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 United States, as the world knows, will never start a war. … But we shall also do our part to build a world of peace where the weak are safe and the strong are just. We are not helpless before that task or hopeless of its success. …” ~ John F. Kennedy, Commencement Address at American University, Washington, D.C., June 10, 1963 (VIDEO EXCERPT @ 25M 56S)  (Full Text: https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/american-university-19630610)

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 listeners from Iraq, Cambodia, the UK, 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 23rd week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC; 14 weeks since Trump deployed National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee; and an ongoing federal law enforcement occupation in Chicago. As a result of a federal circuit court decision, Guard troops have been withdrawn from Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago.

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

1. There are run-off elections.
   1. Early Voting starts on Wednesday, JAN 21 and runs through Tuesday, JAN 27^th.
   2. Early voting poll hours are 7AM – 7PM, except Sunday, January 25, 2026 when hours are Noon – 7PM
   3. Election Day Polling hours are Wednesday, January 31, 2026 — 7AM – 7PM
   4. It’s always important to remember that if you are on line to vote by 7pm, you cannot be turned away.
   5. Oddly, the Texas Secretary of State’s office doesn’t show any runoff ballots.
   6. If you are unsure whether you qualify for voting in a runoff election, check for your personalized sample at HarrisVotes-dot-com.
   7. You are permitted to bring your pre-marked sample ballot to the polling place with you as long as you take it when you leave.
   8. Outside of Harris County, election information and ballots can be found at your local county clerk or election clerk website. Links for nearby counties can be found at the bottom of this show post. Please notify me of any bad links.
   9. I already got my mail-in ballot for the CD-18 run-off and returned it. 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.
   10. 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.
   11. Remember: If you don’t vote, someone else is making the choices for you, and elections have consequences.
2. I’ll get to the story about how the vote went after this brief excerpt from a previous story — Houston controller doubles down on accusing the mayor of misusing flood funds; By Faith Bugenhagen, Trending News Reporter | CHRON.COM | Jan 6, 2026. TAGS: Houston Controller Chris Hollins, Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Houston’s Storm Water Fund,
   1. Houston Controller Chris Hollins is sounding the alarm about Houston Mayor John Whitmire’s efforts to “illegally divert” $30 million from Houston’s Storm Water fund — money approved specifically for drainage and flood-control infrastructure.
   2. Hollins has sharply criticized the proposal, which would use stormwater funds to demolish dilapidated buildings across Houston, arguing that the plan violates restrictions on how the money can legally be spent.
   3. City officials backing the proposal say the demolitions would help curb illegal dumping that disrupts drainage systems, but Hollins disputes that claim.
   4. MIKE: This story includes a link to Hollis’s video. I’ll play that audio now and let Hollins make his own case in his own voice. I lightly edited the audio for pauses and time. (1m 54s)
   5. MIKE: In a “he said, he said” story, it comes down to who you trust, and I think that John Whitmire has violated the trust of Houstonians too many times for the preponderance of credibility to reside with him.
   6. MIKE: There’s Whitmire’s denied-then-admitted cooperation with ICE. His unilateral opposition to, and halting of, settled and community-approved Shepard Drive upgrades; his interference with METRO Redline light rail operations; his elimination or destruction of promised or already-built bike lanes; his changes to voter-approved METRONext Superbus route promises and more, suggest that Whitmire simply lacks credibility when he makes claims about what he is doing, how he is doing it, and the legality of what he does.
   7. MIKE: Much like the failure of Congress to stand up to Donald Trump, Houston’s City Council must stand up to Mayor John Whitmire and, unless more information dictates otherwise, side with Houston Controller Chris Hollis.
3. But the Houston city council held this vote on Wednesday the 7^th, and the next story from HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA discusses how that went — Houston City Council greenlights $30 million demolition program using stormwater funds; By Dominic Anthony Walsh | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on January 7, 2026, 12:22 PM. TAGS: City of Houston, Flooding, Houston, Local News, Politics, Public Safety, City Controller Chris Hollins, Demolition, Houston City Council, Houston Flooding, Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Stormwater Fund,
   1. A divided city council approved a proposal to use $30 million in stormwater mitigation funds to demolish blighted buildings on Wednesday, after Houston Mayor John Whitmire and City Controller Chris Hollins clashed over the measure.
   2. [Hollins, the city’s elected financial official, told council members before the vote,] “This is not a disagreement about whether blighted and dangerous buildings are a problem in Houston — they are. … This is about whether the city is legally permitted to spend $30 million dollars from a restricted stormwater fund to demolish buildings — and the answer is no.”
   3. After Hollins’ remarks, Whitmire said city council members “just witnessed the controller abuse my generosity of allowing him to do personal privileges” during his monthly financial reports, which are intended to focus on the city’s current and projected fiscal situation. He accused Hollins of taking up “politics and clickbait and all the misinformation that we just heard.”
   4. According to Houston Public Works officials, there are more than 2,300 blighted buildings in line for demolition across Houston. An unclear number of them are near stormwater infrastructure — like open ditches or drainage pipes — and the public works department argues related illegal dumping and debris runoff create obstructions in the stormwater system.
   5. During a presentation to the city council’s budget and fiscal affairs committee on Tuesday, Houston Public Works director Randy Macchi said the department is developing a “flow chart” that will help inspectors determine whether a direct connection exists between blighted buildings and stormwater obstructions.
   6. According to a message sent by Whitmire’s office to city council members on Tuesday, blighted buildings will be eligible for demolition using stormwater funds if they meet one or more of the following criteria: Building is within the 100-year or 500-year flood plain; Building is adjacent to inlets, ditches, channels or outfalls; There is a severe impediment to drainage based on runoff impacts or loose debris generation; [and if] The building is in an existing drainage-influenced area identified by the public works department’s Transportation & Drainage Operations team.
   7. Council member Abbie Kamin argued the criteria represent a “massive catch all” due to the widespread prevalence of those factors among properties in Houston.
   8. According to Whitmire’s office, public works inspectors would need to document that demolition will: Improve drainage conveyance or capacity; Reduce runoff, erosion or sediment loading; [and] Reduce localized flood risk.
   9. The stormwater fund, which draws primarily from water and wastewater fees, stands at a record level this year — $166 million, compared to about $100 million last year and less than $80 million the year before.
   10. The stormwater budget approved by the city council in June referenced a $25 million program “to fund the demolition of dangerous buildings.” The budget also called for nearly $90 million for maintenance of infrastructure, like storm sewers and roadside ditches, along with more than $40 million in debt service.
   11. When the city demolishes blighted buildings, it places a lien on the property in an effort to recoup project costs from the property owner.
   12. The city council delayed the demolition program when it first appeared on the agenda in December, after Hollins raised the spectre of litigation. He pointed to the city’s defeat in a lawsuit over a separate streets and drainage fund. The plaintiffs successfully made the case that the city illegally shortchanged the voter-mandated fund for flood mitigation.
   13. After Whitmire’s administration reached a settlement to gradually ramp up the city’s full contribution to that fund over time, activists with the Northeast Action Collective and West Street Recovery filed an unsuccessful legal measure against the agreement. They likewise opposed the demolition program approved on Wednesday.
   14. West Street Recovery co-director Alice Liu said the groups are “prepared to explore all of our legal options.”
   15. [Northeast Action Collective member Daena Jones said,] “If it’s not illegal, it surely is immoral. … Because we are flooding and we’re suffering. It’s the constituents who are suffering, not the people that’s making the decision.”
   16. City attorney Arturo Michel said he’s “confident” the demolition program is allowed under Houston’s municipal charter and would survive a court challenge.
   17. The measure passed Wednesday in a 9-7 vote, with council members [Abbie] Kamin, Edward Pollard, Sallie Alcorn, Tiffany Thomas, Mario Castillo, Julian Ramirez and Alejandra Salinas voting against the measure.
   18. [Said Alcorn, chair of the budget and fiscal affairs committee,] “I want every bit of money … in the stormwater fund spent on clear infrastructure maintenance and improvements, and to me, it’s just too much of a stretch to use that money for building demolition.”
   19. It was the first meeting and roll call vote for Salinas, who won a special election in December to replace Letitia Plummer, an at-large council member who stepped down to run for Harris County judge.
   20. [Salinas told Houston Public Media after the vote,] “I echo Sallie Alcorn’s concerns and comments, but I agree with the mayor that this is an incredibly important issue, and I look forward to working with him to tackle it together,”.
   21. Council member Fred Flickinger, who supported the program, acknowledged it was “a stretch as far as the use of these funds — but I don’t [think] that’s beyond the stretch of being reasonable.”
   22. MIKE: A story in Community Impact adds some context to this debate, saying in part, “[Houston Public Works] Director Randall Macchi told the [Budget and Fiscal Affairs Committee] on Jan. 6 that the public works department has historically used money from the fund to demolish dilapidated buildings, but 2026 marks the first year the allocations are reflected in the fund’s budget…. When asked how many times the fund had been used for demolition projects in the past, Macchi told the committee the number of buildings is ‘difficult to quantify.’”
   23. MIKE: That story has some more contextual information on this subject and is worth reading at the link I’m providing in this show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com.
   24. MIKE: I think that this new debate over use of the flood prevention funds arose because it became a line item in the budget for the first time. I guess we can call that “transparency”.
   25. MIKE: The Houston Public Media story allows that there are some gray areas that may or may not apply to flood infrastructure, and where this flood infrastructure money may be appropriately applied.
   26. MIKE: The story says “public works … argues [that] related illegal dumping and debris runoff create obstructions in the stormwater system.” To an extent, that’s true. But is this an infrastructure problem or a drainage maintenance problem?
   27. MIKE: According to Houston Public Works, “… Per City Code of Ordinance, it is the abutting property owner’s responsibility to maintain ditches free of debris so water can flow with minimal obstructions (i.e., clear of weeds, brush, rubbish, or any debris that may prevent the flow of water). [The Stormwater Operations Branch, SWOB] re-grades ditches that become heavily silted. Culverts are also flushed during this activity. On the other hand, new culverts, or culverts that are damaged or undersized below residential or commercial driveways, are the property owner’s responsibility for replacement. Property owners have the option to make repairs to the driveway and its culvert; however, this requires all parties involved to coordinate with the City through the permitting system. …”
   28. MIKE: In my opinion, it might be reasonable to expect property owners to remove substantial debris like old furniture from drainage ditches adjacent to their properties because those obstructions imperil their own properties with flooding. But I also think that these tasks are properly in the realm of city responsibility.
   29. MIKE: I feel that asking the average homeowner to mow, and clear weeds and small debris in a muddy, possibly vermin-filled ditch, is asking a lot from many homeowners. Further, many homeowners are older, partly disabled, or perhaps not sufficiently well-off to routinely pay someone to perform these tasks.
   30. MIKE: But if the funds now dedicated by the city to demolition of abandoned properties were used properly, they should use these stormwater mitigation funds to lay dedicated drainage culverts in the ditches and cover them over so that they become proper storm sewers.
   31. MIKE: It’s true that this would not be cheap, but I think it’s equally true that sending backhoes and dump trucks around the city to periodically clean out these ditches is also a considerable expense, and it doesn’t really solve the problem in the long term.
   32. MIKE: So to sum up, creating a true storm water sewer system would ultimately save money. It would provide faster and more reliable storm water removal.
   33. MIKE: As a useful side effect, it would also provide both curbs, and more and safer street parking in neighborhoods where housing density has dramatically increased.
   34. MIKE: I think that the mayor’s proposal and council’s accession is a “penny-wise, pound-foolish” use of this money.
   35. MIKE: Given the stated goals outlined by Mayor Whitmire and the council members who voted for what in my opinion is a misuse of this $30 million of storm water funds currently earmarked “to fund the demolition of dangerous buildings,” the best and proper use of these funds would be using that money to convert ditches into actual storm drains.
   36. MIKE: A further note I’ll make for this story is that it refutes the myth that conservatives are better custodians of taxpayer money.
   37. MIKE: I’m going to risk a political generalization here. The council members who sided with our right-of-center mayor and voted for this misallocation of funds are the more moderate and conservative members of Council.
   38. MIKE: The council members who voted against it were basically the more liberal and left-of-center council members: Abbie Kamin, Edward Pollard, Sallie Alcorn, Tiffany Thomas, Mario Castillo, Julian Ramirez and Alejandra Salinas;.
   39. MIKE: Interestingly, even Council member Fred Flickinger, who tends to be a more conservative member of council, expressed misgivings about this allocation of flood prevention funds, but he nonetheless voted for it.
   40. MIKE: These kinds of budget shenanigans could have been prevented or mitigated if Mayor Whitmire had bitten the bullet earlier in 2025 and proposed a rarely-allowed tax increase. Instead, we see service cuts, proposed new user fees, and improper reallocation of funds intended for one purpose to other purposes, all to balance a budget in serious deficit.
   41. MIKE: One result of all this is that there will be lawsuits, which will cost the city money, and which I think the city will ultimately lose.
4. Next from HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA — Houstonians spend more of their money on transportation than residents of any other major city, data show; By Michael Adkison | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on January 7, 2026, 2:43 PM. TAGS: Economy, Housing, Houston, Local News, Texas, Transportation, Cost Of Living Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston Residents, Spending, Transportation, S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics,
   1. Houstonians spent more of their incomes on transportation than residents in most of the other major urban areas in the country between 2023 and 2024, according to a new report from the federal government.
   2. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported residents in the greater Houston area allocated almost 20% of their spending on transportation, nearly 3 percentage points higher than the national average.
   3. That’s also a higher percentage than any of the other 21 major metropolitan areas measured in the new BLS report, including Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco.
   4. Greater Houston residents are also spending marginally more on housing than the average American. Houstonians spent 33.9% of their budget on housing, compared to the nationwide average of 33.2%.
   5. Dallas-Fort Worth area residents similarly spend more of their budget on transportation and housing, though not in such disparate proportions as Houston. In terms of spending on transportation, DFW is second only to Houston.
   6. [Said Edward Leps, an economist at the Bureau of Labor Statistics,] “Individuals are moving into the Texas Triangle from other parts of Texas just because that has become a very, very high economic spot over the last 10, 15 years. … “
   7. [In what I think are fairer comparisons, the story goes on to say …] Though greater Houston residents are spending marginally higher shares of their incomes on housing, some other major U.S. cities are spending more, like Honolulu (36.9%), New York (38.2%) and Miami (40%).
   8. Houston residents’ average income during 2023 and 2024 was $105,800, about $2,800 higher than the national average. Yet, Houstonians are spending roughly $7,500 more in expenditures than the average American.
   9. One other key disparity between Houston and the national average in spending is entertainment. While the average American spent 4.6% of their budget on entertainment, Houstonians dedicated 6.1%. [MIKE: Maybe we just have more entertainment here.]
   10. In certain categories, though, Houstonians are spending less of their money than the average American. That includes food, healthcare and education.
   11. MIKE: I’ll admit I haven’t done a deep dive into these numbers and what they actually mean, but I’ll remind listeners that, famously, there are three kinds of lies: Lies, damn lies, and statistics.
   12. MIKE: In my opinion, comparing costs and expenses in Houston to “the Average American” is an improper use of statistics. It would seem to include small towns and low-density communities. It probably also includes places where housing is cheaper because fewer people want to live there such as, say, Mississippi.
   13. MIKE: Houston is the 4^th largest city in America, so the only proper comparison would be other major cities and their metropolitan areas in the US. To some extent, the story does that, and in those comparisons, Houston comes off relatively well.
   14. MIKE: Of course, all this is in my humble opinion.
5. I’ve shortened this next item from COMMUNITYIMPACT for time — … Harris County to discuss 2026 election updates, Ben Taub Hospital expansion; By Melissa Enaje | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM| 4:20 PM Jan 6, 2026 CST/Updated 4:19 PM Jan 6, 2026 CST. TAGS: Harris County Commissioners, Ben Taub Hospital, Texas Medical Center, 2026 Elections, Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth,
   1. Harris County commissioners [met on] Jan. 8 with more than 300 agenda items spanning from county operations and security regarding the upcoming election cycle to the possible postponement of the Ben Taub Hospital expansion in the Texas Medical Center.
   2. … Harris County Clerk Teneshia Hudspeth has several items related to the upcoming March primary elections, May primary runoff elections and the November general election.
      One item by the county clerk includes establishing an interlocal agreement with the city of Houston Police Department as part of an Election Security Task Force. Hudspeth will also discuss the resources her office will need to conduct the 2026 elections.
   3. One of Precinct 1 Commissioner Rodney Ellis’s agenda items calls for the postponement of the Harris Health community engagement report regarding the Ben Taub Hospital expansion, adding another delay to the Texas Medical Center project. In October, Harris County commissioners voted unanimously to push back the proposed Dec. 11 public hearing for the hospital … Commissioners set the new date for the public hearing in March.
   4. … Precinct 3 Commissioner Tom Ramsey has several agenda items calling for discussions on county operation oversight …[including] possible action on “Harris County Hospital District issues.”
   5. Ramsey will also call for a discussion on the county’s compliance with Senate Bill 1933, which passed during the 88th legislative session in 2023. SB 1933 focuses on the way Harris County handles elections and allows the secretary of state’s office to oversee Harris County elections if an election complaint is filed. …
   6. … Harris County Commissioners Court meetings are held at 9 a.m. in Downtown Houston. The administration building is located at 1001 Preston St., Houston. Meetings are also available to livestream [at the link provided in the story].
   7. MIKE: I don’t have anything to add to this story. I read it so that my listeners can be better informed about the goings-on of their county government.
6. About 200 Texas A&M courses could change due to new restrictions on teaching gender, race; by Jessica Priest and Sneha Dey | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | Jan. 7, 2026, 6:56 p.m. Central. TAGS: Texas A&M University-College Station, 2026 Elections, Property Taxes, Texas A&M, School Takeovers, “Bathroom Bill”, Higher Education, Politics in Education,
   1. Faculty at Texas A&M University were told this week that roughly 200 courses in the College of Arts and Sciences could be affected by a new system policy restricting classroom discussions of race and gender, the implementation of which has already led administrators to direct a philosophy professor to remove Plato readings from a core course.
   2. The changes are being made days before the semester begins and after some students have registered to attend.
   3. The Texas Tribune obtained emails sent by college administrators showing the policy has already led to courses being cancelled or renumbered to remove them from core curriculum credit, with professors directed to alter course content or teach different classes.
   4. The A&M System Board of Regents approved a policy in November requiring campus presidents to sign off on courses that could be seen as advocating “race and gender ideology” or topics related to sexual orientation or gender identity. The move followed a student’s secret recording of a professor discussing gender identity in a children’s literature class that went viral on social media, sparking conservative backlash.
   5. Regents revised the policy in December, barring most discussion of those topics in introductory or core curriculum courses unless administrators determine the material serves a “necessary educational purpose” and approve it in writing. This set off a rapid review of courses ahead of the spring semester’s Jan. 12 start.
   6. Emails sent by college administrators Tuesday show that an introductory sociology course on race and ethnicity was canceled, a communications course on religion and the arts was renumbered and stripped of core curriculum credit, and a philosophy professor was told to remove Plato readings and other material related to race and gender from a core course or be reassigned.
   7. In an email to students who had enrolled in SOCI 217, Introduction to Race and Ethnicity, administrators said they “carefully considered” whether the course could comply with the revised policy and “concluded that we cannot teach this course in its present form.” The message acknowledged that students enrolled in the class for a variety of reasons and said those with a “demonstrable need” to complete the course for a degree or career goals could pursue it instead through an independent study course.
   8. Introduction to Race and Ethnicity had drawn scrutiny in the past. Texas Scorecard, a conservative website that is widely read by elected Texas Republicans and A&M regents, published stories in September and October criticizing the course and its assigned readings and identifying the professor who taught it.
   9. In another case, Professor Martin Peterson submitted his syllabus for PHIL 111, Contemporary Moral Issues, for review Dec. 22. On Tuesday, his department head told him he had two options: remove the modules on race ideology and gender ideology, including readings from Plato, or be reassigned to teach a noncore philosophy course. The email, obtained by the Tribune, gave Peterson until the close of business Wednesday to decide.
   10. Peterson responded that he would revise the syllabus, saying he plans to replace the Plato readings with lectures on free speech and academic freedom.
   11. In a statement to the Tribune, A&M said the decision did not amount to a ban on teaching Plato and that other sections of the same course that include Plato – but do not include modules on race and gender ideology – had been approved.
   12. The course changes described in those emails followed a broader review process that College of Arts and Sciences Interim Dean Simon North discussed Monday during a regularly scheduled meeting with a group of about a half-dozen faculty members.
   13. Three faculty members in attendance told the Tribune that when asked, North said the college had identified roughly 200 courses as potentially affected by policy restrictions.
   14. Andrew Klein, another faculty member who attended the meeting but could not recall the specific number of affected courses, said he understood the number to be preliminary because departments across the college were working under different deadlines to submit syllabi for review.
   15. Faculty were told some departments were in the process of renumbering courses to take them out of the core curriculum, even classes that already had students enrolled for this semester. Others would need to remove readings or discussion topics, according to Sally Robinson, a professor who attended the meeting.
   16. Faculty can ask for an exemption if they demonstrate that topics of race and gender are core to the curricula. Robinson said North told faculty members he estimated the college would request about 30 courses to be exempt from the policy, which the university will need to accept or deny in the coming weeks.
   17. [Said Robinson, who is asking for an exemption for two of her courses,] “Everyone is worried about students and about what’s going to happen next week. … It’s unclear to us, and I think it’s unclear to the college as well, how those decisions are going to get made and who actually is going to make them.”
   18. The Tribune left a voicemail for [College of Arts and Sciences Interim Dean Simon North] and emailed detailed questions, but did not receive a response. Two associate deans who were also contacted did not respond.
   19. [Professor Martin Peterson] told the Tribune that the directive he received undermines the purpose of a university as a place for open inquiry and debate.
   20. [Peterson said,] “Plato founded the Academy, the very first university. … If we cannot freely discuss Plato, we no longer have a university.”
   21. The Texas A&M Chapter of the American Association of University Professors and the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression also criticized the move.
   22. [Said Lindsie Rank, director of campus rights advocacy at the Foundation of Individual Rights and Expression,] “This is what happens when the board of regents gives university bureaucrats veto power over academic content. … The board didn’t just invite censorship, they unleashed it with immediate and predictable consequences.”
   23. The College of Arts and Sciences is one of 17 colleges and schools at Texas A&M University in College Station, the flagship campus that includes 11 other universities subject to the same policy.
   24. Other public university systems are taking similar steps. The Texas Tech University System now prohibits certain race- or sex-related course content except if it is required for licensing, certification or patient care, and Texas State University administrators have urged professors to revise course descriptions and titles they consider ideological.
   25. MIKE: Pink Floyd famously said, “We don’t need no thought control.” As many of you know, one of the premises of Thinkwing Radio is that an educated electorate is a prerequisite for a democracy. On the other hand, Texas is being ruled by a party that follows the man who said, [play AUDIO CLIP, 0m 04s] “I love the poorly educated.”
   26. MIKE: According to the Rice University School of Humanities and the Arts, “A liberal arts education develops your capacities to analyze, to synthesize, to interpret, to visualize, to craft an argument, to ask important questions, and to grapple with evidence, whether visual, textual or virtual. These capacities are vital for a wide range of future careers, including the scientific, engineering and medical professions. More importantly, subjects like philosophy, religion, literary and visual cultures, history of society and history of art, prepare students to make an impact on the world, as citizens and as thought leaders.”
   27. MIKE: Analyzing, interpreting, questioning … Using a broad general knowledge background to frame ideas and question the policies of others … That is the primary function of higher education.
   28. MIKE: A university like Harvard takes this idea seriously, to the point that Harvard does not per se offer a business degree such as a BBA “Instead, [according to theuniversityguys-dot-com website,] they encourage students interested in business to explore economics or related fields. Harvard’s undergraduate concentrations include economics and government, which students with business interests commonly choose.”
   29. MIKE: But broad-based education that encourages analyzing, interpreting, and questioning based on a diverse knowledge base is not what rightwing culture warriors want. They want indoctrination and unquestioning agreement with their policies, based on education that teaches only what agrees with their world view.
   30. MIKE: But as Stephen Colber once said, “reality has a well-known liberal bias.”
   31. MIKE: Going from Stephen Colbert to Aristotle may seem like quite a leap, but Aristotle is quoted as once having written, “Give me a child till he’s 7, and I will show you the man.”
   32. MIKE: This is an idea that has also been attributed to educational policies in dictatorships like Nazi Germany, Stalinist Russia, and Maoist China, among others.
   33. MIKE: It is a scheme arguably taken to its logical extreme in George Orwell’s “1984”.
   34. MIKE: Does it sound like I’m taking the case of Texas A&M too far? I don’t think so.
   35. MIKE: As Illinois Governor JB Pritzker famously said a few months ago, “If it sounds to you like I am alarmist, that is because I am ringing an alarm.”
   36. REFERENCE: JB Pritzker BLASTS Trump: POWERFUL SPEECH protecting Illinois’ largest city — VIDEO: youtube.com
7. Next, from DEMOCRACYDOCKET — ‘Put me in jail’: Arizona sec. of state pledges defiance as DOJ sues more states over voter rolls; By Yunior Rivas | DEMOCRACYDOCKET.COM | January 6, 2026. TAGS: Department of Justice (DOJ), Arizona, Connecticut, State Voter Rolls,
   1. The Department of Justice sued Arizona and Connecticut Tuesday, expanding its unprecedented campaign to force states to turn over their unredacted voter rolls.
   2. The two new lawsuits bring the DOJ’s tally to 23 states and Washington D.C.
   3. [Arizona’s top elections official told Democracy Docket hours before his state was sued,] “They’re going to have to put me in jail if they want this information.”
   4. Like all other ongoing DOJ cases, the lawsuit seeks a court order compelling election officials from each state to provide their full statewide voter registration list, including voters’ names, birthdates, residential addresses, driver’s license numbers and partial Social Security numbers. 
   5. The Arizona lawsuit follows months of sparring between state officials and DOJ leadership.
   6. Last week, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Jesus A. Osete appeared to mock state concerns about accuracy and timelines, posting on social media: “Clean voter rolls. COB [“Close Of Business] Monday. Thx.”
   7. [Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) told Democracy Docket founder Marc Elias in a podcast interview recorded Tuesday, hours before the lawsuit was filed,] “They’re going to have to put me in jail if they want this information and have somebody else give it to them because I’m not going to do it. It would be illegal of me to release the information to the Department of Justice as they have requested it. Period. They’re asking me to break the law. … It’s going to take a lot more than just a court order to get me to turn this stuff over. It’s going to be a knockdown drag out fight. I will not turn this data over as long as I am the Secretary of State here in Arizona”
   8. In both complaints, the DOJ again invokes a “sweeping” interpretation of the Civil Rights Act of 1960 to argue that the attorney general has near-unreviewable authority to seize statewide voter rolls for “inspection, reproduction and copying.” The department claims the data is necessary to enforce federal voter roll maintenance laws, even as multiple states warn that producing the records would violate state privacy statutes and expose millions of voters to misuse.
   9. Arizona and Connecticut are the latest jurisdictions swept into a nationwide legal offensive overseen by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who has asserted that the Justice Department has “sweeping” authority to inspect state election records. With the new filings, the federal government has now sued 23 states plus D.C., after many state officials refused to comply with its data demands.
   10. State election officials across the political spectrum have pushed back, arguing that the DOJ lacks authority to compel production of unredacted voter rolls and warning that turning over such data threatens voter privacy and state sovereignty over elections. 
   11. [Arizona Secretary of State Fontes added in the podcast interview,] “Why in the world would I just turn that over to a bunch of amateurs and a bunch of folks whose motives I can’t discern? I can’t trust. And I just am absolutely refusing. … I have warned our local election officials as well in writing, it is against the law for you to turn this data over to the federal government as well. So we’re doing everything we can to protect our voters, their information, and the integrity of our election systems from this invasive and unjustified Department of Justice request.”
   12. Dhillon has repeatedly said the department will continue suing every state that does not comply.
   13. More lawsuits are expected as states continue to resist.
   14. MIKE: This effort to get the full, unredacted voter rolls from the various states is a clear and dangerous example of federal overreach in a dangerous time, where there are efforts to consolidate all powers in the federal executive branch generally, and the presidency in particular.
   15. MIKE: But what we are seeing is one of the virtues of a federal-style government. There are legal and Constitutional limits to what the national central government can impose on, or demand of, individual states.
   16. MIKE: It reminds me an interesting discussion I once had with a kid I was tutoring.
   17. MIKE: During the Obama administration, he asked me why the federal government couldn’t just impose its will on Republican-led states that were constantly suing the feds and obstructing Obama’s policies.
   18. MIKE: Using my then-60-year old perspective, I told him that that may be how he feels now because he agrees with what the Obama administration was trying to do, but he might feel differently when the federal government was run by the opposition. And here we are.
   19. MIKE: It also reminds me of the time under Biden when Democrats in the senate wanted to abolish the filibuster so the Republican minority couldn’t continually block them, and Democrats were really angry that Senators Kirsten Sinema and Joe Manchin stood rock solid against it.
   20. MIKE: How are Democratic senators feeling about that obstinacy now, when some Republicans are wanting the same thing, and they’re not doing it for the same reasons?
   21. MIKE: Eliminating the filibuster has its virtues, but it also comes with risks. I do subscribe to reinstating the requirement for an actual talking filibuster, where senators literally put their mouths where their convictions are.
   22. MIKE: Right now, all they have to do is object. I think requiring filibustering senators to actually ‘talk the talk’ would reduce the number of filibusters invoked.
   23. MIKE: But getting back to the point of the story, in the current situation where the Congress has been inexcusably pliable to Trump’s will, we should be more grateful than ever of how the Constitution has given us a federal system where the states still some real sovereignty in their dealings with the central government.
8. While I don’t endorse Trump’s invasion of a South American country that posed no serious threat to US national security, it nonetheless has geopolitical consequences that must be reckoned with. The following assessment is necessarily from a purely Israeli perspective, but it also has bearings on the US’s geopolitical situation in both the Middle East and Latin America, as well as in its Iranian dealings. From The Jerusalem Post — Iran’s friends vanishing: Why Maduro’s arrest matters for Israel – analysis; By HERB KEINON | JPOST.COM The Jerusalem Post | JANUARY 4, 2026 22:18/Updated: JANUARY 4, 2026 22:23. TAGS: Iran, Hezbollah, US-Israel Relations, Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, Nobel Peace Prize, Hamas, Syria,
   1. For Israel, the significance of Washington’s weekend arrest of Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and his wife goes well beyond the shiver it likely sent down spines in Tehran.
   2. Yes, the spectacle of a US-led operation removing a defiant anti-American autocrat will inevitably sharpen anxieties among Iran’s leaders about their own vulnerabilities, especially at a time when protests are roiling the country.
   3. But further meaning is found elsewhere, in the dismantling of yet another supporting pillar in the global network Iran painstakingly constructed to finance, shield, and sustain its war against Israel. Venezuela was never an Iranian proxy in the way Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, or Bashar al-Assad’s Syria were.
   4. Caracas … did [not] host Iranian forces on the scale seen in the Middle East. Yet, through Hezbollah, Venezuela became something no less important to the ayatollahs — a critical offshore hub that generated cash, laundered funds, moved operatives, and enabled Iran to project power far from the Mideast.
   5. Maduro’s arrest comes on the heels of a series of blows to Iran’s regional position. Israel battered Hamas in Gaza, decapitated Hezbollah in Lebanon, and degraded Houthi capabilities in Yemen. Also, Assad’s regime fell in Syria. Taken together, these developments illustrate Iran’s declining power.
   6. Tehran’s problem today is not restricted to the protests in the streets or the pummeling it absorbed in June, but also the unraveling of far-flung support systems it spent years and billions of dollars putting together abroad.
   7. Investigations by US law enforcement agencies and think tanks such as the Atlantic Council over the last few years have shown that Hezbollah … functioned as a crime-terror enterprise intermeshed in the Venezuelan economy and protected by the government.
   8. … Hezbollah trafficked cocaine from Venezuela, laundered money, transferred weapons, and helped the Islamic Republic evade US sanctions. Already in 2018, the US Justice Department concluded that Hezbollah rivaled the major Latin American cartels in scale and sophistication. But there was one glaring difference: Revenue generated in South America did not stay there; it was sent to Lebanon, where it helped pay for the terrorist organization’s military buildup.
   9. Beyond being a reliable source of income for Hezbollah – Iran’s senior proxy – Venezuela offered … a protected air and maritime bridge linking Tehran, Damascus, and Caracas. This allowed the transfer of Iranian personnel, dual-use goods, fuel, and cash. In other words, Venezuela under [Maduro] actively helped Iran pursue its global goals.
   10. While Venezuela was not an Iranian proxy in the Syrian or Hezbollah mold, it functioned as an enabler, providing funds that helped sustain Iran’s proxies. In that sense, it was very much part of Iran’s world.
   11. Just how much a part of that world became clearer on Sunday when Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said in a television address that the US attack had “Zionist undertones.” This claim of “Zionist” involvement was not evidence of Israeli involvement; it was, however, evidence of how closely the regime identified itself with Iran’s worldview. It was a claim aimed both inward and outward.
   12. [Inwardly], it was aimed at supporters of Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chávez, who turned Israel into an imperialist villain, steeped in traditional antisemitic tropes, with which to rally supporters. [Outwardly], it was directed at the region, where anti-Zionist messaging has long served as a convenient rallying cry, since Latin America’s political culture still contains reflexive sympathy for anti-American narratives into which Israel is often effortlessly folded.  
   13. [Vice President Delcy Rodríguez] brought up Israel not because it was involved in the US operation, but because it fit Tehran’s ideological template adopted by Venezuela: domestic failures explained through foreign conspiracy, with “Zionism” serving as the all-purpose, go-to scapegoat.
   14. The arrest of Maduro is significant for Israel because it removes yet another important piece from the puzzle that Iran has been putting together for years. … [O]ne that played an important supporting role …
   15. Israel’s struggle with Iran over the years has been about nuclear capability, ballistic missiles, and deterrence. Less attention has been paid to the quieter contest over access, financing, and safe havens.
   16. Venezuela was part of that quieter front — never decisive on its own, but valuable to Iran precisely because it was distant and often overlooked. If, with Maduro’s arrest, Venezuela is removed from Tehran’s orbit, then the Islamic Republic’s options will narrow further, and this precisely at a time when it is coming under considerable strain from within.
   17. … Venezuela’s next step … is uncertain. But what seems certain is that after this US intervention, the days when it provided Iran with a protected foothold in the Western Hemisphere are quickly coming to a close. …
   18. [I]n a recent interview from Venezuela’s most prominent opposition figure, Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado … has been explicit in describing Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas as foreign forces that penetrated Venezuela under Maduro’s rule. In her telling, Venezuela was not merely misgoverned; it was commandeered by external actors whose interests ran directly counter to those of a sovereign country.
   19. She accompanied that framework with warm words toward Israel, rarely heard from Caracas in decades. Asked in a November Israel Hayom interview directly whether a post-Maduro Venezuela would restore relations with Israel and move its embassy to Jerusalem, [Ms.] Machado replied: “Certainly. Venezuela will be Israel’s closest ally in Latin America.” She said that cooperation with Israel would be part of the broader Venezuelan struggle against the “crime and terror” that had characterized the country under Maduro.
   20. For Israel, those words matter less because they guarantee policy outcomes, and more because they mark a conceptual break with the worldview that has defined Venezuela since Chávez severed ties with Jerusalem in 2009. Under Chávez and Maduro, hostility toward Israel was a badge of ideological belonging to an anti-American, anti-Western camp aligned with Tehran. Machado’s language signals a rejection of that framework altogether.
   21. For years, Iran sought to demonstrate that its reach was global and its options limitless. Today, the picture looks different. Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen – and now Venezuela – tell a story not of expansion, but of contraction.
   22. Maduro’s fall does not overhaul Israel’s strategic reality overnight, nor does it end the war Israel is fighting against Iran’s proxies. But it does represent another incremental setback in Iran’s global posture — a reminder that Iran’s power was built patiently, piece by piece, and is now being dismantled the same way.
   23. MIKE: The only thing I can add here is the reminder that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy. Hamas expected much more material and military support from their allies in Lebanon and Syria, in the hope that Israel would be engaged in a 3-front war that they might conceivably lose, leading to the literal destruction of Israel. Or at least, would perhaps weaken Israel sufficiently that a Palestinian state might turn into something Israel could not prevent.
   24. MIKE: Hamas has skillfully used the predictable civilian casualties that they brought to the people of Gaza as propaganda tools. But remembering that no battle plan survives contact with the enemy, things did not remotely go how Hamas had hoped.
   25. MIKE: Instead, Hamas is now seriously weakened, perhaps permanently. The same applies to Hezbollah in Lebanon, leading to a news story from the BBC that the Lebanese army has taken over security in the Hezbollah-dominated south. I’ll discuss that in the next story.
   26. MIKE: In addition, Iran’s ally in Syria, Bashar al-Assad, has fallen and it appears that a new government is not only establishing itself as more aligned with the West, but is actively against Iran-aligned militias in Syria. Iran-associated militias in Iraq are, however, still in a position of some strength.
   27. MIKE: War is a terrible thing, but it has a way of changing formerly-unalterable geopolitical situations in sudden and radical ways. We’re seeing modern-day examples of that now.
9. From the BBC — Lebanese army says it has taken over security in Hezbollah-dominated south; Hugo Bachega, Middle East correspondent, Beirut | BBC.COM | Jan. 8, 2026. TAGS: Israel, Lebanon, Hezbollah,
   1. The Lebanese army says it has taken over security in the south of the country, which for decades had been dominated by the Iranian-backed movement Hezbollah, amid fears that Israel could escalate its military offensive against the group.
   2. Lebanon has been under intense international pressure, particularly from the US, to disarm Hezbollah, a powerful militia and political party, since a ceasefire deal in November 2024 ended a devastating year-long war between Israel and Hezbollah.
   3. The army had set a year-end deadline to clear the area south of the Litani river, about 30km (20 miles) from the border with Israel, of non-state weapons in the first phase of a government-backed plan.
   4. The army said its objective had been achieved in an “effective and tangible way” but that there was more work to be done to clear unexploded ordnance and tunnels.
   5. Responding to the Lebanese army’s statement, the office of … Israeli Prime Minister … Netanyahu said efforts toward fully disarming Hezbollah were “an encouraging beginning, but they are far from sufficient, as evidenced by Hezbollah’s efforts to rearm and rebuild its terror infrastructure with Iranian support”.
   6. In recent months, Lebanese soldiers have dismantled infrastructure in areas once controlled by Hezbollah in the south without facing resistance from the group, which says it has complied with the ceasefire deal and removed its fighters from those areas, where Palestinian factions including Hamas had also operated.
   7. But US and Israeli officials have expressed frustration with the pace of the army’s efforts.
   8. Israel has accused Hezbollah — which is considered a terrorist organisation by countries including the US and the UK — of trying to recover its military capabilities, including in the south. In recent days, Israeli media reported that Netanyahu had been given a green light by US President Donald Trump to intensify its military campaign against Hezbollah.
   9. Despite the ceasefire, Israel has carried out near-daily attacks on targets it says are linked to Hezbollah and continues to occupy at least five positions in southern Lebanon.
   10. The Lebanese government rejects the Israeli claims, and says Israel’s actions are a violation of the ceasefire deal and an obstacle to the army’s efforts.
   11. Israel has not made [public] the evidence it says it has about Hezbollah’s activities, and the UN peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon, known as Unifil, says it has seen no indication that the group is rebuilding its infrastructure in the areas where it operates.
   12. Lebanese officials say the next stage of the army’s plan will focus on the area between the Litani and the Awali rivers, which includes the port city of Sidon. There is no timeline for that, and the cash-strapped Lebanese army has also complained of insufficient funding and equipment.
   13. Meanwhile, it is unclear if Hezbollah will resist the measures in other areas as it says it will not disarm north of the Litani. The group also has a strong presence in the eastern Bekaa valley and in Beirut’s southern suburbs, known as the Dahieh.
   14. Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun has rejected the use of force against the group, saying this could exacerbate sectarian divisions and lead to violence.
   15. Hezbollah — which is also a political party with representation in parliament and in the government, and a social movement that runs hospitals and schools —- still enjoys significant support among Lebanon’s Shia community.
   16. Opponents, however, see this as a unique opportunity to disarm the group, after its losses in the war. Hezbollah, so far, has rejected calls from the authorities to discuss the future of its weapons.
   17. In Lebanon’s south, tens of thousands of residents remain displaced and communities lie in ruins, as Lebanon’s international partners have conditioned funds for reconstruction on measures that include action against Hezbollah.
   18. MIKE: As I said some months ago in a similar context after the major fighting between Israel and Hezbollah ended, if that war has resulted in the Lebanese army reoccupying southern Lebanon and reasserting its national sovereignty there, this could be a major positive outcome of the war.
10. MIKE: Back to American issues … TAGS: Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), Judge Advocate General, Lawful Orders, The President, NATO, Congress,
    1. I’m not a lawyer, let alone a military lawyer, so I posed this query to Google Ai: “Can the pentagon high command refuse a presidential order without resigning?” With some of the Ai-provided links, Google Ai responded:
    2. GOOGLE Ai: “Yes, Pentagon high command can refuse a presidential order if it’s clearly unlawful (violating the Constitution or UCMJ), but this is a grave decision with consequences, often leading to resignation, firing, or legal challenges, as service members swear allegiance to the Constitution, not just individuals, though the default expectation is obedience to lawful orders, with legal counsel advising on clearly illegal ones like war crimes. Resigning is a common path for senior officials unable to carry out an order, but refusing without resignation involves navigating intense legal/ethical lines, potentially delaying, seeking review, or informing Congress, with the ultimate consequence of being fired by the President. 
    3. Grounds for Refusal — Unlawful Orders: The primary basis for refusal is an order that is clearly illegal, such as violating the Constitution or the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) (e.g., ordering attacks on civilians or actions against constitutional rights).
    4. Oath to the Constitution: Military personnel swear to defend the Constitution, creating a duty to disobey orders that subvert it, not just the President. 
    5. Options for High Command — Seek Legal Review: Use internal JAG (Judge Advocate General) officers to assess legality and request revised, lawful orders.
    6. Inform Congress: Alert congressional leaders about potentially unlawful orders.
    7. Resign in Protest: A common response for senior leaders who cannot reconcile with an order, as seen with Secretary of Defense Mattis.
    8. Resist & Delay: Slow implementation while seeking clarification or legal review. 
    9. Consequences of Refusal (Lawful Order) — Presidential Action: The President can fire any subordinate refusing a lawful order, including the Secretary of Defense.
    10. UCMJ Charges: Service members face court-martial for disobeying lawful orders. 
    11. Key Principle — Presumption of Lawfulness: Service members generally presume orders are lawful; refusal is reserved for a “small subset” of egregious, clearly illegal acts, not just unwise ones. The act of disobeying a legal order carries significant personal risk, even at high levels. 
    12. MIKE: At a time when the United States, as commanded by Donald Trump, appears to be committing murder on the high seas, apparently violating international law by effectively blockading a country and seizing vessels in the absence of a declaration of war, invading and seizing a foreign leader on his own territory, and constantly threatening NATO allies (such as Canada) with annexation or (in the case of Denmark) invading and annexing Greenland, I believe that the US military must draw a bright line as to what orders they will follow and what orders they will not, as is commensurate with US law, as well as military law as described in the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ).
    13. MIKE: When I asked Google Ai, “Can the US legally invade a NATO country?”, it offered this:
    14. GOOGLE Ai: “No, the U.S. legally cannot invade a NATO country as it would violate the UN Charter prohibiting the use of force and breach NATO’s Article 5 collective defense pledge, which requires mutual defense, making such an act a fundamental breach of international law and the alliance itself, triggering catastrophic political and military fallout. While NATO provides defense against attacks, it doesn’t grant permission to attack allies, and the U.S. must still follow its own Constitution, requiring congressional approval for war, but an invasion of a member would shatter the alliance’s foundation of shared values and security. 
    15. GOOGLE Ai: Legal & Treaty Frameworks — UN Charter: Article 2(4) prohibits member states from the threat or use of force against another state’s territorial integrity or political independence.
    16. North Atlantic Treaty (NATO):
        1. Article 5: An attack on one is an attack on all, obligating members to assist, but this is a defensive pact, not a license to attack allies.
        2. Article 11: Mandates that treaty provisions are carried out through each member’s “respective constitutional processes,” meaning the U.S. President needs Congressional authorization for war. 
    17. GOOGLE Ai: S. Constitutional Requirements
    18. Even if NATO’s Article 5 were invoked (e.g., if the U.S. was attacked), the President needs authorization from Congress to use force, as Congress holds the power to declare war. 
    19. GOOGLE Ai: Consequences of a U.S. Invasion
    20. Alliance Collapse: An attack by the U.S. on a NATO ally would be an unprecedented breach, likely ending the alliance and undermining global security structures.
    21. Political & Military Chaos: NATO has no plan for an internal attack, and such a scenario would create immense political turmoil and potential military responses from other members against the U.S..
    22. Undermining Values: It would contradict NATO’s founding principles of democracy and the rule of law, damaging U.S. credibility. 
    23. GOOGLE Ai: In essence, an unprovoked U.S. invasion of a NATO member is legally and politically untenable, representing a fundamental breakdown of international law and the transatlantic alliance.”
    24. MIKE: By invading a Latin neighbor, for any reason, without a dire threat posed to the United States or declaration of war by Congress, Trump has already gone beyond his own oath to the Constitution and the rule of law. By threatening to invade Greenland, a possession of a NATO member state, he is proposing a violation of the NATO charter, which has been ratified by the US Senate and is therefore the law of the land.
    25. MIKE: I’m not asking for a military coup d’état. I’m demanding that our US military follow civil and military law, and that they honor the letter and spirit of their oaths to protect this nation from all enemies, foreign and

 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!