Photo, left: (April 2015) Construction workers at a £9 billion cosmodrome in eastern Russian have resorted to extreme measures to appeal to Vladimir Putin after going four months without pay. Employees of TMK at the Vostochny spaceport were so exasperated at failing to receive their money that they painted a message to the Russian president in huge white letters on top of their construction huts. Дмитрий Рогозин ответил строителям космодрома вместо Путина http://goo.gl/XvzLu7  #Общество
The spaceport, which is being built in Amur region and is expected to employ up to 25,000 people when complete, is a prestige Kremlin project where Mr Putin wants the first launch to take place by the end of this year. It will replace the Baikonur launch facility, which Russia rents from Kazakhstan to send rockets to the International Space Station.  Dmitry Rogozin, a deputy prime minister in charge of the project, promised last month to prevent graft at the site.  (смех; laughter) "I will not allow any sabotage, I'll simply rip their heads off," he said, adding: "Those who try to steal the people's money from the spaceport will be locked up. We will build this cosmodrome."
However, the building work – which began in 2011 – has been beset by delays, wage dispute, strikes and allegations of corruption. Igor Komarov, head of the federal space agency, said earlier this month that the project is 120 days behind schedule. A criminal inquiry has been launched into the salary debts of one contractor, LLC Stroyindustria-S, which allegedly spent 48m rubles (£650,000) for building spaceport facilities, "on other financial and economic activity, unrelated to the construction works". Twenty-six workers from Stroyindustria-S went on hunger-strike in early April when about 100 others were carrying out a normal strike. Mr Rogozin claimed he had resolved that dispute soon afterwards.
TMK said on Wednesday that it had begun paying off the 98m roubles it owed to its workers and hoped to extinguish the debt by June. Workers from the company said they had also written to Mr Putin but not received a reply. The first manned flights from Vostochny are scheduled for 2018.
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Guest-host: Francis Rose, francisrose.com
Co-host: Larry Kudlow, The Kudlow Report, CNBC; and Cumulus Media radio
 
Hour One
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 1, Block A: Robert Doar, Morgridge Fellow in Poverty Studies, American Enterprise Institute; in re: AEI hosting a presidential campaign forum in South Carolina in the new year, at which some of the candidates will speak about poverty, opportunity expansion, and rebuilding the middle class. https://www.aei.org/events/expanding-opportunity/ (1 of 2)
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 1, Block B: Robert Doar, Morgridge Fellow in Poverty Studies, American Enterprise Institute; in re: AEI hosting a presidential campaign forum in South Carolina in the new year, at which some of the candidates will speak about poverty, opportunity expansion, and rebuilding the middle class. https://www.aei.org/events/expanding-opportunity/ (2 of 2)
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 1, Block C: Steve Moore, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Project for Economic Growth, Heritage Foundation; in re: Environmentalists and the left have it all wrong on oil.  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/27/stephen-moore-dead-wrong-on-oil/print/ (1 of 2)
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 1, Block D: Steve Moore, Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Project for Economic Growth, Heritage Foundation; in re: Environmentalists and the left have it all wrong on oil.  http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/dec/27/stephen-moore-dead-wrong-on-oil/print/ (2 of 2)
 
Hour Two
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 2, Block A: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, Major American Jewish Organizations; in re: Iran sends an enriched uranium supply to Russia, to comply with the terms of the nuclear deal with the US.
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 2, Block B: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, Major American Jewish Organizations; in re: Implementation Day of the Iran deal is coming, but Iran doesn’t seem to care.
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 2, Block C: Charles Levinson, Reuters; in re: The Department of Defense is defying the Obama administration, and doing what it can to keep Guantanamo Bay open. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-gitmo-release-special-report-idUSKBN0UB1B020151229
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 2, Block D: Chris Hill, host, Motley Fool Money Radio Show; in re: the Christmas season was great for consumers, not so hot for retailers; and, volatility on Wall Street could continue well into 2017 because of OPEC.
 
Hour Three
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 3, Block A: Bob Zimmerman, Behind The Black;  in re: India and Russia both announce delays in space efforts.  ttp://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/first-test-flight-of-indias-prototype-space-shuttle-delayed/
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 3, Block B: Niall Stanage, Associate Editor, The Hill; in re: winners and losers in the political arena in 2015. http://thehill.com/homenews/news/donald-trump-biggest-winner-politics-2015-2016-losers
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 3, Block C: Jonathan Bernstein, Bloomberg View; in re: futures-market prices on GOP presidential candidates are rising and falling; advice on whether you should buy, hold, or sell.  http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-22/which-2016-republican-candidates-are-a-good-bet
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 3, Block D: Kavitha Davidson, Bloomberg View; in re: The US has two very good reasons to continue investigating international soccer/football governing body FIFA. http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2015-12-20/more-reasons-the-u-s-should-investigate-soccer    
 
Hour Four
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 4, Block A: Lincoln's Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America's Greatest President, by Kathryn Canavan (1 of 4) http://amzn.to/1YMYlig
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 4, Block B: Lincoln's Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America's Greatest President, by Kathryn Canavan (2 of 4) http://amzn.to/1YMYlig
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 4, Block C: Lincoln's Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America's Greatest President, by Kathryn Canavan (3 of 4) http://amzn.to/1YMYlig
Tuesday 29 December  2015 / Hour 4, Block D: Lincoln's Final Hours: Conspiracy, Terror, and the Assassination of America's Greatest President, by Kathryn Canavan (4 of 4) http://amzn.to/1YMYlig