19! We talk to Honolulu City Council Chair Ernie Martin about the hot issues on Oahu, including his controversial proposal for an island-wide homeless sit/lie ban and the ongoing saga behind the rail project. We also discuss his race for Congress and his thoughts on Trump's Washington, how growing up in public housing influenced his politics, and his of The Great Santini and Earth, Wind, and Fire. His restaurant recs are Mr. Oji-san and Assaggio's. Have a listen, subscribe, share, and get in touch!

Episode 18!

Topics this week include how Kaniela Ing could have paid for Josh to go to the Champions League final in Kiev with the money he hid from the campaign spending comission; why it would be a bad idea to design schools with just one entrance and exit; what most Americans don't seem to grasp about Israel and Palestine ; Big Island Mayor Harry Kim did a racism; the famous Waikiki Beach Boys getting pushed out by the Bain Capital of ocean recreation; ALL NEW BIKILEAKS!; plus, an interview with Mary Wagner, who's running to replace the resigned-in-disgrace House Speaker Joe Souki and represent Wailuklu, Maui, in the Hawaii State Legislature; Shoutouts are: Kaliq Rashad the Barber God, at HIdesign Barber + Lounge on Maunakea St, @reup843 - rapper and lyft driver extraordinaire, Pacific Rim Int'l Futsal Cup - June 1-3, Damien Monarch Baseball, TJ's Bar & Grill, and Nanzan Giro Giro.

All that and more this week on Episode 18 of The Blue Hawaii Podcast!

Also - LISTENERS, PLEASE TEACH US HOW TO PLAY GOLF!!!

Part 2 with Rep. Colleen Hanabusa! We joined the Congresswoman at the opening of her campaign headquarters in Kalihi, where we dug deep into the race for the governorship and got her thoughts on disaster recovery on Kauai and the Big Island, the future of TMT and Pohakuloa Training Area, higher education, and much more. Plus: another round of listener questions, evaluating her twitter skills, and her least favorite member of Trump's cabinet!

Please listen, share, and REVIEW us wherever you get podasts -- and don't forget to check out Homebrew in Paradise and Royal Thai Garden!

PS: Shoutouts to our best friends @ashleigh loa @josh cox @donna gann and restaurant recs @shaloha and @ahi assassisns

Back in early April, we sat down with Congresswoman Colleen Hanabusa, who represents Hawaii's First Congressional District (Honolulu and the 'burbs), and is also running to unseat Hawaii Governor David Ige in August's Democratic Primary.

We met the Congresswoman in her Honolulu office, where we talked about Senator Daniel Akaka's legacy, our fracturing national politics in DC, North Korea and missile defense, homelessness, #MeToo, 'Ōlelo Hawaii, legalizing marijuana, and much more (We also get 2 restaurant shoutouts from her -- Nico's and Alan Wong's). Next week, you'll hear Part 2 of our interview with the Congresswoman, where we dig deeper into the race for governor and get her thoughts on TMT and PTA. And she takes listener questions in both parts!

Plus: Ryan and Josh talk about volcanic eruptions, Liverpool and Real Madrid advancing to the UEFA Champions League Final, one Hawaii congressional candidate's VERY bad week, and their surprising new ancestry updates from 23AndMe -- watch out for those Cossacks!

15! Meek Mill is free, but we're talking about Kanye West instead. Plus, Paul Ryan fired a Catholic priest for caring about poor people? We also have a Mea Culpa Mailbag and a REALLY spicy Bikileak!

Our guest is the incomparable Ken Lawson, Co-Director of the Hawai‘i Innocence Project and Associate Faculty Specialist at the William S. Richardson Law School, where he teaches Criminal Procedure, Criminal Law, Professional Responsibility, Evidence. We discuss criminal justice and police reform, the evils of the private prison industry, and Hawaii's shortcomings on justice as a supposedly "progressive" state. Professor Lawson also takes some listener questions and joins us for shoutouts and restaurant recs. Have a listen!

Episode 14! We're talking about the horrific flooding on the island of Kaua'i (shoutout Uncle Bernard Carvalho, who's doing a great job running the clean up effort). We also talk about how Jesus was probably a lot blacker than Franklin Graham lets on, Ted Cruz's impeccable record of integrity, yet another rich white family restricting Hawaiians ability to sustain themselves from their own land on Molokai, and we even have a homegrown Bikileak! Then, at 18:47, we sit down with Nate Hix of Living Wage Hawaii to talk about the fight for economic justice here in the islands -- before ending the episode with a retrospective of the best album ever created. You don't want to miss it! As always, like, tag, and share -- we can't do this without you!

Episode the Thirteenth! Josh and Ryan discuss the unfathomable stupidity of letting Donald Trump lead us into war, the continuously fracturing Middle East (#MissionAccomplished!), and Paul Ryan's congressional career coming to an end with all the grandiosity of a wet fart. We also pay further tribute to Senator Daniel Akaka and take a swing at solving the controversy surrounding HNL airport's new name. Plus, there's a new entrant in the Hawaii Congressional District 1 race, and John Boehner makes the leap from Big Pharma to Big Pakalolo.

Then, we have a brand new Bikileak, and Mailbag tells us "what we should have asked" about the Russian nerve agent poisoning in Salisbury, UK. At 25:55, we're joined by Michael Morgan, a local firearm enthusiast, competitive shooter, hunter, NRA member, and ... good guy with a gun? In our version of the gun debate, we talk about gun laws and gun culture in Hawaii, how our reflexive partisanship prevents us from finding common ground, potential compromises and changes that could make us safer, and how it's possible to exercise your second amendment rights without calling highschoolers Nazis and crisis actors. We leave you, as always, with our shoutouts and restaurant recs of the week. Check it out!

Dirty Dozen! We have another unique treat for you in this episode.

Did you know that Oklahoma is home to the most successful socialist movement in the history of the United States? We talk to Richardson alum and Okie native Christiaan Mitchell, Chair of the Washington County (OK) Democratic Party, about the situation on the ground during the Teachers' Strike, how trickle-down economics keeps failing middle America, and what it's like trying to recruit and organize democrats in the reddest state in the country. We also ask whether catfish poke stacks up compared to the ahi original (it doesn't).

Plus, can we truly smash the patriarchy without first disassembling the insipid gendered-ness of European Romance Languages? Ryan and Josh discuss.

"We're missing the underlying function of the public school system, and that is to fashion citizens -- not workers. The American public education system, understood that way, is the single greatest democratic innovation in the history of the American republic, and we've turned it into a job certification program."

Please listen, subscribe, and share -- especially with your favorite teachers and educators!

Kia Ora! We're back from a quick Easter/Passover/Spring Equinox vacation, and we have another special episode for you. Ryan got to tag along on his wife's business trip to New Zealand, and he brought his microphone with him! He tells us about his trip to Hobbiton, exploring caves full of glow worms, and the poignancy of the Auckland War Memorial. Plus, you can hear him talk story with three New Zealanders from very different backgrounds: a French expat tells Ryan how he ended up halfway around the world, a born and raised Pakeha (that's the Maori word for Haole) tells Ryan what she thinks about Donald Trump, and a professional Maori cultural practitioner explains the shared family origins between Maori and Native Hawaiians, and how he stays rooted in the 21st century.

(Matt Kona Kaaihue, you get a shoutout too!)

Plus -- shoutouts to Satya Chai Lounge and Caretaker cocktail bar in Auckland, and Broke Ass Millennial Seder 5778 (credit to Prince of Egypt and the Rugrats Passover Episode).

Please listen, share, and subscribe! PS: Listeners, we're trying to tone down our cursing, but we still want to hear from you -- what's your favorite obscenity? Send us a clip of you swearing your favorite swear at us and you could win a prize!!!

Perfect 10! Ryan is out of town this week, but we have a special treat for you! On Sunday, March 4th, Josh, Ryan, and friend of the show (and fan favorite) Ashleigh Loa visited the houseless persons camp at Pu'uhonua O Wai'anae -- just three days before the State announced its initial plan to sweep the camp and evict its residents.

We went into the studio on March 13 with (we thought) hours of tape -- including a heartfelt conversation with Aunty Twinkle Borge, the leader of the camp, that almost brought us all to tears. We turned on our mics, opened up the computer, and discovered that the file was corrupted and the interview would not play! (Fortunately, we were able to salvage some clips of Aunty Twinkle, which you can hear at 39:00).

Our despair was turned to joy only a few hours later, when we learned that Governor David Ige had called off the sweep. So all in all, our first attempt at serious audio-journalism was far from perfect, but you should listen anyway. You'll hear directly from the residents of Pu'uhonua themselves -- their experiences, their hopes, their fears. You'll be motivated and inspired to work for positive change. And most importantly, you'll get to laugh at our incompetence.