Friday, April 20, 2018

Democrats sue Russia, Trump campaign, Wikileaks

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Democratic Party sued the Russian government, U.S. President Donald Trump’s campaign and WikiLeaks on Friday, charging that they carried out a wide-ranging conspiracy to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

The party alleged in its federal lawsuit in Manhattan that top officials in Trump’s Republican campaign conspired with the Russian government and its military spy agency to hurt Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and tilt the election to Trump by hacking Democratic Party computers.

The lawsuit alleged that Trump’s campaign “gleefully welcomed Russia’s help” in the 2016 election and accuses it of being a “racketeering enterprise” that worked in tandem with Moscow.

“During the 2016 presidential campaign, Russia launched an all-out assault on our democracy and it found a willing and active partner in Donald Trump’s campaign,” said Tom Perez, chair of the Democratic National Committee. “This constituted an act of unprecedented treachery.”

The White House did not respond to requests for comment, but the campaign operation Trump has already set up ahead of the 2020 president election called the lawsuit frivolous and characterized it as a fundraising effort.

“This is a sham lawsuit about a bogus Russian collusion claim filed by a desperate, dysfunctional, and nearly insolvent Democratic Party,” the campaign’s manager, Brad Parscale, said in a statement.

Defendants in the lawsuit include three people who have been indicted as a result of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian meddling: former campaign chairman Paul Manafort, Manafort associate Rick Gates and former campaign aide George Papadopoulos.

Also named as defendants were Donald Trump Jr., Trump associate Roger Stone and Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner.

Saturday, April 14, 2018

foam container ban bill fails

Despite overwhelming support from environmental groups and eco-friendly businesses, lawmakers have tabled bills that would have banned foam containers and plastic straws statewide, citing concerns about hurting the local manufacturing industry.

Senate Bill 2498 proposed banning the sale and use of polystyrene foam containers. The bill advanced through the state Senate but stalled after crossing over to the House. The House Finance Committee chose not to hear the bill.

Rafael Bergstrom, Oahu chapter coordinator of the Surfrider Foundation, has been outspoken about his support for the foam ban. He called the bill’s failure a frustrating end to the session, considering it was one of the most publicly supported bills.

“In the Finance Committee, Chair (Sylvia) Luke didn’t even hear the bill, so it just died. It died without a hearing, without any public input, without reason from any legislator as to why they’re stopping it,” Bergstrom said in an interview. “I was (copied) on 150 emails to Chair Luke and Vice Chair (Ty) Cullen in the two to three weeks the bill was up for a hearing in their committee. And it was from students, teachers, restaurant owners, people in the tourism industry, just general citizens … and none of them got a response. Not even a ‘We’re not going to hear this because of this’ — just radio silence.”

Bergstrom called the actions of Luke and Cullen, chairwoman and vice chairman, respectively, of the House Finance Committee, “unacceptable.”

“That’s completely ignoring the job you’re supposed to be doing, which is to represent the people,” he said.

Luke told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that local foam container manufacturers would have been negatively affected by the bill, which she believes would have triggered layoffs.

Foam ban supporters testified that Kalihi-based packaging producer and distributor KYD Inc. is the only company producing foam products in Hawaii. The company — which employs 90 workers along with its sister company Hawaii’s Finest Products LLC — opposed the bill earlier in the session, calling a ban “discriminatory” and questioning the environmental benefits.

“We need to take a step back and figure out what is the impact and how does the Legislature justify putting a lot of people out of jobs without taking a look at what other alternatives, what is going to be the cost to businesses,” Luke said. “And when you talk about Styrofoam, it is people’s individual responsibility to take care of trash. Does that outweigh the Legislature’s move to put a bunch of residents out of work?”

Luke said when more people realized the economic impact of the ban, the ban became “more shocking and devastating.”

Bergstrom said the threat of layoffs by local manufacturers was “pretty much a lie” because the companies produce more than just foam containers.

Meanwhile, Senate Bill 2285, which proposed a ban on plastic straws, stalled before the Senate Judiciary and Ways and Means committees.

University of Hawaii-Manoa student Jun Shin, an at-large board member for Young Progressives Demanding Action — Hawaii, said he was disappointed the ban failed.

“I really hope the Legislature brings it back next year and they’re able to get the momentum on it,” the 18-year-old said. “It’d be awesome if we could get more people interested and understand the stakes involved.”

USA, Britain and France launch airstrikes against Syria

WASHINGTON >> The United States and European allies launched airstrikes early today against Syrian research, storage and military targets as President Donald Trump sought to punish President Bashar Assad for a suspected chemical attack near Damascus last weekend that killed more than 40 people.

Britain and France joined the United States in the strikes in a coordinated operation intended to show Western resolve in the face of what the leaders of the three nations called persistent violations of international law. Trump characterized it as the beginning of a sustained effort to force Assad to stop using banned weapons but ordered only a limited one-night operation that hit three targets.

“These are not the actions of a man,” Trump said of last weekend’s attack in a televised address from the White House Diplomatic Room. “They are crimes of a monster instead.”

While he has talked as recently as last week about pulling U.S. troops out of Syria, the president vowed to remain committed to the goal of preventing further attacks with deadly poisons. “We are prepared to sustain this response until the Syrian regime stops its use of prohibited chemical agents,” Trump said.



But Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who had urged caution in White House deliberations leading up to the strike, told reporters Friday night that there would be no more attacks unless Assad again used gas on his own people.

“We confined it to the chemical weapons-type targets,” Mattis said. “We were not out to expand this; we were very precise and proportionate. But at the same time it was a heavy strike.”

Sunday, April 08, 2018

Daniel Akaka

Former U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, the humble and gracious statesman who served in Washington with aloha for more than 3-1/2 decades, died early Friday morning at the age of 93. He had been hospitalized for months and died at The Villas, a St. Francis care facility.

Akaka, the first Native Hawaiian to serve in the U.S. Senate, was a strong advocate for Native Hawaiians and veterans during a political career that started in the U.S. House of Representatives in 1976 and ended in the U.S. Senate in 2013.

Known for a modest political style and described as the embodiment of the aloha spirit, Akaka was widely respected in the islands and Washington. But he rarely sought the national spotlight and instead worked largely under the radar, focusing on issues important to Hawaii.