Land of the rich, home of the rich.
The United States is made up of three men. Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk, Bill Gates. Larry Ellison, founder of Oracle and worth some 96.8 billion dollars, might be considered part of the “qualifying series” along with Mike Bloomberg, Jim Walton, Mark Zuckerberg and the ghost of Warren Buffett.
All fine and good, I suppose, except not assuaging the growing fear that the land of the free, home of the brave is actually just a plutocracy ruled for, and by, rich men.
Dumping gas on the fire, Ellison recently flaunted Hawaiian law by shuttering public access to a beach on the isle of Lanai. The New Yorker, with suspiciously tiny eyes, purchased 98% of the “pineapple island” in 2012 and his reign has not been without controversy. He has been accused of forcing families who have called the Lanai home for generations to pack their bags and vamoose and also wants to turn it into a “wellness utopia.”
Yikes.
More immediately, though, the beach closure. According to San Francisco Gate:
In Hawaii, public access to beaches and shorelines is required by law, but exceptions were made for Lanai Resorts at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. The company received permission from the County of Maui to add a metal gate at the entry to the beach park, which it owns, at a time when the governor ordered the closure of all beaches.
Conditions of this agreement included that the gate be open at all times, day and night, and it should only be closed during “severe weather emergencies or emergency proclamations.”
The gate was shut from July 16, according to community Facebook posts, through July 28, after a historic swell flooded the park. A Lanai Resorts spokesperson told Civil Beat that pedestrians could walk around the gate when it was closed, but large boulders scattered to the sides of the road prevented vehicles from going around.
Covid closures, man. How do you think they are aging?
A great idea that kept us all safe or… not?
More as the story develops.
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Eat the rich for the most healthy meals!
If you can buy your own Island, outright, do it, but if you try to take control of one while the govt still has some legal control, you’ve failed. Try the Bahamas instead…..
Ellison and Zuckerberg are trying to turn Lanai and Kauai into their own private fifdoms and the government of Hawaii is letting them.
OMG barf is right. I’d love to get a few waves at the Surf Ranch. Watch a full WSL contest there? Nope.
You have a good point, consider using the
word flout instead of flaunt.
Bury him in Costa Rica, right where he died, and doing what he loved. His spirit is not with his body. RiP
> Do not fall into the trap of anthropomorphising Larry Ellison. You need to think of Larry Ellison the way you think of a lawnmower. You don’t anthropomorphize your lawnmower, the lawnmower just mows the lawn, you stick your hand in there and it’ll chop it off, the end. You don’t think ‘oh, the lawnmower hates me’ — lawnmower doesn’t give a shit about you, lawnmower can’t hate you. Don’t anthropomorphize the lawnmower. Don’t fall into that trap about Oracle. — Brian Cantrill (https://youtu.be/-zRN7XLCRh…
God takes care of fools n children Larry ain’t no child so you cant take your billions with you listen to what Steve Jobs had to say wealthy guy. Those beautiful islands n beaches are for everyone, not the rich, or so they think. Remember it’s a very small island in the middle of a very large ocean. Hate to see it sink especially without the help of the good Hawaiian ppl.
yes
Start with the trail to Trestles
This definitely falls into the clickbait/stirring the pot category.
Very Clever Larry, pile some guilt by association on Martha’s Vineyard.. (he’s rich, doesn’t care, no risk of hypocrisy, they’re rich, pretending to care, kicking out the unwelcome)
About 12 years ago I was walking along a country road on the Nova Scotian coastline and met an old bloke walking a dog, we had a bit of a yarn (it was obvious I wasn’t from around there) and then he said to ignore the private property signs (cos it was his place) and have a walk around if I wanted.
Later on when I got back to my mates place a mile ish down the road I told them I’d met some old bloke called Warren who let me walk around his grounds and check out the view.
“Ahhhh, you’ve met Warren”, they said, and sort of laughed.
“Yeah, nice bloke”, I replied, in between swigs on a cold one while grilling lobster.
I never saw him again until a few weeks later on TV and realised who he was.
Don’t be like Larry
Be like Warren…
Good. Who was Warren?
Warren Robinett the guy who coded Adventure for the Atari VCS
animal kingdom/
Best place on earth right there. That tree gives it away.
don’t call me larry…or shirley!
Covid Rules!!!
No, rules are off bex, get with it.
The Hawaiian people should seize the Island Kamehameha style. Lei o mano for Ellison.
10 against 20million
The lei o mano is a shark-toothed club used by native Hawaiians.
yes
indeed
I think his people just literally forgot to reopen it. They don’t go to the beach.