The John Batchelor Show

Thursday 18 January 2018

Air Date: 
January 18, 2018

Photo: Syrian National Congress 1919
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal.
 
Hour One
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 1, Block A:  John Fund, NRO, in re: Glenn Simpson testimony – what's important is what we haven't seen.  GOP  (under Devin Nunes) voted yea, Dems (under Adam Schiff) nay, to allow all members of House to read a document said to contain FISA abuses.  Mark Meadows and Jim Jordan have read the documents and both use the word “outrage.”  Congressmen have to go to a SCIF to read it.  No quotation from a Democrat saying, “There’s no truth to this.” Let’s hypothesize that what Devein Nunes said is accurate; what can Democrats do?  Perhaps go  their friends in the media and say, “This is old news.” Mr Comey is now being questioned on how the emails were handled.  The Clinton email investigation was very odd. Kallstrom is saying, “This is not the FBI I knew and loved.” Democrats have spent  much energy defending the Clintons fro 25 years that I believe they can’t go back.
Let’s say there is rot at the top of these critical agencies; how does one clean that out?  A lot of people are going to have to make a choice of the values of the old FBI and those of the Obama-Comey FBI.    Head of FBI visited Paul Ryan to ask him [not to release documents].  Ryan to his everlasting credit said, “These are our documents; submit them by midnight or be held in contempt of Congress.”
When Hillary lost, her minions lost control of the intell agencies. The five months the Dems have spent fighting subpoenas has only brought them more to public light.
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Speaking with Fox News, the lawmakers said they could not yet discuss the contents of the memo they reviewed on Thursday after it was released to members by the House Intelligence Committee. But they say the memo should be immediately made public.
“It is so alarming the American people have to see this,” Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan said.
“It's troubling. It is shocking,” North Carolina Rep. Mark Meadows said. “Part of me wishes that I didn't read it because I don’t want to believe that those kinds of things could be happening in this country that I call home and love so much.”
Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz said he believed people could lose their jobs after the memo is released.
“I believe the consequence of its release will be major changes in people currently working at the FBI and the Department of Justice,” he said, referencing DOJ officials Rod Rosenstein and Bruce Ohr.
“You think about, ‘is this happening in America or is this the KGB?’ That's how alarming it is,” Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry said.  http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/18/gop-lawmakers-demand-alarming...
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 1, Block B: Mary Kissel, WSJ and Fox; in re:  John Batchelor’s recent trip to  Qatar.
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 1, Block C: Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover Defining Ideas, in re:  By some measures the economy hasn't been this good since February 14, 1973.  Four per cent growth; low unemployment.  There hasn't been a new house built in my town in eight years – and suddenly new houses are springing up all over, cement trucks on highways.  Will this develop rapidly enough before the midterm elections? GOP lawmakers are demanding that an “alarming memo” on FISA warrants be released. All GOP in House Intell Cee voted in favor of releasing; all Dems voted against. In Napoleonic times, Did Britain remake itself in conflict with France? Yes, it reinvented itself after 1814, after 1945, and more recently. Rome re-made itself about four times. This is what Trump is trying to do. If he succeeds, it’ll make irrelevant a lot of people under Obama who claimed that the US is nothing special. . .  . At the moment the Democratic Party is cynical.  Awe have 47 million people in this country who weren’t born here.
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 1, Block D:  Joe Pappalardo, Popular Mechanics, in re:  Can the Chinese weaponize space junk?  There’s too much circling in low-Earth orbit; if you can track space debris with lasers, why not change its orbit, slow it down, make it de-orbit and burn up?  However, when you shoot stuff in space wit lasers, you suddenly have a weapon. Becomes a question of trust and dual-use. Chinese program is nontransparent; the paper comes out of the Chinese air force.  Will arm spacecraft with weapons to destroy US natl security satellites.  . . . Spycraft, tradecraft. 
 
Hour Two
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 2, Block A:  Christopher Nixon Cox, OC Corp, in re:  A four-page memo that may relate to FISA court abuses is spoke of in the House Intell committee. Chris, on recent trip to Doha, Qatar.  Communication from Pres Trump to emir of Qatar thanking him for his work in fighting terrorism.  . . . US needs a stable Qatar, stable Saudi, stable UAE.  Sheikh Hassani, in charge of bldg. facilities for the 2022 World Cup. “Lit up like a candle” when he realized that Chris is the grandson of hte US president who first recognized Qatar.    Macedonia having trouble with Greece in using its own name; this has delayed its joining intl organizations, Will the Balkans go toward Russia or toward the West?
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 2, Block B: 
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 2, Block C: Seb Gorka, Fox News, fresh from House Oversight and Govt Reform Committee testimony, in re:    The Trump Adm intends to remain in Syria rather than repeat the mistakes in Iraq.    ISIS is largely removed from its geography, the caliphate is no longer as it was, but we have not defeated ISIS. We will have defeated it only when the black flag of ISIS is as repugnant to all as the Nazi symbols are then we will have won. Let’s recognize that certain states are more important than others; geostrategic. Iraq is one of those.  Children’s future lies in an Iraq that functions.   Will they do well if there’s another civil war? Shi’a and Sunni can agree on No.     When senior Iranian officials function in broad daylight in Iraq, that’s not an independent nation.   . . . Iranian militias – Quds Force, et al.— mustn’t be allowed to exploit Iraqi territory.  ISIS in Afgh now not as strict, not beheading people for smoking; rather, being genial and forgiving in order to be able to expand and control more land.  A few years ago, there as an ISIS attacks somewhere in the world every 83 hours; that no longer is happening. 
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 2, Block D: Seb Gorka, Fox News, fresh from House Oversight and Govt Reform Committee testimony, in re:   Need to define victory conditions, as Churchill said Need to kill the brand – jihad became sexy to tens of thousands of people.  How?  The Active Measures Working Group, a small interagy group (q.v.); worked in unclassified domain and proved he fallacious nature of Soviet propaganda and thereby legitimized it. With our Muslim partners, incl Egypt, we need to delegitimize. The King of Jordan is descended from Mohammed, and has authority. A senior Qatari sheikh said: keep young people bldg things and working on their own home.  Joining the Marine Corps or a jihadi group imparts meaning and worth to members. Obama’s group said “Ideology is irrelevant; root causes [poverty, etc.] are central.” If you subscribe to this, all you can do is whack-a-mole, which is what the US did for eight years.  Arab world is in love with Donald Trump because they see him as a predictable leader.  Success speaks for itself.
 
Hour Three
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 3, Block A:   Monica Crowley, London center, in re: the ebullient state of the American economy.
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 3, Block B:  Alisha Finley, editorial page, in re: differences between men and women who code at Google. 
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 3, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack,com, in re:  NASA’s bureaucracy renders it almost unable to explore space.  And the paperwork needed to certify some firms is so odious it’ll delay launches.  . . .  
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 3, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack,com, in re:
 
Hour Four
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 4, Block A: 
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 4, Block B: 
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 4, Block C: 
Thursday 18 January 2018 / Hour 4, Block D:  
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