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Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

[{"text":"We can't argue, it the best way to make Portuguese sausage.","type":"text"}]

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<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: "Burn dat buggah!"</title>

Alex_farnham has a very particular drive-through order in today's social media find.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: "Burn dat buggah!"

We can&#039;t argue, it the best way to make Portuguese sausage. 

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Government & Politics

Columnists

I have to tell you a short story about Minnesota before I can tell you something about Hawai‘i. Sit tight for some unpleasant details.

It starts with Tou Lue Vang, from Laos, who was at one point legally living in the United States, in Minnesota. Vang went on to behave terribly while here. He was convicted in 2006 of first-degree criminal sexual assault for repeatedly molesting a 10-year-old girl over two years, from 2002 to 2004, 

 the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“He once offered his victim $10 to keep quiet about the sexual assaults,” DHS said. “When interviewed by police, he tried to justify his actions as ‘a cultural thing

’ and even said that his victim was just as guilty as him and should also be arrested.”

These actions cost Vang his right to be in the United States. On Oct. 31, 2006, a Department of Justice Immigration Judge ordered that he be removed.

 the Center for Immigration Studies, Laos refused to take back its deported citizens until 2025, until it finally relented under pressure from the United States.

According to DHS, ICE arrested and detained Vang in December but by then, Minnesota was in full meltdown over immigration enforcement and in February, a District of Minnesota judge ordered him released from custody.

That wasn't only the ally Vang found. At some point he applied for a pardon, in hopes that wiping his record clean would eliminate the reason ICE was coming after him for deportation, as reported by 

That pardon was granted, in a unanimous decision. In Minnesota, such pardons are granted by a three-person panel: 

 (D), and nominally non-partisan Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice 

This was widely seen as an extension of Minnesota’s sanctuary state policies, done out of spite to frustrate Trump and ICE.

On July 14, media asked Walz about the deportation and he had the audacity to question the 

 motive for removing a convicted child molester.

. “Did that make the children that are left behind any more stable? Did it improve the idea that we can’t all be judged by our worst day?”

On question 1: Yeah, it did. Vang's conviction disqualified him from staying here, that’s the law. He only evaded it because Laos didn’t want him back.

Question 2: Walz is possibly, obliquely referring to Vang’s own children. What is the logic here? Our prisons are full of natural born American citizens who are separated from their children by incarceration and no one sane goes around saying, “Wait, we can’t put people in prison for molesting children! Doing so destabilizes their children!” If it's a tragedy for Vang and his family, it's one he wrote himself.

Question 3: It’s possible the syntax of this one is so garbled and awkward because some tiny voice in Walz’s head is second-guessing what’s he’s saying. No one likes to be judged by their worst day. OK. Fair enough. For most people, their worst days do not include serially molesting a 10-year old over two years. But Walz’s inner sociopath smacked down his last sensible neuron and he said this ludicrous thing anyway.

[{"type":"text","text":"What does any of this have to do with Hawai‘i?"}]

You might not know this, but Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz was the guest of honor as keynote speaker at the Hawai‘i Democratic Party’s state convention in Waikīkī at the end of May. 

“Walz … brought the nearly 400 party delegates and guests to their feet several times at the Hilton Hawaiian Village ballroom,” 

 Civil Beat, covering the convention on May 31. “He got a lot of whoops and shout-outs, too, by calling Trump a ‘corrupt, petty, cruel wannabe dictator’ and ‘a pile of crap.’”

[{"type":"text","text":"Tim Walz, greeted in Hawai‘i with applause and aloha."}]

Surely, the local invitation predated Walz’s bizarre defense of an illegal immigrant child molester. But local Dems had plenty of facts before them at the time that Walz had stepped forward to defend, categorically, every convicted criminal in Minnesota that ICE had gone in to arrest. Surely, they were aware that they were inviting, with honors, a man who presided over a state government that 

 for as much a billion dollars’ worth of fraud across multiple social programs. Surely, they could’ve known that in January, Minnesota lawmakers accused Walz and his administration of retaliating against whistleblowers about this fraud, thereby enabling it.

Surely, they remembered that Walz himself withdrew his re-election attempt in light of these many scandals.

[{"type":"text","text":"They overlooked it all and gave this guy a hero’s welcome."}]

I've been meaning to write this ever since the convention happened, but news about Walz just kept evolving and I wanted to see where his latest escapades would go. Now that this Vang chapter is over, I have same question I had in May: If he’s the role model for the party going forward, what does that mean for the future of Hawai‘i?

What does that tell us about who they serve? Local interests and concerns? Or, as we saw with 

 just fully colonized by Mainland politics and priorities?

The party is running on fumes of nostalgia for when it was sensible and stood for the betterment of people right here in the Islands. But the party of serious people like Burns, Ariyoshi, Inouye and countless others — sober, responsible — seems intent on following the pied pipers of Act Blue, Indivisible, and the Democratic Socialists of America, straight into insanity.

Based on historic voting patterns, there’s a good chance if you’re reading this that this your party. You’ve voted for it all your life. You likely always will. Anything but cast a vote for those icky Republicans! If so, please do everyone in the Islands a favor: Get involved, and knock some sense into your people. If Walz is their idea of an accomplished statesman, an example to cheer on and follow behind, they need an intervention.

A. Kam Napier is editor in chief of Aloha State Daily. His opinions in Pipikaula Corner are his own and not reflective of the ASD team.

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Tim Walz Getty Images 2264762248 16x9 Large

<title>Pipikaula Corner: The company they keep</title>

Hawai‘i Democrats invited a special Mainland guest to their annual convention in late May, as keynote speaker. If this is their role model, ASD Editor in Chief A. Kam Napier opines, Hawai‘i is in trouble.

Pipikaula Corner: The company they keep

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Arts & Entertainment

From Bon Dances to the Honolulu Surf Film Festival, there are lots of events happening on Oʻahu. Here are 10 events happening across Oʻahu this Friday, July 24, through Sunday, July 26.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Friday, July 24"}]

Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition and Festival. 

This invite-only keiki hula event includes three nights of competition, just like Merrie Monarch Festival. The event runs Thursday, July 23, through Saturday, July 26, at the Neal S. Blaisdell Center. The first night, Thursday, July 23, features Miss & Master Keiki Hula 2026. The Group Hula Kahiko competition is 

. Finally, the Group Hula ʻAuana competition is held on the final day of events, which is Saturday, July 25. Purchase tickets from participating hālau to help them fundraise to attend the event. Tickets are $30 for adults and $25 for keiki. 

 will hold its Bon Dance on Friday, July 24, and Saturday, July 25, while 

 will hold its Bon Dance on Saturday, July 25. 

Catch the Hawaiʻi Shakespeare Festival. 

Ready to hear some Shakespeare? Works of William Shakespeare will take stages across Oʻahu as part of the Hawaiʻi Shakespeare Festival, which will consist of two productions: “The Winter’s Tale,” directed by Brando Cutts, which runs July 17 through 26, at Kumu Kahua Theatre, and “Julius Caesar,” directed by Alex Munro, which runs July 31 through Aug. 9, at Mānoa Valley Theatre. This week, “Julius Caesar” offers shows Wednesday, July 22, through Sunday, July 26. General admission is $25 for Friday, Saturday and Sunday shows and $15 tickets for Wednesday and Thursday shows. 

This classic musical, based on Victor Hugo’s novel, tells the story of Jean Valjean, who agrees to care for a factory worker’s daughter. The musical takes the stage this month and next month at Diamond Head Theatre. Opening night, which is Friday, July 24, is already soldout, but new shows have been added on Aug. 22 and Aug. 23. Limited tickets are available. 

Catch the final shows of “Clyde’s.” 

This play, written by Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, tells the story of a truck stop sandwich stop, which offers its formerly incarcerated staff a shot at redemption. It has been nominated for four Tony Awards. Catch it on stage for its last shows at Mānoa Valley Theatre this Thursday, July 23, through Sunday, July 26. Tickets start at $25. 

The Honolulu Surf Film Festival kicked off on Thursday, July 9, and runs through Sunday, Aug. 2. Upcoming screenings include “Magic Island” and “Antarctica - Domain One” on Friday, July 24, “Keeping in the Shadows” and “Kingdom of the Evening” on Saturday, July 25, and “Locals Only 2026,” a collection of locally made shorts, on Sunday, July 26. The films screen at the Doris Duke Theatre at the Honolulu Museum of Art. Tickets are $15 for adults or free for attendees who are 18 years old and younger. 

Go to the Huli Huli Chicken Extravaganza. 

Eat huli huli chicken and other island style barbecue favorites, along with mini malasadas at this event at the Hilton Hawaiian Village, Waikīkī Beach Resort. The event runs from 4:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. on the Village Green. Food prices range from $5 to $15. The event also has a prime view of the 

, which starts at 8 p.m. on Friday nights. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Saturday, July 25"}]

Catch the “Sunset on the Beach” movie in Waikīkī. 

Looking for a free family movie night on the beach where you can have your toes in the sand? That is possible through the "Sunset on the Beach" movie series, which started in May, and brings five family-friendly movies to Queen’s Beach in Waikīkī. “Smurfs” is the featured movie this weekend. The festivities start at 4:30 p.m. and the movie starts at 7:30 p.m. through this partnership between the City and County of Honolulu, the Waikīkī Improvement Association, and Southwest Airlines. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sunday, July 26"}]

 Hawaiʻi State Public Library System's 

 is back. This year, readers can participate by reading 800 minutes or eight books. 

Physical books, audiobooks, eBooks, graphic novels and more

 count toward the contest. The challenge runs through July 31. Readers who log reading get a chance to unlock rewards and possibly win the grand prize of roundtrip tickets from Alaska Airlines / Hawaiian Airlines. 

 Send us your pictures of sunrises, sunsets and more. Submitted photos may be featured in our reader submission series called Hawaiʻi Skies. Tell what you saw and why it was special. 

For the latest news of Hawai‘i, sign up 

Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition and Festival

<title>Hula, surf films, and more: Friday, July 24, to Sunday, July 26</title>

Ready to plan for the weekend? Aloha State Daily can help! Whether you are looking to catch the Queen Liliʻuokalani Keiki Hula Competition and Festival or watch a free movie at Queen’s Beach in Waikīkī, there are lots of options for weekend fun on Oʻahu.

Hula, surf films, and more: Friday, July 24, to Sunday, July 26

Daily Smile

[{"type":"text","text":"My dogs react to five fake cats on the stairs..."}]

Smile 26 7 21

<title>Daily Smile: Tuesday, July 21, 2026</title>

My dogs react to five fake cats on the stairs...

Daily Smile: Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Higa headshot white shirt square

Sterling Higa

 the president give a speech on one half of the screen while on the other half a panel of news anchors explained what he was saying and why it was wrong.

NBC and ABC would not broadcast the speech live on their networks. They streamed it instead. This is not the first time networks have declined to broadcast a presidential speech. Some did the same for Biden and Obama.

There was a time, within living memory, when a journalist waited for a speech to end before telling the country what to think of it. The waiting was a small courtesy, but it rested on a large assumption: that the people watching could be trusted with the raw facts and come to their own conclusions. The split screen quietly withdraws that assumption.

This paternalism is nothing new. Walter Lippmann explained it a century ago in his book 

. The world, he argued, is too vast and too tangled for ordinary people, who see it only through crude pictures in their heads. So a trained class must organize what the public perceives, and manufacture its consent.

Lippmann was only cribbing Plato. Plato’s guardians governed the city by a noble lie — a useful myth, administered for everyone’s good. The split screen is not a lapse from journalistic principle. It is the core journalistic principle, the one the trade was actually built on, surfacing for a brief moment.

And Lippmann was not wrong about everything. No one reads the actuarial tables behind an insurance bill. No one audits the Fed on a lunch break. Every one of us takes nearly everything on trust, from some mediator. The question was never whether we would be shaped. The question is who does the shaping, and by what light.

Be generous toward Lippmann: he was a philosopher, or at least he fashioned himself one. He had read widely in history and philosophy and could write a decent argument. And he shared his ideas with the public, in books and columns. A man could disagree with Lippmann and know exactly what he was disagreeing with. But when the critic Edward Said 

 Lippmann’s long career, Said saw America choosing in Lippmann “the style of reassuring authority over any concrete message or social vision.”

The modern pundit class is self-assured, but less reassuring. On social media, the thinking has grown thinner with each generation. A few news personalities have published books, though with ghostwriters at work it is hard to tell who has substance. The distance from 

 to 2026 is vast. But in asking mass media of any age to make sense of the world, we may be asking too much.

. A man may know every fact about the world and still not know what he must do about any of them. The gulf is not crossed by more facts, better sourced. For most of human history it was crossed by revelation, and the crossing was kept by the church. The clerics could tell a people what the events of the world meant, because they had a Word from outside the world to measure them by.

Said writes that Lippmann’s career was not 

— not the treason of the intellectuals. In reaching for that diagnosis, Said had the right crime and the wrong defendants.

Mass media could take the place it did because of treason by the clerics. The media did not storm the sensemaking chair. It found the chair empty and sat down, and it has held the office ever since without ordination. Christ had a brief comment on such arrangements: “if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.”

How did the chair come to be empty? Somewhere along the way, the gospel got trimmed down to a private transaction — a boarding pass off a sinking ship, redemption with no bearing on Monday morning. Pulpits learned to tell a man how to be saved but not how to live, and congregations stopped asking.

An unreformed people will be formed by programming. The need for oughts does not lapse just because the supply does. So the evening news obliges. Each event arrives pre-narrated as the most important thing in the world. It is chosen from an endless mass by editors who do not say, and are rarely asked, why they chose it.

Which returns us to Lippmann. In 1937 he published 

, his blueprint for ordering the world justly.

That same year, Lippmann’s wife of 20 years 

, on grounds of “extreme cruelty, a violent, ungovernable temper.” This cleared the way for him to marry the woman he had been having an affair with, the wife of a close friend. Lippmann could draft a good society, but he could not manage a good household. That is not a scandal peculiar to Lippmann. It is the ordinary condition of blind guides, who are blind to their own blindness first.

The reformer’s instinct at this point is to imagine a better press — humbler, chastened, rigorous at last. But there is no press reform that survives contact with the humans who would staff it. The split screen is not an editorial policy that can be revised. It is pride, and pride is not fixed by better hiring. The media is fallen because humans are fallen, and the Lippmanns of the world will always volunteer to run the media — cheerfully, and with the best of intentions, which is rather the problem.

The remedy is not a better press but a smaller appetite for it. Think for yourself. The speech is 

And take your oughts from the One who is not clay. On the other half of the screen, the speech goes on — muted, waiting for someone to decide the country can be trusted to listen.

TV talking heads i Stock 1337097115

<title>NBC, ABC and the Trump speech: The century-old idea behind the networks’ decision</title>

The anchors couldn’t wait for the speech to end. ASD opinion columnist Sterling Higa on why the press acts like a priesthood — and why no reform will fix it.

NBC, ABC and the Trump speech: The century-old idea behind the networks’ decision

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta Headshot

Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

Food & Dining

 recently soft opened in Honolulu. The biz doesn’t have an official sign yet, but it’s located on one end of the 

The business is known for its flavorful gourmet burgers made with wagyu patties. Created in collaboration with 

, winner of London’s Slider Decider competition in 2015 and 2016, Dragon Burger is known for its flavorful gourmet burgers made with wagyu beef patties and innovative sauces.

Dragon Burger initially did a pop-up in Fukuoka, Japan in August 2017. After positive customer feedback, the brand opened in Tofukuji, Kyoto the following month. 

The yuzu kosho burger is the business’s signature burger. It includes yuzu mayo, a sweet chili sauce, spring onions, cheddar cheese and pickled radish. Yuzu kosho, a popular Japanese condiment made with fresh yuzu citrus zest, contributes to the burger's savory flavor. 

The shiso flame features spicy mayo, spring onions, cheddar cheese, shiso leaf and onion chili paste.

We’re told that the business will add more burgers — like the wasabi (crispy onions, wasabi mayo, onions, cheddar cheese, wakame seaweed and Karashi mustard) and classic (sweet mustard, onions, onion miso, cheddar cheese and Karashi mustard) — to the menu in the upcoming days.

Customers can opt for the business’s Kyo chips ($6), or fries, plain or with sauces like yuzu mayo, spicy mayo and wasabi mayo (additional $1). The wasabi mayo comes highly recommended.

Dragon Burger is currently open from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. and from 5 to 8 p.m. daily. Both this biz and the business next to it, Bonbori — a ramen spot from Hokkaido — will be celebrating their grand opening on July 25.

Open daily, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., 5 to 8 p.m.

Dragon Burger yuzu kosho burger 072026

<title>Kyoto’s Dragon Burger is now open in Honolulu</title>

The Japan-based burger spot — known for its gourmet wagyu patties and innovative sauces — just soft opened at Midtown Eats food hall at The Park on Keʻeaumoku. The menu is limited for now; the business will celebrate its grand opening on July 25.

Kyoto’s Dragon Burger is now open in Honolulu

Business & Tourism

During the Covid-19 pandemic, many individuals developed new hobbies like cooking or baking. For husband and wife Caameron and Monica Nakasone, the pandemic was a catalyst for creating their own coffee beverages.

“When the Covid-19 pandemic hit and we couldn’t go out and visit a café, we took it upon ourselves to learn how to make a delicious brew at home,” Monica Nakasone says. “This sparked our passion for coffee and our admiration for the craft.

“Everyone either baked or did coffee (during the pandemic),” she adds. “We went down the coffee route and fell in love with the craftsmanship.”

i, the couple was living in Oregon at the time, as they both went to college at the University of Portland. They spent many weekends visiting specialty coffee shops, according to Nakasone.

“After we graduated from the University of Portland, we found ourselves living in Oregon for 12 years,” she says. “When Covid hit, we started researching how much craftsmanship really goes into specialty coffee, and how small variables could change the flavor. We started figuring out what we loved about coffee and what flavors brought us joy.”

ahu to be closer to family, they also decided to pursue their dream of opening up a coffee shop together. Their specialty coffee shop, called 

, is inspired by the Pacific Northwest, according to Nakasone.

“We take pride in sourcing our coffee beans and teas from Portland shops that we would frequent and found joy in visiting, and we are excited to share them with the community here in Hawaiʻi,” Nakasone says.

Third Space Coffee opened about two weeks ago; it’s located on the third floor of the 808 Center in a shared space with Cake M. The business’s logo features their dog, Kuro, with a cup of coffee, according to Nakasone, who says the café’s name stems from its goal to be a “third space” for the community.

“Our mission is to be a place to spend time that’s outside of work or home, where anyone can come in, enjoy a memorable cup of coffee, and return for the hospitality and warmth they felt from our shop,” she says. “Third Space is the culmination of our gratitude and appreciation for the communities that supported us, our experience living in the Pacific Northwest — a region known for its multitude of coffee roasters and coffee culture — and our passion for specialty coffee.”

The café offers a variety of coffees, teas and specialty beverages. The signature drinks are inspired by some of the couple’s favorite places and features about Oregon.

“They pay homage to where we first experienced a particular beverage,” Nakasone explains. “For example, The Bluff — an iced London Fog, topped with our marionberry cold foam — is a reference to the University of Portland, where we first had a London Fog. Some of our other popular drinks include the Cedar Hills — a brown sugar vanilla, honey and cinnamon latte — and Mount Hood, our cold brew topped with marionberry cold foam, and the St. John’s.”

The St. John’s is a brown sugar cardamom latte. All of the café’s syrups and cream cheese flavors are made in house, with the exception of the caramel sauce, according to Nakasone.

“I had never heard of a London Fog until we moved to the Mainland,” Nakasone says. “We try to incorporate some of our favorite flavors — like marionberry — from the Pacific Northwest.”

Teas include options like iced hibiscus punch tea, Rose City Genmaicha and Portland breakfast. The café also features bagels from Big Time Bagels, and housemade baked goods like chocolate chip cookies ($4.75) and Spam-cheddar and gochujang scone ($6).

“We are proud to share that all our baked goods — with the exception of our bagels — are made in house,” Nakasone says. “The scones are my husband’s recipe. The Everything bagel with our housemade pizza cream cheese ($8) is a fan favorite.”

Third Space Coffee is open from 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays (closed Mondays).

“We are a small team of two who find joy in crafting a cup of coffee and sharing our take on it with others,” Nakasone says. “This is our way of bringing some of the Pacific Northwest and some of our favorite things to Hawai

Open 7:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays to Sundays

Third Space Coffee owners 071626

<title>This Pacific Northwest-inspired coffee shop is open on Oʻahu</title>

Hawaiʻi locals Caameron and Monica Nakasone moved back to Oʻahu from Oregon about two years ago. Their new café, Third Space Coffee, features some of their favorite flavors from the Pacific Northwest; the shop is in a shared space with Cake M in the 808 Center.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: "Burn dat buggah!"

ASD Staff

Reporter

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Hawai‘i Scene on Social: "Burn dat buggah!"

Authors

ASD Staff

Reporter

More in Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

Enter for a chance to win tickets to see Disney’s live action adaptation of the animated film ‘Moana’

Hawai‘i Scene on Social meets Hawai‘i Skies

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Neighborhood weather updates

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: Island vibes

Most read