Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putting aside our relentless self-interest because the moral imperative is crystal clear.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

If you are in line to indict donald trump, stay in line.

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

The cruelty is the point; the law be damned.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

I really should read my own blog.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

A consequence of cucumbers

When your entire life is steeped in white supremacy, equality feels like discrimination.

Balloon Juice has never been a refuge for the linguistically delicate.

He wakes up lying, and he lies all day.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Everybody saw this coming.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Stop using mental illness to avoid talking about armed white supremacy.

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Every one of the “Roberts Six” lied to get on the court.

“Cheese and Kraken paired together for the appetizer trial.”

Is it negotiation when the other party actually wants to shoot the hostage?

if you can’t see it, then you are useless in the fight to stop it.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

You are here: Home / Politics / Proud to Be A Democrat / Late Night Open Thread: Maui Aid Updates

Late Night Open Thread: Maui Aid Updates

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22Comments

  1. 1.

    Jackie

    YAY! I’m at the BEGINNING of a new post instead of starting 150+ replies behind!

    And I had to reload nym/email address and I’m STILL FIRST! 😁

  2. 2.

    Jackie

    I love President Biden and Obama. They are both the definition of HONEST compassion and caring.

  3. 3.

    Evap

    I donated to World Central Kitchen and the Maui Humane Society.  The latter is providing pet food and supplies to people in shelters with pets.

  4. 4.

    SpaceUnit

    What a nightmare.  It looks like the apocalypse.  We had that insane Marshall fire here in Colorado about a year and a half ago, but there wasn’t anywhere near the loss of life.  It wiped out about a thousand homes though.

    OT but I just watched an Arizona news broadcast on Youtube, and they were speculating on whether their state would pursue indictments regarding election interference.  Apparently it’s being discussed.  Dare we dream?

  5. 5.

    HumboldtBlue

    If you are from Lāhainā & are receiving phone calls from realtors asking to purchase your property following the fire, please record their name, company & home address for us & post it.

    That comes in the face of the hedge fund assholes and developers looking to rebuild Lahaina as a luxury resort and price out the regular folks who have lived there for generations. That storyline is worth watching.

  6. 6.

    Alison Rose

    Sigh. I don’t like that the chyron on Biden’s presser says “Biden: ‘I don’t want to get in the way’ by visiting Hawaii” — when he says that he and Jill are going to travel there as soon as they can. The channel is making it sound like he’s refusing to go and making excuses, when that’s completely not the case. But anyway, I’m very glad for Maui that we have a president with a heart and soul who they can count on to do more than toss paper towels at them.

    Also glad that California is sending personnel, vehicles, and equipment to help out. We certainly know what this experience is like.

  7. 7.

    cain

    @Alison Rose: I interpreted all of that as “me coming there is a distraction, and there work to be done.” The security arrangements alone will also cost tax payers money at a time it needs to be spent on recovery.

  10. 10.

    YY_Sima Qian

    This is just the beginning of the impact from AGW. Just over the past 3 years we have seen historic wild fires in the US, Australia, Russia, Canada & around the Mediterranean Basin. We saw a historic drought in SW China last year that depleted reservoirs & hydropower potential, forcing Chinese provinces to curtail industrial power consumption & burn more coal to make up the power short fall, made worse by a historic heat wave across much of China that lasted most of the summer. A few weeks ago we saw a single Typhoon that made land fall in Fujian Province in SE China, went up across inland China, leaving severe flash flooding in its wake (in Fujian, Anhui, Shandong, Hebei & Beijing). Even at Beijing it still dumped historical amount of rainfall in a few days. I have never seen a Typhoon wreak so much destruction so long after making land fall. Typhoon season has just gotten started.

    It’s great that China, the US & the EU are now waging a subsidies war to boost domestic production of green energy, batteries & EVs. It is not so good that green tech has become another securitized arena for Great Power Competition, which will slow the global energy transition & undermine the needed global cooperation & coordination.

  11. 11.

    YY_Sima Qian

    Since this is an Open Thread, here is a disheartening development
    ‘Blind Side’ subject Oher alleges Tuohys made millions off lie
    I had enjoyed watching the movie, in an “opium for the masses” kind of way, even though the White Savior Syndrome was pretty on the nose, & portrayal of Oher was rather patronizing. I enjoyed reading Michael Lewis’ book of the same title, mainly for the half that delved into the evolution of professional football (& by extension CFB) touched off by the emergence of Lawrence Taylor.

    Even then, details in the book should have touched off alarm bells w/ the movie’s portrayal. Oher was already a top football prospect before the Tuohys took him in. In hindsight, the “adoption” was clearly intended to enable Oher to attend Ole Miss, w/o running afoul of NCAA rules regarding boosters providing benefits to prospects. The conservatorship was the fastest path there, w/ the added benefit of ensuring that Oher would never have a claim on the substantial Tuohy inheritance. It was also striking reading the book just how incestuous the relationships were among the cast of characters around Oher: Michael Lewis (the author) was a HS friend of Sean Tuohy (“the father”), SJ Tuohy (“the enterprising kid”) was college roommate of “Cannon” Smith, youngest son of Frederick Smith, the founder of FedEx, & Collins Tuohy (“the cheerleading daughter”) married “Cannon” Smith. It just so happens that the Frederick Smith was one of the investors to the studio (or production company?) that made the Blind Side. The HS football coach was Hugh Freeze. As I have not followed NFL or CFB for nearly a decade, I had to look up why Hugh Freeze is so reviled. Michael Lewis sure made a determined effort not to pull at these threads in his book.

    The allegations that Oher filed will play out in court, but the fact that the 4 Tuohys were represented by the CAA (one of the largest talent/sport agencies in the US) for the movie deal, while Oher was represented by a close associate of the Tuohy family, & the same person who drew up the conservatorship papers, is pretty damning by itself.

    Looking back, I don’t know why I never though deeply about these issues when watching the movie & reading the book, content to be entertained instead. Rich white southern do gooders, who are evangelical Christians & CFB boosters, should have been suspect from the start. I guess Lewis is talented story teller, & Sandra Bullock & Tim McGraw really carried their performances. Now I feel I need a shower after typing all of the above. Reading the discussions precipitated by the Oher allegations, it is crystal clear White Savior Syndrome is a pervasive trope in Hollywood movies, including the likes of the Green Book, the Help, & Hidden Figures. Well, Mahershala Ali & Virgo Mortensen are among my favorite actors, too. I alway knew that White Savior Syndrome is a thing, & it has always been off putting. For some reason it hits harder now.

  13. 13.

    mvr

    I’ve been off the grid (on and off but mostly off) for a number of days. Are there recommended places to donate?

    I actually was in Lahaina once  (40 years ago, give or take) and that Banyan tree and that Courthouse Square really impressed me. It was only when I saw photos of the tree that I remembered that I got to that end of the island as well.
    The news tonight on the car radio says that the tree seems to have survived.  I hope it is true.

    -M

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    Maui update (excerpts). Emphasis added,

    Upcountry/Kula fire: 65% contained, 678 acres burned. Hot spots in gulches and other hard to reach places, along with land divisions and fences, make establishment of complete control lines difficult.

    Lahaina fire: 85% contained. Estimated 2,170 acres. Multiple fire crews are assigned to monitor and address any flareups. There are no active threats at this time.

    101 fatalities, 4 identified.

    About 32% of the area to be investigated has been searched.

    Hawaiian Electric Co. reports power was restored to all but 2,000 of the 12,400 customers who lost power in West Maui.

    For residents in Lahaina and Upper Kula areas, maps of affected areas in Upcountry and in Lahaina were recently released on the county Department of Water Supply website. The advisory remains in effect for certain areas until further notice and states that residents should not drink and/or boil water. Bottled water should be used for all drinking, brushing teeth, ice making and food preparation until further notice. Residents are unable to treat the water in any way to make it safe. Drinking water sites are set up in many areas of Lahaina and Kula.

    Governor Josh Green said an Operation House Maui program so that people can get into hotel rooms and houses.

    402 hotel rooms are available
    160 have stepped up for additional program with local homeowners
    1400 units will be contributed through AirBNB
    For a total of 1962 places to house displaced individuals
    100 families are already are placed
    .
    \The County of Maui Division of Motor Vehicles and Licensing’s Lahaina Satellite Office will be available beginning Wednesday, Aug. 16, to assist West Maui residents whose Hawaiʻi driver’s licenses or Hawaiʻi State Identification cards have been lost or destroyed by wildfires.

    Duplicates will be reissued at no charge with the cardholderʻs principal address that is on record. Changes will not be allowed.

    The start of the fall semester at the University of Hawaiʻi Maui College will be delayed a week because of the devastating impact of the deadly wildfires, according to an announcement by UH Maui Chancellor Lui Hokoana.

    The semester was scheduled to begin on Monday, Aug. 21, and will now begin on Monday, Aug. 28.

  16. 16.

    SectionH

    My favorite hangout in the world is um, well anyway, and the owner has a sign in the window now  which says that any Maui blonde ale bought until ??? (3 kegs, or 3 months?) will go directly to the employees of Maui Brewing who are now homeless. Not my favorite beer at all, but wth. It’s drinkable enough. Good for him.

    I did vote today. (San Diego County District 4 replacing asshole Fletcher.)

    We dropped our ballots off, but postmarked ones have days to arrive. So we’ll see.

  17. 17.

    SectionH

    @NotMax: Mahalo nui -for the update. Sorry I didn’t see your comment before I posted. That was just a bit of money in this case, but I really liked the idea. And srsly, a lot of people in San Diego have close connections to Hawai’i.

  19. 19.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    I do not want to come off as churlish, but 137 fires are currently burning in Canada’s Northwest Territories, 87 in Alberta, & several wildfires are burning out of control in British Columbia. While the entire province is breaking heat records. Oh, & the Pacific Ocean is suffering its own heatwave. So while I wish the people of Maui all the best, I am saving what little money I have for more local problems.

    Also, too, I  am this close to throwing an actual curse on the real estate agents & other forms of carrion eaters who are trying to profit off a terrible disaster.

    Finally, the people who have started showing up, demanding that aid to Ukraine cease & the money be spent on Maui instead, are doing Putin’s work. Possibly literally.

  22. 22.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    @NotMax: ^^ty 😁 I am also trying to donate to World Central Kitchen at least once a month. They do such great work & I really believe feeding people is so very important. They’re already on the ground in Maui.

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