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POSSIBLE TOPICS: VOTETEXAS.GOV—Voter Information; REGISTER TO VOTE; March 5 Primary Elections; Humble Police Department releases 2023 racial profiling report; Tomball City Council decides against sending term limits to voters during second vote; Houston City Council members pioneer ATV community patrols. Could it be a citywide model?; Designer Line Up for Indigenous Fashion Week Announced; Sweden Closes Investigation of Pipeline Blasts, but Stays Silent on Cause; Industry pain abounds as electric car demand hits slowdown; Solar Power Isn’t Over Yet; More.

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

Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio) is now on Wednesdays at 11AM (CT) or Thursdays at 6PM on KPFT 90.1 FM-HD2, Houston’s Community Media. You can also hear the show:

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Except for timely election info, the extensive list of voting resources will now be at the end.

1. March 5, 2024 Primary Elections: HarrisVotes.com
   1. Early Vote Centers will be open from Tuesday, February 20, through Friday, March 1. (7 a.m. – 7 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 12 noon – 7 p.m. on Sunday).
   2. Vote Centers will accept voters from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. on Election Day, Tuesday, March 5.
   3. Sample ballots are now available for the primaries. Visit the “What’s on my Ballot?” page at HarrisVotes(dot)com and enter your name or address to see all the contests and candidates you are eligible to vote on! (You can bring handwritten notes or printed sample ballots to the voting booth; just be sure to take it with you when you leave.)
   4. The deadline to apply for a mail ballot is February 23. Click here for the application. Please fill it out, print it, and mail it to our office before the deadline.
   5. We will have a joint primary this year | by Charles Kuffner
2. Humble Police Department releases 2023 racial profiling report; By Jessica Shorten | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM 12:16 PM Feb 13, 2024 CST / Updated 12:16 PM Feb 13, 2024 CST
   1. Humble City Council members accepted the official 2023 racial profiling report on Feb. 8 from the Humble Police Department, which covered 9,832 warnings, citations and arrests during traffic stops.
   2. The breakdown: According to the report, which was audited by Alex del Carmen, a professor of criminology with Texas A&M University, the Humble Police Department remained in compliance with the Texas Racial Profiling Law for 2023.
   3. The report showed only one complaint was filed against the department in 2023 for racial profiling but was deemed unfounded following an internal investigation.
   4. Of the 9,832 traffic stops made by the department in 2023, race or ethnicity was only known 75 times prior to the stop; the locations of traffic stops were primarily on city roads and U.S. highways, the report said.
   5. A total of 452 arrests were made by Humble Police Department, according to the report, with arrest types varying from penal code violations to outstanding warrants found at the time of the traffic stop. Some of the arrests in the chart below account for people facing multiple charges at the time of arrest.
   6. MIKE: As Mark Twain once said, there are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics.
   7. Humble has a population of 16,563 people, but recorded 9,832 traffic stops. In theory, that could mean that almost 60% of Humble residents experienced a traffic stop in 2023, but that’s unlikely.
   8. (MIKE: Traffic stops break down as 15.7% Hispanic, 44.3% White, 37.67% Black, 2.13% Asian/Pacific Islander, .002% Alaskan Native/Native American).
   9. MIKE: (Race & Ethnicity (Texas-Demographics.Com) — The largest Humble racial/ethnic groups are Hispanic (49.7%) followed by Black (24.5%) and White (23.2%)). So, the traffic stop ratios are nothing like the population demographics of Humble.
   10. MIKE: The story states that traffic stops occurred mainly on Humble city streets and US highways. The Northeast Freeway is designated as US-59/ I-69, so I suspect that it is included as a US highway for statistical purposes, though the story doesn’t specifically say that. A US Highway is going to be primarily through-traffic, and would predictably not have a demographic ratio like Humble. I think a more interesting statistic might be to break out traffic stops on Humble city streets separately from US Highways. Street traffic is going to be overwhelmingly local, and would give a clearer picture of how close traffic stops are to Humbles ethnic makeup.
   11. MIKE: I’m not saying anything is wrong in Humble traffic stops, just that these stats are fairly meaningless in terms of whether they indicate racial profiling or not.
   12. ANDREW: I agree. Statistics like these need to take nuance like this into account in order to be useful. A large enough sample can hide any problem, after all. Separate profiling statistics for city streets and non-city streets would give a more detailed and reliable look at police practices.
3. Tomball City Council decides against sending term limits to voters during second vote; By Lizzy Spangler | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 1:17 PM Feb 12, 2024 CST / Updated 1:17 PM Feb 12, 2024 CST
   1. Last September, Tomball City Council appointed a charter review commission that was tasked with reviewing the city’s charter and making recommendations on how it should be amended.
   2. In meetings on Jan. 22 and Jan. 29, the commission met with City Council to discuss their recommended propositions, which did not include a proposition on term limits. It was at the Jan. 29 meeting that City Council directed City Attorney Loren Smith to write up a proposition that would amend the charter to create term limits.
   3. During its Feb. 5 regular meeting, City Council discussed Proposition F — which would create term limits — along with the other 17 propositions recommended by the commission. Council ultimately voted, on first reading, to approve all 18 propositions.
   4. The city’s charter requires that ordinances be read and considered two times. It was at the second and final reading that council voted against sending the term limits proposition to voters in May.
   5. During the Feb. 9 meeting to consider the second and final reading of an ordinance to send propositions to amend the city’s charter to voters, Tomball City Council members did the following: They voted unanimously to approve sending all propositions except Proposition F—which outlined term limits for City Council members and the mayor—to voters during the May 4 election. They [also] discussed and voted on Proposition F separately, ultimately voting it down 1-4, which means voters will not see it on the May 4 ballot. Council member Dane Dunagin voted in approval; council members John Ford, Mark Stoll, Derek Townsend and Randy Parr voted against. Mayor Lori Klein Quinn only votes if there is a tie.
   6. [So when Tomball residents vote on propositions to amend the city’s charter on May 4, a proposition that would create term limits will not be on the ballot after Tomball City Council voted 1-4 against approval during a special meeting 9.]
   7. The term limits proposed by Proposition F were: Four consecutive full terms, or 12 consecutive years, whichever is longest; [and] After reaching their term limit, a council member or the mayor would not be eligible to be elected again until they are out of office for one full year.
   8. When Tomball residents go to vote in the May 4 election, there will be 17 propositions on the ballot that would amend the charter for reasons such as: Bringing it into compliance with state law; Updating grammatical errors and misspellings; Replacing the term councilman or councilmen with council member or council members; Replacing pronoun-specific language with office- and title-specific language; Clarifying responsibilities of offices, such as the city manager, mayor and mayor pro-tem; Clarifying council’s role in approving city administrative positions; [and] Adding a section allowing council to appoint council members to serve as liaisons between each board and commission. …
   9. [MIKE: Here, the story goes into rationales of the council members as to why they voted as they did.
   10. [You can go to the article and view the 17 propositions that will appear on the May 4 ballot below, or click here.]
   11. MIKE: Term limits is a very tricky question. In practice, an individual can be term-limited at the ballot box, but incumbents have such a strong advantage in terms of name recognition and free PR (known technically as “unearned media”) as to make it hard for new people to win elections except in the case of an open seat.
   12. MIKE: Different states and localities have different rules on term limitations. Sometimes it’s about consecutive terms in an office, and sometimes it’s about total terms in an office. Term limits on the US presidency were put in place after FDR was elected to four terms. Dwight Eisenhower could have run on any party ticket he wanted and probably could have won. Ike ran for president as a Republican specifically because he felt it was time for an alternative party to have power after 20 years of Democratic presidents.
   13. MIKE: And term limits on the presidency has its good points. After all, while a president you like for 16 years might sound great, a president you don’t like to 16 years would be like torture.
   14. MIKE: The stakes might seem lower in state and local offices, but are they? Your local office holders have more closely felt and immediate impacts on you. I suspect a lot of folks in Texas wouldn’t object to term limits on state office holders, especially offices like governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, for example.
   15. MIKE On the other hand, there’s something to be said for preserving institutional knowledge. If you change office holders too quickly or too often, that can get lost, and effectiveness of governance can suffer.
   16. MIKE: There’s probably no perfect answer to this question. It likely varies very much with the times and circumstances.
   17. ANDREW: As someone who always wants a real contest on his ballot, I definitely think term limits are a valuable and useful policy because of their incumbent-busting power. It’s true that institutional knowledge has value, but I think most governments expect that knowledge to reside in the civil service.
   18. ANDREW: Tomball’s proposed term limits, though, are pretty soft compared to those of higher offices. Four full terms or 12 years, whichever’s longest, and they can run again after a year out of office? No political careers would be shot down by that, and voters get a regular guarantee of new leadership.
   19. ANDREW: Mayor Quinn mentions in a non-excerpted part of the article that her concern is that voters didn’t get a chance to have their say on these term limits. I think that’s the biggest issue here. I think some Council members’ concerns that the term limits proposition would compromise the review commission’s autonomy are not really well-founded, considering every proposal from the commission will be its own separate question. If it was a yes or no vote to accept all of the commission’s recommendations, and the term limits were added onto that, I could see a problem. But I wouldn’t take issue with a separate question being added on while an election is already being planned, and I wouldn’t expect Tomball voters to either.
   20. MIKE: I think Andrew and I mean slightly different things when we talk about “institutional knowledge”. In an article I found, “Institutional knowledge is [defined as] the sum of information a company and its employees possess. This can include the expertise, policies, data, skillsets, techniques, know-how, processes, values, and experiences that cover the organization’s entire history or are brought to the institution by new hires.” ~ “Institutional Knowledge”, Valamist Group, Dec 27, 2023
   21. MIKE: So define it as you will.
   22. REFERENCE: “Institutional Knowledge” — Valamist Group, Dec 27, 2023 (Recommended Reading)
4. Houston City Council members pioneer ATV community patrols. Could it be a citywide model?; By Abby Church, Matt Zdun, Staff writers | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | Feb 13, 2024
   1. Two Houston City Council members are leaning into one possible solution to concerns about public safety— increased community patrolling on ATVs [All-Terrain Vehicles].
   2. [MIKE: From our research, it seems that these are gasoline-powered with decent range and easy to refuel.]
   3. Not long after District J Council Member Edward Pollard took office in 2020, he created the first community patrol in his district. The patrol consists of Houston police officers who work overtime to address low-level crime concerns in District J. It also has its own 10-member task team that acts as the “eyes and ears” of the neighborhoods it serves, Pollard said. …
   4. Newly elected District H Council Member Mario Castillo now wants to replicate that model after campaigning on tackling crime in his district.
   5. [Castillo said,] “I want to utilize programs and tools that are going to work, especially if we’re committing city dollars to them.”
   6. While Pollard and Castillo say the patrols have been critical in addressing low-level crime in a timely manner, data tells a murkier story about whether they have made a major dent in reducing crime — or community nuisances that do not rise to the level of a crime — overall. 
   7. A Chronicle analysis of data relating to the types of crimes and complaints that fall within the self-reported purview of the patrol revealed that, in general, low-level crime and nuisance outcomes in District J in the period while the patrol has been in effect are not all that different from other districts with no patrol at all. 
   8. Still, one expert in community policing says having a mechanism for police to build relationships with the community is better than not having anything at all.
   9. [Said Howard Henderson, a Texas Southern University professor whose work focuses on criminal justice reform,] “Any approach that engages the community in the conversation, not just on the back end after something’s happened, but on the front end, you will see that those have worked in those respective communities.”
   10. How the patrol works — He used some of his $750,000 in discretionary funds to create a patrol made up of officers from the department’s Differential Response team, which focuses on community crimes. The patrol now has six $30,000 Polaris ATVs that officers can drive on streets, trails and in between apartment complexes. 
   11. The police do not ride around looking for trouble. Instead, District J residents submit complaints through an online portal on the patrol website. Those complaints are then fed to the officers in charge of the patrol, who go out and investigate further.
   12. Once a complaint is resolved, the officer feeds the information back to District J staff, who then update the public form submission on the patrol website. …
   13. Castillo’s patrol is still in its infancy, but his team has begun its initial conversations with HPD and Pollard’s team about how to recreate a patrol for District H. He wants to go one step further, teaming up with Metro’s police force to also handle rail line issues, like drug activity, in his district.
   14. Questions on success — While Pollard and Castillo maintain these patrols are worth the money and overtime, city crime and 311 data reveals a more nuanced read of the program.
   15. The issues addressed by the patrol include a handful of crimes, such as vandalism, disorderly conduct and loitering offenses. The patrol also handles several complaints that are typically addressed through the city’s 311 process: heavy trash violations, illegal dumping, drainage issues, property code violations, junk motor vehicles, property nuisances and graffiti. 
   16. The Chronicle cross-referenced the possible complaints that District J residents can register with crime data from HPD and complaint data from 311. 
   17. [MIKE: There are charts included with the story to compare outcomes, so far, to other city council districts where these patrols are not occurring.]
   18. The analysis showed no noticeable change in disorderly conduct crimes while the patrol has operated. Meanwhile, vandalism crimes decreased, with about two fewer crimes per 1,000 residents in District J in 2023 than in 2020. However, other districts like D and I saw similar decreases, suggesting that the decrease might be due to citywide factors, not any particular actions by the patrol.
   19. There were too few loitering crimes in individual districts to draw any meaningful conclusions.
   20. The effectiveness of the patrol is also not readily apparent in the city’s 311 data. One might expect the 311 complaints in District J in the areas where there is overlap to decrease, or to decrease by a larger amount than the districts with no patrol. That is largely not the case.
   21. Complaints related to building code violations decreased in District J between 2016 and 2023, but they also did in many other districts. Trash dumping, junk motor vehicle, nuisance and drainage complaints stayed relatively flat, as they did in many other districts. 
   22. It is possible that the patrol has had an effect on heavy trash and graffiti complaints since these complaints to 311 have recently begun to fall in District J, even though they are rising or generally staying the same in other districts. However, there are relatively few graffiti complaints to 311 in each of the individual districts, which might skew the results.
   23. Defending the program — Pollard says the goal of his patrol is not necessarily to reduce crime, but to respond to neighborhood issues in a more timely and efficient manner.
   24. “What we’ve been able to showcase is that by having a District J Patrol, the lower level crimes and violations will get addressed in a prompt fashion, and you don’t have to worry about it getting kicked to the side because there are a lot of high crimes that are going on,” Pollard said.
   25. Pollard also said part of the patrol’s goal was to address 311 complaints that the city marked as resolved when they had yet to be fully addressed.  
   26. “We do see some overlap, and we do ask for service requests numbers to 311, if applicable,” Pollard said. “But we found that this would be an even more streamlined process to 311.”
   27. Pollard’s team says the district has also responded quite positively to the program.
   28. [Paul Young, Pollard’s chief of staff, said,] “There’s not a number we can give that shows reduction in crime, but (residents) know it and they feel it. And they see it and experience it every day.”
   29. Misty Sparks, Pollard’s spokesperson, noted that District J staff have seen larger turnout at events where patrol members and police officers are typically present, like National Night Out, a community building event for police.
   30. Castillo said the patrol in his district would be geared toward the areas that are not as good at reporting low-level crimes and do not see extra layers of help from constables or HPD. …
   31. As Pollard and Castillo both emphasized, there are other benefits to these patrols that crime and 311 data cannot capture, chief among them: building trust between police and the communities they serve. …
   32. Officer Jose Herrera, who works on the District J Patrol, says the patrol has done just that. While the officers could make an arrest if needed, they spend much of their time speaking to residents and educating them on violations they may be committing, so as to avoid future legal consequences.
   33. Some residents in Castillo’s district, he said, have expressed excitement about the potential patrol.
   34. Juan Hernandez has ties to two neighborhoods represented by Castillo — he lives in Denver Harbor, and he owns Doña Maria, a Mexican restaurant in Second Ward.
   35. While he does not know the specifics of Castillo’s plan, Hernandez said he would take whatever Castillo was offering.
   36. [Said Hernandez,] “Crime is bad everywhere, but if we could get more cops to show up … I think that would help.”
   37. ANDREW: Aside from the inherent issues with community policing, I think this program is mainly focused on changing how police are perceived rather than anything about how they actually impact the people they interact with. If I’m part of a minority group that has faced systemic police brutality, my issue with police isn’t that they show up in cars that have doors, it’s that when I need help, they show up with the power to kill me. I’m not looking for a more approachable cop, I’m looking for some help that doesn’t come with the implicit threat of violence.
   38. ANDREW: That said, there is a glimmer of a good idea in this policy. Having people who have some institutional power to solve or start the process of solving small problems responding promptly to reports of those problems is good. It shows people that their government listens to them and is proactive in meeting their needs. That inspires public trust. But having those people also have the institutional power to use violence undermines that trust.
   39. ANDREW: What I’m saying is, take this program out of the police department. Put public works officials in these carts, or road maintenance folks, or firefighters and paramedics. Let them putter around, or be dispatched to specific reports, to respond to issues where nobody is in danger. 
   40. ANDREW: If punishment has to be a factor, then give these people the training and authority to issue warnings and fines, but nothing else. Again, if the people showing up can’t kill anyone, then they bring a hell of a lot less tension with them, and everybody is less likely to freak out. It’s one of the main benefits of defunding police: more money to spend means more options for who to call for help, and better outcomes for all involved.
   41. MIKE: As a non-sequitur, when I first read about ATVs on city streets, my first thought was that in many parts of the country, ATVs aren’t street legal, but I guess it’s different when cops drive them.
   42. MIKE: But to the point, I don’t necessarily disagree with what Andrew is saying. I think that the possibility of unjustified police shootings accompanying increased police presence needs to be taken into account in this program. Maybe these ATV patrols should be armed solely with non-lethal weapons such as pepper spray and tasers. If they need more than that, call for backup.
   43. MIKE: In our pre-air discussions, Andrew and I discussed the inconclusive stats in District J may need more time to show any possible results. After all, Covid was at its height when Councilman Pollard started his program in J, and that will be a statistically unsound baseline. I don’t think you can really start analyzing results until perhaps January 2023, to pick an arbitrary date that sort of post-pandemic.
   44. MIKE: I think it’s worth pursuing for another year or to at least, especially now that there will be two districts to compare.
   45. REFERENCE: City Council District Maps — HOUSTONTX.GOV
5. Designer Line Up for Indigenous Fashion Week Announced; By Kaili Berg | NATIVENEWSONLINE.NET | February 06, 2024
   1. The Southwestern Association for Indian Arts (SWAIA) announced the designer line-up for the first-ever American-produced Indigenous Fashion Week which will take place in Santa Fe, New Mexico. 
      The event is set to take place from May 2 to 5 and will feature Native American and Indigenous Canadian designers who aim to shine a spotlight on their unique fashion narratives and celebrate the rich diversity in Indigenous cultures. 
   2. [MIKE: The story then lists about a dozen Indian-owned labels.]
   3. Additional designers and special guests will be revealed in the next few months on SWAIA Native Fashion Week [SNFW]’s Instagram account.
   4. The event will commence with a media launch at the New Mexico Governor’s Mansion on May 2, 2024. The following day, a fashion mini-symposium will be held at a location that is yet to be determined, where panel discussions will range over topics such as “Why Native American Fashion Matters?” and a “Designer-Focused Fashion Hub”. 
   5. The weekend will bring mainstage fashion shows, trunk shows, and brand activations. These brand activation spaces will provide opportunities for organizations to engage with diverse communities and enhance their visibility in the fashion industry.  
   6. Tickets will be available to purchase in March 2024. The SWAIA is currently offering sponsorship opportunities and activation spaces.
   7. Since SWAIA launched its Indigenous Fashion Show in 2014, its shows have grown tremendously. It is now a highlight of the Santa Fe Indian Market, the largest American Indian arts festival in the world, attracting Indigenous fashion designers from all over North America. …
   8. [In a previously published article by Native News Online, SWAIA Executive Director Jamie Schulze told reporter Darren Thompson,] “Santa Fe Indian Market has always been about showcasing and making sure our artists have that same voice and that includes fashion. That is a really important voice to me because that’s representation and that’s something our cultures have struggled with and have been invisible for so many years,”
   9. “It is important for us to come out as the creatives that we have always been historically, not only through our jewelry, our sculpture, and these amazing art pieces, but what we wore,” Schultz said.
   10. MIKE: I want it understood that the comment I’m about to make is intended to be entirely without any kind of snark or sarcasm. I consider it a serious question.
   11. MIKE: I presume that these fashions are intended for a mass market. Or at least, a niche mass market.
   12. MIKE: Now let’s say that a non-Native American buys some of these garments and wears them in public. Yes, they’re supporting Native designers. But will these people be accosted by strangers against whom they’ll have to defend themselves against charges of “cultural appropriation”, in the same way that people with a disability that is not obvious have to defend themselves against nosy, self-righteous individuals who consider it their job to defend handicapped parking spaces? Will they have to show these buttinskis the labels in the neck or hems of the garments to prove that they’re actually supporting Native designers? Andrew, I’d be interested in your take on this question.
   13. ANDREW: Possibly. It depends on how much inspiration the design takes from sacred or otherwise important dress, and whether the design is indeed intended to be worn by non-Natives. 
   14. ANDREW: But if that does happen, and the person wearing something from one of these Native designers is within their rights to do so, then the worst that could happen would be a little bit of an annoyance, some people jumping to conclusions who can (and most likely will) get corrected later, and the chance for the person wearing the clothing to go “um, actually” and be right (which is a feeling that some people spend their lives chasing). 
   15. ANDREW: Contrast that with the kind of harm that cultural appropriation does: fostering misunderstanding and disrespect of other cultures which “others” the people of that culture, and allowing people not from that culture to make money off of it hand over fist while keeping people who are actually from that culture locked out of the market because the misuse leaves no room for the genuine. 
   16. ANDREW: I think that in order to help obstruct the harms of appropriation, risking a little bit of conclusion-jumping is reasonable.
   17. MIKE: There is a photo of a fashion show with the story, and they discuss selling to retailers.
   18. MIKE: I think you underestimate the potential aggressiveness of self-righteous people that are willing to confront others regarding issues they feel strongly about. And I think that these kinds of problems are emblematic of what broad definitions of “cultural appropriation” can lead to. In this case, it might discourage people from buying these Indigenously-designed fashions out of fear of these kinds of possible assaults.
   19. MIKE: I’m not claiming to have the answers to this conundrum, but I think that the brush of “cultural appropriation” has been used to broadly. Certainly some fashions that copy religious or culturally sacred styles are in very bad taste, but I think we really need to wrestle as a multicultural nation where the lines should be drawn. And I don’t think we’ve done that yet.
6. Sweden Closes Investigation of Pipeline Blasts, but Stays Silent on Cause; The natural-gas connection was sabotaged in September 2022, seven months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, prompting rampant speculation about who was to blame.Top of Form By Rebecca R. Ruiz and David E. Sanger | NYTIMES.COM | Feb. 7, 2024
   1. After investigators delved into a series of undersea explosions that blew apart the Nord Stream natural gas pipelines linking Russia to Western Europe in fall 2022, intelligence agencies came to a general agreement: The evidence pointed toward pro-Ukraine forces, even if the question of who might have been directing them remained a mystery.
   2. In Sweden, in whose economic zone the attack partly occurred, the issue remained so delicate that the nation wrapped its investigation in secrecy. It even refused to team up with its closest neighbors, Denmark and Germany, a sign of how nervous the issue was making officials in Stockholm at a moment when it is still maneuvering for acceptance into the NATO military alliance.
   3. On Wednesday, after 16 months of closely guarding their findings, Swedish authorities finally published something — and reached no conclusion at all, at least in public. Sweden’s prosecutor said he was ending his inquiry and had turned over what it had found to the same countries with which the nation had previously declined to cooperate. German officials say their investigation is ongoing.
   4. The Swedish inquiry began with considerable fanfare, as soon as it was clear that an act of sabotage had been responsible. The leading theory was that divers had planted underwater explosives in just the right place to do maximum damage. Because the attack took place partly in Sweden’s economic zone — though in international waters — Sweden opened a criminal investigation.
   5. That investigation ended on Wednesday with what amounted to a press release, and no new findings. The conclusion, or rather the lack of a public one, underscored just how sensitive the issue remains.
   6. If the explosions were the work of pro-Ukrainian forces, Ukraine itself could be linked to sabotage against some of its staunchest European allies. Before the war broke out, they were dependent on gas from the pipelines to drive their economies. And, increasingly, Kyiv is in need of European support if it is to have any hope [of] defending itself, or of rebuilding after the war.
   7. Soon after the explosions there was speculation Russia was the culprit, but to some that made little sense — the Russians were deeply invested in both major lines of the pipeline, known as Nord Stream I and Nord Stream II.
   8. [MIKE: Andrew and I agreed at the time that it made no sense of Russia to sabotage the pipelines. We both agreed that the US or Ukraine were the countries with the strongest potential motives. Continuing …]
   9. … Swedish officials, and many others in Europe, believed that the complexity of the operation suggested it was carried out by a state actor. And it seemed like no one wanted to publicly speculate about whether a pro-Ukraine group might have been behind the operation, with or without the knowledge of Ukrainian officials.
   10. It was a particularly sensitive question in Germany, which has provided billions in aid and arms. Government officials worried about undercutting support for the country. It has said almost nothing about its own investigation.
   11. On Wednesday, Sweden found another way not to answer the question: It announced that Swedish authorities concluded they didn’t have the authority to pursue the mystery. …
   12. … Someone operating out of Sweden, or simply committing a crime that damaged Sweden’s security in the long run, would give prosecutors justification. …
   13. The series of underwater explosions ripped holes in three of the four strands of Nord Stream pipelines. The explosions also came close to damaging a cable supplying electricity from Sweden to Poland, raising concern about what other infrastructure could also be vulnerable.
   14. Indeed, last October, a communications cable between Estonia and Sweden was damaged, putting Swedish authorities on increasingly high alert.
   15. The Nord Stream sabotage taken together with the more recent incident, “further stresses the importance as well as the vulnerability regarding underwater infrastructure,” said Jimmie Adamsson, head of public affairs for the Swedish Navy, which contributed to Sweden’s Nord Stream investigation. …
   16. Last year, after intelligence suggested that a pro-Ukraine group had carried out the sabotage, U.S. officials who reviewed the findings said that they had no indication that Ukrainian government officials had ties to the operation.
   17. Various other clues then emerged that stoked further public speculation and competing narratives.
   18. [Mats Ljungqvist, a senior prosecutor leading Sweden’s investigation] who said he was not in Stockholm on the day the investigation ended, suggested that now even if his work was over, the forces of misinformation and disinformation about the case would continue to run rampant.
   19. [Ljungqvist said,] “It is clear to me that Nord Stream is a site for various influence operations and that the news that is leaking is likely part of that chess game.”
   20. ANDREW: I think Sweden’s quiet exit from this situation is also part of that chess game. I think if they really wanted to continue investigating, they could have found justification. It seems to me that their exit now is strategic — perhaps they turned up, or looked to be about to turn up, evidence that is inconvenient for them or an ally.
   21. ANDREW: At any rate, I think while the whodunit will continue to see more twists and turns, the question with real stakes will become “was it justified”. That question will likely have different answers in different countries, and some of those countries will be important Western allies in the fight to defend Ukraine. This may become a teachable moment in world politics that economic sabotage, aside from causing pain to a lot of ordinary people, just isn’t worth the risk of blowback to your side.
   22. MIKE: I agree with Andrew on this. I think there is some circumstantial public evidence that this sabotage was perpetrated by individuals that were at least tangentially related to an allied power, making identification politically inconvenient.
7. Industry pain abounds as electric car demand hits slowdown; By Nick Carey and Joseph White | REUTERS.COM | January 30, 2024 @ 9:49 AM CST / Updated 7 hours ago
   1. While automakers and suppliers are betting big on future demand for electric vehicles, a near-term global slowdown is causing pain, including bankruptcies, scrapped initial public offerings and production cuts.
   2. Investment in capacity and technology development has outrun actual EV demand, boosting pressure on companies to cut costs. …
   3. GM previously cut EV production targets due to the slowing demand, but [GM CEO Mary Barra] told analysts GM was “encouraged” by industry forecasts that EV sales in the United States are forecast to rise at least 10% this year from about 7% in 2023.
   4. Ford also previously cut EV production due to a growth rate that is rising more slowly than previously expected.
   5. Tesla CEO Elon Musk underscored the near-term struggles, warning last week of a sharp slowdown in sales growth this year. With margins falling amid price cuts, shareholders erased $80 billion from Tesla’s stock valuation the following day.
   6. [Said Tim Piechowski, portfolio manager with ACR Alpine Capital Research, which owns GM shares,] “There’s no doubt that the limitations – EV charging and the lack of battery resiliency at low temperatures – are causing consumer anxiety. The reality is that the adoption curve will be slower and there will be pushback to regulators about fuel economy,” he added. “It’ll just be a longer ramp than perhaps was initially anticipated.”
   7. That slower pace was underscored this month as companies pull back on prior plans. …
   8. Suppliers are affected, too. … CATL, the world’s largest EV battery maker, faces challenges from smaller rivals and slowing demand in China, the largest EV market. …
   9. “Global EV momentum is stalling. The market is over-supplied vs demand,” Morgan Stanley analyst Adam Jonas said in a recent research note.
   10. Albemarle, the world’s largest producer of key EV battery material lithium, said this month it was cutting jobs and capital spending in response to slipping prices. A report put the job cuts at 4% of its workforce.
   11. Meanwhile, German EV sales, including plug-in hybrid models, fell 16% last year and are forecast to drop another 9% in 2024, including a 14% decline for pure battery EVs, according to German auto association VDA. …
   12. EV demand in Europe has weakened and the region’s carmakers face competition from Chinese rivals. Those feeling the pain hardest in the sector seem to be the EV startups. …
   13. The long-term is where automakers are placing their bets with EVs, even as they still benefit from strong demand for internal-combustion engine (ICE)-powered vehicles.
   14. “We know the EV market is not going to grow linearly,” GM CFO Paul Jacobson said Tuesday. “We are prepared to flex between ICE and EV production.”
   15. MIKE: I’ve come to believe that a big part of the problem in the EV market is overly-ambitious goals without a realistic phase-in period.
   16. MIKE: I think that rechargeable hybrids are that bridge. Most people drive in urban areas, and that’s where batteries work best. Most daily driving is within 50-100 miles; well within all-electric driving range, aided by regenerative braking. Cities have much more potential for convenient charging, whether it be homes, parking garages, or hybridized gas stations.
   17. MIKE: Hybrid vehicles have other advantages. Because they can run on gas, they eliminate so-called “range anxiety” on long trips. Hybrids require smaller batteries. This translates into less stress on mineral and factory supply chains as they ramp up to demand. Hybrids weigh less, which puts less stress on driveways, streets, highways, and — this is not considered often enough — parking garages. Parking garages are not designed to take as many 6000-8000 pound cars as they carry 2500-4500 pound cars. In fact, there have been collapses.
   18. MIKE: There may come a point where all-electric cars make sense, but consumers, industry and infrastructure need time to evolve to that point.
   19. ANDREW: It may be a lot easier to reach that point by reducing the demand for personal cars of any type. Investments into public transportation and urban design that doesn’t require a car could allow more people to rely on renting cars only when they’re needed, or taking some form of mass transportation like air or train travel instead of a long road trip. Combining these with policies designed to push the market out of its complacency over fossil fuel-focused profit might make the transition to electric vehicles and renewable electricity easier and faster… and pay dividends to EV company shareholders, if you care about that sort of thing.
   20. ANDREW: In fact, speaking of renewables, I think our next story is all about that.
8. OPINION — Solar Power Isn’t Over Yet; The industry is having a somewhat visible freakout. But broadly, it’s doing OK. By Nitish Pahwa | SLATE.COM | Feb 06, 2024 @ 10:00 AM (TAGS: California, Climate Change, Energy, Solar Power, Renewables )
   1. To take it from recent headlines, it seems as though the global solar-power industry, following half a decade of record growth and governmental investment, flew just a bit too close to the sun. California, a longtime pioneer in solar development, has earned the most attention here: The tiny Golden State companies dedicated to rooftop-solar installation, assembly, and production are slashing thousands of jobs and facing bankruptcies, thanks to a steep drop in demand that, executives claim, is the direct consequence of reduced solar-boosting incentives from the state government. But it’s not just California: Home-security company ADT, based in Florida, recently decided to close its solar-installation arm after just three years. And larger solar firms across the country, like Texas-based Sunnova, are also facing financial headwinds, as Time magazine’s Alana Semuels noted in a report grimly headlined “The Rooftop Solar Industry Could Be on the Verge of Collapse.” About a dozen other states, including Idaho, are also cutting rooftop-solar benefits.
   2. The broader market is facing troubles in solar-happy Europe too. After Germany’s last domestic solar-module producer announced plans to relocate to the United States, a regional solar association warned, “We’re about to lose the whole European [photovoltaic] manufacturing industry.” Other solar factories are either fully shuttering, planning to try their luck in the U.S., or begging European Union lawmakers for additional financial support, citing the challenges of a market suddenly saturated with cheap Chinese imports. This echoes calls from swing-state senators back in the U.S. for the Biden administration to raise its already-high tariffs on imports of key Chinese solar parts, even though many solar manufacturers dependent on those components claim this would harm their businesses. Meanwhile, prices for essential solar-panel elements, like silver, remain high, as do interest rates and disaster-insurance premiums, causing nervousness among potential investors.
   3. It all sounds pretty bad! Is solar doomed?
   4. … On a wider scale, the solar sector is still ballooning and providing record amounts of green energy worldwide. Despite its manufacturing woes, Germany’s nationwide solar installation through 2023 beat expectations. Greece is well on the way to tripling its solar capacity by the end of the decade. China, the undisputed champion of solar, grew its economy last year primarily through rapid renewables development; by the end of [2024], the country’s solar and wind output is set to finally outpace the rate of electricity generated from coal, assisted by innovations in ocean-floating panels. (Just one indicator of this success: In 2023 alone, China added more solar panels than the U.S. has ever deployed.) Worldwide renewables capacity grew much more in 2023 than in 2022, despite continuing post-COVID economic shake-ups in supply-chain stability, inflation, and hiked interest rates. North of the U.S. border, Canadian solar has become a hot investment vehicle. And even within the U.S., there are success stories in unexpected places: The most Republican voting district in the country is excited about a solar factory coming to town. Puerto Rico is expanding its rooftop-solar incentives, which have helped the territory to stabilize its grid. The Biden administration is setting aside millions of acres of Western public lands for utility-scale solar. Cooperatively owned solar systems are still taking off in both California and Texas, while the Lone Star State continues to beat records for solar-power production. The Tennessee Valley Authority just inked significant new contracts to expand its arrays of solar panels and batteries, and New Jersey passed a bill to curb limits on expanding community solar.
   5. It’s a confusing mishmash of good and bad news, not unlike all the contradicting forecasts that hit wind energy all of last year, especially offshore. But a finer analysis of all the factors at play here consistently points to the main issue: the folly of leaning primarily on the private sector to shoulder the burden of an existentially necessary energy transition.
   6. The original sin of U.S. solar goes back to the 1980s, when the country that produced the first silicon cells for capturing energy from the sun (that would be America) bucked its initial interest in supporting solar at home. This allowed East Asian countries, which already benefited from ample deposits of necessary minerals and metals, to attract hopeful developers, while established Western fossil-fuel firms like Exxon, which had previously explored alternative-energy sources, scrapped such projects to go all in on oil instead. Then, in its attempt to catch up after decades of neglect, the Obama administration passed legislation that, at most, provided liquid subsidies to private firms willing to pick up the slack. Although those tax credits were and continue to be helpful, they didn’t do much to sustain companies, leaving them vulnerable to S.–China tariff wars that made establishing a homegrown sector prohibitively expensive. Speaking of China: Thanks to its decades-long, government-aided mission to dominate solar (which has also included human rights abuses), the country set up a large-scale operation that could shoot out cheap solar panels and components at scale, all the way to export routes. This simultaneously exploded Chinese renewable-power capacity and undermined international competitors who couldn’t beat such low prices for parts. …
   7. [I]n the early 2010s, batteries for energy storage were nowhere near as prevalent and cost-effective as they are today, which made the infamous “intermittency” issue (the sun doesn’t shine at night, wind is not as plentiful in certain regions, etc.) much more of a concern back then as opposed to now.
   8. That (welcome) boom in battery manufacturing is one reason the solar industry is currently shape-shifting. Before then, rooftop-solar users tended to take advantage of generous “net-metering” policies in certain states, which compensate homeowners for feeding their excess solar energy back into the grid for wider use. For New Mexico and Maine, the thinking behind today’s solar-incentive adjustments is that net-metering has worked almost too well, making it imperative that they raise additional state revenue so that budgeted tax credits don’t run out too quickly. And as Heatmap News’ Matthew Zeitlin has explained, California is now so awash in roof-solar power that it’s instead incentivizing the ownership of solar-and-battery systems that can store energy, rather than promoting energy exchange that may stress the grid.
   9. The problem is, those battery systems are difficult to deal with. Batteries are cheaper than they once were, but they’re still pricey on an individual level, which is why they’ve been adopted far more in commercial applications than residential ones. (State regulators in Connecticut recently increased their incentives for residential battery storage by nearly $10,000.) …
   10. There are still many solar and battery incentives left in the U.S., allowing places like sun-soaked Arizona to push ahead with hybrid facilities and setups. The members of the European Union, on the other hand, have often failed to coordinate sensible, consistent clean-energy rebates and buildouts over time, resulting in an impressive array of solar tech that’s then built and distributed unevenly throughout their continent.
   11. It seems pretty apparent, on both sides of the Atlantic, that a strategy of throwing cash at small-scale manufacturers—without providing more top-down insurance and support for less-resourced firms, without establishing wide-scale job-training and just-transition programs, [and] without careful coordination among cooperative, local, national, and international authorities—has helped create the energy transition economy while leaving it fatally susceptible to shocks and changes. America’s rooftop-solar mess demonstrates that, while private enterprise can be a player in greening global energy, it cannot be solely relied upon to complete the task with some government funds in its pocket. To leave a necessary energy transition to the directives of the profit motive … is to abandon smaller solar companies to the weirdness of a still-growing, often-speculative …
   12. The future of a healthy, stable clean-energy industry should be spurred by publicly stewarded, communitarian projects, with more intensive government support for training, setup, installation, power pricing, maintenance, and recycling (and batteries!). Plus, accountability for those companies that benefit from state incentives only to abandon solar when it’s no longer in their interest.
   13. The U.S. may be taking some heed of all this at last, with the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] offering to compensate local governments that fuel their recovery from extreme-weather disasters by installing solar panels, heat pumps, and microgrids. In a time when durably installed solar panels have been demonstrably advantageous in helping communities recover from climate change–fueled storms, this is a step toward the right kind of top-down action. The federal government is also accelerating efforts to green its own infrastructure, with rooftop solar coming to the Pentagon and batteries coming for important observatories. Maybe the U.S. government won’t do everything—but at least it can do its part to maintain a sunny forecast for the solar business, whether out in Western lands or on its own buildings. More structure for everyone else’s roofs would be welcome too, though.
   14. ANDREW: My first draft of my comment for the previous story started something like “The market needs incentives to make the shift away from fossil fuels, because it’s just easier to do what they’ve always done.” I think this story is making that argument far better than I had time to!
   15. ANDREW: There are several ideas in here that I recognize from the Green New Deal (the real one, from the Green Party). Jobs and training programs to help provide a just transition; financial support for small, sustainable companies; local and democratic control over how federal programs are implemented in each community; just to name a few points. I’m biased, and I’ll admit that, but I think this is exactly the kind of policy platform that the author is talking about.
   16. ANDREW: The nature of liberal democracy means that such a platform would likely not be implemented unscathed; opposition parties would of course have the chance to limit the scope and scale in an effort to create material for attack ads at the next election. But even if the Green New Deal only sees a quarter of what it hopes to achieve, I think the ecological and economic benefits would still be enormous. Maybe not enough to save us from global warming, but certainly enough to give us a leg up.
   17. MIKE: I think that advances in battery technology have made home and community solar power systems more and more practical.
   18. MIKE: The industry crash that was artificially created in California by what has turned out to be poor rule-making has created an opportunity for people against solar power or who are not yet convinced of its worth to dismiss it as a “liberal boondoggle”, but that’s simply not the case.
   19. MIKE: Speaking from personal experience of almost a year and a half, I’ve never regretted my decision to invest in a solar-and-battery system. Currently, I pay a modest premium every month for what I consider “energy security”, and while I have yet to experience a catastrophic power outage, I’ve gotten through a few short ones without even noticing.
   20. MIKE: In the next week or two, I’ll be signing up for a new 36-month electric contract, and a best case will be a ~50% increase over what I’m paying now. That will almost get me to breakeven with my current monthly solar loan … And I’ll still have my increased energy security.
   21. MIKE: Three years from now, I’ll likely be making money almost every month with my next contract.
   22. MIKE: I advise anyone who might be considering buying a home solar system to begin looking into it.

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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. Obtain a Voter Registration Application (HarrisVotes.com)
   3. Harris County “Vote-By-Mail’ Application for 2023
      1. Austin County Elections
      2. Brazoria County (TX) Clerk Election Information
      3. Chambers County (TX) Elections
      4. Colorado County (TX) Elections
      5. Fort Bend County takes you to the proper link
      6. GalvestonVotes.org (Galveston County, TX)
      7. Harris County ((HarrisVotes.com)
      8. LibertyElections (Liberty County, TX)
      9. Montgomery County (TX) Elections
      10. Walker County Elections
      11. Waller County (TX) Elections
      12. Wharton County Elections
   4. 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.
   5. 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.
   6. 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. Obtain a Voter Registration Application (HarrisVotes.com)
   2. Just be registered and apply for your mail-in ballot if you may qualify.
   3. You can track your Mail Ballot Activity from our website with direct link provided here https://www.harrisvotes.com/Tracking

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