Rep. Colleen Hanabusa begins to speak about 10 minutes into the video above
Let’s all hope President Donald Trump’s next candidate for secretary of state isn’t Ryan Zinke. Because as evidenced by a stupid blunder on Thursday, diplomacy isn’t his strong suit.
The incident centers around Zinke’s tone-deaf reaction to Rep. Colleen Hanabusa (D-Hawaii), whose grandfathers were incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II for their Japanese heritage. She said one of her grandfathers, a U.S. citizen, didn’t speak about the painful experience until much later in life.
Hanabusa shared the detail Thursday morning in a hearing with the interior secretary, seeking to persuade him to restore around $2 million in grant funds for organizations dedicated to preserving the memory of that ugly chapter in American history.
“I believe that it is essential that we as a nation recognize our darkest moments so that we don’t have them repeat again,” Hanabusa urged Zinke.
“My grandfather was born in Hawaii and is a citizen by birth,” Hanabusa noted during the hearing. Despite being a U.S. citizen, however, he was imprisoned in an Oahu camp called Honouliuli ― though the prisoners there used a different name: “jigokudani,” or “Hell’s Valley.”
After listening to her concerns, and for reasons that aren’t entirely clear, Zinke responded to the U.S. representative with a cheery and extremely tone-deaf “Konnichiwa!”
Read the rest of this article HERE.
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Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Just when I thought he couldn’t be any worse:
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/378220-zinke-too-many-people-can-enter-national-parks-for-free
Isn’t it wonderful how this ex-Navy SEAL wants to slap other servicemen in the face this way? Oh, and how about his proposal of raising the national park vehicle fee from $30 to $70? Never mind that he won’t raise AUM fees.
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Since I was 4 when the “interment camps” were put in place – had no clue for many years what our government AND CITIZENS had done to so many Japanese Americans. Oddly, I don’t remember more than possibly one or two movies made about it – maybe I’m wrong there. Very much worth reading about! Especially today with what this administration is doing – and being ALLOWED to do.
Honestly, think what was done to OUR indigenous people – and quite frankly is still being done. And then there are our wild horses, and our buffalo and all the predators in danger of being wiped out.
I realize this comment is a way from the subject here, but there are many, many areas that this government of ours needs to address and correct and that’s not going to happen unless we all speak out. Hopefully before its too late.
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