Episode 40 - Heartbreak and Hope, from Pittsburgh to Palestine

The Blue Hawaii Podcast

40! The news is bleak (just ask #TopYouthSoccerRecruitsForTrump). But after some cathartic banter on the "caravan," a vanishing island, Megyn Kelly, transphobia, and baby boomers on the internet, as well as a next level #Bikileak, we've got a wonderful interview at 23:23 with the inimitable Bassima Al-Ghussein! Bassima is the CEO of Alghussein Global Strategies, which specializes in government affairs and strategic communications in the United States and the Middle East. True story: CSIS paid her 55 cents on the dollar, so she quit and started her own company! We talk about her journey from Kahuku High School to Washington, D.C. and ask what it's like to hang your own shingle as a consultant and international media commentator (especially on the president's favorite show). We also pick her brain about the biggest stories in the middle east and DC: the murder of Jamal Kashoggi and what it means for the US-Saudi relationship, the futures of Palestine and Israel and the possibilities for peace in the region, and the shamelessness of Hillary's #MeToo double standards and the bigoted corruption of California Republican Duncan Hunter. And we had to ask -- her restaurant recs are Le Diplomate (in DC), and Giovanni's Shrimp Truck and Ono's Hawaiian food (on Oahu)! PS: is former Iranian PM Mahmoud Ahmadinejad "woke" now?? PPS: RIP to Nairobi, the Honolulu Zoo Giraffe PPPS: Shoutout to St. Oscar Romero, Frost City, and Snoop Dogg's new cookbook! PPPPS: We'll see you at the live show at Marks Garage on November 8!!!!