Hawaii Officials’ Focus On Equity and Climate | Not Safety

If there is indeed a social revolution under way, it shouldn’t stop with women’s choice to honor their [own] nature. It must also include a newfound respect for men. It was New York City’s firemen who dared to charge up the stairs of the burning Twin Towers on September 11, 2001. The death tally of New York City’s firefighters was:

  • men 343,
  • women 0.

Can anyone honestly say you would have wanted a woman coming to your rescue on that fateful day?

Suzanne Venker & Phyllis Schlafly, The Flipside of Feminism: What Conservative Women Know — and Men Can’t Say (Washington, D.C.: WND Books, 2011), 181-182.

EQUITY

OFF THE PRESS bullet points DAILY CALLER’S story for us:

  • Former Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Michael Brown blasted officials in Hawaii over their focus on “equity” prior to a deadly wildfire.
  • The West Maui Land Company accused M. Kaleo Manuel, an official with the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), of delaying a response to a request to use water to refill reservoirs used by the Maui Fire Department to fight the wildfire, Hawaii News Now reported.
  • video of Manuel discussing the importance of having conversations about “equity” when it came to water use surfaced Thursday.

BREITBART has more:

A state water agency in Hawaii has been accused of delaying the release of water from a traditional farm that landowners reportedly wanted to use to protect their property as the Maui wildfire spread last week.

According to the Honolulu Civil Beat, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) initially refused a request from West Maui Land, a real estate development company, to provide water to protect properties that were at risk in the area.

Fingers have been pointed at one official in particular, M. Kaleo Manuel, DLNR’s deputy director for water resource management.

The Honolulu Civil Beat reported:

[….]

According to the sources, Manuel wanted West Maui Land to get permission from a taro, or kalo, farm located downstream from the company’s property. Manuel eventually released water but not until after the fire had spread. It was not clear on Monday how much damage the fire did in the interim or whether homes were damaged.

Manuel participates in the Obama Foundation’s Leaders Asia-Pacific program and prioritizes traditional local views on water.

Honolulu Civil Beat quoted Gov. Josh Green (D) as saying that there had been some local opposition in general to using the state’s scarce water resources to fight fires. A state bill to promote the use of state and private reservoirs for fire safety was proposed in 2022 by legislators from Maui, but was not passed….

Here is this “water official” using woke buzzwords like “holistic” — they just string words together to sound important / compassionate:

(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) ….“Meet M. Kaleo Manuel, the official who refused to release water in Maui, contributing to up to 106 deaths,” Jeremy Kauffman wrote on X, citing the original article. “A Hawaiian Studies major, Kaleo prefers a traditional, holistic ‘One Water’ approach where water is revered, not used. Water requires ‘true conversations about equity.'”

Kauffman, the CEO of a bitcoin company, included a Zoom interview video of Manuel, posted to YouTube about 10 months ago.

“Native Hawaiians treated water as one of the earthly manifestations of a god,” Manuel said in the video. “We’ve become used to looking at water as something that we use and not something that we revere. … We can reconnect to that traditional value set.”….

[….]

[….]

What a douche. The LEFT looks for religion in all the wrong places.

WATER & POWER

NEW YORK  TIMES

The government would rather blame “climate change” for the Hawaii wildfires than take responsibility for their own reckless disregard.


  • This event was not the result of climate change, Hurricane Dora, or an extended drought.  It resulted from an unusually intense mountain wave/downslope windstorm produced by a fairly rare convergence of conditions. (Cliff Mass Weather Blog)

And Steve Milloy points out another NEW YORK TIMES article that missed an opportunity to zero in on the issue:

And THE BLAZE notes the issue with the power companies

A number of Democrats and other leftists have blamed the deadly wildfires in Hawaii on the specter of anthropogenic climate change. They may be right, but only in a perverted sense.

Like the Biden administration, Hawaii’s Gov. Josh Green (D) and both the state’s 88%-Democratic House and 92%-Democratic state Senate are ostensibly keen to “lead the globe on clean energy and climate issues.”

It appears that the efforts by Hawaii’s largest energy provider to follow suit and satisfy a Democrat-mandated transition to renewable energy took priority over alternatively pragmatic efforts to maintain its equipment and deal with the known and documented threat of fuel buildup in the form of flammable vegetation…..

All these useless policies to make politicians fell good through “messianism” [saving the planet] have consequences. Like all the other policies with a stated outcomes by the Left – they hurt those they purport to want to help.

SAINTHOOD

It reminds me of the stellar [extended] quote by David Mamet:

One might say that the politician, the doctor, and the dramatist make their living from human misery; the doctor in attempting to alleviate it, the politician to capitalize on it, and the dramatist, to describe it.

But perhaps that is too epigrammatic.

When I was young, there was a period in American drama in which the writers strove to free themselves of the question of character.

Protagonists of their worthy plays had made no choices, but were afflicted by a condition not of their making; and this condition, homosexuality, illness, being a woman, etc., was the center of the play. As these protagonists had made no choices, they were in a state of innocence. They had not acted, so they could not have sinned.

A play is basically an exercise in the raising, lowering, and altering of expectations (such known, collectively, as the Plot); but these plays dealt not with expectations (how could they, for the state of the protagonist was not going to change?) but with sympathy.

What these audiences were witnessing was not a drama, but a troublesome human condition displayed as an attraction. This was, formerly, known as a freak show.

The subjects of these dramas were bearing burdens not of their choosing, as do we all. But misfortune, in life, we know, deserves forbearance on the part of the unafflicted. For though the display of courage in the face of adversity is worthy of all respect, the display of that respect by the unaffected is presumptuous and patronizing.

One does not gain merit from congratulating an afflicted person for his courage. One only gains entertainment.

Further, endorsement of the courage of the affliction play’s hero was not merely impertinent, but, more basically, spurious, as applause was vouchsafed not to a worthy stoic, but to an actor portraying him.

These plays were an (unfortunate) by-product of the contemporary love-of-the-victim. For a victim, as above, is pure, and cannot have sinned; and one, by endorsing him, may perhaps gain, by magic, part of his incontrovertible status.

[…..]

There is a Liberal sentiment that it should also punish those who take more than their “fair share.” But what is their fair share? (Shakespeare suggests that each should be treated not according to his deserts, but according to God’s mercy, or none of us would escape whipping.)

The concept of Fairness, for all its attractiveness to sentiment, is a dangerous one (cf. quota hiring and enrollment, and talk of “reparations”). Deviations from the Law, which is to say the Constitution, to accommodate specifically alleged identity-group injustices will all inevitably be expanded, universalized, and exploited until there remains no law, but only constant petition of Government.

We cannot live in peace without Law. And though law cannot be perfect, it may be just if it is written in ignorance of the identity of the claimants and applied equally to all. Then it is a possession not only of the claimants but of the society, which may now base its actions upon a reasonable assumption of the law’s treatment.

But “fairness” is not only a nonlegal but an antilegal process, for it deals not with universally applicable principles and strictures, but with specific cases, responding to the perceived or proclaimed needs of individual claimants, and their desire for extralegal preference. And it could be said to substitute fairness (a determination which must always be subjective) for justice (the application of the legislated will of the electorate), is to enshrine greed—the greed, in this case, not for wealth, but for preference. The socialistic spirit of the Left indicts ambition and the pursuit of wealth as Greed, and appeals, supposedly on behalf of “the people,” to the State for “fairness.”….

.But such fairness can only be the non-Constitutional intervention of the State in the legal, Constitutional process—awarding, as it sees fit, money (reparations), preferment (affirmative action), or entertainment (confiscation)….

….“Don’t you care?” is the admonition implicit in the very visage of the Liberals of my acquaintance on their understanding that I have embraced Conservatism. But the Talmud understood of old that good intentions can lead to evil—vide Busing, Urban Renewal, Affirmative Action, Welfare, et cetera, to name the more immediately apparent, and not to mention the, literally, tens of thousands of Federal and State statutes limiting freedom of trade, which is to say, of the right of the individual to make a living, and, so earn that wealth which would, in its necessary expenditure, allow him to provide a living to others….

…. I recognized that though, as a lifelong Liberal, I endorsed and paid lip service to “social justice,” which is to say, to equality of result, I actually based the important decisions of my life—those in which I was personally going to be affected by the outcome—upon the principle of equality of opportunity; and, further, that so did everyone I knew. Many, I saw, were prepared to pay more taxes, as a form of Charity, which is to say, to hand off to the Government the choice of programs and recipients of their hard-earned money, but no one was prepared to be on the short end of the failed Government pro-grams, however well-intentioned. (For example—one might endorse a program giving to minorities preference in award of government contracts; but, as a business owner, one would fight to get the best possible job under the best possible terms regardless of such a program, and would, in fact, work by all legal and, perhaps by semi- or illegal means to subvert any program that enforced upon the pro-prietor a bad business decision.)*

Further, one, in paying the government to relieve him of a feeling of social responsibility, might not be bothered to question what in fact constituted a minority, and whether, in fact, such minority contracts were actually benefiting the minority so enshrined, or were being subverted to shell corporations and straw men.

PAGE-NOTE  FROM PAGE 154


*No one would say of a firefighter, hired under rules reducing the height requirement, and thus unable to carry one’s child to safety, “Nonetheless, I am glad I voted for that ‘more fair’ law.”

As, indeed, they are, or, in the best case, to those among the applicants claiming eligibility most capable of framing, supporting, or bribing their claims to the front of the line. All claims cannot be met. The politicians and bureaucrats discriminating between claims will necessarily favor those redounding to their individual or party benefit—so the eternal problem of “Fairness,” supposedly solved by Government distribution of funds, becomes, yet again and inevitably, a question of graft.

David Mamet, The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture (New York, NY: Sentinel Publishing, 2011), 134-135; 116-117, 122, 151, 154.

Conspiratorial Humor | il Donaldo Trumpo

I have been “muting” people on Twitter… er… X, that seriously think energy weapons were used to start the Maui fire. But il Donaldo Trumpo nailed this with humor!

 

Lava Explodes From Fissures in Lanipuna Gardens | Andrew Richard Hara

Hawaii resident Andrew Hara captured of lava exploding from fissures in the Lanipuna Gardens neighborhood of Puna, Hawaii, on May 13.The Hawaii County Civil Defense agency reported that the 17th volcanic fissure to open since the eruption of Kilauea volcano had been detected over the weekend in the Lanipuna Gardens subdivision. Residents in the area were advised to be on the alert for gas emissions and active volcanic eruptions.Hara told Storyful the was recorded in a secluded, unpopulated pasture northeast of the Lanipuna Gardens. Hara estimated the lava spatter was sprayed up to 500 feet above the ground.

20180513 @ 1750-2200HST – Fissure 17 : Lanipuna Gardens from Andrew Richard Hara on Vimeo.

This video is located in a secluded, unpopulated pasture in Lanipuna Gardens, distanced northeast and away from Puna Geothermal Venture. Fissure 17 is ejecting aerial spatter and lava bombs approximately 500t high, complimented in intensity by violent jetting and heavy dispersal of smoke and gas. Time delay of ~1 second is due to the distance from the eruptive site and my location.

Many areas are now becoming inaccessible and the majority are dangerous due to volcanic hazards.

My respect and best wishes go out to the neighborhood of Leilani Estates, Lanipuna Gardens, and the areas within and between Kapoho.

20180513 @ 1155HST : Fissure 17 – Lanipuna Gardens from Andrew Richard Hara on Vimeo.

Aerial debris and lava bombs at ~500ft heading northeast in an unpopulated portion of Lanipuna Gardens. Concussive sounds of explosions, jetting, and the roar of F-17 can be felt even at a distance.

Time delay of ~1 second is due to the distance from the eruptive site and my location.

Owning Hawaiian Bobble-Heads Now White Supremacy…

…even if your Asian. I guess I am an imperialist white supremacist Christian cisgender capitalist heteropatriarchal male! Because I am ordering one as I type.

Sinclair Lewis once said,

  • “When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.”

He was wrong. It comes with tattoos, bosoms, and an elitist Valley Girl accent. In-other-words, Sid Vicious would be swinging his bass on these clowns!

DAILY CALLER notes the following about the audio/video:

The video was sent anonymously to libertarian activist Lauren Southern, who uploaded it to YouTube along with a short introduction. The woman berating the driver has been identified as Annaliese Nielsen, who operates an exclusive girls-only online social club in Los Angeles.

Here is Lauren’s short comments and Nielsen’s rant:

SOOPERMEXICAN says this:

There is nothing more enjoyable than seeing an “SJW” liberal attempt to harm someone because they were politically incorrect, and see it whip back and slap them in their smug stupid face instead. That’s exactly what happened to Annaliese Nielsen, a “social justice warrior” who tried to nail a “Lyft” driver, which is a version of the Uber taxi service application, because he had a classic dashboard hula girl figurine.
 
Yup, that was his sin against liberalism – having hula girl on his dashboard.

[….]

Unfortunately for Nielson, although she was hoping the video would cause people to attack her victim, everyone turned on HER!! She’s had to shut down her social media accounts and her personal information has been revealed in a public act of shaming for her stupidity in that video.

It turns out there’s a limit to the “social justice warrior” stupidity that society is willing to put up with, and she surpassed it!!

[….]

I like this video personally:

Ominous Points of View (Photo Fraud in the Washington Post)

This via WUWT:

Junkscience.com reports this is what the print copy looks like today for this article by Eugene Robinson. Note what looks like black unfiltered pollutants spewing skyward [is steam]

This is what it looks like during the day, in color, with the sun light coming from another direction (to the right).

Again, this is steam!

Which reminds me of a great article I wish to recommend — it is only 25-cents for Pete’s Sake (here) — in which it’s author Charles Cooke recounts seeing the infamous seven chimneys seen in many documentaries by activist environmentalists:

After half an hour’s drive, the incessant stretch of virgin land comes to an end and, over the shallow hills, we see white smoke billowing into the sky. A few more miles and an industrial plant comes into view. Against the green-and-white landscape, it is a shock. I recognize it immediately as belonging to heavy-oil giant Syncrude, and as the favorite subject of the myriad anti-oil-sands photographs that are currently circulating around the Web. It is without doubt an ugly thing to see amid so much beauty, and the Tolkienesque distaste for the “scouring” of the countryside that informs the “green” zeitgeist is born of a noble instinct. Yet not all is what it seems. To a layman, the seven sets of white clouds look baleful, but, I learn, six of these chimneys are emitting just harmless steam. Our host, Cheryl Robb, jokes that she prefers conducting summer tours because then “the steam is invisible.” She gives us the details of an ongoing $1.6 billion project that will reduce the emissions from the one offending chimney by 60 percent. (National Review, “The Quite Gold Rush,” by Charles C. W. Cooke)

It’s all about perspectives… one is a misuse of lighting and facts, the other is more honest.

In the article, Eugine Robinson laments a Co2 milestone than WUWT makes a point that even Al Gore called for a solemn day of prayer over:

Al Gore calls for a day of prayer and reflection, and bothering your neighbor:

So please, take this day and the milestone it represents to reflect on the fragility of our civilization and and the planetary ecosystem on which it depends. Rededicate yourself to the task of saving our future. Talk to your neighbors, call your legislator, let your voice be heard. We must take immediate action to solve this crisis. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next year. Now.

Shirts are available:

However, the PPM were revised, much to the chagrin of the religious believers (beliebers?) like Al Gore:

It seems we didn’t reach 400PPM last week after all. The data has been revised. Ooops.

‘Carbon dioxide measurements in the Earth’s atmosphere did not break the symbolic milestone of 400 parts per million at a Hawaiian observatory last week, according to a revised reading from the nation’s climate observers.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) revised its May 9 reading at the Mauna Loa observatory in Hawaii, saying it remained fractions of a point below the level of 400 ppm, at 399.89′

Source: LA Times

Oh well, there’s always next week…or maybe not, since spring in the Northern Hemisphere tends to reduce CO2 as plants suck up all that CO2 that some claim is not plant food.

A Liberal Democrat Governor Of Hawaii Talks Unfunded Liabilities And Democratic Spending Habits ~ ReasonTV

From Video Description:

“When the special interests become too powerful,” warns Ben Cayetano, “the voter only has the collective conscience of the people who are in public office.”

Cayetano was a popular two-term Democratic governor of the state of Hawaii who held office from 1994 to 2002. In 2012, Cayetano became alarmed by what he saw as out-of-control spending and special interests run amok. He came out of retirement and made a failed bid to become the mayor of Honolulu, Hawaii’s largest city.

Cayetano opposed the city’s $5.26 billion rail project, which he says costs too much and will not address Honolulu’s traffic problems. The massive system and inevitable cost overruns, he fears, simply piles more debt on a government already straining under unfunded liabilities for public-sector pensions and benefits. “They are going to end up raising taxes,” Cayetano told Reason TV. “Or the city will go bankrupt.”

In a wide-ranging conversation, the 73-year-old Filipino American discusses the Aloha State’s fiscal mess, the trouble with Hawaii’s one-party government, and why he believes social issues are distracting voters from more pressing economic problems.

A Third of the “Birthers” Approve of Obama Anyway (e.g., are Democrats)

Mind you, this “birth-certificate debacle” was begun by a democrat, and, as some of you know, I am not a follower of this conspiracy theory.

More than a year and half after Barack Obama was elected commander in chief, the governor of Hawaii is now publicly voicing the alleged exact location of Obama’s birth, saying “the president was, in fact, born at Kapi’olani Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii.”

The disclosure is believed to be the first time a state government official has declared the precise place where Obama was born, despite numerous other published claims, including some for a different hospital in Honolulu.

The remark came Sunday night when Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican, was interviewed on New York’s WABC Radio by host Rabbi Shmuley Boteach. (The subject was addressed at the 77-minute mark.)

“It’s been an odd situation,” Lingle said, referring to the continuing controversy over the disputed natural-born citizenship of Obama. “This issue kept coming up so much in the campaign, and again I think it’s one of those issues that is simply a distraction from the more critical issues that are facing the country.

“So I had my health director, who is a physician by background, go personally view the birth certificate in the birth records of the Department of Health, and we issued a news release at that time saying that the president was, in fact, born at Kapi’olani Hospital in Honolulu, Hawaii. And that’s just a fact and yet people continue to call up and e-mail and want to make it an issue and I think it’s again a horrible distraction for the country by those people who continue this.”