The following is a transcript excerpt from Dr. Jordan Peterson’s tour stop in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Aoy08tjHlg" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Wheatland, California</a>. In this segment, he draws on previous philosophers’ writings to form thoughts on why we should not aim for happiness and what should be pursued instead.
Start time: 00:00 
The philosopher Kierkegaard wrote 150 years ago, and he was one of the first psychological philosophers who really wrote about anxiety. He regarded himself rather useless, all things considered. He wrote a section in one of his books about all the industrialists who were operating in Europe at that time, trying in every possible way to make life easier and more efficient and productive for everyone, which was definitely happening during the Victorian period; Europe was rapidly transforming into an industrial powerhouse. He said someone as useless as him with an orientation toward being a student who liked to sit and contemplate ideas, talk in cafes, and smoke cigars and drink could never make anything easier for anyone than everyone was already trying to make. So he thought his task would be to make things more difficult for people because there would come a time when what people wanted was not more ease but more challenge and difficulty. That is really smart — and it is witty and it is true.
Dostoevsky knew this too. He wrote about this in “Notes from Underground.” It is a great book — a very short, absolutely brilliant, compelling, dark read. It is the confession of a miserable, resentful, murderously genocidal bureaucrat who evaluates his own soul and confesses his sins. It is also a critique of the idea of utopia oriented toward security. Dostoevsky was dealing with the set of ideas that are really tearing us apart culturally right now — this idea of an eventual utopia, based on something like security and safety. Dostoevsky really objected to that back around 1860, a long time ago. He said the thing about people that you do not really understand is that fundamentally, we are ungrateful and we can curse; that is what distinguishes us from the animals — which I thought was pretty damn comical. But he said something very interesting: If you set up a utopia so that all people had to do was eat cakes and busy themselves with the continuation of the species, after a surfeit of that, which would happen quite quickly, people would go mad, just to break things so something unexpected and remarkable could happen. We are not built for security and safety but for, let’s call it, adventure.
That is good to know because you do not want to suffer unduly; that seems reasonable. You might think because of that, what you really want is happiness. But Solzhenitsyn, for example, wrote about what happened under Stalin in “The Gulag Archipelago” and said, if your goal is happiness, what are you going to do when the jackboots hammer down your door at two in the morning and haul you off to the prison camp? Because you are not going to be happy there.
Happiness is a boat that is easily capsized and the waves are always there. So if your philosophy is one of impulsive happiness — the same sort of thing Dostoevsky and Kierkegaard were pointing out — then you are not prepared when all hell breaks loose. And all hell will absolutely 100% break through at some point in your life, and you are lucky if it will not be decades. It will certainly be some of it and it might be a lot of it, and for some of you, it is going to be damn near the whole thing. So, if what floats your boat is happiness, you are going to be capsized by the first decent wave. You might ask yourself what you have instead of happiness that might be even more reliable, and I do think that adventure is more reliable than happiness.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/jordan-peterson" target="_blank" rel="noopener">WATCH: Exclusive Content From Dr. Jordan B. Peterson On DailyWire+</a></h4>
In the Old Testament story of Abraham, founder of the Abrahamic faiths and obviously a crucial figure in the development of world culture, Abraham is presented as a late bloomer, to say the least. He is about 83 (people lived longer back then, at least, so the story goes), and he had a very rich father by nomadic standards. He could just sit around in the tent all day with a doting mother and a rich father, eating peeled grapes and busying himself with the continuation of the species. But God appears to him and tells him to get out of his security, get out of his comfort, leave his family, leave his community, leave his nation, and go out into the world. It is very interesting to contemplate the story both from a psychological and religious perspective because what God is presented as in that book, which is a crucial book for world culture, is the manifestation of the spirit that calls even the too-secure and pampered to adventure.
Abraham is a pretty rough guy when he goes out and has his adventure. It is not all skittles and roses from then on, quite the contrary. Right away, he runs into a conspiracy of elites to steal his wife, he runs into tyranny, he runs into starvation, and he encounters war. He goes out in the world and has the whole tragedy of his life, on both the social and political front and individually. But the promise and the implication of adventure is that if you have a sufficient adventure, then that cannot so much protect you from suffering — because perhaps that is impossible — but to justify it. You know this from your own life. When you look at your life, you might look back at travails that you have undertaken.
End-of-life surveys that ask people what they regret have shown they do not regret what they did that did not work; they regret what they did not do that could have worked. They regret the chances they did not take. Even if you do an evaluation of your biography, one of the things you want to be able to say to yourself — maybe there is nothing better you can say to yourself — is: that was extraordinarily difficult but it was worth it. It is not like you can have one of those without the other because you cannot imagine that you could. Have some confidence in what you have managed to accomplish, the kind of confidence that would instill you with a genuine sense of self despite your fundamental inadequacy. To have that fundamental sense of self-regard that is grounded in something real, it has to be based in a narrative that approximates: That was extremely difficult, but it was worth it. You have to have both of those.
You see the suffering in the world: the suffering of children, the suffering of maybe your children, or you are suffering. One of the questions we always ask ourselves (which is technically a theodicy question) is: How could reality be constituted so I can have faith in its essence when there is so much suffering. One answer to that is: How much suffering do you want? You might think, none. But I do not think that is right — at least, you want something approximating optimized challenge. At least, you want to be pushed to your limit, and maybe you find the most exciting times in your life. In fact, you will pay to have this experience, to be pushed to your limit — maybe even a bit beyond it but maybe not so far beyond it that you crumble and break and things fall apart. But could you be pushed to your limit if there was not the possibility of falling apart and breaking? That is an open question. How are you ever going to take something seriously if the consequences are not actually serious? There is something delightful about dancing on the edge. That is why Hawaiians believe surfing was sacred; it is because to surf, you have to be on the edge. The waves can come and take you out at any moment, but without the possibility of the waves rising to take you out, you cannot dance on the edge — and maybe that is exactly what you want to do.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/black-friday-gift-guide" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CHECK OUT THE DAILY WIRE BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING GUIDE</a></h4>
There is good evidence from the neuroscience literature that consciousness itself is something akin to dancing on the edge. So technically when you are conscious (when you are awake), your brain is occupying a position between something like chaos and order. If your brain is maximally ordered, you are just bored and nothing is changing. If you are chaotic, then it is anxiety and catastrophe. You want to be positioned right between those two, and that is when your consciousness is optimized. When your consciousness is optimized, then you are deeply engaged in life and everything seems alive and meaningful. Maybe that is the solution, in some profound sense, to the problem of suffering. It is that you optimize your interaction with chaos rather than being protected all the time from everything that can hurt you.
To continue, listen or watch more content with Dr. Jordan Peterson on <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch">DailyWire+</a>. 
<a href="https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/">Dr. Jordan B. Peterson</a> is a clinical psychologist and professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. From 1993 to 1998 he served as assistant and then associate professor of psychology at Harvard. He is the international bestselling author of Maps of Meaning, 12 Rules For Life, and Beyond Order. You can now<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/the-jordan-b-peterson-podcast"> listen to</a> or<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/watch/jordan-peterson"> watch</a> his popular lectures on DailyWire+.

5JP_FOR_DW_GDWOODMAN057 (3) copy

A More Reliable And Meaningful Aim Than Happiness 

Bible

Communism

Hawaii

Jordan Peterson

Psychology

Readers Pass

Surfing

House Republicans are investigating the Biden administration&#8217;s response to the deadly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/maui" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maui</a> fires, questioning aspects of the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s handling of the catastrophe which left nearly 100 people dead and dozens missing, 
Republicans on the House Oversight and Accountability Committee and the Subcommittee on Government Operations sent a <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/letter-to-FEMA-re-Lahaina-fire-response.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">letter</a> to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fema" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FEMA</a> Administrator Deanne Criswell on Friday asking for a detailed description of how much aid the agency has provided, plans for housing federal responders, and how Hawaiians who lost their home doing the fires are being housed.
“The deadly wildfire in Maui shocked the nation and left many, especially those directly impacted by the tragedy, with serious questions that remain unanswered today. President Biden built his entire reputation on empathy and compassion but failed to deliver an appropriate response when it mattered most. To ensure locals are receiving the assistance they need, and taxpayer dollars being used effectively, the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability is taking action and seeking information from FEMA on all ongoing recovery efforts in Maui,” committee chair Rep. James Comer (R-KY) and Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) said in a <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/release/comer-sessions-oversight-republicans-launch-probe-into-biden-administrations-response-following-devastating-maui-wildfire/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">statement</a>.
In the letter, Comer and Sessions said that there had been reports of Hawaiians whose help was delayed because the FEMA responders lacked knowledge or authority to make decisions and red tape had slowed down the process. 
“Residents expressed frustration after waiting in line for considerable periods of time only to be given a number and told to call a different FEMA official. In other instances, they had been instructed to provide certain documentation, only to be told still more information would be required in order to receive benefits. We appreciate and share the desire to protect taxpayer interests, but we also encourage FEMA to streamline processes to the extent possible,” the lawmakers said.  
The lawmakers also asked Chriswell to respond to <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/08/24/anger-grows-fema-workers-stay-luxury-hotels-amid-maui-wildfires-disaster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reports</a> of FEMA employees staying in luxury hotels, asking for FEMA to give context for why house federal employees were housed. FEMA has previously responded by saying that the hotels in question had wanted to help and that the government workers needed somewhere to say while on the island. 
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
While initial reports indicated that the fires had claimed the lives of 115 people with hundreds missing, the numbers were just revised to show that 97 people were killed and only 31 people reported missing. 
“That number dropped a little bit because the Department of Defense and all of their physical anthropologists were able to help us discern better who was in cars or in houses,” Governor Josh Green (D-HI) <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2023/09/15/maui-fire-death-toll-missing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “So thank God, fewer people have passed away.”
Federal and state officials have been criticized for their response to the fires, which was the deadliest series of fires in years. President Joe Biden’s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-after-lounging-on-beach-says-no-comment-on-deadliest-wildfire-in-modern-u-s-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">public response</a> when asked about the fires was “no comment.”

Supplies are deliverd to Lahaina

House Republicans Investigating Biden Admin’s Response To Deadly Maui Fires

Biden Administration

Congress

Disasters

FEMA

James Comer

Maui

U.S.

Wildfires

Popular podcast host Joe Rogan unloaded on Governor Josh Green (D-HI) over comments he made about future plans for the land destroyed during the recent wildfires that ravaged Maui&#8217;s west coast and devastated the historic village of Lahaina.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/youre-not-saving-jack-s-joe-rogan-unloads-on-climate-activists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Rogan</a> spoke with former Rep. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/tulsi-gabbard-torches-biden-over-trump-prosecution-the-death-rattle-of-any-democracy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Tulsi Gabbard</a> (I-HI) about the horrific damages, and said he&#8217;d been shocked to see Green suggest that the state would take over some of the burned land to create a memorial.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
“How bout give the fucking people their homes back.”
Joe Rogan and Tulsi Gabbard on the government screwing over the residents of Maui to take their land. <a href="https://t.co/K2aaLNBWSo">pic.twitter.com/K2aaLNBWSo</a>
&mdash; Mythinformed (@MythinformedMKE) <a href="https://twitter.com/MythinformedMKE/status/1699863971505807546?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;A governor going on television after a massive tragedy, where you have — we don&#8217;t even know the number of people dead yet,&#8221; Rogan said. &#8220;You have this massive area that&#8217;s been burnt to the ground, and then he starts talking about taking it over for the state.&#8221;
&#8220;That&#8217;s an insane position to take, post tragedy — when people are suffering at their most, they can&#8217;t even believe it happened,&#8221; Rogan continued. &#8220;And then all of the sudden he&#8217;s saying we&#8217;re going to take it for the state and make a memorial? How about give the f***ing people their homes back?&#8221;
Rogan was responding to a news clip of Green, who told Hawaii&#8217;s KHON2 News about his plans for preserving Lahaina: &#8220;I&#8217;m already looking for ways for the state to acquire that land so we can put it into work force housing, we can put it back into families, or to make it open spaces in perpetuity as a memorial for people who were lost.&#8221;
Green later clarified that the goal was to prevent wealthy people from overseas from coming in and snapping up the land — which was why he had suggested the state should take it and preserve it first.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1694623921900000&amp;usg=AOvVaw3XU1JP8lJcdDsDJc593fTP">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
WATCH:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The realities of the scene on Front Street in Lahaina" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/JQIoWu19O5w?start=189&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Gabbard agreed with Rogan&#8217;s assessment on that particular point, and also criticized President Joe Biden&#8217;s overall response to the disaster.
&#8220;Hawaii has the highest cost of living in the entire country — the entire country,&#8221; Gabbard said. &#8220;And how fricking insulting is it to have the lead disaster response administrator from the Biden administration stand there and proudly say, &#8216;Hey, we&#8217;re giving everybody one $700 payment.'&#8221;

UFC 282: Ponzinibbio v Morono

‘Give The F***ing People Their Homes Back’: Joe Rogan Unloads On Hawaii Governor Over Plans For Lahaina

'Give The F***ing People Their Homes Back': Joe Rogan Unloads On Hawaii Governor Over Plans For Lahaina

Joe Rogan

Tulsi Gabbard

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/09/03/house-speaker-kevin-mccarthy-visit-maui-witness-damage-caused-by-wildfires-hold-press-conference/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">visited</a> the town of Lahaina on Saturday to tour what he described as the “sheer devastation” inflicted by the deadly wildfires last month.
During the visit, McCarthy focused on how to help residents rebuild after a fire practically destroyed the entire city of Lahaina on the island of Maui, which experienced a series of blazes. He also vowed to get to the bottom of what many say is a lackluster response by all levels of government, vowing to use the resources of Congress to investigate. 
“We want to get the resources to individuals that could rebuild their life, we’ve got to focus on the children for the schools, get them back into the education so they don’t miss out,” McCarthy <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4184849-mccarthy-travels-to-maui-after-deadly-wildfires/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>. “We will investigate to find out why did it happen, what went right, what went wrong, so other communities won’t ever have to see this,” he later added. 
The California Republican said the House would look into various factors that may have led to the rapid spreading of the fire and the inability to contain it, including overhead power lines, invasive grasses, resources for the fire department, and the adequacy of the county building codes, according to the <a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/09/gop-leader-promises-help-for-maui-and-an-investigation-into-the-deadly-wildfires/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Honolulu Civil Beat</a>. 
McCarthy was touring Lahaina with a bipartisan group of legislators, including Hawaii Democratic Rep. Jill Tokuda, Florida Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz, Ohio Republican Rep. David Joyce, and Idaho Republican Rep. Russ Fulcher. The investigation, according to the Speaker, should also be a bipartisan effort. 
“I&#8217;m in Hawaii right now with a bipartisan group of lawmakers because tragedies unite us as Americans. This isn’t a place for partisan politics,” McCarthy posted to X along with photos of his visit. “It is a place to say thank you to the first responders and to act quickly for the survivors as they rebuild after the deadly fire.” 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I&#39;m in Hawaii right now with a bipartisan group of lawmakers because tragedies unite us as Americans.
This isn’t a place for partisan politics. It is a place to say thank you to the first responders and to act quickly for the survivors as they rebuild after the deadly fire. <a href="https://t.co/9CoYstMXSH">pic.twitter.com/9CoYstMXSH</a>
&mdash; Kevin McCarthy (@SpeakerMcCarthy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SpeakerMcCarthy/status/1698147931243655325?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 3, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The death toll from the fires is at least 115, while there are 385 people still missing, according to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/total-missing-after-maui-fires-remains-near-400-after-governor-indicated-number-might-drop-under-100" target="_blank" rel="noopener">numbers</a> released by the FBI. But Hawaii Democratic Governor Josh Green says, “Exact numbers are going to take time, perhaps a long time, to become finalized.”
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
Two weeks ago, McCarthy <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-federal-response-seems-very-delayed-mccarthy-blasts-biden-administration-on-maui-fire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">called for</a> a congressional investigation into the fires, calling the federal government’s response “very delayed.” 
“We still have hundreds of individuals that are missing. I think there’s gonna have to be a congressional investigation in response of what happened. How could we lose that many Americans in today’s age?&#8221; McCarthy said at a Syracuse, New York, press conference. “The president’s response to have no comment? That’s unacceptable,” he added later. 
A week after McCarthy floated the idea, House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) announced a probe into the federal government’s response to the tragedy, <a href="https://dailycaller.com/2023/08/29/house-republicans-oversight-investigate-biden-response-maui-fires-hawaii/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">telling</a> the Daily Caller News Foundation, “Americans, especially those impacted by this tragedy, deserve answers.” 
In addition to the Oversight Committee’s investigation, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) <a href="https://energycommerce.house.gov/posts/e-and-c-republican-leaders-open-investigation-into-hawaiian-electric-following-deadly-maui-fires" target="_blank" rel="noopener">announced</a> an inquiry into Hawaiian Electric. Rodgers sent a letter to the electric company, the State Energy Office, and the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission “seeking information regarding the role of electric infrastructure in the August fires that broke out.”

Speaker McCarthy

Speaker McCarthy Visits Maui Following Deadly Wildfires: ‘We Will Investigate’

Kevin McCarthy

Politics

The total number of missing people from the devastating <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/maui" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maui</a> wildfires last month remains near 400 even as <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hawaii" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hawaii</a> Governor Josh Green said that he believed the number would drop below 100.
According to new <a href="https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-maui-lahaina-fire-property-offers-proclamation-5c4db4072dc4237da4213800444f4f17" target="_blank" rel="noopener">numbers released</a> on Friday by the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/fbi" target="_blank" rel="noopener">FBI,</a> there are still 385 people missing after fires tore through Maui and left at least 115 people dead. Last week, the number of missing people stood at 388. While 245 people were removed from last week&#8217;s list, another 242 people were added, keeping it at nearly the same number. 
The updates came a day after Green said he believed the number of missing was somewhere in the double digits.
&#8220;We think the number has dropped down into the double digits, so thank God,&#8221; Green said in a video posted to X. 
He responded to the new numbers by saying that exact numbers would take awhile to be complete. &#8220;Exact numbers are going to take time, perhaps a long time, to become finalized,&#8221; he told the Associated Press. 
The brunt of the fire damage destroyed Lahaina, where 60 mph winds rapidly spread the fire. The cause of the fire is still being investigated, but some have blamed downed power lines for starting the blaze. Hawaiian Electric has said that firefighters did not adequately put out an electrical fire that later reignited. 
Maui County <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maui-county-sues-hawaiian-electric-alleges-intentional-and-malicious-mismanagement-led-to-fires" target="_blank" rel="noopener">alleged in a lawsuit</a> that “intentional and malicious” mismanagement of power lines by Hawaiian Electric led to the deadly fires. 
The Maui Police Department <a href="https://www.mauicounty.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=12798" target="_blank" rel="noopener">indicated</a> on Friday that they have been able to identify 55 of the 115 victims. Fifty of the victims&#8217; families have been notified, while authorities are still working to notify families of the other five. 
Police have requested help in identifying both the missing and dead, asking the public to come forward with any relevant information. 
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1693504018745000&amp;usg=AOvVaw1RMMjCvCBOBYdpkw5O_njE">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
“If you have a loved one that you know is missing and you are a family member, it’s imperative that you get a DNA sample,” Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said.
The Maui wildfires, which were some of the worst in American history, have led to a host of scrutiny on Hawaiian officials who have faced criticism for not broadcasting the emergency siren and for reportedly blockading a road out of Lahaina due to downed power lines. 
Witnesses who <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">survived</a> the blaze said that traffic quickly backed up as residents attempted to flee to the south, but the road was blocked as a crew worked on downed power lines. One family ignored the barricade and swerved past the cones placed in the road, making it safely to another town nearly an hour later.

An aerial view of Lahaina devestation.

Total Missing After Maui Fires Remains Near 400 After Governor Indicated Number Might Drop Under 100

A Democrat state senator in <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hawaii" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hawaii</a> has announced his resignation over a potential conflict of interest between his political position and legal profession as lawsuits loom over the devastating <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/maui" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maui</a> wildfires that left at least 115 people dead and hundreds more missing. 
Maui Senator Gil Keith-Agaran will step down by October 31 after <a href="https://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/2023/08/30/lawmakers-potential-role-lawyer-fire-victims-described-an-ethical-gray-area/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">local media</a> outlets raised ethical concerns. 
According to the Honolulu Civil Beat, the controversy started after Keith-Agaran was featured in a flier for a community discussion on “Maui Wildfire Impact” with <a href="https://www.takitanilawmaui.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Takitani Agaran Jorgensen &amp; Wildman</a> and several other law firms. As vice chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, legal experts said that his political office might give him non-public information that could help him if he took on any cases related to the Maui fires. 
“I believe that this decision best serves the interests of the Maui people especially given what they have gone through over the last three weeks, and what they continue to experience,” Keith-Agaran <a href="https://www.civilbeat.org/2023/08/maui-senator-to-resign-amid-questions-over-possible-conflict-of-interest/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in a statement. 
“As we know, the Maui community — including members of my extended clan who lived and worked in West Maui — have suffered tremendous losses, including losing loved ones. Some, to this day, are still not identified or found,” he added. “The choice for me has always been and will always be my family and community, and this decision is consistent with that overriding value.” 
There are expected to be a plethora of lawsuits following the devastating fires, which could lead to ethical questions if his firm is involved in litigation.
“I’ve always had a legal practice, my professional responsibilities are to my clients so I would pick my clients,” Keith-Agaran told Civil Beat earlier this month when asked if he would prioritize his law firm or political responsibilities.
Democrat Governor Josh Green has 60 days to name a replacement after Keith-Agaran officially vacates his government role. 
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
The lawsuits <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maui-county-sues-hawaiian-electric-alleges-intentional-and-malicious-mismanagement-led-to-fires" target="_blank" rel="noopener">have already begun</a>, with Maui County suing the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO), alleging “intentional and malicious” mismanagement of power lines led to the blaze that eventually turned much of the town of Lahaina to ash.
“Defendants knew of the extreme fire danger that the high wind gusts posed to their overhead electrical infrastructure, particularly during red flag conditions,” the lawsuit said.
Hawaiian Electric <a href="https://apnews.com/article/maui-hawaii-wildfires-electric-utility-c3513c2f8e451df6dab2e59a6c2f670d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to the lawsuit, saying it is “very disappointed that Maui County chose this litigious path while the investigation is still unfolding.”

Hawaii Dem State Senator Resigning After Ethical Concerns Over Potential Wildfire Litigation

Natural Disaster

Maui wildfire survivor Mike Cicchino called out President Joe Biden and his administration during a <a href="https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/west/hawaii-wildfires/maui-resident-were-not-being-treated-like-were-us-citizens/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">recent interview</a>, saying that Lahaina residents like himself were &#8220;not being treated like&#8221; American citizens as they try to rebuild their lives with little help from the government.
Cicchino spoke with &#8220;NewsNation Prime&#8221; host Natasha Zouves on Sunday, recounting the moment he and his wife Andreza had run into the ocean as flames engulfed the historic village — and the following three hours that they spent just trying to keep their heads above water.
&#8220;Being on fire, not knowing where land is, at points, the currents pulling us out where we can’t touch the ground,&#8221; Cicchino recalled. &#8220;At times, I remember just telling her to make sure that she saves herself. &#8216;Don’t worry. If I start drowning out here, you save yourself.&#8217; It’s the most terrifying experience of our life.&#8221;
By the time Cicchino and his wife were able to return to shore, both their home and business were gone — and thus far, all the federal government has offered them and others affected by the wildfires is a one-time payment of $700 per household. Cicchino said he has not yet seen that payment.
&#8220;We are the 50th state here and we’re not being treated like we’re U.S. citizens. We feel like we just got out of a fight for our life. Now, we’re back in another fight for our life to find a home, to find a place to rest our head at night,&#8221; he continued. &#8220;We’re not getting any help from (the) federal government so far.&#8221;
<a class="c-link c-link--focus-visible" href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" data-stringify-link="https://onelink.to/dwapp" data-sk="tooltip_parent" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-19426">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
&#8220;We never received the $700, which I mean wouldn’t go very far here in Hawaii. We’re mostly getting help from private organizations and nonprofits,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I can’t speak for everybody, but we feel like we’re not getting any help out here at least from the federal government. They are helping, from what I understand, down on the ground to look for bodies, to clear out rubble, those types of things. But as far as the people that were displaced, financially they’ve been no help.&#8221;
President Biden has been <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-comment-wh-comms-director-roasted-for-bizarre-defense-of-bidens-maui-response" target="_blank" rel="noopener">widely criticized</a> for his overall response to the deadly fires, which have thus far claimed 115 lives while hundreds remain missing. While he was praised for declaring a state of emergency early on, he later took heat for offering &#8220;no comment&#8221; to questions about the rising death toll and for waiting nearly two weeks to visit the devastated island.
Biden&#8217;s <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cnn-praises-biden-for-signature-empathy-despite-tone-deaf-maui-response" target="_blank" rel="noopener">eventual trip</a> to survey the damage — a brief day trip bookended by vacation days in Lake Tahoe — got him into even more trouble when he compared the massive, deadly blaze to a small kitchen fire some years earlier in his Delaware home.

President Biden Holds Summit With Japanese And Korean Premiers At Camp David

Maui Wildfire Survivor Says Biden Admin Is Not Helping: ‘We’re Not Being Treated Like We’re US Citizens’

Maui Wildfire Survivor Says Biden Admin Is Not Helping: 'We're Not Being Treated Like We’re US Citizens'

Executive

Joe Biden

Severe Weather

A <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/hawaii" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hawaiian</a> business slammed President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/joe-biden" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Joe Biden</a> for comparing the deadly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/maui" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maui</a> fire to a small fire in his home nearly two decades ago that was contained to his kitchen.
At least 115 people on Maui were killed and hundreds are still missing after deadly fires ripped through the island earlier this month. The response to the fire has placed scrutiny on local officials, emergency response plans, and the president, whose <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/no-comment-wh-comms-director-roasted-for-bizarre-defense-of-bidens-maui-response" target="_blank" rel="noopener">early response</a> to one of the deadliest wildfires in American history was “no comment.”
<a href="https://www.hawaiianrentall.com/m/equipment-rentals.asp?di=1,3" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Hawaiian Rent-All</a>, a company based in Honolulu that rents out tools and other heavy machinery, took a shot this week at Biden, posting criticism of the president on a sign outside its office.
&#8220;Sorry you almost lost your &#8217;67 Corvette in a fire, Mr. President. Maui strong!&#8221; <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=759614249300114&amp;set=a.507391514522390&amp;type=3&amp;ref=embed_post" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a sign</a> from the company read.
“Genuine sympathy is better than contrived empathy. It&#8217;s not always about you Mr. President,” the company <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=759614249300114&amp;set=a.507391514522390&amp;type=3&amp;ref=embed_post" target="_blank" rel="noopener">posted</a> on Facebook alongside a picture of the sign. The sign and post was a reference to <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-speaking-to-maui-fire-victims-compares-deadly-wildfires-to-his-small-kitchen-fire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a story Biden told</a> in Hawaii about a fire at one of his homes.
“I don’t want to compare difficulties, but we have a little sense, Jill and I, what it’s like to lose a home,” Biden said. “Years ago — now 15 years ago — I was in Washington doing ‘Meet the Press.’ It was a sunny Sunday, and lightning struck at home on a little lake that’s outside of our home — not a lake, a big pond — and hit a wire and came up underneath our home into the heating ducts — the air conditioning ducts.”
“To make a long story short, I almost lost my wife, my ‘67 Corvette, and my cat,” he continued. “But all kidding aside, I watched the firefighters, the way they responded.”
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
Biden has told the story of the kitchen fire before, and has taken criticism for exaggerating the nature of the fire. ​​A <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/biden-lahaina-maui-wildfires-survivors-gets-it-small-house-fire-2023-8" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Associated Press at the time said that the fire was “small” and “contained to the kitchen.” The Delaware fire chief said they got to the home quickly, and the situation was under control in a matter of minutes.
Biden, who has often cited his supposed “empathy” as a reason to vote for him, has faced criticism over his response to the Maui disaster, including <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-after-lounging-on-beach-says-no-comment-on-deadliest-wildfire-in-modern-u-s-history" target="_blank" rel="noopener">offering &#8220;no comment&#8221;</a> after spending a day at the beach outside his Delaware home.

US-POLITICS-FIRE-MAUI-BIDEN

Hawaii Company Shreds Biden Over His Kitchen Fire Story: ‘It’s Not Always About You’

Hawaii Company Shreds Biden Over His Kitchen Fire Story: 'It's Not Always About You'

Fires

Government officials in Maui are blaming mismanagement by the utility company for the devastating fires that ripped through the island earlier this month, killing at least 115 people. 
Maui County filed a lawsuit against the Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) Thursday, alleging that “intentional and malicious” mismanagement of power lines led to the blaze that eventually turned much of the town of Lahaina to ash, The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/24/us/hawaii-lahaina-fire-lawsuit.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>. 
“Defendants knew of the extreme fire danger that the high wind gusts posed to their overhead electrical infrastructure, particularly during red flag conditions,” the lawsuit said.
Hawaiian Electric <a href="https://apnews.com/article/maui-hawaii-wildfires-electric-utility-c3513c2f8e451df6dab2e59a6c2f670d" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to the lawsuit, saying it is “very disappointed that Maui County chose this litigious path while the investigation is still unfolding.” 
The utility company, which serves around 95% of Hawaiians, faced criticism for allegedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hawaii-utility-pursued-green-energy-goals-while-fire-mitigation-projects-were-delayed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">pursuing</a> green energy projects while delaying fire mitigation efforts. Financial disclosures and reports show the company worried about the state of its electrical grid, and specifically the risk of wildfires, but devoted resources to building out the utility’s green energy network with limited action to mitigate fire risk, according to <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/wildfire-risk-maui-hawaiian-electric-7beed21e" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Wall Street Journal</a>.
Strong winds propelled by a hurricane 500 miles off the coast of Maui downed around 30 power poles on the island, sparking numerous fires. Video <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/video-footage-shows-downed-power-lines-possibly-caused-maui-wildfires" target="_blank" rel="noopener">footage</a> captured the day before residents in Lahaina faced the flames showed the moment a downed power line sparked a blaze in the woods. The lawsuit alleges HECO failed “to power down their electrical equipment despite a National Weather Service Red Flag Warning on August 7th.” 
The lawsuit also <a href="https://www.kuow.org/stories/maui-county-sues-hawaiian-electric-company-for-damages-from-disastrous-fires" target="_blank" rel="noopener">says</a> that HECO never created a &#8220;Public Safety Power Shutoff&#8221; plan that is “common in the Western United States.” President and CEO Shelee Kimura said earlier this week that the utility did not pursue a shutoff plan because it would be controversial. HECO also faces lawsuits from homeowners and shareholders who believe the utility was negligent, but this lawsuit marks the first time the local government has directly blamed the utility for the destruction caused by the fire, the Times reported. The fires are estimated to have cost Maui County $5.5 billion in damages. 
Government officials are also facing scrutiny for their actions during and after the fire, which was the deadliest in modern American history. Maui Emergency Management Agency Chief Herman Andaya chose not to use the island’s emergency sirens to alert residents to the deadly fire, saying the emergency sirens are usually used for tsunami warnings, which tell Hawaiians to seek higher ground, but that would’ve been toward the fire. Andaya then resigned one day after explaining his decision, citing “health reasons.” 
Another government agency, the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management, was accused of delaying a request for more water to fight the fire because it first had to consult with local farmers. The agency was formerly led by a “water equity advocate,” who was reassigned to a different division following the fires.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
When residents attempted to flee Lahaina as the fire spread, witnesses <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> the only paved road out of the town was blocked by local authorities. 
Witnesses who survived the blaze said that traffic quickly backed up as residents attempted to flee to the south, but the road was blocked as a crew worked on downed power lines. One family ignored the barricade and swerved past the cones placed in the road, making it safely to another town nearly an hour later. 
“Nobody realized how little time we really had,” said Nate Baird, who drove his wife and two young sons out of Lahaina. “Like even us being from the heart of the fire, we did not comprehend. Like we literally had minutes and one wrong turn. We would all be dead right now.”
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier denied that residents were prevented from fleeing Lahaina.
Tim Pearce contributed to this report.

Maui Fire

Maui County Sues Hawaiian Electric, Alleges ‘Intentional And Malicious’ Mismanagement Led To Fires

Maui County Sues Hawaiian Electric, Alleges 'Intentional And Malicious' Mismanagement Led To Fires

Lawsuit

If we had a functioning news media, there&#8217;s a video that would be leading every newscast right now. It has nothing to do with a plane crash in Russia, a GOP primary debate, or even the indictment of every lawyer who&#8217;s ever given Donald Trump legal advice, as important as all those topics may be. This video is about Americans — including children — who died horribly this month. It&#8217;s about how their deaths could have been prevented if their government was even remotely competent.
The footage I&#8217;m talking about is an interview with a survivor of the fires in Maui. This interview was conducted not by CNN or NPR but by a real estate agent who moonlights as a citizen journalist. He spoke with a man who goes by &#8220;Fish&#8221; and survived the blaze in Lahaina. Here&#8217;s what that man saw:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Maui Police Blocked Escape Routed as told by FISH from Front Street Found ALIVE!" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6jVDTfp7gFc?start=67&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
He says, &#8220;All the cars were lined up, but none of them were moving. &#8230; And I was wondering what was stopping the traffic. It was a policeman.&#8221; 
As incredible as that account may seem, it&#8217;s clear now that it&#8217;s accurate. There are now multiple witnesses saying the same thing. The Associated Press <a href="https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-fires-timeline-maui-lahaina-road-block-c8522222f6de587bd14b2da0020c40e9">reports</a> that, as residents of one West Maui neighborhood tried to flee using the only paved road in town, &#8220;car after car was turned back toward the rapidly spreading wildfire by a barricade blocking access to Highway 30.&#8221; Supposedly, authorities were worried about downed power lines. And there certainly were downed power lines. But the problem is that the other option — rather than navigating around that hazard — was to stay and die in the blaze. It seems obvious which was the better choice, and yet police tried to force the residents to stay put. Many people who listened and turned back ended up burning to death in their cars. Others were forced to jump over the seawall and tread water while inhaling smoke. The people who obeyed the authorities ended up dead, in many cases. 
On the other hand, the people who ignored the authorities fared a lot better. Around 3 p.m., for example, a man named Nate Baird and his family tried to drive south out of town but found that the road was blocked by cones and crews &#8220;working on downed electric poles,&#8221; according to the AP. That&#8217;s when Baird decided to ignore what the work crews told him. He drove around the cones, and his family traveled for about an hour until they reached safety. 
The article lists several other examples of people who are alive today because they ignored barricades and authorities&#8217; instructions. 
One 38-year-old woman, Kim Cuevas-Reyes, ignored authorities&#8217; instructions to turn towards the local civic center, which became an ad hoc shelter for refugees. Instead of doing that, the AP reported, &#8220;she takes a left, driving in the wrong lane to pass a stack of cars heading in the other direction.&#8221; That decision saved her life. &#8220;The gridlock would have left us there when the firestorm came,&#8221; the woman said. &#8220;I would have had to tell my children to jump into the ocean as well and be boiled alive by the flames, or we would have just died from smoke inhalation and roasted in the car.&#8221;
It wasn&#8217;t until several hours later that authorities announced that the road out of Lahaina was open for traffic. By that point, indeed, many people on that road, called Front Street, had burned to death in their cars or died of smoke inhalation. 
How is it possible that authorities blocked off one of the only usable routes to safety during a wildfire? Given that officials in Hawaii were aware of the risk of wildfire for a long time, that&#8217;s an excellent question. Last summer, in <a href="https://www.hawaiianelectric.com/documents/about_us/our_vision_and_commitment/resilience/20220630_resilience_EPRM_application.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">regulatory filings</a>, Hawaiian Electric made it clear that the risk of deadly wildfires was real, especially during high winds. And yet, apparently, the plan for dealing with this kind of disaster didn&#8217;t preclude sealing all the roads and trapping people in the middle of a wildfire.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1212-the-matt-walsh-show">WATCH: The Matt Walsh Show</a></h4>
If you think back to Hurricane Katrina, one of the biggest <a href="https://www.cato.org/blog/hurricane-katrina-remembering-federal-failures" target="_blank" rel="noopener">failures</a> of FEMA was a lack of planning. The government ran evacuation simulations but didn&#8217;t implement the necessary improvements after those simulations. So, when the hurricane struck, there was chaos. A lot of people died as a result. We&#8217;re seeing that again. All these years later, the same lack of preparation is causing people to die.
The difference is that we aren&#8217;t hearing much about FEMA in the aftermath of the catastrophe in Maui. Why is that? Deanne Criswell is the administrator of FEMA, the federal emergency management agency. She has the same job Michael Brown did in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina made landfall in New Orleans. Brown, you might remember, became a household name in the wake of that disaster — and not in a good way. When George Bush told Brown he was doing a &#8220;heckuva job,&#8221; it instantly became a national scandal. Brown was so radioactive that no one was allowed to say anything nice about him.
Unlike Michael Brown, Deanne Criswell is not well-known. You probably haven&#8217;t even heard her name. I didn’t know it until I looked it up. Despite the ongoing disaster in Maui, the national news media and the major political parties in Washington still hold her in high regard. Just the other day, she sat for a friendly interview on “Face the Nation”:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Deanne Criswell says FEMA is &quot;bringing in more teams&quot; to help rescue efforts in Maui" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MsNScR_cjnQ?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The burned-out cars were the most shocking thing, says the FEMA director. It was &#8220;like an apocalyptic movie.&#8221; There&#8217;s no scrutiny from “Face the Nation” or any media outlet about why those cars were stranded there in the first place. There wasn&#8217;t a single question in that segment about why FEMA didn&#8217;t have evacuation plans that might have ensured the survival of all those people. 
We <a href="https://nypost.com/2023/08/23/hawaiis-top-emergency-officials-were-on-another-island-while-maui-burned/">learned</a> yesterday that Hawaii&#8217;s top emergency response officials were on another island, supposedly learning how to respond to wildfires, on the day the blaze began in Maui. And some key federal disaster officials were apparently busy at some FEMA meetings. What explains that? Again, we have no idea because no one is asking. Reporters are busy talking to Deanne Criswell, the FEMA director, like she&#8217;s some bystander visiting Maui for the first time.
This is the opposite of how the press treated Michael Brown decades ago. It&#8217;s not hard to see why this might be. Deanne Criswell, unlike Michael Brown, is working for Democrats. She&#8217;s also the first woman to run FEMA, so she has the whole identity politics thing going for her. It would look very bad if the first woman to run FEMA is also responsible for bungling the response to one of the worst disasters in American history. Of course, no matter how it looks, that’s exactly what happened. But the media has decided to plug its ears and close its eyes and pretend it’s not happening.
But if you do what no major media outlet is interested in doing — if you look into Criswell&#8217;s past — there&#8217;s a lot to discuss. As investigative journalist Nick Sortor <a href="https://twitter.com/nicksortor/status/1694440357776535562">pointed out</a> the other day, Criswell&#8217;s government biography states that &#8220;one of her most significant accomplishments was leading the coordination of [New York City&#8217;s] response to the COVID-19 pandemic&#8221; when she served as the Commissioner of the New York City Emergency Management Department.
New York&#8217;s handling of COVID led to more than 10,000 deaths in nursing homes — deaths that were <a href="https://apnews.com/article/new-york-nursing-home-coronavirus-deaths-a6c214f4467976efdfca9ba75f8adaef">undercounted</a> for several months until investigative reporters noticed discrepancies in the government&#8217;s data. In most countries, everyone overseeing a response like that would never work again in any capacity, much less in disaster relief. They&#8217;d go to prison for life, if anything. But Deanne Criswell was never even criticized. In fact, she got a promotion. Ten thousand deaths in nursing homes, and she gets promoted. And then, overseeing yet another failed disaster response, she gets softball questions from every news outlet. 
It&#8217;s astonishing, really. We&#8217;ve seen our public health authorities and political leaders lead us into one disaster after another. And they&#8217;re not slowing down. Right now, because it&#8217;s an election year and Pfizer stock is in trouble, the media is gearing up for COVID 2.0. Several major corporations and some universities are already implementing mask mandates again. Watch:
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Some colleges bringing back COVID mask, vaccine mandates | On Balance" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/I1bqL9gVTm8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Along these lines, CNN just published an <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/23/health/masks-covid-surge-wellness/index.html">article</a> entitled, &#8220;It may be time to break out the masks against Covid, some experts say.&#8221; The report scolds Americans for not being sufficiently deferential to people with advanced degrees and positions of power. &#8220;Despite the concern among experts and some institutions, Americans don&#8217;t appear to be worried enough about the recent rise in cases to change their behavior. Covid-19 was at the bottom of their list of key public health threats, according to the latest Axios [poll].&#8221;
It&#8217;s not hard to see why Americans are reacting that way. The first time around, more than three years ago, the conventional wisdom was that if you wanted to survive, your best bet was to trust the experts. Then the experts <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/06/04/public-health-protests-301534" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> you could protest for BLM but couldn&#8217;t protest against lockdowns. They <a href="https://www.axios.com/2020/12/25/fauci-goalposts-herd-immunity" target="_blank" rel="noopener">admitted</a> they were lying about herd immunity. They <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/546234-cdc-reverses-statement-by-director-that-vaccinated-people-are-no/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">misled everyone</a> on the effectiveness of the COVID shot. No one really trusts these experts anymore, for good reason.
That&#8217;s encouraging, but the truth is, it&#8217;s not enough. A lot of people just died in Maui because officials forcibly blockaded them. The government and the &#8220;experts&#8221; prevented these American citizens from leaving their neighborhood as a wildfire approached them. The only way to survive was not simply to doubt but to disobey. When the next lockdown comes, whether the pretext is a COVID variant, a climate emergency, or something else — that&#8217;s the correct response. Do what Nate Baird did on Maui. Ignore the liars calling themselves experts. Do what you think is best for yourself and your family, and do it fast. Otherwise, quicker than you might think, you&#8217;ll be trapped. By that point, like the people of Maui, you will have no way out. Because the fact is that, increasingly, we live in a country where only those who disobey will survive.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>

US-FIRE-HAWAII

A Lot Of Government Officials Should Be Going To Prison For The Hawaii Fires

COVID

Matt Walsh

Opinion

Survivors of the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/officials-ask-surviving-maui-family-members-for-dna-samples-to-help-identify-remains" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Maui fire</a> that swept through the town of Lahaina said the only paved road out was barricaded by authorities as flames overcame the town, according to a <a href="https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-fires-timeline-maui-lahaina-road-block-c8522222f6de587bd14b2da0020c40e9" target="_blank" rel="noopener">report</a> from the Associated Press. 
Maui was devastated earlier this month, with Lahaina taking the brunt of one of the deadliest wildfires in modern American history. So far, 115 people have been confirmed dead while between 800 &#8211; 1,000 remain missing. 
Maui Police Chief John Pelletier <a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/4166222-maui-residents-who-disobeyed-barricade-survived-fires-ap-reports/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> during a news conference that residents were not prevented from fleeing Lahaina, but accounts from some of the survivors suggest they were hindered from making a quick escape because of the decision to close the Honoapiilani Highway and a bypass at the south end of town.
Witnesses who survived the blaze said that traffic quickly backed up as residents attempted to flee to the south, but the road was blocked as a crew worked on downed power lines. One family ignored the barricade and swerved past the cones placed in the road, making it safely to another town nearly an hour later. 
“Nobody realized how little time we really had,” said Nate Baird, who drove his wife and two young sons out of Lahaina. “Like even us being from the heart of the fire, we did not comprehend. Like we literally had minutes and one wrong turn. We would all be dead right now.”
A woman and her 3-year-old daughter escaped the burning town by driving her four-wheel-drive vehicle on a dirt road to a friend’s house in a neighboring town, the AP reported. A mother with her two young children said she escaped the gridlock by ignoring traffic instructions and driving on the wrong side of the road to pass a long line of cars. 
“The gridlock would have left us there when the firestorm came,” 38-year-old Kim Cuevas-Reyes said. “I would have had to tell my children to jump into the ocean as well and be boiled alive by the flames or we would have just died from smoke inhalation and roasted in the car.”
The road leading out of Lahaina to the south did not open until 5:20 p.m., according to Maui County, nearly two hours after residents began fleeing the fire. Witnesses said that by the time the road was cleared, some had already died in the flames as others escaped the growing fire by jumping into the ocean.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>
 Maui <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/maui-emergency-chief-resigns-one-day-after-explaining-why-he-didnt-activate-sirens-during-devastating-fire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">authorities</a> face intense <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/state-agency-led-by-water-equity-advocate-delayed-water-request-during-wildfire-to-consult-with-farmers-maui-company-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">scrutiny</a> for their response to the fires and the lack of details they have provided in the aftermath of the disaster.  
Maui Emergency Management Agency Chief Herman Andaya chose not to use the island’s emergency sirens to alert residents to the deadly fire, saying the emergency sirens are usually used for tsunami warnings, which tell Hawaiians to seek higher ground, but that would’ve been toward the fire. Andaya then resigned one day after explaining his decision, citing “health reasons.” 
Another government agency, the Hawaii Commission on Water Resource Management, was accused of delaying a request for more water to fight the fire because it first had to consult with local farmers. The agency was formerly led by a “water equity advocate,” who was reassigned to a different division following the fires. 
Hawaiian Electric is also under scrutiny for allegedly <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/hawaii-utility-pursued-green-energy-goals-while-fire-mitigation-projects-were-delayed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">slow-walking</a> modernization and repairs of its electrical grid as it devoted resources to building out the utility’s green energy network. The state attorney general said it will use a third party to investigate how state and local government agencies responded to the devastating fires.

Aerial View Of Lahaina

Maui Fire Survivors Say Authorities Blocked Only Paved Road Out Of Lahaina As Town Burned: Report

If you are a Republican and a major natural disaster happened on your watch — and you are apparently not within earshot of the disaster— then the media say you don’t have empathy and you are a terrible person. This was true of George W. Bush when it came to Hurricane Katrina. It was true of Ted Cruz when it came to freezing temperatures in Texas.
But it is not true if you are a Democrat. If you are a Democrat, you can do whatever the hell you want. So Joe Biden went on vacation to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. He was asked specifically about the death toll in Lahaina on the island of Maui and he said, “No comment.” Then he rode around on his bike, had some ice cream, and sat on the beach for a week. Then he went to Lake Tahoe in Nevada, and he sat there at the mansion of a major donor.
Then he took the trouble to finally fly to Maui. Now, you would imagine this is when the famed empathetic Joe Biden would make his appearance.
But Biden is a selfish creature. If you look at Biden’s entire life history, what you see is that he cares chiefly about himself and people in his immediate familial circle. He’s always been willing to use his power in order to corruptly enrich all of those people, including himself. He does not see political power as a way to “help the little guy.” He pretends he does, as a way to help him, his family, and the people to whom he is closest. If that means denying the family name to a four-year-old, he’ll do that too.
Biden has been able to get ahead because the media have been able to shield him based on this faux roguish charm that he supposedly once had. I’ve never seen it. I don’t understand why anyone would find Joe Biden charming. Yet this was the lie about Biden for four decades. The problem for Biden as he gets older is that all of the layers of charm he supposedly had have worn away; there’s nothing left except a bunch of false old family stories that he trots out in lieu of empathy.
It’s really ugly when you see it. The first time he spoke to someone who had lost their son in the armed services and he talked about Beau, he gained a little sympathy. But after he did it time and time again, the sympathy started to wear away.
This time he was visiting Lahaina and he proceeded to tell a story about knowing what it was like to lose a home.
<h4><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/show/the-ben-shapiro-show">WATCH: The Ben Shapiro Show</a></h4>
A small digression: In the religious Jewish community, we have strong formalized rituals for mourning — what we call sitting shiva; “shiva” means seven. For seven days after someone dies, their close family relatives (spouse, parent, sibling, children) stay at home without leaving. The community brings them food; religious services are held in their home, except for the Sabbath, when they are allowed to go to synagogue and then directly return home. The community visits the home during those seven days. The mourners talk about the person who died.
And the first rule if you are a person visiting the house of mourning is: Keep your mouth shut. You don’t talk about all of your personal experiences because that would be awful and selfish. It’s not empathetic. If you walk into the house and you start talking about how you know exactly what it’s like, exactly how the mourners feel because you also had somebody who died, that is an incredibly arrogant and selfish thing to do.
But Biden always acts that way. He does it early. He does it often. And not only does he do it, but he also does it with stories that aren’t even related. So even though people were burned alive in Maui, Biden’s response was, “What if I tell a story about how my house burned down?”
To make matters worse, the story was false. What actually happened is that one time there was a small kitchen fire in Biden’s home caused by a lightning strike. It was under control in minutes. But he told the people of Hawaii that in the fire, he almost lost his Corvette — and his cat.
Nobody was hurt. Nobody died. No children were burned to death.
Joe Biden cares about Joe Biden. Everything is refracted through the prism of Joe Biden.
He’s a person who has only one surface: a mirror, because all he cares about is how it affects him and what he has to do so he can go back to vacation in Lake Tahoe.
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP</a>

Ben Shapiro Editorial Series 01 copy1

Biden’s ‘Empathy.’ It’s Ugly When You See It.

Biden’s 'Empathy.' It’s Ugly When You See It.

Ben Shapiro

Menu

Streaming Now