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 13th week of Trump’s military presence in Los Angeles, now reduced to several hundred federalized National Guard troops, and the 4th week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC.  US Marines are no longer deployed to Trump’s “Alligator Alcatraz”, which is being closed by court order based on environmental grounds rather than humanitarian grounds.

The question is becoming, ‘When will the US military say they’ve had enough?’

1. November 4, 2025, Joint General & Special Election
   1. Early Voting begins on Monday, October 20. That’s only about 7 weeks!
   2. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot for Harris County is October 24. In this show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com, I’m providing a link to apply for a mail-in ballot in the event you may be eligible. Please fill it out, print it, and mail it to the Harris County Clerk. It must physically arrive there by the end of business on the 11^th day before election day, which I think is about October 23^rd, but that’s my estimate. Sooner is better.
   3. If you live outside of Harris County, visit your County Clerk or Election Clerk website for a ballot application and election information. I have links at the bottom of this show post. If you find any out of date, please let me know.
2. Houston-area Labor Day protests planned as part of nationwide ‘Workers Over Billionaires’ demonstrations; By Kyle McClenagan | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on August 29, 2025, 3:55 PM. TAGS: Business, Events, Houston, Local News, Politics, Protests, Houston, Labor Day, Houston protests, Labor Day Protests, labor unions, Workers over Billionaires protest,
   1. “Workers over Billionaires” protests are scheduled to take place in the Houston area on Monday, [September 1^st,] which is Labor Day.
   2. The planned pro-worker demonstrations are part of a nationwide effort called May Day Strong, which includes hundreds of planned pro-democracy protests.
   3. [The May Day Strong website claims,] “Billionaires are stealing from working families, destroying our democracy and building private armies to attack our towns and cities. We are May Day Strong, working people rising up to stop the billionaire takeover, not just through the ballot box or the court, but through building a bigger and stronger movement.”
   4. One of the Houston protests is scheduled for 3-6 p.m. Monday at 8th Wonder Brewery, 2202 Dallas St., while a similar demonstration is planned for 3:30-6:30 p.m. Monday near the Houston International Promenade, 2300 Polk St., according to information posted online by organizers. They include the Texas Gulf Coast Area Labor Federation, New Economy for Working Houston, Texas Organizing Project, and Organized Power in Numbers.
   5. [The Houston-area organizers said in their online announcement,] “Time and time again, we have seen the Billionaires and ultra-rich profit and take advantage of our work. We build and make our society function. It’s time that it works for us all.”
   6. The organizers also said that peaceful protest is a core part of their mission and that weapons of any kind will not be tolerated.
   7. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) also is involved.
   8. [AFL-CIO organizers said in their announcement online,] “Workers built this country, and workers deserve an economy, a government and a country for the people, not the billionaires. In the streets and on the shop floor, in union halls and the halls of Congress, this Workers’ Labor Day we’re going to show the billionaires who we are and how we fight.”
   9. Other “Workers Over Billionaires” events are planned in Conroe, Katy, Kingwood and elsewhere in Texas. The scheduled protests are the most recent in a series of similar demonstrations held across the country and in Houston.
   10. In July, protestors in Houston participated in the national “Good Trouble Lives On” protests. In June, more than 60 “No Kings Day” rallies were held across Texas. Two months earlier, more than 1,000 people gathered at Houston City Hall for the nationwide “50501” demonstrations. Participants in each of those protests expressed opposition to President Donald Trump and his policies.
   11. MIKE: There are various links in the article which you can access in this show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com. There are about 2 dozen planned demonstrations across the United States. You can find look for one in or near your community at the website for the demonstrations, which is MayDayStrong-dot-org.
3. Newly proposed ordinance would ban standing in medians in Houston; By Brammhi Balarajan, Trending News Reporter | CHRON.COM | Aug 27, 2025. TAGS: Houston City Council, Median Strips, Panhandling,
   1. The Houston City Council is taking another jab at where people can sit or stand in public. A newly-proposed ordinance could soon make it illegal to sit, stand or walk along certain median strips. 
   2. The ordinance would ban “sitting, standing or walking on median strips measuring six feet or less” and carry a fine up to $500. 
   3. In agenda materials, city council members said the ordinance aims to increase pedestrian safety and prevent crashes. The lack of regulations have “led to potential nuisance and dangers to pedestrians and vehicles,” the ordinance reads. 
   4. “The ordinance is really about public safety,” Council Member Amy Peck told Chron. “It’s to make sure people aren’t standing in places that are not safe to stand, and for drivers as well.” 
   5. According to data from the Houston Police Department (HPD), 33.9 percent of people killed in traffic crashes are pedestrians. 
   6. Drivers in Houston were responsible for 15.6 percent of traffic crashes and 15 percent of fatalities across the state in 2024, despite making up 7.4 percent of the state population, council members wrote in the ordinance. 
   7. The ordinance would not apply to people rendering aid during an emergency, performing work in accordance with a permit or who have prior authorization from the city. 
   8. Council Member Mary Nan Huffman said the ordinance addresses a “longstanding ambiguity in city code.” 
   9. “HPD now has a clear directive to ensure public safety in areas where the risk of accidents is greatest,” Huffman said. 
   10. Council Member Fred Flickinger also added that the goal is to give HPD the ability to direct panhandlers away from medians. 
   11. “The goal is to protect adults and children from serious injury from being in the roadway on these narrow strips of medians. It is becoming increasingly common to see women panhandling with young children in these medians and it is incredibly dangerous,” Flickinger said. 
   12. This isn’t the first time the Houston City Council has taken aim at residents sitting or lying down in public. Earlier this year, the city council implemented a 24-hour ban on lying down on sidewalks in certain parts of the city earlier this year, which critics said would effectively criminalize homelessness. 
   13. However, Peck said this ordinance is meant to protect residents, not contribute to criminalization. 
   14. “It’s not criminalizing a public space,” Peck said. “It’s just letting people know it’s not safe to stand there. Any unhoused person who might be standing in a place like that, we want to make sure they’re safe too. It just gives HPD a tool to be able to ask individuals to move to a safer location.” 
   15. MIKE: I’m a little torn on how to discuss this, especially after the city’s recent enacting of the current version of the so-called “Civility Law” which prohibits “sitting, lying down or placing personal possessions on sidewalks in 12 parts of the city from 7 a.m.-11 p.m. In downtown Houston and East Downtown, the rules will now apply 24/7.”
   16. MIKE: In the absence of reasonable and humane alternatives for homeless people, I’m already unhappy about that.
   17. MIKE: On the other hand, I’m as uncomfortable as anyone with large numbers of the homeless camping out on city property.
   18. MIKE: In regard to this particular ordinance, I agree that panhandling — and that’s what it is — panhandling on public medians is not only annoying, but is often dangerous to both the panhandlers and drivers. Defining the ban to medians with widths of 6 feet or less is certainly reasonable.
   19. MIKE: Houston already has anti-panhandling laws, but enforcement is both spotty and legally tricky. I looked up Houston panhandling laws with this question to Google: “Does Houston have anti-panhandling laws?” If you want to know more about the topic, I suggest beginning there.
   20. MIKE: But in discussing this, I would like to share some personal anecdotes on this topic.
   21. MIKE: About 30 years ago, I was driving from work at Willowbrook Mall. There was a regular panhandler that was always at the corner of FM1960 and Breton Ridge Street. He had one leg and got around on a crutch while soliciting drivers for money.
   22. MIKE: One day, I was stopped at a light at that intersection and saw him reporting (air quotes) for work. He was walking with a girlfriend, and carrying his crutch and his handmade cardboard sign. Before going to his regular spot, he took off his prosthetic leg, put it behind the nearby decorative brick wall, and then used the crutch to hobble across the road to “work” on the FM1960 median.
   23. MIKE: As you can tell, that made an impression on me. He’s only one person, but it raises the legitimate question, Is this all he’s actually capable of doing?
   24. MIKE: Another time, maybe 10 or 15 years ago, I was stopped at a light at I-10 and Shepard. The man standing on the corner was wearing clothes that had once been nice and both he and the clothes were looking a little scruffy. He was either recently down on his luck, or he was doing effective marketing to look that way. Anyway, I ended up giving him a little money. Was I being a sucker? I’ll never really know.
   25. MIKE: Don’t even get me started on the panhandlers and beggars I encountered in China. They could be both sophisticated and aggressive, much more so than the panhandlers I have encountered in the States.
   26. MIKE: I offered these digressions because managing road median panhandlers isn’t as straightforward as it might seem. The are already laws that both regulate and protect them, and definitions of when they are breaking the law, or when they aren’t, can get into lots of gray areas.
   27. MIKE: In some ways, this is a perfect Thinkwing topic, because the issue requires a lot of thought about what is reasonable management and when that can cross into government oppression.
4. From BOREDPANDA-dot-COM — “There Needs To Be Justice”: 22-Year-Old Law Graduate Passes Away After Routine CT Scan; Abel Musa Miño and Lei RV | BOREDPANDA.COM | Aug 25, 2025. TAGS: CT Scan, CT with Contrast, Allergic Reaction,
   1. MIKE: I’ve linked to the article, but I’m not going to read this story beyond the headline, because it’s not so much something I’m reporting on as it is a Public Service Announcement for people who have allergies and even for people who don’t have any known allergies.
   2. MIKE: At the heart of this story is a young woman in Brazil who went in for a routine CT scan — something she had done many times before for a pre-existing condition. This scan was done with contrast, which means that she was given an injection or intravenous flow of contrast material. In my experience this is usually a mildly radioactive material such as an iodine-based or barium-sulfate-based substance.
   3. MIKE: Whenever you are asked if you have any allergies, whether this is for a medication, vaccination, or any injection, or any time you fill out a medical questionnaire, it’s critical that you take the question seriously.
   4. MIKE: There are other conditions which may also require you to mention them whenever you’re getting shots or injections. As one example, if you are taking blood thinners, it’s always important to mention that.
   5. MIKE: Now, people who have known allergies usually know these rules and scrupulously follow them, but what if you’ve never had an allergic reaction to anything? Should you be concerned? Well, yes and no.
   6. MIKE: Every allergic reaction has a first time. You may be allergic to something the first time you’re exposed to it, or you may become allergic to something only after many exposures. Fire ant bites are an example that comes immediately to mind.
   7. MIKE: So what am I suggesting? Well, first, take any questions about allergies or sensitivities seriously. Be thoughtful and thorough in your responses.
   8. MIKE: Second, if you are in a medical situation such as a CT or MRI scan, it might be useful to ask if they are prepared in-lab if you have an allergic reaction for the first time.
   9. MIKE: And as they used to say on “Hill Street Blues”, be careful out there.
5. Parents sue Houston ISD over child’s use of different pronouns; By Brammhi Balarajan, Trending News Reporter | CHRON.COM | June 27, 2025. TAGS: Houston Independent School District (HISD), Bellaire High School, Alliance Defending Freedom, Name And Pronouns,
   1. A new lawsuit against the Houston Independent School District (HISD) is accusing the district of using a name and pronouns that does not match the child’s assigned sex at birth — a case that could have severe implications for Texas educators. 
   2. Two parents have filed a lawsuit alleging that several HISD employees referred to their child, who attends Bellaire High School, with he/him pronouns and a different name. 
   3. According to the lawsuit, the parents claim HISD educators did so “without parental notice or consent; against their express instructions; and while actively concealing that treatment from parents.” 
   4. In response to discovering schoolwork that used a different name and pronouns, the parents claim in the lawsuit that they took action by speaking with the principal, along with writing to the HISD’s board and superintendent. However, the parents say they were not assured that HISD staff would only use the name and pronouns matching the child’s assigned sex at birth moving forward. 
   5. A spokesperson for HISD told Chron they are unable to comment on pending litigation. 
   6. [The spokesperson said,] “Given there is pending litigation, at this time, the District is unable to discuss any aspect of this incident.”
   7. The lawsuit is part of a broader effort from some conservatives to place further restrictions on Texas educators, claiming that personnel are “social transitioning” children by using different pronouns. Earlier this year, Gov. Greg Abbott ordered a probe of a Houston high school after teachers were accused of “transitioning” a child by calling the child by a name and pronouns that did not match their assigned sex at birth. 
   8. Studies have largely debunked the myth of “socially transitioning,” and have shown that “social contagion” is not a factor driving young people to come out as transgender. 
   9. Some districts, including Katy ISD, have passed policies requiring parents to be notified if a child requests to be called by a name or pronouns that do not match their assigned sex at birth. 
   10. The lawsuit was filed by the Alliance Defending Freedom on behalf of the parents. 
   11. The nonprofit legal advocacy group has been the driver behind several legal efforts aimed at stripping away LGBTQ protections. The organization argued in the known case of the Colorado baker who sued over the right to refuse to make a cake celebrating a gender transition, and legal challenges to mifepristone, a hormone typically used in abortion medication.
   12. This past legislative session, a bill that prevents educators from using names and pronouns that do not match a child’s assigned sex at birth was signed by Gov. Greg Abbott. Litigation filed by the ACLU of Texas and Students Engaged in Advancing Texas (SEAT) is currently underway in an effort to strike down the law. 
   13. MIKE: I consider groups with names like “Alliance Defending Freedom” to usually be doing the exact opposite. In my opinion, you should always be suspicious of advocacy organizations with versions of words like freedom, liberty, and patriot in their names.
   14. MIKE: In this case, I’ll note that children are children, but they’re also people. And these young people not only exist at home, but they also have to navigate their lives outside the home.
   15. MIKE: Children are sometimes given birth names that can be hard to live with in their social lives, and they may tell friends, teachers and acquaintances to address them by a name or nickname that they choose for themselves.
   16. MIKE: How is that fundamentally different from a child who identifies as a different gender choosing a name to use at school and among their friends?
   17. MIKE: If anything, I think we should admire the courage of that child. It can’t be easy to live a life in school while identifying as a gender other than the one they were assigned at birth. It can expose them to ridicule and abuse, not only among their peers, but from adults as well.
   18. MIKE: These kids are using what some may call their God-given freedom. Our Declaration of Independence says, and I’ll paraphrase slightly: “… all [people] are created equal, [and] they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness …”
   19. MIKE: In this context, whose “freedom” is this alliance “defending”?
   20. MIKE: There’s an old saying that I haven’t used in a while: “Your freedom ends at the tip of my nose.” Under law, children have human rights that co-exist simultaneously with parental rights. A legal website states, “According to federal law, children are people and do not belong to their parents. As such, children and teenagers have constitutional rights. The Equal Protection Clause of the 14^th Amendment applies to children, and 42 U.S.C. § 1983 details the civil rights of children.”
   21. MIKE: There are links I’ve included in this show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com that allow deeper research for those who may be interested.
   22. MIKE: In any event, the issue in question is now in the hands of the courts, and it galls me that presumably-loving parents would inflict this kind of public scrutiny on the private lives of this family and especially on these children.
6. Nexstar Seals Merger With Tegna in $6.2 Billion TV Mega Deal; By Etan Vlessing, Canada Bureau Chief | HOLLYWOODREPORTER.COM | August 19, 2025 @ 4:34am. TAGS: Nexstar, Tegna, Media, Media Consolidation, Sinclair, FCC,
   1. Leading local TV station owner Nexstar Media Group and smaller rival Tegna have unveiled a definitive agreement for a merger. …
   2. To complete the merger, Nexstar may have to go up against Sinclair, which had also been looking at a deal for Tegna, which has 64 local TV stations in the U.S. market. Sinclair has reportedly offered to combine its TV stations with Tegna while separate merger talks with Nexstar were ongoing.
   3. Nexstar, which already has around 200 owned or partner TV stations, has financing in place from a consortium of Wall Street investment banks to finance the transaction. The merger deal, which requires regulatory approvals, is seen as a test for the FCC to loosen local TV station ownership rules as it gets set to rule on the Nexstar-Tegna agreement.
   4. Once completed, the merger will see Nexstar emerge with 265 local TV stations in 44 states and the District of Columbia and 132 of the country’s 210 television DMAs, or Nielsen’s Designated Market Areas [DMAs]. The combined company will have stations in 9 of the top 10 DMAs, 41 of the top 50 DMAs, 62 of the top 75 DMAs and 82 of the top 100 DMAs, covering, in total, 80 percent of U.S. TV households.
   5. Nexstar chairman and CEO Perry A. Sook, who is betting Brendan Carr’s FCC will allow that market concentration, in a statement said of the merger agreement: “The initiatives being pursued by the Trump administration offer local broadcasters the opportunity to expand reach, level the playing field, and compete more effectively with the Big Tech and legacy Big Media companies that have unchecked reach and vast financial resources. We believe Tegna represents the best option for Nexstar to act on this opportunity.”
   6. The Trump administration has made deregulation a top priority, and companies that own local TV stations, including Sinclair, Nexstar, Gray, E.W. Scripps and Tegna, have eyed new mergers and acquisitions opportunities amid possible industry consolidation. …
   7. The transaction will increase Nexstar’s reach in key local TV station markets like Atlanta, Phoenix, Seattle, and Minneapolis and is expected to generate around $300 million in annual cost savings from revenue synergies and expense reductions. The merger deal remains subject to approvals, including from Tegna shareholders and is expected to close by mid-year 2026.
   8. Mike Steib, CEO of Tegna, in his own statement said: “We are thrilled to have found a partner in Nexstar that will enable Tegna’s stations to continue doing what we do best: creating outstanding and impactful local content coupled with the delivery of indispensable digital products to the communities we serve around the country. Nexstar and Tegna both share a rich heritage of commitment to journalistic excellence and technological advancements. Together, we will expand news coverage to serve more communities, across more screens, and ultimately secure the future of local news for generations to come.”
   9. MIKE: This is a big deal, both literally and metaphorically. We can add deals like this to the high priority for consideration of any future Democrat-controlled government. Media concentration has reached a ridiculous stage, where local media is rarely local. Media divestiture must be the order of the day.
   10. MIKE: The end of independent media and the diverse social and political voices it brings began during the Reagan administration, as so many long-term problems in our country did.
   11. MIKE: Major FCC rule changes started during the Reagan administration. “[In] 1984, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) first signaled its shift toward deregulation by loosening the “seven-station rule,” which limited owners to seven AM, seven FM, and seven television stations nationwide. The limit was increased to 12 stations in each category.”
   12. MIKE: In 1987, it was the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine, a policy that had been in effect since 1949.
   13. MIKE: This was followed by the “Murdoch exceptions” in 1995 during the Clinton administration at a time when Clinton was dealing with a Republican Congress under Newt Gingrich and a perceived rightward swing by the voting public.
   14. MIKE: “For decades, federal laws limited foreign investment and ownership of American broadcast outlets. … In 1995, after a two-year legal battle, the FCC ruled that although News Corp. was in violation of foreign ownership rules, an exception would serve the “public interest” by promoting competition. This allowed Murdoch to retain control of the Fox television network.”
   15. MIKE: So here we are in 2025, looking backward. Do you think that allowing News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch to own US broadcast stations was in the public interest?
   16. MIKE: Maybe not. But Sinclair is US-owned, is notoriously rightwing, and they may be far worse than Fox.
   17. MIKE: In any case, this country has some media and big business reform that needs doing.
7. Trump says DOJ will sue California over redistricting as he celebrates similar Texas effort; By Kevin Breuninger (@KevinWilliamB) | CNBC.COM | Published Mon, Aug 25 20251:37 PM EDT. TAGS: President Donald Trump, Gov. Gavin Newsom, Texas, California, Congressional Redistricting,
   1. President Donald Trump said Monday that the Department of Justice will sue California over Gov. Gavin Newsom’s efforts to draw a new, Democratic-leaning congressional map.
   2. The redistricting push in California was ignited by a similar effort underway in Texas to gerrymander key House districts to more heavily favor Republicans.
   3. [Trump said of Newsom’s redistricting push during a lengthy press event in the Oval Office,] “I think I’m going to be filing a lawsuit pretty soon, and I think we’re going to be very successful in it. … We’re going to be filing it through the Department of Justice. That’s going to happen,” he said.
   4. Newsom promptly responded on social media: “BRING IT.”
   5. Trump’s announcement that the government intends to challenge the California plan came just days after he praised Texas Republican legislators’ efforts to codify a new map that would give the GOP an advantage in five more U.S. House races in the 2026 midterm elections.
   6. That map passed the Texas state Senate [on Saturday August 23^rd], sending it to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s desk [and it was signed into law on Friday, August 29].
   7. [After the map passed in the state House Trump wrote,] “The incredible people of Texas will have the opportunity to elect five more Republicans to Congress, thanks to the passage of their much more fair new Map — A BIG WIN for Republicans in Texas, and across the Country!”
   8. Trump previously told CNBC that the GOP was “entitled to five more seats” in Texas.
   9. The Justice Department did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment on Trump’s remarks.
   10. House redistricting efforts typically take place every 10 years, after each new U.S. Census reveals changes in population distribution. But the Texas redistricting plan is taking place in the middle of the decade, drawing intense criticism from Democrats across the country.
   11. Newsom, who is widely viewed as a 2028 presidential contender, has led the charge for the Democratic Party by advocating for California to redraw its own congressional map, to serve as a counterweight to Texas.
   12. Newsom last week signed two redistricting bills, setting up a special election in November on whether to finalize the new California congressional map.
   13. Trump pressured Texas Republicans to push for that state’s redistricting, underscoring how crucial the president believes it is for Republicans to maintain control of both chambers of Congress.
   14. But Trump already faces headwinds: His approval ratings are declining, according to numerous polls, and the incumbent president’s party tends to lose seats in the midterms.
   15. MIKE: Hypocrisy doesn’t even make a blip on the moral or ethical radar screens of our current regime. It’s ridiculous to even expect otherwise.
8. Next, from CanaryMedia, an energy news organization — Trump admin’s new anti-renewables rule rooted in fossil-fuel misinformation; By Kathiann M. Kowalski | CANARYMEDIA.COM | 25 August 2025. TAGS: Land Use, Fossil Fuels, Policy & Regulation,
   1. For years, anti-renewable-energy advocates have opposed solar and wind projects on the grounds that they take up too much land. Now those talking points, popularized by groups linked to the fossil-fuel industry, have made their way into a sweeping new directive from the Trump administration.
   2. On Aug. 1, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum mandated that federal leasing decisions factor in ​“capacity density” for solar and wind projects.
   3. His order defines ​“capacity density” as the amount of electricity a proposed facility is expected to produce, as a share of the maximum ​“nameplate” amount, divided by the site’s total acres. An appendix to the order shows that nuclear and combined-cycle gas plants rank highest on this measure, while renewables come in last.
   4. The Interior Department will now have to consider the density measure in environmental reviews. With that in mind, the order questions whether the law allows any federal land use for wind and solar projects, ​“given these projects’ encumbrance on other land uses, as well as their disproportionate land use.”
   5. Only a small portion of solar and wind projects are located on areas owned and managed by the U.S. government, but there is vast potential for development. A January 2025 report from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory found that 1,300 gigawatts of solar and 60 GW of onshore wind could be cost-effectively built on public lands, and that significant deployment in those spaces would be needed to meet grid-decarbonization goals.
   6. It’s unclear whether the order might also block some projects on private property if they require reviews under the National Environmental Policy Act.
   7. The directive is yet another example of the Trump administration’s push to slow the development of solar and wind, which together with batteries will account for more than 90% of new utility-scale energy-capacity additions this year. But more broadly, it illustrates how the administration is elevating fossil-fuel-backed misinformation about land use into federal energy policy.
   8. [Dave Anderson, policy and communications manager for the Energy and Policy Institute, a watchdog group that focuses on the fossil-fuel and utility industries, said] “This is the latest sign that the Trump administration is really just relying on political talking points to push back on renewable energy that have little or no basis in fact.”
   9. … Before ​“capacity density” became a factor in federal leasing decisions, anti-renewable-energy groups were using the argument to build local opposition to utility-scale clean-power projects across the country.
   10. The battle over a now-approved solar project in central Ohio provides a case in point.
   11. In November 2023, a group called Knox Smart Development held a town-hall meeting to stoke opposition to the proposed 120-megawatt Frasier agrivoltaics project.
   12. Canary Media (then the Energy News Network) confirmed last year that one of the main funders of the group was Tom Rastin, former vice president of Ariel Corp., which makes compressors for the oil and gas industry. Rastin and his wife, Karen Buchwald Wright, who is the company’s board chair, also play large roles in The Empowerment Alliance, a pro-natural-gas group.
   13. Steve Goreham, a policy advisor to conservative think tank The Heartland Institute, was one of the speakers at the 2023 event.
   14. In addition to denying that climate change requires a shift away from fossil fuels, Goreham told people at the Knox County meeting that solar farms require much more land than nuclear, gas, and coal-fired power plants. He also focused on ​“power density” in a 2023 opinion piece for the conservative-leaning Western Journal, warning that ​“environmental devastation” will result from policies that aim to accomplish net-zero carbon emissions. Goreham repeated this land-use argument in a Real Clear Energy post in March.
   15. A Heartland Institute policy brief released this spring also relied on information about the land areas needed for solar and wind energy to conclude that large-scale electricity production from those sources ​“requires substantial ecological damage and impact.” The institute’s funders have included Exxon Mobil, coal-mining company Murray Energy (now American Consolidated Natural Resources), and foundations supported by the Koch brothers.
   16. Another speaker at Knox Smart Development’s town hall, a lobbyist named Mitch Given, had previously represented The Empowerment Alliance in a 2023 presentation to the Ohio legislature’s Business First Caucus. His slides on the ​“nonsense of turning corn fields into solar fields” compared 6,050 acres for an Ohio solar project to just 5 acres for a similar-sized combined-cycle gas power plant.
   17. A 2024 rally against the Frasier agrivoltaics project then brought in Robert Bryce, a former Manhattan Institute fellow who spent an entire chapter of his 2010 book arguing that wind and solar energy are not green because of their land use and power density. The argument is also featured in an anti-solar video he released this month.
   18. The Manhattan Institute has received funding from fossil-fuel interests, such as Exxon Mobil and organizations linked to the Koch brothers. The Checks and Balances Project, a pro-clean-energy watchdog group, has criticized Bryce multiple times for failing to disclose those links. Bryce did not respond to Canary Media’s request for comment for this story.
   19. [Said Ray Locker, executive director for the Checks and Balances Project,] “Everybody needs to come to this debate with a full picture of who they’re talking to and why they’re saying what they’re saying.” [Hew went on to say that] Companies in the fossil-fuel industry ​“have a vested interest in preserving their business,” so when they present renewable energy ​“as somehow dirty, then that furthers their interest.”
   20. This month’s Interior Department order is not the only recent federal attack on clean energy based on the land-use argument. Last week, the U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said that the agency’s longstanding Rural Energy for America Program would no longer fund large solar projects on ​“prime farmland,” a major shift for a program whose main use case has been helping farmers install solar energy.
   21. [Said Brendan Pierpont, director of electricity modeling at think tank Energy Innovation,] “… Burgum’s order to the Department of the Interior is ​“really implementing an ideological agenda.” In his view, the mandate’s definition of capacity density is an ​“absurd metric,” with multiple flaws.
   22. Among other things, the capacity-density measurement does not capture the full picture of what it takes to produce electricity from a fossil-fueled or nuclear power plant.
   23. The metric focuses only on the step where electricity is generated. A full life-cycle analysis would consider all stages for producing equipment, obtaining and transporting fuel, and dealing with waste. [Pierpont said that] The Interior Department’s recent order is ​“entirely designed to make these [renewable] resources they don’t like look bad.”
   24. The definition of capacity density also fails to account for the fact that renewable projects can coexist with other activities, such as livestock grazing or farming certain crops, noted Matthias Fripp, global policy research director at Energy Innovation.
   25. Additionally, land used for solar or wind energy can produce electricity for decades, he said, unlike fossil fuels, where the industry must ​“keep finding new land” for resource extraction. Researchers made a similar point in a 2016 study in the peer-reviewed journal PLOS One, which found the land requirements for coal-fired electricity could equal or exceed those for renewable energy within two to 31 years.
   26. Anderson at the Energy and Policy Institute called the rationale for the Interior Department’s order ​“a red-herring argument to focus on just one of the impacts of different energy sources.”
   27. Nowhere does the order address environmental and health concerns about mining for coal or uranium, drilling for oil and gas, or transporting and burning those fuels. Waste disposal, particularly for coal and nuclear plants, also poses a challenge.
   28. Renewables ​“are obviously leaps and bounds ahead of fossil fuels in terms of their net benefits,” Anderson said. 
   29. MIKE: It shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to immediately see the flaws in the Interior Department’s claims. The key sentence in the story is this: “Among other things, the capacity-density measurement does not capture the full picture of what it takes to produce electricity from a fossil-fueled or nuclear power plant.”
   30. MIKE: While a fossil fuel generating plant can be relatively compact, consider the amount of land required to explore, drill, and maintain wells. Then consider the land occupied by exploiting a well, the often-polluting waste wells and mines generate, the land that’s despoiled by labor camps, road building, etc.
   31. MIKE: Even established, producing gas wells have problems. They leak methane into the air, causing even greater global warming than CO2 does, and in some cases the methane gets into groundwater supplies. There are more than a few videos of people turning on a water faucet and then touching a match to it, only to see flame suddenly spouting out of the tap along with the water.
   32. MIKE: And then there’s the case of pollution. Oil wells and pipelines leak, and to quote Rachel Maddow in 2010 regarding the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, “… crises happen so often in the oil and gas industry that they can sustain a whole disaster sub-industry for decades.”
   33. MIKE: And then think about the amount of land that’s permanently damaged by coal mining, especially open pit mining. Mining pits can never really be restored because the topsoil is never really the same. It can take decades or even centuries for the land to fully recover.
   34. MIKE: So in view of all the above and more that I haven’t even discussed, this whole “land energy capacity” claim is ludicrous on its face.
9. But the Trump regime isn’t deterred by facts. It’s guided by misinformation, disinformation, magical thinking, and lobbyists’ money, so here’s the next anti-renewables story from The Salt Lake Tribune — Trump admin pulls nearly $62M in solar grants from Utah, leaving rural towns in the dark; By Leia Larsen | SLTRIB.COM (The Salt Lake Tribune) | Aug. 25, 2025, 7:00 a.m. TAGS: Utah, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Solar Energy,
   1. Communities throughout Utah were warming to a plan that promised to lower utility bills and bring electricity to parts of the state too rugged and remote for power lines.
   2. But those plans were squelched earlier this month when the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded nearly all of a $62 million federal grant meant to expand solar energy across Utah. The move abruptly halted plans to cut utility bills, bring power to remote corners of the state and launch innovative renewable projects, leaving local leaders stunned.
   3. [Said Jennifer Eden, senior climate and clean energy associate at Utah Clean Energy, one of the Solar for All of Utah’s partners,] “We live in a very sunny state. And this was the opportunity of a generation to provide for people who can’t afford to do this themselves.”
   4. The Solar for All program was part of the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act’s Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund. It dedicated $7 billion to help every corner of the nation pay for solar energy projects, particularly those benefiting low-income and disadvantaged communities. Utah’s Office of Energy Development received just over $62 million from the program in April of 2024.
   5. The EPA officially withdrew the Solar for All funds on Aug. 7. The state must return it all, minus a small amount already spent on staff time.
   6. [Utah Office of Energy Development Director Emy Lesofski said in a statement,] “Utah is an any-of-the-above energy state with vast and diverse energy resources. We look forward to continuing to work with our federal partners on energy projects, including solar, that keep energy affordable, reliable and sustainable for Utah and the West.”
   7. Utah Housing Corporation was in talks to use some of the Solar for All funds to install solar panels on its lease-to-own affordable homes.
   8. [Said Claudia O’Grady, vice president of multifamily financing for the organization,] “What that means is these lower income households … are benefiting further from the reduction of their utility bills.”
   9. Its lease-to-own program, called CROWN, rents houses below market rates then offers tenants the ability to buy the homes after 15 years using equity accrued while they rented. The program mostly benefits rural Utah, and O’Grady said Solar for All would have further reduced the cost of living for participants leasing around 20 homes in places like Heber, Hurricane and Kanab.
   10. [O’Grady said,] “Affordable housing takes numerous sources of funds to be accomplished. It’s really a loss for our community.”
   11. San Juan County, where around one in four residents live in poverty, stood to benefit the most from Solar for All.
   12. [Said Talia Hansen, San Juan County Economic Development director,] “We’re kind of unique in that we’re the largest county in the state, but we also have really diverse terrain. It can be difficult for us to get power to half our county.”
   13. Parts of the Ute and Navajo reservations extend into the county as well, which have large communities without reliable water or electricity. During the COVID-19 pandemic, county workers struggled to help residents with no way to refrigerate medications, charge cell phones or contact emergency services.
   14. County officials weren’t just looking at installing solar panels on rural homes, Hansen said. They were exploring creative solutions for residents, like using solar technology to purify water or power stoves.
   15. [Hansen said,] “We’re a desert area. There aren’t trees. We have to go several hours to cut down wood and bring that to the community. Solar could answer a lot of those problems.”
   16. [MIKE: I’ll note that maybe cutting down trees in a desert area is not the best environmental thing to have to do. Continuing …]
   17. Pitching the ideas, Hansen said, took a lot of trust building with residents skeptical about the government’s help.
   18. [She said that,] “To have it taken away so quickly is really frustrating.”
   19. The Town of Bluff had plans to use Solar for All funds to install 189 donated solar panels at an old elementary school the town is converting into a cooperative cultural center.
   20. [Said Mayor Ann Leppanen,] “We have a lot of sunshine. And we have a huge building that, if you’re doing traditional heating and cooling, is going to be very expensive.”
   21. The 19,000 square-foot structure will someday house town offices, child day care, art space and a business incubator. Leppanen also hopes to host some county services in the space, so residents in the southernmost reaches of San Juan County don’t have to drive hours north to Monticello.
   22. She said residents from the surrounding community already rely on Bluff for safe drinking water, senior lunches and youth programs. The town of around 250 residents serves a wider community of around 5,000 people.
   23. In addition to Solar for All funds evaporating, Bluff officials also recently learned they’re losing a $1 million environmental justice grant from EPA they planned to use to upgrade the center’s heating, cooling, plumbing and fire suppression.
   24. [Mayor Leppanen said,] “This was devastating to this project.”
   25. In posts to social media announcing the end of Solar for All, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin claimed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed by President Donald Trump on July 4, removed the agency’s ability to deploy the program.
   26. [Administrator Zeldin] called Solar for All a “boondoggle” and a “grift” with multiple pass throughs and middlemen skimming money from the grants.
   27. [MIKE: I’ll note that Republicans keep trying to do everything using private sector companies, and that is the very definition of what Zeldin is calling “middlemen” and “skimming”, because one man’s middleman skimming is another man’s business profit margins. I guess only some profits are good, but others are bad. Definitions may depend on political donations. Continuing …]
   28. [Zeldin said,] “The Trump EPA is proudly committed to fully following the law, and being a great steward of your taxpayer dollars.”
   29. Eden, however, noted that under the Utah program, subrecipients of Solar for All Funds included Utah Clean Energy, the University of Utah and the Utah Department of Environmental Quality. They had statutory limits on how much they could charge for administering the grants.
   30. [Eden said,] “In no cases were subrecipients allowed to profit on this program.”
   31. The federal government’s $62 million investment would have likely saved Utahns $60 million in energy costs over 20 years, “if not more,” Eden added. It would have also built a local workforce trained in solar installations.
   32. Groups like the Southern Environmental Law Center have indicated they plan to sue EPA over the decision.
   33. MIKE: A benefit of solar power in urban areas is a reduction in the heat island effect created by many towns and cities. This is a result of many factors including heat re-radiated by buildings and streets, and the radiation of waste heat from cooling and heating. Solar panels reduce this effect by adding shade where they are installed, and they convert sunlight to electricity, which also reduces the heat island effect. An energy-saving knock-on effect is reducing the need for interior cooling.
   34. MIKE: These kinds of benefits are especially significant in desert regions such as exist in Utah.
   35. MIKE: I’m thinking that this withdrawal of grants for solar energy is another example of illegally canceling project disbursements allocated by Congress. Trump and the Republican Party is unquestionably running the most corrupt, lawless regime in US history, and the courts, when not complicit, seem incapable of really stopping them when they break the law.
   36. MIKE: One thing that happens over and over again is that the government is sued and the plaintiff wins. A court rules that a regime action is illegal, but rather than issuing a restraining order, the court usually allows the regime to continue doing what it’s doing while the decision is appealed, often up to the Supreme Court. So for weeks, months, and sometimes potentially for years, the court allows the damage being caused by regime policies to continue pending appeal. And this damage can be permanent and far-reaching.
   37. MIKE: Maybe if the court issued a restraining order that stopped what the regime was doing, they would try to accelerate the case through the courts instead of playing a delay game. There would be a whole different set of incentives and disincentives at work.
   38. MIKE: The US may still have a democracy after this regime is voted out or overthrown, but what the state of the nation will be by then is difficult to foresee.
10. Continuing on the theme of the Trump regime’s determination to obstruct renewable energy projects, from MEDIAMATTERS — Some on Fox question Trump’s efforts to hinder new renewable projects as power demand and electricity bills skyrocket; Written by Ilana Berger | MEDIAMATTERS.ORG | Published 08/29/25 12:53 PM EDT. TAGS: Climate & Energy, Electricity Rates, Donald Trump. Renewable Energy Projects,
    1. In three recent segments, Fox personalities questioned the Trump administration’s efforts to block new renewable energy projects as increased demand for electricity to power new data centers drives rate hikes.
    2. Between 2021 and 2024, average monthly residential electricity bills went up by about $22 per month. Now, energy prices are rising twice as fast as the cost of inflation. According to The Guardian, a recent report from the think tank Energy Innovation found that, “Household electricity bills have increased by 10% since Donald Trump re-entered the White House.”
    3. Several factors, including the cost of equipment updates in response to extreme weather events and an increase in demand for electricity, are contributing to the rate hikes. In New Jersey, grid operators have reportedly been slow to connect new energy projects, with many renewable and storage projects waiting in interconnection queues. In the first five months of 2025, renewable energy projects accounted for 91% of new electricity generation. But much more is needed to help lower the cost of electricity.
    4. One such project is Revolution Wind, a wind farm off the coast of Rhode Island that is expected to power “more than 350,000 homes.” Or at least, it was. On August 22, Trump issued a stop-work order on the project.   
    5. A few Fox voices begin to pierce through the network’s (and the president’s) anti-renewable agenda
    6. Fox News has scrambled to find a way to blame rate hikes on renewable energy, recently focusing on New Jersey after wholesale electric bills in the state rose by 20% in 2025.
    7. But in an August 26 segment of Varney & Co., Fox correspondent Madison Alworth discussed the stop-work order in Rhode Island for “national security concerns” and concluded that “at the end of this are those folks that are left in the lurch the ratepayers? Because energy bills, they just continue to go up.” 
    8. Host Stuart Varney then asked, “And they haven’t spelled out what is the national security concern with the project, have they?” Alworth replied that “they have not.” Varney continued, “I thought we wanted all forms of energy to power AI, wind included.” 
    9. Fox contributor and wealth management CEO Mark Tepper told Varney, “That would make sense but what we really want is consistent energy sources, and wind is known to be intermittent. It’s inconsistent.”
    10. (Though he appeared to question the administration’s directive in the moment, Varney has hosted Interior Department Secretary Doug Burgum and Energy Secretary Chris Wright to push anti-renewable energy talking points unchallenged in defense of cancelling the wind project.) 
    11. During an August 23 interview on Fox News Live,correspondent Rich Edson asked Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin why it was necessary to halt a nearly-finished offshore wind farm. 
    12. [Edson asked,] “What’s the problem with this wind farm in Rhode Island?” Zeldin replied that Trump is “not a fan of wind,” pointed to largely overblown claims of negative environmental impacts, and added that, “Our country needs more baseload power. … It’s just not an honest approach to this entire energy conversation if we start acting as if wind is going to be a substitute for all of those things.” 
    13. In an unusual move for Fox, Edson continued to challenge Zeldin. [He continued,] “This project is apparently largely almost finished. You’ve got AI, you’ve got the electrification of everything around us. I mean, we just need power. Why would you take any power offline?” 
    14. Later in the segment, after Zeldin plugged a proposed natural gas pipeline, Edson continued to press the question of renewables, asking, “Is there room for both, though?”
    15. Edson and Varney haven’t been the only Fox employees to push back recently.
    16. In an August 22 Fox Business segment, anchor Cheryl Casone interviewed Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), a leading anti-renewable voice in New Jersey. Casone asked, “The critics will say yeah, sure, but the money was already put through, these projects have already begun, so you’re going to get a lot of job losses. I’m curious if you worry about that?” 
    17. She also referenced that this is a nationwide issue, pointing out higher rates in Connecticut and Maine, saying, “The [S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)] reports that there’s going to be a 13% rise in electricity costs from 2022-2025 just in general. So this is a major problem. And now with AI data centers, we need all the energy.”
    18. Van Drew replied that “this was all about virtue signaling and nothing about reality.” He said he worked with Trump to make offshore wind “a dead industry because it does nothing good for New Jersey.” 
    19. Casone later mentioned how Trump’s signature legislation, the One Big Beautiful Bill, eliminated the 30% solar tax credit for home owners, adding, “I know there’s a lot of solar use in New Jersey.”
    20. Trump’s energy policies contradict his promises
    21. Trump is actively shrinking potential energy supply and killing hundreds of “good union jobs” by halting the construction of the Revolution Wind Project, which began in 2023.
    22. According to Ørsted, the company behind the project, Revolution Wind is 80% finished. It has reportedly created 1,200 jobs in the region, including 300 union jobs. 
    23. Trump promisedto “cut energy and electricity prices in half within 12 months” during his 2024 campaign. Instead, the administration is actively pumping the brakes on new energy projects, and costs are up and expected to continue rising. In fact, the Rhodium Group predicts that “new clean capacity additions to the grid will shrink by 57-62% from 2025 through 2035,” tightening energy supply as demand grows. And since Trump took office, 64,000 renewable energy jobs have been cut or paused. BloombergNEF also recently found that billions of dollars in investments are leaving the U.S. in response to Trump’s anti-renewable energy policies. 
    24. Experts also say that Trump’s tariffs will make the grid less reliable by making batteries more expensive. According to Wood Mackenzie, Trump’s tariffs on Chinese imports could mean that “the cost of a utility scale solar facility in the US will be 54% more expensive than in Europe and 85% more expensive than a new solar plant built in China.” 
    25. MIKE: I installed solar panels in my home over 3 years ago. On average, the system provides about 40-45% of my electricity. If my roof could have made use of more panels, I would have installed them. I also have batteries, which were the most costly part of the system, but to me it’s the only way to install solar. When my panels provide more energy than I can use during the day, I can use some of that battery power at night.
    26. MIKE: Perhaps most importantly, when there’s a power outage, batteries can run my house for hours. That’s usually all the bridge I need for power to be restored.
    27. MIKE: Solar panels without batteries don’t provide power during outages. I was surprised to learn that when I was researching solar power, but there are technical reasons for it.
    28. MIKE: The impetus for my move to solar was Winter Storm Uri in 2021. I didn’t have the option for a backup generator. Solar with batteries at least means that if I lose the power grid for a day or more, I’ll never have to go without power for an entire 24 hour period. That means some level of potentially lifesaving heat or cooling for some portion of a day.
    29. MIKE: It took a lot of calculations and factors to make this project make economic sense. The federal tax credit was a big one. I couldn’t have afforded the system without it.
    30. MIKE: Currently, I’ve calculated that with my loan costs, I pay a premium of roughly $70 per month for the energy security I’ve purchased. That’s about $840 per year. As electricity costs go up, that premium will go down by comparison.
    31. MIKE: I can’t calculate how much energy I save from the shading that the panels give my roof, but I’m sure it matters.
    32. In 20 years, which is the estimated minimum useful life of the panels and the length of the loan, and assuming current energy prices don’t go up — which is big assumption — I’ll have spent a premium almost $17,000 for the panels, which is comparable to what a backup generator would cost.
    33. MIKE: But a generator is a machine. It needs maintenance. It sometimes needs repair. It burns natural gas not only when there’s no power, but also for periodic self-tests. That’s another utility cost.
    34. According to one source, “On average, whole-house generators can last 15 to 30 years, depending on the type of generator, maintenance, and usage. However, this lifespan varies with a few key factors. … Generators used more frequently, such as during long storm seasons, experience greater wear and tear. [And] Regular maintenance is essential for extending the lifespan. Generators require oil changes, air filter replacements, and inspections to catch potential problems early.”
    35. MIKE: So you’re essentially buying a car to electrify your house in an emergency, and you have to pay to properly maintain it just like a car, whether it metaphorically sits in your driveway or you take it on long trips.
    36. MIKE: That’s not to say that backup generators are bad investments. Like most things, it depends on your personal situation.
    37. MIKE: But getting back to the original question of whether renewables have a place in our energy mix. … Land used for utility-scale solar and wind power is often dual use. It can be used for grazing and some farming. In very hot climates using solar panels for energy and partly shading crops is a real option. Land used for nuclear and fossil fuel power plants, not so much.
    38. MIKE: On the one hand, renewables are variable and sometimes intermittent, but a resilient network of industrial capacity backup batteries bridge that variability. That’s something pro-fossil energy people never mention.
    39. MIKE: There are many new and potentially safer and more cost-effective utility-level battery technologies on the horizon. Some are already in use.
    40. MIKE: Meanwhile, fossil fuel plants are claimed to be essential for providing what is called “baseline power”. But anyone who has experienced power outages can tell you that this so-called “baseline power” can also be intermittent. It can also fail for hours or even days.
    41. MIKE: As for nuclear power, it’s the most expensive electricity with the longest lead times that there is, and accidents, though rare, can be catastrophic.
    42. MIKE: So when all is said and done, what is really the difference between relying on renewable energy with utility-level backup batteries for energy security versus relying on fossil fuel power generators? My feeling is, when utilities develop well-designed and comprehensive renewable systems, the choice in favor of renewables is clear.