House speaker knows how to keep a secret

Say, what?

Say very little.

That appears to be the misbegotten rule of the state House of Representatives. Top officials have officially zipped lips about the reason state Rep. Angus McKelvey lost his chairmanship of the Consumer Protection and Commerce Committee.

Unofficially, they hint that McKelvey’s maneuvering away from unpopular votes precipitated the unusual mid-session reassignment.

Nothing to see here, House Speaker Joe Souki said.

“We are always secretive,” he said. “It’s part of being a legislator.”

That reveals nothing about McKelvey, but more about Souki than maybe he intended.

Obama stops by for dinner, unexpectedly

It was less than three months ago when then-President Barack Obama left Kailua in a parade of black SUVs to finish out his term of office.

On Monday, Obama was back, this time as a private citizen, for an unannounced dinner with friends at Buzz’s Lanikai restaurant.

We weren’t expecting him back so soon. Still, in the tumult of Donald Trump’s America, it seems like ages ago when he was last here.

Obama’s latest drop-in has a different feel — nostalgic or wistful, perhaps — but less of his audacity of hope.