Now in our 12th year on KPFT!

For technical reasons beyond our control, last week’s show will be re-run this week. We apologize for any inconvenience.

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

AUDIO:

TOPICS:

1. The next election is scheduled for May 3, 2025;
2. Mayor John Whitmire to enforce citywide hiring freeze in Houston;
3. Houston officials announce results of monthlong human trafficking initiative;
4. Harris County commissioners approve $2.8M to fund additional jail staff;
5. Why North Forest residents, HCC leaders fought a controversial flood relief plan — and won;
6. Eileen Workman: Trump’s Stated Motives Seldom Reveal Agenda;
7. Trump says Putin launching massive strike on Ukraine is ‘what anybody would do’;
8. Seeing Washington change course on Ukraine, Taiwan ponders its own fate;
9. Carlos Slim cuts ties with Elon Musk’s Starlink, invests $22 billion in independent network;
10. Justin Trudeau’s speech to the American people;
11. Lech Wałęsa expresses ‘horror and distaste’ at Trump’s treatment of Zelenskyy;

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!)
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3. Visiting Archive.KPFT.ORG

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

Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig on KPFT Houston at 90.1-HD2, Galveston 89.5-HD2, and Huntsville at 91.9-HD2. KPFT is Houston’s Community Media. On this show, we discuss local, state, national, and international stories that may have slipped under your radar.

1. The next election is scheduled for May 3, 2025, with early voting beginning on April 22, 2025. Which, incredibly, is only about 7 weeks from now. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is April 22, which is only about 6 weeks.
   1. Voter registration applications or registration updates must be filled out and mailed at least 30 days before the election date, which in this case would be April 3^rd, which is only about 5 weeks from now. You have been warned.
   2. You can register or update your voting information at HARRISVOTES DOT COM if you live in Harris County, or at VOTETEXAS DOT GOV for anywhere in Texas
2. Mayor John Whitmire to enforce citywide hiring freeze in Houston; By Kevin Vu | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 2:51 PM Mar 7, 2025 CST/Updated 2:51 PM Mar 7, 2025 CST. TAGS: Mayor John Whitmire, City of Houston, Budget Shortfall, Staffing,
   1. Mayor John Whitmire is expected to implement a hiring freeze later this month in Houston to improve the city’s efficiency, his spokesperson Mary Benton confirmed with Community Impact.
   2. … Benton said the hiring freeze is an opportunity to cut expenses and make the city more efficient.
   3. She said the move comes following Ernest & Young’s citywide efficiency study conducted in late 2024. The report laid out the city’s spending habits and efficiency issues, finding that Houston lags behind peer cities in areas such as average response time for police and fire priority calls.
   4. The study also found that the city is currently operating with over 4,000 vacant positions, predominantly in the police, public works and fire departments. Additionally, 40% of supervisors oversee fewer than four employees. However, Benton said public safety departments such as the fire and police departments won’t be affected by the hiring freeze.
   5. “Mayor Whitmire is constantly working to make municipal government more efficient, honest and responsive,” Benton said. “Houston has many great, hardworking employees, but the efficiency study indicated that there are too many for an organization the size of the city.”
   6. … The city is currently facing a budget deficit of about $340 million, with City Controller Chris Hollins telling city officials in February that drastic cuts or new revenue need to be made for him to certify the fiscal year 2026 budget.
   7. “We’ve gotten by over the years with what I would describe as ‘bandaid fixes,’ [or] one time solutions, like we’ll sell a building or a piece of land,” Hollins told Community Impact on March 6. “The solutions that we need to hear and receive at this moment are no longer bandaid fixes. We need comprehensive solutions that are going to solve this problem, not for this moment, but also for years to come.”
   8. Hollins said that his office hasn’t been presented with information on whether these hiring freezes will actually save the city money. However, he said the city needs to look at these vacant positions individually and see how the departments could be impacted by the hiring freeze.
   9. “If we talk about the folks who pick up our trash, and we have significant vacancies among solid waste employees, and we don’t fill those vacancies, then we’re either going to not get our trash picked up or we’re going to have the current staff working overtime, which is more costly than hiring solid waste employees,” Hollins said.
   10. … The mayor’s office plans to announce more details on the hiring freeze at a later date, Benton said.
   11. MIKE: When a city is facing a budget shortfall, a hiring freeze is a logical place to start. It also means that some staffing will be cut by natural attrition, and those positions won’t be refilled for the foreseeable future, if ever.
   12. MIKE: Operational efficiency is great, but it’s often used as code for reducing city services. We’ll have to wait and see how this situation develops.
3. Houston officials announce results of monthlong human trafficking initiative; By Kevin Vu | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 3:55 PM Mar 6, 2025 CST/Updated 3:55 PM Mar 6, 2025 CST. TAGS: Trafficking, Houston Police Department (HPD),
   1. Houston police officials announced the results of a month-long collaborative human trafficking initiative that involved multiple counties near Houston, according to a March 5 news conference.
   2. Houston Police Department Captain Salam Zia said as a result of the initiative, 15 traffickers were arrested with 21 trafficking-related charges filed and 29 victims rescued, 11 of them being juveniles.
   3. … The month-long human trafficking initiative started in January as part of National Human Trafficking Prevention Month, Zia said.
   4. An HPD spokesperson told Community Impact the initiative was a collaboration between multiple agencies from [the] Houston Police Department, Montgomery County, Fort Bend County, and the Texas Department of Public Safety.
   5. Zia said collaborating with local, state, and federal agencies [is] crucial to enhance information sharing, resource allocation, and coordinated responses to bring more effective identification of victims and prosecution of perpetrators….
   6. … During a 11 Public Safety Committee meeting, Assistant Chief Megan Howard said human trafficking cases saw a 30% rise in 2024, due to more investigations and reporting, as well as the department’s shift in focus from prostitution to human trafficking.
   7. [Mayor John Whitmire said,] “Our proximity to the border, our international community, [and the] vitality of our community, makes us a real target for human traffic perpetrators. I want everyone to know every month of the year, our law enforcement, our community, is going to fight human trafficking.”
   8. An HPD spokesperson said the rise in cases is due to Whitmire’s commitment to public safety and ensuring the city maintains its safety.
   9. “If you think you can travel from Montgomery County and meet a young person to commit an awful act in Harris County or Fort Bend County for that matter, you best not do it,” Police Chief Noe Diaz said.
   10. MIKE: The story suggests that this initiative happens all year and not just during National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. A fraction of prostitution is also related to human trafficking, so focusing on the trafficking part is a good move.
4. Harris County commissioners approve $2.8M to fund additional jail staff; By Melissa Enaje | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 3:21 PM Mar 7, 2025 CST/Updated 3:21 PM Mar 7, 2025 CST. TAGS: Harris County, Harris County Jails, Harris County Commissioners Court,
   2. Outsourcing more than 1,000 inmates to jails outside of Harris County’s overcrowded jails remains the single most expensive budgeted item taxpayers pay for, according to Budget Director Daniel Ramos. On Feb. 27, Harris County commissioners unanimously approved $2.85 million in funding for additional Harris County jail staff.
   3. …. Harris County spends $58 million on outsourcing at least 1,400 inmates to jails in Louisiana and Mississippi, according to Ramos. The approved … measure by county commissioners to fund 175 jail staff positions will address cost-effective efforts to bring more inmates back to Harris County. The funding will also tackle unsustainable mandatory overtime faced by current detention officers, officials said.
   4. At one point, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office had more than 100 detention officer vacancies, Ramos said. Various county efforts to reduce those vacancy numbers included offering raises, bonuses and investing in recruitment services. The latest number for detention officer vacancies stands at 38.
   5. [Ramos said,] “We’re finally at a point now that we filled the slots. We can take the next step, and start being strategic about our human capital and ensuring that … they have a safe staffing ratio, as well as a sustainable staffing ratio.”
   6. … Overtime for jail staff stood at 16% of the overall labor budget for the Sheriff’s Department, according to fiscal year 2024-25 budget documents. When commissioners approved the $2.4 billion budget in September, jail costs saw an increase of $1.9 million, which included maintenance costs, inmate food expenses and jail medical costs.
   7. … Overcrowding and understaffing remains an issue that has led to failed state safety inspections and fatal outcomes at the Harris County Jail. As of Jan. 13, jail officials received a non-compliant notice by the Texas Commission on Jail Standards for failing to have the appropriate number of jail staff in a 24-hour period. …
   8. During the Feb. 27 commissioners court meeting, Assistant Chief Phillip Bosquez said the state has the county’s plan of action to address issues and are awaiting re-inspection.
   9. “We look to fill these new positions in the next few months. We’re very optimistic about that,” Bosquez said.
   10. MIKE: I think it’s awful that Harris County inmates are housed as far away as Louisiana and Mississippi. Aside from not having any way to control the conditions in which they’re housed, it puts them far away from any family and friends who might lend them emotional support, because yes — Convicts need emotional support, too.
   11. MIKE: Increasing the budget for increased personnel is also a financially smart move, since housing inmates locally and also cutting the need for overtime pay is cheaper for the county in the long run, giving tax payers more “bang for the buck”.
5. Why North Forest residents, HCC leaders fought a controversial flood relief plan — and won; by Miranda Dunlap | HOUSTONLANDING.ORG | February 27, 2025 @ 4:00 am. TAGS: North Forest’s Scenic Woods Subdivision, Harris County Flood Control District (HCFCD), Houston Community College North Forest Campus,
   1. Even a light drizzle can fill the Halls Bayou tributary stream that snakes through Sharon Brown’s backyard, causing water and discarded trash to pool outside her two-story brick home. The channel, though small, is a constant flooding threat to her and her neighbors in North Forest’s Scenic Woods subdivision, where water has risen high enough to swallow mailboxes and strand residents in their homes. 
   2. To help alleviate flooding in Brown’s neighborhood, the Harris County Flood Control District [HCFCD] has tried for two years to construct a large flood control project on Houston Community College’s nearby North Forest campus, with local bond money and a federal grant covering the $4.8 million cost.
   3. But on Tuesday, Harris County officials abandoned the plans after college leaders and local residents — including Brown and some of her flood-prone neighbors — resisted the proposal for several months.
   4. The decision means HCC will keep 14 ½ acres of land that has gone undeveloped for years, giving North Forest community members hope that college leaders will finally deliver on unkept promises to expand the campus. At the same time, the county’s reversal leaves about 150 Scenic Woods homeowners without any immediate solution to persistent flooding that has plagued the neighborhood.
   5. [HCFCD spokesperson Emily Woodell said,] “Obviously, the community has been very vocal about this. Unfortunately, I think just with some of the needed conversations on the HCC side, the timing of the grant funds, and having to really determine whether we can move this forward or not, it just wasn’t going to work out. There were too many question marks, I think, for it to really be something viable.”
   6. County leaders have warned in recent months that the project — a basin for storing stormwater on a plot of land roughly the size of 11 football fields — is the only feasible option for sparing Scenic Woods homeowners. Two other alternatives cost at least $33 million more and required buying and demolishing 120 to 150 more homes, while a third option wouldn’t collect enough stormwater to prevent widespread flooding, they said.
   7. Many North Forest residents, however, opposed the plan, arguing it would leave just 12 acres for long-promised additions beyond the current modest facility. Original plans for the campus drawn up about a decade ago included a child care center, fitness spaces, and a small business incubator, though none of the projects have materialized.
   8. In recent weeks, North Forest residents have called on HCFCD to go back to the drawing board and identify a location for the basin that doesn’t pit their homes against higher education in their neighborhood, which has suffered from underinvestment and academic issues for decades. 
   9. [Brown said in mid-February,] “I would hate for this campus to turn into a detention pond and limit us on what we can do for future higher education in this area. We don’t have all these colleges all over this side of town as it is. We only have this building, and fought hard to get this building here, and it still didn’t live up to our expectations when we got it.”
   10. HCC trustees and administrators were for years reluctant to sell the land or allow the basin. The proposal created a dilemma for the college: disregard the community’s resistance, or block the sole flood relief measure county officials were willing to pursue. An HCC spokesperson did not respond Tuesday to calls from the Landing seeking comment about the county’s decision.
   11. HCC Trustee Renee Jefferson Patterson, who the board appointed in February to represent the North Forest area, told the Landing earlier this month that she supports further development for students and residents.
   12. [Jefferson Patterson, said] “I personally feel like, if we’re going to place something on the campus of HCC, that it needs to be for the benefit of the college. Right now, we have a lot of students that are having to go to other campuses because we just do not have enough space, enough programs there.”
   13. But [HCFCD’s] Woodell said Tuesday that the cancellation of the project means the district is “left with no other options” and will not pursue other locations for the basin, closing the door on widespread flood relief in the area. 
   14. “We just really had our hands tied on what we could do and where we could look,” Woodell said.
   15. … North Forest, a majority Black and Latino and lower-income community in northeast Houston, has had a strained relationship with educational institutions over the past few decades, and HCC is no exception. 
   16. Local residents voted in 2009 to become part of HCC’s service area, accepting a property tax increase in exchange for lower tuition, free high school dual credit courses, and the promise of more programs and classes from the college. Three years later, voters in the area supported a $425 million HCC bond package that included $40 million to construct a North Forest location.
   17. College officials said the location would include the child care center, small business incubator, and fitness facilities, on top of classroom space and an automotive training garage. Residents saw the plans as a long overdue investment in higher education in North Forest, where the closest community college campuses were several miles away.
   18. The campus finally opened in 2019 after years of shifting plans and construction delays, but only with classroom, automotive training and administrative spaces. Flashier features once promised by HCC were absent, drawing community pushback at the campus’ ribbon-cutting. …
   19. College administrators assured residents they had enough land to double the campus size if needed. The late congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee was adamant the campus wasn’t good enough and would expand. 
   20. While it fell short of expectations, the campus has become a pillar of the community. Local civic clubs host their meetings in classrooms at the college. Adults take continuing education courses in the evenings. Residents say it’s a safe, well-lit place to gather or carpool. 
   21. In the fall 2024 semester, roughly 800 people took classes at the campus, up from 40 five years earlier, according to HCC records. North Forest’s enrollment mirrors several other HCC satellite campuses, including those in Acres Homes, Alief, and southeast Houston.
       Meanwhile, community members have held on to hope that HCC would continue to invest in the campus. At an early February Northwood Manor Civic Club meeting, members listed additional features they hope the campus will someday have, including a track for safe exercise and a cafeteria to address a lack of nearby access to food in the community.
   22. Some residents, however, saw HCFCD’s now-ditched plans as a nail in the coffin of these possibilities. They feared the detention pond would become an unsightly magnet for illegal dumping, like many other ditches in the neighborhood.
   23. [Northeast Houston community organizer Fred Woods said,] “It costs to be in an area that continues to be neglected with very little to no progress. The one bright spot we have is this college.”
   24. … After Hurricane Harvey ravaged Houston in 2017, Harris County voters approved a $2.5 billion bond package the following year to pay for projects designed to reduce flooding. The package included funding for more than dozen projects around the 20-mile Halls Bayou, which causes North Forest’s flooding troubles.
   25. With the help of [Rep.] Jackson Lee, the county also secured a $3.4 million grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] for … North Forest to help build the basin and upgrade the channel running through Brown’s backyard.
   26. The HCFCD settled on pursuing HCC’s land because other plans would “cause community disruption and dramatically increase costs,” according to a slide deck presented at a December community meeting. Three alternatives they previously considered included: Building a $1.6 million basin on undeveloped land across the street from HCC’s campus; Buying about 120 homes in Scenic Woods and knocking them down, to the tune of $38 million; [or] Buying and demolishing about 150 homes in Scenic Woods, at a cost of $64 million.
   27. Residents pleaded with county officials to explore further options, including ones that could help more residents and spare the college’s land. 
   28. Jerome Hewitt, who lives about two miles north of Scenic Woods, was frustrated the HCC plan wouldn’t resolve the flooding problems that have plagued his North Forest house for about 30 years. Hewitt has replaced drywall, cleared mold and killed insects that filled his home after floods — often paying for repairs out of his own pocket out of fear that his insurance premium will increase if he made a claim. Hewitt said he now pays $4,000 per year for home insurance, including about $600 for flooding. …
   29. Now, none of the Flood Control District’s other options will move forward, leaving many weary residents vulnerable. …
   30. [Woodell said,] “The issue is that when we look at maintenance projects, that’s obviously just maintaining the capacity of the existing channel and making sure that it’s functioning as it was originally designed to do. So it’s not necessarily expanding benefits for that area, but it is certainly going to ensure that the existing network continues to work as it’s supposed to.”
   31. [Instead, HCFCD will continue maintenance and work on tributary concrete repairs in the area, Woodell said.]
   32. Woods, the community organizer, despised the HCFCD’s “take it or leave it” approach to the project. He said he would like to see a “continued dialogue with the community about the overwhelming issue that we have with flooding, and how we’re gonna fix it.”
   33. [Woods said,] “The community was strongly opposed to it. I’m happy that HCC was on the community’s side for this one.”
   34. MIKE: The Houston/Harris County area has a long history of giving short-shrift to services and infrastructure for poorer and minority-majority areas. When I moved here in 1977, there were areas that had been annexed by Houston years before that still had inadequate water, sewer, and flood control services.
   35. MIKE: The issue before North Forest here is that one of the few bright spots they had in their community — a bright spot that was still not developed to the degree previously promised — would now be further limited by literally putting part of the campus underwater.
   36. MIKE: There are photos of the Halls Bayou tributary stream showing that it has been allowed to shrink from weed growth, silt accumulation, and being obstructed by trash and debris. No wonder it chronically overflows its banks and floods nearby areas!
   37. MIKE: Looking at a map of the area, the North Forest HCC campus is at Little York Rd and Homestead Rd. The distance from the campus, directly south to Halls Bayou is almost 1.5 miles, so not a hop, skip and jump for a diversion path.
   38. MIKE: I’m no engineer, so you can take my opinion with a grain of salt, but I think there are other options available to mitigate flooding around this bayou.
   39. MIKE: The first thing that needs to be done is to clear and deepen the bayou in the areas where it tends to overflow. This would enhance water flow, plus the increased depth of the bayou would create a limited detention pond effect.
   40. MIKE: The resulting increased water flow would just create a new problem downstream if the extra water was not accommodated somehow. Again, looking at the map, there are greenspace areas that might double as detention ponds. They can be deepened where necessary and landscaped so that they are usable as park areas when there isn’t flooding, but the plantings can be chosen to be resilient to occasional flooding.
   41. MIKE: This plan would have the virtue of using land that is adjacent to, or very near the path of, Halls Bayou, thus saving the cost of excavation and installation of drainage systems needed to carry water over a mile away.
   42. MIKE: Is this kind of plan feasible for the HCFCD, and also desirable for the North Forest neighborhood? I don’t know. Was it even considered at some point? Again, I don’t know. But maybe this idea or some variation thereof is worthy of examination.
6. The following article is brilliant, and the first I’ve seen putting all the pieces together in this way. A resume of sorts is provided for her in the story link from Tommy Hough. I’ve attached it to the bottom of this blog post, but won’t read it on air. Eileen Workman originally posted this to her Facebook account on February 8^th. Pay attention. This could be important. — Eileen Workman: Trump’s Stated Motives Seldom Reveal Agenda; By Eileen Workman | TOMMYHOUGH.COM (Tommy Hough) | February 9, 2025 (Originally posted to her Facebook account). TAGS: Donald Trump, Hidden Agendas,
   1. I know a little something that so many do not appreciate about Donald, but those of us who worked with him in the financial services game have known for decades — long before he ever made a run at politics.
   2. His stated motives rarely reveal his true agenda. His showmanship and charisma bedazzles the uninformed, which is exactly how he likes it. He never signed a contract or met an agreement he wouldn’t violate or wriggle out of if it suited his hidden agenda. He never met an investor whose purse he didn’t consider his own in some strategic way. And he never met a human being he wouldn’t screw in order to advance or satisfy himself.
   3. If you want to understand his beef with Panama, don’t look at the canal to which he now points. Look at Trump enterprises and their fraught financial and criminal relationship with Panama, and look to the Russian oligarchs who bought condos in his Panama Tower.
   4. If you want to understand his fixation with Gaza, don’t look at the Palestinian or Israeli people. Look at the real estate value he now perceives that Gaza holds, and that he’d like to unlock.
   5. If you want to understand his insane, obsessive beef with energy renewable windmills, don’t look at the wind energy aspect. Look at his beef with Scotland over his golf course and the nearby windmills that damaged his idea of its aesthetics.
   6. If you want to understand his irrational hatred of Obama, don’t look at the policies of the Obama administration. Look to the annual press corps dinner in 2011 where Obama poked fun at him and bruised his ego.
   7. If you want to understand his demonization of Democrats, look not to Democratic social policy, but to the fact they didn’t want him to run under the color of their party.
   8. If you want to understand his hatred of immigrants, don’t look to the actual contributions and challenges related to immigration, but his own germophobia and personal disgust for all things “dirty and brown.”
   9. What Trump does so masterfully, as many sociopaths do, is figure out how to align, however temporarily, his own personal agenda with the drives of those he can then use to help him execute it. And the Republican Party fell right in line with that abusive strategy in 2016, and has never deviated from it.
   10. The GOP now looks much like a battered wife who would love to quit Trump, but who also knows their financial security, personal comfort, and social status would collapse if they ran away. And they fear they won’t get much sympathy or support from the people who tried to warn them not to marry the dude — a serial liar, cheater, thief, sadist, and a generally Bad Person.
   11. Many Republican politicians today are busily masking their own abuse from the general public. But at some point, however, as they watch their power continue to erode, their reputations get smashed, and themselves blamed for the extensive abuse they now suffer, something’s going to give.
   12. I don’t know what it is, but every bone in my body feels an energetic convergence heading toward a massive, massive explosion coming soon.
   13. This piece was originally posted by Eileen Workman on Feb. 8, 2025. After 16 years spent in the financial services industry as first vice president of investments at a major Wall Street firm, Workman today questions assumptions about the nature of capitalism as an author and speaker. Panama City skyline photo courtesy of Mattias Hill© copyright 2017.
   14. MIKE: This …. Is a brilliant assessment! It actually would explain a lot, all wrapped up around Trump’s sick, toxic personality. It’s possible that the insights Workman provides in this piece may somehow help to understand Trump better, and that understanding may provide new paths to dealing with him.
   15. MIKE: Trump is a vain, cruel, vengeful man with major psychiatric issues. When viewed through Eileen Workman’s lens, all this stupid, mean, pointless stuff starts to make sense.
   16. MIKE: One thing that Workman’s piece does not touch on is Trump’s grudge against Ukraine, even though that’s an easy one. When Volodymyr Zelensky refused to start a fake investigation into Joe Biden, and when that ended up getting Trump impeached the first time, Zelensky became one of the targets of Trump’s vengeance.
   17. MIKE: Trump doesn’t care that he’s throwing out 80 years of US geopolitical dominance, destroying our international alliances, and — not least — causing many thousands of deaths in Ukraine, as well as endangering that country’s liberty and territorial integrity.
   18. MIKE: No, once you look through Workman’s lens and see Trump’s motivations as being strictly personal and petty vendettas mixed with greed, and that nothing else matters to him, it all becomes clear.
   19. MIKE: I hope that this knowledge helps us to fight against Trump more effectively.
   20. MIKE: Also, keep Workman’s points in mind as I read the next two stories.
7. Trump says Putin launching massive strike on Ukraine is ‘what anybody would do’; By Andrew Roth in Washington and Luke Harding in Kyiv | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Fri 7 Mar 2025 13.23 EST. Tags: US foreign policy, Trump Administration, Donald Trump, Ukraine, Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Vladimir Putin,
   1. Donald Trump has said Vladimir Putin was “doing what anybody would do” after Russia launched a massive missile and drone strike on Ukraine days after the US cut off vital intelligence and military aid to Kyiv.
   2. Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday Trump said he finds it “easier” to work with Russia than Ukraine and that Putin “wants to end the war”.
   3. [Trump said,] “I’m finding it more difficult, frankly, to deal with Ukraine. And they don’t have the cards. In terms of getting a final settlement, it may be easier dealing with Russia.”
   4. Asked whether the Russian leader was taking advantage of the pause in US intelligence sharing and military aid to Ukraine, Trump replied: “I actually think he is doing what anybody else would do.”
   5. Senior US and Ukrainian officials plan to meet in Saudi Arabia next week as Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his advisers seek to revive relations with the US after a botched summit in the Oval Office during which Trump told Zelenskyy he was “gambling with world war three”.
   6. Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukrainian energy facilities on Friday in the wake of the US decision to halt intelligence sharing with Ukraine that had helped it target incoming fire.
   7. Speaking with reporters in the Oval Office, Trump said: “We’re doing very well with Russia. But right now they’re bombing the hell out of Ukraine.”
   8. He added: “I think he [Putin] wants to get it stopped and settled and I think he’s hitting them harder than he’s been hitting them and I think probably anybody in that position would be doing that right now.”
   9. In his remarks, Trump once again said he had good relations with Putin, despite the fallout from his first term when suspicions of backroom deals between the two leaders led to political scandal. …
   10. MIKE: There’s more to the article.
   11. MIKE: When I visited China about 20 years ago to meet my in-laws, George W. Bush was president, and I frankly was embarrassed to admit that I was American. But that’s nothing compared to how I would feel now. With Trump as President, I would be ashamed to admit that I was American, and I consider that to be qualitatively different from simply being embarrassed.
   12. MIKE: Trump is a horrible human being. What he’s doing to Ukraine is a betrayal that Americans will have to live with for all time. It’s akin to the way Trump abandoned the Kurds the last time he was in office, and made way for the Turks and Russians top move into Syria, subjecting the Kurds — who had been our allies — to much death and destruction.
   13. MIKE: It’s a constant theme. When Trump is in the White House, he brings shame to America.
   14. MIKE: America will never lose the stink of the Trump years.
8. And speaking of which — Seeing Washington change course on Ukraine, Taiwan ponders its own fate; By Ashish Valentine | NPR.ORG | March 3, 2025@6:01 AM ET. TAGS: Taiwan, Ukraine crisis, China,
   1. The new U.S. administration is taking a sharp turn on support for Ukraine. Thousands of miles away from Kyiv, policy makers and analysts in Taiwan are wondering whether it will be the next casualty of the changing moods in Washington, and what they can do to avoid a similar outcome.
   2. Developments in the Ukraine-U.S. relationship have regularly made headline news in Taiwan in recent weeks. Taiwan’s leadership and civil society have long compared Ukraine’s fate to its own, as China continues to threaten an invasion.
   3. [Said Hsiao Bi-Khim, Taiwan’s vice president in 2023, when she was the island’s de facto ambassador to Washington,] “We must ensure that anyone contemplating the possibility of an invasion understands that, and that is why Ukraine’s success in defending against aggression is so important also for Taiwan.”
   4. But America’s support for Ukraine appears to be waning. On Friday, President Trump publicly berated the visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the Oval Office, accusing him of “gambling with World War III,” in a dramatic showdown that ultimately left a deal on Ukrainian critical minerals unsigned.
   5. [MIKE: Of course it’s Putin who is gambling with WW3, but I digress.]
   6. Although Trump and his team have yet to articulate their policy towards Taiwan, on the campaign trail he said that Taiwan needed to spend more on its own defense. Since taking office, he has also accused Taiwan’s semiconductor industry of stealing American jobs, worrying many in Taiwan.
   7. [Chen Fang-yu, a professor of political science at Soochow University in Taipei, says,] “For Mr. Trump, it seems like there’s no concept of allies. Everything is transactional, everything’s measured by how much benefit the U.S. can get.”
   8. Chen says this new dynamic is hard for the Taiwanese public to adjust to, as in the past decade, successive U.S. administrations deepened the U.S.-Taiwan relationship and formed a bipartisan consensus on supporting Taiwan. He notes that public opinion in Taiwan favored President Trump during his first term as a result, and favored President Biden for similar reasons.
   9. [Chen said,] “If everything is transactional, then that solid relationship is gone. Now, we have to make an offer to Mr. Trump, and worry about whether he’s satisfied with it. We have to get used to this, because Mr. Trump is like this. This is his style.”
   10. [Bonnie Glaser, director of the German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific Program, says Trump’s aggressive stance may be part of his “art of the deal” on Taiwan. “I think President Trump is trying to gain leverage, to convince Taiwan to do things that he wants,” she says, adding that Trump may want Taiwan to, for example, balance its trade relationship with the U.S. by buying more American goods, including liquefied natural gas and imported food.
   11. In 2024, Taiwan’s exports to the U.S. hit a record of $111.4 billion, driven primarily by semiconductors and other high-tech products. Taiwanese officials have taken note of Trump’s words. Last month, Taipei’s economy ministry said it was assessing the feasibility of importing natural gas from Alaska in order to narrow its trade surplus and avoid U.S. tariffs.
   12. But it is Taiwan’s relations with neighboring China that worry the island’s policy makers most. Last year alone, Chinese aircraft crossed near Taiwan over 3,000 times, according to figures from Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. This is why, Taiwanese politicians say, they are paying close attention to recent events in Ukraine, which was invaded three years ago by its more powerful neighbor, Russia.
   13. “We have to keep supporting [the] Ukrainians,” says Wang Ting-yu, a legislator with the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, and the co-chair of the Legislative Yuan’s committee on foreign relations and defense. “If we allow autocratic invaders to win this war, there will be a failure of democracy, a failure of civilization, that will enable autocrats everywhere to bully their neighbors.” …
   14. Taiwan is already one of the top buyers of U.S. arms, having purchased billions of dollars’ worth of equipment — including HIMARS rocket launch systems, howitzers, air defense, tanks, and fighter aircraft in recent years. Reports last month suggest Taipei is in talks with the U.S. to buy more American weapons, in order to demonstrate its commitments to the U.S. partnership and its own defense.
   15. Trump’s shifting stance on Ukraine has added fuel to [Taiwan’s] continuous [internal] debate about how Taiwan should approach relations with the U.S., with some arguing that Taiwan needs to change course to improve security.
   16. Former lawmaker Wang Yi-shiung, for example, recently argued that … Taiwan should try harder to balance relations between China and the U.S. to avoid being “sold out” by Trump.
   17. After he watched Zelenskyy being publicly criticized by the U.S. president on Friday, Apollo Chen, another former lawmaker for the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party, warned on his Facebook page that Taiwan needs to “find a balance” between the U.S. and China. If the idea of “abandoning Taiwan” becomes mainstream in Trump’s policy, he wrote, “it’s difficult to guarantee Trump’s scolding of Zelenskyy today won’t happen to Taiwan as well.”
   18. For many in Taiwan, the parallels with Ukraine aren’t abstract. Last Sunday, about a hundred people assembled with posters and Ukrainian flags on a drizzling afternoon outside Moscow’s representative office in Taipei to commemorate the three-year anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
   19. Members of the Ukrainian community in Taiwan, as well as Taiwanese activists, sang the Ukrainian national anthem and spoke about their commitment to shared values.
   20. Although the protest didn’t mention the U.S. peace negotiations directly, on the sidelines Deng Ruei-yun, who came to the protest with her daughter, worried about the way that the U.S. was sidelining Ukraine in its negotiations with Russia.
   21. [Deng said,] “I think it’s not a good idea that Trump may sacrifice the interests of the Ukrainian people for only the American interest. It may encourage China to invade Taiwan as well. I think Trump’s promises on Taiwan’s defense are not strong enough; he often says things on both sides, and we don’t know what he actually thinks. I think the Taiwanese people should think about what we can provide to the Americans so they can offer us more help instead of selling us out.”
   22. MIKE: Trump’s actions aren’t just endangering Taiwan and throwing Ukraine under the bus. Alienation of our allies and encouraging military adventurism by aggressive powers ultimately risks the strength and security of the US, as well.
   23. MIKE: Trump may think we look like an island, flanked by two oceans, but we learned otherwise in two world wars. At least, most of of us did.
9. This could be an important story that I’m going to read. It’s very short story and appears to be real, but I’ll tell you at the end what’s odd about it — Carlos Slim cuts ties with Elon Musk’s Starlink, invests $22 billion in independent network; Carlos Slim has ended his partnership with Elon Musk’s Starlink, opting for independent infrastructure development. Slim’s América Móvil plans a $22 billion investment to bolster its telecom services, signaling a competitive shift in Latin America’s market. By Livemint | LIVEMINT.COM | Published 7 Mar 2025, 10:00 PM IST [India Std Time]. TAGS: Elon Musk, Starlink, América Móvil, Carlos Slim,
   1. Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has reportedly terminated his collaboration with Elon Musk’s satellite internet venture, Starlink, in a move that is set to reshape the telecommunications landscape in Latin America.
   2. The decision, first reported by Mexico Daily Post [approximately a week ago], follows increasing tensions between the two business magnates, culminating in Slim’s strategic pivot towards independent infrastructure development.
   3. Slim’s telecom giant, América Móvil, has announced an ambitious investment of $22 billion over the next three years to enhance its own telecommunications infrastructure, the report added.
   4. According to the publication, this initiative aims to solidify its market dominance while reducing reliance on external satellite-based services like Starlink. Analysts suggest this strategic shift underscores the competitive nature of Latin America’s telecommunications sector, where major players are vying for long-term control over the region’s connectivity.
   5. To recall, the breakdown of relations between Slim and Musk was further fuelled by a controversial social media post from Musk, which alluded to alleged links between Slim and organised crime. [MIKE: I’m embedding a link to Musk’s tweet in this show post.] Although the accusation remains unsubstantiated, the post intensified existing friction between the two billionaires. In response, Slim swiftly withdrew all business dealings with Starlink, reportedly costing Musk’s company an estimated $7 billion in anticipated revenue.
   6. … Beyond financial implications, the severance of this high-profile partnership marks a turning point in Latin America’s telecommunications sector.
   7. Further escalating the fallout, Slim announced that his company would redirect its five-year investment—originally earmarked for Starlink—to rival firms based in China and Europe. This move not only represents a significant financial setback for Musk but also signals a shift in global commercial influence, with the United States losing a critical business foothold in Latin America to international competitors.
   8. As the dust settles on this corporate clash, industry observers will be watching closely to see how both parties navigate the aftermath of a deal that once promised to revolutionise connectivity across Latin America.
   9. MIKE: This should be a major news story. If it’s true, it’s a potentially big hit to Starlink, which is owned by SpaceX, which is a privately-held company founded by Elon Musk. Shares are not publicly traded, and only Musk and accredited investors hold shares. Musk is estimated to own about 40% of SpaceX shares, so this should be seen as a big financial hit to Musk and SpaceX.
   10. MIKE: Based on the details, Slim’s money could now go into developing serious competitors to Starlink in other nations.
   11. MIKE: Now, here’s the odd part. The story first broke in the Mexico Daily Post, which I’m linking to, but that was over a week ago. It’s only in the past couple of days that other media have picked up the story, but it doesn’t seem to be in any of the so-called Western mainstream media. The story mainly seems to have gained some traction in India-based news media, and that’s only in the past day or so.
   12. MIKE: There’s no mention of it in the NY Times, the Washington Post, the BBC, the Associated Press, or Reuters, or even Al-Jazeera.
   13. MIKE: According to a CNBC story from December 2024, the value of SpaceX at that time was estimated to be about $350 billion based on shares sold on the secondary market. On that basis, Slim’s $22 billion investment would be over 6% of SpaceX’s total market valuation, which is none-trivial. Keep in mind that a company’s share valuation is not the same as available cash, so that would make Slim’s investment all the more valuable.
   14. MIKE: This brings me back to my original question, and why I find what is almost like a news blackout of this story so peculiar.
   15. MIKE: Elon Musk is a highly polarizing figure. Love him or hate him, stories about Musk get eyeballs for news organization. Eyeballs equal revenue, and that makes the total invisibility of this story outside of India and Mexico extremely strange.
   16. MIKE: Is the story true? Are major Western media outlets doing further confirmation of the story before going with it? Or has it been spiked by editors or publishers who don’t want to get on Musk’s and Trump’s bad side?
   17. MIKE: We’ll have to wait and see how this story develops, and whether there’s additional coverage of it.
   18. REFERENCE: Carlos Slim orders to cancel his collaboration with Elon Musk’s Starlink —MEXICODAILYPOST.COM (English) | 2025/02/24
10. I’m sure many of you have heard parts of Justin Trudeau’s speech to the American people, but you may not have heard it in its entirely. I want to play that for you now. I’ve edited out the French portions and shortened some of the dramatic pauses for time. This is what a true national leader sounds like, in case we’ve already forgotten.
    1. [SPEECH RUNS ~ 8 min. 57 sec.]
11. Lech Wałęsa expresses ‘horror and distaste’ at Trump’s treatment of Zelenskyy; BY Jakub Krupa | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Mon 3 Mar 2025 10.58 EST. TAGS: Poland, Trump administration, Donald Trump, Europe, JD Vance, US politics,
    1. The former Polish president and Nobel peace prize winner Lech Wałęsa has signed a letter to Donald Trump expressing “horror and distaste” at his argument with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in the White House last week.
    2. The letter, signed by Wałęsa and more than 30 former Polish political prisoners held during the communist era, said Trump and his vice-president’s demands that Zelenskyy show gratitude were “insulting” in the face of the Ukrainian country’s fight for freedom.
    3. The “atmosphere in the Oval Office reminded us of that which we remember well from interrogations” by Poland’s communist secret services and regime courts, the signatories said. …
12. MIKE: The Guardian story is longer, and you can go to it from the link in this blog post, but I mainly want to read you the letter sent by Lech Wałęsa: Former President of Poland Lech Walesa wrote to Trump following the shameful debacle in the White House
    1. Your Excellency, Mr. President,
    2. We watched the report of your conversation with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, with fear and distaste. We find it insulting that you expect Ukraine to show respect and gratitude for the material assistance provided by the United States in its fight against russia. Gratitude is owed to the heroic Ukrainian soldiers who shed their blood in defense of the values of the free world. They have been dying on the front lines for more than 11 years in the name of these values and the independence of their homeland, which was attacked by Putin’s russia.
    3. We do not understand how the leader of a country that symbolizes the free world cannot recognize this.
    4. Our alarm was also heightened by the atmosphere in the Oval Office during this conversation, which reminded us of the interrogations we endured at the hands of the Security Services and the debates in Communist courts. Prosecutors and judges, acting on behalf of the all-powerful communist political police, would explain to us that they held all the power while we held none. They demanded that we cease our activities, arguing that thousands of innocent people suffered because of us. They stripped us of our freedoms and civil rights because we refused to cooperate with the government or express gratitude for our oppression. We are shocked that President Volodymyr Zelensky was treated in the same manner.
    5. The history of the 20th century shows that whenever the United States sought to distance itself from democratic values and its European allies, it ultimately became a threat to itself. President Woodrow Wilson understood this when he decided in 1917 that the United States must join World War I. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt understood this when, after the attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, he resolved that the war to defend America must be fought not only in the Pacific but also in Europe, in alliance with the nations under attack by the Third Reich.
    6. We remember that without President Ronald Reagan and America’s financial commitment, the collapse of the Soviet empire would not have been possible. President Reagan recognized that millions of enslaved people suffered in Soviet russia and the countries it had subjugated, including thousands of political prisoners who paid for their defense of democratic values with their freedom. His greatness lay, among other things, in his unwavering decision to call the USSR an “Empire of Evil” and to fight it decisively. We won, and today, the statue of President Ronald Reagan stands in Warsaw, facing the U.S. Embassy.
    7. President, material aid—military and financial—can never be equated with the blood shed in the name of Ukraine’s independence and the freedom of Europe and the entire free world. Human life is priceless; its value cannot be measured in money. Gratitude is due to those who sacrifice their blood and their freedom. This is self-evident to us, the people of Solidarity, former political prisoners of the communist regime under Soviet russia.
    8. We call on the United States to uphold the guarantees made alongside Great Britain in the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which established a direct obligation to defend Ukraine’s territorial integrity in exchange for its relinquishment of nuclear weapons. These guarantees are unconditional—there is no mention of treating such assistance as an economic transaction.
    9. Signed, Lech Wałęsa, former political prisoner, President of Poland
    10. MIKE: I want to note that in this letter, there is only one thing that might appear to be a typo: “Russia” is repeatedly spelled with a lower case “r”. I don’t think that was an error. All other nation names are typed correctly.

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