Photo, above: 

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 1, Block A:  Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re: AQIS leader, 'good' Taliban commander killed in 2 US drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas  Sheikh Imran Ali Siddiqi, a senior al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent leader, and Muhammad Mustafa, a Taliban commander loyal to Hafiz Gul Bahadar, were reported killed in the strikes in Khyber and North Waziristan.

Lebanese soldier defects to al Qaeda's Syrian branch  The Al Nusrah Front has announced that a Lebanese soldier, Mohammed Antar, has defected to the jihadist group. Al Nusrah has released a photo and video of Antar, which are part of the organization's ongoing propaganda campaign against Iran, Hezbollah, and the Lebanese government.

Ansar al Sharia video features jihadist once thought to be US ally in Benghazi  A new video posted by Ansar al Sharia Libya features Wissam Bin Hamid. American officials once considered Bin Hamid an ally in Benghazi, but he stood idly by as the US Mission and Annex were overrun on the night of Sept. 11, 2012. 

Al Nusrah Front releases photos of training camp in northwestern Syria  The al Qaeda branch is operating camps in Syria despite US airstrikes, which have not targeted the group since Sept. 22.

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 1, Block B: Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re: Al Nusrah Front releases photos of training camp in northwestern Syria  The al Qaeda branch is operating camps in Syria despite US airstrikes, which have not targeted the group since Sept. 22

The Turkish government agreed to train 4,000 Syrian opposition fighters to fight Islamic State militants and Syrian government forces, AP reported Oct. 12. Turkey has been reluctant to take any action that might convince the Islamic State to target it next. The announcement came on the same day activists said the Islamic State's assault on the Syrian city of Kobani had been halted. 

The British army dispatched some 12 trainers to Arbil, Iraq, to teach Kurdish security forces how to operate the heavy machine guns it donated last month, Reuters reported Oct. 12. The soldiers will not be used in any combat roles because only the country's air force has received authorization to participate in combat missions.  Around 20,000 Kurdish immigrants protested against the Islamic State in Dusseldorf, Germany, on Oct. 11, police said, ABC News reported. Police said the demonstration in the western German city was peaceful, while similar protests in other cities turned violent last week when Kurds clashed with supporters of the Islamist movement. The demonstrations come as the Islamic State continues its campaign in places like the Syrian city of Kobani. Roughly 1 million Kurds live in Germany, most of who immigrated in the 1960s when Germany was recruiting guest workers from Turkey.

Three suicide bombers attacked a Kurdish security compound in the eastern Iraqi city of Qara Tappah, killing 22 soldiers and wounding 60 more, AP reported Oct. 12. It is not yet clear who was behind the attack.  Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko accepted the resignation of Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey on Oct. 12, an announcement on the president's official website said. Kiev signed a lustration bill into law Oct. 9 that will allow it to clean up its bureaucracy. More personnel changes are expected. 

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 1, Block C:  Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re: Hong Kong Protesters Reinforce Barriers After Rivals Try to Demolish Them Monday began with attempts to tear down the barriers around the Hong . . .

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 1, Block D:  Bob Collins, DOD (ret), resident in Seoul, & Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re: Kim Jong-eun's reappearance; Korean politics; the balloons privately-sent across the DMZ, dropping pamphlets inside DPRK as a happy-birthday wish on the 69th anniversary of the North Korean gangster state.  The considerable annoyance of ROK politicians at this free-lancing. 

Hour Two

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 2, Block A:  John Fund, National Review Online, & David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent, in re: Alison Lundergan Grimes (D-KY) backs away from acknowledging that she voted for the current president.  Senate battlegrounds.  Colorado campaigns, same-day voting.   Kansas - Cory Bliss: hammering home a message that works, "A vote for Orman is a vote for Reid."  Relentless, disciplined, not mess around. If Orman winds up losing, it'll be in part because he made it easy to pin [Washington's untoward behavior] on him.    Word that George Soros involved himself in the Kansan race?

Again: Grimes Refuses to Say She Voted for Obama During Debate with McConnell Secretary of State Alison Lundergan Grimes, the Democrat trying to unseat Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R., Ky.) once again ...

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 2, Block B: David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent, & John Fund, National Review Online, in re:   Iowa - Joni Ernst (Republican): Ernst picks up a 3-pt lead today. She's a military veteran, is a female – helps esp vs Braley abrasive personality.  North Carolina: Undecideds are breaking for Tillis; $6.5 million for the GOP to spend.  New Hampshire:  Shaeen is at 48, Brown at 46. The more Brown campaigns, the better he does, as he's a superb retail politician.  Pres Obama's negative approval rating damages Shaheen.  AK, NC, KS – every which way, it’s not good for Democrats.

Colorado Senate: In close race, momentum favors Gardner over Udall, poll finds  U.S. Senator Mark Udall and Representative Cory Gardner during a debate Tuesday, ...   Iowa Poll: Race tightens; Ernst by 1 point  McConnell, Grimes exchange heated accusations in Kentucky Senate debate    Braced for Voter Fraud  Same-day registration in Colorado may affect close races.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has plans to pour another $6 million into the North Carolina race — already the most expensive this cycle, and a contest that hasn’t shaped up the way Republicans had hoped.  Republicans need a net gain of six seats to take control of the Senate, and a year ago, that math almost always included a victory in the Tar Heel State by defeating Sen. Kay Hagan. But less than a month before Election Day, the North Carolina race still eludes the GOP’s grasp — and has put a massive dent in the party’s wallet.

On Monday, the NRSC confirmed to CQ Roll Call it has reserved another $6 million in television ad time in the state to help Tillis. Until now, the party had not reserved airtime for the final two weeks of the race, even as the NRSC announced increasedinvestments in other states, signaling it was still weighing whether to send in the cavalry. Through Monday, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had almost doubled the NRSC’s spending, $5.7 million to the NRSC’s $3.2 million, plus another $800,000 the committee spent in coordination with the Tillis campaign.

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 2, Block C:  Ann Marlowe, Hudson Institute, in re:  Libya: Dignity troops and civilians to link Wednesday for mass Benghazi action Plans for the demonstrations have been spread on social media.   Da'ish now in effect will be launching its own TV channel.  Libyans having a Day of Rage: t=going into the streets to in their own neighborhood to take it back from the extremists – a handful of different groups scattered over the landscape.  [Update on conditins and circumstances.]  Benghazi & Dernah people are afraid to go out of their homes.   Amazigh stronghold on the Tunisian border is more peaceful, but a takfiri camp outside of Sabratha. 

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 2, Block D:  Peter Berkowitz, Hoover, in re: "Lawsuit Casts Harsh Light on Due Process at Colgate," Real Clear Politics   Feds apparently said,  "You must diminish the [restrictions] on sexual [abuse] if you want to continue federal funding." Colgate; "We're going to have to lock  you in a basement room or we'll give you  a one-way ticket to Bangladesh for tomorrow." He had no attorney present; the interrogator (six hours), Valerie Brogan was legally obliged to tell him he had a right to remain silent and to have a lawyer; she did not.

Lawsuit Casts Harsh Light on Due Process at Colgate   Under ordinary circumstances, the facts alleged by Abrar Faiaz in the legal complaint he filed last spring in U.S. District Court in New York against Colgate University would strain credulity. But because Faiaz’s allegations are consistent with the organized offensive against due process perpetrated by universities in recent years, they should be considered with an open mind. The lawsuit accuses Colgate and several members of the university's administration, faculty, and staff -- including President Jeffrey Herbst, Provost Douglas Hicks, and Dean of the College Suzy Nelson -- of multiple civil rights violations as well as false imprisonment, breach of contract, and failure to substantially observe the school’s established procedures. The court is currently weighing Colgate’s motion to dismiss the suit.

To cut the case short at this early stage, the court must conclude that even if the facts Faiaz alleges are true and all reasonable inferences are drawn in his favor, no violation of law has occurred. Such a conclusion would represent an abject failure of the federal courts to defend individual liberty. A citizen of Bangladesh who matriculated at Colgate in the fall semester of 2010 as a scholarship student, Faiaz enjoyed success in his university studies, earning a 3.33 GPA as a double major in economics and computer science. He also thrived outside the classroom, participating as a resident adviser and community leader in his dorm, a member of the Colgate Debate Society, and co-president of the Muslim Students Association.

According to the facts alleged in his lawsuit, on Feb. 20, 2013, during the spring semester of Faiaz’s junior year, classmate Rachel Valdivieso, who at the time was on leave from Colgate, emailed defendant Valerie Brogan, an investigator for the Campus Safety Department. Valdivieso, who had had a brief romantic relationship with Faiaz, asserted that a year before, he had pushed her against a wardrobe. She said she had not been hurt in the encounter and that Faiaz later apologized for it. Valdivieso also reported an incident . . .

Hour Three

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 3, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: US offer $212 mil to Gaza for rebuilding: an annual grant!  All the other pledges are over three years. Qatar pledged $1 billion – and Arab monies often do not get paid. Europe together gave $500 mil for reconstruction but half of all the money is not going to reconstruction but s going to the Palestinian Authority.   Can’t send metal pipes since Hamas uses them for rockets.  JB stood next to a lamp in S'derot: that's what they use to make weapons.   PA killed a lot of Hamas people under guise of the recent war.  PA/Abbas to police Hamas??   Abbas is highly amused: all the pressure on Israel and Egypt even though this is the third war in six years launched by Hamas.  The nonbinding vote in the UK parliament: 274 support recognizing Palestine "alongside Israel"; few opposed – and they never uttered a mumbling word about Hamas – fifty days of Hamas sending rockets in Israel for no specific reason whatsoever. Inability to say the name of Hamas shows that they have nothing safe to say about it.  Israeli exports to UK up 30% this year. Ties into the serious manoeuvers of Abbas right now at the UN.  Need nine positive votes to get it on agenda; haven’t nine votes, and US will vet.  Circulating a memo:  Israel has to withdraw entirely from West Bank by 2016.   Sweden threatens recognition and backs off.  Abbas succeeds in shirking the spotlight.   Iran – it’s as though the Mahdi is riding against Khartoum. 

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 3, Block B: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 3, Block C:  Coral Davenport, NYT,  in re: Republicans to Investigate Environmental Group’s Influence on Carbon Rule The inquiry, to be led by Representative Darrell Issa of California and Senator David Vitter of Louisiana, will look at whether the Environmental Protection Agency allowed an advocacy group too much sway in developing a regulation to . . .

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 3, Block D:   LouAnn Hammond, DrivingtheNation.com, in re: Tesla Switches to Autopilot  Tesla Motors unveiled an automated driving system designed to enhance visibility, prevent accidents and even allow vehicles to park themselves.

Hour Four

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 4, Block A: Safe Is Not an Option by Rand E. Simberg, William Simon and Ed Lu (1 of 4)

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 4, Block B: Safe Is Not an Option by Rand E. Simberg, William Simon and Ed Lu (2 of 4)

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 4, Block C: Safe Is Not an Option by Rand E. Simberg, William Simon and Ed Lu (3 of 4)

Monday  13 October  2014  / Hour 4, Block D: Safe Is Not an Option by Rand E. Simberg, William Simon and Ed Lu (4 of 4)

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