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

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, Romania, Singapore, 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 59th week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC. As of the last time I checked on Friday, after 48 weeks, Tennessee Governor Bill Lee’s deployment of National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee at Trump’s request is 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. Our next election day is November 3. This is a critically important election with big stakes. The only poll that matters is the one on election day.
   1. Early voting starts in just about 2 weeks and runs from OCT 19–30^th.
   2. I have received my mail-in ballot. If you qualify, filled in your necessary annual paperwork, and haven’t gotten yours yet, consider going to HarrisVotes[.]com or VoteTexas[.]gov to see if your ballot was already mailed, or if there is some kind of problem that you need to resolve.
   3. I tried finding my ballot at the state site, and that function appears to be broken. Whatever suppresses the vote, I guess.
   4. Sample ballots are now available online at your county election clerk. You can see your Harris County ballot at HarrisVotes[.]com at the link I’m providing in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com by inputting basic information for look-up purposes.
   5. At the very bottom of this show post are links to county elections sites in the greater Houston metro area, along with other voting resources. I check them periodically, but please let me know if any links are broken.
   6. Most candidates are marked on the ballot 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.
   7. There is also a Houston ballot initiative relating to HPD enforcement priorities and methods, and you can vote YES or NO.
   8. There is a Houston Public Media story about that proposition which you can read at the link I’m providing in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com. It’s called “Houston voters to consider deprioritized enforcement of cannabis laws, ban on no-knock warrants”
   9. The last day to register to vote, or to correct information on your registration, is Monday, Oct. 5. If you’re listening to this show on Sunday the 4^th, that’s tomorrow, so be sure you’re registered, that your information is correct, doesn’t need to be updated, and that you haven’t been expunged from the voter rolls. The link to do that in Harris County is hctax.net, and the “www” prefix is necessary. For anywhere in Texas, you can check your registration status at votetexas.gov, The “www” is optional for that site. I’m providing links in this show post.
   10. MIKE: Note that you are allowed to bring in notes to the polls such as a marked sample ballot to help you make your selections, but you MUST take your notes with you when you leave.
   11. Don’t be moved to overconfidence. This may be the most important election of our lifetimes. I know you’ve heard that before, and if you look at where we are now, it was true then, and it’s never been truer than it is now.
   12. Get out and VOTE! The only poll that matters is the one on election day.
2. I was asked a great question: How is ballot order determined in Texas?; Author: Lauren Petterson, Laura Sather (KVUE) | KVUE.COM | Published: 2:14 PM CDT September 30, 2024/Updated: 6:29 PM CDT September 30, 2024.
   1. MIKE: There’s a 2-year old article explaining it from KVUE that includes a video. The short answer is, “[Because] the Texas Election Code states, “Parties … shall be arranged in descending order of the number of votes received statewide by each party’s candidate for governor in the most recent gubernatorial race.”
   2. “In 2022, Gov. Greg Abbott won the election over Beto O’Rourke by about 880,000 votes statewide. That’s why Republicans get listed first on ballots, regardless of county.”
   3. [MIKE: We’ll see if that changes if Hinojosa wins.]
   4. “So … what about nonpartisan ones, like the races for mayor or city council? The Election Code states that the authority over those races – like the city or the county – will do a public drawing to determine the order.
   5. “In Austin, the city holds a ballot drawing process, where candidates’ names are written on ping pong balls and picked out of a spinner, bingo-style. A lot of Texas cities use a similar format to decide how names should appear for nonpartisan races.”
   6. MIKE: The more you know …
3. From COMMUNITYIMPACT[.]COM — Houston approves funding for homelessness program in recovery center; By Ariel Worthy | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | Published September 23, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. CT. TAGS: Homelessness, Houston Recovery Center, Houston City Council, Houston,
   1. Houston approved using some of its homelessness funding to address critical needs such as mental health, substance use, and immediate medical concerns. 
   2. … At the Sept. 23 meeting, Houston City Council authorized the city to provide $667,540 from its End Street Homelessness funds for the Houston Recovery Center, which will help up to 600 individuals annually. The services include: 24/7 operations of 34 beds for homeless individuals; Supportive services to address mental health needs, immediate medical concerns and case management; Substance use treatment; [and] Pathways to stable housing.
   3. [District C council member Joe Panzarella said,] “A lot of times we talk about how homelessness is a housing issue and not a criminal issue, and this is an ordinance that is hoping to solve just that.”
   4. The initial agreement began in August 2025, and the new amendment extends through September 2027. 
   5. … The Houston Recovery Center is a sobering center that acts as an alternative to jail. It provides a short-term stay for individuals to sober up, and most stay for 4-6 hours, according to the center. 
   6. Other services include its public intoxication transport, which finds people on the streets who are actively using substances and transports them to the sobering center, as well as a program that connects low-income individuals in recovery with the necessary resources. 
   7. MIKE: Now that Houston under John Whitmire has criminalized as misdemeanors almost anything that homeless people do in Houston just to survive — whether it’s sitting in public, lying down in public, sleeping in public, putting down a bag of possessions in public, camping anywhere, and anything else you can think of — it’s nice to see money being spent to actually help homeless people improve their situation.
   8. MIKE: Don’t get me wrong. I know that there are two sides to this issue. The homeless have a daily struggle to survive while residents and business owners — and reasonably, I think — don’t want them actually or metaphorically camping out in front of their homes or businesses.
   9. MIKE: But if you’re going to ban all their existence options, it seems to me that you should have already put in place the resources and opportunities to help them before criminalizing all of their survival options.
4. If you want an excellent example of the slanted reporting we often get from media owned by oligopolies, there’s this from KTRH radio in Houston, owned by iHEARTMedia — Expect More Impeachment Attempts From Democrats If They Claim The House In November; By Ethan Buchanan | KTRH.IHEART.COM (KTRH Houston) | Sep 29, 2026. TAGS: Democrat Representative Steve Cohen, Congress, President Trump, Impeachment, Media Concentration, Media Bias, Media Oligopoly,
   1. Democrat Representative Steve Cohen, who is set to leave Congress in January thanks to redistricting, has filed twenty-six articles of impeachment against President Trump, following the path of Houston-area representative Al Green, who has also attempted to impeach both President Trump and members of his administration.
   2. According to a report on Cohen’s charges by Breitbart’s Bob Price, these charges range from “Undermining Democracy” to simply canceling federal grants. In Article 6, Cohen claims Trump canceled certain grants specifically to punish certain states for how they’ve voted.
   3. Now Price is predicting that you can expect more impeachment attempts if the Democrats reclaim Congress in November. He warned: “The Democrats have told us time and time again who they are, and what the next Congress will look like if they take control. That will be ‘impeach Trump.’”
   4. Price went on to predict that constantly attempting to impeach the President would just be the beginning, and the end goal of their plan would look a lot like the DSA party platform. “These rabid Democrats want to go full-on communist. They want to change the entire structure of the United States government to move forward with their agenda.”
   5. [MIKE: Well, that kinda true about the Democratic Socialists of America agenda, but continuing …]
   6. He also says key successes the Trump administration has already achieved, especially on issues like border security, would also be rolled back in short order.
   7. MIKE: This story is so Rightwing-biased that it doesn’t even pretend to be fair and balanced, but it’s put forward as a news story.
   8. MIKE: There was a time back in the 1970s when neither KPRC talk radio nor KTRH talk radio were especially rightwing. Their shows ran the political spectrum.
   9. MIKE: I believe that changed when KPRC, and later KTRH, became part of bigger broadcast empires.
   10. MIKE: There are about 55 broadcast AM and FM radio stations in the Greater Houston area.
   11. MIKE: KTRH-AM 740 is currently owned by iHeartMedia.
   12. MIKE: And thanks to progressively relaxed FCC ownership rules, in metro Houston, iHeartMedia owns seven AM and FM stations, including KPRC-AM 950, SportsTalk 790, SUNNY 99.1, The Buzz5, and The Beat 93.7.
   13. MIKE: Salem Media Group owns two stations. One is religious, the other is conservative talk.
   14. MIKE: So in Houston, if you get your radio news and opinions from AM radio, you’re probably getting them from iHeartMedia.
   15. MIKE: That’s media concentration and oligarchic opinion-making in action.
5. Next is a story that I will use as part of a train of thought. From TEXASTRIBUNE[.]ORG — Federal judge orders Texas to air condition all prisons by the end of 2029; by Alex Nguyen | TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | Sept. 22, 2026, 10:34 a.m. Central. TAGS: Barack Obama, Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, Texas Legislature, Criminal Justice, John Oliver, John Whitmire, Prison Conditions, Prison Temperatures, Prison Climate Control, Prison Punishment,
   1. A federal judge has ordered Texas to air condition all of the state’s lockups, which the prison agency said could cost $1.5 billion, by the end of 2029.
   2. The ruling, released Tuesday, is a win for inmate advocates and their attorneys, who had asked the court to force the Texas Department of Criminal Justice [the TDCJ] to cool the entire prison system by that time. Just over a third of the agency’s 104 facilities were fully air conditioned as of Sept. 1.
   3. In his order, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman found that conditions in Texas prisons without air conditioning violate the Eighth Amendment — which protects against cruel and unusual punishment — and that TDCJ’s current response to extreme heat is insufficient.
   4. Pitman ordered the prison agency to immediately create and implement a plan to add air conditioning in every Texas prison. The installation, he said, must be completed no later than Dec. 31, 2029.
   5. [The judge wrote in his 150-page order,] “In the face of clear evidence of risk — including ongoing injuries, deaths, and suffering every summer — Director [Bobby] Lumpkin’s failure to enact a meaningful, committed plan to install air-conditioning on the timeline that TDCJ has repeatedly indicated is possible is deliberate indifference.”
   6. The decision came after Pitman, appointed by former President Barack Obama, declared in a 2025 ruling that excessive heat in Texas prisons is likely “unconstitutional punishment.” But the judge declined at the time to require TDCJ to install temporary air conditioning, reasoning that the option was not a permanent solution and was unlikely to be accomplished before a preliminary ruling would expire.
   7. [MIKE: I just want to point this out because I think that the judge made a reasonable choice here. He wasn’t being unduly indifferent to the situation. Continuing …]
   8. TDCJ said it was reviewing the Tuesday ruling and couldn’t immediately comment. 
   9. Marci Marie Simmons, previously incarcerated in Texas, called the ruling a “huge win.” She is also the communications director for the Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. Other plaintiffs include Texas Prison Community Advocates and the Texas Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants.
   10. [Simmons said, laughing and crying,] “We’re just so excited. … This decision is going to save lives, and that’s huge.”
   11. Jennifer Toon, the Lioness’ executive director, added in a statement: “This is a historic, landmark decision and a victory for every incarcerated person in Texas. Lioness proves what happens when formerly incarcerated women and trans people organize, fight, and lead. We win. Texas is not a lost cause. We are the hope.”
   12. Amite [PRON,: eh-MEET] Dominick, Texas Prison Community Advocates’ founder, said advocates will work to ensure that the agency meets the mandated timeline. 
   13. [Dominick said in a statement,] “An order on paper is not the same as relief in a cell. … Our work now is to make sure this timeline is met, that the Legislature funds it, and that no one else dies waiting for the state to do what the Constitution requires.”
   14. [As an aside, Amite did a brief tour of a simulated prison cell for KVUE-TV. I’m providing a link to it in this show post. Continuing …]
   15. Pitman instructed TDCJ to submit status reports to the court every six months — with the first due by March 22, 2027, in the middle of the next legislative session. The judge said he is not dictating the agency’s approach or “at this juncture” appointing a special master to monitor TDCJ’s progress. 
   16. … Pitman’s new order could throw a wrench into the agency’s budget planning for the 2028-29 biennium. 
   17. Publicly unveiled on Aug. 28, TDCJ’s legislative appropriations request includes $289 million specifically for installing prison air conditioning. It also asked state lawmakers for $591.8 million to build expansion dorms with climate control. Combined, the agency said the proposals would create more than 21,000 cool beds. 
   18. Still, The Texas Tribune reported earlier this month that the request was far less than what the agency told the judge it could obligate from the state Legislature in the upcoming budget cycle to install air conditioning — a gap Pitman noted in his ruling. 
   19. [The judge wrote,] “This request represents significantly less than half of the $774.3 million that TDCJ estimated it could obligate in the 2028-29 biennium in its Two-Phase Plan, and is a concrete and obvious indication that the agency is not even attempting to [follow] that plan.”
   20. The second phase, according to TDCJ’s court filing, would have entailed asking the Legislature for $730.7 million in the 2030-31 budget cycle. 
   21. TDCJ is set to appear in front of the Legislative Budget Board on Sept. 28 to discuss its funding request. 
   22. Prison leaders had previously argued that the agency must be “good fiscal stewards” and maintain credibility with state lawmakers by requesting only what can be achieved within a two-year budget cycle while balancing other major priorities, such as inmate healthcare, contraband detection and prison population growth.
   23. Former TDCJ Executive Director Bryan Collier, who retired last year, had also said he wanted to cool every facility but didn’t have the money to do so.
   24. Bills mandating climate control in state prisons have failed to pass the Legislature in multiple sessions — despite state law already requiring county jails to be kept between 65 and 85 degrees. Lawmakers also declined to tap billions of dollars in budget surpluses in recent sessions to install air conditioning.
   25. Even so, TDCJ said the Legislature had offered “a historic infusion of funding” by providing $85 million in 2023 and $118 million the following session to add around 29,000 cool beds. The agency also got more than $400 million in 2025 to build air-conditioned expansion dorms and buy an existing lockup that had climate control. 
   26. The plaintiffs’ attorneys, however, said these initiatives are not the same as directly spending to install air conditioning in the dozens of Texas prisons that still lack climate control. 
   27. Going into the next legislative session, TDCJ could have $287 million less to spend after Texas leaders ordered state agencies to chop 3% from their budget requests to help fund priorities such as property tax cuts. 
   28. Pitman, however, dismissed funding concerns.
   29. [He wrote,] “Defendant is advised that financial considerations will not be considered a legitimate reason for his failure to comply with this Court’s order.”
   30. … This was not the first major court battle over prison air conditioning in Texas. 
   31. In 2014, several inmates at the Wallace Pack Unit sued TDCJ over extreme heat in the geriatric prison near College Station. Both sides eventually reached a class action settlement to install permanent air conditioning in the notoriously hot unit, prompting a federal judge to declare it “a new day in Texas prison history.”
   32. A decade later, prisoner rights advocates launched a new legal fight by joining a complaint first filed in 2023 by Bernie Tiede, a high-profile inmate who experienced a medical emergency as a result of extreme heat in his cell. This time, the lawsuit covered every person held in an uncooled TDCJ facility.
   33. As of Sept. 1, TDCJ reported that 53,676 cool beds were available in its prisons. The agency expects that this number would surpass 61,000 by the end of the year and reach close to 90,000 by early 2028. By then, the state’s prison population is also projected to top 150,000. 
   34. Heat makes the state’s lockups “a living hell,” inmates have said. It can also be deadly.
   35. TDCJ has acknowledged that at least 23 people died from heat-related causes in its facilities between 1998 and 2012 — a likely underestimate, Pitman wrote in his order last year. Inmate advocates say at least 10 additional deaths between 2022 and 2025 can be attributed to the high temperatures, including three people whose autopsy reports reference heat as a possible contributing factor. 
   36. The agency disputes this alleged death toll, arguing that the cause could instead be attributed to drug overdoses or other medical conditions. 
   37. In his Tuesday ruling, Pitman said there was credible evidence to show that at least nine people incarcerated in Texas prisons died from extreme heat from 2023 to 2025. This is likely an undercount, he added.
   38. In addition, the judge found that the agency’s plan for mitigating sweltering indoor heat is insufficient. 
   39. TDCJ had previously touted strategies including cooled respite rooms as well as providing water, cold showers, fans and cooling towels. The agency also created a heat score system to identify and prioritize air conditioning for people at high risk for heat illnesses, such as those who are 65 and older or those who take certain types of medication.
   40. The plaintiffs’ attorneys, however, argued that these mitigation methods offer only temporary relief and are not always accessible. They also said that the heat score system still leaves out some vulnerable groups such as people with undiagnosed mental health issues. 
   41. [Pitman said,] “Importantly, even where heat conditions do not result in immediate injuries or death, … the heat in Texas prisons creates degrading, inhumane conditions and causes severe suffering.” 
   42. MIKE: I have a lot of thoughts on this topic.
   43. MIKE: First, I think that this may be a good time to replay an excerpt from a June 14, 2021 episode of “Last Week Tonight with John Oliver”. This is part of a statement by then-Texas State Senator (SD-15) John Whitmire to KTRH Radio in 2011 on why he doesn’t see the value in adding air conditioning to Texas prisons, as introduced by John Oliver [PLAY AUDIO, 29s]: “You know, we can talk about this all day, it’s not gonna change. The prisons are hot. They’re uncomfortable. And the real solution is don’t commit a crime, and you stay at home and be cool. We’re not going to air condition them. One, we don’t want to. Number two, we couldn’t afford it if we wanted to.”
   44. MIKE: If you click on the YouTube link I’m including in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com, Whitmire’s comment starts at about 4m 53s. You can also listen to John Oliver’s entire segment on the topic.
   45. MIKE: As a counterpoint to Whitmire’s comment, this raises in my mind a provocative rhetorical question posed by former Houston KPRC radio host David Fowler that has stuck with me for about 50 years: “Do we send people to prison as punishment, or do we send people to prison for punishment?”
   46. MIKE: I think that most people would find the answer obvious, but I bet that Democrats would believe that being in prison was the punishment, whereas I bet Republicans are fine with people going to prison for what amounts to further extrajudicial
   47. MIKE: I thought there was already a legal standard for maximum and minimum allowable temperatures in Texas prisons, but I was mistaken. (See? I fact-check myself.)
   48. MIKE: According to Google AI’s summary from Texas Legislature Online, “Texas state prisons do not have a specific statutory minimum or maximum legal temperature limit.”
   49. MIKE: However, there was a bill found by Google AI — HB3006 — authored by Rep. Terry Canales (D-Edinburg) in 2025 in the Texas House that unfortunately did not survive the legislative process. That bill gives a guideline and some additional information about the literal climate in Texas prisons: “Currently, county jails are required to maintain a temperature between 65 degrees Fahrenheit and 85 degrees Fahrenheit in occupied areas. However, state prison and jail facilities operated by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) are not held to the same standard. According to a Texas Tribune article, two-thirds of the roughly 100 jails and prisons in Texas are not fully air-conditioned in inmate housing areas, which poses significant health and safety risks for inmates, correctional officers, and staff given the state’s extreme heat conditions.”
   50. MIKE: If you think that 65-85 degree temperature range is comfortable, try setting your home thermostats to that.
   51. MIKE: With proper attire, living and sleeping in 65 degrees Fahrenheit might be tolerable. Not comfortable, but tolerable.
   52. MIKE: Now try living at 85 degrees as a maximum temperature. While that may be a vast improvement over Texas prisons today, I would NOT call that comfortable.
   53. MIKE: With ceiling fans and low physical activity, I can be comfortable at 77 degrees, but from people I speak to, I’m an exception. Most folks seem to keep their daytime temperatures at home at about 75 degrees, with nighttime settings as low as 68-75 degrees.
   54. MIKE: Prisons don’t have ceiling fans, and rarely even have small personal fans.
   55. MIKE: If you want to keep prisons peaceful and safe for both inmates and corrections personnel, shouldn’t temperatures be kept comfortable, so tempers are literally kept cool?
   56. MIKE: I think it’s funny, not funny, that the Texas legislature is fine mandating temperatures for county jails but not for Texas prisons. It’s another Republican example of “do as I say, not as I do.”
   57. MIKE: You might also ask why a union representing corrections employees isn’t on the side of inmates in this fight.
   58. MIKE: Maybe it’s because according to INDEED[.]COM, Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) employees do not have a formally recognized collective bargaining union, because Texas law prohibits collective bargaining for public sector employees. Because of course Texas doesn’t allow it.
   59. MIKE: I might recommend that when Texas finally gets around to planning this new climate control addition to our prisons, they look seriously into industrial scale heat pumps. They’re not only very energy-efficient, but they also heat as well as cool.
   60. MIKE: With some of the cold snaps we’ve been getting in Texas, if they’re serious about maintaining a minimum temperature of 65 degree F, heat pumps may be the most cost- and energy-efficient options.
   61. MIKE: In any case, I hope that this gets done as soon as possible, if not sooner.
   62. MIKE: I had some additional questions about Texas prison conditions and asked Google AI about the state’s responsibility toward the “care and feeding” of prisoners. The answers are interesting, but too long to read here. I’ll be publishing a separate blog post with those responses.
   63. MIKE: But there is one answer I want to touch on.
   64. MIKE: Prisoners are not “wards of the state”, and the state is not their guardian. “Prisoners in Texas are under the legal custody and control of the government. Adult felony inmates are managed by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), while pretrial detainees and misdemeanor offenders are kept under the custody of county sheriffs. While the state is legally responsible for their basic needs (such as food, shelter, and medical care), this is a function of law enforcement and correction, not civil guardianship.?
   65. MIKE: We may want to consider changing the law surrounding the responsibilities of “state custody”.
6. In a way, this next story is of a type, even though it’s in the state of Ohio, and even though it’s about child abuse and not prisoners’ human rights. From THEGUARDIAN[.]COM — ‘A persistent crisis’: the 16 children removed from an Ohio family are part of a statewide issue; By Stephen Starr in Dayton, Ohio | THEGUARDIAN.COM | Fri 2 Oct 2026 08.00 EDT. TAGS: Ohio, Children, US crime, US politics, News, State Care Responsibility, Foster Care, Child Abuse, Prisoners’ Human Rights,
   1. In June 2025, Jody Walker stood in front of Ohio lawmakers at a senate finance committee meeting in Columbus. As the head of South Central Ohio Job and Family Services, he was desperate for help.
   2. [He said,] “I have been a county director since 1999, yet I have not seen such a challenging time in the child welfare system as I do today. … specifically in terms of the needs of our children.”
   3. His agency, which oversees three rural counties in southern Ohio, frequently saw children sleeping at the organization’s office because they had no other safe place to go.
   4. Twelve months later, Walker’s fears were realized right in his own [metaphorical] backyard. On 30 June, 16 children were found in a dilapidated home in Hamden, a short drive from where Walker works. Several were found near death; two children were flown to a level one trauma medical facility, where one was placed in an intensive care unit, according to reports.
   5. Gary Siders and Christina Siders, the children’s grandparents, and Gary Siders II and Elizabeth Siders, their parents, were charged with 16 counts of child endangerment. In August, Gary Siders II and Elizabeth Siders were additionally charged on separate counts of sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor, who was not their own child. All four have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
   6. The Siders case illustrates major shortcomings among Ohio’s political and administrative authorities when it comes to supporting the most at-risk in society, say experts.
   7. [Said Angela Sausser of the Public Children Services Association of Ohio, which represents public children services agencies in the state,] “Our biggest challenge is a persistent crisis in identifying appropriate, affordable and accessible placements … Paid placement costs have increased 41% since 2020, far outpacing inflation, with the cost for residential and group home care skyrocketing by more than 65%. … While the state share [of spending on children services] has been rising over the last eight years, from 10% to 20%, it still falls below the national average of 42%.” …
   8. MIKE: There’s a lot more to this horrible story, and you can read it by clicking on the link I’m including at ThinkwingRadio[.]com, but I don’t need the rest to make my point.
   9. MIKE: I believe that Ohio is not the exception. If anything, it’s more the rule.
   10. MIKE: My point is this: It doesn’t seem to matter whether we’re talking about children at terrible risk, convicted felons in prison, people doing time in county jails, or people in different types of serious need, governments almost everywhere and at almost every level are very bad at acquiring and claiming the resources they need to give the people under their purview proper care and feeding.
   11. MIKE: I often say on this show that you get the government you pay for. I’ll add another detail to that.
   12. MIKE: There are people in the custody of the state, like prisoners, or who need the attention and care of the state, like children at risk of hunger or much worse.
   13. MIKE: Why is this the case?
   14. MIKE: It comes down to taxation vs. politics vs. actual need.
   15. MIKE: Earlier, I played John Whitmire’s notion of whether prisoners deserve air conditioning. It boiled down to “we can’t afford it and we don’t want to.”
   16. MIKE: I don’t necessarily want to single out John Whitmire in this instance, because I think that different variations of that sentiment apply to various politicians for various public needs.
   17. MIKE: For example, we can’t afford to provide better conditions for children in foster care, and/or we don’t want to. We can’t afford basic housing for the homeless, and/or we don’t want to. We can’t afford to spend more on public education, and/or we don’t want to.
   18. MIKE: Pick your personal favorite public service and plug in that response by your elected representative.
   19. MIKE: Because you get the government you pay for.
   20. MIKE: This isn’t just a Texas or an Ohio or a US problem. Every government in the world faces this question of balancing the taxation that the public will tolerate vs the responsibilities that government must pay for.
   21. MIKE: Sometimes, governments collapse because they get the balance wrong. Or at least, the public perceives that they got the balance wrong.
   22. MIKE: Is there anything we can do so that people are more willing to give government the resources it needs to provide the services we expect and demand?
   23. MIKE: Broadly speaking, I think that there are two things government can do, and responsible news media can help.
   24. MIKE: First, I think that the public needs to see various categories of government expenditures in a less abstract way. That’s a big challenge when government budgets get into the billions or trillions, but we need geniuses who can figure out a way to do that without making people’s eyes glaze over. And I think the media need to find better ways of helping to communicate that information.
   25. MIKE: Second, we need to get back to more progressive taxation.
   26. MIKE: Tax rates in the 1950s and 1960s for taxable income were far more progressive than they are now. Note that “taxable income” is the amount subject to tax after taking various deductions.
   27. GOOGLE AI SUMMARY: “In the 1960s, U.S. federal income tax rates were highly progressive, featuring over 20 distinct brackets starting at 20% for the lowest earners and peaking at 91% (dropping to 70% by 1965) for the highest earners. [1, 2, 3]”
   28. GOOGLE AI SUMMARY: “The federal income tax system features seven progressive marginal tax brackets ranging from 10% to 37%, with specific income ranges adjusted annually for inflation. [1, 2]”
   29. MIKE: There are footnote links in these summaries that you can explore in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com.
   30. MIKE: Whether we should have billionaires or trillionaires are political questions and economic questions which I’m not going to get into here, but I think that progressive taxation is involved in both these questions.
   31. MIKE: Our society doesn’t lack potential resources. It lacks the political will to fairly tax those who can most afford it in order to make those resources available for the public good.
   32. MIKE: I feel comfortable making the assertion that America does better economically under Democrats than under Republicans, and I’ve done research to back that up.
   33. MIKE: In March of 2025, I was debating my accountant on this topic, so I asked Google: “Does America do better under Democrats or Republicans?” I got the following ten links for reference, and I’m including them in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com and a separate post as well.
   34. MIKE: S. economic performance by presidential party — WIKIPEDIA.ORG
   35. MIKE: Joint Economic Committee Democrats — SENATE.GOV
   36. MIKE: The US stock market does better under Democrat presidents than Republicans – here’s what the data shows — COM
   37. MIKE: Democrats Are Better for the US Economy — HARVARD.EDU
   38. MIKE: The Economy Has Been Great Under Biden. That’s Why Trump Won — EDU
   39. MIKE: When Democrats Win, Blacks, Latinos, and Whites Win —
   40. MIKE: Economic performance is stronger when Democrats hold the White House — ORG
   41. MIKE: Is a Democratic or Republican president better for the economy? —
   42. MIKE: Democrats Are Better for the US Economy — PROJECT-SYNDICATE.ORG
   43. MIKE: Trump Is Right About One Thing: ‘The Economy Does Better Under The Democrats’ — COM
   44. MIKE: So, QED: quod erat demonstrandum. The case is proven. At least, in my opinion. You can read what I’ve provided and decide for yourself.
   45. MIKE: But returning to my point, yes … Taxes are higher under Democrats and spending is higher under Democrats, but the country is also economically better under Democrats. That’s even true for most wealthy Americans because a better economy generates more net revenue for the rich, even after higher taxes.
   46. MIKE: That means that we actually can afford to take care of our people in need. We just need to tax progressively and fairly from those who can most afford it.
7. In international-adjacent news, from FORTUNE[.]COM — ‘Unsettling to American partners’: Trump’s offer to sell arms to China is an admission he doesn’t take its security threats seriously, experts warn | Fortune; By Sasha Rogelberg | FORTUNE.COM | 2026/09/28. TAGS: President Donald Trump, President Xi Jinping, China, US, Foreign Policy, U.S. Weapons, Chinese Military Threat,
   1. President Donald Trump offered to sell weapons to China during President Xi Jinping’s recent summit in Washington, a move foreign policy experts said makes a mockery of U.S. warnings about the looming Chinese military threat. 
   2. In an interview with Fox News Sunday, David Purdue, the U.S. ambassador to China, suggested U.S. weapons are open to a multitude of countries, China included.
   3. [Purdue said,] “President Trump continues to say, ‘Hey, we sell arms to other people around the world. … He actually asked President Xi, would he like to buy some at one point.”
   4. The White House said the U.S. government has no plans to sell weapons to China. The State Department did not immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
   5. [Trump’s] comment baffled foreign policy experts, who argued the suggestion of selling weapons to Beijing would contradict the slew of sanctions and trade restrictions the Trump administration has placed upon the country, as well as dismiss China’s role in supplying munitions and military intelligence to Iran. The remark also came after reports China had obtained sensitive parts for the F-35 fighter that could be used to neutralize U.S. stealth technology. 
   6. [MIKE: This story includes a link from September 23^rd about that incident. As of this writing, there has been no further information about how it occurred. Continuing …]
   7. [Zhiqun Zhu, professor of political science and international relations at Bucknell University, told Fortune,] “You would not [want to] help China to modernize its military and turn against yourself. … Especially with the intense competition between the two powers now. I mean, it doesn’t make sense.”
   8. While Trump has characterized China as a strategic competitor, and referenced that when rejecting calls to slow down AI development, the president has also expressed affinity for dictators like Xi, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un.
   9. As a result, Trump has often appeared to prioritize his personal ties with the leaders of U.S. adversaries to the detriment of U.S. allies.
   10. [Ryan Hass, director of the Brookings Institution’s China center and senior fellow in the Center for Asia Policy Studies, wrote in a social media post on Sunday,] “If there was any ambiguity about whether President Trump views China as a security threat, this disclosure by @USAmbChina Perdue puts the question to rest. … Trump’s offer to sell weapons to China will be unsettling to American partners at the pointy edge of China’s spear.”
   11. … Further complicating Trump’s suggestion of an arms sale to China is America’s preexisting commitments to provide arms to Taiwan, an independent island that China has continued to claim. The White House is withholding a $14 billion arms package and violating the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, which was passed after the U.S. established diplomatic relations with China and requires the U.S. to provide necessary weapons for Taiwan to defend itself. 
   12. In May, senators signed a bipartisan letter to complete the sale. Ahead of Xi’s arrival at the White House last week, a group of Republican leaders led by Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell presented another letter to the Department of State and Department of Defense reiterating the need to finish the transaction.
   13. Trump previously called the pending arms sale to Taiwan a “very good negotiating chip” with China. To Zhu, Trump’s tactics reveal what he is willing to give up, or defy, in order to maintain good relations with China.
   14. [Zhu said,] “He still considers the arms sales as a leverage, as a bargaining chip at least. … “If China offers something really effective, it’s not inconceivable that he may further delay or even just temporarily cancel further arms sales to Taiwan.”
   15. … The simultaneous withholding of arms to Taiwan while offering a deal with China is a quintessential example of Trump’s interest in wielding commercial transactions as his chief method of diplomacy. In this instance, Zhu explained, Trump has little interest in actually engaging with China as a diplomatic partner, but is more concerned with making a deal that would mint the U.S. more money.
   16. [Zhu said,] “He really viewed this as part of the commercial diplomacy he’s conducting … He views all these things as transactional. This is obviously from the U.S. perspective a very important geopolitical, geo-economic issue. But from Trump’s perspective, this is transactional. This has almost nothing to do with China.”
   17. Trump has previously facilitated commercial arrangements with China, carving out an exception to the U.S. ban on sales of Nvidia and AMD chips to China. Despite the heated AI race, he allowed the companies to sell certain chips under a revenue-sharing model in which the U.S. receives a cut of up to 25%.
   18. Trump has a history of mixing commerce and diplomacy elsewhere. Last year, the Trump administration brokered a peace deal between Armenia and Azerbaijan that granted the U.S. exclusive rights to build a transit corridor, dubbed the “Trump Route for International Peace and Prosperity” that would run between the two countries.
   19. While presidents for decades have employed the strategy of  “transactional diplomacy,” few have prioritized financial gain over long-term national security advantages. Zhu believes in this instance, those two objectives are diametrically opposed.
   20. [Said Zhu,] “If this is a strategic issue, obviously, he will not offer arms sales to China to help China modernize its military.”
   21. MIKE: I can think of three reasons that Trump would make such an offer to Zhi, whether seriously or in jest. 1- Because he sees some way for himself and his family to profit from such sales; 2- Because his oligarch friends will profit, and will glorify him in return; and 3- Because he sees his own greatness reflected in whatever respect and accolades he receives from Zhi.
   22. MIKE: Using this story as a case in point, along with many other cases of Trump cozying up to real and potential adversaries of the United States while alienating dependable long-time allies, there is absolutely no question in my mind that Donald Trump is the greatest security threat to the United States since Benedict Arnold. Only the Rosenbergs might come close.
   23. MIKE: In my life of following news since at least middle school-age, I think that Donald Trump is the craziest head of state since Idi Amin, and current Republican Party officials, either because they’re cowardly or they’re actual “true believers”, are his “Amin-ablers”.
   24. MIKE: How does Trump remind me of Idi Amin?
   25. MIKE: Like Idi Amin, who was an autocratic tyrant? Who expelled ethnic south Asians from Uganda based solely on their ethnicity? Whose eccentricity did long-term damage to Uganda’s reputation and international relationships in Africa and elsewhere? Who in Amin’s case was responsible for tens of thousands of deaths? Who like Amin, said and did crazy things?
   26. MIKE: Who in Trump’s case, signs an Executive Order saying that henceforth, Artificial Intelligence will be referred to by the US government as Super Intelligence, thereby forcing the federal government to waste a lot of money in a useless effort to change all official references from Artificial Intelligence? And Trump, who imagines himself as some kind of political and military genius, even posting memes depicting himself in military uniforms beside historic military figures?
   27. MIKE: And who is now offering to sell our weapons to an adversary when we can’t even produce enough for ourselves and our allies?
   28. MIKE: I think that the answers to those questions are in the questions themselves.
   29. MIKE: And like Idi Amin, Trump will likely be considered a hero and a great president by his cult members for decades after he’s gone.
   30. MIKE: Returning to the question of whether Donald Trump is the greatest security threat to the United States since Benedict Arnold …
   31. MIKE: Did Benedict Arnold end up doing permanent damage to the United States? Well … we won the Revolutionary War, so maybe not.
   32. MIKE: Is Trump doing permanent damage to the United States? History will decide, but I lean toward, “You betcha”.
8. Meanwhile, in actual international news, from POLITICO[.]EU — ‘No way they can beat us’: Rutte rebuffs Russian nuclear threats to NATO; By Victor Jack | POLITICO.EU | September 30, 2026 5:13 pm CET. TAGS: Borders, Media ,Security, War in Ukraine, Belgium, Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Mark Rutte, NATO, Defense,
   1. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte on Wednesday issued a strong rebuke to Russia after Moscow sent a letter to the alliance threatening nuclear escalation over NATO activity near its border.
   2. [Rutte said at a security summit in Brussels,] “We had to reply and make clear to [Russia] that NATO is a defensive alliance … and stop the war in Ukraine and stop the nuclear threats because it’s not helpful. … NATO is so much stronger than Russia is, so there’s no way they can ever beat us.”
   3. [Rutte added,] “The best way to deal with this is to have a little bit of calm. … That’s the message: calm, carry on, keep the support for Ukraine going — that’s how we deal with it.”
   4. Rutte’s unusually strong remarks underscore the growing tensions between Moscow and NATO countries as hybrid attacks and Russian-linked sabotage proliferate across Europe.
   5. In recent days, Russia’s embassy in Belgium sent NATO a note alleging the alliance was displaying “reckless and irresponsible” behavior near its Kaliningrad exclave, following alliance exercises involving several reconnaissance planes, ground forces and fighter jets near the region, which is between Poland and Lithuania, last month.
   6. [The Russian embassy wrote on social media,] “We have emphasised that Russia possesses the necessary means to repel any potential aggression and is prepared to deploy its entire arsenal to defend its territory should NATO countries attempt to isolate the Kaliningrad region from the rest of our country.”
   7. In its letter to NATO, Moscow explicitly mentions the use of its nuclear arsenal and issues specific threats to hit allied territory, according to one NATO diplomat briefed on the letter, who was granted anonymity to speak freely.
   8. NATO has sent a note back to Russian officials in response, the alliance’s spokesperson Allison Hart confirmed.
   9. [Ms. Hart said in a statement,] “We have sent a response, noting that NATO is a defensive Alliance and none of our activities or exercises pose a risk to any part of Russia. … We strongly denounce the threat of force, including any irresponsible nuclear rhetoric.”
   10. Inside NATO, some allies are dismissing the threat.
   11. [Said the same NATO diplomat cited earlier,] “Our reading is that they want to intimidate allied public opinion so that allies stop supporting [Ukraine], while, at the same time, presenting NATO as the one that would be responsible for an eventual escalation. … Textbook Russian propaganda.”
   12. [Said a second alliance diplomat,] “Russia always accelerates when it’s the most guilty or when [it] loses. … So they are cornered now and they transfer the blame on NATO.”
   13. Russia’s embassy to Belgium didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
   14. MIKE: This is interesting on a couple of levels. The one that leaps out at me is that Russia has threatened to use nuclear weapons so often over the past 4-1/2 years that that the threat itself has come to seem toothless.
   15. MIKE: It’s like they say in the movies: “Point that gun at somebody, you better be ready to pull the trigger.” — (“Terminator Salvation (2009)”) 0:03
   16. MIKE: The Russians have a worrisome doctrine of “escalating to de-escalate”. In other words, in a final extremity, they might use a small nuke as a warning to get an opponent to back off.
   17. MIKE: The problem is that there’s a limit to how often they can make that threat and be taken seriously.
   18. MIKE: At some point, the Russians might use this threat in all seriousness, but their potential adversaries no longer know which threat will be the serious one.
   19. MIKE: Another impression I get is that Rutte almost sounds like a cop trying to de-escalate an irrational suspect who is obviously experiencing some kind of emotional crisis. He actually says, “Be calm and carry on.”
   20. MIKE: I don’t need to tell you that you don’t want a nuclear power having an emotional crisis, but judging from the tone of the Russian statements, that almost seems to be where we are.
9. Finally, from NYTIMES[.]COM — Israeli Settlers Stop Soldiers From Returning Palestinians to Their Home; By Natan Odenheimer and Fatima AbdulKarim | NYTIMES.COM | Sept. 29, 2026/Updated 3:39 p.m. ET. Natan Odenheimer reported from Tel Aviv, and Fatima Abdul Karim from Ramallah, West Bank. TAGS: Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli settlers, Palestinians, West Bank, Occupied Territories, Jewish Terrorism,
   1. More than 100 Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and soldiers in the West Bank overnight, preventing the Israeli military from enforcing a court order to return a Palestinian family to their home and adding to accusations that the authorities have not done enough to confront a rising tide of settler violence.
   2. The Israeli government, military and police have been condemned for failing to protect Palestinians in the occupied territory after a surge of settler attacks resulted in few arrests and stoked international criticism. The settlers are Jewish Israelis who live in areas that Israel occupied in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. Most of the international community considers the settlements to be illegal.
   3. In the latest outburst of violence that began late on Monday, the settlers set fire to Palestinian homes and wounded three Israeli border police officers when the soldiers tried to return the family, the Toubassis, to their home in the village of Jalud, the military said in a statement. Three people were arrested, according to the Israeli police, who said in a statement that they had opened an investigation.
   4. The family [was] forced to leave their home in July after repeated settler attacks on the property. In August, the Israeli military said in a statement that it had created a closed zone in the area to prevent nonresidents from entering. But Palestinians documented Israeli soldiers standing by as settlers went in and out of the Toubassi house or even playing ball with them in the yard.
   5. [Israel’s] Supreme Court this month ordered the military to ensure the safe return of the Toubassi family after settlers took over their home. Under international law, the military is responsible for maintaining law and order and protecting Palestinians living in the West Bank because Israel is an occupying power, a principle that is recognized by Israeli courts. The military said that the soldiers filmed playing with the settlers had been removed from combat duty, according to the Supreme Court decision.
   6. Overnight, after the family had returned to the property, a group of settlers set fire to a vehicle at the house and threw stones at the building, according to Mahmoud Toubassi, one of the family members. The military evacuated the family about an hour after they had returned when settlers moved to set the house alight, Mr. Toubassi added.
   7. [Mr. Toubassi said,] “Without the army, we would have not been able to leave.”
   8. The military said in a statement that soldiers had been unable to permanently return the family to their home, but also noted that troops had stopped a more serious incident from taking place. After the family entered the home, the military said, more than 100 “rioters” arrived and “severe violence” started, with rocks thrown at security forces, roads blocked and tires set on fire. The military said that additional personnel had been called in to try to disperse the settlers and that those forces had intervened to prevent the family from being harmed.
   9. Settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank has soared, according to U.N. data, especially since the start of the Gaza war, which was ignited by the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. So far in 2026, at least 23 Palestinians have been killed in incidents linked to clashes with settlers, according to the U.N. humanitarian office.
   10. International pressure on Israel to rein in settler attacks has grown in recent weeks. This month, Britain, Canada and France banned trade with Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
   11. In recent months, settlers have besieged Palestinian families in their homes or forced them out, including in Jalud and in neighboring villages. The violence has been widely condemned, including by Mike Huckabee, the U.S. ambassador to Israel, who this month called settlers who attacked Palestinians “terrorists.”
   12. In a statement released by his office, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel condemned the violence targeting the Toubassis. He added that “the handful of rioters are not representative of the law-abiding settler public in Judea and Samaria,” using the biblical name of the West Bank.
   13. Last week, Mr. Netanyahu said in a speech to the U.N. General Assembly that settler violence against Palestinians was down to 150 “juvenile delinquents.” But Israeli former security officials and human rights groups say the problem is far broader. A group of prominent Israelis, including more than three dozen retired army and air force generals, has accused the Netanyahu government of failing to check what they termed “Jewish terrorism.”
   14. Critics say Mr. Netanyahu’s policies have fueled clashes in the West Bank. Gadi Eisenkot, Netanyahu’s main rival in next month’s general election, called the overnight attack “a campaign of terror of violence.”
   15. [Mr. Eisenkot said on social media,] “This is what anarchy and loss of control look like, which have reached new heights under the current government.”
   16. Instead of being able to sleep in their own beds after Israeli troops escorted them back home, the Toubassis watched as their home was attacked again.
   17. [Mr. Toubassi said,] “It broke my heart to see the fire eating up the house.”
   18. MIKE: It pains me to say that Mike Huckabee is right. The Jewish settlers engaging in these and similar actions are acting like terrorists.
   19. MIKE: The Israeli troops in this story seem to be following their orders to protect the Toubassis with little enthusiasm, and appear sympathetic to these Jewish terrorists.
   20. MIKE: This story and similar stories over the years are deplorable, and do no favors to the State of Israel domestically or on the international stage.
   21. MIKE: This is the result of 16 years of Netanyahu and his increasingly rightwing coalitions ruling Israel.
   22. MIKE: Imagine what that’s like. We’ve only had 6 years of Trump and his rightwing party governing us, and look what we’ve already become.
   23. MIKE: Israel is having elections on October 27^th, just a week before we do. By all indications, it’s going to be close who will form the next Israeli government.
   24. MIKE: That’s not so different from how close our election will be in the hope that Trump and his MAGAs can be reined in.
   25. MIKE: Hope springs eternal in both countries.

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!