Photo, left:  Percival Lowell of the Lowell Observatory's first mission: Mars. After that, search for Planet X.
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: Harry Siegel, New York Daily News, in re: Slouching toward Des Moines  http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/harry-siegel-slouching-des-moines-article-1.2503975
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
  The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
  Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
  Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world
The people who would be President are lunatics, liars or both. 
Here’s the Republican view of the world, and America’s place in it, knit together from their pitches in the last debate: “This country is not respected anymore . . . our freedom, our security and the American dream [are] slipping away. This country is changing. It feels different. We feel like we’re being left behind and left out."   That’s because we now have a president “who wants to change America, who wants to make it more like the rest of the world. And so he undermines the Constitution, and he undermines free enterprise . . . and he betrays our allies and cuts deals with our enemies and guts our military.”
“We have to stop with political correctness. We have to get down to creating a country that’s not going to have the kind of problems that we’ve had with people flying planes into the World Trade Centers, with the — with the shootings in California, with all the problems all over the world.” . . . “If I’m president, there won’t be stupid deals anymore. We will make America great again. We will win on everything we do.”
"Mexicans and Muslims, step aside and let soldiers be soldiers; men, men; America, America again."
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
  The ceremony of innocence is drowned;  
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
  Are full of passionate intensity.  
Surely some revelation is at hand;
  Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
Nearly a century after William Butler Yeats wrote “The Second Coming,” in the aftermath of the Great War, the “blood-dimmed tide” is lapping into and eating up what had seemed solid walls and borders in this season of snuff films, . . .
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 1, Block B:  Jim McTague, Barron's, in re: Volatile Stocks Confound Investors Dow industrials climbed 211 points, lifting the blue-chip index to its first weekly gain of year, even as investors struggled to reassess their outlooks for global growth.   Oil Rallies Above $32 a Barrel on Storm, Stimulus.  What’s (Still) Haunting Markets
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 1, Block C:  Elbridge Colby, Center for a New American Security, in re: http://www.frstrategie.org/publications/notes/web/documents/2016/201601.pdf. This paper seeks to lay out how Russia looks at its nuclear options, with a particular emphasis on understanding Moscow's perspective on the so-called "escalate to deescalate" strategy.  (1 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 1, Block D: Elbridge Colby, Center for a New American Security, in re: http://www.frstrategie.org/publications/notes/web/documents/2016/201601.pdf. This paper seeks to lay out how Russia looks at its nuclear options, with a particular emphasis on understanding Moscow's perspective on the so-called "escalate to deescalate" strategy.  (2 of 2)
 
Hour Two
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  Michael Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re: Russia Plans 16 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Launches in 2016 ;Russia's Fast and Elusive TOPOL-M Ballistic Missile Is Scary as Hell The giant TOPOL-M road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile is one frightening creation of . . .  ; Russia's Terrifying 'Nuke Trains' Will Be Roving the Rails y 2018 Banned under the previous START II treaty, but not excluded in 2011's . . .  (1 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 2, Block B: Michael Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re: Russia Plans 16 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Launches in 2016 ;Russia's Fast and Elusive TOPOL-M Ballistic Missile Is Scary as Hell The giant TOPOL-M road-mobile intercontinental ballistic missile is one frightening creation of . . .  ; Russia's Terrifying 'Nuke Trains' Will Be Roving the Rails y 2018 Banned under the previous START II treaty, but not excluded in 2011's . . . (2 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 2, Block C:   Gene Marks, Washington Post, in re: CEO Confidence Heads South Before Davos 2016  http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/typepad/RyNm/%7E3/ENyLPjgHfZI/ ; What If the Imploding Baltic Dry Index Does Reflect Global Trade After All http://feedproxy.google.com/%7Er/zerohedge/feed/%7E3/d7TSu5l8Dl0/story01.htm ;Homebuilder sentiment stalls at 60 in January http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/19/homebuilder-sentiment-stalls-at-60-in-january.html ; An absurd number of jobs around the world are going unfilled http://qz.com/595653/how-and-where-an-absurd-number-of-jobs-around-the-world-are-going-unfilled ; Venture Capital in EdTech Is Booming http://chicagoinno.streetwise.co/2016/01/19/edtech-investments-up-to-1b-in-q4-2015-according-to-kpmg-and-cb-insights/  ; Worst passwords of 2015: Star Wars references sneak onto list – CNET  http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/cnet/tcoc/~3/L3y451Ot-hw/story01.htm ; Global 3D Printers Market in Healthcare to Grow over $3.89 Billion by 2022 According to 'Global 3D Printing Healthcare Market Estimation and Forecast, 2016-2022' http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/global-3d-printers-market-in-healthcare-to-grow-over-389-billion-by-2022-according-to-global-3d-printing-healthcare-market-estimation-and-forecast-2016-2022-300206150.html
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 2, Block D: Gene Marks, Washington Post, in re: How the Recession Affected Entrepreneur Financing in the Best Way Possible http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/269469 ; The Big Mistake Entrepreneurs Make When Meeting with Investors http://feeds.inc.com/~r/home/updates/~3/vvhaYauIRbg/story01.htm ;  Former Twitter Chief to Launch a Fitness Startup http://www.wsj.com/articles/former-twitter-chief-to-launch-personal-fitness-company-1453221613?mod=rss_Technology  ;Twitter Went Down Because of an ‘Internal Code Change’ http://recode.net/2016/01/19/twitter-went-down-because-of-an-internal-code-change ; Shares of Twitter fall to new all-time low of $19.21 per share https://twitter.com/CNBCnow/status/687285555965640704 ; 4 Things Every Small Business Owner Should Know about Taxes  http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory/things-small-business-owner-taxes-36265352  ;  Scientists say Spider-Man can't exist because humans are just too big  http://www.theverge.com/2016/1/19/10789324/spider-man-climbing-walls-geckos-natural-limits ; Target cashier finds Internet fame after his patience and kindness to a customer . . .  http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/target-employee-viral-thanks-kindness-customer-article-1.2501430
 
Hour Three
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:  Tyler Rogoway, FoxtrotAlpha, in re: Russia Plans 16 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Launches in 2016  ; These Pictures of Russian Frogmen in Action Are Straight Out of an '80s Chuck Norris Movie  ; 60 Minutes Depicts Russia's Air Campaign in Syria As Propaganda-Filled And Stalling  ;  Israel's Newest and Most Advanced Submarine Is Their Last Line of Nuclear Deterrence  ;  B-52 and Fighters Fly Low Over South Korea, Sending Ominous Message to the North  ;  Watch This Navy Video of Iranian Gunboats Firing Rockets Near a U.S. Supercarrier (1 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 3, Block B: Tyler Rogoway, FoxtrotAlpha, in re: Russia Plans 16 Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Launches in 2016  ; These Pictures of Russian Frogmen in Action Are Straight Out of an '80s Chuck Norris Movie  ; 60 Minutes Depicts Russia's Air Campaign in Syria As Propaganda-Filled And Stalling  ;  Israel's Newest and Most Advanced Submarine Is Their Last Line of Nuclear Deterrence  ;  B-52 and Fighters Fly Low Over South Korea, Sending Ominous Message to the North  ;  Watch This Navy Video of Iranian Gunboats Firing Rockets Near a U.S. Supercarrier (2 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 3, Block C:  Reza Parchizadeh, Iranian democracy activist & editor-in-chief, Tahlil Rooz, in re:  http://mackenzieinstitute.com/why-it-is-ill-advised-to-deal-with-iran-under-the-mullahs/
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 3, Block D:   John Tamny, RealClearMarkets, in re:  Why are the markets tanking?  Not because China is slipping or this or that; rather, markets fall in an environment of uncertainty . Investors hate incertitude – and the greatest antibusiness uncertainty right now is the candidacy of Donald Trump, who wants for example a 45% tariff on Chinese goods ("We haven't seen the likes of that since the Eighteenth Century.").   . . .  Another surprise is the rising popularity of Bernie Sanders. The American electorate doesn't go for fringe candidates. 
 
Hour Four
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 4, Block A:  Konstantin Batygin, Cal Tech in re: Evidence of a giant planet on the edge of our Solar System http://www.nature.com/news/evidence-grows-for-giant-planet-on-fringes-of-solar-system-1.19182 (1 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 4, Block B: Konstantin Batygin, Cal Tech in re: Evidence of a giant planet on the edge of our Solar System http://www.nature.com/news/evidence-grows-for-giant-planet-on-fringes-of-solar-system-1.19182 (2 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 4, Block C: Larry Johnson, NoQuarter, in re:  . . . a telephone call goes out to [multiple] persons*, National Operational Intelligence Watch Officer’s Network (NOIWON) used for rapid evaluation of breaking crises. That phone rings continuously  - no ring-stop-ring-stop – and continues till it's answered.   . .  They knew in the first hour that Amb Chris Stevens was missing – and no step as taken to find out where he was. Three waves against the Annex.
"Hillary Clinton refused to activate the Counter Terrorism Security Group (the CSG). This was a deliberate decision to avoid having to characterize the attack as terrorism. Had the CSG been convened this would have been a stark and tacit admission that Barack Obama’s political cover for his campaign was a fraud. Obama took great pride in trumpeting that Al Qaeda was on the run and Osama Bin Laden was dead. The attack in Benghazi represented a potentially lethal threat to that rosy narrative."
*National Military Command Center ; National Military Joint Intelligence Center  ; State Department Operations Center ; State Department Bureau of Intelligence and Research ; CIA Operations Center ; NSA Operations Center ; The White House Situation Room ; U.S. Navy Multiple Threat Alert Center
See: http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/78836/hillarys-failure-at-benghazi/
. .  Mrs Clinton specifically declined to call in essential offices, incl Counterterrorism.   13 Hours is not entertainment. It is not designed to make you feel good nor to jiggle your funny bone. It tells a true, gritty story and helps the average America to understand the complete failure of leadership by Hillary Clinton prior to, during and after the attack on 11 September 2012.
The wide shots of the compound housing the US diplomatic mission (in the immediate aftermath of the 2012 attacks it was mistakenly described as “the Consulate”) give those who have seen the movie a visual understanding of how large an area a very small contingent of security personnel were expected to protect.
The failure to provide adequate security personnel and equipment to protect our facilities in Benghazi and Tripoli are fully the fault of Hillary Clinton. The following timeline from this blog highlights key moments prior to the attack where Hillary could have made a difference:
02.11.12 @1:13 PM:  Regional Security Officer of the Libyan Embassy, Eric Nordstrom, emails State Department officials, cc-ing then-Ambassador Gene Cretz, saying he’ll try to send personnel from the Security Support Team to Benghazi. ‘I’ll speak with our SST personnel to see if they can free up 1 or 2 bodies for Benghazi….While the status of Benghazi remains undefined, DS’ – Diplomatic Security – ‘is hesitant to devout (sic) resources and as I indicated previously, this has severely hampered operations in Benghazi. That often means that DS agents are there guarding a compound with 2 other DOS personnel present. That often means that outreach and reporting is non-existent.’
03.28.12:  Ambassador Cretz sends cable to Secretary Clinton requesting additional security assets.
04.19.12: Cable from State to Cretz, signed by Clinton, acknowledges Ambassador Cretz’s request of 03.28.12 for additional security, but instead articulates a plan to scale back security assets for the U.S. Mission in Libya, including the Benghazi Mission.   (1 of 2)
Friday  23 January 2016 / Hour 4, Block D: Larry Johnson, NoQuarter (2 of 2)
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