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.)

“What we’re discovering is that the Constitution is not a mechanism that runs by itself. Ultimately, we are a government of men and not law. The law has no force without people who are willing to enforce it. …” ~ William A. Galston, a senior fellow in governance at the Brookings Institution who graduated from college just before Watergate. (From, “Trump’s Ukraine call reveals a president convinced of his own invincibility”, By Philip Rucker, Robert Costa and Rachael Bade | WASHINGTONPOST.COM | September 21, 2019); and as quoted in, “A Very Stable Genius” by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig”, p. 416) 

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, Hong Kong, France, Romania, Italy, 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 61^st week of Trump’s military occupation of Washington DC. As of the last time I checked on Saturday, after 50 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 begins this week and runs from OCT 19–30^th.
   2. I have returned 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. Sample ballots are now available online at your county election clerk. By inputting basic information for look-up purposes, you can see your Harris County ballot at HarrisVotes[.]com at the link I’m providing in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com.
   4. 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. FYI, I am unable to get a sample ballot at VoteTexas[.]gov because the links don’t work.
   5. 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.
   6. For Houston voters there is also a ballot initiative relating to HPD enforcement priorities and methods, and you can vote YES or NO.
   7. 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”
   8. The last day to register to vote, or to correct information on your registration, was Monday, Oct. 5.
   9. You can always register to vote and correct your information, but any changes you make now will apply to the election after this one. For anywhere in Texas, you can check your registration status at gov, The “www” is optional for that site. I’m providing links in this show post.
   10. MIKE: 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. Personal Note: If you’re voting my mail …
   1. I have voted by mail for years but we live in a new world, with potentially delayed ballot postmarks as well as possibly delayed ballot delivery.
   2. I mailed in my ballot about a month before election day. I figured that even Trump’s postal service would probably deliver my ballot in plenty of time.
   3. When I checked with the county ballot tracker, it arrived on October 8^th. On the other hand, my wife mailed hers a day before mine, but it took about 10 days to arrive and be counted.
   4. If you’re voting by mail, I suggest mailing in your ballot at least 2 weeks before election day, just to be safe. Then after maybe 7 days, start checking the ballot tracker.
   5. If it’s arrived and accepted, you have no problem.
   6. If it seems to be unduly delayed, consider going to a polling location, explaining the situation, and asking for a provisional ballot.
3. From COMMUNITYIMPACT[.]COM — Houston looking to sell HPD, public works headquarters; By Ariel Buford | COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM | Published October 8, 2026 at 3:41 p.m. CT. TAGS: Houston Public Works Department at 611 Walker St., Houston Police Department at 1200 Travis, Houston City Council,
   1. Houston officials approved the city’s move to sell two of its major properties downtown. 
   2. … At its 7 meeting, Houston City Council passed an ordinance allowing the city to work with commercial real estate company Cushman & Wakefield to sell 611 Walker St. and 1200 Travis St., which house the Houston Public Works Department and the Houston Police Department, respectively. 
   3. The decision came after years of concerns about the deteriorating facilities. Houston Public Works director Randy Macchi [Pron,: mack-EYE]has spoken in previous meetings about the conditions of 611 Walker and 1200 Travis, noting that both buildings, built in 1966, have weak generators and outdated electrical systems. In July 2025, Macchi said that the HPW building had an 18% remaining service life and the HPD building was at 15% if the city does not make improvements. 
   4. … Council member Edward Pollard said he wanted to ensure that the option to sell would be a long-term benefit to the city. 
   5. [Pollard said,] “We understand that the conditions of those buildings are well under par from where they need to be. … But I wanted to ensure that we look at a real analysis between the difference of just selling those properties or maybe doing a long-term ground lease.” 
   6. Pollard asked if leasing the properties for 75 or 99 years would be possible so that the city could still own the land. 
   7. [Pollard said,] “As some of the most valuable pieces of property in the city, I do think that those discussions should be had.”
   8. However, Mayor John Whitmire said the opportunity to receive revenue from the facilities would be beneficial, especially if applied toward a recent purchase of 1600 Smith St., which will house HPW and possibly HPD. 
   9. [Whitmire said,] “Right now we don’t have the money to repair [the two facilities]. … We’re actually going to save millions with this decision.” 
   10. … [HPW director] Macchi said 4,400 employees will eventually move to 1600 Smith St. 
   11. [Macchi added,] “We got 1600 Smith for a steal of a deal at $55 million. … It’s a hallmark real estate transaction for the city.” 
   12. However, the new facility still requires repairs. Macchi said the buildout of the space will cost the city around $5 million per floor, and the building has 53 floors. He estimated it would cost around $300 million for the project.
   13. On the other hand, it would cost nearly $500 million to repair 611 Walker and another $500 million for 1200 Travis—bringing the total repair costs for both properties to nearly $1 billion, he said. 
   14. … Macchi added that developers have already expressed interest in 611 Walker because of its desirable location, access to the freeway and skyline view. 
   15. The city has not yet listed a sale price for either location. Council will have final approval of any sale agreements for the properties.
   16. MIKE: According to an article in the Houston Chronicle, on Wednesday October 14, Houston City Council did vote to seek buyers for the two properties.
   17. MIKE: At this point, I don’t have enough information to comment knowledgably on this issue, and I assume that City Council has a lot more than I do. However, I do have thoughts and questions.
   18. MIKE: On the one hand, I hate for the city to give up such valuable properties. My first instinct would be to seriously explore Council Member Pollard’s thought about giving an interested party a long-term ground lease. That would give the city two new sources of revenue generated by the properties without actually yielding ownership.
   19. MIKE: The first revenue stream would be rent paid to the city for the underlying properties. Second, the city would get to tax any” improvements” made to the land by tenants.
   20. MIKE: I define “improvements” the way HCAD would. Tax would be paid by new owners on the value of the existing structures “as-is”.
   21. MIKE: If the properties were renovated, that would enhance structural value and thus the taxable valuation would go up.
   22. MIKE: If the existing structures were demolished and new structures built, those new structures would ultimately be taxed as “improvements”.
   23. MIKE: Personally, I think that that would give the city maximum revenue from the properties as a constant revenue stream over a long term measured in decades.
   24. MIKE: On the other hand, selling these properties and adding them to the tax rolls as privately-owned properties gives the Houston city budget a big one-time income boost, with a smaller revenue stream from property taxes.
   25. MIKE: I hope the city gives these options serious cost-benefit analyses and doesn’t simply get dazzled by the big one-time income boost from simple sales.
4. From HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA[.]ORG — Harris County DA says witness to ICE auto-pedestrian incident has been relocated by ICE; By Kyle McClenagan & Bianca Seward | HOUSTONPUBLICMEDIA.ORG | Posted on October 16, 2026, 2:23 PM. TAGS: Court, Crime, Immigration, Local News, FIEL, Harris County District Attorney’s Office, ICE, S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare,
   1. Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said his office has interviewed the man who was detained in the backseat of an unmarked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicle when an agent struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez in northwest Houston on Saturday.
   2. [Teare said,] “We were the only law enforcement that ever spoke to him.”
   3. In an appearance on Hello Houston, Teare said ICE had already moved the witness more than 300 miles south to the Port Isabel detention center when his office requested an interview with the detainee. The DA’s office immediately sent an investigator to interview the witness.
   4. [Teare said,] “We notified ICE the second we were made aware of them that this individual is a material witness [and] we need to speak to him. … The interview for us ended at about 8 p.m. that night. He was on a plane sent to Mexico by 1 o’clock the next morning.”
   5. [Neither] ICE nor the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) immediately responded to a request for comment regarding why the witness had been relocated to Port Isabel.
   6. [MIKE: I’ll also note here a question of why was ICE so determined to eject to Mexico a material witness to an alleged crime by an ICE agent? Sounds like an attempted coverup to me. Continuing …]
   7. On Oct. 10, an ICE vehicle struck Parra-Hernandez after he exited a vehicle following a pursuit on Clay Road in northwest Houston. Parra-Hernandez suffered a broken leg and is still receiving treatment as of Friday, according to his family. He was the passenger of the vehicle ICE had been pursuing, according to DHS.
   8. According to a spokesperson for DHS, ICE agents were conducting a “targeted enforcement operation in Harris County to arrest Jose Mendoza-Cervantes,” who ICE claimed was driving the vehicle and fled the scene.
   9. A DHS spokesperson said the incident is under an active internal investigation and, per standard practice, the officer involved has been suspended.
   10. [The DHS spokesperson said,] “Allegations that ICE struck Miguel Parra-Hernandez intentionally are reckless and false. … The men and women of ICE are entrusted with upholding the rule of law and are held to the highest standards of professionalism, integrity, and ethical conduct.”
   11. [MIKE: A more appropriate response from a normal US government official might have been, “We take this incident very seriously. An investigation is underway. All evidence is being preserved, and we will be staying in touch with potential witnesses to the incident.” But this is not a normal US government. Continuing …]
   12. Teare said Parra-Hernandez’s case may be “even more egregious” than the Lorenzo Salgado-Araujo case. Salgado-Araujo was shot and killed by ICE agents in early July during another “targeted enforcement operation,” of which Salgado-Araujo was not the intended target.
   13. In the Parra-Hernandez case, Teare said his office has not yet seen the ICE agent’s body camera footage and has not yet confirmed the cameras were turned on during the incident. They say sheriff’s office body camera footage confirms the ICE agents were wearing body cameras.
   14. FIEL Houston, a local civil rights organization, said Friday it had been contacted by the daughter of the man ICE was allegedly searching for the day Parra-Hernandez was struck by an ICE vehicle. According to FIEL, the man ICE was looking for had been dead for nine years.
   15. [Caesar Espinosa, the executive director of FIEL, said at a press conference Friday,] “The biggest shock came on Wednesday afternoon when the daughter [of] alias Jose Cervantes Mendoza came forward, who we now know his name is Jose Hector Jimenez Mendoza. … She called our office sobbing because she saw her dad’s picture all over the news, all over the ICE website and saying that they were looking for her dad.”
   16. On Thursday, the New York Times reported that this same daughter, Jamie Jimenez, provided a Mexican death certificate showing that Jimenez Mendoza died in Laredo in October 2017. Houston Public Media has not independently verified the reported death certificate.
   17. [FIEL’s] Espinosa said Jimenez Mendoza died “at the hands of” U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) while attempting to cross into the U.S.
   18. [Espinosa said,] “So whether it’s a government flaw, or whether it’s irresponsibility, or whether they didn’t fingerprint Mr. Jose Hector Jimenez when he passed, there had to have been a record that Jose Hector Jimenez was deceased nine years ago. … We have all the verifying documentation to prove that, which we have turned over to the district attorney’s office.”
   19. On Friday, Espinosa said Parra-Hernandez was still awaiting additional surgeries while he remained in ICE custody at a hospital.
   20. [Espinosa said,] “He still has multiple fractures on his right leg, still has to have reconstructive surgery on his ankle, and more importantly, his state of mind is slowly starting to deteriorate. … This man is in his bed and around him 24-7 are armed ICE agents.”
   21. MIKE: Our current US government is lawless. Its spokespeople are at best acting like propaganda shills, and at worst are actually liars.
   22. MIKE: ICE is perhaps the second most chronically law-breaking division of the US government, after the White House.
   23. MIKE: There must be investigations, indictments and trials at the earliest possible opportunity. I feel strongly that Nuremberg, Pennsylvania, by dint of its name alone, would be the perfect place to hold the historic post-Trump, post-MAGA trials.
   24. MIKE: Nuremberg, Pennsylvania is a lovely little town of 434 souls according to the 2010 US census, and there are numerous other small towns within just a few miles.
   25. MIKE: I’m betting that Nuremberg PA and the surrounding area could use the economic activity that historic trials would bring to the area.
   26. MIKE: Let’s think about it.
5. From TEXASTRIBUNE[.]ORG — Texas appeals order requiring prison air conditioning, saying it puts operations at risk; by Alex Nguyen| TEXASTRIBUNE.ORG | Oct. 12, 2026, 5:00 a.m. Central. TAGS: Texas Department Of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), Air Conditioning, U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, Federal 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals,
   1. Lawyers for Texas have appealed a federal judge’s order requiring all state lockups to be climate controlled before 2030 to the conservative 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, continuing a yearslong legal fight over air conditioning in the country’s largest prison system.
   2. The state’s attorneys also asked U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman to suspend his order, saying a halt is needed to avoid disrupting critical operations at the Texas Department of Criminal Justice while the appeal continues.
   3. The agency has said it plans to air condition all prisons but has not given itself a deadline, estimating the effort would cost $1.5 billion.
   4. [The State’s 8 filing said,] “Throwing chaos and confusion into [the Texas Department Of Criminal Justice’s] [TDCJ’s] ongoing plans to install complete air-conditioning, before the Fifth Circuit has a chance to rule, needlessly wastes finite resources, and frustrates TDCJ’s efforts to acquire funding to address operational and life safety measures to protect its population while moving as expediently to install air conditioning.”
   5. [MIKE: Maybe should have been “as expediently as possible”, but whatever. Continuing…]
   6. Pitman issued his sweeping ruling in September, when he sided with prisoner rights advocacy groups and their attorneys who argued it was unconstitutional to force inmates to endure indoor temperatures that could hit triple digits in the summer.
   7. As of Oct. 1, just over a third of the state’s prisons were fully climate controlled, leaving around 90,000 incarcerated Texans without air conditioning.
   8. … The legal fight started in 2023 with a complaint filed by Bernie Tiede, a high-profile inmate who experienced a medical emergency due to extreme indoor heat. Advocacy groups such as the Lioness Justice Impacted Women’s Alliance, the Texas Prison Community Advocates and Texas Citizens United for Rehabilitation of Errants [CURE] joined the lawsuit the following year, expanding it to cover every person held in an uncooled state lockup.
   9. In 2025, Pitman found that extreme heat in Texas prisons was likely “unconstitutional punishment.” But instead of ordering TDCJ to install temporary air conditioning, he scheduled a trial that lasted two weeks in Austin in early 2026.
   10. The judge issued his final order Sept. 22, finding that the agency’s response to extreme heat was insufficient and that the conditions in uncooled Texas lockups violate constitutional protections against cruel and unusual punishment.
   11. [Pitman wrote,] “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.”
   12. At least nine inmates died in Texas prisons between 2023 and 2025 due to high temperatures, the judge found, adding that even without death or injuries, the extreme heat “creates degrading, inhumane conditions and causes severe suffering.”
   13. Pitman told the agency to air condition all of its 104 facilities by the end of 2029 — a timeline requested by the plaintiffs.
   14. … TDCJ’s appeal to the 5th Circuit is likely to succeed because it is very difficult to meet the legal standard for deliberate indifference, the state told Pitman in its Oct. 8 filing. It added that the agency is working to install air conditioning in its prisons — many of which were built before the technology was available — on top of implementing various heat mitigation strategies.
   15. [The State’s filing said,] “Defendant does not dispute that many of TDCJ’s prison units are only partially air conditioned, … but even if Defendant’s actions could be considered ‘imperfect’ in light of the realities installing air conditioning requires, imperfection is not the measure of deliberate indifference.”
   16. TDCJ added that meeting the court-mandated timeline would disrupt the funding for other priorities such as contraband detection, inmate healthcare and prison population growth.
   17. In addition, the agency said halting Pitman’s order would not substantially harm inmates because it plans to continue installing air conditioning in its prisons.
   18. TDCJ said it anticipates having 90,000 cool beds in 2028. This would leave around 60,000 inmates without air conditioning, as the state’s prison population is expected to surpass 150,000 by then. The agency also disputed Pitman’s findings that there have been at least nine heat-related inmate deaths in recent years, insisting that there were other factors such as drug overdoses and medical conditions.
   19. … Erica Grossman, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said her side will file a response to TDCJ’s request for a halt on Pitman’s order.
   20. In the meantime, Grossman said the agency should put its time and money into making its prisons “more humane” instead of battling the court order.
   21. [Grossman told The Texas Tribune,] “While it’s not a surprise given TDCJ’s long history of refusing to take accountability for the people in its custody and care, it is still disappointing that they are spending the state’s resources fighting this case rather than just installing air conditioning.”
   22. … The legal fight is happening amid TDCJ’s budget planning for the 2028-29 biennium.
   23. In a summer filing to Pitman, the agency outlined a two-phase plan to install air conditioning in all of its prisons, saying it anticipated obligating $774.3 million from the Legislature in this budget cycle. The second part would entail asking for $730.7 million in the following biennium.
   24. But when TDCJ unveiled its budget request in August, the agency proposed $298 million specifically for installing climate control. Officials also asked for $591.8 million to build cooled expansion dorms. Together, the agency said, the proposals would add more than 21,000 cool beds, but plaintiffs’ attorneys said constructing expansion dorms is not the same as directly spending money on air conditioning.
   25. Pitman noted the funding gap in his Sept. 22 ruling, saying it was “a concrete and obvious indication that the agency is not even attempting to [follow] that plan.”
   26. But as agency leaders appeared in front of the Legislative Budget Board on Sept. 28, they stuck to their lower budget request in a presentation that never discussed Pitman’s days-old ruling.
   27. In addition, agency officials called for a restoration of a 3% spending cut that had been required by Republican state leaders to help fund priorities such as property tax cuts. Lumpkin, TDCJ’s leader, said this order could amount to a $287 million loss. Without this money, he said, the agency would have to cut more than 1,300 employees.
   28. [Lumpkin added,] “Out of the 1,300 positions that would have to be eliminated, close to half of those potentially could be correctional officer positions. … A reduction of the correctional officer strength would be detrimental to our mission of public safety and how we carry out our operations day to day.”
   29. The 2027 legislative session begins in January. While Texas law requires county jails to be kept between 65 and 85 degrees, lawmakers have repeatedly failed to enact similar rules for prisons.
   30. MIKE: I discussed this topic in some detail on my October 4^th show (item 5).
   31. MIKE: Texas has never given a rat’s butt about prisoners, or air conditioning for prisoners.
   32. MIKE: Republicans have controlled the Texas state senate since 1995.
   33. MIKE: According to Ballotpedia, John Whitmire chaired the Senate Criminal Justice Committee as a Texas State Senator. He held that position from 1993 to 1995 when Democrats controlled the senate chamber, and then from 1995 when Republicans controlled the chamber until he left the Senate to become Mayor of Houston on January 2, 2024. [1, 2, 3]
   34. MIKE: Now imagine, if you can, how conservative a Texas Democratic senator would have to be to be allowed to continue chairing a Texas Senate Criminal Justice Committee for 19 years in a Senate under tight rightwing Republican control.
   35. MIKE: Fifteen years ago, as a State Senator still chairing that committee, Whitmire gave an interview to KTRH radio in Houston and made this surpisingly candid comment about putting air conditioning in Texas prisons [PLAY AUDIO]: “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.”
   36. MIKE: That was the position of Texas in 2011, and that’s still how the State of Texas feels about putting AC in prisons today. It really comes down to, as Whitmire so succinctly articulated, Number One: Texas doesn’t want to and the Republican-controlled Texas government doesn’t want to and has never wanted to.
   37. MIKE: So when, as the story points out, “In a summer filing to Pitman, the agency outlined a two-phase plan to install air conditioning in all of its prisons, saying it anticipated obligating $774.3 million from the Legislature in this budget cycle. [And] The second part would entail asking for $730.7 million in the following biennium.”
   38. MIKE: Then, “TDCJ unveiled its budget request in August, the agency proposed $298 million specifically for installing climate control. Officials also asked for $591.8 million to build cooled expansion dorms.”
   39. MIKE: So TDCJ proposed asking for $889.8 million, but instead of intending to put all that money toward a Phase One plan to air condition their prisons, they’re proposing putting 3/4 of that money to half-measures.
   40. MIKE: But wait. There’s more!
   41. MIKE: Republicans want to reduce property taxes and propose a 3% cut in this already insufficient TDCJ budget plan.
   42. MIKE: As pointed out in the story, Pitman noted in his Sept. 22 ruling, that the funding gap was “a concrete and obvious indication that the agency is not even attempting to [follow] that plan.”
   43. MIKE: And I think we can take Whitmire’s word for why that is [PLAY AUDIO]: “We don’t want to.”
   44. MIKE: Rightwing Republicans talk a good game when it comes to wanting “law and order” and about “respecting the law”, until the law conflicts with what they really want. Then they twist the system and game it and “forum shop” it, and — in the age of Trump and MAGA — sometimes they pretty much ignore it when it suits them.
   45. MIKE: If people don’t like it, their very Trumpian attitude is, “So, sue us.”
   46. MIKE: Now, forgive me for a digressive rant, but I’ll circle back.
   47. MIKE: It’s like the whole Republican Party has absorbed the lessons that lawyer Roy Cohn, who was eventually disbarred, taught to a young Donald Trump.
   48. MIKE: Roy Cohn was Senator Joseph McCarthy‘s chief counsel during the infamous Army–McCarthy hearings in 1954. He later became a mob lawyer.
   49. MIKE: Then, according to Cohn’s Wikipedia bio, “In 1986, a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division of the New York State Supreme Court disbarred Cohn for unethical and unprofessional conduct, including misappropriation of clients’ funds, lying on a bar application, and falsifying a change to a will.”
   50. MIKE: One site has an article called “The Six Dark Lessons Roy Cohn Taught Trump (That He Still Uses Today)”.
   51. MIKE: In that article, those lessons are summed up as: 1- Never apologize or admit wrongdoing, ever.; 2- Always counter-attack, and always with greater force than you received.; 3- Use the legal system as a weapon, not a recourse for justice.; 4- Manipulate the media ruthlessly.; 5- Use fear as both shield and sword.; and 6- Build a fortress of loyalty around yourself.
   52. MIKE: I would say that Trump learned Cohn’s lessons faithfully, and the MAGA Republican Party has learned those lessons as well.
   53. MIKE: This circles us back to Judge Pitman’s sense that the Texas Legislature and the TDCJ aren’t taking his legal judgments seriously, and they’re not even trying to appear to make an effort to be implement those rulings. They’re just delaying the legal judgment’s mandate and going forward as normal while they further delay action in the 5^th circuit appeals court.
   54. MIKE: This is part of a much larger and more pervasive pattern in this country.
   55. MIKE: As a non-lawyer lay person, this smacks to me of the TDCJ and the State of Texas appearing to be in contempt of court, or at least flirting with contempt.
   56. MIKE: In most instances, courts have little compunction when it comes to declaring lawyers, witnesses, plaintiffs, defendants, and even people in the gallery to be in contempt of court when appropriate … And sometimes, even when it’s not.
   57. MIKE: But judges — even when they are tempted — seem much more reluctant to declare governments and high officials in contempt, whether appropriate or not.
   58. MIKE: This amounts to a two-tier justice system, and in recent times it has allowed these entities to effectively ignore rulings until the damage has become so advanced as to be unstoppable or irremediable.
   59. MIKE: Politicians and lawmakers keep talking about needing laws with harsh penalties to act as a deterrent to criminals. Where are those deterrents when the State of Texas and the TDCJ effectively ignore a judge’s ruling?
   60. MIKE: Or for that matter, when the President and his agencies flout law and legal rulings?
   61. MIKE: Until we have real and true equality before the law — for rich to poor, for small business to big business, for civilians to government officials — then we don’t really have justice in this country at all.
   62. MIKE: In the wake of this dark MAGA chapter of US history, that is what we must energetically strive for. And that is why this upcoming election is so important and why, after Trump, there must be indictments and trials.
6. From POLITICO[.]COM — ‘Ship has sailed’: New poll shows even an end to the war or lower gas prices may not save Republicans; By Erin Doherty and Jessie Blaeser | POLITICO.COM | 10/10/2026 9:01 AM CDT. TAGS: POLITICO Poll, President Donald Trump, Election 2026, Republican voters, Democratic voters, Gas Prices, Diesel Prices, Food Prices, Inflation,
   1. Republicans are running out of ways to reverse their gloomy midterm prospects.
   2. The POLITICO Poll finds most Americans see no clear way for the party to regain the advantage as the election reaches its final weeks, with even Republican voters skeptical that President Donald Trump could pull off a last-minute move that could shake up the campaign. … [M]ajorities of voters say they would not be more likely to vote Republican even if Trump were to pull off a major political feat before November — like announcing the Iran war was over, bringing the price of gasoline down by $1, or creating 100,000 new jobs.
   3. That’s especially true of Democratic midterm and undecided voters: No matter the scenario or how significant the accomplishment, both groups hardly moved, the poll shows. …
   4. [Said Mike Noble, the founder of Arizona-based polling firm Noble Predictive Insights,] “I think a lot of the die is already cast. … It’s tough talking to Republicans, unless they’re just incredibly big die-hards. Like, how do they get motivated right now? Democrats are clearly motivated.”
   5. There’s one other issue: Most Americans don’t believe Trump can even pull off the tasks that could give Republicans the best chance of winning, according to the poll conducted by independent firm PF Global.
   6. [Said one GOP operative working on battleground races, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the landscape,] “There’s nothing that Trump can do, and frankly, even if he did something, no one would believe it anyway at this point.”
   7. [MIKE: We might call this ‘The Boy Crying Wolf Effect”. Perhaps a majority of Republican and independent voters are finally seeing that nothing Trump or the Republicans say can be trusted. Continuing …]
   8. Just over a quarter of Americans said they think Trump could bring gas prices down by $1 a gallon by Election Day, … end the war in Iran (27%) or … bring grocery prices down significantly (27%).
   9. [Less than half of Trump’s own 2024 voters — 43% —are confident he could pull it off.] …
   10. A Republican National Convention spokesperson criticized the poll for asking Democrats about voting Republican — although the survey asked all respondents the same question, regardless of their political affiliation — and accused POLITICO of “cherry-picking data to fit the media’s manufactured narrative that the sky is falling for Republicans, which is simply not the case.”
   11. [MIKE: In other words, Republicans can’t handle the truth. That’s why they need faux news outlets to “shape” the “facts”. Continuing …]
   12. White House spokesperson Davis Ingle also said in a statement that “no one can dispute the fact that President Trump has created one of the most robust coalitions in political history with the MAGA movement, and the President understands how to communicate with them.”
   13. [Ingle also said in a statement,] “President Trump is the unequivocal leader, best messenger, and unmatched motivator for the Republican Party, and he is committed to maintaining Republican majorities in Congress.”
   14. [MIKE: Ingle sounds delusional, like Baghdad Bob telling the press that Iraqi forces are devastating Allied forces as US tanks are rumbling into the capitol. Trump cultists always sound like this. Continuing …]
   15. Those doubts reflect real-world obstacles. Trump has suggested for months that the war with Iran is in its final days, but U.S. military leaders have made no efforts to begin withdrawing personnel or equipment in the Middle East.
   16. Bringing grocery and gas prices down significantly before Election Day presents more challenges. The war pushed up food prices from the field to the shelf: Fertilizer and fuel costs, critical for farm production, are high, and the impact of that is just starting to trickle through food supply chains. …
   17. [Said GOP strategist Doug Heye,] “Trump is saying himself that the war with Iran won’t end before the elections, and even if it did, it’s hard to see prices at the pump — or at the cash register — dropping at a level that slows the erosion below the GOP’s feet.”
   18. The survey underscores how deeply American perceptions of Republicans’ prospects have hardened amid a difficult political environment for the GOP: Pluralities expect the Democratic Party to win control of both the House and Senate in November. That reality is due in part because majorities of both Democratic and Republican midterm voters expect their own side to win, but more Americans currently say they will vote for the Democrats.
   19. The GOP is facing [political] fires on multiple fronts. Outside groups are rushing to shore up red areas — including in places Trump won comfortably in 2024 — [in an effort] to stem devastating losses. …
   20. For many Republicans, the question is no longer simply whether the party will suffer losses, but how significant they will be — and whether Republicans can still keep control of the upper chamber. Underpinning the dour landscape is a growing sense among those working on GOP campaigns that the party has few, if any, options left to reverse course.
   21. Just … 28% [of Americans] say ending the war with Iran would … make them more likely to vote Republican. …
   22. Other long-shot scenarios — including securing a trade deal with China or inflation dropping to its lowest level in five years — had little impact on especially the Democratic and undecided voters [that] Republicans need to win over.
   23. In each case, very few undecided voters said they’d be more likely to vote Republican as a result of these kinds of changes. Most say they “don’t know” how these changes will impact their vote.
   24. [The GOP operative said,] “The ship has sailed on any external event changing the dynamics of the election.”
   25. MIKE: It’s easy for Democrats to get some laughs from a few of the Republican insider comments, and take heart from these poll results.
   26. MIKE: But don’t get distracted from what really matters.
   27. MIKE: No polling results are equal to locked-in election results, because the only polling that counts is the polling on election day.
   28. MIKE: Texas early voting starts on Monday, October 19^th. Don’t just think about your ballot. Vote it.
   29. MIKE: If you have a mail-in ballot, mail it ASAP, because while some ballots get to election clerks in just 3-5 days, others have taken almost 2 weeks to arrive.
   30. MIKE: Elections have consequences. Make your choices count. Show up and vote.
7. From FORTUNE[.]COM — S. debt interest payments hit $3 billion a day and jumped 8% in fiscal 2026 — faster than total federal spending, revenue and GDP growth; By Jason Ma, Weekend Editor | FORTUNE.COM | October 17, 2026, 12:50 PM ET. TAGS: Economy, Debt, Treasury Department, Federal Budget Deficit, Government Interest Costs,
   1. The federal government’s fiscal year [2026] ended last month, and the final tally offered another stark warning about the trajectory of U.S. debt.
   2. According to Treasury Department data released on Friday, the federal budget deficit widened to $1.99 trillion, 12% worse than the $1.78 trillion gap in fiscal 2025.
   3. That came as revenue increased 3% to $5.4 trillion, lagging behind the 6% bump in spending to $7.4 trillion. Social Security and Medicare were the biggest line items, but in third place was interest payments on the national debt, topping defense spending and Medicaid.
   4. Gross interest costs for fiscal 2026 came in at $1.36 trillion, Treasury data show, with an average interest rate of 3.53%. That’s more than double the rate in 2021, just before the Federal Reserve embarked on an aggressive tightening cycle to rein in inflation.
   5. Net interest payments rose 8% to $1.05 trillion, outpacing increases in total spending, revenue, and GDP. In fact, it exceeds real GDP growth of about 2% as well as nominal GDP growth of about 6%.
   6. [MIKE: According to Investopedia, Real GDP growth measures the increase in a nation’s total economic output (goods and services) adjusted for inflation, using constant prices from a base year. Nominal GDP growth measures the increase in a nation’s total economic output using unadjusted current-dollar prices. Continuing …]
   7. Fiscal 2026’s net interest costs translate to about $2.9 billion a day, and the Peter G. Peterson Foundation estimated they represent 3.2% of GDP, breaking the previous record set in 1991.
   8. With gross U.S. debt at $40 trillion, publicly held debt at 100% of GDP, and borrowing costs up, interest payments are projected to be the fastest growing portion of the federal budget in the coming years.
   9. At the same time, the debt burden is being increasingly exposed to market volatility that threatens to make interest costs even steeper.
   10. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been issuing more short-term debt to finance the deficit and is retiring long-term obligations.
   11. Now, about one-third of publicly held debt, or more than $10 trillion, is due to mature within the next 12 months, meaning the federal government must roll it over at today’s higher rates.
   12. In February, the Congressional Budget Office projected annual debt interest expenses will reach $2.1 trillion by 2036. But then President Donald Trump launched the Iran war, which sent oil prices and bond yields soaring.
   13. The 10-year Treasury yield is now above 5%, blowing past the CBO’s forecasts for 4.1% this year, 4.2% in 2027, 4.3% from 2028 to 2031, and 4.4% from 2032 to 2036.
   14. [MIKE: I’m including the GRAPH from the story in this show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com so you can see how debt and interest costs have impacted the budget:
   15. https://fortune.com/img-assets/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/debt-interest-expense-101726-e1792250643581.png?format=webp&w=576&quality=75 Continuing …]
   16. If bond yields remain about 1 percentage point above the CBO’s estimates, interest costs will surge to $2.8 trillion, or 5.9% of GDP, by the end of the decade, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. 
   17. [Maya MacGuineas, President of the bipartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) said last month,] “Higher interest begets more debt, and greater debt begets higher rates and higher interest. Eventually, the whole thing could come crashing down.”
   18. [MacGuineas continued, saying,] “That’s why Washington needs a fiscal intervention now, before it’s too late. The President, the Treasury Secretary, and Congressional leadership need to understand the severity of this issue. There are no easy fixes, and we can’t just wish this problem away.”
   19. But so far, there’s no sign of much willingness to tackle spending or revenue. Trump has even called for a $5,000 “dividend” check to Americans if Republicans win the midterm elections and is already handing out “rebates” to millions of Medicare and Affordable Care Act enrollees.
   20. Meanwhile, Bessent has argued that heating up the economy further can get the debt under control.
   21. [Bessent said at Southern Methodist University last month,] “With 3% growth, we grow our way out of this. … We’ll get to the other side of this Iran conflict, and the underlying economy is very, very strong, and I think reaccelerating.”
   22. But [Congressional Budget Office (CBO)] Director Phillip Swagel said last week that faster economic growth is unlikely to keep U.S. debt in check. While stronger economic growth will help by bringing in more revenue for the federal government, it’s not that simple.
   23. Federal spending also boosts growth, which lifts wages that in turn affect outlays on Social Security benefits, he pointed out. A robust economy also tends to send interest rates higher, which adds to debt interest costs.
   24. Assuming interest rates of 4% to 5%, Swagel estimated that nominal GDP growth would have to reach 7%-8%, and real GDP growth would have to hit 5%-6% in order to stabilize the debt.
   25. That’s more than double the latest real GDP pace of 2.2% in the second quarter. Meanwhile, even bullish Wall Street forecasts put full-year GDP growth at 2.5%.
   26. [Swagel said,] “So growth will help, but it’s probably not plausible that growth alone will stabilize our fiscal trajectory. … So then we’re left with changes in revenues and changes in spending, and those are political choices.”
   27. MIKE: All of this talk of federal debt, interest costs, and what is necessary to “grow” us out of it reminds me of the Reagan administration’s fiscal idiocy.
   28. MIKE: I’ve linked to a whole lot of fact-checking for this commentary, so if you enjoy going down interesting rabbit holes, go to this segment in today’s show post at ThinkwingRadio[.]com.
   29. MIKE: I want to start by providing historical context to our current federal debt crisis.
   30. MIKE: President Jimmy Carter’s last proposed budget in 1979 — the one that the Reagan administration would have to implement — proposed a deficit of about $79 billion. As I recall, that was thought to be a political budget that would force Reagan to make unpopular cuts. But Reagan effectively said in today’s jargon, “Hold my beer.”
   31. MIKE: From 1981 to 1989, Reagan increased the national debt — that’s to say, all the debt incurred by the United States in over 200 years, from its founding in 1776 through 1989 — by 186.4%, from just under $1 trillion to about $2.9 trillion.
   32. MIKE: He accomplished this with a mixture of tax cuts and spending like a drunken sailor.
   33. MIKE: Reagan’s administration claimed that the US could pay for these deficits by virtue of something called the Laffer Curve, and never has an economic theory been so aptly named. This is what I recall as being the beginning of so-called “Trickle-down Economics”, a theory that real-world experimentation has since repeatedly disproven except to Conservative magical thinkers.
   34. MIKE: The Laffer Curve was named for its main popularizer, supply-side economist Arthur Laffer.
   35. MIKE: In essence, it claimed that if you cut taxes to some ideal level, the tax cuts will more-than-pay for themselves with increased economic activity and growth that would generate increased tax revenue at the ideal lower rates. This was supposed to eliminate the deficit.
   36. MIKE: It’s basically the economics version of doing more with less, until — as I often say — at its extreme when you’re supposed to do everything with nothing.
   37. MIKE: This didn’t work, and though Republicans keep believing in it, preaching it, and trying it, has never worked for over 40 years.
   38. MIKE: At the end of the day, it’s just a rationalization for why giant corporations and the very- and ultra-wealthy can keep more of their money.
   39. MIKE: In reality, economic growth is demand-driven. It bubbles up, rather than trickles down.
   40. MIKE: By the end of the first Bush administration, debt service — that is to say, just the annual interest paid toward the national debt — made up over half of the federal deficit.
   41. MIKE: By 1993, the U.S. national debt-to-GDP ratio averaged around 64.0%.
   42. MIKE: By the end of FY2026, Total Gross Federal Debt reached over 122% of GDP according to economic data tracked by Macrotrends and CEIC Data.
   43. MIKE: This is unsustainable, and the US is rapidly reaching a debt danger point.
   44. MIKE: Republicans have often derided Democrats as the “tax-and-spend” party.
   45. MIKE: But while they constantly claim to be the anti-deficit party, for the last 40 years, Republicans have proven themselves to be the “borrow-and-spend” party, and I don’t know why Democrats have not tried to hang that epithet around the necks of Republican deficit hawks.
   46. MIKE: In my estimation, corporate pay packages have become ever more astronomical as the nominal top tax rate has declined. Around the 1950s and 1960s, the nominal top tax rate for individual incomes over $200,000 was around 90%. Counting inflation, that $200k equals about $2.3 million today.
   47. MIKE: Now we could argue about where a top rate of 90% would start, but I think that by taxing extremely high incomes at an extremely high rate, it tended to discourage extreme corporate greed as almost pointless.
   48. MIKE: I’ve long said that corporate greed is not a victimless crime. It affects worker pay and consumer pricing by passing corporate wealth to a very few at the top, denying it to everyone else.
   49. MIKE: In the middleclass heyday of the post-WW2 years, discouraging huge cooperate paydays put more money in the pockets of consumers and workers, driving demand and economic growth, and making everyone richer, including the investor class.
   50. MIKE: If a new Democratic majority takes power, a main goal should be true progressive tax reform.
   51. MIKE: The goals of this kind of tax reform would be deficit reduction, debt reduction, and industrial, economic and job growth. It should also make it much more difficult to accumulate obscene wealth that deprives the economy of essential fiscal resources.
   52. MIKE: It might also represent a beginning of reducing the oligarchic political influence of the multi-billionaires.
8. From REUTERS[.]COM — Israeli settlers burn olive trees, injure journalist in West Bank attack; By Pesha Magid and Ali Sawafta | REUTERS.COM | October 16, 20264:24 AM CDT/Updated 6 hours ago. TAGS: Israeli Settlers, Palestinians, West Bank, Settler Violence, Olive Harvest,
   1. … [Dozens of masked] militant Israeli settlers burned olive trees ​and threw rocks at Palestinians in a coordinated attack on Friday on a village’s harvest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank that injured at least two people, including a journalist.
   2. Some 80 settlers, ‌some of them carrying gas canisters, descended from a hill above a terraced olive grove where villagers from Abu Falah had gathered to pick ripe fruit, a cherished annual tradition in Palestinian life, Reuters witnesses said.
   3. The settlers took positions in front of the terraced lanes of olive trees. Some of them used slings to launch rocks towards Palestinian villagers, who descended towards the bottom of the hill before picking up and throwing stones to defend themselves.
   4. [Said a farmer who witnessed the attack in Abu Falah,] “The settlers want to attack us and force us from our ​homes.”
   5. Partway through the attack, at least two Israeli military jeeps sped through the area, kicking up dust as villagers ran ​out of their way.
   6. The attack continued after the military’s arrival, with Israeli soldiers firing tear gas in the direction of the Palestinians who had dodged the jeeps. The ⁠sound of live gunfire could be heard in the area, and a Reuters photographer saw at least one armed settler fire a gun.
   7. In a statement, the Israeli military said soldiers and border police fired what it ​described as warning shots after deploying to the area and at one point fired towards a person who the troops believed had posed a threat.
   8. [The military said,] “Attempts to incite friction between populations undermine security in the area. … Attacks ​and violence against innocent civilians are grave and unacceptable.” …
   9. … Palestinian medics said two people were injured and taken to hospitals in the area of Ramallah. One of them was Heidi Levine, an American photojournalist with the Washington Post. Video of the attack showed Levine lying on her side on a dirt path with her hands over her face as at least three settlers surrounded her.
   10. Speaking from a hospital bed later, Levine, who is in stable condition, said: “I was attacked, pushed to ​the ground. Luckily I had my flak jacket and helmet, otherwise I probably wouldn’t even be here, because they just kept kicking me and kicking me.”
   11. Levine said the attack ended when her Palestinian colleagues intervened, after which ​medics rushed her in an ambulance to a clinic in Abu Falah and then to hospital in Ramallah.
   12. … The Washington Post later reported she suffered lacerations across ‌her body and ⁠a broken rib, and would need surgery on one hand after a finger was ripped open, exposing bone.
   13. In a statement, Matt Murray, the Washington Post’s executive editor, called for an investigation into the incident.
   14. [Murray said,] “This morning, a Washington Post photographer, Heidi Levine, was attacked by Israeli settlers while reporting in the West Bank. … She was wearing visible markings clearly identifying her as a journalist. While we are relieved that Heidi has received medical care and is safe, we are outraged by this unwarranted attack on a journalist doing her job and urge a thorough investigation and follow-through from authorities.”
   15. The US State Department said it condemned criminal violence by any party in the West Bank ​and supported holding the perpetrators accountable.
   16. [A department spokesperson said,] “The Department of State ​is aware of these reports. We are greatly ⁠concerned when any American is harmed overseas and stand ready to provide all appropriate consular assistance.”
   17. The department has reached out to the Washington Post to offer consular assistance, he added.
   18. … Israeli settler violence against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has surged, with at least 170 attacks ​since September 27, around the start of the annual olive harvest, according to Yesh Din, an Israeli settlements monitoring group.
   19. The settlers have been emboldened by the ​right-wing government of Prime Minister ⁠Benjamin Netanyahu, who has overseen a rapid expansion of settlements and smaller outposts across the West Bank.
   20. Netanyahu has criticized the violence but has taken few steps to crack down on incidents that have drawn international condemnation and sanction plans by longtime Israeli allies, including Britain.
   21. In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said the incident was under investigation.
   22. The West Bank is home to some 500,000 settlers and at least 3 million Palestinians. UN bodies and most countries deem the settlements illegal under international ⁠law regarding ​military occupations. Israel rejects this, viewing the territory as disputed rather than occupied.
   23. The Abu Falah attack followed a similar attack on Friday ​morning in the area of Turmus Ayya village, where settlers burned three cars after attacking a group of farmers harvesting olives. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
   24. Salah Abu Niswa, who witnessed the attack in Turmus Ayya, said the settlers “snuck up like ​thieves, they caught someone by himself and began to beat him.”
   25. MIKE: These settler attacks are acts of terrorism. Their objectives are to drive West Bank Palestinians from their land so that illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank can expand.
   26. MIKE: Perhaps the most despicable thing about this is the apparent indifference of the IDF — the supposed peacekeepers — to this frequent extremist violence.
   27. MIKE: As I’ve said before, this is the result of 16 years of the increasingly rightwing extremist governments of Benjamin Netanyahu. His government sets the tone, encouraging the worst aspects of hate and prejudice among Israeli soldiers and military police. And Netanyahu’s government makes no serious effort to prevent, stop, or contain settler violence because the extremists in his government are fine with it as implicit policy.
   28. MIKE: Look at what the US has become after just 6 years of Trump in power but 10 years in politics and as head of the Republican Party.
   29. MIKE: Trumpism and MAGA have encouraged bigots and hate mongers to come out of the closet. In the US, hate speech has increased, hate crime has increased, and violent confrontations by Trump’s MAGA cultists are now regular appearances in social media and on police blotters.
   30. MIKE: Now imagine how 16 years of Trump could transform the US for the worse. That is what Netanyahu’s Israel has become.
   31. MIKE: Israeli elections are on October 27^th. This brings us to our next story.
9. From the Jerusalem Post — Majority of Israelis favor unity government if October 27 election ends without clear winner – poll; By MOSHE COHEN | JPOST.COM | OCTOBER 16, 2026 08:42. TAGS: Benjamin Netanyahu, Elections, Likud, Naftali Bennett, Israel Elections, Gadi Eisenkot, coalition, Opposition, Yashar Party, Unity government, Israel Elections 2026, B’Yachad,
   1. [A Maariv poll conducted by Lazar Research, … in cooperation with Panel4ALL found that] The majority of Israelis would prefer a unity government to another election if the upcoming vote on October 27 doesn’t produce a clear result. …
   2. Only 27% said they would prefer another election, while 18% were unsure, the Friday survey also showed.
   3. Significant differences emerged between the opposition and coalition blocs. A majority of opposition voters (54%) said they would support a unity government only if it were led by a leader from their bloc.
   4. Coalition [i.e., Pro-Likud] voters were more divided. Nearly 40% said they would prefer a unity government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, while 32% said that, in the event of another deadlock, they would prefer another election.
   5. … The Maariv poll also found that 48% of people think Yashar party leader Gadi Eisenkot would make a better prime minister than Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who had 41% support, giving Eisenkot a significant lead.
   6. Against B’Yachad leader Naftali Bennett, Netanyahu and Bennett were tied at 43% support each. Against Yisrael Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman, Netanyahu led with 43% support, while Liberman had 37%.
   7. The poll also found that a large majority of Israelis (79%) were optimistic and believed the bloc they planned to vote for would win the election. By comparison, only 21% were pessimistic.
   8. A breakdown by bloc showed a significant gap between coalition and opposition voters. Among coalition voters, 90% said they were optimistic and expected their bloc to win, compared with 75% of opposition voters who expressed optimism about an election victory.
   9. … As Israel enters the final stretch before election day, the Arab parties gained one seat each this week, reaching a combined high of 14 seats, while Likud fell by two seats to just 18, according to a Maariv …
   10. MIKE: At this point, the story goes into a lot of detail about gains and losses in the polling of specific small parties, and quirks of the Israeli parliamentary system that would be meaningless to listeners of this show.
   11. MIKE: Suffice it to say that it takes 61 seats to govern in the Knesset, and both blocks appear tied in this poll at 51 seats each.
   12. MIKE: That means that a coalition will be required to govern, and the group with the largest plurality will get first crack at forming a government.
   13. MIKE: As noted in the story, the Arab parties are reaching a combined total of 14 seats, which would be enough to cross the governing threshold for either group, but so far at least, neither Jewish-based coalition will ask them to join.
   14. MIKE: The main bright spot here is that according to the poll, the Opposition’s Eisenkot is first choice for Prime Minister, and not Netanyahu. That might swing some waffling anti-Netanyahu votes to the Opposition.
   15. MIKE: With just a little more than a week to go before voting, Israel’s election is still too close to call.

There’s always more to discuss, but that’s all we have time for today. You’ve been listening to Thinkwing Radio with Mike Honig from KPFT Houston 90.1-HD2, Galveston 89.5-HD2, and Huntsville 91.9-HD2. We are Houston’s Community radio. I hope you’ve enjoyed the show and found it interesting, and I look forward to sharing this time with you again next week. Y’all take care!