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, 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 China, Singapore, Belgium, Hong Kong, Canada, 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 49^th week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC; and 38 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 3-1/2 months. I can’t wait to see how that one turns out.

LAWFARE has a chart of where US troops are currently stationed around the US. The link is in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com.

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

1. You’ve likely heard about the cyclospora outbreaks in parts of the country. Taylor Farms recalled potentially contaminated shredded iceberg lettuce in 27 states on Friday, including lettuce distributed as recently as Thursday, as cases of cyclosporiasis continue rising in the US. This next article about the outbreak is from CONSUMERREPORTS[.]ORG — No, You Shouldn’t Avoid Fruits and Vegetables Due to Cyclospora; By Paris Martineau, Investigative Reporter | CONSUMERREPORTS.ORG | Updated July 17, 2026. TAGS: Cyclospora, Cyclosporiasis, Fruits, Vegetables, Taylor Fresh Foods, Taylor Farms, Food Hygiene, Food Preparation Hygiene,
   1. [Cyclospora,] best known for causing bouts of “explosive” diarrhea, has sickened at least 6,000 people in the U.S. so far this year, and generated a spate of panic-inducing headlines that have caused some consumers to eye the entire produce aisle with suspicion. 
   2. [Says James E. Rogers, PhD, director of food safety at Consumer Reports, who notes that so far, the majority of infections have been reported in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Indiana, and Kentucky,] “You can and should continue to eat fruits and vegetables, but you might want to take additional precautions depending on where you live. … If you’re in one of those states, I recommend avoiding eating lettuce and salad greens until we know more, but currently, there is no data to support avoiding fruits and vegetables generally.”
   3. However, food safety experts say that is not the right approach.
   4. It’s important to put the current outbreak into context, as the case pattern is somewhat unusual, Rogers says. The U.S. traditionally experiences a surge in cyclospora infections during the summer months. The parasite can be found in food and water contaminated with human feces, and infections are more likely to occur in warm or rainy weather. 
   5. By this time last year, at least 44 states had reported cases of cyclosporiasis, the disease caused by the cyclospora parasite, to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. On July 14, CDC officials said that although cases have only been detected in at least 34 states so far this year, the total number of illnesses reported is already “much, much higher than what we’ve seen last year or the year before.”
   6. Bottom of Form
   7. … The CDC said on July 14 that it had identified 1,645 lab-confirmed cases of cyclosporiasis and is working to confirm an additional 5,100 reports that had occurred since May. (For comparison, there were about 2,800 cases, on average, reported annually in the U.S. between 2016 and 2023.)
   8. [Gwen Biggerstaff, MPH, deputy director of the CDC’s Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases, said at a July 14 press conference,] “The true number of infections is almost certainly higher than what’s reflected in these numbers, because many people with mild illness recover without seeking medical care and are never tested.”
   9. So far, the recent spike in total cases seems to be largely propelled by surging infection numbers in a small handful of states. The CDC has identified a large cluster of illnesses in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana that, based on genetic testing, appear to share a common source: shredded iceberg lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell restaurants in those states. …
   10. In advisory notices posted late on July 16, the CDC and Food and Drug Administration said investigators had identified a single supplier of contaminated lettuce and were working with it “to determine if potentially contaminated shredded iceberg lettuce remains on the market.”
   11. The agencies did not name the supplier, but earlier that day the Washington Post reported that “two individuals familiar with the inquiry said investigators have identified Taylor Farms as the supplier of the shredded iceberg lettuce.”
   12. [As noted here, that supplier has been identified in many news sources as Taylor Farms. In my comments at the end of this story, I’ll be reading a response they issued on July 17^th. Continuing …]
   13. Representatives from Taylor Farms, Taco Bell, the CDC, the FDA, and Michigan’s Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to questions about the accuracy of the Washington Post’s reporting regarding Taylor Farms.
   14. … How concerned you should be about the risk of contracting cyclosporiasis may depend on where you live. Although headlines may lead you to believe that the entire country is awash with illnesses, a look at the numbers shows that’s not the case. 
   15. Clearly, there’s a concerning issue in the five states where the majority of cases are clustered. And a few other states, such as New York and Illinois, are reporting higher-than-average case numbers for this time of year. However, it is unclear whether these infections are linked to the outbreak in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana; are part of an unrelated outbreak of unknown origin; or merely reflect the typical increase in illnesses caused by cyclospora seen during the summer months. …
   16. However, in many other states, such as California, Minnesota, and Massachusetts, case counts are at or below typical levels for this time of year. … Similarly, California health officials say that the state has seen fewer cases of cyclosporiasis so far this year than it did over the same period in 2025.
   17. … Federal investigators have linked shredded iceberg lettuce served at Taco Bell locations in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana to the surge in cases seen in those states. 
   18. In an advisory notice posted July 16, federal officials advised consumers to not eat “food items with shredded iceberg lettuce from Mexico served at Taco Bell locations in [the aforementioned states]” and said that additional states may be added to the warning list as more information becomes available.
   19. The CDC has linked 1,644 infections and 94 hospitalizations to exposure to Taco Bell in those states so far.
   20. The imported lettuce was reportedly supplied to Taco Bell by Taylor Farms, a multinational producer of salad greens. The FDA, which has not publicly named Taylor Farms as the supplier, said it is working with the “identified supplier to determine if potentially contaminated shredded iceberg lettuce remains on the market,” and is actively investigating the scope of the contamination. 
   21. [The FDA said in an advisory notice,] “Because the investigation remains ongoing, additional implicated brands, restaurants, retailers, or distribution channels may be identified as the investigation continues.” The agency also said the “illnesses included in this outbreak are a subset of the Cyclospora illnesses identified nationwide.” …
   22. … Depending on where you live, produce from local sources, like a home garden, farmers market, or community supported agriculture (CSA) program, may be a less risky option. …
   23. Until we know where the contaminated lettuce was and was not distributed, and whether any other contaminated produce items have contributed to the uptick in cases seen nationwide, we can’t say that any particular source of produce is safe (or unsafe, for that matter) for all people. But what we know about how the parasite that causes cyclosporiasis spreads can point us to some general guidelines.
   24. The parasite is somewhat unusual in that it is unlikely to be transmitted directly from one person to another, and must spend time in certain environmental conditions to become infectious. It is typically transmitted when the feces of infected humans contaminates crops during growing or processing. 
   25. [MIKE: I’ll note here that this is another lesson on why hand washing after using the bathroom is extremely important! Continuing …]
   26. Large outbreaks of cyclosporiasis, like the one currently under investigation in Michigan, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Indiana, typically occur when a contaminated produce item has been widely distributed to a large group of people across multiple states, which is not the typical distribution pattern for crops grown by small-scale local farmers.
   27. [Says CR’s Rogers,] “So long as you’re confident that what’s growing in your home garden hasn’t been in contact with infected human feces or wastewater, it’s probably safe from cyclospora.” …
   28. Generally speaking, following basic food safety rules can go a long way toward protecting you. The CDC and FDA recommend that everyone wash their hands with soap and water before and after preparing raw fruits and vegetables. You should also wash fruits and vegetables (even those labeled as prewashed) thoroughly under running water before eating, and scrub firmer foods, like melons and cucumbers, with a clean produce brush. Do this before you slice into the food to avoid transferring any outside contaminants to the inside flesh. 
   29. [Donald Prater, FDA’s Acting Deputy Commissioner for Food, said in the July 14 press conference, “It is important to wash fresh produce, and so I think that’s been shown to be very helpful in lowering the risk of this parasite.”
   30. It’s worth noting that cyclospora appears to be more difficult to remove from some foods than other parasites. A small-scale study published in 2021 compared the efficacy of three washing methods in removing parasites from raspberries and blueberries. While rinsing raspberries in a strainer under a gentle stream of cold tap water for one minute was enough to remove, on average, at least 80 percent of the other two parasites studied, the removal rate for cyclospora ranged from 11 to 69 percent, according to the study. Washing the raspberries with a mixture of vinegar and tap water offered some improvement, but still left a notable amount of the parasite present on the fruit. The most effective method involved washing the berries before rinsing them in a salad spinner, but even this failed to remove all the parasites. 
   31. Still, says CR’s Rogers, removing some cyclospora from a contaminated item can be beneficial. It can reduce the risk of getting sick, or result in less severe illness if you do.
   32. [MIKE: I’ll point out this is because, like in the case of what’s called “viral load” or “bacterial load”, the less you ingest, the greater the chance that your immune system will prevent it from taking hold. Continuing …]
   33. … CR’s food safety experts recommend that people in the states where cyclosporiasis has been detected wash their hands and foods the best they can, and avoid prechopped raw fruits and vegetables.
   34. [Rogers says,] “Stay away from the prechopped, prebagged, and all the rest of that. … Instead, buy them whole and chop them yourself while practicing good sanitary hygiene in your kitchen.” …
   35. People in affected areas who are immunocompromised or are more susceptible to severe illness from foodborne contaminants, such as young kids and older adults, might want to take additional precautions, like eating their fruits and veggies cooked. (Pregnant people may also want to consult with their doctor to determine whether they should take additional precautions, as the antibiotic used to treat cyclosporiasis has been linked to a higher risk of birth defects, in some cases, when taken during pregnancy.)
   36. Heating food to 158° F kills the cyclospora parasite. [CR’s Rogers says,] “I’m advising my friends and family with compromised immune systems to avoid uncooked vegetables for the time being, but I tend to err on the side of caution.”
   37. MIKE: So far as I can tell, there’s no current need for undue panic in Texas, but one should diligently follow normal food and hand hygiene practices.
   38. MIKE: As usual, that means washing your hands with soap and water after using the bathroom.
   39. MIKE: Likewise, when washing or preparing food, frequently wash hands with soap and water to prevent cross-contamination. This is especially true when preparing meats and fish along with other types of food.
   40. MIKE: It is equally important that food preparation surfaces and utensils be kept clean and sanitary to prevent cross contamination.
   41. MIKE: If you have a dishwashing machine with a sanitizing setting, use that setting routinely.
   42. MIKE: On July 17^th, Taylor Fresh Foods released a statement regarding the cyclospora outbreak that said: “As a family owned and operated company, we are deeply concerned for those who became ill, their families, and the many Americans whose trust in the safety of their fresh produce has been shaken. That trust is something we’ve worked for decades to earn, and we are committed to doing everything in our power to restore that confidence. Based on information provided yesterday by the FDA, Taylor Farms de Mexico is voluntarily removing all iceberg lettuce sourced from central Mexico. No Taylor Farms branded salads or kits are associated with this outbreak. No Taylor Farms branded salad kits contain iceberg lettuce. While the FDA traceback is indicating a specific independent farm, which represents less than 1% of the U.S.’s iceberg lettuce supply, as the potential source of the outbreak, we have removed all iceberg lettuce from the region indefinitely.”
   43. MIKE: On that page at the same link I’m providing in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com, there is a list of product packages distributed between June 29^th and July 16^th that Taylor is voluntarily recalling, and you can check that list on that page.
2. This next story prominently features community activist and KPFT radio personality Jack Valinski. From HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA[.]ORG — Rainbows are on the verge of returning to Montrose streets; By Bianca Seward | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on July 15, 2026, 4:20 PM. TAGS: City of Houston, Houston, Houston Mayor, LGBTQ+, Local, News, Houston LGBTQ, Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Montrose, Pride Houston 365, Rainbow Banners, Rainbow Crosswalks,
   1. When the rainbow crosswalks at the intersection of Westheimer Road and Taft Street were stripped out last fall as part of a directive by the state government, Jack Valinski began making calls to restore the symbols of LGBTQIA+ pride.
   2. [Said Valinski, the president of the Montrose Super Neighborhood Council,] “I figured like in a month we would have had this. … I never thought it would be this long.”
   3. It’s been nearly nine months since the rainbow crosswalks were removed at the direction of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who cited guidance from federal transportation officials about public safety concerns on roadways and the use of taxpayer money for political messaging.
   4. Now, Valinski – alongside Pride Houston 365 President Kerry Ann Morrison, Harris County Attorney Abbie Kamin, Houston Mayor John Whitmire and Houston City Council members Joe Panzarella, Mario Castillo and Alejandra Salinas – have announced that rainbows will return to the Montrose area in the form of banners hung above Westheimer.
   5. And they could be funded by the mayor personally, according to Valinski.
   6. The local officials just have one last hurdle to clear before the banners are up.
   7. [Valinski said,] “We now have permission from the city. We now have to go through the bureaucracy of CenterPoint. … From what I understand, it’s just a process of getting the forms filled out and satisfying what they need because we’re putting stuff on their poles.”
   8. CenterPoint Energy, which supplies electricity to much of the Houston region and owns utility poles across the city, confirmed to Houston Public Media it received the request to hang banners. Valinski said the hope is to have them hung in time for the city’s rescheduled Pride parade on Aug. 15, but he added it’s not a guarantee.
   9. The annual parade, originally planned for June 6 in downtown Houston, was called off just hours before it was set to start due to rain.
   10. For Valinski, a co-founder of Pride Houston 365, the proposed banners are small but symbolic.
   11. [Valinski said,] “We’re putting rags on public utility poles, but it does mean a lot. … It means a lot because our crossing was taken away from us. This means a lot that this will be sort of a show of who and what we are in our community.”
   12. The plan for the banners is to hang them along Westheimer between Taft – where the original rainbow crosswalks were painted – to Montrose Boulevard. They will display the Intersex-Inclusive Pride flag, which was released in 2021.
   13. [Panzarella said,] “I was there at 2 a.m. when the bulldozers came to remove the Pride crosswalk, and to be able to come back and put up these banners all along Westheimer, as opposed to just one crosswalk, is really amazing to see. … The hope is that we can actually extend the banner district beyond its geographic footprint right now.”
   14. … How the installation will be funded is unclear. In the fall, then-city council member Abbie Kamin’s office allocated $10,000 to help finance the project. Panzarella, who took over Kamin’s city council seat in late May after winning a special election, said Tuesday the mayor’s office wanted to exclude city finances from the project.
   15. “So,” [Panzarella said,] “it’s going to be funded from private sources and that’s being led by the mayor.”
   16. The mayor’s office referred questions about financing to Valinski.
   17. [Valinski said,] “The mayor was a little bit concerned that if the city put the money in, that there would be a concern from the governor’s office. … Pride Houston has money to fund it, although we’re going to be raising money to help put that money back into our bucket. The mayor told us in a conversation when council member [Panzarella] was sworn in that he would fund it personally.”
   18. The mayor’s office did not respond to requests for comment about whether Whitmire offered to personally pay for the banners or about fears that using public funding would upset Texas’ Republican leaders, including Abbott.
   19. … The crosswalks, originally painted in 2017, became a longtime symbol of support for the LGBTQIA+ community. They were designed to honor Alex Hill, who at age 21 was killed by a hit-and-run driver at the intersection in 2016.
   20. In September, the painted crosswalks were removed as part of [construction] along Westheimer. Officials with the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County (METRO) then repainted the crosswalks on Oct. 1. But after Montrose’s rainbow crosswalks were put back in place, drawing attention from the state’s politically conservative leaders, Abbott ordered cities and counties to remove such messaging.
   21. The U.S. Department of Transportation had previously ordered state governments to evaluate roadways with messages, signage, and other art for removal, arguing such works are distractions on roadways. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy specifically called out “rainbow crosswalks” in a post on X at the time, adding, “Political banners have no place on public roads.”
   22. The colorful crosswalks in Montrose, considered a hub for Houston’s LGBTQIA+ community, were again removed on Oct. 20.
   23. While working to find a way to return the rainbows to Montrose in a permanent fashion, the city found an ordinance from October 1995 designating four districts in the city – including the area in Montrose – as established banner districts.
   24. Valinski said after Pride Houston moved downtown more than 10 years ago, the group forgot about the banners until the rainbow crossings were removed.
   25. [Abbie Kamin said,] “There are banner districts throughout the city of Houston, so this should not be controversial. … This is a historical banner district that already exists. It was simply inactive, and we worked with the community and with the administration to revive the district and bring it back.”
   26. Kamin said her city council office received an outpouring of support from the Montrose community to bring the rainbows back.
   27. [Kamin said,] “For nearly a year, we had been working with the community to make sure that the history of Montrose, but more importantly, the representation, the literal pride of our LGBTQIA community, and more broadly, our diverse Houston community is not erased.”
   28. MIKE: So thanks to the work and efforts of Jack Valinski and many others, Gay Pride will return to the Westheimer and Taft intersection.
   29. MIKE: Now, we just have to see if the feds or our intrusive Rightwing state overlords can find some air rights or other mostly-manufactured faux concern to prevent the banners from going up.
   30. MIKE: Stay tuned.
3. Next, from COMMUNITYIMPACT[.]COM — Houston council to consider ordinance that closes air conditioning loophole in rentals; Ariel Worthy | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | Published July 13, 2026 at 12:00 a.m. CT/Updated 4 hours ago. TAG: Houston Landlords, Houston, Air Conditioning, Tenants Rights, Summer Temperatures,
   1. Houston landlords would be required to provide and keep operable air conditioning for tenants under a newly proposed ordinance.
   2. … The city of Houston’s building standards code currently has a loophole that exempts landlords from providing air conditioning if they use window screens as a substitute for cooling.
   3. The ordinance would eliminate the window screen exemption and would approve compliance through: Central air, Window units, Portable ACs, [or] Other refrigerated air equipment.
   4. The ordinance would not require older buildings to be retrofitted for central air.
   5. … Called the Right to Air Conditioning ordinance, the measure was proposed by council member Alejandra Salinas, who said that while the majority of landlords already provide air conditioning, there are still thousands of renters who live without it.
   6. [Salinas said,] “In a Houston summer, working AC cannot continue to be a luxury. … Extreme heat disproportionately impacts Black and Latino neighborhoods, and no tenant should be left without reliable cooling. This ordinance makes working air conditioning a basic health and safety standard because every Houston renter deserves a safe place to live.”
   7. As Houston experiences more frequent extreme heat, renters without adequate cooling face potentially dangerous living conditions and serious health risks, especially seniors, young children and residents with disabilities, Salinas said.
   8. Between 2019 and 2023, Harris County Public Health reported more than 7,600 cases of heat-related illness and found that indoor areas without air conditioning significantly increased the risk of such illnesses, per the release.
   9. Houston Health Department data also shows that heat waves have driven sharp increases in 911 calls and hospitalizations, and at least 279 people died due to heat in Texas in 2022, with many of the cases being people who were homeless or living without air conditioning.
   10. … The ordinance is co-sponsored by council members Sallie Alcorn, Mario Castillo and Edward Pollard, and is supported by the Houston Apartment Association. Salinas will use Prop A to add the proposed ordinance to the agenda.
   11. Prop A allows council members to put their own proposed items on the agenda if at least three other members support them. Council will discuss it at the Prop A committee meeting July 28, and the item will appear on the agenda one to two weeks after the meeting.
   12. MIKE: When I had several investment properties, I never even considered buying a dwelling without air conditioning, most with central air.
   13. MIKE: Two houses had four window units each, with at least one of those window units in each house able to generate heat. After the 2021’s Winter Storm Uri, I upgraded both of those houses to central heat and air as a health and safety measure at a cost of almost $10,000 for the pair.
   14. MIKE: When AC failed, whether it was a window unit or central HVAC, I endeavored to service those systems as quickly as possible, dependent on when repair techs were available.
   15. MIKE: In return for that kind of attention to home maintenance, I collected a fair rent that was not near the top of area comparables.
   16. MIKE: So that’s the kind of importance I, as a maintenance-paying landlord, placed on both heat and air conditioning for my tenants.
   17. MIKE: With that experience as a background, to think that there are landlords that consider air conditioning in Harris County to be optional is almost impossible to wrap my head around.
   18. MIKE: That’s my roundabout way of saying that of course there should be a city ordinance requiring working AC in rental units, whether window or central.
   19. MIKE: To think that anyone here would consider opening windows during our 8-10 months of summer to keep temperatures cool enough to be safe is crazy to me.
   20. MIKE: As a coda to this commentary, I’ll just say that adding or replacing a window AC unit is about the least expensive kind of climate control a landlord can provide to a tenant. It requires little infrastructure aside from support hardware, and units are relatively inexpensive to have professionally installed.
4. From HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA[.]ORG — Corpus Christi gave $100M in water discounts to industry giants. Locals picked up the bill; By Neena Satija, The Texas Newsroom / Dylan Baddour, Inside Climate News | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on July 13, 2026, 8:20 AM. TAGS: Business, Energy & Environment Infrastructure, News, Politics, Texas, Corpus Christi, Infrastructure, KUT, Texas Businesses, Water, Water Rates,
   1. For at least a decade, Corpus Christi sold water to a handful of large industrial plants at a steeply discounted rate, according to documents and interviews with city officials. Residents and businesses paid more than $100 million to subsidize water for some of the world’s richest energy companies, the city’s rate models show.
   2. Three years ago, Corpus Christi doubled the companies’ water rates in an effort to correct the imbalance. But the companies, including Valero, Citgo and LyondellBassell, protested to state regulators, sparking a legal battle that will come to a head [at a public hearing over the matter] in front of an independent state agency in Austin.
   3. The outcome will have major implications for Corpus Christi, which is facing an unprecedented water supply crisis, as well as the energy companies that have long dominated its economy. If the companies prevail, Corpus could be forced to refund them tens of millions of dollars even as it desperately seeks funding for new water projects and raises rates on the rest of the region’s consumers.
   4. [Said Sylvia Campos, a city council member who campaigned on raising industrial water rates,] “I’m holding my breath. … Let’s hope that we don’t have to pay them back.”
   5. Valero, which is leading the effort to dispute rates through a coalition called Affordable Water for Corpus Christi, did not respond to requests for comment. … The [coalition’s] companies all buy water directly from Corpus Christi’s water utility to operate oil refineries and petrochemical plants just outside the city limits. …
   6. The industry group’s arguments for lower water rates are spelled out in thousands of pages of documents filed with the Public Utility Commission of Texas, a state regulator headed by a panel of gubernatorial appointees. In one filing, a consultant wrote that the group’s members should get a discount for water because they shouldn’t have to pay for “distribution infrastructure they do not own, maintain, or benefit from in the same way as inside-city users.”
   7. Kamil Taras, the city’s assistant director for finance and administration, said that’s not the case. Industrial facilities benefit from the entire water distribution system that the city’s water utility manages, he said, not just the portion outside city limits that connects them to its treatment plant.
   8. [Taras said, referring to the companies’ argument,] “They just want to pay for the one single line that they’re connected to, and that’s it. … It doesn’t work like that in the municipal water world.”
   9. Earlier this year, the companies demanded that Corpus Christi refund almost $80 million of their water-rate increases, according to a recent city memo that summarized the utility commission filings. The commission’s staff then looked at the evidence separately and recommended a refund of just $6 million, the city memo explains.
   10. Taras said that the industry coalition led by Valero recently offered to settle the case for $4 million, but the city chose not to settle and instead to go to the next step: a public hearing that will resemble a trial at an agency called the State Office of Administrative Hearings.
   11. At that hearing, which [took] place over three days [last] week, Corpus Christi officials and the companies [argued] their respective positions in front of a state official called an administrative law judge. The judge will then make a recommendation, but the final say rests with the utilities commission.
   12. Peter Zanoni, Corpus Christi’s city manager, said he hopes the city can preserve the rate increases because “the large industry is not paying their fair share” for water.
   13. [Zanoni added,] “It’s not fair to the retired family or the hardworking family that might have one parent and two, three jobs for them to support multi-billion dollar corporations and pay their water bills.”
   14. … Even as they’re being challenged on the rate increases they already implemented, Corpus Christi city officials say they’ll have to continue raising rates in order to pay for a host of new water projects. It’s a common need across Texas: The state’s latest water plan, released in May, estimated it could cost Texans $174 billion to avoid water shortages in the next 50 years.
   15. [Said Republican state Sen. Charles Perry, chair of the Senate Water, Agriculture and Rural Affairs committee during a hearing in May,] “The only thing that’s keeping Texas from meeting its water needs is money.”
   16. Perry made it clear that many communities need to be prepared to pay a lot more for water, maybe even “double what we’re paying. But that’s the cost of new water in Texas.”
   17. Corpus Christi city officials say that’s exactly what they’ve been trying to do in the city. And they’ve focused on large industrial users because those companies were for years paying a far lower rate for water than most residential and business consumers.
   18. In 2016, for instance, the companies — collectively referred to as “OCL (outside city limits) large-volume customers” — paid about $2 per 1,000 gallons of water, while many other residential and commercial customers inside the city paid three times that rate. All the rates went down slightly over the next few years, city data show, but the disparities persisted.
   19. In 2023, the city commissioned a study to determine if those rates were an accurate reflection of the amount of money Corpus Christi spent sending water to different types of customers. The city wanted to know: Is it actually cheaper to provide water to the large industrial plants, which could justify their lower rate?
   20. The answer was a resounding no. In a presentation to city council members, the study’s authors wrote that “Large Volume was under-recovering its cost of service” by $15 million. In other words, the city was losing $15 million a year providing water to its biggest industrial users. Smaller commercial businesses, on the other hand, were over-paying for water by about $9 million, the study found.
   21. For Zanoni, the city manager, the study confirmed what he had long suspected — even from his days in San Antonio, where he worked before becoming Corpus Christi’s city manager. …
   22. So in the fall of 2023, Corpus Christi’s city council agreed to double water rates for the select group of large-volume users that had long enjoyed a discount. The change “basically corrected that under-collection,” according to Tamas, the city’s assistant finance director. The new rates raised Valero’s annual water bill from $9 million to $18 million, Taras said.
   23. The vote by City Council was 8-to-1 in favor, notable in a city where industrial giants loom large over local politics. Six months later, the companies filed their protest. Council member Roland Barrera, who cast the sole vote against, said in an interview he agreed that the industrial water rate needed to rise, but not so steeply and suddenly.
   24. [Barrera said,] “My objection was to the drastic increase that we implemented one year to another. … If we want to remain a manufacturing community, which we’ve been for over 70 years, we have to have some level of predictability.”
   25. Barrera said the discounted industrial water rates were intended, in part, to help Corpus Christi attract investment from companies that build thirsty facilities like refineries or chemical plants. Otherwise, he said, they might have chosen to locate in larger petrochemical complexes of regions with more abundant water, like Houston or Louisiana.
   26. The companies have argued that they deserve the discount because they’re in much closer proximity to Corpus Christi’s water treatment plant and therefore don’t use as much of its distribution system as other consumers.
   27. But that’s not how water delivery works, Zanoni pointed out, [saying,] “The entire city grid is interconnected. … If something were to malfunction in the water distribution pipes at one end of the city — say, at a water tower far away from Valero — the water pressure all the way at the other end, at the company’s oil refinery, would also be impacted.
   28. Corpus Christi’s new industrial water rates reflect an equitable distribution of costs, Zanoni said, and remove the burden on small businesses that have historically subsidized the big corporations.
   29. [Said Zanoni,] “We’re getting sued because we’re trying to charge a fair rate to the big industry … Industry in this case is not being a good partner with the city.”
   30. MIKE: I discussed other aspects of the impending Corpus Christi water crisis in my July 5^th show.
   31. MIKE: I think that listeners can form their own opinions about which side of this story’s protagonists they support, but I feel that there’s a larger issue to discuss here, which I’ll address at the end of my comments.
   32. MIKE: Various governmental entities, whether local or state, frequently offer “sweeteners” when bidding competitively for various kinds of business investments. The logic usually boils down to the value of the initial infrastructure investment by the business, the direct or indirect tax revenue benefits it would bring, and the jobs created.
   33. MIKE: All of that is supposed to create greater community value than the tax or utility discounts offered, in order to secure said business investment.
   34. MIKE: In Corpus Christi, the central water rate decision made to attract those bulk users was presumably an initial assumption that providing water to a bulk user was cheaper than providing it to smaller businesses and residential users.
   35. MIKE: The study belatedly commissioned by the city said that it was not. Looking at that study, the numbers cited in the article don’t produce enough context tell the whole story because of inequalities of scale.
   36. MIKE: In FY2024, the city’s water service cost a total of about $116 million. The “Large Volume” users accounted for about 40% of that service cost, but in 2024, they only paid for about 27% of Corpus Christi’s cost of providing that water service.
   37. MIKE: According to the study, which is linked in the story and in my comments, residential users were paying just a quarter percent less than the city’s cost of supplying water service to them.
   38. MIKE: Commercial users — which is a category that can probably cover anything from small thousand square foot retail spaces to medium-sized companies — were paying almost 36% more than their cost of delivery, while Large Volume users such as Valero et al. were paying about 32% less than the cost of water delivery.
   39. MIKE: As an aside, irrigation water users had a 90% discount on water delivery costs, but that subsidy by the city only cost a bit over $300 thousand dollars. That discount — which is no doubt considered to be supporting an overall public “good” — is practically a rounding error in the total cost of service of almost $116 million.
   40. MIKE: On my July 5^th show, it was reported that Corpus Christi is still debating the possibility of building a nearly $1 billion desalination plant. That would likely require a bond issue, but that bond’s interest rate will be decided in part by how sure the creditors are of being paid back.
   41. MIKE: I presume that if water rates don’t seem to balance service costs, it will affect the city’s credit rating. That loan rate could be higher and could cost the city more, so this question of who pays how much for water isn’t just an academic equity or cost-of-maintenance question. It will also likely affect interest rates for any bonds the city needs to issue.
   42. MIKE: So as I said at the beginning of my analysis, there is a bigger issue that this whole story brings to the fore. Namely, what kinds of concessions should a government be willing to make to attract business investment?
   43. MIKE: Generally speaking, governments are not in the business of making a profit. Rather, they are in the business of supplying essential goods and services to their constituents.
   44. MIKE: But that said, they still have to balance the books in the short term — which is to say, annual budgets — but also in the long term when funding big ticket expenditures like infrastructure, and issuing bonds that will require long-term annual payments.
   45. MIKE: Let me offer a personal example here for your consideration.
   46. MIKE: For most of the 20 years that I was a window covering installer, I made a decent income. I started in 1979. In 1980, I was doing well enough to buy and outfit a 3/4-ton Chevy van.
   47. MIKE: Around 1985, I started thinking about buying a new van. When I put pencil to paper, I realized that when I priced out that van — which was a major part of my business infrastructure — in spite of my sense that I was doing well, I was not actually making enough to support a replacement.
   48. MIKE: That meant that in a real sense, if I couldn’t afford to replace that depreciating piece of my professional infrastructure, I was losing money.
   49. MIKE: That’s what a government faces when they start giving various tax or other breaks to companies when they try to attract them.
   50. MIKE: In short, after the government gives away these financial sweeteners to businesses to attract them, will those businesses still pay enough for government services and in taxes so that the benefits that they throw off more than pay for those financial inducements — benefits such as job creation, property value increases, sales taxes, and other ancillary business development and benefits they stimulate?
   51. MIKE: In other words, is there a sort of profit generated to the community by those businesses after the costs of their sweeteners are figured in?
   52. MIKE: In a great many cases, after governments look back over years, the answer is no. All of those sweeteners ultimately generated a net loss to the community that the community has to make up for.
   53. MIKE: Like the cost of a desalination plant.
   54. MIKE: In other words, like my experience with my work van, Corpus Christi often felt like they were doing well, but in the end, they really didn’t gain enough to justify the costs of attracting those businesses.
   55. MIKE: That is the position in which Corpus Christi currently finds itself.
   56. MIKE: The rate hearing at the Public Utility Commission of Texas began last week. To be continued.
5. For those of us who didn’t feel particularly celebratory about the United States’ 250^th birthday …; TAGS: United States, US Historical milestones, Articles of Confederation, US Constitution, Emancipation Proclamation, 13th Amendment, 14th Amendment, Civil Rights Act, US Dollar,
   1. MIKE: The good news is there are plenty of other US anniversaries to come over the next couple of decades. An excellent list can be found at Major Anniversaries in US History—2026, which I’m linking to in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com. Not all of those anniversaries may be deemed worthy of celebration, but there are plenty to choose from. Here are some of my picks.
   2. MIKE: From 1781-1789, our first US Constitution was the Articles of Confederation. The Articles were created in 1777. As such, they should be celebrated as our first foray into national governance. That 250^th anniversary is in 2027 for its creation, and 2031 for when they went into effect as our first governing document.
   3. MIKE: The United States adopted the dollar as its official currency on July 6, 1785. The 250^th anniversary of the US dollar will be 2035.
   4. MIKE: The 1787 adoption of the US Constitution (which has hopefully been better enforced by then) will be 250 years old in 2037.
   5. MIKE: The 1863 Emancipation Proclamation will have its 175 anniversary in 2038.
   6. MIKE: The 13th Amendment, which was ratified on December 6, 1865, formally abolished slavery and involuntary servitude across the United States. It will be 165 years old in 2030
   7. MIKE: The 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868 during the Reconstruction era, guarantees birthright citizenship, equal protection under the law, and due process for all individuals. That will be 160 years old in 2028
   8. MIKE: The 19th Amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote was ratified in 1920. The 125^th anniversary of that amendment will be 2045.
   9. MIKE: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 will be 75 years old in 2039.
   10. MIKE: Voting Rights Act of 1965 will be 75 years old in 2040.
   11. MIKE: The Civil Rights Act of 1968, commonly known as the Fair Housing Act, prohibits housing discrimination based on race, religion, national origin, and sex. It will be 60 years old in 2028 and 75 years old in 2043.
   12. MIKE: There may be other milestones in US history that we can celebrate in the years and decades to come, so don’t lose heart.
6. From THEHILL[.]COM — Trump targets Iran’s infrastructure in bid to squeeze regime; by Filip Timotija | THEHILL.COM | 07/18/26 6:00 AM ET. TAGS: U.S. Military, Iran, United States, Memorandum Of Understanding (MOU), Iranian Infrastructure, President Trump, Strait of Hormuz,
   1. The U.S. military is widening its attacks across Iran, striking a port facility, energy infrastructure, and bridges as President Trump looks to squeeze the Iranian regime. 
   2. Iran has retaliated against nearby allies, targeting U.S. bases in the region, along with power and desalination plants, as tensions escalate, bringing both sides closer to an all-out war. 
   3. The intensified fighting comes as the memorandum of understanding (MOU) is in shambles and the two countries wrestle over the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, a key energy shipping waterway, where traffic has plummeted over the last two weeks. 
   4. Vice Adm. John W. “Fozzie” Miller, who was the commander of the U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, said it was important for the U.S. to change the “calculus” by striking bridges, railway infrastructure, command and control centers — anything that Tehran might use to supply weaponry, like missiles, drones, fast boats — to take military control of the strait. 
   5. [Miller said in an interview with The Hill,] “I think we should continue to expand that to include other ways all over the country where the regime has capability that allows them to exercise command and control, and allows them to exercise power over people, and so I think this is a positive development.”.
   6. The U.S. forces conducted airstrikes for the seventh consecutive nighton Friday, striking bridges around Bandar Abbas, a port city on the Persian Gulf, which is the headquarters of the Iranian Navy and handles more than 85 percent of the country’s container traffic. 
   7. S. Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Friday evening that U.S. forces concluded strikes around 9:30 p.m. EDT, and once again hit Iranian surveillance sites, military logistics infrastructure, underground weapons storage, and maritime capabilities.
   8. Iranian state broadcaster IRIB reported attacks in and around the city Thursday and said that several bridges and highways connecting the hub to provinces were closed down. 
   9. Miller, the ex-commander of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Bahrain, called Bandar Abbas “sort of the center of gravity for the Strait of Hormuz region, and for whoever wants to control that.” 
   10. Strikes landed in Bandar Khamir, a port city west of Bandar Abbas, in the Hormozgan province, hitting a major bridge that ignited a fire. 
   11. The U.S. military is also hitting ballistic missiles, launch systems, and … drone inventory and storage sites to curb Iran’s ability to retaliate against U.S. bases in the Gulf. 
   12. [Ret. 4-star Army Gen. Jack Keane said during his Friday appearance on Fox News,] “Isolating the Strait of Hormuz was always part of the plan, so that’s why you see bridges being destroyed because we don’t want them to come in and be able to reinforce logistically, and begin to recover the capabilities that we’re taking away from them.”
   13. Keane said Iran can still harass commercial ships attempting to transit the strait a “little bit,” but argued the U.S. can take down all of Iran’s means and its ability to control the waterway. [He said,] “It just takes some time to deal with this.”
   14. The U.S. military destroyed the Chahbahar Shahid Kalantari Port surveillance tower on Thursday, which U.S. officials said was part of a maritime surveillance network used by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) to surveil and target commercial vessels in the strait. 
   15. [Miller said of the tower in Chahbahar, Iran’s only oceanic port, which is situated on the coast of the Gulf of Oman,] “It’s not just an inability to use it today because of the blockade; it’s the inability to use it for a long time to come.”
   16. Earlier this week, Iran’s retaliation consisted of firing missiles and one-way attack drones at U.S. positions in Kuwait and Bahrain. Kuwaiti authorities said on Friday that Iran struck a power and water desalination plant, causing damage in a country where around 90 percent of drinking water is from desalination. 
   17. The Kuwaiti military said it intercepted 32 drones early Thursday. The Jordanian Armed Forces said they intercepted three incoming Iranian missiles early Friday. 
   18. Qatar and Oman — two countries involved in mediating between Iran and the U.S. — also came under fire. Qatar’s defense ministry said its military intercepted an Iranian missile early Friday, but that a child was wounded by the shrapnel due to the interception.
   19. Harrison Mann, a former executive officer of the Defense Intelligence Agency’s Middle East/Africa Regional Center, said the definition of “insanity is trying the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”, and that is what is unfolding as President Trump continues to rely on strikes in hopes of shaking Iran’s control of the strait. 
   20. [Former US Army major, Mann told The Hill on Friday,] “By attacking Iranian infrastructure, including civilian targets which may constitute war crimes, Trump is certainly courting a return to full-scale war. But two developments might make him deescalate once again: Pleas from the Gulf states, which will bear the brunt of Iran’s retaliation — Iran has already attacked civilian infrastructure, including a desalination plant in Kuwait, a clear war crime — or an undeniable U.S. energy crisis as the SPR drains or if the Houthis close the Bab el Mandeb.”
   21. [MIKE: While not defined in the story, the “SPR” probably refers to the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve. Continuing …]
   22. Iran might consider Kuwait’s desalination plant a fair target after Iran’s water storage facilities were struck last month, he said. 
   23. The U.S. military struck water facilities near the city of Kuhestak in Sirik county on June 10, damaging two concrete tanks and zapping water supplies for residents, the Iranian state broadcaster reported. 
   24. The activity [risks] returning the region to full-fledged conflict, one that was tamped down by a fragile ceasefire and the MOU. But Miller, the retired … admiral, said he was not sure the U.S. “ever really factually exited a period of conflict” with Iran. 
   25. As the U.S. continues to launch strikes, the Trump administration is further bolstering its presence in the U.S. Central Command theater, which already counts well over 50,000 U.S. service members.
   26. S. fighter planes were flying from Europe to the Middle East Friday, according to flight-tracking data reviewed by The Hill. 
   27. Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit are in the CENTCOM area of responsibility. The unit boardeda sanctioned oil tanker heading to an Iranian port Thursday as the U.S. continues to enforce the naval blockade, which was resumedon Tuesday. 
   28. The administration notified Israel that it is dispatching dozens of refueling aircraft to the country, Axios reported
   29. The U.S. has around 30 military refueling jets at Ben Gurion International Airport. 
   30. Multiple Air Force C-17 Globemaster transport aircraft were flying from Germany to Israel and Jordan on Friday, according to flight-tracking data.
   31. Mann, a former US Army major, said sending additional refueling aircraft suggests that some Gulf nations may have refused access, basing, and overflight to Washington or “just that they are now assessed as too vulnerable” to Iranian attacks. 
   32. [Former US Army major, Mann said,] “Either way, the U.S. military using Israel as a base of operations will make deescalation harder. … Iran will strike Israel, giving [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu an excuse to resume his attempted war of annihilation against Iran.”  
   33. Commercial ships have continued to be harassed. The U.K. Maritime Trade Operations, which is linked to the British Royal Navy, said a vessel was attacked by an unknown projectile near the strait on Friday. 
   34. The crossings in the Strait of Hormuz hit a three-week low, according to ship tracker Kpler, with successful passages falling to eight on Thursday. Seven of the eight used the route near the coast of Iran. 
   35. Trump said Thursday night during his address to the nation that the U.S. is “winning” big in Iran, and that the American public will see the “fruits of that labor very, very shortly.”
   36. Vali Nasr, a Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies, said Iran is “calculating” that the president will try to break Iran’s “back,” but once the pressure increases on the global economy, the U.S. will have to return to the negotiating table to strike another MOU. 
   37. [Nasr, an expert on U.S.-Middle East relations, said during his Friday appearance on CNN,] “I think we have to remember [that] for the United States, this is not everything, but for Iran this is an existential fight, and so they are willing to suffer more and accept more hardship because the alternative is basically complete collapse.”
   38. [Nasr continued,] “If they give in now, then basically they may as well surrender, and I don’t think they’re ready to surrender. And if they’re not ready to surrender, they have no choice but fighting. … That’s the way they are thinking about this.”
   39. MIKE: I sure hope that the US military high command is cognizant of possibly committing potential war crimes ordered by a president convicted of multiple felonies and sexual assault, and will refuse to perpetrate them.
   40. MIKE: As Trump’s war of choice continues, it’s important to remember the history and context that led to it.
   41. MIKE: Citing a Trump White House archive link, Google AI said, “President Donald Trump officially withdrew the United States from the Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA) on May 8, 2018. Characterizing it as the “worst deal in history”, he subsequently reimposed strict economic sanctions on Iran. This move led Iran to gradually step back from its commitments under the pact.”
   42. MIKE: The agreement that Trump tore up was universally acknowledged as the most intrusively-enforced nuclear agreement in history. Further, the JCPOA included specific language that said, “Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.”
   43. MIKE: The language mentioning nuclear weapons in the Trump-Iran Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was not as definitive, saying only, “The Islamic Republic of Iran reaffirms that it shall not procure or develop nuclear weapons.”
   44. MIKE: So if Trump’s rationale for this war is to prevent Iran from ever having nuclear weapons, he personally and deliberately set the stage for it on May 18, 2018 by withdrawing from a multinational agreement that conclusively stated that Iran would never have a nuclear weapon. Further, that pact had strict enforcement methods that made sure that Iran would never have a nuclear weapon.
   45. MIKE: So this conflict is in every sense, “Trump’s War”, and even worse, we are now in a far worse place than we would have been if Trump had simply left the JCPOA in place.
   46. MIKE: This is just another critical way in which elections matter. And of course, you know what everything Trump touches turns into.
   47. This next story is from The South China Morning Post (SCMP). I rarely use it on this show, but it’s a source I monitor. I find it useful for getting a Chinese/Asian perspective on world news, and I find it factually accurate for the most part. It used to be more like a Western news source, but after China cracked down on Hong Kong, where it’s based, the ‘flavor’ of its reporting changed somewhat. Google AI describes The SCMP as, “widely considered to have a center to pro-Beijing editorial stance. While it maintains an independent and internationally focused journalistic tone, its coverage generally aligns with the People’s Republic of China’s perspectives, particularly on sensitive geopolitical and domestic issues. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, … Since being acquired by the Chinese tech conglomerate Alibaba Group in 2016, the publication has frequently been scrutinized for shifting away from its historically critical stance on Beijing. Observers note that while it provides highly granular business and cultural reporting, it often avoids or softly criticizes Chinese government policies. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]”
   48. MIKE: So I still read stories from the SCMP, but I mentally filter what it reports about China or Chinese policy. All of that being said, this next story is from the South China Morning Post. I find it interesting because it describes Chinese progress in rocket technology, and specifically because it discusses a Chinese government perspective on the subject. So without further ado — How China’s aerospace vision differs from Elon Musk’s SpaceX; By Frank Chen | SCMP.COM (South China Morning Post) | Published: 11:00pm, 13 Jul 2026/Updated: 1:10am, 14 Jul 2026. TAGS: China’s Private Sector, Aerospace: Policy, Aerospace: Geopolitics, Aerospace: Industry Trends, Aerospace: Companies, China National Space Administration (CNSA), Spacex, China Economy, Mainland China,  China’s Space Programme,
   49. China’s controlled seaborne recovery of a rocket booster using a net-capture vessel last week proved the viability and virtues of its state-led aerospace efforts, experts said, contrasting it with the market-focused approach adopted by America’s SpaceX.
   50. [MIKE: I wanted to see what that looked like, so I found a YouTube video that explains it, which I’ve linked to in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com. It’s an interesting system design. Continuing …]
   51. They also said Beijing was convinced that keeping the state, rather than a private company, at the helm of its space programme was a more secure, resilient and deliverable way to win a space race that had more than commercial interests at stake in the eyes of policymakers.
   52. Friday’s recovery of a reusable Long March-10B rocket booster in the South China Sea turned a new page in the tech and space rivalry between China and the United States.
   53. The retrieval made China the second nation to have mastered the precision recovery of an orbital-class rocket component, analysts said.
   54. [Said Lung Siu Fung, director of research at the equity division of CCB International Securities, the Hong Kong-based investment banking and brokerage arm of China Construction Bank,] “A more confident Beijing is looking at the American model, represented by SpaceX’s dominance, with caution. … China’s space sector is, in a nutshell, a national team. Unlike the US, China’s vibrant commercial space companies are playing a supplementary role.”
   55. He said the US had first-mover advantages, augmented by SpaceX’s rapid technological iterations and a capital market willing to embrace high-risk, high-reward opportunities, but Beijing deemed its state-led model the best way to catch up.
   56. [Lung said,] “If China relied solely on organic, market-driven development, it would struggle to keep pace … China has to actuate a nationwide system: bridging the gap [with the US] requires national guidance, resources and mobilisation … Friday’s mission is a vindication of such an approach.”
   57. During the mission, the Long March booster deployed landing hooks as it fell through the sky, dropping precisely into an arresting net on a recovery vessel.
   58. The rocket and capture platform were designed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, with the approach shifting the engineering complexity from the rocket to the ship, eliminating the need for heavy, complex landing legs like those fitted on the boosters used by SpaceX.
   59. Analysts also highlighted Beijing’s security considerations, with space viewed as more than a commercial arena.
   60. [Said Bryan Luk, programme director of APAC Focus at the Institute for Greater China Studies, a think tank based in Hong Kong,] “It’s a strategic domain where launches, satellite constellations, remote sensing and orbital infrastructure are tied to sovereignty, security and industrial policy. … It’s more than who offers the best tech at the lowest cost, but who can be entrusted with critical space infrastructure, sensitive data and national dependency … there is a broader turn towards space market protectionism, or at least selective strategic screening.”
   61. Another example of China’s state-led approach is its Qianfan satellite constellation project – a nascent challenger to SpaceX’s Starlink.
   62. Last month, after the number of Qianfan satellites passed the 200 mark, state broadcaster China Central Television described the race to build satellite infrastructure “a strategic battle between nations that China must win and control”.
   63. While Starlink is under private ownership, the Qianfan project is being undertaken by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology, a “national team” member backed by Shanghai’s city government and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). Qianfan’s chief commander, Hu Haiying, also heads CAS’ microsatellite academy.
   64. CCB’s Lung said the SpaceX model did not align with Beijing’s emphasis on security, and China was unlikely to outsource critical space missions to a few private entities.
   65. [Lung said,] “China will not have a non-SOE giant with a grip on the entire sector, but commercial firms still have space to grow. … China’s ecosystem is like ‘a hundred flowers blooming’ under government guidance and also in competition.”
   66. He said many of China’s space players that were not state-owned enterprises (SOEs) benefited from substantial support from local authorities and that while they competed against each other, with several mulling initial public offerings, they were subject to strategic government coordination.
   67. In another sign of Beijing’s determination to see public and private talent and resources coalesce, the China National Space Administration (CNSA) unveiled the first members of a Commercial Space Innovation Consortium on July 1.
   68. The 271 members comprise SOEs and commercial entities with business covering satellite development, launch, telemetry, tracking, data application and other areas.
   69. [CNSA said in a statement,] “The consortium will address bottlenecks like fragmented resources, lack of standards and insufficient collaboration.”
   70. MIKE: I think that history suggests that there are advantages and disadvantages to both the SpaceX and Chinese models and rocket recovery systems. And let’s not forget that for Starship, SpaceX has been developing the so-called “chopsticks” method of rocket recovery.
   71. MIKE: There are also other players in the reusable rocket race, so there may be more innovations to come.

You’ve been listening to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig from KPFT Houston 90.1-HD2, Galveston 89.5-HD2, Livingston/Goodrich 89.9-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!