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Daily Smile: Wednesday, February 11, 2026

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Daily Smile: Tuesday, February 10, 2026

Now let's all enjoy a little boy and his dog...

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Daily Smile: Monday, February 9, 2026

This is Foster. A massive rainstorm hits, but he's out there gleefully swimming laps in the pool like it's the best day ever...

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Daily Smile: Sunday, February 8, 2026

Playing Rock, Scissors, Paper with your dog...

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Daily Smile: Saturday, February 7, 2026

Rage baiting is a universal concept for fun...

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Daily Smile: Friday, February 6, 2026

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Daily Smile: Thursday, February 5, 2026

This dog is an observational learner. After a few pushes, he got it and judging us for not figuring it out sooner...

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Daily Smile: Wednesday, February 4, 2026

It's always good to teach your dog how to let you know when he's hungry...

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Daily Smile: Tuesday, February 3, 2026

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Michael Brestovansky

Government & Politics

Crime & Courts

Another organization has sued Hawai‘i over Act 11, the law passed this year that limits corporate spending in political campaigns.

Act 11, which Gov. Josh Green signed into law in 

, limits “artificial-person powers” granted by the state to corporations; in particular, the law rescinded the power of corporations to spend money on political campaigns.

The law challenges the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court verdict in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, wherein the court found laws prohibiting corporate political spending violates corporations’ First Amendment. Proponents of Act 11 have argued that the law does not impede corporations’ 

The Chamber of Commerce of the United States of America disagrees. Last month, the national chamber 

 state Attorney General Anne Lopez and Nadine Ando, Director of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs, over Act 11 in U.S. District Court.

In its complaint, the Chamber argues that the law “extinguishes the power to speak on certain topics and viewpoints, enforces that … prohibition with significant corporate penalties up to involuntary dissolution … in direct defiance of binding Supreme Court precedent.”

The Chamber claims that the U.S. Supreme Court has rejected the fundamental premise of Act 11 — that a corporation’s “powers” conferred by the state are distinct from their “rights” — in Citizens United. It adds that Act 11 applies to foreign entities that Hawai‘i has no authority over.

Furthermore, Act 11 is discriminatory, the Chamber argues, because it permits media corporations to publish content concerning political campaigns while simultaneously prohibiting other corporations from doing the same.

Because the U.S. Chamber of Commerce regularly participates in political speech — including repeated endorsements of Rep. Ed Case and a planned voter-education tour this year about “the virtues and benefits of free enterprise and the dangers of socialism” — the Chamber argues that it has been directly harmed by Act 11.

The Chamber’s complaint notes that its arguments are not original. In fact, it points out that Lopez 

 testified against the bill as it passed through the state Legislature, calling it “likely impossible to defend” and warning that passing the law would all but guarantee costly legal challenges.

, filed in June by Grassroot Institute of Hawai‘i, followed much the same arguments. Progress in that case has been slow; a hearing for a proposed preliminary injunction that would suspend Act 11 until the case is resolved, which was proposed in June, is scheduled for Oct. 13.

The Chamber has also moved for a similar preliminary injunction in its case, but no hearing has yet been scheduled on the matter.

AG Anne Lopez scaled 16x9

<title>National Chamber of Commerce sues Hawai‘i over corporate spending law</title>

A second lawsuit challenging Act 11 has struck the state.

National Chamber of Commerce sues Hawai‘i over corporate spending law

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Tom Yamachika

Viewpoints

In a recent book, "The Time Tax: How the Government Wastes Our Time — and How to Fix It," 

, explores how government paperwork, bureaucracy and administrative hurdles cause an “extortionate” burden on American citizens. She writes that Americans spend 12 billion hours every year filling out government forms, which equates to about six workdays per person.

The author traces administrative burdens from the colonial era and Civil War, arguing that red tape historically has been a tool of discrimination and exclusion. 

Our tax system, of course, contributes to this mess. Buried within it are several common traps. For example, what happens when you change your address? You notify the USPS to forward your mail from your old address to your new one. The data is picked up by tons of companies who are eager and willing to sell you goods and services related to the move you just made. The data is ignored by the tax agencies, such as the IRS and the Department of Taxation, either of which might send you important information, such as an audit notice, to your old address long after the USPS’ automatic mail forwarding expires. 

Under the tax law, it is sufficient for the tax agencies to send you notices at your last known address, so you can’t complain when they drain your bank account after they conduct an audit without your knowledge and then mail notices of assessment to the same address even if they know it is invalid. I know of a taxpayer who was sent a notice but happened to be out of town at the time. The mailing was returned to the Department. The Department forged ahead, and when the final assessment was sent to the same address, the taxpayer received it and was aghast at what the Department had done in her absence. 

This nightmare scenario cannot happen if you notify the tax agencies that you have changed your address — by filling out and sending in a government form. For the IRS, it’s a Form 8822 for individuals or an 8822-B for businesses. For the Department of Taxation, it’s Form ITPS-COA.

On this score the lower end of the income spectrum seems to be hit particularly hard. Social safety net programs, such as TANF, require paperwork.  Healthcare via Medicaid? More paperwork. Unemployment benefits? Different agency, different forms. Refundable tax credits? Still more paperwork.

A point where we differ from the author relates to tax credits. The author argues that complex, bureaucratic social programs like welfare should be replaced with tax credits like the Child Tax Credit, which the author argues distribute cash with minimal paperwork. But tax credits are not a replacement for social programs. First, the tax credits result in a check going out (mailed to the taxpayer’s last known address) only once a year, while the taxpayer and family need to pay the rent every month and eat something more often than that. Second, if we want social programs to offer highly tailored relief or if we want to impose eligibility requirements such as job-seeking requirements, a taxing agency is not equipped to tailor the relief or enforce the additional requirements. Taxing agencies are built to bring revenue in the door, not to dish it out.

One of the recommendations we do agree on is for government agencies to share data more extensively. Wouldn’t it be great, for example, if the tax agencies took notice of the USPS change of address feed like many other companies already do? It wouldn’t only be nice, it would save the government so much in postage and returned mail costs. It would also spare the government from litigation against taxpayers who felt the tax agency should have given them notice but instead sent it to what they knew was an invalid address. 

Weren’t we working on data systems in Hawaiʻi government that were supposed to be able to talk to each other? Hasn’t the effort been ongoing since the 2000’s? What’s up with that?

When we think about tax cuts as a desirable goal, let’s also think about reducing the time tax. 

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<title>Community Voices: 'The Time Taxʻ: solutions for when government wastes our time</title>

In her book, journalist and author Annie Lowrey explores how government paperwork, bureaucracy and administrative hurdles cause an “extortionate” burden on American citizens. She notes that Americans spend 12 billion hours every year filling out government forms. Tom Yamachika of Tax Foundation of Hawaiʻi writes that the same is true within our stateʻs tax system, where changing your address can become a major headache.

Community Voices: 'The Time Taxʻ: solutions for when government wastes our time

Arrasmith Portrait

Perry Arrasmith

Hawai‘i History

Columnists

Probably not, at least not in the way it is remembered. 

The question entered my mind a few weeks ago. I found myself walking along the waterfront, and there the abandoned building’s faded signs reminded me of the past.

The Hawai‘i Maritime Center, now closed for nearly two decades, looks like an ideal setting for a Scooby-Doo-style mystery. My imagination wandered for a few minutes. 

The museum, like the now-scuttled Falls of Clyde, started out with a great deal of promise. In the 1980s, the Maritime Museum and the Falls of Clyde looked like newfound attractions fit to complement a broader push to revitalize the area under the direction of the Aloha Tower Development Corporation (ATDC), a state agency that exists to this day. 

In a vein akin to the State’s establishment of the Hawai‘i Community Development Authority (HCDA) for the purpose of redeveloping Kaka‘ako, the ATDC’s purpose was to “strengthen the international economic base of the community in trade activities, to enhance the beautification of the waterfront, and, in conjunction with the department of transportation, to better serve modern maritime uses, and to provide for public access and use of the waterfront property.” 

As part of those efforts, the Maritime Museum took shape. Bishop Museum began operating the museum in 1988 but ultimately 

 it in May 2009 amid the economic impacts of the 2008 recession. Since then, the State of Hawai‘i’s Department of Transportation (DOT) has struggled to articulate proper plans for the site. 

 that the DOT was seeking bids for the potential redevelopment of the site. The story arrived on the heels of the Honolulu Harbor 2050 Master Plan 

 by the DOT. The site’s outlook was not ideal.  

“The former Maritime Museum structure at Pier 7 has extensive termite damage and is recommended to be examined for any reuse potential via a structural condition assessment,” the plan found. “Should the structure be deemed unsalvageable, a new structure with a potential redevelopment footprint of 18,000 SF could be built on the pier. Future uses may include office or retail space, exhibit area, or [a] cultural education center.” 

It is sobering, at this point, to know that no amount of nostalgia will guarantee the return of the old Maritime Center, as far as it existed as a museum until 2009. The building is not what it used to be. In October 2025, the Falls of Clyde was 

No amount of effort will bring the Falls of Clyde

back. It now rests in the ocean off the coast of O‘ahu, at peace with the pace of decay. Its delisting from both the state and national registers of historic places shows that time does move along, even when we’re afraid of time’s passage. 

What remains is a possibly better future. In February 2024, the Star-Advertiser 

 that the DOT had selected a bidder to redevelop the site. Two years later, we can only hope that such a plan is still in the works. 

Some people want to hold onto the past until it is nothing more than a sad and hollow shell of the promise it once seemed to offer. The tragedy of that lost promise is the source of much nostalgia, and such nostalgia can arrest long-overdue development. 

The old Hawai‘i Maritime Museum is left to sit. The termites eat the wood. One day, the building will either be rehabilitated at great expense, collapse into the ocean, or face demolition at the expense of a yet-to-be-determined entity. 

Perhaps a developer will come and reinvent the site. Pier 7, with enough time, will find a new purpose. In the meantime, we’ll see if Scooby-Doo and the Mystery Machine manifest along Honolulu’s waterfront.

Hawaii Maritime Center 2

<title>Will the Maritime Museum ever return?</title>

The Hawai‘i Maritime Center has been closed for 20 years, standing termite-eaten and faded next to Aloha Tower. Its signature exhibit, the historic ship Falls of Clyde, was towed out sea and sunk last year as unsalvageable. ASD political historian Perry Arrasmith explains where the center came from in the first place and what might happen with it next.

Will the Maritime Museum ever return?

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Sterling Higa

A young woman is suing Cornell and seven men. She says they raped her in a fraternity house two years ago, when she was 20. Much about the night is disputed, and every version of the story is grievous.

By her own account, she got drunk on vodka at her sorority house and drank more at a bar though she was underage. Her complaint puts it at about 10 drinks in three hours. She walked to a fraternity house around 11 p.m. She arrived drunk, took ketamine, and had sex with two men she knew. She told police she was willing at first. Her lawsuit says she was too drunk to consent to any of it, and that the men who came in afterward raped her.

She did not call it rape at first. Within three weeks she did, and went to campus police. The district attorney read her sworn statement as describing consensual sex and declined to bring charges. Cornell expelled two of the men and suspended two. Now she is suing the university, the fraternity, her sorority, a bar, and the seven men.

Her story has been conscripted to serve political narratives, leading up to the midterm elections. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez told a town hall, as settled fact, that seven men “took turns gang raping her for seven hours.” Pundits have made Jane Doe an avatar of #MeToo.

Others online have tried to unmask her. Her lawyer says she has been threatened with harm unless she drops the suit, and that women mistaken for her have been threatened too.

In the coverage of the story, Jane Doe has been treated more as an object than a person. And the seven accused men have been condemned on social media as guilty without trial.

If her allegations are true, they would not be surprising. Sexual assault is common in American universities. It’s especially common during the first months of each school year, and many assaults are related to the culture of wild partying that’s grown up around fraternities and sororities.

This party culture is nothing new. Fraternities and sororities took Greek names and built themselves on the pattern of Greco-Roman mystery cults. Think: Bacchanalia and the cult of Dionysus. Hence the vows of secrecy, initiation rites, and symbols. “Greek life” is not a misnomer.

It’s not surprising that wild, drunken parties take place in fraternity and sorority houses. That is the highest expression of their culture.

The problem with this culture is that it’s degenerate. And Christians, at least, used to know this.

There was a time when a story like this would have led to the round condemnation of the whole system of “Greek life.” But it is now taken for granted that such a system must exist, that it can be reformed. A few more mandatory trainings about sexual consent, and all will be well.

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Mystery religions will not be reformed. They must be abandoned. And it is a sad commentary on the church today that few Christians are willing to say so.

Such cults start with false worship and end with the ritual abuse of men and women. Solving the problems they cause means getting to the root.

God created man and woman in His image. This is where our dignity comes from. But the woman was deceived by the serpent and ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The man, who was with her, sinned with his eyes open, and in him we all fell. This is where our sin comes from.

Woman is the glory of man, and he was made to guard her, as Adam did not. In a godly and loving marriage, their sexual union is a beautiful and often fruitful thing.

But we are fallen, and our desires are sinful. They run quickly toward worship of false gods like Dionysus.

Dionysus promises freedom. He claims to liberate. His followers drink wine and dance to escape from their limits. And while intoxicated, they are indeed freed from inhibition and restraint. But this freedom is license only to sin.

The Christian account is otherwise. We are born in bondage to sin. True freedom comes when God breaks that bondage and grants a sinner repentance and faith in Jesus Christ. By His blood, we are spared the punishment we deserve for our sin. And His Spirit enables us to live in freedom.

This freedom is no license. Sinful desires remain in us after we are saved. Christ frees us 

 something: to love God and neighbor and to keep His commands.

If it sounds strange to speak of Christ in response to an alleged gang rape, it is only because the church has retreated from its prophetic task.

A silent and hypocritical church cannot witness to the world. The church must first root out its own tolerance of sexual sin.

But then it must call a spade a spade. Greek life is a good place to start. It’s a knockoff mystery religion. It celebrates drunkenness, riotous living, and freedom from restraint. It is not Christian.

But Greek life appeals in part because Christians offer nothing better on most college campuses.

Many churches live next door to universities. They send missionaries abroad while ignoring the opportunity to evangelize next door.

Mystery cults are a pale substitute for true religion. They offer brotherhood for four years and a drunken feast on Friday night. Christ gives His people a family that does not end and table fellowship every Sunday.

, “If we continue to send our children to Caesar for their education, we need to stop being surprised when they come home as Romans.”

And if we send them to the Greeks for their brotherhood, they’ll come home as Greeks.

Cornell i Stock 157198854 16x9

<title>Cornell fraternity rape lawsuit: What Greek life worships</title>

A 20-year-old walks from a bar to a fraternity house at 11 p.m. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why Greek life can’t be reformed and what the church owes the campus next door.

Cornell fraternity rape lawsuit: What Greek life worships

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Christian Shimabuku

Sports

Business & Tourism

Less than 24 hours after the Lotte Championship 

wrapped up its 2026 tournament at Hoakalei Golf Course

, the LPGA announced the event is leaving O‘ahu on Monday morning. 

As part of its 2027 schedule, the Lotte Championship will take place at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Maui from March 18-21. It will follow the debut of a brand new tournament, the 

, which will run from March 11-14 on the Big Island. 

The Plantation Course was home to the PGA Tour's Sentry Tournament of Champions, which most recently took place in January 2025. The 2026 tournament was canceled due to 

drought conditions that deemed the course unplayable

"We are thrilled to welcome the LPGA back to Kapalua and professional golf back to Maui," Kapalua golf general manager Alex Nakajima said in a press release. "The Plantation Course offers a unique challenge that will showcase the talents of the world's best female golfers. Fans can look forward to four days of high-level competition set against the stunning backdrop of the Pacific Ocean.”

The shaky conditions at Kapalua was the catalyst for the 

, with the Sony Open at Waialae being converted into a PGA Tour Champions event reserved for golfers 50 and over. 

The Lotte championship debuted in 2012, with each edition taking place on an O‘ahu golf course. The LPGA Tour's announcement came after the completion of the 2026 tournament at Hoakalei Country Club and not during. 

Lotte 100526

<title>Lotte Championship relocates to Maui</title>

The Plantation Course at Kapalua, which hasn't hosted a professional tournament since January 2025 due to water issues, will be the new host of the Lotte when it comes to Maui in March 2027.

Lotte Championship relocates to Maui

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Haley Lehman

Aloha Spirit

 knocked out power for hundreds of thousands of Hawaiʻi residents, food banks and hunger-relief partners across Hawaiʻi stepped in to provide food. 

doubled its monthly average of food distributions in the wake of hurricanes Lala, Lowell, and Nolo over the past couple of months, the nonprofit's CEO and president Amy Miller told Aloha State Daily last week. Headquartered in Honolulu, the organization normally distributes between 200,000 to 225,000 pounds of food per month on Kauaʻi — and in September alone, distribution jumped to 619,578 pounds of food. On Oʻahu, Hawaiʻi Foodbank distributed 4.4 million pounds of food in August and September.

Ahead of the storms, Hawaiʻi Foodbank sent seven shipping containers of Survivor Daily Rations, 24-hour emergency meal kits that do not require refrigeration, to Hawaiʻi Island, two to Maui and one to Molokai, according to Miller.

On Oʻahu, power outages hit residents the hardest, Miller said, noting that the City and County of Honolulu provided $200,000 to Hawaiʻi Foodbank in August to help source and transport food for distribution on Oʻahu after Hurricane Lala.

“So many of our households are already food insecure or just on the brink," she said. "Losing a full fridge of food is not something many families can weather."

Miller said that the food bank worked to distribute nonperishable food in the immediate aftermath of the storm and later dispersed items like bread, milk, eggs and produce to restock fridges.

For Hurricane Lowell, which struck Kauaʻi on Sept. 7-8, she added that it was “really scary” because it knocked out electricity to approximately 91% of the island, leaving residents unable to purchase food and gasoline.

“We had no power at our warehouse, and if we hadn’t got it back on the day that we did, we risked not being able to power our pallet jacks or forklift,” Miller said.

Hawaiʻi Foodbank works with more than 250 hunger-relief partners and serves more than 160,000 people each month on Oʻahu and Kauaʻi, according to its website.

Leelen Park, communications and public relations director for

on Hawaiʻi Island, told ASD that the food bank distributed nearly 1 million pounds of food in August. The food bank regularly serves about 60,000 people per month, and the emergency response to Hurricane Lala reached more than 30,000 people.

“With this storm, the majority of our island lost power and it really highlighted how fragile our infrastructure can be in the wake of a storm,” Park said.

For Park, Hurricane Lala showcased the devastation that a storm could cause, and gave people a better understanding of the need to prepare for future storms, like Hurricane Nolo at the time.

When Park directed traffic in front of their warehouse prior to Hurricane Nolo, he saw families who were scared and needed to prepare.

“Us being out there really gave them hope,” he said.

while the food bank typically distributes about 550,000 pounds of food per month, the organization distributed more than 600,000 pounds of food per month 

to residents on Maui, Molokai and Lānaʻi

n July, August and September of this year.

Saragosa said that there is a stigma against receiving help, but that help is for everyone.

“One of the contributing factors to the need following disasters as opposed to blue skies is there’s incredible food loss," she noted.

and helicopters flew in water and supplies, she recalled, 

 volunteered to deliver food. After Hāna Highway was cleared, additional teams from the food bank worked collaboratively to deliver fresh food and disaster supplies.

“It was a kākoʻo effort,” she said. “The need grows but so does our response, not just from us but the community.”

Maui Food Bank relies on local farmers, or the 

 for produce, Saragosa described. If farmers have a surplus, such as when restaurants or hotels close during and after storms, the organization will purchases the surplus.

“Maui Food Bank has stepped in multiple times during those situations to make sure they can still sell their produce, and [so] they don’t have to lose out financially,” she said.

Waianae Coast Comprehensive Health Center

 Waiʻanae District Comprehensive Health and Hospital Board Inc. 

partners with Hawaiʻi Foodbank and local farms. The organization hosts five weekly kūpuna pantries and distributes emergency food after power outages and storms.

Cassidy Keola, director of community impact and engagement at ʻElepaio Social Services, told ASD that ʻElepaio distributed about 337,000 pounds of food to more than 2,900 households over seven emergency food distributions following Hurricanes Lala and Lowell.

“People are super grateful and appreciative [of] these food distributions,” Keola said. “It’s definitely a community-led effort. A lot of the people that are coming through these lines; they’re our families, they’re our neighbors, they’re our aunties and uncles.”

Alicia Higa serves as executive director of the nonprofit, whose mission is "to 

strengthen West Oʻahu ʻohana through Indigenous food sovereignty and access to origin-story foods — restoring people's relationship with ʻāina and food, nourishing families and cultivating community resilience for generations to come." 

Food-relief organizations prepare for the future

Hawaiʻi Foodbank is already bolstering its supplies and coordinating with local farmers to prepare for future storms. 

Miller told ASD that it can take food one to three weeks to reach Hawaiʻi from the Mainland depending on where it’s coming from, highlighting “how vulnerable we are in the middle of the ocean.”

One concern for the food bank now is for the economic aftermath of the storms. 

published in September from the Hawaiʻi Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism, found that total spending by visitors declined by 9.7% in August compared to August 2025, and the number of visitors dropped by 5.6%. 

With tourism down, people may lose their jobs which could impact the nonprofit's housing and power, per Miller.

Park noted that as the cost of living increases in the state, Hawaiʻi Food Basket more frequently hears of families choosing between paying for gas, food or medical expenses.

“This storm exacerbates all of that,” he said. “Almost half our island is food insecure, so having storms hit us makes matters a lot worse.”

Saragosa sees hope existing alongside anxiety when natural disasters reach the Islands.

For instance, Maui Food Bank set up a direct service market where Lahaina residents could choose what food they needed following the 2023 Maui wildfires. Saragosa said she saw families come together, talk story and heal. The market is still running today, and she calls it a “beacon of hope” for the Lahaina community.

“There’s a lot of fear about what’s coming next, what’s the next disaster, can I afford food, but there’s also a lot of hope,” she said, noting the food bank's role as the lead for food relief in partnership with local government, including Maui County Emergency Management Agency (MEMA).

“We’re going to bring this disaster hui together before the disaster happens,” she said.

Food banks across the Islands significantly grew distributions in the wake of Hurricane Lala, Hurricane Lowell, Tropical Storm Moke and Hurricane Nolo over past months. Aloha State Daily talks with local food banks and community-led organizations seeking solutions for food insecurity in the future with the help of statewide government agencies, local farmers and producers, and volunteers.