As the world turns: It’s been one year since right-wing political activist Charlie Kirk was assassinated at a Turning Point USA event at Utah Valley University. But TPUSA, as it’s known, continues its work advocating for conservative politics on high school, college and university campuses.

Might there be appeal for Turning Point USA in Hawaiʻi, among the bluest of states? That’s what Civil Beat troopers Tia Lewis and Hikari Mae Hida wanted to find out Thursday when Lucas Miles, a pastor and vice president of Turning Point USA Faith (a branch of TPUSA) , spoke at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa campus.

The group’s purpose, according to its website, is to unite the church around “primary doctrine and to eliminate wokeism from the American pulpit.” But based on what Lewis and Hida found, TPUSA could struggle to gain ground here.

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As Miles, the lead pastor of Nfluence Church in Granger, Indiana, spoke from under a shaded tent at a “Pick Up The Mic” event, at the university’s Campus Center courtyard, he was booed repeatedly, notably when he said he agreed with Kirk’s past remarks on the Lahaina fires and disrespecting Native Hawaiian beliefs. Kirk had blamed the fires on what he called “pagan Hawaiian culture.”

Among those in the viewing crowd was a student displaying an umbrella that featured a giant middle finger. Others videotaped the affair and posted to social media, where the commentary quickly questioned whether school officials should even have allowed TPUSA on campus.

The event, which started at 11 a.m. and was scheduled to last until 2 p.m., was cut short when Miles suddenly departed 20 minutes early. An unidentified woman debating him at the microphone chased after the pastor as he was rushed off by his security detail to a black Chevy Tahoe. More booing ensued.

But Turning Point USA does have a chapter at UH and already has seven members. It was founded last fall, said Ethan Yamamoto, a 22-year-old sophomore and the chapter’s current president. 

A graduate of Moanalua High School in Salt Lake, Yamamoto said that he was surprised to learn there were no groups for conservative students at UH. 

“I felt that was unacceptable for a college campus,” he said. “I think it’d be fair to characterize this as a hostile campus towards conservative Christian values.”

Yamamoto said his beliefs include limited government, freedom of speech and Jesus Christ playing “a larger role in our society.” He added, “America is the greatest country on Earth.”

TPUSA’s display table offered free swag like stickers that read “Patriotism Is My Mood” and “Stand Up And Save America.”

Teagan Miley, founder of the Hawaiʻi chapter, wrote on her Instagram that “building a conservative organization in Hawaiʻi, especially on such a liberal campus surrounded by far-left ideology and policies, was an uphill battle from the start.” 

She continued: “But it was worth it.” 

Tax avoidance, Texas style: Ken Paxton, the Republican attorney general from the Lone Star State running for the U.S. Senate, has ties to the Aloha State: He owes $4,551 in overdue property taxes and fees for a property he owns in Lahaina managed by a blind trust. And according to Texas Public Radio, it’s not the first time he’s missed his payments.

Maui County records show the land has a current value of about $1.2 million and was purchased in 2021 for $410,000, according to the new report. “The property also incurred penalty and interest fees in 2022, 2024 and 2025 totaling $938.65 according to county records,” says the report from KERA News.

No word from Paxton or his campaign regarding the taxes and fees. But it seems there may be a pattern, according to the report:

“Paxton’s real estate interests have been a point of controversy during his tenure as Attorney General. The Texas Tribune recently reported that Paxton may have violated federal ethics law in recent disclosures of his assets and liabilities. The Tribune reported the Attorney General appears to have failed to disclose rental income he received from seven homes he reported owning but said he earned no income from.”

Hear ye, hear ye: Almost unrecognizable in thick dark eyeglasses and a beard, Mark Recktenwald, Hawaiʻi’s recently retired but still quite active Supreme Court chief justice, visited the state Senate Tuesday to opine on the rule of law, judicial independence and the role of courts in maintaining the constitutional balance of government.

All three subjects are on the mind of The Blog and many others these days as President Trump and his allies continue to try to limit voting rights nationally, including in Hawaiʻi. They suffered a severe setback Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court in a 7-2 vote rejected Trump’s desire to limit voting by mail.

But Trump and Co. have several other “election integrity” schemes in the works including trying to get their hands on state voter rolls (Hawaiʻi has refused to turn its over to the Department of Justice), to screen voter data for citizenship status (even though voting by illegal immigrants is very rare) and inspecting voting machines (the Department of Homeland Security is stepping into the kuleana of states here, so good luck with that).

Courts, said Recktenwald, will no doubt be asked to weigh in on many disputes over the Nov. 3 general election, issues that will be relevant for Hawaiʻi.

“If the end result is that people here conclude, ‘Hey, this process is not worthy of my trust, I’m not gonna vote,’ or somehow feel threatened about voting, or if the results of the election are not accepted on the national level, it’s gonna have real implications for us here,” Recktenwald said, according to a Hawaiʻi Public Radio report from Audrey McAvoy.

Our ex-chief justice is part of the “Alliance of Former Chief Justices,” a project of the nonpartisan civic organization “Keep Our Republic.”

Recktenwald’s briefing took place the same week as Constitution Day, held every Sept. 17 to commemorate the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787. You can watch the full Senate briefing here.

The briefing, by the way, is part of a series of informational briefings on the rule of law in relation to actions of the Trump administration and how its decisions affect Hawaiʻi.