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

“There’s a reason why you separate military and police. One fights the enemy of the State. The other serves and protects the People. When the military becomes both, then the enemies of the State tend to become the People.” ~ Commander Adama, “Battlestar Galactica” (“WATER”, Season 1 episode 2, at the 28 minute mark.)

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. Articles and commentaries often include lots of internet links for those of you who want to dig deeper.

This begins the 9th week of Trump’s military occupation of Los Angeles and the 5th week of his deployment of Marines to his “Alligator Alcatraz”.

1. The following story is for a small area of our listening audience out around Katy, Needville, and Fort Bend County, but for those folks this could be extremely relevant — TxDOT to host 2 public meetings for input on southern portion of Hwy. 36A; By Aubrey Vogel | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 2:29 PM Jul 31, 2025 CDT/Updated 2:29 PM Jul 31, 2025 CDT. TAGS: Hwy. 36A project, Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers, Fort Bend County, Highway Expansion,
   1. Residents are invited to take part in public meetings in late August to learn more about potential routes for the southern portion of the proposed Hwy. 36A project.
   2. The proposed route aims to provide a road for large trucks to travel from Port Freeport to reach major highways and distribute freight in North Texas, Fort Bend County Commissioner Andy Meyers previously said.
   3. … The public meetings will present eight alternatives for the project segment from FM 1994 south of Needville to I-10 West in Katy, Kristina Hadley, public information officer for the Texas Department of Transportation, said in an email.
   4. Public meeting dates include: Aug. 26, 5-7 p.m. at Leonard Merrell Center, [and on] Aug. 28, 5-7 p.m. at Fort Bend County Epicenter
   5. The meeting aims to narrow down and refine the alternatives with community feedback, she said.
   6. … A future study is scheduled for the north side of the project from I-10 to Hwy. 6 in late 2026, according to TxDOT’s website.
   7. A final route for the south portion is expected by summer 2028, followed by the north section in late 2029.
   8. MIKE: There are a couple of map URLs included in the story, so best you click on the article link in this post to see them.
   9. MIKE: The story mentions going to the TxDOT website for more information, but no link was included in the story. I thought that might have been a simple oversight, but when I made an effort to find it, I think I understood why it wasn’t included: Mainly, because it was the devil to find.
   10. MIKE: But I eventually had success, and I am including the link to the south part of that project here in my comments. You can go to ThinkwingRadio-dot-COM and click on it.
   11. MIKE: The North side of 36A can be found at the link I’m providing here.
2. For those who might be interested, from CHRON-dot-COM — Houston-based CenterPoint to bring on 800 employees by 2030; By Brammhi Balarajan, Trending News Reporter | CHRON.COM | July 28, 2025. TAGS: CenterPoint Energy, Jobs, Hiring,
   1. CenterPoint Energy is reportedly bringing on 800 new employees within the next five years as the company looks to meet growing energy demand in Texas. 
   2. The expansion is expected to include 200 lineworkers by the end of the year, the company said in a news release. 
   3. The Houston-based company said it anticipates needing a larger workforce to meet ever-growing energy demand in Texas. The company estimates that demand for electricity will grow by nearly 50 percent in the Houston area by 2031. 
   4. The hiring efforts will “help the Greater Houston area meet the rapidly-growing demand for local electric workers,” the release said. Over the next five years, CenterPoint expects to need more than 11,000 workers to meet the energy demand.
   5. A spokesperson for Local 66 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, which represents CenterPoint workers, said they’ve called on CenterPoint to hire more employees across the region for years, and they support the move. 
   6. “We support Centerpoint Energy’s hiring plan. The Union believes it will help with restoration efforts in times of outages. This won’t happen overnight but will be a benefit to anyone that is serviced by Centerpoint Energy Houston Electric. It will also benefit current workers, providing them more assistance in doing an incredibly difficult and dangerous job,” said Ed Allen, business manager at Local 66.
   7. The reported hiring spree comes as the company announced plans to increase spending by $500 million due to rising power demand, particularly in Texas. 
   8. The mounting energy demand in the Lone Star State is in part due the emergence of AI and data centers in recent years. Texas is quickly becoming a hub for data centers, which require massive amounts of power to maintain and cool systems – and the demand likely won’t wane anytime soon. Power demand from data centers is expected to triple in the next three years and will likely account for 12 percent of all electricity produced. 
   9. The move could help alleviate some Houston residents’  ire directed toward CenterPoint over its handling of Hurricane Beryl last year, which left thousands without power. At the time, residents spoke out over what some called a slow power restoration process and confusing outage map. Since then, CenterPoint has vowed there won’t be a repeat of the Beryl fiasco and has said they are working to ensure their service remains reliable – which the hiring spree would help support. 
   10. “All of us here at CenterPoint are focused on working to build a grid that will provide reliable and resilient service to our customers and communities here in the Greater Houston area for years to come. We are investing in resiliency and grid hardening projects that will support the unprecedented growth expected here over the next ten years” said Darin Carroll, CenterPoint’s Senior Vice President of Electric Business in a press release.  
   11. MIKE: I guess if you might be afraid of heights, or you tend to be clumsy or accident-prone, this is not the job for you. Otherwise, you might check it out. It probably pays pretty well.
3. Conroe City Council adopts new ethics code requiring financial disclosures from elected officials; By Nichaela Shaheen | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 2:19 PM Jul 28, 2025 CDT. Updated 2:19 PM Jul 28, 2025 CDT. TAGS: Conroe City Council, Conroe, Ethics Ordinance, Ethics, Financial Information,
   1. In a move aimed at strengthening transparency, Conroe City Council approved a new ethics ordinance during its July 24 meeting, requiring city officials and candidates to publicly disclose detailed financial information, including income sources and business interests.
   2. The ordinance passed 4-1, with council member Howard Wood voting against.
   3. [MIKE: That one “no” vote made me curious. The story gets to that. Continuing …]
   4. … [City Attorney Mike Garner said that] The ordinance applies to elected officials, municipal judges, candidates, and city appointees to the Conroe Industrial Development Corp. and Local Government Corporation, along with their spouses.
   5. Officials must now report income sources exceeding $5,000 or 10% of their gross income, all property holdings, and any business relationships — including those of their spouses or companies in which they hold ownership.
   6. The ordinance does not require disclosures from the city’s administrative staff, including the city administrator and department directors, despite council debate on the issue.
   7. In a statement sent to Community Impact, [Conroe Council Member] Wood said he believes in full transparency, but voted against the ordinance for not requiring city staff to comply.
   8. [Wood said,] “[Thursday’s] vote for ‘personal finances disclosure and transparency’ does not include executive city staff who have direct decision-making or influence on Conroe tax dollar spend[ing]. [So] I voted no. Had it included these key positions, I would’ve gladly voted yes to adopt it. … Having all-around transparency is critical to me.”
   9. … Beginning in 2026, officials will file annual financial disclosure statements by April 30, covering the prior calendar year. Candidates for office must submit similar reports when applying for the ballot.
   10. [City Attorney] Garner said forms are still being finalized.
   11. According to the ordinance, disclosures must include: All sources of occupational income and business clients; Real estate interests and investment holdings; Income from interest, dividends, royalties and rents; [and] Stock and mutual fund names with the number of shares held.
   12. [You can View the ordinance below at story link].
   13. MIKE: I thought CM Wood’s position was interesting. Not all split votes are partisan.
4. Missouri City to see expanded METRO route to VA Hospital; By Aubrey Vogel | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 3:38 PM Jul 28, 2025 CDT/Updated 3:37 PM Jul 28, 2025 CDT. TAGS: Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO), Texas Medical Center, Missouri City,
   1. A Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County route expansion is working to help Missouri City residents get to the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center in the Texas Medical Center.
   2. The change comes after public meetings in June and July with the METRO officials, where residents expressed a need for transportation to the area for appointments and work.
   3. … The Missouri City Route 270 begins at the newly-constructed Missouri City Park & Ride—located at 20525 Fort Bend Parkway Toll Road, Fresno—and transports residents to the Texas Medical Center, according to its website.
   4. According to a July 25 news release, the expansion adds three stops, including: Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center, [and] Baylor Medicine McNair Campus
   5. Expanded services began July 28 and will run weekdays, but will be limited in trips until early August, per the release. Each ride costs $3.25, which can be purchased with cash or a Q-fare card.
   6. … The expanded route will be added to all Missouri City Route 270 trips beginning Aug. 11, per the release.
   7. MIKE: The original story has both a service map and a service schedule for buses going both ways, leaving Missouri City and leaving Texas Medical Center. As always, the story link is in this show post.
   8. MIKE: I think that this service will be a big help not only for veterans needing to go to the VA hospital, but to many folks needing to from Missouri City to Texas Medica Center.
   9. REFERENCE: SERVICE MAP LINK
5. Houston residents criticize police department calls to ICE as mayor’s office defends city response; By Dominic Anthony Walsh | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on July 29, 2025, 4:55 PM. TAGS: City of Houston, Immigration, Local, News, Police, Politics, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
   1. At a Houston City Council public comment session held Tuesday, more than 40 people signed up to speak about what they described as the Houston Police Department’s (HPD) collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
   2. Rob Block, a member of Houston Leads, the coalition of groups that organized the turnout, told Houston Public Media that community members “are very scared when they see any type of law enforcement activity and assume that ICE is involved.”
   3. [Block said,] “It would be really great to be able to reassure Houstonians that the Houston Police Department doing police activity is not involved with ICE. But the current policy that we have … it’s not currently true that we can reassure the community that Houston Police Department is not working with ICE and this national campaign to deport millions of people.”
   4. The protests came after the Houston Chronicle reported [that] HPD called ICE on at least 58 people from January through the end of May, mostly during traffic stops, but also after people called 911 for help. In at least one instance, the paper reported, HPD called ICE on a woman after she called 911 to report domestic abuse.
   5. A spokesperson for Mayor John Whitmire told Houston Public Media that the mayor “has consistently stated that the City of Houston is not ICE, and does not focus on immigration enforcement.”
   6. [The spokesperson wrote,] “HPD enforces state laws and will hold violators of state law, violent offenders, accountable regardless of immigration status. The Houston Police Department is required to contact any agency that has issued a warrant when an HPD officer has an official encounter with an individual.”
   7. The mayor’s office referred Houston Public Media to HPD for additional information. HPD referred Houston Public Media to the mayor’s office. ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
   8. Speaking before the city council, Maria Breceda argued HPD should stop calling ICE.
   9. [Breceda, who spoke in Spanish, said through a translator, saying,] “People are too afraid to ask for help because they think that calling the cops means a call to ICE. They’re afraid. They’re afraid to ask for help or to even step inside city offices because they’re not sure what’s going to happen.”
   10. Aside from asking people in the chambers to stop applauding, Whitmire and most members of the city council did not directly engage with the speakers. Council Member Mario Castillo briefly described the work of Woori Juntos, one of the organizing groups, as “vital.” Council Member Abbie Kamin asked one of the speakers to share resources with her office about protecting residents from ICE activities at schools and hospitals.
   11. Rishab Chawla told the city council he works as a psychiatry resident doctor at a large psychiatric hospital. He argued the calls from HPD to ICE have a chilling effect not only on crime victims’ willingness to seek emergency services, but also on patients’ willingness to seek help.
   12. [Chawla told city council members,] “The collaboration between HPD and ICE can erode the trust in our community negatively affecting mental health in many ways. Routine activities such as taking one’s child to school, shopping for groceries, going to work, can be nerve-wracking experiences for immigrants.”
   13. In a press release earlier this month, ICE said the agency arrested more than 1,300 people in the Houston area in June. According to data on the agency’s website, ICE arrested about 800 people in June 2024.
   14. Digressing from comments about another item on the city council’s agenda, one of the public speakers, Patricia Moore, briefly celebrated the arrests of immigrants who had committed crimes.
   15. Moore thanked city officials “for the 214 arrests of illegal aliens, child sex predators.” ICE announced the arrests spanning six months earlier this week. The 214 individuals represent a fraction of the more than 40,000 people arrested in the Houston area during that time, according to statistics reported by the Houston Chronicle.
   16. “Thank you, and you got them off our streets,” Moore yelled over booing from other residents in the city council chambers.
   17. According to ICE, the recent arrests occurred during “routine immigration enforcement activities being conducted alongside federal, state and local law enforcement agencies daily throughout Southeast Texas to enhance public safety, national security, and border security.”
   18. It’s unclear if those local agencies include HPD.
   19. The enforcement ramp-up at the federal level comes as President Donald Trump’s administration has pledged to deport millions of people who came to the country without authorization or who overstayed visas. Because of that context, Rob Block said, any communication between ICE and HPD is “terrifying.”
   20. [Block added,] “It’s something that the city really should vocally be opposed to, and [should] stand up to with policy.”
   21. MIKE: I think that all of us can agree that immigrants, legal or otherwise, who commit serious misdemeanors or felonies should be seriously examined as to whether they should be deported, and in the most serious cases have their naturalized status stripped from them if applicable, but this is not what ICE and CBP are doing.
   22. MIKE: In fact, less than 1% of the immigrants they arrest have actual criminal records.
   23. According to Google AI: “Data current as of July 27, 2025, indicates that 71.1% of individuals held in ICE detention centers have no criminal convictions, and many of those with convictions committed minor offenses like traffic violations.”
   24. And according to “A Cato Institute analysis of non-public ICE data from October 1, 2024, to June 14, 2025,[found that] ‘ICE had booked into detention 204,297 individuals (since October 1, 2024, the start of fiscal year 2025). Of those book-ins, 65 percent… had no criminal convictions. Moreover, more than 93 percent of ICE book-ins were never convicted of any violent offenses. About nine in ten had no convictions for violent or property offenses. Most convictions (53 percent) fell into three main categories: immigration, traffic, or nonviolent vice crimes. The appendix table at the end of this post has data by detailed crime and broad crime categorization.’”
   25. MIKE: ICE and CBP are indiscriminately sweeping communities and effectively kidnapping people from courthouses, off the street, at work, from their homes, and elsewhere. And I use the word “kidnapping” with deliberate intent.
   26. MIKE: ICE and CBP are acting like a like Soviet-style secret police, East German Stasi, or Nazi Gestapo — and in some cases, maybe Brown Shirts with no actual legal authority is more apt — leaping out of unmarked vehicles in tactical gear, but in plain clothes with few if any official identifying patches or insignia, and without badges, ID, or judicial paperwork to show.
   27. MIKE: There is no way to know at the time of kidnapping if they are actual government agents operating within the law or just cosplayers acting out their militant rightwing fantasies.
   28. MIKE: When questioned by citizens, if they reply at all, some of these alleged agents say they are just following orders. They obviously are blissfully unaware that legal precedent says that is no excuse.
   29. MIKE: And these are the agencies and characters that the City of Houston is actively collaborating with. And I use the word “collaboration” in the dirtiest historical meaning of that word.
   30. MIKE: I think that this is another example of how Mayor John Whitmire governs like a Republican rather than as a progressive Democrat. And it’s another reminder that elections have consequences.
   31. MIKE: I want to add this somewhat tangential note, though.
   32. MIKE: If ICE and CBP are going to tackle and arrest people that are in the courthouse following the law to make an appearance, then these courts should allow and even encourage these individuals to appear remotely, perhaps from their lawyer’s offices if necessary or desirable.
   33. MIKE: I can’t think of anything more repugnant than arresting someone while they are peacefully abiding by their legal obligations. I literally can’t think of anything more Gestapo-like.
   34. Those are my 2¢.
6. I mentioned this on the show a couple of weeks ago and wanted to follow up, but I’m not going to read the whole article — ‘That’s not how it works’: Commissioners blast Hidalgo’s surprise tax proposal; By Faith Bugenhagen, Trending News Reporter | CHRON.COM | July 31, 2025. TAGS: Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Harris County Commissioners Court, Property Tax,
   1. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo is under fire from fellow commissioners after unveiling what they called a surprise proposal for a property tax hike—without prior consultation—to keep popular early childcare programs alive. …
   2. Hidalgo opted to announce the “penny tax” increase during an interview with ABC 13, catching several of her colleagues off guard. …
   3. In an interview with Chron, Garcia said he had “zero conversation” with Hidalgo, and despite now having a three-page proposal detailing the tax hike — which Garcia described as a “regurgitation from what the county has already done with ARPA [American Rescue Plan Act of 2021]” — said commissioners were “basically at the same place” as when they first learned about the plan through the media.
   4. [Garcia told Chron,] “It’s still this half-baked idea. There’s no comprehensive plan that has been rolled out that has been shared with any of the offices that I know of. This is not the way you do it. …” …
   5. Hidalgo, in a separate interview with Chron, said she wanted to “clear up some misconceptions,” clarifying that she is not asking her colleagues to endorse the tax increase itself, but rather to allow voters to decide. … She pointed to a poll conducted by her office, which found that two-thirds of the voters who participated said they wanted to see an investment in this area. …
   6. Critics on the court remain unconvinced.
   7. Garcia said the “most glaring” component of the three-page proposal, which Chron obtained, is the “X’s” where the dollar amounts for estimated revenue from the tax hike should be. 
   8. Hidalgo previously said the “penny tax” of 1 cent, which would add about $10 in property taxes for every $100,000 in assessed value, will generate roughly $60 million — a number county officials said may be based on budget office projections. 
   9. Notably, Chron independently confirmed that the three-page proposal left key financial details blank, with “X’s” appearing in place of figures for annual estimated revenue, the impact on the average taxable homestead, and the monthly cost to the average Harris County household. …
   10. The proposal does include a breakdown that says the revenue generated would go to three main areas:
   11. Additional slots through programs such as Early REACH, SHINE Facilities Fund, Early-Learning Quality Networks and Early Childhood Resilience Fund
   12. More child care educators through a program such as Accessible Child Care Training Supports
   13. More opportunities for summer learning through a program such as County Connections 
   14. The three-page plan limited exact details to this information alone. 
   15. Hidalgo responded by calling the EARLY Reach childcare programs one of the county’s most significant investments, citing internal evaluations of its performance. However, while quarterly enrollment and participation data have been released, commissioners noted that the qualitative evaluation of the program is not expected until next year. …
   16. Commissioner Rodney Ellis told Chron he supported early childhood education and other county programs that make it easier for Harris County residents to live in the county. He stated that Texas and the federal government are cutting funding, forcing the county to cut policies that eliminate such efforts, adding that the county “cannot fund the future by pitting one essential need against another. And we certainly cannot do it while state law forces us to balance budgets on the backs of folks in neighborhoods like the one I grew up in.”
   17. Ellis said he looked forward to working with his colleagues and the public to chart a smarter, “more equitable” path forward. The proposal to take the tax hike to voters on the November ballot is set to be taken up during the next commissioners’ court on Thursday, Aug. 7. 
   18. MIKE: So the current suggestion is that if this property tax increase occurs, it will be because voters approved it on a ballot proposition. We’ll have to see how this shakes out.
   19. MIKE: I will note that when Commissioner Ellis says that the county “cannot fund the future by pitting one essential need against another,” and that “we certainly cannot do it while state law forces us to balance budgets on the backs of folks in neighborhoods like the one I grew up in,” I think he’s referring to the fact that over the decades, the Texas State Legislature has passed laws and constitutional amendments that block local governments from any kind of progressive taxation.
   20. MIKE: In other words, as I often say, Republicans have made Texas a regressive, flat tax state.
7. Vaccine rates for kindergartners fall as exemptions rise; By Josephine Walker | AXIOS.COM | Jul 31, 2025. TAGS: Vaccination, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Health Department secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,
   1. Vaccination coverage among American kindergartners decreased for all reported vaccines during the 2024-2025 school year, according to data released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
   2. The drop coincides with measles cases hitting a 33-year high in the U.S., while Trump’s Health Department secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., upends long-standing vaccine norms.
   3. [A Health Department statement emailed to Axios reads,] “The decision to vaccinate is a personal one. Parents should consult their healthcare providers on options for their families.”
   4. [MIKE: I strongly disagree with that, as I’m sure most of my listeners do. Vaccination is a PUBLIC HEALTH issue for which everyone is responsible, and I think it should be mandatory in most instances. Continuing …]
   5. [Further, Trump’s Health Department]statement continues, saying that] Vaccination remains the “most effective way” to protect children from serious diseases like measles that can lead to “hospitalization and long-term health complications.”
   6. Exemptions from one or more vaccines among kindergartners increased to6% from 3.3%, when compared to the 2023-2024 school year.
   7. Exemptions grew in 36 states and in D.C., and 17 states reported exemption numbers exceeding 5%.
   8. Idaho and Utah had the highest percentages of kindergartners exempted from one or more vaccines, at 15.4% and 10.3% each, respectively.
   9. West Virginia and Montana did not report numbers to the CDC.
   10. America is experiencing its highest annual measles rate count since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000.
   11. As of Tuesday, the CDC has confirmed a total of 1,333 measles cases, and 29 outbreaks have been reported in 2025.
   12. Of the 1,333 cases, kids under age 5 make up 29% of confirmed cases, and people 5-19 years old make up 37%.
   13. Nationally, only 92.5% of kindergartners are estimated to be up to date with their measles vaccines, below the CDC’s targeted herd immunity level of 95%.
   14. MIKE: There’s little I can add to this story except reiterating my disappointment that some folks would rather revert their health and their children’s health back to the bad old days of the 18^th
   15. MIKE: I’ve seen it noted in various places that if you want to viscerally understand how important vaccinations are, go to an old cemetery and note how many graves before 1950 are for children.
8. And in related “stupid people” news — Prominent US anti-vaxxer says he caught measles and traveled back home; By Melody Schreiber | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Mon 21 Jul 2025 11.09 EDT. TAGS: Texas, MMR, Measles, Vaccines, Anti-Vaccine Communities,
   1. One of the most prominent anti-vaccine activists in the US says he caught measles in west Texas and traveled back home – but he seems not to have alerted local authorities of his illness, which means the highly transmissible virus may have spread onward.
   2. Measles is a threat to people who are unvaccinated or immune-compromised. In anti-vaccine communities, it may quickly find a foothold and spread largely under the radar before ballooning into an outbreak.
   3. Brian Hooker, chief scientific officer of Children’s Health Defense, filmed an interview in west Texas in March with the parents of the six-year-old child who died from measles – the first measles death in the US in a decade.
   4. The video promoted several dangerous myths about the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine. Two doses of the vaccine are 97% effective at preventing measles, a virus that can be deadly and can cause lifelong harm.
   5. Hooker and Polly Tommey, an anti-vaccine film-maker with Children’s Health Defense, also interviewed other Mennonite families in west Texas. And they visited the medical office of Ben Edwards while patients and Edwards himself had symptomatic measles, they said.
   6. Hooker then traveled home to Redding, California, and developed measles symptoms, he said.
   7. [Hooker said,] “Full disclosure, 18 days after visiting Seminole, Texas, sitting in a measles clinic and being exposed to Doctor Ben with the measles, I got the measles. So cool.”
   8. Hooker, Tommey, and Edwards spoke on a podcast hosted by anti-vaccine activist Steve Kirsch on May 22. This news has not been previously reported by other outlets. Children’s Health Defense did not respond to the Guardian’s inquiry for this story.
   9. Hooker doesn’t appear to have sought healthcare or testing to confirm his symptoms were measles and not another infection. Other viral and bacterial infections may cause rashes, which is why medical providers need to conduct tests to confirm measles cases.
   10. Without confirmation of his illness being measles, Hooker may spread misinformation about the illness – including what helps to treat it.
   11. Hooker says he turned to the alternative treatments hailed by anti-vaccine activists. Edwards had given him cod liver oil and vitamin C supplements in Gaines County, Hooker said, noting: “I stuck them in my luggage, and that’s what I did.”
   12. And if this case was measles, by not seeking confirmation testing and notifying officials, Hooker may have contributed to onward spread. …
   13. After a person is exposed to measles, the virus usually incubates for 11 to 12 days before respiratory symptoms appear, followed by a rash two to four days later. A person is considered infectious four days before the rash appears and remains infectious until four days after it fades.
   14. If Hooker’s illness was measles, “it sounds like my worst nightmare as an infectious disease doc,” said Peter Chin-Hong, professor of medicine and infectious disease specialist at University of California San Francisco. [Chin-Hong continued, saying,] “For all we know, there’s a trail of measles, like bread crumbs in Hansel and Gretel.” …
   15. There are other indications that the actual number of cases from the Texas outbreak is higher than the official count, Chin-Hong said – with three confirmed deaths, experts might expect a case count closer to 3,000, instead of the 762 cases in Texas and 95 cases in New Mexico.
   16. Typically, medical providers alert local or state health officials when a patient tests positive for measles. Health officials then conduct contact tracing to notify anyone who came into contact with the patient, including other travelers.
   17. A representative for the Shasta county health department, serving the area where Hooker says he lives, said there have been no confirmed cases of measles reported this year. …
   18. It’s important to know when a region has even a single case so resources can be diverted to the area to stop transmission, Chin-Hong said.
   19. The most important part of those efforts is contact tracing and vaccinating anyone who is vulnerable – especially infants, pregnant people, and immune-compromised people, he said.
   20. Hooker is a prominent figure in the anti-vaccine community. He testified … before a US Senate committee in its first-ever “vaccine injury” hearing, attempting to link MMR vaccination to autism – despite several studies showing no relationship.
   21. Hooker said he became sick with measles despite being vaccinated as a child. But because he was born before 1989, he probably only received one dose of the MMR vaccine, which is 93% effective at stopping illness. Vaccination may also make breakthrough illness milder.
   22. [Chin-Hong said that] When anti-vaccine messages keep parents from getting their children vaccinated, “I think the damage is immediate,” before adding that it “goes beyond the measles outbreak.”
   23. Other vaccine-preventable illnesses like whooping cough and the flu are also surging.
   24. [Chin-Hong said,] “Measles is like the poster child, but it’s about a way of life that we’ve taken for granted in the last few decades that is threatened. The fact that [they] are questioning it on a public stage means that a lot more people who might have trusted their clinicians are questioning it more now.”
   25. The US eliminated measles in 2000, but the nation could lose that status if there is sustained transmission for more than a year.
   26. “We’re going back in time,” Chin-Hong said. “We have to relearn all of these diseases.”
   27. MIKE: I’ve said before that the three most important advances in medicine are vaccines, antibiotics, and anesthetics.
   28. MIKE: I asked Google AI the following question: “How many people die from reactions to vaccines?” If you ask the same question, you will likely find the various bits of data that I found.
   29. MIKE: As near as my cursory research can determine, approximately 450 million total doses of vaccine were administered in 2024, with maybe a third of those given to children under 14. Of those, the incidence of death from reactions to childhood vaccination is somewhere between 1 and 5 per million doses. Broadly speaking, that equals between 150 and 750 childhood deaths each year from vaccinations.
   30. MIKE: On the other hand, it’s probably statistically no more dangerous than driving your kid somewhere in a car than to get them vaccinated, as approximately 1100-1200 kids under 14 die in car accidents each year.
   31. MIKE: So put another way, if you had to choose between putting your kid in a car or getting them vaccinated, getting them vaccinated is the safer choice.
   32. MIKE: Now this is a pretty unconventional comparison, but I think it’s both revealing and thought-provoking.
   33. MIKE: I’ve added a couple of reference links below this story in the show post at ThingwingRadio-dot-Com
   34. REFERENCE: Children: Traffic Safety Data, 2021, U.S. Department of Transportation NHTSA’s National Center for Statistics and Analysis — CRASHSTATS.NHTSA.DOT.GOV
   35. REFERENCE: About Vaccines for your Children — CDC.GOV, August 9, 2024 (Pre-Robert Kennedy, Jr.)
9. Trump fires US labor official over data and gets earlier than expected chance to reshape Fed; By Lucia Mutikani, Nandita Bose and Michael S. Derby | REUTERS.COM | August 2, 2025@2:49 AM CDT/Updated 1 hour ago. TAGS: Litigation, Employment, President Donald Trump, Federal Reserve, Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS),
   1. President Donald Trump on Friday fired a top Labor Department official on the heels of a market-shocking weak scorecard of the U.S. job market, accusing her without evidence of manipulating the figures and adding to already growing concerns about the quality of economic data published by the federal government.
   2. In a second surprise economic policy development, the door for Trump to make an imprint on a Federal Reserve with which he clashes almost daily for not lowering interest rates opened much earlier than anticipated when Fed Governor Adriana Kugler unexpectedly announced her resignation on Friday afternoon.
   3. The two developments further rattled a stock market already reeling from his latest barrage of tariff announcements and the weak jobs data. The benchmark S&P 500 Index sank 1.6% in its largest daily drop in more than two months.
   4. Trump accused Erika McEntarfer, appointed by former President Joe Biden, of faking the jobs numbers. There is no evidence to back Trump’s claims of data manipulation by the Bureau of Labor Statistics [BLS], the statistical agency that compiles the closely watched employment report as well as consumer and producer price data.
   5. A representative for the BLS did not respond to a request for comment.
   6. Friday began with BLS reporting the U.S. economy created only 73,000 jobs in July, but more stunning were net downward revisions showing 258,000 fewer jobs had been created in May and June than previously reported.
   7. [Trump said in a post on Truth Social,] “We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.”
   8. … A Trump administration official who requested anonymity said that while all economic data is noisy, the White House has been dissatisfied with how large the revisions have been in the recent data and issues with lower survey responses. The problem started during COVID and has not been addressed in the years since.
   9. [The administration official said,] “There are these underlying problems that have been festering here for years now that have not been rectified. The markets and companies and the government need accurate data, and like, we just weren’t getting that.”
   10. The BLS has already reduced the sample collection for consumer price data as well as the producer price report, citing resource constraints. The government surveys about 121,000 businesses and government agencies, representing approximately 631,000 individual worksites for the employment report.
   11. The response rate has declined from 80.3% in October 2020 to about 67.1% in July, BLS data shows.
   12. A Reuters poll last month found 89 of 100 top policy experts had at least some worries about the quality of U.S. economic data, with most also concerned that authorities are not addressing the issue urgently enough.
   13. [MIKE: I remember seeing that article last month, but don’t recall if I read it on this show. Continuing …]
   14. In addition to the concerns over job market data, headcount reductions at BLS have resulted in it scaling back the scope of data collection for the Consumer Price Index, one of the most important gauges of U.S. inflation, watched by investors and policymakers worldwide.
   15. [MIKE: That reduction in headcount is squarely on Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE. Continuing …]
   16. Trump’s move fed into concerns that politics may influence data collection and publication.
   17. ]Said Michael Madowitz, principal economist at the Roosevelt Institute’s Roosevelt Forward,] “Politicizing economic statistics is a self-defeating act. Credibility is far easier to lose than rebuild, and the credibility of America’s economic data is the foundation on which we’ve built the strongest economy in the world. Blinding the public about the state of the economy has a long track record, and it never ends well.”
   18. … Meanwhile, Kugler’s surprise decision to leave the Fed at the end of next week presents Trump an earlier-than-expected opportunity to install a potential successor to Fed Chair Jerome Powell on the central bank’s Board of Governors.
   19. Trump has threatened to fire Powell repeatedly because the Fed chief has overseen a policymaking body that has not cut interest rates as Trump has demanded. Powell’s term expires next May, although he could remain on the Fed board until January 31, 2028, if he chooses.
   20. Trump will now get to select a Fed governor to replace Kugler and finish out her term, which expires on January 31, 2026. A governor filling an unexpired term may then be reappointed to a full 14-year term.
   21. Some speculation has centered on the idea Trump might pick a potential future chair to fill that slot as a holding place. Leading candidates for the next Fed chair include Trump economic adviser Kevin Hassett, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, former Fed Governor Kevin Warsh, and Fed Governor Chris Waller, a Trump appointee who this week dissented with the central bank’s decision to keep rates on hold, saying he preferred to start lowering them now.
   22. Trump, as he was leaving the White House to spend the weekend at his Bedminster, New Jersey, estate, said he was happy to have the open slot to fill.
   23. [Said Derek Tang, an analyst at LH Meyer, a research firm,] “I would not read any political motivation into what [Kugler is] doing, although the consequence of what she’s doing is she’s calling Trump’s bluff. She’s putting the ball in his court and saying, look, you’re putting so much pressure on the Fed, and you want some control over nominees, well, here’s a slot.”
   24. MIKE: So when Trump doesn’t like the message, he fires the messenger. This is probably one reason he’s filed for bankruptcy 6 times.
   25. MIKE: It’s not mentioned in the story, but the Fed has two core missions that go hand-in-hand. One is to keep inflation in check, and the other is to maintain high employment. So the Fed always lowers interest rates when the economy is weakening, and if the Trump regime continues managing — or MISmanaging — the national economy the way they are, then Trump’s wishes and the Feds mission will coincide and Trump will get his interest rate cuts.
   26. MIKE: And given all of the above, if Fed Chair Powell has the option of remaining in his job until January 31^st of 2028, I sure as hell hope he does. The last thing we need — and I mean the very last thing — is a Trump flunky running the Federal Reserve.
10. There are 4 signs the economy may be on a weaker footing than the latest data suggests; By Jennifer Sor | BUSINESSINSIDER.COM | Jul 31, 2025, 10:39 AM CT. TAGS: GDP, Job Market, Home Prices, US Economy, US Consumer, Corporate Delinquencies,
    1. It seems like all is well for the US economy — until you take a look under the hood.
    2. Neil Dutta, the head of economic research at Renaissance Macro, pointed to a handful of signs in a note this week that suggest the US economy may not be as strong as it seems on paper.
    3. The headline figures suggest otherwise. Real GDP was estimated to grow at an annualized rate of 3% in the second quarter, beating estimates and showing a sharp rebound from the prior three-month period.
    4. But Dutta suggested that things could be weaker at second glance, showcasing various signs of weakness across the housing market, job market, and consumer and corporate finances.
    5. Here are some signs that the economy isn’t as strong as it seems.
    6. … The housing market isn’t nearly as hot as it used to be.
    7. Home prices declined 0.34% in the 20 largest US cities in May, according to the Case-Shiller 20 City Home Price Index. That marks the index’s third-straight month of declines, Dutta said, one such sign that housing demand remains weak.
    8. Other signs have emerged in the past year to suggest that the US housing market is frozen
    9. Pending sales dropped 2.8% year-over-year in June, according to data from the National Association of Realtors.
    10. Meanwhile, active home listings in the US climbed 28% year-over-year in June, according to data from Realtor.com, with total active listings now hovering at their highest level since the pandemic.
    11. [Dutta wrote in a separate client note in July,] “The US housing market is in recession with weakening construction and declines in prices across major markets. The truth is many recent buyers assumed they’d be refinancing into lower rates by now. That has not happened and as a result, we’re seeing more homeowners put their homes up for sale.”
    12. … The US added more jobs than expected last month, while the unemployment rate remained near a historic low, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    13. But some Americans are feeling differently about their prospects of finding a new job. The Conference Board’s Labor Market Differential — which measures the difference between the percentage of consumers who think that jobs are plentiful and percentage who think jobs are hard to get, declined to 11.3, marking a “fresh cycle low,” Dutta said.
    14. [Dutta wrote,] “The deterioration in the Labor Differential is a sign that labor market conditions are somewhat weaker than one would expect given the low unemployment rate.”
    15. The job market generally appears to be stuck in a “slow hire, slow fire” phase, Dutta added, pointing to payrolls and layoffs in the private sector holding steady in recent months.
    16. … Delinquencies among households that earn $150,000 or more have more than doubled since 2023, according to data from the credit-scoring firm VantageScore. That reflects a steeper rise in late payments than lower-earning Americans, with delinquencies rising 60% among households earning between $45,000 and $150,000, and delinquencies rising 22% for households earning less than $45,000.
    17. Dutta says the trend can largely be explained by a weaker job market for white-collar workers. Job-finding prospects for those earning six figures or more have fallen to their worst levels since before the pandemic, Dutta said, citing survey data from the New York Fed.
    18. Consumer spending also appears to be slowing overall. Personal consumption expenditures, one measure of how much Americans are spending on goods and services, slowed its pace of growth to 4.7% year-over-year in June, down from a peak of 5.7% in late 2024.
    19. [MIKE: There’s a graph in this part of the story that shows consumer spending since the November election has practically fallen off a cliff in year-over-year spending. Continuing …]
    20. … Corporate borrowers are also running into trouble. The dollar amount of defaulted corporate debt surged to $27 billion in the second quarter, up from $15 billion in the prior three-month period, data from Moody’s shows.
    21. 694 companies filed for bankruptcy in 2024, according to a separate analysis from S&P Global. That was the highest [number] of global bankruptcies reported for the year since 2010, the firm said.
    22. The average default risk for public US firms also rose to 9.2% at the end of 2024, the highest level since the Great Financial Crisis [of 2008], Moody’s asset management research team wrote in a note in March.
    23. [Dutta wrote,] “US credit markets have experienced significant deterioration following recent tariff announcements, with corporate distress accelerating across multiple sectors. Private equity-backed firms are also starting to buckle. [Private equity-backed] companies made up around 60% of bankruptcy filings last quarter. These firms, many acquired during the low-rate environment of 2022, now face acute liquidity challenges as market conditions tighten.”
    24. MIKE: I think that this story speaks for itself, so I really have nothing to add.
    25. MIKE: The one point I might make is that maybe this will teach private equity companies that leveraged buyouts aren’t just a license to print money. That could be the inky bright spot here.
11. In more news of Trump screwing this country, this story has both domestic and international significance for the United States — Months of Trump’s tariffs are shifting supply chains and diplomatic ties; By David J. Lynch | WASHINGTONPOST.COM | July 20, 2025 at 5:00 a.m. EDT. TAGS: Global Commerce, Tariffs, President Donald Trump, US Trade Policy, Supply Chains, Diplomatic Ties,
    1. Major U.S. corporations and trading partners are scrambling to adapt to a new global economy, even as President Donald Trump mulls the imposition of historic tariffs in less than two weeks.
    2. Conagra Brands, owner of Hunt’s, Duncan Hines and Birds Eye, plans to raise prices on canned goods after “suffering a tremendous amount of inflation due to tariffs on tinplate steel,” its chief executive told investors this month.
    3. Tariffs are causing Fastenal, an industrial supplier, to split its imports into separate shipments to Canada and the United States, creating “a more expensive supply chain” than its customary, unified North American approach.
    4. And Nike, the world’s largest athletic apparel and footwear maker, is scrutinizing its operations for savings to offset the $1 billion in new import taxes it expects to pay this year. The company plans “a surgical price increase” this fall.
    5. [In other words,] Six months of the president’s disruptive trade policy has unsettled business leaders and policymakers alike.
    6. With a blizzard of new levies on major nations and selected product sectors, Trump has lifted the average tax on imported goods from just above 2 percent in January to around 15 percent, the highest mark since the early 1940s, according to Capital Economics, in London.
    7. That figure could head higher if many countries do not reach tariff deals by the president’s new Aug. 1 deadline.
    8. [MIKE: As of August 3, mostly, they haven’t. Continuing …]
    9. Stung by Trump’s unpredictable demands, close U.S. allies including those in Europe are trying to develop alternative trade links that skirt the U.S. market.
    10. If the exact dimensions of the new U.S. tariff regime are unsettled, the outlines have become clear. Taxes on U.S. imports will likely stay much higher than they have been for several decades. And the American role in the global economy is undergoing a profound change, with consequences for the rest of the world.
    11. [Said Alan Wolff, former deputy director general of the World Trade Organization,] “The United States is no longer considered the leader of the world trading system. It has opted out. It will do what it wants to do. It’ll strike its own deals, regardless of past obligations. That is a fundamental change.”
    12. Indeed, U.S. tariffs — imposed, threatened and withdrawn — have been the dominant economic consideration this year. As the president’s signature policy tool, they are reshaping the economies of developing nations such as Thailand and Vietnam, discouraging Federal Reserve officials from cutting interest rates, and roiling domestic politics from Canada to Brazil.
    13. The tariffs imposed to date also have had some presumably unintended effects. The U.S., for example, is now more dependent upon Russia for urea, a common fertilizer used to grow crops such as wheat, corn and rice.
    14. In May, Russian shipments accounted for 64 percent of U.S. urea imports, roughly twice their share before the president hit most countries, including other fertilizer suppliers like Qatar and Algeria, with a new 10 percent tariff while leaving Russia untouched, according to data compiled by StoneX, a financial services firm in New York.
    15. At the time, the White House said Russia was spared because multiple rounds of sanctions over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine already had caused U.S.-Russia trade to wither.
    16. The president says higher tariffs are needed to combat other countries’ unfair trade practices, which have hollowed out American manufacturing and cost millions of factory workers their jobs. By erecting new barriers to foreign products, Trump aims to promote greater domestic manufacturing while ushering in a new “Golden Age.”
    17. Since announcing steep tariffs on April 2 — and pausing them one week later — the administration has reached the outlines of new trade arrangements with the United Kingdom, Vietnam and Indonesia. Additional deals are likely before Aug. 1.
    18. Few details have been made public, though the president has said the deals will require other nations to drop their barriers to U.S. products.
    19. [Trump told reporters … speaking of the latest accord,] “They are giving us access into Indonesia, which we never had.”
    20. S. exports to Indonesia last year topped $10 billion, but were dwarfed by imports of around $28 billion.
    21. Trade talks continue with multiple nations. But the White House keeps a running tally on its website of “trillions of dollars” in planned corporate investments that it says stem from the president’s policies, what it calls “the Trump effect.”
    22. At this early date, the tangible gains have been muted. Spending on new factories, which soared under the Biden administration, has fallen in five of the past six months, according to the Census Bureau. Manufacturing employment also is down slightly since Trump returned to the White House, while output is up by less than 2 percent.
    23. Trump has celebrated the revenue gain from higher import taxes. In June, American importers paid the Treasury Department nearly $27 billion in tariffs, roughly four times the typical monthly figure before he returned to the White House.
    24. [Referring to his false claim that foreigners pay the fees, he said,] “We’re making a fortune. We are taking in hundreds of billions of dollars.”
    25. [MIKE: I’m going to break in here for a moment to mention that for decades, Republicans have had the goal of a flat income tax, as opposed to the still relatively progressive income taxation we have. Texas is an example of a state that has created, as far as I know, an entirely flat, regressive tax regime based on flat sales taxes, flat property taxes, flat user fees, flat tolls, etc. So it may be that Trump knows that his tariffs are actually paid by Americans while he lies that they are not, but it may also be part of a plan to replace some of his tax cuts with tariff revenue, like was the case before WW1. Continuing …]
    26. The money actually comes from people like Bobby Djavaheri, president of Yedi Houseware in Los Angeles. The family-owned company imports air fryers, small grills and pressure cookers from China, and distributes them through TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Home Goods outlets.
    27. Anticipating tariffs, Djavaheri in January stockpiled five months’ worth of inventory, up from his customary three-month buffer. Trying to keep tabs on which products are subject to tariffs, and which aren’t, has been a constant challenge. He has paid more in tariffs this year than in the past 10 years combined, he said.
    28. The higher costs have forced him to raise some retail prices by 10 percent. But it’s impossible to pass along the entire bill to consumers.
    29. [Djavaheri said during a press briefing by the Port of Los Angeles,] “We’re going to have losses for sure. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are going to the federal government from my pocket — not the Chinese, as the president has suggested so many times. We are collateral damage here.”
    30. Administration officials dispute claims that tariffs will boost prices. After a measure of producer prices on Wednesday showed no increase in June, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent crowed on social media that “the inflation propagandists have been proven wrong.”
    31. The victory lap seemed oddly timed, coming one day after the government reported that prices paid by consumers rose by 2.7 percent over the past 12 months, up from an annual rate of 2.4 percent one month earlier.
    32. Inflation has been slower to materialize than some analysts expected. But economists at Goldman Sachs this month said it is “too early to assess the full impact” of tariffs on prices. Trump has threatened more tariffs than he has imposed. Many companies also rushed goods into the country before tariffs hit. It may be months before they exhaust those stockpiles.
    33. Some companies have been able to offset tariff costs by reducing their reliance on Chinese factories and introducing operational efficiencies. …
    34. It’s not difficult to find examples of import taxes driving up prices. Fastenal, the industrial supplier, raised prices on steel fasteners in the second quarter and plans additional increases in the next 90 days, the company has said.
    35. Nucor, one of the country’s largest steelmakers, has raised prices on hot-rolled coil twice since the beginning of June. The market price per ton is now $877, up from $695 in January.
    36. Facing higher prices for another type of steel, Conagra executives say they will raise prices on canned Hunt’s tomatoes, Reddi-wip whipped topping, and PAM cooking spray. Conagra expects to mitigate one-third of its added tariff costs by pressing suppliers to share the pain and by reducing its steel requirements …
    37. S. negotiators, meanwhile, continue talks with countries such as India and Japan aimed at reaching deals by the Aug. 1 deadline.
    38. Trump’s unpredictability, which he describes as providing leverage in trade talks, is also causing companies to rethink their supply lines. Hewlett Packard accelerated its move out of China to sites in Thailand, Vietnam and Mexico. Chinese factories are responding to the loss of some multinationals by strengthening links with European customers, according to Sebastien Breteau, CEO of QIMA, which conducts worldwide factory inspections and audits for major retailers.
    39. In the second quarter, demand from European businesses for audits or inspections of potential Chinese suppliers rose by 5 percent while orders from American buyers dropped 24 percent, he said.
    40. At the same time, European Union officials are trying to open other markets to compensate for a drop in business with the U.S. In April, the E.U. opened talks with the United Arab Emirates over a free trade agreement. A separate deal with South America’s Mercosur trade bloc awaits ratification.
    41. [QIMA’s Breteau said,] “There is a world of global trade that is being built excluding the U.S.”
    42. MIKE: At the rate that Trump and his Republicans are going, let’s hope that the United States doesn’t become his 7^th
    43. MIKE: It’s also always worth mentioning that some of the trade deals Trump 47 is breaking and calling stupid deals were negotiated by Trump 45.
    44. MIKE: And let’s not kid ourselves. America’s post-WW2 global centrality has been the key to both our national wealth and prosperity as well as our military dominance, because we couldn’t pay for the latter without the former.
    45. MIKE: Trump has usurped this tariff power in violation of the law that he claims is on his side. That law requires a national emergency, and the only national emergency we now have is called Trump.
    46. MIKE: Republicans in Congress could stop him, but have declined to do so, making the Republican Party entirely complicit in these compounding policy and economic disasters.
    47. MIKE: Just wait until oil producers stop pricing their products in US dollars. It’s been discussed among them for many years, and Trump may be giving them more reasons. If that happens, don’t under-estimate how bad fuel prices can get.
    48. MIKE: The US may be the world’s largest current oil and gas producer, but the market is global, and so is the pricing.
12. Now, one last story just for fun — Rocket Scientists Hooked Up ChatGPT to the Controls of a Spaceship, and the Results Were Not What You Might Expect – It’s like Autopilot for space; by Victor Tangermann | FUTURISM.COM | Jul 4, 9:45 AM EDT. TAGS: Artificial Intelligence, Artificial Intelligence, Chatgpt, Large Language Models,
    1. AI Kirk?
    2. Despite being stumped by simple children’s games and uncontrollably hallucinating, AI models could perform surprisingly well when put in charge of navigating space inside a simulated spacecraft, researchers have found.
    3. As Live Science reports, a team of scientists from MIT and the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Spain, instructed OpenAI’s blockbuster AI chatbot ChatGPT to “operate as an autonomous agent controlling a pursuit spacecraft.”
    4. To their amazement, as detailed in a paper slated to be published in the Journal of Advances in Space Research, they found that the large language model exceeded expectations, scoring second place in a space simulation competition based on the popular video game Kerbal Space Program that pitted several AI agents against each other.
    5. To Infinity and Beyond
    6. To test how autonomous agents could be used to maneuver satellites and other space-based assets, researchers created a software design challenge called the Kerbal Space Program Differential Game Challenge. Participants are encouraged to employ a number of different approaches, such as reinforcement learning.
    7. As part of the program, scientists pitted various autonomous systems against each other in several different scenarios.
    8. In the latest research, the team developed a way to translate instructions and queries about how to orient and maneuver a spacecraft into text and fed it to several commercially available LLMs. With only a small number of prompts, they found that ChatGPT, in particular, performed surprisingly well, coming in second place in the Game Challenge. First place, in an important caveat, went to a system based on equations that model spaceflight.
    9. Best of all, the research was conducted before OpenAI released its GPT-4 model in March 2023, suggesting the latest iterations might perform even better.
    10. But there are still plenty of reasons why we should think twice before handing over the controls to the tech. For one, the current crop of AI models still suffers from rampant hallucinations, which could make for an awkward — and particularly terrifying — twist in a deep space mission.