Apparently Elon Musk made good on his outrage against the lack of Free Speech with Twitter. The US Securities and Exchange Commission reported Musk’s purchase of 73,486,938 shares of Twitter valued at $2.89 billion based on April 1, 2022 Friday’s closing price.
The following tweet was posted after Elon Musk became Twitter’s largest shareholder.
On March 24, 2022, Musk tweeted his question below. It’s a great question that many have been asking. But it takes a larger-than-life person like Elon Musk with 80 million followers to bring it to the collective consciousness.
The marginalization of Free Speech and Free Press has been collectively going downhill. It used to be that journalism and reporting was primarily about bringing the news in print and through radio/TV to the public. We now have too many talking heads and posers.
Now, there are so many options and venues. The internet obviously has opened up new worlds of communications. In the 1970s, when 24/7 cable news was start, there was a group of forward-thinking and public good minded citizens who fought for Free Press and Free Speech. The ideals and intent of the Public, Education, and Governmental (PEG) Access Channels and support services have since been incrementally undermined, neglected, and pushed out by many new communications platforms.
Additionally, many relatively big or small newspapers and communication outfits have been out-paced and out-spent and forced to close. Others have to resort to “pay wall” where unfortunately only those can can afford to pay can read.
There are benefactors who impose and insist on their own idealogy relating to their so-called Free Press and Free Speech forums and businesses. There is censorship by editors on which public comments and accepted and which are not. Many comments have no “threats” or “bullying” or other anti-social behavior. The censored comments are simply under the whims of the editor or publisher’s ideology.
Enter the social media platforms like Facebook, Tweeter, Instagram and Tick-Tock and there goes the opportunity for the general public to read and digest and analyze in details of a good printed report.
Tweeter has now increased its Tweet text content of a Tweet up to 280 characters or Unicode glyphs. It used to be 140 words. That at least increased the attention span a little.
In a way, it forces the tweet to be concise and succinct. In other ways, there are inherent limits to further delving into careful reading or sufficient information.
Still, it’s nice to see Elon Musk take a stand for Free Speech and be able to do something about it. Twitter had taken to censorship of information. A public forum must be open to ALL forms of idealogy. Diversity of thoughts and information enhance better results in the end.
Let the people use their brains, analyze, and decide for themselves.
Democracy can only function and thrive when there’s Free Speech and Free Press. It’s that fundamental and basic.
While we’re at this, remember we can all be like Elon Musk in our own ways and own spaces. Speak up for Free Speech and Free Press where you live. Write a blog. Host a public community radio or television or Pod.
If you see something that is not right in the Public Square, speak up. Object. Raise your concerns. Hold your own water. Stand your ground.
That’s the only way the Free Speech and Free Press can survive and thrive.
Saturday Night Life Comedian Chris Rock had used Smith’s wife Jada Pinkett Smith as the butt of his jokes. Actor Will Smith went onstage to give the comedian a smack . Which is worse? Verbal abuse or physical abuse?
Jada Pinkett Smith has “Alopecia Areata” – a common autoimmune condition that results in unpredictable hair loss and can affect people of all genders and ages.
The Associated Press reported:
” After Rock as a presenter joked to Jada Pinkett Smith that he was looking forward to a sequel to “G.I. Jane,” Will Smith stood up from his seat near the stage, strode up to Rock and smacked him. After sitting back down, Smith shouted at Rock to “keep my wife’s name out of your (expletive) mouth.” When Rock, who joked about Jada Pinkett Smith while hosting the Oscars in 2016, protested that it was just a “GI Jane” joke, Smith repeated the same line.
The moment shocked the Dolby Theatre audience and viewers at home. At the commercial break, presenter Daniel Kaluuya came up to hug Smith, and Denzel Washington escorted him to the side of the stage. The two talked and hugged and Tyler Perry came over to talk as well.“
The wisest advice for the night came from Danzel Washington to Will Smith: “At your highest moment, be careful because that’s when the devil comes for you.”
Hawaii needs authentic candidates who will consistently put the Public Good and Public Interest First. We need candidates who are not asked to run by their employers, lobbyists or corporate interests or self-promotion.
We need authentic and independent candidates who are not vulnerable or susceptible to corruption or self-interest, and Status Quo.
We need independent candidates who will consistently be bold, be fair, and be thorough and analytical in their decision-making and not simply join the crowd and succumb to peer pressure.
We need candidates who will consistently remember that we live on an island with finite resources. We need candidates who must appreciate and invest in human capital, fiscal accountability, the environment, cultural, social and economic equity, and all other essential and sustainable needs of island living.
We must protect and promote clean water, clean air, clean soil, clean food, and a clean government. We must think of the future and Hawaii’s children and their children. We must put Hawaii and our Residents First!
Elections 2022 is quite messed-up and confusing. There are boundaries changes. When it happens this way, it tends to benefit the Status Quo. Here are some important information to note:
It’s unfortunate that Jackson will be forever tainted as Biden’s “first Black female” pick. What’s the next pick? The first Asian female? I submit that Ketanji Brown Jackson’s professional qualifications, achievements, and life experiences would have prevailed on the philosophy of ” Meritocracy” in our Democracy.
As protocol, the encumbent President of the United States gets to nominate someone of his choice. It was President Trump’s choice of Amy Coney Barrett before this. This time around it’s Ketanji Brown Jackson.
This is a short excerpt from The New York Times:
| “There have been three main career paths to becoming a federal judge in recent decades: defending corporate clients, serving as a prosecutor or working in politics. She spent seven years as a corporate lawyer, in Boston and Washington, including a year at the same boutique firm where Barrett once worked and Kavanaugh spent a summer. She spent two and a half years as a federal public defender in Washington, representing defendants who could not afford to hire a private lawyer. In that role, unlike many other legal jobs, she could not choose whom she did and did not represent. |
More from The New York Times
| Her parents worked as public-school teachers and administrators, and Jackson graduated from a public high school in the Miami area (the same one that Jeff Bezos attended). If she is confirmed, she would become only the third public high school graduate on the new court, along with Alito and Kagan. “Every other member of the court is a graduate of a Catholic high school,” The Times’s Linda Greenhouse has written. All the justices — as well as Jackson, a Harvard graduate — attended private colleges.“ |
I like the fact that she is from a public school. Any position in the public offices of the United States should be open to all who are qualified. Privilege and Pedigree should not be requisites in these opportunities.
The Owners Hopoate Hafoka Taufa and Annetta Kihesina Tuifua Taufa acquired their Hau’ula farm of 12.693 acres zoned Agricultural 2 on November 7, 2019. This acquisition took place just slightly before COVID 19 would hamper much of our social and governmental interactions.
The owner received Notices of Violations (NOV) from the Honolulu City and County Department of Planning and Permitting (DDP). These actions were allegedly due to a few neighbors across the subject property who complained about the owner using the property as a “base yard”. Neighbors have the right to express their complaints and concerns.
On the COUNTY DPP level, below is summary of the owners’ violations on the DPP’s website.
However, the last two violations are inaccurate. Ag-2 zoned properties are exempted from certain required permits. Ag2 owners can have fences up to ten feet without a permit, except a concrete wall.
The last violation is also exempted. Ag-2 owners can have metal containers without a permit.
The standard customary procedure for residents to cure violations from DPP is to submit applications to DPP for building permits. However, according to the owner, the city DPP recently cancelled the pending approval of his permits. This became a Catch-22 for the owner.
How is a resident able to cure a violation if he cannot get a permit from DPP? In the meanwhile, the DPP fines compounded and escalated.
On January 20, 2022, City Councilwoman Heidi Tsuneyoshi introduced Resolution 22-11 to urge the Blangiardi Administration for “eminent domain” on this property.
Councilwoman HeidiTsuneyoshi repeatedly accused the owner of violating for five years. The owners have owned the property for less than 2.5 years.
There were also extenuating circumstances, including COVID19 delay complications. There are obvious cultural differences towards land use issues. The immigrant family from the Kingdom of Tonga also had health challenges; the young mother is now under hospice care.
On February 8, 2022, Resolution 22-11 was heard at the County Council Executive Matters Legal Affairs (EMLA) Committee. Within a half hour period, Resolution 22-11 for “eminent domain” was quickly amended to “Judicial Foreclosure”.
On February 23, 2022, Resolution 22-11 was adopted by the full Honolulu City Council. This process only took 25 working days!
This is a highly irregular situation.
What are we to think about this case?
Why the haste to enforce on this particular property?
Unbeknownst to the general public, HB 1434 submitted by Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi is also pending. The DPP Director and five Honolulu City Council Members also testified or submitted written testimony to the STATE Hawaii Legislature for added powers to seize property through NON-Judicial Foreclosure, due to DPP county fines.
With all the constant noise and haste in the world, it’s good to step back and ponder.
“Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.”
Maya Angelo 1928 – 2014
“ Listen earnestly to anything your children want to tell you,
no matter what.
If you don’t listen eagerly to the little stuff when they are little,
they won’t tell you the big stuff when they are big,
because to them all of it has always been big stuff.”
Catherine M. Wallace
