SHOW AUDIO:

 Link is usually posted within about 72 hours of show broadcast.

Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio), a listener call-in show  airing live every Monday night from 9-10 PM (CT) on KPFT-FM 90.1 (Houston). My engineer and discussion partner is Egberto Willies (@EgbertoWillies).

Listen live on the radio or on the internet from anywhere in the world! When the show is live, we take calls at 713-526-5738. (Long distance charges may apply.)

For the purposes of this show, I operate on two mottoes:

• You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts;
• An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.

POSSIBLE TOPICS:

SIGNOFF QUOTE: “The graveyards are full of indispensable men.” ~ Often attributed to Charles De Gaulle

• GUEST: LANE LEWIS, CHAIR OF THE HARRIS COUNTY DEMOCRATIC PARTY, DISCUSSING THE TEXAS PRIMARIES:
  • WHAT’S AT STAKE
  • HOW VOTING WORKS
  • HOW DELEGATES WILL BE ALLOCATED BY THE VOTE
  • HOW DELEGATES WILL BE CHOSE AT YOUR RESPECTIVE SENATORIAL DISTRICT CONVENTION
• TEXAS PRIMARY
  • The Primary Election Day is March 1, 2016
    • EARLY VOTING RUNS FEB 16-FEB 26
    • February 16 – February 19: 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
    • February 20: 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
    • February 21: 1:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
    • February 22 – February 26: 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
  • REGISTER TO VOTE FOR THE GENERAL ELECTION
  • HOW VOTING IN THE TEXAS PRIMARY AND RUNOFFS WORKS
  • HOW PRIMARY VOTING WORKS IN THE GENERAL ELECTION
• With Scalia, gone, what is the future of the Supreme Court?
  • How possible is it that Barack Obama or former US AG Eric Holder could take Scalia’s place on the Supreme Court?
  • The “Scalia Conspiracy”: How could an apparently healthy 79 (almost 80) year-old man just drop dead unless he was murdered??
    • Some calls for “Double Autopsy”?
• Malheur National Wildlife Refuge standoff ends
• A “Putin-Assad-YPK (Syrian Kurd) de-facto alliance?
  • Kurds against Turkey.
  • Turkey is a US ally, so we can help the Kurds against Assad and ISIS, but not against Turkey
  • Russia is very happy to screw the Turkes, so such an ‘alliance of convenience’ makes a certain amount of sense for the Kurds.
• TERMINOLOGIES: Words Matter
  • The term “Conservative” is so inaccurate as currently used by the Media, the Media and all of us really need to rethink their classifications and terminology.
  • There are Liberals/Progressives and there are Conservatives. Both of those ae fine and serve a useful purpose in civil opposition to each other.
  • Todays “Conservatives” are conservative in name only

·        Obama claims credit for strong economy, says ‘Americans are working’

o   … In spite of Republicans doing all they could to extend the recession by crippling government infrastructure projects that are normally both cheaper to build and necessary for ‘pump priming’.

• Enacting Sanders Agenda Would Catapult Economy, Shatter Inequality, By Lauren McCauley, staff writer Published on Monday, February 08, 2016 By Common Dreams
  • First comprehensive, independent analysis shows that incomes would rise, job markets would grow, and prosperity would be more widely shared if Sanders’ proposals were put into practice

· Should we touch Social Security Benefits?

• We should add the option for Americans to participate in a Federally guaranteed pension program alongside Social Security, funded by contributing a person’s IRA/401k etc to a form of Federal annuity with a guaranteed return.
• Such a thing sort of exists if you buy inflation-guaranteed US Savings Bonds

• West Virginia House Approves Permitless Concealed Gun Bill , by Fox News Insider (Feb 8, 2016) // West Virginia
  • West Virginia state house members approved a bill that would make it legal to carry a concealed gun without a permit. Currently, it’s legal in West Virginia to carry a gun without a permit openly, like in a holster. This bill would let people cover up guns in public without a permit; for instance, under a coat.
• Israel’s new security minister and his 4 ideas for stopping violence, By William Booth and Ruth Eglash (Washington Post) January 21, 2016
  • Go to the FBI with your little stories and see if they believe you.”
• “Little People”: The preference of some folks for this term puzzles me.

Carolyn Hax: Badgering a husband over her body-image problems, by Carolyn Hax Columnist [Washington post] February 7 at 11:59 PM

• Start by discusing the “Blondie” cartoon.
  • Discuss danger points in relationship discussions.
• Taiwan Elections: Pro-independence?
• White Advantage vs White Privilege: Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Edition
  • Was the US Government ‘indecisive and slow to react’ or ‘tactically brilliant’?
  • LaVoy Finicum: Determined to ‘suicide by cop’?
• A major new finding about the impact of having a dad who was drafted to Vietnam, By Jeff Guo January 15 {Washington Post)
• What the Flint, MI water disaster says about ‘trying to run government like a business’.
• For the second time, we are witnessing a new geological epoch: Welcome to the Anthropocene.by Annalee Newitz – Jan 11, 2016 6:45pm CST (http://arstechnica.com)
• Stinging Report On Pandemics Makes Louis Pasteur Look Like A Prophet, by Jason Beaubien (NPR.org) Updated January 13, 20165:32 PM ET Published January 13, 20165:01 PM ET
  • NPR Report: “If an outbreak like the Spanish flu of 1918, which killed more than 50 million, were to happen today, the economic damage would be in the trillions of dollars.”
  • So equate lives to dollars.
  • What has happened to our society??
  • When did we stop thinking of citizens and become only consumers
• Taiwan Elections: Pro-independence?
• How much influence does the media really have over elections? Digging into the data: “My sense is that what we have here is a feedback loop. Does media attention increase a candidate’s standing in the polls? Yes. Does a candidate’s standing in the polls increase media attention? Also yes.”By Jonathan Stray @jonathanstray [www.niemanlab.org] Jan. 11, 2016, 2:49 p.m
• Hybrid vehicles vs. electric rechargeable
  • The Next Big Auto Industry Disruptor Could Be Gasoline At $1 A Gallon
    • A slew of fuel-saving hybrid and full-electric models debuted, including the coming 2017 Chevrolet Bolt EV, with an expected operating range of around 200 miles on a charge and a sticker price at around $30,000, including the one-time $7,500 federal tax credit.
    • there’s rumblings that gas prices might even dip as low as a buck a gallon in some parts of the country this year, a level not seen in the U.S. since 1999 experts say $1 a gallon is indeed possible, at least as long the stars continue to be in perfect alignment, so to speak. That means OPEC nations, especially Saudi Arabia, have to keep the pumps working overtime, oil prices have to maintain their downward trend (they’re already below $33 a barrel, compared to $100 in 2014), and refinery capacity has to remain at full bore without serious interruptions. And that’s with ongoing shale oil drilling continuing to bolster domestic supplies.
    • Originally conceived a few years ago back when gasoline was a budget buster and EVs were considered the salvation, $1.00 a gallon gasoline unfortunately makes the aforementioned Chevy Bolt look more like an overpriced small car than a high-tech zero-emissions money saver. Sales of hybrids and EVs dropped by around by 17 percent last year and will likely continue to plunge in the months ahead, even with additional models reaching the market. With fuel costs less of an issue, consumers are happily eschewing passenger cars for lower-mileage crossover SUVs and pickup trucks, with the latter now commanding sticker prices as high as $60,000 for their top luxury appointed models.

 SOURCES WHICH MAY BE RELEVANT TO OTHER DISCUSSION:

=======================================================

• Texas’ new laws for 2016, Posted: 4:02 PM, December 30, 2015 (com) Updated: 4:04 PM, December 30, 2015
• The dos and don’ts of open carry, By Robert Arnold – Investigative Reporter (click2houston.com) Posted: 9:37 AM, December 31, 2015 Updated: 10:04 AM, December 31, 2015
• Heavily Armed Conservative Militia Seizes Federal Building in Oregon, January 3, 2016, by Tim Peacock (peacock-panache.com)
  • White 2^nd Amendment Privilege
    • What if African-Americans with guns had done the same thing?
      • What would the reaction be from white conservatives?
    • Should any occupation involving guns be considered ‘peaceful’?
    • What should be the punishment for those involved aside from any breaking/entering, etc. Laws?
      • Lifetime suspension of gun rights?
      • Confiscation of any guns owned?
    • FBI takes lead on investigating armed takeover of federal building in Oregon; ranchers turn themselves in: Ranchers at center of Oregon protest to turn themselves in, By Carissa Wolf and Mark Berman (Washington Post) January 4 at 6:11 PM Comments 2203
      • “Federal authorities said they would not elaborate on how they plan to respond, while the occupiers said Monday they did not believe law enforcement would try to force them off of the refuge.”
    • Meet the veterans who have joined the Oregon militiamen, By Thomas Gibbons-Neff January 4 (Washington Post) at 5:37 PM
• Poll: Whites and Republicans Rank as Angriest Americans, by Andrew Rafferty (Meet the Press) Jan 3 2016, 11:54 am ET
• Obama’s team says the GOP earned Donald Trump: Loyalists say that after two terms of obstruction, Republicans are getting the anger candidate their rhetoric created. By Edward-Isaac Dovere, 12/27/15 (com, 07:45 AM EST) Updated 12/27/16 11:17 AM EST
  • “’It’s not that the country has changed, it’s that a narrow band of mostly white, low- and middle-income Americans are supporting a candidate who is speaking to their anxiety about being left behind in this economy,’ said Bill Burton, a former deputy White House press secretary.”
  • “Blue collar anxiety” is a real thing with real causes. That’s why so-called “Post-industrial Economies” are a fraud perpetrated against semi-skilled workers, and why industry needs to be re-invigorated in this country. We NEED blue collar jobs. Not everyone is cut out for ‘service’ work.
• The Crude Oil Export Ban–What, Me Worry About Peak Oil?, by Art Berman, Contributor (FORBES.COM) Dec 27, 2015 @ 12:18 PM 10,512 views
  • Peak oil is not about running out of oil. It is about what happens when the supply of conventional oil begins to decline. Once this happens, higher-cost, lower-quality sources of oil become increasingly necessary to meet global demand.
  • Congress ended the U.S. crude oil export ban last week. There is apparently no longer a strategic reason to conserve oil because shale production has made American great again.
  • The 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) that banned crude oil export was the closest thing to an energy policy that the United States has ever had. The law was passed after the price of oil increased in one month (January 1974) from $21 to $51 per barrel (2015 dollars) because of the Arab Oil Embargo.
  • The 1975 export ban was enacted because of the disastrous economic consequences of becoming dependent on imports following the peaking of U.S. oil production in 1970. Now that oil production is again close to peak levels, we have apparently forgotten that imports were the problem then and that we import twice as much today as in 1975.
  • Production of crude oil is higher today by 7% but consumption has grown to more than 16 mmbpd, an increase of 32%. At the time of the Arab Oil Embaro, consumption was only 12 mmbpd.
  • So, consumption has increased by one-third and imports have doubled but we no longer need to think strategically about oil supply because production is a little higher?
  • The technology behind tight oil has also made it the world’s most expensive barrel.
• Houston Toll Road Authority (HTRA) is slowly going all-electronic. What does this mean to you?
  • Rates – Sam Houston Tollway Counter-Clockwise
• Booming Britain to become world’s fourth largest economy as France and Italy face G8 exclusion: Europe’s largest economies will struggle to remain members of the world’s elite economic club as UK races ahead, finds new report, By Mehreen Khan (UK Telegraph) 11:30AM GMT 26 Dec 2015
  • As Brazil and India meet the political criteria for membership of the exclusive G8 club of developed democracies, their ascension could see France and Italy kicked out of the group, or the club expanded to a G10 as more economies join.
• Study: Presidents die younger than unelected candidates, By Julia Belluz 1 day ago (com)
• Narco submarine carrying 3 tons of cocaine captured off Galapagos Islands , 2015 DW.COM, Deutsche Welle (2015-12-20) 1 day ago com: The semi-submersible drug boat was captured and three crew members arrested after the vessel encountered mechanical problems 200 miles (320 kilometers) from the Galapagos Islands.
• 40 Percent Of Ford Models To Be Electrified By 2020, by Sarah Shelton December 21, 2015 (http://www.hybridcars.com): By 2020, Ford wants 40 percent of its global lineup to be offered as a plug-in or hybrid variant.
  • To reach this goal, Ford will be investing $4.5 billion and adding 13 electrified models to its lineup, calling [this] the “largest-ever electrified vehicle investment in a five-year period” for the company.
• Stupid Quote: “This wasn’t an act of terrorism. We’re treating this as an intentional act.” -Dep Pol Chief Zimmerman http://it/1m2WLYe
• Study: Presidents die younger than unelected candidates, By Julia Belluz 1 day ago (com)
• Hillary Clinton targets corporate inversion with new ‘exit tax’ plan: Tax is part of Democratic presidential frontrunner’s strategy to ‘rein in Wall Street’ on the heels of Pfizer’s plan to merge with Allergan and move to Ireland. The proposals are part of Clinton’s larger economic agenda, which includes boosting infrastructure spending by $275bn. Photograph: Jose Luis Magana/AP
• Donald Trump:
  • The best example of why highly successful business people should absolutely NOT be president?
    • Authoritarian?
    • Unable to tolerate – or even comprehend – limits on their power?

• World leaders have taken to calling ISIS “Daesh,” a word the Islamic State hates, By Laura Reston (New Republic), 10 hours ago
• Rejecting Syrian Refugees: Republican governors are turning away those fleeing the civil war, while Jeb Bush suggests only welcoming Christians.
• The Empathy Gap Between Paris and Beirut: Why have attacks in France gotten so much more attention than bombings in Lebanon?, By David A. Graham, (Nov 2015, 1:58 PM ET) The Atlantic

 

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