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.)

“If you do not take an interest in the affairs of your government, then you are doomed to live under the rule of fools.” ~ Plato, The Republic (as quoted (verbally) by Vasant Bharath (Dec. 9, 2024))

[1m 02s] Welcome to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig, now in its 14^th year on KPFT from Houston 90.1-HD2, Galveston 89.5-HD2, Livingston/Goodrich 89.9-HD2, and Huntsville 91.9-HD2. KPFT is Houston’s Community radio.

And welcome to our international listeners from Hong Kong, Singapore, Belgium, Bangladesh, 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. I do try to fact-check myself and include the links I use to do so.

It’s the 41st week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC; and 30 weeks since those states’ governors deployed National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee and New Orleans, Louisiana, at Trump’s request, which is where they remain for now.  

The next gubernatorial election in Tennessee is in about 5 months. I really want to see how that one turns out.

LAWFARE has a chart of where US troops are currently stationed around the US. It tracks from 2017 to now. The link is in this show post at ThinkwingRadio-dot-com.

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

1. There’s just one more election left in this current cycle. On May 26, we’ll have the Texas State Primary Runoff Elections. These will be from the results of the primaries for state offices.
   1. By the time you hear this show, Early Voting for that election will have ended. So if you haven’t yet voted, please fulfill your citizen’s obligation and vote on May 26^th. The polls will be open from 7am to 7pm. In Harris County, you can find a polling place at HarrisVotes[.]com. If you follow the link I’m including in this show post item, it will take you directly to a list of Harris County polling locations.
   2. Outside of Harris County, go to your county website for voting information or go to VoteTexas[.]gov.
   3. At the bottom of this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com, I have direct links to the elections sites of 13 counties that are within the sound of my voice.
   4. REFERENCE: Blue Voter Guide
2. There is a comprehensive article covering these statewide runoffs from TEXASTRIBUNE-dot-ORG. It’s long and detailed, so I’m just going to read the intro and the bullet points. — Here’s how to vote in Texas’ May 26 primary runoff elections; By María Méndez; Graphic by Apurva Mahajan | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | March 18, 2026, 5:00 a.m. Central/Updated April 6, 2026, 3:45 p.m. Central. TAGS: 2026 elections, Congress, John Cornyn, Ken Paxton, State Agencies,
   1. Candidates in more than 30 state and federal races are expected to face off again in the May 26 runoff after failing to secure more than half of the votes cast in the March Republican and Democratic primaries. This includes Attorney General Ken Paxton’s challenge to U.S. John Cornyn, as well as several candidates for statewide or district-based elected offices in Texas.
   2. In these undecided races, registered voters can choose their preferred candidate on May 26 …
   3. But remember, Texas doesn’t allow double dipping. Voters who already voted in the Republican or Democratic primary this year can only vote in that same party’s runoff elections. Voters who didn’t vote in March can choose to vote in either party’s runoff. (Texans don’t have to formally register with a party.) …
   4. [The story has links to sections with information on what you need to know. Their titled:] What’s on the ballot?; What dates do I need to know?; … about voter registration requirements?; … about mail-in voting?; … about going to the polls?; [and] How can I make sure my ballot is counted?;
   5. MIKE: Among the high-profile state runoffs are Republicans: John Cornyn vs. Ken Paxton for U.S. Senate; and Mayes Middleton vs. Chip Roy for Texas attorney general
   6. MIKE: On the Democratic side, Democratic runoffs are Vikki Goodwin vs. Marcos Vélez for Lieutenant governor; and Nathan Johnson vs. Joe Jaworski for Attorney general
   7. MIKE: And thank goodness, there are no elections in June!
3. On a personal note, I want to mention that I think I’ve lived in Texas Congressional District 18 about as long as I’ve lived in Texas, which is since 1977. I even got to vote in the CD-18 special election this year. But I am now gerrymandered into TX CD-07 and can’t vote in the CD-18 runoff. I have nothing against Texas Democrat Lizzie Fletcher, who now represents me there, but it still ticks me off.
4. From HOUSTONCHRONICLE[.]COM — Critics warn Mayor John Whitmire’s budget could strain Houston water-sewer system for years to come; By Ryan Nickerson, Staff Writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | May 15, 2026. TAGS: Mayor John Whitmire, Houston Water And Sewer Systems, Houston Proposed Budget, Houston City Infrastructure, Water Fees, Garbage Fees, Property Taxes,
   1. Mayor John Whitmire’s proposed budget closes a $180 million deficit by relying heavily on revenue from the water bills Houston residents and businesses pay, a significant shift that critics warn could weaken the city’s ability to address enormous needs in its water and sewer systems.
   2. Much of the discussion of Whitmire’s $7.5 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1 has focused on his proposal to begin charging city trash customers $5 per month – a major policy shift in the largest Texas city without a garbage fee and one that hasn’t raised its property tax rate in three decades.
   3. But the new fee is only one piece of a much larger financial restructuring unfolding at City Hall.
   4. Whitmire proposes removing the solid waste department’s $117 million budget from the strained general fund and placing it in the city utility system within Houston Public Works. Instead of funding the department mostly with property and sales taxes, it would be funded mostly by residents’ water bills and the new fee.
   5. But the new fee is expected to generate just $24 million next fiscal year. That means it will take $93 million in water and sewer revenue to cover the rest of the solid waste budget.
   6. Whitmire also proposes charging the utility fund for its pipes using the city right of way – moving $104 million in water bill revenues to the general fund.
   7. That’s a combined $197 million burden on the utility system next year alone.
   8. In announcing his budget earlier this month, Whitmire said the proposal would bring Houston in line with other major Texas cities that already rely on utility transfers and trash fees.
   9. [Whitmire said,] “Why didn’t Houston do this a long time ago? I mean, it’s just a practical solution. … We’ve really been fooling ourselves for a long time. There is a tremendous source of revenue that other cities are using and for whatever reason the city of Houston didn’t.”
   10. But the utility system also faces serious challenges.
   11. City water pipes leak billions of gallons each year. Water treatment plants require massive upgrades. The city sewer system spills raw waste so often that Houston must invest billions of dollars under a federal decree. The city also funds about $90 million in drainage projects each year using utility revenues.
   12. The financial impact of Whitmire’s proposal would affect the utility system far beyond one year.
   13. Water bills would subsidize solid waste services for at least 6 years. That’s how long administration officials say they will take to incrementally raise the fee to $25 per month and cover the solid waste budget.
   14. [MIKE: I wonder if that includes inflation. Continuing …]
   15. But Whitmire has not publicly committed to go above $5 per month. And a study the city commissioned also raises questions about whether the fee would need to be far higher than $25 to fully cover solid waste services.
   16. [Said Alice Liu, of the Houston People’s Budget campaign,] “Playing fast and loose with these restricted funds shortchanges both systems and degrades trust in government. … What we need instead is a budget that prioritizes Houstonians, addresses failing water and flood infrastructure, refuses to compromise on worker safety, and stops police overspending.”
   17. Whitmire’s office did not respond to a request for comment. The mayor’s office has not answered requests for comment from the Houston Chronicle since August.
   18. City officials have argued the utility system is financially healthy enough to absorb the changes because years of rate increases – driven in part by the sewer consent decree – have made it flush with cash.
   19. Steven David, Whitmire’s deputy chief of staff, said at a May 11 Super Neighborhood Alliance meeting that the proposal would not delay water or wastewater projects. He said the changes are necessary because Houston relies too heavily on property and sales taxes compared to other major Texas cities.
   20. [David said,] “We can’t continue to do business the same way,” adding that Houston must “systematically change” how it funds government services.
   21. But critics argue Whitmire is using water bills to temporarily relieve broader budget pressures. They warn the strategy depends heavily on future trash fee increases and continued strong utility finances to remain sustainable over the long term.
   22. City Controller Chris Hollins has criticized Whitmire’s proposal in a series of “Reality Check” town halls, arguing the administration is not fully accounting for the scale of the utility system’s obligations. He questions whether the fund has enough reserve funds to weather the changes.
   23. [Hollins said,] “We’re saying, ‘Let’s take the money out of water and let’s put it over here in the general fund. … And we’re advertising that no one’s going to have to pay to make the water fund whole again. Which is just false.”
   24. … Critics argue the proposal arrives at a risky moment for Houston’s utility system, which is already under a federally mandated overhaul.
   25. Houston is five years into a 15-year federal consent decree requiring the city to spend billions repairing aging sewer infrastructure after decades of sewage overflows violated the federal Clean Water Act.
   26. The city must replace or rehabilitate hundreds of miles of sewer pipe annually, upgrade lift stations and wastewater treatment plants, and reduce sewage spills into neighborhoods and waterways.
   27. While the decree was initially estimated to cost roughly $2 billion when it was finalized in 2021, environmental advocates and independent reviewers now estimate the long-term cost could reach $9 billion as infrastructure needs, inflation, and delayed projects continue driving expenses higher.
   28. A recent independent review commissioned by the nonprofit Bayou City Waterkeeper[.]org found some of Houston’s highest-priority consent decree projects remain delayed or incomplete, while it’s unclear whether sewage overflows are decreasing across the city.
   29. The city also continues to face persistent leaks in aging water pipes and mounting costs tied to major water treatment plant upgrades, including a $1.8 billion project at the North East plant and an estimated $4.2 billion in work at the East plant — $1.1 billion of which is coming out of the utility fund.
   30. Advocates say these existing obligations are what make Whitmire’s proposed budget restructuring concerning.
   31. [Said Ben Hirsch, co-director of West Street Recovery,] “It’s really unclear how the city is going to comply with the consent decree over time. … There has been no presentation of the math that they can move this money out on a yearly basis and comply with the consent decree, and comply with the debt service requirements.”
   32. Guadalupe Fernandez of Bayou City Waterkeeper also called for greater transparency from the city on how the utility system will handle the changes.
   33. [Fernandez said,] “The stakes are high because deferring water repairs only makes them more expensive later. We have deep concerns about moving money out of the utility when the system’s needs are so visible. If the city has found extra room in the (utility) budget, that money is best spent fixing the infrastructure we already have and helping low-income residents keep up with their rising water bills.”
   34. The monthly water bill for a typical single-family home using 4,000 gallons of water has risen from roughly $75 to $125 since the consent decree was finalized in 2021.
   35. Even some supporters of Whitmire’s proposal worry about the long-term effects on the utility system.
   36. Bill King, a fellow at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy, said he believes the utility system can likely absorb the added burden in the near term because water rate increases have strengthened its finances.
   37. City data show utility revenues and expenses have both risen after the consent decree, but that spending grew slower than revenues, growing the cash on hand in the utility system to $1.3 billion.
   38. [King said,] “It fixes the general fund for a few years. … I don’t think the financial problems are in the (utility system) given how much we’ve increased the water rates.”
   39. King cautioned, however, that the proposal does not permanently solve Houston’s broader budget problems. And said he doubts future city leaders will raise trash fees high enough to fully cover solid waste operations.
   40. … For many residents, the debate over Houston’s utility system comes down less to bond ordinances and reserve thresholds and more about improvement to city services.
   41. At the Super Neighborhood meeting at City Hall, residents repeatedly questioned why they are being asked to pay new fees while many still experience missed trash pickups, water leaks and illegal dumping — especially when the administration has not clearly explained what immediate service improvements residents should expect in return.
   42. Some questioned why the city is shifting more costs onto residents while spending heavily on police and fire services. Others asked why Houston is not pursuing more aggressive code enforcement to generate ticket revenue before introducing new fees.
   43. Vicky Martin, President of the Settegast Super Neighborhood, described the proposal as a fear and relief strategy: creating pressure through deteriorating services before presenting new fees as the solution. …
   44. Other residents questioned whether future city councils would actually approve the steady fee increases needed to sustain the proposal long-term, or whether residents would eventually face more utility rate increases if the trash fee never reaches its full cost.
   45. [Beverly Adjei, president of the OST/South Union Super Neighborhood, said to David, the senior Whitmire aide,] “We had water rates raised every year for five years, but when we have problems, it’s difficult to get service. … What are you doing to help us?”
   46. In response, David spoke of the operational efficiencies city staff have found in the budget.
   47. [He said,] “The bites of the apple are thinner and thinner. … At some point, we have to have a conversation about the fact that there’s a structural imbalance and what we want the city of Houston to do.”
   48. MIKE: The Houston mayor is a public employee and should not have the option of whether or not to answer questions from the fourth estate. That’s very “ElonMuskian”.
   49. MIKE: Mayor Whitmire’s budget balancing proposal reminds me of when George H.W. Bush was running for the Republican presidential nomination against Ronald Regan in 1980. He called Reagan’s tax cut and budget policy “voodoo economics”. He was right, and I think that the budget hocus pocus proposed by Mayor Whitmire to balance the budget is no different.
   50. MIKE: It borrows from Peter to pay Paul, but Peter has his own problems. He has his expenses to pay plus a federal consent decree to obey.
   51. MIKE: Paul is telling Peter that there’s plenty of money in Peter’s pockets to pay for Paul’s budget deficits, but Peter’s friends are telling him that Paul is trying to pull a fast one on Peter, and that Peter will be left in violation of his federal decree legal obligations that he won’t have the money to fulfill.
   52. MIKE: If you have any doubt who’s who in this metaphor, Peter is the Houston Public Works budget and Paul is Mayor Whitmire.
   53. MIKE: To borrow from an old perfume commercial, “Promise them anything, but first get the money.”
   54. MIKE: Allocating money by department is not supposed to be a way of playing games with funding. It’s supposed to enable tracking of how that money is spent, and how much money is needed to provide that department’s services.
   55. MIKE: Mayor Whitmire is trying to obfuscate that function my taking money from where it belongs — the Houston Solid Waste Management Department — and mixing it into the Houston Public Works water and sewer department, which has no relationship, functionally or administratively, to solid waste disposal. I can only see this unholy combination as being detrimental to both functions.
   56. MIKE: While this is not an entirely fair metaphor, do you really want your drinking water needs mixed in with your solid waste disposal needs? Put that way, it sounds kind of unappetizing, doesn’t it?
   57. MIKE: And as some commenters pointed out at the Super Neighborhood meeting, when is this budget slight-of-hand supposed to improve trash pickup services, and how will it impact Houston Public Works’ environmental and legal obligations in both the short and long term?
   58. MIKE: On this show, I have pointed out for months in previous comments on this show that Mayor Whitmire’s approach to the city’s budget deficit and the proposed trash fee that these needs should be addressed with property tax increases.
   59. MIKE: In a “flat tax” state like Texas, property taxes are as close as we get to progressive taxation since taxes go up as property values go up, and one presumes that the most highly valued properties belong to the wealthiest residents and businesspeople. Plus, property taxes are deductible on federal tax returns and fees are not.
   60. MIKE: As a coda to my thoughts on this topic, as I was using the term “The Fourth Estate”, I realized that it’s been so long since I heard that term in public discourse that it might need some clarification.
   61. MIKE: Since we live in an era where basic civics education is now extremely weak, let me briefly explain.
   62. MIKE: Yale Law School has an article I’ve linked to from 2016, shortly after the election gave us Donald Trump, that describes the Fourth Estate — the free press — as “The Final Check” on government power. It is the entire reason that the Framers included the First Amendment’s specific “Free Press” clause.
   63. MIKE: It says a lot, none of it good, that Mayor Whitmire’s office did not respond to the Houston Chronicle’s request for comment on this debate and that Whitmire hasn’t answered requests for comment from the Chronicle since August of 2025. That’s about 9 months of Mayor Whitmire feeling unaccountable to the free press and, by extension, the public.
   64. MIKE: Am I the only one who notices that this is like the PR policy of Elon Musk’s companies when there are press inquiries? Musk’s companies also don’t respond.
   65. MIKE: But Houston’s elected government isn’t X (formerly Twitter). So when Mayor Whitmire fails — and I’m avoiding use of the word, “refuses” — to respond to questions from a major Houston newspaper, it shows a blatant disrespect for the press’s right to know and the public’s expectation of government transparency and clarity.
   66. MIKE: I think that along with his other statements, behaviors and policies, it’s reasonable to ask the question, is John Whitmire just a bad mayor? You decide.
5. In what is basically a public service announcement. I’m including this story from HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA[.]ORG — Houston residents will be able to register online to speak at city council meetings; By Michael Adkison | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on May 20, 2026, 1:47 PM. TAGS: Houston City Council, Registering Online To Speak Before The Council, City of Houston Houston Local News, Alejanda Salinas, Houston, Houston City Government, Houston City Hall, Public Comment,
   1. The Houston City Council approved a measure on Wednesday to make it easier for residents to speak before the council by registering online.
   2. Prior to Wednesday’s unanimous approval, Houstonians wishing to participate in public comment meetings for the city council had to make their requests to speak either in person, or by phone, mail, email or fax.
   3. A new ordinance, authored by council member Alejandra Salinas, expands the scope of that registration process to include an online format as well.
   4. [Salinas said in a news release,] “Today’s unanimous vote sends a clear message that City Hall should be easier to access and more responsive to the people it serves. … We use online forms every day to book appointments and request services. Speaking at Council should be just as easy. This change makes public participation more accessible for working families and any Houstonian who may not have time during the workday to call, email, or travel downtown to register.”
   5. Speaking before the council, Salinas emphasized the ordinance’s goal of expanding access to City Hall, citing the council’s previous move for evening public comment sessions as precedent. Last August, the city council began holding one public comment session per month in the evening hours.
   6. A spokesperson from Salinas’ office told Houston Public Media [that] city officials would meet later Wednesday to discuss rolling out an online application platform. Though there is not a set timeframe for the rollout, city officials have already developed a draft template.
   7. The ordinance, which was co-signed by council members Sallie Alcorn, Mario Castillo, Tarsha Jackson and Julian Ramirez, was filed under the powers granted under Proposition A, a voter-approved policy which gives any three council members the power to set items on the council’s agenda. Historically, that power was given almost exclusively to the Houston mayor.
   8. Harris County, which includes Houston, also offers online registration for public comment sessions at its commissioners court meetings. Most other major cities in Texas also offer online registration for similar hearings, including Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio, along with Dallas County, Tarrant County and Travis County.
   9. MIKE: So far, it looks to me like Prop A is one of the most important changes to city government in my memory. This new ordinance is just one example.
6. Dems slam Maureen Galindo’s comments as antisemitic in TX-35 runoff; by Gabby Birenbaum | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | May 19, 2026, @ 9:11 p.m. Central. TAGS: James Talarico, Primary Election, Republican Party, Democratic primary, antisemitic rhetoric, Maureen Galindo,
   1. Democratic leaders are condemning Texas congressional candidate Maureen Galindo over her latest round of antisemitic comments.
   2. Galindo finished first in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 35th Congressional District and is in a runoff election against Bexar County Sheriff’s Deputy Johnny Garcia. Democratic leaders in Washington and Texas have backed [Deputy] Garcia amidst a mysterious six-figure advertising campaign to boost Galindo, a sex therapist and housing advocate.
   3. [I must note here that in checking those primary results, Galindo finished first with just about 29% of the primary vote, which means that 71% of primary voters chose someone else. Context matters. Continuing …]
   4. Last weekend, Galindo said in an Instagram post that she intends to write legislation to “turn Karnes ICE Detention Center into a prison for American Zionists and former ICE officers for human trafficking.”
   5. [Galindo wrote on Instagram in a carousel,] “It will also be a castration processing center for pedophiles which will probably be most of the Zionists,” [and accused] Garcia of being “paid by Zionist terrorism and trafficking.”
   6. The proposal is the latest in a line of antisemitic comments Galindo has made, which include saying that Jews run Hollywood and worship the “synagogue of Satan.”
   7. A flood of Democrats, from House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries to New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez to Texas Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico, have condemned Galindo’s comments. And they’ve slammed Republicans for their seeming affiliation with the pop-up PAC spending hundreds of thousands on Galindo’s candidacy.
   8. [Talarico said in a statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency,] “This antisemitic rhetoric has no place in our politics,”… adding that he would not campaign with her if she were to win the runoff. [Talarico added,] “We need leadership in both parties willing to stand up and call out hate wherever it rears its ugly head.”
   9. The runoff is highly consequential for both parties. Republicans in the Legislature redrew the San Antonio-area seat last summer to turn a district that Vice President Kamala Harris won by over 33 percentage points into one that would have backed President Donald Trump by a margin of about 10%.
   10. Advertising dollars have poured into the seat, which includes parts of Bexar County and rural counties to the east, backing both candidates. All of the pro-Galindo spending has come from Lead Left PAC, a pop-up group that was formed in early May and has not yet had to disclose its donors.
   11. Lead Left PAC appears to be tied to the GOP; Punchbowl News reported that the metadata on its website initially linked to WinRed, a major Republican donation platform. Lead Left PAC has not responded to questions about its donors or what entities are behind it.
   12. The PAC has spent nearly $600,000 on broadcast and cable, and additional funds on mailers boosting Galindo and bashing Garcia.
   13. Madison Andrus, a Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson, called [the] seeming GOP interference on Galindo’s behalf “extremely dangerous.”
   14. [Andrus said,] “No matter what your politics are, using virulent antisemitism for your own partisan gain is nothing short of disgusting.”
   15. In a joint statement, Jeffries and DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene pointed the finger at GOP leadership.
   16. [The pair said,] “House Republican leadership must immediately cease propping up this antisemitic candidacy, pull spending in the race and forcefully condemn these comments. … This vile language by her is disqualifying and has no place in America politics, and certainly not in the Democratic Party. To embrace and uplift a fringe candidate with antisemitic — and extremely dangerous — rhetoric and views in order to win an election is beyond the pale.”
   17. The National Republican Congressional Committee, meanwhile, did not address the allegation that the GOP was meddling in a Democratic primary in its own statement.
   18. [Spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) Christian Martinez said,] “Hakeem Jeffries’ pathetic handpicked candidates were already staggering through the cycle with embarrassing fundraising numbers, zero grassroots energy, and no real support from Texans. … Now Democrats Johnny Garcia and Maureen Galindo are tearing each other apart in a full-blown primary civil war, turning their own races into a circular firing squad while Republicans stay focused on the issues Texans care about and build the coalition that’s going to win in November.”
   19. Republicans have a runoff of their own in the 35th Congressional District between state Rep. John Lujan and veteran Carlos De La Cruz.
   20. On X, De La Cruz condemned [Republican] Galindo’s comments as well.
   21. [He said,] “I wore the uniform to defend every American, no matter their faith. … This rhetoric is disgusting and has no place in Texas.”
   22. In recent weeks, Garcia has been endorsed by national and Texas Democrats alike, including former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Greg Casar — whose district was dismantled to create the one Garcia is running for — and Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, the chair of the Texas Democratic Delegation.
   23. Garcia has responded to the pro-Galindo spending with an ad of his own, calling Galindo “MAGA’s favorite” and saying Republicans were propping her up because Galindo’s “conspiracy theories and hateful words make her the easiest Dem to beat.”
   24. In addition, the Blue Dog Action PAC, which backs centrist Democrats and has endorsed Garcia, and Project 218 [Link provided by Mike], a Democratic Party-aligned super PAC, have spent nearly $600,000 on their own ads supporting Garcia.
   25. In a statement to the Texas Tribune over text, Galindo stood by her proposal, [instead] condemning the media for “miswording my proposal to sound anti-Jew.”
   26. [Galindo said,] “All politicians who have taken Israeli money should be tried for treason for aiding a foreign national with materials to harm Americans.”
   27. When asked what she made of Democratic leaders condemning her, Galindo said she doesn’t care “what any Zionist-owned politician thinks. They’re exposing themselves as Zionists which will backfire on them.”
   28. MIKE: Maureen Galindo apparently made her political reputation in San Antonio as a community activist, where she did some good community work.
   29. MIKE: That doesn’t excuse the hate she’s spewing. Regardless of her social work, when she speaks of Jews, she talks like a Nazi. Her statements and beliefs are disqualifying for someone seeking office, national or otherwise.
   30. MIKE: It’s entirely unsurprising that she’s attracting stealth support from Republicans. They want a losing candidate to run against their nominee, and she is probably that. And let’s remember that the phrase “Republican Dirty Tricks” coined during the Watergate era still applies.
   31. MIKE: But for Democrats to cry “foul” for /Republican interference in the CD-35 runoff is a little disingenuous. Democrats have done the same now and then. Nonetheless, it’s reprehensible for Republicans to support a candidate like Galindo even for tactical reasons.
   32. MIKE: But it prods the question, “Is hate speech really that objectionable to Republicans?”
7. In a story that is somewhat related, there’s this from NYTIMES[.]COM — Massie’s ‘Tel Aviv’ Remark Is the Latest Midterm Flare-Up Over Israel; By Lisa Lerer and Jennifer Medina | NYTIMES.COM | May 20, 2026. TAGS: Representative Thomas Massie, Ed Gallrein, Israel, Antisemitism,
   1. Moments after he learned his nearly 14 years in Congress were coming to an end, Representative Thomas Massie of Kentucky offered an explanation for his defeat rooted not in his state but thousands of miles east.
   2. [Referring to the Republican who beat him, he told cheering supporters at his election-night party,] “I would have come out sooner, but I had to call my opponent and concede, and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv.”
   3. The comment was a clear reference to the millions of dollars spent against Mr. Massie, a longtime critic of Israel and more recently of the war with Iran, by prominent pro-Israel donors and advocacy groups, including a super PAC tied to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
   4. The Kentucky race is just one of many across the country in which debates over Israel are raging like never before, dividing not only Democrats but also Republicans as the war in Gaza and Israel’s role in the conflict with Iran have shifted American attitudes toward the Jewish state.
   5. And Mr. Massie’s remark was the latest to strike a nerve among some Jewish leaders, who argue that politicians and their supporters have repeatedly blurred the lines between opposition to Israel and antisemitic tropes about Jewish money and power.
   6. The prominence of such comments in politics — particularly after a series of antisemitic attacks — is alarming and potentially dangerous, they say.
   7. [Said Deborah Lipstadt, a Holocaust scholar at Emory University who served as the Biden administration’s special envoy to fight antisemitism,] “This is at warp speed, unlike anything I have ever seen. … This is the mainstreaming and normalizing of antisemitism.”
   8. Tensions over Israel have flared up in a House race for a deep-blue district in Philadelphia, where Democrats on Tuesday nominated Chris Rabb, a state representative who made criticism of the country a central part of his campaign.
   9. But, at times, his campaign’s opposition to Israel tipped into promoting falsehoods about Jews.
   10. In December, after the mass shooting at a Hanukkah celebration on Bondi Beach in Australia, Mr. Rabb’s campaign shared an Instagram post saying that the gunmen “were likely Zionists themselves.”
   11. Shortly after the attack, which killed 15 people, Australian authorities said that the gunmen were motivated by “Islamic state ideology.”
   12. In a statement, Mr. Rabb’s campaign said that the staff member who reposted the message had not worked for the campaign for months and that Mr. Rabb had no knowledge of this repost and would never say anything like it.
   13. In Texas, controversy has surrounded Maureen Galindo, a sex therapist and housing activist running for the House as a Democrat — but whose campaign Republicans have quietly helped financially in an attempt to undermine Democrats.
   14. In a lengthy Instagram post, she promised to turn an immigration detention center into a “prison for American Zionists” and claimed that many Zionists were “pedophiles.”
   15. [Before she endorsed Johnny Garcia, a Democrat who is facing Ms. Galindo in a runoff election, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the progressive New York Democrat, said,] “This bigoted garbage and antisemitism should be nowhere near our politics.”
   16. Representative Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the minority leader, criticized the Republicans who have helped Ms. Galindo because they view her as a weaker opponent in a general election.
   17. [Jeffries said in a statement,] “House Republican leadership must immediately cease propping up this antisemitic candidacy.”
   18. While Israel was not central to the race between Mr. Massie and Mr. Gallrein, it remained a persistent undercurrent.
   19. Across northern Kentucky, many supporters of Mr. Massie said in interviews that his longstanding opposition to any foreign aid to Israel was a key reason they had championed his campaign. At an event for Republicans in Boone County, Ky., last week, one young man wore a T-shirt with the words “Defund AIPAC.”
   20. In the final days of the campaign, an outside group supporting Mr. Massie’s bid released an anti-Gallrein advertisement that showed an image of Paul Singer, a Jewish donor, with a Star of David behind him.
   21. A bizarre incident at a Capitol Hill bar in Washington last week, reported by the news site NOTUS, added to the ugliness. According to the report, William Paul, the son of Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, drunkenly told a New York congressman that if Mr. Massie lost, it would be the fault of “you Jews” before starting a tirade about how Jews were “anti-American.” (The younger Mr. Paul apologized and said he was seeking help for a drinking problem.)
   22. [MIKE: I’ll note that the young Mr. Paul may have a drinking problem that can perhaps be helped with rehab, but there is really no rehab for his religious bigotry. And we might ask how far in the family that bigotry extends since it has to be carefully taught. Continuing …]
   23. The Republican lawmaker he berated, Mike Lawler, is Catholic, and is facing a tough re-election battle in one of the most heavily Jewish congressional districts in the country. (He greeted the news of Mr. Massie’s defeat by writing on X: “My people have spoken. Shalom,” a Hebrew word that can be used to say goodbye.)
   24. Support for Israel has crumbled in both parties, particularly among younger voters.
   25. New polling conducted by New York Times/Siena found that only one-third of Republicans between the ages of 18 and 44 supported providing additional economic and military support to Israel. A majority — 54 percent — said Mr. Trump had been “too supportive of Israel.” Among younger Democrats, 56 percent said their party had been too supportive of Israel.
   26. The issue has spread across primary campaigns, as politicians in both parties try to gain an edge by stressing their opposition to Israel. More than two dozen campaign ads this year have featured messages focusing on Israel, Gaza or Palestinians, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact.
   27. Super PACs affiliated with AIPAC have already spent tens of millions of dollars to support their candidates this year, and are widely expected to spend more in upcoming races in California, New York and Michigan. Some of those efforts have backfired, helping progressives win and underscoring the depth of discontent toward Israel among the Democratic base.
   28. Several progressive candidates have pledged not to take money from the group. And, in the final days of his primary race, Massie sponsored a bill to require AIPAC to register as a lobbyist for a foreign nation.
   29. [MIKE: Without knowing the details of such a registration, I think it may be entirely justified for AIPAC to do so. Continuing …]
   30. AIPAC had rallied against Mr. Massie over his longtime opposition to providing more aid to Israel and his criticism of the country’s conduct in the Middle East. The spending may not have been decisive in his defeat — Mr. Trump’s anger at the congressman dominated the race — but it was an additional challenge for Mr. Massie.
   31. Massie’s strong criticism of the Jewish state prompted pushback from Jewish leaders, even within his party.
   32. [Said Matt Brooks, the chief executive of the Republican Jewish Coalition,] “Massie’s conduct throughout this campaign — trafficking in antisemitism and bottom-of-the-barrel nativism at a time when Jew hatred is on the rise — was wildly unacceptable.”
   33. A spokesman for Mr. Massie did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
   34. Whether — and when — opposition to the Jewish state tips into antisemitism has become an active debate in both parties.
   35. Republicans are grappling with tensions over free speech, Israel, and antisemitism by figures on the far right.
   36. And as the Democratic rank-and-file grows increasingly hostile to Israel, some Jewish Democrats are struggling with their place in the party.
   37. Last week, a Pennsylvania State Supreme Court justice, David Wecht, announced that he was leaving the Democratic Party, saying “acquiescence to Jew hatred” had become “disturbingly common among activists, leaders and even many elected officials in the Democratic Party.”
   38. Representative Jared Moskowitz of Florida, one of the most outspoken Jewish Democrats in Congress, said in an interview on Wednesday that he had grown increasingly alarmed by public displays of antisemitism.
   39. [He said,] “We didn’t do enough when this started in our party, and now it has metastasized. … It is going to be a lot harder to deal with.”
   40. MIKE: Ethnic and religious discrimination and hatred are nothing new in the human experience, and certainly not in America. Sometimes it’s specific to an era, but some groups experience discrimination and hatred consistently over centuries or millennia.
   41. MIKE: Some of these groups have countries where, in the final extremity, they can find safety. Other groups cannot rely on safety anywhere on anything like a permanent basis
   42. MIKE: Jews are not the only group of which this is true, but it’s certainly one of them. Even in the United States, where Jews historically have generally felt fairly safe, that safety was mostly geographic.
   43. MIKE: I personally remember, as a very young child, driving to Florida with my parents before the Interstate Highway system was complete. This took us onto many state and county roads, as well as some rural backroads.
   44. MIKE: I’ve always remembered one sign I saw on a wooden property gate. It said, “No dogs, Jews, or N-words allowed.” Being only about 7 or 8, I was too young to fully grasp what that meant, but the adult me understands it clearly.
   45. MIKE: It meant that while Jews were relatively safe in the US, that safety was mostly confined to a few large, urban areas. In smaller cities and the American “outback”, Jewish safety was always conditional and somewhat tenuous, just as it was in Europe for thousands of years.
   46. MIKE: Britannica[.]com defines Zionism as a “Jewish nationalist movement with the goal of the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews.” In that very specific definitional sense, most Jews are Zionists.
   47. MIKE: But Jewish Zionists around the world and in Israel do not necessarily support or condone everything Israel — particularly Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israel — does, just like not all Americans necessarily condone everything Trump’s MAGA America does.
   48. MIKE: Americans are learning that even America has monsters who will do horrible things, whether under orders, for ideological reasons, or for the sheer pleasure of it. This is as true in Israel as it is in America.
   49. MIKE: Israeli settler violence against innocent Palestinians just living their lives is despicable and criminal. Indiscriminate violence by Israeli citizens, soldiers, or the Israeli Defense Force is equally despicable. All these actions ultimately deserve to be punished. Americans have learned how hard that can be to accomplish.
   50. MIKE: But conflating the acts of Netanyahu’s Israel with all Israelis or all Zionists, or all Jews is as unfair as conflating all Palestinians in particular or all Muslims in general with terrorism.
   51. MIKE: I believe one can argue that antisemitism and islamophobia are really just two sides of the same coin: Irrational hatred of an entire group for the actions of some in that group.
   52. MIKE: The fact is that all ethnic and religious hate must be spoken against and fought against all the time, everywhere.
8. From WIRED[.]COM — Election Officials Are Getting Ready for ICE to Show Up at the Polls; By David Gilbert | WIRED.COM | May 20, 2026 6:00 AM. TAGS: Politics, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), President Donald Trump, National Guard,
   1. Last week, as President Donald Trump prepared to leave the White House on his way to China for a state visit, he was asked if he would be willing to deploy troops from the National Guard or agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to polling locations during November’s midterms.
   2. [Trump responded,] “I would do anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections.”
   3. Trump’s comments are the latest in a litany of confusing and sometimes contradictory statements from his administration about the possibility of deploying federal agents to oversee the elections. It’s already had a chilling effect on voters and election workers.
   4. WIRED spoke to more than a dozen election officials, including secretaries of state and election directors in red and blue states, about the possibility of an ICE deployment to polling locations in November.
   5. While some officials say they are not worried, the majority said they had major concerns, especially as these statements come during a much broader attack on elections and democracy from the Trump administration. At least one has actively planned for a scenario in which he’s arrested.
   6. With six months to go before the midterms, the officials said they are now scrambling to reassure voters, replace federal election resources eliminated by Trump, and try to plan for scenarios they have never had to contemplate before.
   7. [One election director from a western state who requested anonymity to speak openly tells WIRED,] “The state of things is completely different than it has been in any federal election that I’ve been a part of. … I’ve been doing this for 21 years now, and this is the first time we’ve had to start to prepare for, or at least respond to, public questions about federal interference. It’s ratcheted up to a whole new level now where there is a possibility [ICE is] going to be at polling places.”
   8. These concerns first began when the Trump administration launched mass deployments of ICE agents to cities like Chicago and Minneapolis. Election officials across the country became concerned that those same agents could show up at polling locations.
   9. Prominent figures on the right boosted the idea: [Former White House adviser Steve Bannon told his podcast listeners on February 3, a day after Trump called to “nationalize” elections,] “We’re going to have ICE surround the polls come November. … You can whine and cry and throw your toys out of the pram all you want, but we will never again allow an election to be stolen.”
   10. [MIKE: There is so much I could say to that, but I’m going to say nothing. Continuing …]
   11. The call for ICE to be deployed to polling locations is rooted in large part in the baseless conspiracy theory that noncitizens vote in huge numbers, even though noncitizen voting accounts for a vanishingly small fraction of a percent of votes cast during US elections.
   12. When asked about Bannon’s claims two days later, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt refused to rule out the possibility. She said that while she hadn’t heard the president discussing “formal plans” to deploy ICE to polling locations, she added, “I can’t guarantee that an ICE agent won’t be around a polling location in November.”
   13. While the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) later ruled out the possibility that ICE would be deployed to the polls while on a call with scores of election officials, on March 18, the new Homeland Security secretary Markwayne Mullin refused to rule out the possibility during his confirmation hearing, saying he doesn’t “understand what the concern about enforcing immigration at polling places is anyways because … there shouldn’t be any illegals at the polling spot.”
   14. A week later, during the Conservative Political Action Conference meeting, now-acting attorney general Todd Blanche endorsed the idea of ICE at the polls and repeated the conspiracy theory about noncitizens voting as an excuse to deploy ICE. [He asked,] “Why is there objection to sending ICE officers to polling places? … Illegals can’t vote. It doesn’t make any sense.”
   15. When asked for comment regarding ICE being deployed to the polls, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “President Trump has been clear: Securing our elections and ensuring only American citizens vote in American elections is a top priority.”
   16. Similarly, a DHS spokesperson referred WIRED to Mullin’s comments, adding, “Elections exist for the American people, not illegal aliens, to choose their leaders.”
   17. Elections have, as specified by the US Constitution, always been run by the states, and despite Trump and his allies calling for elections to be “nationalized,” that will remain the case for the 2026 midterms. Deploying ICE, the National Guard, or any other armed federal agents to polling locations is illegal under US law.
   18. Political messaging, however, has left election officials and voters unsure about what’s to come.
   19. [Says an election director from an eastern state,] “I think the administration’s track record is such that, as much as I reassure people and tell them that we’ve gotten that assurance [that ICE won’t be at polling locations], I’m not sure how much they believe. … I’m not sure the administration itself really knows the direction it’s going to go in, but we are preparing for all scenarios.” The director asked not to be named due to fears of retribution from the government and concerns that federal election funds could be withheld.
   20. In Maine, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows sought to get assurances from the government in writing, sending a letter to the DHS in March seeking confirmation that ICE will not be deployed to the polls. The letter was signed by eight other secretaries of state. Months later, Bellows has yet to receive a response.
   21. [Says Bellows,] “We haven’t received any satisfactory assurances from the federal government, but we don’t expect any. … Donald Trump doesn’t get to invade our polling places, seize our ballots, or control our elections just because he wants to. The Constitution and federal law could not be more clear that states, not the federal government, are in charge of elections.”
   22. Maine is one of dozens of states the Department of Justice has sued over their refusal to grant access to unredacted voter rolls. Last September, the government filed a lawsuit against Bellows, claiming that in her capacity as secretary of state, Maine had not complied with the National Voter Registration Act. Bellows has filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
   23. Like many other election directors, Bellows and her colleagues are planning for eventualities they have never had to consider before.
   24. [Says Bellows,] “Election officials are the world’s best contingency planners. … In the past, we’ve planned for natural disasters, for electricity outages, for, most recently, bomb threats, and we have been able to oversee successful elections.”
   25. But while recent elections have brought an unprecedented surge in threats against election officials, the threat of federal interference in elections is something entirely new.
   26. [Says Jared DeMarinis, Maryland’s administrator of elections,] “There have been tabletops and everything else including this type of scenario [of ICE at polling stations]. … We have to prepare now for almost any eventuality that will occur. We even have to include in a tabletop exercise of me getting arrested.”
   27. Election directors are also having to plan without many of the federal resources they have relied upon for years.
   28. In March 2025, the Trump administration ordered the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) to stop almost all work related to election security and removed the role of regional election security advisers, who served as vital links between federal and local officials. CISA has also cut all funding for the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center, which ensured the timely sharing of information between federal agencies and state officials. As a result, election officials are now cobbling together their own systems and networks, communicating in online Zoom meetings and sharing information with colleagues in messaging apps.
   29. Even so, election officials interviewed by WIRED echoed a similar belief: No matter what the Trump administration does, they say, their team will be able to run safe and secure elections.
   30. [Says Maine’s Secretary of State Bellows,] “We have to assume that the Trump administration is willing to do anything to win. … But I have confidence that a majority of Americans will see these tactics for what they are, the desperate attempts of the nation’s biggest loser to interfere, and it won’t work.”
   31. MIKE: I hope Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell is happy, since it was his arm twisting that preventing Trump from being convicted in his impeachment trial for the January 6 attempt to overthrow the election in which he lost. That conviction would have blocked Trump from ever running for office again. Now, here we are.
   32. MIKE: Election integrity, honesty and reliability in the 2026 and 2028 elections is a very real worry. Many, maybe most, of the election officials around the US are doing their damndest to ensure election security and accuracy, but what about states like Texas, Alabama, and other states of the old Confederacy?
   33. MIKE: The most important thing that Americans can do is show up to vote in the greatest numbers imaginable. Massive voter turnout is one of the most important things Americans can do to overwhelm attempted election rigging by the Trump regime and its cronies.
   34. MIKE: And if you can volunteer to be a poll watcher, please do so.
9. Finally, in oil market news from BUSINESSINSIDER[.]COM — ‘Point of no return’: A research firm says the oil market is headed for a dire turning point by early June; By Jennifer Sor | BUSINESSINSIDER.COM | May 19, 2026, 7:36 AM CT. TAGS: Oil Market, Petroleum Industry, Crude Prices, Strait of Hormuz,
   1. Market watchers have puzzled over the reasons for oil’s resilience in recent weeks, but things could be about to change for the worse, one research firm is warning.
   2. HFI Research, an investment research firm with a focus on energy markets, said it sees the oil market hitting a major turning point in the first week of June. If the Strait of Hormuz remains closed through that time, oil markets will likely descend into “real panic,” it said, suggesting that nations around the world could start panic-buying and hoarding oil as oil inventories hit rock bottom.
   3. The scenario — which HFI said wasn’t its base-case — is contrary to where most forecasters think the crude market is headed. The firm pointed to more optimistic oil forecasts about how the market would soon normalize, but those predictions are likely fueled by “psychological biases” in the oil market, it said.
   4. [The firm wrote in a Substack post on Monday of the coming turning point in markets,]”It seems clear to me that if the Strait of Hormuz is still closed by the first week of June, we will see real panic. … Sellside is still assuming some return to normality by June to avoid tank bottom, but the math is what it is.”
   5. Oil prices have spiked to a three-year high as markets weigh the severity of the supply disruptions in the Middle East. Brent crude, the international benchmark, has remained solidly above the $100 mark for most of the past month, a testament to the scale of the disruption, even as the conflict appears at a standstill for now.
   6. Markets have been shielded from greater pain stemming from the supply disruption, largely due to the US and other nations drawing down their excess crude stores.
   7. In late April, HFI predicted that the US would deplete its oil stocks within 8 weeks, implying it would run out of excess supply by the end of June.
   8. The US had 1.6 billion barrels of oil and petroleum products in its stocks the week ending May 8, down 67 million from levels at the start of April, according to the latest update from the Energy Information Agency.
   9. HFI Research said it believes the oil market had already hit a “breaking point,” and could eventually enter a vicious cycle where extreme supply shortages spark panic-buying and hoarding. It didn’t have a concrete price forecast, but in previous posts, speculated that crude prices rising past $150 a barrel was possible.
   10. [The firm wrote on Monday,] “So yes, we are going to break records. … The barrels lost all but guarantee a higher oil price setup.”
   11. MIKE: So the summation I would use is, hang on to your wallets and try to conserve gas.
   12. MIKE: Also, make sure that your registered to vote. Make sure that you haven’t been purged from the voter rolls in your state. And make sure you show up to vote in November.

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