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

Late Night Open Thread: Maui Aid Updates

by Anne Laurie|  August 15, 20239:50 pm| 22 Comments

This post is in: Proud to Be A Democrat, Show Us on the Doll Where the Invisible Hand Touched You, Something Good Open Thread

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President Biden addresses the Maui wildfire crisis. pic.twitter.com/J0JS6eORLW

— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) August 15, 2023

For the third watch. Any other groups worth supporting, leave a link in the comments!

1. @FEMA’s Temporary Sheltering Assistance is now available for residents who were displaced from their homes by the wildfires, allowing survivors to shelter in hotels or motels temporarily as they develop a long-term housing plan.

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 14, 2023

3. We're making sure all residents receive critical information so they can take steps to move forward in their recovery.

This includes translating materials into the most common languages spoken in the islands and working closely with trusted community-led organizations.

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 14, 2023

5. And for those trying to locate loved ones, a Family Assistance Center is open at the Kahului Community Center.

Those with phone access can also call the Red Cross at 1-800-733-2767.

— President Biden (@POTUS) August 14, 2023

A message to #MauiFire survivors from @WHIAANHPI Director Krystal Ka'ai, a native of Hawai'i ?? pic.twitter.com/KPUf9ozXWi

— FEMA (@fema) August 13, 2023

It will take all of us coming together and doing what we can to help those in need in Maui and Lāhainā right now. I hope you’ll join me in donating to the Hawai'i Red Cross today: https://t.co/CPtVJ8fGSq pic.twitter.com/yvIDCG15MP

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) August 15, 2023

Hi friends. Very worthy cause. Even if you can’t give, please boost this. https://t.co/EJTghMzEc9

— Olivier Knox (@OKnox) August 13, 2023

If you are from Lahaina & 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.

— Keoni #ProtectPololuValley?? (@Keoni_DiFranco) August 13, 2023

To be clear, @POTUS and his administration have been incredibly helpful over the past week.

I’m glad to see so many on the right are so concerned about what’s happening in Hawaii though – I look forward to them supporting the robust federal relief funding our state will need.

— Senator Mazie Hirono (@maziehirono) August 14, 2023

Please see my pinned thread accessible here: https://t.co/iTRgDgwMVi https://t.co/P83gZTW80O

— HawaiiDelilah™ 🟦 #MauiStrong (@HawaiiDelilah) August 15, 2023

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Reader Interactions

22Comments

  1. 1.

    Jackie

    August 15, 2023 at 9:55 pm

    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

    August 15, 2023 at 10:01 pm

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

  3. 3.

    Evap

    August 15, 2023 at 10:02 pm

    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

    August 15, 2023 at 10:03 pm

    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

    August 15, 2023 at 10:06 pm

    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

    August 15, 2023 at 10:06 pm

    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

    August 15, 2023 at 10:18 pm

    @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.

  8. 8.

    Soprano2

    August 15, 2023 at 10:20 pm

    I think it was a reporter with the Maui Times who did the story about my stepson’s death.

  9. 9.

    Alison Rose

    August 15, 2023 at 10:21 pm

    @cain: No, I’m fine with what Biden said. But the chyron was worded in a way that made it sound like he wasn’t going at all. When he explicitly said he WAS.

  10. 10.

    YY_Sima Qian

    August 15, 2023 at 10:22 pm

    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

    August 15, 2023 at 10:56 pm

    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.

  12. 12.

    Formerly disgruntled in Oregon

    August 15, 2023 at 11:31 pm

    Thank you, Anne – I’ve been torn up about Lahaina for days. Such a tragedy.

  13. 13.

    mvr

    August 15, 2023 at 11:49 pm

    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

  14. 14.

    NotMax

    August 16, 2023 at 12:28 am

    @mvr

    A short but by no means comprehensive list.

    Maui Economic Opportunity

    Maui Humane Society

    Maui Food Bank

    Operation USA

    Maui United Way

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    August 16, 2023 at 12:41 am

    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

    August 16, 2023 at 1:25 am

    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

    August 16, 2023 at 1:40 am

    @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.

  18. 18.

    mvr

    August 16, 2023 at 2:16 am

    @NotMax: Many thanks! Will pick one or another.

  19. 19.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    August 16, 2023 at 3:07 am

    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.

  20. 20.

    NotMax

    August 16, 2023 at 3:10 am

    @Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    Helping, whether locally or distantly, is never, never churlish.

  21. 21.

    Linkmeister

    August 16, 2023 at 3:21 am

    Senators Hirono and Schatz can be as snarky as anybody. I like both of our Senators a lot.

  22. 22.

    Sister Inspired Revolver of Freedom

    August 16, 2023 at 3:31 am

    @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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