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.)

MIKE: These were the good old says, when John F Kennedy could say with conviction: “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 Hong Kong, Singapore, Germany, South Korea 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. I try to fact-check myself and include the links I use to do so. Articles and commentaries often include lots of internet links for those of you who want to dig deeper.

It’s the 32nd week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC; and 21 weeks since Trump deployed National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans, Louisiana, where they remain for now.  

I’m providing a link in this show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com to a USA Today story that explains the current state of the occupations.

While the next gubernatorial election in Louisiana is in 2027, the next gubernatorial election in Tennessee is in under 8 months. I really want to see how that one turns out.

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

1. There’s a Special Election coming up for City Council District C on April 4^th:
   1. Early Voting Centers will be open from Wednesday, March 18 – Tuesday, March 31. All centers will be open 7:00 a.m. – 7:00 p.m.; except on Sundays from Noon – 7:00 p.m.
   2. Election Day is Saturday, April 4. Vote Centers will accept voters from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m..
   3. As always, if you’re on line to vote by 7PM, you CANNOT be turned away.
   4. The deadline to apply for a mail-in ballot is March 24, and your application MUST ARRIVE by SNAIL MAIL by the end of business on March 24. Click on the link provided in this show post for the application. Please fill it out, print it, sign it, and mail it at least 3-5 days before the deadline to the address on the form.
2. In an update on something I previously mentioned, I had some confusion on my part about the March 3 Primary vote results for the Democratic nominee for US Senator.
   1. I had noted on my show that the results for the Democratic Nominee for US Senate were inverted from the State results. The Harris County Clerk’s office clarified that the results were only from Harris County, while the Secretary of State results were for the State of Texas.
   2. My first reaction was, “DUH, of course!” But what’s interesting was that in vote percentage terms, the Harris County results were an almost perfect invert of the State results, with Jasmine Crockett beating Talarico in Harris County by almost the same percentage that Talarico defeated Crockett statewide.
   3. So, the more you know …
3. On today’s show post, I’ve linked to an article from HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA-dot-ORG that has lengthy remarks from each of the candidates running for city council for District C. It’s too long for me to read on the air in its entirety, but you can click on the story link at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com and read the whole thing for yourself. I’m just going to summarize it for this show. The article is called — Meet the left-leaning candidates in the Houston City Council special election for District C; Seven candidates will appear on the ballot April 4, when voters in some parts of Houston will select a successor to Abbie Kamin. By Dominic Anthony Walsh | ORG | Posted on February 9, 2026, 3:05 PM. TAGS: City of Houston Elections, Houston, Local, News, Politics, Abbie Kamin, April 4, Election, District C, Houston City Council, Houston City Council Candidates, Special Election,
   4. In a special election to fill the District C seat on the Houston City Council, seven candidates will appear on the ballot on April 4.
   5. They’re running to replace Abbie Kamin, who’s stepping down to run for Harris County Attorney.
   6. For some voters in the district, the race and its likely runoff will mark the fifth and sixth elections in the past six months. It will be the only item on the ballot for residents of District C, which stretches from the Greater Heights area through Montrose to Meyerland — a particularly left-leaning slice of the city.
   7. [Said Renée Cross, executive director of the University of Houston’s Hobby School of Public Affairs,] “It definitely leans more progressive, although I would say there is a splash of moderates in the district. … This particular district has a very high percentage of white voters … so, in terms of demographics, this district is very different.”
   8. With higher affluence, educational attainment and home values, residents of District C are more likely to overcome voter fatigue, Cross said, because those factors “usually correlate to a much higher level of voter participation.”
   9. In addition to voter fatigue, candidates face a challenge in standing out from a field of like-minded individuals. In interviews with Houston Public Media, five of the seven self-identified as progressives, while the other two leaned on their affiliations with the Democratic Party.
   10. [Cross said,] “Bottom line: it’s going to be hard for them to differentiate between each other.”
   11. In their interviews, the candidates spoke about their priorities for District C; the controversy around a local management board overhauled by Mayor John Whitmire; how they would approach their relationships with Whitmire, considering the substantial power he holds relative to district council members; and the city’s budgetary challenges, including whether to prioritize additional revenue or reduced expenses as a daunting deficit looms.
   12. Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston, said the campaign is “a great race for policy wonks and political nerds.”
   13. [Rottinghaus said,] “How do they separate themselves out? There are really two ways to do that — the first is on issue emphasis, and the second is on endorsements. … They’re all looking for opportunities to find different coalitions that will support them and trying to find issues that are going to be the one thing that really grabs a particular kind of voter or a particular kind of group of voters.” …
   14. Kamin — who easily won her second term in 2023 with about 73% of the vote in the general election — told Houston Public Media she had “not endorsed anyone yet.”
   15. [Cross said,] “Certainly an endorsement from her would be very, very coveted because obviously she’s very popular there.”
   16. We spoke with the candidates, analyzed available campaign finance reports and searched a public records database for legal histories.
   17. MIKE: The story then goes on to list the candidates, along with extensive comments from each about why they’re running for City Council District C, what they feel qualifies them to run, and what their objectives would be if they were elected.
   18. MIKE: The candidates are Sophia Campos, an elementary school teacher (running as a progressive candidate); Laura C. Gallier, a retired accountant (running as a progressive candidate); Nick Hellyar, a real estate business owner and former City Hall staffer (running as a candidate associated with the Democratic Party, but who declined to self-label as progressive or moderate); Angelica Luna Kaufman (running as a candidate associated with the Democratic Party) who has served in Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo’s office since 2024 as chief communications officer and chief of staff; Audrey Nath, a pediatric neurologist (running as a progressive candidate); Patrick Oathout, a U.S. Army veteran now working on artificial intelligence safety (running as a progressive candidate); and Joe Panzarella, a community organizer and renewable energy developer (running as a progressive candidate);
   19. MIKE: Each candidate’s name in the HOUSTON PUBLIC MEDIA story has a link to their campaign website.
   20. MIKE: Most candidates have at least one endorsement. You can see who endorsed which candidate by clicking on the link I’m providing in today’s show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com.
   21. MIKE: The exceptions that didn’t have any noted endorsements are Sophia Campos and Laura Gallier, but it’s important to point out that as of Friday night, Joe Panzarella’s entry did not yet show his Houston Chronicle endorsement, so the list may still be incomplete.
   22. MIKE: I encourage all eligible voters in Houston City Council District C to go to this Houston Public Media article in order to educate themselves about the different candidates so they are able to make an informed decision about who they should vote for.
   23. MIKE: To find out if you’re in Council District C, go to HarrisVotes-dot-com to see if you have a sample ballot available.
   24. REFERENCE: DISTRICT C SAMPLE BALLOT
   25. REFERENCE: Blue Voter Guide
4. From NPR — Easy-to-use solar panels are coming, but utilities are trying to delay them; By Jeff Brady | NPR.ORG | March 12, 2026@5:30 AM ET. TAGS: Solar, Climate Tech, Utility Bills, Solar Panels, Renters Solar Panels,
   1. Easy-to-install solar panels that plug into a regular outlet are getting attention just as Americans are worried about rising energy costs. That’s because these plug-in or balcony solar panels start shaving off part of a homeowner’s or renter’s utility bill right away.
   2. … The panels are already popular in Germany, where more than 1.2 million of the small plug-in systems are registered with the German government.
   3. For the panels to become more widely available in the U.S., state lawmakers are proposing bills that eliminate complicated utility connection agreements, which are required for larger rooftop solar installations and, most utilities say, should apply to plug-in solar too. Those agreements, along with permitting and other installation costs, can double the price of solar panels.
   4. Utah enacted the first law, last May, supporting plug-in solar, and now some 30 pieces of similar legislation have been introduced around the United States. But the drive toward plug-in solar is facing pushback from electric utilities. They are raising safety concerns and prompting legislators to delay votes on the bills. So far, utilities have won over lawmakers in five states and convinced them to delay votes on plug-in solar bills.
   5. [Said Emily Pateuk, a lobbyist with Georgia Electric Membership Corp., which represents cooperative utilities,] “The safety of our linemen and others that work on that system is a reason that we oppose House Bill 1304.” After her comments at a legislative hearing in Georgia last month, the committee chairman declined to hold a vote on the bill until safety questions could be addressed.
   6. Similar bills have been delayed in Arizona, New Mexico, Washington and Wyoming.
   7. … Plug-in solar advocates say that safety concerns about the new technology have been addressed and that utilities are really just worried about losing business, because every kilowatt-hour generated by a plug-in solar panel is one less the utility sells to a customer.
   8. [Says Cora Stryker, co-founder of Bright Saver, a California nonprofit group that advocates for plug-in solar,] “They don’t want anyone messing with their business model. … Kicking up dust regarding safety concerns is definitely a strategy that is being used by people who don’t want this for their own self-interested reasons.”
   9. NPR asked utilities mentioned in this story, as well as their trade groups, to comment on Stryker’s “kicking up dust” allegation, but they did not respond beyond saying that safety and reliability are their primary concerns with plug-in solar.
   10. Stryker also cites climate change as a reason for her solar advocacy. Most electricity in the U.S. is still generated by climate-warming fossil fuels, but solar panels generate power without emitting greenhouse gases.
   11. While the new portable solar panels don’t usually deliver enough electricity to power an entire house, they do offer a new source of competition to utilities.
   12. There are safety risks with any electrical appliance, and it’s true that plug-in solar panels present some unique problems. But safety experts also say those issues can be managed.
   13. Traditional solar panel systems, which can cost more than $20,000, are bolted to a homeowner’s roof. As a result, they’re usually not a safety concern for the public because they’re not easily accessible. Plug-in panels cost much less and generate enough electricity to power a refrigerator or microwave.
   14. They can sit on a balcony, hang out a window or be set up in a backyard. They collect energy from the sun and then feed electricity into a home through a regular outlet, displacing electricity that otherwise would come in from the grid. That makes them easier to install, but also more easily accessible to people who aren’t used to being around appliances that generate electricity, where the plug can present more of a shock hazard.
   15. [Says Ken Boyce, vice president of engineering at UL Solutions (formerly Underwriters Laboratories), which tests products according to safety standards,] “When you think about an appliance — your toaster, for example — when you unplug it, the appliance is entirely disconnected from the electrical supply.”
   16. [But] Plug-in solar generates electricity rather than consumes it. So Boyce says the blades on the end of the plug could shock someone.
   17. That’s among the safety issues that UL Solutions considered when it launched a testing and certification program for plug-in solar systems in January. Manufacturers have to come up with designs that resolve the issues before UL Solutions certifies a product that gets the familiar “UL” label.
   18. … Another issue — the primary concern that utilities have raised with lawmakers — is that during an outage, a panel could continue generating electricity and send the power through a home’s wiring and back out to the grid, where it could endanger a line-worker.
   19. [UL Solutions’ Boyce says,] “There are ways, from a technological standpoint, to mitigate those potential hazards for utility workers.” That’s also one of the issues UL Solutions will consider as it tests plug-in solar products for its certification.
   20. The Utah law and the other proposals based on it require such certification. But as utilities talk with lawmakers around the country, they continue to highlight concern for line-workers as a reason to delay new legislation.
   21. [Nathan Nicholas, an attorney representing utility company Rocky Mountain Power, told Wyoming lawmakers at a February hearing, that there] “… does present a lot of safety concerns to the utilities.” Most utilities argue [that] plug-in solar should be subject to the same connection agreements that are required for bigger rooftop solar projects. Nicholas said without that, Rocky Mountain Power wouldn’t know where these devices are located or whether they’ve received UL Solutions certification.
   22. [Nicholas said that,] “It takes the safety out of the hands of the utility and puts it on the consumer.” At the Wyoming hearing, plug-in solar supporters explained that the systems stop generating power when the grid is down. Still, lawmakers let the legislation die without taking a vote on it.
   23. German utilities expressed many of the same concerns nearly a decade ago when plug-in solar started to become popular in Germany. But with more than a million systems installed, no safety incidents have been reported for customers who used the panels as instructed, according to a research paper funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
   24. … In Germany, smaller plug-in panels cost just a few hundred dollars, and customers can recover that in saved energy bills within seven The panels should continue to produce power for up to 30 years.
   25. Stryker says plug-in solar took off in Germany once renters were allowed to install the systems, and she sees the potential for a similar trajectory in the United States. But first, she says, Utah-style legislation is needed in more states; such legislation would exempt plug-in solar from the complicated connection agreements with utilities that are required for rooftop solar.
   26. Virginia likely will become the second state to pass a law encouraging plug-in solar. Both chambers in Virginia’s legislature passed a bill, and Gov. Abigail Spanberger is expected to sign it.
   27. [Bright Saver’s Stryker says,] “We think that as soon as we have legislative change in a handful of states — five or more — we are going to see mass adoption of balcony solar, because people need a way to reduce their electricity consumption — to lower their bills.”
   28. And since the bills require UL Solutions certification, manufacturers will have to get their products through that process. Some already have started to do that.
   29. [Boyce of UL Solutions says,] “We are working with manufacturers. Obviously, in the interests of confidentiality, we can’t really talk about which companies those are.” But he [adds] certifications are likely to come in months, not years.
   30. MIKE: I think that this is an important story for a variety of reasons. First is the potential for renters to have access to some form of solar power for the numerous reasons they may want it, ranging from lowering their electric bills even a bit, to having something that can power important appliances like refrigerators in the event of a power outage.
   31. MIKE: But the safety aspects are also important. I was particularly struck by the observation that when you unplug these easy-to-install solar panels, the plug in your hand is potentially still a live power source, unlike when you unplug anything else in your home. It’s not hard to see how this could lead to cases of possible shock or electrocution.
   32. MIKE: The other legitimate issue of concern is the safety of line-workers.
   33. MIKE: When I started educating myself about backup generators or installing solar panels in my home, I had to learn about the danger to line-workers when the grid was down but home generators of solar systems were still operating. It’s really important that the line-workers can have confidence that the lines they’re working on are not live when they’re not supposed to be.
   34. MIKE: In my case, when I was rebuilding my house after the 2008 fire, I had an electrical panel installed that has a manual master cutoff to isolate the house from the grid in case I bought an emergency generator.
   35. MIKE: When I was shopping for a solar system, knowing that my house could be isolated from the grid, I was surprised to learn that solar panels without a battery backup were designed and installed not to function when the grid was down, which at the time seemed to me to be counterproductive.
   36. MIKE: This is why I understand the concerns expressed in the article about the dangers to line-workers, separate from any concerns by utilities about losing some of their consumer business.
   37. MIKE: But also, not discussed at all in this piece, and as a former landlord owning rental properties, the whole story raised some red flags for me about renters plugging these panels into their homes or apartments without the knowledge or permission of their landlords.
   38. MIKE: What are the potential liability issues for both the renters and the property owners? If someone is injured by these easy-to-install panels, is the liability on the renter alone, or the property manager and owner? Or is the liability, as they say in lawsuits, “joint and several”?
   39. MIKE: Would the owner’s property liability insurance cover any of this in the absence of specific riders? The same question occurs to me about the renter’s insurance coverage and the renter’s liability in the event of some sort of panel-related accident.
   40. MIKE: There may also be constraints, restrictions, and other obstacles to the use of these panels if a Homeowner’s Association gets involved, or in an apartment complex where the management company may have objections to these things on, or hanging off of, their balconies or windows.
   41. MIKE: This means that in addition to doing their normal due-diligence when shopping for anything, someone considering buying these panels may seriously consider checking with the relevant supervising authorities and checking their leases for anything that might impact or preclude these panels before
   42. MIKE: All of this therefore qualifies as a general “word to the wise” before taking this plunge.
5. Next, from HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA-dot-ORG — Ramadan display removed from Houston elementary school for violating ‘religious neutrality’ policy; By Bianca Seward | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on March 6, 2026, 4:28 PM. TAGS: Education, Education News, Houston, Local News, Religion, Bunker Hill Elementary, education, Ramadan, Houston, religion in schools, Spring Branch ISD, Ten Commandments in schools,
   1. A Ramadan display was removed from the entrance at Bunker Hill Elementary in Houston this week after district officials in Spring Branch ISD said it violated a “political and religious neutrality” policy.
   2. District spokesperson Melissa Wiland said in a statement to Houston Public Media that the school board adopted the policy in the summer of 2022, adding that when district officials became aware of a religious holiday display in one of their elementary schools, they directed campus leaders to remove it. Wiland said there are no other holiday displays up at the school.
   3. Linda Buchman, an associate superintendent for Spring Branch ISD (SBISD), added “the concern was raised by a parent who expressed concern the display did not align with the district’s neutrality policy.”
   4. The decorations included crescent-shaped balloons and four banners with the phrase “Ramadan Mubarak,” which translates to “blessed Ramadan.” It was built a few days before the beginning of the Muslim holy month, which started Feb. 17, by the Parent Teacher Association’s cultural awareness committee at Bunker Hill, said committee chair Casey Kaf Alghazal, who is Muslim.
   5. Kaf Alghazal says the committee became formal at the end of last school year, after years of the PTA making small displays for a variety of holidays. She says she has organized decorations for other religious holidays this school year, including Hanukkah, Christmas and Easter.
   6. [Kaf Alghazal said,] “We really were covering all of our bases. … We wanted all the kids to see themselves being acknowledged.”
   7. She said the Bunker Hill community has been supportive of the efforts, adding she was stunned when she heard the display was taken down. She does not blame Bunker Hill’s campus leaders.
   8. [Kaf Alghazal said,] “[The district] is claiming that chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs don’t count and Christmas trees don’t count, but crescent moons and clouds are not allowed. … The timing of this is obviously suspect and, again, they didn’t have an issue with the Lunar New Year. They didn’t have an issue with Hanukkah. They have an issue with Ramadan.”
   9. Muslims have come under criticism from Texas’ top Republican leaders, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who last fall designated the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a national civil rights nonprofit, to be a “foreign terrorist” organization, barring the group from purchasing land in the state. CAIR has [disputed] the governor’s characterization and filed a lawsuit against him.
   10. Anti-Islam rhetoric also was a theme of GOP campaigns leading up to Tuesday’s primary elections.
   11. … At the end of last week, the Harris County chapter of Moms for Liberty posted about the Bunker Hill display on its Instagram page to its 625 followers and complained about the religious nature of the decorations. Moms for Liberty is a national conservative activist group.
   12. [Alongside pictures of the display, the social media caption read,] “On Friday in Houston, it was ‘Go Texan Day’…a day where kids across the city celebrate their TX Pride to kick off rodeo season. Parents are often invited to come to the school to watch their kids participate in square dancing and line dancing. Imagine walking into the school for ‘Go Texan Day’, and this [the Ramadan display] is the decor that greets you.”.
   13. Denise Bell, the chair of the Moms for Liberty chapter in Harris County, said she received the photos of the Ramadan display from “two different sources” [that] she said she believes are parents at the school. She says she did not pass the images on to the school district directly, nor did any district official reach out to her about the photos.
   14. Bell says she was concerned because the display at Bunker Hill promoted one specific religion. When asked why she was comfortable with Christmas trees or an Easter egg display in schools, both commonly associated with the Christian faith, Bell said the holidays had become “secularized.”
   15. [Bell said,] “There are also secular symbols that are culturally relevant [like] bunnies, Easter eggs, things like that. … Those are not affiliated in any way, shape or form, with a religion. They’re just cultural springtime symbols.”
   16. [MIKE: So they’re pagan. Continuing …]
   17. Kaf Alghazal said she understands the argument for separation of church and state, but that she doesn’t see it applied unilaterally.
   18. [MIKE: I think that the writer or speaker meant “universally”. Continuing …]
   19. [Kaf Alghazal said,] “My only issue with that argument is, if that’s what you really mean, then you need to mean it. … And I’ll also say that if you don’t want Christmas trees and you don’t want Easter bunnies and you don’t want a kindergarten egg hunt, but that’s never what happens. So it’s like they don’t really mean it that way. They’re saying that, but that’s not what they really mean, because their actions are saying something else.”
   20. Enforcing the district’s “political and religious neutrality” policy to remove the Ramadan display contrasts with board members’ recent actions to comply with Senate Bill 10, which was passed into law last summer and requires public schools in Texas to post the Ten Commandments from the King James Bible in classrooms.
   21. … Earlier this week, SBISD trustees voted to deny a request from a district parent to either remove the posters of the Ten Commandments from classrooms or include displays from other faiths. The district is under legal obligation to display the posters, but the law is being reviewed by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for its constitutionality.
   22. The American Civil Liberties Union and other civil rights groups filed a federal lawsuit against several school districts in Texas’ largest metropolitan areas, including Houston ISD, arguing the law violates religious freedom protections in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
   23. In August, U.S. Judge Fred Biery in a district court in San Antonio ruled in the plaintiffs’ favor and issued a preliminary injunction, preventing those districts from hanging the posters while the case plays out. Biery wrote in his order that SB 10 “likely violates both the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment.”
   24. Spring Branch ISD is not named in the suit and is therefore still subject to complying with the state law.
   25. [Spring Branch resident] Emily Black Roth made the appeal to the school board Monday.
   26. [Black Roth said,] “Separation of church and state matters. Upholding the constitution matters. … The legal situation is actively in conflict, so risk exists on both sides. If the posters must stay up, we need a path to inclusion.”
   27. Attorney Ellen Spalding, who represented the SBISD administration at the board hearing on Monday, said [that] because the district was under legal obligation to comply with the law, it cannot remove the posters.
   28. [Black Roth said to the board,] “You say you can’t do it, but you are the guardrails. … This is the system and this is the process and if nobody stands up and says, ‘We’re not going to do that, then I feel like it’s just taking the voice and the power away from the people in your district.’ “
   29. MIKE: I don’t mean to sound hyperbolic, but whether the Spring Branch ISD board realizes it or not, they are fighting a battle in a war waged by the Rightwing Christian Nationalists in SBISD and elsewhere to elevate Christianity above all other faiths, and to suppress the expression — or maybe even the practice — of non-Christian beliefs in America.
   30. MIKE: You can’t help but love the duplicitousness of the Harris County Moms for Liberty and their chair, Denise Bell.
   31. MIKE: On the one hand, these are probably the same folks that insist that you say “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays”, but on the other hand, Ms. Bell is now insisting that Christmas and Easter have been “secularized”, which is part of the argument that many Americans make when saying “Happy Holidays”.
   32. MIKE: I think that the PTA of Bunker Hill Elementary has the right idea. Let kids know early in their lives about the many faiths that exist not only in Bunker Hill, but around the world.
   33. MIKE: Don’t let them grow up like Denise Bell, a narrow-minded religious bigot that only wants her idea of Christianity to be recognized and celebrated.
6. In other discrimination and Islamophobic news, from HoustonChronicle-dot-com — Attorneys cite accreditation issues for excluding Islamic schools from state voucher accounts; By Ashley Soebroto, Staff Writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | March 13, 2026. TAGS: Texas Comptroller’s Office, Texas’ Private School Voucher Program, Islamic Schools, Discrimination Lawsuits,
   1. Attorneys representing the Texas Comptroller’s Office and other public officials defended the state leaders against one of two discrimination lawsuits Friday, arguing in federal court that Islamic schools have not been approved for Texas’ private school voucher program due to accreditation issues, not because of their religious affiliation.
   2. Earlier this month, a Houston-area parent sued state officials, alleging they blocked Islamic schools from the voucher program, which gives families state-funded accounts for private school tuition, including at religious schools. It’s one of two lawsuits from Muslim parents over the state blocking Islamic schools from the voucher program.
   3. The plaintiff, Mehdi Cherkaoui [ENG. PRON: cher-COW- ee], has two children who attend Houston Qur’an Academy Spring, an Islamic K–12 school in Harris County, which he said meets every legal requirement to participate and has no ties to terrorist organizations.
   4. Cherkaoui — a licensed attorney with his own firm, who represented himself during Friday’s hearing — said the state’s $1 billion private school voucher program denied his school of choice and called it a “systemic exclusion.” He said despite the state approving more than 2,000 schools for the program, none were Islamic schools. He said he knew that at least 30 had applied.
   5. Texas families have until March 17 to apply for the vouchers, called Texas Education Freedom Accounts. They provide anywhere from $2,000 for homeschool parents to $30,000 for families of children with disabilities. Many families expect to receive about $10,400 for private school tuition. A lottery will prioritize students with disabilities and low- to middle- income families before the state distributes the funds. 
   6. Cherkaoui’s lawsuit is seeking a temporary and permanent injunction and challenged the constitutionality of the exclusion of Islamic private schools from the program.
   7. Zachary Rhines, the lead attorney representing Attorney General Ken Paxton, acting Comptroller Kelly Hancock and Texas Education Agency Commissioner Mike Morath, said the comptroller’s office has had issues with processing and reviewing schools accredited by the nonprofit Cognia, regardless of whether they have Islamic affiliations.
   8. He said there have been issues with the Texas Private School Accreditation Commission, which approved Cognia as an accreditation organization. As a result, Rhines told the court, many schools recognized by that organization are still waiting for approval. 
   9. Rhines also said that [acting Comptroller] Hancock’s office, which oversees the voucher program, does not ask schools if they have any religious affiliation and does not profile schools based on their names. 
   10. Cherkaoui later countered that three Islamic schools whose names were affiliated with the religion were initially approved by the comptroller’s office — but were pulled after the Houston Chronicle’s reporting.
   11. In December, Hancock sought legal approval to block Islamic schools from accessing the program due to potential terrorism ties. Hearst Newspapers reported in early February that no Islamic schools had been approved for the program except for three. Those were then removed from the state’s map of approved campuses.
   12. Hancock, who lost his bid for re-election in the March GOP primary, confirmed to the Chronicle in a recent interview that his office is investigating the funding sources of all Islamic schools that have applied for the program, but has not said when it will finish.
   13. Rhines also called the harm that Cherkaoui described in his lawsuit — the exclusion of Houston Qur’an Academy as an option for vouchers — as “speculative” since the plaintiff would be part of the voucher lottery’s final tier for higher-income families. He argued that even if the Islamic school is approved, the voucher funding could run out before Cherkaoui’s group comes up.
   14. Judge Alfred Bennett, who is presiding over the case, called it “troubling” that none of the 30 Islamic schools that had applied to be a part of the program had been accepted, while so many other schools were approved. Many approved schools are Christian. Bennett also said a social media post from Gov. Greg Abbott— which was presented by Cherkaoui — supporting the exclusion of Islamic schools from the voucher program indicated that there was “a thumb on the scale.”
   15. [Texas Attorney] Rhines said that while the comptroller’s office is a separate agency from the governor’s office, his client is not blocking Islamic schools from participating but keeping schools with ties to radical Islamic organizations out of the program.
   16. A second lawsuit regarding the school voucher program was filed Wednesday by a group of Islamic schools and Muslim parents against the state comptroller’s office, also alleging religious discrimination for blocking Islamic schools from the voucher program. Attorneys for that lawsuit were also present during Friday’s hearing, and under the judge’s directive, will consider consolidating their legal case with Cherkaoui’s due to their similarities. They are expected to decide [on] Monday.
   17. One of the schools involved in the second lawsuit was an Islamic virtual school in Galveston County. It was initially approved for state-funded vouchers. The lawsuit states that after the Chronicle named Bayaan as one of only three Islamic school[s] admitted to the program, it was immediately removed from the state’s website
   18. MIKE: My first observation is one that was discussed when this voucher program came before the Texas Legislature. Namely, that Texas has no business providing taxpayer money to religious schools of any faith, whether they be Muslim, Christian, Jewish, or any other faith-based school.
   19. MIKE: I’ll also note that there apparently have not been any issues cited by the State of Texas, the Texas AG’s office, or the Comptroller’s Office about admitting schools “with potential terrorism ties” to the voucher program that might be teaching or encouraging Christian nationalism, Christian supremacy, or similar faith-based ideologies that might lead to religion-based terrorism.
   20. MIKE: Clearly, this is just more governmental religious discrimination from a rightwing Texas government that in one way or another has become a tool of Christian advocacy, and a promulgator of anti-Islamic policies and discrimination.
   21. MIKE: When November rolls around, remember. And vote.
   22. REFERENCE: Muslim parent sues over Texas voucher program’s block on Islamic schools
   23. REFERENCE: DESIGNATED TERRORISTS: Greg Abbott calls for CAIR-Texas to be shut down, citing threat of ‘radical Islamism’
   24. REFERENCE: Islamic schools, parents sue Texas comptroller over block from private school vouchers
7. From the delicious irony department comes this story from TexasTribune-dot-org — Dan Crenshaw says culture of misinformation fueled his primary loss: “The truth didn’t matter”; by Gabby Birenbaum | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | March 6, 2026, 4:25 p.m. Central. Tagged: CongressDan Crenshaw, Steve Toth, Texas Congressional Delegation,
   1. Dan Crenshaw blamed unfounded attacks and a culture of misinformation for his primary loss to state Rep. Steve Toth, saying in an interview that the “power of clickbait” proved too much to overcome.
   2. Crenshaw, a fourth-term congressman from [Atascocita], lost to Toth, one of the most conservative members of the Texas Legislature, by a decisive 15-point margin, according to unofficial returns.
   3. His district, which includes Kingwood, Lake Houston and The Woodlands, is split between Harris County and Montgomery County, a hotbed of conservative activism where Attorney General Ken Paxton received twice as many votes as incumbent John Cornyn in the Senate Republican primary.
   4. One of the more prominent Republicans in Congress, Crenshaw has received outsized attention — and criticism — as a frequent media presence and national security hawk who has sparred with a handful of influencers and podcasters in the MAGA-sphere.
   5. He’s had a target on his back for years from some of the most hardline conservatives in Congress, including in the House Freedom Caucus, for calling out their legislative tactics and referring to some members of his party as “grifters.”
   6. Columns in the Houston Chronicle and the Wall Street Journal this week lamented Crenshaw’s loss, arguing that his true sin was a willingness to tell base voters hard truths, including that Trump lost the 2020 election and speaking out against the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
   7. Crenshaw acknowledged that the “telling the truth thing” is viewed as “a real crime” among some voters. But he heaped most of the blame for his loss on what he said were baseless attacks over his alleged insider trading and stance on red flag laws — leaving Crenshaw, in his eyes, to fend off talking points that twisted the truth.
   8. [Crenshaw told The Texas Tribune,] “It’s not like anyone was going to the polls saying, ‘I don’t like that you said that. I disagree with it.’ Because at least then, they would be debating with me on something that I actually said. … I could deal with that. … But that’s never what came up in people’s minds and out of their mouths.”
   9. Toth and right-wing host Tucker Carlson had criticized Crenshaw for allegedly profiting on insider trading through the stock market. Crenshaw hasn’t made any stock trades since March 2023, and said in the entirety of his congressional career, he made under $50,000 on the stock market.
   10. In 2019, meanwhile, Crenshaw said state legislators — not Congress — should have a conversation about red flag laws, a mechanism opposed by gun rights absolutists that allows for the temporary seizure of firearms from people deemed to pose a risk to themselves or others. Crenshaw caught flak for the comment among conservatives, who saw it as tantamount to a show of support for the policy. He noted on his campaign website that he regrets jumping into the discussion, and that he has introduced a bill prohibiting the use of federal funds for red flag laws each term he has been in Congress.
   11. Still, Toth reshared snippets of Crenshaw’s 2019 video, calling him “Red Flag Law Crenshaw.”
   12. But as the adage goes in politics, if you’re explaining, you’re losing. And Crenshaw said his campaign was unable to counter the narratives, in part because they caught fire among conservative influencers who seized on them as an easy way to generate attention, the currency of the internet.
   13. [Crenshaw said,] “A large part of this election was about the power of clickbait. … Memes became truth. Too many people are not discerning through the clickbait. People voting — one after the other — literally thought I was making millions in the stock market doing inside trading. Even though I haven’t made a trade in three years. I’ve made under $46,000 over my entire seven years in office. The truth didn’t matter to people.”
   14. Supporters and critics alike had varying explanations for Crenshaw’s loss.
   15. Freedom Caucus Fund, the political arm of the House Freedom Caucus, endorsed Toth. Allison Weisenberger, the fund’s executive director, said Crenshaw “found out the final consequence for being a RINO” — a Republican in Name Only — and bad-mouthing members of the hard-right caucus.
   16. Crenshaw, for his part, said his recognizability also contributed to the result, as it made him an attractive target for influencers who saw there were more clicks to be had for those bringing up his name — rather than others facing a “real scandal,” he said, like Reps. Tony Gonzales and Cory Mills.
   17. [Crenshaw said,] “Their name just doesn’t make the internet excited like Dan Crenshaw’s does. … I don’t have a mistress who set herself on fire. I don’t have a mistress who reported me to D.C. Metro Police for domestic violence, like Cory Mills.”
   18. Crenshaw also pointed to the influence of Robert Marling, a billionaire GOP donor in The Woodlands who seeded a pro-Toth super PAC with $675,000.
   19. Marling has donated large sums to Sen. Ted Cruz in the past. Cruz endorsed Toth during the early voting period; CNN reported that he and Crenshaw have a long-standing feud.
   20. Political influencers and podcasters in the online chattering class played key roles in both parties’ primaries this year, a new trend that Crenshaw said is exacerbated in the Houston area by conservative hosts who put out full endorsement slates that voters follow.
   21. The result, Crenshaw said, is voters getting their information from “people who have no allegiance to the truth.”
   22. [Crenshaw said,] “It’s troubling for the future. … Only voters can stop it.”
   23. MIKE: I agree with that last part of Crenshaw’s comments. With his 98% Conservative voting record, Crenshaw apparently is still not rightwing enough for most Republicans in his district. According to my research, he doesn’t always toe the lying lines of his party, and that annoys his colleagues who are even further right than Crenshaw.
   24. MIKE: When a Republican candidate complains about lies levied against them, particularly lies told by fellow Republicans, I can’t help but feel a bit of schadenfreude. Because when you lie down with hogs, you can’t help but get mud on you.
   25. MIKE: My only other comment is that we must hope that whoever wins the Texas District 2 election isn’t worse.
   26. MIKE: So remember, turnout matters. Make sure you vote so someone else doesn’t choose for you.
8. From CHRON-dot-COM — Texas builders fall short again as housing demand outpaces supply; By Ahmed Humble, Senior Trending Reporter | CHRON.COM | March 8, 2026. TAGS: Home Construction, Texas, Housing Supply Gap, Immigration,
   1. For the second consecutive year, home construction across Texas failed to keep pace with demand, widening an already historic housing supply gap and adding pressure to affordability across the state.
   2. According to a new report from com, the nationwide housing supply deficit surpassed 4 million homes in 2025, as new construction again fell short of the number of households being formed and expected buyer demand. The shortfall widened from an estimated 3.8 million in 2024, underscoring how underbuilding has become entrenched in the U.S. housing market.
   3. In Texas, the gap between housing demand and new construction has contributed to sustained affordability challenges that have shaped the state’s housing landscape for years. Per Texas Today, an analysis by housing policy experts in 2024 found the state needed hundreds of thousands more homes than were available, even as the state issued record building permits.
   4. The persistent supply gap matters because it puts upward pressure on both home prices and rents. Houston-area buyers have faced this firsthand: home prices in the region have risen sharply over the past several years, while housing inventory remains lean compared with demand.
   5. Although some segments of the housing market have shown signs of cooling, including a slowdown in Houston’s new apartment construction, demand continues to outstrip supply. In 2025, the Houston Chronicle reported [the] number of new apartments projected in Greater Houston dropped significantly compared with prior years, even as other Texas metros delivered more multifamily units.
   6. Meanwhile, middle-class Texans have struggled to bridge the gap between income and what it takes to buy a home in their region. Median incomes have not kept pace with rising housing costs, leaving many would-be buyers priced out or hesitant to enter the market.
   7. Despite these challenges, local building permit data from mid-2025 showed strong activity in major metros, with Houston and other regions issuing thousands of new residential permits, reflecting continued demand for housing.
   8. Still, even with robust permit activity, overall construction did not keep pace with household formation in 2025, leaving the gap to widen further. Nationally, roughly 1.41 million new households formed last year, compared with about 1.36 million housing starts—a shortfall that continues to stretch supply.
   9. [Danielle Hale, chief economist at Realtor.com, said in a statement,] “Even when annual construction and household formation are roughly balanced, the market is still digging out from more than a decade of underbuilding. … Without a sustained and targeted increase in housing supply, particularly in areas with strong job growth and persistent demand, affordability challenges will continue to sideline many would-be buyers.”
   10. Texas has long built more homes than any other state, but that hasn’t been enough to meet the demand driven by rapid population growth, job opportunities, and migration from other states. Even earlier reports showed the state was hundreds of thousands of homes short before the recent widening of the gap.
   11. This housing shortfall contributes to affordability challenges that are playing out across Houston and other major metros, from rising rent burdens to fewer options for first-time homebuyers. Recent Chron reports have shown that while some housing segments have become more “buyer-friendly” at times, broad affordability remains elusive for many.
   12. State lawmakers made steps in 2025 toward reducing barriers to housing by passing bipartisan bills aimed at easing permitting and zoning challenges, but Pew Research analysts say much more will be needed to significantly narrow the gap between supply and demand in the coming decade.
   13. With the housing supply gap now topping 4 million homes and record household formations continuing, experts say ramping up construction — particularly of affordable and entry-level units — will be key to restoring balance to markets across Texas.
   14. MIKE: On my December 28^th show, I discussed another story that relates to this very topic.
   15. MIKE: A significant part of the problem now exacerbating the housing shortage is Trump’s ruthless and indiscriminate kidnapping — I mean, arrests — of anyone with skin that isn’t white, even — as mentioned in the December story — if they are in the middle of pouring a concrete slab for a foundation. Even normally pro-Republican builders in south Texas have been up in arms against Trump’s widespread assaults on anyone who even looks [quote-unquote] “foreign”.
   16. MIKE: There are many reasons for the housing shortage we now find ourselves in, and the price and rent increases that accompany that shortage.
   17. MIKE: I think that the two years of the Covid pandemic put a metaphorical whalebone corset on an already tight housing market.
   18. MIKE: Covid caused construction to almost hit a standstill at the same time that supply chain issues caused material prices to skyrocket.
   19. MIKE: As grocery shoppers have learned over the decades, when there is price inflation, prices never come back down to where they were, so materials prices have remained high. Along with pent-up demand, this was a prime factor in the rapid post-Covid increase of housing prices and rents.
   20. MIKE: Then, at a time when builders were still struggling to catch up with demand, Trump created a one-two punch. He invoked probably-illegal tariffs, which further impacted the cost of many construction materials, and simultaneously started mass deportations of immigrants, whether undocumented or not.
   21. MIKE: Many of these immigrants were the workers that, rightly or wrongly, the construction industry relies on to get housing built.
   22. MIKE: I will now digress to a tangentially related part of this discussion.
   23. MIKE: Trump actions relating to tariffs, immigration, and military adventurism prove that he is a wannabe tyrant. Even worse, he’s a malicious, malevolent, ignorant, and stupid wannabe tyrant. And it has been my observation that the most dangerous people in the world are powerful people who aren’t nearly as smart as they think they are.
   24. MIKE: This even has a name. It’s called the Dunning-Kruger effect. It’s partly defined as “… when a person’s lack of knowledge and skill in a certain area causes them to overestimate their own competence.”
   25. MIKE: Trump’s lack of knowledge, encompasses many areas, and combined with his tendency to flout the law, makes him particularly dangerous. As a result, beyond his impact on the housing and construction industries, he has turned the US into the most powerful, dangerous, rogue banana republic in the world.
   26. MIKE: So as with so many of America’s current problems, at its core, the current housing and construction shortages can be laid squarely on Trump’s doorstep at what we may temporarily dub the White Supremacist’s House.
   27. REFERENCE: “Construction can’t continue”: South Texas builders say ICE arrests have upended industry; by Berenice Garcia | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | Dec. 24, 2025
9. Faced with energy shortages even before Trump’s war against Iran, and especially now, the world is again looking at nuclear power as a viable alternative energy source that is relatively “green” compared to fossil fuels. That always reminds me particularly of Chernobyl and Fukushima, so here’s an update on Fukushima from REUTERS by way of the Honolulu STARADVERTISER-dot-COM — As Fukushima memories fade, Japan embraces a nuclear-powered future; By Mariko Katsumura, John Geddie, Katya Golubkova and Nobuhiro Kubo | REUTERS via STARADVERTISER.COM (Honolulu) | March 8, 2026. TAGS: Fukushima Daiichi, Chernobyl, Nuclear Disaster, Nuclear Power, Japan,
   1. Takuma Hashimoto was three years old when a massive earthquake and tsunami struck on March 11, 2011, triggering nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi plant just an hour’s drive from his home.
   2. As the worst nuclear disaster since Chornobyl unfolded, his terrified family was trapped, unable to flee like their neighbors because they couldn’t find gas for their car.
   3. Now 18, Hashimoto wants to become part of Japan’s next generation of nuclear talent.
   4. “I don’t think nuclear power should be treated as something that’s automatically dangerous,” said the engineering student at a technical college in Iwaki, where a monitoring station still keeps check on local radiation levels.
   5. Reuters spoke with Hashimoto, as well as a former crisis management official and a nuclear industry veteran, ahead of the 15th anniversary of the disaster. Their stories illustrate how Japan is pivoting back to a power source it had all but shunned.
   6. Resource-poor Japan was once one of the world’s biggest proponents of nuclear power, which provided roughly 30% of the country’s electricity from 54 reactors.
   7. The Fukushima disaster saw public opinion swing dramatically against nuclear, and all reactors were ordered to be shut down for safety inspections and upgrades. In 2012, the government even decided to phase out nuclear energy. That decision was reversed two years later, but reactor restarts have been slow and many have been shut permanently.
   8. … Now Tokyo’s staunchly pro-nuclear leader Sanae Takaichi, buoyed by a thumping election win, is pushing to accelerate restarts and advance new nuclear technologies to wean the country off costly imported fossil fuels.
   9. The restart of one of the seven reactors at the world’s biggest nuclear plant, Kashiwazaki-Kariwa, in January was a milestone. That said, only 15 of 33 reactors in Japan that remain operable are back online.
   10. Middle East chaos unleashed by U.S. President Donald Trump’s attack on Iran – a region that accounts for 95% of Japan’s oil supplies – and an anticipated surge in energy needs of power-hungry AI data centres promise to bolster a shift in public opinion.
   11. [An Asahi newspaper survey last month found that] A slim majority of people – 51% – are now in favor of the restarts. That’s up from 28% when it began polling on the issue in 2013. The most supportive are young people aged 18 to 29 – at 66%.
   12. Hashimoto’s school, which has sent him on visits to nuclear power plants, receives government funding to nurture workers in nuclear power, regulation and decommissioning.
   13. But securing enough talent may be a bottleneck in Japan’s nuclear renaissance.
   14. There were just 177 students admitted to nuclear-related courses across Japan in 2024, versus 317 just before the Fukushima disaster and a peak of 673 in the early 1990s.
   15. Hashimoto knows not everyone agrees with him. Almost every week, he encounters a vocal band of anti-nuclear protesters at the train station on his commute to school.
   16. But he says: “What matters is using nuclear power properly, having measures in place in case something happens, and developing technology to make sure accidents don’t occur.”
   17. … Seiji Inada, 49, was part of the government’s crisis response team in 2011. Tasked with tallying the dead, he hunkered down for days with hundreds of officials in an underground bunker beneath the prime minister’s office in Tokyo.
   18. Inada remembers being in the crisis room, watching aghast [at] footage of a building that housed a reactor exploding.
   19. Around 150,000 people living around the plant were evacuated, many of whom never returned, while the government assessed the risks that Tokyo, one of the world’s biggest cities, might be blanketed in a radioactive plume.
   20. [Recalled Inada, who now works for private consultancy FGS Global,] “I remember during my short lunch break, I called my dad and I told him: ‘Well, I can’t tell you any details, but just prepare for the worst case scenario.”
   21. An inquiry published in 2012 blamed plant operator TEPCO, regulators, and the government for failing to develop safety protocols that could have contained the damage, calling it a “man-made” disaster.
   22. The prime minister at the time, Naoto Kan, quit after he was criticised for bungling the response.
   23. [Said Inada,] “The lesson of 3/11 is humility: low-probability shocks happen. What matters is governance.”
   24. Back then, Inada, like most other Japanese, found it hard to imagine that the country would ever return to nuclear power, but “time heals trauma”, he added., [saying,] “The shock of 2011 was profound and it shaped attitudes for years. Over time, the debate shifted from emotion to trade-offs.”
   25. … Nuclear industry veteran Keiji Matsunaga, 59, is putting the lessons learned from Fukushima into practice by developing safer reactors at his company, Toshiba.
   26. Joining the firm straight from university in 1991, five years after [Chernobyl], he’s always been conscious of the stigma attached to the industry.
   27. Fukushima made that worse and some years after the disaster, his teenage daughter ended up in an argument with a teacher at her school who said nuclear power was dangerous and Japan shouldn’t be using it.
   28. But even as Toshiba’s nuclear business faltered in the wake of Fukushima and the bankruptcy of its U.S. unit Westinghouse, Matsunaga says he has never wavered from the view that Japan needs nuclear for energy security.
   29. And the gradual increase in restarts is helping business.
   30. Though Toshiba, now a private company, does not release its nuclear power division earnings targets, another big player, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, told Reuters last week that sales for its nuclear power unit will hit a record 400 billion yen ($2.5 billion) next year, a target it didn’t expect to reach until 2030.
   31. Any new plants that might be built have been designed to be much safer, says Matsunaga. For example, buildings housing reactors would have roofs fortified with steel plate and concrete that can resist the impact of falling aircraft.
   32. The plants would also have more failproof natural circulation systems, in addition to other systems, to keep the reactor cool. That would help avoid a situation like Fukushima when the loss of air-conditioner cooling functionality contributed to the meltdowns.
   33. [Said Matsunaga,] “By adopting these measures, we believe events like Fukushima can be prevented.”
   34. MIKE: On previous shows, I’ve talked about Fukushima, Chernobyl, and even relatively lesser nuclear accidents like Three Mile Island. I’m going to recycle some recorded comments I made on my show from October 10, 2024:
   35. MIKE: I’m … not sure which might be worse: Restarting old nuclear plants or building new ones with what might be improved technology.
   36. MIKE: There are lots of concepts and testbeds for new nuclear power tech. Some claim to be cheaper and faster to build, making the power they generate less expensive than old nuclear plants. Others are presented as being potentially safer, and having less potential for dangerous nuclear accidents. Some even claim to be able to run on nuclear fuel rods that have been considered “spent” in old reactors, thus addressing two problems relegated to us by old nuclear tech: The need to [dispose of] what is now considered nuclear waste, as well as reducing the need to mine and refine more uranium, thus reducing the waste generated by those processes.
   37. MIKE: So far, lots of these proposals are interesting, and some may even be progressing past the initial prototype stage. But so far, I’ve found nothing that definitely assuages my concerns about the potential risks of nuclear power.
   38. MIKE: The American space shuttle program had an unknown risk of catastrophic failures until we lost Challenger and Discovery. Before those accidents, the chance of a fatal accident was rated 1:100,000. After those real-world experiences, the shuttle failure rate was reduced to just 1:100.
   39. MIKE: Using that same sort of real-world experience, there have been two catastrophic nuclear plant accidents since 1952. That could lead us to worry about 2 serious nuclear accidents per century. This does not include the new possibility of nuclear plant breeches due to acts of war.
   40. MIKE: According to the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEC), “the probability of a catastrophic accident in a nuclear power plant is very small — [on the order of] 1 chance in 1,000,000,000 per year of operation.” But I think the key word there is “catastrophic”, and the claim seems to address the probability of a catastrophic accident in any one plant.
   41. MIKE: I’ve never taken statistics, so you can view this with a grain of salt, but over the three-quarters of a century that nuclear power plants have been operated, there have been perhaps a half-dozen nuclear accidents involving radiation releases. At least two of those — Chernobyl and Fukushima — have been sufficiently “catastrophic” that they not only remain dangerous, but the danger they pose is unlikely to be adequately remediated for at least the balance of this century.
   42. MIKE: In Wikipedia, I found this statistic: “Globally, there have been at least 99 (civilian and military) recorded nuclear power plant accidents from 1952 to 2009 (defined as incidents that either resulted in the loss of human life or more than US$50,000 of property damage …), totaling US$20.5 billion in property damages. Property damage costs include destruction of property, emergency response, environmental remediation, evacuation, lost product, fines, and court claims.^[6] Because nuclear power plants are large and complex, accidents on site tend to be relatively expensive.^[7]”
   43. MIKE: Note that the Fukushima accident occurred in 2011, so it’s not included in that statistic.
   44. MIKE: I’ll stop there. You may draw your own conclusions.
   45. REFERENCE: List of nuclear power accidents by country — From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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!