    New equipment unrelated to TMT, such as a $400,000 three-camera instrument named Namakanui that was intended for immediate delivery and installation at the summit, has to sit in a lab back in Hilo.  Researchers can work on it a little but really need to get it to the summit where weather conditions are much different from those at the sea-level lab.  In any event, that equipment can’t be installed on schedule and the whole world may have to wait for the results.

    At the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, one UH astronomer was tracking the orbits of 30 space objects but now has to give up on that research because those objects are now lost.

    The Keck Observatory contracted for a solar electric system.  It would normally require 60 days‘ work.  The contractor can’t start the job and was forced to lay people off. 

    This is a real mess.

    So who winds up paying for this mess?  Taxpayers, for one.  Someone needs to pay for the sheriffs, Land Department officers, and police. 

    And how do you even start to quantify the costs of lost knowledge or discoveries? 

    Enough of this foolishness!  The protesters have concerns about the sanctity of Mauna Kea?  Their argument may have made sense if TMT were the first telescope on the summit, but it’s the 14th.  We have a government, we set up a process for approving the construction that included getting input from stakeholders.  It took seven agonizing years for the process to play out, and it’s time for the law to be respected and for the collateral damage to end.  If the protesters want to negotiate about rent, disposition of the proceeds, or getting rid of the decommissioned telescopes, those may be good ideas, but why do we have to negotiate with them at all?  If they are hell-bent on stopping the telescope and are willing to go to jail for it, let’s give them their wish and haul them off.  

    The Democrats Celebrate Their Hypocrisy Openly

    Frank Salvato
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    The Democrats Celebrate Their Hypocrisy Openly

    The political Left – from AOC to Pelosi, Schumer to Sanders – have for years insisted that the Republicans and Conservatives are bought and paid for by “big money”; by corporations and the mega-rich. They paint a picture of government being bought in smoky backrooms to the highest bidder. But a squabble between the 2020 General Election Democrat candidates is showcasing it is the Democrats who are bought and paid for, not Republicans, in the extreme degree.

    2020 Democrat candidate Montana Gov. Steve Bullock is calling the DNC out on the fact they are letting Tom Steyer – a billionaire hedge fund manager – buy his way onto the DNC debate stage. Steyer is a radical activist who has helped fund the Progressives in their quest to push the Democrat Party to the extreme Left.

    “The thought that you can spend $10 million to get on a debate stage, I don’t think that that’s really good for democracy,” Bullock said. “It’s disclosed money, but we should be actually talking to voters; not spending money just trying to get individual donors.”

    And this point is not only cogent to the entirety of politics in the United States (it has progressed to being exclusively a money game), it proves beyond doubt that if you have a big enough wallet and are willing to kneel at the Leftist altar, Progressives, Progressive-Fascists and Liberals in the United States will allow you to buy position and influence.

    If “every vote” counted to the conglomerate of socialistic ideals that is the Democrat Party – and if they were truly outraged by big money in politics, they would be castigating Steyer’s attempt to buy the nomination. Instead, they trumpet him as an icon in their movement; a movement that means to bring full-blown Socialism into vogue in the United States of America. Once again, Democrats are guilty of accusing their opposition of doing and being exactly what they do and are.

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