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

 

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 co-host is Andrew Ferguson. 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.) Please take a moment to visit Pledge.KPFT.org and choose THINKWING RADIO from the drop-down list when you donate. 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[s]: “People the world over have always been more impressed by the power of our example than by the example of our power.” ~ Bill Clinton, Democratic Convention Speech (Wednesday, August 27, 2008)

Pledge by Text:  Listeners can now text “GIVE” to 713-526-5738 and they’ll receive a text message back with a link to KPFT’s donation page, with which they can make their pledge on-line at their leisure. MAIN TOPICS: TOPIC: Voting Info;IRS Announces New July 15 Tax Deadline, Houston restaurant plans to open [Hedwig Village location on the Katy Freeway] in defiance of Harris County order, Black leaders say reopening Georgia is an attack on people of color, Trump owes tens of millions to the Bank of China — and the loan is due soon, Denmark and Poland are refusing to bail out companies registered in offshore tax havens, Coronavirus pandemic exposes rather than heals America’s divisions, Cuomo Tells McConnell: ‘I Dare You’ To Let States Go Bankrupt, ‘Cartels are scrambling’: Virus snarls global drug trade, Coronavirus: Will Covid-19 speed up the use of robots to replace human workers?, Will empty middle seats help social distancing on planes?, What went wrong with the media’s coronavirus coverage?,  MORE. _________________________________________________________________ Make sure you are registered to vote! (Voting and election info are items 1 thru 6. Show information begins after Item 6.)

1. This program was recorded on Saturday afternoon, APRIL 25. If you call in, you will NOT be able to get on the air, so please do not call the call-in number. We love our callers, but unfortunately live call-in is one of the casualties of COVID-19.
2. Next Harris County election is a runoff, originally scheduled for May, and is now scheduled for July 14, 2020 – Primary Runoff Elections (at HarrisVotes.com)
3. PRESS RELEASE (In Part): “(Houston, Texas) – The Harris County Clerk will close its main office and annexes to the public on the advice of county leadership as a measure to help contain and mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) … and continue until further notice…. Employees will continue serving the public by email and phone, but residents are reminded that they can access most services online. Among these, electronic filing in real property, electronic filing in the courts (county, civil and probate) and personal records. Electronic filing for campaign and personal finance is also available online. … The Harris County Clerk’s Office is currently working on a plan to continue to make voting accessible for the upcoming elections.”
   1. General business for county Clerk: https://www.cclerk.hctx.net/
   2. The city of Friendswood Updated at 12:34 p.m. March 27: At the board of trustees special meeting on March 23, the board voted to postpone the district bond election to November.
      1. https://communityimpact.com/houston/pearland-friendswood/government/2020/03/19/city-of-friendswood-friendswood-isd-elections-postponed/
4. Make sure you are registered to vote!
   1. For a personalized, nonpartisan voter guide visit vote411.org (DO NOT!! go to 411Vote!!
   2. If you are denied your right to vote any place at any time at any polling place for any reason, ask for (or demand) a provisional ballot rather than lose your vote.
   3. HarrisVotes.com  (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965) Dr. Diane Trautman, Harris County Clerk
   4. VoteTexas.gov
   5. HarrisVotes.com – Countywide Voting Centers
      1. HARRIS CTY – IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED FOR VOTING: Do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain one of these IDs?
      2. Fill out a declaration at the polls describing a reasonable impediment to obtaining it, and show a copy or original of one of the following supporting forms of ID:
      3. A government document that shows your name and an address, including your voter registration certificate
      4. Current utility bill
      5. Bank statement
      6. Government check
      7. Paycheck
      8. (a) A certified domestic (from a U.S. state or territory) birth certificate or (b) a document confirming birth admissible in a court of law which establishes your identity (which may include a foreign birth document)
   6. You may vote early by-mail if
      1. you are registered to vote and meet one of the following criteria:
      2. Away from the county of residence on Election Day and during the early voting period;
      3. you are registered to vote and meet one of the following criteria:
         1. Away from the county of residence on Election Day and during the early voting period;
         2. Sick or disabled;
         3. 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
         4. Confined in jail, but eligible to vote.
         5. Make sure you are registered:
   7. Ann Harris Bennett, Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar
      1. CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS HERE
         1. CLICK How to register to vote in Texas
      2. POLL LOCATIONS & BALLOTS: Find your ballots with simple information entries
   8. Outside Texas, try Vote.org.
5. IRS Announces New July 15 Tax Deadline For Expats, Trusts, Estates And Corporations, Includes June 15 Estimated Payments Fix, By Ashlea Ebeling, Senior Contributor | FORBES.COM| Apr 9, 2020,06:54pm EDT
   1. … Notice 2020-23 confirms that all individuals, trusts, estates, corporations and other non-corporate tax filers, including Americans living abroad, get extra time until July 15 to file and pay federal income taxes. …
6. Houston restaurant plans to open [Hedwig Village location on the Katy Freeway] in defiance of Harris County order – “How is it that … you can walk into a Walgreens with 30, 40, 50 people in there? Why can they open? Why can’t we?” the owner of Federal Grill asked. Author: Michelle Homer, Olivia Pulsinelli | HOUSTON BUSINESS JOURNAL via KHOU.COM | Published: 11:45 AM CDT April 23, 2020, Updated: 12:05 PM CDT April 23, 2020
   1. [Federal American Grill owner Matt Brice] is taking several precautions regarding safety and hygiene as well as limiting the number of diners to 30 percent of the restaurant’s capacity…
      1. Every employee will be required to have their temperatures taken before allowed to clock in and begin working by the manager on duty. Any employee not deemed fit to work will be sent home and required to show proof of being tested negative for COVID-19, before returning to work
      2. Every employee will be required to wear hand gloves and change as needed
      3. All employees will be required to wear face masks while working
      4. All menus will be disposable and used once per patron
      5. A bathroom attendant will manage a one person at a time use of our restrooms along with continuous sanitation of facilities
      6. Doors will be open for adequate air flow through the dining areas.
      7. Paper goods and disposable items will be used whenever possible (no unnecessary items will be on the tables such as salt & pepper shakers)
      8. Salt & pepper packets
      9. Sugar packets, sweeteners, & creamers
      10. All high traffic areas will be diligently sanitized. Examples include (not limited to) Door handles, phones, check presenters, POS stations, and pens
      11. Tables and chairs will be immediately sanitized after every use.
      12. Open to the public up to 30% occupancy. After two weeks of testing this pilot program & positive information from our local government we may increase occupancy.
      13. Minimum of 6 feet between tables (we will do 8 feet whenever possible) to ensure social table distancing.
      14. No more than six guests per table.
      15. Hands free payment options will be available and strongly recommended.
7. Black leaders say reopening Georgia is an attack on people of color, By John Blake | CNN | Updated 12:17 PM ET, Fri April 24, 2020
   1. … Mitch Magee, [co-owner of Distinctive Kutz, a black barbershop in suburban Atlanta] believes Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp’s decision to reopen some businesses across the state starting today is an “attack” on African Americans — one of the groups hit hardest by the virus. And he says it’s no coincidence that the businesses being reopened — including barbershops, nail salons and churches — are communal gathering places for black residents.
   2. …[H]e is part of a growing chorus of black leaders and business owners who say that reopening Georgia’s economy places a dangerous burden on people of color. One prominent black pastor even said state officials were “diabolically” planning to exploit black people.
   3. … The Rev. Jamal Bryant, senior pastor of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia, went even further. In a Facebook Live video, he said it was no coincidence that the decision to reopen some state businesses came soon after many blacks received federal stimulus checks.
   4. “They understand diabolically that African Americans are prone to do spending,” Bryant said. “To stimulate the income, they gotta make ‘negroes’ spend money, and they’re banking on us not spending it with ourselves.”
   5. Bryant pointed out that many blacks like to gather in places like barbershops and beauty salons. He also cited statistics showing that African Americans have been hit disproportionately hard by the coronavirus because many lack access to health care, have pre-existing health conditions and hold service industry jobs that don’t allow them to work from home. Kemp’s decision is “leaving us to the slaughter,” Bryant said in the video …
   6. … Such warnings by Bryant and Magee may seem far-fetched. But there are historical reasons for black people to be wary of being victimized over their health.
   7. In the 1930s, the US Public Health Service began deliberately allowing Alabama black men infected with syphilis to go untreated without informing them — a shameful and secret study that became known as the Tuskegee experiment.
   8. More recently, a commission concluded that racism was a factor in the Flint, Michigan, health crisis that led to many residents drinking contaminated water. …
8. Trump owes tens of millions to the Bank of China — and the loan is due soon – The president’s financial dealings with the state-owned bank complicate his attacks on Biden. By MARC CAPUTO, MERIDITH MCGRAW and ANITA KUMAR | POLITICO.COM | 04/24/2020 04:30 AM EDT, Updated: 04/24/2020 08:43 AM EDT
   1. Donald Trump is warning “China will own the United States” if Joe Biden is elected president.
   2. But Trump himself is tens of millions of dollars in debt to China: In 2012, his real estate partner refinanced one of Trump’s most prized New York buildings for almost $1 billion. The debt includes $211 million from the state-owned Bank of China — its first loan of this kind in the U.S. — which matures in the middle of what could be Trump’s second term, financial records
   3. Steps from Trump Tower in Manhattan, the 43-story 1290 Avenue of the Americas skyscraper spans an entire city block. Trump owns a 30 percent stake in the property valued at more than $1 billion, making it one of the priciest addresses in his portfolio, according to his financial disclosures. …
   4. … Aside from the historic precedent of a developer-turned president paying back millions to a bank controlled by a foreign government, the 2012 Bank of China deal also stands out because Trump and his campaign have repeatedly highlighted the same bank’s role in a $1.5 billion deal announced in 2013 by partners of Joe Biden’s son, Hunter Biden. Critics of the Bidens have seized on the fact that the agreement materialized just days after Hunter Biden traveled to China with the then-vice president, who was there on official business. …
   5. George Mesires, a lawyer for Hunter Biden, disputes the account of the Trump campaign and conservative critics. He said the private equity deal linked to Hunter Biden’s business partners, called Bohai Harvest RST, was initially capitalized by a group of investors in China. Some had financial links to the bank. And Mesires said they initially invested $4.2 million —not the $1.5 billion that the firm initially boasted was a goal of the deal in a news release. …
   6. … Hunter Biden was not listed on the company’s documents because he didn’t put the deal together and did not acquire a direct financial stake until October 2017, when he acquired a 10 percent interest after committing $420,000, Mesires said. Hunter Biden announced he was resigning from BHR last year.
9. Denmark and Poland are refusing to bail out companies registered in offshore tax havens. BY Bill Bostock | BUSINESSINSIDER.COM  | Apr 20, 2020, 5:17 AM
   1. Denmark and Poland won’t give financial aid to companies registered in offshore tax havens.
   2. Governments around the world are scrambling to bail out their economies with huge stimulus packages amid the coronavirus
   3. Denmark and Poland are the first to exclude firms that incorporate themselves in famous tax havens, meaning they can avoid domestic business taxes.
   4. “Companies based on tax havens in accordance with EU guidelines cannot receive compensation, insofar as it is possible to cut them off,” a translation of a Saturday statement from Denmark’s finance ministry said.
   5. “Companies that seek to dodge their obligations to broader society by cutting their tax bills shouldn’t expect to get bailed out when things go wrong,” Robert Palmer, the executive director of Tax Justice UK, told Business Insider. …
   6. … Among the most famous havens are Gibraltar, the Bahamas, Andorra, Bermuda, the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, and Panama. …
   7. …Some industries are famous for making the most of offshore tax breaks — most notably the cruise industry, which has been ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic.
   8. Carnival Corporation, Royal Caribbean, and Norwegian Cruise Line, which make up more than two-thirds of the industry, are formally registered in Panama, Liberia, and Bermuda. …
   9. …Alan Rusbridger, the former editor of The Guardian, said the UK government should force companies with offshore tax breaks to relinquish them in exchange for government aid.
   10. “We’re starkly realising our public services are drastically underfunded. So here’s a suggestion: before any company receives a penny in public Covid-19 support they must first pledge to scrap any artificial tax avoidance arrangements in future,” he tweeted on March 22.
   11. “A huge number of corporations engineer ways of avoiding putting any tax [in] the way of our hospitals & other essential services,” he added.
10. Coronavirus pandemic exposes rather than heals America’s divisions. BY Anthony Zurcher, North America reporter (@awzurcher on Twitter) | BBC.COM | 23 April 2020
    1. Why was Mitch McConnell likened to Marie Antoinette?
    2. … Up until now, Republicans had seemed unconcerned with the trillions of dollars of additional spending Congress has authorised to address the coronavirus outbreak, leaving some Democrats angry that budgetary concerns were being cited as a reason not to help them cover their financial shortfalls.
    3. Even more infuriating for them was McConnell’s suggestion that states might be allowed to go bankrupt as an alternative to further federal aid.
    4. [Congressman Peter King, a moderate Republican who is retiring at the end of this year said], “McConnell’s dismissive remark that states devastated by Coronavirus should go bankrupt rather than get the federal assistance they need and deserve is shameful and indefensible.”
    5. “To say that it is ‘free money’ to provide funds for cops, firefighters and healthcare workers makes McConnell the Marie Antoinette of the Senate.”
    6. Cuomo Tells McConnell: ‘I Dare You’ To Let States Go Bankrupt, By Sergei Klebnikov, Forbes Staff | FORBES.COM | Updated Apr 24, 2020, 02:52pm EDTMarkets – I cover breaking news, with a focus on money and markets.
       1. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in a press conference on Friday again sharply criticized Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) for his suggestion that states facing budget crises due to coronavirus should declare bankruptcy, a day after calling it “one of the really dumb ideas of all time.”

       2. One of the really dumb ideas of all time just came from Sen. Mitch McConnell.

          His suggestion to let states go bankrupt makes no sense. He says he doesn’t want a “Blue State Bailout.” 15,000 people died — this is not the time for politics. — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 23, 2020

          https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js

       3. Let’s talk about fairness, Mitch.

          NYS puts $116 billion more into the federal pot than we take out. Kentucky TAKES $148 billion more from the federal pot than they put in. But we don’t deserve help now because the 15,000 people who died here were predominately democrats? — Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 23, 2020

11. GOOD NEWS, EVERYONE!: ‘Cartels are scrambling’: Virus snarls global drug trade, By JIM MUSTIAN and JAKE BLEIBERG | APNEWS.COM | April 19, 2020
    1. Coronavirus is dealing a gut punch to the illegal drug trade, paralyzing economies, closing borders and severing supply chains in China that traffickers rely on for the chemicals to make such profitable drugs as methamphetamine and fentanyl.
    2. One of the main suppliers that shut down is in Wuhan, the epicenter of the global outbreak. …
    3. …Bars, nightclubs and motels across the country that are ordinarily fertile marketplaces for drug dealers have shuttered. And prices for drugs in short supply have soared to gouging levels.
    4. “They are facing a supply problem and a demand problem,” said Alejandro Hope, a security analyst and former official with CISEN, the Mexican intelligence agency. “Once you get them to the market, who are you going to sell to?”
12. Coronavirus: Will Covid-19 speed up the use of robots to replace human workers?, By Zoe Thomas Technology reporter | COM | 19 April 2020
    1. As a pandemic grips the world, a person could be forgiven if they had forgotten about another threat to humanity’s way of life – the rise of robots.
    2. For better or worse the robots are going to replace many humans in their jobs, analysts say, and the coronavirus outbreak is speeding up the process.
    3. “People usually say they want a human element to their interactions but Covid-19 has changed that,” says Martin Ford, a futurist who has written about the ways robots will be integrated into the economy in the coming decades. “[Covid-19] is going to change consumer preference and really open up new opportunities for automation.”
    4. Companies large and small are expanding how they use robots to increase social distancing and reduce the number of staff that have to physically come to work. Robots are also being used to perform roles workers cannot do at home.
    5. Walmart, America’s biggest retailer, is using robots to scrub its floors.
    6. Robots in South Korea have been used to measure temperatures and distribute hand sanitiser.
    7. With health experts warning some social distancing measures may need to be in place through 2021, robot workers may be in greater demand. …
    8. …Food service is another area where the use of robots is likely to increase because of health concerns.
    9. Fast-food chains like McDonald’s have been testing robots as cooks and servers.
    10. In warehouses, like those operated by Amazon and Walmart, robots were already used to improve efficiency. The Covid-19 outbreak has both companies looking to increase the use of robots for sorting, shipping and packing. …
    11. … Once a company has invested in replacing a worker with a robot it’s unlikely the firm will ever rehire for that role. Robots are more expensive to create and integrate into businesses but once they are up and running, robots are typically cheaper than human workers.
13. Will empty middle seats help social distancing on planes?, By John Walton | COM | 22nd April 2020
    1. As more countries mull lifting Covid-19 lockdowns, airlines are examining what flying might look like as travel restrictions start to be relaxed. Carriers are haemorrhaging money and it’s very much in their interests to get planes back in the air. Passenger confidence will be one of many hurdles to overcome, however, with many worried about keeping a reasonable distance from their fellow travellers.
    2. Several airlines are exploring the idea of keeping middle seats empty, to avoid passengers sitting directly beside each other. …
    3. … Removing the unloved middle seat option would lead to a hearty hooray from the travelling public. Sit by the window and you get a view, plus a bulkhead to snooze against. In an aisle seat, you can pop to the toilet or stretch whenever you like. The middle seat has no such benefits, unless you’re one of those people who strikes up conversations with their seatmates.
    4. But would blocking middle seats actually help us maintain proper social distancing and if so, how long could airlines keep doing it? Is it a realistic option beyond the very short term? …
    5. …Planes are very much not set up for social … Billions of dollars have been spent in recent years in particular to fit as many people as possible into smaller spaces. For example, when the big wide-body, twin-aisle, twin-engine Boeing 777 started flying in the 1990s, most of them had nine seats per economy row on long-haul flights. Today, almost all airlines flying the plane – whether long-haul with the likes of Emirates or short-haul within Japan – have 10 seats, meaning narrower seats and narrower aisles. …
    6. …LIFT Aero Design’s Daniel Baron points out that there are a number of other measures that airlines can use to try and make travel safer. “Let’s not forget that cabin air circulation is on par with operating theatres,” he says. “A combination of pre-flight screening, thorough cabin sanitising, smart seat assignments and masks will likely be the way forward in the short to medium term.”
    7. … Delta Air Lines has changed the way it boards aircraft, and is now boarding them strictly from the rear to the front, so passengers sitting at the back don’t have to pass those sitting at the front. The airline is also boarding fewer people at a time to improve physical distancing of passengers.
    8. Many airlines are also cancelling or reducing inflight food and beverage service to reduce interactions on board: Southwest is serving individual cans of water rather than its usual full drinks round, for example. Some airlines are offering to-go bags in the gate area instead.
14. What went wrong with the media’s coronavirus coverage? And can we do better?, By Peter Kafka | COM | Apr 13, 2020, 7:10am EDT
    1. … Much of the mainstream media amplified [the] slow and muddled reaction to the rapidly spreading virus. Since alarming reports about Covid-19 began to emerge from China in January, the media often provided information to Americans that later proved to be wrong, or at least inadequate.
    2. For instance: While President Trump has been correctly pilloried for describing the coronavirus as less dangerous than the flu, that message was commonplace in mainstream media outlets throughout February. And journalists — including my colleagues at Vox — were dutifully repeating exhortations from public health officials not to wear masks for much of 2020. …
    3. … [I]t’s worth looking back to ask how the media could have done better as the virus broke out of China and headed to the US.
    4. Why didn’t we see this coming sooner? And once we did, why didn’t we sound the alarm with more vigor?
    5. If you read the stories from that period … you’ll find that most of the information holding the pieces together comes from authoritative sources …: experts at institutions like the World Health Organization, the CDC, and academics with real domain knowledge.
    6. The problem, in many cases, was that that information was wrong, or at least incomplete. Which raises the hard question for journalists scrutinizing our performance in recent months: How do we cover a story where neither we nor the experts we turn to know what isn’t yet known? And how do we warn Americans about the full range of potential risks in the world without ringing alarm bells so constantly that they’ll tune us out? …
    7. … Journalists have been doing crucial reporting about what the US government got wrong as the pandemic advanced, and what US leaders could have done to prepare America. They provided analysis that put the news in context. And they have also provided important on-the-ground dispatches from places around the world that have been devastated by the disease — often at great personal risk — starting at its epicenter in Wuhan, China.
    8. But when it came to grappling with a new disease they knew nothing about, journalists most often turned to experts and institutions for information, and relayed what those experts and institutions told them to their audience.
    9. And given that the Covid-19 coronavirus is brand new, even the best-meaning experts and institutions gave conflicting information, some of which now has proven to be inaccurate or up for debate. That includes National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci, who is now the most trusted official in the federal government when it comes to the Covid-19 response, but as late as February was calling the risk from coronavirus “minuscule” and warning people to worry instead about “influenza outbreak, which is having its second wave.” …
    10. … Laura Helmuth, who was the health and science editor at the Washington Post and recently left to become editor-in-chief of Scientific American, says acknowledging gaps in knowledge is crucial but not easy.
    11. “One thing that science journalists have been getting better at is not just saying what we do know, but what we don’t know,” she says. “But most journalists aren’t accustomed to doing that.”
    12. … Mainstream journalists who know how to read and understand academic research reports are a select group and have been for decades. Many midsize newspapers once employed dedicated science journalists, but those jobs have been dwindling for years. …
    13. … In some cases, the screaming was there, but you had to work to hear it. You wouldn’t find it in a headline or the top of a newscast, but if you absorbed the whole thing, you’d find news that would scare you into some kind of action.
    14. My sort-of come-to-Jesus moment started on February 27 when I listened to Times reporter Donald McNeil on the paper’s Daily He said the worst-case scenario was a repeat of the 1918 flu pandemic, which killed 50 million people worldwide and at least 675,000 in the United States.
    15. In that version, McNeil said calmly: Everybody in the US would “know somebody who dies.”
    16. It’s most gripping in audio form, but I want to pull out a section here:
        1. Donald G. McNeil Jr. – Some big chunk of the country — 30, 40, 50 percent — are likely to get a new virus when it blows through. And if you don’t get it in the first wave, you might get it in the second wave.
        2. Michael Barbaro – And 2 percent lethality rate of 50 percent of the country. I don’t want to do that math. It’s really, really awful.
        3. McNeil – It’s a lot of people. It means, you know, you don’t die, 80 percent of people have mild cases. But you know somebody who dies.
        4. Barbaro – That’s pretty horrible … Okay. Now, the best-case scenario.
        5. McNeil – The best-case scenario is one of these drugs works, and basically everybody gets sick next year, but everybody who is hospitalized gets a drug that keeps them from dying and keeps them from going into deep, deep, deep respiratory distress. And we have the equivalent of a bad flu season. And then everybody says, ‘Oh, the media, they blew it out of proportion again.’ You know, it’s all ridiculous. And, you know, I get blamed.
    17. That was enough for me — sort of. I didn’t change my plans to travel to Los Angeles the following week, but I did start assuming that the rest of my spring plans were going to be up in the air. And I told my family that we should start buying food — not in panic, but slowly. And I wondered how The Daily’s millions of listeners would respond.