Photo, left: USS Fort Worth (LCS-3) at sea off Hawaii in November 2014.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 1, Block A: Congressman Jeff Miller, Chairman, US House Veterans Affairs Committee; in re: ongoing problems at VA with integrity of personnel; willingness of management to fire employees; deficiencies in Denver hospital building; and more. (1 of 2)
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 1, Block B: Congressman Jeff Miller, Chairman, US House Veterans Affairs Committee (2 of 2)
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 1, Block C: Susan Ferrechio, Senior Congressional correspondent, Washington Examiner; in re: The omnibus was a bloated spending bill with many Democratic priorities, but House conservatives gave Ryan a pass.
  http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/ryan-gets-a-pass-on-boehner-like-spending-bill/article/2578593
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 1, Block D: Janko Roettgers, Variety, in re: Netflix takes up over 30% of the internet at any given time. It’s trying to reduce that, in part to help its entry into new markets around the world. Netflix leader says “You shouldn’t allocate the same amount of bits for My Little Pony as for The Avengers."  
http://variety.com/2015/digital/news/netflix-better-streaming-quality-1201661116/
 
Hour Two
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 2, Block A:  Michael Vlahos, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies; in re: Republican Presidential candidates are not speaking accurately about the options the next president will have to fight ISIS. (1 of 2)
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 2, Block B:  Michael Vlahos, in re: The most dangerous conflict on arth right now is not Russia/Syria/Da'esh.  (2 of 2)
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 2, Block C:  Sam LaGrone, US Naval Institute News, in re: Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter forcefully tells Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus the Navy’s strategy and budget priorities for 2017 are all wrong.
http://news.usni.org/2015/12/17/carters-rebuke-of-navy-budget-propsoal-points-to-split-between-service-dod-priorities
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 2, Block D: Ashe Schow, Washington Examiner, in re: some of the presidential candidates, on both sides, should simply shut up about some of the things they’re saying about themselves.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/what-the-candidates-wont-stop-talking-about/article/2578552
 
Hour Three
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 3, Block A: Jim McTague, contributing editor, Barron’s; in re: At President Obama’s news conference today, he made it very clear he doesn’t intend to be a lame duck.
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 3, Block B:  Jim McTague, contributing editor, Barron’s; in re: Hundreds-of-points moves in the stock market this week should not be cause for such alarm, and may yield a benefit for 2016.
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 3, Block C:  Noah Feldman, Harvard University and Bloomberg View; in re: Five years after the Arab Spring, are those countries better off? Some are, some are worse off, in others, not much has changed. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-17/arab-spring-s-dreams-became-the-islamic-state-nightmare
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 3, Block D:  Frank Barry, Bloomberg View; in re: The best book about the 2016 presidential campaign was written in 1992 - about the 1988 campaign. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-17/the-best-2016-campaign-book-is-about-1988
 
Hour Four
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 4, Block A: Dr. Jerry Hendrix (USN-ret.), Center for a New American Security; in re: Secretary Carter’s rebuke of Navy priorities, and micromanagement inside the Pentagon.
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 4, Block B: Dr. Jerry Hendrix, in re: the Littoral Combat Ship gets the driveshaft in the new budget priorities set out by the SecDef.
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 4, Block C: David Hawkings, CQ Roll Call; in re: the inner workings of the omnibus spending bill, and why Nancy Pelosi is a big winner. http://blogs.rollcall.com/218/pelosi-takes-victory-lap-omnibus-win/
Friday 18  December 2015 / Hour 4, Block D:  Todd Harrison, Center for Strategic and International Studies. in re: Defense was a winner overall in the omnibus, and underneath the topline, there were some even bigger winners.
 
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