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History of efforts to create a Hawaiian tribe from January 1 through April 30, 2024; including efforts to create a state-recognized tribe and efforts to get federal recognition through Dept. of Interior regulation, executive order, or Congressional legislation; and efforts to get local and international recognition of an alleged continuing independent nation of Hawaii.

INDEX OF NEWS REPORTS AND COMMENTARIES FROM JANUARY 1 THROUGH APRIL 30, 2024

January 2, 2024: Article in the OHA monthly newspaper filled with hate-America rhetoric about Hawaii's history and calls for "liberation of Hawaiʻi’s Indigenous people"

Jan 13: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be Foreign Minister of a still-living Kingdom of Hawaii, describes his view of how the monarchy of Hawaii was overthrown, and asserts that a deal was made between U.S. President Grover Cleveland and ex-queen Lili'uokalani to restore her to the throne, but the deal was never implemented.

Jan 29: Honolulu Star-Advertiser Editorial: Include OHA in Mauna Kea body. The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has gone to state Circuit Court asking to repeal the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, established in Act 255, arguing that the state law is unconstitutional. OHA was designated in the state Constitution as the state agency managing the trust of resources for the benefit of Native Hawaiians. This year’s newly convened Legislature should act to resolve at least part of the latest quandary, by amending the law to give OHA representation on the Mauna Kea authority board.

Jan 30: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be Foreign Minister of a still-living Kingdom of Hawaii, says "By the end of World War II, the United States had completely fooled the entire world — including nearly every Hawaiian — into thinking that Hawaiʻi was a United States territory." And he describes in detail how this happened.

February 1, 2024:
(a) Webpage being circulated on social media: "Hawaii Transitional Governance" announcing a provisional government led by race-nationalists to manage the governance of Hawaii during the transitional period from the current occupation by USA to total independence.
(b) Office of Hawaiian Affairs [a state government agency] in its monthly newspaper publishes a feature article "The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples" noting that “Regardless of whether Kānaka Maoli understand themselves as Indigenous people or as a civilian population of an occupied territory, or both, ... UNDRIP provides important ways of thinking about the legal duties of the settler colonial state or occupying power toward Kānaka Maoli ... Article 26 of UNDRIP further supports both a state constitutional framework for Kānaka Maoli control of land and use and protection of water resources [and] reaffirms the obligations of an occupying power under international humanitarian law.”

Feb 13: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be Foreign Minister of a still-living Kingdom of Hawaii, notes that Census 2020 counted more ethnic Hawaiians on U.S. mainland than in Hawaii, but nobody has counted how many "Hawaiians" there are in other nations around the world.

March 16: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be Foreign Minister of a still-living Kingdom of Hawaii, posts a message while he is at the UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland attending the 55th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. "This past week I have touched bases with diplomats, UN experts, non-governing organizations (NGOs), the press and other stake-holders in the international human rights arena. Next week I will be on a panel on self-determination sponsored by the Kashmiri independence movement. I will also participate in a press conference with Alaska representatives and Dr. Alfred deZayas on calling for review of UNGA Resolution 1469." Siu posts the short oral statement he delivered at the Human Rights Council asserting his diplomatic protest to the US illegal occupation of our islands and reiterating Hawaii's status as a sovereign, independent nation in continuity.

March 17: Exposee by editor of Hawaii Free Press describes how Hawaii Republican leaders secretly met with mob-leader Mike Miske's alleged hitman Lindsey Kinney, how Miske's hitman ‘Kleaned House’ in Three Political Parties, and that Hawaiian sovereignty activists believe in ‘Q-Anon’ too.

March 30: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be Foreign Minister of a still-living Kingdom of Hawaii, posts a message while he is at the United Nations in New York, saying that he is "asking members of the UN General Assembly who are sympathetic to our cause, to submit a resolution to the General Assembly calling for a procedural review of the conditions and circumstances that led to their adoption of Resolution 1469 in 1959. ... conducting such a review will quickly uncover the blatant fraud by the U.S. to con the UN General Assembly into erroneously adopting Resolution 1469. Upon discovering that error and realizing they are complicit in fraud and the prolonged illegal occupation of a peaceful and friendly sovereign nation (Hawaii), the UN General Assembly would then be categorically obligated to annul that flawed and offending resolution. This would cause a 180-degree turnaround. Without UNGA Resolution 1469 to lean on, the United States’ claim to Hawaii collapses, and by default, the Hawaiian Kingdom, the sovereign nation in continuity, springs forward to be restored as the lawful governing entity over the lands and people of the Hawaiian Islands. ... The removal of Resolution 1469 will also open the United States to legal challenges and judgements for the 131 years of criminal acts of piracy, pillaging and crimes against humanity, which would result in the United States not only withdrawing from our country, but providing massive restitution for crimes and damages."

April 13: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be Foreign Minister of a still-living Kingdom of Hawaii, says Hawaii is a nation on the rise ... if we think and act as a free people, then we are a free people -- and whatever constraints imposed by the U.S. and the Fake State are merely temporary obstacles that we can overcome. The time of thinking of ourselves as a nation in distress has passed. We are a nation on the rise! And the more we assert it, not in a prideful way, but rooted and confident in Aloha ʻĀina and Kapu Aloha, the sooner our nation will be restored. Siu lists some of the recent successes whereby the State of Hawaii has given concessions to a nation of Hawaii.

April 21: Hilo and Kona newspapers news report: "TMT project manager admits past mistakes, notes project is dependent on NSF funding, support from Hawaiians ... The fate of the Thirty Meter Telescope rests in the hands of the [ethnic] Hawaiian community, observatory officials say. ... if the consensus among [ethnic] Hawaiians is that TMT is not welcome on Maunakea, then TMT will accept that decision.

April 27, 2024: Leon Siu, who imagines himself to be Foreign Minister of a still-living Kingdom of Hawaii, says "The Queen [Lili'uokalani] never surrendered [during the 1893 revolution that overthrew the monarchy]" She wrote a note of protest "asking for the U.S. to through international diplomatic channels, rather than the clash of arms." Siu says the protest was delivered to the U.S. Embassy in Honolulu; but that is false: the protest note was delivered to the office of the revolutionary Provisional Government, because she knew the PG, not the USA, had staged the revolution and would attack her puny armed forces unless she surrendered. Siu says "Other words that need to be used more carefully to tell our story are: Overthrow, Abdication, Annexation, Occupation, Colonization, Hawaiian National, Hawaiian Subject, Crown Lands, Ceded Lands, and so forth."

April 29-30, 2024: Six years ago OHA board member Rowena Akana violated the state ethics code when she used OHA money to pay for internet, cable TV, and food for herself and others. The state ethics commission fined her $23,106. Akana appealed to the state Supreme Court claiming that the ethics commission does not have jurisdiction over OHA [because OHA is a quasi-sovereign entity]. Last week attorneys for OHA led by former Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Robert Klein questioned whether the Ethics Commission actually has authority to shape how OHA trustees use proceeds from ceded lands. The OHA board voted 8-1 to file an amicus brief with the supreme court to support Akana's request to overturn the ethics commission decision, but the court refused to allow the amicus brief. OHA board member Keli'i Akina issued a press release opposing the other 8 board members and arguing that OHA is a state agency required to follow the same rules for accountability and transparency that all other agencies must follow.

END OF INDEX

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FULL TEXT OF ITEMS IN THE INDEX FROM JANUARY 1 THROUGH APRIL 30, 2024

** Ken Conklin's note: This "guest column" is published in the monthly newspaper of the State of Hawaii government agency Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and is a blatant endorsement of the hate-America agenda of Hawaiian sovereignty activism. The author, Healani Sonoda-Pale, is THE social-media and political spokesperson for Ka Lahui Hawaii, the now-shrunken remnant of a sovereignty organization founded by Haunani-Kay Trask and her sister Mililani Trask (now an OHA board member) which reportedly had 20,000 members at the time of the 1993 protest march on Iolani Palace commemorating the centennial of the overthrow of the monarchy. Both Shane Pale and Healani Sonoda-Pale were students of Dr. Haunani-Kay Trask at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. Shane was one of the thugs who intimidated the elderly students and the program director at UH causing them to withdraw my announced non-credit pro-bono course "Hawaiian Sovereignty an Alternative Perspective" at the Academy for Lifelong Learning in Fall 2002 until a Honolulu Advertiser news report and editorial about (lack of) academic freedom at UH forced the course to be reinstated. See my webpage about that incident at
https://www.angelfire.com/hi2/hawaiiansovereignty/uhacafreeintro.html
This is not the first time OHA collaborates with the Pale family: See article by Healani and Shane eulogizing Haunani-Kay Trask as a sovereignty "warrior" on pp. 5 and 18 in the OHA monthly newspaper of August 2021
https://kawaiola.news/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/KaWaiOla-August2021.pdf
The closing two paragraphs of the January 2, 2024 commentary are a call for "liberation of Hawaiʻi’s Indigenous people" and a prideful claim that the annual parade from Mauna Ala to Iolani Palace was started by Pale's group 9 years ago -- that claim to fame is false, as I can recall standing at the gate with my (ex)wife in 1993 observing the march arrive, and also being part of that march in 1998 when I had conversations with several activists along the way including Hayden Burgess alias Poka Laenui, and flag-carrier medical doctor Baron Ching.

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https://kawaiola.news/issue/ka-wai-ola-vol-41-no-1-january-2024/
Ka Wai Ola, Vol. 41 No. 1, January 2024

https://kawaiola.news/hai-manao-opinion/the-annual-onipaa-peace-march-observing-the-overthrow/
page 12

The Annual ʻOnipaʻa Peace March: Observing the Overthrow

By Healani Sonoda-Pale

The story of the Indigenous people of Hawaiʻi is one of resilience.

Over the past 245 years, Kānaka Maoli have survived an apocalyptic decline in our population, an aggressive American missionary brainwashing agenda, the introduction of an exploitative economic system, the privatization and theft of our native lands, and the illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom on Jan. 17, 1893, resulting in the complete loss of Kānaka Maoli political power in our own homeland.

The overthrow was the blow that has reverberated through the decades. It was the day a small gang of Haole businessmen, with the protection of American Marines and the support of the American Minister in Hawaiʻi, declared the establishment of a “Provisional Government” forcing our beloved Queen Liliʻuokalani to yield her authority to the United States – which she did to avoid the loss of Kānaka Maoli lives.

U.S. imperial interests in the Pacific thwarted efforts to restore Queen Liliʻuokalani to power. Despite U.S. President Grover Cleveland’s acknowledgement to Congress that “a substantial wrong has been done” regarding the overthrow, and a well-organized resistance movement of Aloha ʻĀina leaders, efforts to reestablish the monarchy failed in the wake of the Spanish-American War and the violent consolidation of U.S. territorial interests in the Pacific that required Hawaiʻi as a foothold.

To reinforce and support America’s presence in Hawaiʻi, history was rewritten, and the true events of the overthrow were suppressed. Generations of Kānaka Maoli grew up believing that we gave up our kingdom for a better life under U.S. rule; but nothing could be further from the truth.

Today, we don’t have to look far to see that life under U.S. rule is not working. Depressing socioeconomic statistics, the high cost of living, and spiraling environmental degradation are all telltale signs that all is not well in our homeland. Kānaka Maoli fill Hawaiʻi’s prisons, Oʻahu’s aquifer was poisoned by the Navy, and the historic town of Lahaina was burned to ashes along with 100 innocent victims.

It’s been 131 years since the overthrow and despite decades of adversity Kānaka Maoli are still here. Our population rallied from a low of 37,000 in 1900 to 680,000 strong today. Calls for Hawaiian sovereignty and self-determination have been ongoing since the 1980s and struggles to take back control of our lands and water are on the rise.

Nine years ago, the Queen’s Court led by a Kailana Moa-Eli marked the overthrow with a peaceful march from Maunaʻala (Royal Mausoleum) to ʻIolani Palace with a handful of Aloha ʻĀina protectors. This event evolved into the annual ʻOnipaʻa Peace March with thousands of participants each year – including dozens of schools – who congregate on the palace grounds for speeches, music and education.

On Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2024, we are gathering and marching as one lāhui acknowledging and remembering the wrongs done to our kūpuna so future generations will never forget and carry the struggle forward for a livable future that is possible only through the liberation of Hawaiʻi’s Indigenous people.

For more information and to register your school or group for the ‘Onipaʻa Peace March go to
kalahuihawaii.net/onipaa.

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2024/01/ke-aupuni-update-january-2024-return-of.html
Ke Aupuni Update January 13, 2024

The Return of Our Nation

One hundred and thirty-one years ago, on January 17, 1893, hiding behind 162 heavily armed U.S. troops, and the cannons of a U.S. warship in Honolulu Harbor, the peaceful, innocent Hawaiian Kingdom was ruthlessly pirated by a gang of greedy white businessmen proclaiming themselves to be the new heads of the government for the Hawaiian Kingdom

THE HAWAIIAN KINGDOM

By the mid-Nineteenth Century, the Hawaiian Kingdom was a progressive, literate, flourishing, peaceful, independent, Christian nation, conducting lively trade and discourse among the nations of the world.

In the 1840s Hawaiʻi’s enlightened leaders transformed Hawaii into a highly literate nation and instituted a constitutional form of government. In 1843 the Hawaiian Kingdom became the first non-Eurocentric nation to be formally recognized by the great colonial powers of Europe as a fellow sovereign, independent nation state.

By the 1890s the Hawaiian Kingdom had numerous treaties with foreign nations and more than 130 diplomatic posts around the world. Hawaiian monarchs had traveled the globe, establishing formal relationships with crowns and heads of states in Europe, Asia, the Americas and the Pacific. The Hawaiian Kingdom initiated a confederation of Pacific Island nations.

ILLEGAL INTERVENTION

In January 1893, without provocation and without warning, a company of fully armed United States Marines suddenly landed in Honolulu to support a coup dʻetat by a cabal of white businessmen to unseat Queen Liliʻuokalani and seize control of the Hawaiian Kingdom government. To avoid escalation into a bloody war, the Queen made a conditional yield — not to the insurgents, but to the United States — diplomatically protesting the United States’ military intervention as an illegal act of aggression (an international wrongful act) and placing the responsibility to repair the illegal act squarely upon the shoulders of the President of the United States.

Months later, after conducting an official investigation, U.S. President Grover Cleveland admitted the U.S. committed a wrongful act of aggression and informed the U.S. Congress that the United Statesʻ armed intervention amounted to an illegal “act of war” against a friendly, sovereign nation. Cleveland indicated the U.S. had a moral and legal international obligation to repair the wrong by restoring Queen Liliʻuokalani and the lawful government of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

President Cleveland and Queen Lili’uokalani agreed to terms to settle the matter, but the U.S. Congress failed to implement the settlement. It remains unfinished business to this day.
** Ken Conklin's note: U.S. minister Willis twice asked ex-queen Lili'uokalani, in private, whether she would accept a deal to restore her to the throne in return for her pledge to pardon the men who had overthrown her; but she twice refused the proposal and insisted she would behead them and confiscate their property. At the last moment before Willis set sail for USA, she rushed to the ship and orally said she would agree; but it was too late; and also, Hawaii President Dole had never even been presented with the idea. Furthermore, as ex-queen, she no longer had the right to make any deals between USA and Hawaii.

WRONGFUL TAKING

Instead of honoring that 1893 agreement, the United States, in 1898, did the exact opposite. Under then-President William McKinley, and under cover of the infamous Spanish-American War, the U.S. concocted and staged a quasi “annexation” and took possession of the Hawaiian Islands calling it the “U.S. Territory of Hawaii”. In 1959, that fake “Territory of Hawaii” was converted into the fake “State of Hawaii”.

Today, 131 years and 24 U.S. presidents later, there have been decades of dedicated, sacrificial efforts by countless Aloha ʻĀina (Hawaiʻi patriots) to bring about a graceful and peaceful end to the belligerent occupation of our homeland. Thankfully, the return of the Hawaiian Kingdom is now in sight.

As we take the time on January 17, to attend the Peace March from the Royal Mausoleum at Maunaʻala and the ʻOnipaʻa Rally at ʻIolani Palce, to reflect on the events of the past and advancing our Lāhui into the future, let’s remind ourselves, our ʻohana and our friends, that we are the legacy — the evidence and heirs — of the living Hawaiian Kingdom... Ua Ola Ke Ea! Sovereignty Lives!

“Love of country is deep-seated in the breast of every Hawaiian, whatever his station.” — Queen Liliʻuokalani
Ua mau ke ea o ka ʻāina i ka pono. The sovereignty of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.

"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."

PLEASE KŌKUA Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort To contribute, go to: • GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII • PayPal – use account email: info@HawaiianKingdom.net • Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net “FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc. Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

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https://www.staradvertiser.com/2024/01/29/editorial/our-view/editorial-include-oha-in-mauna-kea-body/
Honolulu Star-Advertiser Monday January 29, 2024, EDITORIAL

Include OHA in Mauna Kea body

The summit of Mauna Kea generally affords a clear-sky view, which is why it has served the astronomy campus there so well. But its future remains murky, with the latest legal challenge only the most recent cloud to descend over it. The governance over the summit area, as lawmakers set up in 2022, is what’s at issue.

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs has gone to state Circuit Court asking to repeal the Mauna Kea Stewardship and Oversight Authority, established in Act 255, arguing that the state law is unconstitutional. OHA was designated in the state Constitution as the state agency managing the trust of resources for the benefit of Native Hawaiians.

This year’s newly convened Legislature should act to resolve at least part of the latest quandary, by amending the law to give OHA representation on the Mauna Kea authority board.

Act 255 sets out a transitional period extending to 2028, when the authority would replace the University of Hawaii in managing the summit area, including the site of the proposed Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT).

The lawsuit asserts that the law violates the Contract Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The establishment of the authority “exonerates the government agencies that have legal responsibilities in the management of Mauna Kea lands,” according to a “frequently asked questions” document (a link is at www.oha.org/aina/mauna-kea).

The complaint document lays out much of the history underlying the ongoing tensions over the management of ceded lands — the former Hawaiian monarchy lands that were ceded to the U.S. upon the overthrow of the kingdom. Ultimately, Native Hawaiians were identified among the beneficiaries of the ceded lands trust.

“Act 255 violates one of the most fundamental principles of trust law by creating a conflicted trustee beholden to both the ceded lands trust beneficiaries as well as to UH’s sublessees,” according to the complaint. The suit cites the designation of a representative of the telescopes on the authority board as an example of a conflict of interest, because that representative can vote on actions that benefit them. This, though, is among the suit’s weaker assertions, because the authority should include a range of voices.

The better-founded criticism is that an OHA representative, specified in earlier versions of the 2022 bill, was eliminated from the board roster in the final version. “OHA never received official word from the conference committee on why OHA was removed from the bill establishing the authority,” said Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey, chair of the agency’s board of trustees. “It’s thought that OHA was removed because we had opposed the bill.” This leaves OHA “the only constitutionally mandated agency that represents the well-being of Native Hawaiians and recipient of ceded land revenues without a seat at the table to weigh in on the management and stewardship of the mauna,” according to a statement posted on the OHA website.

The Legislature can and should correct that flaw.

Still, the authority likely will find it difficult to navigate what is a turbulent political environment. This layer of added bureaucracy further complicates management of the mauna, a cultural and environmental treasure and a critically important scientific resource. TMT, with great promise to fuel astronomers’ discoveries, offers an opportunity Hawaii should not abandon. And UH, which weathered a storm of criticism over its early mismanagement, had demonstrated its capacity to direct the land use in a more balanced way. But if the new authority is to make any progress in now achieving that balance, this legal morass has to be cleared. Lawmakers can at least take that step.

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** Ken Conklin's online comment

OHA should NOT be entitled to sit on the Mauna Kea board of directors, nor any other State board. Following the original 13 colonies, every new State created and added to our nation started out as a "territory" whose land belonged to the USA held in trust for the benefit of the people (of all races) who lived there; and then when the territory got incorporated and became a full-fledged State, the "trust land" was turned over to the new State in fee simple except for lands kept by federal govt for military bases, national parks, harbors, etc.

In Hawaii the Treaty of Annexation (territory, 1898) and Statehood Act (1959) identify 5 specific purposes for the income from the trust land and for its use. "The betterment of native Hawaiians as defined in HHCA of 1920" was one of those 5 purposes. Another co-equal one of the 5 purposes was public schools (K-12 & university). Another one was "roads & highways". Does that mean the Dept of Educ. must have a slot on every other board that controls the ceded lands? Must the Dept of Transportation have a slot on every other board? Of course not. Nobody ever thought that way.

But over the years OHA has wormed its way onto nearly every state government agency board of directors. Every year OHA sponsors a few new bills to do the same thing to more agency boards -- add an OHA rep. to be both a spy and an influencer (usually including as a voting member). That's absurd. It's racist. The ONLY reason why "betterment of native Hawaiians as defined in HHCA" was listed as one of the 5 purposes for ceded land usage & revenue was to protect the set-aside of 200,000 acres of land in the Homelands Act of 1920 -- the purpose was NOT to make sure a particular racial group got a seat on every agency's board. The editors of this newspaper have spent decades pushing crazy racism to further empower Hawaii's favorite, highly entitled racial group -- they do that at every opportunity such as Akaka bill, DHHL, ceded lands, Mauna Kea -- sowing anger, divisiveness, hatred, favoritism, corruption. It's gotta stop. Maybe sale of newspaper will get rid of racist editors.

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https://www.htglaw.info/?fbclid=IwAR2qu6_y1oyd8sXotU8zy-g_rPyTD8dlaLO9rSwR1xEEPox8U1SJhbFAVpU

HTG
Hawaii Transitional Governance
HTG is the "interim" governing body that facilitates and supports the lawful transition back to a free and sovereign Hawaii.
We the People, together end the 131 year US corporate/military occupation of Ko Hawaii Pae 'Aina, the Hawaiian Kingdom.

EAP Emergency Action Plan Lawful Continuity and Existence of Ko Hawaii Pae 'Aina / Hawaiian Kingdom

A Nation to Nation Crisis Intervention 'Protocol for the Lawful Transition of Ko Hawaii Pae 'Aina / Hawaiian Kingdom'.
Hawaii's true status has been confirmed in numerous official public records in the United States and Internationally.
See: US Public Law 103-150 / US Constitution Article 6 Clause 2, Supremacy of Treaties / Law of Nations / Laws of Occupation / US Field Manual 27-10 / Ko Hawaii Pae 'Aina in continuity with perfect allodial land title, HRS 172-11.
In this time of need for crisis intervention, we have Laws of Occupation that apply and International Law which mandates that the occupier must administrate the Laws of the occupied country.
Therefore, HTG, Hawaii Transitional Governance has constructed a: 'Protocol for the Lawful Transition of Ko Hawaii Pae 'Aina / Hawaiian Kingdom'.
When the 'Transition Protocol' is complete, the Hawaiian Kingdom will be restored. But the Sovereign Hawaiian Kingdom as a Country / Nation never left.
Ko Hawaii Pai 'Aina Lives in Continuity
This is the time to stand up on the side of Pono, and help the Kingdom move forward into a fully restored administrative capability.
How would you like to be of service ? Contact: Friends of HTG by TEXTING:
808-785-0402 or 808-652-2726
hnlakauai@gmail.com

This Lawful American Embassy, Kauai, is physical confirmation of our Nation to Nation Unity in Spirit and the Law Treaty of Peace and Friendship,1849. Historically, the establishing of a foreign embassy/consulate in a country has been a gesture of a desire to have working relations with the host country. In order to set up an embassy/ consulate a country needs to have the approval of the host country’s government. We are dedicated to building a strategic partnership and governance platform for transition recognizable under "International Law" and "The Laws of Occupation".

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2024/01/ke-aupuni-update-january-2024-un-was.html
Ke Aupuni Update Tuesday January 30, 2024

UN Was Used to Capture Our Nation

By the end of World War II, the United States had completely fooled the entire world — including nearly every Hawaiian — into thinking that Hawaiʻi was a United States territory.

But in 1946 the US was presented with a problem. At that time, about 75% of the world was under the colonial rule of nine European countries and the United States. The newly formed United Nations decided to emphasize decolonization of the world.

The plan was for the colonial powers to assist the people in their territories to determine for themselves what form of governance they wished for their future — whether to remain a dependent territory, become integrated into the colonizer, or to become independent.

Since then, about 80 of the original 100 or so territories on the UN list for decolonization chose independence, and became members of the United Nations. Today, there are only 17 territories remaining on that list.

In 1946, the US placed “Hawaiʻi” on the UN decolonization list, along with Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Panama Canal Zone, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. It is now apparent that the US intended to use the UN decolonization process to legitimize their 1898 fake annexation of Hawaiʻi.

Sure enough, in 1959, the US conducted a “statehood” referendum rigged to manufacture consent to absorb Hawaiʻi into the United States. The voters were not told this was actually a decolonization vote. They were not informed of other possible choices (like independence) and were kept in the dark about the international ramifications of the vote. The only option presented on the ballot was: ‘yes’ to statehood.

After this and other irregularities, the United States submitted a report to the United Nations claiming the “people of Hawaiʻi” had consented to become a “state” of the United States, and as a result, the US had made Hawaiʻi the 50th state of the Union.

In December, 1959 the UN General Assembly, without checking on details, adopted Resolution 1469, accepting the United States’ report, and deeming the political status of the Hawaiian Islands to be settled — Hawaii was a “state” of the United States and its people were citizens of the US. Thus, the UN became an unwitting accomplice to the fraud of Hawaiʻi statehood.

Even though it is an error based on fraud, UNGA Resolution 1469 stands today as the official stance of the United Nations (and the entire international community) on the question of Hawaiʻi’s sovereignty. This stance blocks and frustrates all legal challenges to previous wrongful acts such as the overthrow, the annexation, and flagrant land-taking…

The key to freeing Hawaiʻi is to expose UN General Assembly Resolution 1469 as a grave error that binds our nation in captivity to the US; and to persuade the UN to rescind the offending resolution. This will open wide the legal and political paths to a Free Hawaiʻi.

For the latest news and developments about our progress at the United Nations in both New York and Geneva, tune in to Free Hawaii News at 6 PM the first Friday of each month on ʻŌlelo Television, Channel 53. "And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."

PLEASE KŌKUA
Your kōkua, large or small, is vital to this effort. To contribute, go to:
• GoFundMe – CAMPAIGN TO FREE HAWAII
• PayPal – use account email: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
• Other – To contribute in other ways (airline miles, travel vouchers, volunteer services, etc...) email us at: info@HawaiianKingdom.net
“FREE HAWAII” T-SHIRTS - etc.
Check out the great FREE HAWAII products you can purchase at
http://www.robkajiwara.com/store/c8/free_hawaii_products
All proceeds are used to help the cause. MAHALO!

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

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https://kawaiola.news/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/KaWaiOla-Feb2024.pdf
Ka Wai Ola [The Living Water - OHA monthly newspaper]. Vol 41, No.2, February 1, 2024, page 12

‘Āpono nō ‘o UNDRIP i nā Pono me nā Kuleana o nā Kānaka Maoli
UNDRIP Affirms Kānaka Maoli Rights

Na Adam Keawe Manalo-Camp | Unuhi ‘ia e Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu
[By Adam Keawe Manalo-Camp translated by Hinaleimoana Wong-Kalu

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 2007 after more than 25 years of consultations, working groups, meetings, and organizing. It has been adopted by 144 countries and was endorsed by the United States in 2010 after it initially voted against the declaration.

The 46 articles of the declaration marked the first time that Indigenous peoples’ collective and individual rights were legally recognized – including the right to practice their language, develop their economies, practice their spiritual beliefs, and strengthen their cultural and political institutions.

Over the course of the drafting process, many notable Kānaka Maoli lawyers, scholars and activists participated, including current OHA Trustee Mililani Trask and former OHA Trustee Poka Laenui. Laenui became involved in the process in 1983, and was elected as English Speaking Vice President of World Council of Indigenous Peoples (WCIP) and subsequently as the political spokesperson. Having been elected as OHA trustee the previous year, in 1982, Laenui explained his involvement saying that “the pathway for me to get there was a result of my search for an international body which could examine the decolonization of Hawaiʻi, looking at this matter from an international legal rather than an American colonial process.”

According to Laenui, the UN Working Group on Indigenous Peoples and its resulting declaration must be understood as a process and as a product. “It became an opportunity for exposure, especially of Indigenous peoples, their histories, cultures, and conditions to the world. The UN declaration is the product which stands as a minimum standard of what the rights should be of the world’s Indigenous peoples,” Laenui said. “While it is not binding on nations, it stands as a statement of such rights to which Indigenous and colonial governments can look to as a fundamental standard.”

Lance Collins, Maui attorney and legal scholar, explained that the four main principles of UNDRIP are self-determination, consultation and participation in decision-making, respect and protection of culture, and equality/non-discrimination. “Regardless of whether Kānaka Maoli understand themselves as Indigenous people or as a civilian population of an occupied territory, or both, for those who are involved in legal struggles, UNDRIP provides important ways of thinking about the legal duties of the settler colonial state or occupying power toward Kānaka Maoli,” Collins said. “Most Indigenous peoples assert claims to lands, self-determination, etc., with- out regard to the legal significance of a previously internationally recognized nation-state, as Kānaka Maoli can, and do, with respect to the Kingdom.”

Looking at issues such as protecting iwi kūpuna, water, and land rights, Collins notes that, “Article 26 of UNDRIP further supports both a state constitutional framework for Kānaka Maoli control of land and use and protection of water resources [and] reaffirms the obligations of an occupying power under international humanitarian law.”

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2024/02/ke-aupuni-update-february-2024-how-many.html
Ke Aupuni Update Tuesday February 13, 2024

How Many Hawaiians Are There?

In September (2023) several news outlets reported a story that said, according to the United States 2020 Census, for the first time ever, more native Hawaiians live in the continental U.S. than here in the Hawaiian Islands. The stories said, of the, 680,442 Native Hawaiians counted in the census, 47 percent live in Hawaiʻi, while 53 percent resided on the US continent. It was not a surprise, we saw it coming.

Years of increasing cost of living driven by displacement, commercial development, land speculation, low paying jobs and social tensions has driven away many Hawaiians, especially “native Hawaiians” from their homeland. The exodus has been prevalent among young adults starting out in life, with grim prospects of a future in Hawaii, for a decent job or affording a home to start a family. This is a tragic situation.

But the diaspora is worse than we thought. Hawaii has become so American-minded that we blindly think the number, 680,442 refers to all the native Hawaiians on the planet, when it only represents those who reside in Hawaii and the U.S. What about all those native Hawaiians who live elsewhere in the world? How many are in Europe, Asia, Africa, North, Central and South America? Australia and Oceania? I can’t find any stats on them, and perhaps, none exists. Has anyone counted them? Has anyone reached out to them?

And thatʻs not all. What about those who are not ethnically Hawaiians (not “native Hawaiians”) but Hawaiians by birth, by hānai (adoption), by family ties generations long, and by their Aloha ʻĀina, love of the land? When we talk about Lāhui, we are talking about all those who identify as Hawaiians, regardless of their ethnic, cultural or political background.

Surely there are many thousands of Hawaiians spread out in the rest of the world — but no one seems to have counted them! ... not the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Kamehameha Schools, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, the State of Hawaii, and not the United States Census Bureau. This means the Hawaiians who live in places other than Hawaii and the U.S. statistically don’t exist! But we know they are there, and that Hawaii is their homeland.

That means not only are there way more native Hawaiians in the world than the population stats tell us, it also means, when we include all the other Hawaiians — those who carry Hawaiʻi in their hearts — our Lāhui (our nation of Aloha) and our future is way bigger and deeper than we had imagined.

"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2024/03/ke-aupuni-update-march-2024-at-un-in.html
Free Hawaii Facebook page, Ke Aupuni Update, Saturday March 16, 2022

At the UN in Geneva

For three or four times a year since 2010, I have been attending meetings at the UN in Geneva, and likewise at the UN in New York. The primary purpose for attending these UN meetings is to promote “Hawaiʻi. our story and our future” where we have been and where we would like to go. By using the art of diplomacy (talking story and making friends), we have broken down the lies the US had spread about Hawaiʻi being a US “state” (as evidenced by numerous stories in UN and European publications), and we have succeed in developing sympathy and support for the restoration of Hawaiʻi as a sovereign, independent nation.

I am currently at the massive UN headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland attending the 55th Session of the UN Human Rights Council. This past week I have touched bases with diplomats, UN experts, non-governing organizations (NGOs), the press and other stake-holders in the international human rights arena. Next week I will be on a panel on self-determination sponsored by the Kashmiri independence movement. I will also participate in a press conference with Alaska representatives and Dr. Alfred deZayas on calling for review of UNGA Resolution 1469.

Here is the short oral statement I delivered at the Human Rights Council asserting our diplomatic protest to the US illegal occupation of our islands and reiterating our status as a sovereign, independent nation in continuity.

Aloha Mr. President:
This intervention is a diplomatic protest of the ongoing, systematic violations of human rights in the Hawaiian Islands and how the matter can be peacefully remedied.
The United Statesʻ illegal occupation of Hawaii, has caused the people of Hawaii tremendous harm. The tragic fire that destroyed the historic town of Lahaina on August 8, 2023 is a foreboding of where the rest Hawaii is headed should the U.S. maintain its stranglehold on our islands.
The U.S. and its settler population has used judicial corruption to dispossess Hawaiians of our lands (as in the current case of Mme Routh Bolomet); robs Hawaiians of our livlihoods, way of life and social structures; creating an environment that is so inhospitable and toxic that more than half of native Hawaiians have fled the islands just to survive.
The huge presence of the US military in Hawaii puts Hawaiians in imminent danger of instant nuclear annihilation by enemies of the U.S. But unlike Japan’s sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, the next attack on US Military installations in Hawaii will wipe out everything. The people would be gone and the entire island of Oʻahu will look like Lahaina does now.
The remedy would begin with the United Nations General Assembly reviewing Resolution 1469 to correct its error, and ending its complicity in the occupation of Hawaii by the U.S.

"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

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https://www.hawaiifreepress.com/Articles-Main/ID/40675/Hawaii-Republican-leaders-secretly-met-with-Miske-Hitman-Lindsey-Kinney
Hawaii Free Press Sunday March 17, 2024

Hawaii Republican leaders secretly met with Miske Hitman Lindsey Kinney
How Miske Hitman ‘Kleaned House’ in Three Political Parties
Sovereignty activists believe in ‘Q-Anon’ too

by Andrew Walden

Alleged hitman Lindsey Kinney’s beheading threats against Waianae harbormaster Joseph Simpliciano and his family burst across the airwaves after Kinney was arrested by the FBI April 13, 2022.

Prosecutors planning to use Kinney as a witness against alleged underworld kingpin Michael Miske instead found themselves charging Kinney with new crimes. The courts acted quickly. Kinney was sentenced to 37 months in a federal penitentiary and, according to the Bureau of Prisons, is currently being held at the Honolulu Detention Center.

Kinney’s threats came after Simpliciano, on the job, January 11, 2022, challenged Eric C. Nelson, a convicted felon who calls himself ‘Colonel Lilikoi’ of the ‘Occupied Forces Army Hawaii,’ over $30,000 in unpaid dock fees and salvage expenses owed to DLNR.

What has not been reported until now: The threats were part of a dispute among sovereignty activists. Simpliciano had been the 2020 Aloha Aina Party candidate for House District 44-Waianae. The fear factor helped the Q-Anon oriented ‘Klean House Hawaii’ (KHH) faction gain control over the Aloha Aina Party. It was the first step in what would end up as a failed scheme to remake Hawaii’s political landscape.

In a Facebook message introduced as evidence in his trial, (p39) Kinney warns Simpliciano, “try and think you can run for representative again.”

Meet Kinney’s Political Team

After posting the beheading threats, Kinney pulled papers March 11, 2022, to run for Governor in the 2022 election. The Kinney for Governor campaign contact email, “buildteam50,” belongs to 2020 Aloha Aina HD43 candidate and ‘Klean House’ activist Shaena Dela Cruz Hoohuli. In 2022, Dela Cruz filed papers to run for Lt Governor but then withdrew. For 2024, Dela Cruz has used the same “buildteam50” email address to pull papers for Council District 1 and for the Republican nomination for HD44.

In 2020, Campaign Spending records show Dela Cruz’ husband was her campaign chair. Then she met Kinney. According to E Court Kokua, March 28, 2022, Dela Cruz sued her husband for divorce. The case stalled after Kinney was dragged off to jail. Then on February 2, 2024, Dela Cruz’ husband sued her for divorce.

As part of a scheme to seize control of the Aloha Aina Party, KHH activist Dan Decker, starting in 2020, and Dela Cruz, starting in 2022, registered themselves with DCCA BREG as officers of the so-called “Aloha Aina National Committee, LLC.” Decker would run for US Senate under the Aloha Aina banner in 2022.

After blogger Ian Lind exposed the scheme in a series of October and November, 2020, columns, one angry Aloha Aina member complained:

It’s a ‘hostile takeover’ by Daniel Decker and his company. Daniel Decker was proven to be a fraud trying to take down leadership of the AAP. His gripe with the AAP leadership is that they did not approve a loan set up by Decker. He requested to step down as treasurer to manage the candidates of AAP. Why? Because if the loan got approved by the leadership, Decker would get paid. The loan was not approved, because we have no money to back it up. Everyone working for the Aloha Aina Party has normal jobs and bills. No one gets paid to do this on the side, it’s hard work. Daniel Decker has turn the party to LLC and make himself leader of AAP which is entirely fraudulent. He will be in prison.

But after Kinney and Dela Cruz entered the picture, resistance evaporated.

Hawai’i Free Press emailed “buildteam50” seeking comment from Dela Cruz. A ‘no comment’ response came from Dan Decker identifying himself as chair of “Friends of Shaena Dela Cruz Hoohuli” -- a campaign committee not registered with the Hawaii Campaign Spending Commission. He did not respond to a further request for comment.

Questioned by Hawai’i Free Press, ‘Klean House Hawaii’ leader Karl Dicks admits Kinney is “someone I know and have met.” Dicks also claims, “Mitske (sic) owes me 10 k for gate I made for his house.”

As described by Dicks in KHH Signal Chat messages above, Dicks visited Lindsey along with Dela Cruz and 'Char' -- former Hawaii Republican Party leader Charlotte Rosecrans. In Spring, 2022, just before his arrest, Kinney's 'home' was a Kaneohe Wong's Village property stolen from an 85 year old HPU Professor. At the time, Dicks was a Republican House District Chair and member of the Hawaii Republican State Committee.

Iowa-born Dicks is a self-styled sovereignty activist and reputedly a follower of Dennis Ragsdale’s ‘Kingdom of Hawai’i’ group. Asked about Ragsdale, Dicks describes him as, “My mentor and friend of over 30 years. Extremely knowledgeable.”

As a 2020 Honolulu Mayoral candidate, Dicks promised to “settle the dispute with the overthrow of the Kingdom.” He got 358 votes, coming in 14th out of 15 candidates. Then he sued, calling the other candidates ‘illegitimate’ and demanding they be retroactively stricken from the ballot so he could be named mayor. Oddly enough, the courts didn’t see it that way.

Dicks has pulled papers to run for Mayor again in 2024.

Cynical? Dicks tells Hawai'i Free Press, Q-Anon is "just letters (to me)."

A source informs Hawai’i Free Press, Dela Cruz met Kinney at Hawaii Kai Trump truck rallies in 2020 while Kinney was distributing flash drives full of Q-Anon conspiracy theories about Miske. Apparently the flash drives were retaliation after Miske allegedly attempted to kill Lindsey at a Kualoa Ranch movie set.

Dicks tells Hawai’i Free Press about Kinney’s flash drive:

“I did not see it when I was there (at Lindsey’s house). I never went in the house. I do know about the flash drive. I had one that I never put into a computer nor have I seen what was on it. I figured it was a set up to plant a bug or whatever into my system. (KHH activist) Hector (Vivo) gave it to me….tunnels, pedo stuff, trafficking etc, evidence is what I was told is on it. TOOOOO risky for me, wanted nothing to do with it. Megan Kau is a player from what I was told. Miske is strange dude for sure. I have no first hand knowledge of any of it, nor any doubt it is true!!!!”

Klean House 2022: Kinney for Governor, Dela Cruz for Lt Governor, Decker for Senate.

Klean House 2024: Dicks for Mayor, Dela Cruz for Council.

August 17, 2022, Decker filed a lawsuit, copied almost word-for -word from a similar suit filed by Dicks, seeking the removal of the Republican Party from the Hawaii election ballot. It is one of 13 suits filed by KHH activists between 2020 and 2023. All have been tossed out of court.

In the midst of Kinney’s threats, Kinney’s associates in the ‘Klean House Hawaii’ (KHH) faction came close to gaining control of the Hawaii Republican Party--while suing to remove it from the ballot. Apparently their plan was to knock Republicans off the ballot so the Aloha Aina Party could become the ‘second party’ in Hawaii.

In one Signal chat, Klean House can be seen plotting to ‘Free Lindsey Kinney’ while KHH activist Charlotte Rosecrans plans her run for Hawaii Republican Party Chair at the 2023 Hawaii Republican Convention. Several leading Republicans, including Jaime Padilla, a 2021 candidate for State GOP Chair pop up in this Klean House chat. Rosecrans got 40% of the vote for Party Chair at the May, 2023, Republican State Convention in Hilo.

Due to lack of votes, the Aloha Aina Party lost its ballot status after the 2022 elections. Decker and Dela Cruz failed to gather enough petition signatures to reestablish it.

KHH then attempted to take over the Hawaii Libertarian Party, beginning with its August, 2023, convention, where Decker, Dicks, and other KHH activists were elected to the Hawaii Libertarian Executive Committee. But, in January, 2024, they were ousted by Libertarian regulars after discovery of a Karl Dicks bogus FBI informant chain letter scheme.

Ironically, this leaves Hawaii Republicans as the only political party with a remaining KHH influence.

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2024/03/ke-aupuni-update-march-2024-roadblock.html
Free Hawaii blog, Ke Aupuni Update Saturday March 30, 2024

The Roadblock at the UN

The biggest obstacle to reinstating Hawaii as an independent country is UNGA Resolution 1469, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 12, 1959. Resolution 1469 accepted a report it received from the United States that the people of Hawaii had voted to become the 50th State of the United States. Even though we know now that the “statehood referendum” was a complete sham, UNGA Resolution 1469 still stands, blocking the way to a free Hawaii.

UNGA Resolution 1469 gives international legitimacy to the United States’ claim of dominion and jurisdiction over the Hawaiian Islands. It stands today as the official position of the UN and its 193 member countries, effectively insulating the United States and the State of Hawaii, from legal challenges, liability and accountability for otherwise clearly unlawful acts against the Hawaiian nation since 1893.

When lawsuits are brought by Hawaiians against the US for the illegal overthrow or the illegal annexation or the illegal land grabs –– anything that argues the US’ unlawful jurisdiction –– the courts dismiss the cases by citing, “this is not a legal question, it’s a political question”. Usually left unsaid is… “and the political question has been settled”.

So, what settled the political question of Hawaii’s political status? The 1959 “statehood plebiscite”, which was actually a veiled and skewed UN referendum for decolonization. When the US reported to the UN that the people of Hawaii exercised their right to self-determination and overwhelmingly chose to join the US, the UN, without verifying whether or not the US report was truthful, extended its approval by adopting Resolution 1469, thus validating that the political question was settled: Hawaii had been absorbed into the United States. That is where we are stuck, and will remain stuck, unless Resolution 1469 is removed.

At the UN in New York (where this issue of Ke Aupuni Update is being written) we have been developing a strategy to remove the obstacle that is Resolution 1469. How? We are asking members of the UN General Assembly who are sympathetic to our cause, to submit a resolution to the General Assembly calling for a procedural review of the conditions and circumstances that led to their adoption of Resolution 1469 in 1959. It is simply a procedural review of an action by the UN, not a direct challenge to the UN or the US.

However, conducting such a review will quickly uncover the blatant fraud by the U.S. to con the UN General Assembly into erroneously adopting Resolution 1469. Upon discovering that error and realizing they are complicit in fraud and the prolonged illegal occupation of a peaceful and friendly sovereign nation (Hawaii), the UN General Assembly would then be categorically obligated to annul that flawed and offending resolution.

This would cause a 180-degree turnaround. Without UNGA Resolution 1469 to lean on, the United States’ claim to Hawaii collapses, and by default, the Hawaiian Kingdom, the sovereign nation in continuity, springs forward to be restored as the lawful governing entity over the lands and people of the Hawaiian Islands.

The removal of Resolution 1469 will also open the United States to legal challenges and judgements for the 131 years of criminal acts of piracy, pillaging and crimes against humanity, which would result in the United States not only withdrawing from our country, but providing massive restitution for crimes and damages.

But most importantly, it will mean the return of control of the assets, operations and governance of the Hawaiian Islands to the Hawaiian Kingdom and its Aloha ʻĀina - the people who love their country.

"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2024/04/ke-aupuni-update-april-2024-nation-on.html
Free Hawaii blog: Ke Aupuni Update Saturday April 13, 2024

A Nation on the Rise

Steven Biko, the great South African writer and activist said: “The most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed.” How true! If people think of themselves as oppressed victims, they remain oppressed victims.

If we think the United States is the boss, and use words like “mainland”, and identify ourselves as Americans, we bind ourselves to the oppressor.

On the other hand, if we think and act as a free people, then we are a free people -- and whatever constraints imposed by the U.S. and the Fake State are merely temporary obstacles: obstacles that we can overcome.

Remember, Queen Liliʻuokalani never surrendered. She filed a diplomatic protest, by which she temporarily yielded her authority, “until such time as the Government of the United States shall, upon the facts being presented to it, undo the action of its representative, and reinstate me in the authority which I claim as the constitutional sovereign of the Hawaiian Islands.”

Yes, it has taken more than a hundred and thirty years, but the time for reinstatement is here!

Our country is not going to be “given back” to us. It never went anywhere. It’s still here! Yes, the intruder has really messed things up, but we can fix it and rebuild it into a country that reflects the best of who we are as a people, and a unique culture in a global community.

The time of thinking of ourselves as a nation in distress has passed. We are a nation on the rise! And the more we assert it, not in a prideful way, but rooted and confident in Aloha ʻĀina and Kapu Aloha, the sooner our nation will be restored.

In fact, have you noticed the progress weʻre making? Recently the State of Hawaii has been making numerous concessions and even siding with us on key issues… like demanding the US Navy close its giant fuel storage facility at Kapūkakī (Red Hill); installing a new, collaborative management system for Mauna Kea; appropriating a billion dollars to begin making up for a hundred years of criminal negligence of the Hawaiian Home Lands trust… Even smaller things like — renaming part of Waimanalo Beach Park, Hūnānāniho; renaming a Kona post office Kaʻawaloa instead of Captain Cook; renaming Central Middle School to Princess Ruth Ke’elikōlani Middle School; recognizing Lā Hoʻihoʻi Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day), recognizing Lā Kuokoa (Independence Day) as significant events and holidays of the Hawaiian Kingdom — not to mention the numerous celebrations and kūʻe actions by thousands of people ... all serving to remind us that the Lāhui is alive and growing!

Yes, there have been many egregious wrongs committed against us, and there are many battles ahead, but we are making great progress from when we started years ago. As long as we stay focused on making things pono for the future using the ways of Aloha ʻĀina and Kapu Aloha -- Thatʻs how we will Free Hawaii.

"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

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https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2024/04/21/hawaii-news/tmt-project-manager-admits-past-mistakes-notes-project-is-dependent-on-nsf-funding-support-from-hawaiians/
Hawaii Tribune-Herald | Sunday, April 21, 2024

TMT project manager admits past mistakes, notes project is dependent on NSF funding, support from Hawaiians

By MICHAEL BRESTOVANSKY

The fate of the Thirty Meter Telescope rests in the hands of the Hawaiian community, observatory officials say.

During a conversation with the Tribune-Herald earlier this month, TMT project manager Fengchuan Liu was candid about the observatory’s past and future on Hawaii Island.

Liu said that after the extensive protests against the observatory’s construction in 2019, it became clear to him that no future for the observatory exists without first building up bonds of trust and respect toward the local community, something he said the project disregarded in the past.

“Part of the mistake we made in 2019 was to emphasize, ‘We have a legal right, we get to do this,’” Liu said. “We did not have a good relationship with the entire Hawaii community, particularly not with the Native Hawaiian community. And we contributed to division in the community, there’s no doubt. On behalf of my organization, we apologize for that,” Liu said.

“I want to say off the bat, we’re very different now from TMT in 2019,” he went on, saying he has assembled a new team dedicated to steering the project toward being a good citizen first and foremost.

Liu said the only path forward for TMT after 2019 was to return to “square zero”: to build up a connection and relationship with the Big Island community regardless of whether the telescope is ever built. “We submit to the fact that the future of the TMT in Hawaii rests with the Hawaiian people,” Liu said, stating that, if the consensus among Hawaiians is that TMT is not welcome on Maunakea, then TMT will accept that decision. But how that decision may be made or voiced, Liu said, is still unclear.

In the meantime, TMT’s focus is on listening to community feedback — which Liu said mostly manifests as criticism — and public outreach efforts. For example, TMT Outreach Specialist Yuko Kakazu pointed to the ‘Ale Lau Loa program, which was launched last year in partnership between TMT and Hawaii County. The program allows for cultural exchange between Hawaiian students and TMT’s partners — last year, six students visited Okinawa in Japan. “A lot of people told us we always host people from outside — students from Japan, Canada, the mainland, always come here — but our own keiki don’t have opportunities to go outside,” Kakazu said.

Closer to home, Kakazu said TMT conducts tutoring services every Wednesday, helping students who are struggling in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. She said that program has had a 75% success rate — three-quarters of the students who were failing their classes are now passing, or even thriving, after tutoring. Kakazu said these programs are aimed at underserved areas around the island, and that many of them, such as the ‘Ale Lau Loa program, result in Hawaiian students returning with greater pride and appreciation for their own culture. “Even for me, as a Native Hawaiian … I’ve learned so much about my culture, even after growing up here,” said Keoki Kai, TMT community engagement adviser.

Kakazu and Liu both said that regardless of the fate of the observatory, TMT is still committed to maintaining these programs, and they will continue even if construction of the observatory on Maunakea is terminated. After all, the telescope’s future in 2024 is very unclear. Even though Liu said the Hawaiian people will decide whether the telescope is built, there is another force that has yet to make a decision about that: the United States government.

The National Academy of Sciences strongly recommended in 2020 that the U.S. National Science Foundation invest in an “Extremely Large Telescope Project” that would develop both the TMT on Maunakea and the planned Giant Magellan Telescope in Chile. However, the NSF board announced in February a recommendation that the project not exceed $1.6 billion. Because that spending limit likely will only barely cover the cost of a single Extremely Large Telescope, NSF will have to choose between one telescope or the other. In May, NSF will announce a process to determine which telescope NSF will fund. Liu said he does not want to speculate how that plan will be carried out, or when it will be completed, but was confident that his team will make TMT an attractive prospect for NSF.

Significantly, Liu noted that the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope in Chile already exists, and that a next-generation observatory in the Northern Hemisphere would be inherently less redundant and allow for greater coverage of the night sky than a second next-gen observatory in the Southern Hemisphere. However, should NSF choose otherwise, Liu said TMT could be in jeopardy. “I don’t see a path to complete building the observatory without NSF funding,” Liu said.

So far, Liu said, TMT has received about $2 billion in in-kind support from the project’s partners, which include the California Institute of Technology, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, the Canadian National Research Council, the Department of Science and Technology of the Indian government, and the National Institutes of National Sciences of Japan. Those partners have continued to make progress on constructing the telescope’s systems, even as construction in Hawaii has stalled. Liu said that the observatory’s design is “very mature,” and that 84% of its systems and subsystems are either in the final design phases or are design-complete.

So far, 109 segments of the telescope’s eponymous 30-meter-diameter primary mirror have been cut and polished around the world, leaving 383 to go. Meanwhile, Canada has completed its designs for the telescope’s 18-story dome and adaptive optics systems. But, Liu added, “we’re obviously limited by how much money we have to now build components,” and Canada’s work currently is on pause now that its design work is complete.

For now, TMT’s partners remain committed to the project, Liu said. But much of it is up in the air until NSF makes its decision. And even after that, he said, another decision also has to be made.

“In the end, we’ll let the community make the decision about our future, and that’s OK,” Liu said.

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** Ken Conklin's online comment:

"Native Hawaiians" are a minority ethnic group among the people of Hawaii. And within that ethnic group, only a minority of that minority are opposed to the TMT project on Mauna Kea. The primary reason for that opposition is a religious belief that Mauna Kea is a "sacred place", the residence of the snow goddess Poliahu, and the place where sky-father Wakea mated with earth-mother Papa. But the First Amendment to the Constitution says that there shall be "no establishment of religion". That means that government decisions cannot be based on any religious belief, especially when that belief is asserted by only a minority among a minority ethnic group. It's also absurd that a government agency whose purpose is to do astronomy now feels it must devote a significant portion of its budget and its attention to entertaining and educating a bunch of kids, especially on topics unrelated to astronomy. That's a public-relations project, not a science project.

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http://freehawaii.blogspot.com/2024/04/ke-aupuni-update-april-2024-queen-never.html
Free Hawaii blog, Ke Aupuni Update Saturday April 27, 2024

The Queen Never Surrendered!
Words bind and words set free

If there is anything we have learned in studying the situation of Hawaii it is that words matter. Terms that have been used by the occupier to convey our history not only skew our story, but they color and influence how the matter is perceived over time.

It is disconcerting how many otherwise accurate accounts of the events of the past 132 years, become suddenly skewed by the use of misleading words.

For instance, in telling of the events of January 16 and 17, 1893 — the so-called “overthrow” — it is often stated by even those on our side, that Queen Liliʻuokalani “surrendered”. She did not.

Surrender means: to submit to the domination of another, abandonment, resignation. It denotes finality, that it’s over. What the Queen filed with the US Embassy in Honolulu on January 17, 1893, was the opposite of a surrender. By her protest the Queen continued the dispute, but, in a brilliant kōnane move, shifted the matter to be resolved through international diplomatic channels, rather than the clash of arms.

It was a diplomatic protest calling for an investigation, with the expectation that when the facts became known, the Queen would be reinstated as the lawful ruler of the Hawaiian Kingdom. She never used the word, “surrender”, because it was clearly not a surrender. In fact, the Queen’s valiant efforts to resolve the matter in the years that followed, proves she never surrendered.

President Grover Cleveland initiated an investigation as requested by the Queen’s diplomatic protest and reported the results to Congress. He repudiated the US minister’s and armed forces’ unlawful involvement in the affairs of a foreign country, calling it an act of war against the Hawaiian Kingdom, a friendly nation, and Liliʻuokalani, a friendly ruler.

Cleveland obviously did not believe the allegation that the Queen had surrendered, otherwise why would he denounce the United States’ participation in the disruption of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and why would he negotiate with the Queen for a settlement of the breach of her sovereignty and the treaties of friendship, commerce and navigation with the United States?

Other words that need to be used more carefully to tell our story are: Overthrow, Abdication, Annexation, Occupation, Colonization, Hawaiian National, Hawaiian Subject, Crown Lands, Ceded Lands, and so forth.

Mahalo to the many scholars, kūpuna, activists, kiaʻi, and aloha ʻāina who have diligently uncovered how words have been used to distort, embed and promote the false narratives in the telling of our story.

Words bind, and words set free

"And remember, for the latest updates and information about the Hawaiian Kingdom check out the twice-a-month Ke Aupuni Updates published online on Facebook and other social media."

Malama Pono, Leon Siu, Hawaiian National

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https://www.civilbeat.org/?p=1643851
Honolulu Civil Beat Monday April 29, 2024
The Sunshine blog

Motion commotion: The Sunshine Blog noted in January how Rowena Akana, a former Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee, violated the state code of ethics for accepting $21,000 in illegal gifts and for inappropriate use of her spending allowance.

Akana used OHA money to pay for internet and cable TV service and food for herself and others. She was fined $23,106.

But Akana then took her case to the Hawaii Supreme Court, hoping to get a sympathetic audience for her novel contention that the Hawaii State Ethics Commission does not have jurisdiction over OHA. And now OHA itself is considering joining her cause.

In a preliminary filing with the high court last week, attorneys for OHA led by former Hawaii Supreme Court Justice Robert Klein questioned whether the Ethics Commission actually has authority to shape how OHA trustees use proceeds from ceded lands, which help fund the agency.

After all, Klein pointed out, the delegates to the 1978 constitutional convention that established OHA intended that it be independent from the executive branch and all other branches of government while assuming the status of a state agency.

The outcome of Akana’s appeal, Klein and other attorneys argued, would go well beyond her case and could hinder OHA and its trustees from doing their jobs.

The Ethics Commission wants the court to dismiss the case. On Friday the high court denied OHA’s motion but said it could file it again should the court agree to accept Akana’s appeal. Six years and counting on this case …

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https://www.hawaiifreepress.com/Articles-Main/ID/40910/OHA-Above-the-Law-One-Trustee-Says-No Hawaii Free Press April 30, 2024
Trustee Akina Voted NO on OHA’s Amicus Brief related to former Trustee’s Ethics Violations

OHA Above the Law? One Trustee Says 'No'
News Release from Office of OHA Trustee Keli’i Akina, PhD, April 30, 2024
By Keli'i Akina PhD

Honolulu, HI - On April 26, 2024, the Hawaii State Supreme Court denied OHA’s motion to submit an amicus brief in the matter of Akana v. Hawai‘i State Ethics Commission (CAAP-19-0000668).

At the Board of Trustees Meeting on March 5, 2024, Chair Carmen “Hulu” Lindsey announced to the public that a vote was taken in closed executive session in which 8 trustees voted “yes” and 1 voted “no” to submit an amicus brief. Board Chair Lindsey identified the one dissenting vote as Trustee Keli‘i Akina, Ph.D. OHA’s amicus brief, which Trustee Akina opposed, argued that the Ethics Commission had no jurisdiction over OHA.

Trustee Akina said, “I am concerned that the amicus brief will be perceived as an attempt by OHA to evade accountability to state ethics laws and oversight. Courts have ruled that the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is a state agency whose leadership and employees are subject to the standards of conduct and behavior expected of all state personnel.”

Trustee Akina has stood for accountability and transparency since his election to the Office of Hawaiians in 2016 and 2020. He was instrumental in the production of a key report by CliftonLarsonAllen (CLA) identifying fraud, waste, and abuse at OHA.

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