Schumer’s gambit against Netanyahu
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — whom we knew back when he was Brooklyn Assemblyman Chuck Schumer and Congressman Chuck Schumer — wants Israel to hold new elections, and makes no secret that he thinks and hopes when they do, Bibi Netanyahu will be turned out. So he conveyed in a Thursday speech on the Senate floor that surprised and rankled many fellow Democrats.
Fani Willis’ prosecution of Donald Trump may be alive, but it isn’t well
Special prosecutor Nathan Wade’s resignation Friday from the Georgia racketeering prosecution of Donald Trump and others was the right decision and, indeed, a virtually forced one. Judge Scott McAfee’s resolution of a defense motion to disqualify Wade’s boss, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis, left no practical alternative.
Marginal military gains won’t stop a famine in Gaza
There’s much we don’t understand about Israel’s raid on the Gaza Strip’s Shifa Hospital with tanks and bulldozers Monday.
TikTok scapegoated for failure to regulate Big Tech
In a political stampede Wednesday, the House overwhelmingly approved a bill that would force the social media app TikTok to be divested from China-based owner ByteDance, or face banning. The Senate should have more sense and slow this down.
A damaged Fani Willis picks up the pieces of her case against Trump
On Friday morning, the judge overseeing the Georgia criminal case against Donald Trump and many of his allies for his effort to overturn the 2020 election issued a ruling rejecting a defense motion to disqualify Fani Willis. The defense had claimed that Willis, the prosecutor in the case, had a “personal stake” in the outcome of the case because she had a romantic relationship with Nathan Wade, a lawyer she hired to lead the state’s prosecution team.
Owning up: GOP shouldn’t get to disavow unpopular IVF restrictions
A few months ago, the idea that in vitro fertilization — the medical process of fertilizing eggs in a lab setting and selecting embryos to be carried by would-be parents — would be a major political issue in the State of the Union would have seemed shocking. Yet, Thursday night, President Joe Biden referred to it explicitly as a priority, calling for Congress to guarantee a national right to IVF.
Biden takes off: A strong start to the long campaign
With a one-two punch, the incumbent president made a strong case for his reelection — especially given that the alternative is a man who seeks to overturn the results of democratic elections, who’s champing at the bit to punish his political enemies and who says immigrants are vermin.
Rethinking Hawaii’s conveyance tax
Hawaii grapples with a daunting challenge: the urgent need for 4,000 to 5,000 affordable rental units annually over the next five years to tackle our lack of affordable housing. This acute shortage of housing drives both the houselessness and outmigration crises. The state Legislature has a pivotal opportunity to address this situation by reevaluating conveyance tax rates on the sale of multimillion dollar investment properties.
Irwin: ‘Community engagement abounds’
In February the UH Board of Regents held its monthly meeting on the Hilo campus, and coincidentally, there were several things on the agenda regarding University of Hawaii at Hilo beyond the regional presentation I did with my colleague, Interim Chancellor Kazama of Hawaii Community College.
Republican states would rather keep poisoning children with lead than pay for a fix
Here are a few things we know about lead in drinking water:
TikTok scapegoated for failure to regulate Big Tech
In a political stampede Wednesday, the House overwhelmingly approved a bill that would force the social media app TikTok to be divested from China-based owner ByteDance, or face banning. The Senate should have more sense and slow this down.
Robert Hur show obscures the real takeaways
Hours of testimony by Robert Hur— the former special counsel appointed to investigate President Joe Biden’s retention of classified documents following his vice presidency — before the House Judiciary Committee predictably revealed little new.
Your Views for March 15
Pele cleansed Puna of ‘wrongdoing’
Katie Britt’s speech does a terrible disservice to sex trafficking victims
Scarlett Johansson’s “Saturday Night Live” open was hilarious, and there have been so many more great jokes about the oddly amateur theatrics of U.S. Sen. Katie Britt in her response to President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address. But we can’t let the humor mask a patently cruel lie that was one of the cornerstones of her speech.
NASA’s search for life on Mars
Is or was there life on Mars? That profound question is so complex that it will not be fully answered by the two NASA rovers now exploring it.
Biden plan is rooted in common sense
With a $7.3 trillion budget plan for fiscal year 2025, President Joe Biden laid out priorities that include a heavy emphasis on anti-poverty and quality of life while taking aim at Donald Trump’s efforts to roll back taxes on the rich.
How to correct online misinformation
Deepfakes of celebrities and misinformation about public figures might not be new in 2024, but they are more common and many people seem to grow ever more resigned that they are inevitable.
Your Views for March 13
Reach agreement regarding Punalu‘u
Biden speech failed the moment
Joe Biden still has a pulse. And he proved in his State of the Union address he still can stand and rage for an hour without forgetting where he is or keeling over.
Your Views for March 12
How many more people need to die?