Photo, left:  Four antennas radio telescope, at the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile.
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board & host of Opinion Journal on WSJ Video. Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents.
 
Hour One
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: Henry I. Miller, M.D.; Robert Wesson Fellow in Scientific Philosophy  & Public Policy; Hoover Institution; in re: there are possible remedies for Zika virus; there’s blood on the hands of the [slowpoke] regulators.  The mosquitos have a mutation such that they die unless grown in the presence of tetracycline; these live long enough to mate and pass this lethal mutation along to their progeny, who die.  The terrible news is that the FDA has an absolute rule requiring that any work done on an animal must be “safe and effective” for the animal – and we're trying to kill the mosquitoes. The regulatory equivalent of a Monty Python skit.  A classic Catch-22. Doesn't seem to have occurred to Health and Human services, or FDA.   Ergo, the app to do a field test in the Florida Keys since 2011 has been sitting on a desk.  YIKE.   Would require several field tests, to be done in six months to a year; that’s been done in the Caymans. Brazil, Malaysia. this is not terra incognita, and it's extremely safe.
I don't understand the lassitude here – isn't this a lethal danger?  What’s happening? It's called politics, and incompetence. this seems to have been generated initially by an FDA deputy secretary who disliked genetic engineering; the other part is pure incompetence – the whole thing should never have gone from HHS to FDA.   In my article, I quoted Bartleby the Scrivener who, asked to do something, responded, “I prefer not to.”
Wolbachia is an obscure bacterium that infects many species of insects, shrimp, others. It exists in them in a sort of symbiotic relationship; but when they’re infected with Wolbachia ,they tend to be immune to other bacteria – resistant to dengue, e.g.   As for Zika, the more people infected, the more likely that a mosquito will bite someone infected and thus transmit it to someone else. 
Forbes article, "Deadly Dysfunction: Bureaucratic Snafus Delay a Novel Approach to Zika" http://www.forbes.com/sites/henrymiller/2016/05/04/deadly-government-dysfunction-a-novel-approach-to-zika-delayed/#7646c83778c1.
Time magazine:  A new technology developed in Australia is using a naturally-occurring bacterium to stop mosquitoes from transmitting dengue, and is shown to be effective against Zika as well.   . . . a controversial new technology that could eventually enable scientists to eliminate an entire species of disease-causing mosquito. The benefits could be great: As the most efficient transmitter of disease in the animal kingdom, mosquitoes cause more than a million deaths a year. The technology, which uses a genetic editing technique that essentially forces mosquitoes to breed themselves out of existence by preventing the creation of female offspring, could also be used to engineer mosquitoes incapable of carrying disease. But while promising, it will be a decade at least before either version is ready for market—and that assumes the public concerns about GM animals can be quelled.
Meanwhile, another technology developed in Australia is all but stopping dengue, a devastatingly painful mosquito-borne disease that infects millions and causes some 10,000 deaths a year. New research is showing that it may be effective against Zika as well. Malaria, yellow fever and Japanese encephalitis may not be far behind. And while the essential ingredients are found in nature, it works in a similar way to the sophisticated genetic engineering techniques being perfected by the scientists I profile in my story.
The technology uses a naturally occurring bacterium called Wolbachia that already infects 60 percent of insects around the world, from butterflies to wasps and ladybugs. Like the beneficial bacteria that colonize the human gut, Wolbachia does not harm the insects it inhabits; instead, it blocks the proliferation of harmful viruses, like dengue.
The entomologist Scott O’Neil, now the dean of Science at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia, worked for more than a decade on discovering a way to distill the virus-neutralizing power of Wolbachia so that he could introduce it into mosquitoes on a genetic level. The key came when he hit on the idea of letting the bacterium do what it does best: infect the insects itself. . . .   http://time.com/4319619/zika-virus-mosquitoes-wolbachia-technology/
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 1, Block B:  Edward W Hayes, Esq, criminal defense lawyer par excellence, in re:  Barry Burke, Esq, of Cramer Levin (he who was earlier appointed to the board of the _______), has been hired by Mayor DeBlasio of New York. Turmoil in his administration; and his chief spokesman has just left. The matter of campaign contributions is very, very specialized; few people understand the complex laws. No Democrats have come to his defense; why?  The question is, does the mayor have any friends?  Bill Bratton, police commissioner, has spectacularly good stats.
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Michael Auslin. American Enterprise Institute Director of Japan Studies, in re: Mary Kissel was in Asia for six years, head of WSJ in Hong Kong; after her departure Xi Jinping took over China as tyrant.  Under Xi, wide and grave Chinese aggression in the East China Sea and South China Sea, and Chinese have grown wroth with US for maintaining freedom of navigation. Meanwhile, Abe in Europe and soon to Russia.   . .  . Soon China will probably start to dredge Scarborough Shoal (the wholly bogus micro-land mass that China built up out of basically nothing in order to install a military airbase and port), which is conspicuously within Filipino territory (being 150 miles from Manila).  Everyone remarks that there’s no clear and coherent American strategy; US  is always on the back foot. If China militarizes Scarborough Shoal, there’s no turning back . . . Well, also Woody Island, and Fiery Cross Reef.   China cares not a whit what the Hague Court decides on Scarborough, assert that might makes right and possession is nine-tenths of the law. The US watched this for years, did nothing till it was in fact too late.  They have fighter jets. Missiles, anti-air missiles.  In the event of an actual China-US war, those little bogus land masses would be sitting ducks; however, there's a huge seascape between here and there. No one else in the region has any hope of defending their territory without the US, which appears to have abandoned them. This is serious and scary.  US cavalier attitude has . ..    Were there a clear WH strategy and pattern of activities, showing that the US fully supported it allies . . . ; no one wants to see freedom of navigation taken away; but it the US stays paralyzed, other s might make bad deals with China just to survive.    http://www.nationalreview.com/article/434835/shinzo-abe-courts-europe-russia
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 1, Block D: Rick Outzen, Pensacola Independent Daily News; in re: The Trump veep job:  rejected by Susanna Martinez, Nikki Haley; a few others; then the name of Gov Scott of Florida surfaced – and he rejected it. “Rick Scott on paper looks to be a better candidate than he is.”  He has a better chance of winning Senate than helping Trump become president. Further, he disdains being second in command to anyone, doesn’t work well with others.  On the other hand, he has a very good economic performance.  On the third hand, he’s unpopular, does not bring the GOP with him (he destroyed the Florida GOP).  . . . Florida is a purple state.  I asked the Lt-Gov, Are you endorsing Trump?  He said, “I’m focusing on my own race.”  That’s 29 electoral votes. What's going on?  . . .  The Florida Panhandle is a different world  Curious that the Dems aren't as uncomfortable with trump as the Republicans are –p they see him as a sort of Democrat [which he’s always been hitherto].
Republicans Slowly Come to Terms with Trump  “Republican elected officials, donors and strategists grappled uncomfortably on Wednesday with the inevitability of Donald Trump as their presidential nominee, an unexpectedly sudden denouement that left many in a state of political paralysis and others vowing to oppose the party’s new standard-bearer,” the New York Times reports.
“While some called for unity, many Republican leaders refrained from falling in line behind Mr. Trump, with dozens avoiding inquiries about where they stood or saying they wanted Mr. Trump to detail his policies or tone down his language first. Others tied themselves in knots as they praised and criticized Mr. Trump in a single breath, or suggested that they could abide Mr. Trump but loathed his agenda.”
 
Hour Two
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlen, Conference of Presidents, in re:  Crackow, The March of the Living. http://www.timesofisrael.com/iranian-commander-threatens-to-close-strait-of-hormuz-to-us/   . . .  http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/WATCH-LIVE-Thousands-walk-from-Auschwitz-to-Birkenau-in-March-of-the-Living-453186
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 2, Block B:  Irwin Cotler, Canadian Member of Parliament for Mount Royal, 1999-2015; Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, 2003 – 2006; in re: Crackow, The March of the Living.
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 2, Block C: 
Crackow, The March of the Living; and anniversary of Nuremburg.  A snag with the Obama Administration: MOU between US and Israel governing military relations and aid for the coming decade:  money amount a bit irregular; also, US Congress wishes to invest more in Israeli Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and similar projects because the US needs these technologies, incl in coproduction (55% of the work is done in the US), but the White House seems to be [dragging feet? Sandbagging?]. If this isn't signed by 2017, the US will lose 70,000 jobs initially, and more in the medium term.   . . .  It’s not a question of the next days; rather, after the election. This president will remain active, has an agenda.  We may not see the true extent of what he has in mind till after the election.  In Israel, the PM visited Gaza because of new tunnels, Then there was rocketing out of Gaza. By technology and intell, Israel found yet another tunnel from Gaza into Israel; Israel seems to have captured Hamas’s tunnel expert,  Mahmoud Attala(?), who explained how the tunnels are designed to come up very near private residences and thus serve only to terrorize civilians.  In northern Israel, the devils are active:  The truce talks in Stuttgart with Secy Kerry:  does it address the status of the Golan?  Merely to survive at all, Israel dasn’t release the Golan because Syria and Hezbollah would immediately use the heights to shell and mass murder. ISIS is here, too.  Kerry’s remarks on anti-Semitism : not what people say but what they do.  Very odd, irregular, and disproportionate conduct by Kerry, who equally honors the vaguely despotic Palestinian Authority and its lethal deeds, and the comprehensively democratic State of Israel.  Eke at the UN [with Mr More-Secretary-than-General].   http://www.jta.org/2016/05/05/news-opinion/israel-middle-east/israeli-troops-near-gaza-come-under-mortar-fire-2-rockets-fired-into-israel
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 2, Block D:  Malcolm Hoenlen, Conference of Presidents, in re:  Crackow, The March of the Living; in re; MY grandparents lived near Nuremburg, were deported then sent gas chambers. Participant here incl a Greek Orthodox Primate, a  cleric from Rwanda, people from all over the world.  As you know, this is not a Jewish problem; in fact, people from Trinidad and Tobago have joined ISIS en masse. We need to remember not for the past but to prevent recurrence in the future.  Great contemporary significance. As for Turkey, it's tried to reconcile with Israel and removed heir veto in NATO against Israel opening an office in Turkey.   Erdogan is feeling tremendous pressure from Russia, and the economic pinch fro he absence of 4.5 million Russian tourist, thousands of hotels up for emergency sale; Davutoglu about to resign?  Hezbollah sending its children to Europe to study – they let others face fire and die, but commanders smuggle their own children to Europe to avoid having them fight in Syria.
 
Hour Three
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 3, Block A: Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution, Chicago Law, NYU Law, in re: The velvet-rope economy: a fab cruise cabin lets you never see anyone else.    If the line charges a huge sum for such luxe, it can charge a bit less to steerage – oops, called “the bottom tier.”  Norwegian Line is called the best; Carnival is somewhere close.  If you put Nelson Schwartz, economic correspondent for the New York Times, in charge of Norwegian Line, stock would fall precipitately.  Disney also will develop that upper-level market.   . . .   The opportunity cost of time . . .  Some doctors have their clients sit for an hour in the waiting room; million-dollar babies see the doctor right away.   http://www.hoover.org/research/hidden-virtues-income-inequality?utm_source=hdr&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2016-05-03 (1 of 2)
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 3, Block B:  Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution, Chicago Law, NYU Law, in re:    http://www.hoover.org/research/hidden-virtues-income-inequality?utm_source=hdr&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2016-05-03 (2 of 2)
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 3, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: Launches, incl from Vostochny – first flight aborted temporarily at the last minute but, nonetheless, congrats to Russia for getting the operation in gear.   [Of course, US free-market, independent economic entities have got ’way ahead of the rest of the world so far, but we’d never brag.]  
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 3, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re:  The Solar System. Mars, as the target for SpaceX. Spectroscopy: the geology suggests that once a volcano erupted and left an ice sheet. If there once was a lot more water on Mars: did it leave, or go underground? Pluto: New Horizons. Fund craters with bright rims of methane ice, while the center is dark and has water ice. Mysterious geology Also, the “depressed heart of Pluto”: a heart-shaped plane seen on a fly-by; named Sputnik planum; the elevation map says it's two miles deeper than the surrounding terrain, a frozen ocean. Mountain-size block of frozen water floating on the dense, nitrogen-ice ocean. Weird, alien geology. Solar wind: Pluto is a planet; the solar wind interacts with it as a  planetary system.  Next: three exoplanets orbiting a small star. “Habitable zone” defined by humans as where humans might live.  Detail: these are rocky planets, their star is not as hot as ours; this means here are many many, many more planets h=that might be habitable.  These were found by a telescope in the high desert – Altiplano of the  Atacama desert - of Chile.  [Llano de Chajnantor Observatory is the name for a group of astronomical observatories located at an altitude of over 4,800 m {15,700 ft} in the Atacama Desert of northern Chile. ... The Atacama Large Millimeter Array {ALMA} is a large radio telescope . . . ]
 
Hour Four
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 4, Block A: Karen Hudson-Edwards, Birkbeck, University of London, in re:  Tackling mine wastes  Science 15 Apr 2016: Vol. 352, Issue 6283, pp. 288-290  /  Summary  On 5 November 2015, the Fundão and Santarém mine tailings dams in Minas Gerais, Brazil, failed, releasing 62 million m3 of sediment and water that destroyed homes, killed at least 17 people, cut of potable water supplies, blanketed more than 650 km of rivers, and flowed into the Atlantic Ocean (see the photo). The tailings dam failure, the largest ever recorded (1), demonstrates many of the diverse impacts of mine wastes. How can the potentially severe impacts of mine wastes and the risk of such disasters be reduced? http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6283/288.full (1 of 2)
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 4, Block B:  Karen Hudson-Edwards,  Birkbeck, University of London, in re:  Tackling mine wastes  Science 15 Apr 2016: Vol. 352, Issue 6283, pp. 288-290; http://science.sciencemag.org/content/352/6286/644.full (2 of 2)
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 4, Block C:  Eric Hanushek, Hoover; via Real Clear Education; in re:  Student Achievement and Every State's Economic Future  The No Child Left Behind Act that drove much of the overall policy discussion became increasingly dysfunctional and was belatedly replaced by the Every Student Succeeds Act. A key element of this new act is returning the locus of educational policy to individual states. That move is not without risk.
Thursday  5 May 2016 / Hour 4, Block D:   Eric Hanushek, Hoover; via Real Clear Education; in re:  on Opinion Journal, via The Wall Street Journal; a new study concerning the correlation between student achievement and economic gains.