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Feelings over facts

‘Why don’t you write something about all the people dying from the COVID-19 vaccines?” the bearded man queried after learning we work for The Maui News. Standing in the shade of a small tree near the Costco gas station exit, he held a hand-printed sign asking for the kindness of strangers. At first glance, he did not appear to be a man with a comprehensive health care plan or extensive social safety net. Even so, to him the risk posed by a free jab was greater than contracting the disease itself. Despite scientists and leaders across the spectrum insisting the vaccines are safe ...

Homelands lease a mess

Maui residents have long struggled to afford homes of their own due to the lack of supply and the skyrocketing rates; recently the median sales price for a single-family home surpassed a record-high $1 million. But there’s another hurdle stopping local families from living in a place of their own — the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands waiting list and lease system. “On July 9, 1921, President Warren G. Harding signed the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act, 1920 as amended, an effort spearheaded by Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalaniana‘ole and a group of advocates,” according to DHHL. ...

US tax code revelations

Internal Revenue Service data obtained by ProPublica and published last week shows in black and white just how rigged toward the rich the U.S. tax code has become. The data, sent anonymously to the independent investigative outlet, shows that while their personal wealth grows by the billions, they pay very little of it in taxes — far less as a percentage than the average American trying to make ends meet with their wages. We’re not talking about tax evasion here. Instead, the richest Americans — whose obscene, unspendable wealth multiplies every day — take advantage of a tax ...

Smiles back, but not everywhere

Isn’t it wonderful to see smiles again? As we shed our masks outdoors and community activities return, the aloha spirit is on full display. The warmth Maui is known for was harder to detect behind masks and visors. We all tried learning to smile with our eyes, but only so much warmth can be conveyed that way, especially from a distance of 6 feet. A genuine smile requires no guesswork. Whether it is a quick grin from a passing stranger or a bright flash of teeth and joy from an old friend, it makes the world a happier place to be. Smiles convey friendship, community, shared ...

Recognition is no game

In far western Nebraska, Signal Butte rises 120 feet above the North Platte River valley. Generations of archaeologists are familiar with the site. It is Nebraska’s richest source of information about some of the state’s earliest inhabitants. Native peoples lived there long before our present time, long before the arrival of the first Europeans — thousands of years before, archaeologists say. Carbon dating at Signal Butte indicates habitation perhaps as far back as 3000 B.C. “Prehistoric peoples during this period developed sophisticated hunting and foraging techniques ...

Whitewashing American history

“We can’t just choose to learn what we want to know and not what we should know,” President Joe Biden said on June 1 from Tulsa, Okla., on the 100th anniversary of a targeted massacre of Black residents there by their white neighbors. Dozens of people were killed in the attacks, hundreds were hospitalized, and thousands were held hostage, some for days. More than 35 square blocks in the wealthy Black community were destroyed. Yet many Americans know little, if anything, about the events. They were never taught. America has a shameful history on race. From building the country on ...