Now in our 12th year on KPFT!

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, and let me know of any odd glitches you see that I may not, so I can try to fix them. — Mike

Beginning April 20th, Thinkwing Radio will air on KPFT 90.1-HD2 on Sundays at 1PM, and will re-air on Mondays at 2PM and Wednesdays at 11AM. Thanks for listening!

AUDIO: 

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:

1. Live online at KPFT.org (from anywhere in the world!)
   
   

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Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig on KPFT Houston at 90.1-HD2, Galveston 89.5-HD2, and Huntsville 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. At my website, THINKWINGRADIO-dot-COM, I link to all the articles I read and cite, as well as other relevant sources.

1. We’re having runoff elections resulting from the May 3^rd Early Voting Centers are open through Tuesday, June 3. Hours are Sunday from 12:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m., and Monday & Tuesday from 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.
   1. On Election Day, Saturday June 7, Voting Centers will be open from 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. If you are in line by 7PM on any voting day, you cannot be turned away.
   2. The following entities have contracted with Harris County to host their contests. Check your sample ballot to see if you fall within the boundaries for any of these four entities: City of Pasadena Councilmember District A; City of Pasadena Councilmember District B; City of Pasadena Councilmember District G; [and the] San Jacinto Community College District.
   3. You can visit the “What’s on my Ballot?” page at HarrisVotes-dot-COM and enter your name or address to see all the contests and candidates you are eligible to vote on! I have provided the link in this blog post. (You can bring handwritten notes or printed sample ballots to the voting booth; just be sure to take them with you when you leave.) 
   4. The deadline to apply for a mail ballot was May 27.
   5. For election and ballot information outside Harris County, go to your county’s elections office. I have some of those at the bottom of this show post. Let me know if any need updating.
   6. For election information anywhere in Texas, you can go to VoteTexas-dot-gov.
2. MIKE: Facebook user John Becker put out a very useful post regarding Harvard’s free remote courses, with particular emphasis on courses on government and civics. With minor edits for clarity, I’ll read that to you. It’s entitled — Here is the official Harvard University website!
   1. Here is the official Harvard University website: https://www.harvard.edu/
   2. Here is a link to the free classes!!: https://pll.harvard.edu/catalog/free
   3. And, here is their # if you’d like to … call and speak to someone there: +1 617-495-1000
   4. I understand that the current catalog of FREE COURSES at Harvard is being EXTENSIVELY EXPANDED, so you’ll want to check their website from time to time to see which new courses are being added if you find that the current free Harvard courses being offered don’t meet your current academic needs!!!
   5. The link to the FREE GOVERNMENT COURSES is: https://pll.harvard.edu/subject/government?page=0
   6. There are paid courses in there too, but the ones I’m talking about are there on the first page!
   7. … American Government: Constitutional Foundations: https://pll.harvard.edu/course/american-government-constitutional-foundations
   8. Free Social Sciences Courses: https://pll.harvard.edu/subject/social-sciences/free
   9. MIKE: For those with a serious desire to “go to Harvard”, here’s your chance!
   10. MIKE: If you just want to get clear and accurate information on American civics and social sciences, you can do a dive that’s as deep or shallow as you may wish.
   11. MIKE: This has been a Public Service Announcement.
3. From COMMUNITYIMPACT-dot-COM — Aging neighborhoods, severe weather drive home upgrades in The Woodlands; By Jessica Shorten | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 2:23 PM May 29, 2025 CDT/Updated 2:23 PM May 29, 2025 CDT. TAGS: Woodlands Township, Development Standards Committee, Home Upgrades,
   1. Solar roofs, home power generators and fencing are among the issues most frequently brought the Development Standards Committee [DSC] by residents in the past year, according to a report presented to The Woodlands Township board of directors on May 28.
   2. … The DSC is responsible for overseeing the design standards for residential and commercial developments within The Woodlands, including new construction and renovations. DSC Chair Arthur Bredehoft said in the first quarter of 2025 the committee has handled 314 applications requesting variances to make home improvements.
   3. The majority of the applications revolved around three specific types of improvements: Roof replacements; Power generator installations; [and] New or heightened fences.
   4. [DSC Chair Arthur Bredehoft said,] “As an older community, we’re going through that rebuilding, redoing a lot of fences. Generators and roofs are a constant upgrade in the community, and also there’s damage to roofs [from] storms; roofs need to be replaced.”
   5. Bredehoft said new rules are being used to help speed the process for a resident to apply for a variance to design standards. One such rule will ensure township design standards supersede neighborhood-specific design criteria.
   6. [Bredehoft said,] “Sometimes neighborhood criteria can have a rule about a type of roof or a color of a roof, and the overall standards for The Woodlands can permit that color. The second part of that process would be to update the neighborhood criteria, so the neighborhood criteria matches the overall standards [of The Woodlands].”
   7. … Bredehoft said the DSC board is also now considering additional steps including changing short-term rental regulations to provide stricter rules.
   8. So far, 120 STRs [Short-Term Rentals] are on file with the township, Bredehoft said; however, staff is now looking into third-party services and partnering with Airbnb to gain a more accurate count and collect the proper taxes.
   9. [DSC Chair Bredehoft said,] “What we want to achieve in mapping is to determine the density [of short-term rentals] in some of our neighborhoods. I think we need to be sharing more information in different communities, because this is a big concern of a lot of residents on a national basis.”
   10. Township legal counsel Bret Strong said enforcement has become “much easier” over the last few years, and two STR permits have been revoked because they did not abide by township regulations.
   11. “In our community people that run short-term rentals generally do a good job, and run it the right way,” he said.
   12. … Bredehoft said the [Development Standards Committee] is working to finalize new commercial standards by the end of July. However, he said they are awaiting the draft report and feedback from community developers before it can be voted on by the DSC.
   13. Bredehoft said the next area of improvement will be developing the township’s generator standards for residential properties. Their use has increased due to the number of power outages and severe weather events in The Woodlands, he said.
   14. “We could also determine that maybe what we have is good, it’s working well, and you may not have to make any changes; but we want to take a look at [generators], as this is in the top three number of applications that we deal with,” Bredehoft said.
   15. MIKE: I felt that reading this story was useful for a couple of reasons.
   16. MIKE: First is to remind listeners that neighborhoods age. Structures age physically, as the story mentions. Homes and properties require periodic maintenance and renewal. With aging home infrastructure comes the need or desire for minor facelifts or major remodels. Changes in available technology can also impact the need to upgrade home infrastructure.
   17. MIKE: The Woodlands DSC is trying to address this structural inevitability in a reasonable and foresighted way, which is commendable.
   18. MIKE: It’s worth remembering that neighborhoods also go through generational changes, just like people. In fact, they go through those changes because of people.
   19. MIKE: Consider deconstructing the word “neighborhood”. It describes a community of neighbors, many of whom might have little or nothing in common except the geographical area in which they all live.
   20. MIKE: Collectively, they give this area characteristics that none of them might intend individually, but which a stranger visiting that neighborhood might perceive as a “character” or a “vibe”. I have found in my travels that this collective character even extends to cities. Some I take an instant liking to, and others I don’t particularly care for. It’s a “first impressions” thing.
   21. MIKE: Neighborhoods also tend to give a sense of “age cohort”, and potential homebuyers respond to this, whether consciously or unconsciously.
   22. MIKE: Young families are concerned about things like local schools, neighbors who are in their range of ages and, if they have children, that there are neighbor kids that might make suitable friends and playmates.
   23. MIKE: Families also look for neighbors who might have similar concerns and with whom they might have personal and social commonalities. They’ll look for neighborhoods having certain amenities that are suitable for families or young couples.
   24. MIKE: As families age, the nature of their desires and concerns also evolve., until you get a neighborhood of empty nesters who are old enough for their kids to have moved out, but who are young enough to be active in their communities and have active social lives.
   25. MIKE: Eventually, neighborhoods age to the point of having mainly retirees and folks who are aging-in-place. The neighborhood might even start to attract these people for the peace and quiet of a street or neighborhood where there are few young people, and the peace and quiet characteristics of such areas. This is a critical time in the life cycle of a neighborhood.
   26. MIKE: Over a decade or two, these streets and neighborhoods will either degrade and empty, becoming late-stage rentals or vacancies owned by estates or banks, or they will start to attract young families and homeowners who want to renovate these old homes and that starts the cycle anew.
   27. MIKE: At this latter time, homeowners’ associations and city organizations will have a lot of control over which of these alternatives is the outcome.
   28. MIKE: (I bet you thought I’d never circle back to this, right?)
   29. MIKE: Houston and its smaller surrounding cities can learn a lot from The Woodlands in this case. Parts of The Woodlands are now aging communities, having started development about 50 years ago. Their Development Standards Committee is essentially acting as a sort of zoning entity, attempting to guide and rationalize the renewal of these older areas.
   30. MIKE: Whether you call it zoning or urban renewal or gentrification or something else, neighborhood groups and governmental entities need to be aware of these community lifecycles and make an effort to help communities to successfully renew themselves as they go through these inevitable generational lifecycles.
   31. MIKE: The problem is that doing this in an ongoing fashion requires a kind of long-term foresight that is unusual in governance.
   32. MIKE: But being cognizant of the process and the need is a step in the right direction.
4. Also from COMMUNITYIMPACT-dot-COM — A proposed ordinance could allow Houston to inspect apartments with dangerous housing conditions; By Kevin Vu | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 1:55 PM May 29, 2025 CDT/Updated 1:55 PM May 29, 2025 CDT. TAGS: Houston City Council At-Large Member Letitia Plummer, Proposition A, Inspection Of Apartments, Unsafe Environments, Habitability,
   1. Houston City Council [At-Large] member Letitia Plummer proposed, during a May 27 Proposition A committee meeting, an ordinance that would strengthen enforcement and inspection of apartments with unsafe environments.
   2. … The proposed ordinance would create a high-risk apartment inspection program, which would require properties with 10 or more habitability citations within 12 months to register as a “high-risk rental building.” Habitability citations or complaints can range from electrical hazards, plumbing violations [to] structural failures, and typically revolve around the living conditions of a property and whether it meets the habitation standards in accordance with the city’s code of ordinances.
   3. These properties would undergo mandatory inspections from the city’s Apartment Standards Enforcement Committee (ASEC) and face misdemeanor fines ranging from $250 to $2,000 per violation [per] day, and possible revocation of the owner’s certificate of occupancy and civil action if violations persist.
   4. [Plummer said,] “The purpose of this ordinance is straightforward but profound — it is to protect our residents from substandard and dangerous housing conditions. This is about shifting from a reactive stance to one of preventive care for our communities.”
   5. ASEC is a committee with members from multiple city departments, such as police, fire, engineering, health and super neighborhoods, that was created to reduce the frequency and severity of dangerous living conditions. Plummer’s Chief of Staff Munira Bangee said the proposed ordinance gives [Apartment Standards Enforcement Committee (ASEC) the ability to take properties off the high-risk rental buildings list if they deem the property has ceased their dangerous living conditions.
   6. … Plummer said that habitability complaints in multi-family housing has remained frequent, and that there is currently no cohesive way to address these persisting complaints.
   7. From 2016 to 2021, 3-1-1 service requests were consistently around the 350,000 to 400,000 range; however, requests “skyrocketed” to 450,000 in 2024, according to a presentation shown during the committee meeting. 3-1-1 is the non-emergency service line to help Houston residents with issues such as traffic fines, sewer concerns, neighborhood complaints, and pothole problems, according to the service’s website.
   8. In 2024, over 2,400 3-1-1 service calls were made related to multi-family habitability violations, with District J receiving the most calls at 407.
   9. … Plummer also proposes that landlords with high-risk rental buildings should be required to complete an annual training of the Blue Star Training Program, a program that covers city and state habitability, best practices for property management, and contact information for city departments and law enforcement.
   10. Lastly, the proposed ordinance includes a special provision for senior living facilities, requiring them to provide a common area with generator power and a refrigerated space for medication storage during extreme weather events, according to the presentation.
   11. … Houston Apartment Association CEO Casey Morgan said while the proposed ordinance is “well-intentioned and has great merit,” she believes property owners and landlords should have the time to ask questions and raise concerns. She said issues such as defining what “owner” means in the ordinance and who exactly gets fined, as well as apartment owner representation in the ASEC committee, are a few questions they hope to have answered.
   12. [Morgan said,] “Sometimes owners are multiple LLCs, and they may not even be located in the city of Houston. So if you’re issuing a fine, who does the city fine in that situation?”
   13. MIKE: This is an excellent point, and one good reason for this organization to be involved in discussions of this proposition. Continuing …]
   14. Taylor Laredo, a community navigator at Texas Housers, a nonprofit that supports low-income [Texans’ efforts] towards affordable homes, said the ordinance will “be nothing short of a game changer,” as it will ensure Houston residents’ homes are safe.
   15. [Laredo said,] “In my work with renters on the ground, I’ve seen firsthand the impact on tenants’ mental health and their physical well-being living in conditions that are inhabitable. The answer is never as simple as just move or just call and report the conditions. Tenants living in properties with substandard conditions are often fearful of retaliation and eviction for reporting poor conditions.”
   16. [MIKE: I’ll note here that when we were looking for investment properties in 2014, there was one that I’ll never forget. It was currently inhabited. The lighting was dark and fixtures looked inadequate, and the dishwasher not only didn’t work; it had rancid, smelly water inside that would not drain. I felt that it was a health hazard, and advised the tenant to insist that it got fixed or replaced. If I had known that 3-1-1 existed at that time, I would have advised them to call. I’ll note than none of those reasons were why we ultimately weren’t interested in this property. Continuing …]
   17. … The committee voted unanimously on the proposed ordinance. After the ordinance goes through legal reviews and potential changes, it is expected to appear on the City Council agenda June 18 for a vote.
   18. MIKE: I considered myself to be a fair and decent landlord, and tenants have told me during and after the fact that they agreed. When it was owner’s responsibility, I never hesitated to make repairs on a prompt basis whenever health and habitability were involved.
   19. MIKE: But I’ve seen enough properties in need of significant maintenance to know that’s not always the case.
   20. MIKE: So as pointed out in the story, and to paraphrase “Ghostbusters”, who ya gonna fine?
   21. MIKE: I might hold the property manager or management company responsible. After all, they are literally the party that is supposed to take care of those sorts of complaints. They are a central point of contact for the tenant, the owners, and the city, and owners are supposed to give them the power and resources to make those decisions and to take those actions when necessary.
   22. MIKE: Thus, it should be the property managers’ who make sure they have the credit resources to act when necessary. If the owner entity or entities don’t give a property manager the resources, they shouldn’t take on the job.
5. This story was pointed out to me by my former co-host, Andrew Ferguson, who belongs to the Green Party. It’s from the Austin American-Statesman — Texas GOP is rigging the ballot against third parties — and voters are losing | Opinion; By Kenneth Feagins III, Austin American-Statesman | STATESMAN.COM | May 30, 2025. Kenneth Feagins III serves as chair of the Collin County Libertarian Party and is a representative on the Executive Committee for the Libertarian Party of Texas. TAGS: House Bill 4309, Third parties, Texas Election Code, Texas ballots, Voter suppression, Texas,
   1. In Texas, democracy isn’t being strangled with fanfare. It’s being smothered in silence.
   2. House Bill 4309 was a straightforward fix to a glaring injustice. Third parties like the Libertarians and Greens nominate their candidates through privately funded conventions — not taxpayer-funded primaries. Yet under current law, third-party candidates are still required to pay the same filing fees as major party candidates — fees that fund primaries they neither participate in nor are allowed to under the Texas Election Code.
   3. HB 4309 sought to restore fairness by redirecting a third-party candidate’s filing fees back to their party to help support their nominating convention. It wouldn’t have cost taxpayers a dime. It simply respected the different paths parties take to the ballot while preserving the financial accountability that filing fees are meant to ensure.
   4. The bill earned support from both Democrats and Republicans in committee — an encouraging sign of cross-partisan recognition that the current system is broken. But when it recently reached the House floor, everything changed. HB 4309 was quietly killed: 60 yeas, 78 nays, and 1 “present not voting.”
   5. There was no debate. No one spoke in opposition. No amendments were offered. Just silence — and a coordinated effort to protect the political status quo.
   6. This wasn’t a policy disagreement. It was a calculated effort to suppress competition. Since the current filing fee structure was enacted, third-party participation on Texas ballots has plummeted by more than 70%. Libertarians and Green Party members fielded a total of 29 candidates in Texas races last year, down from 101 in 2018. In some races, voters are left with a single candidate they can choose — a ballot dressed up as democracy, but hollow underneath.
   7. Voter suppression doesn’t always look like purges or poll tests. Sometimes it looks like silence — procedural maneuvers designed to eliminate challengers before the people ever get to vote.
   8. A few legislators showed courage, and many Democrats stood united in doing the right thing. HB 4309 was authored by Democratic Reps. John Bucy III of Austin, Richard Peña Raymond of Laredo and Hubert Vo of Houston. The overwhelming majority of their colleagues supported it on the floor.
   9. Mihaela Plesa, D-Plano, deserves special recognition for her consistent support, both in committee and during the final vote. Rep. Matt Shaheen, R-Plano, also deserves credit for backing the bill in committee and standing alone among Republicans in support of fair access. But their voices, and the will of those who supported fairness, were drowned out by a majority intent on protecting the political status quo.
   10. This fight isn’t about ideology. It’s about principle. It’s about whether Texans get to choose from a full slate of candidates or just the ones the two ruling parties allow. As our state grows and diversifies, voters deserve more voices — not fewer.
   11. The Texas GOP may think they’ve preserved their dominance. But in doing so, they’ve revealed their fear: fear of fair competition, fear of dissent, fear of voters having real choices. And fear isn’t just a tell. It’s an opportunity for those who refuse to back down.
   12. Some may celebrate this outcome as a victory. But we know better. We won’t forget. We won’t be silent. And we won’t stop fighting — not for parties, but for the voters they’re trying to keep quiet.
   13. MIKE: Third parties should and do have a place in an open democracy, and in that respect, I agree with Libertarian Chair Feagins with some qualifications.
   14. MIKE: First, unless and until the Electoral College is abolished, I am absolutely opposed to third party candidates running for president.
   15. MIKE: I’m also against third parties running in any election in which a plurality can elect an individual. Winning an election should require a clear majority. I’m defining a clear majority here as at least 50% plus one.
   16. MIKE: I also don’t love so-called non-partisan elections that can both divide the vote in ways that do not represent a clear will of the voters, and which can be impacted by various nefarious means such as straw candidates that are put on the ballot by one party or another to try to dilute the vote for a particular candidate or party.
   17. MIKE: This is also true of so-called “jungle primaries” in which individuals are running as members of parties, but again can result in runoffs between candidates who do not actually represent the will of the voters due to dilution of votes.
   18. MIKE: My “poster boy” for this view is former Maine governor Paul LePage, a very Trumpy-slash-libertarian person who was elected governor of Maine. He won his first election in 2010 with under 38% of a vote that was split 3-ways, and elected a second time in 2014 with about 48% of a vote that was split 3-ways.
   19. MIKE: LePage was finally defeated again in 2022 by current Maine Governor Janet Mills who won with almost 56% of the vote.
   20. MIKE: This is going the long way around to say that in the absence of a parliamentary system, third parties have the potential to be highly disruptive in elections and can distort outcomes.
   21. MIKE: While no system is perfect and political operatives will always be trying to “game” the system, I think that we are in general need of ranked choice voting.
   22. MIKE: This allows people to vote for a third party if that is their first choice, but can then also choose a second, third, or fourth preference that also has a chance at winning.
   23. MIKE: A ranked choice voting system avoids runoffs, has the potential of undercutting “straw candidates”, and may be a system that is both fair to small parties while also being able to better-express the actual will of the voters.
   24. MIKE: So … To circle back around to the opinion piece by Libertarian Chair Feagins, I agree that we should not suppress third party participation in elections, but my caveat is that it should come with other election reforms along the lines of what I’ve discussed.
   25. MIKE: FYI, Paul LePage is now running for Maine’s CD-2, which is currently held by Democrat Jared Golden. Wish luck to Maine’s CD-2 residents.
   26. REFERENCE: Former Maine Gov. Paul LePage announces run for Congress— COM
6. Undocumented man accused of making threat to Trump’s life may be victim of frame-up; By José Olivares | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Sat 31 May 2025 11.33 EDT. TAGS: US immigration, Donald Trump, Kristi Noem, US crime, news,
   1. An undocumented man who was accused by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) secretary, Kristi Noem, last week of threatening to assassinate Donald Trump in a letter may have been framed by someone accused of previously attacking the man, according to news reports.
   2. Investigators are said to be looking into whether the letter was an attempt to get the man deported, to prevent him from testifying against his alleged attacker.
   3. The extremely public accusation against the 54-year-old father of three, Ramon Morales-Reyes, led to his arrest and detention by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) officials.
   4. News reports from CNN, ABC and the Associated Press detail Morales-Reyes’ case and how Noem’s highly publicized accusation against him appears to have unraveled. Prior to Noem accusing Morales-Reyes of threatening to kill the president, local investigators in Milwaukee were already reportedly investigating whether the letter was a setup.
   5. Morales-Reyes was allegedly assaulted by a man in September 2023, who slashed him with a box cutter before stealing his bike. As the case prepared to go to trial, ICE this month received the letter threatening to assassinate Trump.
   6. [The handwritten letter, which was completely written in English and signed with Morales-Reyes’ name, says,] “I will self deport myself back to Mexico but not before I use my 30 yard 6 to shoot your precious president.”
   7. [MIKE: I think the writer meant a 30-aught-6. continuing …]
   8. Morales-Reyes was arrested and detained. But local investigators compared Morales-Reyes’ handwriting with the letter and found they did not match.
   9. Meanwhile, activists and attorneys began working on his case. Local Wisconsin immigration advocates and attorneys, with Morales-Reyes’ family, said during a press release on Friday that Morales-Reyes did not write the letter.
   10. [Said Christine Neumann-Ortiz, the executive director of Voces de la Frontera, an immigrant advocacy organization,] “A family member called our organizers, letting us know that this was impossible, as her father had very little formal education and could not read or write in Spanish – let alone perfect English.”
   11. Citing police documents it had obtained, CNN reported that Milwaukee officials on Monday began reviewing jailhouse calls from the individual accused of having assaulted Morales-Reyes and discovered he discussed sending letters to ICE in order to frame his alleged victim. He reportedly wanted to have Morales-Reyes deported to prevent him from testifying in the robbery trial.
   12. “He outta there,” the person said in a phone call earlier in May, according to the CNN report, and described how Trump’s return to office was increasing deportations.
   13. On Wednesday, Noem began sharing the accusation against Morales-Reyes, along with his photo and an image of the letter, which were posted in a press release on the DHS website. The accusation quickly spread on social media and rightwing, Trump-allied sites.
   14. [Noem said,] “Thanks to our ICE officers, this illegal alien who threatened to assassinate President Trump is behind bars. I will continue to take all measures necessary to ensure the protection of President Trump.”
   15. Local officials and the DHS told the Associated Press that the case is still under investigation.
   16. After the 2023 assault, Morales-Reyes applied for a U-visa – a special visa provided to undocumented victims of crime that may lead to a pathway to legal residency. The process to obtain a U-visa is lengthy and complicated.
   17. It is unclear whether Noem will issue a correction on the matter, if Morales-Reyes will be able to testify against the alleged perpetrator or how his U-visa application process may be affected by him being placed in Ice detention.
   18. MIKE: Sadly, even though he appeared on ICE’s radar for totally nefarious reasons, I fear that Mr. Morales-Reyes is still screwed. Once ICE gets its barbed hooks into someone, apparently even US citizens, it can be almost impossible to extract them.
   19. MIKE: Mr. Morales-Reyes may be lucky if he isn’t deported to South Sudan.
   20. MIKE: Again, we are now living under a fascist regime that considers law and the US Constitution to be hindrances and annoyances rather than frameworks for justice.
7. US immigration authorities collecting DNA information of children in criminal database; By Johana Bhuiyan | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Sat 31 May 2025 08.00 EDT. TAGS: US immigration, Surveillance, Privacy, Migration, Children, news, DNA information,
   1. US immigration authorities are collecting and uploading the DNA information of migrants, including children, to a national criminal database, according to government documents released earlier this month.
   2. The database includes the DNA of people who were either arrested or convicted of a crime, which law enforcement uses when seeking a match for DNA collected at a crime scene. However, most of the people whose DNA has been collected by Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), the agency that published the documents, were not listed as having been accused of any felonies.
   3. Regardless, CBP is now creating a detailed DNA profile on migrants that will be permanently searchable by law enforcement, which amounts to a “massive expansion of genetic surveillance”, one expert said.
   4. The DNA information is stored in a database managed by the FBI called the Combined DNA Index System (Codis), which is used across the country by local, state, and federal law enforcement to identify suspects of crimes using their DNA data.
   5. Wired first reported the practice and the existence of these documents, and estimates there are more than 133,000 migrant teens and children whose DNA has been collected and uploaded to Codis. One of them was just four years old.
   6. [Hilton Beckham, the assistant commissioner of public affairs at CBP, told Wired in a statement,] “In order to secure our borders, CBP is devoting every resource available to identify who is entering our country. We are not letting human smugglers, child sex traffickers and other criminals enter American communities. Toward this end, CBP collects DNA samples for submission to the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System … from persons in CBP custody who are arrested on federal criminal charges, and from aliens detained under CBP’s authority who are subject to fingerprinting and not otherwise exempt from the collection requirement.”
   7. Experts at Georgetown University and the Center on Privacy and Technology published a report last week [called, “Raiding the Genome: How the United States Government Is Abusing Its Immigration Powers to Amass DNA for Future Policing”,] that found that CBP was collecting the DNA of almost every migrant detained, regardless of how long they were detained. The agency has added more than 1.5-million DNA profiles to Codis since 2020, a 5,000% increase in just three years, according to the report. It’s a “massive expansion of genetic surveillance and an unjustified invasion of privacy,” according to one of the authors of the report, Emerald Tse.
   8. [Tse said in a statement,] “The program reinforces harmful narratives about immigrants and intensifies existing policing practices that target immigrant communities and communities of color, making us all less safe.”
   9. The documents CBP published, which detail each individual whose DNA was swabbed, [including] their age and country of origin, where they were transferred to, and what they were charged with, date back to as early as 2020. The latest document published is from the first quarter of 2025.
   10. There are hundreds of thousands of entries of people whose DNA has been collected by CBP between 2020 and 2024. Of the more than 130,000 individuals who were children or teens, nearly 230 were children under the age of 13 and more than 30,000 were between 14 and 17 years old, according to Wired.
   11. CBP first launched a pilot program to begin collecting detainees’ DNA data in 2020, in accordance with a Department of Justice rule that gave the agency three years to comply with a new requirement to collect genetic samples and upload it to Codis. At the time, CBP wrote that it was collecting DNA data from non-US citizens who had been detained between the ages of 14 and 79. The Department of Homeland Security and CBP policy generally states that children under 14 are not obliged to have their DNA information collected, though there is some discretion afforded to field officers.
   12. However, this pace of genetic data collection would not have been possible in a criminal legal context, according to the Center on Privacy and Technology and Georgetown report.
   13. [The report reads,] “Until 2020, almost all the DNA profiles in Codis’s ‘offender’ database were added by state and local police and other criminal law enforcement agencies. In the criminal context, there are some limitations on when, how, and from whom criminal law enforcement agencies can take DNA, which make the process of amassing samples cumbersome and resource-intensive.”
   14. The expansion was possible partly because there are fewer limitations on DNA collection within the context of immigration.
   15. [The report reads,] “In the immigration context, the only limitation on DNA collection is that a person must be ‘detained’. But the meaning of the term ‘detained’ in the immigration context is notoriously broad, vague, and ever shifting.”
   16. According to the CBP website, the agency sends the DNA data directly to the FBI and does not store or maintain the DNA data itself. That genetic information is stored by the FBI indefinitely, according to the [report from the] Center on Privacy and Technology and Georgetown …
   17. [The report reads, quoting CBP’s documents,] “How would it change your behavior to know that the government had a drop of your blood – or saliva – containing your ‘entire genetic code, which will be kept indefinitely in a government-controlled refrigerator in a warehouse in Northern Virginia’? Would you feel free to seek out the medical or reproductive care you needed? To attend protests and voice dissent? To gather together with the people of your choosing?”
   18. MIKE: Assuming that there are no nefarious intentions with this DNA collection, it can beneficially serve to reunite children and young people with parents and relatives. But putting these DNA results in CODIS — a criminal database — is deeply problematic.
   19. MIKE: And to assume the absence of nefarious intentions by our current federal regime, and the trickledown fascism that it promulgates in governments and institutions downstream, is something I can longer do in this country.
   20. MIKE: In my opinion, if CBP takes DNA swaps for their records, those results should only be added to CODIS in the presence of criminal charges. Otherwise, there should be a separate database geared to finding relatives who may have been separated in the process of crossing the border and being apprehended by CBP. Further, there should be at least three caveats when taking non-criminal DNA swabs:
   21. MIKE: 1- DNA should only be taken from individuals who are 21 or older. Those DNA swabs should either be taken by informed consent, or in the case of criminal arrests. I’ll note here that last I heard, crossing the border illegally is not a criminal offense. It’s considered a civil offense which should not mandate the taking of DNA swabs.
   22. MIKE: 2- DNA swabs taken in non-criminal circumstances should go into a separate database for purposes such as finding relatives.
   23. MIKE: 3- In the case of minors under 21, DNA should only be taken with informed consent and in the presence of a lawyer for that individual to make sure that they understand all the circumstances and reasons for the DNA swab, and to make sure that their rights are protected. I believe that surrendering DNA is protected by the 5^th Amendment, and usually requires a warrant. At least, that’s what I’ve learned from TV lawyers.
   24. MIKE: We are living in abnormal times. We should be constantly alert for governmental actions that would not normally be legal or acceptable, because there have been many since January 20, 2025.
8. And speaking of abnormal times, from TheGuardian-dot-com — US federal judges consider creating own armed security force as threats mount; By Ed Pilkington | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Sun 25 May 2025@15.39 EDT. TAGS: Federal Judges, Department Of Justice (DoJ), Trump Administration, US Marshals Service, Security, US news, Trump administration, Law (US), US politics, Pam Bondi, Donald Trump,
   1. Federal judges are discussing a proposal that would shift the armed security personnel responsible for their safety away from the Department of Justice (DoJ) and under their own control, as fears mount that the Trump administration is failing to protect them from a rising tide of hostility.
   2. The Wall Street Journal revealed on Sunday that the idea of creating their own armed security detail emerged at a meeting of about 50 federal judges two months ago. A security committee at the twice-yearly judicial conference, a policymaking body for federal judges, raised concerns about the increasing number of threats against judges following Trump’s relentless criticism of court rulings against his policies.
   3. Under the current system, federal judges are protected by the US marshals service, which is managed by the justice department. According to Wall Street Journal, those participating at the March conference expressed worries that Trump might instruct the marshals to withdraw security protection from a judge who ruled against him.
   4. Amid those anxieties, the idea surfaced that federal judges should form their own armed security force. That would involve bringing the US marshals service under the direct control of the head of the judiciary, Chief Justice John Roberts.
   5. At present, marshals fall under the remit of Pam Bondi, the US attorney general. Bondi was appointed by the president and is a Trump loyalist.
   6. She has made clear she will be guided by him – breaking a decades-long norm that kept the White House at arm’s length from the DoJ to ensure law enforcement and prosecutorial independence.
   7. John Coughenour, a federal judge in the western district of Washington, told the Journal that he thought the transfer of the marshals out of Trump’s and into judicial control was a “wonderful idea”. He added: “There’s never been any reason in the 43 years that I’ve been on the bench to worry that the marshals service would do whatever was appropriate – until recent years.”
   8. Coughenour is one of a growing number of judges who have faced security threats in the wake of Trump’s deluge of invective. In February the judge issued an order blocking Trump’s attempt to end birthright citizenship for children born on US soil to parents lacking legal status in the country.
   9. The judge was then targeted by a swatting attack, where a fake alarm is called into police and a Swat team sent out to the individual’s home.
   10. Senior Democrats have demanded an investigation into a spate of dozens of pizza deliveries to the homes of federal judges. The actions are seen as intimidatory, as it shows judges that their private addresses are known.
   11. Federal judges have found themselves on the front lines of constitutional battles over Trump’s executive orders over such contentious issues as birthright citizenship, the mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, and the dismissal of tens of thousands of federal employees. So far there have been 249 legal challenges to Trump administration actions, according to a Just Security tracker.
   12. Trump has used his social media platform Truth Social to lash out at named judges who have blocked his policies on grounds that they violate the US constitution or law. When Judge James Boasberg objected to the deportation of Venezuelans to El Salvador in the absence of due process, the president called him a “radical left lunatic” and said he should be impeached. Boasberg was first appointed to the federal bench by Republican George W Bush.
   13. The White House provided the Journal with a statement from the justice department. It said that marshals would “continue to protect the safety and security of federal judges” and that any other suggestion was “absurd”.
   14. MIKE: If Democrats ever have strong majorities in Congress and control of the White House, there are some significant changes that will be necessary in how the executive branch is shaped, and how it is controlled by future presidents.
   15. On my May 11^th show, I discussed my ideas about putting the Department of Justice under the Judiciary branch and making the position of US Attorney General a separately elected position, totally independent of the President and the executive branch. On that show, I mentioned that the DOJ was a creature created in by Congress in 1870. That means that Congress can alter it any time it wants.
   16. Currently, the Attorney General reports directly to the president. That could be changed so the USAG reports to the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, which is less than ideal because the Chief Justice is not elected and has a lifetime tenure.
   17. This may require that while the USAG might report to the Chief Justice for such things as legal consultations, the USAG — as a now-elected officer of the court — would not be bound by the Chief Justice.
   18. This sort of realignment will require some serious thought be given to new checks and balances of power, but I think it’s a way to proceed.
   19. Also, inspired by President Andrew Jackson’s alleged retort to Chief Justice John Marshall that, “John Marshall has made his decision, now let him enforce it,” it’s time that the Department of Justice had its own teeth that are not dependent on a potentially corrupt executive with various conflicts of legal interest.
   20. This might mean not only putting the US Marshalls under the newly independent DoJ, but also institutions like the FBI, ICE, the CBP, and other organizations that are supposed to enforce the law under the President’s ultimate authority.
   21. This might even include moving cabinet-level departments like Homeland Security, which is at its heart a law enforcement agency, under the new jurisdiction of an elected US Attorney general under the auspices of the Judiciary branch.
   22. This would be a major reorganization in the federal government that would need careful thought before being framed in any kind of legislation, but I think our times have shown that it is among the kinds of important reforms that will be required in a post-Trump US government.
9. Trump envoy says Russian concern over NATO enlargement is fair; By Reuters | REUTERS.COM | May 30, 20252:17 PM CDT/Updated a day ago. TAGS: Ukraine, Russia, United States, Keith Kellogg, Donald Trump, NATO,
   1. S. President Donald Trump’s envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said Russia’s concern over the eastward enlargement of NATO was fair and the United States did not want to see Ukraine in the U.S.-led military alliance.
   2. Asked by U.S. network ABC News about a Reuters report that Russia wanted a written pledge over NATO not enlarging eastwards to include Ukraine and other former Soviet republics, Kellogg said: “It’s a fair concern.”
   3. [Kellogg told ABC late on Thursday, “We’ve said that to us, Ukraine coming into NATO is not on the table, and we’re not the only country that says that – you know I could probably give you four other countries in NATO and it takes 32 of the 32 to allow you to come in to NATO. That’s one of the issues that Russia will bring up. They’re not just talking Ukraine, they’re talking the country of Georgia, they’re talking Moldova,” Kellogg said, adding that a decision on U.S. views of NATO enlargement was for Trump to make.
   4. Kellogg said the sequencing of the peace talks would include an attempt to merge the two memorandums drafted by Ukraine and Russia into one single document with talks in Turkey on Monday.
   5. [Kellogg said,] “When we get into Istanbul next week we’ll sit down and talk,” adding that the national security advisers from Germany, France and Britain would join discussions on the memorandum with the United States.
   6. Kellogg said Trump was “frustrated” with Russia because he had seen “a level of unreasonableness” from Russian President Vladimir Putin. He scolded Russia for striking Ukrainian cities and said he had told Ukraine to turn up to talks.
   7. A conservative estimate of dead and injured in the Ukraine war – from both sides combined – totals 1.2 million, Kellogg said.
   8. [Kellogg told ABC,] “That is a stunning number – this is war on an industrial scale.”
   9. MIKE: Kellogg is an idiot working for Trump, who is a bigger idiot.
   10. MIKE: First, to even say that Putin’s concern about expanding NATO is “fair” is to give something away prior to actual negotiations. But hey … This is the Art of the Deal!
   11. MIKE: Second, how is Russia’s concern over neighboring nations joining NATO fair?
   12. MIKE: NATO membership is not fair to the nation of Georgia, which was invaded by Russia? NATO membership is not fair to Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia?
   13. MIKE: And while Moldova was not actually invaded by Russia, Russia has supported a breakaway section of Moldova, and even has a few troops there.
   14. MIKE: Every nation invaded by Russia, and any nation bordering Russia, has a perfectly sensible and understandable reason to want to join NATO because Russia has proven itself to be a highly dangerous, expansionist, militaristic, and neo-imperialist nation — even when it was the USSR — and that it will stop at nothing to realize its revanchist territorial ambitions under Putin, and this will probably be the case for the foreseeable future, and possibly for generations.
   15. MIKE: NATO is the closest that any nation can get to being immune from Russian invasion. So far, at least, that is demonstrably true.
10. This next article should be very concerning. The story I’m going to read from DefenseNews-dot-com is datelined from The Hague, Netherlands. In the body of the story is a link to a previous Reuters story on May 14 datelined London. After I red this story, I’ll have some comments — Chinese hold on solar-power tech raises fresh sabotage fears in Europe; By Linus Höller | DEFENSENEWS.COM |  May 29, 2025, 07:12 AM. TAGS: Chinese-Made Solar Power Equipment, Solar Farms, Photovoltaic (PV) Power Plants, China, Inverters, Power Grids, Undeclared Remote Access Devices,
    1. Hidden components in Chinese-made solar power equipment have caused alarm bells in Western capitals amid concerns over Beijing’s ability to interfere with power grids. Europe may be particularly vulnerable, experts say, with most of its solar farms potentially at risk of remote shutdown.
    2. The revelation of undeclared remote access devices in American solar farms, first reported by Reuters earlier this month, came less than a month after a power outage that shut down electricity for millions throughout Spain, Portugal, Andorra and parts of France, highlighting the possible fragility of even highly developed and integrated European power grids.
    3. According to unnamed sources cited by Reuters, the communication devices that were embedded in solar farm gear were not shown on schematics and customer information of the products, suggesting they may have been deliberately concealed. The undisclosed devices were reportedly found during a routine disassembly of Chinese-made power inverters, which serve to connect solar farms to the electricity grid, control the flow of power and maintain the all-important grid frequency.
    4. While Iberian authorities have ruled out a cyber-attack in the case of the peninsula’s massive blackout, the finding has nonetheless instilled a new sense of urgency in European planning to make the continent’s integrated electrical grid safe and resilient.
    5. … Inverters are crucial in linking photovoltaic (PV) power plants, which output DC electricity, to the broader electricity network, which runs on AC.
    6. In 2023, 78% of all inverters installed in Europe came from Chinese vendors, with the overwhelming majority being made by Huawei and SunGrow, according to DNV, a risk consultancy. The report was commissioned by SolarPower Europe, an industry advocacy group. …
    7. Control over the inverters allows outsiders to simultaneously disconnect generating capacity from the grid, which can cause blackouts. It would also allow them to manipulate voltage and frequency settings to destabilize local grids and to override safety protections like anti-islanding systems.
    8. Both Huawei and Sungrow have documented links to the Chinese government and the country’s ruling Communist Party, including formal ties, participation in government projects, and officials holding high-ranking positions simultaneously in both the companies and the state.
    9. Under Chinese law, Huawei faces mandatory cooperation requirements with intelligence services. The 2017 National Intelligence Law declares that Chinese companies must “support, assist, and cooperate with” China’s intelligence-gathering authorities. As a result of questions over its independence and safety, the electronics giant has already faced restrictions on work on critical communications infrastructure – especially 5G networks – in several countries. It is also front and center in a major investigation currently ongoing in Brussels surrounding bribery of European officials.
    10. … [The European Solar Manufacturing Council, an industry association, said,] “Europe’s energy sovereignty is at serious risk due to the unregulated and remote control capabilities of photovoltaic inverters from high-risk, non-European manufacturers – most notably from China.”
    11. This isn’t purely hypothetical, either. In November 2024, some solar inverters in the U.S., U.K., and Pakistan were actually disabled remotely from China. Very little was publicly revealed about this incident and its consequences; investigations later showed that the shutdown may have been the result of an industry dispute, according to Günter Born, a German tech and cybersecurity journalist.
    12. Following the decoupling of Europe’s energy needs from cheap and readily available Russian gas after the invasion of Ukraine, energy sovereignty has become a new priority for capitals across the continent. Renewables have been front and center, building on existing momentum to combat climate change and residual skepticism of nuclear power for its perceived safety shortcomings and high cost.
    13. [Christoph Podewils, the ESMC secretary general, citing numbers by the DNV consultancy, said,] “Today, over 200 GW of European PV capacity is already linked to inverters manufactured in China – the equivalent of more than 200 nuclear power plants. This means Europe has effectively surrendered remote control of a vast portion of its electricity infrastructure.”
    14. The Iberian Peninsula blackout was triggered by a 2.2-gigawatt (GW) loss in electricity generation that occurred within seconds. Previously, DNV had estimated that a loss of 3 GW of generating power could have serious ramifications for the European power grid. A loss of this amount of input can result in cascading effects, leading to a large-scale shutdown of the power grid, just as had occurred in Spain on April 28.
    15. The DNV report identified over a dozen threat scenarios, most of which it considered “high” or “critical” risks, even after the full implementation of existing EU cybersecurity measures.
    16. In the first three months of 2025 alone, [data from the energy think tank Ember shows that] nearly 68 terawatt hours of electricity were produced by solar panels … It amounted to 8.2% of Europe’s electricity production in March, despite the shorter days at that time of year. In summer, around 15% of Europe’s electricity may come from the sun, with some countries – particularly around the Mediterranean – relying on it to make up over a quarter of their total energy mix during the daytime.
    17. According to SolarPower Europe, the industry advocacy group, the installed PV capacity in Europe is expected to exceed 800 GW by 2030.
    18. … The shock of the Spanish power outage – even without it being caused by an attack – has jolted some in Europe into action. But consciousness surrounding a China vulnerability predates the grid collapse.
    19. Lithuania on May 1 implemented new legislation that requires photovoltaic projects above 100kW to use inverters that meet national safety standards. Existing projects must also be retrofitted. This practically outlaws Chinese inverters in the country’s power infrastructure.
    20. Late last year, Estonia’s spy chief Kaupo Rosin said that Chinese technology in critical infrastructure, particularly solar farms, could open Europe up to Chinese blackmail.
    21. Some EU lawmakers are also taking note, with one member of the European parliament submitting an inquiry [on May 15] on the topic of solar inverters and the risk of Chinese influence …
    22. A 2022 EU directive called NIS2 provides the basis for joint cybersecurity defense measures of critical infrastructure …
    23. However, the directive primarily applies to very large projects, leaving smaller power generation projects vulnerable. This is particularly relevant to solar, which is not only produced in large farms but also by countless dispersed, smaller photovoltaic projects, such as those on rooftops and factory grounds.
    24. MIKE: Before I begin, I’ll mention that I’ll be including a fair number of links in my scripted comments. You can check them out by going to today’s story post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com.
    25. MIKE: Tariffs, applied with something like surgical precision, have their uses. If I were to consider targeted tariffs to incentivize domestic production for reasons of both economic and security reasons, electrical inverters would certainly be on the list, as well as Chinese-made solar panels, communications gear, device controls, and other electronic equipment.
    26. MIKE: It was never a good idea to outsource so much our electronics industrial base to China, or any non-allied country, but in the 1970s thru the 1990s, capitalist greed and political short-sightedness (which was also basically linked to capitalist greed) seemed cool with the idea of outsourcing economically and militarily critical products to a potential adversary.
    27. MIKE: The same is true of our reliance on Taiwan for most computer memory. Not because Taiwan is a potential adversary, but because they live so close to a potential adversary that has never made a secret of wanting to take them over by peaceful means if possible, or military means if necessary.
    28. MIKE: I’m no strategic genius, and yet I’ve been saying for literally decades that China would never serve as the equivalent of our “Arsenal of Democracy”, and it was stupid to relegate ourselves to our current state of vulnerability.
    29. MIKE: Regular listeners may recall that some months ago, unauthorized and unlisted “back door” communication devices were found in Chinese-made cargo cranes in US ports. I discussed them last year on the September 19, and October 10 editions of this show.
    30. MIKE: In 2022, there were numerous stories specifically about Huawei communications equipment that posed security risks in cell phone networks that were in proximity to defense grids and bases, and with potential to disrupt our nuclear defense systems.
    31. MIKE: Since 2017, certain Huawei products were designated as a security risk to the US and its allies. In fact, the US applied a fair amount of pressure to our NATO and other allies to prevent them from buying 5G network equipment from Huawei for this very reason.
    32. MIKE: It’s important to note again this sentence from the story: “[China’s] 2017 National Intelligence Law declares that Chinese companies must ‘support, assist, and cooperate with’ China’s intelligence-gathering authorities.”
    33. MIKE: So the threat discovered in solar power equipment, including batteries, is not new, should not be surprising, and should remind us that China has been playing a very long game against us and our allies.
    34. MIKE: There is a saying with various questionable attributions, but which is applicable here: “When it comes time to hang the capitalists, they will compete to sell us the rope.”
    35. MIKE: We’ve been cheerfully buying the metaphorical rope from China, so we won’t even have to compete to sell it to them.
    36. MIKE: By the way, as a total digression, if you want to know more about that quote, I’m including a link to a comprehensive discussion of its possible attribution, or the lack thereof.
    37. REFERENCE: Rogue communication devices found in Chinese solar power inverters — By Sarah Mcfarlane (London) | REUTERS.COM | May 14, 202511:55 AM CDT
    38. REFERENCE: Quote Origin: The Capitalists Will Sell Us the Rope with Which We Will Hang Them — QUOTEINVESTIGATOR.COM

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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