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 misspoken response to criticism of Chicago police brutality during the Democratic National Convention (Quote starts at 0:39)

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.

 And welcome to our international visitors from Singapore, the UK, India, and elsewhere.

 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. 

It’s the 21st week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC; 12 weeks since Trump deployed National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee; and an ongoing federal law enforcement occupation in Chicago. A new court order has forbidden the Trump regime from stationing Federalized Guard troops in Chicago. I’ll be reading that story later in this show.

 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 still resisting compliance. To be continued …

 Due to time constraints, some stories may be longer in this show post than in the broadcast show itself.

 There are run-off elections.

1. 1. Early Voting starts on Wednesday, JAN 21 and runs through Tuesday, JAN 27^th.
   2. Early voting poll hours are Wednesday January 21 through Saturday January 24, 2026 — 7AM – 7PM
   3. Sunday, January 25, 2026 — 12PM – 7PM
   4. Then Monday, January 26^th and Tuesday January 27^th — 7AM – 7PM
   5. Election Day Polling hours are Wednesday, January 31, 2026 — 7AM – 7PM
   6. It’s always important to remember that if you are on line to vote by 7pm, you cannot be turned away.
   7. Oddly, the Texas Secretary of State’s office doesn’t show any runoff ballots. If you are unsure whether you qualify for voting in a runoff election, check your ballot at HarrisVotes-dot-com, or at your local county clerk or election clerk website.
   8. In Harris County, election information and personalized sample ballots can be found at HarrisVotes-dot-com.
   9. You are permitted to bring your pre-marked sample ballot to the polling place with you as long as you take it with you when you leave.
   10. If you are outside Harris County, you can find your polling information at your local county election clerk or county clerk. Links for nearby counties can be found at the bottom of this show post. Please notify me of any bad links.
   11. I’ve already gotten my mail-in ballot for the CD-18 run-off. If you applied for a mail-in ballot, you should have yours as well. I suggest mailing it in at least a week before election day.
   12. If you fit the legal criteria, it’s not too late to apply for mail-in ballot. You can find your Harris County mail ballot application at the site I’m linking to in this show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-Com.
   13. Remember: If you don’t vote, someone else is making the choices for you, and elections have consequences.
2. In the category of problems you didn’t know we had, from CommunityImpact — Live-aboards in League City will be required to comply with new permits, inspections; By Rachel Leland | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 3:59 PM Dec 19, 2025 CST/Updated 3:59 PM Dec 19, 2025 CST. TAGS: League City, League City City Council, Live-Aboard Vessels, Derelict Vessels, Waterway Sanitation,
   1. Live-aboards — people who permanently live in their boats docked at a marina — will be asked to comply with new League City permits and inspections or potentially risk fines and legal consequences.
   2. League City City Council voted 7-1 to approve an ordinance creating new regulations for live-aboard vessels, abandoned and derelict vessels and sanitation within city waterways at its Dec. 16 meeting.
   3. According to the ordinance, a live-aboard is defined as anyone who lives on a vessel for more than 10 days within a 30-day period.
   4. Residents must obtain a live-aboard permit from the city and pay an annual fee of $150. The permit application requires the following: Proof that the vessel passed a U.S. Coast Guard inspection or a check by a certified Marine Safety Enforcement Officer within 60 days of the permit application; Written consent for the city to perform a criminal background check; Liability insurance and 24-hour emergency towing capability, unless a waiver is granted documenting that the vessel can be moved by ordinary means in an emergency; A daily log on board that documents the vessel’s occupancy, sanitation activity and any maintenance issues affecting safety or wastewater management; [and] Owner-provided written consent allowing the city to remove or relocate the vessel during emergencies or if the permit is revoked and the vessel is not moved within 10 days.
   5. [MIKE: I can see how that daily log can be a nuisance. And what kind of “sanitation activity” are you supposed to record? I hope the ordinance has more specificity in that and other areas. Continuing …]
   6. … In an interview published by the city in November, League City Mayor Nick Long said abandoned boats, which often sink, had become increasingly hazardous for other boats and the general bay area.
   7. Several League City residents said they had seen suspicious activity at Marina del Sol at a Nov. 18 City Council meeting, according to previous reporting by Community Impact. …
   8. The ordinance goes into effect 30 days after it is passed, according to city documents.
   9. Violating the new ordinance could result in fines, permit revocation or even misdemeanor charges, according to city documents.
   10. MIKE: There’s somewhat more detail in the actual story which you can read by clicking on the link I’m providing, as I do in all stories.
   11. MIKE: I think that on balance, these new regulations are both useful and necessary, though some sound sufficiently burdensome as to sound like they are meant to discourage living aboard boats. Time will tell.
3. In another short story from CommunityImpact — Houston City Council OKs $750K to continue restoration of historic Fourth Ward library; By Emily Lincke | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 6:00 AM Dec 23, 2025 CST. TAGS: Houston City Council, The African American Library at the Gregory School, Houston’s Fourth Ward,
   5. Houston City Council approved an additional $750,000 for the roughly $5.2 million restoration of The African American Library at the Gregory School—located at 1300 Victor St. in Houston’s Fourth Ward—during its regular 17 meeting.
   6. City Council approved the added $750,000 for the city’s contract with builder Anslow Bryant Construction, which was selected for the library restoration project in April 2023, according to meeting documents.
   7. In 2017, The African American Library was damaged by Hurricane Harvey as wind and rain penetrated the building’s exterior, as previously reported by Community Impact. The city’s project includes: Repairing the building’s roofing and windows; Upgrading the building’s heating, ventilation and air conditioning system; [and] Restoring some interior and exterior elements.
   8. … The building is located in the Freedmen’s Town Historic District and is on the National Register of Historic Places, as previously reported. The Gregory School earned a Texas Historical Marker on Jan. 5.
   9. MIKE: Along with schools, I always support money allocated for local libraries. While libraries have and must continue to evolve with the times, they still have an important place in our local communities. Indeed, they are especially important in some neighborhoods more than others.
   10. MIKE: Some home situations are less conducive to student study or research work. And not everyone can afford fast internet access. In fact, some folks can’t afford internet access at all.
   11. MIKE: The fundamental purpose of libraries is to make as much information as possible available to all inhabitants of our cities and counties. At 8 years and counting, completion of the restoration and repair work for this library is long overdue.
   12. MIKE: I wonder how many other local libraries have been awaiting work to begin or finish while generations of students have already graduated or left their schools.
4. And speaking of Hurricane Harvey problems overdue for resolution, from the Texas Tribune — Government liable for damage to homes near Houston dams during Hurricane Harvey floods, court rules; by Colleen DeGuzman | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | Dec. 24, 2025, 12:01 p.m. Central. TAGS: Hurricane Harvey, Addicks and Barker dams, Greg Abbott, Houston,
   1. A federal appeals court has ruled that the government is liable for damage to homes that flooded upstream of the Addicks and Barker dams after Hurricane Harvey unleashed more than 50 inches of rainfall on the Houston region in 2017.
   2. A three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled unanimously earlier this week that the government “was aware or should have been aware” that the dams were not enough to protect nearby communities.
   3. In their lawsuit, a group of homeowners said the dams were built with the goal of protecting Houston’s downtown area downstream, “even at the cost of flooding private lands.” Land upstream from the Addicks and Barker dams are dry most of the time, and many homeowners didn’t know their neighborhoods were built inside federally owned flood control reservoirs which filled to unprecedented levels after Harvey.
   4. It’s estimated that around 14,000 homes were inside the reservoir at the time Harvey made landfall in Rockport as a Category 4 storm then stalled out over the Houston region and dumped record levels of rain. More than one-third of the homes in the reservoirs flooded.
   5. Houston Public Media first reported the new ruling. Daniel Charest, a partner with the law firm of Burns Charest that is representing the plaintiffs, told HPM the decision could help the claims others have made against the government.
   6. [Charest said in a news release,] “This ruling reinforces that every property owner whose land is subject to the government’s flowage easement deserves compensation for that permanent burden on their property rights.”
   7. The government could either appeal the decision to the full Federal Circuit, or file an appeal directly to the U.S. Supreme Court.
   8. [Gov. Greg Abbott wrote on X,] “There are a few more legal hoops to jump through but relief is now closer than ever.”
   9. MIKE: The story doesn’t actually say which government is being sued here. The story might imply that it’s the federal government, but the headline suggests that it’s the City of Houston.
   10. MIKE: I’ve emailed the reporter to please clarify.
   11. MIKE: In any case, I think these homeowners are entitled to compensation. Watching the flood waters rise around their homes and eventually invade them must have been a horrible, traumatizing experience, and the homes should never have been built there.
5. “Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry; by Berenice Garcia | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | Dec. 24, 2025, 5:00 a.m. Central. TAGS: Donald Trump, Greg Abbott, Henry Cuellar, South Texas Builders Association, Construction, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
   1. One morning in mid-November, Mario Guerrero, the executive director of the South Texas Builders Association, was checking a group chat when a video of federal agents detaining people from a construction site popped up.
   2. He watched the video of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents detaining workers who were pouring cement in front of a home in an idyllic neighborhood here in the Rio Grande Valley.
   3. [MIKE: I wonder if ICE allowed the men to finish the pour. It doesn’t mention in the story, but I’m betting that these stupid, heartless ICE police did not. That would be its own major expense for a builder to remove a partial pour that would never pass inspection. Continuing …]
   4. For nearly a year, Guerrero had seen similar videos or read news reports of arrests and raids. This was the last straw.
   5. The raids and the specter of more to come have struck fear in construction workers, causing many to stay home. ICE agents have arrested more than 9,100 people in South Texas — nearly one-fifth of all such arrests in the entire state since Trump took office, according to government data provided by ICE in response to a FOIA request to the Deportation Data Project and analyzed by the Texas Tribune.
   6. Without enough workers, construction has slowed, sending a ripple effect throughout the economy. Economists suggest that this will drive housing costs up — even as Texas officials focus on bringing such costs down.
   7. Later that afternoon, Guerrero posted a video of his own on the association’s Facebook page in which he addressed the construction community, local elected officials and the public.
   8. [In the video, Guerrero began by saying,] “I would like to start off this video by saying that I am an American citizen, and it’s crazy that we’re living in times where you actually have to state that.”
   9. He said he believed law enforcement should do their jobs, but was disturbed by the fact that ICE agents were operating without arrest warrants — which they are legally allowed to do — and detaining people who have proper authorization.
   10. [Guerrero said,] “It’s what’s happening across the Rio Grande Valley at construction sites.”
   11. He ended the video by calling on local leaders to attend a meeting later that month to discuss the ongoing challenges facing the construction industry because of ICE raids.
   12. [Guerrero said,] “It’s time that we have our leaders show up. … Our people are hurting, our businesses are hurting. There’s no labor.”
   13. Guerrero’s candor about how the construction industry is suffering as a result of ICE raids grabbed the attention of the Rio Grande Valley community. For months, residents openly assumed that the construction industry was being negatively impacted, but had yet to hear anyone in the industry officially acknowledge it. Data from the Federal Reserve of Dallas shows a 5% drop in construction jobs during the third quarter of this year, the single largest dip in jobs in the region.
   14. ICE did not respond to an interview request or list of questions The Texas Tribune sent.
   15. With his comments, Guerrero opened the door for others to finally speak openly about it, catching the attention of state and federal officials.
   16. … When the day of the meeting arrived, more than 380 people filled the room at the Brookhaven Event Center in Pharr. It was packed with people who worked in nearly every facet of construction and development, including concrete, lumber, real estate, and lending. A handful of elected officials also attended.
   17. During the roughly hour and a half that they met, those industry representatives took turns to discuss the hits their businesses had taken because workers were too frightened that ICE would show up at construction sites. They also warned of how the larger Rio Grande Valley economy would suffer if the ICE arrests didn’t stop.
   18. [Ronnie Cavazos, board president of the South Texas Builders Association, told the crowd,] “Business is down significantly. … If we continue on this trajectory, we will see a lot of businesses fail.”
   19. Isaac Smith, a co-owner of Matt’s Building Materials, said his family’s stores were struggling to get lumber out the door.
   20. [Smith told the Tribune,] “If job sites are getting raided, at any level, the construction can’t continue. … It’s not a fun situation to be in.”
   21. Smith said his sales had seen a rate of decline in the double digits since the ICE operations began. He’s also seen an increase in late payments from customers with a credit line from the store. …
   22. During the Nov. 17 meeting, Cavazos took a moment to bring attention to the people directly affected by the raids — the workers.
   23. [Cavazos said in his remarks,] “Let me tell you about immigrants in this country. Nobody believes in the American dream more than them. … The immigrant should be celebrated, treated with dignity and allowed to work and provide for their families.”
   24. Every few days, videos of ICE operations gain widespread attention. Jesus, a 42-year-old construction worker …, said he and his fellow workers keep a lookout for ICE when they’re out on a job — if they go to work.
   25. Jesus has drastically decreased the number of jobs he takes, just enough to ensure his family can survive. …
   26. … With fewer construction workers available to build homes, delays in building could result in a shortage of homes and cause home prices to rise.
   27. It would not be the first time that changes in immigration policy could be at least a partial factor in housing unaffordability.
   28. Researchers found that under an Obama-era immigration enforcement program, deportations led to a shortage of labor in the construction sector and, therefore, fewer new homes.
   29. The program, called Secure Communities, was launched during the George W. Bush administration but was expanded under former President Barack Obama, leading to more than 300,000 deportations from 2008 to 2013.
   30. Nationwide, there was a 2% to 3% decrease in labor in the construction industry and a 5.7% decrease in new constructions during that time. The new constructions that were getting built went up in price by 4.4%, according to Dayin Zhang, one of the researchers and an assistant professor at the Wisconsin School of Business. …
   31. How that might translate to today will likely depend on the total number of people deported under the Trump administration. The administration claims more than 600,000 have been deported since Trump took office in January, though immigration advocates have questioned the accuracy of their numbers.
   32. [MIKE: The linked story cited in this article questions the accuracy of the DHS claim that over half of the deportees are criminals, as well as the number itself. Continuing …]
   33. … Since the meeting, Guerrero has received an unusual amount of attention for someone who usually stays off social media.
   34. His video grabbed the attention of U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Laredo Democrat, who asked to meet. The meeting, held at a seafood restaurant, went well, Guerrero said …
   35. On Dec. 10, Guerrero attended a private meeting with Gov. Greg Abbott when the governor swung through the Valley to champion his proposals to cut property taxes. …
   36. Abbott’s office did not respond to a request for comment.
   37. He’s gotten some negative feedback, too. People have left messages on social media accusing him of wanting to exploit cheap labor. He strongly pushed back against that accusation, adding that entry-level laborers are paid the equivalent of $15 per hour.
   38. People on social media also commented that he should be prosecuted or investigated, and told him he shouldn’t be calling out local elected officials.
   39. Guerrero isn’t backing down.
   40. For the January meeting, he has invited more elected officials at all levels of government. He hopes these ongoing public gatherings will bring greater awareness to their plight.
   41. [Guererror said,] “People maybe don’t understand the magnitude of what’s happening. … But that’s where we have to come together as human beings, and we need to be a little cognizant about the real situation that we’re facing.”
   42. MIKE: There’s so much to discuss here.
   43. MIKE: The first and most important thing to note in this story is that the sudden shortage of construction workers is not a bug. It’s a feature.
   44. MIKE: The oft-stated theory of the regime is that immigrants are taking jobs from American citizens. Now we’ll see if US citizens flock to apply for these new construction job openings.
   45. MIKE: Next, I have to wonder how the home builders and business owners, who are complaining so mightily about lost labor and revenue, voted in 2024. I can’t find definitive information on that, but I suspect they overwhelmingly voted for Trump. Did they think he was joking about deporting their workers?
   46. MIKE: And then there are some of the social media complaints against these business owners. I will note, as has frequently been pointed out, that the employers of the illegal immigrant workers being detained and deported by ICE have not, to my knowledge been prosecuted. Why not? Hiring undocumented workers is a federal crime, and has been since 1986, so it’s a question begging for an answer.
   47. MIKE: The story mentioned immigration crackdowns under Obama, as if to spread the blame. Obama established Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) in an effort to deal with illegal immigrants and their families more fairly. Also recall that President Biden tried to pass a bipartisan immigration reform act, but Trump ordered his Republican lackeys not to vote for it so that he could use immigration as a 2024 campaign issue.
   48. MIKE: I wonder if these deeply wounded business owners in the construction industry will continue to vote Republican. It’s sometimes said that insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result. We’ll find out in 2026 and 2028.
   49. REFERENCE: Small-Business Owners Voted for Trump. They Won’t Get Everything On Their Wish List. — By Megan Leonhardt, BARRONS.COM | Nov 15, 2024 (Appears to be available without a paywall for me)
6. In an important SCOTUS decision, as reported by DemocracyDocket — Supreme Court Upholds Block to Trump’s Chicago Military Takeover; By Jacob Knutson | DEMOCRACYDOCKET.COM | December 23, 2025. TAGS: President Donald Trump, Federalized National Guard troops, US Supreme Court,
   1. President Donald Trump’s military takeover of Chicago will not go forward after the Supreme Court Tuesday upheld a lower court ruling halting his attempt to send hundreds of National Guard troops to the city.
   2. The court’s long-awaited 6-3 decision deals a significant blow to Trump’s authoritarian goal of exerting military control over cities and integrating soldiers into routine policing. The ruling will likely also undermine his military intervention in Los Angeles and his attempted deployment in Portland, Oregon.
   3. In maintaining the lower court’s decision, the Supreme Court said Trump unlawfully used an archaic statute to federalize hundreds of Illinois Guard troops, who are normally under [Illinois] Gov. JB Pritzker’s (D) control.
   4. After threatening to send troops into Chicago for months, Trump in early October federalized Illinois and Texas Guard troops and deployed them into the city over the repeated objections of Pritzker and other local and state officials. California Guard troops federalized for his earlier intervention in Los Angeles were also sent to Chicago.
   5. Trump claimed soldiers were needed to protect federal agents conducting aggressive immigration enforcement operations in the city. However, he also regularly associated sending troops with curbing crime in the city, even though federal law generally bars the use of federal military personnel to enforce domestic laws.
   6. Trump federalized the troops under S.Code 12406 (Title 10), an archaic and rarely used statute that allows the president to take control of state Guard troops when the country faces foreign invasion, when the U.S. government faces rebellion, or when the president is unable to execute laws with “regular forces.”
   7. The Supreme Court Tuesday determined that because the term “regular forces” in Title 10 likely refers to the traditional forces of the U.S. military — such as the Army, Navy and Air Force — Trump did not have authority to federalize Illinois Guard members.
   8. [The unsigned majority opinion reads,] “This interpretation means that to call the Guard into active federal service under §12406(3), the President must be ‘unable’ with the regular military ‘to execute the laws of the United States.’”
   9. The majority further stated that because the Posse Comitatus Act generally prohibits using the military in civilian law enforcement purposes under normal circumstances, Trump likely would be unable to use the traditional military in Chicago.
   10. [The majority said,] “At this preliminary stage, the Government has failed to identify a source of authority that would allow the military to execute the laws in Illinois. … The President has not invoked a statute that provides an exception to the Posse Comitatus Act.”
   11. Conservative Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas and Niel Gorsuch dissented.
   12. Pritzker on social media hailed the court’s ruling as a “big win for Illinois and American democracy.”
   13. [Pritzker said,] “This is an important step in curbing the Trump Administration’s consistent abuse of power and slowing Trump’s march toward authoritarianism. … While we welcome his ruling, we also are clear-eyed that the Trump Administration’s pursuit for unchecked power is continuing across the country.”
   14. Almost immediately after Trump announced the Chicago deployment, Illinois sued, alleging the deployment infringed on its right to self-governance. The lawsuit reached the Supreme Court after Trump filed an emergency appeal of the district court’s decision to block the deployment.
   15. Instead of immediately granting or denying Trump’s stay request, the Supreme Court, in an unexpected move, asked Illinois and the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file briefs on the definition of “regular forces.”
   16. In its brief, the DOJ struggled to directly answer the Supreme Court’s question and instead asserted that Trump had broad powers to federalize state Guard troops, and courts have no authority to question the president’s ability to deploy them domestically.
   17. The Supreme Court did not address the DOJ’s arguments on courts’ inability to review deployments, perhaps allowing its ruling to speak for itself.
   18. The court’s decision will likely upset several of Trump’s domestic military deployments so far because, with the exception of Los Angeles, Trump hadn’t sent regular military forces to any city in which he’s attempted to deploy National Guard troops. When he deployed thousands of federalized California Guard troops to Los Angeles over the summer, he simultaneously sent hundreds of Marines.
   19. However, the ruling likely will not affect his military interventions in Washington, D.C., and Memphis, Tennessee, which were carried out under different laws. 
   20. MIKE: The Trump regime and it’s Congressional and judicial apologists represent an ongoing threat to freedom and democracy in this county. This legal victory is a win in just one battle in the ongoing war.
   21. MIKE: At some future point, I think that Justices Alito and Thomas should be examined for possible impeachment.
   22. MIKE: Also, legal and Constitutional reforms will be essential in order to restore legitimacy and safety to the US Supreme Court and other government institutions.
   23. REFERENCE: Supreme Court says Trump can’t deploy National Guard to Chicago as legal challenge moves forward — CBS News, Oct 23, 2025 7:02 PM EST
7. This next story is from November 20, but is still relevant. From the NYTIMES.COM — Congressional Republicans Begin to Look Beyond Trump; By Carl Hulse, Reporting from Capitol Hill | NYTIMES.COM | 20, 2025/Updated 5:08 p.m. ET. TAGS: U.S. Politics, Democratic Party, U.S. House of Representatives, Republican Party, U.S. Senate, Kevin Cramer,
   1. President Trump has always defied the laws of political gravity, seemingly impervious to setbacks that would sink any other figure, and immune from the traditional ebb and flow of campaign cycles.
   2. But his capitulation in the fight over releasing the Epstein files, and other recent developments, suggest that, when it comes to Congress, the president is subject to at least some of the same currents as his predecessors, as the first signs of his lame duck status emerge.
   3. The willingness of congressional Republicans to defy Mr. Trump and back legislation requiring the disclosure of federal files on Jeffrey Epstein, the convicted sex offender and one-time Trump friend, was the clearest evidence yet that G.O.P. lawmakers are starting to look beyond Mr. Trump’s tenure to their self-preservation in midterm elections next year.
   4. There are other signs as well, notably the refusal by Senate Republicans to bow to Mr. Trump’s demand to gut the filibuster during the shutdown fight, and resistance in some states to his intense push to redraw House district maps to cement the G.O.P.’s hold and prevent a Democratic takeover that would imperil the president.
   5. Trump’s previously ironclad grip on the Republican Congress might even be weakening earlier than usual, before the more typical loss of power by a sitting president following midterm elections. Republicans are reacting in real time to the drubbing their party took in off-year elections earlier this month, defeats that were much worse than anticipated.
   6. Polling also shows Mr. Trump and his party in a weakened state on a number of fronts headed into a 2026 election cycle that will determine control of Congress, with Americans citing rising costs and a dour view of the economy that Mr. Trump had pledged to fix to their benefit.
   7. The president continues to hold an outsized grip on his party given his massive popularity with his far-right base, and observers are quick to caution that his political strength has survived through many episodes when it had appeared to be waning.
   8. But even Republicans concede that there is a shift underway that was probably inevitable, given the history of presidential power and the rapidity with which it can dissipate.
   9. [Said Senator Kevin Cramer, Republican of North Dakota,] “He’d be the outlier if it didn’t happen. … The closer you get to the midterms and then beyond, everybody is measuring their own state or congressional district, and maybe people are a little more independent.”
   10. Representative Thomas Massie, the Kentucky Republican who forced the Epstein vote … perhaps said it most succinctly as he warned his colleagues about the risks of standing with the president at all costs.
   11. [Mr. Massie said on ABC’s “This Week,”] “The record of this [Epstein] vote will last longer than Donald Trump’s presidency,” … reminding his colleagues that they should avoid putting themselves in the posture of agreeing “to protect pedophiles,” as he put it, because Mr. Trump insisted they do so.
   12. Scores of them took heed as approval of Mr. Massie’s Epstein legislation became a certainty, and Mr. Trump found himself forced to back the legislation at the last minute rather than suffer a mortifying defeat and look even weaker.
   13. Massie now faces a primary next year against a Trump-backed opponent. A victory by the incumbent would be a real blow to the president and undermine Mr. Trump’s most powerful weapon against wavering Republicans — the threat of endorsing a challenger in the primary elections that decide so many congressional races these days.
   14. Republicans will also be closely watching how Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican of Georgia, fares after her dramatic break with Mr. Trump over his handling of the Epstein case and what she sees as the “America First” president’s undue emphasis on foreign affairs. …
   15. MIKE: MTG reminds me of an old saying of mine: Agreement is not dependent upon agreeing on why we agree. ~ Mike Honig, 2/28/2014. Continuing …]
   16. The president’s leverage could diminish even more as candidate filing deadlines and primaries pass next year.
   17. [Said David Axelrod, the political commentator and former top adviser to Barack Obama,] “Unless the economy and his numbers rebound, Republicans are going to feel less willing to follow him blindly. … And that trend will accelerate once election filing periods pass in individual states and they are clear of potential primary challenges he holds over their heads.” …
   18. For now, the president’s weakened standing and this month’s off-year Republican defeats have helped contribute to rifts between the G.O.P. leaders of the House and Senate, who had previously been unified in speedily doing whatever Mr. Trump demanded.
   19. Looking down the road at potential Democratic gains, Senate Republicans refused to give up the filibuster, the procedural weapon they view as their most potent defense against Democratic control, in spite of demands from Mr. Trump, cheered on by Speaker Mike Johnson, to do so.
   20. Then, after Mr. Johnson called on Senate Republicans to amend the Epstein bill in line with changes sought by Mr. Trump, Senator John Thune, the South Dakota Republican and majority leader, quickly declined. The Senate ultimately sped the bill through without any sort of vote, let alone any amendments, eager to be rid of it but irritating the [House] speaker in the process.
   21. Thune said the two chambers sometimes have different imperatives, though they are generally still in sync.
   22. Congressional Republicans also are trying to cautiously assert themselves on other issues, though it remains to be seen how aggressively they pursue them.
   23. Some Republican lawmakers are questioning the administration’s continued deadly boat strikes against people it accuses of smuggling drugs, undertaken with questionable legal basis and without congressional review. …
   24. Trump’s declaration that he wanted to send out tariff rebate checks, a move his administration suggested it could make without any congressional action, also ran into quick objections from Republicans on Capitol Hill.
   25. And some Republicans have also been more willing to show their dismay at the inflammatory and crass tone of Mr. Trump’s recent comments and social media outbursts. Mr. Thune on Thursday was among those who said they did not agree with the president’s suggestion that a group of congressional Democrats should be executed for sedition for a video they made reminding military members they do not have to follow unlawful orders. (Mr. Johnson, however, defended the president and criticized the Democrats for what he called “wildly inappropriate” statements.)
   26. The president continues to wield immense power, and can claim the firm allegiance of tens of millions of MAGA-aligned voters, a fact that gives him clout with Republicans and will continue to allow him to try to impose his will on Capitol Hill even as nervousness grows within his party about the coming elections.
   27. [Sen. Cramer said,] “At the end of the day, when there is a big vote and a close, narrow margin, he pulls it out.”
   28. The question for the president will be how long he can continue to do so as Republicans turn toward 2026, their own survival, and a post-Trump world.
   29. MIKE: We can all be grateful that even Republicans believe that there will be a post-Trump era.
8. Moving on to the next story from POLITICO — Poll: Major allies see US as unreliable and destabilizing; By Erin Doherty | POLITICO.COM | 12/23/2025 12:00 AM EST. TAGS: Canada, Donald Trump, France, Germany, United States, Donald Trump,
   1. Creating more problems than solving them. A negative force on the world stage. This is how large shares of America’s closest allies view the U.S., according to new polling, as President Donald Trump pursues a sweeping foreign policy overhaul.
   2. Pluralities in Germany and France — and a majority of Canadians — say the U.S. is a negative force globally, according to new international POLITICO-Public First polling. Views are more mixed in the United Kingdom, but more than a third of respondents there share that dim assessment.
   3. Near-majorities in all four countries also say the U.S. tends to create problems for other countries rather than solve them.
   4. The findings offer a snapshot of how Trump’s reshaping of U.S. foreign policy — including through an expansive trade agenda, sharp rhetoric toward longtime allies and reoriented military posture — is resonating across some of Washington’s closest allies.
   5. When asked whether the U.S. supports its allies around the world or challenges them, a majority of Canadians say the latter, as well as just under half of respondents in Germany and France. In the U.K., roughly 4 in 10 say the U.S. challenges, rather than supports, its allies, more than a third say it cannot be depended on in a crisis, nearly half say it creates problems for other countries, and 35 percent say the U.S. is a negative force overall.
   6. Trump has blurred traditional lines of global alliances during his first year back in office, particularly in Canada and Europe. He called Europe a “decaying” group of nations led by “weak” people in a recent POLITICO interview and his sweeping National Security Strategy argued that the continent has lost its “national identities and self-confidence.”
   7. By contrast, the strategy reserved less scathing language for Russia — even as U.S. allies in Europe gear up for what leaders have called a “hybrid war” with Moscow.
   8. Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the administration’s approach when asked about European criticisms, saying the transatlantic alliance remains rooted in shared “civilizational” values. [Rubio said at a briefing last week,] “I do think that at the core of these special relationships we have is the fact that we have shared history, shared values, shared civilizational principles that we should be unapologetic about.”
   9. But as Trump disrupts long-standing relationships, skepticism among allied leaders may be seeping into public sentiment, said Matthew Kroenig, vice president and senior director of the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security.
   10. [Kroenig said,] “Public opinion in democracies often reflects elite opinion. … What you’re probably seeing there is that you do have politicians in these countries expressing skepticism about the United States and about the Trump administration, and that’s being reflected in the public opinion polling.”
   11. Leaders across Europe and Canada recalibrate under Trump’s foreign policy agenda
   12. That dynamic is playing out across Europe and Canada, as leaders across the countries try to keep the increasingly strained relationships intact.
   13. In Germany, wavering U.S. military support for Ukraine, questions about Washington’s commitment to NATO and Trump’s tariff war have added urgency for Chancellor Friedrich Merz to move beyond the country’s long-established limits on defense spending and economic policy. Weeks before taking office, Merz secured a historic spending overhaul that unlocked hundreds of billions of euros for defense and infrastructure investments after years of self-imposed austerity.
   14. [Said Dominik Tolksdorf, a transatlantic expert at the German Council on Foreign Relations,] “Every foreign policy statement by Trump is followed closely, and often discussed in light of what it may mean for U.S. policy shifts regarding European security issues, such as commitment to NATO, future U.S. troop presence in Europe, and support for Ukraine.”
   15. In France, where skepticism toward the U.S. has long run deep, President Emmanuel Macron has pursued personal diplomacy with Trump while using the president’s unpredictability to bolster arguments for greater European strategic autonomy.
   16. [One high-ranking French military officer, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly, told POLITICO,] “Handing over one’s sovereignty to another power is a mistake — De Gaulle said nothing else.” Another defense official said Trump’s National Security Strategy had increased “awareness that something is not right.”
   17. In the U.K., Trump remains polarizing, but Prime Minister Keir Starmer has largely avoided public confrontation. His priorities now include finalizing a U.K.-U.S. trade deal and coordinating a European response to Trump’s efforts to end the war in Ukraine — without angering the White House, the delicate balance many allied leaders are trying to strike.
   18. Canada, meanwhile, has seen the sharpest deterioration in relations, which have soured amid a punishing trade war and Trump’s intermittent rhetoric on annexation.
   19. Flavio Volpe, the president of Canada’s Automotive Parts Manufacturers’ Association, described the economic disruption linked to Trump’s trade moves. [He wrote on LinkedIn,] “People lost their jobs — ones they worked their entire lives — and billions of dollars in Canadian capital evaporated in an unexplainable turn away from the bankable post-Cold War balance of power by the White House.”
   20. Democrats remain skeptical of the U.S. on the world stage
   21. Overall, Americans still view their country more favorably than their allies do. Nearly half — 49 percent — say the U.S. supports its allies around the world. A majority, 52 percent, say it can be depended on in a crisis, and 51 percent say the U.S. is a positive force globally.
   22. But Democrats — who have displayed deeply pessimistic views about their country since Trump’s return to office — hold far more negative views.
   23. Almost half of voters who backed former Vice President Kamala Harris last year — 47 percent — also say the U.S. is a negative force in the world overall, compared with just 13 percent of Trump voters. Three in four Trump voters say the U.S. is a positive force in the world.
   24. Many Democrats also don’t just express skepticism about the U.S., but view other countries and international blocs as stronger models: 58 percent of Harris voters say the European Union is a positive force in the world, and nearly two-thirds — 64 percent — say the same about Canada, greater than the shares who say the same about the U.S.
   25. [Said Seb Wride, head of polling at Public First,] “This tracks with our other research on the rapid change of perceptions of the U.S. over the last year. … Americans themselves are not blind to it.”
   26. Prior to the 2024 election, strong majorities of both Democrats and Republicans — 71 percent and 69 percent — said the U.S. was a positive force in the world over the course of its entire history, Public First polling from October of last year found.
   27. Exactly one year later, Democrats have sharply changed their views, with 77 percent of Trump voters still saying the U.S. is positive, compared with just 58 percent of Democrats.
   28. [Said Wride,] “That’s around 1 in 8 Democrats changing their views on the role the U.S. has played in its entire history, in just one year.”
   29. Voters who backed Trump last November overwhelmingly view the U.S. in a positive light, but subtle differences emerge …. Eighty-one percent of self-identifying MAGA Trump voters say the U.S. is a positive force in the world overall, compared with 71 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters. Still, 17 percent of non-MAGA Trump voters say the opposite, that the U.S. is a negative force.
   30. MIKE: The actual story has helpful charts to illustrate its points. You can click on the story link in this show post.
   31. MIKE: There’s no question in my mind that Trump has been catastrophic for the world’s perception of the US, not only among our allies, but also among non-aligned states and our potential adversaries. I personally now view the US as almost a rogue state. And none of those changes in perception are good for the United States in either the near- or the long-term future.
   32. MIKE: I think that US security guarantees are now seen as nearly worthless. I think that US nuclear umbrella guarantees are seen as less reliable now than ever, and there have always been doubts about them.
   33. MIKE: After Trump has inevitably left the scene, as must we all, we must remember that the Republican Party as a whole is and will be responsible for the new and completely avoidable international policy weaknesses of the United States for generations to come.
   34. MIKE: We must punish them at the polls, come elections.
9. And speaking of America’s nuclear umbrella and whether it’s still intact — China Issues Nuclear Warning to Japan; By Micah McCartney, China News Reporter | NEWSWEEK.COM | Published Dec 22, 2025 at 03:47 AM EST/updated Dec 22, 2025 at 05:53 AM EST. TAGS: Japan, China, Nuclear Weapons, Nuclear Proliferation, Nuclear Non-Proliferation,
   1. China’s Foreign Ministry has fired a warning shot after a senior Japanese official suggested Tokyo should reconsider its nearly eight-decade ban on nuclear weapons in light of the worsening regional security environment.
   2. … The remark comes amid tensions between Tokyo and Beijing over Takaichi’s November 7 remarks that a military blockade around China-claimed Taiwan would constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, a rare exception under that country’s pacifist constitution that could allow for a military intervention alongside allied U.S. forces.
   3. China has responded with a sustained public relations campaign portraying Japan as a revanchist power — citing the country’s recent increases in defense spending and plans to deploy missiles on a remote island near Beijing-claimed Taiwan. Tokyo’s Defense Ministry this year described China’s military buildup and expansive moves in the region as Japan’s greatest security challenge.
   4. [MIKE: As an aside, China is itself a revanchist power, so this is another example of diplomatic hypocrisy. Continuing …] …
   5. … [MIKE: A person cited in the article who I infer is Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Guo Jiakun ] warned that Japan has “for a long time” been stockpiling plutonium in amounts exceeding its civilian energy needs, and noted that the country possesses the technological capability to develop nuclear weapons “in short order” if it chose to do so. [Guo] said, “If Japan dares to pitch itself against the rest of the world, we will never allow it to test the bottom line and international justice.”
   6. A senior Cabinet official advising Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on national security told reporters on Thursday that it was time to begin discussions on acquiring a nuclear deterrent, citing China’s rapid nuclear buildup, North Korea’s advancing missile and weapons programs, and the strategic threat from a nuclear-armed Russia, according to The Asahi Shimbun.
   7. Still, the official acknowledged that such a move would face major challenges, particularly Japan’s status as a signatory to the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which recognizes only five nuclear-armed states: the United States, Russia, the United Kingdom, China and France. The official also noted that there are no current discussions within the Takaichi government to revise Japan’s non-nuclear policy.
   8. Japan’s long-standing Three Non-Nuclear Principles — which prohibit the possession, production and introduction of nuclear weapons — … also pose a major hurdle.
   9. … Minoru Kihara, Japan’s chief cabinet secretary, told reporters on Friday that Japan was “upholding the three nonnuclear principles” and would “continue advancing its efforts toward realizing a world without nuclear weapons.”
   10. A U.S. State Department spokesperson told The Japan Times on Saturday: “Japan is a global leader and a valuable partner to the United States on nuclear nonproliferation and advancing nuclear arms control. As the National Security Strategy makes clear, the United States will maintain the world’s most robust, credible, and modern nuclear deterrent to protect America and our allies, including Japan.”
   11. … Despite longstanding opposition in Japan, the only country in history to suffer nuclear attacks, some lawmakers within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party have called for the Three Non-Nuclear Principles to be revisited to allow the U.S. to deploy nuclear weapons on strategic platforms, such as its Ohio-class submarines, within Japanese territory.
   12. Washington has reiterated that Japan, like key non-NATO U.S. allies South Korea and Australia, remain protected under the U.S. nuclear umbrella.
   13. MIKE: I believe that we are witnessing the slow erosion of the principle of nuclear non-proliferation, and that erosion has been going on for decades.
   14. MIKE: It could be argued that it began with China’s development of an atomic bomb in 1964, thus breaking the Western/European oligopoly on nuclear weapons.
   15. MIKE: Subsequently, nuclear weapons were developed in India in 1974, Pakistan in 1998, and North Korea in 1996. And this list does not include Israel, which is believed to have had nuclear weapons since perhaps the 1960s. Nor does it include Ukraine, which gave up its nuclear weapons as part of the Budapest Memorandum in 1994.
   16. MIKE: I think that when history looks back on this era, the Ukraine example will loom large as the beginning of the end of nuclear non-proliferation as a working theory.
   17. MIKE: When the USSR collapsed, Ukraine was left with the 3^rd largest nuclear stockpile in the world. It surrendered those nukes in exchange for “assurances” from Russia, the UK and the US that it’s territorial integrity would be guaranteed. We know how that turned out. As I have mentioned repeatedly on this show, I think that there is very little doubt that Russia would not have attacked Ukraine if they still had their nuclear weapons.
   18. MIKE: A nuclear power may be involved in a war, but I think that the common assumption is no one would dare invade the territory of a nuclear power because that could be interpreted as an existential nation danger.
   19. MIKE: Pakistan understood this when India got nukes. North Korea understood this. I assume that Israel believes this, but so far has forbeared from using a nuke.
   20. MIKE: Iran understands this, whether they admit it openly or not.
   21. MIKE: South Korea is considering developing nuclear weapons in response to North Korea. Japan is now considering developing nuclear weapons in response to both China and North Korea.
   22. MIKE: The nuclear genie has been struggling mightily to get out of the bottle since the US first used atomic bombs to end WW2 in 1945. I personally suspect that numerous nations will be seeking nuclear weapons over the next 10-20 years.
   23. MIKE: As usual, the stumbling block will be acquiring or enriching the bomb-grade nuclear material to power them, but there are plenty of nuclear power plants around the world that can serve as raw material for that quest. I think it’s only a matter if time.
   24. MIKE: And postwar history tell us that no one will go to war to stop a nation’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, Trump’s one-shot attacks on Iran notwithstanding. But that’s the exception that proves the rule. Would Trump have attacked Iran if they already had nukes? I think not.
10. This next story is too long to read in its entirety, but it was so new to me and so unusual, that I had to introduce you to it. There are lots of people and place names to keep track of. If you get lost, just focus on the essence of the story. Forgive my many mispronunciations. From MILITARY.COM — Operation Cowboy: When U.S. Cavalry and Germans Fought Together in WWII to Save 1,200 Horses from the Soviets; By Allen Frazier | MILITARY.COM | Published December 25, 2025 at 5:00am. TAGS: World War II, Military History, Army, Cavalry, Tanks, Czechoslovakia, U.S. forces, Wehrmacht forces, Soviets, Lipizzaner Horses, USSR, Soviet Forces,
    1. American soldiers and German troops fought Waffen-SS units together in Czechoslovakia on April 28, 1945. The mission was to rescue some of Europe’s rarest horses before the Soviet Red Army arrived.
    2. Operation Cowboy stands as one of only two documented occasions during World War II when U.S. and Wehrmacht forces fought alongside each other against a common enemy. The raid saved more than 1,200 horses, including 375 irreplaceable Lipizzaners whose bloodlines stretched back four centuries. Days later, the Czechs greeted their American liberators with flowers as U.S. armor rolled into Pilsen. But the Yalta Conference had assigned Czechoslovakia to the Soviet sphere of influence. 
    3. Three years after celebrating freedom from the Nazis, Soviet-backed communists seized control, beginning 40 years of repression that tried to erase both the horse rescue and the American liberation from the country’s history.
    4. … Nazi Germany annexed Austria in 1938 and Czechoslovakia in 1939. After this, they transferred the Spanish Riding School’s Lipizzaner breeding mares from Vienna to a military stud farm in Hostau, Czechoslovakia. 
    5. During the war, the Third Reich pursued eugenics experiments on both human captives and animals alike, including these horses. Nazi veterinarians wanted to engineer what they called an “Aryan horse” through selective breeding. [German] Lt. Col. Hubert Rudofsky commanded the Wehrmacht veterinary team assigned to the horses.
    6. Meanwhile, Alois Podhajsky supervised the training operations. Podhajsky was an Austrian colonel who won bronze at the 1936 Berlin Olympics in dressage, an event that tests the partnership between horse and rider.
    7. By the end of the war in 1945, Hostau housed over 1,200 animals. The collection included 375 Lipizzaners, 100 Arabian horses, 200 thoroughbreds, and 600 captured Russian horses. The Lipizzaner breed dated to the 16th century Habsburg Dynasty. These white horses performed haute école dressage at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. The movements are called “airs above the ground” and require years of training for both horse and rider. They were not only extremely rare, but prized for their genetics and skills.
    8. By April of 1945, the horses were in grave danger. The Red Army was advancing westward through Eastern Europe toward Czechoslovakia. Soviet troops, though they used cavalry extensively, hardly cared about rare European horses and instead viewed captured German horses as food. 
    9. Soviet forces had already killed Hungary’s entire Royal Lipizzaner herd as the country fell. German veterinarians at Hostau knew their horses would likely meet the same fate. Meanwhile, starving refugees tried to raid the farm to kill the animals for meat. A few German soldiers and guards were posted there to protect the veterinarian team and the horses.
    10. [German] Lt. Col. Walter Holters was stranded at Hostau when his Luftwaffe intelligence unit ran out of fuel. His unit was moving toward American lines to hopefully surrender to them over the Soviets. Realizing the situation at Hostau, Holters made a plan to contact the nearest American unit for help. Rudofsky initially resisted, fearing he would be shot for treason if he surrendered. 
    11. Holters went ahead anyway, Rudofsky ultimately changed his mind as he realized the Soviets were getting closer. They contacted the 42nd Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron of Col. Charles Reed’s 2nd Cavalry Group under Gen. George S. Patton’s Third Army. They offered to surrender the farm and the horses to American forces if they would agree to evacuate the animals.
    12. German troops called Reed’s mechanized cavalry the “Ghosts of Patton’s Army” because of their aggressive reconnaissance missions behind enemy lines. Many of the unit’s officers had served in mounted cavalry before the Army mechanized. They understood the value of the horses. Because the horses were located behind pre-arranged post-war boundaries and German units were still guarding the border, Reed needed approval from higher command.
    13. Patton approved the operation immediately, saying, “Get them. Make it fast.” The general was a former cavalryman himself and had previously competed in Olympic equestrian events. He assembled a task force of two cavalry reconnaissance troops armed with … scout cars, … howitzer motor carriages, two M24 Chaffee light tanks, and 325 infantry soldiers. Maj. Robert P. Andrews commanded the task force.
    14. The men realized the uniqueness of American cavalrymen setting out to rescue horses from the enemy. It sounded like the plot to a Western movie. The men dubbed the mission Operation Cowboy.
    15. The mission faced several major problems. Hostau sat 20 miles inside German-held territory. Many of the mares were either pregnant, or nursing newborn foals. The Yalta Conference had assigned Czechoslovakia to the Soviet sphere of influence, meaning Moscow could oppose American operations there, especially as Red Army troops operated nearby. German units defending the Czech border also hadn’t agreed to any of this and would likely fight.
    16. [US] XII Corps unleashed massive artillery barrages at multiple German defensive positions to clear a path to Hostau. Capt. Thomas Stewart rode into Hostau and met with German veterinarian Capt. Rudolph Lessing to negotiate surrender terms. …
    17. Andrews put Stewart in tactical control and reduced the force to one cavalry troop, two tanks, [and] two howitzer carriages; just 180 soldiers total. 
    18. Nevertheless, the German garrison surrendered, but Stewart faced another problem. His small force couldn’t secure the farm, the town, the road back, and defend against attacks while evacuating over 1,200 horses at the same time.
    19. Stewart turned to whoever could help. About 400 Allied prisoners of war worked at the farm as forced labor, including British, New Zealanders, French, Poles, and Serbs. All of them volunteered when offered captured German weapons. Stewart also got help from several anti-communist Russian Cossacks in the area who opposed the Soviets. Knowing the danger to the animals, the surrendered Wehrmacht soldiers asked to assist as well. The mixed force became known as “Stewart’s Foreign Legion.”
    20. Waffen-SS units attacked the farm twice. SS infantry hit positions defended by American GIs, German Wehrmacht troops, Russian Cossacks, and Allied former POWs. … Both attacks failed with several casualties on each side. The SS withdrew after taking heavier losses than expected. …
    21. Reed organized the evacuation of the horses between the attacks. American, German, and Cossack officers mounted many of the stallions and rode them out. Some mares were herded on foot like a Wild West cattle drive. Pregnant mares and newborn foals rode in both German and American trucks. The column left Hostau just as Soviet T-34 tanks reached the eastern edge of town. 
    22. There was a tense standoff as Soviet and American troops stared each other down, well behind the boundary lines agreed upon at Yalta. The Red Army commanders chose not to engage or interact with Reed’s forces. The horses reached American lines safely.
    23. Stewart received the Bronze Star for the mission. Austria awarded him its National Gold Award. Patton personally gave Stewart a German-made Drilling shotgun. 
    24. When later asked why the Americans agreed to the rescue, Reed said, “We were so tired of death and destruction, we wanted to do something beautiful.”
    25. The horse rescue was part of the Third Army’s larger push into Czechoslovakia. … [O]ther American divisions were breaking through the Czech border. Within days, U.S. troops would liberate cities that had suffered six years under Nazi occupation.
    26. Patton’s Third Army crossed into Czechoslovakia on April 18, 1945 …
    27. MIKE: I have to agree with Reed. I think horses are among the most beautiful animals in the world. There is much more to this fascinating story. You can access it by clicking on the link at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com.

There’s always more to discuss, but that’s all we have time for today.

You’ve been listening to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig from KPFT Houston 90.1-HD2, Galveston 89.5-HD2, and Huntsville 91.9-HD2. We are Houston’s Community radio. I hope you’ve enjoyed the show and found it interesting, and I look forward to sharing this time with you again next week. Y’all take care!