Elections 2022: Are Corporate Media nasty copycats?

Leave a reply

It appears Civil Beat’s Nick Grube first broke the story of Congressman Kai Kahele’s “proxy” votes on April 11, 2022. Unfortunately, this “proxy” report spun out of control without much verification and undermined Kahele’s campaign.

Grube wrote that: “Kahele’s absence has not gone unnoticed, according to two Washington-based lobbyists who spoke to Civil Beat on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to do so by their firms.“

” . . . on the condition of anonymity” caught my attention. My first instinct was to google-search Congressman Kahele’s voting record. Voting by “proxy” is still a vote. Remember we’re undergoing a COVID19 pandemic.

Public information shows Congressman Kahele has a good record. Why was this critical public information not part of Grube’s reporting?

From Jan 2021 to Aug 2022, Kahele missed 6 of 869 roll call votes, which is 0.7%. This is better than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving.

Unfortunately, the Civil Beat’s negative reporting of Kahele’s “proxy” lit like a wildfire. Other corporate media jumped on the bandwagon and added their own headlines. Social media comments and trolls continued the negative connotations against Kahele.

One has to ask if this was an intended negative politicking, the first salvo to undermine Kahele.

Does Civil Beat not like Congressman Kahele as it obviously does not like former Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard?

Or did this article about Kahele’s “proxy” vote (with the assumption of no intended malice) simply spun out of control?

Should the public should be alarmed with this type of reporting?

Should readers be less dependent on corporate media for facts and information?

Are corporate media copycats of each other without verifying first?

Unfortunately, this was one negative salvo that Congressman Kahele could not contain.

Social media perpetuated the “proxy” vote as if Kahele had gone AWOL. Congressman Kahele is our District Representative. We were impressed and pleased with his “boots in the ground” style for Hawaii residents. He’s been present at Honolulu city council and other community meetings. This may be unconventional but he certainly could not be described as having a “chronic allergy to Capitol Hill“. Proxy votes are allowed.

Additionally, the reporting of Congressman Kahele’s job with Hawaiian Airlines was negatively skewed as well. in 2021, Kahele has had a total of 14.2 flying hours and made less than $2,861.90.

This reduction of Kahele’s salary is not as alarming as the increased income of Hawaii’s Lt. Governor Dr. Josh Green, another gubernatorial candidate.

The Office of the Lt. Governor is a full-time position paying $165,552.00 a year. Dr. Green has continued to practice his medical career for the past 18 years. His recently formed Green Health International LLC reportedly saw an increase of about $1M. This gubernatorial candidate has thus far stone-walled calls for answers to these sources of income to his LLC.

Election 2022: Hawaii’s Democratic Party has no Mandate from the public

Leave a reply

August 13 Primary Elections is over. The General election to finally choose the candidates is Tuesday, November 8, 2022. Voters receive their ballots in the mail for the General Election by October 21, 2022

Considering it’s a mail-in elections, the Primary results are disappointing. Over half a million registered voters (515,397 60.4%) did not vote in the Primary.

To put the Primary Results in context, there is no mandate from the public at large for the Democratic Party:

Elections 2022 PRIMARY FINAL TALLY

853,874 Registered

338,477 (39.6%) voted

515,397 (60.4%) did not vote

EXAMPLE: The Gubernatorial Race Results

157,476 votes for Dr. Josh Green divided by registered voters (854,874) is ONLY about 18.44% of Hawaii’s registered voters.

This percentage can hardly be claimed as a mandate for the Democratic Party in Hawaii.

Providing a multi-party choice is good and a must for democracy. For the public interest and public good, our political culture ought to be one of encouraging ALL candidates with diversity of thoughts and ideas to participate.

I would encourage Republicans to reassess and work hard to offer a viable choice for the people of Hawaii.

In the next 2024 elections, hopefully Aloha Aina, Green Party, Independent, and others will regroup and try again!

Republican Duke Aiona has served as a circuit court Judge and also Lt. Governor for 8 years. Josh Green has been in his Lt.Governor office for the past 4 years and also works as a non-board certified doctor.

Another interesting point to consider is this: It was reported early in the August 13, 2022 Primary Night that about 730.000 ballots were mailed out.

But the final tally for the August 13, 2022 was 854,874 registrations count.

That was an increase of about 124,874 registration. It appears to be a very accelerated amount in a very short time.

Elections 2022: PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE trolling to confuse and control public conversations

Leave a reply

Here is an example of PASSIVE-AGGRESSIVE and insidious trolling against political opponents. This is the context article of what I perceive to have electioneering trolling in its Comments Section. I’m willing to be corrected if I’m wrong. But I’ve seen many trolls coming out of the woodwork against Vicky Cayetano and Kai Kahele during the Primary Gubernatorial Race.

This article above was written on August 12, 2022. Primary Elections was August 13, 2022. Enter this commenter about Kai Kahele in this article continuing the “proxy” smear:

I was curious and checked. It turned out that watchfuleye was born on August 12, 2022, the same day of this article:

I took the time to respond to watchfuleye for clarifications and posted the following comments on the Civil Beat article. But my comments below were apparently censored and did not appear in the comments section:

” From Jan 2021 to Aug 2022, Kahele missed 6 of 869 roll call votes, which is 0.7%. This is better than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving.”

Congressman Kahele has a good record. It was lobbyists who complained about Kahele being inaccessible to them in DC!

Watchfuleye just joined this forum on August 12 to post his pilau comments. This passive-aggressive political stagecraft insults the public intelligence.

No politician has to be a cookie-cutter, especially during these past COVID years. Kai Kahele has been our District Congressman. We have been impressed with his “boots in the ground” style. Kahele has been to city council and community meetings working on issues these past two years.“

I vigourously encourage you to look out for possible trolling. Ask them if they’re trolling politely. Let’s question them. If we’re wrong, we’ll apologize.

Democracy is best served through honest and intelligent dialogue in the open public square. Trolling and hiding behind fake names to attack opponents with falsehoods or smearing is despicable and unethical.

Elections 2022: COVID19 funds commingled with campaign donations questioned

Leave a reply

Dr. Richard Creagan, a retired and board certified emergency medicine physician and farmer speaks about Lt. Governor/Dr. Josh Green’s questionable record

Aloha,

My name is Richard Creagan, M.D. I served as a state representative in District 5 on the Big Island from 2014-2020. District 5 is part of Senate District 3 which was Josh Green’s Senate seat so I know Josh very well.

I have been made aware of the allegations below which are being actively investigated by the campaign spending commission. As a retired and board certified emergency medicine physician, myself, I have gotten to know Josh Green very well and was shocked by his claim to be an “emergency room physician” despite his inadequate training and numerous complaints against him.

I was also a state representative for seven years from Josh’s Senate district and saw his dishonesty and unethical behavior play out in the legislative arena.

In my view he would bring great shame to Hawaii if elected governor. He is however very good at fooling people and I have been saddened to see the press not realizing Josh’s many flaws.

This may be an opportunity to stop a disaster for our state.

I became aware of the allegations below and volunteered to help the press let the people of Hawaii know the truth about the “teflon” candidate.

I am writing as a concerned voter regarding the Campaign Spending Commission’s investigation of a COVID testing company.

As HNN published on August 8, the state Campaign Spending Commission is investigating one of the companies that was awarded a multi-million dollar COVID testing contract by former Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration.

However, I believe there is another COVID testing company that should also be investigated: Nomi Health Inc. I would also like to reference this article by Politico, which states, “Various state officials across the country criticized Nomi Health throughout 2020 as it quickly started snagging state pandemic contracts worth tens of millions of dollars.”

Nomi Health and another company it owns called Artemis Health have donated to a major candidate in Hawaii: Lieutenant Governor Josh Green.

Below, I have provided donations from the company and its executives to the LG’s (Dr. Josh Green) campaign committee.

Meet and Greet Donations:

$2,917.64 Artemis Health, 6/17/22 (Meet and Greet Event)

$2,674.32 Artemis Health 6/17/22 (Professional Services Meet and Greet)

$2,083.99 Blake Waggoner, 6/17/22, Nomi Health Managing Director, (Meet and Greet)

Direct Donations

$5,000, Nomi Health Inc, 2/11/22

$1,000, Mark Newman, Nomi Health CEO, 2/11/22

$5,000, Mark Newman, Nomi Health CEO, 6/21/22

$5,000, Amber Newman, (wife of Mark Newman) 6/21/22

$2,500, Jonathan Lee, Nomi Health Government Affairs, 6/30/22

Total: $26,175.95

Given the national media attention and criticism of Nomi Health, I believe it is critical that there is some investigation of their contract with the State of Hawaii. And perhaps more importantly, given that Nomi Health and its acquired company Artemis Health have donated a substantial amount of money to the LG’s bid for Governor, I believe our voters need to have more information on this matter before the election.

There may be several campaign violations that the CSC should investigate. Per HRS §11-355, it is unlawful for campaign committees to receive contributions from state and county contractors.

If Nomi Health had an active contract with the state or county at the time of its donation to Josh Green, this donation was illegal.

Nomi Health is still operating across the state today. Nomi Health acquired Artemis Health.

Therefore, it is possible that their aggregate contributions to Josh Green exceed $6,000.00, the max donation allowed for 4-year statewide office.

The money donated on June 17 for a meet and greet ($8395.95), coupled with the nearly $50,000 in high-dollar mainland contributions to Josh Green on June 21, may be indicative of a fundraiser.

If so, fundraisers on June 17 and June 21 were not filed with the campaign spending commission.

Like the current investigation with Mayor Caldwell, the CSC may wish to examine if the donations provided by Nomi Health executives Blake Waggoner and Jonathan Lee were reimbursed by Nomi Health which would be a violation of Hawaii campaign finance laws.

I understand that the election is tomorrow. However, these are serious concerns voters need to know about immediately. It is gravely concerning if Josh Green accepted campaign donations from a company with an active state or county emergency COVID-19 contract, especially considering the LG’s role throughout the pandemic.

Please confirm receipt of this email, and please let me know if you will be inquiring with the Campaign Spending Commission.

Yours truly, Richard Creagan, M.D (808) 430-5715 rcreagan2021@gmail.com

Elections 2022: Since when did questioning or expecting accountability of a public official “nasty”?

Leave a reply

Hawaii’s Gubernatorial has three top-contenders for the position. The incumbent Lt. Governor Dr. Josh Green has the tendencies to embellish events and information during this campaign. The Sierra Club and Hawaii GMO Justice Coalition recently publicly protested against Dr. Green’s inaccurate advertisements and in claiming credit to promote himself. Other residents have reported Dr. Green for Free Speech violations by deleting or blocking their comments and so on

Second District Congressman Kai Kahele is a Hawaiian native, with a strong and outspoken personality who is not afraid to question the establishment and to ask for clarity and disclosures. Kahele is also a combat veteran, pilot, and a commissioned officer in the Hawai’i Air National Guard.

Vicky Cayetano has not pursued this Hawaiian-based issue against Josh Green like the native son of Hawaii has.

The Controversy – Hawaii’s Department of Hawaiian Homestead Lands (DHHL) is notoriously known for its long waitlist to service housing for Hawaiians. Many Hawaiians have passed away without being served.

Dr. Josh Green, a white man who is married to Jaime Green, a part Hawaiian, has on multiple occasion embellished his mother-in-law’s history – “Jaime’s mum passed away in her 40s from cancer while on the list”.

However, DHHL says their records could not substantiate that his mother-in-law has or had been an applicant on its wait list. But that does not mean that she might have been qualified to receive an award.

Other Hawaiians are resisting the gubernatorial candidate on this issue, including the former Gov. John Waihee, the first governor of Hawaii ancestry to Civil Beat:

“If she didn’t die on the list, then they should immediately correct that because there are a lot of people whose relatives did die waiting on that list,” Waihee said. “I don’t know what to tell you except you shouldn’t say those kinds of things if they aren’t real.”

Kai Kahele was more plain in his remarks to Hawaii News Now:

“Kahele claims Lt. Gov. Josh Green lied when speaking about his mother-in-law and Hawaiian Home Lands in order to score political points.

“Saying it once could be a mistake, but continuing to say it again is something that needs to be addressed,” Kahele said. “If you want to be the governor of this state, words matter.”

Response from the political pundit raises questions:

“HNN political analyst Colin Moore says he can’t remember a time when local politics has been this “nasty.” “Jamie Green’s mom died when she was 42. There’s a person at the center of this and that is the failure of the state of Hawaii to provide people homes,” said Moore.”

The political pundit’s response raises these questions:

  1. When was questioning and setting the facts straight from a political candidate for a public office considered “nasty“?

2. What about accountability from a candidate? What if the son-in-law Green did NOT embellish his mother-in-law’s history to gain affinity votes from Hawaiians?

The public and other candidates have the right to question and DUTY to set the record straight in a democratic election. Political pundits should remember to be objective and circumspect of the issues in favor of the public good.

Elections 2022 – Invasion of fake trolls to confuse and distract voters in public conversations

Leave a reply

I’m interested in observing the techniques of campaigns and its operators. Some campaigns appear to readily exploit the social media loopholes and play dirty. Social media platform like Facebook hosts anonymity and fake accounts. Thus the birth of bad actors and trolls to confuse, distract and smear opponents. I’ve noticed lots of these public comments against Vicky Cayetano and Kai Kahele.

On a quite side note, it’s no surprise that Elon Musk’s failed $44 Billion acquisition of Twitter is partly related to the “proportion of fake and spam accounts on the platform.” Twitter acknowledges that it has “false or spam accounts on its platform.”

Here is a troll example that we can examine:

Context: Lt. Governor Josh Green has been at the State Capitol for 18 years as a legislator as well as a doctor. The office of the Lt. Governor is a full-time position but Green continues his medical profession. Green is constantly seen in his medical scrub all over Hawaii. Green has cleverly branded himself as a “trusted caring” doctor in his political campaign.

The public began to question his medical training and credentials when “Dr. Green” positioned himself as the expert during the pandemic management for the State of Hawaii. He held countless confusing and contradicting press conferences. Green is not an epidemiologist but says he’s an emergency care doctor. Independent residents say it’s all about Green getting free airtime for his gubernatorial aspirations.

inevitably, the issue of being “board certified” became a thorn in his side. The record appears to show that Dr. Joshua Green is not “board certified”.

Recently, Dr. Green, in his grubs, stated that he was “board certified”. Whether Green is certified or not is a non-issue. However, it’s his discrepancies that alarm voters. There is continuous social buzz about this discrepancy.

Enter the disinformation or damage control for Dr. Green:

EXAMPLE: This is candidate Kai Kahele’s FACEBOOK page:

Below is the out-of-nowhere comments written about “Josh Green” on Kai Kahele’s post above. Note the introduction of confusing jabber and gibberish in the comments. The troll further went to drag in anti-semitism for whatever motive there may be. I QUESTIONED the troll simply because I was curious and wanted clarity.

For the sake of clarity, I posted a question ( See comment above) to ask if this person were a troll. Almost immediately, the FB account became unavailable as below. Does this action point to a troll account?

Below was a screenshot of what the troll account looked like. The entire troll comment in Kai Kahele’s post is now deleted.

I have seen tons and tons of these similar posts. For the sake of honest and intelligent dialogue in our democracy, I encourage all to public question comments like the above. Do it politely.

We must protect robust and intelligent dialogue in our democratic society. Get rid of bad actors and dirty games.

Elections 2022: Lt. Governor Dr. Josh Green continues to stonewall questions about his campaign finances

Leave a reply

Vicky Cayetano and Kai Kahele held an unprecedented joint press conference in Honolulu on Wednesday, July 27, 2022 in an effort to get answers from Dr. Josh Green.

Questions have been raised about Dr. Josh Green’s sources of income to his Green Health International LLC at various forums. But an agitated Green always stonewall those questions by quickly responding with his usual ” I’m being attacked” ploy. The Corporate media does not question the candidate further after that.

On July 31, 2022, an article again reported Dr. Green’s stonewalling – – “His campaign declined to release the names of those entities.” That was that.

In the interest of an OPEN and TRANSPARENT government, these questions should be answered now, not after the elections. The public has the right to know. Green has a record of being a “pay to play” politician.

Lt. Governor Dr. Josh Green, though not an epidemiologist, positioned himself as the expert of COVID 19 management these past pandemic years. The Federal government infused about $18 Billion into Hawaii during these confusing and fast-paced years.

Hawaii’s most recently received $1.6 BILLION in pandemic relief funding provided by the federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) in 2021. There were other earlier funds from the CARES Act and direct relief to residents totaling about $18 Billion.

Jill Tokuda reported in May 9, 2021:

” Approximately $350 million of our CRF funds was allocated to respond to the immediate health crisis. COVID testing, contact tracing and public health expenses represented more than $1 out of every $4 CRF dollars.“

The Press Conference is worth listening to. The full-time Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Hawaii has an annual salary of $165,552. Dr. Josh Green has continued to work as an “emergency care” doctor. Additionally, his Green Health International LLC increased in income these past years.

The public is curious and has the right to know. Dr Green should just disclose the sources of his increased income to his private LLC willingly.

Highlighting Pioneer Women

Leave a reply

This is a great link to many interesting reading like these excerpts below:

A portfolio of bold American women who changed the world.

Alexis de Tocqueville came to America to study democracy. At the end of his two-volume Democracy In America, he wrote, “if one asked me to what do I think one must principally attribute the singular prosperity and growing force of this people, I would answer that it is to the superiority of its women.” With that spirit in mind, we present a photo essay of the strong, bold, sassy, bawdy, stubborn, bodacious and superior women of the Old West.

The most famous female journalist in the nation was told by one editor that it was impossible to think a woman could go around the world in 80 days, like Jules Verne’s popular novel. “Very well,” she said angrily, “start the man and I’ll start the same day for some other newspaper and beat him.”

She completed the trip in 72 days and then wrote a successful book about it. She is seen below wearing one of her road outfits.

Courtesy Library of Congress

Highlighting “The Real Women of the Wild West”

Leave a reply

This is a great link to many interesting reading like these excerpts below:

A portfolio of bold American women who changed the world.

Alexis de Tocqueville came to America to study democracy. At the end of his two-volume Democracy In America, he wrote, “if one asked me to what do I think one must principally attribute the singular prosperity and growing force of this people, I would answer that it is to the superiority of its women.” With that spirit in mind, we present a photo essay of the strong, bold, sassy, bawdy, stubborn, bodacious and superior women of the Old West.

Stagecoach Mary : The Natives called her White Crow because she “acts like a white person but has black skin.”

She was only the second woman in the nation to win a contract to carry the U.S. Mail. She was rough and coarse, but beloved, too.

“Mary lived to become one of the freest souls ever to draw a breath, or a .38.” — Montana native Gary Cooper.

Elections 2022: Hawaii now has an entrenched Oligarchy that usurps democracy and public interest

Leave a reply

Do you agree with this statement? Who and what groups and organizations are part of this Oligarchy?

Corporate Media? Industry unions? Healthcare? Insurance? Legal? Finance? Banking? Lobbyists? Consultants? Billionaires? Politicians? Mercenary Electioneering Experts? Fortune 500 corporations?