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Millions of Gaza refugees live in an open-air prison

Lānaʻi is the exact same size as Gaza. That’s where the similarities end. Lānaʻi’s population is 3,500 people. Gaza’s population is 2.3 million, with 1.5 million currently crammed into Rafah. Israel has been committing genocide against a population of refugees, who have been living in an open-air prison the size of Lānaʻi. Tens of thousands have been killed; the rest are slowly starving to death. The international Freedom Flotilla Coalition will attempt to break the siege and deliver thousands of pounds of desperately needed aid. I’ll be a crewmember on one of the ...

Tax giveaway for ultra-rich currently sailing through

You don’t have to look too far around Maui to see people with extreme wealth. You also don’t have to look far to see that middle-class families are struggling, so much that they’re having to move away. We also know that the recovery of our island’s local businesses and families will require major financial resources for years to come. So, it may be shocking to learn that a tax giveaway for the ultra-rich is currently sailing through the state legislature. Most Maui residents don’t want this. They don’t want more people hanging on to their vast sums of money for ...

Future generations unable to buy a home on Maui?

As a senior citizen, I am very distressed that my children and future generations of my family will not be able to buy a home on Maui. I have expressed this concern, but I have not been listened to and it angers me. But there are not enough public voices from our community, religious groups and fellow seniors who are expressing that same anger. I have truly loved grown up on Maui and I have lived a wonderful life with my ohana helping me when I first bought a home and was always were there for me and my family. I love our local people and those who have come from away and accepted and ...

Cold War won without shot because of Star Wars

History has witnessed the success of Star Wars again, an idea to kill enemy missiles before they can strike. President Ronald Reagan proposed the idea of the strategic defense initiative (SDI) dubbed Star Wars by the doubters. They said it was too expensive. This doubt was proven wrong. The details are different, but the concept was a 99 percent success yesterday. SDI defense can successfully kill incoming rocket attacks from the enemy. SDI can save lives by killing weapons, not people. President Reagan won the Cold War against the Soviet Communist Russians without firing a ...

Contributors need to be identified

Recently, The Maui News has been offering commentaries from writers without identifying who the writer is. Up to now, the paper has identified who its contributors are. But when it recently ran a piece “Americans differ on Ukraine and Gaza,” by Victor Davis Hanson, it did not say who Mr. Hanson is. I was curious because his statement was a well-crafted piece of right-wing propaganda. According to Wikipedia, Mr. Hanson is actually Dr. Hanson, a renown classicist specializing in ancient Greece. He is also a writer for conservative-libertarian think-tanks and publications, ...

Pool guards would not have been able to help

Our county pool director has decided that our pool lifeguards no longer need to have emergency medical response (EMR) training. Thus, they will no longer be able to assist a pool patron with splinting, backboard, blood pressure, respiratory or other evaluation. The response time to the pool by ambulance or firemen is 14 minutes. Now, once they arrive on the scene, they will have to assess the situation without assistance from the pool guards. Had this been implemented last year, the pool guards would not have been able to help at the emergency shelters after the fires in ...