Beginning on June 2nd, Thinkwing Radio will be moving to Wednesdays at 11AM on KPFT HD2.
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; THINKWING RADIO IS MOVING, With final tolled segment complete, focus shifts to developing biomedical corridor along Hwy. 249; Missouri City celebrates expansion of Regional Surface Water Treatment Plant; 54% of eligible Fort Bend County residents fully vaccinated ahead of Memorial Day weekend; Houston doubles illegal dumping fine; Texas General Land Office commissioner requests direct allocation of $750M to Harris County for flood mitigation; Texas bill limiting teaching of current events, historic racism appears headed for governor after Senate revives it; Texas Legislature approves bills to require power plants to “weatherize,” among other measures to overhaul electric grid; A faction of conservatives pushes to build its own climate movement; Texas Democrats abandon House floor, blocking passage of voting bill before final deadline; Elizabeth Warren Slams Jamie Dimon Over Overdraft Fees Amid Pandemic; Creeping authoritarianism inside EU is a real threat to the bloc; and More.
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- THINKWING RADIO IS MOVING — AS OF June 2ND. It will air Wednesdays from 11am-12 Noon (CT) on KPFT-HD2, Live on HD radio
- Online live at KPFT.org
- Podcast
- Archive
- Most KPFT talk is now on KPFT HD2
- By learning to access your HD radio bands, you’ll not only be able to continue listening to Thinkwing Radio, but to the many HD bands available from many radio stations. A whole new Universe of radio may open to you!
- 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
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- 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?
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- 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.
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- With final tolled segment complete, focus shifts to developing biomedical corridor along Hwy. 249; By Anna Lotz | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM |11:29 AM May 25, 2021 CDT, Updated 6:14 PM May 27, 2021 CDT
- Texas State Highway 249 – From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- State Highway 249 (SH 249), also known depending on its location as West Mount Houston Road, the Tomball Parkway, Tomball Tollway, MCTRA 249 Tollway, or the Aggie Expressway, is a generally north–south highway in Southeast Texas. The southern terminus is in North Houston at Interstate 45 (I-45). The current northern terminus of the highway is north of Todd Mission at the intersection of FM 1774.
- Tomball Tollway section, Phase I — Phase one runs for 6 miles (9.7 km) from just north of Spring Cypress Road, the current terminus of the existing free lanes to just north of the existing Tomball bypass.
- MIKE: The “Elitism” of toll roads.
- Missouri City celebrates expansion of Regional Surface Water Treatment Plant; By Claire Shoop | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 10:47 AM May 28, 2021 CDT | Updated 10:47 AM May 28, 2021 CDT
- Missouri City held a ribbon-cutting and grand opening ceremony May 26 for the Phase 2 expansion of the Regional Surface Water Treatment Plant located at 4655 1/2 Bees Creek Court, Missouri City.
- With the $20 million expansion, the plant’s processing capacity doubles from 10 million gallons per day to 20 million gallons per day.
- Mayor Robin Elackatt said the expansion is Missouri City’s largest capital improvement project in city history.
- “This continued expansion of the city’s public surface water drinking supply is critical to accommodate growth in our city as well as to meet the time-sensitive mandates from the Fort Bend Subsidence District,” Elackatt said.
- A future Phase 3 expansion will further increase the plant’s capacity to 33 million gallons of drinking water per day.
- 54% of eligible Fort Bend County residents fully vaccinated ahead of Memorial Day weekend; By Claire Shoop | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 2:36 PM May 28, 2021 CDT | Updated 2:36 PM May 28, 2021 CDT
- Heading into Memorial Day weekend, 356,675 people in Fort Bend County are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Texas Department of State Health Services.
- This represents 53.62% of the county’s population over the age of 12. As of May 12, individuals 12 years old and older are able to receive a COVID-19 vaccine in Texas.
- In addition to those fully vaccinated, [another] 83,005 Fort Bend County residents have received the first shot in a two-shot series, state data shows.
- Houston doubles illegal dumping fine; By Emma Whalen | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 11:41 AM May 27, 2021 CDT | Updated 11:41 AM May 27, 2021 CDT
- The maximum fine for illegally discarding waste in Houston was doubled to from $2,000 to $4,000, City Council approved May 27.
- The $4,000 fine is the maximum allowed under state law.
- The measure is the latest in a series of efforts to target the city’s most egregious offenders who leave piles of everything from construction materials and tires to furniture and mattresses on roadsides and empty lots. …
- The correct avenue for disposing of such materials is placing items out for heavy trash pickup during designated junk-waste months or bringing items to the city of Houston’s neighborhood depositories. …
- The city will also need to consider better public awareness campaign to combat the widespread issue, Council Member Robert Gallegos said. …
- Texas General Land Office commissioner requests direct allocation of $750M to Harris County for flood mitigation; By Hannah Zedaker | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 8:32 PM May 26, 2021 CDT | Updated 10:05 AM May 27, 2021 CDT
- Texas General Land Office Commissioner George P. Bush requested May 26 a $750 million direct allocation to Harris County for flood mitigation efforts from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, according to a news release.
- The request comes less than a week after the Texas GLO informed Harris County and city of Houston leaders that neither entity had been awarded any Hurricane Harvey flood mitigation funds.
- As previously reported by Community Impact Newspaper, the Harris County Flood Control District submitted $915 million in grant applications last October in hopes of receiving federal funds earmarked in 2018 for flood mitigation efforts following Hurricane Harvey in 2017. According to county officials, 40% of the $125 billion in damage caused by Hurricane Harvey took place within Harris County.
- However, Harris County and city of Houston officials learned May 21 that neither entity would be receiving any money from the first round of funding allocated by the Texas GLO. Harris County officials said they believed the entities were left out because the formula used by the Texas GLO to determine which grant applications would be awarded funding, was discriminatory against large, urban areas like Harris County and the city of Houston.
- At the Harris County Commissioners Court meeting May 25, more than 50 residents voiced their opposition to the Texas GLO’s decision for nearly six hours; the court subsequently passed a slate of measures, likewise opposing the decision.
- The following day, Bush announced his request for a direct allocation of $750 million to Harris County for flood mitigation efforts.
- “I have heard the overwhelming concerns of Harris County regarding the mitigation funding competition,” Bush said in a statement. “The federal government’s red tape requirements and complex regulations are a hallmark of President Biden’s administration. I am no stranger to standing with the people of Texas as we fight against the federal government. As such, I have directed the GLO to work around the federal government’s regulations and allocate $750 million for mitigation efforts in Harris County.”
- According to the release, an amendment to the state action plan regarding the administration of Community Development Block Grants for Mitigation in Texas will be submitted to HUD by the GLO to implement these changes. A final mitigation competition will be held for the other 48 eligible counties at a later date, the release states. …
- Texas bill limiting teaching of current events, historic racism appears headed for governor after Senate revives it; Texas educators worry the bill would have a chilling effect on tough conversations about race and racism. GOP lawmakers say they wanted to ensure teachers’ personal biases stay out of their lessons. by Kate McGee | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | May 28, 2021 Updated: 22 hours ago
- Texas GOP senators revived a contentious bill Friday night that would limit how Texas teachers can talk about current events and America’s history of racism in the classroom, hours after House Democrats seemed to have successfully killed the legislation. The bill now appears back on track to reach Gov. Greg Abbott‘s desk for approval.
- House Bill 3979 originated in the House, but the Senate substantially changed it earlier this month. Those changes included stripping out more than two dozen requirements that students study the writings or stories of multiple women and people of color.
- When the bill went back before the House on Friday, state Rep. James Talarico, D-Round Rock, raised a procedural violation, arguing that some changes from the Senate were not relevant to the bill. His point of order was sustained, appearing to block the bill in the final days of the Legislature.
- But hours later, senators removed the amended language and reverted back to the House version of the bill, over the objections of Democratic senators. State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, called his own point of order in the upper chamber to try to block the Senate’s move, noting that the Senate rules say that a four-fifths vote is required to pass out a bill this late in the legislative session. But Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, overruled that objection. Patrick told senators, some of whom seemed confused, that the vote was not on passing the bill — but simply on removing their previous amendments to it. The Senate then agreed to strip their previous amendments.
- The bill says teachers cannot be compelled to discuss current events, and must explore various view points without giving deference to either side. And the Senate’s move Friday also revived the requirement that various historical women and people of color and their writings be studied.
- Many educators and education advocacy groups had opposed the bill, which still states that teachers cannot be compelled to discuss current events and if they do, they must “give deference to both sides.” Opponents say it limits honest conversations about race and racism in American society. …
- The version now apparently heading to the governor also bans the teaching of The New York Times’ 1619 Project, a reporting endeavor that examines U.S. history from the date when enslaved people first arrived on American soil, marking that as the country’s foundational date.
- The vote to strip the previous Senate amendments came in a 18-13 vote. In a statement after the Senate’s move, Talarico, who’d imperiled the bill in the House earlier, echoed his fellow Democrats.
- “It’s ironic that Lt. Governor Patrick ignored the Texas Constitution to revive a bill about civics” said Talarico. “I’m proud that my point of order forced the Senate to pass the House version of HB 3979, which includes important Democratic amendments requiring Texas educators to teach the history of white supremacy. …
- MIKE: What is fascinating, frustrating, and concerning is that Conservatives are so afraid of history and facts that they feel compelled to shape, edit and require that history and facts be taught to conform to the Conservative version of ‘truth’. This is a real-life example of Orwelles’ “1984”, and Republican Legislatures have become versions of Orwelles’ “Ministry of Truth”.
- Apparently, Stephen Colbert was right when he said that, “Facts have a liberal bias.”
- Texas Legislature approves bills to require power plants to “weatherize,” among other measures to overhaul electric grid; The Texas House and Senate both approved negotiated versions of Senate Bill 2 and Senate Bill 3, the two sweeping bills to change the state’s power grid and the people who oversee it. by Erin Douglas and Mitchell Ferman | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | May 26, 2021 Updated: 2 hours ago
- … As time ran out in the legislative session, the Texas House and Senate made last-minute changes to the bills. State lawmakers responded to February’s deadly winter storm with a few key changes to the state’s power grid that would address some issues exposed by the storm — such as requiring power plants to upgrade for more extreme weather — but did not make the sweeping structural changes to Texas’ electricity market that some experts have called for in the aftermath of the power crisis. Senate Bill 2 and Senate Bill 3 will still need to be approved by Gov. Greg Abbott. …
- A faction of conservatives pushes to build its own climate movement; At a rally next month in Miami, one group is trying to kick-start a conservative grassroots climate movement. By Alex Seitz-Wald | NBCNEWS.COMMay 29, 2021, 5:00 AM CDT
- Before he became a climate activist during his freshman year of college, Benji Backer had spoken at the Conservative Political Action Conference, written for right-leaning sites such as TownHall and RedState, and made a name for himself as a conservative commentator on television.
- But like many other young people, he worried about climate change and didn’t see a place for himself in either the conservative movement, which mostly ignores or denies climate change, or the environmental movement, in which major institutes like the Sierra Club tend to align with Democrats.
- So in 2017, Backer founded the American Conservation Coalition, which next month is hosting what it bills as the first conservative climate rally.
- “We want to plant a flagpole in the sand to say, this is an issue conservatives can and should lead on,” he said. “There is absolutely zero path to a zero emissions, climate change-free future without bipartisanship — and anybody who doesn’t accept that isn’t taking this seriously.”
- The group has grown to more than 220 branches, many of which are on college campuses, with thousands of grassroots members and relationships on Capitol Hill. …
- Texas Democrats abandon House floor, blocking passage of voting bill before final deadline; Midnight was the deadline for the House to approve the legislation that would alter nearly the entire voting process, create new limitations to early voting hours, ratchet up voting-by-mail restrictions and curb local voting options. by Alexa Ura | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | May 30, 2021 Updated: 1 AM Central
- The sweeping overhaul of Texas elections and voter access was poised from the beginning of the session to pass into law. It had the backing of Republican leaders in both chambers of the Legislature. It had support from the governor.
- Democrats who opposed the bill, chiding it as a naked attempt of voter suppression, were simply outnumbered.
- But on Sunday night, with an hour left for the Legislature to give final approval to the bill, Democrats staged a walkout, preventing a vote on the legislation before a fatal deadline.
- “Leave the chamber discreetly. Do not go to the gallery. Leave the building,” Grand Prairie state Rep. Chris Turner, the chair of the House Democratic Caucus, said in a text message to other Democrats obtained by The Texas Tribune. …
- Democrats had argued the bill would make it harder for people of color to vote in Texas. Republicans called the bill an “election integrity” measure — necessary to safeguard Texas elections from fraudulent votes, even though there is virtually no evidence of widespread fraud. …
- In between their speeches opposing the bill, Democrats seemed to be trickling off the floor throughout the night, a number of their desks appearing empty. During an earlier vote to adopt a resolution allowing last-minute additions to the bill, just 35 of 67 Democrats appeared to cast votes. Around 10:30 p.m., the remaining Democrats were seen walking out of the chamber.
- Their absence left the House without a quorum — which requires two-thirds of the 150 House members to be present — needed to take a vote. …
- But while Democrats were able to defeat the legislation Sunday, Abbott quickly made clear he expected lawmakers to finish the job during a special session.
- “Election Integrity & Bail Reform were emergency items for this legislative session. They STILL must pass. They will be added to the special session agenda,” he said in a post on Twitter. “Legislators will be expected to have worked out the details when they arrive at the Capitol for the special session.”
- Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, echoed the call for a special session to pass SB 7 and other Republican priorities that have died in the House.
- “The Texas Senate passed all these priority bills months ago and we will again. The TxHouse failed the people of Texas tonight. No excuse,” Patrick tweeted.
- MIKE: And thank goodness!
- Elizabeth Warren Slams Jamie Dimon Over Overdraft Fees Amid Pandemic; By Jon Skolnik | SALON by way of TRUTHOUT.ORG | Published May 27, 2021
- Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., grilled JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon during a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Tuesday, calling claims that the bank helped customers during the pandemic “a bunch of baloney.” …
- During the Tuesday hearing, Warren took specific aim at how much money JPMorgan collected in [overdraft] fees, pressing Dimon for an exact figure. “Do you know the number?” she asked.
- “I don’t have the number in front of me…,” Dimon responded as Warren cut him off.
- “Well I actually have the number in front me,” Warren [said]. “It’s $1.463 billion. Now do you know how much JPMorgan [profits] would have been in 2020 if you had followed the recommendation of the regulators and waived overdraft fees to help struggling consumers?”
- … “The answer is your profits would have been $27.6 billion,” she answered.
- “So here’s the thing. You and your colleagues come in today to talk about how you stepped up and took care of customers during the pandemic,” Warren said. …
- During the pandemic, the Fed instituted a policy that lowered the reserve requirement for banks, freeing up capital with which to lend to customers in order to keep the economy afloat. The policy, however, ended this year on March 31. “Over the past year,” Warren noted, “you could have passed on the breaks you got from the Fed to your customers, but you didn’t do it.”
- “Mr. Dimon,” she asked. “Will you commit, right now, to refund $1.5 billion you took from consumers during the pandemic?”
- “No,” Dimon responded.
- Creeping authoritarianism inside EU is a real threat to the bloc; Swift response to Belarus contrasts with EU’s inability to deal with threats to democracy in Hungary and Poland. Ruadhán Mac Cormaic | IRISHTIMES.COM/OPINION | Sat, May 29, 2021, 01:00
- … The EU’s swift and decisive political mobilisation against the [Belarus] dictatorship on its doorstep contrasts starkly with its chronic inability to muster a coherent response to threats to democracy inside the club.
- It’s not that the two problems are directly comparable – Lukashenko runs a one-party state that detains and tortures its opponents, and the spark that moved the EU to act against it was not the crushing of internal dissent per se, but the prospect of European airspace being weaponised.
- Yet the creeping authoritarianism inside the bloc is arguably a greater threat to the EU itself and to its founding values …
- The union’s failure so far to act in defence of democracy in Hungary and Poland is not merely a failure to grasp what is happening. The bloc’s treaties failed to anticipate such a grave situation arising within the club, and Budapest and Warsaw have been adept at blocking collective action against them.
- Other member states are divided between those who would punish and exclude the authoritarians and those who believe they must be persuaded to rein in their worst instincts.
- For others, there are commercial reasons not to alienate errant neighbours. Just yesterday, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban was received at Downing Street by Boris Johnson.
- It complicates matters that, in Hungary and Poland, the EU is grappling with a new form of authoritarianism that resists easy categorisation. Those countries’ leaders are in a vanguard of a nationalist counter-revolution that arose through existing democratic structures. …
- There is no preordained outcome to the authoritarian drift in Poland and Hungary. Trump was constrained in important ways by a combination of resilient institutions and his own ineptitude. Other nationalist demagogues will be ejected from power, preventing true mafia states from taking hold before it’s too late.
- But the longer the new authoritarians remain in office – assuming more control and diverting more public resources towards their own propaganda – the more difficult it becomes for a democratic transfer of power to occur. …
Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig 