Maui Fires, Lahaina and Hurricane Katrina

The Legacy of bias reporting and its newly reached extent

Article format of earlier thread:

https://twitter.com/ZimermanErik/status/1691544023532548096

Something eerily strange and yet somehow predictable is occurring in mainstream US media reporting. The Maui fires, and specifically the Lahaina fires are being virtually ignored. This of course has relegated the story to the conspiracy fringe, which in a more normal world not too long ago was always wrong but has lately seen more and more of its charges be at least significantly validated.

The official death count is at 99, was 96 yesterday and 89 the day before that. On Aug 11th it had been 67. The problem is that much of the town is gone, an estimated 2,200 structures have been burned, and evacuation, at lest in the western part of the town was halted by the authorities. Local personnel are also not searching within many burnt out structures until FEMA staff search for bodies first.

Normally I tend to believe death count estimates will be overestimated (as they were in Katrina, more on that below). People are surprisingly resilient and tend to do things to survive. With the beach and the sea on the western flank, much of the town could not be completely surrounded by fire and people could go towards the ocean (in fact many literally went into the water to save themselves from the flames.) But in this case, there are politics at work.

So early Aug 8th a large brush fire started near the town. There was an evacuation order for the area around the Lahaina Intermediate School. These sat images from the 8th and 13th

clearly show us the extent of the brush fires. In the south, it was largely contained west of the Lahaina bypass, and in the north, burnt areas lie east & north of the town. Maui county (in Hawaii, each major island is a county within the state) reported by 9:00 AM that the fire was 100% contained, perhaps due to their ability to keep the brush fire west of the highway as mentioned and early on away from the southern homes, but more importantly discouraging any further evacuation by citizens. At 3:30 PM, it was announced that the fire had flared up again and the bypass road closed.

Areas in the south and eastern parts of the town began to get evacuation orders (rather very late), but residents in the western parts of the town, flanked by the sea on one side and shortly thereafter by the fires on the other, were ordered to "shelter in place".

Now, I have seen government be incompetent, dangerous and foolish my whole life, but I had yet to encounter "shelter in place" for fires. American wood and plasterboard homes are not "cover" for fires, but rather death traps.

The residents of Lahaina were not being shelled nor receiving small arms fire, to which a home is somewhat of a shelter (much less so to heavier weapons and anti-tank munitions which turn rooms into death traps as well). They also were not in danger from strong rain or hail storms, against which once again, homes may be of some protection.

But homes are not protection from fires. A fire (like an earthquake) is of little danger to a healthy adult out in the open, unless it has somehow already surrounded him. A fire is very lethal to a healthy adult "sheltering in place" within a wooden home.

One thing is forcing an evacuation by decree on a population due to raging fires, and thus limiting their freedom, but an order to remain within the danger zone in flammable housing is the kind of stuff we hear (heard) about only in wartime Ukraine, not the USA.

The speed of the fires, the late and conflicting evacuation orders, the relatively older age of the population in the town, and the very few escape roads available (outside of heading for the sea) give us worry that the death toll might be much larger. We may be looking at one 2 or 3 times the current count, if not up to over 1,000 or more.

In fact, while the earlier sat images clearly indicate the brush fires, they really also indicate that most of the town itself was burned. Note the earlier (Aug 8th) image clearly shows roof colors such as reds and greens, while the latter shows only a burnt grayish white where the former colors were.

In fact, another satellite image from that night (Aug 8th) shows us how much of the town was already ablaze.

People have reported seeing melted vehicles on the town roads. Folks stuck in traffic on the few roads, the shelter in place order and the speed of the fires do not paint a promising picture. The goal in this post however is not a deep dive into the fire itself. Others I am sure will be doing this important work.

Media Silence

What will be noted here is the media's inexplicable silence on the matter. Even without a larger death count, the current figure already puts it as the deadliest fire in the US in over 100 years. But that is only because in 1918 around 453 people died in the Cloquet Fire in northern Minnesota. Firstly, this was a massive fire or really series of fires covering over 250 thousand acres.

All of Maui is less than twice that area (~465 thousand acres), and the Lahaina area is infinitely smaller than this at a total of 5,930 acres. In terms of death per acre, and death in one single town and community, the Lahaina fire is far worse than this deadly Cloquet fire more than 100 years ago.

Worse yet, the Lahaina fire is well on its way to beat Cloquet's previous "record" of 456 mortalities. In either case, it is easily one of the deadliest fires and natural disasters (if natural at all) in US history. In this day and age of aerial imagery and fast travel, one would think Maui would be flooded with reporters covering the story. It is a very "media friendly", to use a somewhat grotesque characterization; human tragedy stories, striking images, people running into the waves to save themselves, racing walls of fire consuming an entire American town in a single day.

You even have the investigative angle, something journalists in the West once participated in, regarding the foolishness, negligence or complicity of local, state (and perhaps Federal) authorities. Was there heroism? Cowardice? Incompetence? You have a wealth of investigative opportunities on the source of the fires themselves. Natural and/or arson? If it was the powerlines, once again we have a test of the competency of the authorities on their type, location and surrounding brushland. And so on and so forth.

But no, just silence on the matter while good ole Trump bashing continues. At first, there was some eagerness to report when Climate Change could quickly be blamed. Once reports of power lines sparking fires began, this died down (though have no doubt that in the aftermath they will spend great effort to reintroduce this culprit).

Only hours ago (yesterday) US reporting looked as follows:

MSNBC could not be bothered to mention the fire outside of a tiny blurb in the lower corner of the page blaming Climate Change of course.

CNN carried no images of on the front page but mentioned it as a minor event, along with Michael Oher not being adopted, Zooey's wedding and Peyton Manning returning to the U of Tennessee as a professor.

Fox news of course, mentioned it only (as opposed to MSNBC) as an opportunity to bash Biden and his "no comment" comment on the wildfires, and not prominently.

This is in stark difference to once typical media behavior in modern times, when they tried to "sell news". This news would sell. The mainstream media, now simply the propaganda arm of the Democratic party, holds "selling news" as a secondary goal (& hence their dying ratings).

So why is this happening? Is it because few of the victims are black? Because many are perhaps Asian? Is it because the Governor and gov't of Hawaii are Democrats, and so is President Biden?

Katrina

Please indulge me in harkening back to an event not so long ago, that was covered very differently. Hurricane Katrine in New Orleans, 2005. There too, Louisiana Governor was a Democrat (Kathleen Blanco), and of course so was the Mayor of New Orleans (Ray Nagin).

But alas, a Republican was found higher and further away, and a white male at that! None other than George W Bush.

Oh and did the hordes rage! It may be difficult to remember at this point for those old enough to remember, but "reporting" on Katrina was something fantastical, and endless. While previously reporting had been an endless bashing of Bush over the Iraq war as casualties mounted and it turned difficult (as wars tend to do. Recall that the support was near universal (not from us of course) when the decision to go to war was actually made... everyone from Hillary to John Kerry voted in favor), it suddenly disappeared as Bush's troop surge worked and US casualties all but disappeared.

Iraq disappeared from the news, and Katrina replaced it. It stayed there until the early Great Recession took its place in the waning days of the administration. That way, the media had nearly 8 years of uninterrupted Bush bashing. Like most of types of modern "journalism", it did not contain many facts, and less logic, but it was very energetic.

How exactly was it Bush's fault that there were strong rains, and that then reportedly many of the black residents of New Orleans started killing each other? Not sure, but it was we were told. And it wasn't the Governor's fault, and wasn't the Mayor's either.

An old short piece I wrote back in 2012, reminds me that this in some ways part of an older pattern. When Obama suffered natural disasters, they too could be blamed on Bush, and when his foreign policy and security decisions led to the murder of ambassadors, this was treated as natural phenomena,

outside the control of any President, or mere mortal for that matter. Perhaps not finding an easy way to blame Donald Trump for the Maui fires, the media is instead ignoring them. If the body count continues to rise, which hopefully it will not, they may be forced to cover it but they likely will have time by then to come up with their political spin. Climate Change of course will be high up there for them. Attacking the authorities will remain a challenge to them, since all of them from the County to the State and on to the White House were Democrats.

But by then, it will have lost its "news" aspect as the fire will in fact be "old", and thus the damage contained. In retrospect, considering all of this, this is business as usual, and not even that new. It is new only in its extent. Previous events of lesser magnitude were covered, even if from a highly political perspective.

The silence and lack of action on a tragedy of this scale was previously not possible in the US. Collusion between the media and the ruling party allow for it, as they find it better for their number of votes.

This explains Biden's "No comment" remark and the media silence.

They were hoping this all blows over, since, from Wailuku to Honolulu and Washington DC, the Democrats had their hands on the wheel, and over a hundred if not many hundreds are dead.

(Florida’s 13th district Rep Anna Paulina Luna)

Of course, coverage will pick up somewhat. Biden, especially due to the heat on his "no comment" remark will finally address the fires, and minor action will be taken ($700 we are hearing today). But remember that it was after Trump did so first,

and that while Katrina coverage was immediate, and unending, this coverage will be very late, inadequate and passing. It is likely also to be in reverse as far as the reported “facts” and statistics. The first regardless of accuracy often stay in the collective memory.

Back in 2005, New Orleans Mayor Nagin said the Katrina death toll could rise as high as ten thousand. There was media reporting about widespread looting, violence, murder and rape (that were also somehow Bush's fault. Remember this Kanye West & a stunned Mike Myers clip?)

At the end, investigators could only find two credible cases of sexual assault (not rape) at the Superdome, where 25,000 people had gathered and media was reporting utter chaos including widespread rape and murder.

Even an preliminary formal report by the LA Dept. of Health indicating 1,464 deaths was found to be inaccurate as well. Of the six actual deaths at the Superdome, 4 were from natural causes & 1 a drug overdose. Another a suicide. This leaves one that was potentially a homicide.

Later studies found that most of the New Orleans deaths from Katrina were of elderly people living near the levee breaches in the Lower 9th Ward & Lakeview neighborhoods. Ultimately the latest reports show that Katrina directly caused the death of 341 people in the entire state of Louisiana. Certainly a high death toll, but nothing like what was reported ad nauseum for years by the media, and one that may be ultimately rivaled by the Maui fires.

Given the official population of Lahaina at around 12,700 people (that can swell to quite a bit more during the high season), the official death toll is already devastating on a per capita basis. In this case however, smaller death toll numbers were reported early on, and speculation on the eventual totals, given what we know, was virtually absent of major reporting despite the fact that media typically loves to do this type of speculation.

Given all these facts, the media's collusion with the Democratic party on this surprised even me.

If Lahaina wants more help, at least from this party and its PR apparatus (the mainstream media), it seems that they will need a different flag.

August 17 2023 Update:

To ordering a "shelter in place" and blocking exits, we can now add shutting off the water so that residents could not fight the fire.

This commi snowflake, deputy director for water resource management (of the Hawaii’s DLNR) M. Kaleo Manuel who pretends to honor the ancient Hawaiian culture while participating in its destruction along with that of the western world’s is apparently one of the responsible figures.

This cannot yet be fully confirmed but Honolulu’s Civil Beat reported on this developing situation, including specifically naming Kaleo. The video is Jeremy Kauffman’s work, which he clipped from a a 40 minute video on youtube.

https://twitter.com/jeremykauffman

One should not be in the least bit surprised, that he is “one of 200 inaugural Obama Leaders representing the Asia-Pacific region with the Obama Foundation”. Of course he is. Starting to see why they won’t dig into this story?

The above is a current screenshot from the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ (DLNR) page.

For good measure, his obvious modern leftist progressivism aside (note he hits all the code words from “equity” to “holistic”), Kaleo Manuel’s belief that water is something to be worshipped rather than a resource is in ironically stark contrast to his post. He is literally deputy director of for Water Resource Management within the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources!

The state of Hawaii apparently believes that water IS a resource to be used (and managed appropriately by folks in posts the likes of his). So while I do not know this man nor his inner beliefs, I would be very surprised to learn that he really believed in the old Hawaiian pagan, polytheistic animistic religion. If really is a pagan and believes water is essentially a god (in his words, one of its earthly manifestations, and something be “revered” rather than “used”), I’d say he is unfit for his post. His post, directed by the democratic will of the people of Hawaii instruct him to help manage the state’s water as a resource (and to let people use it freely to not burn to death).

But of course he (most likely) doesn’t believe that, he doesn’t believe in much like his fellow progressives. He hypocritically uses ancient Hawaiian traditions to dress up his shallow modern woke sensibilities.

Allow me digress here only slightly, because this situation and Kaleo are a good example of a modern misfortune.

It is typically white leftists that lead the charge in destroying Anglo-Saxon, European and Christian culture. However, they at least do not pretend to like that culture, rather they reject it vehemently. When other unfortunate minorities in the West, are infected by this politically and culturally castrating disease which surrounds them, they end up believing, however insincerely, that this woke leftism and their (ironically) Traditional ways are somehow similar and allied (simply because both are against, or at least not, the prevailing' white majority’s European culture). They of course are not. A Hawaiian warrior would make short work of this ineffective bureaucrat and his holistic rhetoric.

An Apache is not kumbaya social justice activist, no more than a Sioux warrior is a gluten-free lesbian transsexual. Modern progressive and especially “woke” values would be incredibly alien to virtually all existing and historical traditional cultures.

It is for good reason that much of the Muslim world fears indoctrination by modern western institutions, which not only would erase their two genders, but would quickly leave them with individuals who thinking they are keeping their sacred traditions alive would describe ancient camel riding tribal raiders as basket weaving roving vegan social workers who visited the fellaheen (peasants) to instruct them on the rights of the proletariat.

Though the media will largely continue to avoid its duty, we will continue to share any interesting findings in this tragic event.

Update August 18 2023: Land Grabs and Misguided Energies

We have discussed how the mainstream media has not covered the Lahaina and Maui fires with any journalistic thoroughness. This has left a void being filled by citizen journalists, it is being covered at the fringes. From the beginning, those prone to conspiracy theories have been circulating theories about land grabs.

The jist of it is that BlackRock and other wealthy elites will be buying the burnt lands from the former residents (former I mean only in that their home has burned down), especially in Lahaina. To this they add the fact that all sorts of elites and celebrities who own estates in Hawaii, including in Maui, emerged with their properties unscathed (though the ones I have seen reported were not in Lahaina and so were left unscathed just like 99.9% of all properties in Maui outside that town).

The government’s incompetence (if not maliciousness), part of which we have discussed though new revelations emerge daily including (including the refusal to activate the sirens to warn citizens) and the lack of coverage by the media gives credence to the belief that something is rotten in the state of Denmark.

While the instincts of these good folks are I believe correct, some are instinctively (due to the very indoctrination by the media and education system that they are now realizing is bias and dangerous) going the nearest “evil rich man” route. There has been outrage from the first days after the fires over rumors that wealthy individuals and other investors are attempting to buy the burnt lands.

The problem with this line of thinking is that it assumes the very socialist beliefs that have led us down this path, and ignores liberty. In a state which sanctifies property rights, land cannot be stolen. There are no such things as land grabs. The most anyone can do is make an offer to buy land, which the owner alone has the right to accept or refuse. It is not anyone else’s business, or at least ought not to be.

Most ironically, attempts to stop this freedom of contract, actually create the very injustice that the people supporting these attempts were declearing they wished to stop. The state not allowing the families to sell their land for example, in the name of not letting “the land be stolen” is a huge theft of their proprety rights (and hence their value) as well as their personal freed. It is an insult upon injury in the aftermath of the state’s pathetic performance during the fire.

Owners alone know their true situation. Separate from any insurance claims and state/federal aid that they may or may not have, if they now, perhaps homeless for the moment, think what is best for them and their families is to sell their land undoubtedly they should be allowed to. One would imagine that a seller would be someone who requires the cash, whether it is to obtain another home, maintain their business, move or do anything else they think is best.

While all private would-be buyers can do is make an offer (and compete among themselves to give the highest offer), that an be accepted or rejected at will, the state is another story. The state comes down with police force and can literally take your land, reduce your rights over it to the point that it is virtually equal to its theft, or forcefully “buy” it from you at whatever price it deems fair.

The people wishing the state to intervene to stop private sales on the open market are the ones helping to create an actual coercive theft of the residents’ property rights and land. Not having written a dedicated piece on this subject, I did write a brief response to such comments some days back:

Truth Pole took this government announcement as a very positive development, in which a land grab was being stopped. Look at this short compilation to understand who is doing the stealing, and how it is under the pretext of stopping the stealing.

Remember, when you find yourself attacking private citizens, regarding of how wealthy, who are using only their non-existent coercive power and only trying to engage in mutually agreed upon relations with other private parties, think again.

In my world, all a rich guy can do is offer you lots of money for your shirt, and you can take it or refuse it, regardless of how many millions. In the world we live in and are indoctrinated into, he can bribe his friend the minister to pass a law, for the good of the state of course, to take your shirt and transfer it to him or his interests.

It is particularly shocking how Governor Josh Green is proud to brag about how “poorly you’d be informed” if you tried to “steal” (meaning purchase from a willing seller) from our people. That is because you’d fine yourself with basically worthless land because the government is all over it, and will make sure that it will “be a very long time” before any reconstruction can occur. He is threatening consequences on a “would-be” buyer, which means he is only informing him to not go ahead with such a purchase, while actually implementing his threats on the CURRENT Owners!

Their land value is reduced to naught. Moratorium on sales, which reduces its value. The land will not be able to be financed or mortgaged as previously, cannot be sold, and since “it will be a very long time” if ever, that you can build on it or use it in any way its value is of course completely eroded (even if you could sell it or finance against it which you can’t).

The government failed in its emergency response, in its fire fighting task, was complicit in increasing the loss of lives, and now is threatening to take the land rights of the residents who have lost their homes so that they cannot repair, rebuild, sell or do as they wish like they could just days ago.

One potential consequence is of course that eventually, after demoralizing the current owners with the legally obstructed land, they will sell, for much cheaper prices than they would have otherwise, to investors who are willing (in exchange for the bargain price of course), to bare the risk and long waiting time of dealing with the government in the hopes of one day realizing the land’s value. A value it had previous to August 8th 2023.

Whether they make a memorial, turn into a state park, or just lock it up in legal limbo for many years, this is the real land grab, in the name of stopping the fake land grab, which was just the freedom of one human to ask another if they care to sell their land for bunch of money. Money that you may very well need in your dire straits.