What the Ukraine aid debate is really about
Over the weekend Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio went to the Munich Security Conference to play an unpopular part — a spokesperson, at a gathering of the Western foreign policy establishment, for the populist critique of American support for Ukraine’s war effort.
Another verdict against the con man
In ordering defendant Donald Trump to pay New York State more than a third of a billion dollars, Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron cited exact figures of how much Trump was improperly enriched by his cheating and lying.
Your Views for February 22
County in way of Kapoho’s success
Alabama’s IVF ruling shows our slide toward theocracy
If you don’t think this country is sliding toward theocracy, you’re not paying attention.
Navalny versus Putin and his sycophants
At 47 years old, Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny had spent more than a decade relentlessly fighting corruption in Russia before he died on Friday while serving a politically-motivated 19-year sentence at a penal colony. President Joe Biden is correct to blame Navalny’s death on Vladimir Putin.
Why I’m studying the moli of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands
At the far end of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands lies Kuaihelani – also known as Midway Atoll – a small set of islands home to the world’s largest albatross colony. Over a million albatrosses return to Kuaihelani each year to breed. These seemingly pristine islands appear safe, but there’s a predator lurking among the seabirds.
Bread and circuses, American style
Primary season is fully underway and the election year is heating up. Then again, do campaigns ever really stop nowadays? There was a time when election years stood out as what Washington talking heads referred to as “crazy season”: politicians making wild promises, we ordinary people egging them on, and outcomes settled in strange, unpredictable ways. Some of us fretted that election-season promises, if they came true, would involve someone else paying the bill. Others didn’t realize or care.
Applying for financial aid to college shouldn’t be this torturous
The federal government had supposedly made it much easier to apply for college financial aid. Except there was a glitch and students could not access the new online tool they needed. Applications were delayed by months and the numbers of students seeking aid plunged.
Your Views for February 20
Terrible rule change regarding crypto
Israel takes hostage issue into its own hands with raid
Negotiations designed to secure the release of hostages taken during the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel “were productive and serious,” CNN reported last week.
Luke Combs and Tracy Chapman are healing our divide
I, like so many Americans, loved watching Luke Combs, a 33-year-old white country singer, join Tracy Chapman, a 59-year-old gay and Black artist, in singing her 1989 hit “Fast Car” at the Grammys.
Irwin: Looking forward to International Night
This coming Friday, campus and community will once again come together to celebrate International Night at UH Hilo.
Biden and Trump are not the same on conflict
For anyone upset with President Joe Biden’s approach to how Israel is pursuing Hamas in the war that Hamas began with the Oct. 7 pogrom (and there are plenty in his own party’s left saying Biden is too inured to the terrible suffering of Gazans), what is their alternative? Donald Trump? Do those critics think that Trump cares anything at all about Palestinian lives? Is Trump going to be tougher than Biden on Trump’s pal Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu?
Your Views for February 18
Yelled at for wearing a mask
Impeachment vote is a low crime
After one failed attempt, Republicans in the House have managed to push through the impeachment of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas by a margin of exactly one vote, ending up 214-213 with only three upstanding Republican dissenters supporting the Constitution. So the whole sordid affair finishes in the House, and moves on to the Senate, where it should die immediately on the vine.
The cure for what ails our democracy
America is economically thriving but politically dysfunctional. We have the material, technological and military resources to remain the world’s leading superpower, but the current Congress is unable to make decisions about basic issues, like how to fix the immigration system or what role we should play in the world.
Solving gun violence requires a different lens
Since the 2022 school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, gun safety advocates, national news outlets and public officials from city councils to the White House have repeated the claim that gun violence has overtaken car accidents to become the leading cause of death for school-aged children in the United States. But according to CDC data, this is only true for Black children. Even then, gun violence is more prevalent among at-risk teenagers in certain historically segregated neighborhoods.
Stop underfunding Hawaii’s critical nonprofits
Hawaii is a special place, and it’s the people who make it a compassionate community. We show aloha for our family, friends, neighbors and even complete strangers. All of us at one time or another, have benefited from the care of others.
I stopped drinking and built the life I always wanted. Why was I still so anxious?
After a wildly successful drinking career, I finally retired 11 years ago. I’d love to say that it was a considered decision after mature reflections and conversations with loved ones. But no. After yet another solo drinking spree, I woke up fully clothed on the cold hard tiles of my bathroom floor. Mornings like this had led to weeks of sobriety before. But this day, it felt different, and as I vowed never to self-medicate again, I knew I was done for good.
Your Views for February 15
Time to implement ranked choice voting