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POSSIBLE TOPICS: ELECTION INFO; Pearland denies request to rezone Ivy District land to build multifamily units; In wake of storms, Houston officials analyze emergency plans at senior apartments; Houston traffic exceeding pre-pandemic congestion, but differently, analyses find; Decision to pause construction of Acres Homes library will hurt community, leaders say; Lina Hidalgo fires back at John Whitmire’s ‘cruel’ Facebook comment calling her fiancé ‘a nerd’; George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist, defeats Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York Democratic primary; Governor Gavin Newsom claims California is not a ‘high-tax state.’ Is he correct?; Why Justice Sotomayor’s rare reference to Dobbs may be a warning from liberals; The EPA’s new limits on PFAS in drinking water face legal challenges; Biden aide raises possible increased deployments of U.S. strategic nuclear weapons; New Star Wars Plan: Pentagon Rushes to Counter Threats in Orbit; Ukraine may fire US-provided missiles into Russia wherever it is coming under attack, Pentagon says; Hamas leader said civilian death toll could benefit militant group in Gaza war, WSJ reports; Hamas official says ‘no one has any idea’ how many Israeli hostages are still alive; Strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in shadowy detention center; 

Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig where we discuss local, state, national, and international stories. 

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. ELECTION INFO: It seems that elections are done for the next several months until the General, so just make sure that you’re registered to vote, that your voting information is up-to-date, and that if you qualify for a mail-in ballot, you’ve mailed in your application.
2. Pearland denies request to rezone Ivy District land to build multifamily units; By Rachel Leland | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:48 PM Jun 25, 2024 CDT / Updated 4:48 PM Jun 25, 2024 CDT. TAGS: Zoning, Pearland (TX), Housing, Retirement Communities,
   1. Pearland officials declined to rezone a portion of the Ivy District for multifamily units and opted to keep the zoning that calls for a senior living community.
   2. What happened — On June 24, Pearland City Council voted 2-5 against granting Sueba Consulting’s request on behalf of developer American Modern Green Development to rezone 6 acres in Pearland’s Ivy District to develop an apartment building with nearly 400 units.
   3. Council members Clint Byrom and Tony Carbone voted in favor of rezoning the land.
   4. The land was originally designated for continuing-care retirement communities with 366 units, but the developer could not acquire a partner to operate the senior living community, according to agenda documents. …
   5. The proposed multifamily development would have included 359 units in a four-story building with amenities and a parking garage, according to agenda documents.
   6. Those opposed — During the June 3 planning and zoning commission meeting, Byrom said officials were concerned that rezoning the land would lead to other nearby land, classified as commercial, being rezoned for multifamily units. …
   7. Byrom said he asked about the future use for that land because he’s recently seen companies purchase property zoned for one purpose and then request it be rezoned for another purpose. Other council members echoed those comments.
   8. “I’m not going to be in favor of this switch,” council member Rushi Patel said. “I like the idea of the senior center being there. In my mind, you guys never intended to build that senior center. … I think you guys just want to flip it to more apartments.”
   9. Carbone said he was open to discussing the rezoning but shared the concerns of other council members that the applicant would eventually want to develop multifamily housing on land zoned for commercial development.
   10. “I struggle with this one, especially with that frontage still there. I know it’s maybe not in the plans today, but you break ground on the next round of multifamily and all of a sudden, it’s, ‘Well, the office market’s just not where we want it, … but residential multifamily is doing good.’” Carbone said. …
   11. MIKE: I thought this was an interesting story because the lack of affordable housing is an ongoing problem and issue. Before reading the story, my first instinct was, Of course more housing is needed. Why would the Pearland City Council prevent it?
   12. MIKE: But the issue turned out to be more nuanced than that. If developers are buying land previously allotted to a specific use by city zoning — and the buyer knows this at the time of purchase — only to go back to the city and ask that it be reclassified, that seems kind of sleezy.
   13. MIKE: Pearland Council member Tony Carbone’s point is well-taken. If this rezoning precedent is set now, then it’s likely that other developers will start to play this shell game.
   14. MIKE: In my opinion, it’s an example of, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Or as George W Bush once said, “Fool me twice … You can’t fool me again.”
3. In wake of storms, Houston officials analyze emergency plans at senior apartments; By Shawn Arrajj | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 3:56 PM Jun 21, 2024 CDT / Updated 6:52 PM Jun 21, 2024 CDT. TAGS: Senior Living, Assisted Living, Emergency Preparedness, Houston (TX),
   1. After a powerful derecho storm May 16 caused power outages for more than 1 million people in Greater Houston, city officials have embarked on an effort to analyze a variety of apartment buildings that cater to seniors and individuals with disabilities to make sure they are up to code and have plans in place for the next emergency.
   2. The big picture — During a May 19 press conference after the storm, Houston Mayor John Whitmire called out several facilities where he said residents were left without services. He said the city would work to identify facilities and hold them accountable. …
   3. Linda Holder—executive director of management with The Housing Corporation, the nonprofit that runs Heights Tower—said two employees live on site and were working to take care of residents during the storm. The company’s corporate facilities director also came to the property over the weekend to help serve food and check in on residents, she said.
   4. Steven David, Whitmire’s deputy chief of staff, is now leading the process of identifying senior facilities and coming up with a plan for how to make sure residents are safe during the next storm. In a June 13 interview, David said he believed the situation at Heights Tower was not caused by neglect but more by the challenging nature of the storm that manifested with little warning. …
   5. Unlike assisted living facilities, independent living facilities such as Heights Tower are not required to provide food or medical services to residents.
   6. When Heights Tower lost power late May 16, Holder said generators at the site kicked on. While the generators are meant to keep the elevator, emergency lights and water systems powered, they cannot run electricity to apartments, she said. Holder said officials are planning to upgrade their generators so they can keep common areas cool, and she hopes to have the upgrades in place within the next month. …
   7. Holder said Heights Tower has procedures in place to handle emergencies, but the plan is not in writing, a process officials are taking on now by hiring a professional to craft such a document. …
   8. Since the storm, Holder said The Housing Corporation has also rented a small trailer being kept on the property that is stocked with water and MREs—or Meals, Ready To Eat — food used by the U.S. military that is easy to store and transport. …
   9. The details — The city of Houston has a Multifamily Habitability and Investigations group that was created to monitor multifamily facilities in the city and address inhospitable conditions. There’s a code inspection process on the front end of a new facility opening, but David said the system is otherwise reactive, relying on tips submitted by residents when a facility needs to be investigated.
   10. Following the storm, David said he sat down with city’s planning department to come up with a set of criteria and a plan for how the city could evaluate certain multifamily facilities across both the city and Harris County. …
   11. Independent and assisted living facilities are regulated by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, which David said has been cooperative in helping the city with its analysis. However, some facilities do not register with the state even when they market to those demographics, David said. …
   12. As of mid-June David said the city was about 80% of the way through its analysis, estimating there are about 800 facilities across Harris County that meet those parameters.
   13. Moving forward — Next steps will involve officials with the city’s emergency management and code compliance departments visiting facilities with two goals: Make sure the facilities have suitable living conditions, and, if they don’t, find out why and issue citations to bring them into compliance; [and] Make sure management has a plan for the next disaster or power outage, including plans for using generators, and making sure residents have water, food and ice.
   14. “Emergency management [officials] are planners,” David said. “We want them to take their planning expertise and share it with these property owners.” …
   15. In the coming months, David said he hopes to be able to present the findings from the housing analysis to Houston City Council.
   16. As that process plays out, David emphasized the importance of using the the State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry. Anyone with a family member or friend who is medically fragile can have that person added to the registry. Houston is required by state law to call everyone on the list within 24 hours of a disaster hitting to make sure they have a plan in place and try to provide assistance when needed.
   17. MIKE: The story has a bit more specificity for those who might be interested, and you can click on the article link in this show’s blog post.
   18. MIKE: There was a lot of post-storm coverage on this topic, so I thought that it was appropriate to include this story from Community Impact.
   19. MIKE: It’s good to know that the problems created for senior facilities after the derecho storm are being taken seriously by the city, and that analyses are being performed and plans are being developed to mitigate such crises for seniors in the future.
   20. MIKE: I do think that there is one part of the story near the end that it’s easy to overlook: “Anyone with a family member or friend who is medically fragile can have that person added to the registry. Houston is required by state law to call everyone on the list within 24 hours of a disaster hitting to make sure they have a plan in place and try to provide assistance when needed.”
   21. MIKE: I take this to mean that such a person doesn’t have to be in a senior living or care home to be included in the State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry database, linked here.
   22. MIKE: If you have a relative or friend in a house or apartment who normally can live mostly independently but might rely on medical devices for support or have other needs such as: People with disabilities; People who are medically fragile;
   23. MIKE: People with access and functional needs such as: People who have limited mobility; People who have communication barriers; People who require additional medical assistance during an emergency event; People who require transportation assistance; {OR] People who require personal care assistance …
   24. You can also include them in the list requiring the city to contact them within 24 hours of a widespread emergency.
4. Houston traffic exceeding pre-pandemic congestion, but differently, analyses find; By Dug Begley, Staff writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | June 25, 2024. TAGS: Traffic Congestion, Houston, COVID Pandemic Effects,
   1. It took a few years, but traffic in Houston … is even worse than it was before the COVID pandemic.
   2. The most recent annual congestion report by INRIX, which tracks traffic in the U.S. and Europe, released Tuesday, found overall traffic congestion in Houston was now 1% greater than congestion levels in 2019. Not every single trip might be worse, per se, but taken as the whole for all the drivers and all the time lost to sitting in traffic, things are worse. …
   3. Wherever the commuter lives, … the congestion is following them, according to the report. Almost all of the numbers indicate traffic is worsening in Houston from recent years, but also morphing as work schedules and habits change. As a result, the worst periods for congestion might be a little better than they once were, but for longer periods of the day there is constant congestion that gets better or worse based on day of the week, time of the work day and even the weather. …
   4. Travel volumes at 10 a.m. and at 4 p.m. are rivaling or exceeding those at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. in many American metros, showing that the work day is warping a bit. …
   5. Experts think the trend isn’t that workers are putting in less time, but putting that work time and their travel into office in another order. So someone might start the day firing up their laptop at home, if they can, and then head into the office a little later to avoid the morning rush. They’re doing the same thing again in the afternoon, to get an early start on picking up kids from school or on dinner, as they might complete their daily tasks. …
   6. In hours, Houston drivers lost 62 hours last year. …
   7. Among the 25 most congested places in the world examined by INRIX, Houston ranks 19th in terms of wasted time and overall congestion, but unsurprisingly that’s because of the distance area drivers travel, about 9.5 miles in Houston….
   8. Other car-choked cities in the U.S. have more congestion, but shorter trips. The estimated commuting distance in New York is 7.3 miles. Despite being so spread out, the typical commute in Los Angeles is 6.6 miles, the same as Boston. …
   9. Early signs indicate despite all the talk of horrendous congestion in Houston, travel times are improving and making congestion drop. For the first quarter of this year, INRIX estimates congestion has dropped about 1%. …
   10. Congestion dropped in every U.S. metro within the top 25 for global congestion, with all but Houston and Miami dipping by 4% or more. …
   11. The average speed in [Downtown Houston] is 17 mph. …
   12. For researchers, the reality is [that] the effects of the pandemic are still sorting themselves out, said David Schrank, senior research scientist at the Texas A&M Transportation Institute and primary author of its Urban Mobility Report and Texas’s list of the 100 most congested freeway segments.
   13. “We no longer know what a commuter is,” Schrank said earlier this month, when TTI’s 2022 mobility report was released.
   14. About one-third of jobs can likely operate with some work-from-home capabilities, various studies have shown, even as some companies have made some office time a requirement. The trend is shaking out to create two types of work days: The ones when there are far more commuters and the ones when there are far fewer.
   15. “Mondays are a great day,” Schrank said, noting commuting patterns show a lot of people working from home the first and last days of the typical week.
   16. MIKE: There are some more statistics in the original article, so you might go to the blog post and click on the story link.
   17. MIKE: In general, I thought that this article was interesting. I drove hardly at all for the main 2 years of Covid, in part because I’m retired and had no job pressuring me to appear in person. But when I did start driving again, I felt like I had to learn my driving habits all over again. At the time, my impression was that other drivers did, too.
   18. MIKE: It makes sense that when even a few percent of workers can be working from home, that this would change traffic patterns and times of congestion, and it also makes sense that the congestion would move around when not everyone is tied to an office or workplace at roughly the same time.
   19. MIKE: But just like an air traffic hub-and-spoke system, there will still be points of convergence for traffic such as malls, subdivisions, office complexes, etc., so it is to be expected that while traffic congestion patterns may shift, there will still be points of concentration where traffic flows converge and slow down.
   20. MIKE: All in all, an intriguing look at a way that post-Covid continues to shape our world in ways that won’t go back to pre-Covid.
5. Decision to pause construction of Acres Homes library will hurt community, leaders say; By Maggie Gordon | HOUSTONLANDING.ORG | June 24, 2024 @ 4:00 am. TAGS: Houston, Acres Homes, North Regional Library, Beulah-Shepard Library,
   1. The pause in construction of the North Regional Library in Acres Homes — just months after a swath of dignitaries hosted a groundbreaking for the project with much fanfare — will create a wide ripple across a community that is currently underserved by its lone and little 48-year-old public library, civic leaders say. 
   2. And, they say, they will fight back against the decision.
   3. “We’ve had the Beulah-Shepard Library forever,” says Latisha Grant, president of the Acres Homes Super Neighborhood Council. “I mean, we’ve had that library since my mom was in high school.”
   4. And not much has changed since. First opened in 1976, the library at the corner of South Victory Street and West Montgomery Road has undergone one massive renovation — in 1999. Hemmed into an acute corner lot by an auto parts dealer, the library — renamed for community activist Beulah Shepard in 2012, two years after her passing — has a maximum capacity of 97 people. It is neat and tidy, flush with sunlight and home to a children’s corner brimming with board books.
   5. But, Grant notes, it’s not enough to serve a community as large as Acres Homes, where households are more likely to include school-aged children than the average Houston home. …
   6. As the city put it in the 2023-2027 Capital Improvement Plan, where the 20,000 square-foot regional library was pitched: “Currently there is no full-service library in this North area of Houston.”
   7. The regional library would bring “vibrant, engaging spaces for all ages, including a children’s STEM lab and flexible meeting and conference spaces,” former Mayor Sylvester Turner said at the library’s groundbreaking in December, just two weeks before the end of his term. …
   8. The new amenities — and increase in physical space — were slated to be a game changer for Acres Homes, Turner said last year. 
   9. Despite having some of the widest operating hours among Houston Public Library branches across the city, with 43 hours open each week over six days, the Shepard-Acres Homes Neighborhood Library reports rather dismal figures for both attendance and circulation. …
   10. News that the construction of the new North Regional library is being paused came as a complete shock to Grant. 
   11. “We’re a community that is often left with empty promises,” she says. “And I have spoken to a few residents that are aware of the pause, and they’re devastated. Because they say ‘pause,’ but often when it comes to our community, paused means it’s not happening.”
   12. The funding for proposed projects across the city’s library system is “currently fluid and an ongoing discussion,” said Cynthia Wilson, interim executive director of the city’s library system. 
   13. “Based on the current budget projected shortfall, the $10 million budget gap for the proposed North Regional Library is being reviewed,” Wilson said earlier this month. “The conversation about library conditions in existing sites is ongoing and speaks to the need of improving conditions across the city.”
   14. It is not yet set in stone that money from the project will be earmarked for the renovations needed to resuscitate the Freed-Montrose Branch — another of the city’s older libraries, in a much wealthier neighborhood. That branch could see funds drawn from local Tax Increment Reinvestment Zones. But there are other branches that Wilson notes are in need of money after May’s deadly derecho damaged city structures across Houston. 
   15. “Some were damaged in the recent weather emergency and need extensive repair,” Wilson said. “Every city dollar counts, and our decisions will be made in the overall best interest of our community/communities.”
   16. But what about the best interest of Acres Homes, asks Grant, who said she feels as though this latest “pause” is just one more example of the largely-Black community being once again “overlooked and underserved.”
   17. She’s not the only person who sees it that way. 
   18. [Said At Large City Council Member Letitia Plummer,] “Honestly, the idea of us not getting the North Regional Library is infuriating. We can’t keep on taking away from communities that are already suffering. I understand that we have to balance the budget, and I understand that we have to reallocate funds. But we have to find different ways of doing it. We can’t take away resources that have already been allocated to one place, and move them somewhere else. Not in communities that are already struggling.” …
   19. … When the reallocation of funds is brought forth to city council — as it must be, per city charter — Plummer plans to make her concerns known. 
   20. “I don’t see how this reallocation of funds is going to pass, to be honest with you,” she said. “Even council members who are getting money to go to libraries in their districts are upset about it.”
   21. MIKE: This goes back to something I’ve been saying for a long time: “You get the government you pay for.”
   22. MIKE: Is the city really short of funds for this kind of project, or is the flat taxation forced on us by the state of Texas preventing the city from progressively taxing those that have more so that the city can provide essential services for the neediest among us, as well as for the rest of us?
   23. MIKE: Not to beat a dead horse, but I think the city really needs to consider the option of a scaled property tax surcharge on properties worth more than $1 million.
   24. MIKE: I think that would not only be fair; it would bring in much needed funds at a time when the city needs them.
6. Lina Hidalgo fires back at John Whitmire’s ‘cruel’ Facebook comment calling her fiancé ‘a nerd’; By Shakari Briggs, Staff writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | Updated June 25, 2024 12:48 p.m. TAGS: Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo,
   1. Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s Facebook comment about Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s fiancé landed him in hot water with some critics on social media. Hidalgo shared moments of her bridal shower on the platform, resulting in a plethora of comments, including one from Whitmire.
   2. “Wonderful,” wrote Whitmire. “He sure looks like a nerd.”
   3. The comment, now deleted, referred to Hidalgo’s fiancé seen in the photos capturing the couple’s bridal shower tea party. …
   4. Hidalgo’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
   5. But, in an interview with Houston Public Media, Hidalgo expressed disappointment with what Whitmire wrote on Facebook.  
   6. “It’s such a happy time for me,” she told Houston Public Media. “So, I don’t know why someone would do something so cruel, but obviously, you know, I’ve been in politics long enough.”
   7. Mary Benton, chief of communications and senior advisor to the mayor, told the Chronicle, “Whitmire was having a lighthearted moment and meant no harm.”
   8. “He congratulates the happy couple and wishes them well,” Benton said. 
   9. MIKE: Y’know, everyone is entitled to opinion, and everyone is entitled to their secret thoughts and feelings. But this nasty post comment was posted as a direct response to Lina Hidalgo’s post about her bridal shower. In my opinion, Hidalgo was correct to call it cruel. I would add, “Thoughtless”.
   10. MIKE: By this time, Whitmire has shown ample evidence of his dislike for Lina Hidalgo, but he’s a big boy and has been in politics a very long time. He should know better than to say such a thing publicly, let alone put such a comment in writing, let alone as a direct response to a happy announcement.
   11. MIKE: Maybe someone on Whitmire’s staff should remind him that it’s been over 50 years since he left high school.
7. George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist, defeats Rep. Jamaal Bowman in New York Democratic primary; By Anthony Izaguirre | APNEWS.COM | Updated 10:28 PM CDT, June 25, 2024. TAGS: George Latimer, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, Gaza, Israel,
   1. With the victory, Latimer has ousted one of the most liberal voices in Congress and one of its most outspoken critics of Israel. Bowman has accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, where thousands of Palestinians have died in military strikes.
   2. Latimer, who got into the race at the urging of Jewish leaders and had heavy financial backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is a former state legislator who has served as Westchester County executive since 2018.
   3. In a victory speech, Latimer called for more civility following the contentious election. …
   4. Bowman had been seeking a third term, representing a district in New York City’s northern suburbs. His defeat is a blow to the party’s progressive wing and a potential cautionary tale for candidates trying to shape their messaging around the Israel-Hamas conflict. …
   5. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s political action committee spent nearly $15 million on the primary, filling airwaves and mailboxes with negative ads in an effort to unseat Bowman, who has accused the influential pro-Israel lobbying group of trying to buy the race. …
   6. Some major progressive figures have rushed to Bowman’s defense. In the final stretch of the race, he rallied with liberals Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders, while Latimer pulled in the endorsement of former presidential candidate and former New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
   7. On Israel, both Bowman and Latimer support a two-state solution. They have also both condemned Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people. But Bowman was one of a few progressives who rejected a symbolic House resolution in support of Israel following the Oct. 7 attack. Latimer firmly backs Israel and said negotiating a cease-fire with Hamas is a non-starter because he believes it is a terrorist group. …
   8. During the campaign, Latimer, who has more than three decades of political experience, often displayed his deep regional knowledge and connections to make the case that he would be an effective member of Congress. Latimer has said that’s the sort of politics people expect from their elected officials, rather than caustic fights between the far right and far left — a clear dig at Bowman. …
   9. The congressional district’s boundaries have shifted since Bowman first won office in 2020, losing most of its sections in the Bronx and adding more of Westchester County’s suburbs.
   10. Today, 21% of its voting-age population is Black and 42% is non-Hispanic white, according to U.S. Census figures, compared to 30% Black and 34% white in the district as it existed through 2022. Bowman is Black. Latimer is white. …
   11. Latimer, 70, will be the prohibitive favorite to win in the general election. The district, which includes parts of Westchester and a small piece of the Bronx, is a Democratic stronghold.
   12. Nationally, Democratic Party leaders have emphasized moving toward centrist candidates who might fare better in suburban races. …
   13. MIKE: There’s more detail in this story in the form of quotes from the candidates and mentions of some other races in New York State.
   14. MIKE: I can’t speak to Bowman’s performance as a US Representative, but I think that this race is an example of how Congressional boundaries matter. In this case, Bowman had a substantially new constituency that apparently was not in tune with his policy views.
   15. MIKE: How much of that election hinged on Bowman’s stands on the Hamas-Israel war versus some of his other policy views I can’t say, but this primary result will have ramifications for the House Democratic Caucus and the House Progressive Caucus.
   16. MIKE: It will be interesting to see how things sort out assuming that Latimer wins in the General.
8. Governor Gavin Newsom claims California is not a ‘high-tax state.’ Is he correct?; By David Lightman | SACBEE.COM (Sacramento Bee) | Updated June 25, 2024 @ 1:18 PM. TAGS: State Taxes, California, Texas, Florida, Gov. Gavin Newsom,
   1. “Here’s the truth Republicans never tell you: California is not a high tax state,” Gov. Gavin Newsom declared Tuesday in his taped State of the State address.
   2. He’s partially correct.
   3. But in truth, the more that someone earns in the state, the more California starts looking like a high tax state.
   4. It’s also a high-tax state for everyone who drives a gasoline-powered vehicle. The state’s gasoline tax, which increases slightly to 59.6 cents a gallon July 1, is the nation’s highest.
   5. And overall, “California has the highest individual income tax burden,” said an analysis of 2024 taxes by WalletHub, which analyzes financial data.
   6. When you dig down to individual incomes, however, the story changes a bit.
   7. “For families of modest means, California is not a high tax state,” said a study released in April by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, a liberal Washington research group.
   8. Its analysis found that for the bottom 40% of families, or those with incomes of $48,000 or less, “California taxes are lower than states like Florida and Texas.”
   9. The more one earns, though, the higher the tax bite.
   10. California families with incomes between $145,900 to $352,300 should pay 10.8% of their income in taxes this year, higher than the national average of 9.5%.
   11. In Texas, residents in a similar bracket, earning $134,200 to $290,000, can anticipate paying 7.2% of income.
   12. In Florida, that bracket includes those making $118,300 to $270,600, and they pay 6.4%. In property, sales and other taxes and California ranks fifth for overall tax burden. Its sales and excise tax burden ranks 37th, while the property tax burden is 23rd.
   13. Newsom argued Tuesday that too often, Republican-led states give big breaks to the wealthy that California does not.
   14. “Catering to big business and the rich is also why red states tax their lowest earners far more than California does. They punish you when you’re struggling, but give you a free pass when you’re wealthy,” the governor said.
   15. He maintained that “You pay a higher percentage in taxes if you’re poor in Texas than you do if you’re wealthy in California. It’s all about who you’re fighting for.”
   16. He’s largely correct about the taxes.
   17. The bottom 20% of earners in California pay 11.7%, close to the national average of 11.4%. In Texas, they pay an average of 12.8% and in Florida, 13.2%.
   18. California’s wealthiest 1% pay 12% of their income, as the state’s top income tax rate in California for millionaires is 13.3%.
   19. In Texas, the top 1% pay an average of 4.6% in taxes, while people in Florida pay 2.7%. Neither state has a state income tax. The U.S. average tax rate in this bracket is 7.2% This story was originally published June 25, 2024, 11:21 AM.
   20. MIKE: This is actually how taxation is supposed to work in a progressive tax system. The more you make, the more you should pay because paying a higher percentage of your income when you make a lot hurts you much less than that same percentage would hurt a taxpayer of modest means or someone who struggles to pay bills.
   21. MIKE: Texas has no income tax, so flat taxes support government, and flat taxes are regressive and hurt the poor and middle class much more than they hurt the well-off and the wealthy.
   22. MIKE: Texas governments rely on sales taxes, which are flat and regressive. They rely on fees for things like garbage and water, which are flat and regressive. They rely on property taxes, which are flat and regressive.
   23. MIKE: Add to that that Texas is a so-called “Right To Work” state with very limited protections for workers against unfair or exploitative employers, and an anti-union state, which suppresses workers’ wages and protections.
   24. MIKE: For the average Texan, Texas could do worse than to have a tax structure more like California. In fact, it is doing worse.
9. Why Justice Sotomayor’s rare reference to Dobbs may be a warning from liberals; By Joan Biskupic, CNN Senior Supreme Court Analyst | CNN.COM | Published 4:00 AM EDT, Tue June 25, 2024. TAGS: Supreme Court, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, Obergefell v. Hodges, Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Abortion Rights, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, Roe v. Wade,
   1. Since the Supreme Court reversed constitutional abortion rights two years ago, the conservative majority has avoided referring to that decision while dissenting liberals have at times invoked it in rebuke or to warn of other rights that may fall.
   2. Ahead of the dramatic final week of the current session, liberals on Friday fired a startling new warning shot in what was otherwise a low-profile dispute over a Salvadoran husband’s immigrant visa.
   3. Justice Sonia Sotomayor cited the 5-4 decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization as she asserted the majority was threatening marriage rights, particularly same-sex marriage as established in the 2015 case of Obergefell v. Hodges. Liberal Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined the dissent.
   4. The Dobbs majority had asserted that its elimination of abortion rights “does not undermine … in any way” other entrenched rights, such as those involving contraception or marriage, Sotomayor wrote. Despite that assurance, “the Court fails at the first pass.”
   5. As the dueling sides spoke past each other, there may have been a larger message of liberal frustration and despair. That could reflect what the liberal justices know is coming in cases soon to be announced. It could also reflect foreboding for the next set of issues that relate to same-sex marriage, including those intersecting with Dobbs, such as in vitro fertilization and other reproductive interests.
   6. Justice Amy Coney Barrett, who wrote the 6-3 decision in the visa case Friday, deemed Sotomayor’s dissenting opinion an overreaction to a straightforward immigration dispute, which landed before the justices on appeal by the Biden administration. …
   7. The case may indeed be confined to the immigration realm. Yet, the right-wing pattern of diminishing individual rights lurks in the background. And the liberals’ defiant statement may foreshadow divisions this week as the justices try to complete their 2023-24 session.
   8. Among the cases to be announced as soon as Wednesday is a significant test of access to abortion. …
   9. The case will mark the high court’s first substantive action on abortion access since its Dobbs decision, issued on June 24, 2022. The ruling overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade milestone and allowed states to begin outlawing abortion.
   10. Other cases to be decided in the next few days include those arising from the actions of former President Donald Trump after the 2020 election, notably whether he should be immune from criminal prosecution related to his efforts to overturn the election results.
   11. Another pending dispute may reverse a 40-year-old case, Chevron USA v. Natural Resources Defense Council, which gave US agencies considerable latitude to enforce regulations, for example, over the environment and public health. That precedent has been a target of the business community, as well as conservative justices. …
   12. As much as it has permeated American life, Dobbs has been rarely cited at the high court, especially by the conservative justices who made it the law. When liberals have quoted from their dissent in the case, it has mainly been to admonish the majority’s approach to precedent.
   13. Last year, for example, when the conservative majority reversed another milestone that dated to the 1970s (the Bakke decision that allowed racial affirmative action in college admissions), the three liberals invoked the Dobbs dissent to condemn another “reckless course.”
   14. What they wrote Friday, however, ratcheted up the rhetoric and could be a clarion call for what they see on the horizon for substantive rights, if not in the next few days, then in upcoming sessions.
   15. The visa case, which had come to the justices with comparatively little national attention, was brought by Sandra Munoz, who argued she had a constitutional liberty interest in a consular officer’s denial of a visa for her husband.
   16. Immigration law bars anyone an officer believes would engage in “unlawful activity,” and Munoz and her husband thought, according to the record in the case, he was rejected because he was suspected of membership in the MS-13 criminal gang. (He has denied affiliation with MS-13 or any other gang.)
   17. The constitutional question was whether a US citizen has a fundamental liberty interest in their noncitizen spouse being admitted to the United States. (A lower federal court, the California-based 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals, had ruled that a constitutionally protected liberty interest existed in such situations.)
   18. As Barrett’s opinion reversed the 9th Circuit, she relied on the federal government’s long-standing authority to decide the admission and exclusion of noncitizens. Then, using a 1997 case as a touchstone, she pointed to the absence of a “history and tradition” of any right to bring a spouse into the country.
   19. To liberal dissenters, Barrett’s approach to any possible marriage right based on the 1997 case, rather than the 2015 Obergefell case, turned what could have been a narrow procedural decision into “a broad holding on marriage.”
   20. Sotomayor said the majority was making “the same fatal error it made in Dobbs” as it weighed the liberty interest at stake.
   21. Rather than adopting a legal approach “that this Court has used in discussing the fundamental rights of marriage and intimacy,” Sotomayor noted, the majority [instead] employed a less protective framework from the 1997 case of Washington v. Glucksberg, which tested (and rejected) a constitutional right to physician-assisted suicide.
   22. “Almost 10 years ago, this Court vindicated the expansiveness of the right to marriage,” Sotomayor emphasized Friday before highlighting the individual lives affected: “It upheld the right of James Obergefell and his terminally ill husband, John Arthur, to have their marriage from Maryland recognized in Ohio. Rejecting the idea that Ohio can erase Obergefell’s marriage to John Arthur for all time by declining to place Obergefell as the surviving spouse on Arthur’s death certificate, this Court reasoned that marriage is a right older than the Bill of Rights.”
   23. MIKE: There’s a bit more specificity in the original story, so you can read it by clicking the link in the blog post.
   24. MIKE: Using “history and tradition” as a guide to legal decisions is perhaps a bit milder-sounding than simply overruling a legal stare decisis precent, but it’s more insidious. There is plenty of appalling “history and tradition” in American law and life. If the Court is going to use those as the basis for rulings, we’re all in serious trouble.
   25. MIKE: This is a big reason to be sure you vote in November. The Supreme Court needs some major reform, and it will take a Democratic president and Congress to accomplish that. If a unitary Democratic government should come to pass come January 2025, there will be some serious political hardball to look forward to.
10. The EPA’s new limits on PFAS in drinking water face legal challenges; By Pien Huang | NPR.ORG | June 21, 2024 @ 7:00 AM ET. TAGS: Drinking Water, Water utilities, Chemical Companies, PFAS, Forever Chemicals, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),
    1. Water utilities and chemical companies are challenging a recent rule from the Environmental Protection Agency that limits some PFAS, or “forever chemicals,” in drinking water.
    2. At least three lawsuits against the rule were filed in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit this month, ahead of a June 10 deadline for submitting such challenges. The Safe Water Drinking Act, requires parties challenging a regulation to file a petition within 45 days of its publication in the Federal Register.
    3. The lawsuits, filed by parties that may be directly or indirectly responsible for paying to remove PFAS from tap water, take aim at the EPA’s science, cost analysis, and rulemaking process. Legal experts say the pushback is expected, and it’s not yet clear how much traction these challenges will gain in court.
    4. PFAS are a class of man-made chemicals that are used to waterproof and stainproof many products – from raincoats to mascara, couches and cooking pans. They can persist for many years in the environment.
    5. The EPA finalized a rule in April to limit the amount of six PFAS chemicals in the drinking water, citing concerns over their effect on human health.
    6. The challenges to the rule come from trade groups representing water utilities and chemical manufacturers, and from one specific chemical company that makes PFAS, The Chemours Company. The parties have submitted three- to five-page petitions alleging that the EPA rule is “arbitrary and capricious” and exceeds the agency’s authorities under the Safe Drinking Water Act. …
    7. As it stands, the EPA’s PFAS drinking water regulation requires water utilities to monitor for certain PFAS chemicals in their water through 2027, and to remove those PFAS chemicals that exceed the EPA’s set limits by 2029.
    8. MIKE: There’s a lot more to this story, which you can read at the link I provide on the blog post, including discussions of legal briefs, possibly-related precedents that might be cited, etc., but I think that the fact of the lawsuits is the main story here.
    9. MIKE: As I’ve discussed on the show before, these suits were entirely predictable when the EPA issued these new PFAS rules, so the reporting of these suits is really just the pre-game show as far as I’m concerned. We’ll se how things begin to shake out when the suits are heard in court.
    10. MIKE: To be continued.
11. In international news … This story is a couple of weeks old, but I don’t think it’s been widely publicized — Biden aide raises possible increased deployments of U.S. strategic nuclear weapons; By Jonathan Landay | REUTERS.COM | June 8, 2024 @ 7:32 AM CDT / Updated 12 hours ago. TAGS: Strategic Nuclear Weapons, Russia, China, North Korea, United States, New START Treaty,
    1. The United States may have to deploy more strategic nuclear weapons in coming years to deter growing threats from Russia, China and other adversaries, a senior White House aide said on Friday.
    2. Pranay Vaddi, the top National Security Council arms control official, made his comments in a speech on “a more competitive approach” to arms control that outlined a policy shift aimed at pressing Moscow and Beijing to reverse rejections of U.S. calls for arsenal limitation talks.
    3. “Absent a change in adversary arsenals, we may reach a point in the coming years where an increase from current deployed numbers is required. We need to be fully prepared to execute if the president makes that decision,” he told the Arms Control Association. …
    4. The U.S. currently observes a limit of 1,550 deployed strategic nuclear warheads set in the 2010 New START treaty with Russia even though Moscow “suspended” its participation last year over U.S. support for Ukraine, a move Washington called “legally invalid.”
    5. Vaddi spoke a year after National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told the same group there was no need to increase U.S. strategic nuclear arms deployments to counter the arsenals of Russia and China, to which he offered talks “without preconditions.”
    6. The administration remains committed to international arms control and non-proliferation regimes designed to curb the spread of nuclear weapons, Vaddi said.
    7. But, he said, Russia, China and North Korea “are all expanding and diversifying their nuclear arsenals at a breakneck pace, showing little or no interest in arms control.” …
    8. U.S., Vaddi said, reserves nuclear weapons to deterring attacks by adversaries “on us and our allies and partners,” while remaining committed with Britain and France to “transparency” on nuclear policies and forces.
    9. But if U.S. adversaries boost reliance on nuclear weapons “we will have no choice but to adjust our posture and capabilities to preserve deterrence and stability,” he said.
    10. The administration is taking “prudent steps” toward that end, including modernizing the U.S. arsenal, he said. …
    11. Vaddi noted that President Joe Biden has pledged continued compliance the deployment limits set in the New START treaty as long as they are observed by Russia.
    12. However, he said, Moscow has repeatedly rejected talks on a successor pact to New START, the last strategic arms limitation pact between the world’s largest nuclear powers, which expires in 2026.
    13. China, meanwhile, has declined to discuss with the United States its expanding nuclear arsenal, he said.
    14. MIKE: There’s more detail in the original article.
    15. MIKE: There are some things to note here. First, this article and the New START Treaty are discussing strategic nuclear weapons. I don’t see tactical nukes mentioned.
    16. MIKE: Second, the US continues to abide by the strategic arms treaty limits that Moscow has repudiated.
    17. MIKE: And third, there are new players in the game that make strategic calculations more complex.
    18. MIKE: A more complete picture is this: The US has a total of about 5500 nuclear warheads when including tactical nukes and retired warheads awaiting dismantling. Russia has about 5800.
    19. MIKE: China is thought to have “more than 500 nuclear warheads” and has the fastest growing nuclear arsenal in the world. North Korea is thought to have about 30 nuclear warheads with fissile material for up to as many as 70.
    20. MIKE: When you tally up the number of nukes in the entire world, you have to include the UK, France, India, Pakistan, and Israel. Those countries add over 900 warheads to the total, but all these numbers are estimates, especially Israel, which has never carried out a known nuclear test and doesn’t acknowledge having such weapons. There are some useful graphics if you’re curious.
    21. MIKE: China’s rationale for declining to participate in nuclear arms talks is that their estimated 500 weapons are almost insignificant compared to the over 10,000 nukes in the combined inventories of the US and Russia. They say that the US and Russia would need to shrink their arsenals significantly before China would consider participating in limitation talks.
    22. MIKE: And we mustn’t forget Iran that, since Trump pulled us out of the JCPOA limitation treaty, can probably build it’s first nukes within weeks or certainly months after a decision has been made to do so.
    23. MIKE: Then there are the countries that have declined to build nuclear weapons but have the technical expertise and industrial base to do so if they should decide to. Those countries include Japan, Germany, and South Korea, among others. Those nations rely on the US nuclear umbrella for their defense. If sufficient doubts are raised in their minds about our willingness or ability to use that umbrella, their incentives to build their own devices will be compelling.
    24. MIKE: Without getting into the debate about a country’s rights to build nukes for their own defense versus preventing nuclear proliferation, what all this comes down to is a raft of new, very complicated, and obscenely dangerous strategic calculations that countries are forcing on themselves, as well as their neighbors and potential adversaries.
    25. MIKE: For those of you who have been rooting for a more multipolar world that diminished US dominance in the name of international fairness, congratulations. This may not be the multipolar world you hoped for, but it’s the one you got.
    26. MIKE: Personally, given the growing numbers of participants in this nuclear game and the paranoias that are unavoidable, I’m finding it increasingly likely that sometime, somewhere, someone is going to use a dirty bomb, a small tactical nuke, or a strategic nuke in that order of probability. I hope I’m wrong. I hope deterrence continues to work as intended.
    27. REFERENCE: By the numbers: China’s nuclear inventory continues to grow — LOWYINSTITUTE.ORG, Published 27 Feb 2024
    28. REFERENCE: Arms Control and Proliferation Profile: North Korea — ARMSCONTROL.ORG
    29. REFERENCE: Nuclear Weapons: Who Has What at a Glance — ARMSCONTROL.ORG
    30. REFERENCE: Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action and restrictive measures (JCPOA) —CONSILIUM.EUROPA.EU
12. In that same vein, there’s this story from May — New Star Wars Plan: Pentagon Rushes to Counter Threats in Orbit; Citing rapid advances by China and Russia, the United States is building an extensive capacity to fight battles in space. By Eric Lipton, Reporting from Washington | NYTIMES.COM | May 17, 2024. TAGS: S. Politics, Space War, US Space Force,
    1. The Pentagon is rushing to expand its capacity to wage war in space, convinced that rapid advances by China and Russia in space-based operations pose a growing threat to U.S. troops and other military assets on the ground and American satellites in orbit.
    2. Details of the push by the Pentagon remain highly classified. But Defense Department officials have increasingly acknowledged that the initiative reflects a major shift in military operations as space increasingly becomes a battleground.
    3. No longer will the United States simply rely on military satellites to communicate, navigate and track and target terrestrial threats, tools that for decades have given the Pentagon a major advantage in conflicts.
    4. Instead, the Defense Department is looking to acquire a new generation of ground- and space-based tools that will allow it to defend its satellite network from attack and, if necessary, to disrupt or disable enemy spacecraft in orbit, Pentagon officials have said in a series of interviews, speeches and recent statements.
    5. The strategy differs fundamentally from previous military programs in space by expanding the range of offensive capabilities — a far cry from the never-built 1980s-era Strategic Defense Initiative proposal, for example, which was focused on using satellites to protect the U.S. from nuclear missile strikes. …
    6. Pentagon officials and a recent unclassified assessment by the director of national intelligence say that both Russia and China have already tested or deployed systems such as ground-based high-energy lasers, antisatellite missiles or maneuverable satellites that could be used to disrupt American space assets. …
    7. But the move to enhance warfighting capacity in space is driven mostly by China’s expanding fleet of military tools in space. …
    8. American officials are … moving ahead with an effort they are calling “responsible counterspace campaigning,” an intentionally ambiguous term that avoids directly confirming that the United States intends to put its own weapons in space. …
    9. MIKE: There’s much more for those that care to read it. I’ve already made my thoughts on our modern arms race clear in the prior story. There’s no need to repeat myself here.
13. Ukraine may fire US-provided missiles into Russia wherever it is coming under attack, Pentagon says; By  TARA COPP | APNEWS.COM | Updated 10:35 AM CDT, June 21, 2024. TAGS: Ukraine-Russia War, US-supplied Weapons,
    1. Ukraine’s military is allowed to use longer-range missiles provided by the U.S. to strike targets inside Russia across more than just the front lines near Kharkiv if it is acting in self-defense, the Pentagon said.
    2. President Joe Biden initially loosened the restrictions on how Ukraine could use U.S.-provided munitions to give it another option to defend the eastern city of Kharkiv from a relentless barrage of Russian missiles. Since the beginning of Russia’s 2022 invasion, the U.S. had maintained a policy of not allowing Ukraine to use the weapons it provided to hit targets inside Russia for fear of further escalating the war.
    3. Russia has been firing on Ukrainian targets from inside its border, treating its territory as a “safe zone,” said Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary.
    4. “As we see those forces conducting those types of operations from across the border, we’ve explained Ukraine can and does have the right to fire back to defend themselves,” Ryder told reporters Thursday.
    5. The Pentagon said the additional permissions are not a new policy. …
    6. [Said spokesman Army Maj. Charlie Dietz,] “If Russia is attacking or about to attack from its territory into Ukraine, it only makes sense to allow Ukraine to hit back against the forces that are hitting it from across the border.”
    7. “Additionally, they can use air defense systems supplied by the United States to take Russian planes out of the sky, even if those Russian planes are in Russian airspace, if they’re about to fire into Ukrainian airspace,” Dietz said in a statement. …
    8. MIKE: I’m not prepared to call this an escalation by the US. The UK and France had already given these permissions for their weapons, and as Army Maj. Dietz says, it only makes sense not to give the Russians a safe sanctuary from which to attack Ukraine.
    9. MIKE: That metaphorical frog in that metaphorical sauce pan must be getting mighty hot.
14. I’m just going to read the headlines of the next two stories from CNN about the Hamas-Israel War without comment. The links to the stories are available if you want to delve into them. They’re both from June.
    2024. Hamas leader said civilian death toll could benefit militant group in Gaza war, WSJ reports; By Mostafa Salem and Kylie Atwood, CNN | CNN.COM | Updated 11:49 AM EDT, Tue June 11, 2024. TAGS:
    2025. Hamas official says ‘no one has any idea’ how many Israeli hostages are still alive; By Ben Wedeman, Muhammad Darwish and Ivana Kottasová, CNN | CNN.COM | Updated 5:26 AM EDT, Fri June 14, 2024. TAGS:
15. A related CNN story from May 11 has a June follow-up. This may end up being remembered as Israel’s Abu Ghraib — Strapped down, blindfolded, held in diapers: Israeli whistleblowers detail abuse of Palestinians in shadowy detention center; By CNN’s International Investigations and Visuals teams | cnn.com | Updated 7:52 AM EDT, Sat May 11, 2024. TAGS: Sde Teiman Desert Camp, Israel, Negev Desert, Detainees, Palestinians, Israel Defense Forces (IDF),
16. Here’s the follow-up — Israel phasing out use of desert detention camp after CNN investigation detailing abuses; By Abeer Salman, Tamara Qiblawi, Allegra Goodwin and Barbara Arvanitidis, CNN | CNN.COM | Updated 11:23 AM EDT, Wed June 5, 2024. TAGS: Sde Teiman, Israel, Palestinian detainees,
    1. Israel has transferred hundreds of Palestinian detainees out of the shadowy detention facility of Sde Teiman in Israel’s Negev desert, a state attorney told Israel’s Supreme Court on Wednesday during a first-ever hearing about the facility where prisoners from Gaza have allegedly been held under conditions of extreme abuse.
    2. State attorney Aner Helman told the court that 700 inmates had been moved to Ofer military facility in the occupied West Bank, with another 500 set to be transferred in the weeks to come. Around 200 detainees will remain in Sde Teiman, said Helman, who added that the state would provide an update on their status within three days.
    3. The hearing comes in response to a petition by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and other human rights groups, which drew heavily on CNN reporting about the makeshift prison to make a case for it to be shut down.
    4. During a tense exchange, one of the Supreme Court justices, Judge Barak Erez, pressed the state’s legal team on the legality of the way the facility was being run. “The question is whether or not the Israeli law for the imprisonment of unlawful combatants applies or not. That you did not answer,” said Erez. …
    5. [MIKE: As a sidenote, I don’t see a State response in the story.]
    6. CNN’s investigation, in which Israeli whistleblowers as well as Palestinian former detainees and eyewitnesses described horrific conditions at the facility, including continuous blindfolding and handcuffing, sparked an international outcry.
    7. The White House called the allegations detailed in CNN’s report “deeply concerning” and said it was reaching out to Israeli officials for answers. Germany’s Foreign Office condemned the reported practices and said it was campaigning for the International Committee of the Red Cross to access the camp and other prisons. …
    8. [The previous] week, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi said the military launched a probe into the allegations of mistreatment at Sde Teiman, as well as at Anatot and Ofer, two other military detention camps for Palestinians from Gaza. The committee tasked with examining the conditions of Palestinian detainees from Gaza is set to submit its recommendations to Halevi this month.
    9. “They cannot keep holding people there, not even for a short while, not even only 200, and not even one week,” ACRI’s attorney Roni Pelli told CNN after the hearing. …
    10. On May 10, CNN released an investigation into Sde Teiman, a military base in the Negev desert which has doubled as a detention center for Palestinians detained over the course of Israel’s war in Gaza which was launched after the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.
    11. Three Israeli whistleblowers told CNN that Palestinian detainees at the facility were constantly blindfolded and held under extreme physical restraint. Doctors sometimes amputated prisoners’ limbs due to injuries sustained from continuous handcuffing, one whistleblower said. The account tallied with details of a letter authored by a doctor working at Sde Teiman published by Ha’aretz in April. …
    12. Responding to CNN’s request for comment on all the allegations made in its May 10 report, the Israeli military, known as the [IDF], said in a statement: “The IDF ensures proper conduct towards the detainees in custody. Any allegation of misconduct by IDF soldiers is examined and dealt with accordingly. In appropriate cases, MPCID (Military Police Criminal Investigation’s Division) investigations are opened when there is suspicion of misconduct justifying such action.” …
    13. The [Israel Defense Forces (IDF)] did not directly deny accounts of people being stripped of their clothing or held in diapers. Instead, the Israeli military said that the detainees are given back their clothing once the IDF has determined that they pose no security risk.
    14. MIKE: It pained me to see these stories, just as it pained me to read the stories about the US detention camp at Abu Ghraib in Iraq. You want and expect better of nations you support.
    15. MIKE: The fact that the IDF is acting relatively quickly to remove prisoners from these conditions speaks not only to how bad this looked politically, but how bad the IDF felt that it actually was.
    16. MIKE: The story says that a report is supposed to be issued to General Halevi by the IDF by the end of June. If I see any further updates on this topic, I’ll mention it on the show.
    17. REFERENCE: Abu Ghraib torture and prisoner abuse — From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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