Over the past several weeks, a series of articles in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser and Honolulu Civil Beat marked a quiet but consequential shift in who is interpreting Hawaiʻi politics for the public. Two farewells and one arrival point to a change not simply in political voices, but in how the state’s political narrative is being shaped and understood.
May your New Year’s celebrations be bright, and may the return to work after the holidays be less stressful. See you on the other side.
On Sunday, the 14th of December, Civil Beatʻs Deputy Ideas Editor Richard Wiens penned an article about “The Silence of…
Rolling out a plan and acknowledging where the issue is now is one thing; it will be the follow-up by Miyahira that will tell whether the new plan put forward is the solution we’ve all been waiting for.
As part of our in memoriam for PHwSF co-founder and co-creator Brandon Dela Cruz and in recognition of his role in the creation of this blog, we reissue his original piece here, faithfully reproduced.
So the shutdown did not end because a genuine compromise emerged, in the viewpoint of this blogger. It ended because the escalation curve broke open, and only one side was prepared to continue up it.
One is accused of drifting from the mission it was founded upon. The other is accused of holding to its mission so tightly that it may now violate the law. Different places, different histories — but both face the same question: how does an institution stay true to its purpose when the world keeps changing the rules around it?
The airport’s inclusion wasn’t destiny; it was a decision, argued and voted into being, but credit is due where it’s due: Charles Djou saw the value of that alignment long before the city did. When we ride past after October 16, 2025, it’s worth remembering that what feels inevitable today was once anything but.
Younger candidates are challenging Case with a much more nuanced — and far less taboo — appeal to generational change. What Case once invoked against Akaka, and paid dearly for, is now tolerated, even expected, by an electorate seemingly more comfortable weighing leadership through the lenses of age, urgency, and readiness.
Charlie Kirk’s passing now poses the same challenge for TPUSA: can an organization built on his energy adapt to new leadership, or will it remain frozen as a reflection of its founder?