Tuesday 19 January 2021
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Hour One
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block A: Joseph Sternberg: @josephsternberg, @WSJOpinion; Political Economics column; WSJ editorial board; in re: Heavy firepower in Washington and even New York’s Grand Central Terminal in anticipation of the inauguration. The pending impeachment trial: McConnell is one of the few having a strong sense of he institutions, has put the Constitution front and center. This wasn’t a normal mob, and Trump didn’t speak normally—was trying to stir up the populace. Concern lest the Executive use force to harass or intimidate the legislature; founding fathers were keenly aware of the 1640s in England. Will a trial create more problems than it will solve? They want to prevent Trump from ever running for the presidency again; disenfranchise him. A good argument to that kind of gesture. The Democrats did not help their case throughout the four years. Important institutional concern here: Congress protecting itself.
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block B: Joseph Sternberg: @josephsternberg, @WSJOpinion; Political Economics column; WSJ editorial board; in re:In the UK, the continuing lockdown seems to be causing mental health issues. “Exit strategy: ‘Ease lockdown by March 8,’ say Tory MPs.” Some MPs who were sceptics before now are worried about the new variant. Britain is successful in its vaccine distribution; we all thought that it would get us out of the lockdown. The Nudge Unit. Only 44% said they’d follow the [required behaviors—masks, distancing, no travel] after vaccination. Chancellor of the Exchequer wants to tax more to deal with the alarming deficit. People aren't even at work. His will further alienate conservative members of parliament, whom Boris is trying to [keep in the fold]. Rules are preposterously confusing. and which is a rule and which is a suggestion? Very difficult for humans.
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block C: Gregory R Copley: Defense and Foreign Affairs; Gregory R Copley, The New Total War of the Twenty-first Century and the Trigger of the Fear Pandemic, in re:Does the special relationship between the UK and the US survive? Obama said that the UK would have to “get to the end of the queue” if it accepted Brexit. Brexit did not disrupt the Black Friday agreement. If Biden follows that and punishes the UK, it could rupture relations. If h UK is forced even briefly to move away from the US, its main option is fully to develop the CANZUK alliance (4/5 of the Five Eyes—who have common forms of govt, defense practices, and the like). Would have the fourth-largest economy in the world; the only sovereign to have full reach into the Arctic and the Antarctic. If Biden turns his back on the UK, it’d be foolhardy and dangerous. Obama’s threats toward the UK, unconscionable in Britons’s eyes.
Taiwan: Biden is not about to pull back from the strengthened ties that Trump created with Taiwan. Pompeo freed the Pentagon to speak with Taiwanese officials in an unfettered manner. Japan, India and Australian are also strengthening their ties to Taiwan. Taiwan and Japan: two islands off the Eurasian landmass. Heartland powers and maritime powers generally compete with each other. US is maritime; needs to have the ability to reach right up to the coasts. Without Britain, the US could not successfully have entered the war in 1942. India has been forced to become a maritime power, having been cut off from land connections; is now part of the Quad (India, Australia, Japan, US).
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block D: Gregory R Copley: Defense and Foreign Affairs; Gregory R Copley, The New Total War of the Twenty-first Century and the Trigger of the Fear Pandemic, in re:Xi Jinping, president for life of China, total state control vs prosperity and innovation—yet he’s applied both. China is a military dictatorship and an economic power. The US may never recover the power that Trump was creating and [aiming for]. Since Reagan, the US has progressively been moving down the scale of global prestige; in a sense, it became doctrinaire, was telling others what to do. In 2020, a manic effort to limit free speech. Absent prestige, a nation has no power. Elimination of free speech, debate, logic and erudition, or global comprehension. The euro today has no backing by sovereign nations.
China is not only economically disintegrating; it doesn’t have enough money to sustain itself, is proportionately the biggest importer of food since Rome; hasn’t enough water to serve the big cities. Its medium-term solution is to reduce the population (down to about a billion people). It will become extremely aggressive under the CCP: the party can survive only if it cracks down on the populations and takes massive risks in international affairs.
Hour Two
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block A: Elizabeth Peek, @LizPeek, Fox News and TheHill; in re: “Goldman profit more than doubles.” Last week, Morgan was up 42%. The market rose steadily last year; traders made money. Deal-making. Frothy market. The Fed will hold low rates for another year. Treasury: Yellin. Yes, unemployment benefits till the lockdown ends. Commodity prices have been going straight up. Promoting inflation? Wehad full employment until the covid crisis hit.
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block B: Elizabeth Peek, @LizPeek, Fox News and TheHill; in re: Thousands of armed young people in Washington and New York. Impeachment. “The mob was fed lies.” —McConnell. Fifty-fifty Senate split: power-sharing agreement? A Schumer-McConnell deal? We’re notunited: big bz wants to be close to China; conservatives say, Watch out. Race, military, DACA, all sorts of matters.
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block C: New World Report.Joseph Humire @jmhumire, @securefreesoc, and Senator Maria Fernanda Cabal @MariaFdaCabal, in re: New caravan forming, These caravans are t spontaneous; they're driven by political actions in Honduras and elsewhere, esp Venezuela: to weaponize the migrants against the US. An enormous caravan last year was stopped by Mexico; AMLO may decide to remove the national guard and let the caravans continue into the US. Honduras, Salvador, to Mexico. Some caravan members are genuinely looking for a better life; many are known criminal gangs.
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block D: New World Report.Joseph Humire @jmhumire, @securefreesoc, and Senator Maria Fernanda Cabal @MariaFdaCabal, in re: Reports that Raoul Castro will step aside. No major change because the institutional structures—economy, military, intelligence [internationally]—are all established. An important magazine: Indoctrinating, using teachers and doctors and illegally participate in Colombian elections. Why does our govt keep having relations with Cuba, which always plays the role of evil, and has been for over sixty years? A new virus variant—similar to the South African one—in Brazil has led it to cut off travel from Portugal and the UK. Currently doing studies. Duque is [politically] related to Obama and Clintons.
Hour Three
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block A: John Bolton: @AmbJohnBolton, American Foundation for Security and Freedom (fasfreedom.com); author, The Room Where It Happened;in re: START (Strategic Arms Reduction) and INF treaties. China is not a party to the New Start Treaty. Tac nukes and hypersonic missiles. China has weapons buried in tunnels in its west. Basically says it may join when it builds up to US and Russian levels. France and Britain ought to join, too. Our allies are very much with us; anyone who thinks seriously about the role of China in the 21stCentury realizes that China must [join]. The treaty ends on 5 Feb, can be extended. China does not want limits on its nuclear weapons.
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block B: Jillian Melchior, @JillianKayM,@WSJOpinion; in re; A happily-ending story for one family in Hong Kong. For many, arrest and detainment, but one young man was rescued by two other young men in Denmark. Ted Hui, 30 years old, a pro-democracy lawmaker, had been arrested often by HK police. When he retuned to HK, the two Danish boys secretly created a fake climate congress in Denmark, invited him to speak, and the CCP let him go. As he left, the police demanded a list of topics—which of course didn't exist. Ted asks the two boys, who had to come up with programs at the last moment. Did so in half a day. Ted booked tickets for his family to fly to London. Ted deplanes in Denmark, is told for the first time that it was all bogus. His friends rushed up and hugged him said, “You’re free.” He was stunned, of course.
Now the Danish lawmaker who helped is in jeopardy; and Ted may be kidnapped by the CCP.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-hong-kong-dissidents-daring-escape-116104...
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block C: Bill Whalen: @Hooverwhalen, @HooverInst,Area 45 blog, in re: Hollywood’s “Mr Mayor” . . . Consider, “Mr Governor.”
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block D: Eric Felton, RealClearInvestigations, national correspondent; in re: The Pentagon has come to rely on big tech for essential services. Would it be deplatformed in a war? [Yes.] Alphabet has a new union dedicate to controlling what the company works on, must be approved by Californiac workers. Cloud being politicized and weaponized. Amazon Web Services has aggressively sold products to govts, incl a ten-yr deal with the CIA, and working on JEDI, worth $10 bil. Has facial recognition cameras. All in the cloud.
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Did Microsoft Finally Win Its $10 Billion JEDI War with Amazon? https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/09/10/did-microsoft-finally-win-jedi...
Hour Four
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block A: Their Last Full Measure: The Final Days of the Civil War,by Joseph Wheelan
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block B: Their Last Full Measure: The Final Days of the Civil War,by Joseph Wheelan
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block C: Their Last Full Measure: The Final Days of the Civil War,by Joseph Wheelan
Tuesday 19 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block D: Their Last Full Measure: The Final Days of the Civil War,by Joseph Wheelan