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FYI: WordPress is forcing me to work with a new type of editor, so things will look … different … for a while. I’m hoping I’ll improve with a learning curve. Please bear with me — Mike

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Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig (@ThinkwingRadio) is now on Sundays at 1PM and re-runs Wednesday at 11AM (CT) on KPFT 90.1 FM-HD2, Houston’s Community Media. You can also hear the show:

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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 is only about 3 weeks from now. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is April 22, which is also only about 3 weeks.
   1. Voter registration applications or registration updates must be filled out and RECEIVED by the County or State at least 30 days before the election date, which is before April 3^rd, WHICH IS THIS WEEK. If you’re just hearing this now, it’s probably too late to mail your voter registration of update. You ‘d have to hand deliver it to an office of the Voting administrator
   2. You can download forms to 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. League City expects $13M in savings on street lights; By Rachel Leland | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 3:08 PM Mar 28, 2025 CDT/Updated 3:08 PM Mar 28, 2025 CDT. TAGS: League City, city street lights, Texas-New Mexico Power,
   1. League City will save nearly $13 million over the next 20 years by assuming responsibility for maintaining the city’s street lights.
   2. … League City City Council approved transferring ownership of the city’s street lights to the city at its March 25 meeting — a move city officials hope will reduce costs, improve public safety, and reduce service response times.
   3. Formerly, Texas-New Mexico Power operated 5,546 of the city’s streetlights at a cost of $14.12 per 100 watt light bulb, according to a staff presentation.
   4. If TNMP transitions those lights to LED lights, it would cost the city $29.32 for each 35 watt LED light bulb, according to the staff presentation.
   5. Now that the city has assumed ownership of the lights, it will only cost the city $3.75 per 35 watt LED bulb, city documents show.
   6. [City staff said it’s] cheaper for the city to own and operate its own lighting, because then the city only has to pay for the energy consumed,.
   7. … [Council member Chad Tressler said,] “This is an opportunity for the city to save a good bit of money on streetlights as well as ensure we have increased safety by having a brighter community at night. Frankly the only drawback I see is that I wish we had found this five years ago.”
   8. … The ordinance became effective March 25 …
   9. MIKE: This is good news for taxpayers in League City. I just have some thoughts. I have questions about what that estimated $3.75/light bulb includes. Is that just the cost of that light bulb? Does it include the labor to replace the streetlight bulbs? Does it include both? Because if it includes both, that’s a helluva deal.
   10. MIKE: It’s sort of ingrained in American society and ideology that government should outsource government services to the private sector whenever possible on the premise that it should be cheaper and more efficient than government running such services. This story is an excellent example of that not necessarily being true.
   11. MIKE: Consider that adding a private contractor to run government services adds a middleman. Another American axiom is to save money by cutting out the middleman.
   12. MIKE: A middleman has to take another profit on top of their cost. In this case, Texas-New Mexico Power has to add a profit margin on top of the cost of their light bulbs. They also have to add a profit margin on top of the cost of labor required to order, stock, and replace the bulbs.
   13. MIKE: So in order for a private sector company to take all this responsibility from a government entity and be cheaper, they have to be really cheaper, even with all of their profit margins tacked on.
   14. MIKE: This was obviously not the case in League City. There should be a general lesson here for any government to think really hard before farming out necessary functions to the private sector. It also speaks to the wisdom of things like government-owned utilities, since the same logic applies.
   15. MIKE: I’m going to go off on an obliquely-related tangent that I hope you’ll find helpful and informative. Please stick with me here.
   16. MIKE: I think it’s time to stop mentioning lighting wattage equivalencies and start using lumens… Or at least, mention lumens together with wattage so that the public can learn equivalencies.
   17. MIKE: A lumen can be described as “a measure of the perceived power of visible light emitted by a source.” “The higher the lumen value, the brighter the light source.”
   18. MIKE: This is really important because watt equivalencies don’t always equal the expected lumens.
   19. MIKE: Next time you buy light bulbs, read the packaging carefully. You ‘ll find, for example, that different light bulbs claiming a 25-watt equivalency actually yield different lumens.
   20. MIKE: Searching Amazon, a SYLVANIA Soft White 25W Incandescent Light Bulb gives off 160 lumens. Most 3W LED bulbs that claim equivalence to 25-Watt incandescent light bulbs yield 300 lumens, but they use less energy and emit less waste heat than 25-watt incandescent light bulbs. Keep in mind that your AC has to work harder to remove waste heat from lights and appliances.
   21. MIKE: A 2W Soft White LED Bulb also called equivalent to 25-Watt Light Bulbs yields only 200 lumens. That’s a big difference.
   22. MIKE: If you actually want a light as dim as that 25-watt Sylvania incandescent bulb, you would need to buy what is being compared as equivalent to a 15-watt incandescent bulb. That’s a 1.5-watt LED that throws off 130 lumens.
   23. MIKE: So as you can see, lumens matter more than claimed wattage equivalence.
   24. MIKE: The more you know …
3. Harris County raises minimum wage by $5 for county employees, contract workers; By McKenna Oxenden | HOUSTONLANDING.ORG | March 28, 2025 | 3:33 pm. TAGS: Harris County Commissioners Court, Harris County Employee Minimum Wage,
   1. Harris County Commissioners Court on Thursday approved a $5 increase to its minimum wage for county employees, and a slightly larger boost for contract workers.
   2. The decision marks the first time that the county’s minimum wage has been changed since 2019, when it was raised to $15 an hour.
   3. County employees now will make at least $20 an hour beginning May 3. Contract employees hired by the county will see their pay increase to $21.65 an hour by July 1. 
   4. The new policy also calls for the minimum wage to be increased annually based on [the] Massachusetts Institute of Technology Living Wage Calculator.
   5. Commissioners voted 3-1 to approve the pay increase, with Republican Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey the lone dissenter.
   6. [MIKE: It’s always the Republicans who want to squeeze and underpay people, right? Remember that 5 years of inflation without a change in pay scales is effectively a pay cut. Continuing with the story …]
   7. County Judge Lina Hidalgo was not present for the vote — she left the meeting early for an unspecified event. 
   8. The wage increase will impact 5 percent of Harris County employees, according to a Houston Landing analysis of county payroll data. Officials said it comes with an estimated price tag of $5.4 million, which will come from a combination of the general fund, grants, and special revenues.
   9. Years of increased spending and expanded priorities has left the county in a tight financial position. Though the minimum wage increase accounts for only a tiny fraction of the county’s $2.67 billion budget, Harris County already is staring at another potential budget deficit in 2025.
   10. [And I’m sure that Republican state legislators who used to be so vocal about local government powers have done their best to limit revenue options for the counties and cities. But continuing …]
   11. Budget Director Daniel Ramos did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding the county’s finances. 
   12. The wage increase, which was supported by labor advocates, was championed by Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis and Precinct 4 Commissioner Lesley Briones who said people — particularly those who work for the county — should not have to work more than one job or struggle to buy groceries.
   13. [Briones said,] “These are the people who are cleaning our buildings working overnight. These are the individuals mowing your parks. These are the individuals who show up after a hurricane, who are cleaning your roads. Harris County is one of the largest employers in Harris County, so as one of the largest employers, we want to be an example for employers across the region.” …
   14. Ramsey, who voted against the wage increase, said he was unaware the wage increase was going to be discussed at court and said that it felt “chaotic” and “rushed”.
   15. The proposal was listed on the agenda simply as “Request for discussion and possible action on the Harris County Minimum Wage policies for employees and contractors.” The supporting document offered no more information, including the amount to be considered.
   16. [MIKE: Nonetheless, if Ramsey had actually taken the time to understand the document as written, he might have surmised that the County minimum wage was going to be discussed. Continuing with the story …]
   17. Ellis and Briones held a news conference Thursday before Commissioners Court to announce the proposal.
   18. Ramsey also questioned the idea of using MIT’s cost of living calculator as the standard going forward. 
   19. [Ramsey said,] “I don’t wake up every day thinking MIT is the center of anybody’s universe. It has no meaning to me. I think this is chaotic. I think we need a coherent, comprehensive approach to these types of things, whether it’s what our least paid employees make or what our most paid employees make.”
   20. [MIKE: And of course, while the MIT cost of living calculator is not exactly every day reading, it is coherent and comprehensive, which is more than can be said for Ramsey’s objection to it. But again, continuing with the story …]
   21. Ellis said county executive salaries have been raised by as much as 74 percent over the past several years, with numerous positions growing more than $100,000. 
   22. [Ellis said that the average County executive salary] is $298,000, which is $143 per hour. 
   23. [Ellis said,] “We didn’t have any heartburn or compression before we gave those pay increases.”
   24. MIKE: I’ve made most of my comments within the story, but I’ll note that the current federal minimum wage is $7.24/hour and hasn’t been raised since July 24, 2009. I don’t see Commissioner Ransey qualifying his remarks by saying that the federal minimum wage is too low and should be increased.
   25. MIKE: It’s my opinion that Commissioner Ransey would be perfectly content to never raise country wages, but as I said … That’s just my opinion.
   26. MIKE: You may not always get what you pay for, but you don’t get what you don’t pay for. People usually work better when they feel that they are being treated and paid fairly. Also, people usually work better when they are rested and focused on one job, rather than needing to survive by working two or three jobs.
   27. MIKE: Again, that’s just my opinion.
4. Trump is pummeling higher education. Where do Houston community colleges stand?; by Miranda Dunlap | HOUSTONLANDING.ORG | March 28, 2025 | 4:00 am.TAGS: President Donald Trump, Higher Education, Department Of Education, Community Colleges,
   1. Since taking office in January, President Donald Trump has targeted dozens of higher education institutions, worked to dismantle the Department of Education, and taken aim at diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
   2. Meanwhile, community colleges in Houston and elsewhere have generally sat quietly on the sidelines — not a direct target of Trump’s overhaul, but not shielded from his actions, either. 
   3. Still, the flurry of changes has created confusion among community college leaders locally and nationally about where their institutions stand. San Jacinto College External Communications Director Amanda Fenwick said the college has “encountered some challenges in interpreting how federal directives apply specifically to community colleges.”
   4. With a combined 175,000-plus students, Houston’s largest community college systems play a massive role in preparing the region’s future workforce. 
   5. Here’s what we know about how the Trump administration’s actions could impact that task. 
   6. … Trump’s administration has largely trained its ire on four-year colleges and universities, which receive more federal funding than community colleges. 
   7. For example, when the National Institutes of Health [NIH] issued changes to the way colleges are funded, four-year research universities were the center of the conversation. Community colleges generally don’t receive federal research funding. 
   8. Additionally, when the Education Department sent letters in mid-March to 60 colleges under investigation for alleged antisemitic activity and warned them they could lose federal funding, its list included only one community college. 
   9. [Said Iris Palmer, community college director at New America, an education think tank,] “The community colleges don’t really necessarily share some of those political issues. But what I would say is that there could very well be sustained damage, not necessarily deliberately, but just as a byproduct of random cutting and random actions.”
   10. … The majority of federal dollars that community colleges see are in the form of “pass-through” financial aid. Federal financial aid such as Pell grants and student loans flow through the college and to its students.
   11. For example, in 2024, HCC distributed $158 million in such funds from the Education Department, according to its financial report. 
   12. Any changes to the flow of this funding is where community colleges have the most potential to take a hit. 
   13. Slashing staff at the Education Department — or dissolving the department altogether — doesn’t make the funds that reach community colleges disappear. Trump said that, in the absence of the Education Department, he plans to move the portfolio to another agency, such as the Small Business Administration. 
   14. However, many students and higher education administrators are concerned about whether the funds would still flow smoothly after such a massive reshuffle.
   15. [Iris Palmer said,] “That’s a big question. And if it doesn’t, if there’s disruption. It will be incredibly painful for community colleges.”
   16. Last year, fewer Houston-area students completed the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, following a glitch-riddled rollout of a revamped process under the Biden administration. The FAFSA allows students to access federal grants and loans, a necessary step in [college affordability] for many Houston students.
   17. The debacle illustrated the risks of disrupting the financial aid process, leaving some concerned about how future rollouts will look under an even slimmer staff or a new department. 
   18. … The majority of funding for Texas community colleges to run the schools comes from state funding, local tax revenue, and tuition and fees paid by students. A smaller share comes from the federal government.
   19. [Said Tom Brock, director of Columbia University’s Community College Research Center,] “Community colleges, by and large, do not rely heavily on federal funding to support what they do. So for all the reasons to worry about higher ed right now, community colleges are probably not the main focus of worry.” 
   20. Take Houston Community College, for example. Federal grants and contracts totaled roughly $16 million in 2023-24, or 3 percent of the school’s $585 million in revenue. ([Parenthetically,] The college counts about $100 million in Pell grants as revenue, though that money is transferred to students for financial aid.)
   21. Community colleges also often use smaller federal grants to fund workforce development programs. For example, San Jacinto received roughly $2.2 million in Perkins grants to help fund career and technical education programs in 2024. HCC received about $1.1 million in TRIO grants funds in 2024 to support programs that fund college preparation. These grants are “potentially in play” to be impacted by Trump’s cuts, Brock said, but nothing is certain.
   22. … In mid-February, the Trump administration released guidance demanding colleges immediately cease all race-conscious policies and programming, threatening them with the loss of federal funding if they don’t comply. The guidance made it illegal to host race-specific graduation ceremonies or use race in admissions decisions and scholarships, among other actions. 
   23. Unlike most higher education institutions across the county, Houston’s community colleges weren’t sent into a panic by the move. Texas lawmakers banned diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives at public colleges in 2023, meaning colleges already closed or reshaped their DEI departments and teams.
   24. [Amanda Fenwick, the San Jacinto administrator, said in a statement to the Landing when federal officials issued the guidance that,] “At this time, we do not perceive any additional issues and will continue to offer services to all students so that they are able to complete their higher education credentials.”
   25. … Amid the confusion Trump’s administration is stirring, community college leaders have kept relatively [quiet]. Like many college leaders across the country, top administrators haven’t publicly pushed back against Trump’s actions. 
   26. In a response to questions from the Landing, a spokesperson at Lone Star College, Texas’ largest community college system, said administrators are constantly monitoring the changes and do not expect “any substantial decisions will alter its operations.”
   27. ]Said Nancy Molina, Lone Star’s vice chancellor of legal affairs,] “To date, no federal changes have affected this institution.”
   28. MIKE: I’ve emailed Miranda Dunlap, the reporter bylined on this story, to thank her for the quality of her ongoing coverage at Houston Landing of area community colleges. I’ve been reading enough of Houston Landing’s stories on the air that I’ve started sending them money as a contribution to their work. Houston Landing is a 501(c)3 non-profit.
   29. MIKE: But regarding this story, I’ve been getting increasingly upset about Conservative attacks on education generally, and especially attacks on higher education.
   30. MIKE: Stephen Colbert once said that “reality has a well-known liberal bias.” I think that this “reality” is what sticks in the craw of Conservatives.
   31. MIKE: Conservatives are more attached to their principles than the applicability of those principles to the real world. Hence, their resentment of education and its tendency to teach reality-based facts and history unless Conservatives intercede.
   32. MIKE: Facts and critical thinking are often incompatible with Conservative principles. This, I believe, is the source of Conservatives’ resentment of them.
   33. MIKE: Take DEI as an example. I’d love to hear someone interview a Conservative who objects to DEI and question them closely on the topic. For example: What are their specific objections to discussing diversity since we are a demonstrably diverse nation? Why do they resent equity of treatment in life and under the law? Do they actually resent inclusivity and actually prefer exclusion?
   34. MIKE: I think that sort of public discussion with opinion-makers would be revealing. It might even change — or at least open — a few minds.
   35. MIKE: If you haven’t read Orwell’s “1984”, you really should. If you haven’t re-read it recently, you might want to, because that is the nation that Trump, the modern Republican Party, and Project 2025 are foisting on us.
   36. MIKE: We don’t have an actual department named the Ministry of Truth, but Trump’s efforts to expunge or distort certain facts of history are in line with the job of the Ministry of Truth.
   37. MIKE: We don’t have something in this country called New-speak, but trying to eliminate certain words and descriptive terms is the essential job of New-speak. The reason is that thought is facilitated by words. By eliminating some words from the national vocabulary, you are limited in how you can conceive and articulate ideas.
   38. MIKE: This limitation favors the totalitarian state.
   39. MIKE: And this might be a good time to discuss the difference between an authoritarian state and a totalitarian According to the article I’m referencing on Wikipedia, “…the difference between a totalitarian regime of government and an authoritarian regime of government is one of degree; whereas totalitarianism features a charismatic dictator and a fixed worldview, authoritarianism only features a dictator who holds power for the sake of holding power.” It also describes Totalitarianism thusly: “…The totalitarian government uses ideology to control most aspects of human life, such as the political economy of the country, the system of education,[and] the arts, sciences, and private morality of its citizens.^[4] …”
   40. MIKE: By that definition, the Trumpists are actually not trying to create an Authoritarian government in the United States. They’re actually working to create a Totalitarian government in our country.
   41. MIKE: Consider the definition here item by item. Charismatic Leader? If you’re a Trump supporter, you can check that box. Controlling education? Check. Attempting to control morality? Check. Trying to control education? Check. Attempting to control the arts and sciences? Check.
   42. MIKE: If you think the Trumpists are “just” trying to implement authoritarianism, you haven’t been paying attention.
   43. MIKE: Trumpists are trying to remake American government and society; not in their own image, because they’re hypocrites, but in the image they imagine they want others to live in.
   44. MIKE: To fight an enemy, it’s important to understand their actual goals. So please take note: The goal of the Trumpists and Project 2025 is Totalitarianism.
   45. MIKE: For those of you who would like to delve into this subject further, I’m including a couple of informative links below the script for this story in the show blog at “ThinkwingRadio Dot Com”.
   46. REFERENCE: “Nineteen Eighty-Four”: the 1949 novel by George Orwell — From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
   47. REFERENCE: Totalitarianism — From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
5. Along the lines of the previous story, there’s this one from The Atlantic Dot Com. I’ve linked to the story as a gift with no paywall — America Is Watching the Rise of a Dual State (No Paywall); By Aziz Huq | THEATLANTIC.COM | March 23, 2025. TAGS: Ernst Fraenkel, Berlin, Nazi Party, 1938, Law and Order,
   1. On September 20, 1938, a man who had witnessed the rise of fascism packed his suitcases and fled his home in Berlin. He arranged to have smuggled separately a manuscript that he had drafted in secret over the previous two years. This book … clarified what was unfolding in Berlin at the time, the catalyst for its author’s flight.
   2. The man fleeing that day was a Jewish labor lawyer named Ernst Fraenkel. He completed his manuscript two years later at the University of Chicago … publishing it as The Dual State, with the modest subtitle A Contribution to the Theory of Dictatorship. The book explains how the Nazi regime managed to keep on track a capitalist economy governed by stable laws — and maintain a day-to-day normalcy for many of its citizens — while at the same time establishing a domain of lawlessness and state violence in order to realize its terrible vision of ethno-nationalism.
   3. Fraenkel offered a simple, yet powerful, picture of how the constitutional and legal foundations of the Weimar Republic eroded, and were replaced by strongman-style rule in which the commands of the Nazi Party and its leader became paramount. His perspective was not grounded in abstract political theory; it grew instead from his experience as a Jewish lawyer in Nazi Berlin representing dissidents and other disfavored clients. Academic in tone, The Dual State sketches a template of emerging tyranny distilled from bloody and horrifying experience.
   4. It was a mistake to think that even the Nazis would entirely dispense with normal laws.
   5. As Fraenkel explained it, a lawless dictatorship does not arise simply by snuffing out the ordinary legal system of rules, procedures, and precedents. To the contrary, that system—which he called the “normative state”—remains in place while dictatorial power spreads across society. What happens, Fraenkel explained, is insidious. Rather than completely eliminating the normative state, the Nazi regime slowly created a parallel zone in which “unlimited arbitrariness and violence unchecked by any legal guarantees” reigned freely.
   6. In this domain, which Fraenkel called the “prerogative state,” ordinary law didn’t apply. (A prerogative power is one that allows a person such as a monarch to act without regard to the laws on the books; theorists from John Locke onward have offered various formulations of the idea.) In this prerogative state, judges and other legal actors deferred to the racist hierarchies and ruthless expediencies of the Nazi regime.
   7. The key here is that this prerogative state does not immediately and completely overrun the normative state. Rather, Fraenkel argued, dictatorships create a lawless zone that runs alongside the normative state. The two states cohabit uneasily and unstably. On any given day, people or cases could be jerked out of the normative state and into the prerogative one. In July 1936, for example, Fraenkel won a case for employees of an association taken over by the Nazis. A few days later, he learned that the Gestapo had seized the money owed to his clients and deposited it in the government’s coffers. Over time, the prerogative state would distort and slowly unravel the legal procedures of the normative state, leaving a smaller and smaller domain for ordinary law.
   8. Yet, Fraenkel insisted, it was a mistake to think that even the Nazis would entirely dispense with normal laws. After all, they had a complex, broadly capitalist economy to maintain. “A nation of 80 million people,” he noted, needs stable rules. The trick was to find a way to keep the law going for Christian Germans who supported or at least tolerated the Nazis, while ruthlessly executing the führer’s directives against the state’s enemies, real and perceived. Capitalism could jog nicely alongside the brutal suppression of democracy, and even genocide. …
   9. … Despite his socialist leanings, [Fraenkel] joined the German army and was sent to Poland in April 1917. He later wrote that he’d hoped “the war would mean the end of antisemitism.” … After his discharge in 1919, he earned a law degree, and eventually secured work in Berlin as a labor lawyer.
   10. The war did not, of course, end anti-Semitism, but his military service did save his livelihood, at least for a time. On May 9, 1933 — only a few months after the Reichstag burned — Fraenkel and other Jewish lawyers received an official notice prohibiting them from appearing in German courts. But Nazi law made an exception for Jewish lawyers who had served in World War I. And so, while many fled, Fraenkel remained in Berlin, representing litigants such as members of the German Freethinkers Alliance, a leader of the Young Socialist Workers, and a man arrested for insulting a National Socialist newspaper as “old cheese.”
   11. Often, he had to resort to unorthodox strategies. In the last of those three cases, Fraenkel persuaded his client to plead guilty, limiting his arguments to the sentence’s severity. This gambit worked: The man was duly convicted, and received a light sentence, avoiding the fate of others acquitted under similar circumstances. In at least one case, a Gestapo agent appeared as soon as the judge declared a not-guilty verdict, took the defendant into custody, and said, “Kommt nach Dachau” (“Come to Dachau”). Eventually, Fraenkel’s name made it onto a Gestapo list. He and his wife fled first to London, then to Chicago.
   12. Today, we are witnessing the birth of a new dual state. The U.S. has long had a normative state. That system was always imperfect. Our criminal-justice system, for example, sweeps in far too many people, for far too little security in exchange. Even so, it is recognizably part of the normative state.
   13. What the Trump administration and its allies are trying to build now, however, is not. The list of measures purpose-built to cleave off a domain in which the law does not apply grows by the day: the pardons that bless and invite insurrectionary violence; the purges of career lawyers at the Justice Department and in the Southern District of New York, inspectors general across the government, and senior FBI agents; the attorney general’s command that lawyers obey the president over their own understanding of the Constitution; the appointment of people such as Kash Patel and Dan Bongino, who seem to view their loyalty to the president as more compelling than their constitutional oath; the president’s declaration that he and the attorney general are the sole authoritative interpreters of federal law for the executive branch; the transformation of ordinary spending responsibilities into discretionary tools to punish partisan foes; the stripping of security clearances from perceived enemies and opponents; the threat of criminal prosecutions for speech deemed unfavorable by the president; and the verbal attacks on judges for enforcing the law.
   14. The peril of the dual state lies in its capacity for targeted suppression.
   15. The singular aim of these tactics is to construct a prerogative state where cruel caprice, not law, rules. By no measure does the extent of federal law displaced in the first few months of the Trump administration compare with the huge tracts of the Weimar’s legal system eviscerated by the Nazis. But it is striking how Donald Trump’s executive orders reject some basic tenets of American constitutionalism — such as Congress’s power to impose binding rules on how spending and regulation unfold — without which the normative state cannot persist.
   16. The CEOs who paid for and attended Trump’s second inauguration can look forward to the courts being open for the ordinary business of capitalism. So, too, can many citizens who pay little attention to politics expect to be unscarred by the prerogative state.
   17. The normal criminal-justice system, if only in nonpolitical cases, will crank on. Outside the American prerogative state, much will remain as it was. The normative state is too valuable to wholly dismantle.
   18. For that reason, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Trump’s lawyers — despite running roughshod over Congress, the states, the press, and the civil service — were somewhat slower to defy the federal courts, and have fast-tracked cases to the Supreme Court, seeking a judicial imprimatur for novel presidential powers. The courts, unlike the legislature, remain useful to an autocrat in a dual state.
   19. Building a dual state need not end in genocide: Vladimir Putin’s Russia and Lee Kuan Yew’s Singapore have followed the same model of the dual state that Fraenkel described, though neither has undertaken a mass-killing operation as the Nazis did. Their deepest similarity, rather, is that both are intolerant of political dissent and leave the overwhelming majority of citizens alone.
   20. The peril of the dual state lies precisely in this capacity for targeted suppression. Most people can ignore the construction of the prerogative state simply because it does not touch their lives. They can turn away while dissidents and scapegoats lose their political liberty. But once the prerogative state is built, as Fraenkel’s writing and experience suggest, it can swallow anyone.
   21. MIKE: History doesn’t repeat itself, but it rhymes. Many of us believed that it can’t happen here, but it is happening here.
   22. MIKE: It’s easy for some people to blame the Democratic Party and its leaders for not acting more powerfully to crush this movement toward American Fascism, but it’s not entirely fair to do so.
   23. MIKE: In our system, the minority party in Congress has very little power. Whether Senate Democrats should have used the filibuster to shut down the government is a close political call that actual senators had to make. Would shutting down the government in an effort to slow down Trump and his enablers have worked as a speed bump against Trump, or would it have tarred the Democrats among voters with the blame for hurting millions of Americans? We’ll never know.
   24. MIKE: Will future elections be honest given the power that Trump and Trumpists are accruing? We’ll find out.
   25. MIKE: But if you want to assign blame for America’s slide toward fascism and a dual legal state, look no further than the Republican Party. The Republican Party must be assigned the role of villain here. But more importantly, individual elected Republican politicians must be held accountable.
   26. MIKE: Yes, there are some Republican true believers who actually like the direction that the Trump Regime is going. But there are others who do not.
   27. MIKE: Whether in Congress or in state legislatures, Republican majorities are very small. It would only take a few courageous Republicans to join Democrats in halting and reversing this slide toward American totalitarianism. They are where responsibility lies if we are to course-correct while there is still time.
   28. MIKE: And make no mistake. It will take courage, because Republicans all feel under political threat from Trump and physical threat from Trump’s provably violent followers.
   29. MIKE: If you have a Republican US Senator, State Senator or State Legislator who may be courageous enough to act with Democrats to save our nation, apply political pressure there.
   30. MIKE: Perhaps remind them that there are times that try men’s souls, and that this is one of them.
6. Along the lines of what constitutes a Totalitarian state, there’s this story from Deadline Dot Com — Trump Signs Executive Order To Remove “Improper Ideology” From Museums, National Monuments; By Tom Tapp, Deputy Managing Editor | DEADLINE.COM | March 27, 2025@5:35pm. TAGS: Smithsonian Trump,
   1. President Donald Trump today signed an executive order titled “Restoring Truth and Sanity to American History.”
   2. The document asserts there has been a “widespread effort to rewrite our Nation’s history, replacing objective facts with a distorted narrative driven by ideology rather than truth.” 
   3. Claiming the Biden Administration fostered a “corrosive ideology,” Trump’s order asserts that, “rather than fostering unity and a deeper understanding of our shared past, the widespread effort to rewrite history deepens societal divides and fosters a sense of national shame, disregarding the progress America has made and the ideals that continue to inspire millions around the globe.”
   4. The order names the Smithsonian Institution specifically, saying the directive’s purpose is “to remove improper ideology from such properties,” including the Institution’s museums, education and research centers and the National Zoo.
   5. The order directs that the Vice President and the Director of the Office of Management and Budget work with Congress to “prohibit expenditure on exhibits or programs that degrade shared American values, divide Americans based on race, or promote programs or ideologies inconsistent with Federal law and policy.” It also says the Smithsonian … will “not recognize men as women in any respect.”
   6. It further directs The Secretary of the Interior to “determine whether, since January 1, 2020, public monuments, memorials, statues, markers, or similar properties within the Department of the Interior’s jurisdiction have been removed or changed to perpetuate a false reconstruction of American history, inappropriately minimize the value of certain historical events or figures, or include any other improper partisan ideology.” If those conditions are found to exist, the secretary is to “take action to reinstate the pre-existing monuments.”
   7. Said monuments cannot, under Trump’s declaration, “contain descriptions, depictions, or other content that inappropriately disparage Americans past or living (including persons living in colonial times).”
   8. In recent weeks the president has sought to cleanse another American institution: The Kennedy Center. Earlier this year, Trump ousted the board of the center and had himself named himself as its new chairman. Among his grievances are what he calls the institution’s “woke” programming.
   9. Since Trump’s takeover, dozens of high-profile productions have canceled performances. Just today, the composer and lyricist ofFellow Travelers, an opera based on Thomas Mallon’s 2007 novel about the anti-gay lavender scare of the 1950s, withdrew the work from the 2025-26 season.
   10. The producers of Hamiltonpulled out of a staging next year, and comedian Issa Rae canceled an appearance, while Ben Folds and Renee Fleming withdrew as Kennedy Center advisers. In a 26-show list of total cancelations put out by the Kennedy Center earlier this month, the center notes that most have been canceled by the artist or artist availability, or by the producers. 
   11. MIKE: A Stalinist-style equivalent to “1984”’s Ministry of Truth has arrived in all but name. For those that don’t know, Orwell’s “1984” was inspired by Hitler’s Nazis and Stalin’s repression. Stalin was known not only for purging and even executing political rivals and threats. Stalin was also known for trying to erase those people from history and memory. He even had archival photos altered to erase people he had purged.
   12. MIKE: Is this so different from Trump’s order to remove photos of disfavored individuals and groups from federal web sites and removing information about them from plaques? These are the actions of a would-be totalitarian.
7. This next story from Huffpost Dot Com should scare you , if you aren’t already — ‘Scary S**t’: Ex-GOP Lawmaker Delivers Urgent Warning Over Trump’s Next Move; By Ed Mazza | HUFFPOST.COM | Mar 10, 2025, 02:19 AM EDT/|Updated 16 hours ago. TAGS: Donald Trump, MSNBC, Michael Steele, Joe Walsh
   1. Former Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) warned that President Donald Trump feels “untouchable” and that there’s no telling what he may attempt do next.
   2. [The vocal Trump critic told MSNBC’s Michael Steele on Sunday,] “The biggest failure of all of us during this Trump era has been the failure of imagination. We have not imagined how bad and how low he’d go. He tried to overthrow an American election four years ago. I have no doubt that he could try to stop the midterm elections.”
   3. Steele, former chair of the Republican National Committee, said Trump “sees himself as a king” and that the Republican Party He summed up all the ways GOP lawmakers are “lining up to pay tribute” to Trump, with proposals to put his face on U.S. currency, make his birthday a federal holiday, and add his [face] to Mount Rushmore. Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) even backed an unconstitutional third term in office for Trump.
   4. Walsh warned viewers to take it all seriously, including talk of a third term. …
   5. Later in the interview, Walsh added that Trump feels emboldened, given that he’s never faced consequences for what he’s done. …
   6. [Walsh] warned that Trump may next defy a Supreme Court order.
   7. “And then what does the Republican Party do?” he asked.
   8. MIKE: I’ll preface this with my standard, “I can’t believe I’m quoting Joe Walsh” disclaimer.
   9. MIKE: If you click on the story, you can view the whole video featuring Joe Walsh, and MSNBC’s Eugene Daniels and Michael Steele. That video runs 10 minutes in its entirety and it’s definitely worth watching.
   10. MIKE: For the purposes of this show, I’ve edited that down to just under 3 minutes (2m 57s) of audio of Joe Walsh and Michael Steele because I want you to hear Walsh’s comments in his own voice. I think Walsh makes the scariest points and he’s raising some red flags that should frighten us, and we should not only be watching for those red flags. Maybe we should expect them. For FCC purposes, I edited out the expletive which is in the original video.
   11. MIKE: [Audio of Joe and Michael plays]
   12. MIKE: Be afraid!
8. This next story hints at what it must have been like to travel to Nazi Germany before the war, but it’s happening at American ports of entry — Why are Germans being detained by US immigration?; By Elizabeth Schumacher | DW.COM (Deutsche Welle)| 03/20/2025March 20, 2025. TAGS: US election 2024, Migration, White House, Trump tariffs, United States of America, Greenland, Immigration and German citizenship, Donald Trump,
   1. Immigration officials in the United Statesare known for being aggressive, even combative, during routine passport checks at the country’s borders. However, most citizens of the European Union are ostensibly allowed to travel to the US visa-free for 90 days, provided they fill out an Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) form and pass the related background check.
   2. So why have four German nationals been detainedfor weeks on end by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since the beginning of 2025?
   3. [A] Green Card holder [was] held without charge.
   4. “I feel helpless,” Astrid Senior told local media in Boston after her son, Fabian Schmidt, was detained at Logan Airport on March 7. Senior and Schmidt aren’t even tourists, they are Green Card holders — lawful permanent residents of the US — having lived in the country since 2007.
   5. Schmidt, 34, was interrogated “for hours” his mother said, after returning from a visit to Germany and being told simply that his Green Card had been flagged.
   6. She said her son was deprived of sleep, food, and water, and had his anxiety medication withheld. His condition worsened to the point that he had to be taken to a local hospital.
   7. While ICE confirmed the hospital visit, they told US media they could not comment further on the case for legal reasons. Schmidt’s lawyer, David Keller, has said in press statements that neither he nor his client have been told why he is being held.
   8. Germany [has updated its] US travel advisory after citizens [were] held.
   9. John Gihon [PRON: GUY-in], of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told DW that there is no legal limit for how long someone can be held in ICE detention without being made aware of formal charges. [Gihon, pointing to an overall shift in policy in recent months, said,] “In the past, ICE had a policy of serving charging documents within 72 hours. However, that policy appears to no longer be in place.”
   10. Astrid Senior said in an interview with Boston public radio WGBH that her son had had minor run-ins with the law in the past, including for driving under the influence and a marijuana possession charge, but no issues in recent years. Indeed, the cannabis charge was dropped after legalization of the drug in California, where the incident occurred. He did, however, miss a 2022 court summons related to the incident after authorities failed to forward it to his new address in New Hampshire.
   11. “Fabian said to me that he feels he’s very fearful,” Senior said of her son, an electrical engineer who has a long-term partner and an 8-year-old daughter. She added that Schmidt has been pressured to renounce his Green Card, but that he hadn’t agreed to do so.
   12. [MIKE: This sounds like a 1940s film noire scene. I can imagine three cops grilling the poor guy under a tightly-focused 60 watt light bulb while the cops remain shrouded in darkness to the man’s eyes. It’s horrible to imagine, and intolerable now or then. Continuing with the story …]
   13. Schmidt remains in an immigration detention facility in Rhode Island, where a number of activists and supporters have begun gathering to protest his arrest.
   14. The German Foreign Ministry told DW that “our Consulate General in Boston is providing consular assistance to the person concerned and is in contact with him, his family members and the local authorities.”
   15. Tourists [are being] detained for weeks.
   16. Lucas Sielaff, a 25-year-old from the eastern German town of Bad Bibra, told Der Spiegel magazine about a similarly harrowing experience earlier this month. He was released after two weeks and deported to Germany.
   17. “I was angry, sad, and afraid,” Sielaff told the outlet, describing what happened during a trip to visit his American fiancée who lives in the western state of Nevada, one of many trips he has taken in recent years. The pair decided to take her sick dog to a veterinarian in Mexico, where appointments are easier to get. Sielaff described a tense interrogation at the border on the way back, saying he suspected the border patrol officer assumed he was living unlawfully in the US, trying to skirt the 90-day regulation by taking the short trip out of the country.
   18. Sielaff said he was shackled around his stomach and feet and brought to an ICE detention center in California, where he was put in a cell with 128 other men. On March 6, after two weeks without being told anything about his case, he was put on a flight to Munich.
   19. His case was similar to that of Jessica Brösche, a Berlin-based tattoo artist who was in ICE detention for two weeks earlier this year. Brösche was trying to cross into the US from Mexico on January 15, when an officer said he found tattooing equipment in her bag and suspected her of trying to work illegally in the US. She was deported to Germany after six weeks’ detention.
   20. [Growing] US militarization of southern borders alarms critics.
   21. Celine Flad, 22, is another German who found herself at the mercy of an unclear border situation when she tried to go on vacation in New York and Miami. The university student told Der Spiegel that despite having a valid passport and an ESTA waiver, she was told there was a “problem” with her passport. She was held for 24 hours, during which she was repeatedly asked why she wanted to enter the US. Flad added that the officers took her smartphone and searched through her pictures.
   22. [MIKE: I’ll note here that if you temporarily leave the country, either take a burner phone, or remove face ID as your logon method. You can refuse to give ICE your password, but they can just shove the camera in your face to open it with face ID. Continuing …]
   23. Despite [Flad] showing officials her hotel bookings in New York and Miami, and her flight tickets on to Cancun, Mexico, she was told she was being sent back to Germany as soon as possible. She was never told what the issue was.
   24. Berlin [has issued a travel advisory.]
   25. The four Germans are hardly the only tourists and US residents who have found themselves caught in a Kafkaesque situation with ICE, following US President Donald Trump’srecent crackdown on immigration. Trump has even tried to invoke an 18th century law to imprison more immigrants, but that move was struck down by a court.
   26. Travelers from other countries with visa-free travel to the US, like Canada and France, have reported similar incidents at the country’s borders.
   27. The situation has gotten to the point where the Foreign Ministry in Berlin has issued an advisory to its citizens planning a trip to the US, stressing that holding a US visa or entry waiver does not guarantee access for German citizens.
   28. In a statement to DW, the [German Foreign Ministry] confirmed that the two things are connected and said it is “taking the incidents that have occurred in recent weeks very seriously.”
   29. MIKE: I strongly encourage you to click on this article link at my story blog and watch the two embedded videos. The longest is only 3-1/4 minutes. The experiences described are terrifying, and in no way do they exemplify the America we have known.
   30. MIKE: I’ve also added a reference link to a first-person video by someone who sounds North American describing her experience arriving in Miami from Aruba around March 23^rd. [Playing audio of the linked video (1m 15.6s)].
   31. MIKE: In the video, listen to her voice. When she refers to Tinkerbell, that’s a pet she is pulling along in a carrier. If you click on the original Threads video, watch the expressions on her face. She appears and sounds legitimately terrified.
   32. MIKE: I think that it’s fair to start referring to ICE as the ICEstapo or, if you prefer, just call them the American Gestapo, because that’s what it sounds like they are under Trump.
   33. MIKE: There are many reasons that Trump and his enablers should be removed from office and in some cases perhaps indicted, but these stories alone should serve.
   34. REFERENCE: ICE Welcomes You to America 47 Style. There goes the U.S. Tourism Industry 👎🏼 (1m 15.6s)— THREADS Video Link, Recorded ca. March 23, 2025
9. Joy Reid is not at her best when she’s reading scripts. You get to see how smart she is when she gets to speak extemporaneously, and this is one of those opportunities. The following is from an Instagram video post she recorded around March 17^th of this year. I’ll play it for you. The original audio is about 8m 41s. It’s been lightly edited for time and clarity to 7m 29.4s. — JoyAnnReid Original audio can be titled, “The super rich vs the #20thcentury … a tale of hostility”. TAGS: #maga, #wakeup, #staywoke,

There’s always more to discuss, but that’s all we have time for today. You’ve been listening to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig from KPFT Houston 90.1-HD2, Galveston 89.5-HD2, and Huntsville 91.9-HD2. We are Houston’s Community Media. I hope you’ve enjoyed the show and found it interesting, and I look forward to sharing this time with you again next week. Y’all take care! 

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1. Make sure you are registered to vote! VoteTexas.GOV – Texas Voter Information
   1. It’s time to snail-mail (no emails or faxes) in your application for mail-ballots, IF you qualify TEXAS SoS VOTE-BY-MAIL BALLOT APPLICATION (ALL TEXAS COUNTIES) HarrisVotes.com­ – Countywide Voting Centers, (Election Information Line (713) 755-6965), Harris County Clerk
   2. Obtain a Voter Registration Application (HarrisVotes.com)
   3. Harris County “Vote-By-Mail’ Application for 2023
      1. Austin County Elections
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      6. GalvestonVotes.org (Galveston County, TX)
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      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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