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.)

INTRO FOR ELECTIONS [Audio]: “Let me warn you and let me warn the Nation against the smooth evasion which says, “Of course we believe all these things; we believe in social security; we believe in work for the unemployed; we believe in saving homes. Cross our hearts and hope to die, we believe in all these things; but we do not like the way the present Administration is doing them. Just turn them over to us. We will do all of them- we will do more of them; we will do them better; and, most important of all, the doing of them will not cost anybody anything.”~ From  Franklin D Roosevelt speech to the 1936 Democratic NY State Convention – 1936

INTRO FOR ELECTIONS: “Let me warn you and let me warn the Nation against the smooth evasion which says, “Of course we believe all these things; we believe in social security; we believe in work for the unemployed; we believe in saving homes. Cross our hearts and hope to die, we believe in all these things; but we do not like the way the present Administration is doing them. Just turn them over to us. We will do all of them- we will do more of them; we will do them better; and, most important of all, the doing of them will not cost anybody anything.”~ From  Franklin D Roosevelt speech to the 1936 Democratic NY State Convention – 1936

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 radio

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 22nd week of Trump’s National Guard troops in Los Angeles; the 13th week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC; A federal law enforcement occupation in Chicago; and 4 weeks since Trump deployed National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee.

1. The Joint General & Special Election is November 4.
   1. Early voting ended on Friday October 31^st.
   2. HarrisVotes-dot-COM has a list of voting centers.
   3. If you have a mail-in ballot but you haven’t sent it in, it’s too late to mail it. You can go to a voting center on election day. Bring the mail-in ballot with you so that an election clerk can ‘spoil’ it. You will then be permitted to vote normally at the machine.
   4. On election day, Tuesday November 4, the polls are open from 7AM – 7PM.
   5. It’s important to note that if you are on line to vote before 7pm, you cannot be turned away, even if polling hours have passed.
   6. HarrisVotes-dot-com has a “What’s On My Ballot” link, which you can access from this show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com. You can fill in your name and address and see your particular ballot.
   7. When voting in person, you can print your sample ballot, mark it with your choices, and you are permitted to bring that paperwork to the polling place as a reference. But you must take it with you when you leave.
   8. Other counties should have similar voting information links, as well as the Texas Secretary of State at VoteTexas-dot-gov.
2. Still relevant, from HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA — Houston voters can get free rides to and from the polls; By Adam Zuvanich | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on October 17, 2025, 12:21 PM (Last Updated: October 17, 2025, 12:44 PM). TAGS: Elections, Harris County, Houston Local News, Transportation, Voting2025, Election, Early Voting, Election Day, Harris County Election Day, Metro, METRO Free Transportation,
   1. Houston-area residents who plan to vote … can again get free rides to and from the polls …
   2. The Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) is continuing an election-season tradition by offering free rides to voters [on Election Day on Nov. 4.] The promotion applies to METRO’s buses and light rail lines, along with its curb2curb microtransit service and METROLift program, an ADA-accessible paratransit service.
   3. [In] order to take advantage of the free rides, passengers need to show their voter identification or “other approved documentation” to the operator or fare inspector. …
   4. [MIKE: In spite of my own additional efforts, I was never able to get better clarification than that, and METRO never updated or clarified that information on their web site. Continuing …]
   5. The free round-trip rides will be offered from 7 a.m.-7 p.m. [on] Election Day. …
   6. Harris County will … have about 600 polling locations on Election Day.
   7. METRO passengers can plan their trips to the polls by using the RideMETRO app or by visiting RideMETRO-dot-org.
   8. MIKE: The specific instructions for how to ride METRO for free to vote can be found at the link I’m providing at RideMetro-dot-org. According to the Voting web page at RideMetro-dot-org, it says in part: “… METRO will provide free rides to and from polling locations … on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 4. Upon request, show your voter ID or other approved documentation to ride free.”
   9. MIKE: As the Houston Public Media story mentions, precise instructions of what kind of documentation to show are absent.
   10. MIKE: I think that the easiest course for those planning to take METRO to the polls is to have your actual voter registration card — the one sent to you by the state of Texas that is no longer sufficient to actually vote — and show that upon request. You may also want to have a Texas state photo ID, if possible.
   11. MIKE: By now, METRO employees should be clear on how this works. I’d be interested in hearing from anyone who used this free ride service to the polls, so please tell me how it worked for you.
3. Last week, I published a list of my suggestions for how to vote on the 17 proposed amendments to the Texas Constitution. For your information, I’m providing a link to that in this show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-COM.
   1. REFERENCE: Mike’s Voter Guide: Recommendations on the 2025 Texas Constitutional Propositions;
4. MIKE: You might recall that there is a petition campaign to recall John Whitmire as Houston Mayor. They need thousands of signatures. They have a calendar which I’ve linked to in this show post, but for your convenience and as a public service, I’m listing the location, date and time that they will have a table where you can sign up. This week, it’s:
   1. Monday, November 3: 6:00–7:00pm: Oak Forest Democrats @ Spaghetti Western. 1951 W. TC Jester Blvd, 77008
   2. You can also visit the website for further information at RecallHouston-dot-org.
5. From ABC13-dot-com — City council speakers say they received calls from HPD before speaking out against the department; ByPooja Lodhia | ABC13.COM | Friday, October 31, 2025 10:24PM. TAGS: Politics, Houston, Houston Police Department, Houston Politics, Society,
   1. City council speakers signed up to speak out against what they call unnecessarily invasive surveillance policies by the Houston Police Department.
   2. Then, they say they started getting calls from HPD.
   3. Multiple speakers at this week’s council meeting said they felt intimidated after receiving calls from HPD before speaking. …
   4. [Another speaker said,] “[Callers have] been saying some offensive things and even trying to argue about our pain caused by HPD. That’s intimidation, and it violates the right to speak freely.”
   5. [Alondra Andrade said,] “After receiving a call from HPD to my personal phone number, I’m deeply concerned.”
   6. Alondra Andrade came before the council to criticize HPD’s camera systems, traffic stops, and relationship with federal immigration authorities.
   7. She said the HPD officer who called tried to convince her why the policies were in place.
   8. All registered speakers are required to provide phone numbers.
   9. [Andrade said,] “Although this was just a phone call and minor in some eyes. It is an extension of that surveillance system.”
   10. Houston police did not respond to our request for comment, but Mayor Whitmire’s spokesperson says city officials call registered speakers in a good-faith effort to collect information and resolve problems.
   11. At this week’s meeting, councilmember Carolyn Evans Shabazz responded to speakers.
   12. [Evans Shabazz said,] “People are calling, from my office, council members, and certainly the mayor’s office. But, no one is to call and intimidate anyone. I was assured by the mayor’s chief of staff that it would be addressed, and that is unacceptable.”
   13. [Andrade said,] “I’ve testified a bunch of times at Commissioners Court, at City Council. This has never happened before. I think it matters to just show up and to keep fighting. If I’m under the impression that things can change for the better, I’m going to try to work toward that, and part of that is using my voice.”
   14. MIKE: When your computer software has a glitch, you can provide details of what you were doing that might have caused that glitch. You are often asked by the software if you would mind being contacted further about the problem. You are then given the option of saying yes or no.
   15. MIKE: It might be reasonable to ask people who want to speak before city council to provide their names, phone numbers and the topics about which they want to speak, but in my opinion, they should not be contacted beforehand, because, yes, it can seem like intimidation.
   16. MIKE: I think that speakers should not be contacted before they appear and offer their comments. And they should be given the courtesy that your computer software gives you: A request for permission to be contacted further.
   17. MIKE: It would be simple enough for the council speaker to ask for this permission at the conclusion of each comment. That would be both a courtesy, and a way of putting that response on the record.
   18. MIKE: These calls to people before they even deliver their comments to council can be construed as intimidation, similar to prior restraint.
6. Exclusive: [from the HOUSTONCHRONICLE-dot-COM] — Explore the political connections of top executives who build in Houston’s floodplains; By Yilun Cheng and Matt Zdun | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | Oct. 30, 2025 10:00 a.m.. TAGS: Houston’s Floodplains, Harris County, Montgomery County, High-Risk Flood Zones, Political Contributions,
   1. When it comes to building in Houston’s floodplains, political connections sometimes carry as much weight as engineering data.
   2. A Houston Chronicle investigationreveals that in Harris and Montgomery counties — which saw the most floodplain construction in Greater Houston since Hurricane Harvey — many key political donors represent companies building brand-new neighborhoodsinside mapped floodplains.
   3. These firms have designed or developed thousands of homes inside high-risk flood zones while regularly contributing to county judges and commissioners, who set development standards. The same development interests also serve on local policy boards and foster business relationships with decision makers. Experts and residents said these ties raise questions about how much influence the industry holds behind the scenes.
   4. Here are five local power brokers who build in the floodplains.
   5. Jeff Cannon — senior vice president of Houston-based LJA Engineering, is one of the largest donors in the area, giving $212,250 to Harris County officials and $135,950 to Montgomery County officials over the past decade.
   6. During that time, the engineering firm he helps lead has been repeatedly accused by residents of designing developments that put neighborhoods at risk.
   7. In one case, nearly 500 homeowners sued LJA Engineering and other firms involved in developing their Kingwood-area neighborhood. They claimed the companies did not take sufficient steps to protect buyers, leading to catastrophic flooding during Harvey.
   8. LJA Engineering has denied the allegations, saying the evidence does not support the homeowners’ claims of negligence. The lawsuit is pending.
   9. Flooding also prompted a legal battle at Woodridge Village, a proposed community near the Harris–Montgomery county line that involved LJA Engineering.
   10. In 2019, residents in a nearby neighborhood sued LJA Engineering and other firms behind Woodridge Village, alleging their faulty work had caused homes to flood.
   11. LJA Engineering denied the allegations. The two parties reached a settlement after Harris County and the city of Houston agreed to purchase the land for roughly $14 million and use some of it for a regional detention basin.
   12. The company told the Chronicle it does not comment on its employees’ political activities or legal affairs.
   13. Danny Signorelli — founder and president of the Signorelli Company, donated $164,840 to Montgomery County judges and commissioners in the past decade.
   14. On the state level, Signorelli has also contributed to former state Sen. Brandon Creighton and hired Creighton as the company’s longtime executive vice president and general counsel.
   15. The Woodlands-based company has developed several subdivisions that cross floodplain boundaries. One of its projects, the Commons at Lake Houston, sits partly in a high-risk flood zone near the San Jacinto River and has been embroiled in a yearslong legal battle with the city of Houston related to flood protection rules.
   16. Jeff Dewese, the Signorelli Company’s senior vice president of land division, said Greater Houston has hundreds of creeks and bayous and that his company is well versed in building communities in those conditions.
   17. “The licensed engineers we use design every project to meet or exceed standards,” Dewese said. “Our neighborhoods work with the land, and with the broader community, not against it.”
   18. Residents opposing Signorelli in court say that’s not true at the Commons.
   19. Cindy Kroth said her property has suffered flooding and erosion due to unfixed drainage issues. A representative of the property owners association acknowledged during a community meeting in May that there were more than $10 million in drainage repairs needed in the subdivision.
   20. Tommy Bryant, the Signorelli Company’s senior land development manager, recently said the firm designed the drainage system in accordance with local rules and had hired an engineering company to conduct a thorough assessment of any repair work still to be done.
   21. Costello PAC — the political action committee formed by Costello Inc., a Houston-based engineering firm, contributed $242,000 to Harris County officials and $91,190 to Montgomery County officials over the last 10 years.
   22. The company was founded by Stephen Costello, a former Houston City Council member later appointed by former Mayor Sylvester Turner to oversee the city’s flood and drainage projects. Known as Houston’s “flood czar,” Costello helped coordinate the city’s recovery efforts following Hurricane Harvey and other disasters.
   23. In the 1990s, Costello’s firm helped design Grand Lakes, a subdivision partly built inside a flood pool – high-risk land designed to hold back stormwater and known to flood during major rains. Around the same time, the firm was commissioned by Harris County to assess local flood pool risks and found that 6,000 properties worth a total of $500 millionwere at risk.
   24. Costello previously told the Chronicle he didn’t realize until after Harvey that the flood pool could inundate Grand Lakes.
   25. MIKE: I would think that if it’s called a flood pool, it’s called a flood pool for a reason, but that’s just me. Continuing …]
   26. In 2023, Costello Inc. was acquired by Pape-Dawson Engineers, another large Houston-based engineering firm. Pape-Dawson Engineers’ own political action committee and senior leaders donated $76,450 to Montgomery and Harris County officials in the past decade.
   27. Pape-Dawson Engineers has also worked on communities located on flood-prone land. It’s being sued by a San Antonio nursery over its design work on two nearby developments. The suit accused Pape-Dawson Engineers and other firms involved of causing water runoff and flooding on the nursery property. The judge has asked the two parties to mediate the dispute.
   28. Costello said he left Costello Inc. when he joined the Turner administration in 2016 and referred questions about campaign donations to the firm’s current owner. Pape-Dawson Engineers did not respond to the Chronicle’s request for comment.
   29. Jack Miller —is the managing principal of RG Miller & DCCM, a Houston-based civil engineering and survey firm. In the past 10 years, Miller gave $347,250 to Harris County officials and $70,500 to Montgomery County officials.
   30. The company has been criticizedfor working on developments located on flood-prone land or overlapping with floodplain boundaries, including parts of the sprawling Bridgeland communityand the Northpark South subdivision.
   31. Experts warnthat even with mitigation measures, developments in floodplains can still elevate regional risk because local rules are often based on outdated data and seldom account for the cumulative impact of multiple projects.
   32. The company did not respond to the Chronicle’s request for comment.
   33. Lisa Clark —is an experienced development consultant who spent more than two decades as a senior executive at Ryko Development, a Houston-based firm specializing in developing lakeside master-planned communities. She now runs her own consulting firm.
   34. Over the past decade, she contributed $24,880 to Harris and Montgomery county officials. Besides donations, she’s also chaired the Houston Planning Commission, which approves development plans and advises City Hall on land use policy.
   35. Clark served as Ryko’s point person as the company advanced its Townsen project, a 5,500-acre proposed development in Montgomery County that lies almost entirely in a floodway or floodplain.
   36. In 2021, she led yearlong negotiations with Harris County Flood Control about a potential deal for the county to purchase around 1,700 acres of the most flood-prone parts of the land, according to emails obtained through a records request. The county balked at the $25 million price tag.
   37. Then, in 2024, after a Montgomery County engineer sharply objected to Ryko’s preliminary plan, Ryko’s president told his team that Clark had been “actively engaged with both counties” on the project and the dispute, and asked them to loop her in on future communications.
   38. Clark took it from there, immediately setting up a call with then-Commissioner James Noack, who represents the area. The county ultimately rescinded the objection and took the engineer off the case, emails show.
   39. Clark did not respond to the Chronicle’s questions about her donations or communications with local officials. Ryko has since sold the land to another firm, and the Townsen project is moving forward to the next stage of development under new ownership.
   40. MIKE: I say this as a non-expert, but in my humble opinion based on anecdotal evidence, construction simply should not be permitted in certain flood plains. At a minimum, anything sold in a flood plain should have full disclosure with necessary warnings.
   41. MIKE: It’s my observation that notwithstanding Houston building codes, in many if not most cases, there are one of three results from building in flood plains.
   42. MIKE: Either: a) the new construction ends up being prone to floods, or b) the new construction causes flooding in adjacent areas that didn’t used to have flood problems, or c) both of the above.
   43. MIKE: It’s my understanding that construction in the Houston Heights has two requirements. One is that most developments create detention ponds (my small subdivision has two). The other is that builders can’t bring in new dirt to raise home foundations or grading.
   44. MIKE: Because I try to follow the internet Golden Rule of “Google before you type,” I used the following search term: “Building codes in the Houston Heights for flood protection.”
   45. MIKE: I got this response, with the caveat, “AI responses may include mistakes. For legal advice, consult a professional.”
   46. GOOGLE Ai: Lowest floor elevation: For new buildings, the lowest finished floor must be at least 2 feet above the 500-year flood elevation, also known as the Design Flood Elevation (DFE).
   47. GOOGLE Ai: Critical facilities: Facilities such as hospitals, fire stations, and police stations must have their lowest finished floor elevated at least 3 feet above the 500-year flood elevation.
   48. MIKE: I’ll note here that if “critical facilities” must be 3 feet above the 500-year flood elevation, why should other structures be allowed to be built with less? Continuing …
   49. GOOGLE Ai: Substantial improvements: If the cost of an addition or reconstruction is 50% or more of the building’s market value, the entire structure must be brought into compliance with the current elevation standards.
   50. GOOGLE Ai: Additions: For smaller additions to existing homes (less than 33% of the footprint), the lowest floor must be elevated at least 1 foot above the 100-year flood elevation.
   51. MIKE: In my opinion, looking ahead to the lifespan of the typical residential building, this is probably inadequate in the long term. Continuing …
   52. GOOGLE Ai: No net fill: When developing within the 500-year floodplain, builders are prohibited from adding any net fill (soil, pavement, etc.) below the flood elevation without proper mitigation.
   53. MIKE: In my opinion, this rule should also apply to the 100-year flood plain, since these areas have seemed to flood more often than every 100 years. Continuing …
   54. GOOGLE Ai: Flood openings: For enclosures below the flood elevation, such as garages, flood openings are required to allow floodwater to flow freely and equalize pressure, which prevents structural damage. 
   55. MIKE: I’ve also included links to two other stories from the Houston Chronicle. They may be paywalled for you.
   56. FULL INVESTIGATION: How officials approved tens of thousands of homes in Houston floodplains: ‘1,000 ways to rig the model’; By Yilun Cheng and Matt Zdun | Updated Oct. 29, 2025 12:59 p.m.
   57. SERVING DUAL ROLES: Creighton’s ethically complex votes
7. Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 to November 30, so we have a month left, but for me at least, the prospect of a really heavy rain causing flooding is never far from my mind. In a related story from the Houston Chronicle from May of this year — Thinking of buying a home in a Houston floodplain? Ask these 8 questions to protect your investment; By Yilun Cheng | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | Updated May 21, 2025 11:01 a.m. TAGS: Home Prices, Flood plains, Flooding, Houston, Metro-Houston, Flood Risk,
   1. … Houston and its fast-growing suburbs have become a landing spot for many families seeking more space and affordability. But as buyers weigh their options, many find themselves grappling with the region’s persistent flood risk.
   2. Houstonians have seen firsthand how heavy rainfall can transform streets into rivers – often at a high cost to property, safety and lives. Still, research shows buyers often overlook flood hazards when choosing a home, prioritizing factors like neighborhood amenities and waterfront views.
   3. It does not help that there is no clear, centralized source of information on a property’s flood risks or history.
   4. The Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] has repeatedly delayed releasing Harris County’s updated flood maps, leaving much of the existing floodplain information outdated. Real estate listings do not always highlight flood risks upfront, and while Texas law requires sellers to disclose past flooding, piecing together a property’s full flood history can be daunting and sometimes impossible, experts said.
   5. To help prospective homebuyers make informed decisions, here are eight questions to consider before purchasing a property in the Houston region.
   6. … Has the property flooded before, and how often?: Texas has some of the country’s strongest flood hazard disclosure regulations. Before selling a property, a homeowner must reveal whether the house has previously flooded, if any flood damage claims have been made, if the property is located within a 100-year or 500-year floodplain and if it sits in a floodway, flood pool or reservoir.
   7. Carefully reviewing the disclosure form is the first step toward understanding a property’s flood history. There are, however, limitations to the system, according to Samuel Brody, a professor at Texas A&M at Galveston who drafted the state disclosure law.
   8. For one, it often falls to the buyer to cross-check the information with other resources to ensure it is accurate. Plus, the law only requires sellers to disclose what they know, so if the current owner has only lived there a short time, they may not be aware of past flooding incidents.
   9. [Brody said,] “A good hack would be to look into how long the individual selling the home has been in the home. Is the seller a flipper who owned the house for a month? Is it someone who’s lived there for 30 years? If it were 30 years, and there’s been no flood, that would make me feel more comfortable.”
   10. Another way to gauge a property’s flood history is through FEMA flood insurance claims[, which is linked in this story]. These records can reveal which neighborhoods sustained significant damage during major weather events like Hurricane Harvey.
   11. But FEMA, citing privacy concerns, does not share specific addresses linked to claims, making it difficult to trace damage to individual properties. On top of that, low flood insurance coverage means many affected homes do not show up in the data.
   12. [Houston real estate broker Bill Baldwin said,] “You are relying on different sources: the property owner, maybe a neighbor, maybe a real estate professional, [or maybe] an insurance agent. There is no easy way to find that information.”
   13. How will owning a home in a floodplain affect my property value?: Being in a floodplain can lower a home’s value, but the impact varies.
   14. In Harris County, homes in the 100-year floodplain sold for around 2.3%, or $7,300 less than similar homes outside the flood zone before Hurricane Harvey, according to a study by Freddie Mac. After the storm, that discount more than doubled to 5.5%, or roughly $17,800 on average.
   15. The effect also depends on how aware buyers are of the risk. When Texas strengthened its flood disclosure laws in 2019 – requiring sellers to disclose not only if a property is in a high-risk flood zone but also if it is in a moderate-risk zone – homes in the 500-year floodplain saw a 4.2% price drop, a Fannie Mae analysis shows.
   16. Over the long term, however, the market’s memory of flood events can fade. Several studies have found that if no further floods occur in the following years, the initial price impacts tend to dissipate as time passes.
   17. Given Houston’s competitive housing market and the influx of new residents, flooding concerns often do little to deter buyers from paying a premium in popular neighborhoods, according to Baldwin. He said he has sold homes to many buyers who knew the houses flooded during Harvey but were willing to take on the risk.
   18. [Baldwin said,] “The sheer reality of it is Houstonians have a very short memory for things like hurricanes. People are moving into our city that have absolutely zero experience with an event like Harvey…They don’t have that perspective of just how quickly the weather can change.”
   19. How can I tell if I am buying a home in a floodplain?: A floodplain is typically a flat or low-lying area near rivers, bayous or coastlines that is prone to flooding when water levels rise.
   20. Floodplain boundaries are drawn by FEMA which uses historical flood data, topography and hydrologic studies to determine the likelihood of flooding. These maps help identify which areas have a high, moderate or low risk of flooding.
   21. For official floodplain information, prospective buyers can go to FEMA’s Flood Map Service Center online [which is linked in this story]. The tool lets users enter an address to see if their home falls within a designated flood zone. Users can also zoom in for a closer look at the specific flood risk classification and download a copy of the map for reference.
   22. Additionally, the Harris County Flood Control District’s website hosts similar interactive maps [link is included here]. The maps provide information on the floodplain administrator and the watershed associated with an address, among other details.
   23. What flood zone is the home in, and what does that mean?: FEMA’s maps break down flood zones into several categories, but the ones homebuyers most commonly encounter are AE and X.
   24. Zone AE is commonly known as the 100-year floodplain, meaning there is a 1% chance of flooding in any given year. In Harris County, that could happen if around 17 inches of rain fall within 24 hours. With increasingly severe storms, living in a 100-year floodplain presents a significant risk of flooding over the lifespan of a typical mortgage. Properties in AE zones are usually located near rivers, bayous or other water sources.
   25. [MIKE: I’d include drainage ditches in this list. Open ditches are often poorly maintained, since it usually falls to the homeowner who abuts the drainage easement. Also, debris such as branches, leaves, and trash often flow from the upstream end of a ditch and eventually clog it, leading to flooding in the road and some homes. Continuing …]
   26. Zone X covers areas considered to have a lower risk of flooding. There are two types: shaded and unshaded.
   27. Shaded Zone X areas, or the 500-year floodplain, have a 0.2% annual chance of flooding. This means flooding could occur if Harris County gets about 25 inches of rain in 24 hours. While such intense rainfall is uncommon, it is not unprecedented. During the three-year span from 2015 to 2017, Houston experienced three 500-year floods, including Hurricane Harvey.
   28. Unshaded Zone X areas have an even lower risk, but recent severe weather events in the region have shown that even these zones are not completely safe from flooding.
   29. What flood mitigation measures have been implemented on this property?: In Houston, assessing a property’s flood risk means looking beyond the obvious. Location on the flood maps matters, but it does not tell the whole story. The measures taken to manage floodwaters — both at the community level and on the property itself — sometimes make more of a difference, according to Brody.
   30. Community-wide infrastructure can vary dramatically, even within the same city. Features like detention ponds, stormwater pipes and street drainage systems all shape how water moves during heavy rain. Outdated or undersized drainage can leave streets submerged even during moderate storms.
   31. At the property level, first-floor elevation is a key factor in flood resilience. Homes built after post-Harvey regulations often sit higher, while older homes may not have these elevated foundations and tend to be more vulnerable when floodwaters rise.
   32. Floodproofing features, like foundation vents and elevated HVAC systems, also help minimize water damage. Even smaller measures, like French drains and well-maintained gutters, can keep water away from the foundation.
   33. Brody’s research team at the Institute for a Disaster Resilient Texas has developed a tool called Buyers Aware [link included here], which compiles a flood risk profile for every address using factors like elevation, distance to the nearest body of water and height above the closest drainage point.
   34. But more granular details still require digging deeper, he said.
   35. Before Brody and his wife bought their home in St. George Place in 2017, they looked at a dozen properties and eventually settled on one he believed would stay dry. Three months later, Hurricane Harvey hit, flooding most nearby homes, but theirs stayed above water, he said.
   36. [Said Brody,] “You know, some people look at granite countertops or the number of bedrooms or distance to school…I look at flood risk. I was the hero for a day.”
   37. Are there flood control projects in this area, and how will they impact my home?: Since Hurricane Harvey, the Harris County Flood Control District has embarked on a number of new initiatives to mitigate flood risks, including ambitious plans to widen channels, expand detention basins and build new drainage systems. Residents can monitor the progress of these projects using the flood control district’s Active Construction Projects map [link included here].
   38. Flood control projects can lead to changes in floodplain boundaries. Staying informed about project timelines and expected outcomes can also help homeowners weigh potential benefits, such as reduced flood risk, against drawbacks like construction-related disruptions.
   39. Do you need flood insurance in a 100- or 500-year flood plain?: Homeowners insurance typically does not cover flood damage.
   40. [MIKE: I’ll note here that “flooding” is defined to occur from rising water. It’s not the same as water damage from a damaged roof during a storm or a broken pipe. Nonetheless, check with your insurance agent to be certain what your policy does and does not cover. Continuing …]
   41. Purchasing a separate flood insurance policy can help residents protect their buildings, personal belongings or both.
   42. Homes located within a 100-year floodplain are generally required to have flood insurance if they have a mortgage from a federally regulated or insured lender. These homes have protection options no matter how many times they have flooded, according to FEMA.
   43. Properties in a 500-year floodplain or areas outside designated flood zones are usually not required to carry flood insurance. Still, living outside a 100-year floodplain does not guarantee safety, and Harris County Flood Control District advises everyone to consider purchasing flood insurance.
   44. Flood coverage is not limited to single-family homes. It also extends to condos, apartments and businesses. Property owners can get up to $250,000 in building coverage and up to $100,000 for personal belongings. Renters can protect their belongings too, with up to $100,000 in coverage for personal property.
   45. Most flood insurance policyholders in the U.S. purchase their coverage through FEMA’s National Flood Insurance Program. Interested residents can visit the program’s website to get a quote or find an insurance carrier.
   46. Are FEMA flood maps accurate?: FEMA flood maps have long served as the official guide for assessing flood risk in the United States. But in the Houston area, the maps have faced growing criticism for being outdated and incomplete. Experts say the models used to create them often rely on decades-old data and fail to account for shifts in climate patterns and rapid urban development.
   47. For many, Hurricane Harvey served as a wake-up call. A Harris County analysis found roughly three-quarters of the 200,000 homes that flooded during the storm were located outside the designated 100-year floodplain. More than half were outside any mapped floodplain altogether.
   48. Since then, the federal government has updated rainfall estimates nationwide to better reflect changing weather patterns. Harris County has also launched a major project with FEMA to update local flood maps. But the project has faced repeated delays. Originally expected to be released in 2022, officials now say they plan to release a draft by early 2026.
   49. [Real estate broker Baldwin said,] “From my professional perspective, I don’t care if you are or aren’t in a 100-year floodplain. There still may be an increased risk for flooding, and they need to be aware of those risks.”
   50. MIKE: I agree with Bill Baldwin. At some point in time, every home that has flooded, once flooded for a first time. My advice for what it’s worth is that every homeowner and apartment dweller should get flood insurance. If your place never flooded, it’s pretty cheap. If your home has flooded, flood insurance is probably cheap at the price, considering what recovery from flood damage can cost you.
   51. MIKE: In 1978, I lived in a subdivision that resisted flooding, but in 1983, Hurricane Alicia came close. Water filled the street and got halfway up the driveway before it stopped rising.
   52. MIKE: There was one main road through the subdivision. I was on the north side of that road. On the south side, the land declines noticeably. Those poor folks seemed to act almost like a detention pond for the north side, and have flooded several times over the last 40 years.
   53. MIKE: I think that there area has had significant flood mitigation work done over time, and the BuyersAware site now shows that area is mostly in the green. (As an aside, my house is in a yellow area, but it used to be green, so yes … I carry flood insurance.)
   54. MIKE: As always, disclosure requirements notwithstanding, the motto to live by is, caveat emptor … Buyer Beware.
   55. MIKE: Always do your best to do your due diligence.
8. Next from THEGUARDIAN-dot-COM — Tucker Carlson’s interview with far-right antisemite Nick Fuentes divides conservatives; By Rachel Leingang | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Fri 31 Oct 2025 12.36 EDT. TAGS: Tucker Carlson, Far right (US), Antisemitism, Adolf Hitler, Ted Cruz, Republicans, US politics, news,
   1. Conservatives are fighting among themselves over the far-right commentator Tucker Carlson’s decision to interview the antisemitic white supremacist Nick Fuentes on his podcast, where the two men decried conservatives who support Israel.
   2. Kevin Roberts, the head of the conservative Heritage Foundation thinktank, defended Carlson after the episode, saying Carlson “remains and, as I have said before, always will be a close friend of the Heritage Foundation”.
   3. The response from the prominent thinktank on the right – the group behind Project 2025, the conservative manifesto that has guided the Trump administration – has roiled some of its supporters and deepened a chasm on the right over support of Israel and antisemitism.
   4. On the podcast, Carlson called out Republicans including Senator Ted Cruz, the former president George W Bush, and the [current] ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, for being “Christian Zionists” who have been “seized by this brain virus”.
   5. [Said Carlson, the former Fox host whose podcast has skewed further to the right during the second Trump term,] “I dislike them more than anybody.”
   6. Fuentes – who used to be ostracized by the mainstream right for his views, including support of Hitler and claims that Jews run the country – said on the podcast that “organized Jewry” held outsize influence and said he was a fan of Joseph Stalin.
   7. In remarks to the Republican Jewish Coalition after the podcast aired on Thursday, Cruz said: “Now is a time for choosing. Now is a time for courage … If you sit there with someone who says Adolf Hitler was very, very cool and their mission is to combat and defeat ‘global Jewry’, and you say nothing, then you are a coward, and you are complicit in that evil.”
   8. Cruz also said he had seen more antisemitism on the right in the last six months than he had seen in his entire life, claiming it was a “poison” and that the party and the country were “facing an existential crisis”.
   9. In recent weeks, reporting revealed that a group chat of young Republicans included a host of antisemitic comments, and texts revealed a Trump nominee – since withdrawn – who said he had a “Nazi streak”.
   10. Fuentes went further on his views in a video after the podcast. [Fuentes said,] “Do us all a favor. We are done with the Jewish oligarchy. We are done with the slavish surrender to Israel, the wars, the foreign aid, the policing of antisemitism, the Holocaust religion and propaganda.”
   11. In his video response to the podcast and to speculation that the Heritage Foundation would distance itself from Carlson, [Heritage Foundation head] Roberts said that Christians can critique Israel without being antisemitic, and that conservatives didn’t need to “reflexively support any foreign government, no matter how loud the pressure becomes from the globalist class or from their mouthpieces in Washington”. [Roberts] decried any attempts to cancel or silence Carlson and Fuentes, calling those speaking out against Carlson a “venomous coalition”.
   12. [Roberts said,] “The American people expect us to be focusing on our political adversaries on the left, not attacking our friends on the right. I disagree with, even abhor, things that Nick Fuentes says, but canceling him is not the answer either. When we disagree with a person’s thoughts and opinions, we challenge those ideas in debate.”
   13. Fuentes thanked Roberts for the video in a reply on X, citing his “courage in standing up for open discourse and defending Tucker against the Israel First Woke Right”.
   14. The Heritage Foundation did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
   15. The Republican Jewish Coalition’s CEO, Matt Brooks, told Jewish Insider that Roberts and the Heritage Foundation’s decision to stand with Carlson left him “appalled, offended and disgusted”.
   16. Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader in the US Senate, called for people aligned with the Heritage Foundation to “disavow this dangerous mainstreaming of these hateful ideologies”.
   17. Conservative media have called out Carlson for giving Fuentes a broader audience and not challenging his views in the interview. The Washington Free Beacon summed up Roberts’s take in its headline: “Heritage Foundation President: ‘Don’t Cancel Nick Fuentes,’ as Stalin Fan Fuentes Tells Jews to ‘Get The F— Out of America’.”
   18. The National Review’s Jim Geraghty wrote: “Really, Kevin Roberts? You think this twerp is somebody that serious thinkers of the modern right should spend a lot of time engaging with? You don’t see any issue with putting the spotlight on this guy and giving him more than two hours to spew his bullcrap with no pushback?”
   19. MIKE: The Republican Party and the Heritage Foundation are among those rightwing conservative institutions that remind me of Redneck jokes.
   20. MIKE: They invite jokes like, “If you belong to the preferred party of neo-Nazis, you might be a fascist.
   21. MIKE: Or, “If you’re a Republican, and you continue to be a Republican when your party appeals for support to Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists, and Christian Nationalists, you might be a fascist.”
   22. MIKE: Or, “If even Ted Cruz is publicly offended by the pro-Nazi comments of another Republican and you’re not, you might be a fascist.”
   23. MIKE: In this country, we have free speech, but if you believe that free speech doesn’t shield you from consequences, and criticizing someone else’s free speech is out of bounds, then you have a bigger problem.
   24. MIKE: In his 1949 dissenting opinion in Terminiello v. Chicago, Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson wrote that, “There is danger that, if the Court does not temper its doctrine logic with a little practical wisdom, it will convert the constitutional Bill of Rights into a suicide pact.” When referenced, this sentiment is also sometimes phrased as “the First Amendment is not a suicide pact“. I’ve linked to the short Wikipedia article where I found the precise quote, and it’s worth reading.
   25. MIKE: For a decade or more, up until the year 2000, when Rush Limbaugh and his ilk made hate speech fashionable again among a certain contingent of Americans, I used to say that you could do it in the privacy of your own home, but public racism had become about as fashionable as spitting in public. People might still do it, but the vast majority of Americans would shame them for it.
   26. MIKE: I think that it’s past time for public hate speech to be publicly and roundly shamed again. It is the responsibility of all of us — Liberals, Conservatives, Independents, and those of other political stripes — to call out racism, fascism, and neo-Nazism whenever they rear their ugly heads in public discourse.
   27. MIKE: I guess I must give Ted Cruz and the National Review’s Jim Geraghty credit for doing just that.
9. And speaking of fascists, from The Guardian — Katie Miller had a podcast meltdown and threatened the citizenship of a critic; By Arwa Mahdawi | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Sat 1 Nov 2025 09.00 EDT. TAGS: Trump administration, The Week in Patriarchy, US politics, US immigration, Migration,
   1. Some couples bond over shared hobbies; others over shared values. The MAGA bigwigs Stephen and Katie Miller, on the other hand, appear to have connected over their shared love of terrorizing immigrant children.
   2. The political power couple, who married in 2020, bonded during Donald Trump’s first term, when Stephen helped engineer a family-separation policy at the border that ripped more than 5,000 children, as young as four months old, from their immigrant parents. At the time, [Ms.] Miller (then going by her maiden name, Waldman) was an immigration spokesperson, and a big fan of Stephen’s hardline policies.
   3. [She told MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff in 2018, according to his book on the border policy, Separated,] “DHS sent me to the border to see the separations for myself – to try to make me more compassionate – but it didn’t work.”
   4. The book also quotes Miller saying she didn’t expect to change her mind: “My family and colleagues told me that when I have kids I’ll think about family separation differently. But I don’t think so.”
   5. Fast-forward to the present day and the married couple now share three young children. Stephen is White House deputy chief of staff and possibly the most dangerous man in the Trump administration. [Katie] Miller, meanwhile, quit a mysterious role at Elon Musk’s private ventures back in May to start a podcast about motherhood as part of an apparent plan to recruit more women to MAGA. Yep, the woman who couldn’t muster up any compassion for kids in cages is now a ‘momfluencer’.
   6. Miller seems to have been correct in her earlier assessment: having kids hasn’t made her think differently about family separation, a practice that attorneys and former immigration officials allege has been revived.
   7. What has changed, however, is the fact that she’s now weaponizing her poor children against anyone who dares challenge her. And now that her husband is Trump’s right-hand man, she’s not just going after immigrants – she’s threatening to strip one of her critics of US citizenship.
   8. This week, Miller appeared on Piers Morgan’s YouTube show, along with a panel that included the leftwing commentator Cenk Uygur, to discuss Islamophobic attacks on the New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani. Miller kicked off the discussion with an incomprehensible point about the anti-Israel movement and then accused Uygur of “using coded language to attack American Jews and to say that we should not be here and we should not be in existence”.
   9. Uygur retorted by saying she was lying, adding: “It’s very normal for a Miller to be completely and utterly lying.” An epic meltdown ensued.
   10. [Miller yelled,] “Piers, quite frankly, I’m really sick and tired of this racist bigoted rhetoric that can comes from people like you against my husband, against my family and my children. I am raising Jewish children in this country … ” [Uygur had said nothing about Miller’s children.]
   11. [Uygur then said,] “Who brought your children into this? What a weirdo.”
   12. Miller, who doesn’t appear to have much experience being challenged during an interview, then started ranting at Piers Morgan about how Uygur saying “the Millers lie” is coded language for them being Jewish. After some more screaming, she also told Uygur: “You better check your citizenship application and hope that everything was legal and correct … because you’ll be just like Ilhan Omar,” a frequent subject of Republican attacks.
   13. You can watch the whole thing for yourself but the bottom line is this: the wife of the US homeland security adviser apparently threatened to denaturalize someone because she didn’t like the fact he criticized her.
   14. [MIKE: The link to that 1-hour video is included in this story at today’s show post. Continuing …]
   15. This, to be clear, is hardly some one-off. Threatening to deport your critics, even those with American citizenship, seems to be MAGA policy now. The representative Nancy Mace, a Trump loyalist, for example, has said she would “love to see” Omar, a progressive representative, “deported back to Somalia”.
   16. Various Republicans are also threatening to deport Mamdani; indeed, Miller’s meltdown occurred during a discussion about how the representative Randy Fine of Florida and Andy Ogles of Tennessee have been pushing the federal justice department to investigate Mamdani’s citizenship. (Mamdani was born in Uganda, moved to the US at age seven and became a citizen in 2018.) [Rep.] Fine, who has suggested [that] Omar is a “Muslim terrorist” and called for Gaza to be nuked, recently demanded [that] the federal government “review every naturalization of the past 30 years – starting with Mamdani”.
   17. Fine doesn’t really need to be demanding this, by the way, because the government is already on it. Back in June, the justice department announced plans to prioritize efforts to strip some naturalized Americans of their US citizenship. Barack Obama, I should note, also led a denaturalization push – but the difference between that and Trump 2.0 is the way in which the president is using deportation fears to chill political speech and intimidate his enemies.
   18. While people of color are the main target of these attacks, even some privileged white people are being threatened with deportation or the loss of their citizenship because of their opinions – a terrifying throwback to McCarthyism.
   19. Back when Musk and Trump were feuding, for example, the president responded to a question on whether he’d deport the South African tech billionaire by saying: “I don’t know, we’ll have to take a look.” And, in July, Trump said he was thinking of revoking the citizenship of Rosie O’Donnell, an American-born comedian and actor who has repeatedly criticized the president.
   20. To be clear, Trump can’t legally take away the citizenship of someone born in the US. But as we all know by now, Trump rarely seems to look at the law as an impediment.
   21. Expect more of this. The Trump administration has made it very clear to 24.5 million naturalized Americans in the US that they’d better keep their mouths shut to keep their passports. Ultimately, Miller’s threat on Piers Morgan’s show wasn’t just directed at Uygur, it was a warning to everyone in America: criticize MAGA and there will be consequences.
10. MIKE: The Trump regime is truly lawless. We can only hope that in the not-too-distant future, there will be trials. And perhaps Constitutional Amendments should be proposed when the Republicans are out of power.
    1. This brings up a post I got in Facebook Messenger last week that appears to be part of a chain letter. I don’t know the name of the original author.
    2. The message says in part: “Members of Congress have exempted themselves from many of the laws they have passed, under which ordinary citizens must live. … We must not tolerate an elite class of [people] putting themselves above the law. …
    3. It then states the “Proposed 28th Amendment to the United States Constitution: ‘Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators and/or Representatives; and, Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators and/or Representatives that does not apply equally to the Citizens of the United States …’”
    4. I responded: Interestingly, this amendment mentions senators and representatives, but not the president and vice president. Given our current circumstances, that’s a remarkable and glaring oversight.
    5. I suggested including new language. For example: “All federal law applies equally to all citizens of the United States, elected or otherwise. Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to any elected official or their family or their staff members. This Amendment applies equally to the President of the United States and the Vice President of the United States. Further, Congress shall make no law that applies to United States Senators, Representatives, and/or the President or Vice President of the United States that does not apply equally to the Citizens of the United States.”
    6. Also, as long as we’re proposing amendments, let’s add a 29th making the US Attorney General a separately elected position. And maybe a 30th amendment (that might best be split into 2 or 3) putting the DOJ under the judiciary, and making the US Attorney General the head of the judiciary.
    7. Our post-regime US government will need a great many reforms. Some will require Constitutional Amendments. Hope springs eternal.
11. MIKE: That brings up what is sometimes seen as an alternative to Constitutional Amendments; the Article V call for a convention of the States.
    1. The language of Article V of the Constitution outlines how the Constitution can be amended. (Underlines in the show post are mine): “The Congress, whenever two thirds of both houses shall deem it necessary, shall propose amendments to this Constitution, or, on the application of the legislatures of two thirds of the several states, shall call a convention for proposing amendments, which, in either case, shall be valid to all intents and purposes, as part of this Constitution, when ratified by the legislatures of three fourths of the several states, or by conventions in three fourths thereof, as the one or the other mode of ratification may be proposed by the Congress; provided that no amendment which may be made prior to the year one thousand eight hundred and eight [1808] shall in any manner affect the first and fourth clauses in the ninth section of the first article; and that no state, without its consent, shall be deprived of its equal suffrage in the Senate.”
    2. There’s a lot of convoluted and archaic language in there, but it amounts to this: Congress can propose amendments to the Constitution, which are subject to approval by 3/4 of the then-States. Alternatively, if Congress refuses to pass a resolution for a new amendment that the public seems to demand, 2/3 of the States can take it upon themselves to call for a convention of the States to vote upon such an amendment.
    3. In the past, when there has been popular outcry for an amendment, such as repealing Prohibition, Congress has decided to avoid an “Article V” situation by proposing the amendment itself.
    4. Because here’s the thing: Once a convention is called, all bets are off. Such a convention is not limited to the one amendment that might be in contention. Any and all parts of the Constitution could be altered, up to and including the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution, popularly known as the Bill of Rights.
    5. Yes, it would then require ratification by 3/4 of the States for any changes or amendments from that convention to take effect, but how many of you would want to risk it?
    6. How many people believe that in these times, our entire governmental framework would not be at risk?
    7. Currently, 19 of the required 34 state legislatures have called for an Article V convention. Texas is, perhaps unsurprisingly, among the 19.
    8. In May of 1787, a Constitutional Convention was called in Philadelphia in an attempt to revise the dysfunctional Articles of Confederation. The delegates ended up scrapping this first attempt at federal government entirely, and re-forming our system into the federal version we have today.
    9. It would still take 3/4 of the States to ratify any changes or amendments.
    10. I suppose that it’s debatable as to whether our current political divisions today are any greater than they were in 1787 when the country was divided between slave states and states that were predominantly free. But before you take any possible comfort in that, remember that it also gave rise to the 3/5 representation compromise, which is now infamous.
    11. We definitely need new laws and constitutional amendments to prevent a lawless national government from ever recurring, but it will be hard and will require national courage by voters and the people they elect.