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Remembering Desmond Tutu

With the passing of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the world celebrates a moral giant who helped lead South Africa toward freedom and battled injustice everywhere he found it. Archbishop Tutu died Sunday in Cape Town. He was 90. His disarming laugh belied his steely, unflagging commitment to freedom for all South Africans. Archbishop Tutu helped lead his nation out of apartheid, the evil of state-mandated racial subordination that enforced white minority rule in South Africa for most of the 20th century. In 1975, he became the first Black Anglican dean of Johannesburg. In 1976, he was ...

Teacher cash crawl demeaning stunt

It’s not unusual for people to do silly things to raise money —” either for themselves or for good causes. A longtime game show requires contestants to wear crazy costumes, and sports fans sometimes compete in goofy games as entertainment during halftime. And at schools, educators have had their heads shaved or been slimed for fundraisers. But a recent all-in-good-fun effort that sent teachers “crawling for cash” at a South Dakota junior hockey league game crossed a line. Though it was supposed to be for laughs, the images of teachers diving for dollars came across as sad and ...

Season’s greetings

On this day celebrating the birth of Jesus 2,021 years ago, let’s imagine he has a new book out. The Bible has done so well over the past couple thousand years, he has decided to do a sequel. Released for the holidays, he’s making the rounds on talk shows and podcasts to plug the latest work. Interviewers pester him for insights into the future and challenge him to end the pandemic. Others want to delve into the secrets of his past. Jesus keeps steering these conversations back to book two’s core message of peace and harmony. He says loving, caring and sharing between all people ...

Cutting lifeline for poor kids

Every member of Congress says he or she supports children. Then this happens. The expanded child tax credit passed through the American Rescue Plan, one of the only truly consequential pieces of pro-family initiatives in recent memory, is set to run out, with the last of the monthly checks going out in December. The program would have been extended by the Build Back Better plan, but Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va,, removed his support. The Democrats needed every senator; not one Republican will support the monumental spending on health care, child care, prescription drugs and climate ...

Antiviral pill a ‘game changer’

Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla on Dec. 14 hailed his company’s antiviral pill Paxlovid as a “game changer” after final trial data showed it reduced risk of hospitalization among high-risk groups by nearly 90 percent. An antiviral pill that prevents serious illness, to be taken soon after people develop symptoms, has long been understood as a path to easing the pandemic. Alas, the National Institutes of Health and Biden Administration were slow to invest in oral treatments, which is one reason the pills have taken longer to develop than have vaccines and monoclonal ...

New chief has big task ahead

Quite a few Hawaiian words and themes were expressed during Wednesday’s swearing-in ceremony for new Maui Police Department Chief John Pelletier and Deputy Chief Charles Hank III. Maui Police Commission Chairperson Frank De Rego spoke at length about the importance of aloha and how it is codified into Hawaii law. Maui County Council Chairperson Alice Lee reminded Pelletier and Hank of the family culture of ohana that honors the tradition of helping and caring for each other. Pelletier promised to build lokahi — unity and harmony — between MPD and the community. We wish ...