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)

[1m 02s] 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 fans from Singapore, Taiwan, India, Germany, 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 26th week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC; 15 weeks since Trump deployed National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee; and violent ongoing federal law enforcement invasions of Minneapolis-St. Paul, Chicago, and elsewhere.

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

1. The Harris County run-off election for Texas CD-18 took place on Saturday. The winner with about 68% of the vote is Christiam Menefee.
   1. So after 11 months, CD-18 finally has a representative in Congress, and the Republicans’ House lead gets even slimmer.
   2. There are approximately 450k registered voters in CD-18. Turnout was about 5%. Please do better!
2. And Now … We are getting ready for our next election on March 3^rd. This is a big and very important primary.
   1. This primary election is a big one! It will be for governor, lieutenant governor, and 16 other statewide offices, as well as for US Senate and House representatives, judges, and county and local officials.
   2. If you meet the eligibility requirements, the deadline for applying for a mail-in ballot is Feb. 20^th.
   3. The last day to register to vote is Monday, Feb. 2^nd. I’m providing a link in this show post to the Texas Secretary of State if you need to register.
   4. Early voting starts on Feb 17^th.
   5. Then March 3^rd is election day.
   6. Yu can get election and ballot information at HarrisVotes-dot-com, your local county or elections clerk, or at votetexas-dot-gov.
   7. This item in today’s show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com has a few relevant links for information about voting and the primary election, so you might consider checking it out.
   8. I have connections to the following links:
   9. REFERENCE: Voting resources: How to vote in Texas — TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG/2026-VOTE
   10. REFERENCE:What you need to know before voting in Texas’ March 3 primary elections — by TEXAS TRIBUNE STAFF 27, 2026
   11. REFERENCE:Texas governor primary: Who is running and what to know — by Kayla Guo | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG |Jan. 21, 2026
   12. REFERENCE: Texas lieutenant governor primary: Who is running and what to know 
   13. REFERENCE: League of Women Voters of Houston
   14. REFERENCE: The League of Women Voters of Texas: Home
   15. REFERENCE: Ballotpedia
3. Harris County commissioners condemn ICE and DHS, passing motion with 4-1 vote; By John Lomax V, Staff Writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | Jan 29, 2026. TAGS: Harris County commissioners, Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE),
   1. Harris County commissioners voted4-1 Thursday to pass a motion condemning the Department of Homeland Security’s unprecedented deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in cities across the country. 
   2. Republican Commissioner Tom Ramsey cast the lone dissenting vote. The move came after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens — Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old intensive care nurse, and Renee Good, also 37, and a mother of three — in Minnesota in January. Their deaths have sparked nationwide outrage. 
   3. [Said Commissioner Rodney Ellis in a statement,] “The brutal killings of Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, and the many others who have been killed in ICE custody nationwide reflect a dangerous pattern of militarized enforcement that undermines public safety and constitutional rights.”
   4. Customs and Border Patrol officers shot and killed Pretti after disarming him at a protest, while Good was killed by ICE agent Jonathan Ross. 
   5. The motion, which simply clarified the court’s position on the ongoing immigration crackdown, came less than a week after Harris County joined a friend-of-the-court, or amicus, brief supporting a lawsuit filed by the State of Minnesota and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul challenging the federal government’s authority to deploy masked ICE and CBP agents to the Twin Cities. 
   6. [Said Harris County Attorney Jonathan Fombonne in a statement sent Jan. 23,] “Harris County is pushing back against federal overreach and standing up for our communities. When federal actions create an environment of fear that prevents people from going to school, visiting their doctors, or simply living their daily lives, we have a responsibility to speak out. This is about protecting the constitutional rights of all residents and ensuring our communities remain safe and welcoming places for everyone.”
   7. MIKE: Last week, I referred to Mayor John Whitmire as an ICE collaborationist, and discussed my logic for doing so.
   8. MIKE: This week, I thought I might discuss the word “quisling”, and the history behind that term as well as its meaning.
   9. MIKE: Merriam-Webster defines “quisling” (with a lower case “Q”) as a traitor or collaborator. It is also used to mean the same thing in Scandinavian and some other languages ^{[28] [29]}, kind of like the American General Benedict Arnold.
   10. MIKE: In 1933, Vidkun Quisling founded the Norwegian National Gathering, a fascist-style party.
   11. MIKE: According to the Wikipedia article which I am excerpting for brevity, “On 9 April 1940, with the German invasion of Norway in progress, he attempted to seize power in the world’s first radio-broadcast coup d’état but failed … On 1 February 1942, he formed a second government, approved by the Germans … His pro-Nazi puppet government, known as the Quisling regime, was dominated by ministers from [National Gathering]. The collaborationist government participated in Germany’s war efforts and deported Jews out of the country to concentration camps in occupied Poland, where most were killed. …”
   12. In late 1945, Vidkun Quisling was tried on “multiple charges, including treason, murder, and illegal activities against Norway.” He was convicted on most counts, and sentenced to death. Quisling was executed by firing squad on October 24, 1945
   13. MIKE: As I mentioned earlier, Quisling’s fascist and Nazi-collaboration history has given him the dubious distinction of having a word created internationally to describe his national treachery in Norway, a word that has also been adopted in English, Scandinavian, and other languages as the word “quisling”.
   14. MIKE: Based on my discussion and definition from last week’s show, I feel fine referring to Commissioner Tom Ramsey as an ICE collaborator along with any baggage you might care to attach to that term.
   15. MIKE: I think it’s still too much of a stretch to start generally tossing around the term “quisling” in relation to ICE sympathizers and collaborators; but we might start thinking about whether the term “quisling” might be applied to certain Republican and other Rightwing national, state, party and political leaders and voices who are facilitating ICE and other fascist and police state-style activity in our country.
   16. MIKE: In that sense, given the damage being done to our nation domestically and internationally, I think it’s fair to start calling Trump, his enablers, and his blind party loyalists quislings who are either cheering on, or at least passively standing by, while this historic damage is being done to our country.
   17. MIKE: I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts on this discussion.
   18. MIKE: In this show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com, I have linked to numerous articles that go into a lot more detail and relevant history for those who want to learn more.
4. Harris County advances countywide road flood warning system; By Melissa Enaje | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | 4:43 PM Jan 30, 2026 CST/Updated 4:43 PM Jan 30, 2026 CST. TAGS: Harris County, Countywide Road Flood Warning System, Roadway Flooding,
   1. Harris County roadways are one step closer to seeing a new countywide road flood warning system to detect roadway flooding in real time and alert drivers.
   2. … A motion to advance negotiations with local engineering firm J.M. Torres and Associates LLC passed unanimously at the Jan. 29 Harris County Commissioners Court meeting. The Houston-based firm engineers real-time flood intelligence alert systems and data collectors, according to the business’s website.
   3. [Harris County Precinct 2 media specialist Alonzo Guadarrama said in an email,] “The project will install seven emergency flood warning measures across the four precincts. … These systems will be able to detect roadway flooding in real time and alert drivers, improving safety and helping reduce the risk of flood-related accidents.”
   4. At least 812,294 properties in Harris County, or nearly 58% of all properties, have a risk of flooding over the next 30 years, according to data compiled from nonprofit First Street.
   5. … While the project is still in the early stages, according to Guadarrama, county officials anticipate, at minimum, six months before implementation begins.
   6. … Funding for the project will come at no cost to the county, Precinct 2 Commissioner Adrian Garcia said. Harris County was first awarded $2 million in federal funding from the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2022 as part of the agency’s Strengthening Mobility and Revolutionizing Transportation [SMART] grants program.
   7. The SMART grant, according to the 2022 project announcement, shows Harris County officials using a study to implement sensors to alert residents in flood-prone areas across the county. The program, first signed by former President Joe Biden in 2021, funded up to $500 million in grants over five years for projects focused on advancing what the agency called smart community technologies, and systems that improve transportation safety and efficiency, according to a news release.
   8. … Other Texas cities routinely use outdoor flood warning systems, including New Braunfels, as previously reported by Community Impact.
   9. New Braunfels City Council approved the purchase of eight sirens in 2010. The sirens were installed in early 2011 and sit atop 40-foot galvanized poles along the Comal River, Guadalupe River and Dry Comal Creek. They are placed to alert individuals in flood-prone areas or areas that may be affected by rising river levels.
   10. In the [event] of potential flooding, the sirens are manually enacted by fire, police and emergency management personnel based on river flow data and information from the National Weather Service.
   11. MIKE: This will be an essential bit of safety infrastructure. I hope it’s installed ASAP.
5. Harris County commissioners direct jail leaders to bolster mental health diversion programs; By Sarah Grunau | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | | Posted on January 30, 2026, 3:42 PM. TAGS: Crime, Criminal Justice, Harris County, Local News, Harris County Jail, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo, Jail Diversion, Mental Health,
   1. Harris County commissioners on Thursday directed some of the county’s top criminal justice officials to work on bolstered initiatives to divert more defendants away from jail and into mental health treatment programs.
   2. The commissioners’ vote directs the county’s Criminal Justice Coordinating Council to return before the 2027-2028 county budget season with funding proposals on mental health diversion initiatives.
   3. The council — which is composed of elected officials, public defenders, and some of the county’s top law enforcement officials — previously discussed expanding front-end mental health diversion through the county’s diversion center during a December meeting. They also discussed exploring a mental health expansion pilot with the district courts, according to documents obtained through a public information request.
   4. Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s motion came before commissioners unanimously approved a $7 million proposal to hire more than 100 additional detention officers for the county jail — a move needed to maintain a state-mandated ratio of detention officers to inmates. About 300 inmates in the custody of the Harris County Sheriff’s Office who were outsourced to a private jail facility in Mississippi were recently returned to the county after one of its outsourcing contracts ended — shaving about $4 million off the county’s costs.
   5. Before commissioners approved the funding request, Hidalgo raised concerns about a staggering number of pre-trial defendants in the jail being flagged for mental health conditions, echoing a sentiment shared during a public comment portion of the meeting earlier in the day. She said the money the county has saved by ending outsourcing contracts should be used for mental health initiatives.
   6. [Hidalgo said,] “What I would like to hear is yes, it’s awful what’s happening to these families, yes, we have too many people in the jail who have mental illness who, by being in the jail, are being put at risk unnecessarily, and we are going to see how we can use some of the savings to keep those people out of the jail.”
   7. Seventy-three percent of inmates in the jail are currently taking psychotropic medication, according to county data, while 77 % have been flagged with mental health indicators.
   8. The discussion on Thursday also came as a second lawsuit was filed in federal court this month against Sheriff Ed Gonzalez, asserting a Harris County Jail inmate suffered from delusions and was unable to advocate for himself before dying inside the jail.
   9. Sheriff’s office assistant chief Phillip Bosquez said that the Harris County Jail is the largest in the country to maintain a correctional health care accreditation, and far exceeds the minimum standards set out by the state.
   10. The jail has, however, remained out of compliance with the state’s minimum jail standards since last year. A recent state inspection found deficiencies with fire control panels and issues with providing timely medical services to inmates.
   11. [Bosquez said,] “We never shoot for the minimum standard. … And so, these thousands of inmate patients that are here, they get better care than they get in the community. They come in in various states, and our medical and mental health professionals stabilize them and get them up and going.”
   12. The newly approved funds for additional detention officer positions will go to cover supplemental required supervision areas, he said.
   13. In continued efforts to alleviate jail overcrowding, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare and other county officials have touted diversion programs aimed at steering low-level offenders away from incarceration.
   14. Commissioners in the past have discussed building a new mental health-focused facility to alleviate jail overcrowding and address medical health needs in the jail. Last year, they authorized another feasibility study that would address the jail’s aging infrastructure and capacity issues.
   15. [Said Jesse Dickerman, an interim county administrator,] “The jail is stuffed full of people, and it will be for the foreseeable future. … I don’t think we have come up with really good … things to do to make the jail a much better place. … .”
   16. MIKE: Jail reform is something that always needs to be reexamined to suit new circumstances, technology, and perhaps most important of all, to incorporate new psychiatric and medical understandings that can affect rehabilitation and reduced recidivism of convicts.
   17. MIKE: There is a saying that if you want someone to become a superior criminal, incarcerate them.
6. MIKE: I did a show on this very topic on July 8, 2019. I think that maybe it’s time to revisit that story, The article is long, so it’s heavily excerpted. I’ve provided a link to the original BBC article which is still available online. I’ll have some thoughts where I’ll try to put both articles in context after I read the BBC story. From THINKWING RADIO SHOW (2019-7-8) — How Norway turns criminals into good neighbours; COM | 7 July 2019. TAGS: Norway, Prison, Rehabilitation, Recidivism, Penology, Halden Prison, Prison Reform,
   1. The article begins this way: What is the point of sending someone to prison – retribution or rehabilitation? Twenty years ago, Norway moved away from a punitive “lock-up” approach and sharply cut reoffending rates. The BBC’s Emma Jane Kirby went to see the system in action, and to meet prison officers trained to serve as mentors and role models for prisoners. …
   2. When Are Hoidal first began his career in the Norwegian Correctional service in the early 1980s, the prison experience here was altogether different.
   3. [He remembers,] “It was completely hard. … It was a masculine, macho culture with a focus on guarding and security. And the recidivism rate was around 60-70%, like in the US.”
   4. [I]n the early 1990s, the ethos of the Norwegian Correctional Service underwent a rigorous series of reforms to focus less on what Hoidal terms “revenge” and much more on rehabilitation. Prisoners, who had previously spent most of their day locked up, were offered daily training and educational programmes and the role of the prison guards was completely overhauled. …
   5. [Hoidal says,] “… since our big reforms, recidivism in Norway has fallen to only 20% after two years and about 25% after five years. So this works!”
   6. In the UK, the recidivism rate is almost 50% after just one year.
   7. The architecture of Halden Prison has been designed to minimise residents’ sense of incarceration, to ease psychological stress and to put them in harmony with the surrounding nature …
   8. [Explains Hoidal, while walking through to the carpentry workshop where several inmates are making wooden summer houses and benches to furnish a new prison being built in the south of Norway,] … “We start planning their release on the first day they arrive. … In Norway, all will be released — there are no life sentences.” …
   9. Normalising life behind bars (not that there are any bars on the windows at Halden) is the key philosophy that underpins the Norwegian Correctional service. At Halden, this means not only providing daily routines but ensuring family contact is maintained too. Once every three months, inmates with children can apply to a “Daddy In Prison” scheme which, if they pass the necessary safeguarding tests, means they can spend a couple of nights with their partner, sons and daughters in a cosy chalet within the prison grounds. …
   10. … It takes 12 weeks in the UK to train a prison officer. In Norway it takes two to three years. Eight kilometres northeast of Oslo in Lillestrom, an impressive white and glass building houses the University College of the Norwegian Correctional Service, where each year, 175 trainees, selected from over 1,200 applicants, start their studies to become a prison officer.
   11. Hans-Jorgen Brucker walks [this reporter] around the training prison on campus, which is kitted out with [reproductions of] cells and prison-style furniture. I note a bulging pile of helmets and stab vests in one storage room. Brucker acknowledges that prison officers will undergo security and riot training, but he’s fairly dismissive of this part of the course.
   12. [Brucker says,] “We want to stop reoffending, which means officers need to be well educated.” He shows … a paper outlining the rigorous selection process, which involves written exams in Norwegian and English (about a third of the prison population is non-native, so officers are expected to be fluent in English) and physical fitness tests.
   13. [Brucker says,] “My students will study law, ethics, criminology, English, reintegration and social work. Then they will have a year training in a prison and then they will come back to take their final exams. … In our system, officers are quite well paid and when an officer knows more about the law, he knows more about how to deal with inmates and how to avoid violence.”
   14. Every year his students go to the UK to spend a day observing an English prison and I ask him what his students say about their experience in English high-security jails. He tells me they are always surprised by the noise, the crowding and the relatively small number of staff. …
   15. [When asking the prison governor, Are Hoidal, about the level of violence in Halden prison, he looks genuinely surprised. [The reporter] tell[s] him that in England and Wales, assaults on staff have almost tripled in five years and that there were 10,213 assaults on staff in 2018, with 995 of those classed as serious.
   16. He scratches his head. [Upon reflection, he says,] “Of course, in some of our older prisons there is occasional violence but I really don’t remember the last time we had violence here. … Maybe we had one or two incidences of spitting?”
   17. [MIKE: Skipping to the end of the article, …]
   18. Hoidal is extremely enthusiastic about the prison’s new projects. A choir has just started up — inmates already have their own on-site recording studio, the aptly named Criminal Records — and he’s hoping for a Christmas concert to coincide with the release of the inmates’ new cookery book. But underneath his indefatigable positivity, there is a nagging worry; profits from oil production in the North Sea are dwindling and the government has warned that swingeing [which is to say, drastic,] cuts — including to prison budgets — are on their way.
   19. [Hoidal argues firmly,] “If you want quality and high-class results, we need money. … I fear there will be more violence and the recidivism rate will go up if we can’t have all the programmes we have now. It’s not good. It’s not good at all.”
   20. In Unit C, a cell door has swung open and I can see a red rose in a glass on the window sill. The former occupant has just been transferred to another lower-security prison but, perhaps needing to impart the wisdom he has learnt during his time at Halden, he has stuck a hastily scrawled message on the magnetic whiteboard for the new inmate who will take his place.
   21. [The inmate’s note reads,] “To love is to give without asking for anything back. … Loving makes you free. Free from yourself, my friend.”
   22. MIKE: Like I said, this has been drastically excerpted. I suggest clicking on the story link at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com and reading the whole thing, along with the photos included.
   23. MIKE: On the one hand given our vast sociological and cultural differences, it’s probably not safe to draw a one-to-one conclusion when comparing this model Norwegian penal system with what we have in Harris County specifically, and in the US generally.
   24. MIKE: Nonetheless, as the saying goes, people are the same all over.
   25. MIKE: This Norwegian model may not be right for all prisoners in the US, or indeed, in Norway. But for low-level and first-offenders, I think that this prison model is worth looking at for Texas and elsewhere.
   26. MIKE: Hoidal’s concerns about future financial support may have been well-founded, but a current Wikipedia article about Halden Prison still describes it this way: “As a maximum-security prison,^[7] it hosts both dangerous and highly dangerous criminals,^[11] such as rapists, murderers, and drug dealers.^[4] They compose half of the population, while a third of the residents are drug offenders.^[1] Sex offenders, who may face violence from other inmates, and prisoners who require close psychiatric or medical supervision, are located in Unit A, a restrictive and separated area.^[1][4] There is also a special unit — C8 — focused on addiction recovery.^[1] Most inmates live in Units B and C, which are freer and have mixed cell blocks.^[1] Halden Prison receives both domestic and international criminals; as only around three-fifths of the prisoners are Norwegians (as of 2015),^[1] both Norwegian and English are used, and the prison has English teachers.^[4] However, fluency in Norwegian is a requirement to live in C8, because group and individual counseling is conducted in Norwegian.^[1]”
   27. MIKE: Interestingly, penologists in the US have looked at less punitive models before. The very word, “penitentiary” is rooted in the word “penitence”. At one time, penitentiaries were experimentally intended to help inmates understand the consequences of their actions and to “repent” them through methods such as solitary confinement and religious instruction, among other programs.
   28. MIKE: As is often the case with many government programs, funding was cut, overcrowding occurred, and whatever humane intentions were conceived in the beginning, financial pragmatism and punitivism always won out.
   29. MIKE: American and British society always seem to use punishment as a first resort when dealing with criminals, but as I mentioned at the beginning, that practice usually simply results in convicts being released back into society as hardened, smarter criminals.
   30. MIKE: The mental health aspect pointed out in the preceding HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA story certainly must be addressed as part of an overall solution, but other than that — or perhaps in addition to it — the Norwegian model may be applicable here in the US. It certainly would require a steadfast, long-term dedication to the project, both politically and financially.
   31. MIKE: It wouldn’t be cheap at the front end, but it might reap enormous benefits for society as a whole, as well as benefiting the individuals who go through the system and come out as better and productive human beings.
7. Next, in local news that is actually also national news, there’s this from the HOUSTONCHRONICLE — Rice students build ICE tracker map to monitor nationwide immigration enforcement activity; By Yvette Orozco, Staff Writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | Updated Jan 30, 2026 12:38 p.m. TAGS: S. Immigration Customs Agency (USICA), Federal Immigration Officers, Enforcement and Removal Operations, ICE,
   1. Jack Vu and Abby Manuel had been part of a volunteer program teaching weekly computer and Spanish classes to kids in Houston’s East End for more than a year, when one day the kids stopped showing up.
   2. Masked federal immigration officers had been making their presence felt in the Lawndale-Wayside neighborhoods, Vu said, prompting families to shelter inside.
   3. [Vu said,] “We were reading books, throwing the football with the kids, we knew their names, and they knew our names, and it was the fear that was keeping them away.”
   4. The experience motivated the two Rice University students to create a digital map documenting S. Immigration Customs Agency activity, and awareness around their project has been growing since it went live in June.
   5. [Manuel said,] “People didn’t understand what was happening in their community, they couldn’t find any information, so we wanted to fill that void.”
   6. With the rise in ICE activity during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, Vu said he and Manuel hope the map tracker turns a light on what is happening in communities across the country. …
   7. The tracker, dev, culls data from online sources to give the public a hawk-eye view of the activities of the agency’s Enforcement and Removal Operations nationwide.
   8. Using the platform, Media Cloud, and generated by scripts that run on a schedule to harvest ICE-related local and national media coverage from the web, the map casts a wide net, Vu said. “We don’t discriminate; it turns out that the aggregated stories tell the truth.”
   9. The map includes a continuous feed of news from various online sources, including from both right- and left-leaning media outlets, and the immigration database, TRAC.
   10. [MIKE: That link was not in the original story, so I’ve added it. Continuing …]
   11. Visitors to the map tracker can use a cursor to track ICE operations using data from county jails and registers inspection reports at detention centers across the U.S. 
   12. The goal is to shine a light on acts that happen under shadowy circumstances, according to the co-creators.
   13. [Manuel added,] “We realized early on that there was not a lot of sources and not a lot of transparency. … It’s hard to find out what’s happening. We really wanted (the map) to capture what was happening in and outside these communities.” 
   14. In October, 16-year old Arnoldo Bazan, a U.S. citizen and Houston resident, said during a news conference he was beaten and called racial slurs by masked officers during an ICE raid; and in November, federal immigration officials announced that 1,500 arrests had taken place across the Houston region during a 10-day operation but offered little detail.
   15. The tracker took Vu and Manual to the Media Cloud and Media Ecosystems Alliance Group New(s) Knowledge Symposium at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in October, where they delivered a presentation.
   16. [MIKE: Again, the story didn’t have a link discussing what that symposium is about, so I’ve added it to the story. Continuing …]
   17. The tracker’s mission statement says its intention is “not to hinder operations nor spark fear” but to give the public access to observe the activities of ICE.
   18. [Manuel said,] “We’re not creating information. We’re just taking what’s out there and helping everyone be able to see it. … No matter where you stand on immigration, we should be transparent about what is happening with our government, and people should know what’s happening in their neighborhoods, and just avoid the fear and uncertainty that comes from the unknown.” 
   19. The recent fatal shootings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti put more scrutiny on the actions of ICE agents, and Vu said he and Manuel are thinking about how their map tracker can make a difference beyond the data.
   20. [Vu said,] “We want people to trust their own eyes — believe what they see.”
   21. MIKE: As usual, I explored some sites related to this story. I was especially interested in the icemap-dot-dev
   22. MIKE: Navigating it is not complicated. It presents a bit like a standard Google map in a navigational sense. You’re presented with a national map. You can enlarge areas by clicking on it. I was able to get down specifically to Harris County.
   23. MIKE: On the left side of my screen was a news feed column of aggregated stories relevant to ICE and DHS activity.
   24. MIKE: The app doesn’t have street or satellite overlays, so in that sense it’s still pretty basic. It doesn’t have instructions, per se, so it’s basically learn as you go.
   25. MIKE: I think it’s somewhat useful as a resource for regional and local-ish ICE activity information, but it still needs work. Nonetheless, I think it’s a terrific idea and will have its uses.
   26. MIKE: The site also includes a contact email for further information as well as an option to make contributions in support of the site.
   27. MIKE: Remember, it’s called icemap-dot-dev.
8. Next, from journalist Paul Waldman, a powerful opinion piece he published about 3 weeks ago — Why every vestige of Trump must be torn down; He’s trying to create a physical legacy. The moment he’s out of power, it has to be smashed to bits. By Paul Waldman | PUBLICNOTICE.CO | Dec 29, 2025. TAGS: Donald Trump, Trump’s Legacy,
   1. Donald Trump has always loved slapping his name on things. It reflects a desperate desire for acknowledgement, a yearning to be seen and known by others, a cry of “I exist, and I am important!” shouted to the universe.
   2. Now, with the power of the federal government in his hands, he’s doing more of it than ever — much more than in his first term.
   3. It goes beyond an exercise in branding. Trump is seeking a physical legacy, a collection of signs and structures that will pay eternal tribute to his greatness. Which is why it is so important — and why it will be so rewarding — for the next Democratic president to tear it all down and smash it to bits.
   4. This isn’t just about petty revenge, even if there is undoubtedly some of that going on here. Emerging from this dark period in our history will require a sweeping, comprehensive strategy of repudiation and repair, one that encompasses the substantive, the procedural, and the symbolic. Fortunately, removing the physical remnants of Trumpism will be much simpler than reconstituting the federal workforce or rebuilding our security alliances.
   5. The totems of Trumpism are multiplying — In just the last few months, Trump has embarked on a frenzy of construction and renaming that is proceeding so quickly it can be hard to keep track of. It’s almost as if he suddenly realized — after doing almost none of this in his first term — that amidst all the other laws, rules, and norms he so enjoys breaking, there was one he had overlooked: We don’t name things after sitting presidents; often not even after living ones.
   6. In the past, a president had to merely hope that if he achieved greatness, the nation would one day express its thanks to him by erecting statues and putting his name on elementary schools. To hell with that, Trump said.
   7. So the US Mint is going to create a commemorative $1 coin with his face on both sides. The US Institute of Peace has been renamed the Donald J. Trump Institute of Peace. The Kennedy Center has been (illegally) renamed The Trump Kennedy Center.
   8. Trump tore down the East Wing of the White House so it could be replaced with a monument to his sleaze, a ballroom he’ll probably end up naming after himself (though for now he claims, “I don’t have any plan to call it after myself”).
   9. He wants to build a gigantic triumphal arch. He recently announced plans for a “Golden Fleet” of new battleships, named the Trump Class, and explained that he’d be working on the design because “I’m a very aesthetic person.”
   10. And that’s after Trump Rx (a web site for comparing drug prices), Trump Accounts (a version of baby bonds), and the Trump Gold Card (a way for rich foreign jagoffs to buy their way into permanent US residency).
   11. Some of these are programs and websites, but the ones that are most important to the president — the ballroom, the ships, the signage on buildings, the arch — are the ones that have physical form.
   12. What’s going on here? Narcissism, insecurity, self-aggrandizement, the mania of the cult leader — sure. But there’s something else at work.
   13. Trump is haunted by mortality.
   14. … Trump has been thinking about his own death lately, which is not too surprising for a 79-year-old man in questionable health.
   15. The subject creeps in from time to time when he’s in a contemplative mood, talking about a subject that would seem to have nothing to do with his inevitable descent into the void.
   16. “I wanna try and get to heaven if possible. I’m hearing I’m not doing well,” he told Fox News in August when discussing his attempts to end the war in Ukraine, uncharacteristically dropping his boastfulness just for a moment. [He continued,] “I am really at the bottom of the totem pole. But if I can get to heaven, this will be one of the reasons.”
   17. Then in October, Fox’s Steve Doocy asked him about it, and Trump replied, “I don’t think there’s anything gonna get me into heaven.”
   18. Maybe not. But here on Earth, Trump very much wants to live forever. And unlike the Silicon Valley tech oligarchs pouring money into longevity research in the hopes that the secret of eternal life can be found (naturally, they’ll be first in line for the treatment), Trump is taking a somewhat more traditional path to immortality.
   19. The fear of death has been a human obsession since we emerged from the caves and got smart enough to consider our place in an unfeeling universe. It’s why every religion promises some form of immortality, and why men of power seem inevitably to search for eternal life. If you can’t live forever in your body, and you may or may not have a soul that will endure, you can at least achieve immortality through fame. This is an ancient conception of heroism: Commit great deeds on the battlefield, and people will repeat your name forever, making you immortal. Or as Irene Cara said, “Fame! I’m gonna live forever!”
   20. Trump will not disappear from people’s memories for many centuries, of that we can be sure. But he wants something more: physical manifestations of himself for people to gaze upon as they speak his name. His increasingly decrepit body may wither away, but the ballroom and the arch and the battleships will remain.
   21. But here’s the good news: They don’t have to. Some of it will never happen (don’t hold your breath waiting for the Golden Fleet) and, what does, can be renamed, reconfigured, or just torn down the moment he is out of power. Best of all, unless he drops dead in the next few years, Trump will be around to watch the legacy he dreamed of reduced to dust.
   22. The destruction must begin without delay — In the first hours and days of the next president’s term, there must be a concerted effort to utterly expunge the name “Donald Trump” from every federal building, outpost, sign, website, warehouse, farmhouse, henhouse, outhouse, and doghouse, except where necessary for historical accuracy.
   23. And not just the name, but every vulgar trace of him: Chisel off the letters, take down the photos, melt down the stupid coins, tear out his patio and replant the Rose Garden, strip all the chintzy gold appliques from the walls of the Oval Office. Maybe even demolish the ballroom, but at the very least remodel it so it doesn’t look so much like an obscene mashup of the Winter Palace and Saddam Hussein’s bathroom, then rename it for someone he hates. The Obama Ballroom has a nice ring to it.
   24. This is vital: Do it all in a way that is public, planned, and staged in order to create imagery that will live on.
   25. The symbolism matters; every American should see video and photographs of Trump’s legacy being wiped clean as a vivid embodiment of a new beginning for the government and the nation. The images of Trump’s erasure should live on for years, reproduced and memeified, until they become as familiar as Buzz Aldrin walking on the moon or the sailor kissing the nurse on V-J Day in Times Square.
   26. In the end, the visual memory of Trumpism should have two parts: His repulsive desecration of our nation’s capital, leading to the restorative and redemptive eradication of every trace of him.
   27. When it happens, Republicans will object (and you can only imagine the meltdown Trump himself will have on Truth Social). The answer Democrats give to them should be simple: Too bad. We have the power now. A strong message must be sent to the country and future generations that Trump will not be honored or celebrated.
   28. After that project is done, Trump will live out his remaining days the way he started, as a two-bit grifter on an endless quest for marks, admired only by the saddest among us. He’ll keep putting his name on crappy goods [that] he’ll hawk to gullible suckers on TV, just as he has for decades. The truly devoted will open their wallets to buy lifetime supplies of Trump Bronzer for Men, Trump Blast Energy Drink, and Trump Adult Diapers.
   29. But his name should not adorn anything official, [or] anything that represents our country and its government. Trump will live forever, but only as a cautionary tale, one we tell successive generations to demonstrate that sustaining a democracy against the corrupt and the malevolent requires vigilance and determination. That cleansing purge must be thorough and complete, and to do it right, we should start planning now.
   30. [This opinion piece concludes with,] Thanks for reading Public Notice. This post is public, so feel free to share it.
   31. MIKE: I support this sentiment.
   32. MIKE: The destruction of monuments to Trump and symbols of Trump should be removed from the American scene with iconic drama equivalent to the American’s explosive destruction of the Nazi swastika on top of the Nuremburg Stadium at the end of WW2. (I’ve linked to a short video describing the moment and the ideas behind both creating it and ultimately destroying it.)
   33. MIKE: I’ll even go a step further. The new federal administration should pass legislation requiring instruction about this period in American history in the same manner that Germany has taught postwar generations of young Germans about the horrors their country perpetrated in the 1930s and 1940s.
   34. MIKE: At the same time, including some honest and concrete history about the Confederacy’s aims and reasons for existence, such as teaching the Cornerstone Speech (which I’ve linked to), should also be included, metaphorically killing two birds of national shame with one stone.
   35. MIKE: Germans have been inculcated in their nation’s historic responsibility and blame for the War and the Holocaust, and most Germans have been thoroughly de-Nazified, rightwing parties like the AfD notwithstanding.
   36. MIKE: Using Germany as a model, America must be thoroughly de-Trumpified, and our young people and future generations must be taught how to avoid such sociopathic monsters as leaders of this country in the future.
   37. MIKE: This will be a multigenerational project, and it won’t be easy to accomplish. There will be resistance from many quarters, but as Americans, we must make a decision.
   38. MIKE: Will we repudiate Trumpism as thoroughly as Germans have repudiated Nazism, or will be like postwar Japan, trying to exist with some degree of denial about our responsibility for the evils of our past?
   39. MIKE: And we MUST have future trials. It must be made clear that whatever immunities the president may have. the apparatchiks can still be prosecuted.
   40. MIKE: We will further need a Constitutional amendment that prevents presidential aides and appointees from being given pardons by the president for crimes that may have been committed at the behest of the president or for the president’s benefit, whether asked for by the president or not.
   41. MIKE: That amendment must further make clear that the president is not above the law and may be prosecuted even while in office. The vice president can assist in governance while the president is largely distracted by a prosecution. That’s why we have a 25^th Amendment and that’s why we have an order of succession.
   42. MIKE: After Trump, our Congress and future president will have a great deal of work to do to secure our nation’s future, but our aim, as Benjamin Franklin reportedly said, must be to have a democratic republic, and we must make certain that we keep it.
9. Next, from EURASIANTIMES — Ukraine’s “Tomahawk [Equivalent] Missiles” Smash Russian Su-57 Production Hub: Kyiv Claims 100% Hit Rate With Flamingos; By Sumit Ahlawat | EURASIANTIMES.COM | January 26, 2026. TAGS: Tomahawk Cruise Missile, Ukrainian Flamingo Cruise Missile, Russia, Russia-Ukraine War,
   1. After it failed to acquire American Tomahawk cruise missiles, Ukraine touted its own domestically developed Flamingo FP-5 as a long-range strike platform with comparable capabilities.
   2. At least on paper, the two missiles had more than passing similarities.
   3. Tomahawk had a claimed range of 1600 miles, slightly less than the 1900 miles claimed range of the Flamingo.
   4. They are both terrain-hugging cruise missiles and fly at subsonic speeds, around 550 miles per hour.
   5. In terms of price and warhead carrying capabilities, the Flamingo reportedly betters the [American] Tomahawks.
   6. While the Tomahawk carries a conventional warhead of 450 kg, Flamingos could carry a massive warhead of 1,150 kg.
   7. In terms of price, Flamingos cost nearly one-fourth of the Tomahawks.
   8. Flamingos’ much heavier warhead and significantly lower cost make it a good option for mass production and saturation strikes.
   9. However, critics highlighted two critical issues where Flamingo’s effectiveness remained untested.
   10. Its larger size (twice as long and wide as the Tomahawks) made it susceptible to interception. Furthermore, the Tomahawk is a combat-tested platform that has been upgraded over the decades and is known for its stealthy, precision-strike capabilities.
   11. Critics argued that unless Flamingos prove their worth in real combat situations, they cannot be compared to the Tomahawks.
   12. Ukraine first publicly unveiled the Flamingo missile in late August 2025, when international media published images of a production facility in Southern Ukraine. (The EurAsian Times has reported in detail about the missile’s capabilities in August 2025 … .)
   13. The missile’s first combat use also happened in late August when Ukraine launched a salvo of three Flamingos, targeting a Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) outpost near Armyansk in Crimea.
   14. In September, Ukraine targeted Russia’s Skif-M facility in Belgorod, a specialized tooling factory critical to Russia’s Su-34, Su-35, and Su-57 production, with a salvo of four Flamingo missiles.
   15. At that time, Russia reported shooting down three of these missiles, with one missile causing limited damage at the facility.
   16. However, according to the latest reports in Ukrainian media, not only did all four missiles hit the facility, but they also caused significant damage at the factory.
   17. The reports analyzed satellite imagery to claim that all four missiles hit the target and that repairs were still underway at the factory critical to the production of Russia’s combat jets.
   18. If the claims are correct, the long-range cruise missile has proven its precision-strike capabilities and its ability to bypass Russian air defense systems.
   19. … According to Ukrainian media claims based on satellite imagery, the Flamingo cruise missiles hit the Skif-M facility in Belgorod on 23 September 2025 with 100% accuracy. …
   20. At the time of the strike, Russia claimed that only one of the four missiles was able to hit the facility.
   21. Satellite imagery, however, tells a different story. The OSINT analysts found all four Flamingo missiles struck within an 80-meter deviation radius of their targets. The 25-meter primary destruction zone is inconsistent with a single impact, suggesting Russian authorities attempted to downplay the strike’s effectiveness.
   22. [Russia’s] Skif-M manufactures specialized drills, cutters, and inserts essential for machining titanium, aluminum, and composite components. Seventy percent of its production serves aerospace applications. Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation remains its largest customer.
   23. The factory has long been identified as Russia’s vulnerable spot in the production of its frontline combat aircraft. …
   24. Given the factory’s criticality, it must have been protected by Russian air defense systems.
   25. If, despite their presence, the missiles flew undetected and hit the factory, it means Flamingos could conduct precision strikes deep inside Russian territory against high-value targets.
   26. However, the Ukrainian claims fail to address some crucial gaps in the production and use of Flamingo missiles during the last six months.
   27. … It must be noted that the strikes happened over four months ago. The factory’s location is no secret to Ukraine. Kyiv has sanctioned this factory even before these September strikes.
   28. After the missile’s public unveiling in August 2025, the strike on the Skif-M factory in [Belgorod] in September was the first high-profile combat use of the missile.
   29. Given the high-stakes involved, Ukraine would have liked to know the performance of its missile, which was critical to its ambitions of having a long-range strike platform capable of hitting targets deep inside Russian territory.
   30. It is curious, to say the least, that Ukraine did not analyze satellite imagery of the factory for nearly four months after the strike.
   31. According to the Centre for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), of the three missiles launched against a relatively undefended target in Northern Crimea in August, only two reached the target.
   32. One missed the target by about 100 to 200 meters (109-218 yards), while the other impacted the target and caused significant damage, though it was likely 15 to 40 meters from its aimpoint.
   33. [CEPA said,] “This result shows the continued challenge of manufacturing high-quality missile system[s], especially as Ukraine moves from manufacturing light and relatively unsophisticated long-range drones and mini-cruise missiles, toward heavier and more complex alternatives.”
   34. Furthermore, in August last year, Fire Point claimed it could produce one Flamingo missile per day, and by October, it said it could increase production to seven per day.
   35. So, Fire Point should be capable of producing over 200 Flamingo missiles per month.
   36. However, over the last five months, the missile has been used sparingly.
   37. While there is no official data on how many times Ukraine has launched the missile, media reports say Kyiv has fired fewer than 10 Flamingo missiles over the last five months.
   38. Clearly, either Fire Point is not able to deliver the numbers it promised, or the missile has not achieved the desired results.
   39. Notably, the missile is twice the size of Tomahawks.
   40. Flamingo is over 40 feet in length, compared to Tomahawk’s length of nearly 18 feet. Its wingspan is over 20 feet compared to the wingspan of 8 feet of the Tomahawk. Flamingo’s bigger size means a larger Radar Cross Section (RCS).
   41. Also, Tomahawks feature folding wings, whereas Flamingo has fixed wings, making it easier to detect. Nevertheless, Flamingo adds a critical capability to Ukraine’s arsenal as it provides Kyiv with the ability to strike deep inside Russian territory.
   42. Notably, Flamingo, [at just over 3000 km,] is Europe’s longest-range cruise missile. Germany’s Taurus missile has a range of nearly 550 km. Similarly, the British-French Storm Shadow/SCALP has an effective range of 560 km.
   43. [Aside from the Flamingo,] the longest-range cruise missile in Europe is France’s MdCN (Missile de Croisière Naval), [with] an officially declared range of over 1,000–1,400 km, and carries a warhead weighing approximately 300 kg.
   44. Thus, the Flamingo’s range is more [about] double the range of Europe’s current longest-range cruise missile. A spectacular achievement, given that Ukraine developed it in just three years.
   45. If Ukraine can reduce its size, [and] improve its stealth and precision-strike capabilities, Flamingo would truly become a force to reckon with.
   46. MIKE: As I’ve been saying for a while, Ukraine is becoming a major force in weapons development and deployment. It will eventually be a major arms exporter, and will be an enormous defense asset to Europe, and perhaps the United States, based on technology license exports and deployment.
   47. MIKE: After the war, Ukraine will probably remain a major arms manufacturer, exporting not only licenses and technology, but also completed weapons. This will ultimately provide a great deal of foreign currency income from arms sales that will be a great help in rebuilding the country and improving the lives of its citizens.
10. Next, from the NY Times — In China, a Debate About Political Power Ignites After Maduro’s Capture; By Li Yuan | NYTIMES.COM | Jan. 6, 2026. TAGS: Xi Jinping, Nicolás Maduro, Donald Trump, Taiwan, Venezuela,
    1. When U.S. forces captured Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, Chinese social media lit up.
    2. People with nationalist views asked: Why can’t Beijing do the same in Taiwan and arrest its president?
    3. On the other side of the political spectrum, people cheered the downfall of a dictator. Trying to avoid censors when criticizing China’s leader, Xi Jinping, they invoked the title of a pop song, “Too bad it’s not you.”
    4. Within hours, the discourse online became a proxy debate over China’s power, its limits and its future. For nationalist Chinese, the U.S. military operation had exposed American lawlessness, and frustrations in China at what they believe is Beijing’s restraint, particularly on Taiwan. For those venturing criticism of the government, the episode underscored the vulnerability of even entrenched authoritarian leaders. …
    5. The reactions revealed a Chinese society divided between those who want their country to wield power as unapologetically as President Trump is using America’s, and those who see in Venezuela a warning about where personalist rule, ideological rigidity, and economic mismanagement may lead. Venezuela has become a political Rorschach test: proof of American arrogance to some and a glimpse of China’s possible future to others.
    6. For Mr. Xi, the capture of Mr. Maduro arrived at an awkward moment. He is facing pressure from nationalist commentators agitating for strong action on Taiwan, a self-governing island that China claims as its own. …
    7. Another was blunter: “If the United States can arrest another country’s president, then China can absolutely arrest Lai Ching-te,” Taiwan’s president. “It’s not that China is not able to,” another user responded. “It’s that China doesn’t dare to.”
    8. Over the years, the Chinese government has lent considerable political and financial support for Mr. Maduro. Mr. Xi’s critics characterized that as a failure of judgment after Mr. Maduro’s capture. …
    9. One image shared on X that looks like graffiti scrawled on a toilet stall read, in both Chinese and English, “We welcome Trump to capture Xi Jinping and free 1.4 billion Chinese people.” …
    10. The Chinese government has responded with familiar statements condemning the U.S. operation as a violation of sovereignty and international law.
    11. Venezuela occupies a peculiar place in the Chinese imagination. For years, Beijing presented Venezuela as evidence that China could help construct an alternative global order grounded in sovereignty and cooperation among countries without interference in each other’s internal affairs. That vision was backed by money. Beginning in the mid-2000s, China extended tens of billions of dollars in loans to Venezuela, largely through oil-for-loan arrangements.
    12. The logic appeared straightforward: China needed energy, and Venezuela needed cash and political backing. The deals at the time were portrayed by Chinese state media and official commentary as effective and market-based. Hugo Chávez, Mr. Maduro’s predecessor, described the China-Venezuela partnership as a “model” for other Latin American countries. When Mr. Maduro took over in 2013 at the death of Mr. Chávez, Beijing maintained its support …
    13. When Venezuela’s economy collapsed, its oil production fell and infrastructure started to decay. It became increasingly uncertain how Venezuela would pay China back. But Chinese officials insisted the cooperation remained orderly. …
    14. Liberally minded Chinese intellectuals have for years drawn parallels between Mr. Xi’s rise and Mr. Chávez’s ascent. Both consolidated power through anticorruption campaigns, populist economic promises, and the removal of term limits. Mr. Maduro maintained his predecessor’s strong-arm tactics.
    15. In this line of thinking, Venezuela is not simply a foreign-policy embarrassment. It’s a case study in what happens when authoritarian rule hardens into stagnation, institutions hollow out, and political loyalty outweighs competence. In Chinese debates, the blunt question becomes: Will China become the next Venezuela?
    16. That framing has been reinforced in the past few days by a widely shared essay by the political scientist Liu Yu titled, “How to Destroy a Nation.” The piece, written before the pandemic, treats Venezuela not as an anomaly but as a warning about how governance failures compound over time.
    17. [MIKE: Yeah, we resemble that remark.]
    18. The fear of becoming the next Venezuela has taken on sharper resonance over the past year as the economic stagnation facing China has come to feel less cyclical and more structural. For many Chinese, the concern is not sudden collapse but slow decay … where systems stop working incrementally, shortages become routine, and basic state functions are never fully restored.
    19. Against that backdrop, the most common reaction online to Mr. Maduro’s capture has been neither outrage nor celebration, but a shrugging realism about how power works in the world. …
    20. On WeChat, a businessman reposted a street interview with a young Venezuelan man responding to claims that Washington was motivated solely by capturing the country’s oil. “What do you think the Russians and the Chinese wanted?” the man asked. … The clip captures the argument that China is not morally distinct from the United States in the pursuit of power.
    21. The idea that power, rather than principle, determines outcomes was also used by many nationalist commentators who argued that China should “learn from the United States.” Some called for China to “directly arrest” Taiwan’s leaders. …
    22. MIKE: “… A warning about how governance failures compound over time.” That would certainly describe the United States to a “T”, probably starting from our failure to put Richard Nixon on trial due to President Gerald Ford’s ill-advised blanket pardon.
    23. MIKE: The US has certainly committed its share of atrocities and self-interested assaults, but by and large, from our founding, the trend from the US has been to advocate for a world order based on rule of international law and norms.
    24. MIKE: The Trump era should not be seen as a new American attitude, but rather as an aberration that we should repudiate as soon and vocally as possible.
    25. REFERENCE: Xi Jinping vows to reunify China and Taiwan in New Year’s Eve speech; THEGUARDIAN | Wed 31 Dec 2025

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!