AUDIO:

POSSIBLE TOPICS: VOTETEXAS.GOV—Voter Information; REGISTER TO VOTE; APPLY FOR MAIL-IN BALLOT; League City City Council to discuss creation of library review committee at Feb. 14 meeting; Pearland hires consultant to audit tax calculation process; West University Place council members express interest in updating city’s entire stormwater pipeline infrastructure; Sugar Land approves 30-year deal with fiber-optic internet company SiFi Networks; ShotSpotter technology questioned after Houston City Council approval; Mattress Mack sues Harris County over November elections; Applications open for career and technical education grants; ‘It’s just crazy’: Republicans attack US child labor laws as violations rise; Republicans face continued claims of ‘homophobic and sexist fear-mongering’ over blocked FCC nominee; EU to launch platform to fight Russian, Chinese disinformation; OPINION: Will the non-Russians rebel?; Videos show Turkey’s Erdogan boasted letting builders avoid earthquake codes; 15 million people live under threat of glacial lake outburst floods, study finds; More.

Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio) is now on Wednesdays at 11AM (CT) on KPFT FM-HD2, Houston’s Community Station. You can also hear the show:

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Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig where we discuss local, state, national, and international stories. My co-host and show editor is Andrew Ferguson.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/EwrSlzZC31w

1. Make sure you are registered to vote! VoteTexas.GOV – Texas Voter Information
   1. It;s time to snail-mail (no emails or faxes) in your application for mail-ballots, IF you qualify TEXAS SoS VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT APPLICATION (ALL TEXAS COUNTIES) HarrisVotes.com­ – Countywide Voting Centers, (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965), Harris County Clerk
   2. Harris County “Vote-By-Mail’ Application for 2022
      1. Fort bend County Elections/Voter Registration Machine takes you to the proper link
      2. GalvestonVotes.org (Galveston County, TX)
      3. Liberty County Elections (Liberty County, TX)
      4. Montgomery County (TX) Elections
      5. Brazoria County (TX) Clerk Election Information
      6. Waller County (TX) Elections
      7. Chambers County (TX) Elections
      8. 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.
      9. 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.
      10. HarrisVotes.com – Countywide Voting Centers, HARRIS COUNTY – IDENTIFICATION REQUIRED FOR VOTING: Do not possess and cannot reasonably obtain one of these IDs?
          1. 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:
          2. A government document that shows your name and an address, including your voter registration certificate
          3. Current utility bill
          4. Bank statement
          5. Government check
          6. Paycheck
          7. 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)
          8. You may vote early by-mail if:You are registered to vote and meet one of the following criteria:
             1. Away from the county of residence on Election Day and during the early voting period;
             2. Sick or disabled;
             3. 65 years of age or older on Election Day; or
             4. Confined in jail, but eligible to vote.
             5. Make sure you are registered:
             6. Ann Harris Bennett, Tax Assessor-Collector & Voter Registrar
             7. CHECK REGISTRATION STATUS HERE
             8. CLICK How to register to vote in Texas
             9. Outside Texas, try Vote.org.
2. BE REGISTERED TO VOTE, and if eligible, REMEMBER TO FILL OUT AND MAIL NEW MAIL-IN BALLOT APPLICATIONS FOR 2023.
   
   1. You can track your Mail Ballot Activity from our website with direct link provided here https://www.harrisvotes.com/Tracking
3. League City City Council to discuss creation of library review committee at Feb. 14 meeting; By Saab Sahi | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 6:09 PM Feb 13, 2023 CST, Updated 6:11 PM Feb 13, 2023
   1. The League City City Council will discuss an ordinance regarding the creation of a Community Standards Review Committee to review library materials during its regular meeting Feb. 14.
   2. The ordinance up for discussion is the result of a contentious resolution, which spurred community backlash during public comment and was passed by the City Council 4-3 on Dec. 6, Community Impact previously reported.
   3. The proposed committee would consist of three members from the Library Board and four additional members appointed by the mayor and confirmed by City Council. All seven members must be League City residents for at least a year and will serve two-year staggered terms, according to the agenda item data sheet.
   4. League City’s city attorney or his designee will also be required to attend all meetings, and no material can be reviewed under the proposed Library Materials Challenge Policy more than once within 12 months.
   5. Library materials in any medium that contain obscenity, or feature pedophilia, incest, rape or bondage, or graphically discuss or depict any type of sex or nudity or related topics where the intended audience is below the age of 10 are not permitted to be placed in the sections of League City’s library facilities intended for minors, according to the proposed policy.
   6. Materials can be challenged and would then reviewed by the proposed committee. If the challenge is sustained, then the material would be moved to an adult section of the library.
   7. Over 50 people spoke out against the original resolution, and now over a dozen people have responded to a Facebook event post to protest the ordinance.
   8. No information was present in the agenda regarding what will happen to Helen Hall Library‘s current reconsideration process.
   9. MIKE: Nothing says “freedom” in Texas more than book banning. On the surface, at least, this ordinance doesn’t sound like that. At worst, the “sort-of banned” books would go in the Adult Section of books. Is that anyone over the age of 10? Is a government-issued ID required for proof of age? If someone 10-or-under wants to read the book in the library, is there a guard at the Adult Section?
   10. MIKE: So many of these well-intentioned plans sound reasonable until their actually implemented. That’s when the loopholes in slippery language comes to the fore.
   11. MIKE: Definitions of “obscenity” and “discuss[ing] or depict[ing] any type of sex or nudity or related topics” … Those are the kind of slippery definitions where social conservatives and actual book-banners take over the discussion.
   12. MIKE: I don’t have an issue with Children’s Sections and Adult Sections in libraries per se. I’m just always concerned when the questions of what goes where is tossed into “civilian review boards” deciding what “community standards” are.
   13. ANDREW: On top of all that, there are times when children do need to be aware of the topics that are named in this ordinance so they can have the words to describe it and get help if they’re being abused. Or for those who have faced that abuse in the past, it can be helpful to their self-esteem to know that others have experienced what they have and gone on to live good lives despite it. That’s another failure of policies like this– they make protection through education impossible, and that puts kids more at risk.
4. Pearland hires consultant to audit tax calculation process; By Daniel Weeks | 9:45 PM Feb 13, 2023 CST, Updated 9:45 PM Feb 13, 2023 CST.
   1. The Pearland City Council approved of a contract with Strategic Government Resources, or SGR, for the purpose of auditing the city’s tax calculation process after it discovered a worksheet error that brought the city a multimillion-dollar deficit.
   2. The Feb. 13 meeting agenda states the contract is estimated to cost $36,750. …
   3. The deficit caused by the Harris Central Appraisal District property tax evaluation error lead to a series of budget restructuring moves and the firing of the city manager. …
   4. The City Council has sought an audit of its tax calculation process since Nov. 21, where it passed an agenda item to select a third party to “review and prepare a written forensic audit with respect to the role of the parties and processes involved with the City’s Fiscal Year 2023 budget process.” …
   5. Andrew: Pearland Mayor Kevin Cole said in the article that the delay in starting the audit had been to find a consulting firm that hadn’t worked with Pearland, Brazoria County, or Harris County before so that they could be neutral, which sounds like a wise precaution. Now we just have to wait to see what the audit turns up.
5. West University Place council members express interest in updating city’s entire stormwater pipeline infrastructure; By Melissa Enaje | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 5:53 PM Feb 14, 2023 CST, Updated 5:53 PM Feb 14, 2023 CST
   1. Updating the aging water pipeline infrastructure within the entire city of West University Place is up for consideration after engineers presented their latest findings on the West Side Drainage Project to members of the West University Place City Council at the Feb. 13 meeting.
   2. City Manager Dave Beach said such a large-scale undertaking could cost close to $500 million. …
   3. Two detention sites up for consideration as part of the project are at the West University Recreation Center and Colonial Park.
   4. After discussing the detention center and pipeline corridor data, [the engineering firm contracted to work on the west side project] said that although the updates would help, they would not get to the root of the stormwater drainage problems.
   5. After clarifying the new information, Mayor Susan Sample, Mayor Pro Tem John Montgomery, and Council Members Shannon Carroll and John Barnes agreed that further research into the cost and analysis of a larger project should be considered.
   6. The West Side Drainage Project could cost nearly $100 million not including land acquisition costs, according to city documents. More than half of the project cost would be allocated for the pipeline corridor at $59.2 million, and more than $28 million would toward both the expanded recreation center and Colonial Park detention sites.
   7. The project is part of a larger effort by the city to meet the minimum standard for a two-year storm design across its roads and drainage infrastructure, which includes work on the city’s east and west sides. The new joint pipelines with reinforced concrete box storm sewer trunklines could add relief to Kilmarnock Ditch, which is at capacity, according to Beach. The project would also include pavement replacement.
   8. City staff is working on finalizing the preliminary engineering report with hopes to bring it back for council consideration by the end of March. …
   9. Andrew: I’ve said before and I’ll say again, flood preparation is money well spent, especially in Houston. Folks may not love the $500 million price tag, but they’ll love flooded streets even less.
   10. MIKE: I concur. And it’s not just streets we’re talking about. It can be homes and businesses, too. And will be, without the necessary infrastructure.
6. Sugar Land approves 30-year deal with fiber-optic internet company SiFi Networks; By Jack Dowling | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:30 AM Feb 13, 2023 CST
   1. SiFi Networks, a New Jersey-based telecommunications company, was approved for a 30-year agreement with Sugar Land to establish fiber optic infrastructure throughout the city during a City Council meeting on Feb. 7.
   2. The project is expected to finish design within 12 months and to complete construction after an additional 12 months, for a total build-out time of 48 months, or two years. Officials with SiFi Networks have promised the city a nearly 100% connection rate to residents within the city once the roughly 900 miles of cable is fully built out.
   3. The network is purported to be open-access, meaning that any internet service provider, or ISP, such as Comcast, Spectrum, Xfinity or more local providers can sell internet via the company’s infrastructure once they have purchased the wholesale data access.
   4. SiFi Networks CEO Scott Bradshaw told Sugar Land City Council members at the 7 meeting that the project will offer speeds of up to 10 gigabytes per second, well above the 25 megabytes definition of broadband that the Federal Communications Commission provides. In addition, Bradshaw claimed the project would be a step toward reducing internet access inequality.
   5. The project is entirely privately funded, with zero up-front cost to the city. In exchange, SiFi Networks is asking for a 30-year contract with 10-year extension periods with which to sell their product, as well as for the city to grant easements along public right of ways.
   6. While council members agreed the project is a strong proposition, several council members voiced concerns that the contract was much too binding in favor of the company. …
   7. Mayor Joe Zimmerman also said any other internet service provider or internet infrastructure company has the ability to approach the city. …
   8. The City Council approved the contract in a 5-2 vote. Council Members … Kermally and Ferguson voted against the project.[No relation to our own Andrew Ferguson.]
   9. MIKE: If you live in Sugar Land, you should read this story if you’re not familiar with this plan.
   10. MIKE: In principle, it’s good that the City of Sugar Land is looking into this. Our community and our country need universal access to high-speed internet. It’s becoming a necessity of life, and the “high-speed disadvantaged” will become another educational and professional subclass.
   11. MIKE: I’ve excised some specifics on the contract and some of the comments made at the council meeting. Click on the story link to read those.
   12. MIKE: It should also be noted that as I understand this story, the plan is not meant to bring optical fiber to every home. It’s meant to theoretically make optical fiber connection available for connection by every home. But it’s good that this is being actively explored.
   13. ANDREW: I did some research into SiFi Networks, and essentially they build the fiber optic lines, own and maintain them, and then charge Comcast, AT&T, and other internet companies to provide service to their customers on SiFi’s lines. That sounds similar to how electric grids work, except here the infrastructure is privately-owned.
   14. ANDREW: That left me with questions like if SiFi owns the lines, what happens if the city wants someone else to maintain them? Is that an option, or is the city stuck with SiFi? Does SiFi give the lines up at any point, and if so, does the city then own those lines? What happens if SiFi goes bust? I didn’t find any answers to these questions.
   15. ANDREW: I do like the idea of the company owning the lines being different than the companies selling internet to homeowners, but I think it would be better if the government owned the lines instead because the people would have more say in what decisions are made. But Sugar Land has already accepted a deal, so we’ll just have to see how it works out.
7. ShotSpotter technology questioned after Houston City Council approval; City Council voted to adjust the ShotSpotter contract, but its effectiveness is still questionable. By Kennedy Sessions | CHRON.COM | Feb. 8, 2023, Updated: Feb. 8, 2023 10:32 a.m.
   1. After a clerical error, Houston City Council members voted to alter the city’s agreement with ShotSpotter Technology Inc., a gunshot detection technology company, to $3.5 million and pay a $700,000 past due bill in a Wednesday meeting on Jan. 31. …
   2. A ShotSpotter spokesperson said the contract with Houston is five years and ends in December 2024. …
   3. … ShotSpotter [is] a technology … whose efficacy remains a point of contention between law enforcement and community advocates. …
   4. [It’s] a gunshot detection system featuring sound-capturing sensors. The technology is used by police officers in more than 100 cities across the United States to alert police officers to an area for a rapid response, according to the ShotSpotter website. “These sensors listen for loud, impulsive sounds – pops, booms, and bangs – that may be gunfire,” a ShotSpotter spokesperson said. …
   5. The usefulness of ShotSpotter has become a matter of contention in cities where its sound-monitoring technology has been implemented. In 2017 the City of San Antonio terminated its contract with ShotSpotter citing high costs and limited program success. San Antonio officials said they linked four arrests to the technology alerts. San-Antonio Express reporter Vianna Davila said officials counted incidents where a ShotSpotter warning was issued, police arrived, and police had received no other notification of trouble.
   6. A 2021 report published by the City of Chicago’s Office of Inspector General stated the technology rarely led to arrests for gun-related crimes. …
   7. A study by MacArthur Justice Center also found that the technology sent Chicago Police Departments to thousands of dead-end deployments. …
   8. Last week, Houston City Council member Abbie Kamin said she had requested updates from HPD on the effectiveness of ShotSpotter and a review of the technology by Chief Finner. She added that Finner is presenting the data at a City Public Safety and Homeland Security meeting set for Feb. 16. That review will likely cover the technology’s performance since its initial installation in sectors of the city three year ago.
   9. In 2020, the City of Houston  a ShotSpotter pilot program that placed devices covering a five-square-mile region of Houston’s southside neighborhood, including Sunnyside and Old Spanish Trail. According to HPD ShotSpotter data presented in 2021, the pilot program’s sensors recorded 2,330 confirmed incidents of gunfire from December 2020 to September 2021. Of those more than 2,000 confirmed incidents, only 54 arrests and 60 charges were brought against a defendant. …
   10. HPD officials declined requests for comment on the ShotSpotter program.
   11. MIKE: Just from the Chronicle story, I question the cost-effectiveness of this program. It sounds to me like a lot of money is being spent in specific neighborhoods with very little to show for it in terms of actually preventing or responding to gun violence.
   12. MIKE: I think there’s also an element of putting these detectors in areas where more gun violence is expected, thus increasing police presence in those neighborhoods, which then leads to a sort of “neighborhood profiling” which then may lead to over-policing.
   13. MIKE: I’m on the NextDoor App. At least anecdotally, I get the impression that it’s an epidemic of non-violent crime that really upsets and frightens people: packages being stolen off porches; stuff being lifted out of truck beds; weird attempted intrusions in the early morning hours before dawn; strangers actually entering backyards and stealing things.
   14. MIKE: Just like police dash and body cams have opened our eyes to police abuse, RING cameras and similar equipment have made these non-violent crimes more visible and top-of-mind for many citizens. And it scares and angers them.
   15. MIKE: I think this is exactly what changing policing habits means.
   16. MIKE: “Police presence” doesn’t have to mean an expensive police car with an armed officer. It can be increased patrolling in something as small as a “Smart” car with an officer showing the flag, as it were, to deter crime. This person may or may not be armed, but should be employed by the force. Something similar to a Google mapping vehicle that can record suspicious or criminal acts in progress, and an officer empowered to issue warnings or citations, or to make arrests. If an arrest is warranted, a squad car can be called.
   17. MIKE: It should be obvious that these patrols happen with some frequency, but the unpredictable timing of the patrols should itself be a deterrent
   18. MIKE: Crime in its various forms happens all over town, not just in “hot spots”. We need all citizens to not only be safer, but to feel safer in their neighborhoods.
   19. MIKE: We don’t want “over-policing”, but we should expect “right-policing”; the kind of policing that makes everyone feel safer, whether from criminals or criminal police.
   20. ANDREW: I can respect your philosophy here, but I’m of the opinion that the majority of things that make people “feel” unsafe are actually side effects of the way our society works. Namely, homelessness and poverty, and as you’ll have no doubt seen and others online have screenshotted on apps like NextDoor, paranoia driven by prejudice, reinforced by media sensationalism, and resulting in reclusiveness that gives no chance for that paranoia to be challenged. These things won’t be made better by increased police presence, even of so-called “peace officers”, or of more expensive tech with no guard against bias like ShotSpotter.
   21. ANDREW: Now, I’m not saying people shouldn’t feel safe in their own neighborhoods. But I am saying that punitive measures like policing won’t do much to achieve that. Very few crimes are committed for no reason. Keeping people housed, fed, and productive will go a long way to eliminating most of the reasons people commit crimes, and the best way to do that is through social programs. But simply reducing crime won’t alone make people feel safer– as I said, feelings of lacking safety are often driven by prejudice, and that requires cultural change. Unfortunately, cultural change is a much more difficult thing to legislate.
   22. ANDREW: So I think a good place for each of us to start is changing the culture in our own heads. Sure, listen when your gut puts you on alert, but don’t assume it has all the facts. It often pays to look, listen, and think before acting. The car that drove by your house multiple times in the last hour? They might be casing your neighborhood, or they might be lost. The person walking towards you on the street with a dour expression might mean you harm, or they might be lost in thought and not thinking about their face. Basically, keep your eyes open and have a plan if something goes wrong, sure, but don’t assume the worst when the boring will do. Keeping your paranoia in check will make you happier and make others safer.
   23. MIKE: Security videos caught by homes being robbed are not what I’d call sensationalist or paranoid. And they’re not categorized as violent crime. But having your space invaded and your property stolen is bad enough. Watching it on video makes the fear and anger more visceral. Would your solution be to stop recording it?
   24. ANDREW: I think anyone who has been a victim of a crime is going to feel unsafe for a while regardless of how many police are in their neighborhood. I think there just isn’t as much crime as people insist there is, rather, there’s a lot of visible poverty that gets conflated with viral recordings of crime online and the result is that people who haven’t been victims get paranoid. We should take action, but it should be to help people survive without harming others, not theoretically deter actions that desperate people have no choice but to take.
8. Mattress Mack sues Harris County over November elections; The Houston furniture mogul is suing Harris County election officials for records connected to the election. By Michael Murney | CHRON.COM | Feb. 14, 2023, Updated: Feb. 14, 2023 10:05 a.m.
   1. MIKE: The headline pretty much tells this story. I’m sure that McInvale can afford a pretty good lawyer, but the story doesn’t ask what “standing” Mac has to bring this suit. How was he personally injured?
   2. MIKE: There are defeated candidates suing the county, and their standing as injured parties is obvious. Mac’s standing, not so much.
9. Applications open for career and technical education grants; By Hannah Norton | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 5:25 PM Feb 14, 2023 CST, Updated 5:25 PM Feb 14, 2023 CST
   1. Texas schools and colleges can now apply for the Jobs and Education for Texans [JET] grant. The program helps educational institutions purchase and install the equipment for career and technical education courses.
   2. According to a news release from the Texas Workforce Commission, approximately $8.6 million in JET funding is available during fiscal year 2023, which began Sept. 1.
   3. The JET program helps schools create and develop license, certificate and post-secondary degree programs in a variety of high-demand fields, according to the release. Public junior, state and technical colleges; public school districts; open-enrollment charter schools; and the Windham School District can apply for funding. The Windham School District provides educational opportunities for inmates in state prisons.
   4. Applications [by institutions] are due March 14. The application packet, which includes eligibility requirements and submission documents, can be downloaded from the JET program website.
   5. Texans can send questions about the application process to RFAGrants@twc.texas.gov, according to the release. …
   6. ANDREW: The Texas state government actually spending money on education, how about that. I like that prison education is eligible for this grant as well, that’s a rare recognition of prisoners as humans who deserve to be able to learn.
10. ‘It’s just crazy’: Republicans attack US child labor laws as violations rise; Changes lawmakers are seeking, such as expanding types of approved work, will potentially ‘put kids in dangerous situations’. Michael Sainato |COM | Sat 11 Feb 2023 02.00 EST, Last modified on Sat 11 Feb 2023 02.01 EST
    1. As child labor law violations have been on the rise in the US, some state legislators are pushing for changes at state and federal levels to roll back protections in what some see as a threat to return child labor to the country.
    2. The laws aim to expand permissible work hours, broaden the types of jobs young workers are permitted to do, and shield employers from liability for injuries, illnesses or workplace fatalities involving very young workers. …
    3. [There was] a 37% increase [in child labor law violations] in fiscal year 2022, including 688 children working in hazardous conditions, with the number likely much higher as the recorded violations stem from what was found during labor inspections. …
    4. Amid these increases in child labor violations, legislative efforts have been introduced in several states to roll back child labor protections.
    5. In Iowa, Republican legislators introduced a bill in January to expand the types of work 14- and 15-year-olds would be permitted to do as part of approved training programs, extend allowable work hours, and exempt employers from liability if these young workers are sickened, injured or killed on the job.
    6. The [Iowa] bill would permit the director of Iowa workforce development or the Iowa department of education to grant exceptions from any provision that restricts the types of jobs 14- and 15-year-olds can do if the work is classified as part of a work-based learning program and also strips workers’ compensation rights for these workers.
    7. “It’s just crazy to me that we are re-litigating a lot of things that seem to have been settled 100, 120 or 140 years ago,” said Charlie Wishman, president of the Iowa AFL-CIO, which is opposing the bill. …
    8. The protections being sought for companies are of particular concern to labor activists.
    9. “In the Iowa legislation, one of the provisions is to exempt employers from civil liability due to the company’s negligence. It is astounding that they would have the gall to knowingly acknowledge that more young people will be harmed, but focus on exempting businesses,” said Marcy Goldstein-Gelb, co-executive director of the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health. …
    10. Other states are currently or have pushed similar legislation to roll back child labor protections.
    11. In Ohio, legislators reintroduced a bipartisan bill this year to extend working hours for 14- and 15-year-olds with permission from a parent or legal guardian, and called on Congress to adopt the same rollbacks at the federal level.
    12. Legislators in Minnesota introduced a bill in January 2023 to extend work hours for 14- and 15-year-olds.
    13. Republicans in Wisconsin passed a bill that was vetoed by Governor Tony Evers … that would have expanded work hours for 14- and 15-year-olds. … New Jersey governor, Phil Murphy, signed a similar law in 2022 that expanded work hours for 14- and 15-year-olds to work longer hours during summer months and on holidays and expanded allowable work hours for 16- and 17-year-olds.
    14. At the federal level, Republican congressman Dave Joyce of Ohio drafted a bill in 2022 to expand working hours for 14- and 15-year-olds during periods when school is in session.
    15. “We think these laws are really ill advised and just asking kids to have negative educational impacts,” said Reid Maki, director of child labor issues and coordinator at the Child Labor Coalition, who argued it took significant efforts to enact child labor laws over 100 years ago, when there were thousands of children working long hours in unsafe jobs such as factories and mines.
    16. Maki added: “Now there are states that want to go back toward that direction to deal with labor shortages by using teens, even to the extent of placing them in dangerous work environments – [it] doesn’t make sense. It’s disregarding their welfare.” …
    17. He argued that child labor laws in the US need to be strengthened and updated, including closing existing loopholes that permit young workers, some as young as 12 years old, to work unlimited hours in many jobs in the agriculture industry with parental permission when school is not in session. … “In my office, we can’t bring in a 12-year-old to make copies, … but we will take that same 12-year-old and put them in a field. The actual law allows them to work unlimited hours as long as school is not in session,” added Maki. “There is basically no protection.”
    18. MIKE: There’s a lot more in this story about how and where Republicans are pushing to relax child labor laws. I think it’s appalling. In a few states, the chipping-away of child labor laws is bipartisan, which is really disappointing.
    19. MIKE: The lawmakers advocating for these relaxations of child labor laws really need to read more Charles Dickens stories. I’ve seen 16- and 17-year-olds work in retail environments. They usually work late shifts and weekends. I always wonder when schoolwork gets done; or sleep, for that matter, because they often seem exhausted.
    20. MIKE: Many of these kids are being set up for poor performance or failure at school, thus affecting the rest of their lives for a few bucks while they’re still kids.
    21. MIKE: The 16- and 17-year-olds are bad enough. At 16, kids can drop out of school legally. At 17, with parents’ consent, they can go into the military. But 12-, 13-, 14-, and 15-year-olds? Any legislator trying to pass laws to put these children to work is a horrible person and doesn’t deserve to be in government. Or at least, shouldn’t be.
11. Republicans face continued claims of ‘homophobic and sexist fear-mongering’ over blocked FCC nominee; by Julia Mueller | THEHILL.COM | 02/14/23 4:04 PM ET
    1. Republicans on Tuesday pushed back against President Biden’s nominee for an open seat on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), Gigi Sohn, at her third nomination hearing before the Senate Commerce Committee. 
    2. Sohn has appeared at two prior hearings to fill the long-vacant fifth seat on the FCC, which oversees interstate and international communications and has been deadlocked with just two Democrats and two Republicans as Democrats try to get her confirmed. 
    3. A lawyer who served as a top aide to former FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler, Sohn has come under fire from senators on the right over her qualifications and alleged conflicts of interest, including comments she made about conservative social media. 
    4. “Ms. Sohn portrays herself as a defender of free speech but has a history of campaigning to censor conservatives. She calls Fox News ‘dangerous to our democracy’ and has urged the FCC to revoke Sinclair’s broadcast licenses,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said. …
    5. Democrats, on the other hand, lauded Sohn’s qualifications, highlighting her decades of experience in the telecommunications space. They also stressed the urgent need to fill the open FCC seat to break the party-line deadlock and take action on matters such as the FCC’s broadband maps. 
    6. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), the chairman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Communications, Media and Broadband, underscored “the dire need to fill the FCC” and knocked attempts to delay Sohn’s confirmation [saying,] “It’s been 755 days that we don’t have a fully functioning FCC. …”
    7. Sohn would be first openly LGBTQ commissioner of the FCC …
    8. Nearly two dozen LGBTQ advocacy organizations sent a letter to Senate leadership earlier this month urging Sohn’s confirmation and pushing back against what they called “homophobic and sexist fear-mongering” hampering the nomination process. …
    9. Appearing before the Senate committee 15 months after her initial nomination, Sohn said she’s “still Biden’s nominee for the fifth seat in the FCC” because of her dedication to the agency’s mission, her position as a consumer advocate and her “extremely well-qualified” candidate status — but also because she believes “that regulated entities should not choose their regulator.”
    10. “Unfortunately, that is the exact intent of the past 15 months of false and misleading attacks on my record and on my character,” Sohn said. …
    11. MIKE: It’s worth remembering that we’re still enduring Louis DeJoy as postmaster general. It now has taken up to 10 days for me to successfully mail something across town.
    12. MIKE: Republicans trying to block a Democratic majority on the FCC is just more hoping for a Republican Senate in 2025, and maybe a Republican president.
    13. MIKE: It’s also a reminder that blowing stuff up, even metaphorically, is a lot easier than repairing it.
    14. ANDREW: So Sohn has an opinion on a relevant regulation issue, namely fairness in media, and she has ties to a now-defunct business in the industry where she has experience. For a political nominee, those are some pretty minor skeletons. I think she’s right when she calls out industry groups for playing a part in keeping her unconfirmed, but Republicans would likely have done it anyway because they see an opportunity to keep the seat open long enough to get a Republican elected President who can then steal the appointment. It worked with Merrick Garland.
12. EU to launch platform to fight Russian, Chinese disinformation; Josep Borrell warns of ‘new wave’ of fabricated images, videos and deceptive websites. By Clothilde Goujard | POLITICO.EU | February 7, 2023, 11:25 am CET
    1. The European Union will launch a new platform to counter disinformation campaigns by Russia and China amid growing worries, EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said today.
    2. A so-called Information Sharing and Analysis Center within the EU’s foreign services —the European External Action Service (EEAS) — will seek to track information manipulation by foreign actors and coordinate with the 27 EU countries and the wider community of NGOs. …
    3. One EEAS official said it would be a decentralized platform to exchange information in real-time …, enabling better understanding of emerging disinformation threats and narratives and quicker action to tackle such problems.
    4. Almost a year after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the EU continues to fend off Russian attempts to manipulate and distort information about the war. Kremlin-led propaganda seeking to blame the EU for a global food crisis due to its sanctions has also spread to countries in Africa and the Middle East. …
    5. The EU’s existing disinformation unit … noted that most of the foreign information manipulation in 2022 had centered on narratives supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russian and Chinese diplomatic channels were particularly involved.
    6. MIKE: One of the operating beliefs of this show is that “you’re entitled to your own opinion, but not your own facts.” So, it’s always worth clarifying the distinction between “misinformation” and “disinformation”.
    7. MIKE: “Disinformation” is knowingly spreading information that is untrue. “Misinformation” is unknowingly spreading stuff that is actually just wrong.
    8. MIKE: For example, Donald Trump spreads a lot of “disinformation”, sometimes called “lies”. Ronald Reagan spread a lot of “misinformation” about things of which he was actually ignorant (E.G., tax cuts add revenue (the so-called Laffer Curve), AIDS is a disease of gays, The Iran-Contra Affair. ). That kind of thing becomes “disinformation” when someone knows better but keep repeating it.
    9. ANDREW: I don’t oppose this move, and wouldn’t oppose a move by Russia and China to establish their own agencies to serve a similar function, because I believe that all governments lie, and having more entities dedicated to pointing out those lies no matter where they come from gives us all a better chance to be better informed.
    10. ANDREW: I hope, though I don’t expect, that these sorts of official fact-checking bodies will try and acknowledge when a political point is based on opinion and interpretation, and thus cannot be considered “true” or “false”. Though the mention of sanctions having a harmful impact on global food exports, something I would consider to be a matter of opinion, being labelled as “disinformation” doesn’t make me optimistic.
    11. MIKE: That is somewhat a matter of opinion, but it confuses cause and effect. The fact is that it’s the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine that caused the sanctions that are only circumstantially responsible for food shortages. Russia blaming it on sanctions is like someone pointing a gun at your head and saying, “Don’t make me shoot you!” If they shoot you, then whose fault is it? You or the shooter?
    12. MIKE: In any case, the shortages are caused by the war in Ukraine reducing Ukrainian grain production and the Russians blockading Ukrainian food exports. So, there’s that.
    13. ANDREW: The cause and effect argument is the kind of stuff I was talking about. It’s a matter of opinion whether sanctions are a natural and reasonable consequence of war, or a separate policy that is being used opportunistically and unjustly harming civilians. It’s an ethics debate, not a fact-check.
    14. ANDREW: However, you are correct that Russia’s actions in Ukraine have had way more of an impact on global food production than any sanctions Russia is living under. That’s the kind of rebuttal to misinformation I think we need more of, and I think we all need to try to avoid confusing factual rebuttal with opinion.
13. Russia deploys nuclear-armed ships for first time in 30 years, Norway says; ‘Tactical nuclear weapons are a particularly serious threat,’ Norwegian intelligence report says. By Wilhelmine Preussen | POLITICO.EU | February 14, 2023 2:04 pm CET
    1. Russia has begun deploying tactical nuclear weapon-armed vessels in the Baltic Sea for the first time in the last 30 years, the Norwegian Intelligence Service said in its annual report.
    2. “The key part of the nuclear potential is on the submarines and surface ships of the Northern Fleet,” the Norwegian intel noted.
    3. The Northern Fleet warships regularly went to sea with nuclear weapons during the Cold War era, but this is the first time the modern Russian Federation has done the same, the report added.
    4. While Russia also has submarine capabilities, anti-satellite weapons and cyber capabilities that could threaten Norway and the NATO military alliance, tactical nuclear weapons are “a particularly serious threat in several operational scenarios in which NATO countries may be involved,” the report said.
    5. The Norwegian intelligence also noted that an escalation of a localized war into a wider conflict involving the United States, NATO and Norway cannot be ruled out.
    6. The agency assessed that while Russia will maintain, modernize and develop its nuclear arsenal, no significant changes in Russian nuclear doctrine are expected in the coming years.
    7. MIKE: That’s actually the whole article; short and to the point.
    8. MIKE: This is where we all take a deep, calming breath. As the article points out, this is not the first time Russian ships have carried nukes. And the US has done the same. Even now, US subs carry nuclear-armed missiles with MIRVs (Multiple Independently-targeted Re-entry Vehicles). These US subs alone could probably destroy Russia.
    9. MIKE: What makes this new information a bit unnerving is that Putin has done some unprecedented nuclear saber-rattling. This doesn’t change Russian nuclear doctrine, though. More like, it emphasizes it.
    10. ANDREW: The problem with a doctrine of strength is it only works when your opponent gets intimidated and caves. If everybody is using a doctrine of strength, nobody wants to look weak, so nobody caves, so the pressure builds and builds. I really hope we get at least one new world leader who can look up from the death spiral for a bit. Ideally, sometime before the big red button gets pushed in a fit of rage.
14. OPINION: Will the non-Russians rebel?; by Alexander J. Motyl, Opinion Contributor | THEHILL.COM | 02/13/23 9:00 AM ET
    1. [As the Russian-language liberal website, Meduza, reported]… [T]he Russian Federation’s non-Russian nations may be on the verge of asserting themselves as sovereign actors and accelerating its collapse. The irony would be too sweet: In attacking Ukraine, Putin could wind up dismantling Russia, thereby demonstrating that unintended consequences can be deadly.
    2. The Free Nations of Russia Forum (FNRF) is the émigré non-Russian political grouping that hopes to replace the Russian Federation with a series of independent states. The FNRF was founded in 2022 by Ilya Ponomarev, an ex-member of the Russian Duma who opposed Putin’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and denounced his invasion of Ukraine in 2022. A vociferous opponent of the Russian dictator and his fascist regime, Ponomarev currently resides in Ukraine. The Forum has met five times, [most recently] in late January 2023 …
    3. Attending the conference were representatives of regions that most readers probably have never heard of: Siberia, Cherkessia, Ichkeria (Chechnya), the Pskov Republic, the Laplandia Republic/Murmansk, the Nogai Republic, Don\Kazakia, Tatarstan, Ingria-Latvia, the Moscow Republic, the Kuban, Bashkortostan, Sakha (Yakutia), Königsberg (Kaliningrad), Karelia, Ingushetia, Buryatia, and Idel-Ural. …
    4. [I]t would be premature to dismiss the Forum as a meaningless émigré conclave. Although the tone of Meduza’s report was skeptical, its reporter did attend and write a lengthy piece, suggesting that the issues that concerned the gathering were worth attention. Putin’s propagandist-in-chief, Vladimir Solovyov, also made fun of the event — a sure sign that he’s worried. As is Putin, who has spent two decades chipping away at the prerogatives of Russia’s non-Russian administrative units. Most recently, he effectively reduced Tatarstan to a mere province of the Federation. …
    5. Russia’s non-Russians nations have borne the brunt of the fatalities thus far. … At some point they will ask whether it’s better to submit to Putin’s destructive schemes or to bolt — not because they will necessarily have been influenced by the Free Nations of Russia Forum, but because secession will be the only guarantee of survival in the deadly chaos that seems to be Russia’s unavoidable future.
    6. [The author] is a professor of political science at Rutgers University-Newark. A specialist on Ukraine, Russia and the USSR, and on nationalism, revolutions, empires and theory …
    7. MIKE: As always, this article was extremely excerpted for this show. Click the link to read it in full.
    8. MIKE: How likely is this potential outcome? Is it more or less likely than the US South “rising again”? The only answer to give is whether someone in 1989 would have expected the USSR to be dissolved by 1991. It’s anyone’s guess. But this article qualifies as informed speculation.
    9. ANDREW: Hey, I’ve heard of Siberia. I’ve not heard much other than it’s cold there, but I’ve heard of it. More seriously, I think the characterization of Russia under Putin as fascist is a bit hyperbolic as they haven’t checked off every warning sign of fascism (though Russia under Putin is certainly autocratic), and rather telling about where the author’s biases lie. But this is an interesting hypothetical.
    10. ANDREW: I certainly think Putin did not expect the invasion of Ukraine to go as poorly as it has for him, and I think a primary motivator of it was to appeal to that conservative nationalist sensibility that his party has based its support on. The invasion is embarrassing that sensibility and Putin’s political presence, I think, which has been holding Russia together through a lot of unpopular policies and decisions.
    11. ANDREW: Without that presence to hold the country together, some regions will find breaking away to be a lot more feasible than at any other point in recent history. Whether it will be feasible enough to accomplish and whether the people in those regions will support secession remains to be seen.
15. Videos show Turkey’s Erdogan boasted letting builders avoid earthquake codes; By Peter Kenyon | NPR.ORG | February 13, 20232:10 PM ET
    1. As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan struggles to defend his response to last Monday’s devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, videos from a few years back have emerged showing him hailing some of the housing projects that crumbled, killing thousands of people.
    2. Critics say contractors were allowed to skip crucial safety regulations, increasing their profits but putting residents at risk.
    3. The videos have fueled public outrage over slow efforts to help residents in the aftermath of the massive earthquake — the world’s deadliest in over a decade — that killed more than 35,000 people in Turkey and neighboring Syria, and left many injured and without a home, food or heating in the middle of winter.
    4. In one video, taken during a campaign stop ahead of Turkey’s March 2019 local elections, Erdogan listed some of his government’s top achievements — including new housing for the city of Kahramanmaras [kara-MAHN-marahsh], also known as Maras, near the epicenter of last week’s quake. …
    5. Engineers and architects say the lack of safety features designed to absorb the shock of earthquakes likely contributed to the soaring death toll. …
    6. Duvar [news service] cited a senior Istanbul city official … who gave a breakdown of the tens of thousands of building amnesty certificates granted before the 2018 general election in 10 provinces struck by the earthquake. They included more than 40,000 amnesty certificates in the hard-hit Gaziantep province, the official said. …
    7. [T]he country’s main association of engineers and architects weighed in with a scathing attack on the practice of amnesties for builders, saying, “Zoning amnesty is an invitation to death.”
    8. MIKE: There’s a lesson here for conservatives, libertarians and greedy businesspeople who complain about building codes making housing too expensive. The lesson is that some affordable housing is only affordable until it kills you.
    9. MIKE: Well-written and thoughtful government regulation — what I call “right-regulating — is a good thing. The devil is always in the details, but more often than not it can be life-saving and protect you from unnecessary dangers at work and at home.

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