Looking Forward to 2023

Alicia Keys - December Back 2 June

Is This What the World is Coming To?

Eight teenage girls have been charged with the murder of a 59-year-old man in Toronto, Canadian police say.  The girls, aged between 13 and 16, are accused of stabbing the victim in what police describe as "a swarming" just after midnight local time on Sunday.

The man, who has not been identified, had been living in a shelter for the homeless at the time of the attack.  Toronto Mayor John Tory said he was "deeply disturbed" by the case in a statement.

A group of bystanders flagged down emergency services after finding the man with stab wounds shortly after midnight on Sunday, Toronto Police Detective Sergeant Terry Browne told reporters.  The victim, who had only recently moved into sheltered housing, later died in hospital.

The girls, whose identities are protected under Canadian law, were arrested near the scene of the attack and a number of weapons were seized.  They had met via social media and three of them had had previous contact with police, Detective Sergeant Terry Browne said. "We don't know how or why they met on that evening and why that destination was downtown Toronto."

They were believed to have been involved in an earlier altercation the same evening, he added.  A resident of a nearby homeless shelter told CBC Toronto the victim was stabbed in the stomach after trying to protect her when the girls approached her for alcohol.  "I didn't know if they had a knife or what. I was just scared," she said, explaining how she walked away from the attackers and sought refuge in the shelter.   "I am extremely troubled by the young age of those accused and by the number of people allegedly involved in this murder," Mayor Tory said. "My thoughts are with this man's friends and all those who knew him as they mourn his loss," he added.

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State of Emergency Powers in El Salvador Lead to Widespread Abuse of Police Power

A pair of NGO's operating in El Salvador have reported that “widespread” rights violations have occurred in El Salvador since a state of emergency was declared to combat gang violence, and called for authorities to offer “credible evidence” for its continuation.

Prepared by Human Rights Watch and Salvadoran rights group Cristosal, the report titled “We Can Arrest Anyone We Want” documents arbitrary arrests, forced disappearances, torture and ill-treatment of detainees over the last nine months.

After more than 80 gang-related deaths occurred in just three days in late March, President Nayib Bukele requested a one-month state of emergency, which his party-controlled congress quickly granted.  Lawmakers have since extended the emergency declaration multiple times while expanding police powers and increasing prison sentences for gang activity.  According to the government, over 59,000 suspected gang members have been detained under the emergency, which allows for warrantless arrests.

But the NGOs’ report says that “hundreds of people with no apparent connections to gangs’ abusive activity” have been detained, often based off their “appearance and social background” or anonymous calls and uncorroborated allegations on social media.  “We found that human rights violations were not isolated incidents by rogue agents,” the NGOs said in a report summary, but were committed “repeatedly and across the country… by both the military and the police.”

Some 90 people detained under the emergency declaration have died while imprisoned, the NGOs said, adding that they were unable to confirm the causes of death due to a lack of official documentation.  In an appeal to the Bukele administration, the NGOs said that the state of emergency should be ended without “credible evidence that its restrictions on fundamental rights are proportionate and strictly necessary.”  Bukele issued a one word reply via Twitter, saying “No.”

The 40-year-old Bukele, who was elected in 2019, enjoys broad support in El Salvador over his promises to fight organized crime and improve security in the violence-wracked country.  He has come under fire for creeping authoritarianism, with the United States, United Nations, and the Organization of American States demanding his administration respect human rights amid its gang crackdown.

Have a Grinchy Christmas!

Privacy Warning if You're Traveling Internationally These Holidays

International travelers may know U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) can scroll through your phone in a "random search." But new details paint a picture of broad and messy data collection that puts your privacy at risk.

Data copied from devices at entry points into the United States - including airports and border crossings - gets saved for 15 years in a database searchable by thousands of CBP employees without a warrant, The Washington Post's Drew Harwell reported this week. The data includes contacts, call logs, messages and photos from phones, tablets and computers, according to CBP. It could also contain social media posts, medical and financial information, or internet browsing history, according to a report from the New York think tank Brennan Center for Justice.

Customs officials have copied Americans' phone data at massive scale.  It's unclear to what extent federal agents can use the copied data because there are few meaningful safeguards, said Saira Hussain, a staff attorney at the privacy rights nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).  Hussain has argued in court that CBP's current data collection practices violate Americans' constitutional protections. Based on her interviews with search subjects, agents often profile people from Muslim or Muslim-adjacent communities, she said, but these searches impact people from "all walks of American life."

"You don't have to have committed a felony to want to keep some parts of your life private from meddling government agents," said Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy project director of the Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. "That could be medical diagnoses, mental health struggles, romantic associations, information about our children, you name it."  A CBP spokesman said in a statement that the agency searches devices "in accordance with statutory and regulatory authorities" and that its guidelines make sure each search is "exercised judiciously, responsibly, and consistent with the public trust."

Unlike other law enforcement, border authorities don't need a warrant to search your device. They may conduct a basic search - in which they scroll through your device inspecting texts, photos or anything else they can easily access - even if they don't suspect you of wrongdoing. But if an agent suspects you pose a "national security concern," they can run an advanced search using a digital forensics tool to copy the data from your device.

How you prepare to cross the border with your devices depends on what risks you're willing to tolerate, said Nathan Freed Wessler, deputy project director of the Speech, Privacy, and Technology Project at the American Civil Liberties Union.  If you're more worried about agents rifling through your messages and photos in a basic search, removing files from your device would do the trick. If you're a political dissident, human rights activist, journalist or anyone else looking to avoid government surveillance or overreach, your focus will likely be preventing agents from accessing your device at all.

If you're an American citizen, you can refuse to unlock your devices for CBP agents and still enter the country. (This may not be clear from the information sheet agents are supposed to give you during the search, which says the process is "mandatory.")

If you decline to cooperate, CBP can hold onto your device. It says detention generally shouldn't last longer than five days, but Hussain said she's spoken with people who didn't get their devices back for months.  Noncitizens, meanwhile, aren't guaranteed entry if they decline to unlock their devices.

The fewer devices you travel with, the fewer opportunities for searches, Wessler said. Consider adopting a separate phone or laptop for traveling without sensitive data saved.  Power down devices before going through customs. This guards against advanced search tools that may bypass the screen lock on devices left powered on, according to EFF.  Encrypted data gets scrambled into a format unreadable to people who don't have the code - in this case, a password. iOS, Android, Windows and MacOS all come with built in full device encryption options.

Most contemporary smartphones are encrypted by default (make sure you lock your device). Here are general directions for Windows and MacOS.  The quickest methods to unlock your device - such as face ID or a weak passcode - are also the least secure. If you decline to unlock your device for a search, CBP may try to unlock it themselves, Wessler said. A strong password with both letters and numbers, or a passcode with at least six digits will make this harder.

CBP guidelines instruct agents to review only the data that's stored on your device itself - not all the information apps like Facebook and Gmail send to the cloud. If you consent to a search, flipping your device into airplane mode will limit the inspection to what's saved or cached.  You may choose to move your data to a cloud storage provider- such as iCloud, Google or Microsoft OneDrive - and then wipe or factory reset your device. This would protect your data from a basic visual search. But be aware: Most methods of file deletion leave behind traces a forensic search would uncover. Furthermore, walking through customs with a blank device could arouse suspicion and make you more likely to become a target, Hussain said.

Different states have different laws governing what CBP can inspect at U.S. entry points. In Arizona, for example, CBP can only search devices without a warrant if they're looking for specific digital contraband. If you want to protect your privacy, it might be worth flying into a state with more stringent boundaries for CBP.

Armed Extremists Showing up at LGBTQ Events Across the Country

Last month’s mass shooting at a Colorado Springs LGBTQ club—or more precisely, the mainstream right’s “they had it coming” response—seems to have spurred far-right extremists to a higher level of action. Since those murders, groups like the Proud Boys, armed militiamen, and various neofascist groups that have been turning out to harass LGBTQ communities under the rubric of labeling them “groomers” since this summer have begun ratcheting up their politics of menace.

This past weekend alone, as the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) reports, neofascist thugs showed up to menace planned LGBTQ events—all of them drag shows—in Columbus, Ohio; in Lakeland and Fort Lauderdale, Florida; and in New York City. Additionally, there are suspicions that the gun attacks on two electrical substations resulting in a massive power outage in Moore County, North Carolina, may have been targeted at a drag show there.

The largest and most concerning of these occurred in Columbus, where a school operated by the First Unitarian Universalist Church had planned to hold a “Holi-drag” storytime event. A group of Ohio-based Proud Boys announced that it planned to show up to protest. Their post warned: “It’s gonna be wild!”  On the morning of the event,  officials at the school were forced to announce they were canceling the planned event, claiming Columbus police officials “offered nothing” to provide security, describing their response to their concerns as only a "casual, distant acknowledgement" of the event.  After a week trying to reach out to the local police department, event organizers were told they could hire a special duty officer-- but that officer may or may not show up because they're understaffed.

The cancellation did not affect the far-right extremists who came marching to protest across the street from the church: not just Proud Boys, but also masked neofascist Patriot Front marchers, armed Oath Keepers and other militiamen, and neo-Nazi White Lives Matter activists. The various factions marched to the church site from different directions, and mostly appeared to remain clustered within their respective organizations once they got lined up across the street from the church. Columbus police officers were recorded chatting amiably with the marchers, but told people recording them that they were just trying to keep things even-keeled. 

In Florida, a group of neo-Nazis wearing masks and waving swastika-adorned banners showed up to protest outside of a Lakeland event featuring drag performers. The Lakeland marchers, nearly all of them masked, performed Hitler salutes and marches outside the Lakeland venue, some of them shouting, “Heil Hitler!” The men wore black pants and red shirts, and carried a banner proclaiming: “Drag queens are pedophiles with AIDS.” They also displayed a sign equating Jewishness with communism, as well as a Christian nationalist banner with a Crusader-style red cross. The masked Nazis frightened the children and their families inside the event. They remained sheltered in place until after police arrived.

 In New York, a smaller group of neo-Nazis led by notorious New York neo-Nazi Jovanni Valle, aka Jovi Val, attempted to make a scene at the Lincoln Center, which was also hosting a draq-queen storytime event, and met even stiffer resistance.  At least a dozen counter-protesters were there to meet them outside the venue and chased them away unceremoniously by fighting them.

“The goals are clear,” tweeted author Andy Campbell: “Cancel community events by mobilizing violent bigoted gangs, and ultimately, flood the narrative with ‘groomer’ until all drag/LGBTQ is accepted as inherently threatening.”

"The world is getting more and more unsafe for the LGBTQ community,” Cheryl Ryan of the Red Oak Community School told NBC News. “We have to do better."

 

Thomas Rhett - It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas

Happy Holidays from the Addams Family

Never Underestimate the Igenuity of Moroccans

Fourteen Moroccans evaded Spanish police after they ran from a plane at Barcelona’s airport after it made an emergency landing to obtain assistance for a pregnant woman who simulated that she was about to give birth, authorities said.

The office for Spain’s government in the Catalonia region said the incident occurred when a Pegasus Airlines flight from Casablanca, Morocco, to Istanbul with 228 passengers on board requested an emergency landing at Josep Tarradellas Barcelona-El Prat​ Airport.  A pregnant claimed that she had gone into labor and was suffering painful contractions.  After the plane landed, airport officials proceed to evacuated the woman from the plane.  Taking advantage of the confusion, 27 passengers exited the aircraft without authorization and tried to flee.  Police were able to stop thirteen of them, with the other fourteen managing to elude police at the airport and who still remain at large.

The woman who faked her labor pains was detained on charges of public disorder after doctors at a hospital determined that, although pregnant, she was not about to give birth.  Of the 13 fleeing passengers grabbed by police, five agreed to get back on the plane and continue on to Istanbul. The other eight were deported from to Spain and put on another Pegasus flight back to Casablanca.

Looks Like Frosty is About to Get Plowed

GOP Lawmaker Behind "Don't Say Gay" Bill Facing Fraud Charges

Republican Florida Rep. Joe Harding was all too quick to insert his alleged good Christian values on the state’s LGBTQ students and their families, but he apparently forgot all about those same values when it came to getting some illegal money from the federal government.

Harding—the lawmaker behind HB 1557, which supporters call the “Parental Rights in Education” bill but most refer to as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill—was indicted Wednesday on a six-count charge of money laundering, wire fraud, and making false statements after a federal grand jury concluded that he fraudulently claimed to have employees in two dormant business in an effort to receive COVID-19 loans in 2020.

According to reporting from the Miami Herald, Harding, 35, applied to the Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loans for $150,000 during the pandemic for businesses that did not legally qualify. He additionally created false bank statements as his supporting documentation.

Politico reports that Harding is being accused of using the Vak Shack, a company that sells discounted vacuum bags, and a 46-acre cattle and horse farm called Harding Farms to try to dupe the government out of pandemic-related loans. Both businesses were officially inactive from May 2017 to December 2020.  Harding also filed paperwork in Florida at the time falsifying that both companies were still in operation, according to the indictment.  Harding faces 35 years in prison but has not been remanded into custody. His trial begins on Jan. 11 in Gainesville, Florida.

 

Holiday Ho-Ho-Ho

Free Brittney!

It was a significant moment for President Joe Biden-- who has been under public pressure to bring Brittney Griner home.  It took more than nine grueling months to get to this point, but despite the celebrations the administration failed to win freedom for Paul Whelan. 

Griner was arrested at a Moscow airport in February on drugs charges when vape cartridges containing a small quantity of cannabis oil were found in her luggage - just days before Russia invaded Ukraine. She pleaded guilty but said it was an honest mistake.  The Biden administration declared she'd been wrongfully detained and swung into action. It has made the release of U.S. hostages a priority and created a special envoy for this purpose. But Griner's case was shadowed by added layers of complexity and pressure due to the backdrop of war in the Ukraine. 

Still, the administration in April was able to win the release of an American marine imprisoned in Russia, Trevor Reed. It exchanged him for a Russian pilot sentenced to cocaine trafficking charges in the U.S., demonstrating that the two countries could keep open a channel separate from their geopolitical tensions.  This, together with the publicity surrounding Griner's detention, galvanized the families of other detainees who banded together to lobby for more action from the White House. 

In July, Griner sent a handwritten letter to Biden saying she was afraid she'd be detained indefinitely and pleading with him not to forget her.  Just days later, Secretary of State Antony Blinken publicly expressed frustration that Russian counterparts were refusing to engage with what he called a "substantial offer". That was a highly unusual move in the discreet world of hostage diplomacy and a window into what Biden called "painstaking negotiations".

It became clear the Russians wanted a prisoner swap for Viktor Bout - a notorious arms dealer who was serving a 25 year sentence in prison. In Russia he is referred to simply as a businessman, known to have carried out risky aviation trips to dangerous places. It's not clear whether he had connections to Russian intelligence but both Russian and U.S. experts agree that he must have known quite a lot, which is probably why the Kremlin wanted him back.  

It was a big ask and the administration negotiated hard to include Whelan - a corporate security executive who's been jailed for nearly four years. He has been convicted of espionage and is serving a 16-year prison sentence.  Despite Blinken's public statement in July, officials said the talks were stonewalled for months.  In the meantime, Griner received a harsh nine year prison sentence, lost her appeal, and was sent to a remote penal colony in November.  Things looked dark for the basketball player - until Thursday's sudden announcement.

The final agreement came together in the past 48 hours; the sticking point appears to have been the two-for-one deal being pursued by the Biden administration. The Russians made clear Griner was the only option.  "This was not a choice of which American to bring home," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. "The choice was one or none."  Biden made the "very painful" decision to go ahead and Griner and Bout are reported to have passed each other on the tarmac at the Abu Dhabi airport where the exchange took place.  Shortly afterwards the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia released a statement saying their joint mediation efforts had helped secure Griner's release.

Biden thanked the UAE for providing a location for the swap but the White House played down the notion of a formal mediation role. The White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the U.S. was grateful to Saudi Arabia for raising the issue with Moscow but the deal was negotiated by the U.S. and Russia.  Biden officials repeatedly said they regretted that Whelan was not included in the deal and vowed to continue efforts to secure his release.  

There are also reports that Russia refused a multi-person trade to release Paul Whelan because they specifically desired a former colonel from Russia’s domestic spy organization currently in German custody-- even as the U.S. offered up the names of several other Russian prisoners in U.S. custody that they would be willing to trade. Biden was unable to deliver on the request for the ex-colonel, Vadim Krasikov, because he is serving out a life sentence for murder in Germany.

A deal for Whelan also would have been a  difficult sell to the Russian public-- to the average Russian it is a bigger deal to trade away a spy than a sports star.  It was a stark reminder that there are other Americans who've been detained for much longer than 9 months who don't have celebrity status to help propel their case. 

Pentatonix & Meghan Trainor - Kid on Christmas

Iran Begins Hanging Protesters

Iran announced the first execution of a protester convicted over the recent anti-government unrest.  Mohsen Shekari was hanged after being found guilty by a Revolutionary Court of "moharebeh" (enmity against God).

He was accused of being a "rioter" who blocked a main road in Tehran in September and wounded a member of a paramilitary force with a machete.  An activist said he was convicted after a "show trial without any due process".   "The international community must immediately and strongly react to this execution," Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam, director of the Norway-based group Iran Human Rights, said.  "If Mohsen Shekari's execution is not met with serious consequences for the government, we will face mass execution of protesters," he added.

Iran Human Rights said Shekari was "denied access to his lawyer throughout the interrogation phase [and] legal proceedings".  It also said the hard-line Fars news agency aired his "forced confessions" hours after his execution. In the video, a bruise on his right cheek is visible.  Opposition activist collective 1500tasvir tweeted: "While his family were still hoping for an appeal and had no news from the case, the Islamic Republic unexpectedly executed him."

The judiciary has so far announced that at least 11 other people have been sentenced to death by Revolutionary Courts on the charges of "enmity against God" or "corruption on Earth" in connection with the protests. The defendants' identities have not been disclosed.  Amnesty International has said the courts operate "under the influence of security and intelligence forces to impose harsh sentences following grossly unfair trials marked by summary and predominantly secret processes".  Amnesty International also said Shekari's execution "[exposed] the inhumanity of Iran's so-called justice system as dozens of others face the same fate". 

Mohsen Shekari's arrest, trial and execution took less than two and a half months.  Iran is taking a chance that a rushed execution of a young protester might deter others from taking to the streets-- but it is more likely to provoke anger on the part of protesters, not fear. Protesters have proven over and over again that they no longer have any such fear. The funeral of each one killed by security forces has turned into an anti-government demonstration.The hanging is yet another huge gamble for the regime and one that might give fresh impetus to the protests on the streets.

 

Breaking News: Peru is Breaking

Peru's president has reportedly been detained and accused of sedition after he announced the dissolution of congress and the installation of a "government of exception" to rule by decree - just hours before he was due to face an impeachment vote.  Lawmakers ignored the announcement, and in an emergency meeting impeached the president.

The country's national police tweeted on Wednesday that "former president" Pedro Castillo had been detained, shortly after the country's congress voted to remove him from office on Wednesday and replace him with the vice president.

That vote came after Castillo ordered a night-time curfew and the reorganization of the judiciary and prosecutor's office, which is investigating him for alleged corruption and influence-trafficking - charges which he denies.

The congressional vote put an end to Castillo's tumultuous 17 months in power which has already seen five cabinets, six criminal investigations and two failed attempts to impeach him.

 

Argentina VP Facing Jail Time for Corruption

A court in Argentina has sentenced Vice-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner to six years in jail for corruption in a case that has shaken the country. Fernández was found guilty of "fraudulent administration" over the awarding of public works contracts to a friend.

Prosecutors said Fernández had led an unlawful partnership during the time when she was president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015. They said she had created a kickback scheme which steered lucrative public work contracts towards a friend of hers in return for bribes.

Businessman Lázaro Báez, the owner of a construction firm who was accused of being the main beneficiary of the scheme, was also sentenced to six years in prison. He had already been sentenced to 12 years in prison last year for money-laundering. Eleven other people were on trial. Seven were found guilty and sentenced to between three and a half and six years in prison, three were released and one had their case dismissed.

The prosecutors said that they uncovered irregularities in dozens of public work tenders awarded in the southern province of Santa Cruz, Fernández's political stronghold. Many of the construction projects were never completed.  Prosecutor Diego Luciani described it as "probably the biggest corruption operation the country has known". He also said the alleged kickback scheme had caused the Argentine state a loss of at least $1B.

Fernández has vehemently denied all charges, and is unlikely to serve actual jail time.  She has some immunity via her government roles and is expected to launch a lengthy appeals process. She has also been banned from public office for life, but will continue in her role as vice-president while the case goes through higher courts.

It is the first time ever that a vice-president has been convicted of a crime while in office in Argentina, and consequently, the case has proven highly divisive.   Supporters took to the street outside her apartment in Buenos Aires to show their backing for the vice-president. At times, they have faced off with critics of Fernández, who accuse her of being a "thief".  It was during one of these gatherings in September that Fernández became the target of an assassination attempt.   A 35-year-old man pointed a gun at the vice-president's head, but the weapon jammed as he aimed it at her. The man in that incident is facing charges of murder.

Indonesia Takes a Step Backward in Appeasing Hardliners

Indonesia's parliament has passed new laws that ban anyone in the country from having extramarital sex and also restrict political freedoms. Sex outside marriage will carry a jail term of up to a year under the new laws, which take effect in three years.

The raft of changes come after a rise in religious conservatism in the Muslim-majority country.  The laws are widely seen as a "disaster" for human rights, and a blow to tourism and investment.  It's expected the new laws will be challenged in court.

The new laws apply equally to locals and to foreigners living in Indonesia, or visiting holiday destinations such as Bali.  Under the laws, unmarried couples caught having sex can be jailed for up to a year. They are also banned from living together - an act for which people could be jailed for up to six months. Adultery will also be an offense for which people can be jailed.

Ajeng, a 28-year-old Muslim woman living in the West Java city of Depok, said she was now at risk for living with her partner for the past five years. "With the new law, both of us can go to jail if one of the family decides to make a police report," she told reporters.  "What if there's one family member who has a problem with me and decides to send me to jail?  "I think living together or having sex outside of marriage is not a crime. In my religion, it's considered a sin. But I don't think the criminal code should be based on a certain religion."

Rights groups say the new provisions disproportionately affect women, LGBT people and ethnic minorities.  Many businesses had also been opposed to the legislation, saying it discouraged visitors and investment.  But lawmakers have celebrated overhauling laws dating back to Dutch colonial rule. "It is time for us to make a historical decision on the penal code amendment and to leave the colonial criminal code we inherited behind," law minister Yasonna Laoly told parliament.

The new legislation contains scores of new clauses criminalizing immorality and blasphemy and restricting political and religious expression.  Human Rights Watch's Asia Director Elaine Pearson said it was a "huge setback for a country that has tried to portray itself as a modern Muslim democracy".  The group's Jakarta-based researcher, Andreas Harsano, said there were millions of couples in Indonesia without marriage certificates "especially among Indigenous peoples or Muslims in rural areas" who had married in specific religious ceremonies.  "These people will be theoretically breaking the law as living together could be punished up to six months in prison."   He added that research from Gulf states, where there are similar laws governing sex and relationships, showed women were punished and targeted by such morality laws more than men.

There are now also six blasphemy laws in the code, including apostasy - renouncing a religion. For the first time since its independence, Indonesia will make it illegal to persuade someone to be a non-believer.  New defamation articles also make it illegal for people to insult the president or criticise state ideology.

According to Ajeng, "People are angry that their liberty is being taken. Indonesia has plenty of problems like poverty, climate change and corruption, but instead of solving a problem they've created a bill that only adds to the problem."

Sad But True

Let Me Tell You a Story of a Hawaiian Hippie Nudist Camp

Where the road ends on Kauai’s north shore, a group of hippies in the early 1970s lived in an off-grid Hawaii community of tree houses, grew their hair long, smoked weed and chose to go nude.

Taylor Camp, as it would become known, was named after Kauai resident Howard Taylor, the brother of actress Elizabeth Taylor. Howard owned the 7 acres of land in Haena, a scenic coastline of white sandy beaches, turquoise waters, and a tropical abundance of streams, caves and green cliffs. It was in 1969 that Howard welcomed homeless men, women and children to live on his beachfront property, with no rules or rent to pay.  “We’ve had no trouble,” Howard said in a 1970 Honolulu Star-Bulletin article. “Most of them are just here while they make up their minds to return to the ‘Establishment’ world and what they want to do there.”

When Howard moved to Kauai, he never expected to create a hippie community. He had been living on Oahu, working at the University of Hawaii, and fell in love with the Garden Island. He bought the beachfront property in Haena, moved his family to Kauai, and planned to build a home for his wife and five kids.  After Howard bought the property, he couldn’t get a building permit and no one would tell him why. He eventually found out that the state had plans to create a state park out of the land.

Left in limbo with no way forward, Howard bought land elsewhere on the island and abandoned his Haena land, until he found a purpose for it in 1969. 

Grammy Nominee Keeping it [Too] Real?

Best New Artist Grammy nominee Omar Apollo is reassuring fans that the queer themes evident in his work are very much a reflection of his true self.

The singer-songwriter had a very, um, detailed response this week after a fan on Twitter questioned whether he was “queerbaiting” audiences by peppering his songs with lusty allusions to same-sex love.

 Moments later, he continued to set the record straight by adding:

 

Unlike artists such as Nick Jonas and Harry Styles, Apollo has never been coy about his sexuality. His debut album, “Ivory,” released in April, features tracks with explicit references to men, performed in both English and Spanish.  Though Apollo has said he’s not fond of traditional labels when it comes to his sexuality, he told NPR in April that he is “very gay.” 

“Maybe I was trying to keep the mystique, you understand? But I don’t even care anymore,” said the musician, who is Mexican American. 

 

Backstreet Boys - Christmas in New York

Keeping it Real in Britain