A tale as old as time: a tone-deaf leader, a pile of hoarded cash, and a starving child. Today's Marie Antoinette isn't in Versailles—he's in the White House.

Honolulu City Council chair Tommy Waters is running for a third term thanks to a loophole in the county charter. But should we even have legislative term limits?

Rep. Kyle Yamashita is out as State House Finance Committee chair. Like Napoleon before him, will he make a comeback from his political exile and storm his way back into power?

The 2025 Hawaiʻi legislative session ended with an ignominious whimper when it comes to good government reform, or “sunshine,” bills—the last of which died in conference committee the week before this cartoon ran.

Between President Trump’s tariff chaos, haphazard cuts to government functionality via Elon Musk’s rogue agency DOGE, and Congress advancing $5.1 trillion in tax cuts for the rich on the backs of the rest of us, it’s looking like the U.S. economy and the empire that supports it are headed for a painful, stupid end.

The Sunshine Boys return for this follow up at the halfway point in the Hawaiʻi legislature session, called “crossover.” Many, but not all, government reform bills have died already.

A state commission policing what journalists write about the state? What could go wrong?

A reaction to the inauguration of Donald Trump as 47th president of the United States, ushering in the official age of American Demagoguecracy, a government ruled through fear.

To celebrate the relaunched Honolulu Civil Beat “Sunshine Sunday” accountability section, this cartoon riffs on the Hardy Boys to talk about efforts by the two legislative judiciary chairs, Sen. Rhoads and Rep. Tarnas, to reform the opaque legislature (square building).

There are always winners and losers in every proposed budget, but some of the guests at this year’s budget banquet might be consuming more than makes sense, while others could use more than breadcrumbs.

The Honolulu City Council is slated to vote on a new tax on homes that stand empty, a measure supporters say will force owners to rent the properties and help provide badly needed housing for local residents. Critics complain it’s unfair to the property owner.

The candidates with the most cash have an overwhelming likelihood to end up the winner in our current election system. That held true in 2024 as the Carpenter’s Union PAC “For a Better Tomorrow” spent more than $500,000 to ensure Tom Cook and Tasha Kama were re-elected to the Maui County Council over Kelly King and Carol Lee Kamekona.

Drawn in the summer of 2016 and posted the same day Hillary Clinton secured the Democratic Party nomination for president.

Back in 2012, GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney looked like he was going to try and buy his way into the White House.

Citizens United has lead to a significant concentration of political power in the hands of wealthy entities, compromising the integrity of our democracy.