The John Batchelor Show

Monday 19 January 2015

Air Date: 
January 19, 2015

Photo, left:   WORLD HERO GUNNED DOWN BY IRANIAN THUGS.  Alberto Nisman gives a news conference in Buenos Aires on 20 May 2009.  See Hour 3, Block A, Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, on, Evil in Buenos Aires: Investigator of 1994 AMIA bombing found dead.  Photo by courtesy of and with thanks to the BBC.
 
 
 
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes; and author, Liberty Risen.
Hour One
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 1, Block A: Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, & Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re: Ex-Gitmo detainee leads contingent of Islamic State fighters in Afghanistan   Mullah Raouf Khadim, an ex-Guantanamo detainee, leads a contingent of fighters loyal to the Islamic State in Helmand, Afghanistan. Raouf and another top Taliban commander were previously forced out of their positions in the Taliban's hierarchy. According to a leaked threat assessment, the jihadist had ties to at least two members of the so-called "Taliban Five."     Analysis: Reported ban of Haqqani Network unlikely to end Pakistan's support of group   Groups like Lashkar-e-Taiba have previously been banned in Pakistan, but continue to receive the support of the military and intelligence establishment.
Argentine prosecutor murdered with evidence of Iran's having sent the 1994 AMIA bomber to kill many at the Buenos Aires Jewish Center.
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 1, Block B: Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, & Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, in re: ISIS commander in Afghanistan.
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 1, Block C: David Henderson, Hoover, in re: Piketty: "Violent Shocks" Needed to Raise Tax Rates; Mr. Piketty and what we kniow so far of the SOTU to raise taxes on America's 1% . . .  Obama's Piketty moment. / Thomas Piketty recommends a global tax; Jacobin in the XXIeme? "Take the French revolution . . . although it was not fiscal [as were the Bolsheviks]; this shows that we need a big fight and sometimes violent shocks . . ."  In his book he spoke of how inequality dropped during wars.  In Potemkin  interview is a "bring it on" attitude.  IN the French revolution, they took fro the rich and gave to the rich for decades.  Then millions without resources suffered gravely.  In France, the rich did get it by taking from the poor, whereas in this country it's [structurally] different.  Edmund Burke said the US revolution was more based in the French revolution.  . . .  Brad deLong. Mike Boskin thinks the inflation rate is overstated by  .8-1% per year, which adds up.  I did a long review of Piketty's book in Regulation magazine; he doesn’t deal with how wealth will be generated after his revolution.  . . . Is there a revolutionary fever spread across the US? I came here from Canada in 1972, saw a can-do spirit.  One of Obama's legacies will be the deep erosion of the can-do attitude. Liberté, égalité, les impôts.  
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 1, Block D: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re: sign that China's property market will correct soon:    http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2015/01/18/china-cities-signal-property-crash-by-halting-apartment-sales/ .  Also, defensive measures by Xi:  Xi Jinping congratulates newly-elected KMT chairman.      In Shenzen & Huangchou, developers not favored by the local govt are prevented from transferring flats to persons who might benefit from that.  . . . Huge capital flight out of China in Q4 – reputed to be $100 billion.
Hour Two
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 2, Block A:  David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent, & John Fund, National Review Online,  in re: For Republicans, immigration remains a disagreement among friends.   Pres Obama's policies; the State of the Union message, the currently feckless Administration policy endeavors.
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 2, Block B: John Fund, National Review Online, & David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent, in re:  Does Mitt Romney's re-entrance enliven the GOP? The fact that you're speaking of him says yes. However . . . Last time it w he seven dwarfs and Mitt Romney. . ..   Reminds me of    In 1927, the new York Yankees; Murderers Row; the GOP line-up now reminds me of that – I can’t recall a Republican field this rich with governance.    . . . A bunch of A-listers tells the country that the party has leaders – which has been grievously lacking for years. ("Who the Hell is running the store here?")  How can these candidates avoid damaging [each other] in primaries?  There'll be nine debates, no moderators designed to trip up the contestants.  Some social sanctions against going rogue.
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 2, Block C:  Edward Luce, FT, in re: Joe Sixpack, the jihadis and the US presidential election of 2016.
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 2, Block D:  John Tamny, RealClearPolitics, in re: Mitt Romney's explanation for his 2012 loss, that he couldn't compete with President Obama's various offerings of "extraordinary financial gifts" reveal someone who still doesn't get it.  Not only was Romney's assertion an insult to the electorate, it's also observably false as elections from the '80s, '90s and the present show. Mitt Romney Quite Simply Doesn't Get It, and Shouldn't Run for President
Hour Three
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 3, Block A: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Evil in Buenos Aires: Investigator of 1994 AMIA bombing found dead.  In a lpced room, a corpse. In that room, a .22 gun and a spent cartridge, no suicide note.  The man had been saying that there's a government cover-up of the 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires here 85 died.  Mr Nisman, found in his bathroom shot behind the ear – was consistently guarded by ten policeman because it was known that he was under death threats from Iran. Hour before his death, h was very upbeat because he was about to testify n this; had fied 1a 300-page complaint against the president and Timerman, saying hat they'd fabricated evidence, trying t give immunity to highly-paced Iranians in exchange for lucrative deals in oil and other trade.  Nisman has been demanding the extradition of the eight Iranian suspects (Interpol agrees), but Kirchner and Timerman have been trying to [nullify] that demand. In 2013  Iran and Argentina agreed to investigate jointly the bombing . . .   Today, immediate demonstrations with placards, "I Am Nisman."  He'd been saying for years that the Iranians were openly trying to kill him.
Israel killed an al Quds (the operating arm that carries out attacks in foreign capitals)  general -  a high Iranian military chief – in Syria. who was overseeing Hizballah.   The general appears to have been there to plan an attack, but Mugniya fils was also killed.  Short-rane missile with heavy payload, while Hizb & UIran were planning a massive missile attack plus physical penetration/infiltration into Israel from the Golan. 
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 3, Block B: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Yemen's al-Houthi rebels clashed with government troops near the presidential palace and seized the state news agency and TV station, Information Minister Nadia Sakkaf said, AP reported Jan. 19. Sakkaf said the move was a step toward a coup d'etat. With a political settlement pending, violence between government forces and the Shiite al-Houthis threatens to escalate. / Houthis want to get hold of the long-range missiles and thereby threaten the entire region.  People speak of shells landing and many deaths in Sanaa, machine-guns fired; at least nine killed and 67 injured.   In Yemen, in Syria, elsewhere, it's Iran's battle using surrogates, as Houthis and Hizballah are.   Effort to take over land in the Golan.  All related, all have their nexus in Teheran. Secy Kerry has just spent five hours with Zarif.    The prosecutor of the ICC has accepted to take the case proposed by the Palestinian Authority; US rejected since only a state may file. Prosecutor said that the PA's observer status at the UN constituted statehood. Said Gaza was occupied; it was pointed out that it specifically is not, she replied, "The world sees it as occupied."
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 3, Block C:  Elbridge Colby, Center for New American Security, in re: http://nationalinterest.org/feature/welcome-china-americas-nuclear-nightmare-11891?page=show
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 3, Block D:    Michael Ledeen, FDD, in re:   The citizens' guide to regime change.
Hour Four
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 4, Block A: John Marshall: The Chief Justice Who Saved the Nation, by Harlow Giles Unger (1 of 4)
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 4, Block B: John Marshall: The Chief Justice Who Saved the Nation, by Harlow Giles Unger (2 of 4)
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 4, Block C: John Marshall: The Chief Justice Who Saved the Nation, by Harlow Giles Unger (3 of 4)
Monday  19 January 2015/ Hour 4, Block D: John Marshall: The Chief Justice Who Saved the Nation, by Harlow Giles Unger (4 of 4)
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