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?
Turning Hawaiian’s story into a morality play might make for easy headlines, but it does little justice to the reality. The airline wasn’t blindsided by its own arrogance — it was sideswiped by Covid, by Hawaii’s own prolonged shutdowns, by Japan’s deep and ongoing economic struggles. To say it “failed” because it didn’t copy Alaska is to confuse hindsight with analysis.
Big problems don’t lend themselves to quick-to-decide solutions. Mayor Blangiardi is only the latest leader in this state who has discovered the rock wall of opposition in Hawaiʻi, on any issue of controversy, is both well-built and able to withstand withering attack, both through policy and rhetoric.
With that, how did Politics Hawaii do in the awards? First, a setup – Politics Hawaii went in for six awards this year, including the coveted A-Mark Prize for Investigative Reporting (for the SMS shutdown saga). That was one of two awards this year that came with monetary prizes, a fact that the emcees noted in their presentation.
In the end, it’s a mixed bag so far – some deep cuts where support is most needed, and a few glimmers of consistency that, if nothing else, show someone’s still reading the fine print. For Native Hawaiians, it’s not the full erasure feared by some, but it’s certainly no full-throated embrace either.
While this is an interesting story, we’ll focus on the main point here – so, is Hawai‘i government procurement fixed? Technically, maybe. But let’s not declare victory just yet.
DOGE’s grip on the grant process may have lasted only a few months, but the effects could stretch much longer. There’s growing uncertainty about what rules now apply, and confusion is spreading — even among experienced organizations that once felt confident in how to compete for federal support.
The state continues to seek applications for services and award contracts. But the level of trust any vendor might have in the State to “pay its bills on time” is increasingly strained, especially after revelations like this one, where once again, a contractor had to secure a loan just to keep operations going due to delayed payments.
Let’s take a breath. Yes, always be prepared for the worst—but no, this likely isn’t the start of World War III. Here’s why.
Three different developments have come about that this blog would like to share with its readers. Two of them are recognizing it for things published or how they are received, and one is about how this publisher was able to resurrect a Facebook site dedicated to promoting this blog.