Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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Zuckerberg seeks to wall off outsiders

ASSOCIATED PRESS

In this April 2016, file photo, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers the keynote address at the F8 Facebook Developer Conference in San Francisco.

That Mark Zuckerberg would stoop to legal machinations (“quiet title” lawsuits) to deprive Native Hawaiians of their ancestral lands on Kauai so that he can complete his family compound is outrageous (“Facebook’s Zuckerberg sues to force land sales,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 18).

Similarly, he has proceeded to create another such exclusive compound in Palo Alto, Calif., in violation of zoning codes and ideal land use, according to the city advisory board.

One has to wonder: Whom is he afraid of that he needs exclusive, walled compounds?

Mark Slovak

Manoa

Trump will choose less liberal justices

I don’t expect that I’ll always like what President Donald Trump does. He will decide many things, and he can’t be perfect. But I am happy that he — and not Hillary Clinton — will be making those decisions.

In particular, I shudder to think of Clinton packing the Supreme Court with liberal judges. Liberal judges often ignore the law and invent law based upon their own wishes. If they imagine a shadow of a shadow of a right — a penumbra — in the U.S. Constitution, that is all they need to invent new law. The penumbra means what they want it to mean. The wishes of liberal judges often conflict with public opinion. We want judges to interpret the law, and not invent it.

I expect great and wonderful picks for the Supreme Court from Trump. There is a vacancy now on the court. You will see.

Mark Terry

Wahiawa

America will suffer for Trump’s flaws

Opposition to the person who now occupies the highest leadership position in the world, and whose deeply flawed character is about to launch our government and the world into chaos, is not “rhetoric” (“It’s time for liberals to cool the rhetoric,” Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan. 19).

Never in American history have we seen such a person take the reins — a person who operates entirely from a platform of self-adulation and the acquisition of wealth above all other values. A person whose instinct is to shoot from the hip and bully all who oppose or even criticize him; who is attacking the press (the first step toward tyranny); and, of course, who disrespects any number of groups, including women.

And finally, Trump is a person who is playing footsie with Russian President Vladimir Putin, a war criminal if ever there was one.

I pity his new Cabinet members. They will be contradicted, embarrassed, bullied, rebuked and largely disempowered by their new boss. And all who depend on our government in this nation or elsewhere will be the losers because of the resulting mess.

Lindsay A. Desrochers

Kapolei

Don’t assume worst about poor renters

I was amused with the writer of “Renters should be grateful for subsidies” (Star-Advertiser, Letters, Jan. 23).

I don’t know her age, financial situation or repair skills, and I’m not going to assume any of those. But she did.

To assume someone on a rental subsidy can afford to purchase materials to do repairs on his apartment, and is capable of doing them, is assuming a lot of unknowns. Why generalize?

I can assure the writer that everyone I know who lives in a subsidized apartment is grateful. Does she know any of these people she maligns?

If she wants to understand where the money comes from, she should get the city financial reports or ask for an audit.

Shirley Hamilton

Kailua

Keep rents the same if other options fail

If raising rents on affordable housing causes some renters to become homeless, I hope the city will allow them to remain with the rent they can afford (“City raising rents on affordable housing,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 16).

To add to the number of homeless does not make sense. When they become homeless, there will be more costs to the city in managing the homeless problem. If they go to a shelter, they won’t be paying anything and someone else will have to pay for them to live there.

I see more and more homeless on the streets of Honolulu every day. Don’t add more to the situation.

Craig Nahm

Hawaii Kai

Public schools fall behind private ones

Step back and look at the Star-Advertiser’s front page on Aloha Friday (Jan. 20). Surely this is the pulse of paradise.

On the one hand our state offered teachers a 1 percent bonus — with no promise for next year and no way to offset the rise in health care costs (“State offers teachers 1% bonuses”). All this to support our public education program.

Then, on the other hand, ‘Iolani, one of Hawaii’s proud, private and expensive schools, announced plans for an expansion slated to cost between $30 million and $40 million (“‘Iolani aims to expand its campus and reach”).

Lucky we live Hawaii.

Mary I. Piette

Kaneohe

HPD should prepare for traffic detours

It is unfortunate that a water main break occurred near Kahala this weekend (“2 lanes open for motorists on eastbound Kalanianaole,” Star-Advertiser, Jan. 24). To the police officers who were directing traffic, mahalo!

Traffic incident planning should become a part of the interview that the Honolulu Police Commission will conduct with applicants for the position of police chief.

Traffic management during traffic tie-ups is important, especially for emergency vehicles.

Should it be determined that the Honolulu Police Department or the city lacks adequate planning, then this must be corrected.

Planners conduct on-site exercises for disasters, but have they reviewed transportation for victims to hospitals during rush-hour disasters?

Traffic detouring is a difficult subject to plan for, but a plan or organizational structure is necessary.

Leonard Leong

Manoa

49 responses to “Zuckerberg seeks to wall off outsiders”

  1. PMINZ says:

    Zuckerberg, is the outsider!

  2. Wazdat says:

    another LibTARD letter bashing our current President with B$ and Lies.

    President Trump is a Leader who will do what is right for America.

    If you think that is bad then you need HELP.

    • cajaybird says:

      Why only letters bashing Trump? C’mon SA, try a little “fair and balanced”.

      • Boots says:

        Who would be silly to support the Donald? Come on actually going through building a wall along the southern border when immigration is way down and might even be negative today? People should ask what is the wall for? To Keep people out or to Keep people in? Answer is really not so obvious as many would think. But the Donald is a republican and they believe in wasting money. The last republican president inherited a surplus and left with a trillion plus deficit. Will the Donald follow suit?

        • cajaybird says:

          Hello Boots. Your talking points are old. I’m beginning to believe you do not read the responses to your posts. Your talking point about the border is simply wrong. The wall isn’t meant to stop the normal influx of workers; that figure goes up or down based on the economies of both countries. What is your (i.e., the Democrat’s)
          position on how you plan to keep criminals, gang members, and dug runners from crossing the border? Dems never talk about their plan to secure the border. In fact, your sweet Hillary (that expression did make me laugh), never said how she would secure the border to stop the bad dudes from entering our country. So, check with your sources and let us know how you would stop the bad guys.

        • Keolu says:

          boots, please stop with your silly rhetoric that has been debunked over and over. Just get over your bitterness and see what happens.

        • koleanui says:

          Agree with Keolu, Odumbo never deported anyone, He never deported criminals and then kept them out. He supported sanctuary cities.He bused illegals to cities without their knowledge and then said”you pay for them” when the Mayors complained.He pulled back Border patrol off the border giving illegals and drug cartels free range. He was against”Kate’s Law”, he diverted INS to care centers and took them all off patrol, etc. etc.

        • Boots says:

          Come on Keolu, stop your lies please. Do I have to remind you who the last republican president who actually balanced the federal budget? Do you believe GW’s making pot holes half way around the world was a good use of our money? If you are going to call me silly, you should at least say why.

          And I am not bitter, just sad as the country moves backwards. Notice you didn’t answer the question about the purpose of the wall. Why am I not surprised? lol

        • stef says:

          Hmmm. What ever happened to the near-trillion dollar infrastructure stimulus package with all those shovel-ready jobs ready to be activated? I guess that was part of the ten trillion dollar deficit produced by the previous administration.

        • wiliki says:

          Donald needs to learn how to play nice. The Mexican president wont even meet with him.

          The wall is estimated to cost over 20 billion dollars. Looks like it’ll be revenue neutral – Congress will fund it and Donald will get the money from Mexico.

        • Junkflyer says:

          The wall will cost less than our rail.

        • thevisitor967 says:

          Has Trump ever heard of the Pacific Ocean?

        • MichaelG says:

          Boots, I believe Trump is competing with the emperor of China who built the Great Wall of China. He wants to be known as the person who built the great wall of America. Kind of like the bridge that went no where.

    • Boots says:

      lol, and what exactly are those lies? Can you be specific? Face it when it comes to the Donald, it is difficult to determine where truth begins and lies end. Just curious but what is right for America? Converting America to Orwell’s Oceania? Please be specific if you can.

      Finally are you willing to see your taxes rise to pay for a stupid wall along the southern border? Mexico is not going to pay for it, why should they? But the cost of the wall might be minor when compared to the legal battles that will erupt with its construction. Are you willing to pay for that too? What a waste.

      • Carang_da_buggahz says:

        “Under my Affordable Care Act, the average American family will save $2500/year in healthcare costs..” You were saying about lies?…

        • wiliki says:

          But premiums would have gone even higher were it not for Obamacare.

          And as for me… mine have gone down with Kaiser. My medicare premiums are down about $20 a month in differential.

  3. BluesBreaker says:

    Trump indicated he will appoint people to the SCOTUS who share his misogynistic, xenophobic and racist views.

    • kiragirl says:

      If he is all that, why is he now the POTUS? Good grief!

      • LittleEarl_01 says:

        Agreed.

        • kiragirl says:

          Did you notice that the stock market is highest since Trump took over? Analysts say it is because the confidence they have in him in improving our economy.

        • Boots says:

          Yes I have noticed that Kiragirl but the real question is will it last or will it soon collapse? Republican administrations have not been as good when compared to democratic administrations. We shall soon see if the Donald breaks this tradition.

        • kiragirl says:

          Boots, I dunno the answer but like everything else, it will plateau as it cannot keep going up, up, up. Point is it “appears” that it will at least maintain and not go spiraling down.

        • Boots says:

          Kiragirl, I just remind you of what happened under the previous republican president. Stock market dropped 50% or so in a very short period of time. The same will happen with the Donald if he practices Voodoo like GW. Fortunately there is a chance that the Donald won’t be as much of a witch doctor as GW. But we can be in for some tough times if he waste Americas resources and gives tax cuts to the rich. On the positive side he might just end up pushing a single pay health system. http://ijr.com/2016/02/537107-5-times-donald-trump-praised-socialized-healthcare/

        • kiragirl says:

          Boots, time will tell.

        • koleanui says:

          I can;t listen to that crap, boots. You need an ID foreverything. You can get it for free in most States if you get off your porch and stop drinking beer and eating chips from your food stanps and put down your facebook free i-phone.

      • BluesBreaker says:

        Actually, I think we all understand just fine why Donald Trump is president: because he ran a racist, boorish, epically mendacious campaign and Republicans all decided to go along with it. And even that wouldn’t have been enough if Trump hadn’t gotten some additional help from his pals James Comey and Vladimir Putin.

    • cajaybird says:

      Taking action to stop Blacks from killing each other is racist? Women are very prominent in the Trump organization. There is too much evidence that refutes your description of your President.

    • koleanui says:

      You mean, like activist Judges,like Sotomyaor who said”….only hispanic women know the law”The Supreme court , by our Founders, wa supposed to support and defend the Constitution not make law. Even Roberts re-wrote the Obama brief so it would pas SCOTUS. If Washington etc. were alive today he would have thrown him down the court stairs!

  4. koleanui says:

    DeaR Craig…the economics of rent control(and the there are many historic articles on these outcomes) is that it causes even more decrease in rental availability. The owner/managers cannot continue to keep rents low if their taxes and costs go up., so they simply get out of don’t rent anymore.
    If you want rentals to increase ypu need to offer incentives for builders and managers not “whips”.

  5. DannoBoy says:

    I know a current Iolani student (an A student) who transferred from another school. I was curious and asked him about the school.

    He told me that his chemistry teacher was no good and the others had an even worse reputation amongst students. To a large degree students had to be “self taught” in spite of a teacher who apparently got by more on charisma than understanding chemistry. Instead of doing real experiments, they did things like bake cakes from scratch to teach about measuring and mixing ingredients and other projects best described as arts and crafts (this is high school chemistry). I was shocked.

    His AP physics teacher was very odd man who struggled to get concepts across to the class (but other teachers had better reputations).

    The math teachers have been strong, but surprisingly, he felt the best teachers at Iolani are in English and History.

    He didn’t know too much about foreign language department, but his teachers had been fine.

    He said that his PE teacher was notoriously creepy toward female students.

    The facilities are excellent. He described his classmates as uptight, driven and not very friendly.

    His parents pay $23,000 per year. You’d think for that $$$ you’d get decent chemistry and physics instruction. They better fix that before the rich Chinese start sending their kids to Iolani.

  6. nogmo says:

    Zuckerberg’s wall says it all.

    • sailfish1 says:

      Get real! All wealthy people have walled compounds. Even the average homeowner has a wall or fence around most of their property – in fact, I have never seen property anywhere that didn’t have walls or fences.

    • wiliki says:

      Kauai used to have a policy of public ownership of land along the beach in IIRC the 50’s and 60’s.

      It’s a good policy. It’s kept a lot of beachfront land on the Waianae Coast from development. But I guess on Kauai it has hindered economic development and the policy has been rescinded a long time ago.

      On either side of his property, there should be an access strip of land to the beach and he is required by the state to maintain the strip. The public has an easement on the strip. It’s for free beach access.

  7. Cellodad says:

    In some sense, I kind of agree with Mark Terry. Strict Constitutional Constructionists would interpret the Constitution’s literal meanings. For example, a truly conservative Constructionist Court would limit the right to keep and bear arms to bodies like the National Guard and Police organizations which meet the definition of a “Well Regulated Militia.”

  8. fiveo says:

    Zuterberg is your typical liberal hypocrite. Do not understand why he wants a private secluded and exclusive estate on Kauai when he could go to Communist China and would be
    welcomed with open arms by his ChiComs comrades who have the same low opinion of the people they rule and could live there like a king/emperor and have many serfs to
    serve his every whim. Really wish he would go there. Maybe he does not understand that he is about a 100 years too late. He would have been at home during the time here in
    Hawaii, where the sugar planters and eventually the Big Five held sway and the workers were nothing more than indentured slaves.

    • hywnsytl says:

      WOW what a bunch of lies and reaching conclusions from posters supporting TRUMP. He won so keep quiet already.
      Zuck and his fellow billionaires in silicon valley are doomsday fanatics and want to build there compounds to be safe. Idiots, like we wouldn’t bust the wall down if he had food.

    • wiliki says:

      Baloney… I like to read the Bloomberg News Magazine and everything I’ve read about Zukerberg is that he is no Apple Jobs.

      He’s from a nerdy background rather than marketing, but he’s been smart enough to keep control of his company even though FaceBook has grown exponentially when many founders cannot manage – including Jobs.

      His acquisitions have had a great strategic impact on FaceBook although there was concern that he made bad decisions. Chances are that he will contribute to our economy in the long term and perhaps expand some FaceBook functions to Kauai as he gets older and learns to really appreciate our wonderful weather here and would want to spend more time here.

      Another tech leader Omidyar of eBay has contributed to our beautiful islands. We should welcome this kind of interest in Hawaii. And let’s not forget the island of Lanai.

  9. wiliki says:

    Free preschool for needy kids.

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