Hawaii’s hard-Left Democratic senator Brian Schatz, ever-eager to join the chorus of anti-Israel activists and the &#8220;horseshoe&#8221; Right in vilifying the Jewish state, found himself in the crosshairs of reality this week after peddling a blatant falsehood regarding President Trump’s leadership.
Following the decisive U.S. and Israeli strikes on the Iranian regime’s nuclear infrastructure — an operation necessitated by the regime’s own admission that they were a week away from a bomb — Schatz took to X to suggest the American Commander-in-Chief was MIA. “Why is the Prime Minister of Israel going on TV to explain this war and not the President of the United States?” Schatz demanded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Why is the Prime Minister of Israel going on TV to explain this war and not the President of the United States?
&mdash; Brian Schatz (@brianschatz) <a href="https://twitter.com/brianschatz/status/2028643018757038174?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The only problem? It was a complete fabrication. Schatz was immediately taken to task by observers who pointed out that President Trump had already addressed the nation, providing the very clarity Schatz claimed was missing.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Trump literally did this morning.
So did Hegseth.
So did Vance.
So did Rubio.
Such a pathetic attempt here.
&mdash; Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) <a href="https://twitter.com/EYakoby/status/2028660035711091082?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The administration did explain this, including the president himself . 
PM Netanyahu did not give an address to the nation, He simply gave an interview to Shawn Hannity, as he frequently does. 
Go touch some grass dear.
&mdash; Lola (@Lola90408) <a href="https://twitter.com/Lola90408/status/2028773722828509230?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
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The Senator’s attempt to frame the conflict as being driven solely by Jerusalem, rather than a joint effort to neutralize an existential threat, was a transparent play to the radical base of the Democratic Party and the horseshoe Right.
Schatz’s dishonesty on social media follows a pattern of hysterical opposition to the administration’s foreign policy. He quickly labeled the strike a “war of choice” and a “mistake,” clinging to the failed Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) as if a piece of paper would stop a regime that Trump negotiator Steve Witkoff <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UxoVFhzMn4A">revealed</a> was &#8220;proud&#8221; of evading oversight to build 11 nuclear bombs. “Had President Trump stuck to negotiations or not exited the JCPOA, this could have been avoided,” he hyperventilated.
This is the same senator who recently likened the administration’s actions against Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to the Iraq War, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEnufJ0T7t0&amp;t=2s">calling</a> the incursion a “fantasy” and a “dumb war.” Ironically, considering the mission was a huge success, he concluded, “We all know how this is likely to end, and it will not be good for us.”
Schatz has even gone so far as to <a href="applewebdata://823629BC-F5DC-4E69-984C-885F0E79D6F2/attacked">accuse</a> the President of “making people poorer on purpose,” bizarrely claiming Trump was more focused on a “$300 million ballroom” than the cost of living.
Whether it’s the economy or national security, Schatz seems less interested in the facts and more interested in a &#8220;peace at any price&#8221; narrative — even if that price is a nuclear-armed Iran.

Senate Dems Presser

Dem Senator Shredded After Falsely Claiming Trump Remained Silent On Iran Strike

Benjamin Netanyahu

Brian Schatz

Donald Trump

Hawaii

Iran

On Tuesday, there was a hearing at the Supreme Court regarding a law in Hawaii that bans guns from being carried into supermarkets, gas stations, and other public locations without the property owner’s permission.
Instead of property owners issuing a statement saying, “You can&#8217;t come in here with a gun,” the idea would be that you wouldn&#8217;t be able to walk in with a gun unless the shop owner gives you explicit permission.  
This is the opposite of how the Second Amendment is supposed to work. It is quite possible under the Second Amendment for people to say, “You can&#8217;t come into my establishment carrying a gun,” but this argument would reverse that presumption.
Justice Samuel Alito said the state was relegating the Second Amendment to second-class status.
The Supreme Court ruled that people have a constitutional right to carry outside the home for self-defense in 2022, but now lawmakers are attempting some sort of back door to prevent people from doing that. The law is similar to restrictions that already exist in California, Maryland, New York, and New Jersey as well.  
A truly bizarre moment in the hearing came when Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson — who&#8217;s become infamous for making dumb comments in the middle of oral arguments — decided that she was going to talk about the “Black Codes.” The codes were legitimately created by racists in order to prevent black people from owning guns. She was talking about them as precedent.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></div>
SCOTUSBlog <a href="https://www.scotusblog.com/2026/01/court-to-hear-oral-argument-on-law-banning-guns-on-private-property/">noted</a> the argument against the law made by its opponents:
<blockquote>In upholding Hawaii’s ban, they say, the court of appeals relied on two laws, neither of which is analogous. The first was a 1771 New Jersey law that barred poaching on lands that were closed to the public. But that law, the challengers wrote, “simply codified the American rule that hunters could hunt on unimproved lands not their own, while improved lands remained off limits. That is a trespass law,” they concluded, rather than a law that – like Hawaii’s – generally prohibits “carrying firearms on any and all private property without advance express consent.” 
And the second, the challengers continue, was an 1865 Louisiana law, enacted as part of that state’s Black Codes to restrict the rights of formerly enslaved people, that barred the carrying of guns on “premises or plantations” – that is, private property – without the owner’s consent.</blockquote>
Jackson said, “The fact that the Black Codes were, at some later point, determined, themselves, to be unconstitutional, doesn&#8217;t seem to me to be relevant to the assessment that Bruen is asking us to make. So, can you say more about that?”
Sarah Harris, the U.S. Principal Deputy Solicitor General, responded, “Absolutely. Black Codes were unconstitutional from the moment of their inception, because they are pretextual laws that are designed to ensure that newly-freed slaves are returned to a condition of sharecropping.”
Jackson: “Okay, let me stop you there. They were not deemed unconstitutional at the time that they were enacted. They were part of the history and tradition of the country. And when we have a test now that&#8217;s asking us to look at what people were doing back then, I don&#8217;t understand why they should be excluded.”
Harris: “Because they are outliers. They are, by definition, unconstitutional.”
Jackson: “Afterwards, not at the time. And if the test says what is happening at the time tells us what’s constitutional for this purpose, why aren’t they in?”
Harris: “Respectfully, a law is always unconstitutional from its inception.”
Jackson: “So the history doesn&#8217;t matter. We shouldn’t care about the history, then.”
Jackson seems to be making the argument that when Dred Scott was ruled unconstitutional, the reversal of the decision doesn’t mean that Dred Scott was ever wrong.
This is a truly bizarre agreement she’s making.
She’s implying that Plessy v. Ferguson, which said that segregation under the Equal Protection laws was fully legal, was good constitutional law, and only later was reversed. That means that if there was a subtextual or secondary part of that law, we should look to it as good law even though the Supreme Court’s ruling was a bad decision.
This is absolutely incoherent and nonsensical.

The U.S. Supreme Court Poses For Official Group Photo

Justice Jackson Defends Racist Black Codes As Constitutional History

Ben Shapiro

Blacks

Guns

Ketanji Brown Jackson

Leftists

Opinion

Second Amendment

Supreme Court

WASHINGTON—One of the main blue-state plaintiffs suing the Trump administration for sharing Medicaid beneficiary data with the Department of Homeland Security cannot produce evidence showing that the policy causes harm, filings first shared with The Daily Wire show.
Hawaii joined California and 18 other states in the suit, which contends that sharing Medicaid data with Homeland Security puts beneficiaries in harm’s way and at risk for deportation.
America First Legal submitted records demands for documents showing any data leaks or improper disclosures, instances of Medicaid information reaching immigration authorities, increased hospital costs or uncompensated care, drops in enrollment or reluctance from noncitizens, any administrative burden, any deaths or adverse patient outcomes, and interference with the state’s ability to administer Medicaid.
Filings viewed by The Daily Wire show that Hawaii could not produce any documents on these topics, and the state’s reasoning was that it does not have the records for these requests. America First Legal maintains that this shows that the state has no evidence to back up its claim that the Trump policy causes harm.
“The State of Hawaii produced a declaration stating, ‘As far as Med-QUEST is aware, CMS has not disclosed Medicaid PII data for Hawai‘i Medicaid enrollees to date,’” said America First Legal Vice President Dan Epstein, adding: “Case closed.”
Hawaii’s Medicaid program, Med-QUEST, is administered by the state’s Department of Human Services. Court filings show that Med-QUEST already shares protected health information with the federal government every month.
“Med-QUEST provides health coverage to 400,000 low-income Hawaii residents,” the court filings state. “In addition, Hawaii administers federally funded emergency Medicaid benefits that provide emergency care and services to individuals regardless of their immigration status.”
“Med-QUEST routinely shares protected health information concerning Hawaii residents and their use of Medicaid healthcare services with CMS. Med-QUEST sends data to T-MSIS on a regular basis, and also responds to occasional CMS requests for additional information concerning Medicaid claims and the use of federal dollars.”
Yet Hawaii claimed in court that the Trump policy sharing Medicaid data with DHS would harm the state. America First Legal is arguing that since Hawaii can’t produce the records it requested, Hawaii appears to lack “a concrete and particularized injury from the Trump Administration’s action,” and should not be able to proceed.
The legal group had similar victories over California and Washington in these states’ cases against the Trump administration: California and Washington had sued over Trump’s executive order on “Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government” as well as his order on “Protecting The Meaning and Value of American Citizenship.”
“Without actual harm, Hawaii lacks standing to sue,” Epstein said in a statement on Tuesday. “The American people deserve better than having the federal courts clogged with political theater that obstructs the policies of a popularly elected President.”

President Trump Spends Weekend At Mar-A-Lago Estate In Palm Beach

Hawaii Says Trump’s Medicaid Policy Is Harmful. They Can’t Prove It.

Medicaid

The Coast Guard said Thursday that it encountered a Russian military vessel just outside of American territorial waters near Hawaii last month. 
The incident took place on October 29, after the Coast Guard detected a Russian vessel 15 miles off the coast of Oahu. Territorial waters extend 12 miles out from the shore, meaning that the Russian ship was within three miles of U.S. territorial waters. 
In response to the ship, the Coast Guard said that it conducted “a safe and professional overflight and transiting” near the Russian vessel involving an HC-130 Hercules airplane from Air Station Barbers Point and the William Hart, a Coast Guard cutter. 
“The U.S. Coast Guard routinely monitors maritime activity around the Hawaiian Islands and throughout the Pacific to ensure the safety and security of U.S. waters,” said Captain Matthew Chong, the chief of response for the Coast Guard Oceania District. “Working in concert with partners and allies, our crews monitor and respond to foreign military vessel activity near our territorial waters to protect our maritime borders and defend our sovereign interests.”
The Russian vessel was an intelligence ship <a href="https://odin.tradoc.army.mil/WEG/Asset/Vishnya_Class_%28Project_864_Class%29_Russian_Intelligence_Collection_Ship">built</a> in 1986 for the Soviet Union and was equipped with close-in weapon systems and surface-to-air missile launchers.
The Coast Guard said that it was “monitoring the Russian vessel’s activities near U.S. territorial waters to provide maritime security for U.S. vessels operating in the area and to support U.S. homeland defense efforts.”
Tensions have been elevated between Russia and the United States in recent weeks after President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-sounds-alarm-china-and-russia-conducting-secret-nuke-tests">directed</a> the military to conduct new nuclear weapon tests. Energy Secretary Chris Wright said that upcoming U.S. testing would involve systems checks, not nuclear detonations. 
Trump said last week that the reason for the move was because of secret tests by Russia and China, suggesting that they may be conducting tests underground. 
“Russia’s testing, and China’s testing, but they don’t talk about it. You know, we’re an open society. We’re different. We talk about it. We have to talk about it, because otherwise you people are going to report,” Trump said. “We’re going to test, because they test and others test.”
Russia has denied Trump&#8217;s allegations and <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/nuclear-warning-russia-us-vladimir-putin-marco-rubio-11041023">said</a> that it would “respond in kind” if the U.S. moved forward with nuclear testing.

MixCollage-14-Nov-2025-09-07-AM-8503

Coast Guard Spots Russian Spy Ship Just Miles From American Waters

Coast Guard

Military

Nuclear Weapons

Politics

Russia

When Warrior Chief Kaʻiana discovers he&#8217;s been manipulated into massacring the peaceful villagers of the island of O’ahu, Apple TV+&#8217;s &#8220;Chief of War&#8221; reveals a disturbing truth about power that transcends any single culture or era. This historical drama, starring Jason Momoa, follows the former Kauaʻi chief who made his home on Maui in self-exile, disgusted by the violent nature of Kauai’s King Kahekili. When Kahekili draws him back under false pretenses — claiming the young king of O&#8217;ahu poses a threat to Maui — Kaʻiana reluctantly participates in what becomes a massacre that turns out to be a peaceful farming community whose king honored the same peaceful ideals Kaʻiana himself embodied.
Set against the backdrop of increasing British arrivals and the looming unification of Hawaiʻi under Kamehameha I, the series examines the collision between noble intentions and brutal realities. Kamehameha&#8217;s unification campaign involved systematic warfare across the island chain, employing both traditional Hawaiian tactics and newly acquired Western firearms — a cruel irony that mirrors the show&#8217;s central themes of violence in pursuit of ostensibly noble goals. This historical trajectory proves grimly prophetic: the unified Kingdom of Hawaiʻi eventually fell to American and European colonization in 1893, became a U.S. territory in 1898, and was subsequently admitted as a U.S. state in 1959 — exactly as the native Hawaiians had feared when they first witnessed increasing numbers of white men discovering their islands.
&#8220;Chief of War&#8221; weaves together several powerful themes: preserving the cultural identity of native Hawaiian people, examining the practical ideals of unification alongside the horrific violence that ensued in this pursuit, and exploring the moral complexities of leadership during times of both internal warfare and external threats from forces seeking to subjugate the kingdom. These themes resonate well with contemporary American political discourse, where we continually hear from the progressive left that America is fundamentally a nation of occupiers and usurpers — a country built on the backs of those it has enslaved and subjugated, requiring comprehensive amends for historical injustices against enslaved blacks, native Americans, and islanders now under its rule. This narrative has shaped everything from reparations debates to land acknowledgments, creating a political narrative that often reduces complex historical realities to simple victim-oppressor dynamics.
<div id="attachment_964015" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-964015" class="size-large wp-image-964015" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225039360-864x576.jpg" alt="KAPOLEI, HAWAII - JULY 18: Jason Momoa attends the world premiere of the Apple TV+ drama series &quot;Chief of War&quot; at Ko Olina Beach Park on July 18, 2025 in Kapolei, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225039360-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225039360-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225039360-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/08/GettyImages-2225039360.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />KAPOLEI, HAWAII &#8211; JULY 18: Jason Momoa attends the world premiere of the Apple TV+ drama series &#8220;Chief of War&#8221; at Ko Olina Beach Park on July 18, 2025 in Kapolei, Hawaii. (Photo by Darryl Oumi/Getty Images)</div>
While America should fully acknowledge its horrific past of enslavement, betrayals, and subjection of indigenous peoples, these actions represent examples of the universal human condition rather than uniquely European evil. In &#8220;Chief of War,&#8221; we witness the violent, power-hungry Kahekili betraying his own nephew, manipulating him as an instrument of war against the peaceful people of O&#8217;ahu. This demonstrates that even without the threat of European colonization, the capacity for both evil and good exists within all cultures and peoples. The primary difference lies in scale — violence, war, and betrayal among a small group of islands operates by the same moral principles as similar actions across an entire continent.
This pattern of moral complexity extends particularly to American slavery. Few Americans are aware that without direct African involvement, there would have been no trans-Atlantic slave trade. Professor and historian Henry Louis Gates Jr. notes in a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/23/opinion/23gates.html">New York Times opinion</a> article that colonial conquests of Africa&#8217;s interior didn&#8217;t occur until the late 1800s. For centuries prior, European explorers remained close to coastal forts, depending entirely on Africans to sell those they had enslaved to European traders who would transport these slaves to the New World — accounting for 90% of the slave trade. Gates poses the salient question we should all consider: why do Americans place blame solely at the feet of Europeans when their success was entirely dependent on the slave-trading kingdoms of western and central Africa?
Similarly, we should also examine the argument that pre-Columbian America was entirely populated by peaceful natives prior to European colonization. Historical evidence reveals this narrative is incomplete. While European arrival undeniably brought devastating new diseases, conflicts over land, and systematic violence as settlers expanded into the continent&#8217;s interior, warfare and conflict among tribes existed long before this period. Archaeological evidence confirms ongoing competition for resources and territorial disputes among various Native American tribes.
This analysis doesn&#8217;t suggest that Europeans were justified in their atrocities against other people groups. America&#8217;s history is written in blood, and there can be no denial of the utter brutality involved in its making. However, judging historical figures by contemporary moral standards is highly problematic. All humans are creatures of their time, and many of us descend from those who formed America, for good or ill. Thus, no one in the present day can reasonably (or should) claim how they would have responded to any given circumstance in the distant past.
We must recognize there is only one race — the human race — and only one condition — the human condition. &#8220;Chief of War&#8221; reminds us that moral complexity, the capacity for both violence and nobility, isn&#8217;t unique to any particular people — it is the universal burden and potential of being human. &#8220;Chief of War&#8221; ultimately challenges viewers to abandon the comfortable simplicity of America’s increasing echo chambers of tribal thought by embracing the difficult work of understanding humanity&#8217;s capacity for both cruelty and compassion across all cultures and eras.
* * *
Walter Myers III is a Senior Fellow at Discovery Institute.
The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.

MixCollage-22-Aug-2025-09-06-AM-328

‘Chief Of War’ Challenges The Myth Of ‘Peaceful Natives’ Before Colonization

'Chief Of War' Challenges The Myth Of 'Peaceful Natives' Before Colonization

Apple

Entertainment

Hollywood

indigenous

Jason Momoa

Native Americans

Tsunami waves caused by a massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake off the east coast of Russia hit Hawaii, California, and Washington late Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
Maui reported waves as high as 5.7 feet, while Crescent City, California, saw waves up to 3.6 feet, NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/live-blog/live-updates-hawaii-tsunami-warning-hours-russia-earthquake-rcna221881">reported</a>. While the strongest tsunami surges appear to be over for Hawaii, Alaska, and much of the West Coast, <a href="https://www.tsunami.gov/">warnings</a> remain in effect for parts of Northern California, including Eureka and Crescent City.
The National Weather Service office in Eureka, California, said early Wednesday morning that &#8220;Tsunami activity is continuing to build this morning as we approach the 4 AM minor high tide.&#8221;
&#8220;Continue to avoid beaches and harbors as tsunami activity will persist,&#8221; the NWS added.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Tsunami activity is continuing to build this morning as we approach the 4 AM minor high tide. Maximum confirmed heights for our coast so far:
Crescent City: 3.6 Ft Humboldt Bay: 1.2 Ft Arena Cover: 3.0 Ft
Continue to avoid beaches and harbors as tsunami activity will persist. <a href="https://t.co/ellGAUW9C7">pic.twitter.com/ellGAUW9C7</a>
&mdash; NWS Eureka (@NWSEureka) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSEureka/status/1950493912381919733?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The NWS issued a strong warning for Crescent City and Humboldt Bay just after midnight local time, saying, &#8220;The first Tsunami waves are beginning to impact the coast with clear waves being recorded at the Crescent City and Humboldt Bay tide gauges. Waves will continue to build in through the night and will become more dangerous as we approach high tide. Stay away from beaches!&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
The first Tsunami waves are beginning to impact the coast with clear waves being recorded at the Crescent City and Humboldt Bay tide gauges. 
Waves will continue to build in through the night and will become more dangerous as we approach high tide. Stay away from beaches! <a href="https://t.co/EKR5gZukCH">pic.twitter.com/EKR5gZukCH</a>
&mdash; NWS Eureka (@NWSEureka) <a href="https://twitter.com/NWSEureka/status/1950463263902204270?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Northern California is especially prone to damage from tsunamis, as waves are often stronger in the area and reach higher in harbors than in other parts of the West Coast, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, USA Today <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/07/29/magnitude-8-7-earthquake-russia-tsunami-alert/85432493007/">reported</a>.
No deaths or severe structural damage have been reported in Alaska, Hawaii, or the West Coast as of Wednesday morning. Evacuation orders for Hawaii were <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2025/07/29/magnitude-8-7-earthquake-russia-tsunami-alert/85432493007/">lifted</a> hours after they were issued as the surge calmed. Emergency officials in the state said that they did not expect any widespread flooding, giving residents the all-clear to return to their homes, but adding that people should &#8220;remain cautious in or near the water. &#8230; Stay away from beaches, shorelines, and out of the ocean.&#8221;
Tsunami waves hit Washington state shortly after midnight local time, but officials said that though &#8220;strong and unusual&#8221; currents were likely, they did not expect any coastal inundation. For Oregon, officials downgraded a tsunami watch to an advisory, but still warned people to stay away from the shore.
While Alaska&#8217;s warning was also downgraded to an advisory, forecasters said that currents at beaches, inlets, and harbors could remain dangerous for days. The coast of British Columbia, Canada, also remains under a tsunami advisory.
The 8.8 magnitude earthquake off of Russia&#8217;s remote east coast was in the top 10 strongest earthquakes in recorded history, and the biggest since 2011. Japan and some Pacific islands also issued tsunami warnings and advisories after the quake. Waves reached the U.S. territory of Guam in the early morning hours, with waves reaching up to a foot high and bringing the potential of minor flooding and strong currents. As tsunami alerts went out, nearly two million people in Japan were told to evacuate. The country later <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/live/c3r4x9yrrg4t">downgraded</a> its warnings to advisories.

Tsunami

Tsunami Waves Crash Into West Coast, Alaska, Hawaii

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A magnitude 8.7 earthquake struck off Russia&#8217;s Far Eastern Kamchatka Peninsula on Wednesday, generating a tsunami of up to 4 metres (13 feet), damaging buildings and prompting evacuation warnings in the area and across most of Japan&#8217;s east coast, officials said.
&#8220;Today&#8217;s earthquake was serious and the strongest in decades of tremors,&#8221; Kamchatka Governor Vladimir Solodov said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app, adding that a kindergarten was damaged.
A tsunami with a height of 3-4 metres (10-13 feet) was recorded in parts of Kamchatka, Sergei Lebedev, regional minister for emergency situations said, urging people to move away from the shoreline of the peninsula.
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake was shallow at a depth of 19.3 km (12 miles), and was centred 126 km (80 miles) east-southeast of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, a city of 165,000 along the coast of Avacha Bay. It revised the magnitude up from 8.0 earlier.
The Japan Weather Agency upgraded its warning, saying it expected tsunami waves of up to 3 metres (10 feet) to reach large coastal areas starting around 0100 GMT. Broadcast NHK said evacuation orders had been issued by the government for some areas.
Factory workers and residents in Japan&#8217;s northern Hokkaido evacuated to a hill overlooking the ocean, footage from broadcaster TBS showed.
&#8220;Please evacuate quickly. If you can move quickly to higher ground and away from the coast,&#8221; a newscaster on Japanese public broadcaster NHK said.
The U.S. Tsunami Warning System also issued a warning of &#8220;hazardous tsunami waves&#8221; within the next three hours along some coasts of Russia, Japan, Alaska and Hawaii. A tsunami watch was also in effect for the U.S. island territory of Guam and other islands of Micronesia.
Hawaii ordered evacuations from some coastal areas. &#8220;Take Action! Destructive tsunami waves expected,&#8221; the Honolulu Department of Emergency Management said on X.
An evacuation order for the small town of Severo-Kurilsk, south of the Kamchatka peninsula, was declared due to the tsunami threat, Sakhalin Governor Valery Limarenko said on Telegram.
Several people sought medical assistance following the quake, Oleg Melnikov, regional health minister told Russia’s TASS state news agency.
&#8220;Unfortunately, there are some people injured during the seismic event. Some were hurt while running outside, and one patient jumped out of a window. A woman was also injured inside the new airport terminal,” Melnikov said.
“All patients are currently in satisfactory condition, and no serious injuries have been reported so far.”
The Kamchatka branch of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences said it was a very powerful earthquake.
&#8220;However, due to certain characteristics of the epicentre, the shaking intensity was not as high &#8230; as one might expect from such a magnitude,&#8221; it said in a video on Telegram.
“Aftershocks are currently ongoing &#8230; Their intensity will remain fairly high. However, stronger tremors are not expected in the near future. The situation is under control.”
Kamchatka and Russia&#8217;s Far East sit on the Pacific Ring of Fire, a geologically active region that is prone to major earthquakes and volcanic eruptions.
(Reporting by Anusha Shah Nilutpal Timsina and Mrinmay Dey in Bengaluru, Lidia Kelly in Melbourne and Satoshi Sugiyama in Tokyo; Writing by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Stephen Coates)

Hawaii tsunami evacuation area sign

Powerful Quake Causes Tsunami, Endangering U.S., Russia, And Japan

earthquake

Japan

Natural Disaster

U.S.

Kids who came of age in the early aughts know that ohana means family. And family means nobody is left behind.
Disney’s 2002 animated film “Lilo &amp; Stitch” tells the story of a young Hawaiian girl named Lilo, who lives with her older sister, Nani, after their parents passed away. As Nani struggles to keep Lilo out of the foster system, they adopt what they think is a dog, but it is actually a mischievous, loving alien named Stitch. Together, they defy those trying to tear them apart, proving that &#8220;ohana means family, and family means no one gets left behind or forgotten.&#8221;
The movie was a smash, which in Disney terms means it was a prime target for a live-action remake. And unlike Disney’s disastrous attempt to revive “Snow White,” the new “Lilo &amp; Stitch” has been a smash, raking in over $600 million to date.
But that doesn’t mean “Lilo &amp; Stitch” is free from drama. The remake has Nani giving Lilo up to a neighbor so she can chase a college scholarship in San Diego, radically rejecting traditional family values in favor of personal ambition. What was once a story about resilience, dedication, and familial loyalty becomes just another justification for the pursuit of self-fulfillment.
It’s an odd choice, particularly considering that no one seemed to have a problem with the original. And unlike “Snow White,” the “Lilo and Stitch” remake has garnered criticisms from both sides of the aisle: conservatives say the new ending is yet another instance of Disney trampling on family values, while <a href="https://x.com/CocoaFox023/status/1925888279271928310" target="_blank" rel="noopener">leftists say</a> the film is “sanitizing the critique of American colonialism [through] organisations like CPS.”
So, why would Disney rejigger a classic in a way guaranteed to make everyone mad? One former Disney employee told The Daily Wire it likely has to do with a change in how the studio approaches moviemaking.
She said that when she began at the company, “the best business model at these big entertainment companies, especially with the children, teen, and family programming was to value the consumer and the majority of the time that means valuing their children and their families.”
But then, around 2020, she felt an “abrupt shift.”
“It didn&#8217;t really matter what the audience was telling us they wanted to see,” she explained. “It felt like the networks and producers were making agenda-driven decisions.”
The former Disney staffer added that while most of the audience consisted of “flyover state” moviegoers, the decision makers decided that they wanted to “educate” the audience and direct them on “the standard of how to act.”
“So I can see a creative meeting at Disney go something like: ‘How do we update ‘Lilo &amp; Stitch&#8217; to feel like it fits our world today?’ And the general sentiment would be that it&#8217;s not modern for a woman to forgo her dreams and stay home to take care of a loved one. In order to help her family, she needs to help herself.”
A quick glance at social media shows that this was a miscalculation.
“Remember in #LiloandStitch where Nani cared for Lilo very much and used every strength of her being to protect her and did anything keep her happy? Yeah in the live action remake she just leaves for college and the neighbors take Lilo in,” one commenter wrote.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Remember in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LiloandStitch?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LiloandStitch</a> where Nani cared for Lilo very much and used every strength of her being to protect her and did anything keep her happy? 
Yeah in the live action remake she just leaves for college and the neighbors take Lilo in <a href="https://t.co/J8ibGbgnLB">pic.twitter.com/J8ibGbgnLB</a>
&mdash; ChelseatheCartoonGal (@CartoonGal1) <a href="https://twitter.com/CartoonGal1/status/1925789653694636316?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 23, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Another person agreed, <a href="https://x.com/HalfTangible/status/1926091179101127057" target="_blank" rel="noopener">writing</a>, “Read the synopsis of the live action Lilo &amp; Stitch movie and bruh at least on paper it’s like they took the theme of the original and went ‘ok but what if we did the opposite of that.’”
One viral X <a href="https://x.com/fawfulfan/status/1928057098887135314">comment</a> with 13 million views from Matthew Chapman, a reporter for Raw Story, called out Disney for making the change.
(Warning: spoilers ahead.)
Chapman railed about how Disney “mutilated” the original message of the movie in a series of X posts. “If you liked the original, the ending of this movie completely destroys it. I am doing a public service by spoiling it for you,” he wrote.
“So, if you remember, the original movie, without ever talking about this directly, dropped VERY clever, subtle visual hints about just how much of Nani&#8217;s life she had to throw away to take care of her sister after their parents died. All the surfing trophies in her room etc,” his post read.
“Well, the remake is much more explicit and sets up this B-plot about Nani wanting to go to U.C. San Diego and become a marine biologist. And at the end, she just&#8230;gives custody of Lilo to David&#8217;s grandma and goes to college.”
“What the hell was this whole movie about then? What was the point of the sisters desperately trying to get social services to let them stay together?” he rages. “There were retroactively no stakes in this movie. No conflict. Who cares?”
“I&#8217;ve touched on this before, but my LEAST favorite modern Disney trope is when they end the movie by letting a main character just ‘go off and be free,’ and then sweep under the rug how many people and responsibilities they are leaving behind by doing that.”
“The original movie is about a broken family trying to heal, and put their love and support for each other over anything else. Apparently not anymore, now it&#8217;s about Nani just lifting the burden of Lilo off her shoulders and finding a way to put herself first,” Chapman wrote.
It’s not just conservatives questioning the new ending. Even leftist publications like The Daily Beast <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/obsessed/lilo-stitch-fans-livid-over-live-action-movies-new-ending/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reacted</a> negatively to the change. The writer called the bond between the sisters the “emotional core” of the story and highlighted all the negative reactions to Nani’s abrupt departure.
For many viewers, this rewrite isn’t just disingenuous; it’s culturally corrosive. It’s not a matter of just trading one touching tale for another — it’s a surrendering of virtues such as self‑denial, responsibility, and the importance of family.

Moviegoers attend showings of “Mission: Impossible” and “Lilo & Stitch” this Memorial Day weekend’s biggest films at AMC Century City

Disney Remade ‘Lilo & Stitch’ Without ‘Ohana.’ Here’s Why Everyone’s Mad.

Disney

Family Values

Foster Care

Movies

The Babylon Bee on Wednesday filed a legal challenge against a new Hawaii law that criminalizes political satire, accusing the state of violating citizens&#8217; First Amendment rights.
The satirical outlet filed its challenge along with Dawn O’Brien, a Honolulu voter who runs Instagram and Facebook accounts with thousands of followers where she posts political memes criticizing Democrats. The plaintiffs are accusing Hawaii of using &#8220;vague and overbroad terms&#8221; that allow state officials &#8220;unbridled enforcement&#8221; discretion to crack down on things like political memes online.
Last summer, Hawaii passed a <a href="https://legiscan.com/HI/text/SB2687/id/3005181" target="_blank" rel="noopener">law</a> that threatens jail time, fines, lawsuits, damages, and a 10-year disqualification from holding public office for posting certain political satire images online deemed &#8220;materially deceptive.&#8221;
The Babylon Bee and O&#8217;Brien are demanding that the courts block enforcement of the law and declare it unconstitutional.
&#8220;We&#8217;re used to getting pulled over by the joke police, but comedy isn&#8217;t a crime,&#8221; Seth Dillon, owner and CEO of The Babylon Bee, told The Daily Wire. &#8220;The First Amendment protects our right to tell jokes, whether it&#8217;s election season or not. We&#8217;ll never stop fighting to defend that freedom.&#8221;
The law bans &#8220;materially deceptive media in reckless disregard of the risk of harming the reputation or electoral prospects of a candidate in an election or changing the voting behavior of voters in an election,&#8221; a vague description, according to the legal challenge.
&#8220;Materially deceptive media&#8221; is defined as anything that &#8220;would cause a reasonable viewer or listener to believe that the depicted individual engaged in the speech or conduct depicted,&#8221; another vague description, the plaintiffs argue.
The law requires satirical content to include a &#8220;disclaimer&#8221; informing people that the content has been &#8220;manipulated&#8221; and depicts things that &#8220;did not occur.&#8221;
The legal challenge argues that adding a disclaimer forces The Babylon Bee and O&#8217;Brien, the Honolulu voter, to &#8220;incorporate Hawaii&#8217;s desired messages&#8221; into their content and robs their content of its &#8220;rhetorical force.&#8221;
&#8220;Because of their effectiveness and appeal, satire and parody have been used throughout American history to express matters of current interest — especially matters of politics and politicians,&#8221; the legal filing reads.
&#8220;That&#8217;s censorship plain and simple,&#8221; Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Mathew Hoffmann, who is representing the plaintiffs, told The Daily Wire.
&#8220;The bottom line is that we as the people exist in a self-governing society and we shouldn&#8217;t trust the government to set the terms for appropriate political debates,&#8221; Hoffmann said.
The law mentions &#8220;deepfakes&#8221; made by artificial intelligence, but Hoffmann cautioned that the law would apply &#8220;much more broadly.&#8221;
&#8220;What the law says is, digital content that basically depicts something that didn&#8217;t happen and that just risks harming someone&#8217;s reputation or electoral prospects, whatever that means,&#8221; he said. &#8220;So it wouldn&#8217;t just be deepfakes as colloquially understood. It&#8217;s really any digital content, any sort of images that may have been altered or Photoshopped, like what the Babylon Bee posts routinely online would be considered under this law to be materially deceptive.&#8221;
Hoffmann noted that political cartoons have long been protected in the United States, and that today&#8217;s memes are the &#8220;modern day&#8221; version of those cartoons. In addition, he said that the law will likely have a chilling effect on Hawaiians who may avoid posting &#8220;even questionable&#8221; satirical content out of fear it will be prosecuted.
&#8220;This law is of immense concern to all people in Hawaii or even entities like the Babylon Bee who post articles and images and funny memes that are viewable in Hawaii because they can be subject to criminal penalties simply for exercising their First Amendment rights,&#8221; Hoffmann said.

eff4a178-9989-481f-88f1-843cb78f6796

EXCLUSIVE: Babylon Bee Challenges Hawaii Law Targeting Political Satire

Babylon Bee Files Legal Challenge Against Hawaii Law Targeting Political Satire

Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF)

Babylon Bee

Censorship

Social Media Censorship

A body was found in the wheel well of a United Airlines flight that landed in Maui after taking off from Chicago on Christmas Eve.
The body was found when a Boeing 787-10 from United Airlines arrived in Hawaii at 2:12 p.m. local time on Tuesday after taking off from Chicago O’Hare International Airport at 9:31 a.m., The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/25/us/body-found-united-airlines-wheel-well-maui-hawaii.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. United said in a statement that the body was found &#8220;in the wheel well of one of the main landing gears on a United aircraft.&#8221; The Maui Police Department said the person, who has not been identified, was discovered dead.
“The wheel well was only accessible from outside of the aircraft,” United Airlines added, according to <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2024/12/25/us/united-airlines-plane-body-found-hawaii/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CNN</a>. “At this time, it is not clear how or when the person accessed the wheel well.”
The wheel well is a compartment under an aircraft that stores the landing gear and is usually a tight space — often smaller than the trunk of a car. In the past, people attempting to hitch a ride on an airplane have been crushed in the wheel well when the landing gear retracts, CNN reported.
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It remains unclear how the person on the United flight to Maui got onto the tarmac and into the wheel well. Dozens of stowaways have attempted to hitch illegal rides on airplanes by climbing into the wheel well, but multiple factors make it nearly impossible for a stowaway to survive a ride in the wheel well. As a plane reaches higher altitudes, oxygen levels drop and stowaways lose consciousness. Temperatures can also reach 75 degrees below zero. Nearly 80% of the roughly 130 people who have attempted to catch a ride on the outside of an airplane since 1947 have died, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/06/us/airplane-stowaways/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">according</a> to the Federal Aviation Administration.
Some people have survived the extreme conditions after hitching a ride on an airplane, and one person survived a brutal journey sitting in the wheel well of a plane that took off from the continental U.S. and landed in Hawaii. In 2014, a 15-year-old boy was <a href="https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/usanow/2014/04/21/stow-away-flight/7953325/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">found alive</a> in the wheel well of a Boeing 767 after a five-hour flight from San Jose to Maui. The FBI said the teen&#8217;s survival was a &#8220;miracle.&#8221;

United Airlines Boeing 787-10 Dreamleaner

Body Found In Wheel Well Of Plane After 9-Hour Flight To Hawaii

Airplane

Chicago

United Airlines

The deadly wildfire that killed 102 people and caused $5.5 billion in damages last year in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hawaii" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hawaii</a> was caused by a downed power line, according to a report released Wednesday from local and federal investigators. 
Officials with the Maui Fire Department and the ATF both <a href="https://www.mauicounty.gov/DocumentCenter/View/149693/FI23-0012446-Lahaina-Origin-and-Cause-Report_Plus-Appendix-A-B-C-Redacted" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that the August 8 fire that blazed through the island was determined to be one fire that arose from a “single origin and cause.” The investigators said the fire had a morning and afternoon phase and ruled it accidental. 
“The cause of the fire was the re-energization of broken utility lines which caused the ejection of molten metallic material (sparks) to fall to the base of pole 25, igniting the unmaintained vegetation below,” the report from the Maui Fire Department said, noting this happened at 6:34 a.m. 
A separate, but similar report from the ATF was attached as an appendix to the Maui Fire Department report. Both reports identified the same cause. 
Investigators added that the firefighters believed the blaze had been extinguished after they responded the morning of August 8. 
“Following the morning phase of the fire, all available indications showed the fire fully contained and extinguished—no flames, no smoke, and no perceptibly combusting material had been observed for hours,” the report said. “Despite the extraordinary diligence of personnel and the significant number of resources at the scene, undetected smoldering material from the morning phase of the fire initiated the afternoon phase of the fire in a gully adjacent to the existing fire area at [2:52 p.m.].”
The report said the surrounding vegetation made up of a variety of local grasses was highly flammable. The fire spread quickly due to “extreme winds” and most severely impacted Lahaina in West Maui. 
Investigators said there was no evidence that the fire was a result of intentional human activity or caused by lightning. 
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When commenting on the report, Assistant Maui Fire Chief Jeffrey Giesea said there was no blame for the firefighters who responded to the morning blaze.
“We want to make abundantly clear to the community that our firefighters went above and beyond their due diligence to be as confident as they could be that the fire was completely extinguished before they left the scene,” he <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2024/10/02/today-report-cause-origin-maui-wildfires-be-released/">said</a>.
State and local officials came under intense scrutiny over their handling of the fire. Some survivors <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maui-fire-survivors-say-authorities-blocked-only-paved-road-out-of-lahaina-as-town-burned-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> that police blocked roads leading away from the blaze, causing a traffic jam as people attempted to escape. 
Earlier this year, Hawaii Governor Josh Green <a href="https://governor.hawaii.gov/newsroom/office-of-the-governor-news-release-gov-green-announces-4-billion-global-settlement-in-principle-to-resolve-maui-wildfire-lawsuits/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> a $4 billion settlement to resolve a host of lawsuits brought by victims of the fire against a number of parties, including the state, county, and Hawaiian Electric company.

Over One Hundred Killed In Maui Wildfire Leaving The Town Of Lahaina Devastated

Investigators Identify Cause Of Deadly Maui Wildfire That Killed More Than 100

Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF)

General

Maui

Wildfires

“Pirates Of The Caribbean” actor and surfing legend Tamayo Perry was attacked by a shark and died as a result in Oahu, Hawaii, over the weekend. He was 49.
Perry, who appeared in Disney’s fourth installment of the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie franchise, was taking a break from lifeguarding duty when the attack occurred near Goat Island on Sunday, <a href="https://stabmag.com/news/iconic-pipeline-surfer-tamayo-perry-killed-by-shark-in-hawaii/">Stab magazine</a> reported.
The actor — who is not only an ocean safety lifeguard but also surfing instructor — was found by local surfers off Mālaekahana Beach on Oahu’s North Shore. When Perry was located he was missing an arm and leg, the outlet noted.
He was transported to the shore on Malaekahana Beach by emergency personnel who tried to resuscitate the surfer but moments later pronounced Perry dead.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Surfing legend <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TamayoPerry?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TamayoPerry</a> has died following a shark attack in Oahu, Hawaii. <a href="https://t.co/sYYqAh9u2L">https://t.co/sYYqAh9u2L</a> <a href="https://t.co/jBOiPAjVc8">pic.twitter.com/jBOiPAjVc8</a>
— New York Post (@nypost) <a href="https://twitter.com/nypost/status/1805228546182299658?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 24, 2024</a></blockquote>
Following the fatal attack, shark warning signs were put up in the area by ocean safety personnel, the <a href="https://nypost.com/2024/06/24/us-news/surfing-legend-and-pirates-of-the-caribbean-actor-tamayo-perry-killed-in-shark-attack-in-hawaii/">New York Post</a> noted.
Acting Honolulu ocean safety chief Kurt Lager said, “He’s well known on the North Shore. He’s a professional surfer known worldwide.”
“Tamayo’s personality was infectious and as much as people loved him, he loved everyone else more,” he added, noting that Perry was “a lifeguard loved by all.”
“Tamayo was a legendary waterman and highly respected,” Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi said, calling the surfer&#8217;s death “a tragic loss.”
Perry started his lifeguarding career in 2016 and worked as a lifeguard on the North Shore until the time of his death.
Besides keeping people safe in the ocean waters, Perry also appeared in several blockbuster movies such as the 2003 film “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” 2002 film “Blue Crush,” “Lost,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides,” and “Hawaii Five-0,” the Post noted.
Perry, who was born in 1975 in Hawaii, took to water and surfing from a very early age. As young as 12, the young surfer became known as the “up-and-coming local boy who had to borrow surfboards because he had no sponsors,” according <a href="https://www.eos.surf/encyclopedia/perry-tamayo">the Encyclopedia of Surfing</a>.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/details-of-horrifying-great-white-shark-attack-emerge-in-mexico-report" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Details Of Horrifying Great White Shark Attack Emerge In Mexico: Report</a>

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