Maui vaccination rates, at 55-60 percent, are the lowest in the state. Teachers are wailing that COVID-19 protocols are being ignored in schools. Our hospital is teetering into the red zone as the Delta variant causes a surge in cases. Are we headed toward another lockdown? Now, into this churning pandemic mess, a new virus hit Hawaii this past week. Let’s call it the “Hubris Variant.” Unlike its deadlier Delta cousin, the Hubris Variant has manifested in those naïve or arrogant enough to think they are impervious to criticism–or consequences.
Patient Zero is Dr. Lorrin Pang, who works for the state Department of Health as its Maui district officer. The “Wuhan” of this new infection is easy to identify: It was the story August 25th by the Honolulu Star Advertiser’s Sophie Cocke exploring Pang’s status as co-founder of the Pono Coalition for Informed Consent. The new and relatively unknown Coalition held a recent video seminar featuring Pang and Dr. Kirk Milhoan, a pediatric cardiologist and senior pastor at Calvary Chapel in South Maui. The seminar was moderated by the Coalition’s other co-founder, Merlyn Travis, a vocal proponent of pandemic beliefs that lie far beyond the mainstream.
During the seminar, Pang spoke about vaccinations, then sat quietly as Milhoan explained that he had been offering free treatments of hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin to Maui residents who did not want to be vaccinated. Both treatments have been celebrated by anti-vaccination proponents and condemned by the Federal Drug Administration and the World Health Organization as drugs that have not proven to be effective in reducing the chance of severe illness and/or death in COVID-19 infections.
When Cocke later asked Pang about his lack of pushback on the use of these treatments he replied, “I agree with Milhoan on this.” He said he supported the use of both drugs, but added, “You give the wrong thing at the wrong time, it is very dangerous.” Pang also added, as he has done frequently over the years when espousing views that might ruffle his employer’s feathers, that he was “speaking as a private citizen.”
That disclaimer has worked well for Pang in the past. He has been a passionate advocate for Maui environmental issues for some 20 years and tirelessly organized the COVID-19 vaccination effort on this island. He was heralded as a state health leader in his efforts to eradicate dengue fever. He has spoken out on the health effects of sugarcane-burning, the danger of genetically modified crops, and against restricted pesticide use. In doing so, he has often run afoul of the conservative, Honolulu-centric Department of Health.
But this time, in the midst of an uncontrolled pandemic, the blowback was instantaneous and severe. Pang’s statements were condemned by the Hawaii Department of Health’s Director Dr. Elizabeth Char, Governor David Ige, Lieutenant Governor Josh Green, and Maui Mayor Michael Victorino. Most significantly, West and South Maui state senator Rosalyn Baker appeared before her colleagues the next day and demanded that Pang be immediately canned, and that his medical license be revoked by the Hawaii Medical Board. “Our people,” Baker railed, “don’t need to be treated by quacks.”
Her remarks were followed quickly by a letter to Ige signed by Baker and four other lawmakers demanding Pang’s removal. The next day, the Hawaii Medical Board filed complaints against Pang and Milhoan with the Regulated Industries Complaints Office. Given that the Federation of State Medical Boards recently warned that physicians who disseminate misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines could risk losing their medical licenses, the consequences for Pang and Milhoan could be serious.
Even the Hale Hawaii community organization, which has prominently featured Pang on its many pandemic-related webcasts, released a brief statement which expressed its disappointment “to learn about his involvement with the Pono Coalition for Informed Consent. We find some of the opinions and advice being promoted…to be contrary to the general consensus of researchers, scientists and physicians globally. We feel this may cause unnecessary confusion and therefore be harmful to the public.”
Pang quickly responded with a long, defensive letter that did little to quench the firestorm of criticism that his webinar participation ignited. “I entered into the Pono Coalition as ‘co-founder,’ yes,” he wrote in his Yoda-esque style. “To clarify, it was created so that 2 sides could have a public forum for conversation. My side represented medical science and informed consent (for getting a vaccine, testing, other interventions) and the other side of the group…a spectrum of concerns and arguments. We agreed to listen to each other in a civil way, asking those with more inflammatory conduct to take a back seat. Then other doctors from Maui and the mainland participated.”
In the driver’s seat of that forum was moderator Dr. Merlyn Travis (his Ph.D. is in Hebraic Mysticism), who has called the management of COVID-19 a “scam and a conspiracy” on his Facebook page, which features dozens and dozens of anti-virus, anti-vax, anti-mask posts. Wrote Travis, “I fully support the effort to bring pivotal people behind it to trial for crimes against humanity.”
Now Pang has a lot of supporters in the community, and they have subsequently voiced their allegiance with petitions, social media posts, and a rally last Saturday. Still, many have privately shaken their heads at his unfathomable decision to serve as co-founder of a group with such extremist views. Why would Maui’s health director align with a group that dismisses all of his efforts as being part of a deep-state, worldwide conspiracy?
With his misguided response letter, which discussed the media’s failings to properly cover the intricacies of vaccine science rather than thoroughly address the WTF? question, Pang—in my opinion—remains deeply infected with the Hubris Variant. If he so desperately needed a partner, why not attach to longtime, inclusive community groups such as Facebook’s “MAUI COVID19 FACTS,” which strives to stay factually abreast of all matters—social, political, scientific, local—involving the virus? Or join with credible doctors such as Dr. Scott Miscovich, a cogent and straightforward medical voice about appropriate measures to take against the virus, who has been an articulate and effective critic of state health policies when they have been erratic.
Given his job responsibilities, Pang’s most intelligent option would have been to remain an unaffiliated, objective resource. Instead, possibly without doing much due diligence, he climbed into bed with a small, newly formed group with a bombastic agenda of strident rejection and opposition to all policies related to the COVID-19 pandemic as practiced by officials in Maui County, the state, the U.S., and the world.
Gee, what could go wrong with that?
The “Possibility Wizard”
Merlyn Travis is just the latest name used by the Canadian man who co-founded and serves as Executive Director of the Pono Coalition for Informed Consent. Travis has also used the names: Merlyn of Gaia, Yakov Mordechai ben Raphael haKohen, James Michael Travis (his birth name), Jamie Travis, Jacob Travis, Yakov Travis, and now, Merlyn J. Travis, which, he explains on his Facebook page, is pronounced “MER-lin AWF MAui.” Under “Info” he writes, “I am. Merlyn of Gaia. How ya doing?” and describes himself as a “Possibility Wizard.” All this jargon reminded me of Mark Chasan, the Chief Executive “AWEfficer” of the sketchy group TEACH, which tried to turn Old Maui High School into a new age Shangri-La (read eco-resort) for about five minutes in 2016. Angry North Shore community members pretty much ran TEACH out of town.
Travis has moved around a lot in recent years. He currently describes himself as Founder and President at the Coalition’s parent group, The Maui Center, described as “a research collective, futurist think-tank and new era leadership academy.” Both entities are new. Travis registered The Maui Center as a non-profit business with the state on August 16.
Before that, from December 2018 until—well—last month, according to his Facebook page, Travis’s title was Founding Director and Guide at SativaLife: Center for Conscious Cannabis. Its mission was “Elevating Cannabis Experience,” through a “Deepen Your High, Elevate Your Life” approach. In 2018, while living in Davenport, California, Travis was an Uber driver and also offered $55 “Bliss Tours” from San Francisco to Big Sur.
At one time, he had a more mainstream job as co-founder of Solar Academy International in Toronto, a solar installer training school. As recounted on yet another of his websites, thesiren.org, when his business and his marriage went bust, Travis went holo holo and headed west. Then further west.
After leaving his “Bliss Tours” business, he arrived in Hawaii in 2020, and, according to his Facebook posts, lived in his truck as he moved through a number of Big Island locales: Ocean View, Captain Cook, Keauhou Bay and Honokaa, before arriving in Maui in October, where he currently is listed as living in Paia, or in his truck. It’s hard to tell.
Now this all sounds pretty innocuous. Free spirits wash up on Maui all the time. But apparently, Travis wasn’t here just to bang on the drum all day.
He recently posted a picture of himself at an anti-vax protest in Wailuku holding a sign that read “Forced Vaccination.” He wrote, “It’s worse than you know on multiple levels. There is an Agenda and it’s not about Public Health. Unless one can articulate clearly the 2030 vision of the ‘planners,’ even the best doctors are but pawns in a totalitarian coup, built around ‘compliance passports.’”
And for those who might disagree with him, he writes: “If you are not absolutely clear about this, by now, I believe it is only due to mass psychological manipulation, censorship and disinformation. Do not follow the fear-control narrative. It’s not only false, but a preperation [sic] for more control under the “Great Reset.” [Travis adores this “Great Reset,” which purports that COVID-19 was invented in a lab by global elites so they can take over the world. Here’s a link to the origins and explanation of this theory].
I spent hours reviewing his posts, shares and retweets and I can confidently tell you that Merlyn Travis, or whatever his name is, fully subscribes to a writhing snakeball of conspiracy theories that range far beyond COVID-19. Bill Gates microchip? Check. Stolen Presidential Election? Check. New World Order? Check. Lizard People? Well, maybe. I think there was a picture…
Older posts find Travis focused on vilifying Dr. Anthony Fauci and his wife. He has described a campaign to vaccinate 12 to 17 year-olds as “Nazi” and said he believes the use of that word in relation to COVID-19 actions to be “appropriate, symbolically, to awaken people to the severity of what is happening.”
In a post titled “Totalitarian Times,” Travis wrote of The New York Times, “Stop reading the Times, get clear on how deep censorship and spin confuses the “intelligent” masses and manipulates minds. YOURS. MINE. OURS.”
He’s proud of his periodic bans by Facebook and many of his posts are labeled “factually inaccurate,” which I’m sure he considers a badge of honor as well.
After wading through his posts and unfulfilled predictions (civil war following the presidential election, economic crash in 2020), I found myself agreeing with a woman who unfriended Travis last year. She wrote, “You are not listening and clearly not going to hear anything anyone says if they don’t agree with you. Your ‘I know the truth and you don’t-you’ll see’ repetitions are a total turn-off and stinks of pretentious, know-it-all-better-than-you BS.”
Travis’s Hubris Variant infection is probably the worst I’ve ever seen, but there’s no use discussing it—he wouldn’t believe in it anyway.
Despite his spiritual posturing and Kabbalistic training, Travis was curiously unempathetic about his group’s role in Pang’s career vaporization. His only Facebook post on the situation referenced himself: “I’m now a target, with a twisted cover story falsely claiming I am spreading misinformation,” he wrote. As for the target on Pang’s back, which quickly filled with arrows as the week progressed, Travis remains silent. I contacted him last Friday asking if his group would have a statement to make about Pang. He replied that a news release would be issued by the end of the day. Given that the Coalition’s communications director has a full-time business called “Sacred Psychic,” perhaps the stars weren’t aligned for a comment to be written.
The Douglas Connection
How did Pang even run into this guy? Well, I’m pretty sure we have community activist and Pono Coalition co-founder and “director of community outreach” Bruce Douglas to thank for that. Douglas was one of the organizers of the Shaka Movement’s fight for a GMO moratorium in 2014 and worked closely with Lorrin Pang on the successful, voter-approved initiative. When the moratorium was later overturned in the courts, Douglas went on to form the Maui Pono Network, which supports progressive candidates for public office. Douglas must have come up with the name for the Pono Coalition because he sure seems to like culturally appropriating the word “pono” a lot. There isn’t enough hydroxychloroquine or ivermectin in the world to cure the lethal Hubris Variant that Douglas has transmitted with this latest escapade, which has torched the reputation and career of his friend. That may not be all.
Michael Victorino now has a powerful weapon in his mayoral re-election campaign: He’ll just paint all progressive challengers as being supported by a bunch of conspiracy-minded, anti-mask, anti-vaccine whack jobs and be done. Don’t think the progressives aren’t worried about this possibility, because they are. But Mayor, your mask won’t do a thing for Hubris, and if you try that tactic, you might find that your equally fervent anti-vaxxing evangelical supporters head for the hills as well come Election Day 2022.
One last thing: Let me talk briefly about the Hubris Variant’s impact on other state leaders. That letter sent to Gov. Ige demanding Pang’s firing was signed by Baker, Senate President Ronald Kouchi, Speaker of the House Scott K. Saiki, Jarret Keohokalole, Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, and Ryan Yamane, Chair of the House Committee on Health, Human Services & Homelessness. Of those signatories, only Jarret Keohokalole hasn’t received campaign donations from Pfizer (its vaccine has been in the news a lot lately…). Baker, over the past 10 years, has received more than $25,000 from Pfizer, according to state campaign spending data. By the way, Ige and Green took Pfizer donations too. Did Pfizer just activate its sleeper cells when the Pang imbroglio erupted? It’s total hubris to think no one would notice, or comment. That’s a conspiracy Pang supporters might actually want Merlyn Travis to explore.
Outcome
Lorrin Pang’s virtues are many, but when it came to the Hubris Variant, he had a pre-existing condition. Pang is often the smartest one in the room; the problem is that he thinks so too. One only has to watch his myriad appearances on Mayor Victorino’s pandemic press conferences to see how much he enjoys strutting his smarts on camera and I am not the only one who finds him a bit nutty at times. However, his wide-eyed naivete in thinking he could serve as co-founder of a group like the Pono Coalition for Informed Consent may prove to be an insurmountable error.
Is Pang’s bout with the Hubris Variant going to be fatal to his current job? I’m no expert, but I suspect that his “private citizen” disclaimer protects his first amendment free speech rights. Pang has been a thorn in the Department of Health’s bureaucratic side for decades now and if Director Libby Char could have fired him, he would have been gone last Wednesday. Over the weekend, Pang told the Coalition to remove his name and leadership position from its website, and it’s gone now (though the video remains). Will he publicly disavow them further? That may yet come.
However, for someone who loves the limelight, there are punishments worse than termination. The mayor’s press conference last Friday featured an appearance by Oahu-based epidemiologist Dr. DeWolfe Miller, who talked about the COVID vaccine. That spot is usually occupied by Pang. He could end up in an office throwing paper clips at the wall until he retires. His medical license is probably in jeopardy. His reputation is in tatters, too. An opinion piece in the Sunday Star-Advertiser by Richard Borreca alluded to him as a “corner crackpot.”
Despite his willing participation, I feel bad for Lorrin Pang. I think he got played big-time. After all, if you are dedicated to the proposition that the COVID-19 virus is the evil invention of global elites to subjugate the world, why not help weaken the structure by taking out one of the pillars? Why not sow more discord and disarray? For someone like Travis, whose world view currently relies on the implosion of The System by 2030, what better place to start than on Maui, in 2021.
The trouble is, Travis hasn’t been on this island long enough to understand that those kinds of actions don’t always work here. He targeted a community kupuna. There will be repercussions. I’m not the only one beginning to think that Pang was set up. I suspect the Coalition also has been infected with the Hubris Variant. Could be serious.
If I were the Possibility Wizard, I’d be thinking about the possibility of a long-term quarantine. Like, maybe on Bali.
I read a story once by Cory Doctorow – “Radicalized” I think the title was – that described how even the most level-headed, cautious, thoughtful people could be transformed into suicide bombers if somebody finds the right lever and applies the right technique to the process. It seems like Dr. Pang and his fellow travelers could be characters in the story though it’s unclear to me what role: are they victims of a process or perpetrators of one? Seems like they’re fitted for several, TBH. And, to your point, they do seem afflicted with a hubris that they can say pretty anything with impunity.
I’m a lifelong optimist about the ability of technology to make our lives better. In the 90s and early 2000s I embraced the rise of the internet and the proliferation of devices that allow us to be connected all of the time. Now, with 25 years of experience in this era, I can still see the benefits, but the costs are so much higher than I anticipated. This posting, although not directly focused on the technology aspects of what’s going on here, illustrates some of those costs. Without the internet and social media, Dr. Pang, Mr. Travis and millions of other conspiracists would have to work so much harder to find new hosts to infect, would be unable to easily find, reinforce and radicalize one another or be susceptible to the deliberate manipulation of people pursuing other agendas.
I can’t uninvent social media or the internet – and I wouldn’t even if I could – but there are days where I’m tempted to try.
Dr Lorrin Pang is no longer affiliated in any way with the Pono Coalition for Informed Consent.
Journalists with integrity ask for interviews and research the issues.
The author so clearly reveals her ignorance and bias; my Facebook account posts many articles referring to https://www.weforum.org/great-reset and she imagines it to be a conspiracy “theory.”
Anyone purporting to cover politics surrounding Covid19 but ignorant of the World Econimic Forum’s “Great Reset” is living in the past ….and not worth reading.
Deborah…do some real research and let’s sit down for an intelligent conversation.
LOL!
That’s spozed to make it all ok, eh?
I know a bully when I see one, Deborah. I second Merlyn’s request.
Note: Jaclyn Joy Dreicer is the Social Media manager for the Pono Coalition.
Dear Mrs Rybak,
My name is Robbin Hill, I am also proudly a part of the Pono Coalition. The gentlemen you wrote this unfounded arrogant hit piece about are trying to stand up for informed consent, which everyone should care about.
The very fact that regular citizens are waking up to the very clear atrocities being leveled on innocents, including our children (which have a less than .003 percent chance of any harm from Covid should be a wake up call and a welcoming to all with discernment.
Doctors at the Mayo Climic, Harvard and Oxford, Baylor and all over the world have stood up risking their lives, freedoms and reputation echoing and with actual science the very real and grave dangers that these injections have presented.
So if you are going to play journalist- do your research. Until then, you are just another puppet with another hit piece.
Proudly,
Robbin Hill
Save Earth One Movement
Ps. Should you actually want to know the truth, out phones and doors are respectfully open.
Please excuse the typos. Sent from my phone.
I do recommend doing more research like the Journalist at the Maui Independent that has backed up claims with medical and historical facts.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
It is completely unethical, unprofessional, and inappropriate for Dr. Pang, Maui County’s DOH District Officer, to co-found an organization with a pastor/doctor who has admitted to intentionally hiding covid positive cases from the DOH. As a private citizen, Dr. Pang could have shared ideas and dialogue with this group, instead he co-founded/joined the group. I would like Dr. Pang to give a public statement concerning his knowledge of Kirk Milhoan hiding covid positive cases from the DOH. Does Dr. Pang think it’s ethical for DOH officials to have close associations and group memberships with doctors and church leaders who hide covid cases from the DOH?
I read the NYT, WAPO, LATimes, NewYorker, Harpers, The Atlantic every day because it’s fact checked, scientific journalism. If you claim it’s fake news then you’ve swallowed Putin’s propaganda, he and his troll factories are laughing themselves silly over how easy it was to convince the conspiracists and vulnerable ignorant that the American Press and hard working Journalists are lying. Democracy dies in darkness. And you naysayers/conspiracists are responsible for the continuation of this pandemic. Read the Great Influenza Epidemic 1918 , by John M. Barry, we’ve been here before. It took 50-100 million lives worldwide, 650,000 in the US, back when the population of the US was 1/3 of what it is now. Do your research , read something pertinent not just your new age navel.
So glad people like Lorrin Pang exist in this world of lies, who is willing to risk it all to ask questions and create dialogue. You in my book, Lorrin Pang are a modern day, Hero!!!