Except for timely election info, the extensive list of voting resources will now be at the bottom.

“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 it sounds to you like I am alarmist, that is because I am ringing an alarm …” ~ Governor JB Pritzker famously said on August 26, 2025 (“JB Pritzker BLASTS Trump: POWERFUL SPEECH protecting Illinois’ largest city”, August 26, 2025) Full text of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s speech at news conference on reported Trump military plan for Chicago (August 26, 2025)

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, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Germany, and elsewhere.

On this show, we discuss local, state, national, and international stories that may have slipped under your radar. At my website, THINKWINGRADIO-dot-COM, I link to all the articles I read and cite, as well as other relevant sources. Articles and commentaries often include lots of internet links for those of you who want to dig deeper. I do try to fact-check myself and include the links I use to do so.

It’s now the 58th week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC; and 47 weeks since Tennessee Governor Bill Lee deployed National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee at Trump’s request, where they apparently remain for now.  

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. Fair warning, our next election day is November 3.
   1. Sample ballots are now You can see your ballot at the link I’m providing in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com by inputting basic information for look-up purposes.
   2. Most ballot candidates are marked with their party affiliation. A few are not. For those candidates, if you have a party preference, you can look up their names on the web, and you can usually find notes about past party affiliations.
   3. There is also a ballot initiative relating to HPD enforcement priorities and methods, and you can vote YES or NO. There is an HPM story about that proposition which you can read at the link I’m providing in this show post. It’s called “Houston voters to consider deprioritized enforcement of cannabis laws, ban on no-knock warrants”
   4. The last day to register to vote, or to correct information on your registration, is Oct. 5.
   5. Early voting is just about 4 weeks away. Get yourself mentally prepared.
   6. Early Voting will run from OCT 19 – 30, 2026
   7. MIKE: Note that you are allowed to bring in notes to the polls to help you make your selections, but you MUST take your notes with you when you leave.
   8. Don’t be moved to overconfidence. Get out and VOTE! The only poll that matters is the one on election day.
2. Houston Public Media has a challenge for you. — Election 2026: Make your voice heard; By HPM News Staff | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on August 14, 2026, 9:18 AM. TAGS: Election 2026, News,
   1. With the November midterm election approaching, Houston Public Media wants to hear from you. Fill out our quick online survey and tell us:
   2. What issues matter most to you this election?
   3. What races are you most interested in?
   4. What questions do you want us to ask the candidates?
   5. Your responses will help shape our election coverage and may be used in upcoming stories.
   6. MIKE: I think that HoustonPublicMedia has offered us all a way to shape their pre-election coverage. All you have to do is go to the story posted at ThinkwingRadio[.]com and click on the link. When the article loads, answer HPM’s questions.
3. Next, from HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA].]ORG — After spike in misdemeanor marijuana arrests, Houston mayor blames district attorney; By Dominic Anthony Walsh | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on September 10, 2026, 9:45 AM. TAGS: Law Enforcement, News, Cannabis, District Attorney Sean Teare, Houston Mayor John Whitmire, Houston Police Department, Kim Ogg, marijuana, Misdemeanor marijuana arrests,
   1. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday [last week], Houston Mayor John Whitmire blamed a sharp spike in misdemeanor marijuana arrests on Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare, whose office prosecutes crimes in the city.
   2. His comments came days after Houston Public Media reported a nearly 1,200% increase in misdemeanor marijuana arrests by the Houston Police Department under Whitmire compared to the three years before he took office.
   3. [Whitmire said on Wednesday,] “It’s a very complex issue, and certainly you’re playing loose with those numbers. … It’s largely the change in district attorney. Charges don’t come about without talking to the district attorney.”
   4. According to an analysis of Harris County criminal court records, the Harris County District Attorney’s (DA) Office ramped up prosecutions of misdemeanor marijuana cases in 2024 — from an average of 151 in the preceding three years to more than 1,600 — before Teare took office.
   5. Kim Ogg ran the office until Teare took over in 2025 after [he defeated] her in the Democratic primary. Prosecutions have remained elevated under Teare, with more than 1,200 last year and nearly 700 so far this year.
   6. … Ogg implemented a diversion program for misdemeanor marijuana possession in 2017, offering a path away from jail if alleged offenders agreed to complete 90 days of community supervision and a cognitive course.
   7. [Ogg told Houston Public Media on Wednesday,] “It was a negotiated compromise [with law enforcement leaders] so that we could keep cops on the street longer and stop ruining individual work and school opportunities through unnecessary convictions, especially when marijuana was legal in so many states.”
   8. But in Aug. 2023, Ogg issued a memo stating her office would “now evaluate every drug possession case … for the direct filing of charges,” citing “the increasing public safety threat of fentanyl.” In 2024, the first full year after the memo, prosecutions surged by more than 550%.
   9. Teare’s office shared the memo with Houston Public Media in response to questions about the spike in marijuana prosecutions — but Ogg argued it wasn’t relevant.
   10. [Ogg said,] “That has nothing to do with marijuana. It has zero to do with marijuana. … It was all directed at controlled substances, namely fentanyl or white powdery substances that could have been fentanyl, but weren’t known to police until and if lab tests were done.”
   11. Ogg attributed the spike in prosecutions to “arrests reaching a pre-COVID normalcy.”
   12. A spokesperson for Teare said the memo “absolutely corresponded with the spike in marijuana prosecutions.”
   13. After Teare took office, he expanded eligibility criteria for the diversion program. Participation has increased while prosecutions have ticked down — but his office is still accepting misdemeanor marijuana cases at an elevated level compared to 2023. Teare was not made available for an interview.
   14. [A spokesperson for DA Teare said in a statement,] “I want to strongly emphasize that DA Teare has long been on record as opposing the use of law enforcement resources to go after low-level non-violent drug charges. … But he still has to operate within the clear confines of state law.”
   15. In 2023, the Texas Legislature curtailed local prosecutors’ ability to not pursue certain crimes — like low-level marijuana possession. Potential penalties include removal from office.
   16. The DA’s office prosecuted more than 7,400 misdemeanor marijuana cases in 2016, before the diversion program began, and a spokesperson for the office said those types of cases currently comprise “a miniscule number — .021% — of misdemeanor charges we now take.”
   17. … On Wednesday, Whitmire argued the DA’s increased willingness to prosecute low-level marijuana offenses drove the spike in arrests.
   18. [Whitmire said,] “Personal use of marijuana is not a priority of HPD. … The officers use discretion when they discover personal use of marijuana. We talk to the district attorney’s office, and they make the final decision whether anyone will be accepted in intake. I know you might not like that number, but those are the facts.”
   19. According to former DA Kim Ogg, Whitmire shouldn’t be held responsible for the spike in arrests.
   20. [Ogg argued,] “The question shouldn’t be directed to Mayor Whitmire — it should be directed to the police department about what their internal policies are. … How much discretion do law enforcement agencies have over whether or not to arrest or issue a citation if the DA’s office is accepting the charges and not referring someone to a diversion program?”
   21. How officers respond to small amounts of marijuana is “totally dictated” by department leadership and the DA’s office, according to South Texas College of Law assistant professor Tom Hogan.
   22. An HPD spokesperson said the department does not have a general order directing officers whether or not to arrest someone for misdemeanor possession of marijuana. The Harris County Sheriff’s Office, by contrast, lists misdemeanor marijuana possession under its cite-and-release program, allowing alleged offenders to avoid jail.
   23. HPD officers used to be able to avoid charges altogether by forcing people caught with small amounts of marijuana to “trash it or dispose of it,” said Houston Police Officers’ Union President Douglas Griffith.
   24. [Griffith argued,] “You can’t do that anymore with body cameras. … You’re considered tampering with evidence. So now everybody has to deal with the diversion program or get charged.”
   25. Griffith opposes a local proposition on the November ballot that would instruct HPD to make “misdemeanor marijuana possession its lowest possible enforcement priority.” On Wednesday, Whitmire agreed it wasn’t needed.
   26. [Whitmire said,] “Houstonians will get to speak, but even before the ballot initiative, it is not a priority of HPD. … You know it, I know it, and most of us realize that.”
   27. In 2025, HPD arrested 426 people for misdemeanor possession of marijuana — comprising about a third of the more than 1,200 such cases prosecuted by the DA’s office last year. Other cases came from the county sheriff and constables, school district police departments and other law enforcement agencies.
   28. More people participated in the diversion program — about 1,400, according to the DA’s office — than were arrested by all law enforcement agencies. HPD cases accounted for more than a third of the diversions, referring 534 people to the program.
   29. [Said Jeff Reichman, principal consultant at January Advisors, which published an analysis of Harris County marijuana prosecution data in August,] The DA’s office sits “at the bottom of a funnel for dozens and dozens of law enforcement agencies that can arrest you in Harris County.”
   30. [Reichman said,] “At the end of the day, we’re not seeing the level of arrests that we were seeing in 2016 and before, but we know that marijuana use is definitely up in the last 10 years. … So ultimately this is a policing issue. This is whether or not police choose to arrest for these offenses.”
   31. MIKE: When looking at Mayor Whitmire’s statement assigning responsibility for the arrest numbers, I think he’s either being a little careless and sloppy as to where he assigns blame, or else he’s being deliberately disingenuous about it by implying that new City District Attorney Shawn Teare is responsible.
   32. MIKE: Mayor Whitmire is a politician with decades of experience and who knows how to parse a phrase. If his remarks implied that the marijuana arrest numbers were the responsibility of Shawn Teare, then he didn’t do that by accident.
   33. MIKE: Let’s also remember that Kim Ogg used to run as a Democrat, but after she lost the 2025 primary to Teare, she switched to the Republican Party.
   34. MIKE: My view is that if Kim Ogg can be comfortable being a Republican now, then she was probably always managing her office, at least philosophically, as a Republican.
   35. MIKE: Let’s further recall that Mayor Whitmire — who is at least nominally a Democrat — was perfectly comfortable at a Republican fundraising event for Republican U.S. Representative Dan Crenshaw. Crenshaw was facing a primary challenger from his Right in a primary he eventually lost, but that’s not relevant here. What matters is that Crenshaw — or whomever won the primary — was going to run against a Democrat, and Whitmire was there aiding in raising money for that ultimate House race.
   36. MIKE: That participation eventually got Whitmire effectively blackballed by the Harris County Democratic Party, and he became ineligible for any future political endorsements by the Party.
   37. MIKE: Could Mayor Whitmire have been at that Crenshaw fundraiser in the first place if he wasn’t technically a non-partisan mayor?
   38. MIKE: This is why I hate non-partisan elections. It allows a lot of sketchy gamesmanship about who believes in what.
4. Next, from HOUSTONCHRONICLE[.]COM — Houston Muslim leaders tout voter mobilization as they bash new social studies curriculum; By Adrian Ashford, Staff Writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | Sep 16, 2026. TAGS: The Islamic Society of Greater Houston, Islamophobia, Houston Muslims, Texas Ethics Commission, Muslim American Heritage Celebration, Elections, Voting, Voter Registration, Elections,
   1. The Islamic Society of Greater Houston is helping to register about 1,000 voters a week at mosques across the city as some Texas officials grow increasingly hostile to the Muslim community, the group’s president said Wednesday.
   2. At a press conference with local imams and community activists, President Emran Gazi said the weekly voter registration drives were energizing people who had previously not considered voting to be important.
   3. [Gazi said,] “I can guarantee you, if you all go out and vote this time, Muslims’ vote will make a difference in Houston and Harris County.” 
   4. His organization gathered Houston Muslim leaders at the River Oaks Islamic Center to condemn a new social studies curriculum that they said demonized Islam. Texas’s Republican-controlled Board of Education approved the new curriculum for high schoolers in an 8-4 vote on Sept. 4 over the objections of Muslim and other religious leaders.
   5. The new curriculum requires students to “explain early Islam in terms of Mohammed’s, the prophet of Islam, brutal military campaigns against Jewish and Christian tribes, the normalization of slavery, and the taking of female captives as harem slaves.”
   6. In a news release after the state education board approved the new curriculum, the board’s chairman, Aaron Kinsey, celebrated the new standards. He cheered their “central emphasis on the foundations of Western Civilization and the values that shaped America’s and Texas’ founding.”
   7. Daa’iyah Farooq [Pron.: duh-EYE-yuh fuh-ROOK], a retired Houston school counselor, worried the curriculum would teach some children to feel inferior, and others superior. [She said,] “We are not asking the board to hide an uncomfortable history, but to apply the same intellectual standing to everyone.”
   8. State Rep. Gene Wu of Houston, who leads the Texas House Democrats, urged about 50 people gathered Wednesday to vote out the state education board members who had approved the new rules. He encouraged Asian Americans to unite to fight Republicans, and blasted Muslim donors to Republican candidates as “donating to our enemies.” 
   9. Wu, who is not Muslim, declined to name the donors, but he called on Muslim community members to do so.
   10. After the conference ended, several attendees criticized S. Javaid [Pron.: juh-VEED] Anwar, an oil executive who has given over $15 million to Gov. Greg Abbott’s political action committee, Texans for Greg Abbott, according to campaign finance reports. 
   11. The Texas Ethics Commission included in-kind contributions from Anwar, such as airplane use and other travel expenses. Its reports show he’s given the committee $1.5 million since January of this year.
   12. Transparency USA, a campaign finance website, lists Anwar as the donor who’s given Abbott the most money since 2015. Anwar did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking his perspective. 
   13. Anwar has been the chief patron for Houston Iftar, the city’s premier Ramadan celebration. He has sat on the honorary council for the Muslim American Heritage Celebration, which “celebrates the contributions of Americans of Muslim heritage to the United States.”
   14. MIKE: I won’t ever predict how a bloc of people will vote, but I have hopes.
5. The article I just read included a link to a Chronicle story from January 2026 that I thought had some bearing here, so even though the story is almost 9 months old, I’m going to read most of it because of what it adds to this discussion. — Texas Muslim Republicans question their role in the party as Republicans ramps up attacks on Sharia law; By Haajrah Gilani, Benjamin Wermund, Austin Bureau, Staff Writer | HOUSTONCHRONICLE.COM | Jan 15, 2026. TAGS: Gov. Greg Abbott, Islamic Community, Texas, Sharia Law, Muslim Republicans,
   1. For months, Gov. Greg Abbott has mounted a campaign against Muslim-led groups, trying to stop a planned Islamic community in North Texas and designating the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights group a terrorist organization.
   2. … Abbott predicted Republican voters will endorse a full ban on “Sharia law” when polled on GOP primary ballots.
   3. [MIKE: Abbott was right about that. On the March 4 primary ballot, Republican primary voiters approved this proposition — Prop 10 — with a whopping 94.8%! Continuing …]
   4. [Abbott said on conservative radio host Glenn Beck’s show,] “Texas already does have the strongest pushback against Sharia law of any state in the country, but we’re going to take it the full load and do everything possible to make sure Sharia law has no presence in Texas whatsoever.”
   5. The blitz seems designed to resonate with right-wing, often Christian voters, who have long supported measures like President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban in his first term. But some of the state’s Muslim Republicans say the rhetoric has left them questioning their place in the party and runs the risk of alienating a conservative voting bloc that is ripe for GOP cultivation.
   6. Nafees Asghar [Pron.: “Nuh-FEESS Ahs-ghur], a Republican voter in Richmond, said his Muslim faith is the source of his conservative values.
   7. [Asghar said about his own beliefs,] “Muslims don’t believe in same-sex marriage. … We don’t believe in gender modification. We do not believe in mid-term or long-term abortions. We don’t believe in that, and the Republicans don’t believe in that. So, if what we believe is Sharia law, then that makes me think that these Republicans also believe in Sharia law.”
   8. Asghar says he is a “staunch conservative, like most of the Muslims are, or should be.” He has almost always voted for Republicans. But he will vote for “anyone but Abbott” in the primary in March, and thinks Muslims should prove to be a reliable voting bloc by doing the same. 
   9. Asghar isn’t alone. Mo Nehad used to envision a spot for himself in the Republican Party. As a Muslim, he saw reflections of his conservative beliefs in the tenets of the GOP, like opposing abortion and same-sex marriage. 
   10. He began drifting away from the party — though he still votes Republican — after he lost the 2024 GOP primary for Fort Bend County sheriff and wondered if Muslims could hold meaningful power within a party that is vastly Christian.
   11. [Nehad said,] “As a Muslim, I believe in one God. I believe in Jesus, but I believe in Jesus as a prophet and not as a son of God. … And that is what made me realize that there were individuals within the party who wanted to make sure that individuals like me would never win.” 
   12. Some Republican Muslim voters have also been disappointed by Abbott’s firm support for Israel during its war in Gaza. He has long been a supporter of the nation, signing a bill in 2017 that barred state agencies from contracting with companies that boycott Israel. He cited allegations tying the Council on American-Islamic Relations to Hamas as part of his rationale for the organization’s terrorist designation.
   13. [Nehad said,] “Why does it matter what I think about Israel? We should be worried about other things in America.”
   14. Abbott’s campaign said the governor is focused on preventing terrorism and accused CAIR of hiding “behind innocent, law-abiding Muslims to deflect scrutiny from their own illegal conduct and activities.”
   15. [Said Eduardo Leal, press secretary for the governor’s reelection campaign,] “Texans expect their leaders to defend the rule of law and aggressively target those who attempt to break it. That is exactly what Texans get with Governor Abbott.”
   16. For decades, Muslim Americans have largely voted for Democrats. But polling by the Pew Research Center showed that edge had shrunk considerably by 2024, with Republicans having an advantage on issues like family dynamics, sexuality and gender identity.
   17. Some Republicans in Texas appeared to be trying to court that base, especially in regions with larger Muslim populations such as the Houston and Dallas metropolitan areas. 
   18. In 2020, U.S. Rep. Troy Nehls — then-Fort Bend County sheriff — formed a “Muslim American for Nehls Task Force” and called Muslims “an important cornerstone of our community.” 
   19. [Nehls said,] “Muslim Americans are an integral part of the fabric of our country and local community. Many are doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs, IT specialists, and, above all, patriotic Americans.”
   20. Now, Nehls is a cosponsor of U.S. Rep. Chip Roy’s “No Shari’a Act,” which would deny immigration benefits or admission “to any alien who adheres to Sharia law.” 
   21. Roy has focused on Sharia law as he competes in a crowded GOP primary for attorney general, going so far as to launch a “Sharia-Free America Caucus” in Congress with U.S. Rep. Keith Self, another Texas Republican.
   22. Roy’s competitors in the attorney general primary have also taken an anti-Sharia law platform in their campaigns, with state Sen. Mayes Middleton, R-Galveston, saying “Sharia law is organized crime, period. I will investigate it as AG.”
   23. [MIKE: I’ll note here that Middleton won the Texas Republican nomination for attorney general and is now running for Texas AG against Democrat Nathan Johnson and Libertarian Tom Oxford. Continuing …]
   24. Aaron Reitz, who previously worked for current Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, said: “Islam is incompatible with Western Civilization.”  
   25. Paxton … has, like Abbott, used his post to target CAIR and other Muslim groups. His former deputy attorney general for legal counsel, Murtaza Sutarwalla, a Houston-based attorney, condemned the attacks on CAIR in November. Cornyn, meanwhile, pushed the U.S. Justice Department to investigate East Plano Islamic Center City’s planned community. 
   26. It isn’t a new target for Texas Republicans, whose polling has shown GOP voters support their anti-Islam policies. Nearly 70% of Texas Republicans supported Trump’s Muslim ban in 2017, which prohibited travel to the U.S. from several countries with predominantly Muslim populations, according to polling by the University of Texas at Austin’s Texas Politics Project. More than half strongly supported it. 
   27. The Texas Politics Project has also found that the state’s Republican voters are far less likely to say there is discrimination against Muslims than other groups. In February, just 8% of GOP voters said Muslims were the most discriminated against, compared to 15% for Christians and 19% for Jews. 
   28. [Said Josh Blank, who runs the poll,] “The plight of the Muslim community is not high on the radar of Republican concerns.”
   29. … Still, some are determined to show [that] Muslims have a place within the GOP.
   30. Syed Ali said his trust in the party remains strong, a decade after Christian pastor Trebor Gordon tried to have him disqualified for his Muslim faith during a Harris County Republican Party meeting.
   31. But that interruption isn’t what Ali remembers when he thinks back to that moment. Instead, he recalls that Gordon was overruled and that Ali was installed as an Alief-area precinct chair.
   32. [Ali said,] “I am very much happy to be Republican. … And I will stay Republican.”
   33. Republican Ali Sheikhani serves as the Fort Bend County Constable Precinct 3, and also as the CEO for Sheikhani Group, which invests across industries, including retail, gas, and construction. Sheikhani, a Muslim from Pakistan, says he holds a lot of respect for Abbott, and the governor’s recent actions haven’t changed that at all.
   34. [Sheikhani wrote in a statement to the Houston Chronicle,] “As a Pakistani American Republican, I was treated with respect. I received support and votes in the primary and was shown the same respect in the general election. … I was never made to feel like an outsider because I am Muslim.”
   35. One of Abbott’s biggest donors is Texas oil executive S. Javaid Anwar, who sits on the honorary council for the Muslim American Heritage Celebration, which “celebrates the contributions of Americans of Muslim heritage to the United States.”  Last year, Anwar donated $750,000 to Texans for Greg Abbott and provided food, beverages and private air travel worth $100,000 in August [2025] for a group including the governor to fly to Columbus, Ohio for a football game and an event for Sen. Jon Husted [Pron.: HYOO-sted], R-Ohio, according to campaign filings.  
   36. Anwar is one of several Muslims Abbott has appointed to posts in state government. He sits on the Higher Education Coordinating Board. Abbott has also tapped Sophia Rahman, a Plano doctor, to a health advisory committee. And he appointed Sherif Zaafran, a Houston-based anesthesiologist, to the Texas Medical Board.
   37. Anwar is the chief patron for an annual Muslim event that often features prominent Texas leaders, Houston Iftar. Anwar, whose business is based in Midland, did not respond to the Chronicle’s inquiries.
   38. The event occurs during Ramadan to highlight the “religious, cultural and social diversity” of the city, with the mayor usually serving as the keynote speaker. Abbott has provided video messages played at the event in previous years.
   39. [Abbott said in a 2024 message,] “Here in Texas, we are proud of the fact that so many people from diverse cultural, religious and social backgrounds call our state home. … Tonight we celebrate that diversity and recognize the importance of upholding peace and harmony throughout our communities. Here is to wishing each of you a happy Ramadan.” 
   40. MIKE: I’m going to delve a lot into just one aspect of this story, so let me get something out of the way.
   41. MIKE: I can understand the personal moral, philosophical and political struggles discussed in this story that one might experience while belonging to a party that substantially matches your own values while that party also has a growing segment of influencers who are demonizing people like oneself.
   42. MIKE: At what point does supporting a party that sees you and your people as antagonists start to feel like Stockholm Syndrome?
   43. MIKE: I don’t have an answer for that. For now, I’m merely posing the question.
   44. MIKE: But getting to the points I want to make about a key aspect of this story, when Richmond Republican Nafees Asghar [Pron.: “Nuh-FEESS Ahs-ghur] said his Muslim faith is the source of his conservative values, I loved his reasoning: “Muslims don’t believe in same-sex marriage. We don’t believe in gender modification. We do not believe in mid-term or long-term abortions. We don’t believe in that, and the Republicans don’t believe in that. So, if what we believe is Sharia law, then that makes me think that these Republicans also believe in Sharia law.”
   45. MIKE: This seems to me like a classic case of cognitive dissonance. Mr. Asghar is trying to reconcile two conflicting belief systems into a worldview he can live within.
   46. MIKE: This reminded me of a question I’ve had for years, so I asked Google AI: “From a secular perspective, what is the difference between Sharia law and Old Testament law?”
   47. MIKE: My personal gut feeling is, “not much”. But I didn’t want to discuss my gut, so I decided to do some objective research.
   48. There was a lot, but it was mostly from religious perspectives, often from Christian perspectives, and mostly in lengthy scholarly discussions, which I was trying to avoid because I didn’t want the equivalent of Talmudic debates comparing and contrasting religiously-based law.
   49. MIKE: For the purposes of this show, I was hoping for something succinct, like bullet points. I was eventually pointed to an article titled, “Old Testament Meets Islam: You Won’t Believe What Happened”.
   50. MIKE: Sadly, the majority of the article is paywalled, but I was able to get several interesting bullet points of comparison. Here’s what it said.
   51. MIKE: Let’s Compare Punishments
   52. MIKE: Murder — Old Testament: Kill the murderer. Period. (Genesis 9:6, Exodus 21:12). Quran: Kill the murderer — unless they repent or the victim’s family agrees to financial compensation (Quran 2:178).
   53. MIKE: Adultery — Old Testament: Cheat on your spouse? Time to get stoned to death. (Leviticus 20:10). Quran: 100 lashes for both parties (Quran 24:2). No stoning here — unless you add in questionable Hadiths.
   54. MIKE: Hadiths seem to be the equivalent of oral histories, and transmission of hearsay of statements and actions by the Prophet Muhammad that are then subjected to human interpretation. To me, it sounds a bit like the Talmud, which tries to interpret God’s laws and commandments in ways that are applicable to everyday legal and social dfiscussions . Beyond that, I’m not going to get into Hadiths here, but in today’s show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com, I have linked the word to a discussion in WikiIslam[.]net. Continuing …
   55. MIKE: Blasphemy — Old Testament: Say something bad about God? Execution. (Leviticus 24:16). Quran: Let God handle it. Blasphemy is condemned, but there’s no death penalty (Quran 4:140).
   56. MIKE: Apostasy (which is abandonment of a faith, and is different from Heresy) — Old Testament: Apostasy, especially when it involves leading others into idol worship, is punishable by death. (Deuteronomy 13:6–10 and 17:2–5). Quran: No penalty to be enforced by the community. However, it clearly states that those who renounce their faith and die as disbelievers will face severe punishment in the afterlife (Qur’an 3:90–91).
   57. MIKE: Other sites make the point that much of what is considered to be Sharia Law as practiced in many places around the world is actually Quranic Law with an overlay of cultural and historic rules that are not actually in the Quran.
   58. MIKE: I don’t think this is so different from the way Old Testament law is applied by Orthodox Jews and how Fundamentalist Christians try to reconcile daily life with their Bible. I believe that much like in Islam, Christians begin with their particular denominational literal interpretation of the Bible, and then add cultural and historic rules as an overlay.
   59. MIKE: So my modest proposal is this: Pass legislation that bans both Sharia law and Old Testament law.
   60. MIKE: They are both often applied in ways that seem unduly harsh — even unfair — based on more merciful, modern mores and insights. So, going forward, let’s all just stick to secular civil law, and legislatively establish that primacy in modern jurisprudence.
6. The following story is one you may have heard about, but I just have to discuss it. From APNEWS[.]COM — Donald Trump Jr.’s wedding celebration was partially funded by Russian oligarch, the couple confirms; By  JILL COLVIN | APNEWS.COM | Updated 3:05 PM CDT, September 14, 2026. TAGS: Donald Trump Jr., Russian Oligarch Umar Kremlev, Donald Trump Jr. Wedding,
   1. Donald Trump Jr.’s new wife, Bettina, is confirming that her May wedding weekend celebration was partially funded by a man with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
   2. In a post on her Instagram page Monday morning signed by the couple, Bettina Trump wrote that the man, Umar Kremlev, was a “dear friend,” who “very generously hosted two incredible nights of celebrations for us AFTER our wedding.”
   3. [MIKE: I have to ask, is it funny that she put the word “AFTER” in upper case, like that’s what makes the difference? Anyway, Bettina Trump continues …]
   4. “It was an extraordinarily generous wedding gift from a friend, and something for which we were and remain incredibly grateful.”
   5. ProPublica, a nonprofit investigative website, reported earlier Monday that the wedding between Trump Jr. and socialite Bettina Anderson in the Bahamas was heavily funded by Kremlev, a Russian oligarch who heads the International Boxing Association. ProPublica reported that Kremlev “footed the bill for hundreds of thousands of dollars of wedding expenses,” including paying to rent out one of two private islands where the three-day party was held, and a fireworks show.
   6. In the post, Bettina Trump said that she and the president’s son were married in a private ceremony “surrounded ONLY by our family.”
   7. [MIKE: Again, Bettina Trump wrote the word “ONLY” in upper case, as if to suggest that Russian oligarch Kremlev wasn’t at the ceremony, again making their close association to a Russian oligarch who is close to Vladimir Putin “okay”. Bettina Trump continues …]
   8. “The weekend that followed had actually been planned well in advance as a fun weekend with friends. It was never intended to be our wedding weekend. When our original wedding plans changed, we simply decided to get married before it and arrived at an already planned weekend as newlyweds. … It’s unfortunate that something so personal and happy can be recast as something political or sinister simply because of who someone is or where they come from. Friendship doesn’t require a political motive. Generosity doesn’t automatically come with an agenda. And sometimes a wedding gift is simply a wedding gift.”
   9. That gift comes as Russia remains at war following its invasion of Ukraine and as the president has failed to broker a promised peace deal between the nations.
   10. Kremlev was recently honored with the Order of Friendship by Putin, according to the International Boxing Association, and accompanied Putin to China as part of a Russian delegation, according to the Chinese state media cited by the outlet.
   11. Bottom of Form
   12. Trump Jr. has previously been scrutinized over his Russian ties. During the 2016 campaign, his meeting with Russian attorney Natalia Veselnitskaya in Trump Tower was the subject of intense scrutiny by federal and congressional investigators probing whether the Trump campaign coordinated with Russia to meddle in the election.
   13. The meeting had been billed as an opportunity to discuss potentially incriminating information about the president’s then-Democrat opponent, Hillary Rodham Clinton, as part of the Russian government’s efforts to help Trump Jr.’s father win the White House.
   14. MIKE: Subsequent reports state that there was a relatively large contingent of Russians at the post-wedding gala that stood out as a Russian-speaking clique.
   15. MIKE: Reading this article, it’s important to remember that President Donald Trump is ABSOLUTELY NOT a Russian asset. The Trump family is IN NO WAY associated with friends of Vladimir Putin. That Russian money is IN NO WAY connected to the Trump family. And BILLIONAIRE RUSSIANS have ABSOLUTELY NO INFLUENCE WITH OR OVER President Trump’s family.
   16. MIKE: I just thought that it was important to emphasize those points with my UPPER-CASE words.
7. This next article long, but I think that it’s an important one, so I’m going to devote a fair amount of time to it. From APNEWS[.]COM — A Christian pastor called Arapaho ceremonies ‘idol worship.’ Now the tribe wants her church gone; By SAVANNAH PETERS | APNEWS.COM | Updated 11:58 AM CDT, September 14, 2026. TAGS: Wind River Reservation, Christian pastor Sarah Lucas, Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes, Native Americans, Religious Freedom, Free Speech,
   1. Every Sunday morning on the Wind River Reservation, congregants gather at Foundations for Nations Church to pray while protesters outside do the same.
   2. The two rituals have unfolded in parallel since the Christian church’s pastor, Sarah Lucas, preached a sermon condemning Arapaho ceremonial ways.
   3. The Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone Tribes that share the reservation have made clear that Lucas is no longer welcome.
   4. Lucas, who is not Native American but owns the land under her church, says she isn’t going anywhere. The standoff tests the boundaries of religious freedom and the right of a tribal nation to govern according to its own values and protocols.
   5. The conflict stems from a video that circulated in July as Arapaho people surfaced from their weeklong sundance ceremony. In it, Lucas called that cornerstone of Arapaho spiritual life “idol worship.”
   6. [Lucas said,] “Jesus is the chain breaker. He is the only God that we should be praying to.”
   7. Lucas says her words reflect her interpretation of the Bible and are constitutionally protected.
   8. [MIKE: Is Lucas’s speech ‘Constitutionally protected’ while she’s on the Wind River Reservation? Maybe not so much. I’ll address that in my comments at the end. Continuing …]
   9. Many Arapaho people say she took aim at something central to who they are, reopening wounds from a not-so-distant era of religious assimilation and abuse.
   10. [R]egular Sunday demonstrators were recently joined by activists from the American Indian Movement and Arapaho Chairman Keenan Groesbeck as they marched past ranchland and scattered homes toward the church.
   11. [Said Groesbeck,] “We brought in our ceremonial elders. We heard them loud and clear. … They don’t want [that church] here no more.”
   12. … The sundance marks a time of connection, offering, and collective renewal. As Arapaho people closed this year’s ceremony and welcomed a new year according to their traditions, Lucas and her smaller-than-usual congregation prayed for them.
   13. [Lucas said,] “You have generations, centuries of people doing this offering, going in and making vows to change. … Father God, we see no fruit.”
   14. Many Arapahos were stunned to hear an outsider not only disparage the ceremony but talk about closely held details that aren’t meant to be discussed openly.
   15. Big Wind Carpenter, who was among the protesters, said Lucas couldn’t have chosen a more painful target.
   16. [Carpenter said,] “There’s nothing I could say to make non-Arapahos understand.”
   17. Lucas said she regrets her sharp delivery captured in clips that went viral, but not the message itself. Since founding her church nine years ago, she said she has had “hard conversations” urging Native congregants to renounce sundance, sweat lodges, and burning cedar during prayer, traditions she equates to idolatry.
   18. [Lucas said,] “The Bible makes it very clear to only worship one God.”
   19. Some members of her mixed Native and white congregation were unaware of her stance. Lucas said Sunday turnout is down half from 150. Some weeks, the protest crowd has rivaled church attendance.
   20. Arapaho congregant Tearany Black, who considers Lucas a stand-in parent, said she agrees Native Christians should turn away from ceremony but found the tone of the sermon racist.
   21. [Said Black,] “She cares for our people. … I just don’t think she understands where we’re coming from.”
   22. … DJ Gardner grew up praying in sweat lodges and reading the Bible. He joined Lucas’ congregation last year and didn’t anticipate being asked to choose.
   23. [Gardner said,] “I thought they accepted us. … In my view, why else would you be on a reservation?”
   24. The 28-year-old, who has walked away from Foundations for Nations, associates Lucas’ rhetoric with assimilationist boarding schools like the one his grandfather survived.
   25. In part to repair that dark history, the Episcopal and Catholic missions that have been active on Wind River since the late 1800s now embrace ceremonial practices.
   26. [Said Michael McNally, a professor of religious studies at Carleton College in Minnesota,] “It’s an irony of colonialism, the degree to which Native people have remade Christianity according to their own values.”]
   27. Lucas interprets the Bible differently.
   28. [She said,] “I don’t believe you can have mixture.”
   29. … Mary Rose Goggles was struggling with the costs of raising her grandchildren in 2017 when Lucas knocked on her door and warmly invited her to join her new church.
   30. Goggles, who practices Arapaho ceremonial ways but dabbles in Christianity, liked the worship band and activities that kept her grandchildren busy. As Foundations for Nations grew, she visited its food bank, clothing giveaways and events like a fall harvest festival. …
   31. Lucas built relationships on Wind River by filling gaps. Her church offers free after-school and summer day camps. Visiting missionaries fill tribal members’ gas tanks and replace their sagging roofs.
   32. Foundations for Nations’ website solicits outside donations to “revive, raise up and restore” Wind River, listing grim statistics about addiction, sexual assault and unemployment. The Associated Press found those numbers were pulled from national studies not specific to the reservation, or could not be traced to a verifiable source.
   33. A page asking donors to “sponsor” a child in exchange for photos and letters was recently removed.
   34. Goggles left Foundations for Nations several years ago after moving away, but thought warmly of the church until seeing Lucas’ sermon, which she said left her “heartbroken.”
   35. Jenea Mandan has cycled through feelings of anger and shame about sending her children to the church’s summer camp. An Arapaho traditionalist, Mandan had misgivings about the Christian program but needed childcare help.
   36. [Mandan said,] “At that time, I was a single mom, I was in a low-income situation. … It feels like they took advantage of that.”
   37. … Lucas believes God called her to Wind River. But she deliberately built her church on private property within the reservation’s boundaries rather than tribal land where, she said, the tribes would effectively be her landlords.
   38. Foundations for Nations is located amid a patchwork of federal, tribal and private property — the legacy of 19th century federal policies designed to eliminate tribes by breaking up collective land bases.
   39. [Said Jessica Shoemaker, a professor at the University of Nebraska College of Law,] “That era has cascading effects that are devastating for tribal sovereignty.”
   40. Shoemaker said tribes have broad civil authority over non-Natives on tribal land, including to banish them. But jurisdiction over private property within reservations is litigated case-by-case.
   41. Lucas and her attorneys with the Liberty Counsel, a conservative Christian legal organization, assert that her ownership of the property shields her from banishment.
   42. In July, the Arapaho and Shoshone councils passed ordinances requiring religious groups to seek their approval before operating on Wind River.
   43. [Said Arapaho Chairman Keenan Groesbeck,] “That’s the law of the land on our reservation.”
   44. That has forced Foundations for Nations to suspend youth programming since it is now prohibited from picking up and dropping off children on the reservation.
   45. In an Aug. 31 memo, the Arapaho council acknowledged that “jurisdictional limits” likely prevent it from regulating church activity on private land. And any tribal court enforcement of those ordinances could face federal review, where there’s a high bar for proving non-Native conduct threatens tribal well-being.
   46. Meanwhile, the 21,000 square-foot (1,950 square-meter), steel-sided building that houses Foundations for Nations’ sanctuary, community spaces and indoor playground has been unusually quiet. Construction on a neighboring youth center continues.
   47. [Lucas said,] “God would not have us build this and provided all of it to empty it out.”
   48. Gardner has returned to the Catholic church of his childhood, where Arapaho geometric motifs adorn the sanctuary and he is welcome to burn cedar.
   49. He has been praying for guidance on forgiveness.
   50. [Gardner said,] “In order for me to strive to be like Jesus, I would have to forgive. … But there are some lines you just don’t cross.”
   51. MIKE: The idea of Christian Supremacy is an old one. It started with the very advent of Christianity in the first century CE when Paul the Apostle advocated for Christian proselytizing by “focusing on spreading the message to non-Jews in the Eastern Mediterranean.^{[109]: 2, 8–9}”
   52. MIKE: Among the earliest and most notorious of these efforts in relatively modern times was the Spanish Inquisition, founded in the 15^th century — 1478 to be precise — by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain. The founding principle of the Inquisition was to either convert Jews and Muslims to Catholicism or force them to leave Spain.
   53. MIKE: When the Spanish Empire expanded to the Americas, the only acceptable faith was Catholicism, and the Spanish Inquisition effectively migrated there with the advent of Spanish rule. Native peoples were either encouraged or forced to convert to Catholicism.
   54. MIKE: This drive to convert was a major, government-sanctioned part of Spanish conquest and colonization everywhere in the Americas and everywhere in the world that Spain set their flag. Indigenous books were destroyed — usually by burning — with the deliberate intent of eradicating the beliefs, culture, learning, and history of conquered peoples in the Americas.
   55. MIKE: Even the advent of Protestantism, though it diverged in liturgies and practices from Catholicism in many ways, retained what it believe was its literal mission to convert nonbelievers to Christianity, preferably to their own denomination.
   56. MIKE: From my reading of this article, Pastor Sarah Lucas seems to fall very much within that tradition.
   57. MIKE: She built a church on an Indian reservation that I think can fairly be called a “mission” in the Spanish conquest sense of that word. She derogated the native beliefs and faiths of the people there.
   58. MIKE: As is noted in the story, “Her church offers free after-school and summer day camps. Visiting missionaries fill tribal members’ gas tanks and replace their sagging roofs.”
   59. MIKE: Pastor Lucas used the old gimmick of offering public services to the natives; services such as childcare, playgrounds, food banks, etc.
   60. MIKE: The missionary tactic of offering much needed help to people or groups that are struggling is a tried-and-true tactic, but there’s always a string attached.
   61. MIKE: As one of the homeless men said in the soup kitchen in the Star Trek episode, “City on the Edge of Forever: “You expect to eat for free or something? You gotta listen. …” To which Edith Keeler responded, “And now, as I’m sure that somebody out there has said, it’s time to pay for the soup.”
   62. MIKE: That little bit of dialog was written 60 years ago, and it wasn’t a new idea then, either. That is the way that Christian missions always work. Their charity impresses you, in some sense obligates you, and then you feel like maybe you should at least listen to their spiel.
   63. MIKE: This is the pattern of what Lucas’s church has done in the Wind River reservation.
   64. MIKE: And now, the tribal elders have some things to work out if they are to preserve the culture of their people, and any actions they take are likely to end up in the federal courts.
   65. MIKE: According to HarvardLawReview[.]org, Tribal reservation governments are generally not bound by the U.S. Constitution or its Bill of Rights — such as the “free speech” clause of the First Amendment — because tribal sovereignty pre-existed the formation of the United States. [1, 2, 3]
   66. MIKE: What I think is a key paragraph in this article says, “Tribes’ motivations for safeguarding their differentness are multi-faceted, but history shows that commitments to protecting and defending Indian lands, as well as the fight for continued cultural survival, were and remain central motivations. Hundreds of treaties and governmental policies designed — albeit haphazardly and inconsistently — to keep Indian tribes together, protected from encroachment by land-hungry settlers, oftentimes on reservations, further reflect this.⁶ So tribes’ mediated position — as situated both within and without the United States⁷ as “domestic dependent nations”⁸  — has been characterized as Indian peoples’ desire for “measured separatism.”⁹”
   67. MIKE: So strictly speaking, Lucas’s citing of the Free Speech clause of the US Constitution doesn’t apply here. But how the tribes deal with Pastor Lucas and her church, and the private property on which it stands, is somewhat limited.
   68. MIKE: So-called “fee simple land” is property that is owned by someone, as opposed to a leasehold or something similar.
   69. MIKE: In an article from JDSUPRA[.]COM, “Like many reservations, Wind River has a “checkerboard” pattern of ownership due to historical federal allotment acts (such as the 1905 Act). Roughly 10% of the land within the reservation’s outer boundaries is owned in “fee simple” by non-members. Under the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Montana v. United States [1981], the Wind River tribes lack inherent civil or regulatory authority over these non-member fee lands. Consequently, they cannot use eminent domain to seize them. [1, 2, 3, 4]”
   70. MIKE: So the tribes can’t simply expropriate the church’s privately owned land on the reservation in order to remove Pastor Lucas and her church. What can they do?
   71. MIKE: I asked Google Ai this question: “What can the Wind River do about Pastor Lucas and her church?”
   72. MIKE: I got this answer: “The Wind River tribes face complex legal limits because Pastor Sarah Lucas owns her church property as private land, making direct removal difficult. [1, 2, 3]
   73. Google Ai: Options for the Tribes:
   74. Google Ai: Enforce New Registration Rules: The Northern Arapaho and Eastern Shoshone councils passed ordinances requiring all outside religious groups to get official tribal approval before operating on the reservation. [1, 2]
   75. Google Ai: Challenge the Church in Court: Tribal leaders can use these new registration laws to take legal action, though the pastor and her legal team plan to fight back using property rights and religious freedom claims. [1]
   76. Google Ai: Continue Protests: Community members can keep holding public demonstrations to make their voices heard and demand accountability. [1, 2, 3]
   77. Google Ai: Community Boycotts: Tribal members can choose not to use the church’s free after-school programs and services. [1]
   78. MIKE: Finally, Google Ai summarized the tribes’ dilemma this way: “Because the church sits on private fee land rather than tribal land, standard tribal powers like banishment do not easily apply. Instead, any effort to force the church out must go through a complicated legal battle over jurisdiction on private property within reservations, as detailed by WyoFile. [1, 2, 3, 4]”
   79. MIKE: In other words, any resolution of this dispute will likely end up in courts and take years to litigate and resolve. If then. I sympathize with the tribal members and their leaders.
8. Because of America’s still-vast power and influence in the world, our possible descent into fascism endangers much of the world. From ALJAZEERA.COM — US democratic decline threatens global rule of law, report warns; By Tamara Khandaker | ALJAZEERA.COM | Published On 15 Sep 202615 Sep 2026. TAGS: United States, rule of law, International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), Democracy,
   1. The United States is accelerating the global weakening of the rule of law, according to a new report that found nearly half of the indicators used to measure American democracy have fallen to their lowest levels in 50 years.
   2. In the report released on Tuesday, the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) describes the US as the “most prominent example and accelerator” of the trend, warning that its democratic erosion is having consequences far beyond the country’s borders.
   3. [The report stated that,] “President Donald Trump quickly amassed power in the executive branch and wielded it to further a narrow set of personal goals and pursue retaliation against perceived enemies. … In that environment, which is marked by constricted space for both public expression and institutional checks on power, resistance is increasingly unsafe.”
   4. Globally, around 57 percent of countries declined in at least one key indicator of democratic performance between 2020 and 2025. Judicial independence has fallen to a 36-year low, while credible elections are at their lowest level in 30 years.
   5. But the report singles out the US because of both the scale of its decline and its outsized global influence, arguing that its retreat from democratic norms has strained multilateral institutions and emboldened authoritarian leaders elsewhere.
   6. [The report stated,] “The results have been far-reaching, undermining the rule of law domestically and internationally, and testing long-standing alliances and multilateral cooperation.”
   7. It pointed to Brazil and Serbia as examples, saying the aftermath of Brazil’s 2022 election, when Jair Bolsonaro sought to remain in power after losing the presidency and his supporters later stormed government buildings, “echoed” the aftermath of the 2020 US election. In Serbia, officials cited Trump’s claims of mismanagement at USAID to justify raids on civil society organisations.
   8. [International IDEA Secretary-General Kevin Casas-Zamora said,] “For decades, the rule of law both domestically and in the international order has underpinned the resilience of democracies. … Now, the rapid decline of democracy in the USA is weakening judicial independence and fragmenting the international system — threatening democracy around the world.”
   9. The US recorded seven statistically significant declines between 2020 and 2025, including in access to justice, freedom of expression, press freedom and judicial independence. Except for free political parties, the other six are now at their lowest levels in the dataset’s history.
   10. On press freedom, International IDEA cites cuts to funding for public broadcasters NPR, PBS and the US Agency for Global Media, as well as “ad hominem attacks on journalists, particularly women, and lawsuits against media organisations such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and the BBC”.
   11. [MIKE: To that, I’ll note we can add this weekend’s news that “Trump bans CNN, MS NOW, [and] Politico from White House for ‘fake news’”. Continuing …]
   12. Universities have also come under pressure.
   13. [Citing the withholding of federal funds from Harvard and Columbia, the report said,] “Executive measures affecting funding and academic freedom in universities, including efforts to influence accreditation and hiring processes, provide a further example of the decline in Freedom of Expression.”
   14. The report calls the Trump administration’s use of the immigration system the “starkest example” of declining access to justice. It points to 137 Venezuelans sent to El Salvador under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, saying many had little or no established connection to the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang and were denied the chance to properly challenge their removal in court.
   15. The report also warns that the broader erosion of democracy comes with consequences for global security, finding that some forms of democratic decline are associated with a greater risk of violent conflict. There were 65 violent conflicts in 2025, the most recorded since the Uppsala Conflict Data Program’s series began in 1946, including a record eight conflicts between states.
   16. MIKE: This story mentions Donald Trump only 3 times. The Republican Party isn’t mentioned at all except generically as a hint that there are still “free political parties”.
   17. MIKE: And yet, it’s obvious where the source of America’s problem is, and it’s not entirely Trump, though he’s the name and the face of the problem.
   18. MIKE: The problem is the whole Republican Party. It’s the Party that has endorsed Trump. It’s the Party that has confirmed all of his appointees and judges. It’s the Party that has entirely failed to curb Trump’s anti-democratic actions. And it’s the Republican Party that endorsed Project 2025, either by action or by inaction.
   19. MIKE: Project 2025 is a document created under the auspices of the Heritage Foundation, a Rightwing think tank. It’s a roughly 900-page document, which I’m linking to here, at today’s show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com.
   20. MIKE: The full name of the document is, “Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise”. It’s subtitled as, “Project 2025: Presidential Transition Project”.
   21. MIKE: A “Presidential Transition Project” can sound pretty normal, and the document makes efforts to sound pretty normal.
   22. MIKE: The introduction to the project’s goals says in part on introductory page xiii of the PDF document, …
   23. PROJECT 2025: “History teaches that a President’s power to implement an agenda is at its apex during the Administration’s opening days. To execute requires a well-conceived, coordinated, unified plan, and a trained and committed cadre of personnel to implement it. In recent election cycles, presidential candidates normally began transition planning in the late spring of election year or even after the party’s nomination was secured. That is too late.
   24. PROJECT 2025: “The federal government’s complexity and growth advance at a seemingly logarithmic rate every four years. For conservatives to have a fighting chance to take on the Administrative State and reform our federal government, the work must start now. The entirety of this effort is to support the next conservative President, whoever he or she may be.”
   25. MIKE: I like the tactical use of the word “reform” in that statement. Again, it’s a word that sounds pretty normal, as opposed to a word that sounds a little alarming, or even radical.
   26. MIKE: I found 2 sites with what amount to bullet points. One is from ACLU[.]ORG. The other is from DEMOCRACYFORWARD[.]ORG.
   27. MIKE: In a June 17, 2024 document — in other words, before the 2024 election — DemocracyForward, summed up the goals of Project 2025 succinctly, but from an admittedly leftward-leaning perspective. Their document says this:
   28. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Proposals from Project 2025, discussed in detail throughout this guide, that they claim could be implemented through executive branch action alone — so without new legislation — include:
   29. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Cut overtime protections for 3 million workers
   30. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Stop efforts to lower prescription drug prices
   31. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Limit access to food assistance, which an averageof more than 40 million people in 21.6 million households rely on monthly
   32. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Eliminate the Head Start early education program, which serves over 1 million children annually
   33. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Cut American Rescue Plan (ARP) programs that have created or saved 220,000 jobs
   34. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Restrict access to medication abortion
   35. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Push more of the 33 million people enrolled in Medicaretowards Medicare Advantage and other worse, private options
   36. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Expose the 368,000 children in foster careto risk of increased discrimination
   37. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Deny students in 25 states and Washington, D.C. access to student loans because their state provides in-state tuition to undocumented immigrants
   38. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Roll back civil rights protections across multiple fronts, including cutting diversity, equity, and inclusion-related (DEI) programs and LGBTQ+ rights in health care, education, and workplaces
   39. MIKE: The DemocracyForward site then lists these goals of the Project2025 document under broad headings, with each one linked to a discission of what it means:
   40. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Cut Wages, Create Unsafe Workplaces, and Destabilize Our Economy;
   41. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Make It Harder for Americans to Make Ends Meet;
   42. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Restrict Reproductive Rights and Access to Health Care;
   43. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Enable Discrimination Across Society;
   44. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Set Polluters Loose and Undo Climate Action;
   45. DEMOCRACYFORWARD: Make Education Unaffordable and Unwelcoming;
   46. MIKE: All of those section titles are framed from a liberal perspective, but after 21 months of Trump-Republican governance, are they wrong?
   47. MIKE: In the actual document, there are 5 main sections named in Project 2025, and the titles of each are much more banal and anodyne:
   48. PROJECT 2025: SECTION 1: TAKING THE REINS OF GOVERNMENT
   49. PROJECT 2025: SECTION 2: THE COMMON DEFENSE
   50. PROJECT 2025: SECTION 3: THE GENERAL WELFARE
   51. PROJECT 2025: SECTION 4: THE ECONOMY
   52. PROJECT 2025: SECTION 5: INDEPENDENT REGULATORY AGENCIES.
   53. MIKE: There is nothing that Trump has done over the past 21 months that he could do without what amounts to either the permission, or at least the tolerant indifference, of the Republican Party and their donors.
   54. MIKE: The puppeteers running Trump are fine with his most outrageous actions and statements as long as he enables, or at least doesn’t obstruct, their primary goals as outlined in Project 2025.
   55. MIKE: Trump is a useful idiot for the implementation of Project 2025’s goals.
   56. MIKE: He certainly has his own agendas, such as putting his name on the Kennedy Center and anything else that he can, getting revenge on perceived enemies, or just generally enriching himself and his family. But in a real sense, that’s all just petty dictator stuff.
   57. MIKE: The real damage is happening under the auspices of his staffers and his cabinet officials, and their enthusiastic, or at least willing, lackeys. And Republican Party officials and elected office holders up and down the federal and local governments are aiding and abetting the damage to our democracy that is warned about in, of all places, an Al-Jazeera article.
   58. MIKE: This general election of November 3^rd will be a decisive statement of resistance to the Trump-Republican-Oligarchic axis that wants to destroy all the progress for everyday Americans that this country made in the 20^th century, beginning with Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal legislation, and which includes the Voting Rights and Civil Right Acts, Medicare, Medicaid, and more.
   59. MIKE: Or maybe it won’t.
   60. MIKE: Voters who are appalled by the current direction of our nation must show up to vote, and they must do so in numbers so great that they resist the possibility of Republican dirty tricks fighting or tampering with the results.
   61. MIKE: “Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their country.”
   62. MIKE: Because if not now, when?

There’s always more to discuss, but that’s all we have time for today. You’ve been listening to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig from KPFT Houston 90.1-HD2, Galveston 89.5-HD2, 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!