Obama awards his last Presidential Medals of Freedom

WASHINGTON — President Obama gave the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, to 21 artists, sports figures, scientists and philanthropists on Tuesday in a bravura performance that had the East Wing, stuffed to capacity, laughing and whooping with appreciation.

“Everyone on this stage has touched me in a powerful personal way,” Mr. Obama said at the ceremony’s end. “These are folks who have helped make me who I am and think about my presidency.”

***

Let's see if all 21 are mentioned in the story:

1.  Robert Redford

2.  Bill and Melinda Gates

3.  Tom Hanks

4.  Diana Ross

5.  Michael Jordan

6.  Ellen DeGeneres

7.  Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

8.  Bruce Springsteen

9.  Cicely Tyson

10.  Robert DeNiro

11.  Vin Scully

12.  Lorne Michaels

Nope, 12 more.  ... and here they are:

13.  Elouise Cobell

14.  Richard Garwin

15.  Frank Gehry

16.  Margaret H. Hamilton

17.  Grace Hopper

18.  Maya Lin

19.  Newt Minow

20.  Eduardo Padrón

Nope, 11 more.  Bill and Melinda Gates are two different people.

death knell for Obamacare?

[12/21/16] Federal health officials Wednesday touted a record 6.4 million customers sign-ups on the federal Obamacare marketplace HealthCare.gov so far this open enrollment season — topping last year's pace during the same time period by 400,000 customers.

And they sharply warned that insurance coverage gains under Obamacare could be lost if President-elect Donald Trump and Congressional Republicans follow through on their threats to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Those threats have led some would-be HealthCare.gov customers to ask whether they should sign up for coverage for 2017, officials revealed.

"The American people don't want to go backwards," said U.S. Health and Human Services Department Secretary Sylvia Burwell, who cited analysis that has projected up to 30 million people would lose coverage if Obamacare were to be repealed without a replacement plan in place.

"These are people's cancer therapies, diabetes medications and mental health treatments on the line," Burwell told reporters during a conference call.

"Every one of the 6.4 million people enrolled represents a story about how the Affordable Care Act has changed health care in America, and why coverage matters," she said.

"We're going to keep moving forward, we're going to finish open enrollment by enrolling more people than ever," said Burwell, who in late January is set to be replaced as HHS secretary by Trump's nominee to the department, Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga.

[11/10/16]  WASHINGTON — Donald Trump's election ushers in a time of high anxiety for people with health insurance under President Barack Obama's law, which expanded coverage to millions but has struggled to find widespread public acceptance.

While repeal now seems likely, that may take Congress months. A replacement for the 2010 health care law could take even longer, and may retain some of its features. Republicans are saying they want to protect people who now are covered from losing health care in the shift.

Voters "don't want Washington to fix Obamacare, they want to make health care affordable," said House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady, R-Calif., whose committee oversees much of health care. "I'm confident we will have more truly affordable health care for just as many Americans."

"It's our goal to dismantle Obamacare and actually focus on lowering the cost of coverage for people," said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., a member of the Republican leadership. "It's a commitment on behalf of Congress and the president-elect to get this done."

[10/25/16] Obamacare premiums to rise 25% in 2017

***

[8/30/16] WASHINGTON >> With the hourglass running out for his administration, President Barack Obama’s health care law is struggling in many parts of the country. Double-digit premium increases and exits by big-name insurers have caused some to wonder whether “Obamacare” will go down as a failed experiment.

If Democrat Hillary Clinton wins the White House, expect her to mount a rescue effort. But how much Clinton could do depends on finding willing partners in Congress and among Republican governors, a real political challenge.

“There are turbulent waters,” said Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s first secretary of Health and Human Services. “But do I see this as a death knell? No.”

Next year’s health insurance sign-up season starts a week before the Nov. 8 election, and the previews have been brutal. Premiums are expected to go up sharply in many insurance marketplaces, which offer subsidized private coverage to people lacking access to job-based plans.

At the same time, retrenchment by insurers that have lost hundreds of millions of dollars means that more areas will become one-insurer markets, losing the benefits of competition. The consulting firm Avalere Health projects that seven states will have only a single insurer in each of their marketplace regions next year.

Administration officials say insurers set prices too low in a bid to gain market share, and the correction is leading to sticker shock. Insurers blame the problems on sicker-than-expected customers, disappointing enrollment and a premium stabilization system that failed to work as advertised. They also say some people are gaming the system, taking advantage of guaranteed coverage to get medical care only when they are sick.

Not all state markets are in trouble. What is more important, most of the 11 million people covered through HealthCare.gov and its state-run counterparts will be cushioned from premium increases by government subsidies that rise with the cost.

But many customers may have to switch to less comprehensive plans to keep their monthly premiums down. And millions of people who buy individual policies outside the government marketplaces get no financial help. They will have to pay the full increases or go without coverage and risk fines. (People with employer coverage and Medicare are largely unaffected.)

Tennessee’s insurance commissioner said recently that the individual health insurance market in her state is “very near collapse.” Premiums for the biggest insurer are expected to increase by an average of 62 percent. Two competitors will post average increases of 46 percent and 44 percent.

But because the spigot of federal subsidies remains wide open, an implosion of health insurance markets around the country seems unlikely. More than 8 out of 10 HealthCare.gov customers get subsidies covering about 70 percent of their total premiums. Instead, the damage is likely to be gradual. Rising premiums deter healthy people from signing up, leaving an insurance pool that’s more expensive to cover each succeeding year.

“My real concern is 2018,” said Caroline Pearson, a senior vice president with Avalere. “If there is no improvement in enrollment, we could see big sections of the country without any plans participating.”

If Republican Donald Trump wins the White House, he’d start dismantling the Affordable Care Act. But Clinton would come with a long list of proposed fixes, from rearranging benefits to introducing a government-sponsored “public option” as an alternative to private insurers. Not all her ideas would require congressional action.

“She is going to find it important to continue to expand health care,” said Joel Ario, a former Obama administration official who’s now with the consulting firm Mannatt Health.

People in the Clinton camp say she recognizes that as president she’d have to get Obama’s law working better, and is taking nothing off the table.

A look at some major ideas and their prospects:

PUBLIC OPTION
Clinton’s primary rival, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, advocated “Medicare for all” and that pushed Clinton to a fuller embrace of government-run insurance. But Democrats could not get a public option through Congress even when they had undisputed control. Whichever party wins the Senate in November, the balance is expected to be close and Republicans are favored to retain control of the House.
While a new national insurance program seems a long shot, Obama’s law allows states to experiment. “I think the public option is more likely to be tested at a state level,” Sebelius said.

SWEETENING SUBSIDIES
Clinton has proposed more generous subsidies and tax credits for health care, which might also entice more people to sign up. But she’d have a tough time selling Republicans. It may be doable in the bargaining around budget and tax bills, but Democrats would be pressed to give up some of the health law’s requirements, including a premiums formula that tends to favor older people over young adults.

INCREMENTAL CHANGES
Whether it’s fixing a “family glitch” that can prevent dependents from getting subsidized coverage, requiring insurers to cover more routine services outside the annual deductible, or reworking the premium stabilization program for insurers, incremental changes seem to offer a president Clinton her easiest path.

MEDICAID EXPANSION
Expect a Clinton White House to tirelessly court the 19 states that have yet to expand Medicaid for low-income people. She’d ask Congress to provide the same three full years of federal financing that early-adopting states got under the health law. GOP governors would demand more flexibility with program rules.

“I’m just hoping that reality begins to sink in when she is inaugurated,” Sebelius said. “If the law is not going to go away, then let’s make it work.”

2016 mayoral race: Caldwell vs. Djou

11/9/16 - Caldwell defeats Djou to win re-election, 52% to 48%.

11/06/16 - Both are Oahu-born sons of professional men, both went to distinguished Hawaii private schools and both are lawyers.

But that’s about where the similarities end for Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell and former U.S. Rep. Charles Djou, the man trying to oust him from Honolulu Hale’s third-floor corner office in Tuesday’s general election.

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser recently chatted with both candidates, and some of the people closest to them, to explore what makes each tick and how their personal backgrounds and life experiences led to this juncture.

9/30/16 - Chamber of Commerce debate (video)

Kenoi found not guilty

HILO >> In a stunning and unanimous verdict Tuesday, a Hawaii island jury took 24 hours to find Mayor Billy Kenoi not guilty of all charges related to personal and alcohol purchases that Kenoi billed to the county — and later repaid — from 2011 to 2015.

A clearly emotional Kenoi hugged his wife, Takako, following the verdict and was crushed by supporters as he walked briskly out of Third Circuit Court without speaking to reporters.

Kenoi’s attorney Todd Eddins — a colleague from their days together in the Honolulu public defender’s office — told reporters outside court, “From the get-go we described the false accusations as flimsy. The trial established that that characterization was an understatement. This was an odious attempt to take down a once-in-a-generation good, decent man.”

Attorney General Doug Chin said in a statement, “The crime of theft requires proof a person intended to permanently deprive his victim of what he stole. The prosecution argued that not paying back funds to the county of Hawaii until after the press caught him was proof of Mayor Kenoi’s intent. We respect the verdict and thank the jurors for their service.”

The evidence phase of the trial lasted six days and spanned parts of two weeks.

Twenty witnesses testified, including former state Rep. Tommy Waters, Kauai Mayor Bernard Carvalho and celebrity chef Sam Choy.

war in Yemen

10/8/16 - SANAA, Yemen — An airstrike by a Saudi-led coalition on Saturday targeted a funeral hall packed with mourners in Yemen's capital, Sanaa, killing at least 82 people and turning the site into a "lake of blood," according to a senior Health Ministry official.

Nasser al-Argaly, the Health Ministry's undersecretary, told a news conference that the strike also left 534 people wounded. The casualty figures were not final, he added.

Yemeni security and medical officials said the dead and wounded include military and security officials from the ranks of the Shiite Houthi rebels fighting the internationally-recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi as well as their allies, loyalists of President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

are immigrants taking away American jobs?

Donald J. Trump, the Republican nominee, has called for a crackdown on illegal immigrants, saying they “compete directly against vulnerable American workers.” He promises to cut back legal immigration with new controls he says would “boost wages and ensure open jobs are offered to American workers first.”

Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival, takes an upbeat view, saying immigrants contribute to the economy whether they are here legally or not, by providing labor for American employers and opening businesses that create jobs for Americans rather than taking them.

The report assembles research from 14 leading economists, demographers and other scholars, including some, like Marta Tienda of Princeton, who write favorably about the impacts of immigration and others who are skeptical of its benefits, like George J. Borjas, a Harvard economist. Here’s what the report says:

“We found little to no negative effects on overall wages and employment of native-born workers in the longer term,” said Francine D. Blau, an economics professor at Cornell University who led the group that produced the 550-page report.

Philippines officials surrender

Dozens of government officials in the Philippines have surrendered to police after the country’s newly inaugurated president publicly linked them to illegal drugs.

In a televised speech on Sunday, President Rodrigo Duterte, speaking in the southern city of Davao, named 150 officials that he said were involved in the country’s drug trade, including members of congress, police officials, five retired and current generals and at least seven judges, and gave them a 24-hour deadline to surrender to police. Several have turned themselves in, including 18 mayors and 31 police officials, according to police statistics.

"There is no due process in my mouth," Duterte said. "You can't stop me, and I'm not afraid even if you say that I can end up in jail."

For the accused, the stakes are high. Duterte, who took office on June 30, has pledged to rid the country of crime within six months by assassinating thousands of suspected criminals — or at least authorizing the police, military, and others to kill them on his behalf. 

Since then, at least 564 people have been killed, according to the Philippine Inquirer’s “Kill List,” a comprehensive resource on the drug war’s death toll. Some were killed by vigilantes, others by military and police. Many were found next to signs reading “pusher” or “I am a drug addict,” their heads wrapped in tape.

Despite its brutality, the crackdown has been enormously popular in the Philippines, which has struggled with endemic drug use for decades. Yet human rights groups, foreign governments, other Filipino politicians and church leaders have cautioned that it could undermine the country’s democratic systems.

Mark Takai

U.S. Rep. K. Mark Takai died this morning in Honolulu, nine months after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. A statement from his office said Takai passed away at his home, surrounded by his family. He was 49.

“The Takai family thanks the people of Hawaii for their support during this difficult time,” the statement said. “The Takai family politely asks for the continued respect of their family’s privacy.”

Gov. David Ige’s office issued a statement lauding Takai’s public service and expressing condolences.

“Today, the people of Hawaii mourn the passing of U.S. Rep. Mark Takai. He proudly served his country in uniform, including 17 years with the Hawaii Army National Guard. Mark humbly and effectively served the people of his state House and Congressional districts. In the often tumultuous world of politics, he has been a shining example of what it means to be a public servant.

“While we will deeply feel the loss of Mark Takai in the public arena, we cannot forget that he was a family man first. His wife, children and extended family will miss him every moment from this day on. Dawn and I extend our deepest sympathies to Sami, Matthew and Kaila. Your husband and father was a man of principle and goodwill. Thank you for sharing him with the citizens of Hawaii.”

Born on Oahu on July 1, 1967, Takai was an Iraq War veteran who deployed in 2009, and was a lieutenant colonel in the Hawaii Army National Guard. He worked for the Guard as a preventive medical officer.

The Democrat served in the state Legislature for 20 years before winning election in 2014 to the U.S. House seat that was vacated by former Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who ran unsuccessfully for Senate.

Takai publicly confirmed last November he had been diagnosed with cancer, and he underwent surgery at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., to remove a small tumor in his pancreas.

Takai was a graduate of Pearl City High School and the University of Hawaii, where he was a champion swimmer, editor of Ka Leo, the campus newspaper, and president of the Associated Students of the UH.

He is survived by his wife Sami Takai, their children Matthew, 14, and Kaila, 13, and parents Erik and Naomi. Services are pending.

***

Friends and colleagues mourned the passing of U.S. Rep. K. Mark Takai on Wednesday, describing the congressman as ferociously hardworking with an enthusiasm for politics dating back to his days at Pearl City High School.

President Barack Obama, in a statement from the White House, said that Takai leaves behind “a legacy of courage, of service, and of hope.”

“Mark was always a fighter. It’s the spirit he brought to more than two decades of public service on behalf of the people of Hawaii,” said Obama. “He stood up for America’s most vulnerable. He championed our troops and veterans, and proudly wore our nation’s uniform. And his relentless push for cancer research inspired countless Americans fighting the same battle as him. Simply put, our country is better off because of Mark’s contributions.”

House Finance Chairwoman Sylvia Luke, who served in student government with Takai at the University of Hawaii, was moved to tears when she described Takai’s energy, enthusiasm and potential as a leader.

“He had a terrific promise, and I know he would have had a really terrific future in Congress,” she said.

Luke and Takai ran against each other for student government president at Manoa, and Luke won in a very close race. Takai asked for a recount, which ended up increasing Luke’s margin of victory.

Takai teased Luke about the race for years after that. “Whenever he gets a chance he jokes about how I beat him, and (how that) helped to redefine him so he cannot take things for granted,” she said. And Luke would remind Takai of the fruitless recount.

Luke put Takai in charge of the lobbying committee for the student body, and she said it was Takai who persuaded Gov. John Waihee in the late 1980s to build the Stan Sheriff Center sports arena and increase its seating to 10,000 from 5,000.

“Mark kept insisting. One of the things you love about Mark is he does his homework, and he is like a pit bull, and he is going to get to where he wants to,” Luke said. “He will lay out his arguments, and he met with everybody.”

Takai ran again the next year, 1989, and won.

“He loved public service,” Luke said, and helped to persuade her to run for the state House.

Hawaiian Electric to be sold (or not)

*** [7/18/16]

NextEra Energy Inc. has ended its plan to buy Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. and will pay the state’s largest utility $95 million in “break-up” fees and other costs, the two companies announced early today.

The announcement came after the state Public Utilities Commission, in a 2-0 vote Friday, rejected the Juno, Fla.-based company’s $4.3 billion offer to takeover HEI. PUC approval was needed for the companies to close the deal. NextEra and HEI could have challenged the PUC decision, but instead will walk away from the deal.

“As a result of the PUC’s order, we have terminated our merger agreement,” Jim Robo, NextEra’s chairman and chief executive, said in a news release issued before U.S. stock markets opened this morning. “We wish Hawaiian Electric the best as it serves the current and future energy needs of Hawaii, including helping the state meet its goal of 100 percent renewable energy by 2045.”

The PUC, in its rejection, expressed doubts about NextEra’s commitment to the state’s lofty renewable-energy goal and said its decision does not prevent Hawaiian Electric from seeking another partner.

[12/3/14] Juno Beach, Fla.-based NextEra Energy has agreed to buy Hawaiian Electric Industries in a $4.3 billion deal.

HEI will spin off American Savings Bank as part of the deal.

The companies said Wednesday that Hawaiian Electric Co. will keep its name and continue to be based in Honolulu. There will be "no involuntary workforce reductions at Hawaiian Electric Co. for at least two years after transaction closes," the companies said in a news release.

The value to HEI shareholders is estimated to be $33.50 a share. HEI shares closed trading Wednesday at $28.19.

"This is a transformational opportunity to unlock the value of two strong, local companies, American Savings Bank and Hawaiian Electric," said Connie Lau, HEI's president and chief executive officer and chairman of the boards of American Savings and Hawaiian Electric. "In NextEra Energy, Hawaiian Electric is gaining a trusted partner that can help the company accelerate its plans to achieve the clean energy future we all want for Hawaii."

Lau said that with NextEra's additional financial resources Hawaiian Electric will be able to meet its goal of reducing Hawaii's dependency on fossil fuels sooner.

Caldwell recommends stopping rail at Middle Street

With rail facing a more than $1 billion budget hole, Honolulu’s top elected leaders now aim to stop construction four miles and eight stations short of what was planned, leaving crews to build the most challenging, expensive and critical stretch at some future date, if possible.

“I wish we could go all the way to Ala Moana now. That’s for another day,” Mayor Kirk Caldwell told rail board members during their meeting Thursday, officially abandoning hope of finishing the entire rail project with its current funding, and instead urging the board to recommend a shorter rail line for now.

“I think we need to focus for now on how we get to Middle Street,” Caldwell said.

Critics of that plan say it undermines the point of building the rail in the first place: to offer West and Central Oahu commuters a more convenient way to get to town. It would significantly reduce ridership from the city’s longtime estimate of 119,000 daily rail trips and place a bigger burden on taxpayers to subsidize the line in place of lost fare revenues, they say.

Eliminating the eight stations past Middle Street could reduce rail’s ridership by at least 51,000 daily boardings, according to Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation estimates. The move might solve some of the rail’s immediate money problems, but it could also leave city officials with more difficult long-term challenges as they try to pay for its operations, one key state lawmaker said.

Nonetheless, faced with new cost estimates that put Ala Moana Center well out of reach — and an Aug. 7 deadline from rail’s federal partners to come up with a realistic plan that’s on budget — Caldwell and City Council Chairman Ernie Martin this week endorsed stopping at Middle Street for now.

“It is clear that the benefits of such a plan outweigh the drawbacks,” Martin wrote in a letter Tuesday to Federal Transit Administration Regional Administrator Leslie Rogers. “It does not preclude us from eventually completing the full 20 miles and 21 stations” when the city has the financial means to finish it.

HART officials have estimated it would cost about $6.22 billion to complete the first 16 miles and 13 stations to Middle Street. Rail can expect to receive construction revenues of approximately $6.8 billion, based on the latest estimates. However, it’s now expected to cost more than $8 billion to build the full 20 miles.

“It’s not a perfect-world situation,” HART board Chairwoman Colleen Hana­busa said at the Thursday meeting. “But … we don’t have the money.” The board could schedule a special meeting as early as next week to make a recommendation to the City Council on the Middle Street idea, she said. The Council would then have to discuss what rail policy it wants to pursue during its own meeting, she added.

Even if the city opts by Aug. 7 to pursue the Middle Street plan, there’s no guarantee that the FTA will approve the idea and agree to provide the project’s full $1.55 billion in federal funding. HART officials say FTA leaders have told them the system needs to be “functional” but that there aren’t specific guidelines for what that means.

Earlier this week Caldwell had still been pushing to get the full 20-mile line built.

“I believe we should work to the goal of building the full 20 miles, 21 stations. But we shouldn’t cap. We shouldn’t cut and run,” Caldwell said during an interview on Hawaii News Now’s “Sunrise” morning show several days ago. “This project is just too darn important. It’s something we’ve been fighting for 40 years here.”

The news that both Caldwell and Martin agreed work should stop at Middle Street surprised some members of the City Council’s Transportation Committee, which also met Thursday. Kymberly Pine, who represents the Leeward Coast, was deeply frustrated.

“That’s pretty stupid,” Pine told HART staff after they briefed her. “As someone who’s stuck in traffic the longest … I can tell you, you need to look at the ridership numbers on all these plans.” HART officials say they’ve just begun to analyze how stopping at Middle Street would affect ridership and other factors.

***

A month ago, even with an $8.1 billion price tag on rail, Mayor Caldwell vowed to build rail to Ala Moana. Why did he flip flop and now agrees with Charles Djou to stop rail at Middle Street? Because his and other polls reveal he is trailing Charles Djou badly, said Ben Cayetano, the former governor and unsuccessful candidate for mayor in 2012.

-- Richard Borreca, June 19, 2016

***

Caldwell hedged his position on Friday, asserting that continuity of the project would not necessarily be broken. The mayor pledges to secure other funding to complete the full alignment as designed, proposing to seek it from federal, state and private sources. But there’s no indication that this money will materialize in time to keep construction on track, or ever.

The only thing that is clear is that, as described, the project will end at a point where it’s projected to lose about half its ridership. Commuters won’t flock to ride the rail if, at Middle Street, they’ll have to disembark and wait for a bus to their urban-core destination.

That result wouldn’t justify the investment Honolulu’s taxpayers already have made.

Then, once the forward drive to complete the project is allowed to stall out, inertia would settle in. When the project is finally completed — if it ever restarts — the full pricetag would be higher than it would be if the city stuck to the current plan. That much is certain.

***

A million years from now

Orlando shooting

 At least 50 people were killed and more than 50 others were wounded when a gunman opened fire and took hostages at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, early Sunday morning.

The shooter, identified by several law enforcement sources as Omar Mateen, 29, was killed in a shootout with law enforcement after a three-hour siege.

The massacre — the worst mass shooting in the history of the United States — began when the gunman stormed the Pulse Nightclub about 2 a.m. ET with an AR-15 type rifle and a handgun, officials said.

The gunman called 911 before the attack, expressing fealty to ISIS. He twice had been investigated by federally authorities for alleged comments he made about terrorism, but both investigations were closed.

***

Orlando shooting reignites gun control debate in Congress

Hillary vs. Trump

Rod Tam is back

Oh, man. Rod Tam.He’s back, like one of those viruses that hang out at the base of the spine and flare up when defenses are down.

This time he’s infected a new body, the Hawaii Republican Party, whose defenses are so weak it practically swooned over Donald Trump and his virulent, racist vulgarities.

Compared with Trump, Tam is a small-time offender, but he is offensive nevertheless. His greatest hits were so outlandish they made national news under headings like “Weird News.”

Remember the bill to authorize naps and snacks for state workers? That was Rod Tam. As a state senator he introduced the bill, saying it would help state workers feel appreciated.

Remember the smelly-bus-rider bill? That was Rod Tam. In 2009 he introduced a measure at the City Council to punish riders who stunk up public transportation with a fine of up to $500 and six months in jail.

Oh, then there was the time he blithely used the “wetbacks” slur. That was in 2008, blazing an ignorant, bigoted trail by insulting Mexicans long before Trump was talking about building a wall.

“We don’t want any, uh, wetbacks, basically,” Tam said back then. “OK. We’ve been receiving (reports about) developers or contractors been bringing in wetbacks from New Mexico. Uh, Mexico. I’m sorry. Mexico. OK. Illegal aliens. And that’s a problem here, basically. We don’t want that type.”

Then there was the time he wanted to turn Koko Crater into a dump. After months of study and discussion of various sites, Tam shocked the rest of the City Council by suggesting a place that wasn’t on the list, is home to endangered plants and is geologically ill-suited for a long-term landfill.

After that came the meals. Lots of them, paid for with taxpayer money and documented with phony restaurant receipts fabricated to show he was talking city business. He’d take family members out to dinner and claim he was talking to constituents about their concerns. Then, when he turned in the paperwork to be reimbursed for the meals, he’d tweak up the tab and pocket the extra money.

Tam spent two days in jail for his slippery accounting and was also sentenced to 324 hours of community service. He made a forgettable run at mayor in 2010 and has been lurking like a virus waiting for an opportunity to resurface.

Though Hawaii Democrats never disavowed Tam, the head of the Hawaii Republican Party was quoted as saying they’re “thrilled” to have the convicted thief, proven liar and all-purpose goofball on their team. What’s worse? Not kicking him out or welcoming him in?

No, the worst would be forgetting how this crooked, petty man took our money and thought he was absolutely entitled to take his wife out for Valentine’s Day dinner and have us suckers pick up the tab.

He probably thinks we forgot all about that stuff, and that’s why he’s running for state Senate again.

Yeah, that’s Rod Tam, too.

-- Lee Cataluna

many satisfied with Obamacare (and some not)

More than 60% of working-age Americans who signed up for Medicaid or a private health plan through the Affordable Care Act are getting healthcare they couldn’t previously get, a new nationwide survey indicates.

And consumers are broadly satisfied with the new coverage, despite some cost challenges and an ongoing Republican campaign to discredit the law.

Overall, 82% of American adults enrolled in private or government coverage through the health law said they were “somewhat” or “very” satisfied,  according to the report from the nonprofit Commonwealth Fund.
“If the fundamental purpose of health insurance is to provide people with adequate access to needed healthcare, then it would seem that, on balance, the Affordable Care Act’s coverage expansions are working well for most of the people who have enrolled in them,” the report concluded.

The findings paralleled a recent nationwide survey by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation, which found that two-thirds of people in a marketplace plan created through the law rated their coverage “excellent” or “good.”

Unlike the new report, the Kaiser survey did not include people newly enrolled in Medicaid through the law, which is often called Obamacare.

New Medicaid enrollees are even happier with their health coverage than Americans in commercial health plans purchased through the marketplaces, with 88% reporting they are somewhat or very satisfied, the Commonwealth Fund found.

Americans with employer-provided health plans – which have lower premiums and deductibles than many marketplace plans – are the happiest, with 90% reporting satisfaction with their coverage.

The high marks are not universal, cautioned fund Vice President Sara Collins, the report’s lead author.

Indeed, some consumers who had coverage before the health law was implemented have seen their premiums and deductibles increase as insurers have absorbed millions of new consumers, many of whom could not obtain health insurance previously because they had a pre-existing medical condition.

The Commonwealth Fund, like Kaiser, has found that many Americans are concerned about the cost of their healthcare.

Nearly half of consumers in marketplace plans reported difficulty paying premiums in 2015. The fund plans to update those findings with 2016 numbers later this year.

“This [report] doesn’t mean that the law is working well for every single person,” Collins said. “But in general, it seems to be enabling people to get the healthcare that they need.”

More than eight in 10 people said their ability to get needed care has either improved or stayed the same since they enrolled in coverage through the health law.

The law allows Americans who don't get health benefits at work to shop among plans on state-based exchanges operated by the federal government or by the states themselves.

Consumers making less than four times the federal poverty level — about $47,000 for a single adult or $97,000 for a family of four — qualify for subsidies. Insurers must provide a basic set of benefits and cannot turn away consumers, even if they are sick.

Very low-income Americans in most states can enroll in the government's Medicaid program at virtually no cost, an option provided by the health law that leaders in 31 states and the District of Columbia have elected to make available to their residents.

The dual coverage expansions have led to the largest drop in the nation’s uninsured rate in at least half a century, surveys show.

The new Commonwealth Fund survey found that 45% of adults enrolled in a marketplace plan in 2016 and 62% of adults newly covered by Medicaid were previously uninsured.

More state leaders are now considering Medicaid expansions, including in very conservative states such as Oklahoma.

And enrollment in the marketplaces has been increasing, albeit at a slower rate than initially forecast; there are about 12 million people in marketplace plans.

But the law remains a political hot button, with Republican congressional leaders and presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump promising full repeal.

At the same time, many insurers are seeking significant premium increases next year, in part because enrollees in marketplace plans are sicker and more expensive than they anticipated.

The Commonwealth Fund survey was conducted between Feb. 2 and April 5 among a random, nationally representative sample of 4,802 adults ages 19 to 64. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.

Kerry visits Hiroshima

HIROSHIMA, Japan » An emotional John Kerry said Hiroshima’s horrible history should teach humanity to avoid conflict and strive to eradicate nuclear weapons as he became the first U.S. secretary of state to tread upon the ground of the world’s first atomic bombing.

Kerry’s visit Monday to the Japanese city included him touring its peace museum with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven industrialized nations and laying a wreath at the adjoining park’s stone-arched monument, with the exposed steel beams of Hiroshima’s iconic A-Bomb Dome in the distance.

The U.S. attack on Hiroshima in the final days of World War II killed 140,000 people and scarred a generation of Japanese, while thrusting the world into the dangerous Atomic Age. But Kerry hoped his trip would underscore how Washington and Tokyo have forged a deep alliance over the last 71 years and how everyone must ensure that nuclear arms are never used again.

“While we will revisit the past and honor those who perished, this trip is not about the past,” he told Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, a Hiroshima native. “It’s about the present and the future particularly, and the strength of the relationship that we have built, the friendship that we share, the strength of our alliance and the strong reminder of the imperative we all have to work for peace for peoples everywhere.”

Kerry’s appearance, just footsteps away from Ground Zero, completed an evolution for the United States, whose leaders avoided the city for many years because of political sensitivities.

rail to open with 10 mile route

Local rail officials have decided that for the opening of the transit system, they won’t extend the route to Middle Street after all.

Instead, they’ve opted to stick with their planned, shorter opening route to Aloha Stadium — a distance of 10 miles. Last summer the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation announced it would revisit the logic of that opening route and the “limited ridership” it would attract.

But as project delays have piled up, the idea of waiting to start service until Middle Street comes online has become less practical. Opening to Aloha Stadium remains the better option, HART Executive Director Dan Grabauskas said last week.

The opening should now occur sometime in late 2018, HART projects.

Service along the entire 20-mile line, from East Kapolei to Ala Moana Center, should now start in 2022, the rail agency estimates. The project is about two years behind schedule following lengthy delays from legal challenges, premature construction starts and other holdups.

The Greenville Eight

Jesse Jackson, only about five years older than Trump, grew up in an era when the other children in his school taunted him for being born out of wedlock.

He sat in the back of the bus, not just metaphorically but literally. He drank out of water fountains marked "colored." He grew up in Greenville, South Carolina, but attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on a football scholarship.

In 1960, when he was 19, he came home on Christmas break and, like freshmen everywhere, left a lot of work to do until the last minute. The book he needed to finish a paper was not at the "colored" library in Greenville but was at the Greenville Public Library.

So Jackson walked in, but a policeman walked him out. It may have been 1960 elsewhere in America, but in the Jim Crow South, it was still 1892.

And Jackson did a most unexpected thing. No, not marching on the library. That came later. And no, not getting the law changed to make the reading facilities in town open to all. That, too, would come later.

What Jackson did upon being tossed out of that library was cry. Real, bitter tears. He was not afraid; he was a freshman quarterback for a Big Ten football team, so he wasn't afraid of many people.

It was not fear. It was just the shame of the whole thing. The water fountains and the seats on the bus and even what book you were allowed to read.

His tears dried up. And Jackson went to work. In a few months, he and seven other black students returned to the whites-only library, got books, took seats, sat down and read.

About 20 minutes later, they were handcuffed, and they were jailed for 45 minutes.

"In the paper write-up about our arrest, I remember them calling us leftists," Jackson would say later. "We weren't left; we were right." A small joke.

The library closed and reopened two months later as an integrated facility.

On the 50th anniversary, the Greenville Eight held a reunion. Only four members of the original eight showed up, but that was OK. It made the speeches shorter.

"Somehow we all finished college," Jackson said, "and went on to replace old walls with new bridges."

-- Roger Simon, Midweek, March 16, 2016

homeless in Hawaii

[3/17/16] Lloyd Pendleton, known for his no-nonsense efficiency in addressing homelessness in Utah, is in talks with Mayor Kirk Caldwell about a move to Oahu to help reduce the highest per capita homeless rate in the country.

Pendleton and Caldwell met for the first time Friday when Pendleton outlined his ideas to get more people off the streets of Honolulu. Caldwell then told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “I love the guy. I wanted to keep him here with us or clone him. He lived up to all of the expectations I had. He gets it.”

Pendleton — who describes his age as “75 and a half” — has officially retired as Utah’s homeless coordinator. But he constantly welcomes visitors to Salt Lake City — when he’s not touring the country speaking about how it became the second city in America, behind Phoenix, to eliminate “chronic homeless veterans” and reduced overall chronic homelessness by 72 percent in 10 years.

[7/31/15] The city is taking a new, more lenient approach to encourage homeless people to leave the streets and move into temporary and long-term housing projects that will open over the next several months.

None of the more than $20 million worth of projects -- in areas from Makiki to the Leeward Coast -- will be ready when the city starts clearing the first of an estimated 300 homeless people out of an expanding Kakaako homeless encampment next month. Only one -- the 87-bed Hale Mauliola "modular container" project on Sand Island Access Road -- is scheduled to open this year, sometime in the fall.

But when they do open, most of the new shelters will take in pets, allow people to stay indoors during the day, give them a place to secure their belongings and offer security and on-site social services, said Sandy Pfund, head of the city's new Office of Strategic Development.

[7/27/15] Gov. David Ige announced the formation of the “Governor’s Leadership Team on Homelessness” to find both short- and long-term answers, but the state’s current homeless czar won’t be part of that effort.

Colin Kippen, the state coordinator on homelessness and the chairman of the Hawaii Interagency Council on Homelessness, said he will be out of a job as of Friday.

Kippen’s email announcement Monday came just before Ige’s afternoon news conference announcing the formation of his team on homelessness.

Ige was joined by Mayor Kirk Caldwell, state Sen. Jill Tokuda, Rep. Sylvia Luke and representatives from the offices of U.S. Sens. Mazie Hirono and Brian Schatz.

The team will include Ige and Caldwell, Tokuda, Luke, Director of Human Services Rachael Wong, Council Chairman Ernie Martin, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz’s designee and U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono’s designee. It will consult with law enforcement leaders, nonprofit organizations and other interested parties to assist with implementing short-term objectives.

“The underlying issues that lead to homelessness, such as lack of affordable housing, cannot be resolved quickly,” Ige said. “Meanwhile, we cannot wait for a comprehensive, long-term solution. There are measures we can take and will take, immediately.”

Ige’s office said the team will identify and assign parcels of land to be used for the creation of temporary shelters in one or two communities; implement measures to transfer residents of homeless encampments to shelters; work with service providers to establish protocols to assess shelter residents for financial, physical, mental health and other needs; and determine costs and obtain funding to meet these objectives.

The governor said the team will meet weekly, and work on solutions involving federal, state and city cooperation.

***

The Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Hawaii News Now are joining forces to report on the ever-worsening homelessness crisis.

While both news organizations will continue to report daily stories on homelessness, we will work together on bigger projects that delve into all aspects of the issue. To reach the widest possible audience for these important projects on this crisis, you will see reports in print, online and on broadcasts.

For example, on this page of the Star-Advertiser and in Hawaii News Now broadcasts on Monday, you will find stories on homeless encampments you might not be aware of and learn details about some of them.

Through stories such as these, we hope to raise awareness among the public — and public officials — about the gravity of the situation and the need to take action to help the homeless and, by doing so, help our community.

Both newsrooms hope you, as readers and viewers, will help with this project by offering comments, observations and suggestions online and in letters to the editor. While a collaboration between two competing newsrooms is unusual, Hawaii’s homelessness crisis requires an unusual approach.

Nancy Reagan

Nancy Reagan, the helpmate, backstage adviser and fierce protector of Ronald Reagan in his journey from actor to president — and finally during his 10-year battle with Alzheimer’s disease — has died. She was 94.

The former first lady died Sunday at her home in Los Angeles’ Bel-Air neighborhood of congestive heart failure, assistant Allison Borio told The Associated Press.

Her best-known project as first lady was the “Just Say No” campaign to help kids and teens stay off drugs.

When she swept into the White House in 1981, the former Hollywood actress partial to designer gowns and pricey china was widely dismissed as a pre-feminist throwback, concerned only with fashion, decorating and entertaining. By the time she moved out eight years later, Mrs. Reagan was fending off accusations that she was a behind-the-scenes “dragon lady” wielding unchecked power over the Reagan administration — and doing it based on astrology to boot.

All along she maintained that her only mission was to back her “Ronnie” and strengthen his presidency.

Mrs. Reagan carried that charge through the rest of her days. She served as a full-time caretaker as Alzheimer’s melted away her husband’s memory. After his death in June 2004 she dedicated herself to tending his legacy, especially at his presidential library in California, where he had served as governor.

She also championed Alzheimer’s patients, raising millions of dollars for research and breaking with fellow conservative Republicans to advocate for stem cell studies. Her dignity and perseverance in these post-White House roles helped smooth over the public’s fickle perceptions of the former first lady.

The Reagans’ mutual devotion over 52 years of marriage was legendary. They were forever holding hands. She watched his political speeches with a look of such steady adoration it was dubbed “the gaze.” He called her “Mommy,” and penned a lifetime of gushing love notes. She saved these letters, published them as a book, and found them a comfort when he could no longer remember her.

In announcing his Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 1994, Reagan wrote, “I only wish there was some way I could spare Nancy from this painful experience.” Ten years later, as his body lay in state in the U.S. Capitol, Mrs. Reagan caressed and gently kissed the flag-draped casket.

As the newly arrived first lady, Mrs. Reagan raised more than $800,000 from private donors to redo the White House family quarters and to buy a $200,000 set of china bordered in red, her signature color. She was criticized for financing these pet projects with donations from millionaires who might seek influence with the government, and for accepting gifts and loans of dresses worth thousands of dollars from top designers. Her lavish lifestyle — in the midst of a recession and with her husband’s administration cutting spending on the needy — inspired the mocking moniker “Queen Nancy.”

But her admirers credited Mrs. Reagan with restoring grace and elegance to the White House after the austerity of the Carter years.

Romney on Trump (and vice-versa)

(CNN) Mitt Romney delivered a sweeping broadside against Donald Trump on Thursday, laying into the Republican presidential front-runner with a sharper attack than any of the party's 2016 contenders have made against the billionaire business mogul.

"Here's what I know: Donald Trump is a phony, a fraud," Romney said. "His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University. He's playing members of the American public for suckers: He gets a free ride to the White House, and all we get is a lousy hat."

Romney said that "dishonesty is Donald Trump's hallmark," pointing to his "bullying, the greed, the showing off, the misogyny, the absurd third-grade theatrics."

There's irony in Romney's speech: Just four years ago, he courted Trump's endorsement -- even after Trump had led the "birther" controversy against President Barack Obama, insisting that Obama release his birth certificate to prove he is an American citizen.

Trump hit back by mocking Romney's 2012 loss at a campaign rally in Portland, Maine -- pointing to Romney's efforts to secure Trump's endorsement.

"He was begging for my endorsement. I could have said, 'Mitt, drop to your knees' -- he would have dropped to his knees," he said.

He said of 2012: "That was a race, I have to say, folks, that should have been won ... I don't know what happened to him. He disappeared. He disappeared. And I wasn't happy about it, I'll be honest, because I am not a fan of Barack Obama, because I backed Mitt Romney -- I backed Mitt Romney. You can see how loyal he is."

He said Romney thought about running again in 2016, but "chickened out."

Romney tweeted after his own speech but before Trump's that had the New York businessman made similar statements about the KKK and others in 2012, he would not have accepted the endorsement.

"If Trump had said 4 years ago the things he says today about the KKK, Muslims, Mexicans, disabled, I would NOT have accepted his endorsement."

President Trump? The world shudders...

BRUSSELS » Following Donald Trump’s breathtaking string of Super Tuesday victories, politicians, editorial writers and ordinary people worldwide were coming to grips today with the growing possibility the brash New York billionaire might become America’s next president — a thought that aroused widespread befuddlement and a good deal of horror.

The Trump candidacy has opened the door to madness: for the unthinkable to happen, a bad joke to become reality,” German business daily Handelsblatt wrote in a commentary for its Thursday edition. “What looked grotesque must now be discussed seriously.”

“The meteoric rise of the New York magnate has left half the planet dumbfounded,” wrote columnist Andrea Rizzi in Spain’s leading newspaper, El Pais.

“To consider Donald Trump a political clown would be a severe misconception,” said another European daily, Salzburger Nachrichten. If Trump is elected to the White House, the Austrian paper predicted, his ideas “would bring major dangers for the USA and the world … basically a nationalist-chauvinist policy that would make America not great but ugly, and risk the stability of the international order.”

Eytan Gilboa, an expert on U.S.-Israeli relations at Israel’s Bar-Ilan University, said the best word to describe Israeli feelings about Trump is “confusion.”

There are certain parts of him that Israelis can relate to, such as his aversion to political correctness, his tough stance on Islamic terrorism and his call for a wall with Mexico to provide security, Gilboa said.

But others have been particularly jarring to Israelis, such as comments about Jews that many consider insensitive and his derision of U.S. Sen. John McCain’s captivity in Vietnam.

“This is something that every Israeli would reject. It’s a highly sensitive issue in a country where prisoners of war are heroes and people go out of their way to release them,” he said.

Thuraya Ebrahim al Arrayed, a member of Saudi Arabia’s top advisory body, the Shura Council, said a Trump presidency would be “catastrophic” and set the world back “not just generations, but centuries.”

Writing in the Financial Times of London, Martin Wolf summed up the mood of a good share of Europe’s business and economic elite, arguing that it would be a “global disaster” if Trump, who won seven states in Tuesday’s Republican contests, made it all the way to the Oval Office.

“Mr. Trump is a promoter of paranoid fantasies, a xenophobe and an ignoramus. His business consists of the erection of ugly monuments to his own vanity. He has no experience of political office. Some compare him to Latin American populists. He might also be considered an American Silvio Berlusconi, albeit without the charm or business acumen,” Wolf wrote.

He also said Berlusconi, a former Italian prime minister and media tycoon, “unlike Mr. Trump never threatened to round up and expel millions of people.”

Wolf’s verdict: “Mr. Trump is grossly unqualified for the world’s most important political office.”

A Japanese online commentator used much the same language, and likened the Republican front-runner to the evil nemesis of wizard Harry Potter.

Trump’s unexpected political rise reflects “elitism and opposition to globalization, but at its heart is a xenophobia and populism that comes from ignorance,” said Masato Kimura, former London bureau chief for the conservative newspaper Sankei Shimbun. “Although this is another country’s election, Japan’s allies should raise their voices to help prevent the birth of a ‘Voldemort’ president in the United States.”

In the Mexican newspaper Reforma, columnist Sergio Aguayo compared anti-Mexican sentiments unleashed by Trump to the anti-communist Red Scares of the 20th century, and accused Trump of igniting a “brown panic.”

“We must answer again and again Donald Trump, and make the U.S. government understand that we’re not willing to continue being pointed out as the only ones responsible for problems that are also caused by the United States,” Aguayo wrote.

In the moderate and predominantly Muslim West African nation of Senegal, Mame Ngor Ngom, editor-in-chief of La Tribune, a weekly newspaper, expressed hope that in the final analysis, Americans will not be “so thoughtless” as to hand Trump their country’s highest office.

“We think that the Americans won’t vote for him. They already paid the consequences with George W. Bush. … Donald Trump will fail,” the Senegalese journalist predicted.

According to Alexander Dugin, a Russian nationalist ideologue with close ties to the Kremlin, Trump “is sometimes disgusting and violent, but he is what he is. It is true America.”

In Europe, where some also feel their nations are being submerged by waves of foreign migrants and violent Islamic radicalism is a real danger, not all have condemned Trump. Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of France’s far-right National Front, has said that if he were an American, he would cast his ballot for Trump. Laurent Wauquiez, a French conservative lawmaker, today said Trump’s popularity is revealing of a general trend that has traversed the Atlantic.

“What it shows is that in democracies today, citizens no longer want people to tell them what they should think, what they should say. That’s what makes Donald Trump seductive,” Wauquiez told France 2 Television.

In the northern Indian city of Lucknow, one software company executive said he has been impressed by Trump’s muscular rhetoric.

“Trump looks like a tough guy,” said Rohitash Sharma. “He has clarity of idea, and he means business. He has advocated the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, if these improve the protection and safety of the country. He has a clear road map on how to protect his country from extremist forces.”

Though no fan, Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa said a Trump presidential win could be a political gift to Latin America’s left, which is recovering from a string of electoral defeats in Argentina, Bolivia and Venezuela.

“The most convenient for Latin America is a Trump victory, because his rhetoric is so clumsy, so basic, that I think it would awaken reactions in Latin America,” Correa told a group of radio journalists Monday. “I think a guy like him would be very bad for the U.S. (but) for the progressive movement in Latin America, it could be positive.”

For weeks, a Canadian website has poked fun at Trump by inviting disaffected Americans to move to an island off Nova Scotia. On Super Tuesday, as the returns rolled in, searches for “How can I move to Canada” on Google spiked by more than 350% in four hours, Google editor Simon Rogers tweeted. A social media link posted by Toronto city councilman Norm Kelly that gives helpful directions on how to apply for Canadian citizenship received over 37,000 retweets.

Trump comments on Rubio's sweat

With his candidacy in potential jeopardy Tuesday in a dozen contests that Trump and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz are better positioned to dominate, Rubio attacked Trump’s business record hard during Thursday night’s debate in Houston. The assault intensified today when he called Trump a “con artist” and mocked his backstage preparations.

Trump, in turn, let loose on Rubio, calling him a desperate liar who lacks the demeanor to be president.

“He is a nervous Nellie,” Trump told reporters, saying Rubio applies television makeup with a trowel. “I watch him backstage. He’s a mess.”

Trump ridiculed Rubio for his profuse sweating.

“Can you imagine Putin sitting there waiting for a meeting, and Rubio walks in, and he’s totally drenched,” Trump asked. “I don’t know what it is, but I’ve never seen a human being sweat like this man sweats.”

*** [2/27/16]

In a rollicking day of spectacle, spite and scorn, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey declared his allegiance to Donald J. Trump and war on Marco Rubio, describing the senator on Friday as desperate and unfit for the presidency.

The endorsement interrupted a 48-hour assault from an emboldened Mr. Rubio, who is adopting many of the real estate mogul’s crude tactics and colorful insults as he urgently tries to arrest Mr. Trump’s march to the Republican nomination.

In the span of a few hours across Texas, Mr. Rubio suggested that Mr. Trump had urinated in his trousers and used illegal immigrants to tap out his unceasing Twitter messages. Mr. Trump countered by suggesting that Mr. Rubio’s excessive perspiration had no place in the White House and brandishing a water bottle to mock the senator’s chronic thirst.

Waving the bottle across a stage at a Texas rally, pouring half its contents onto the floor and then taking giant gulps from it, Mr. Trump ridiculed his younger rival with exaggerated facial gestures. “It’s Rubio!” he shouted to loud applause and cheers.

Trump nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

(CNN)Nobel Peace Prize nominees: The Greek island groups welcoming Syrian refugees, an escaped ISIS sex slave turned women's rights activist, the negotiators who ended five decades of civil war in Colombia, National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden.

Oh, and Donald Trump.

The Republican presidential candidate, who was hosting a reality TV show at this time last year, has been nominated for the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize by a mystery patron, Kristian Berg Harpviken told CNN on Wednesday, confirming an earlier AFP report.

A respected Nobel watcher and director of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, Harpviken said he was "committed to not reveal the nominator's name," but shared online the language from the letter, which praised Trump for "his vigorous peace through strength ideology, used as a threat weapon of deterrence against radical Islam, ISIS, nuclear Iran and Communist China."

During his campaign, Trump has repeatedly vowed to "bomb the s-- out of ISIS" and threatened to impose a protective tariff on trade with the Chinese.

The Nobel Committee, which does not reveal the details of its decision-making process, typically offers thousands of people the opportunity to nominate notable organizations and individuals for the award, which counts among its recipients Martin Luther King Jr., the Red Cross and, in 2009, President Barack Obama.

Trump, however, is not on Harpviken's shortlist, which is currently topped by Snowden and two top U.S. and Iranian nuclear negotiators. Others who were nominated but did not receive the prize include Mahatma Gandhi, Pope Francis, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Putin.

Cruz beats Trump in Iowa

DES MOINES — Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas scored a hard-fought upset win over businessman Donald Trump in the Iowa Republican caucuses Monday night, while former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont were locked in a virtual tie on the Democratic side with most of the votes counted.

Cruz made good on his bet that a methodical campaign organization would eclipse Trump’s media dominance in the first test of Republican voters. With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Cruz was beating his rival by more than 5,100 votes, with Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida a close third.

Cruz appeared to capitalize on deep support from religious and social conservatives and showed that old-fashioned retail politicking could overcome Trump’s massive political rallies in the Hawkeye State.

“God bless the great state of Iowa,” Cruz told supporters at his campaign’s Iowa headquarters after embracing his wife, Heidi. “Tonight is a victory for the grass roots. Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives across Iowa and all across this great nation. Iowa has sent notice that the Republican nominee and the next president of the United States will not be chosen by the media, will not be chosen by the Washington establishment, will not be chosen by the lobbyists.”

***

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Wednesday accused rival Ted Cruz of stealing a victory in the Iowa caucuses and called for another vote or nullification of Cruz's win.

Trump, who finished second behind Cruz, lit up Twitter on Wednesday with a series of posts saying the outcome was tainted because the Cruz campaign had deliberately spread misinformation about Trump's stand on Obamacare and an erroneous report that Ben Carson was dropping out of the race.

Trump had gone into Monday's caucus voting ahead of the Texas senator by five percentage points in a key poll but Cruz ended up winning, four points ahead of the New York billionaire.

"Ted Cruz didn't win Iowa, he stole it," Trump (@realDonaldTrump) tweeted. "That is why all of the polls were so wrong and why he got far more votes than anticipated. Bad!"

Several social media users tweeted screengrabs of an alleged deleted tweet from Trump's official account, in which he said Cruz "illegally" stolen the vote.

"Based on the fraud committed by Senator Ted Cruz during the Iowa caucus, either a new election should take place or Cruz results nullified," Trump wrote.

In another tweet, Trump said Cruz had lied about his opinion of President Barack Obama's healthcare program.

"And finally, Cruz strongly told thousands of caucusgoers (voters) that Trump was strongly in favor of ObamaCare and 'choice' - a total lie!" he said.

Cruz had apologized to Carson on Tuesday because of an email from his campaign before the caucuses, which are the crucial first vote in the U.S. presidential nominating process.

"The press is reporting that Dr. Ben Carson is taking time off from the campaign trail after Iowa and making a big announcement next week," the Cruz email read, according to CNN. "Please inform any Carson caucusgoers of this news and urge them to caucus for Ted Cruz."

"Many people voted for Cruz over Carson because of this Cruz fraud," Trump tweeted.

Wednesday afternoon, Cruz responded to Trump's Twitter rant.

"Yet another #Trumpertantrum," Cruz (@tedcruz) wrote in a retweet of one of Trump's posts. "@realDonaldTrump very angry w/the people of Iowa. They actually looked at his record."

Carson had tweeted his feelings about the Iowa vote on Tuesday.

"Shameless tactics & dirty political plays defined yesterdays #iacaucus," he said, using a popular hashtag to refer to the voting. "There is no place for this kind of behavior."

20 humanitarian crises of 2015

As the refugee crisis in Europe and ongoing Syrian war continues to dominate news headlines, many countries struggle with conflict and natural disaster largely out of sight—and largely on their own. Some 60 million people, about 42,500 a day, were displaced in 2015, the largest upheaval of humanity since World War II.

Below are 20 humanitarian crises that drove mass displacement this year, yet haven’t received much attention from the media:

Afganistan: Decades of chaos
Burundi: Unrest and upheaval
Central African Republic: Gripped by sectarian conflict
Democratic Republic of Congo: Continued politcal instability
Ethiopia: Extreme thirst
Haiti: Struggle to rebuild
Iraq: Recurring tragedy
Libya: Struggling to survive
Mali: Forgotten crisis
Myanmar: Deadly persecution
Nepal: Devastating quake
Niger: Overwhelmed host
Nigeria: Boko Haram terror
Pakistan: Disasters natural and man-made
South Sudan: Edge of mass starvation
Somalia: Legacy of conflict
Sudan: Cycle of violence
Ukraine: Trapped by war
West Africa: Shadow of Ebola
Yemen: Citizens under siege

[via twitter]

Donald Trump admired as much as the pope

Donald Trump tied Pope Francis for the title of second most admired man in the world, according to a Gallup poll released Monday. Both men lost the title to Barack Obama; Hillary Clinton was voted the world's most admired woman.

The Gallup polls, which have been taken for both genders every year since 1948, asks respondents, "What woman or man that you have heard or read about, living today in any part of the world, do you admire most?"

The multi-billionaire hotelier and the leader of the Catholic Church earned 5 percent of the vote each; President Barack Obama won more than three times their respective shares, with 17 percent. Bernie Sanders ranked third in the poll, pulling 3 percent of the vote.

Bill Gates, Ben Carson, the Dalai Lama, George W. Bush and the Reverend Billy Graham earned 1 percent each.

For the 14th year in a row, Hillary Clinton won the distinction of most admired woman in the world in the survey. This was the 20th time the former first lady, senator and secretary of state has won the honor — a record for the poll. No other man or woman challenges Clinton's performance, but former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt was named the world’s most admired woman by Gallup 13 times.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai ranked second to Clinton among women this year, earning 5 percent of the vote to the Democratic frontrunner's 13 percent. Oprah Winfrey and Michelle Obama tied for third place with 4 percent each, followed by Republican presidential candidate Carly Fiorina, Queen Elizabeth II, and German Chancellor Angela Merkel at 2 percent each.

Senator Elizabeth Warren, Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, one-time vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and comedienne Ellen DeGeneres also appeared on the list at 1 percent each.

***

I wonder who would top the least admired poll?  Probably many of the same names.

Good News

Africa Went a Year Without Any Polio

On July 24, Nigeria marked one full year without a single new case of locally acquired polio, the crippling and sometimes fatal disease. It is the last country in Africa to stop transmission of wild polio. This milestone represents a huge victory—one that some experts feared would never come. It required mapping every settlement in the north of the country, counting all the children in every house, delivering oral polio vaccine several times a year, working with hundreds of thousands of traditional leaders and community mobilizers, and operating in areas dominated by extremist groups. Nigeria’s efforts show that smart strategies can work even under the most difficult conditions.

When the global campaign to eradicate polio began in 1988, polio was endemic in 125 countries. The list is now down to just two: Afghanistan and Pakistan. We’ve come more than 99 percent of the way to eradication. I am confident we can finish the job.

[and 5 more]

-- Bill Gates

Ted Cruz (and followers) wants to carpet bomb ISIS

Ted Cruz never says anything good just once — when he finds a line or a joke that gets applause, he repeats it over and over. And one of his big crowd-pleasers at the moment is this little ditty about the Islamic State: "We will carpet-bomb them into oblivion. I don't know if sand can glow in the dark, but we're going to find out!"

Does Cruz actually want to drop nuclear weapons on places where ISIS is operating? That's what's implied by the bit about sand glowing in the dark, but he'd never cop to that. How about carpet-bombing? After all, part of the difficulty with fighting ISIS from the air is that they control cities full of civilians. The American military doesn't lack for ordnance; we could level those cities if we wanted. But doing so would mean thousands and thousands of civilian casualties, killing the very people we'd be claiming to want to save. That's not only morally abhorrent, it would be extremely likely to produce the kind of hatred towards America that helped Al Qaeda thrive, helped ISIS replace Al Qaeda, and would help the next terrorist group take ISIS's place.

In an interview Wednesday with NPR, Cruz got asked about this problem, and put his finely honed evasion skills to work. Asked by host Steve Inskeep whether he wanted to "flatten" cities where ISIS is located, Cruz said, "I think we need to use every military tool at our disposal to defeat ISIS." Inskeep pressed him: "You can flatten a city. Do you want to do that?" Cruz responded, "The problem with what President Obama is doing" is that he's too soft, noting that in World War II we didn't worry about the welfare of the German people, we just fought. "FDR carpet-bombed cities," Inskeep noted. "Is that what you want to do?" Cruz answered, "I want to carpet-bomb ISIS."

Of course, Cruz is hardly the only presidential candidate offering absurdly simplistic ideas about how to solve this problem. But one might think that the destruction we could wreak upon civilian populations in the Middle East would be a matter of particular concern given our recent history. Estimates of the civilian casualties in the Iraq War range somewhere between 165,000 and 500,000, but conservatives seem convinced that all that suffering and death had nothing to do with the rise of ISIS, and repeating it would be regrettable but not produce any blowback.

Perhaps we have trouble understanding what it's like to have a foreign army bombing or occupying your country because it's been so long. We haven't had such an army on our soil since the War of 1812, and though we were attacked at Pearl Harbor and then 60 years later on 9/11, those were events confined to a single day. So we can't seem to grasp the kind of resentment and even hatred that an extended military campaign can foster, no matter how noble the ideals of the country that sent the army carrying it out. When the Bush administration assumed we'd be "greeted as liberators" in Iraq (as Dick Cheney put it), they simply couldn't contemplate that Iraqis might not be excited to see us rain down bombs, destroy their infrastructure, and then occupy their country, even if they didn't like the dictator they were living under.

Grasping that requires empathy and a little imagination, neither of which is in good supply in the GOP these days, let alone among its presidential candidates. It's the luxury of running for office that you can make all problems sound simple, pretend that you can carpet-bomb a city and kill only the bad guys and not the people living there, and act as though strength and resolve are all you need to solve problems. The scary thing to contemplate is that someone like Ted Cruz might actually believe his campaign rhetoric, and put it into action if he became president.

-- Paul Waldman

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Donald Trump gets along with everybody.

Trump unites America

Joel Mathis and Ben Boychuk on Trump...

Most weeks, you read the two of us debating the latest issues. We have differing perspectives and differing stances. Those differences haven’t changed. Be we are jointly so alarmed at Donald Trump’s sustained position at or near the top of the primary season presidential polls that we feel compelled to join forces on this occasion and say: No. This must end.

To be sure, we have differing reasons to arrive at the same conclusion.

195 countries agree on climate change

LE BOURGET, France — With the sudden bang of a gavel Saturday night, representatives of 195 nations reached a landmark accord that will, for the first time, commit nearly every country to lowering planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions to help stave off the most drastic effects of climate change.

The deal, which was met with an eruption of cheers and ovations from thousands of delegates gathered from around the world, represents a historic breakthrough on an issue that has foiled decades of international efforts to address climate change.

Traditionally, such pacts have required developed economies like the United States to take action to lower greenhouse gas emissions, but they have exempted developing countries like China and India from such obligations.

The accord, which United Nations diplomats have been working toward for nine years, changes that dynamic by requiring action in some form from every country, rich or poor.

“This is truly a historic moment,” the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, said in an interview. “For the first time, we have a truly universal agreement on climate change, one of the most crucial problems on earth.”

President Obama, who regards tackling climate change as a central element of his legacy, spoke of the deal in a televised address from the White House. “This agreement sends a powerful signal that the world is fully committed to a low-carbon future,” he said. “We’ve shown that the world has both the will and the ability to take on this challenge.”

Scientists and leaders said the talks here represented the world’s last, best hope of striking a deal that would begin to avert the most devastating effects of a warming planet.

The new deal will not, on its own, solve global warming. At best, scientists who have analyzed it say, it will cut global greenhouse gas emissions by about half enough as is necessary to stave off an increase in atmospheric temperatures of 2 degrees Celsius or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. That is the point at which, scientific studies have concluded, the world will be locked into a future of devastating consequences, including rising sea levels, severe droughts and flooding, widespread food and water shortages and more destructive storms.

But the Paris deal could represent the moment at which, because of a shift in global economic policy, the inexorable rise in planet-warming carbon emissions that started during the Industrial Revolution began to level out and eventually decline.

At the same time, the deal could be viewed as a signal to global financial and energy markets, triggering a fundamental shift away from investment in coal, oil and gas as primary energy sources toward zero-carbon energy sources like wind, solar and nuclear power.

Trump no different than FDR

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on Tuesday defended his proposal to ban Muslims from entering the United States, comparing his plan to the World War Two detainment of Japanese-Americans and others in dismissing growing outrage from around the world.

The White House called on Republicans to say they would not support Trump, currently the party's front-runner for the November 2016 election. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said his comments could undermine U.S. security.

The prime ministers of France and the United Kingdom, Canada's foreign minister, the United Nations and Muslims in Asian countries all denounced the real-estate mogul's comments.

But Trump said his ideas were no worse than those of then-President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who oversaw the internment of more than 110,000 people in U.S. government camps after Japanese forces bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.

"What I'm doing is no different than FDR," Trump said on ABC's "Good Morning America" program.

"We have no choice but to do this," he said. "We have people that want to blow up our buildings, our cities. We have to figure out what's going on."

how do you solve a problem like The Donald?

For months, much of the Republican Party’s establishment has been uneasy about the rise of Donald J. Trump, concerned that he was overwhelming the presidential primary contest and encouraging other candidates to mimic his incendiary speech. Now, though, irritation is giving way to panic as it becomes increasingly plausible that Mr. Trump could be the party’s standard-bearer and imperil the careers of other Republicans.

Many leading Republican officials, strategists and donors now say they fear that Mr. Trump’s nomination would lead to an electoral wipeout, a sweeping defeat that could undo some of the gains Republicans have made in recent congressional, state and local elections. But in a party that lacks a true leader or anything in the way of consensus — and with the combative Mr. Trump certain to scorch anyone who takes him on — a fierce dispute has arisen about what can be done to stop his candidacy and whether anyone should even try.

Some of the highest-ranking Republicans in Congress and some of the party’s wealthiest and most generous donors have balked at trying to take down Mr. Trump because they fear a public feud with the insult-spewing media figure. Others warn that doing so might backfire at a time of soaring anger toward political insiders.

That has led to a standoff of sorts: Almost everyone in the party’s upper echelons agrees something must be done, and almost no one is willing to do it.

With his knack for offending the very constituencies Republicans have struggled with in recent elections, women and minorities, Mr. Trump could be a millstone on his party if he won the nomination. He is viewed unfavorably by 64 percent of women and 74 percent of nonwhite voters, according to a November ABC News/Washington Post poll. Such unpopularity could not only doom his candidacy in November but also threaten the party’s tenuous majority in the Senate, hand House seats to the Democrats and imperil Republicans in a handful of governor’s races.

Asked about concerns over Mr. Trump’s potential influence on other contests, his spokeswoman, Hope Hicks, said, “I think the facts indicate the exact opposite is true,” and emailed a link to a consumer marketing firm’s assertion that Mr. Trump would ensure the highest general election turnout from Republicans, Democrats and independents alike.

Yet the clamor for a “Stop Trump” effort has become pervasive at the Senate’s highest levels, where members up for re-election are realizing that they can no longer dismiss as strictly theoretical the possibility of his capturing the nomination. Mr. Trump’s persistent ranking at or near the top of the polls is prompting urgent calls for an advertising assault to try to sink his campaign.

“It would be an utter, complete and total disaster,” Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, himself a presidential candidate who has tangled with Mr. Trump, said of his rival’s effect on lower-tier Republican candidates. “If you’re a xenophobic, race-baiting, religious bigot, you’re going to have a hard time being president of the United States, and you’re going to do irreparable damage to the party.”

Slowly, some members of the party’s establishment are reckoning with the idea of a Trump ticket. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has cautioned its incumbents in blunt terms not to let themselves be linked to him.

But beyond sheer intimidation, some members of Congress worry that if the party’s establishment went after Mr. Trump, it would only fuel his anti-Washington appeal.

“I think it would play into his hands and only validate him,” said Senator Lamar Alexander, Republican of Tennessee. “A ‘Stop Trump’ effort wouldn’t work, and it might help him.”