An avatar of empire, clutching the instruments of our destruction, exhaling hurricanes toward the islands. The climate crisis is not natural—it is manufactured, and it is profitable.

Dole says “Pineapple business hard.” Small farmers: “Hold my taro.” Now the public is being asked to bail out a wealthy multinational corporation, and letting it keep 60 percent of our water.

The Young Brothers inter-island shipping monopoly just won a 25 percent rate hike from the Public Utilities Commission. Parent company shareholders are made whole, while local consumers are stuck with ever-higher food prices.

Hawaiʻi makes history as the first state to enact a green fee. Worldwide, tourists usually don’t mind paying these fees to offset their impact. But those who profit from the industry have long claimed the sky will fall as a result.

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.