The state government officials in Maui, with the collaboration of the feds, are reportedly violating freedom of speech and freedom of the press in Maui in a desperate attempt to prevent any honest coverage of the Lahaina fire’s aftermath, which locals say is far worse than officials are admitting.
I previously covered Maui locals explaining how federal government officials—the same FEMA officials caught staying in expensive luxury 4- and 5-star hotels on Maui—were actively confiscating relief brought by locals for those devastated by the fire. James O’Keefe and his team are now on Maui, working to expose the government incompetence there.
One local man alleged in a recently-posted video that his boat was set on fire. He was arrested while trying to salvage his vessel (which he called “my home”). Paul Sansano, District Manager of Maui County DNLR (Department of Land and Natural Resources), was captured on camera screaming at the local when he lodged a complaint. Sansano aggressively swung his arm at the local and also callously told him, in essence, to quit complaining, because a lot of people lost their homes.
Sansano, a state employee, ended by saying “F— you, I don’t care,” to the local. Another DNLR employee started demanding O’Keefe and his fellow turn off their cameras, and then ended up calling the police on O’Keefe. You can see more of O’Keefe’s investigation in Lahaina at O’Keefe Media Group (OMG).
In sum, state government officials in Maui are deliberately preventing any exposés of the real situation, trying to criminalize journalism, trampling First Amendment rights, screaming obscenities to at least one local who lost his boat/home, and imposing what the local described as “martial law.” Meanwhile, a large number of locals in Hawaii are reaching out to James O’Keefe, trying to tell their stories, thanking him for his efforts because the government is determined to cover up…what?
That’s the million-dollar question, isn’t it? What exactly is the government trying to hide in Lahaina? Their own incompetence and climate ideology, which deliberately created a disaster waiting to happen, as climate experts have emphasized? Are they trying to hide how devastating the fire truly was, with rumors of up to 1000 people (including an unknown number of children) dead? Or is there something darker—are the rumors of arson and an impending state land grab, possibly due to the plan to make Maui a dystopian “smart city”, the reality that state officials don’t want anyone to know?
Speculation aside, what we know for certain is that government officials in Maui are crushing constitutional rights in a callous effort to prevent honest reporting on the destruction of Lahaina.