SHOW AUDIO: Link is usually posted within about 72 hours of show broadcast. We take callers during this show.

Please take a moment to choose THINKWING RADIO from the drop-down list when you donate.

TOPIC(s):  SUPPORT KPFT! 

“UnhackTheVote.com”, ALSO Mark Twain Elementary School Water Warriors, more. GUEST: Ruben Major

GUESTs:

1. Mark Twain Elementary School Water Warriors: Marshlands Preservation (See Below)
   
2. Ruben Major (Detailed CV here).
   • Ruben Major, EMT-Paramedic, J.D., M.A.
   • www.rubenmajor.com
   • http://facebook.com/rubenmajor
   • http://twitter.com/rubenkmajor
   • Ruben is a founding member of UnhackTheVote.com.
     • Regarding the Voting Issue: We are concerned how to identify/fix voter registration problems, machine & system issues, & gerrymandering.
     • Brent Turner, a member of the National Association of Voting Officials,has asked the 50 states for a forensic analysis. We need complete transparency in the process. I’ve attached some common-sense/proposed solutions to the problem.
   • Check these two links for solutions:

     • California Association of Voting Officials’ PSA:

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gkQ8w0Pneo

     • Prime III Demo,from Wisconsin Elections Commission (3 years ago): https://vimeo.com/99856962

   • Ruben’s Articles:
     • Recent writings available here: http://www.rubenmajor.com
     • Some articles published from The Hill & Progressive Army: https://muckrack.com/ruben-major/articles
   • Ruben is also a small business owner and is the leading provider of Emergency Medical Services training in the Southwest.
   • He is currently running for the California State Senate in District 36.

___________________________________________________

• 5th grade Exhibition Project which is part of the Primary Years Program (PYP) for the path to the International Baccalaureate (IB) Program.
• Mark Twain Elementary School: Group: Water Warriors
• Michael Hamad, Camden Fasele, Retvin Pant, Jacob Hyman and Damarcus Cooper.
  • Wetlands are advantageous to the environment as they help maintain our water quality, recharge aquifers, reduce flood damage from storms, sustain many habitats for a variety plants and animals such as migratory birds, and are vital to the economy as they are popular tourist attractions as well as part of the fishing industry.
  • Unfortunately, wetland acreage has been decreasing significantly because of human development.
    • Texas has lost over half of its wetlands since European settlement of the area equivalent to seven million acres.
    • Therefore, the group would like to raise awareness to protect this habitat.
    • They participated in Marsh Mania last month through the Galveston Bay Foundation (GBF) and helped plant over 6000 stalks of smooth cordgrass in Dickinson, Texas. The GBF has preserved, protected, and restored over 16,500 acres of wetland habitat since its founding in 1987.
    • More stats:
      • The Galveston Bay watershed has lost more than 30,000 acres of freshwater and saltwater wetlands between 1953 and 1989.
      • An additional 365 acres of saltwater wetlands and 13,538 acres of freshwater wetlands have been lost to development in a 15 year period (1996-2010) which totals 13% of all wetlands.
    • Marsh Mania began in 1999 and has involved more than 7,700 community volunteers who have restored over 207 acres of vital salt marsh habitat at 89 sites around Galveston Bay.
      • Smooth cordgrasses are planted to prevent the weathering and erosion of sediment along the shores of wetlands and create needed habitats for organisms such as migratory birds.

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;
  

  Houston Mayor Annise Parker [L] with Mike, just before the show. (Dec. 7, 2015)

• An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.

SIGN-OFF QUOTE[s]:

“Bad politicians are sent to Washington by good people who don’t vote.” ~ Attributed to William E. Simon (1927-2000), Secretary of the Treasury under Ronald Reagan

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

 SOURCES WHICH MAY BE RELEVANT TO OTHER DISCUSSION:

LINKS:

• 1) NATO – Topic: Collective defence – Article 5

  1. a) Highlights
  2. i) Collective defence means that an attack against one Ally is considered as an attack against all Allies.
  3. ii) The principle of collective defence is enshrined in Article 5 of the Washington Treaty.

  iii)  NATO invoked Article 5 for the first time in its history after the 9/11 terrorist attacks against the United States.

  1. iv) NATO has taken collective defence measures on several occasions, for instance in response to the situation in Syria and in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
  2. v) NATO has standing forces on active duty that contribute to the Alliance’s collective defence efforts on a permanent basis.
  3. b) TEXT: Article 5 Article 5
  4. i) “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.
     1. ii) Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.” “The Parties agree that an armed attack against one or more of them in Europe or North America shall be considered an attack against them all and consequently they agree that, if such an armed attack occurs, each of them, in exercise of the right of individual or collective self-defence recognized by Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, will assist the Party or Parties so attacked by taking forthwith, individually and in concert with the other Parties, such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force, to restore and maintain the security of the North Atlantic area.

  Any such armed attack and all measures taken as a result thereof shall immediately be reported to the Security Council. Such measures shall be terminated when the Security Council has taken the measures necessary to restore and maintain international peace and security.”

  From generation to generation, the poor tend to stay poor. Why?

  1. Poor early nutrition:
     1. Stunting of growth and immune system development
     2. Poor dentition in both childhood and at maturity
     3. Insufficient nutrients for proper brain and neurological development
     4. Physiologically and educationally unprepared for a workplace where they can raise themselves and their families out of poverty and break the cycle.
     1. SCHOOL LUNCH PROGRAM: The new spending agreement ends a program championed by the former first lady to combat childhood obesity that forced changes in school lunches served to about 31 million children. Republicans say the legislation “stops an Obama-era school meal regulation” and that doing so provides “flexibility for whole grains and milk and preventing changes to sodium standards that have not been fully scientifically vetted.”
        1. The changes caused schools to begin serving more milk, whole grain-rich foods, and a variety of fruits and vegetables, plus limit the amounts of calories, trans-fats and salt that kids get in cafeterias. But a powerful school lunch industry group withdrew its support for the program, saying the new standards were expensive and unpopular with students.
        2. Democrats noted that the bill allows school districts to continue the Obama-era regulations if they choose to do so. The bill also bars the use of poultry from China in USDA-backed school lunch programs.
     2. Yields:
        1. A lifetime of poor or fragile health;
        2.   Neurological deficiencies leading to behavior and/or educability issues
     3. SEARCH CRITERIA: Early childhood nutrition: Is hunger setting up the poor for failure?
  2. PUBLIC BROADCASTING: Elmo and Peter Sagal, breathe easy: Congress didn’t make any cuts to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, the agency that helps fund programming on NPR and PBS.
  3. New Orleans removes first of four Confederate statues, From the section US & Canada, 4/24/2017
     1. 6. Masked New Orleans workers in bullet-proof vests have removed a Confederate monument that officials said was a symbol of the US South’s racist past.
        7. Watched by police snipers, the statue was gone before dawn in a stealthy operation designed to foil protests.
        8. The statues will be relocated to “a place where they can be put in historical context”, the city said.
        9. New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu said workers had faced “intense” intimidation and threats.
  5. FREE SPEECH: What’s constitutionally guaranteed and what’s culturally expected
     1. 1^st Amendment:  First Amendment | Constitution | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
        1. The Amendment protects us against Government interference in speech, press and religion.
        2. NON-government interference – private businesses, publishers. Etc. – is more culturally entrenched but usually not illegal.
           1. The Amendment protects us against Government interference in speech, press and religion.
           2. NON-government interference – private businesses, publishers. Etc. – is more culturally entrenched but usually not illegal.
           3. A Civics discussion:
           4. Our founders did not design our government to be “efficient”. They designed it to be “safe”.
           5. People who say that they want government to run like a business miss the point: Government is NOT a business.
           6. People who say that they want government to run like a household miss the point: Government is NOT a household.
           7. Government is a Sovereign, which is an entirely different and unique thing, totally unlike a business or a household.
           8. No one branch of government is meant to be ‘supreme’. The 3 branches of government – executive, legislative and judicial – were designed to be co-equal.
           9. The tug-of-war that goes on among them – this inefficient, tug-of-war that goes on among them – is designed to slow things down, and make them “safe” but “inefficient’.
           10. In today’s terminology, the inefficiency designed into our government is not a “bug”. It’s a “feature”.
           11. I’ve said for many years that people who have run big businesses should not be politicians, and certainly should not be president. If there was ever an example of why I believe that, it’s Trump.
           12. We are now experiencing the wisdom of that “feature”, as the Trump regime attempts to establish its Supremacy over the other branches.
  6. A Civics discussion:
     1. Our founders did not design our government to be “efficient”. They designed it to be “safe”.
     2. People who say that they want government to run like a business miss the point: Government is NOT a business.
     3. People who say that they want government to run like a household miss the point: Government is NOT a household.
     4. Government is a Sovereign, which is an entirely different and unique thing, totally unlike a business or a household.
     5. No one branch of government is meant to be ‘supreme’. The 3 branches of government – executive, legislative and judicial – were designed to be co-equal.
     6. The tug-of-war that goes on among them – this inefficient, tug-of-war that goes on among them – is designed to slow things down, and make them “safe” but “inefficient’.
     7. In today’s terminology, the inefficiency designed into our government is not a “bug”. It’s a “feature”.
     8. I’ve said for many years that people who have run big businesses should not be politicians, and certainly should not be president. If there was ever an example of why I believe that, it’s Trump.
     9. We are now experiencing the wisdom of that “feature”, as the Trump regime attempts to establish its Supremacy over the other branches.
  7. Stressed Out? You Probably Don’t Have it as Bad as People in Alabama, the Most Stressed State, By Janice Williams [NEWSWEEK] 4/3/17 at 4:33 PM
     1. While just about everyone living in America is stressed out about something, whether the political climate, the economy, personal finances or family issues, people in Alabama have it the worst. The Yellowhammer state was found to have the highest level of stress of all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia in WalletHub’s recent study of most- and least-stressed states.
     2. The study used data from the U.S. Census, Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to evaluate four key dimensions including family-related stress, health/safety-related stress, work-related stress and money-related stress based on factors like cost of childcare, housing affordability, number of hours worked in a day and job security.
     3. Southern states ranked the highest for the most cases of stress; Alabama ranked number one for the overall highest level of stress, followed by Louisiana and then Mississippi.
     4. Alabama had, per capita, the highest number of people with poor health and the fewest psychologists. Alabamans also got the least number of hours of sleep a night and had some of the lowest credit scores.
  8. Emoluments Clause of the Constitution (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia):
     1. The Ineligibility Clause, one of the two clauses often called the Emoluments Clause,^[1][2] and sometimes also referred to as the Incompatibility Clause^[3] or the Sinecure Clause,^[4] is found in Article 1, Section 6, Clause 2 of the United States Constitution. It places limitations upon the employment of members of Congress and prohibits employees of the Executive Branch from serving in Congress during their terms in office. The name “Ineligibility Clause” is only used by a minority of writers, as compared to the name “Emoluments Clause”.^[1][2][5]
     2. The clause states: “No Senator or Representative shall, during the Time for which he was elected, be appointed to any civil Office under the Authority of the United States, which shall have been created, or the Emoluments whereof shall have been increased during such time; and no Person holding any Office under the United States, shall be a Member of either House during his Continuance in Office.”
  9. 11. Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)
     1. The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities. It supersedes the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, which does not expressly state whether the Vice President becomes the President or Acting President if the President dies, resigns, is removed from office or is otherwise unable to discharge the powers of the presidency.^[1] The Twenty-fifth Amendment was adopted on February 10, 1967.^[2]
        1. Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
        2. Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
        3. Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
        4. Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
        5. Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.^[3]
  1. 1. The Amendment protects us against Government interference in speech, press and religion.
     2. NON-government interference – private businesses, publishers. Etc. – is more culturally entrenched but usually not illegal.
     3. A Civics discussion:
     4. Our founders did not design our government to be “efficient”. They designed it to be “safe”.
     5. People who say that they want government to run like a business miss the point: Government is NOT a business.
     6. People who say that they want government to run like a household miss the point: Government is NOT a household.
     7. Government is a Sovereign, which is an entirely different and unique thing, totally unlike a business or a household.
     8. No one branch of government is meant to be ‘supreme’. The 3 branches of government – executive, legislative and judicial – were designed to be co-equal.
     9. The tug-of-war that goes on among them – this inefficient, tug-of-war that goes on among them – is designed to slow things down, and make them “safe” but “inefficient’.
     10. In today’s terminology, the inefficiency designed into our government is not a “bug”. It’s a “feature”.
     11. I’ve said for many years that people who have run big businesses should not be politicians, and certainly should not be president. If there was ever an example of why I believe that, it’s Trump.
     12. We are now experiencing the wisdom of that “feature”, as the Trump regime attempts to establish its Supremacy over the other branches.

  16. Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution (From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

  a.   The Twenty-fifth Amendment (Amendment XXV) to the United States Constitution deals with succession to the Presidency and establishes procedures both for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, as well as responding to Presidential disabilities. It supersedes the ambiguous wording of Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution, which does not expressly state whether the Vice President becomes the President or Acting President if the President dies, resigns, is removed from office or is otherwise unable to discharge the powers of the presidency.^[1] The Twenty-fifth Amendment was adopted on February 10, 1967.^[2]

  • Section 1. In case of the removal of the President from office or of his death or resignation, the Vice President shall become President.
  • Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
  • Section 3. Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.
  • Section 4. Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.
  • Thereafter, when the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that no inability exists, he shall resume the powers and duties of his office unless the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive department or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit within four days to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office. Thereupon Congress shall decide the issue, assembling within forty-eight hours for that purpose if not in session. If the Congress, within twenty-one days after receipt of the latter written declaration, or, if Congress is not in session, within twenty-one days after Congress is required to assemble, determines by two-thirds vote of both Houses that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall continue to discharge the same as Acting President; otherwise, the President shall resume the powers and duties of his office.^[3]
• DHS Immigration Memo Underscores Urgent Need for National Guard Reform: It’s time to rethink the mission and role of the already-stretched National Guard. By Ben Manski |[BillMoyers.com] February 22, 2017
  1. A general alarm has risen in response to the recently leaked draft memo from Department of Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly outlining steps for the deployment of National Guard units, as well as other measures, across vast regions of the country to hunt down and detain those suspected of being undocumented immigrants to the United States.
  2. The Constitution of the United States disallows the use of the National Guard to invade and occupy other countries. Instead, Article 1, Section 8 provides for the use of the Guard “to execute the laws of the Union, suppress insurrections and repel invasions.” Federal statutes enacted under the authority of the Constitution describe the conditions under which the Guard may and may not be used for domestic law enforcement. Most readings of those statutes are that they do not authorize the unilateral federalization of state guard units to hunt down and detain those suspected of being undocumented immigrants. Yet as a matter of constitutional law involving at least several of the militia clauses and the Bill of Rights, the question is unclear.
  3. What is clear is that National Guard law is currently broken. The United States have not been invaded since 1941, yet over the past year, National Guard units were deployed in 70 countries, reflecting former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s statement that, “There’s no way we could conduct a global war on terror without the Guard and Reserve.”
• 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]
• __________________________________________________________________
• KPFT is a 501(c)3 non-profit, and it can always use your tax-deductible support.  Most of the folks who work and broadcast at KPFT are volunteers, but it still has fixed and variable expenses, and it still costs $150/hour, 24/7/365 to keep KPFT on the air.
• KPFT Donation Page