SHOW AUDIO:

We take callers during this show. 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 is Bob Gartner.

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.

SIGNOFF QUOTE: Nothing is perfect. Life is messy. Relationships are complex. Outcomes are uncertain. People are irrational. ~ Hugh Mackay, Author [From http://www.brainyquote]

POSSIBLE TOPICS: Election Hacking, Democrats under attack, Trump and ISIS and Muslims, Understanding Air conditioning in Houston: What to look for, Student Loans Surviving Death, Co-signing Loans, more

• TEXAS: REGISTER TO VOTE FOR THE GENERAL ELECTION
  • To vote in November 8th’s presidential elections, you have to be registered by October 8th. It will be here before you know it, so make sure YOU are registered!
  • Go to HarrisVotes.com or VoteTexas.gov
• ‘Terrible Mistake’ Chinese Media Hints at War With Vietnam Over Rocket Launchers from 9 Dash Line
• NYT Now: Bombing of Doctors Without Borders Hospital in Yemen Kills at Least 15: The bombing in northern Yemen came two days after airstrikes by Saudi warplanes killed at least 19 people, mostly children. Read more…
• Mayor in Corsica Bans Burkinis at Beach (BBC via NYTimes Now) Read more…
• Donald Trump Tells Crowd: ‘I Might Lie To You’ (VIDEO) FreakOutNation from Jade Helm Commander’s Tweet
• No electricity and bouncing paychecks: What it was like to work for Trump Magazine from Zaibatsu News Ⓜ’s Tweet
• Trump Could End Up In Prison As He Continues To Solicit Illegal Foreign Donations from Gloria Gevirtz✡ (D)’s Tweet
• Computer hacking of DNC by Russians and Wikileaks dump of DNC emails represent unprecedented interference in US Elections by foreign entities
  • Are our electronic ballots safe?
  • So, NOW You’re Worried About a Hacked Election?!: MSM, Repubs and Dems finally decide e-voting and tabulation a concern…, ‘BradCast’ 8/3/2016, By Brad Friedman on 8/3/2016, 6:13pm PT
  • Ballot box uncertainties hang over US election, by David J Lynch in Washington, Financial Times [August 15, 2016 1:03 pm] – Fewer than 90 days before election day, the rules governing who can vote remain unsettled in at least 10 US states including pivotal battlegrounds that are home to millions of voters.
    • Academic research, including a 2007 study by the Brennan Center for Justice, have found few cases of the cheating such measures are intended to prevent. Yet among Republican voters the existence of significant fraud remains an article of faith.
• Trump proposes ideological test for Muslim immigrants and visitors to the US: Donald Trump proposed on Monday a new ideological test for all Muslim immigrants and visitors to this country, allowing entry only to “those who support our values. By Karen DeYoung August 15, 2016 (Washington Post)
  • One unimpeachable source: Hezbollah leader supports Trump’s claim that U.S. created Islamic State (AP/LA Times) 8/13/2016
    • Donald Trump has found at least one supporter for his allegation that the U.S. administration founded the Islamic State group.
    • The leader of Lebanon’s militant Hezbollah group quoted Trump at a rally in the country’s south Saturday
    • Hassan Nasrallah says: “This is an American presidential candidate who is saying this. What he says is based on facts and documents.”
  • Donald Trump calls on election observers to help patrol polling sites, 13, 2016, 6:56 p.m. (LA Times)
    • We have those. They’re called “Poll Watchers” and every party tries to have them at as many precincts as possible to keep everyone honest and enfranchised
  • From com, with audio at the site: So, NOW You’re Worried About a Hacked Election?!: ‘BradCast’ 8/3/2016, MSM, Repubs and Dems finally decide e-voting and tabulation a concern… By Brad Friedman on 8/3/2016, 6:13pm PT
    • On today’s BradCast, we examine charges made by Donald Trump of a rigged November election, the case made by Bernie Sanders supporters that Hillary Clinton may have won the primary due to election fraud, and the mainstream corporate media finally deciding that, yes, hacked voting and tabulation systems really are a threat to American elections.
    • It might all have been more fun had all of the above noticed these concerns years ago, rather than right after what some believe is a stolen election and right before one that some believe could be stolen. Ya know, back when there would have been time to move to transparent voting and counting systems instead.
      • examine the various arguments, including some detailed thoughts — both critical and complimentary — on a new 100-page draft report [PDF] by Election Justice USA, titled “Democracy Lost: A Report on the Fatally Flawed 2016 Democratic Primaries”.
    • why I [Brad] am not particularly persuaded by studies of Exit Polls in regard to U.S. elections, and why, frankly, my response to their report would be similar whether they found proof of fraud or proof of zero fraud in the election. In both cases I would say what I have been saying for years: We need publicly hand-counted, hand-marked, paper-ballots in this country in order to have real confidence in results. (That is what I’ve long described as Democracy’s Gold Standard.) [Italics and emphasis from Mike]
    • Short of that, with computerized voting and counting systems that are difficult, if not impossible for the public to oversee, confidence in U.S. elections will continue to erode whether fraud or error actually exists in the results or not. That, in and of itself, as I [Brad] have shouted for years, continues to present a grave threat to America’s system of representative democracy.
• George Soros Hacked, Over 2,500 Internal Docs Released Online, by Tyler Durden, Aug 15, 2016 5:22 AM [http://www.zerohedge.com]
  • This brings us back to privacy issues and only being offended depending on ‘whose ox is gored’.
  • It also continues to look like a concerted effort against the Democratic Party and its institutional supporters
  • This can only be interpreted as a dedicated effort to hurt Democrats generally, and Hillary (directly or indirectly) specifically

• Whatever happened to cops asking, “Will you go peacefully?” before tackling and bums-rushing an otherwise peaceful protester?
• Think twice, maybe three times, before cosigning loans, and even then, you probably shouldn’t do it.
  • In New Jersey Student Loan Program, Even Death May Not Bring a Reprieve, By ANNIE WALDMAN, (NY Times) JULY 3, 2016

 SOURCES WHICH MAY BE RELEVANT TO OTHER DISCUSSION:

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• Differences between Liberals, Conservatives, Libertarians and neo-Conservatives
  • Left–right politics, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    • History of the terms: The terms “left” and “right” appeared during the French Revolution of 1789 when members of the National Assembly divided into supporters of the king to the president’s right and supporters of the revolution to his left. One deputy, the Baron de Gauville, explained, “We began to recognize each other: those who were loyal to religion and the king took up positions to the right of the chair so as to avoid the shouts, oaths, and indecencies that enjoyed free rein in the opposing camp.” However the Right opposed the seating arrangement because they believed that deputies should support private or general interests but should not form factions or political parties. The contemporary press occasionally used the terms “left” and “right” to refer to the opposing sides.^[9]
  • Greens and Libertarians: The yin and yang of our political future, by Dan Sullivan (originally appearing in Green Revolution, Volume 49, No. 2, summer, 1992)
    • … Libertarians tend to be logical and analytical. They are confident that their principles will create an ideal society, even though they have no consensus of what that society would be like. Greens, on the other hand, tend to be more intuitive and imaginative. They have clear images of what kind of society they want, but are fuzzy about the principles on which that society would be based.
    • Ironically, Libertarians tend to be more utopian and uncompromising about their political positions, and are often unable to focus on politically winnable proposals to make the system more consistent with their overall goals. Greens on the other hand, embrace immediate proposals with ease, but are often unable to show how those proposals fit in to their ultimate goals.
    • The most difficult differences to reconcile, however, stem from baggage that members of each party have brought with them from their former political affiliations. Most Libertarians are overly hostile to government and cling to the fiction that virtually all private fortunes are legitimately earned. Most Greens are overly hostile to free enterprise and cling to the fiction that harmony and balance can be achieved through increased government intervention.
    • Amongst published researchers, there is agreement that the Left includes anarchists, communists, socialists, progressives, anti-capitalists, anti-imperialists, anti-racists, democratic socialists, greens, left-libertarians, social democrats, and social liberals.^[5][6][7]
    • Researchers have also said that the Right includes capitalists, conservatives, monarchists, nationalists, neoconservatives, neoliberals, reactionaries, imperialists, right-libertarians, social authoritarians, religious fundamentalists, and traditionalists.^[8]

• Payday Lenders
  • Usury: noun the illegal action or practice of lending money at unreasonably high rates of interest. Archaic interest at unreasonably high rates.
  • Interest Caps
  • ‘Choice’
  • Are the many high-interest payday lenders a direct result of bank deregulation and the attendant fees and penalties that came with them?
  • How this Missouri man wound up paying $50K in interest after taking $2,500 in payday loans: ws/20onFHy pic.twitter.com/8krVicitx1
• Time for a return of the 2 ½ contingency war strategy?
  •  Will we ever see a return of the “Peacetime Army”?
  • Threat from Russian and Chinese warplanes mounts – USA Today

o How much do the Saudis own in U.S. Treasuries? After four decades, it’s no longer a secret, by Michael Hiltzik (LA Times) 5-16-2016

• The Treasury Department on Monday opened the curtain on one of our longest-lasting, and strangest, state secrets: how much U.S. debt does Saudi Arabia own?
• The Treasury Department on Monday opened the curtain on one of our longest-lasting, and strangest, state secrets: how much U.S. debt does Saudi Arabia own?
• The answer, as of March, is $116.8 billion. That may sound like a lot, but it places the Saudis only at 13th on the list of major foreign holders of treasuries. Leading the roll among the foreign holders of $6.3 trillion in securities are mainland China ($1.245 trillion) and Japan ($1.137 trillion).

o Government Debt in the United States – Debt Clock:  (www.usgovernmentdebt.us/): Total Federal Government Debt in 2016. At the end of FY 2016 the gross US federal government debt is estimated to be $19.3 trillion, according to the FY17 Federal Budget.

o India to ‘divert rivers’ to tackle drought, By Navin Singh Khadka Environment reporter, (BBC World Service) 16 May 2016

• India is set to divert water from its rivers to deal with a severe drought… [affecting] At least 330 million people are … affected by drought in India.
• The drought is taking place as a heat wave extends across much of India, with temperatures in excess of 40C (~104^oF).
• The Inter Linking of Rivers (ILR) has 30 links planned for water-transfer, 14 of them fed by Himalayan glaciers in the north of the country and 16 in peninsular India.
• Environmentalists have opposed the project, arguing it will invite ecological disaster but the [Indian] Supreme Court has ordered its implementation.
• Of its 29 states, nearly half were reported to have suffered from severe water crisis this dry season.
• The federal government in Delhi has had to send trains carrying water to the worst affected places.

• What Are Cats Trying to Tell Us? Science Will Explain, By Carrie Arnold [National Geographic] PUBLISHED March 28, 2016
  • Nearly all New York State pet owners talk to their pets like they’re fellow humans, according to a recent poll.  Many believe their dogs and cats can respond with barks or meows that communicate hunger, fear, or simply the need to pee.  But do the animals tawk back in a Brooklyn accent? That’s the sort of thing Swedish cat lover and phonetics researcher Suzanne Schötz is working to find out. After executing this strategy on every government program except the military and corporate welfare, is it now the turn of the Supreme Court?
• The Science of Meow: Study to Look at How Cats Talk: A new project is underway to decode kitty communication—and figure out if cats really like all that baby talk.
  • What Are Cats Trying to Tell Us? Science Will Explain
    [National Geographic Society]:

• 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
• 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 are fine and serve a useful purpose in civil opposition to each other.
  • Today’s “Conservatives” are conservative in name only

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