#honolulu civil beat

[khakilike]

No words.

[freehawaii]

THE ARTICLE HONOLULU CIVIL BEAT RECENTLY REFUSED TO PUBLISH

OHA Trustee Mililani B. Trask Response to Honolulu Civil Beat article by Peter Apo (04/18/2023) “OHA Abandons Commitment To Self Governance”

Recently, Civil Beat teamed up with ex OHA Trustee/State Legislator, Peter Apo, in an effort to resurrect the Hawaiian vs Hawaiian debate on building a Hawaiian nation. Civil beat failed to include the history of the state democratic party’s effort to create a native nation for the state’s benefit and did not review years that were wasted on failed initiatives. Civil & Apo also ignored the millions of dollars of costs for the effort, paid by OHA with revenues from the Ceded Land Trust. 

The historic record speaks for itself. Hawaiians did not initiate the Kanaiolowalu and Na’i Aupuni Nation Building initiatives. These initiatives were created by the state legislature, but OHA was made to pay for it with our beneficiaries trust funds. 

The record reveals the following: 

1. For over a decade the State supported federal recognition of Hawaiians under the “Akaka Bill” in Congress because of fears that federal funding provided to native Hawaiians as “Native Americans” would be lost to the State unless there was a Hawaiian ‘Indian Nation’. 

2. When the Akaka Bill died in the Congress, the State legislature moved to create a Hawaiian nation on their own! They passed ACT 195, later known as the Kana’iolowalu (HSEC) Initiative. The effort involved the formation of a Hawaiian Roll Commission to register 200, 000 Hawaiians to vote in a future election for delegates to a Hawaiian Constitutional Convention thereby creating a Hawaiian Nation. Over 60% of the nearly 85,000 who were sent ballots in mail refused to participate in the election of delegates. 

3. In 2014 when it was clear that Kanaiolowalu was dead, a group of Native Hawaiian individuals who were members of Hawaiian organizations that had received funding for Kanaiolowalu, moved on their own to form a non-profit Consortium called Na’i Aupuni. This non-profit did not identify directors with DCCA when it was created, nor did it have a G.E. Tax license for tax exempt status as required by the IRS. Millions were wasted. In the end, no election of delegates by Hawaiians was ever achieved. 

4. OHA did not create Kanaiolowalu or Na’i Aupuni but was required to provide millions of trust dollars in order to facilitate federal recognition for a paper nation which would have no land and no jurisdiction over the assets and resources of the Hawaiian people. 

In the years that have transpired since these events occurred, a new OHA Board of Trustees has been elected. The majority of the current OHA board knows the definition of ‘Self-Determination’ ..... it is a Human right of all peoples including the Hawaiian peoples. It is not a political right of the United States or the State of Hawaii. The current Board of OHA Trustees has no intention of usurping the right of our Hawaiian beneficiaries to pursue their right of ‘Self-Determination’ through Nation building. 

OHA’s priorities are clear, they are the development of Kaka’ako and Hakuone so that Hawaiian beneficiaries will have a place to call home, a cultural center to showcase the value of our peoples. Our priorities are to create an economic engine for maintaining existing programs in the areas of Health, Education, the preservation of Native Language, the protection of native Legacy Lands, and the provision for affordable housing for the 28,000 Hawaiians currently dying on the Department of Hawaiian Homes Land waiting list. 

The current board of OHA trustees are well aware of the past abuses that our office was subjected to in the pursuit of ‘federal recognition’. It is significant to note that the State Auditor, the Clifton Larson Allen Accounting Firm and Plante Moran Finance Firm, who conducted the 3 audits of OHA’s expenditure in past years all flagged the Nation building effort and the activities of Na’i Aupuni as Fraud Waste and Abuse. 

In an ongoing effort to achieve accountability and address these past abuses, the current Board of Trustees has delivered all materials, information, and data relating to The Kanaiolowalu (HSEC)/Na’i Aupuni Nation building effort to appropriate Federal and State Investigators for follow-up. 

Mahalo nui loa, 

Mililani B. Trask

Hawai’i Island Trustee 

OHA Board of Trustees Vice Chair 

 https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/04/oha-abandons-commitment-to-self-governance/ (Civil Beat Article written by Peter Apo 4/18/2023) 

https://www.civilbeat.org/2015/11/an-initiative-for-self-governance-without-state-or-federal-interference/ (Civil Beat Article written by Mililani B. Trask 11/13/15) 

https://www.civilbeat.org/2015/10/roll-of-thunder-lifting-the-veil-on-nai-aupuni/ (Civil Beat Article written by Trisha Kēhaulani Watson 10/27/15) 

https://www.civilbeat.org/2015/06/native-hawaiian-roll-commission-must-release-voter-records/ (Civil Beat Article written by Chad Blair 6/4/15) 

http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/Articles-Main/ID/13906/Kanaiolowalu-Broken-Trust-on-Steroids (Hawaii Free Press article written by Andrew Walden 11/2/14)

[biglisbonnews]

The shift to a green energy future is renewing plantation-era water wars in Hawaii A proposed hydro project in Kauai — the first of its kind in the world — could supply up to a quarter of the island’s power by diverting 4 billion gallons a year from the Waimea River. https://grist.org/agriculture/the-shift-to-a-green-energy-future-is-renewing-plantation-era-water-wars-on-kauai/

[bighermie]

More bullshit and lies coming

[quotesfrommyreading]

Conspiracy theories are a constant in American history, and it is tempting to dismiss them as inconsequential. But as the 21st century has progressed, such a dismissal has begun to require willful blindness. I was a city-hall reporter for a local investigative-news site called Honolulu Civil Beat in 2011 when Donald Trump was laying the groundwork for a presidential run by publicly questioning whether Barack Obama had been born in Hawaii, as all facts and documents showed. Trump maintained that Obama had really been born in Africa, and therefore wasn’t a natural-born American—making him ineligible for the highest office. I remember the debate in our Honolulu newsroom: Should we even cover this “birther” madness? As it turned out, the allegations, based entirely on lies, captivated enough people to give Trump a launching pad.

Nine years later, as reports of a fearsome new virus suddenly emerged, and with Trump now president, a series of ideas began burbling in the QAnon community: that the coronavirus might not be real; that if it was, it had been created by the “deep state,” the star chamber of government officials and other elite figures who secretly run the world; that the hysteria surrounding the pandemic was part of a plot to hurt Trump’s reelection chances; and that media elites were cheering the death toll. Some of these ideas would make their way onto Fox News and into the president’s public utterances. As of late last year, according to The New York Times, Trump had retweeted accounts often focused on conspiracy theories, including those of QAnon, on at least 145 occasions.

The power of the internet was understood early on, but the full nature of that power—its ability to shatter any semblance of shared reality, undermining civil society and democratic governance in the process—was not. The internet also enabled unknown individuals to reach masses of people, at a scale Marshall McLuhan never dreamed of. The warping of shared reality leads a man with an AR-15 rifle to invade a pizza shop. It brings online forums into being where people colorfully imagine the assassination of a former secretary of state. It offers the promise of a Great Awakening, in which the elites will be routed and the truth will be revealed. It causes chat sites to come alive with commentary speculating that the coronavirus pandemic may be the moment QAnon has been waiting for. None of this could have been imagined as recently as the turn of the century.

QAnon is emblematic of modern America’s susceptibility to conspiracy theories, and its enthusiasm for them. But it is also already much more than a loose collection of conspiracy-minded chat-room inhabitants. It is a movement united in mass rejection of reason, objectivity, and other Enlightenment values. And we are likely closer to the beginning of its story than the end. The group harnesses paranoia to fervent hope and a deep sense of belonging. The way it breathes life into an ancient preoccupation with end-times is also radically new. To look at QAnon is to see not just a conspiracy theory but the birth of a new religion.

  —  The Prophecies of Q

[cryptonewsssss]

More details about Luigi Mangione are coming out, and it sheds light on why he may have allegedly murdered the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson. In an interview with Honolulu Civil Beat on Monday, Luigi’s friend R.J. Martin revealed he met the 26-year-old at a co-living space in Hawaii, which he founded, called Surfbreak. Luigi was there from January to June 2022, and he suffered from “chronic back pain” from an apparent pinched nerve. R.J. reflected: “I loved this guy. In some ways, I feel like my members are my kids.” Related: Diddy ‘Jane Doe’ Accuser Revealed — It’s An NHL Star’s Ex-Wife! Josiah Ryan, R.J.’s spokesperson, also told the Associated Press that Luigi had undergone an extensive background check before being allowed into the community living: “Luigi was just widely considered to be a great guy. There were no complaints. There was no sign that might point to these alleged crimes they’re saying he committed.” According to the Civil Beat, Luigi had “no significant criminal record in Hawaii,” except for having to pay a court-ordered $100 fine in November 2023 after pleading no contest to a petty misdemeanor offense for trespassing in a “closed area” of Oahu’s Nuuanu Pali Lookout. Back with the AP, Josiah confirmed that the young man suffered from back pain, noting: “He went surfing with R.J. once but it didn’t work out because of his back.” When they couldn’t go surfing, Luigi and R.J. would regularly go to a rock climbing gym together. Speaking to CNN, R.J. recalled Luigi returning home from a surf lesson in which he’d injured his back, leaving him confined to his bed for about a week. It was a “traumatic” experience for his pal, who was in his 20s and suddenly unable to do basic things. Luigi eventually returned to the mainland to have surgery, which the New York Times reported occurred last year. R.J. told the outlet: “His spine was kind of misaligned. He said his lower vertebrae were almost like a half-inch off, and I think it pinched a nerve. Sometimes he’d be doing well and other times not.” The publication said he suffered from “debilitating pain” and even had to “switch out his mattress” after a group surfing lesson. This pain was affecting other areas of his life. He told his friend he wasn’t in a relationship because “he knew that dating and being physically intimate with his back condition wasn’t possible. I remember him telling me that, and my heart just breaks.” Once he left, the two stayed in contact via text and Luigi sent him photos after having back surgery, including an X-ray in which his back “looked heinous” with giant screws inserted into his spine, R.J. told CNN. Luigi posted an X-ray on his X (Twitter) account which is possibly the same one. See (below): (c) Luigi Mangione/X (Twitter) Yikes. Over time, the friends fell out of touch over the summer, R.J. told Civil Beat: “He went radio silent in June or July.” Here’s where things get more concerning. Luigi wasn’t just not talking to his friends — he also shut out his family! One of his former classmates at Gilman School in Baltimore, Aaron Cranston, told the NYT that he and many others had been forwarded a message earlier this year because Luigi’s family was trying to get in touch with him. Aaron hadn’t stayed in touch with the suspect since high school, but he was told Luigi’s family hadn’t heard from him in “several months” following his “back surgery.” Whoa. It sure seems like this surgery and chronic pain was a turning point for him. We wonder if he was denied medication or some health benefit that led him to allegedly do this? Luigi hinted at his reason for allegedly committing this killing in a manifesto he was found with when he was arrested earlier this week, which read per CNN: “I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done” And: “These parasites had it coming.” So chilling, but this does start to explain what his motive may have been… In the meantime, hear more from his friend (below): Thoughts? Share them (below). [Image via Altoona Police Department & Luigi Mangione/X (Twitter)] The post Luigi Mangione's Motive For Allegedly Killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Revealed?? appeared first on Perez Hilton.

[tenders4you]

More details about Luigi Mangione are coming out, and it sheds light on why he may have allegedly murdered the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson. In an interview with Honolulu Civil Beat on Monday, Luigi’s friend R.J. Martin revealed he met the 26-year-old at a co-living space in Hawaii, which he founded, called Surfbreak. Luigi was there from January to June 2022, and he suffered from “chronic back pain” from an apparent pinched nerve. R.J. reflected: “I loved this guy. In some ways, I feel like my members are my kids.” Related: Diddy ‘Jane Doe’ Accuser Revealed — It’s An NHL Star’s Ex-Wife! Josiah Ryan, R.J.’s spokesperson, also told the Associated Press that Luigi had undergone an extensive background check before being allowed into the community living: “Luigi was just widely considered to be a great guy. There were no complaints. There was no sign that might point to these alleged crimes they’re saying he committed.” According to the Civil Beat, Luigi had “no significant criminal record in Hawaii,” except for having to pay a court-ordered $100 fine in November 2023 after pleading no contest to a petty misdemeanor offense for trespassing in a “closed area” of Oahu’s Nuuanu Pali Lookout. Back with the AP, Josiah confirmed that the young man suffered from back pain, noting: “He went surfing with R.J. once but it didn’t work out because of his back.” When they couldn’t go surfing, Luigi and R.J. would regularly go to a rock climbing gym together. Speaking to CNN, R.J. recalled Luigi returning home from a surf lesson in which he’d injured his back, leaving him confined to his bed for about a week. It was a “traumatic” experience for his pal, who was in his 20s and suddenly unable to do basic things. Luigi eventually returned to the mainland to have surgery, which the New York Times reported occurred last year. R.J. told the outlet: “His spine was kind of misaligned. He said his lower vertebrae were almost like a half-inch off, and I think it pinched a nerve. Sometimes he’d be doing well and other times not.” The publication said he suffered from “debilitating pain” and even had to “switch out his mattress” after a group surfing lesson. This pain was affecting other areas of his life. He told his friend he wasn’t in a relationship because “he knew that dating and being physically intimate with his back condition wasn’t possible. I remember him telling me that, and my heart just breaks.” Once he left, the two stayed in contact via text and Luigi sent him photos after having back surgery, including an X-ray in which his back “looked heinous” with giant screws inserted into his spine, R.J. told CNN. Luigi posted an X-ray on his X (Twitter) account which is possibly the same one. See (below): (c) Luigi Mangione/X (Twitter) Yikes. Over time, the friends fell out of touch over the summer, R.J. told Civil Beat: “He went radio silent in June or July.” Here’s where things get more concerning. Luigi wasn’t just not talking to his friends — he also shut out his family! One of his former classmates at Gilman School in Baltimore, Aaron Cranston, told the NYT that he and many others had been forwarded a message earlier this year because Luigi’s family was trying to get in touch with him. Aaron hadn’t stayed in touch with the suspect since high school, but he was told Luigi’s family hadn’t heard from him in “several months” following his “back surgery.” Whoa. It sure seems like this surgery and chronic pain was a turning point for him. We wonder if he was denied medication or some health benefit that led him to allegedly do this? Luigi hinted at his reason for allegedly committing this killing in a manifesto he was found with when he was arrested earlier this week, which read per CNN: “I do apologize for any strife and trauma, but it had to be done” And: “These parasites had it coming.” So chilling, but this does start to explain what his motive may have been… In the meantime, hear more from his friend (below): Thoughts? Share them (below). [Image via Altoona Police Department & Luigi Mangione/X (Twitter)] The post Luigi Mangione's Motive For Allegedly Killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Revealed?? appeared first on Perez Hilton.

[statesone]

The Sunshine Blog: A Hawaii State Budget For Dummies - Honolulu Civil Beat

📣 StatesOne — https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMijwFBVV95cUxNLUZMcG40SGFxdlVpbG55Y0Vodk9TSFhIOWhUemxtU0hEUU16d0l3Qm83cHo1bC1fQ0RkRERJUUFoV0VmOXNjVFEzcDFKZXltN3FrTFIyb01TMHVKWmdvNm1ndXZCMTRIOU5jVXMweWdudnBGWWNfSEdUYUQ3NEgza0YtVzNLSkxsZThCZGp2UQ?oc=5&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr

[newstfionline]

Saturday, August 31, 2024

The economic cost of the wildfire season (The Week) With deadly blazes sweeping across Brazil, and Greece braced for high-risk weather, wildfire season is in full swing. Typically lasting from June until late September, this period not only poses a serious threat to human and animal life, but also wreaks devastating damage on homes, landscapes, and livelihoods. And the economic cost—for affected countries and individuals—has proven enormous. Bloomberg reported that wildfires cost Europe €4.1 billion (£3.46 billion) in damages last year, with Greece, Spain, and Italy facing the majority of the impact. And in Hawaii, state government officials spent more than $410 million (£310 million) responding to the aftermath of Maui’s 2023 wildfires, according to the Honolulu Civil Beat. When you include the long-term impacts of wildfires, those costs spiral. The wildfires that raged across Sicily in 2023 caused more than €60 million (£50.7 million) of infrastructure damage in a matter of days, said The Guardian, but “damage to agriculture caused by fires and the intense heatwave amounted to about €200 million”.

Major power outage hits Venezuela’s capital, with Maduro government blaming ‘sabotage’ (AP) Venezuelans awoke Friday to a major power outage in the capital, Caracas, and several states. President Nicolas Maduro’s government blamed the outage, which it said began about 4:50 a.m., on “electrical sabotage.” Freddy Nanez, the communications minister, said in a voice message on Telegram that all 24 of Venezuela’s states had been at least partially impacted. He characterized the outage as a “desperate” attempt by Maduro’s opponents to violently oust the president. Venezuela in 2019, during a period of political unrest, suffered from regular power outages that the government almost always blamed on its opponents, but that energy experts said were the result of brush fires damaging transmission lines and poor maintenance of the country’s hydroelectric infrastructure. Venezuela’s power grid relies heavily on the Guri Dam, a giant hydroelectric power station that was inaugurated in the late 1960s. The electrical system has been burdened by poor upkeep, a lack of alternative energy supplies and a drain of engineering talent as an estimated 8 million Venezuelan migrants have fled economic misery in recent years.

Brazil Blocks X After Musk Ignores Court Orders (NYT) Brazil blocked the social network X on Friday after its owner, Elon Musk, refused to comply with a Brazilian judge’s orders to suspend certain accounts, the biggest test yet of the billionaire’s efforts to transform the site into a digital town square where just about anything goes. Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian Supreme Court justice, ordered internet providers to block access to X across the nation of 200 million because the company lacked a necessary legal representative in Brazil. Mr. Musk closed X’s office in Brazil last week after Justice Moraes threatened arrests for ignoring his orders to remove X accounts that he said broke Brazilian laws. X said that it viewed Justice Moraes’s orders as illegal and that it planned to break their legal seal and publish them. In a highly unusual move, Justice Moraes also said that any person in Brazil who tried to still use X via common privacy software called a virtual private network, or VPN, could be fined nearly $9,000 a day.

Russia-Ukraine energy war (Washington Post) Ukrainian forces struck two oil depots within Russia overnight, while Moscow on Thursday launched the third major aerial attack on Ukraine this week—the latest in strikes by the two sides on each other’s energy infrastructure, causing electricity cutoffs throughout Ukraine and raising the prospect increased international energy prices. The attacks take place just weeks after Kyiv and Moscow were believed to be on the verge of an agreement to halt infrastructure attacks, diplomats and officials said. Instead, the two sides have resumed bombarding each other’s power plants and fuel refineries, in an escalatory struggle that in addition to its international effects could lead to a bleak winter for Ukraine. The attacks also come as Ukraine has been pushing for a lifting of the restrictions on the long-range weapons it has received from its Western partners so it can hit more targets inside Russia.

Zelensky Dismisses the Head of the Air Force Days After F-16 Crash (NYT) President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine dismissed the head of the country’s Air Force on Friday, days after the crash of an F-16 warplane in what may have been a friendly fire incident. A Western official who has been briefed on the preliminary investigation of the crash said that there were “indications” that friendly fire from a Patriot missile battery might have brought down the jet, though mechanical failure and pilot error have not been ruled out. The plane crashed on Monday while defending against an intense aerial attack by Russian forces, which on Friday hit an apartment block in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, killing at least seven people and wounding scores more, local authorities said. The possibility of friendly fire incidents becomes especially acute during mass attacks by missiles and drones, military experts say.

The first election in a decade is planned in Indian-controlled Kashmir (AP) Residents of Indian-controlled Kashmir are gearing up for their first regional election in a decade that will allow them to have their own truncated government, also known as a local assembly, instead of remaining under New Delhi’s direct rule. Muslim-majority Kashmir is divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan and claimed in its entirety by both. The Indian-administered part has been on edge since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government ended its special status in 2019 and also scrapped its statehood. In theory, the polls will see a transition of power from New Delhi to a newly elected local assembly. But the new polls will hardly give the new government any legislative powers as Indian-controlled Kashmir will continue to be a “Union Territory”—a region directly controlled by the federal government—with India’s parliament remaining as the region’s legislator. The elected assembly will only have nominal control over education and culture.

A Hong Kong court convicts 2 journalists in a landmark sedition case (AP) A Hong Kong court on Thursday convicted two former editors of a shuttered news outlet in a sedition case widely seen as a barometer for the future of media freedoms in a city once hailed as a bastion of free press in Asia. The trial of Stand News former editor-in-chief Chung Pui-kuen and former acting editor-in-chief Patrick Lam was Hong Kong’s first involving the media since the former British colony returned to Chinese rule in 1997. Stand News, which closed in December 2021, had been one of the city’s last media outlets that openly criticized the government as it waged a crackdown on dissent following massive pro-democracy protests in 2019. Chung and Lam had pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to publish and reproduce seditious publications—charges that were brought under a colonial-era sedition law used increasingly to crush dissidents. They face up to two years in prison. The case was centered on 17 articles Stand News had published. Prosecutors said some promoted “illegal ideologies,” or smeared the security law and law enforcement officers.

Nearly 40,000 people died home alone in Japan this year, report says (BBC) Almost 40,000 people died alone in their homes in Japan during the first half of 2024, a report by the country’s police shows. Of that number, nearly 4,000 people were discovered more than a month after they died, and 130 bodies went unmissed for a year before they were found, according to the National Police Agency. Japan currently has the world’s oldest population, according to the United Nations. The agency hopes its report will shed light on the country's growing issue of vast numbers of its aging population who live, and die, alone. Japan has long tried to counter its ageing and declining population, but the shift is becoming hard for the country to manage. Last year, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said his country is on the brink of not being able to function as a society because of its declining birth rate.

Tropical Storm Shanshan (NYT) The Japan Meteorological Agency issued flood and landslide warnings in two dozen prefectures on Friday for Tropical Cyclone Shanshan, including in the Japanese capital of Tokyo and regions as far northeast as Iwate and as far southwest as Kyushu. Having made landfall on Thursday as a typhoon and since been downgraded to a tropical depression, Shanshan has recorded gusts of up to 112 miles per hour. Authorities warn of high waves and tides as well as possible lightning storms and tornadoes. At least six people have been killed and more than 100 others injured in storm-related incidents thus far. Scientists believe that Shanshan could be one of the strongest storms to hit the region in history.

Toll Reaches 17 Dead in Israel’s West Bank Raid, Including a Militant Commander (NYT) Israel’s military stormed a mosque in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, where it said weapons were being stored, and engaged in gun battles that left at least five Palestinians dead, including a young militant commander who Israel says was responsible for attacks against Israeli civilians. It was the second straight day of an Israeli incursion into the northern West Bank, focused in and around the cities of Tulkarm and Jenin, involving columns of armored vehicles, fleets of drones and hundreds of troops. The raids are Israel’s biggest military actions in the West Bank in more than a year. The raid in the West Bank is an escalation along a third front for Israel, in addition to the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, and the increased air attacks across its northern border with Lebanon against the militant group Hezbollah, which is also backed by Iran.

Aid group says Israel hit convoy to hospital in Gaza. Israel says it hit gunmen who seized the car (AP) An Israeli missile hit a convoy carrying medical supplies and fuel to an Emirati hospital in the Gaza Strip, killing several people from a local transportation company, the American Near East Refugee Aid group said Friday. Israel claimed without immediate evidence that it opened fire after gunmen seized the convoy. The strike killed several people employed by a transportation company that the aid group was using to bring supplies to the Emirates Red Crescent Hospital in Rafah, said Sandra Rasheed, Anera’s director for the Palestinian territories. Israeli forces have opened fire on other aid convoys in the Gaza Strip. The World Food Program announced Wednesday it is pausing all staff movement in Gaza until further notice over Israeli troops opening fire on one of its marked vehicles, hitting it with at least 10 rounds. The shooting came despite having received multiple clearances from Israeli authorities. On July 23, UNICEF said two of its vehicles were hit with live ammunition while waiting at a designated holding point. An Israeli attack in April hit three World Central Kitchen vehicles, killing seven people.

The UN says Sudan is at a ‘breaking point.’ (AP) War-wrecked Sudan ‘s humanitarian crisis is at “a catastrophic breaking point” amid fighting and devastating flooding, the U.N. migration agency said Monday. The northeastern African nation plunged into chaos in April last year when tensions between the military and a notorious paramilitary group, the Rapid Support Forces, turned into open fighting in the capital, Khartoum, before spreading across the country. The western region of Darfur has seen some of the most devastating bouts of fighting. The conflict has killed thousands of people and pushed many into starvation. Its atrocities include mass rape and ethnically motivated killings that amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the U.N. and international rights groups. Sudan’s war has created the world’s largest displacement crisis. More than 10.7 million people have been forced to flee their homes since fighting began. Devastating floods in recent weeks have compounded the tragedy. Dozens of people have been killed and critical infrastructure has been washed away in 11 of Sudan’s 18 provinces, according to local authorities. “We are at a breaking point, a catastrophic, cataclysmic breaking point,” said Othman Belbeisi, IOM’s regional director.

[focusonthegoodnews]

Oahu Coral Group Gears Up To Help Maui's Battered Reefs - Honolulu Civil Beat

https://www.civilbeat.org/2024/07/oahu-coral-group-gears-up-to-help-mauis-battered-reefs/

[calvinhillcapstone]

Tumblr Update #7

Last week went well for my postings, I featured Honolulu Civil Beat, which can be found here:

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It was really interesting researching, interviewing, and making the posts for Civil Beat. They had some of the longest and most insightful answers to my questions, and their website has a lot of information I was able to use. This week, I'm featuring AccesSurf, and the posting schedule is going to be doable for the rest of the semester.

I feel like I've found my stride with making and posting my content, but I need to get better at updating my workback plan and all the Google Drive assets. I'll be doing that this week as well.

[freehawaii]

MENTIONED YESTERDAY ON FREE HAWAI`I TV - WHAT IF THE NAVY GAVE MUCH OF PEARL HARBOR BACK TO HAWAI`I?

    Honolulu Civil Beat - December 6, 2023 - By Naka Nathaniel

On the eve of the most solemn day at Pearl Harbor, I’d like us to look ahead 18 years from now. 

Last week, I closed my column with a call to change the trajectory of the Navy, and the military at large, in Hawaii after a few years of terrible headlines. Today, I offer not precise solutions but something that will motivate us to act: A deadline. 

We need to make Dec. 7, 2041, the most significant date in Hawaii in the 21st century. 

Why?

The past few years have not been good for the Navy’s reputation in Hawaii. It’s remarkable to see how the botched handling of the Red Hill catastrophe unified so many varied groups in Hawaii against the Navy. 

Those on Oahu who aren’t upset with the Navy yet will be when they see the rate increases in their water bills.

In conversation after conversation I’ve had about the military’s future in Hawaii, the end of the military’s multiple leases were repeatedly called “the elephant in the room.” 

The elephant is also an opportunity that courageous leaders in Hawaii have to shape the future, instead of having it shaped for them. 

For the first time in a long, long time, the people of Hawaii have the opportunity to have a say in what has traditionally been a one-way relationship.

In addition to being better partners and long-term guests and stewards, the military also has an opportunity to modernize its approach to national security here.

Gen. Mark Milley, the former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, warned in a report that the military’s current decision-makers are too connected to conventional tank and aircraft carrier warfare. 

Hawaii’s strategic importance as the gas station of the Pacific has waned in the age of digital and drone warfare. It’s hard to conceive what warfare will look like in the age of hypersonic missiles and AI, but it’s possible that Hawaii’s geography can be used in more innovative and inspiring ways.

“The American homeland has almost always been a sanctuary during conflict, but this will not be the case in a future war,” Milley wrote.

Since the nature of national defense is changing, Hawaii needs to take advantage of this sea change. 

Pearl Harbor served its purpose for the Navy and now it’s time for it to follow a proud tradition of hand off. Our memories don’t have to stretch too far back to think about the return of Hong Kong, the return of the Panama Canal, the Suez Canal, the bases in the Philippines and the dynamic change brought to many communities in the ‘90s when American military bases were reimagined in the wake of the Cold War.

We need to envision what a Pearl Harbor reintegrated into the fabric of Oahu would be like. For too long, Pearl Harbor has been off-limits for most Hawaiians. 

What if the Navy returned significant parts of Pearl Harbor to Hawaii?

Would it make Hawaii more or less vulnerable? I would argue that it minimizes our exposure. We need to recalibrate what the Navy, and military presence at large, means here in the Pacific.

The people of Hawaii should be the beneficiaries of generously hosting the military for dozens of decades. Sites like Pearl Harbor have the infrastructure to solve myriad problems facing Hawaii. 

It’s not too hard to see how a reimagined Ford Island could become the epitome of sensible 21st century living. 

Or, with the threat of climate change being a menace at least as equal to security threats, some of Pearl Harbor could be converted into a hub for climate mitigation and resiliency efforts.  

In 18 years, instead of only wreath-laying and somber remembrances, let’s envision a day that includes hope for the future. 

Let’s envision a day, Dec. 7, 2041, when a partial handover occurs and a new dawn begins for a better Hawaii and a redeemed and reimagined military.

[biglisbonnews]

Hawaii quietly rolls back innovative plan to manage marine resources The change came amid pressure from the state's vocal fishing community. https://grist.org/article/hawaii-quietly-rolls-back-innovative-plan-to-manage-marine-resources/

[tsmom1219]

Oahu’s construction waste could become food for crops at a new Kapolei facility

Read the full story from Honolulu Civil Beat. Joelle Simonpietri and her crew are clearing invasive flora, concrete detritus and derelict concrete-making machinery from a property in Kapolei that they hope will eventually close the loop on a significant portion of Oahu’s unrecycled waste.  The site is slated to become the Aloha Sustainable Materials Recycling and Fertilizer Facility, a $40…

[researchbuzz]

Maui Fires Money Tracker, Sony Digital Content, MyHeritage, More: Wednesday ResearchBuzz, December 27, 2023

NEW RESOURCES Honolulu Civil Beat: New Database Tracks Millions In Donations And Government Funds For Maui. “As part of Civil Beat’s ongoing coverage of the wildfire relief and recovery effort, we’ve created the Maui Fires Money Tracker to help publicly track the hundreds of millions of dollars that have been channeled to the Valley Isle from both non-government and government sources. This is an…

[goodbytegroupglobal]

Harrowing Eyewitness Accounts Cast Doubt On Official Lahaina Fire Narrative - Honolulu Civil Beat https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMibmh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNpdmlsYmVhdC5vcmcvMjAyMy8wOS9oYXJyb3dpbmctZXlld2l0bmVzcy1hY2NvdW50cy1jYXN0LWRvdWJ0LW9uLW9mZmljaWFsLWxhaGFpbmEtZmlyZS1uYXJyYXRpdmUv0gEA?oc=5&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=tumblr