Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio) airs every Monday from 3-4 PM (CT) on KPFT-FM 90.1 (Houston). My co-host and Editor is Andrew Ferguson.
We discuss local, state, national, and international stories.
Listen live on the radio, or on the internet from anywhere in the world! 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:
- An educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy.
- You’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.
“There’s a reason why you separate military and police. One fights the enemy of the State. The other serves and protects the People. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the State tend t become the People.” ~ Commander Adama, “Battlestar Galactica” (“WATER”, Season 1 episode 2, at the 28 minute mark.)
POSSIBLE TOPICS: Voting info; Proposed plan will increase City of Houston water and sewage bills over next 5 years; West University proposes speed limit change; ExxonMobil resolves tax abatement default, moves employees from Spring to The Woodlands; Harris County coronavirus count: Daily new cases rise as hospitalizations fall; Houston ISD to receive $536M in federal funds in first allotment of COVID-19 relief money; Texas enabled the worst carbon monoxide poisoning catastrophe in recent U.S. history; Texas House passes package of police reform bills; In push for new Texas voting restrictions, House panel sets up GOP faceoff; McConnell Attacks Biden Rule’s Antiracism Focus, Calling It ‘Divisive’; Romney booed at Utah GOP convention before failed vote to censure him; Exclusive: Biden’s $400,000 tax cap for individual earnings, not joint filers; Indian PM Modi could have prevented India’s devastating Covid-19 crisis, critics say; 4-Stories: Drought, Climate Change, Adaptation
Pledge to support KPFT 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 convenience.
-
- Make sure you are registered to vote! VoteTexas.GOV – Texas Voter InformationTEXAS SoS VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT APPLICATION (ALL TEXAS COUNTIES) HarrisVotes.com – Countywide Voting Centers, (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965), Harris County Clerk
-
- Harris County “Vote-By-Mail’ Application for 2021
- Fort bend County Elections/Voter Registration Machine takes you to the proper link
- GalvestonVotes.org (Galveston County, TX)
- Liberty County Elections (Liberty County, TX) <– UPDATED LINK
- Montgomery County (TX) Elections
- Brazoria County (TX) Clerk Election Information
- Waller County (TX) Elections
- Chambers County (TX) Elections
- For 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 CentersHARRIS COUNTY – 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.
-
-
- Proposed plan will increase City of Houston water and sewage bills over next 5 years; By Jeff Ehling | ABC13.COM | Wednesday, April 28, 2021, 6:39AM
- The city is holding a public hearing Wednesday at 9 a.m. at City Hall to go over the proposed increases. Houston is basing its planned increases on a study commissioned back in 2019.
- According to the study by Carollo Engineers, if you currently use 6,000 gallons of water a month, you pay $37.22. The cost will rise over the next five years to $56.20.
- At the same time, waste water fees could be going up. Right now, according to the study, customers who use 6,000 gallons of water are paying $45.92 a month.
- If the proposals are accepted, that would increase over the next five years to $76.15 a month.
- The combined bill, according to the study, would go from about $82 a month to $132 a month over 5 years.
- The city has not raised water and sewage fees since 2010. If passed as is, the new rates will impact half a million accounts.
- From Thinkwing Radio on 4/12/21: Federal judge approves Houston’s $2 billion answer to Clean Water Act lawsuit; By Emma Whalen | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 6:31 PM, Apr 6, 2021 CDT | Updated 10:19 AM Apr 7, 2021 CDT
- The plan, outlined in a federal consent decree, includes 430 sewer system improvement projects and will be paid by an increase in water bill rates. The city of Houston was also required to pay a $4.4 million settlement to both the state of Texas and the federal government. An ongoing rate study will determine how much an individual water customer would pay to fund the effort, according to a press release from the city.
- A lawsuit alleging that persistent sewage overflows in Houston violate the Clean Water Act has resulted in a 15-year, $2 billion infrastructure plan approved by a federal judge April 2.
- Houston Public Works Director Carol Haddock told Houston City Council members in 2019, however, that water bill rates would increase by less than 1%. Total bills will likely not surpass 2% of the median area family income, a standard the EPA defines as affordable, Haddock said. ……
- West University proposes speed limit change; By Hunter Marrow | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 6:02 PM Apr 27, 2021 CDT | Updated 6:02 PM Apr 27, 2021 CDT
- [T]he city of West University Place is one step closer to reducing its citywide speed limit. The West University City Council unanimously approved the first of two readings on an ordinance that would reduce the prima facie speed limit from 30 mph down to 25 mph, with exceptions.
- The proposal for speed limit reductions came from recommendations from a months-long citywide traffic study that analyzed traffic volume, speed and crash history of reported incidents at 64 strategic locations identified throughout the city. … The city council approved the Citywide Speed and Safety Traffic Study in February 2020 for $70,000. Should the council approve the second reading of the ordinance, implementation would cost an estimated $75,000 for new signs and installation and be ready by no later than September 2021.
- ExxonMobil resolves tax abatement default, moves employees from Spring to The Woodlands; By Vanessa Holt | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 1:59 PM, Apr 29, 2021 CDT | Updated 2:08 PM Apr 29, 2021 CDT
- ExxonMobil has resolved a default on a tax abatement agreement with Montgomery County by moving employees to its Hughes Landing facilities in The Woodlands, county officials said at a Montgomery County Commissioners Court meeting April 27.
- The corporation had failed to meet a requirement to have 470 employees at each of its buildings in The Woodlands as of the January reporting period, county officials previously reported. It would have faced paying about $4 million to taxing entities including Montgomery County unless it complied within 30 days, Community Impact Newspaper previously reported. …
- In 2013, Montgomery County Commissioners Court and The Woodlands Township board of directors each approved two 10-year 100% tax abatements to ExxonMobil for one and a half office buildings and an 11-story parking garage in the Hughes Landing development in The Woodlands.
- Harris County coronavirus count: Daily new cases rise as hospitalizations fall; By Shawn Arrajj | 5:43 PM Apr 28, 2021 CDT | Updated 8:52 PM Apr 28, 2021 CDT
- The number of daily new COVID-19 cases and the testing positivity rate are both on the rise in Harris County, but the number of patients with COVID-19 in county hospitals has fallen over that same time, according to data from local health care entities.
- The seven-day average for daily new cases hit 579 on April 28, which is up from 468 one week ago on April 21 and the highest the seven-day average has been since April 6, when it hit 583, according to data from the Harris County Public Health Department.
- Meanwhile, the 14-day average for testing positivity took an upward swing in late April after stalling for nearly a month. The positivity rate, which tracks what percentage of people who are tested for COVID-19 test positive, hovered in the 8% range between March 11 and April 12 before beginning to rise again. As of the most recent data from April 20, the 14-day average was at 10.6%, according to public health data.
- County officials have set a target of under 5% as a benchmark to demonstrate community control of the virus.
- Houston ISD to receive $536M in federal funds in first allotment of COVID-19 relief money; By Shawn Arrajj | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 10:49 AM, Apr 29, 2021 CDT | Updated 12:27 PM Apr 29, 2021 CDT
- Houston ISD is slated to receive just over $536 million in grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education as a part of a larger program to help public and charter schools across the U.S. recover from student learning losses caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced the release of $11.2 billion in federal funding April 28, and districts have access to about two-thirds of that funding currently. The remaining one-third is expected to be released later this spring, according to the Texas Education Agency, after the state gets federal approval. In total, HISD is slated to receive about $804 million, which represents about 40% of its operating budget for the 2020-21 school year. …
- TEA officials confirmed the $11.2 billion in federal funding would not be used to replace state funding for public schools in the state’s biannual budget, news that was heralded by the Association of Texas Professional Educators, a group representing around 100,000 educators across the state.
- Texas enabled the worst carbon monoxide poisoning catastrophe in recent U.S. history; They used their car to stay warm when a winter storm brought down the Texas power grid. In a state that doesn’t require carbon monoxide alarms in homes, they had no warning they were poisoning themselves. by Perla Trevizo, Ren Larson and Lexi Churchill, THE TEXAS TRIBUNE AND PROPUBLICA, and Mike Hixenbaugh and Suzy Khimm, NBC NEWS April 29, 202112 PM Central
- After the power flicked off in millions of homes across Texas during the state’s historic freeze in mid-February, families … faced an impossible choice: risk hypothermia or improvise to keep warm. Many brought charcoal grills inside or ran cars in enclosed spaces, either unaware of the dangers or too cold to think rationally.
- In their desperation, thousands of Texans unwittingly unleashed deadly gases into homes and apartments that, in many cases, were not equipped with potentially lifesaving carbon monoxide alarms, resulting in the country’s “biggest epidemic of CO poisoning in recent history,” according to Neil Hampson, a retired doctor who has spent more than 30 years researching carbon monoxide poisoning and prevention. Two other experts agreed.
- In the aftermath of the unprecedented wave of poisonings two months ago, Texas lawmakers have taken few steps to protect residents from future carbon monoxide catastrophes. That choice caps more than a decade of ignored warnings and inaction that resulted in Texas being one of just six states with no statewide requirement for carbon monoxide alarms in homes, ProPublica, The Texas Tribune and NBC News found.
- Instead, Texas has a confusing patchwork of local codes, with uneven protections for residents and limited enforcement, all of which most likely contributes to unnecessary deaths, health policy experts said. …
- … Carbon monoxide is a colorless, odorless gas that, at high concentrations, can kill within minutes. In serious cases, those who survive may suffer from permanent brain damage and other long-term health problems, including memory loss, blindness and hearing damage. …
- … Over the past two decades, the vast majority of states have implemented laws or regulations requiring carbon monoxide alarms in private residences, often on the heels of high-profile deaths or mass poisonings during storms.
- But in Texas, where top lawmakers often promote personal responsibility over state mandates, efforts to pass similar carbon monoxide requirements have repeatedly failed.
- Lawmakers introduced a slew of bills aimed at overhauling the state’s electric grid after the storm, which had its most devastating effects from Feb. 14-17. …
- Demands for change triggered a series of resignations but, with virtually all of the media and legislative focus on the regulatory failures that caused the power outage, little attention was paid to carbon monoxide alarms. The result was a significant missed opportunity to pass reforms after “an entirely preventable public health crisis,” said Emily Benfer, a visiting professor at Wake Forest University School of Law in North Carolina who specializes in housing health hazards. …
- Legislation seeking to create statewide regulations for carbon monoxide alarms has repeatedly failed to pass the Texas Legislature, even following major storms that led to a surge in CO poisonings and deaths. A bill filed in 2019 that would have required the devices in rental housing didn’t get a hearing.
- Former state Sen. Leticia Van de Putte, a San Antonio Democrat, co-wrote a failed measure in 2007, a year after former state Sen. Frank Madla and his mother-in-law were killed in a house fire. His 5-year-old granddaughter, who was also in the home, died from carbon monoxide exposure.
- The measure would have required smoke detectors and carbon monoxide alarms in newly constructed homes and older homes for sale if the residences had fuel-burning appliances.
- But the bill did not advance …
- Industry groups like the Texas Association of Builders at the time staunchly opposed it, criticizing carbon monoxide alarms as an “unproven technology” that would do more harm than good if required.
- “We believe mandating this would create a false sense of security for homeowners and would open up liability for homebuilders should they fail,” Ned Muñoz, vice president of regulatory affairs and general counsel for the group, said during a 2007 House hearing. Muñoz also pointed out that the devices were not yet included in the international building codes that are widely adopted by state and local governments. …
- Since the failure of the 2007 bill, carbon monoxide alarms have become more reliable and are now required by most state governments and recommended by leading health and safety organizations. The International Code Council first recommended them for many newly constructed and renovated single-family homes in 2009 and apartment complexes in 2012.
- In light of the new standards, the Texas Association of Builders has changed its position, said Scott Norman, the group’s executive director. The group now supports requirements for carbon monoxide alarms in newly constructed and renovated residences, Norman said.
- “Decades ago, there were questions about the reliability,” he said. “But the codes evolve.”
- Fire safety advocates and public health experts say that a statewide requirement for carbon monoxide alarms would better protect residents and help drive home the message about the deadly hazard.
- MIKE NOTE: Use of gas ranges to heat space is also a hazard without adequate ventilation. Improperly-maintained fireplaces can also represent a CO hazard.
- How to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning in your home – Carbon monoxide is an odorless, tasteless, colorless gas that can cause serious injury or even death if inhaled in high quantities. Here’s how you can keep your home and family safe. by Perla Trevizo | THE TEXAS TRIBUNE and PROPUBLICA, and Suzy Khimm, NBC NEWS | April 29, 2021, 12 PM Central
- Texas House passes package of police reform bills, including measure requiring more substantive disciplinary action for police misconduct; The chamber approved three police reform measures that are part of a sweeping set of legislation following the in-custody murder of George Floyd last year. by Jolie McCullough | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | April 29, 2021 Updated: April 30, 2021
- The Texas House on Friday quickly approved three police reform measures that are part of a sweeping set of legislation following the in-custody murder of George Floyd last year.
- The bills would require Texas law enforcement agencies to implement more uniform and substantive disciplinary actions for officer misconduct, bar officers from arresting people for fine-only traffic offenses and require corroboration of undercover officer testimony. …
- The approved measures now head to the more conservative Senate. The upper chamber has also passed targeted pieces of Texas’ George Floyd Act — though only those that are also supported by police unions. The measure on officer discipline is strongly opposed by major police unions.
- Last week, the state Senate unanimously approved two bills to require officers to intervene if another is using illegal force and instruct officers to provide first aid and call ambulances for injured people. On Wednesday, the upper chamber passed a bill to restrict police chokeholds. …
- The House on Friday approved House Bill 829 [that] would require law enforcement agencies to adopt a set schedule of disciplinary actions to impose on officers based on the current wrongdoing and the officer’s prior record of misconduct. The actions would range from written warnings to firings.
- Notably, police union agreements would not be able to supersede any disciplinary action that stemmed from an adopted schedule. And in appeals, where fired officers are often reinstated, action taken under the disciplinary schedules would be required to be found reasonable. The Combined Law Enforcement Associations of Texas, a major police union in the state, passed out opposition memos in the Capitol before Thursday’s debate on the bill, saying discipline is “not a cookie cutter process” and that a set schedule is “problematic at best.” …
- A 2017 Washington Post investigation found that since 2006, 70% of fired San Antonio police officers were rehired. …
- Friday’s approval of the three House bills came one day after the lower chamber was slated to vote on legislation that would financially penalize cities with populations larger than 250,000 that cut their police budgets, House Bill 1900. One lawmaker challenged holding the vote on a legislative technicality, and it was sent back to committee. The bill would allow the state to appropriate part of a city’s sales taxes and use that money to pay expenses for the Department of Public Safety. Cities that cut funding from police agencies would also be banned from increasing property taxes or utility rates, which could have been used to compensate for the reapportioned sales taxes.
- In push for new Texas voting restrictions, House panel sets up GOP faceoff over which chamber’s legislation will advance; The House elections committee gutted the Senate’s priority voting bill and replaced it with language from the House’s preferred legislation, signaling a divide over which new restrictions will make it to the governor’s desk. by Alexa Ura | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | April 29, 2021 Updated: 8 PM Central
- The House Elections Committee’s Republican majority voted to gut Senate Bill 7, the priority voting bill that has already passed the Senate, and replace the bill’s language with that of House Bill 6, a significantly different voting bill favored by House leadership. …
- As passed in the Senate, SB 7 clamps down on early voting rules and hours, restricts how voters can receive applications to vote by mail and regulates the distribution of polling places in diverse urban counties, among several other provisions in the expansive bill. The legislation passed the Senate with support from the chamber’s Republican majority and was awaiting action in the House.
- HB 6, approved by the committee’s Republican majority earlier this month, would restrict the distribution of applications to vote by mail, require people assisting voters to disclose the reason a voter might need help in casting their ballot — even if for medical reasons — and enhance protections for partisan poll watchers, including criminal liability for election workers for their treatment of watchers.
- Here’s how Texas elections would change, and become more restrictive, under the bill Texas Republicans are pushing – Senate Bill 7 would create new restrictions on early voting, how voters can receive applications to vote by mail and the distribution of polling places in diverse, urban counties. Here’s our breakdown of the proposed changes. by Alexa Ura | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | April 21, 2021 Updated: April 29, 2021
- McConnell Attacks Biden Rule’s Antiracism Focus, Calling It ‘Divisive’; The minority leader joined Republicans in protesting a proposal to promote teaching about systemic racism and the consequences of slavery, saying it would indoctrinate students with “a slanted story.” By Catie Edmondson | NYTIMES.COM | April 30, 2021
- MIKE: Teaching US history — the good, the bad, and even the well-intentioned but ill-conceived — is not divisive. You know what’s divisive? Extant, unaddressed, virulent, and even unconscious racism. THAT’s divisive.
- Romney booed at Utah GOP convention before failed vote to censure him; By Paulina Firozi | WASHINGTONPOST.COM | May 2, 2021 at 2:06 p.m. CDT
- MIKE: IMHO, there are three senators who would do themselves and the country a great favor if they would leave the Republican Party and become Independents caucusing with the Democrats:
- Mitt Romney: Politically agnostic, he will say and do what suits him politically. Independent status gives him that freedom.
- Susan Collins: She seems to say what she thinks but vote how she’s told. She might be an excellent Independent caucusing with the Democrats.
- Lisa Murkowski: A moderate conservative who has long been abandoned by her party, and seems to caucus with them almost reluctantly. There are issues that she might be very comfortable voting with the Dems if she caucused with them.
- Three incumbent Republican Senators leaving the Republican Party and becoming Independents might also be a crack that could lead to a reformed or a new 2nd major party in American politics. The extremists might then end up with a rump party of their own.
- MIKE: IMHO, there are three senators who would do themselves and the country a great favor if they would leave the Republican Party and become Independents caucusing with the Democrats:
- Exclusive: Biden’s $400,000 tax cap for individual earnings, not joint filers; Hans Nichols, author of Sneak Peek | AXIOS.COM | Updated Apr 28, 2021 – Politics & Policy
- President Biden’s promise not to raise taxes on Americans who make less than $400,000 only applies to individuals — not married couples filing jointly, a White House official clarified to Axios on Wednesday.
- Why it matters: The declaration means a hypothetical couple, with each spouse making $399,999, would not escape the tax increase even though they individually earn less than $400,000. Their combined income would be $799,998, which the White House believes is sufficient to help underwrite the expanded social safety net the president is proposing.
- Driving the news: Biden plans to raise the top tax rate to from 37% to 39.6% for families with taxable income above $509,300, and for individuals above $452,700, to help fund his $1.8 trillion American Families Plan, the official said. That $509,300 limit means that two married individuals, who each have a taxable income exceeding $255,000, would see the portion of their earnings above that figure taxed at the highest rate. …
- Go deeper: Biden also plans to tax capital gains as regular income for households making more than $1 million. They would be taxed at a 43.4% rate.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi could have prevented India’s devastating Covid-19 crisis, critics say. He didn’t. By Julia Hollingsworth | CNN | Updated 9:06 AM ET, Sat May 1, 2021
- On April 17, ahead of a state election, a maskless Prime Minister Narendra Modi boasted to a sea of cheering supporters: “I’ve never ever seen such huge crowds at a rally.”
- His country was on the brink of a humanitarian crisis. That day, India recorded more than 261,000 new coronavirus cases — more than many countries have seen during the entire pandemic.
- And it was only going to get worse. Each day since April 22, the country has reported more than 300,000 new cases — at times, up to half of the daily cases reported globally. The capital New Delhi is now running out of wood for cremations. Hospitals are full and lacking oxygen. Only 2% of the population has been fully vaccinated. Foreign leaders are now rushing to India’s aid.
- While Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spokesman Narendra Taneja told CNN this week that responsibility for India’s second wave belonged “first and foremost” to the government, he maintained the crisis could not have been foreseen — despite countless countries being battered by second waves as new variants emerged globally.
- Others in Modi’s orbit have argued state governments are to blame for not imposing regional lockdowns and mismanaging their health care systems. Last weekend, Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said oxygen shortages at hospitals were a problem not of supply but distribution, which he claimed was the responsibility of state governments.
- But many in India believe responsibility lies with Modi and his Hindu nationalist government, which not only didn’t prepare for a second wave but also encouraged mass gatherings at Hindu festivals and political rallies, including in a closely contested battleground state.
- “The government has failed us all,” Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, the general secretary of opposition party Indian National Congress, said in a statement this week. “Even those of us who oppose and fight them could not have foreseen a complete abdication of leadership and governance at a time as devastating as this.”
- MIKE: This appears to be a very Trumpian response to the pandemic, with the same abdications of responsibility by the central government and the same fingerpointing.
- ‘We are witnessing a crime against humanity’: Arundhati Roy on India’s Covid catastrophe; It’s hard to convey the full depth and range of the trauma, the chaos and the indignity that people are being subjected to. Meanwhile, Modi and his allies are telling us not to complain. by Arundhati Roy | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Wed 28 Apr 2021 18.50 EDT, Last modified on Thu 29 Apr 2021 10.48 EDT
- Oxygen is the new currency on India’s morbid new stock exchange. Senior politicians, journalists, lawyers – India’s elite – are on Twitter pleading for hospital beds and oxygen cylinders. The hidden market for cylinders is booming. Oxygen saturation machines and drugs are hard to come by. …
- … Hospitals are begging for oxygen. Some have started bring-your-own-oxygen schemes. The oxygen crisis has led to intense, unseemly battles between states, with political parties trying to deflect blame from themselves. …
- … On 27 April, the report was 323,144 new cases, 2,771 deaths. … The number of Covid-protocol funerals from graveyards and crematoriums in small towns and cities suggest a death toll up to 30 times higher than the official count. …
- … [T]he possibility of a dire shortage of oxygen had been flagged as far back as April 2020, and then again in November by a committee set up by the government itself. … [E]ven Delhi’s biggest hospitals don’t have their own oxygen-generating plants. …
- … [T]he Indian government is entirely dependent on two manufacturers, the Serum Institute of India (SII) and Bharat Biotech. Both are being allowed to roll out two of the most expensive vaccines in the world, to the poorest people in the world. This week they announced that they will sell to private hospitals at a slightly elevated price, and to state governments at a somewhat lower price. Back-of-the-envelope calculations show the vaccine companies are likely to make obscene profits. …
- The system hasn’t collapsed. The government has failed. Perhaps “failed” is an inaccurate word, because what we are witnessing is not criminal negligence, but an outright crime against humanity. Virologists predict that the number of cases in India will grow exponentially to more than 500,000 a day. They predict the death of many hundreds of thousands in the coming months, perhaps more. …
- The hashtag #ModiMustResign is trending on social media. Some of the memes and illustrations show Modi with a heap of skulls peeping out from behind the curtain of his beard. Modi the Messiah speaking at a public rally of corpses. …
- The crisis-generating machine that we call our government is incapable of leading us out of this disaster. Not least because one man makes all the decisions in this government, and that man is dangerous – and not very bright. This virus is an international problem. To deal with it, decision-making, at least on the control and administration of the pandemic, will need to pass into the hands of some sort of non-partisan body consisting of members of the ruling party, members of the opposition, and health and public policy experts. …
- DROUGHT, CLIMATE CHANGE, ADAPTATION
- Mexico’s drought reaches critical levels as lakes dry up; By FERNANDO LLANO | COM | April 22, 2021
- Drought conditions now cover 85% of Mexico, and residents of the nation’s central region said Thursday that lakes and reservoirs are simply drying up, including the country’s second-largest body of fresh water. …
- Some of them, like the Villa Victoria reservoir west of the capital, are at one-third of their normal capacity, with a month and a half to go before any significant rain is expected. …
- The capital’s 9 million inhabitants rely on reservoirs like Villa Victoria and two others — which together are at about 44% capacity — for a quarter of their water; most of the rest comes from wells within city limits. But the city’s own water table is dropping and leaky pipes waste much of what is brought into the city. …
- Farther to the west, in Michoacan state, the country is at risk of losing its second-largest lake, Lake Cuitzeo. About 75% of the lake bed is now dry, said Alberto Gómez-Tagle, a biologist and researcher who chairs the Natural Resources Institute of the University of Michoacán.
- Gómez-Tagle said that deforestation, roads built across the shallow lake and diversion of water for human use have played a role, but three extremely dry years have left the lake a dusty plain. …
- In Town With Little Water, Coca-Cola Is Everywhere. So Is Diabetes. By Oscar Lopez and Andrew Jacobs | NYTIMES.COM | July 14, 2018
- Potable water is increasingly scarce in San Cristóbal de las Casas, a picturesque mountain town in the southeastern state of Chiapas where some neighborhoods have running water just a few times a week, and many households are forced to buy extra water from tanker trucks.
- So, many residents drink Coca-Cola, which is produced by a local bottling plant, can be easier to find than bottled water and is almost as cheap.
- In a country that is among the world’s top consumers of sugary drinks, Chiapas is a champion: Residents of San Cristóbal and the lush highlands that envelop the city drink on average more than two liters, or more than half a gallon, of soda a day.
- The effect on public health has been devastating. The mortality rate from diabetes in Chiapas increased 30 percent between 2013 and 2016, and the disease is now the second-leading cause of death in the state after heart disease, claiming more than 3,000 lives every year. …
- Buffeted by the dual crises of the diabetes epidemic and the chronic water shortage, residents of San Cristóbal have identified what they believe is the singular culprit: the hulking Coca-Cola factory on the edge of town.
- The plant has permits to extract more than 300,000 gallons of water a day as part of a decades-old deal with the federal government that critics say is overly favorable to the plant’s owners. …
- Coca-Cola executives and some outside experts say the company has been unfairly maligned for the water shortages. They blame rapid urbanization, poor planning and a lack of government investment that has allowed the city’s infrastructure to crumble.
- Climate change, scientists say, has also played a role in the failure of artesian wells that sustained San Cristóbal for generations. …
- Drought-hit California moves to halt Nestlé from taking millions of gallons of water; Nestlé, accused of taking millions more gallons than it is entitled to, receives draft cease-and-desist order from state officials. By Maanvi Singh in San Francisco @maanvissingh | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Tue 27 Apr 2021 08.14 EDT, Last modified on Fri 30 Apr 2021 19.59 EDT
- California water officials have moved to stop Nestlé from siphoning millions of gallons of water out of California’s San Bernardino forest, which it bottles and sells as Arrowhead brand water, as drought conditions worsen across the state.
- The draft cease-and-desist order, which still requires approval from the California Water Resources Control Board, is the latest development in a protracted battle between the bottled water company and local environmentalists, who for years have accused Nestlé of draining water supplies at the expense of local communities and ecosystems.
- Nestlé has maintained that its rights to California spring water date back to 1865. But a 2017 investigation found that Nestlé was taking far more than its share. Last year the company drew out about 58m gallons, far surpassing the 2.3m gallons a year it could validly claim, according to the report.
- Nestlé has sucked up, on average, 25 times as much water as it may have a right to, according to the Story of Stuff Project, an environmental group that has been fighting to stop the bottled water company’s operations in California for years.
- Western U.S. may be entering its most severe drought in modern history; By Jeff Berardelli | CBSNEWS.COM | April 11, 2021 / 9:50 PM / CBS News
- Extreme drought across the Western U.S. has become as reliable as a summer afternoon thunderstorm in Florida. And news headlines about drought in the West can seem a bit like a broken record, with some scientists saying the region is on the precipice of permanent drought.
- That’s because in 2000, the Western U.S. entered the beginning of what scientists call a megadrought — the second worst in 1,200 years — triggered by a combination of a natural dry cycle and human-caused climate change. …
- [T]emperatures across the Western U.S. have increased by a few degrees over the past 50 years. The warmer air provides more heat energy to evaporate moisture from vegetation and soil. As a result, the ground continues to dry out, providing flammable fuel for escalating fire seasons.
- In fact, 2020 was the worst fire season in the modern history of the West …
- Mexico’s drought reaches critical levels as lakes dry up; By FERNANDO LLANO | COM | April 22, 2021
- Make sure you are registered to vote! VoteTexas.GOV – Texas Voter InformationTEXAS SoS VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT APPLICATION (ALL TEXAS COUNTIES) HarrisVotes.com – Countywide Voting Centers, (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965), Harris County Clerk
Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig 