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.)

“The policeman isn’t there to create disorder. The policeman is there to preserve disorder” (0:05) ~ Mayor Richard J. Daley’s 1968 police speech was a response to criticism of Chicago police brutality during the Democratic National Convention (Quote starts at 0:39)

[18 sec] 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 25th week of Trump’s National Guard troops in Los Angeles; the 16th week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC; 7 weeks since Trump deployed National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee; and an ongoing federal law enforcement occupation in Chicago.

 There have been various court rulings that these military actions in US cities are illegal under the Posse Comitatus  Act, but our lawless regime is resisting compliance. To be continued …

1. In election news, Harris County will have runoff elections on December 13, with early voting running from December 1^st though the 9^th;
2. Charles Kuffner has a more detailed piece on these December elections at the link I’m providing to OffTheKuff-dot-com.
3. I find this next story from Community Impact a little confusing, but the implications I infer are interesting — League City officials debate confidentiality agreement for elected officials; By Rachel Leland | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:09 PM Nov 20, 2025 CST. TAGS: League City City Council, Attorney-Client Relations, Confidentiality Agreements,
   1. Following a contentious debate about government trust and confidentiality, League City City Council voted 5-3 at its Nov. 18 meeting to approve the first reading of an ordinance that recognizes attorney-client relations as confidential and requires City Council members to execute a confidentiality agreement.
   2. Council members Tom Crews, Tommy Cones and Andy Mann voted against adopting the ordinance.
   3. … The city proposed the ordinance following the passage of [Texas] House Bill 4310, which went into effect Sept. 1.
   4. The new law asserts that members of governing boards have a special right of access to certain public information, and allows cities to ask those members to sign confidentiality agreements when that information is confidential under the law.
   5. Public information is any information the government collects or maintains, including internal communications, police records, attorney-client communications and ordinance drafts, according to the Texas Public Information Act.
   6. … Several council members said the proposed city ordinance was redundant, going beyond the scope of state law and could be used to target elected officials.
   7. [Cones said,] “We’re going a little bit further from state law that we’re mandating council members sign the agreement.”
   8. … Mayor Nick Long said the ordinance intends to protect the city as a whole should one elected official breach confidentiality, and clarifies that only the City Council as a whole has the right to waive its privilege.
   9. [Mayor Long said,] “If one person decides to release it, it doesn’t really matter if you sign the confidentiality agreement or not, because you suffer the same penalties.”
   10. Council member Chad Tressler, who voted for the ordinance, said council members are subject to penalties for releasing confidential information, but requiring them to sign the agreement ensures they acknowledge and understand the rules and prevents them from claiming ignorance later.
   11. [Tressler said,] “Signing this agreement says, ‘I know I shouldn’t be releasing this stuff.’”
   12. … Per city code, council will vote on the second final reading of the ordinance at its next meeting Dec. 16.
   13. MIKE: When I worked for Sears, Loss Prevention would sometimes come around and have us sign ‘acknowledgements of understanding’ about certain store or company policies. On the one hand, those were intended to inform employees about those policies, but on the other hand, they were also sometimes used as preludes to getting rid of certain employees.
   14. MIKE: I understand that there are some things that governments need to keep confidential, even local governments. On the other hand, there can be a fine line between necessary government confidentiality and desirable government transparency.
   15. MIKE: I don’t know what may have occurred in League City to have made this proposed ordinance an issue. I also don’t know what elected officials are told when they take office about their legal obligations about when to keep government goings-on confidential and when they are free to discuss things in public.
   16. MIKE: There may be documents they sign when sworn in, but there may not be, aside from the oaths they swear to.
   17. MIKE: Could this ordinance be used in the future as a legal ‘trap’? Is that the intention, or is it a possible unintended consequence?
   18. MIKE: As an outsider, it seems to me that this proposed rule needs to be more closely examined in the context of what other legal constraints already bind elected officials and whether officials are made adequately aware of those constraints from the outset.
4. Trump Organization Announces Tokenized Hotel Development as Crypto ‘Crime Season’ Continues; By Rhett Jones | GIZMODO.COM | Published November 17, 2025. TAGS: Bitcoin, Saudi Arabia, World Liberty Financial, Trump Organization, DAR Global, Trump International Hotel Maldives, Blockchain,
   1. 1. The Trump Organization and London-based luxury real estate developer DAR Global have announced a new hotel development known as Trump International Hotel Maldives, which will apparently be tokenized on a yet-to-be-announced blockchain. According to a press release associated with the announcement, this will be the first such tokenization of a real estate project that is still in development.
      2. Crypto-related activities of Trump-affiliated companies have undergone a massive expansion over the past couple of years with the launch of World Liberty Financial, the TRUMP memecoin, Trump’s non-fungible token (NFT) collections, and more. The recent pardon of former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and potential conflicts of interest associated with the TRUMP memecoin are two examples of how Trump has been more focused on his own crypto-related profiteering than embracing the decentralization principles of Bitcoin in the first year of his second term as U.S. President.
      3. The crypto industry, including large exchanges interested in listing dubious, unregistered investments on their platforms, threw large amounts of money at the Trump presidential campaign before the Republican candidate’s victory, which has led to a situation where financial crime is largely [perceived] as effectively legal, as long as its conducted on a blockchain (or as long as the word blockchain is used in marketing materials at the very least).
      4. While bitcoin is slowly developing into a trusted store of value for the digital age (see recent embraces from the Harvard University endowment or the Czech Republic’s central bank), use cases for blockchain technology outside of Satoshi Nakamoto’s original invention remain unclear. Indeed, much of crypto, whether it be stablecoins like USDC or blockchains like Coinbase’s Base blockchain, involves the use of decentralization theater for the purposes of simply avoiding financial regulation.
      5. Notably, the Trump-affiliated tokenized hotel announcement comes at a time when former SEC Chief of Staff Amanda Fischer has been sparring with crypto bros over some of these very points on X. For example, Fischer pointed to previous SEC guidance regarding the application of existing securities laws to newly-issued crypto tokens as an indication that the crypto industry should be more upset with the reality of existing laws than they are with the SEC.
      6. What Does Tokenization Even Mean at This Point?
      7. “Tokenization,” which has been touted as the next big thing in financial technology by everyone from Robinhood’s Vlad Tenev to BlackRock’s Larry Fink, is basically the drop-in replacement buzzword for “blockchain technology,” which was the key talking point of fintech [aka, “financial technology”] gurus in earlier times. While the reasons for tokenization potentially make sense for marketing purposes or simply avoiding regulation, the benefits of tokenizing centralized assets on top of decentralized blockchains remain unclear.
      8. While Satoshi discussed the benefits of a decentralized monetary and financial system for things like removing trust from monetary policy and enabling censorship-resistant online payments, a lot of that goes out the window when you are doing things like tokenizing a centrally-managed real estate development or building dollar-denominated payment rails on blockchain platforms that are themselves becoming increasingly centralized at the base layer, as illustrated during the recent Amazon Web Services downtime.
      9. At this point, it’s unclear what tokenization even means. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong recently touted the tokenization of dollar deposits on Coinbase’s Base blockchain by JPMorgan Chase. It’s unclear what is revolutionary about a bank issuing dollars on a blockchain that is effectively owned and operated by a financial institution like Coinbase.
      10. Coinbase has stated its intention to further decentralize Base over time, but that remains to be seen. For now, they’re also looking into issuing a token for their blockchain, despite the fact that it is currently operating fine without one.
      11. Coinbase is also launching its own version of initial coin offerings, which were largely used to launch fraudulent crypto projects in 2017 and 2018. However, Coinbase says it is implementing additional requirements for token issuers and protections for investors this time around.
      12. Due to the increasingly centralized nature of these platforms, it’s clear that regulatory arbitrage is the goal here rather than truly decentralized finance (DeFi). Of course, those who are a bit more blunt with their description of what’s going on here simply refer to this as “crime season” with a half-serious and half-joking tone, as Blockworks Editor David Canellis has done on X.
      13. Going forward, it makes sense to track the developments associated with the Clarity Act, which would clarify the regulatory structure of this sort of crypto activity going forward.
      14. MIKE: In my opinion, Bitcoin and its ilk are just another fiat currency with no intrinsic value. Kind of like pet rocks.
      15. MIKE: Anything has value if people want to pay for it, regardless of whether it has intrinsic And even “intrinsic value” is subjective.
      16. MIKE: Confederate money was valuable to a point, until the end of the Confederacy made it worthless. The Confederate government encouraged its citizens to turn in their Union money for Confederate money as a gesture of loyalty and confidence in the Confederate government and its values. Some fortunes of folks who were loyal to the CSA were lost.
      17. MIKE: I actually went down a bit of a rabbit hole on this question, and I’m linking to an interesting site I found for those who would be interested in a discussion of fiat currency, including that of the United States.
      18. MIKE: But back to the question of whether crypto currency is “real money” … The difference between a weed and a plant is whether it’s welcome in your garden or not.
      19. MIKE: Gold is just a metal, except that people place value on it above its basic use as a material that is valuable for certain technological applications, so demand raises prices. The same thing once occurred in Holland, but it was tulips.
      20. MIKE: I may be a Luddite because of my age and the era I grew up in, but crypto currency still seems to me primarily useful for illegal enterprises. It also seems like if Crypto is not used for scammy enterprises, it’s at least intended to avoid the kind of regulation that makes currency like the US dollar a reasonably safe store of value. But that safety is primarily because people considerate it be a store of value.
      21. MIKE: And because of the ways that crypto is stored or “saved”, it seems remarkably easy to lose.
      22. MIKE: If you see Trump and the “Trump Family” as just another sort of organized crime enterprise, the dark, shady, fiat side of crypto goes double for the Trump memecoin and the Trump memecoin-friendly International Hotel Maldives.
      23. MIKE: Based on my research, some sources do not consider Bitcoin to be a fiat currency. The reasoning I see is that fiat currencies are based on trust in the government backing that currency as legal tender, but are not redeemable for a commodity of value. Non-fiat currencies are defined as currency that is backed by, and redeemable for, some valuable commodity such as gold or silver.
      24. MIKE: On the other hand, I see that Bitcoin is considered a non-fiat currency because it’s based on a Blockchain, thus limiting its “supply”.
      25. MIKE: Another website I’m linking to goes into a more academic discussion of crypto versus national fiat currencies. I’m inferring from that site that the difference, if there is one, is that while fiat currencies can theoretically be printed in limitless amounts, crypto currencies like Bitcoin are automatically limited in quantity by the limits of blockchain “mining”.
      26. MIKE: That reasoning is no different from being on the gold standard.
      27. MIKE: There were good monetarist reasons for going off the gold and silver standards. They have to do with important capabilities for economic management and, in times of recession or depression, economic stimulus.
      28. MIKE: If a country went on the “Bitcoin Standard” for its currency, it would be no different from being on the gold standard. It would remove tools for managing the economy in both good times and bad, and in terms of controlling and moderating both. And it seems like Bitcoin as a monetary standard has all the disadvantages of gold without the advantage of being redeemable for an actual tangible asset.
      29. MIKE: Anyway, to return to the point of the Trump International Hotel Maldives … I would consider it another Trump scam where they win and everyone else loses. That’s typically been the Trump modus operandi.
      30. MIKE: All he links I’ve mentioned are in this show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com.
5. In three stories from the EURASIANTIMES, we start with this — Trump’s “Arctic Neglect”: Obsolete Radars & Strained Canada Ties Leave “Most Strategic” Alaska Exposed To Russia, China Threats?; By Prakash Nanda | EURASIANTIMES.COM | November 17, 2025. TAGS: Russia, China, U.S., Arctic, Trump Administration, Alaska,
   1. 1. 1. Concerned about perceived threats from Russia and China, either singly or in unison, to the U.S. “homeland” through the Arctic, the Trump Administration may be placing greater emphasis on its Golden Dome initiative and renewing strategic interest in Greenland. 
         2. But, in the process, is the strategic importance of Alaska, America’s Arctic outpost, being overlooked?
         3. A section of the American strategic elites seems to think It reminds us how Gen. Billy Mitchell had told the U.S. Congress way back in 1935 that “Alaska is the most important strategic place in the world. I believe that in the future, whoever holds Alaska will hold the world”.
         4. In fact, last month during his confirmation meeting, General Kenneth Stephen Wilsbach, who assumed office as the 24th chief of staff of the Air Force on November 3, also admitted that “Alaska is the most strategic spot on Earth.”
         5. After all, Alaska is the closest U.S. location to the center of the Northern Hemisphere and closer to many national capitals in the hemisphere than most points in the lower forty-eight states. This makes Alaska the ideal platform for the United States to project power militarily.
         6. Further, sitting astride the Bering Strait chokepoint and the Great Circle Routes between North America and Asia, Alaska is critical to America’s economic and national security.
         7. Alaska is a cornerstone of the U.S. missile defense. Most ground-based missile interceptors and major radar systems are based in the state, designed to counter potential threats originating over the Arctic, including ballistic missiles from potential adversaries.
         8. However, strategic experts like Brig Gen Houston Cantwell, USAF (Retd.), [who is] The Senior Resident Fellow for Airpower Studies at the Mitchell Institute, is now arguing that the extensive early warning systems the U.S. developed and operated during the Cold War to detect Soviet bomber aircraft far across the Arctic region have aged out and are no longer operable.
         9. [Cantwell argues,] “More importantly, today’s threats are more varied, harder to detect, and less predictable than the weapons of the Cold War era. Today’s Arctic domain awareness (ADA) capabilities and capacity are woefully insufficient to the threat.”
         10. It may be noted that 8 (Eight) nations have a presence in the Arctic: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, the United States, and Russia. All have interests there, for both commerce and security.
         11. The North American Arctic region comprises the northern approaches to the American homeland and includes sovereign U.S. territory in Alaska – home to significant U.S. defense infrastructure – and the sovereign territories of [two] North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members, including Canada and the Kingdom of Denmark’s autonomous territory of Greenland.
         12. Vital for U.S. homeland defense, the North American Arctic region hosts aerospace warning, aerospace control, and maritime warning capabilities for the binational U.S.-Canada North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).
         13. The North American Arctic region is also integral to the execution of Indo-Pacific operations, as the northern flank for projecting military force from the U.S. homeland to that region.
         14. Geographically, the European Arctic region comprises the Arctic territory of NATO Allies Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, as well as Russia’s Kola Peninsula. Collaboration in this region among Unified Combatant Commands (CCMDs) and Arctic Allies is critical to the collective defense of NATO Allies and to U.S. homeland defense.
         15. The accession of new NATO allies – Sweden and Finland – has made the Arctic serve as an avenue for power projection to Europe and is considered vital to the defense of Atlantic [Ocean] lines of communication between North America and Europe.
         16. Historically, the Arctic has been a core strategic asset for Russia as nearly 53% of the Arctic coastline belongs to Russia, and the region generates around 20% of [Russia’s] GDP and 22% of its total exports.
         17. The Russian ‘Arctic Strategy 2020’, explains why the region’s largest state (Russia) should improve its infrastructure and deploy there. And Russian naval doctrine in 2022 raised the Arctic region to its highest priority, with President Vladimir Putin directing the construction of more than 475 military facilities across the region.
         18. These Russian installations are supposedly protected by a multilayered network of sensors and defense systems to ensure they can generate military effects on U.S. mainland targets. Roughly two-thirds of the Russian Navy’s nuclear strike capabilities are believed to be harbored in the Barents Sea, allowing a direct and mostly undetectable path to North America and Europe.
         19. Reportedly, [the] Ivan Papanin, an icebreaker, began operations in the Arctic in 2025, signalling Moscow’s deepening military reach. These icebreakers are said to make way for other smaller ships and run for up to five years without refuelling.
         20. Although China is not an Arctic nation, it is increasing its presence there. Branding itself a “Near-Arctic State”, China has outlined its Arctic plans in its 2018 Arctic White Paper. It is said to have invested heavily in Arctic research stations, icebreakers, and joint energy ventures with Russia.
         21. It is also said that in 2024, China expanded its maritime military force projection capabilities. Its surface combatants were deployed to the Bering Sea for the fourth straight year and operated within cruise missile range of critical infrastructure throughout Alaska.
         22. China has staged joint military operations in the region, which also took place off the coast of Alaska. In July 2024, there were reports that air crews from the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) intercepted two Chinese and two Russian military planes flying off Alaska’s coast.
         23. These planes were not exactly in U.S. airspace and were not seen as a threat, but they were in an area called the Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ).
         24. Reportedly, a joint bomber task force comprising two Russian Tu-95 strategic bombers and two Chinese H-6 strategic bombers penetrated the ADIZ. This was the first time China and Russia conducted a joint air patrol near Alaska and the first time the two countries launched aircraft from the same Russian airfield.
         25. According to experts, the task force was also unique in that it demonstrated a close relationship between the two air forces that had not been demonstrated before.
         26. It is against this background that Department of Defense’s … 2024 Arctic Strategy talks of evolving [a] “monitor-and-respond” approach that is “underpinned by robust intelligence collection capabilities, security cooperation with our regional Allies and partners, and the deterrent value of DoD’s ability to deploy the Joint Force globally at the time and place of our choosing”.
         27. It also points out the need to accelerate the acquisition of advanced over-the-horizon radars and space-based capabilities.
         28. And here experts are stressing the importance of improving “domain awareness” and enhancing “ability to detect and respond with our Canadian allies to threats to the homeland”. In their opinion, Arctic domain awareness (ADA) capabilities and capacity are woefully insufficient to the threat from Russia and China.
         29. As General Cantwell explains, NORAD, which was established in 1958, created a combined U.S.-Canada capability to jointly defend the continent. The command’s sensors were capable of detecting Soviet bombers armed with gravity bombs if they dared fly attack routes across Canadian and U.S. airspace. It developed a command-and-control network that shared information quickly enough to respond to inbound aircraft.
         30. According to Gen. Glen VanHerck, then-commander of NORAD and U.S. Northern Command in March 2023, “For decades, NORAD has relied heavily on the North Warning System (NWS) arrayed along the Arctic coasts of Canada and Alaska to detect potential airborne threats to North America…. (but) It is clear that our competitors possess long-range strike capabilities that could be used to attack the United States and Canada from outside the detection range of legacy sensors.”
         31. However, much of NORAD’s sensor and information-sharing networks are said to be no longer relevant to 21st-century threats. Russia and China spent the past three decades developing and fielding advanced weapons that are now capable of striking the U.S. homeland from afar.
         32. [A] close binational relationship between the U.S. and Canada, a robust radar network, and the ability to share information at a speed relevant to military decision makers formed the basis of this successful North American air defense partnership in the past. But strained ties with Canada under the current Trump presidency are now a limiting factor.
         33. All told, securing North America as a continent depends on a collaborative approach between the U.S. and Canada to share defense responsibilities and cooperate on intelligence gathering, rather than doing it alone.
         34. MIKE: This story points out two important national security dangers: 1- Insufficient attention being paid to upgrading essential early warning systems in and around Alaska, and 2- Donald Trump and his propensity for alienating our most important allies.
         35. MIKE: At a time when the US has run up historically concerning levels of national debt in order to give tax breaks to the top 1% of earners in this country, as well as to huge corporations that can certainly afford to pay more taxes, we are in need of major defense upgrades in order to deter and, if necessary, defend against the current Sino-Russian military axis.
         36. MIKE: While this story mainly discusses our Alaskan defense and early warning infrastructure, that’s only part of the picture.
         37. MIKE: This US is in a defense rebuilding stage while China is in a build-up phase. We are retiring ships, aircraft and other assets that are either aging beyond their useful lives or are obsolescent for modern defense purposes.
         38. MIKE: This is resulting in actual shrinkage of our navy and air force at a time when China is rapidly expanding its capabilities with modern and highly capable equipment and hardware.
         39. MIKE: Our decline will likely continue until around 2030 when new assets are ready to take the field and expand our capabilities again.
         40. MIKE: This period is called the Davidson window, and its described as a time when US military capability will be at its lowest ebb, while China’s capabilities will be at their peak. It’s during that window when Taiwan will be in the greatest danger of an attack or some other kind of coercion by China — perhaps a naval blockade that will be equivalent to a medieval siege — while the US will be at its most constrained to respond.
         41. MIKE: There’s an explanatory article from the Global Guardian called, Will China Invade Taiwan? A Potential Timeline for Conflict discussing his topic, It’s worth checking out.
         42. MIKE: The US has historically had weird holes in it defense network.
         43. MIKE: In 1993, a Cuban MiG-21 defected from Cuba to Florida without being detected by any of our radar facilities in the south, showing an important hole in our early warning capabilities from that direction. It’s said that early warning systems in the southern US have since been upgraded, but I guess we won’t know until we know.
         44. MIKE: Our Alaska-based NORAD systems don’t appear to be quite that bad since they do provably detect at least some incursions in our Alaska Air Defense Identification Zone (AADIZ). But, to cite Donald Rumsfeld, an “unknown unknown” is what might we have missed detecting due to our outdated legacy early warning systems?
         45. MIKE: Whenever a national competitor flies into an Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), it’s essentially a reconnaissance mission. They are testing how well national early warning systems work, what the limits of detection are, the response time resulting from detection by the ADIZ, and also the quality of the response; for example, how many aircraft are sent up in response to the intrusion, and what types of aircraft are scrambled to meet them.
         46. MIKE: Relating to the original article, as the world’s primary global power, the United States needs a greater presence in the Arctic.
         47. MIKE: In a story from NATIONALDEFENSEMAGAZINE-dot-org in January 2025, it’s noted that the US now has one heavy icebreaker and 2 medium icebreakers. Meanwhile, Russia has 40 heavy
         48. MIKE: This isn’t an entirely fair comparison, because Russia has the longest Arctic coastline in the world, and their naval situation is further complicated by the fact that they have only one warm-water port, and that’s in the Pacific Ocean.
         49. MIKE: So as a strategic matter, icebreakers are critical for them to have any meaningful naval access to the Atlantic Ocean.
         50. MIKE: It’s worth noting that Russia, by virtue of its land area, is primarily a land power. And yet, they still consider the Arctic important enough strategically to maintain 40 icebreakers!
         51. MIKE: I don’t mean to write a national defense treatise here, but the main upshot is this: While the US Defense Department can’t be given a blank check, that doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t have more resources, prudently managed, to keep our national defenses at a high state of maintenance.
         52. MIKE: And as a sidebar, that will require significant tax increases from those who can afford to pay, not only for our defense needs, but for our social needs as well.
6. Also from the EURASIANTIMES — Russia’s “Notorious” Research Vessel, Yantar, Keeps NATO On Tenterhooks; UK Says We Are Watching, We Are Ready!; By EurAsian Times Desk | EURASIANTIMES.COM | November 20, 2025. TAGS: Russian intelligence vessel, Royal Air Force, Yantar, United Kingdom (UK),
   1. The UK government on Wednesday accused a Russian intelligence vessel, Yantar, of entering British waters and endangering Royal Air Force pilots by directing lasers at them, prompting Defence Secretary John Healey to deliver a direct message to President Vladimir Putin: “We see you. We know what you’re doing. If the Yantar travels south this week, we are ready.”
   2. Healey’s remarks, delivered during a Downing Street press conference, marked the second incursion by the Yantar – an infamous Black Sea Fleet research ship operated by Russia’s secretive Main Directorate for Deep-Sea Research (GUGI) – into the UK’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) this year.
   3. The vessel, capable of deploying deep-sea submersibles for surveillance and potential sabotage, has been loitering on the edge of territorial waters off the coast of Scotland for weeks, according to UK officials.
   4. Thermal imaging released by the Ministry of Defence showed the 108-metre ship being shadowed by [frigate] HMS Somerset …, and RAF Poseidon P-8 surveillance aircraft.
   5. [Healey emphasized that, “This is deeply dangerous,”] describing the laser incident as a first-of-its-kind provocation from the Yantar against British forces.
   6. [Healey added,] “Anything that impedes, disrupts, or puts at risk pilots in charge of British military planes is unacceptable.”
   7. In response, Healey announced immediate changes to Royal Navy rules of engagement, allowing closer tracking within the UK’s wider waters (up to 200 nautical miles offshore).
   8. [Healy added that,] “We have military options ready should the Yantar change course,” underscoring Britain’s preparedness in what he called a “new era of threat” from adversarial states.
   9. The Yantar’s activities have heightened alarms over Moscow’s hybrid warfare tactics, particularly its probing of undersea infrastructure. Healey described the ship as part of a Russian fleet “designed to put and hold our undersea infrastructure – and that of our allies – at risk.”
   10. Equipped with two manned submersibles that can dive to 6,000 metres and remote-operated vehicles, the Yantar has long been suspected of mapping critical submarine cables for telecommunications, power, and gas pipelines – vulnerabilities exposed by a spate of Baltic Sea incidents in recent months.
   11. … The Yantar, commissioned in 2015 and often labeled as an “oceanographic research vessel,” has a track record of clandestine operations near NATO shores.
   12. It was first spotlighted by Western intelligence in 2017 for alleged submarine salvage near Syria, but its notoriety grew with repeated forays into European waters.
   13. In November 2024, it transited the English Channel under close escort by HMS Somerset, prompting a public warning from then-Defence Secretary Grant Shapps.
   14. In January 2025, it reappeared off the UK coast, shadowed by a Royal Navy nuclear submarine that surfaced dramatically nearby to signal observation – a move Healey hailed as a “clear demonstration of our capabilities.”
   15. This week’s episode, however, introduces a dangerous new element: the laser targeting of RAF pilots. UK officials confirmed it occurred during a routine surveillance flight by a P-8 Poseidon, which detected the vessel hovering suspiciously near known cable routes.
   16. [Healey told reporters,] “This is the first time we’ve seen this action from the Yantar directed against the British RAF,” [and] vowing to treat it “extremely seriously.”
   17. Ship-tracking data last plotted the Yantar in the Baltic Sea north of Latvia on November 2 & Dutch naval vessels escorted it out of the North Sea on November 6.
   18. [MIKE: I’ll note here that with the addition of Sweden and Finland to the NATO alliance, the Baltic Sea is now effectively a NATO lake, and Russia knows this. Continuing …]
   19. Europe has been gripped by a wave of suspected sabotage attempts targeting undersea assets, with at least four major incidents in the Baltic Sea since November 2024 – all pointing at deliberate interference.
   20. The most recent incident occurred on Christmas Day 2024, when the Estlink 2 power cable linking Finland and Estonia – carrying up to 10% of the Baltic region’s electricity – was severed, alongside four telecom lines.
   21. Finnish investigators seized the Cook Islands-flagged tanker Eagle S, which had departed a Russian port, suspecting anchor-dragging as a cover for sabotage.
   22. Preceding that, two Swedish telecom cables (BCS East-West Interlink and C-Lion1) were cut on November 17-18, 2024, near the Chinese-flagged Newnew Polar Bear – part of a “shadow fleet” evading sanctions on Russian oil exports.
   23. In February 2025, a Germany-Finland data cable was damaged east of Gotland, with sabotage suspected; Swedish and Finnish police launched probes and deployed coast guard vessels for underwater inspections.
   24. Norway followed suit in late January, seizing the Russian-crewed Silver Dania off Tromsø on Latvian orders after it allegedly damaged a Sweden-Latvia cable.
   25. While some cases (like a January Swedish incident) were ruled accidental, the cluster has prompted NATO’s “Baltic Sentry” operation – involving drone boats, patrols, and enhanced surveillance – and EU proposals for a rapid-response repair fleet.
   26. Experts and NATO officials have repeatedly pointed to Russia, citing its GUGI unit’s expertise in deep-sea ops and a pattern of “grey zone” aggression since the 2022 Ukraine invasion.
   27. [Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak warned in an interview,] “These aren’t accidents – they’re tests of our resolve.”
   28. The disruptions threaten 99% of global data traffic and energy security, with economic fallout potentially in the billions.
   29. Russia swiftly dismissed the accusations and said: “With its Russophobic course and escalation of militaristic hysteria, London is contributing to the further degradation of European security and creating conditions for new dangerous situations. We urge the UK to refrain from taking steps that exacerbate the crisis in Europe,” the Russian embassy in London said.
   30. Moscow has consistently denied involvement in cable sabotage, labeling the Yantar as a legitimate research vessel.
   31. Relations between London and Moscow, already at a post-Cold War nadir over Ukraine support, have plunged further. Healey reiterated Britain’s unwavering commitment: “Russia’s actions will not deter us from standing with Ukraine or protecting our allies.”
   32. MIKE: As of Saturday night, this is still an ongoing and developing story, and it reminds us again that Russia is in a very aggressive expansionist period that needs to be carefully monitored and defended against.
7. And finally, in a separate but related story from the EURASIANTIMES, there’s this — In A Historic First, Japan Arms U.S. With Lethal Patriot PAC-3 Interceptor Missiles; But Why Is Tokyo Arming “Mentor” USA?; By Sakshi Tiwari | EURASIANTIMES.COM | November 20, 2025. TAGS: Japan, Patriot PAC-3 Interceptors, Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF), Japan-US alliance, United States, Russia, Ukraine,
   1. Japan completed its first-ever export of domestically produced Patriot PAC-3 missiles from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) inventory to the United States, Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara confirmed on November 20. These missiles are manufactured by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries under a US license from Lockheed Martin.
   2. Kihara declined to specify the quantity of interceptors sent to the US but noted that the export “will contribute to enhancing the Japan-US alliance, Japan’s security and the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region.”
   3. The development comes more than a year after Japan’s MoD approved the transfer of missiles for the US Patriot PAC-3 system in July 2024.
   4. That decision marked a major shift in Japan’s defense policy because Tokyo had previously been permitted to export only components tied to licensed manufacturing agreements, not the finished product. The rules were modified to facilitate the transfer of these lethal interceptors to Washington.
   5. Patriot systems have been a cornerstone of Ukraine’s air defense since the summer of 2023, intercepting Russian ballistic, cruise missiles, and drones with high success.
   6. The US requested that the JASDF transfer some of these interceptors so it could continue assisting Ukraine without depleting its own stockpiles.
   7. For example, the US Army recorded the largest single-event launch of Patriot interceptors in US military history on June 23, 2025, when Iran launched ballistic missiles on the Al Udeid base in Qatar as retaliation for the US air strikes on its nuclear facilities.
   8. The “backfill” strategy would allow the US to leverage Japan’s production capacity and ensure a continued supply to Ukraine.
   9. The continued supply of Patriot interceptors to Ukraine becomes extremely significant as Russia has intensified aerial attacks on the embattled country, causing widespread damage and civilian casualties.
   10. The Japanese officials have clarified that the interceptors will only be used by the US military and will not be supplied to a third nation. This is in line with Tokyo’s “Three Principles on Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology,” which prohibits the transfer of arms to countries at war.
   11. However, the move is still very much likely to infuriate Russia, primarily because it indirectly fuels the Ukrainian war effort.
   12. The Russian Embassy in Japan earlier said, “They do not particularly hide here that the main goal of this agreement is to replenish the American arsenals, which have been reduced due to the transfer of weapons to the Kyiv regime. It may be the ammunition that will eventually end up in Ukraine.”
   13. [The Embassy further added,] “For our part, we have repeatedly warned the official Japanese authorities that we consider any supply of weapons to Ukraine – no matter where they come from – as an openly hostile act. Such steps will have an extremely negative impact on bilateral relations.”
   14. Relations between Japan and Russia have sharply deteriorated since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022. In response to Japan’s support for Ukraine, Russia froze peace treaty negotiations, halted agreed-upon economic projects, and ended visa-free visits to disputed islands for Japanese citizens.
   15. [MIKE: That’s another example, by the way, of territory that Russia took during WW2 that they have decided to keep. Continuing …]
   16. The supply of PAC-3 interceptors could further raise tensions and complicate matters. 
   17. Russian Ambassador to Japan Nikolai Nozdrev earlier cautioned that Moscow would respond decisively if Japanese missiles were found in Ukraine. Possible retaliatory measures could include sanctions or other diplomatic actions.
   18. Notably, demand for the Patriot missile defense system and interceptors has surged in the wake of the Ukraine War. In September 2025, the US Army signed a mammoth $9.8 billion contract with Lockheed Martin to purchase 1,970 Patriot Advanced Capability-3 MSE interceptors and related hardware for the US and its allies. 
   19. Lockheed said it plans to deliver more than 600 interceptors in 2025, adding that it had ramped up production two years ahead of bagging the contract, with the help of its internal investments. The defense giant reportedly has plans to increase production to 650 per year by 2027 and potentially up to 750 or more in subsequent years.
   20. At the time, Maj. Gen. Frank Lozano, head of the Army’s Program Executive Office Missiles and Space, said the multi-year purchase allows “the Army to procure a larger quantity of missiles for more rapid delivery, thus filling our inventory faster.”
   21. But until these deliveries happen, the US Army will be left with dwindling supplies, making the import of missiles from allies imperative.
   22. Notably, the PAC-3 MSE is the most advanced variant of the Patriot interceptor. It uses hit-to-kill technology to destroy targets by direct impact rather than explosive fragmentation, unlike typical interceptors. This increases efficacy against modern threats by delivering significantly more kinetic energy.
   23. Lockheed Martin states that the interceptor is intended to counter aircraft, cruise missiles, hypersonic weapons, and lethal, precise tactical ballistic missiles.
   24. … The US government announced that it has authorized Ukraine’s possible acquisition of equipment to modernize its Patriot air defense missiles.
   25. Earlier this month, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency said that Congress has been informed of the State Department’s permission of the potential foreign military sale, which may be valued at up to $105 million. The principal manufacturers of Patriot systems and missiles, Lockheed Martin and RTX Corp, are the principal contractors.
   26. Ukraine would be able to upgrade its current fleet of M901 Patriot launchers to the M903 variant with the equipment and services included in the deal, according to reports.  Additionally, ground support equipment, spare parts, support, training, accessories, and other program and logistical support components would be sold.
   27. The announcement came days after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukraine has received more United States-made Patriot air defence systems to help it counter Russian attacks. …
   28. Last month, Zelenskyy stated that Ukraine and the US are preparing a contract for 25 Patriot air defense systems. However, it will take years before the US can deliver them to Ukraine, as several other customers are currently in line amid surging demand for these battle-tested AD systems.
   29. Patriots are now seen as crucial to Ukraine’s defense against Russian attacks, especially against ballistic missiles. These cutting-edge systems proved their mettle by downing the “invincible” Kinzhal hypersonic missile.
   30. MIKE: The arrangement made between the US and Japan that these Mitsubishi-built Patriot missiles are not for export sound similar to an agreement between the US and South Korea when the Koreans helped to replenish US supplies of 155 mm artillery shells. In both cases, these armaments are for US-use only, and not for unauthorized export to third parties.
   31. MIKE: This transfer underscores two aspects of the current US need for increased weapons procurement. One is that it’s vital to have allies upon whom we can depend for additional weapons inventory and manufacture, but it also emphasizes how challenging we’re finding it to ramp up our own weapons production capacity.
   32. MIKE: It also points up how hard it is to increase weapons production once that capacity has atrophied. It’s not like flipping a light switch and you can’t just wave a magic wand at the problem.
   33. MIKE: In the future, when the international threat environment is hopefully less challenging, thought should be given into how such capacities can be turned off without being entirely lost.
8. This next story echoes Topic 10 from last week’s show. From POLITICO-dot-EU — Germany’s rearmament upends Europe’s power balance; By Chris Lunday, Jacopo Barigazzi, Laura Kayali, Paul McLeary and Jan Cienski | POLITICO.EU | November 12, 2025@4:09 am CET. TAGS: Defense, Defense budgets, Drones, NATO Procurement, Radar, Tanks, War in Ukraine, Weapons France , Germany Poland , Russia, Spain Sweden , United Kingdom, United States, Donald Tusk, Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz, Airbus, Alternative for Germany (AfD), Dassault Aviation, European Commission, NATO,
   1. For decades, the European Union ran on an unspoken understanding: Germany handled the money, France handled the military. Now, the tables are turning.
   2. As Germany aims to become Europe’s predominant military power, the political balance is shifting. In France, there’s a scramble to stay relevant, while in Poland, Germany’s rearmament is stirring old ghosts and creating a sense that a Berlin-Warsaw alliance might be the most effective way to keep Russia at bay.
   3. [Said Christoph Schmid, a German Social Democratic lawmaker on the Bundestag’s defense committee,] “Everywhere I go in the world, from the Baltics to Asia, people are asking Germany to take on more responsibility. The expectation is that Germany will finally step up and match its economic weight with defense power.”
   4. A Germany with Europe’s largest army, equipped with cutting edge tanks, missiles and jets, is a far cry from the shambolic Bundeswehr derided for its low morale and outdated equipment. That military power is tied to political and economic heft — and Europe will have to adapt to a dominant Germany.
   5. By 2029, Germany is expected to spend €153 billion a year on defense. That’s about 3.5 percent of GDP, the country’s most ambitious military expansion since reunification. France, by comparison, plans to reach about €80 billion by 2030. 
   6. Poland aims to spend 186 billion złoty (€44 billion) on defense this year, equal to 4.7 percent of GDP — the highest level in NATO — and plans to have one of Europe’s largest and best-equipped militaries.
   7. The fiscal realities are changing, too. With Paris struggling with debt above 110 percent of GDP and a deficit north of 5 percent, Berlin’s borrowing power gives it freedom that its neighbors can only envy. Poland is also fighting to keep public spending under control, exacerbated by the explosion in defense spending.
   8. One EU official called the shift in Germany’s military potential “telluric,” or Earth-moving. Another diplomat put it more directly: “It’s the most important thing happening right now at EU level.”
   9. For Europe’s diplomats, that surge raises more than budgetary questions. It challenges the story the bloc has long told itself about who guards its security. And that question is making the rounds in Brussels, where officials are wondering how “European” Germany’s buildup will really be.
   10. … One sign of the answer lies in procurement. Berlin remains deeply protective of its national prerogatives in defense. 
   11. It has resisted giving the European Commission a stronger hand in buying weapons and plans to rely heavily on national frameworks, including a new procurement law that will make systematic use of Article 346 of the EU treaty. This clause allows countries to bypass EU competition rules to favor domestic contracts.
   12. That Germany first approach is already taking shape.
   13. Internal procurement papers seen by POLITICO show Berlin preparing to push €83 billion in defense contracts through the Bundestag by the end of 2026. That’s an unprecedented surge touching every area of the armed forces, from tanks and frigates to drones, satellites and radar systems.
   14. And that’s only the opening phase. Behind it sits a much larger €377 billion Bundeswehr “wish list,” a long-term blueprint covering more than 320 new weapons programs across all military domains.
   15. Even more striking is where the billions will flow. According to the procurement plans, less than 10 percent of new contracts are going to U.S. suppliers — a reversal after years in which Berlin was one of Washington’s top defense customers. Nearly all the rest will stay in Europe, and much of it with Germany’s own defense industry.
   16. For Europe, that means the EU’s economic engine is becoming its defense-industrial one too, with Berlin channeling hundreds of billions into domestic production lines while France and southern countries remain fiscally constrained.
   17. … That shift is being felt in Paris, where Germany’s rearmament is viewed with a mix of skepticism and concern.
   18. [Said one EU official,] “In France, the defense apparatus is at the core of the system. The difference between Paris and Berlin is that in France any official is, at the end, a defense official.”
   19. Despite French President Emmanuel Macron’s push since 2017 to improve the Franco-German relationship, mistrust toward Berlin remains deeply rooted in French defense circles.
   20. [A French defense official told POLITICO,] “It’s halfway between vigilance and threat. It will be difficult to work with them because they will be extremely dominant.” [The official added that the main caveat is whether German Chancellor Friedrich Merz will manage to fill the Bundeswehr’s personnel gaps.
   21. However, Germany’s industrial and economic might is as much of a concern as the country’s rearmament, the official continued. “They won’t need to invade Alsace and Moselle,” they joked, referring to the French regions that Germany successfully invaded during its conquest of France in 1940. “They can just buy it.”
   22. Beyond the historical unease, French and European officials wonder what kind of geopolitical role Berlin under Merz’s leadership intends to play.
   23. [Said one Paris-based European diplomat,] “It’s unclear yet what Merz wants to do. Germany will have to take on a broader role internationally, but it’s unclear how.”
   24. The latest friction over Europe’s next-generation fighter jet project — the Future Combat Air System, or FCAS — has only deepened the unease.
   25. The €100 billion program was meant to be the crown jewel of Franco-German-Spanish defense cooperation. But delays and squabbling over which country gets a larger share of the work are testing that partnership to the breaking point.
   26. In recent weeks, German defense officials have floated fallback options, exploring potential cooperation with Sweden or the U.K., or pressing ahead with Spain alone.
   27. That prospect is alarming Paris. 
   28. For France, FCAS is more of a political project than just another procurement project. It’s tied directly to its nuclear deterrent, a fundamental aspect of its claim to European military leadership.
   29. Éric Trappier, the CEO of Dassault Aviation, which is to play a leading role in FCAS, was blunt with French lawmakers: “I’m not against the project, but when Germany says it’s going to exclude France, doesn’t that bother you?”
   30. If Berlin spends big while teaming up mainly with Nordic and eastern allies, Paris risks losing the central role it has long enjoyed in Europe’s defense architecture.
   31. … However, not everyone sees Germany’s rearmament as a threat. In Warsaw, it’s viewed as both necessary and overdue.
   32. [Said Marek Magierowski, a former Polish ambassador to Israel and the United States,] “Poland has become a shining beacon among NATO allies in terms of military spending. Consequently, we insist that other partners follow suit. But if we seriously care about collective defense, we cannot keep saying: ‘Please, everybody spend more on defense. But not you, Germany.’”
   33. A group of Polish officials who spoke with POLITICO expressed similar pragmatism. [Said one,] “They’re rowing in the right direction. From our point of view, it could have been done earlier, but it’s good that it’s happening.”
   34. But the often bloody past casts a long shadow. 
   35. [Said Paweł Zalewski, Poland’s deputy defense minister,] “Looking at history, a situation where Germany would link its economic power with military might has always raised fears. Today, Poland has the largest land army in Europe and will be a very strong player in the future, so the modernization plans of the Bundeswehr have to be taken in context. All European countries are rearming.”
   36. Zalewski pointed out that Germany’s buildup comes as Washington signals a drawdown of its European presence. [He said,] “An increase in Germany’s military strength is a natural response. The main countries defending the eastern flank will be Poland and Germany.”
   37. However, old memories die hard in Warsaw, both from the war and from the policy of economic codependence with Russia pursued by former Chancellor Angela Merkel.
   38. [Zalewski said,] “We also remember Merkel’s pro-Russia stance. We are calling on Germany to show how strongly it will defend the international order against Russia. There is a need for constant verification. We aren’t forgetting anything.”
   39. Magierowski reflected that concern, [saying,]. “I am more worried about trade ties between Germany and Russia, still quite vivacious, and the growing pressure in Berlin to return to business as usual after the war in Ukraine.”
   40. That softer line on Russia is most visible inside the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), now the country’s second-largest party.
   41. [One Polish official said,] “When we think about the AfD and whether they could gain power or co-power in future German governments, this is a concern. The AfD is pro-Putin and has a program that talks about regaining some Polish territory. We cannot open that discussion in Europe. The Second World War started because Germany was unhappy about the results of the First.”
   42. [MIKE: This must be a huge concern in Poland and Ukraine, since there’s a lot of tough history there, including huge territorial changes after WW2. I’ll discuss those at the end. Continuing …]
   43. … Taken together, Germany’s rapid buildup and its partners’ mixed reactions highlight how Europe’s center of gravity is moving eastward. The continent’s economic powerhouse is now transforming into its military-industrial one, while France clings to its nuclear card and Poland grows into a conventional heavyweight on NATO’s eastern flank.
   44. In Brussels, that realignment poses a test: Can the EU channel this momentum into common structures, or will it deepen the bloc’s defense fragmentation?
   45. For now, Berlin’s buildup is seen as a return to responsibility rather than a bid for dominance. But even supporters admit the scale of the change is hard to grasp.
   46. [Said one EU diplomat,] “It could be frightening, no doubt. But Germany has coalitions. It’s in the EU and NATO — and many things could happen in the meantime.”
   47. MIKE: As a Jew who lost family in Europe during WW2, I can fully understand European ambivalence about the German military build-up.
   48. MIKE: On the one hand, as I’ve said many times, no one has more respect for the ways that Germany has reformed German culture and society in the wake of the two World Wars than I do. I know that intellectually.
   49. MIKE: But having been born less than 6 years after the end of WW2, and having grown up on war movies depicting the German Nazis as evil incarnate, I still experience a visceral and involuntary sense of concern about German re-armament.
   50. MIKE: It’s another example about how ancestral and historical memory runs deep in the human experience. You just have to look at the Balkans in southeastern Europe to see just how long such feelings can last. There are also such history-based feelings among many peoples and nations in the Americas.
   51. MIKE: Yet within that context, and within the context of militant Russian expansionism and enduring hostile activity, and especially given Germany’s proximity to Russia, it’s an inevitable and necessary development.
   52. MIKE: As to the territorial issue I referenced earlier, there were lots of massive territorial changes that took place as a result of WW2. Russia kept pretty much everything it took as a result of the war.
   53. MIKE: That included eastern Poland and the Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, taken in cooperation with Hitler as a result of “a secret annex to the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union that divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence,” as well as parts of pre-War Finland.
   54. MIKE: It also includes East Prussia, captured from Germany and renamed Kaliningrad.
   55. MIKE: So even just discussion of border changes in Europe opens a real Pandora’s Box of concerns and dangers.
   56. MIKE: Thus, German re-armament is certainly an unhappy yet necessary development of our times, and I’m sure is no less so for the Germans themselves.
   57. As I already mentioned, I have a lot of respect for the country that modern Germans have rebuilt, but every country has some insensitive a-holes. They are still in Germany. And if we needed reminding, they’re also in the US, the UK, France, and elsewhere in Europe and around the world. So I have this story from The Associated Press via ABCNEWS — Germany cancels auction of Holocaust artifacts after backlash; By The Associated Press | ABCNEWS.GO.COM | November 16, 2025, 8:52 AM. TAGS: Germany, Holocaust,
   58. Poland’s foreign minister said Sunday that an “offensive” auction of Holocaust artifacts has been canceled in Germany, relaying information from his German counterpart, following complaints from Holocaust survivors.
   59. Radoslaw Sikorski made the comments on the X platform, saying he and German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul “agreed that such a scandal must be prevented.” The top Polish diplomat thanked Wadephul for the information that the auction was canceled.
   60. Earlier, a Holocaust survivors group called on the German auction house Felzmann to cancel Monday’s sale of hundreds of Holocaust artifacts, including letters written by prisoners and other documents that identify many people by name.
   61. A listing of information about the auction on the Auktionhaus Felzmann website on Sunday morning was no longer on the site by mid-afternoon. The house did not immediately respond to calls, an email, and a text message on Sunday.
   62. The collection of over 600 lots at auction in western Neuss, near Düsseldorf, included letters written by prisoners from German concentration camps to loved ones at home, Gestapo index cards and other perpetrator documents, the German news agency dpa reported. The auction was titled “The System of Terror.”
   63. [Said Christoph Heubner, an executive vice president of The International Auschwitz Committee, a Berlin-based group of survivors,] “For victims of Nazi persecution and Holocaust survivors, this auction is a cynical and shameless undertaking that leaves them outraged and speechless. … Their history and the suffering of all those persecuted and murdered by the Nazis is being exploited for commercial gain.”
   64. The committee said the names of individuals were identifiable in many of the documents.
   65. Heubner said such documents of persecution and the Holocaust “belong to the families of the victims. They should be displayed in museums or memorial exhibitions and not degraded to mere commodities. [He added before cancellation of the auction was announced,] “We urge those responsible at the Felzmann auction house to show some basic decency and cancel the auction.” …
   66. MIKE: I’ve had to cut this story short for time, but the text is in the show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com. Sometimes, folks do things that make others scratch their heads and ask, What were these people thinking? I’m actually curious how these tranches of documents came to the auction house, and who currently claims ownership of them.
   67. MIKE: Perhaps there will be some additional reporting on this story down the road.