Hawaii: Last Week Tonight (HBO)

Hawaii: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver (HBO)

Buddhists surf? Yes, Japanese invented it.

(LastWeekTonight) Aug. 15, 2024: #3 on Trending. John Oliver discusses how Hawaii has long been run [by imperial forces] for the benefit of everyone but indigenous Hawaiians, how certain groups keep creating messes for locals, and what Mark "Facebook" Zuckerberg wishes for when he sees a star.

Connect with Last Week Tonight online...on its YouTube channel for more almost news as it almost happens, on Facebook like your mom would, on Twitter for news about jokes and jokes about news, or visit the official site for all that other stuff at once: hbo.com/lastweektonight.

• 'Doomsday' fish turned up before quake

What is Hawaii? A conservative small town near the beach with a lot of military bases and troops

Niihau (Sinclair), the Forbidden Hawaiian Island

After a directed-energy weapon was used in an arson attack with government complicity, Maui just hasn't been the same. But a law was passed before the attack that says the US government can confiscate land after an "accident" to remediate it, protect the public, or "help" people who lost out during a "natural" disaster. Now that a $4 billion settlement has been reached, what will happen to historical La Haina? Will the island ever be the same? Will the US military seize and wall off even more land? Will the queen be reinstalled? Will billionaire real estate investors turn the isles into an outdoor mall? Will anyone ever figure out that most of Hawaii is on another 1,000 island and atolls no one has even heard of because the US military keeps all of that for itself? Or what about that big Scottish island? That's something. Hawaii has all the requisites to be cool, but it is not. It is a tourist emporium, overpriced and churning with US and Japanese civilians enriching the hotels. There's little culture left, at least very little that can be seen (da kine) by tourists, a facade of Aloha Spirit to sell tourist packages. Visit and hop on over to the islands, getting to the top of the tallest mountain in the world, a volcano in the clouds on Hilo, the Big Island, rather than administrative center Oahu. Dakine? Just work it into conversation; it means whatever you need it to mean.