Now in our 11th year on KPFT!

Going forward, new shows will post for Thursday at 6PM (CT) broadcast and re-run on Sundays at 1PM and Wednesdays at 11AM.

AUDIO:

POSSIBLE TOPICS:

1. Post-election Comment: Now with less post-election aggravation;
2. Mike’s thoughts on Monday morning election quarterbacking;
3. League City changes roadway impact fees to fund capital improvement projects;
4. Fort Bend County invests $526K for opioid-use prevention, [and] mitigation;
5. Sean Teare, Harris County’s district attorney-elect, will ‘do what I think is right’;
6. Tragic escalation: Domestic disputes turn dangerous, deadly in Houston area;
7. Greg Abbott wants to freeze tuition at Texas colleges and universities for another two years;
8. Harris fundraising page says a portion of donations will be directed to recount effort;
9. Bernie Sanders blasts Democratic Party following Harris loss;
10. Ballot measures to upend state election systems failed across the country;
11. First, a random comment from me;
12. Investigation into Chinese hacking reveals ‘broad and significant’ spying effort, FBI says;
13. South Korea says ‘not ruling out’ supplying weapons to Ukraine;
14. Eco-Friendly Fibers May Pose a Greater Threat to the Planet Than Plastics, Concerning Study Reveals;
15. Groundbreaking: ‘Sleepy weed’ shown to significantly improve sleep;

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:

1. Live online at KPFT.org (from anywhere in the world!)
2. Podcast on your phone’s Podcast App
3. Visiting Archive.KPFT.ORG

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

1. MIKE: Thinkwing Radio usually contains about 15-30 minutes of national politics, but I’ve decided that for the foreseeable future — I don’t know if that will be weeks or months —I’ve decided I’ll be curating national news more carefully for stuff that doesn’t unnecessarily depress or anger listeners. There will be plenty of other sources for that kind of coverage, but I don’t want to be among them. At some point, I’ll have to dive back into discussing Trump’s doings that make us all really angry and sad and scared, but not yet.
   1. Instead, I will continue focusing on local, regional and state news, and I’ll look at other states and how they are impacting the national scene. I’ll also be discussing international events.
2. MIKE: On another topic … There’s a saying: “Success has many fathers. Failure is an orphan.” But Democratic Party Monday-morning quarterbacks have forced me to revise that saying: “Success has many fathers, but failure has many whiners.”
   1. An important lesson from history that is often lost among its students and scholars is that no historical outcome was preordained. A further corollary might be that people living through an event at the time had no way of knowing what the final outcomes of their decisions and actions would be.
   2. As recently as one day before the election, pundits from the party and media were marveling at the near-perfect way that the Harris campaign had conducted itself.
   3. As soon as one day after the election was called, the long knives came out starting to say what the Harris campaign had done wrong, and what Biden had done wrong leading up to the primaries and before he decided to drop out.
   4. So let’s take a look at some of the realities.
   5. Historically, it’s very unusual for a sitting vice president to win an election campaign for president. According to Wikipedia: “[Only] Four sitting vice presidents have been elected president: John Adams in 1796, Thomas Jefferson in 1800, Martin Van Buren in 1836, and George H. W. Bush in 1988. …” In other words, only one incumbent VP was elected for president on their own in the last 188 years, so Harris’s effort was already a historical longshot. Any other VP that had won the presidency had already been elevated to the presidency by the previous incumbent’s natural death or assassination.
   6. It’s often suggested that this is the case because a sitting vice president has a very challenging time trying to express their own ambitions for a presidency without contradicting the policies of the then-sitting president, who is effectively their boss.
   7. I will note here that a year or two into the Biden presidency, when it was still thought that he would choose not to run for a second term, and on this show, I suggested that the best strategy going into the 2024 election would be for Biden to resign after three years so that Harris could run in 2024 as an incumbent.
   8. I may have been right. But since no one can know the outcome of a “maybe”, you’re not going to hear me say that that’s definitely what Biden should have done! And yet, that’s what all the Democratic and punditry critics are effectively doing. It’s all a load of after-the-event “woulda-coulda-shoulda”.
   9. If Harris had won, all these same people would be extolling the brilliance of the Harris campaign.
   10. I’ll discuss this a little more as I cite some stories later in the show.
   11. In the meantime, on last week’s show, I intended to make some remarks about people’s perception of inflation and whether it’s still strong or under control, but I ran out of time.
   12. This idea only crystallized for me a few days before the election based on a comment I read somewhere.
   13. Apparently, many or most people still feel like inflation isn’t under control because prices are still high. This seems to reflect a popular misconception that is rooted in people’s “gut feel” rather than the facts of the situation.
   14. When inflation is brought back under control, as the Fed appears to have successfully done, prices don’t come back down much, if at all.
   15. Rather, they stop rapidly going up.
   16. This is a nuance that most people apparently do not grasp, and it’s too bad that the Harris campaign could not get this truth into the national conversation.
   17. This is a result of the general lack of basic — and I mean basic — economic education that must occur no later than high school. I guess it kind of goes hand-in-hand with the lack of effective civic education and basic education about how our government works … or is supposed to work.
   18. All this kind of education is supposed to happen by high school graduation, so something is obviously getting lost here, and it will take at least a generation to fix it, from whenever we start trying to do so.
   19. As Trump has said in the past, “I love the uneducated.”
   20. I think that brings our current situation up to date.
3. Starting with local news, from COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM — League City changes roadway impact fees to fund capital improvement projects; By Rachel Leland | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:34 PM Nov 13, 2024 CST/Updated 4:34 PM Nov 13, 2024 CST. TAGS: League City, Capital Recovery Fees, Infrastructure Costs,
   1. Developers in League City will now pay updated impact fees, or capital recovery fees, to fund roadway development to help the city offset infrastructure costs as it grows.
   2. … On Nov. 12, League City City Council voted 7-1 to update the city’s land use assumptions [regarding] the capital improvement plan for roadway facilities and roadway impact fees. Council member Tommy Cones voted against the motion.
   3. [To calculate the total impact fee due from a development, the city uses a formula detailed in the original article.]
   4. … The city’s Roadway Recovery Fee was first adopted in 2018 and helps fund system improvements and offset building costs to keep up with the city’s pace and growth, according to the report.
   5. Impact fees also help to partially shift the burden of construction costs off of existing residents and taxpayers, according to the report. …
   6. MIKE: In other words, it seems to me that the city is now effectively charging a sort of infrastructure admission fee for each new home buyer to offset increased taxes on existing city residents for the new and improved infrastructure that new housing ultimately requires. I don’t see this as unreasonable.
   7. MIKE: I don’t know if the new fees are intended as pass-throughs by developers or if developers will tack on a profit margin, nor do I know if the new ordinance discusses that detail.
   8. MIKE: If developers are going to tack a mark-up onto the fee, then it might actually be cheaper for new home buyers to be billed this fee in their closing costs. But we’ll have to see.
4. Also from COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM: Fort Bend County invests $526K for opioid-use prevention, [and] mitigation; By Aubrey Vogel | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:29 PM Nov 13, 2024 CST/Updated 4:29 PM Nov 13, 2024 CST. TAGS: Fort Bend County, Opioid Addiction, Settlement Funds,
   1. Fort Bend County officials are looking at ways to prevent opioid addiction in the county.
   2. … At a Nov. 12 meeting, Fort Bend County commissioners approved a plan to spend roughly $526,377 over the next two years to combat opioid addiction and deaths in the county through education, data collection, and specialized personnel.
   3. The plan comes after the county received $575,000 in settlement funds from participating in lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies, retail companies, and distributors [said] Fort Bend County Attorney Bridgette Smith-Lawson.
   4. [She said,] “We sued them for … promoting false and misleading market practices which minimize the risk of serious addiction, ignoring science and consumer health for profit, and conspiring with various distributors and retailers to oversupply opioids to residents of Fort Bend County—far in excess [of] the amount that could possibly be consumed for therapeutic and health purposes.”
   5. [There’s a graph included here in the story showing relative numbers of hospitalization in regional counties, but since I don’t see it as adjusted for population per thousand, I don’t know how really informative it is. Continuing …]
   6. Meanwhile, Texas has seen at least 8,000 cases of hospitalization per year due to opioid use.
   7. [MIKE: Again, without a breakdown per thousand of population, I’m not sure how much that tell us in relation to Fort Bend County. Continuing …]
   8. … According to agenda documents, $147,884 of funds will support three Fort Bend County Health and Human Services initiatives over a two year period, including: Enhancing education and community engagement through community collaborations; Supporting data collection and research in the county; [and] Developing a prevention framework to guide action and policy through prevention, treatment and harm reduction.
   9. Additionally, the court system will utilize $191,252 to: Support drug testing and screening costs; [and to] Hire a recovery coach to provide peer support.
   10. Meanwhile, [according to agenda documents,] the county District Attorney’s office will hire a certified community supervision-and-corrections officer at a two year cost of $187,240. This person will specialize in assessments of clients involved in the justice system who are suffering from opioid addictions.
   11. … [Smith-Lawson said,] “The opioid crisis is a new American war that is being waged by law enforcement, the judicial system, the medical industry, schools and, of course, families who have been impacted … . It is a matter of public safety, and it is a concern of this body as it impacts the wellbeing of Fort Bend County residents.”
   12. … County staff will continue exploring alternative funding options to receive more funds to combat opioid addiction countywide, Smith-Lawson said. More funding could also come to the county through other settlements in the future, she said.
   13. MIKE: The story doesn’t provide any web site links to Fort Bend County services specific to opioid addiction assistance, but the site linked in the article does have a phone number for county residents that have “general public health questions.” It’s 281-238-3500.
5. This is a long article from HOUSTONLANDING.ORG that I’ve tried to trim down somewhat, but I think that it’s important to give as strong a sense as possible of our incoming Harris County DA, replacing now-Republican Kim Ogg — Sean Teare, Harris County’s district attorney-elect, will ‘do what I think is right’; by Clare Amari | HOUSTONLANDING.ORG | November 13, 2024 | 4:00 am. TAGS: Sean Teare, Harris County District Attorney-Elect, Bail Reform, Domestic Violence, Bad Charges,
   1. Sean Teare, Harris County’s district attorney-elect, is a longtime prosecutor who has tried armed robberies, visited the scenes of countless homicides and convicted a man of mass murder. But those aren’t the cases that keep him up at night. …
   2. Teare, 45, said he “gravitated” toward drug cases as a young prosecutor, having spent his adolescence watching his mother struggle with a heroin addiction. Now married with four children, he says maturity taught him to take a less punitive approach to drug abuse and mental illness. 
   3. [Teare said,] “We’re not going to prosecute our way out of this. The mark of a good prosecutor is not waking up in the middle of the night thinking about the case you lost. It’s thinking about the case you won that you shouldn’t have.” 
   4. … Teare’s political skill carried him to victory in an election that was otherwise catastrophic for Democrats. When he takes office in January, he will become one of the most powerful elected officials in Harris County; the final decision-maker for criminal prosecutions in the county’s felony, misdemeanor and juvenile courts. As district attorney, he will oversee a budget of over $116 million and more than 350 prosecutors. 
   5. Yet he faces stiff headwinds. Teare has laid out ambitious plans for change, but his narrow margin of victory in the general election leaves him without a commanding mandate. He will also take office amid a political realignment, with President-elect Donald Trump promising to weaponize the Department of Justice against “radical left prosecutor’s offices” and Texas billionaire Elon Musk, who has already targeted Democratic district attorneys and judges, turning his attention to Harris County. 
   6. Teare, therefore, will have to perform a political high-wire act, balancing Democratic priorities like support for bail reform with the widespread anxiety about public safety that nearly propelled his opponent to victory. 
   7. [Said Brandon Rottinghaus, a professor of political science at the University of Houston,] “He’s got a very difficult path. There will be a lot of distrust early on. He’ll need to find a way to use relationships he’s got and establish additional relationships to be successful.” …
   8. [Former senior Harris County prosecutor Paul Fortenberry,] and others pointed to Teare’s steady hand at the helm of the Vehicular Crimes Division, which he led during his later years as a Harris County prosecutor. In that role, he appeared frequently at crash sites, earning the respect of stakeholders across the justice system — even those who did not support him. 
   9. [Said Doug Griffith, president of the Houston Police Officers’ Union, which endorsed Teare’s opponent,] “I’ve known him for many, many years. I think he’s going to be good for the DA’s office, to be honest.” 
   10. Those relationships and Teare’s depth of experience have left his supporters hopeful that the new district attorney will be able to steer his agency through choppy waters. 
   11. [Said Nia Hernandez, an organizer for the progressive organization Indivisible Houston who campaigned for Teare,] “My faith is that he is going to live up to the campaign promises that he made. …” 
   12. Teare’s childhood … was far from glamorous. His first visit to the Harris County Jail was not as a prosecutor, but as a civilian: at just 15, he was there to bail out his mother. …
   13. It was an encounter that would prove fateful. Even as he sought out the drug possession cases that consumed him in his early years at the district attorney’s office …
   14. [I]n 2010, Teare departed the district attorney’s office for a stint in civil law, bringing suit against drug or medical device manufacturers across the country. He returned to prosecution in 2017 to work for Kim Ogg, where he took over the Vehicular Crimes Division and oversaw assistant district attorneys in several felony courts. He also served on the district attorney’s Capital Committee, where he helped decide whether to pursue the death penalty in eligible cases — and says he grappled with difficult questions of right and wrong. 
   15. [Said Teare, who told the Landing he has only twice recommended the punishment,] “The death penalty in no way is a deterrent” to future crime. “The death penalty is, in my mind, reserved for people who, no matter what population you put them in, are going to continue to be life-threatening (and) dangerous… If there was another option out there, I’m all for it.” …
   16. Dan Cogdell, a defense lawyer, said he saw Teare [make a tough call] in a case involving a defendant who faced felony assault charges for shooting at police. Cogdell, who represented the defendant, believed the case was unjust because the defendant was experiencing a mental health crisis at the time of the shooting. Teare, who supervised the prosecution, came to the same conclusion and dismissed all charges. 
   17. [Cogdell said,] “When you have a shot cop, it’s a very difficult thing to convince a prosecutor that that case should be dismissed. … To me, that personified his ability to make a hard decision.”
   18. Teare later worked at Cogdell’s criminal defense practice, beginning about a year after dismissing the charges. He departed the firm in April to run for office full time.
   19. It was also during this second stint at the office that Teare’s decision to run for Harris County District Attorney … finally took shape. He knew he would “definitely” run, he said, around 2018 or 2019 as he “started to watch, from the inside, the office disintegrate” under [current County DA Kim] Ogg. 
   20. Teare resigned from the district attorney’s office in February 2023 to challenge Ogg, who had drawn the ire of local Democrats following an about-face on key issues like bail reform and accusations that she had weaponized her office against political opponents. Teare subsequently won the Democratic primary in March 2024 by more than 50 percentage points … 
   21. … Teare’s plans for the district attorney’s office are detailed and ambitious, though [he] admitted he will not be able to enact all of them in his first year in charge. Instead, on day one, Teare said he has two priorities: reforming the office’s heavily criticized intake division and turbocharging domestic violence prosecutions. 
   22. The intake division at the district attorney’s office is responsible for deciding whether to accept or reject criminal charges after police have made an arrest. Previously staffed by experienced prosecutors through a mandatory overtime program, Ogg replaced that model with a full-time team of lawyers who bring varying levels of experience. 
   23. That change, critics said, has led to an influx of weak cases, high dismissal rates and a lethally overcrowded jail. Teare agreed and said he would restore the previous model abandoned under Ogg. 
   24. [Said Teare,] “January 1, we are back to having experienced prosecutors in those roles.” [That] will help “strengthen the cases on the scene… and strengthen relationships with law enforcement in that we are working together.” 
   25. Teare’s second priority for Jan. 1 is similarly structural: he plans to create a “domestic violence bureau” in the office, a “silo” that will take only domestic violence cases. 
   26. Currently, the district attorney’s office operates a dedicated domestic violence division — a team of specialized prosecutors who handle the most difficult cases. However, Teare said, their workload only amounts to about 30 percent of Harris County’s domestic charges overall, with the remainder routed into the felony trial bureau. There, most are handled by overwhelmed junior prosecutors who rotate courts frequently, according to Teare. 
   27. [Teare said,] “It is not uncommon in a six-month period for a survivor to have five different voices that they’re hearing from. What we’re seeing is, quite frankly, exhaustion on the part of survivors who then don’t want to participate (in prosecutions) — and a lot of those cases where these victims just say ‘I’m out’ turn into either high risk (cases) or intimate partner murders.” 
   28. Teare says he developed this initiative in consultation with domestic violence experts and advocates across Harris County. 
   29. [Teare said,] “All of the survivors in these cases will be handled in a better fashion, in a more consistent fashion, with trauma-informed prosecutors, with social workers that are all saying the same thing, with victim advocates that are all marching in the same step toward whatever the resolution is.”
   30. Teare will staff the new bureau by reallocating open positions already funded by Commissioners Court …
   31. Among Teare’s other campaign promises are his pledges to “lobby hard” against anti-abortion laws, support misdemeanor bail reform, and lean into diversion programs for non-violent drug offenders. 
   32. However, many of these issues emerged as conservative talking points during the 2024 election season, with Trump vowing to target the “radical Marxist prosecutors who are abolishing cash bail.” Meanwhile, Musk recently announced he would use his political action committee, America PAC, to attack prosecutors who accepted campaign funding from the liberal philanthropist George Soros — a group that includes Teare. 
   33. Rottinghaus, the political scientist, said the prospect of a “political hit job… should definitely be on Teare’s mind.”
   34. [Rottinghaus said,] “It’s clear he’ll have a target on him because of Harris County’s size and its role in the criminal justice system. He’ll need to be conscious of it, but he can’t let that prospect define his term in office.”
   35. For his part, Teare said he does not think of himself as “a radical.” A career prosecutor, his approach to the role of district attorney is that of a pragmatist, not an idealogue. 
   36. [Teare said,] “My mission and my promise to the community are not going to change. We’re going to see that justice is done. We’re going to follow the law, and we’re going to use prosecutorial discretion… I’m going to do what I think is right.”
   37. MIKE: I think that this story, even excerpted, is long enough that I don’t need to do any further analysis. Let’s just hope that Teare’s official ambitions match his hoped-for results.
6. On the subject of domestic violence — Tragic escalation: Domestic disputes turn dangerous, deadly in Houston area; By Sherman Desselle | FOX26HOUSTON.COM | Published  November 11, 2024 @ 9:52pm CST. TAGS: Crime and Public Safety, Domestic Violence,
   1. As the holidays approach, experts are emphasizing the importance of recognizing domestic violence and the increased risk it poses during this time of year. 
   2. Recent reports by FOX 26 highlight a concerning pattern of family and intimate partner violence within the Houston community.
   3. Since October, there have been 10 reported incidents of domestic [abuse] that escalated into violence, including a case as recently as Monday morning. 
   4. HCSO reports that around 3:30 a.m., deputies were on the scene of a car crash that resulted in two hospitalizations. Investigators say that the incident was the result of domestic violence, starting with a dispute between a couple at home. The confrontation escalated, with the man driving off in a car and the woman pursuing him in another vehicle down Aldine Bender. 
   5. In another tragic instance on Saturday, law enforcement discovered a married couple deceased in West Harris County at a complex on Clay Road. The incident is believed to be a murder-suicide where the husband took his wife’s life before ending his own. Sheriff Ed Gonzalez spoke on the matter, describing their marriage as tumultuous and marked by recurring conflict, a situation familiar to their family members.
   6. The Houston Area Women’s Center reports a significant rise in calls to their hotline, with an increase of 10,000 calls per year, a number that spikes during the holiday season. This rise indicates a troubling escalation of domestic violence that the Houston community cannot afford to overlook.
   7. [Explains Chau Nguyen, a trauma therapist,] “The stressors of finances and the increase in drinking during the holidays can be huge stressors, exacerbating incidents of domestic violence.”
   8. Nguyen underscores that domestic violence should not be perceived solely as a private issue but as one with vast implications for entire communities. It affects not only the individuals directly involved but also first responders, children, neighbors, law enforcement, and healthcare workers, thus representing a public health crisis.
   9. The therapist also offers advice on how to support those in such difficult situations. 
   10. [Nguyen advises,] “If you know someone who is suffering from domestic violence – a family member or friend – it’s essential to listen to them without judgment.”
   11. Isolation can exacerbate a victim’s situation. 
   12. For those experiencing domestic violence or know someone who is, resources are available, such as the Houston Area Women’s Center hotline, which operates 24/7, at 1-800-256-0551.
   13. You can also find additional information at a FOX26 link listed here [in the story].
   14. MIKE: I think that it’s important to mention that not all domestic violence is physical. There is emotional domestic abuse as well, and that can be just as damaging in its own way. It’s also important to mention that while most victims of domestic violence are women, men are also subject to domestic abuse and violence.
   15. MIKE: I have a personal story along those lines. Late in my first marriage, I ran across a short filler piece on domestic abuse that offered a brief questionnaire. It was obviously aimed at women, but it said that if you answered “yes” to just 3 of the 10 questions, you might be a victim of domestic abuse. I answered “yes” to 7.
   16. MIKE: A phone number was provided and after a few days of getting up my courage, I called it. As soon as someone answered, I said, “You may be surprised to hear a man’s voice …” But before I could finish, the person at the other end said, “You’d be surprised how many men call us.”
   17. MIKE: For those men or women experiencing domestic abuse or violence, or know someone who is, resources are available, such as the Houston Area Women’s Center hotline, which operates 24/7, at 1-800-256-0551.
   18. MIKE: You can also contact The National Domestic Violence Hotline, which is careful not to specifically address only women. That number is 1-(800) 799-SAFE (7233).
   19. MIKE: The holidays can be a paradoxically hard time for many individuals and families. Don’t be afraid or ashamed to seek help or advice.
7. From the Texas Tribune — Greg Abbott wants to freeze tuition at Texas colleges and universities for another two years; The governor’s directive extends a tuition freeze for Texas’ public universities that was approved in the last legislative session. By Kate McGee | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | Nov. 13, 2024/Updated: 10 hours ago. TAGS: Gov. Greg Abbott, Texas Colleges And Universities, Tuitions,
   1. Greg Abbott said Wednesday he will not support any tuition increases at Texas colleges and universities in the next two years, continuing the tuition freeze currently in place.
   2. In a letter to public colleges and universities, Abbott said he spoke to all of the university system Boards of Regents, whose members agree with his position.
   3. [Abbott wrote in his letter,] “The State has made historic investments in higher education, including increased funding for universities and financial aid programs. These efforts reflect our commitment to ensuring that higher education remains accessible and affordable for all Texans. When all Texans have access to quality and affordable education, they can earn better wages, meet workforce qualifications, and experience a higher quality of life. I will ensure college affordability remains a top priority for the state as we head into the next legislative session.”
   4. Last legislative session, lawmakers allocated an additional $700 million to the state budget for Texas’ public universities.
   5. University leaders requested the extra funds at the start of the session and agreed to keep tuition flat for undergraduate students for the 2024-2025 budget cycle if the state provided the financial boost.
   6. The average cost of attendance for in-state students attending a public university is $28,724, including tuition and fees, housing, books and other costs. Tuition and fees averages just over $10,200.
   7. MIKE: I think that this is a great thing. It’s just that I’ve gotten so cynical of the ruling party in Texas that I can’t help wondering what the underlying motivation is. While I don’t think that all Republicans always have ulterior motives for their statements and actions, they’ve lost so much trust that I always have to raise the suspicion.
   8. MIKE: Nonetheless, a decision that doesn’t make Texas higher education more expensive is good. But I do wish that the article clarified whether that $28,700 figure was per semester or per academic year. Following a link that’s in the story, that average cost seems to be for a full academic year, at 15 credits per semester for two semesters.
   9. MIKE: I might consider lowering college tuitions for Texas residents by maybe making tuition more expensive for non-residents. From the chart on the linked page, non-residents’ full ride is about 50% more than residents. Maybe up that a little, eh?
8. In some non-nerve wracking post-election news from USA Today — Harris fundraising page says a portion of donations will be directed to recount effort; By Sudiksha Kochi | USA TODAY | Published 2024/11/11. TAGS: Kamala Harris, Recount, Harris Victory Fund
   1. A portion of donations made to the Harris Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee authorized by the Harris campaign, the Democratic National Committee and state Democratic parties, will be directed towards a recount effort, according to its fundraising page. 
   2. The move comes after former president Donald Trump officially swept all seven battleground states and earned 312 electoral votes in the 2024 presidential race, winning control of the White House. In some states Trump beat Vice President Kamala Harris by a narrow margin, including less than one percentage point in Wisconsin and less than two points in Michigan.
   3. The fundraising page says that the “first $41,300/$15,000 from a person/multicandidate committee (“PAC”) will be allocated to the DNC. The next $3,300/$5,000 from a person/PAC will be allocated to Harris for President’s Recount Account.” 
   4. It doesn’t include additional details on when the recount effort will take place and who will lead the effort. 
   5. Harris officially conceded the race to Trump in a speech she gave at Howard University the day after Election Day, saying that the nation must accept the election results. 
   6. “While I concede this election, I do not concede the fight that fueled this campaign,” she said. “We will continue to wage this fight in the voting booth, in the courts and in the public square, and we will also wage it in quieter ways, in how we live our lives, by treating one another with kindness and respect.”
   7. The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. 
   8. MIKE: As of Thursday morning, there is no clarification of what this story means or what votes are slated to be recounted. Trump seems to still be about two percentage points ahead of Kamala in the popular vote, and I personally don’t see enough states that are close enough to make a recount worthwhile, but maybe this is aimed at House and Senate races? Time will tell.
9. An FYI: I recently saw a post on here that Kamala had finally won the popular vote. This is not correct.
   1. I wish it were true, both for the results and for what it would say about my fellow citizens. Alas, it’s not.
   2. I found a site that appears to still be updating count totals. Here it is:
      https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2024-elections/president-results
10. Bernie Sanders blasts Democratic Party following Harris loss; By Anthony Adragna | POLITICO.COM | 11/06/2024, 4:36pm ET/Updated: 11/06/2024, 6:11pm ET. TAGS: Bernie Sanders, Democratic Party, 2024 Election,
    1. Bernie Sanders said “it should come as no great surprise” that working people abandoned Kamala Harris for Donald Trump in the 2024 election and vowed “some very serious political discussions” in the weeks ahead.
    2. [The Vermont independent said in a statement Wednesday,] “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them. First, it was the white working class, and now it is Latino and Black workers as well. While the Democratic leadership defends the status quo, the American people are angry and want change. And they’re right.”
    3. Sanders, who just won reelection to another Senate term in Vermont, didn’t sound optimistic the party brass would heed his calls though. “Will the big money interests and well-paid consultants who control the Democratic Party learn any real lessons from this disastrous campaign?” Sanders asked.
    4. “Will they understand the pain and political alienation that tens of millions of Americans are experiencing? Do they have any ideas as to how we can take on the increasingly powerful Oligarchy which has so much economic and political power? Probably not.”
    5. Sanders ended his statement with “Stay tuned,” a sign of future action as Democrats seek a path forward after losing the Senate majority and struggling to grasp control of the House. The progressive lost Democratic presidential primaries in both 2016 and 2020.
    6. MIKE: My opinion of Bernie Sanders has always been that he is a really important progressive voice for the Democrats. But I think he would have made a terribly abrasive and inflexible president, and I think he’s being way too hard on the Biden/Harris administration and the Harris campaign.
    7. MIKE: Considering that Biden was afflicted with intransigent “blue dog” Democrats in the Senate for his first two years and with a Republican House for his second two years, I think that most objective observers agree that his achievements have been remarkable.
    8. MIKE: I also think that while Sanders and his acolytes are absolutely convinced that his way is the only right way, election history for the last 80 years has proven them wrong time and again. That’s not to say I disagree with most of his economic ideas. I don’t, but I think that the Republicans would find him to be a target-rich environment.
    9. MIKE: In my view, Harris didn’t lose because the Democrats weren’t looking after the needs of the working people, but in spite of the fact that they were, and to a degree remarkable given their political constraints.
    10. MIKE: There’s no question that the Democrats have some reflection and re-evaluation to do, but I don’t think that Harris lost because the Democrats didn’t do enough over the last four years. I think that for whatever reasons — whether it was the success of Rightwing propaganda, or the media failing to focus on the good that Biden has done while ignoring the horrors that are Trump — new Democratic ideas and strategies will need to be considered and focus-grouped.
11. Ballot measures to upend state election systems failed across the country; By Ashley Lopez | NPR.ORG | November 8, 2024 @ 4:30 PM ET. TAGS: Election Reform, Ranked Choice Voting, Nonpartisan Primaries,
    1. Statewide efforts to adopt open and nonpartisan primaries, as well as ranked choice voting, failed in this year’s election, delivering a stinging setback to the election reform movement.
    2. The measures sought to reduce political polarization in U.S. politics. And while an overwhelming share of Americans say they are unhappy with the country’s democratic systems, these initiatives were voted down in states across the country this week. …
    3. Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon and South Dakota had ballot measures that would have replaced party primaries with nonpartisan contests and/or created a ranked choice voting system in their elections. A majority of those measures sought to implement both. …
    4. In nonpartisan primaries, all candidates, regardless of party, appear on the same ballot and some number of candidates, like the “top four” vote-getters, move on to the general election. Proponents of primary reform say partisan elections often exclude independent and unaffiliated voters — and simultaneously bolster more extreme candidates who mainly appeal to a party’s base, likely exacerbating polarization.
    5. Both nonpartisan primaries and ranked choice voting, advocates say, force candidates to appeal to voters who are outside of their base — which could potentially foster more bipartisanship.
    6. Opponents of these kinds of measures — which are chiefly the two main political parties — say nonpartisan primaries strip power away from parties to control who can vote in their elections. They also argue that big changes to the way elections are run, including ranked choice voting, can confuse voters.
    7. Nick Troiano — founding executive director of Unite America, a philanthropic venture fund that invests in nonpartisan electoral reform — said pushback from the Democratic and Republican parties really hurt the 2024 measures. …
    8. The election reform efforts generally were well funded, but voters seemed skeptical. …
    9. Troiano said his group is “disappointed, of course,” but he said there’s a lot to learn from the failure of these measures.
    10. [He said,] “We’ve learned that we have to simplify our message in terms of explaining exactly what these reforms are and the benefit to voters. And I think we’ve also learned that we have to communicate more about why these reforms will lead to a positive impact on the issues that people do care about.”
    11. Ranked choice voting did have some wins at the local level — [Deb Otis, director of research and policy at FairVote, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for ranked choice voting and other electoral reforms,] said a bright spot for the electoral reform movement, though, was in cities across the country, like Oak Park, Ill., and Bloomington, Minn.
    12. [Otis said,] “We are really excited about the city wins this November, including Washington, D.C., where we won in all eight wards of the city.”
    13. Voters in Washington, D.C., approved a measure that will open up primaries to unaffiliated voters and implement ranked choice voting, allowing voters to rank five candidates in order of preference for most offices on the ballot.
    14. [Deb Otis, director of research and policy at FairVote, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for ranked choice voting and other electoral reforms,] said there are a couple of reasons these reforms did better on a city level. For one, campaigning for the city-level measures was more effective. …
    15. And secondly, Otis said “city elections don’t always have the same level of partisanship as these statewide” elections.
    16. [Otis said ,] “I think that makes folks more willing to try out this reform without the worry that possibly it could harm one side or the other,” she said.
    17. Troiano said that despite the fact that these measures failed on a state level, this election was “a big step forward for the election reform movement.”
    18. “We always knew it would be an uphill battle,” he said, “but the fact that it got on the ballot in as many states as it did and then won over six and a half million votes from voters in those states, means we’ve really started a national conversation about what it means to fix our political system at a systemic level.”
    19. MIKE: Personally, as I’ve said many times on this show, I’m against non-partisan primaries, but I favor ranked-choice voting. The philosophical differences between members of the major parties are so starkly different that I think a party label amounts to truth in advertising.
    20. MIKE: A hybrid reform I might favor is an open primary with party labels and ranked choice voting that would allow the highest ranked Democrat, the highest ranked Republican, and the highest ranked independent and/or minor party to go into a runoff. Then have a general election with ranked-choice voting in the general.
    21. MIKE: I don’t think I’ve heard that kind of idea floated before, so I’d be interested in hearing what listeners out there might think. Comment for me at Threads (@ThinkwingRadio), Facebook, or email (ThinkwingRadio@msn.com).
12. Next, because I don’t yet have the stomach for discussing actual Trump post-election stories, I thought I might let some of the Threads posts I’ve run across do some talking.
    1. First, a random comment from me: It’s now more okay than ever to read “TFG” as “That F-ing Guy”.
    2. “johnfugelsang — 1d ago: Congratulations to Marco Rubio on being Donald Trump’s next fired Secretary of State”. My response: But the good news is that after Rubio is fired, he’ll still be out of the US Senate.
    3. From joyce_white_vance 7h ago — Matt Gaetz is not qualified to be AG. Full stop. My response: At least he’ll be out of Congress, and with a bit of luck and remotely-possible Republican senatorial sanity, he won’t be confirmed.
    4. From covie_93 — FUN FACT: Kristi Noem is the first Homeland Security secretary in history to be banned from all tribal lands in South Dakota.
    5. _Along that same line of though, from eileenie — Kristi Noem, governor of South Dakota, is legally prohibited from entering 20% of the state where she serves. She has been so antagonistic to the Native American population that she’s banned from all the tribal land; she lied [that] local tribe members work with cartels to flood America with drugs. She’s banned from setting foot on any Native American soil in her state. And as Homeland Security chief, she’s going to be the one to tell other people they don’t get to come into America.
    6. From MehdiRHasan (citing a post from Tulsi Gabbard on Nov. 21, 2018) — Donald Trump’s new Director of National Intelligence: “Hey @realdonaldtrump: Being Saudi Arabia’s bitch is not “America First.”
    7.  
    8. From AdamParkHomenko: The president-elect can’t pass a background check. Did anyone expect the people he was going to hire to be able to?
    9. From LJAltobelli: My 17-year-old just went through a background check to be a seasonal employee for Kohl’s that was more strict than any of these cabinet picks could pass.
13. From the AP viaCOM — Investigation into Chinese hacking reveals ‘broad and significant’ spying effort, FBI says; By  DAVID KLEPPER | AP via KHOU.COM | Updated 10:13 PM CST, November 13, 2024. TAGS: Chinese Government, Cyberespionage, FBI, Cybersecurity And Infrastructure Security Agency,
    1. A federal investigation into Chinese government efforts to hack into U.S. telecommunications networks has revealed a “broad and significant” cyberespionage campaign aimed at stealing information from Americans who work in government and politics, the FBI said Wednesday.
    2. Hackers affiliated with Beijing have compromised the networks of “multiple” telecommunications companies to obtain customer call records and gain access to the private communications of “a limited number of individuals,” according to a joint statement issued by the FBI and the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.
    3. The FBI did not identify any of the individuals targeted by the hackers but said most of them “are primarily involved in government or political activity.”
    4. The hackers also sought to copy “certain information that was subject to U.S. law enforcement requests pursuant to court orders,” the FBI said, suggesting the hackers may have been trying to compromise programs like those subject to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, which grants American spy agencies sweeping powers to surveil the communications of individuals suspected of being agents of a foreign power.”
    5. The warning comes after several high-profile hacking incidents that U.S. authorities have linked to China, part of what they say is an effort to steal technological and government information while also targeting vital infrastructure like the electrical grid.
    6. In September, the FBI announced that it had disrupted a vast Chinese hacking operation known as Flax Typhoon that involved the installation of malicious software on more than 200,000 consumer devices, including cameras, video recorders and home and office routers. The devices were then used to create a massive network of infected computers, or botnet, that could then be used to carry out other cyber crimes.
    7. Last month, officials said hackers linked to China targeted the phones of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, along with people associated with Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris.
    8. Authorities did not disclose how or if the operations announced Wednesday are connected to the earlier campaigns.
    9. In their statement Wednesday, the FBI and CISA said officials are working with the telecommunication industry and hacking victims to shore up defenses against continuing attempts at cyberespionage.
    10. “We expect our understanding of these compromises to grow as the investigation continues,” the agencies wrote.
    11. China has rejected accusations from U.S. officials that it engages in cyberespionage directed against Americans. A message left with China’s embassy in Washington was not immediately returned Wednesday.
    12. MIKE: These sorts of stories are ongoing. While you may not be a target of nation-state hacking, remember to have antivirus software on your computer and keep it updated daily. This can often be done automatically. And periodically run a full computer scan using your AV software.
    13. MIKE: If you have a smartphone, it’s harder for hackers to plant spyware on your phone, but in many cases, you can protect yourself simply by powering your phone off completely and then turning it back on. This removes spyware that may be in active memory but not actually saved to your phone. For most people, this is sufficient.
14. From ALJAZEERA — South Korea says ‘not ruling out’ supplying weapons to Ukraine; Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies | ALJAZEERA.COM | Published On 7 Nov 20247 Nov 2024. TAGS: South Korea (ROK), Ukraine, North Korean Troops, Russia, ROK President Yoon Suk-yeol,
    1. South Korea is not ruling out providing weapons directly to Ukraine, President Yoon Suk-yeol has said, following North Korea’s deployment of troops to support Russia in its war.
    2. Pyongyang’s involvement in the conflict presented a threat to Seoul, as the reclusive state’s soldiers get much-needed combat experience, which its military lacks, and additionally gets rewarded by Moscow with sensitive military technology transfers, Yoon told a news conference on Thursday.
    3. South Korea, a major arms exporter, has a longstanding policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict.
    4. “Now, depending on the level of North Korean involvement, we will gradually adjust our support strategy in phases,” Yoon said.
    5. “This means we are not ruling out the possibility of providing weapons.”
    6. Yoon said he discussed North Korea with United States president-elect Donald Trump in a phone conversation that laid the groundwork for a face-to-face meeting in the “near future”.
    7. North Korea has become one of the most vocal and important backers of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
    8. South Korea and the West have long accused Pyongyang of supplying artillery shells and missiles to Moscow for use in Ukraine.
    9. But intelligence reports from Seoul, Washington and NATO have revealed that North Korea has deployed 10,000 troops to Russia, indicating an even deeper involvement in the conflict.
    10. Yoon said his office would monitor the unfolding developments related to the operations of North Korean soldiers, and if he decided to provide weapons to Ukraine, the initial batch would be defensive.
    11. “If we proceed with weapons support, we would prioritise defensive weapons as a first consideration,” he said, without elaborating.
    12. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov told South Korean broadcaster KBS that the Ukrainian military had its first confrontation with North Korean soldiers.
    13. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who has criticised the West’s lack of response to the arrival of the North Korean soldiers on the front lines, said these “first battles with North Korea open a new chapter of instability in the world”.
    14. South Korea supplies weapons to Poland, including rocket launchers, tanks and FA-50 fighter aircraft.
    15. In a defence exhibition in Seoul in October 2023, Yoon said that he wants his country to become the “world’s fourth-largest defence equipment exporter”.
    16. Compared with his dovish predecessor Moon Jae-in, Yoon has taken a tough stance with the nuclear-armed North while improving ties with security ally Washington.
    17. Since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s second summit with then-president Trump collapsed in Hanoi in 2019, Pyongyang has abandoned diplomacy, doubling down on weapons development and rejecting Washington’s offers of talks.
    18. While in office, Trump met with Kim three times, beginning with a landmark summit in Singapore in June 2018, though the pair failed to make much progress on efforts to denuclearise the North.
    19. Trump has previously accused South Korea of getting a “free ride” on US military power and demanded it pay far more of the cost of keeping US troops in the country to counter the threat of aggression by North Korea.
    20. On Monday, a day before the US election, South Korea and the US signed a five-year plan under which Seoul agreed to an 8.3 percent jump in its 2026 contribution to the cost of maintaining US bases in the country to 1.52 trillion won ($1.09bn), with future increases capped at 5 percent.
    21. Yoon on Thursday said: “We will be building a perfect security posture together with the new administration in Washington and safeguard our freedom and peace.”
    22. On Wednesday, the Federation Council of Russia, the upper house of parliament, ratified a landmark mutual defence pact with North Korea. The treaty was signed in Pyongyang on June 19 during a state visit by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
    23. The unanimous vote in the upper house formalises months of increasing security cooperation between the two nations, the largest since the time they were communist allies during the Cold War.
    24. MIKE: When I first read that North Korea was sending troops to Russia for war in Ukraine. I commented on Threads that it would lead to potentially unforeseen consequences.
    25. MIKE: If South Korea begins sending defensive military equipment to Ukraine such as starts with anti-aircraft and anti-missile defense, that would be a big deal. If it starts sending artillery shells and offensive missiles to Ukraine in retaliation for this move, it could be a game changer.
    26. MIKE: Additionally, the US has stated that if North Korean troops enter fighting inside Ukraine, limits on Ukraine’s use of US weapons might come off.
    27. MIKE: I had suggested last week that Biden should accelerate weapons and equipment to Ukraine as quickly as possible through January 19th, and I’ve read recently that he did indeed order our military to ship about $6 billion worth of equipment to Ukraine as quickly as possible.
    28. MIKE: I wish I knew what our support of Ukraine would look like after January 20, but all we can do is cross our fingers.
15. Eco-Friendly Fibers May Pose a Greater Threat to the Planet Than Plastics, Concerning Study Reveals; By University of Plymouth | SCITECHDAILY.COM | November 7, 2024. TAGS: Environment, Microplastics, Pollution, University of Plymouth, Polyester, Viscose,
    1. The research has prompted scientists to recommend thorough testing of materials proposed as plastic alternatives before their widespread use in various products.
    2. A new study suggests that bio-based materials, intended to replace conventional plastics, could pose a higher health risk to some of the planet’s most vital species.
    3. Such materials are increasingly being advocated as environmentally friendly alternatives to plastics, and used in textiles and products including clothing, wet wipes, and period products.
    4. However, microfibres of the materials are emitted into the environment through the laundry cycle, the application of sewage sludge as fertilizers, or the simple wear and tear of textile products.
    5. Despite increasing quantities of bio-based products being produced and sold all over the world, there has been little research to assess their potential impact on species and ecosystems.
    6. To address that, a new study in the journal Environmental Science and Technology tested the effects of conventional polyester fibers and two bio-based fibers –viscose and lyocell – on earthworms, a species critical to the health of soils globally.
    7. The study found that in high concentrations of fibers, 30% of earthworms died after 72 hours when exposed to polyester, while those exposed to the bio-based fibers experienced much higher mortality of up to 60% in the case of lyocell and 80% for viscose.
    8. … A second experiment, using environmentally relevant concentrations of the fibers, indicated that earthworms housed in soils containing viscose fibers exhibited reduced reproduction compared to those exposed to polyester fibers. Earthworms in the soils containing lyocell fibers showed reduced growth and also higher rates of burrowing within the soil compared to exposure to the other types of fiber.
    9. The researchers say the study highlights the complex nature of global efforts to reduce the threat of microplastic pollution, and the importance of testing new materials being advocated as alternatives to plastics before they are released on the open market.
    10. The study was carried out as part of the BIO-PLASTIC-RISK project, led by researchers at the University of Plymouth and the University of Bath, and supported with £ 2.6 million funding by the Natural Environmental Research Council.
    11. … Dr Winnie Courtene-Jones, lead author on the new study and now a Lecturer in Marine Pollution at Bangor University, said: “Over 320,000 tonnes of bio-based and biodegradable fibers were produced globally in 2022 and research shows that substantial quantities of that will end up in the environment. However, evidence of their ecological impacts has been lacking. Our study has shown that bio-based fibers have a range of adverse effects on earthworms – animals which are critical to the functioning of the environment. It highlights the importance of gathering further evidence before alternatives to conventional plastics are made available even more widely.”
    12. The new study follows research published earlier in 2024 which highlighted that being exposed to the materials used in biodegradable teabags can result in earthworm populations experiencing up to 15% greater mortality, and have a detrimental effect on earthworm reproduction.
    13. It has been published just a few weeks before the United Nations gathers world leaders meet in Busan, South Korea, for the final round of negotiations regarding a possible Global Plastics Treaty.
    14. Professor Richard Thompson … senior author on the new study and Head of the University of Plymouth’s International Marine Litter Research Unit, will be at those discussions along with policymakers, scientists, and other delegates from across the world.
    15. [Thompson] added: “It is clear that along with recycling and re-use, tackling plastic pollution will require a reduction in the quantities of plastics used and produced. There is increasing interest in alternative materials that could be used as substitutes for plastic, but this publication further emphasizes the importance of testing new innovations in relevant environmental settings prior to widescale adoption. I firmly believe it is possible to tackle the plastic pollution crisis, but independent scientific evidence will be critical in helping us avoid unintended consequences as we look for solutions.”
    16. MIKE: MIKE: It just goes to show, it’s always something. Who knows? Sufficient scientific research may show that some microplastics in the environment aren’t nearly as dangerous to the Earth as some of the so-called safe replacements. We’ll have to see.
16. Groundbreaking: ‘Sleepy weed’ shown to significantly improve sleep; By Bronwyn Thompson | NEWATLAS.COM | November 12, 2024. TAGS: Cannabinol (CBN), Sleep Aid, Cannabis,
    1. For the first time, there’s scientific evidence that a smaller, lesser known component of the cannabis plant – cannabinol – delivers better quality and longer sleep. It paves the way for finally having an effective sleep aid sourced from medical cannabis that’s comparable to existing medications.
    2. Researchers from the University of Sydney’s Lambert Initiative have provided much-needed scientific evidence that backs anecdotal claims that an accumulation of cannabinol (CBN) in older plants has a sleep-inducing effect. It’s a minor compound in the plant, and far less understood and studied than tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD).
    3. [Said lead author Jonathon Arnold, professor and director of preclinical research at the Lambert Initiative,] “For decades, cannabis folklore has suggested that aged cannabis makes consumers sleepy via the build-up of CBN, however there was no convincing evidence for this. Our study provides the first objective evidence that CBN increases sleep, at least in rats, by modifying the architecture of sleep in a beneficial way.”
    4. In this animal study, the team monitored sleeping rats’ brain patterns to specifically assess non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM). NREM sleep is a key restorative stage, also important in sustaining memory functions. REM sleep, where dreams take place, is needed for emotional processing and brain health.
    5. [Said Arnold,] “CBN was found to increase both NREM and REM sleep, leading to increased total sleep time, with a comparable effect to the known sleep drug zolpidem.”
    6. Zolpidem, known best by brand name Ambien, is a heavy sedative that has been known to cause nocturnal behaviors such as sleepwalking and ‘sleep eating.’ It can also cause next-day ‘brain fog’ and drowsiness.
    7. While CBN’s ‘parent’ molecule is the hallucinogenic THC, the researchers found that this cannabinoid only weakly activated the CB1 cannabinoid receptors in the brain and did not result in intoxication. However, it did impact the areas of the brain involved in sleep, boosting REM and non-REM sleep.
    8. [Said Arnold,] “This provides the first evidence that CBN indeed increases sleep using objective sleep measures. It was a surprise that CBN metabolism in the body can yield a much greater effect on cannabinoid CB1 receptors than the parent molecule CBN, which has much more limited activity.”
    9. As the researchers noted in the study: “CBN increased sleep stability as evidenced by longer duration NREM sleep bouts; this is significant as increased sleep stability has been associated with improved subjective sleep quality.”
    10. The findings suggest that CBN may be best suited for patients who have trouble staying asleep or experience early morning awakening insomnia, because it has a delayed onset of sleep but is far more enduring than zolpidem.
    11. [The researchers noted,] “Our study is unique because we provide data on the effects of CBN as a single molecule. Most human studies that have assessed CBN’s effects on sleep combined CBN with other phytocannabinoids, and have failed to assess whether CBN has hypnotic effects alone.”
    12. This was the case for a human sleep trial conducted in 2018, which did not specifically target CBN. Purified CBN sleep aids are available for sale in many states in the US, however scientific evidence of efficacy and tolerance has been lacking.
    13. More focus on CBN is expected to follow this animal study, with the results of the parallel human trial led by Lambert Initiative’s director of clinical research, Professor Iain McGregor, due to be published soon.
    14. [Said McGregor,] “Our research encourages further basic and clinical research on CBN as a new treatment strategy for sleep disorders, including insomnia. Our clinical study only administered CBN on a single occasion. A trial on a larger scale, that includes repeated dosing, is the logical next step.”
    15. MIKE: It’s important to emphasize two things about this article.
    16. MIKE: First, this was only an animal study on rats. There is no clinical evidence of this effect on humans at this stage, but at least this study is quantifiable.
    17. MIKE: Second, even though CBN products are on the market, there is no way of actually knowing what their purity and consistency of dosage are. So this article, and my reading of it, is on no way an endorsement of using CBN products currently on the market as sleep aids.

=====================================================

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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