Latest news with #D-Hawaii
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Kokua Line: Is online vote kept private?
Question : To vote in Honolulu's neighborhood board elections, the voter goes to a website, inputs a unique password and PIN they received in the mail, makes their selections and submits their online ballot. Does this system ensure voter privacy, so that no one knows who a specific voter voted for ? If yes, how ? I did not cast my ballot this time around because I could not find an explanation of how the online voting system works to ensure a secret ballot. Answer : Voting for Oahu's 2025 neighborhood board elections ran from April 25 through May 16. Election results are expected today after paper mail-in ballots postmarked by May 16 are counted (voters unable to vote online could request a paper ballot ). Results will be posted on the website of the municipal government's Neighborhood Commission Office, . As for your questions, here's how the online voting system works, according to emails from Jackson Coley, an NCO spokesperson, who said he based the responses on information from the city's Department of Information Technology : 'Yes, the system ensures voter privacy by design. Here's how : 'Unique Credentials : Each voter receives a private, unique passcode and PIN via USPS mail, ensuring only authorized individuals can access the voting portal. 'No Public Access : There is no public website or database to query or identify who voted for whom, preserving ballot secrecy. 'Restricted Database : Ballot data is stored in a secure, restricted database with limited access, and Neighborhood Commission Office employees cannot retrieve individual voting records through their admin tools. 'Legal Safeguards : The only way to identify a specific voter's choices would require a court-ordered subpoena, which is a formal and highly controlled process. 'This structure prevents unauthorized access to individual votes, ensuring that no one (including the Neighborhood Commission Office ) can determine how a specific voter cast their ballot.' Oahu has 36 neighborhood boards, according to the NCO website, which are meant to assure citizens' participation in government decisions. Social Security town hall Social Security will be the topic as AARP Hawai 'i hosts a telephone town hall Saturday at 9 a.m. with U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, and Chad Mullen, AARP's director of financial security. People who have participated in past AARP telephone town halls will get a call to join, while others can call in toll-free at 833-305-0175 when the forum begins, according to an AARP news release. Participants will be able to ask questions, it said. More than 1 in 5 Hawaii residents receive Social Security payments, according to AARP, a nonprofit group representing the interests of older Americans. Mahalo On May 16 I had an incident with my car in the Alii Place parking garage. I was going to park in this man's stall after he left. Well, my car decided to stop in his path. Dead. I approached him and another young man, Arthur, who were so helpful pushing my car into the vacant stall. Arthur then jumped into my car and fiddled with the gear shift and buttons. Voila, it started. It seems I have a Sport function on the gear shift, and I tripped it. I was so blessed to have had two guardian angels helping me with this weird situation.—Linda (Editor's note : Activating Sport mode shouldn't have caused your car to die, according to our quick review of the power-boosting option, but regardless of the cause, we're glad help was on hand. This feature is not limited to sports cars—it's common on sedans and SUVs—and generally is activated with the touch of a button or the flip of the switch, allowing a vehicle to accelerate faster while merging onto a highway, for example.)------------Write to Kokua Line at Honolulu Star-Advertiser, 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 2-200, Honolulu, HI 96813 ; call 808-529-4773 ; or email.------------
Yahoo
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Should Hegseth be fired over latest Signal scandal?
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth again finds himself embroiled in a scandal after reportedly including his wife, brother and attorney on a Signal chat involving sensitive information. U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, and U.S. Rep. Beth Van Duyne, R-Texas, join 'CUOMO' to discuss the latest controversy and whether it should lead to Hegseth being dismissed from his post with the Trump administration. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Fox News
14-04-2025
- Business
- Fox News
Pete Marocco, mastermind behind dismantling of USAID projects, leaves State Department
Pete Marocco, the official who oversaw the dismantling of USAID, has now parted ways with the agency. Marocco, who served in the Defense, State and Commerce departments, was known as a conservative firebrand with a deep skepticism of foreign aid. His tenure sparked fierce protests on Capitol Hill and drew sharp criticism from Democrats, who celebrated his exit but said questions remain about the future of U.S. foreign aid. "Pete was brought to State with a big mission to conduct an exhaustive review of every dollar spent on foreign assistance," a senior administration official said of the departure. "He conducted that historic task and exposed egregious abuses of taxpayer dollars. We all expect big things are in store for Pete on his next mission." After President Donald Trump merged USAID with the State Department, Secretary Marco Rubio named Marocco acting deputy administrator of the agency, and he went to work whittling down the $40-billion, 10,000-employee USAID office. Of the agency's 6,000 programs, only about 900 will now continue to operate, Rubio said on a podcast with Donald Trump Jr. last week. In the past, USAID did not adhere to State Department authority and "did whatever they wanted," according to Rubio. In a March 19 op-ed for RealClearPolitics, Marocco argued that U.S. foreign aid has "created a global welfare state, committed unwelcome political interventions, encouraged unsustainable international labor unions (communism), made countries less capable of thriving in the modern global economy, and funded international organizations that spite our great country." Marocco learned he would no longer be employed at the State Department late last week, sources told the Wall Street Journal, which first reported the news. USAID is now being run by a DOGE official. Democrats celebrated the departure of Marocco. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, ranking member of the State and Foreign Operations subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee, said Marocco brought "chaos to USAID, reckless and unlawful policy to the State Department, and dismantled long-standing U.S. foreign policy." "With his exit, serious questions still remain about the influence he leaves behind and whether or not Secretary Rubio plans to take actions that advance the mission and credibility of the United States," Schatz added. A U.S. Marine Corps veteran with a master's degree in international humanitarian law from the University of Oxford, Marocco worked in USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives in 2020 and was the subject of a 13-page memo posted in the agency's "dissent channel," in which employees warned that "operational capacity and strategic efficacy have been and continue to be rapidly degraded" under his leadership. The memo said Marocco had wanted to personally approve all expenditures over $10,000 for the office with a budget of $225 million. "He has leveraged once-routine administrative processes to reopen previously-approved plans, interrogate and redirect country programs, halt movement on programs, procurements, and people, and inject uncertainty into daily operations and office planning," the memo said. "Intervention is urgently needed."
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Dem rep ripped after telling Musk to f--- off in viral clip: 'Classy as ever'
Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett caused a social media firestorm after telling Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk to "f--- off" in the latest example of her public opposition to the newly formed agency's push to cut government waste and spending. "F--- off," Crockett told reporter Joe Gallina outside Capitol Hill on Tuesday when asked what she would tell Elon Musk if she could tell him anything. Crockett's reaction immediately drew blowback from conservatives on social media, who took issue with the liberal firebrand's tone. "The face of the American left, ladies and gentlemen," conservative account Johnny MAGA posted on X. New Doge Bill Would Target More Than $200B In Annual Improper Payments From Safety Nets, Lawmaker Says "Classy," conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted on X. Read On The Fox News App "Jasmine Crocket = trash," comedian Tim Young posted on X. Meet The Far-left Groups Funding Anti-doge Protests At Gop Offices Across The Country "Please make Jasmine Crockett the spokesperson of the Democrat Party," former GOP congressional candidate Kathleen Anderson posted on X. "Classy as ever…," Washington Examiner White House correspondent Paul Bedard posted on X. Crockett's office did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Many Democrats in Congress have been highly critical of Musk and DOGE, arguing that the billions in cuts the agency has announced are slashing important government resources and being done too quickly. "DOGE is pretty cruel. Let's be blunt about that," Gov. Josh Green, D-Hawaii, said during a press conference last week with other Democratic governors. "These are people in our states that have worked long careers, very dedicated servants, and they're getting kicked out of their lives." A recent poll, amplified by Musk on social media, suggests that a majority of the American people support DOGE's mission. The Harvard CAPS-Harris poll revealed a majority of Americans support reducing wasteful government spending. Most voters agree there should be a government agency dedicated to efficiency and that DOGE is helping to make major spending cuts, the nonprobability-based poll article source: Dem rep ripped after telling Musk to f--- off in viral clip: 'Classy as ever'
Fox News
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Dem rep ripped after telling Musk to f--- off in viral clip: 'Classy as ever'
Texas Democratic Rep. Jasmine Crockett caused a social media firestorm after telling Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief Elon Musk to "f--- off" in the latest example of her public opposition to the newly formed agency's push to cut government waste and spending. "F--- off," Crockett told reporter Joe Gallina outside Capitol Hill on Tuesday when asked what she would tell Elon Musk if she could tell him anything. Crockett's reaction immediately drew blowback from conservatives on social media, who took issue with the liberal firebrand's tone. "The face of the American left, ladies and gentlemen," conservative account Johnny MAGA posted on X. "Classy," conservative commentator Benny Johnson posted on X. "Jasmine Crocket = trash," comedian Tim Young posted on X. "Please make Jasmine Crockett the spokesperson of the Democrat Party," former GOP congressional candidate Kathleen Anderson posted on X. "Classy as ever…," Washington Examiner White House correspondent Paul Bedard posted on X. Crockett's office did not respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Many Democrats in Congress have been highly critical of Musk and DOGE, arguing that the billions in cuts the agency has announced are slashing important government resources and being done too quickly. "DOGE is pretty cruel. Let's be blunt about that," Gov. Josh Green, D-Hawaii, said during a press conference last week with other Democratic governors. "These are people in our states that have worked long careers, very dedicated servants, and they're getting kicked out of their lives." A recent poll, amplified by Musk on social media, suggests that a majority of the American people support DOGE's mission. The Harvard CAPS-Harris poll revealed a majority of Americans support reducing wasteful government spending. Most voters agree there should be a government agency dedicated to efficiency and that DOGE is helping to make major spending cuts, the nonprobability-based poll found.
