This program was recorded early in the morning on SUNDAY, December 13. Due to Covid-19, shows are being prerecorded beginning March 13, 2020 and until further notice. We miss our live call-in participants, and look forward to a time we can once again go live. Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio), a listener call-in show airing live every Monday from 3-4 PM (CT) on KPFT-FM 90.1 (Houston). My co-host and Editor is Andrew Ferguson.
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- Make sure you are registered to vote!
- VoteTexas.GOV – Texas Voter Information
- HarrisVotes.COM – Countywide Voting Centers, (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965), Harris County Clerk
- Fort bend County Elections/Voter Registration Machine takes you to the proper link
- GalvestonVotes.org (Galveston County, TX)
- LibertyElections.com (Liberty County, TX)
- Montgomery County (TX) Elections
- Brazoria County (TX) Clerk Election Information
- Waller County (TX) Elections
- Chambers County (TX) ElectionsFor personalized, nonpartisan voter guides and information,
- Consider visiting Vote.ORG. Ballotpedia.com and Texas League of Women Voters are also good places to get election info.
- 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.
- HarrisVotes.com – Countywide Voting Centers
- HARRIS CTY – IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED FOR VOTING: Do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain one of these IDs?
- 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:
- A government document that shows your name and an address, including your voter registration certificate
- Current utility bill
- Bank statement
- Government check
- Paycheck
- 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)
- You may vote early by-mail if:
- You are registered to vote and meet one of the following criteria:
- Away from the county of residence on Election Day and during the early voting period;
- Sick or disabled;
- 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
- Confined in jail, but eligible to vote.
- Make sure you are registered:
- Ann Harris Bennett, Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar
- CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS HERE
- CLICK How to register to vote in Texas
- Outside Texas, try Vote.org.
- HARRIS CTY – IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED FOR VOTING: Do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain one of these IDs?
- VoteTexas.GOV – Texas Voter Information
- I missed one!!: December 12, 2020: Joint Runoff Election (Harris & Montgomery Counties)
- Time to send in your “Vote By Mail” applications.
- New speed limit put in place for cyclists at some Houston parks; Re’Chelle Turner, KPRC | Published: December 11, 2020, 6:53 pmUpdated: December 11, 2020, 7:08 pm
- … Ten miles-per-hour signs are now in place at Terry Hershey and George Bush Park. Harris County Precinct 3 Commissioner Steve Radack put in place the signs about a week ago. He says deputy constables are making sure people comply with the new rule. …
- “Enforcement should be a last resort,” said Joe Cutrufo, the executive director of Bike Houston.
- Cutrufo says cyclists usually don’t keep speedometers on their bikes and it’s hard to know how fast you’re going.
- “Enforcing speed limits in parks as low as 10 miles per hour is just going to discourage cycling in those parks. You’re going to have cyclists says well if there is going to be police there trying to prevent me from going at a comfortable speed then I’m going to ride somewhere else,” he said. …
- Three indicted in Harris County on allegations of trying to illegally influence state House races – The indictments announced Friday were tied to races in Texas House Districts 132 and 142. by Cassandra Pollock | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | Dec. 11, 20203 PM
- A Harris County grand jury has indicted three people who tried to illegally influence races in two Houston-area state House districts during the 2020 election cycle, District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Friday.
- The impacted districts were House District 132 and House District 142, currently represented by state Reps. Gina Calanni, D-Katy, and Harold Dutton, D-Houston, respectively. Dutton’s reelection bid made headlines earlier this year after questions were raised about whether one of the candidates on the ballot in his March primary actually existed. None of the allegations involved the voting process or the casting of illegal ballots.
- That candidate, listed as Natasha Ruiz on ballot application paperwork, was absent from the campaign trail but received enough votes in the four-way race that helped force Dutton into a runoff with Houston City Council member Jerry Davis.
- Ruiz, who would later identify herself to a news outlet as Natasha Demming, worked with Richard Bonton, the fourth candidate, to file her ballot application under a false name, Ogg said Friday. Bonton’s motive, Ogg said in a news release, appeared to be an attempt to manipulate voters in the district into supporting a Latina candidate and “dilute [Dutton’s] voter base in a district with a growing Latino population.” Demming is Black, as are Bonton and Dutton, who has held the seat since 1985.
- Bonton, Ogg said, is charged with tampering with a governmental record — a state jail felony punishable by up to two years — and two Class A misdemeanors, each punishable by up to a year in jail. Demming is charged with two counts of tampering with a governmental record and three Class A misdemeanors — perjury, election fraud and conspiracy to commit tampering with a governmental record — all of which are punishable by up to a year in jail.
- “Those indicted today crossed the line from dirty politics to criminal activity and they will pay the price,” Ogg said in a statement.
- Meanwhile, Damien Jones, a Democratic political consultant, was also indicted Friday on an allegation of sending an anonymous text threatening Calanni in an effort to get her to resign from office instead of running for reelection, according to the news release. The threat, Ogg said, was sent to Calanni in December 2019 just ahead of the 2020 election filing deadline. Calanni reported the threat to the Texas Rangers, which investigated the complaint with the public corruption division of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office.
- Jones, who was indicted for two Class A misdemeanors — coercion of a public servant and false caller identification information display — could face up to a year in Harris County jail and up to a $4,000 fine, if convicted. …
- Calanni lost her reelection bid in November to Republican Mike Schofield, whom she ousted from the seat in 2018.
- El Paso Mayor Dee Margo loses reelection bid to Oscar Leeser – Margo told reporters he doubted any other mayor has had to endure the crises he has battled throughout his last term, and was hopeful the community would realize he did “the best I could to lead.” by Lomi Kriel, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, and Patrick Svitek, The Texas Tribune Dec. 12, 20207 hours ago .
- El Paso Mayor Dee Margo(R) has lost reelection to his predecessor, Oscar Leeser(D), in a runoff defined by the city’s coronavirus crisis and the incumbent’s management of it.
- With early voting numbers Saturday night showing Leeser beating Margo by almost 65 percentage points, an overwhelming margin to beat on an election day during COVID-19, Margo conceded, according to local reports.
- At the time of his concession, Leeser had 82.3% of the early vote, while [incumbent] Margo had 17.7%.
- Woman charged after allegedly driving car into crowd of New York protesters – Police say six people were injured when a car plowed into Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Manhattan; By Victoria Bekiempis in New York and agencies | theguardian.com | Sat 12 Dec 2020 14.55 EST, Last modified on Sat 12 Dec 2020 15.08 EST
- One woman was arrested after allegedly driving her car into a crowd of Black Lives Matter protesters in Manhattan Friday afternoon, injuring six, the New York police department (NYPD) said. …
- The car charged forward in a terrifying, lightning-quick sequence of events where eyewitnesses said protesters were sent “flying” and people were screaming and running in panic.
- The woman in the car, Kathleen Casillo, has been charged with reckless endangerment. Casillo, 52, was released early Saturday and is due in court on 22 February, authorities said. …
- There have been similar incidents between protesters and cars elsewhere in the US since BLM protests began. Between 27 May and 5 September, there were at least 104.
- Ninety-six involved civilian drivers and eight involved law enforcement, USA Today reported, citing data from an anti-terrorism researcher.
- The researcher, Ari Weil, told CNN that 43 of those incidents were found to have malicious intent. Weil opined that internet memes had celebrated, and prompted, these attacks.
- The NYPD also arrested a protester, Nicolle L Besuden, on charges of obstruction of governmental administration and disorderly conduct, following Friday’s incident.
- They alleged that Besuden interfered with paramedics as they tried administering medical treatment. …
- The Constitution has an answer for seditious members of Congress; Ryan Cooper | THEWEEK.COM | December 12, 2020
- … Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who is under investigation for bribery and abuse of office, filed a baldly seditious lawsuit calling for the Supreme Court to overturn the election results in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan, and hand their electoral votes to Trump. It was flatly an attempt to overturn the 2020 election, end constitutional government, and install Trump in power. Before the Supreme Court threw the suit out Friday night, 17 other Republican state attorneys general had joined him, along with 126 members of the Republican caucus in the House, while Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has agreed to represent Trump. And this is just one of dozens of attempts that Republicans at all levels of government have concocted to overturn Trump’s loss.
- In short, material conditions in this country have not been this bad since 1932 at least, and the political situation has not been this bad since 1860. The logical endgame of the rapidly-accelerating Republican attempt to destroy democracy while the country burns would be civil war — if it weren’t for the high probability that Democratic leaders would be too cowardly to fight.
- But it’s worth thinking about what a party seriously committed to preserving democracy would do when faced with a seditious opposition party — namely, cut them out of power and force them to behave. Democrats could declare all traitors ineligible to serve in national office, convene a Patriot Congress composed solely of people who have not committed insurrection against the American government, and use that power to re-entrench democracy.
- The reasoning here is very simple. All members of Congress swear an oath to protect and defend the Constitution, which establishes a republican form of government. The whole point of a republic is that contests for power are conducted through a framework of rules and democratic elections, where all parties agree to respect the result whether they lose or win. …
- The Constitution … stipulates that insurrectionists who violate their oath are not allowed to serve in Congress. Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment, written to exclude Confederate Civil War traitors, says that “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress … who … having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress … to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same[.]” How the Supreme Court ruled, or whether Republicans actually believe their lunatic claims, is irrelevant. It’s still insurrection even if it doesn’t work out.
- Democrats would have every right, both under the Constitution and under the principle of popular sovereignty outlined in the Declaration of Independence, to convene a traitor-free Congress (also including similar acts committed by Republican senators like Lindsey Graham, David Perdue, Kelly Loeffler, and others), and pass such laws as would be necessary to preserve the American republic. That might include a national popular vote to decide the presidency, ironclad voting rights protections, a ban on gerrymandering either national or state district boundaries, full representation for the citizens of D.C. and Puerto Rico, regulations on internet platforms that are inflaming violent political extremism, a clear legal framework for the transfer of power that ends the lame duck period, and so on. States would be forced to agree to these measures before they can replace their traitorous representatives and senators. If the Supreme Court objects, more pro-democracy justices can be added.
- This wouldn’t be the first time such a thing has happened, either. Immediately after the Civil War, the Radical Republican Congress refused to seat delegations from the former rebellious states until they were satisfied with the progress of Reconstruction. Southern states were forced to ratify the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments — which guaranteed due process and universal male suffrage — before their congressional delegations would be seated. (As a consequence, those delegations included numerous Black representatives, until Reconstruction was overthrown.)
- [ Bill Pascrell of New Jersey has) considered this kind of thing …]
- … Republicans have tried to overturn the election using increasingly blatant methods, top conservative pundits are mulling the idea of secession, as their treasonous fire-eater forebears did 160 years ago. The lie that Biden stole the election is now official GOP dogma. …
- Press Release: Pascrell Demands 126 Members Seeking to Overturn Election Not Be Seated in Congress; INSIDERNJ.COM | December 11, 2020, 3:52 pm
- PATERSON, NJ – U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) today called on House leaders to sanction Members and exclude from the 117th Congress any Members-elect who are supporting Donald Trump’s efforts to invalidate the 2020 presidential election. Pascrell cites the text of Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment which disqualifies from service any individuals who seek to attack American democracy, as well as Congress’s power to exclude Members by majority vote as acknowledged by the U.S. Supreme Court in Powell v. McCormack.
- “Stated simply, men and women who would act to tear the United States government apart cannot serve as Members of the Congress. These lawsuits seeking to obliterate public confidence in our democratic system by invalidating the clear results of the 2020 presidential election undoubtedly attack the text and spirit of the Constitution, which each Member swears to support and defend,” Pascrell writes House leaders. “Consequently, I call on you to exercise the power of your offices to evaluate steps you can take to address these constitutional violations this Congress and, if possible, refuse to seat in the 117th Congress any Members-elect seeking to make Donald Trump an unelected dictator.”
- Article I, Section 5 of the United States Constitution gives each chamber of Congress ultimate responsibility to decide its membership, positing that “[e]ach House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members.”
- Section 3 of the Fourteenth Amendment stipulates that: “No person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any state, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any state legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any state, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof…”
- MIKE: In other Republican attempts to overthrow duly elected representatives:
- NJ State Senate Candidate David Winkler(R) Starts Governor Murphy Recall Process; COM | December 12, 2020, 7:33 pm | in
- PRESS RELEASE: My Campaign has started the recall process to remove Gov Murphy from office after Murphy tapped on his Attorney General to attack more small businesses for defying his unconstitutional state emergency orders. …
- Gingrich and Huckabee back Newsom recall effort; By CARLA MARINUCCI | POLITICO.COM | 12/11/2020 10:11 PM EST
- OAKLAND, Calif. — The California activist movement to recall Gov. Gavin Newsom just got a national shot in the arm from former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, two former Republican leaders who still have large conservative followings.
- The bid remains a long shot in a state where Democratic President-elect Joe Biden won 63.5 percent of the vote and Republicans have no statewide officeholders. But Newsom’s attendance last month at an expensive dinner party for a top lobbyist, combined with mounting frustrations with pandemic closures, have sowed discontent among residents. …
- Newsom campaign spokesperson Dan Newman emphasized the effort was backed by supporters of President Donald Trump …
- “… Trump, Gingrich, Faulconer, and Cox are embracing the same playbook, the same refusal to play by the rules,” Newman said in a statement, referring to former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and former GOP gubernatorial candidate John Cox, both of whom are considering a run for California’s top office.
- “These anti-vaccine pro-Trump extremists would rather create an expensive sideshow instead of working together to distribute the vaccine and restart our economy,” Newman added. …
- The California Republican Party has already officially endorsed the movement, as have half a dozen key GOP party leaders in the state. …
- BALLOTPEDIA.ORG – Political recall efforts, 2020: 19 recall efforts against state officials in 2020. Of those, 16 were against Democrats and 3 were against Republicans.
- Bob Ferguson recall, Attorney General of Washington (2020) (D)
- Brad Little recall, Governor of Idaho (2020) (R)
- Dana Nessel recall, Attorney General of Michigan (2020) (D)
- Doug Ducey recall, Governor of Arizona (2020) (R)
- Garlin Gilchrist recall, Lieutenant Governor of Michigan (2020) (D)
- Gavin Newsom recall, Governor of California (2020) (D)
- Gretchen Whitmer recall, Governor of Michigan (2020) (D)
- Jared Polis recall, Governor of Colorado (2020) (D)
- Jocelyn Benson recall, Michigan Secretary of State (2020) (D)
- John Bel Edwards recall, Governor of Louisiana (2020) (D)
- Josh Kaul recall, Attorney General of Wisconsin (2020) (D)
- Kate Brown recall, Governor of Oregon (2020) (D)
- Mandela Barnes recall, Lieutenant Governor of Wisconsin (2020) (D)
- Mike Dunleavy recall, Governor of Alaska (2020) (R)
- Phil Murphy recall, Governor of New Jersey (2020) (D)
- Steve Sisolak recall, Governor of Nevada (2020) (D)
- Tim Walz recall, Governor of Minnesota (2020) (D)
- Tony Evers recall, Governor of Wisconsin (2020) (D)
- Xavier Becerra recall, Attorney Gen’l of California (2020) (D)
- NJ State Senate Candidate David Winkler(R) Starts Governor Murphy Recall Process; COM | December 12, 2020, 7:33 pm | in
- MIKE: So what we see here by implication is a constant and ongoing effort by Republicans to overthrow elections where Democrats win, in the apparent hope that in a “do-over”, a Republican can win in a new election. Basically, keep trying until the election gets it “right”.
- Trump’s New Citizenship Test Is Full of Conservative Bias—And Dotted With Mistakes – People seeking U.S. citizenship deserve better. By STEVEN LUBET | POLITICO.COM | 12/03/2020 09:40 PM EST
- On December 1, 2020, the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service began administering a new naturalization test to those hoping to become U.S. citizens. The test draws from 128 potential civics questions, with the approved answers posted on the USCIS website. The test is given orally, and all applicants for naturalization will have to answer 20 of those questions chosen at random, with a passing score of 12.
- Several new questions call for biographical details about Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and Dwight Eisenhower, while another asks for “the purpose of the 10th Amendment.” Critics of the new test believe that it is intended to create an additional and unnecessary barrier to naturalization. But perhaps the most significant feature of the test is its decidedly conservative political tilt, sometimes to the point of inaccuracy. …
- Here are two questions on the new naturalization test, as well as the only approved answers from the USCIS study guide, now embodying the Trump administration’s revisionist approach to government:
- Who does a U.S. senator represent? ANS: · Citizens of their state
- Who does a member of the House of Representatives represent? ANS: · Citizens in their [congressional] district
- The acceptable answers have been changed from the 2008 iteration of the test, which accurately (at least for now, unless the Supreme Court decides otherwise) stated that U.S. senators represent “all people of the state.”
- Does that mean anyone who answers “all people” rather than “citizens” will be marked incorrect? … [T]he instructions on the USCIS website explain that while “there may be additional correct answers to the civics questions, applicants are encouraged to respond” using only the sample answers. Regardless, the quite evident intent of the drafters was to change the model answer, from which applicants study for the exam, as part of a larger attempt to transform the government’s approach to representation. …
- Here is another incomplete answer from the study guide:
- What is the supreme law of the land?: • [U.S.] Constitution
- In fact, Article VI provides that the supreme law of the land additionally includes the “Laws of the United States [and] all Treaties made.”
- MIKE: IMHO, High School students should be required to pass a 100 question citizenship test, similar to what immigrants applying for citizenship are required to pass, in order to graduate.
- Texas students will still take STAAR tests in 2021, but schools won’t be rated on them – State lawmakers had previously asked the Texas Education Agency to seek a federal waiver to cancel the standardized tests. by Aliyya Swaby | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | Dec. 10, 20202 PM
- [Texas Education Commissioner Mike Morath] has continually rejected the idea of canceling the exams, arguing they are a useful way to determine how much learning students have lost during the pandemic. But he said in November that he was reviewing exactly how those student scores would be used to rate schools and districts. …
- Texas has already committed to allowing elementary and middle school students who fail the exams this spring to move up to the next grade, with district permission. Usually, student scores on the test determine whether high school students can graduate, whether some elementary and middle school students can move on to the next grade, and whether schools can remain open.
- Why autism training for police isn’t enough; by Elissa Ball, Jaclyn Jeffrey-Wilensky | SPECTRUMNEWS.ORG | 26 November 2020
- MIKE: This is what the off-putting battle cry of “Defund the Police” is really about: Assigning the right kinds of responsibilities to the right kinds of personnel.
- Catrina Thompson doesn’t worry about the safety of her 16-year-old autistic son Christopher when they’re in their hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. There, Thompson is chief of police, and most people on the force know Christopher, she says. The officers also all get two training sessions on how to interact with autistic people.
- But when Thompson and Christopher visit family out of state, she says, the fear creeps in. “When I go to Michigan, I’m not Chief Thompson,” she says. “I’m Catrina, and Christopher is not the chief’s son, he’s Christopher. In some people’s mind, he just looks like a big Black kid. And that, when coupled with his behaviors, can be intimidating or even scary to an officer who hasn’t been trained.”
- As a police officer and parent, Thompson knows all too well how badly interactions between autistic people and law enforcement can go. From beatings and violent arrests to deadly shootings, police use of force against autistic people is not uncommon. …
- As violent encounters between police and autistic people continue to make headlines, many states and police departments have added training on how to interact with people on the spectrum to their police-education roster. Better training, some say, offers one solution to the ongoing problem of police force being used against autistic people, particularly autistic people of color. …
- But what constitutes effective training is difficult to establish. There is scant research on how well various kinds of training programs work, and poor trainings can do more harm than good, experts say. Some research suggests that training makes officers more confident that they understand autism, but no less likely to use force. Compounding the problem is the fact that few police departments track officers’ behavior to see whether autism education makes a difference. …
- A consensus is emerging that police training on autism should be standardized across departments, involve autistic people and their families, and include regular refresher sessions. But some experts and advocates say the best way to decrease violence may be to minimize interactions between police and autistic people altogether. …
- Some researchers are working to develop better measures. [Abigail Love, director of Police Community Autism Training] and her colleagues designed a 13-item scale to assess officers’ autism self-efficacy, or their belief in their ability to interact safely with autistic people. The officers’ scores are linked to their actual autism knowledge, the researchers found, suggesting that the scale could be used to measure a training’s effectiveness. …
- A training Gardner and her colleagues developed for Florida police officers goes one step further: It includes a role-play session with actors, some of whom are autistic, in realistic settings, such as a home and a big-box store. The simulations allow officers to practice de-escalation, Gardner says, preparing them to use their new skills in real life. …
- “Everyone under the sun has had a terrific idea about what should be done [about police violence],” says Camille Proctor, executive director and founder of The Color of Autism Foundation, a nonprofit that trains Black parents of autistic children on the ins and outs of diagnosis and services. “They don’t have the key. The key is, you’ve got to get police to stop killing Black people.”
- The takeaway lessons from autism training — be patient, don’t touch people unnecessarily, speak in a low, calm voice — may conflict with other, more foundational training officers receive, particularly in high-stress situations, experts say. “What we’ve been trained to do in high-stress tactical situations is go to that next step to bring greater control,” [St. Paul Police Department officer Rob Zink] says. “But authoritative behavior that works for neurotypical people doesn’t work for autistic people.” …
- “If you have 50 hours of training on how to make sure you’re in control at all times and tackle people, and then four hours of training on dealing with autistic people, you’re not going to be acting on those four hours of training in a crisis,” says Sam Crane, legal director at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. …
- Police should also team up with social workers, mental health experts and other non-law-enforcement professionals, Soares says. “We cannot expect officers to become mental health experts. But the awareness and ability to collaborate will help them improve outcomes.”
- And non-autistic people need to refrain from calling the police immediately when they see an autistic person behaving in ways they don’t understand — especially when the person is Black, Crane says. “There are situations where no one should be responding. Just because someone’s different, it isn’t actually an emergency.”
- Iran rejects Biden’s terms for reviving nuclear deal; COM | Published DEC 4, 2020, 2 days ago
- Iran will not accept preconditions from a new Biden administration over its nuclear programme and the US must return to a 2015 deal before talks can take place, its foreign minister says.
- Javad Zarif said the US had its own “commitments” that must be implemented.
- President-elect Joe Biden has said he will rejoin the nuclear deal and lift sanctions if Tehran returns to “strict compliance with the nuclear deal”.
- Both sides appear to want the other to readopt the agreement’s terms first.
- What is Iran’s position now on the nuclear deal? Addressing a virtual conference hosted by Italy on Thursday, Mr Zarif said the US had been “in grave breach” of a UN resolution endorsing the nuclear deal when it abandoned it, describing the Trump administration as “a rogue regime”.
- “The United States must stop, the United States must cease its violations of international law,” he said. “It doesn’t require any negotiations.”
- Mr Zarif went on to say that the US was “not in a position to set conditions”.
- Mr Biden, who is due to be sworn in as the 46th US president on 20 January, said he would prioritise returning the US to the agreement and look at lifting sanctions, but that it would require Iran to first comply with its terms.
- He told the New York Times this week it was “going to be hard” but “the last goddamn thing we need in that part of the world is a build-up of nuclear capability”.
- On Wednesday [Dec. 2], Iran’s parliament passed a bill that would prevent UN inspections of its nuclear sites and require the government to resume enriching uranium to 20% – well above the 3.67% agreed under the deal – if sanctions were not eased within two months.
- Uranium enriched to a much higher level can be used in a nuclear bomb, though once 20% has been achieved it is technologically easier to reach that required level of purity.
- Trump’s bold moves raise fear of ‘destructive’ final days in office – Analysis: “It’s pretty difficult to think over the course of 50-60 days that you can do something constructive — but you can do something that’s really destructive.”; By Alexander Smith | NBCNEWS.COM | Dec. 6, 2020, 3:47 AM CST
- It’s not uncommon for outgoing presidents to try to squeeze through foreign policy decisions with the final flourishes of their executive pen.
- But some observers fear that President Donald Trump — disgruntled, still claiming victory — is actively attempting to tie President-elect Joe Biden’s hands and shape America’s international outlook for months if not years to come.
- “It’s pretty difficult to think over the course of 50-60 days that you can do something constructive — but you can do something that’s really destructive,” retired Adm. Michael Mullen, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, recently told NBC’s “Meet the Press.” …
- Trump has vowed to keep ratcheting up the pressure on Iran, hitting it with a fresh volley of sanctions and reportedly having to be dissuaded from pursuing military action.
- If that approach makes it harder for Biden to revive the Iran nuclear deal, some observers believe that the assassination of the Iranian nuclear scientist Mohsen Fakhrizadeh makes it more so. …
- Many in foreign policy circles were already on edge, particularly after the unceremonious ouster of Defense Secretary Mark Esper and the hiring of Trump loyalists to fill top roles at the Pentagon.
- Elsewhere, Trump has kept up his policy of unilaterally severing links with China by banning U.S. investment in Chinese companies with links to the People’s Liberation Army. Biden has pledged to be tough on Beijing but will do so in cooperation with allies, rather than acting alone.
- And the president has put in place a plan to withdraw 2,500 troops from Afghanistan and Iraq days before Biden’s inauguration. …
- While the outgoing administration pursues goals that diverge dramatically from Biden’s in the next month or so, Biden’s team will also be handicapped by its unusually late start.
- That’s because the president-elect only received his first national security briefing last week, after Trump’s belated decision to allow him access to the nation’s most high-level intelligence. …
- Moreover, some experts say there is a risk not only from inside the White House, but among America’s adversaries who may see opportunity in a distracted Washington.
- Some believe North Korea could take the opportunity to launch a new missile or conduct a nuclear test. Or that China might test U.S. resolve by increasing military and economic pressure on Taiwan, the self-governed island that Beijing claims as its own province. …
Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig 
Pingback: Weds, September 1, 2021, 11 AM (CT). TOPICS: VOTETEXAS.GOV — Voter Information; New Voting Equipment; Harris County begins preliminary redistricting discussions, seeks public input; Katy-area businesses endure staffing shortages; TxDOT votes to move for