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Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio), a listener call-in show  airing live every Monday night from 3-4 PM (CT) on KPFT-FM 90.1 (Houston). My engineers are Don, Leti, and Nibu.

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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.

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

SIGNOFF QUOTE[s]: “Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe.” ~ Frederick Douglass (Part of a speech given by Douglass in 1886 on the 24th anniversary of emancipation in Washington, DC)

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1. “DISEMPLOYMENT”: Employing an existing word in a new way that is more resonant than the existing term.
   1. Current Definition of disemploy  : to dismiss from, or put out of, employment
   2. Definition of unemployment  1 : the state of being unemployed : involuntary idleness of workers also : the rate of such unemployment
   3. Definition of lay off (transitive verb) ß aka “Cyclical Unemployment 1 : to mark or measure off
   4. 2 : to cease to employ (a worker) often temporarily
   5. Frictional unemployment:: Frictionally unemployed people are in between jobs or are students who just completed school and are looking for a job. This form of unemployment is usually short-lived in nature.
   6. Structural unemployment :: The structurally unemployed are people who are laid off and looking for work because technology advances or other structural changes in production (for example, companies moving abroad) took away their jobs. The horse-and-buggy drivers of the early 1900s lost their jobs after the automobile became popular and affordable.
      1. Section 4: There are 4 Types of Unemployment ‒ the Definition and Significance of Full Employment
      2. Frictional unemployment:: Frictionally unemployed people are in between jobs or are students who just completed school and are looking for a job. This form of unemployment is usually short-lived in nature.
      3. Structural unemployment :: The structurally unemployed are people who are laid off and looking for work because technology advances or other structural changes in production (for example, companies moving abroad) took away their jobs. The horse-and-buggy drivers of the early 1900s lost their jobs after the automobile became popular and affordable.
         1. Many American steel, auto, electronics, and textile workers lost their jobs and became structurally unemployed due to foreign competition and American companies locating abroad (outsourcing). This form of unemployment (especially those due to technology advances) is usually permanent in nature. Even though these specific jobs may be gone forever, people unemployed for structural reasons can frequently find work in other industries after receiving training and acquiring other skills.
      3. Cyclical unemployment :: Cyclically unemployed people are laid off due to a decline in the demand for their product; they are also looking for a job. During recessions, the demand for cars and houses and other durable products decreases. Workers in these industries lose their jobs until demand increases again. This form of unemployment is usually temporary in nature.
      4. Seasonal unemployment :: Seasonally unemployed people are out of work and looking for a job during the off-season. Examples include ice cream vendors during the winter, school teachers during the summer (they are considered unemployed only if they are looking for a job during this time), and ski-lift operators during the summer.
   7. How can we use this unfamiliar word to newly be defined as something specific in our society today?
2. “Why do liberals think all Trump supporters are STUPID?”, by Adam-Troy Castro 

1. An anguished question from a Trump supporter: “Why do liberals think Trump supporters are stupid?”

   The serious answer: Here’s what we really think about Trump supporters – the rich, the poor, the malignant and the innocently well-meaning, the ones who think and the ones who don’t…

   That when you saw a man who had owned a fraudulent University, intent on scamming poor people, you thought “Fine.”

   That when you saw a man who had made it his business practice to stiff his creditors, you said, “Okay.”

   That when you heard him proudly brag about his own history of sexual abuse, you said, “No problem.”

   That when he made up stories about seeing Muslim-Americans in the thousands cheering the destruction of the World Trade Center, you said, “Not an issue.”

   That when you saw him brag that he could shoot a man on Fifth Avenue and you wouldn’t care, you chirped, “He sure knows me.”

   That when you heard him illustrate his own character by telling that cute story about the elderly guest bleeding on the floor at his country club, the story about how he turned his back and how it was all an imposition on him, you said, “That’s cool!”

   That when you saw him mock the disabled, you thought it was the funniest thing you ever saw.

   That when you heard him brag that he doesn’t read books, you said, “Well, who has time?”

   That when the Central Park Five were compensated as innocent men convicted of a crime they didn’t commit, and he angrily said that they should still be in prison, you said, “That makes sense.”

   That when you heard him tell his supporters to beat up protesters and that he would hire attorneys, you thought, “Yes!”

   That when you heard him tell one rally to confiscate a man’s coat before throwing him out into the freezing cold, you said, “What a great guy!”

   That you have watched the parade of neo-Nazis and white supremacists with whom he curries favor, while refusing to condemn outright Nazis, and you have said, “Thumbs up!”

   That you hear him unable to talk to foreign dignitaries without insulting their countries and demanding that they praise his electoral win, you said, “That’s the way I want my President to be.”

   That you have watched him remove expertise from all layers of government in favor of people who make money off of eliminating protections in the industries they’re supposed to be regulating and you have said, “What a genius!”

   That you have heard him continue to profit from his businesses, in part by leveraging his position as President, to the point of overcharging the Secret Service for space in the properties he owns, and you have said, “That’s smart!”

   That you have heard him say that it was difficult to help Puerto Rico because it was the middle of water and you have said, “That makes sense.”

   That you have seen him start fights with every country from Canada to New Zealand while praising Russia and quote, “falling in love” with the dictator of North Korea, and you have said, “That’s statesmanship!”

   That Trump separated children from their families and put them in cages, managed to lose track of 1500 kids. has opened a tent city incarceration camp in the desert in Texas – he explains that they’re just “animals” – and you say, “well, ok then.”

   That you have witnessed all the thousand and one other manifestations of corruption and low moral character and outright animalistic rudeness and contempt for you, the working American voter, and you still show up grinning and wearing your MAGA hats and threatening to beat up anybody who says otherwise.

   What you don’t get, Trump supporters in 2019, is that succumbing to frustration and thinking of you as stupid may be wrong and unhelpful, but it’s also…hear me…charitable.

   Because if you’re NOT stupid, we must turn to other explanations, and most of them are less flattering.

   …….. By Adam-Troy Castro, https://www.adamtroycastro.com/

2. Muslim vice-chair of Texas county GOP survives effort to oust him over his religion, By Doug Stanglin, [USA TODAY] Published 8:52 a.m. ET Jan. 11, 2019 | Updated 10:33 a.m. ET Jan. 11, 2019
   1. An attempt by a faction of the Tarrant County Republican party in Texas to oust its vice-chairman because he is a Muslim failed in an emotional party vote Thursday night.
   2. Shahid Shafi, a trauma surgeon and city council member, was backed in a 139-49 vote after more than two hours of closed door discussions. Cheers could be heard outside as the results were read.
   3. As the meeting gathered Thursday night, one of his chief critics, Sara Legvold, former member of the Texas State Republican Executive Committee, stood outside dressed in a the lobby wearing a black burqa to underscore her opposition to Shafi’s appointment.
   4. “You already see it in the workplace where Muslims demand they’re able to wear their hijab and demand they get a prayer room,” she said, according to the Texas Tribune. “When was the last time a Christian was allowed to have a separate place to say their prayers?”
   5. Shafi, a Muslim who was born in India and raised in Pakistan, studied medicine in the United States and became a naturalized citizen in 2009.
   6. After the vote, Shafi said the campaign to oust him had been hard on him and his family, but that he felt no animosity toward his critics, the Star-Telegram reports. 
   7. “As an immigrant to this great country, I am honored and privileged to receive the support of my fellow Republicans,” he told reporters. “We need to learn to trust each other so we can create a more perfect union everyday.” …
   8. …The bid to oust Sharif was led by Dorrie O’Brien, precinct chairman in Grand Prairie, who said the issue is not religion, but whether Shafi supports Sharia law and is linked to “Islamic terror groups.”
   9. “We don’t think he’s suitable as a practicing Muslim to be vice chair because he’d be the representative for ALL Republicans in Tarrant County, and not ALL Republicans in Tarrant County think Islam is safe or acceptable,” O’Brien wrote on Facebook. …
3. Trump, Following Explosive News Reports, Denies He Worked For Russia, By Philip Ewing [NPR.com] January 14, 2019, 10:57 AM ET | Updated at 1:05 p.m. ET
   1. President Trump on Monday denied that he has been trying to conceal details about his discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin after a pair of explosive press reports over the weekend.
   2. “I never worked for Russia,” Trump told reporters. “It’s a disgrace that you even asked that question because it’s a whole big fat hoax. It’s just a hoax.”
   3. Trump also said he doesn’t know anything about what happened to the notes taken by an interpreter when he met with Putin last summer in Finland or after other meetings with the Russian leader.
   4. The Washington Post reported that Trump has taken at least one interpreter’s notes after a meeting with Putin and instructed a linguist not to brief anyone else in the administration about what the two leaders had discussed during their closed-door meeting. …
4. Trump’s vow to ‘devastate’ Turkey rattles negotiations over Syria withdrawal, By John Hudson and Kareem Fahim | COM | January 14 at 9:33 AM
   1. As Secretary of State Mike Pompeo crisscrossed the Middle East this week to explain the U.S. military withdrawal from Syria, he repeated that he was “confident” and “optimistic” that he was nearing a deal with Turkey on a mutually agreeable exit plan.
   2. But a pugnacious tweet from President Trump on Sunday night vowing to “devastate” the Turkish economy if Ankara attacks U.S.-backed Kurds revealed a much wider chasm between the two sides and prompted a new round of recriminations from Turkey.
   3. The United States “will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds,” Trump tweeted.
   4. Hours later, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu blasted Trump’s “threatening language” and said his country was “not going to be scared or frightened off,” adding: “You will not get anywhere by threatening Turkey’s economy.”
   5. The row marked the second time in a week that the White House has intervened in negotiations led by the State Department in a way that infuriated Turkey and caught U.S. diplomats flat-footed. …
5. 3D-printed heads let hackers – and cops – unlock your phone, By Zack Whittaker (@zackwhittaker)/ COM /DEC 16, 2018 / 12 hours ago
   1. …You can …3D print a life-size replica of a human head — and not just for Hollywood. Forbes reporter Thomas Brewster commissioned a 3D printed model of his own head to test the face unlocking systems on a range of phones — four Android models and an iPhone X.
   2. Bad news if you’re an Android user: only the iPhone X defended against the attack.
   3. … [B]iometrics — your fingerprints and your face — aren’t protected under the Fifth Amendment. That means police can’t compel you to give up your passcode, but they can forcibly depress your fingerprint to unlock your phone, or hold it to your face while you’re looking at it. And the police know it — it happens more often than you might realize.
   4. But there’s also little in the way of stopping police from 3D printing or replicating a set of biometrics to break into a phone.
   5. “Legally, it’s no different from using fingerprints to unlock a device,” said Orin Kerr, professor at USC Gould School of Law, in an email. “The government needs to get the biometric unlocking information somehow,” by either the finger pattern shape or the head shape, he said.
   6. Although a warrant “wouldn’t necessarily be a requirement” to get the biometric data, one would be needed to use the data to unlock a device, he said.
   7. Jake Laperruque, senior counsel at the Project On Government Oversight, said it was doable but isn’t the most practical or cost-effective way for cops to get access to phone data.
   8. … Those cheering on the “death of the password” might want to think again. They’re still the only thing that’s keeping your data safe from the law.
6. California commission finds PG&E falsified records for years, By Christina Maxouris | CNN | Updated 3:10 PM ET, Sat December 15, 2018
   1. (CNN)The California Public Utilities Commission may penalize one of the country’s largest utility providers after an investigation found it had been falsifying records for five years.
   2. The commission, tasked with regulating privately owned public utilities in the state, claims Pacific Gas & Electric Co. violated California law by failing to locate and mark their natural gas pipelines in a timely manner.
   3. The commission’s safety and enforcement division found PG&E pressured supervisors and other workers to falsify data so that the locating and marking work would not appear as late. The investigation also found the company did not have enough employees to regularly locate and mark natural gas pipelines.
   4. “Excavators, including construction crews, rely on PG&E to inform them exactly where PG&E underground natural gas infrastructure is located,” CPUC stated. “If PG&E fails to meet its legally imposed responsibilities to locate and mark the required deadline of the excavating contractor’s request, a contractor may simply commence digging despite the danger.” …

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