The Maui Horror Continues

The horror on Maui continues. The news media has largely forgotten the victims of the August fire that killed 101. It is difficult to determine whether their plight is due to incompetence (Hawaii doesn't know how to handle the aftermath of wildfires) or evil (they are trying to force the victims to sell their valuable land for below-market prices).

Three days after the fire, it was obvious that a Natural Disaster Review Board would have been tremendously valuable in this case. The NTSB, after which I want to pattern the Disaster Review Board, offers family assistance to the victims of airline crashes and similar events. That would be an especially valuable service in this case. 

We are 9 months after the fire and Fox News is reporting:

FSRI investigators are still trying to get some records from the Maui Emergency Management Agency. Research program manager Derek Alkonis said Wednesday that they requested incident activity logs and other records from MEMA on multiple occasions but still had not received all the data.

Alkonis did not go into detail about what he called "a difficulty with gaining information" from the agency, but said the reason is "going to be analyzed in subsequent reports."

The NDRB would have subpoena powers, so this nonsense will not impede their investigations. For those new to this concept, here is an explanation of how the Review Board will function. 

A correspondent asked Friday whether we could trust the highly partisan Biden Administration to appoint the majority of the initial members (the minority in Congress would appoint the minority of the first board, after that presidents will do the appointing). Because the NDRB will be forbidden by law to get into highly politicized global warming (USA already has people who that) and since it is patterned after the non-partisan NTSB, I'm hoping they will play it straight. I'm certain if President Trump is re-elected and the NDRB is passed in the next session of Congress, Democrats would have the same concerns.