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Editorial

Making Hunter Biden testify

Hunter Biden made big money abroad by dropping the name of his powerful father, and the same tactic seems to have nearly helped him to evade tax and gun charges. Correspondence between federal prosecutors and Mr. Biden’s lawyer has been leaked to the press, and it shows the depth of the case’s political taint. After news reports last fall suggested federal agents had enough evidence to prosecute, Mr. Biden’s lawyer, Chris Clark, decided to bring up the big guy. “President Biden now unquestionably would be a fact witness for the defense in any criminal trial,” he wrote to ...

Fire risk was no secret

Reading follow-up articles by Mainland journalists about Lahaina’s devastating wildfire, you would think our island was caught by surprise that the picturesque harbor town was a fire risk. The enormity of its loss of life and property certainly surpasses everyone’s imagination, but Lahaina’s vulnerability was no secret. The town has been engaged in a deadly dance with windswept flames for many decades, probably stretching to before it was the capital of the Hawaiian Kingdom. In an interview held in her Lahaina oceanfront yard nearly a quarter of a century ago, the late Pua ...

Climate change & coral

When images of the climate emergency’s impact are so visceral and so widespread, it is easy to neglect what we cannot see. The shocking photographs and video footage of wildfires in Hawai‘i and Greece, and floods in China, along with the terrible loss of life and testimony from those who fled, are beginning to bring home the contribution of global heating to such disasters — even if people, and especially businesses and governments, may be slow to accept the truth and even slower to act on it. Yet our eyes cannot fully capture the devastation in Hawai‘i, and it does not end ...

Accountability in democracy

Even close followers of the news could be forgiven for losing track of the criminal proceedings against Donald Trump. His indictment in Georgia is his second in a fortnight, and his fourth in total. The 13 new counts added to the scorecard bring the total — so far — to 91. What was once the precedent-shattering prospect of a former president facing trial on serious charges now seems oddly commonplace. That’s without mentioning the two impeachments he survived in office, or the multiple civil cases against him. Like the federal charges brought by the special counsel Jack Smith ...

Good and ugly on display

The Lahaina Fire of 2023 has become a study on human nature. Displayed at one end of the spectrum are noble attributes such as bravery, compassion and sacrifice. These are the people who risked all to pound on neighbors’ doors and windows to assure they too could escape the wind-whipped flames. They are the volunteers standing in the sun for long hours handing out food, supplies and aloha to shell-shocked survivors. They are the first responders, linemen, heavy equipment operators and all others who ran toward trouble when Lahaina was in need. They are the community-minded souls ...

Transparency in Hunter Biden case

Attorney General Merrick Garland announced on Friday his appointment of U.S. Attorney David Weiss of Delaware as special counsel in the ongoing investigation into Hunter Biden, President Biden’s son. This was the right move. It should encourage Americans that the process will be independent and transparent and, therefore, that it is more likely to be fair. Such assurances might not have been necessary at the beginning of the Justice Department’s Hunter Biden probe, but they became important after a plea agreement between Mr. Weiss and Mr. Biden’s attorneys fell apart under ...