Monthly Archives: August 2022

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

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

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

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

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”

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.