Photo, left: JANUARY 7, 2016: Astronomers have made the most detailed study yet of an extremely massive young galaxy cluster using three of NASA's Great Observatories. This multiwavelength image shows this galaxy cluster, called IDCS J1426.5+3508 (IDCS 1426 for short), in X-rays recorded by the Chandra X-ray Observatory in blue, visible light observed by the Hubble Space Telescope in green, and infrared light from the Spitzer Space Telescope in red.
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com. Dr. David M. Livingston, The Space Show.
 
Hour One
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: Stephen Yates, chairman of the Idaho Republican Party, CEO of D.C. International Advisory, and former advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, in re: http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2016/01/12/will-the-pacific-trade-pact-really-put-pressure-on-china/
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 1, Block B: James Holmes, professor of strategy at the Naval War College and a former surface warfare officer, in re: Tac  nukes in South Korea?  Weapons remanufactured, warheads stored.   . .  Regimen of special inspections and training, can't reinstall on the fly.  Needless to say, ROK is uncomfortable when DPRK detonates a nuclear weapon and the US stands back, does nothing.  What the US could do other than tac nukes might be to fly a B-52 low over ROK air fields, etc.; could have conventional or ballistic-missile subs appear; all sorts of things to clarify the umbrella over ROK.  Have we already pulled back from Northeast Asia?  No sign of a deliberate decision of that; were the US to do that, then the locals – Taiwan, Japan, etc., would go nuke themselves.  http://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-nuclear-idUSKBN0UK0G420160107
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Hotel Mars, episode n. Dr. David M. Livingston, The Space Show; and Mark Brodwin, NASA, in re:  galaxy cluster with Spitzer;  needed spectroscopic measurement using Hubble Space Telescope and the Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Also measured the mass of clusters using Karma telescope in California [where else?].  Mass was 400 trillion the size of our Sun. . . .  Thermodynamics, lumosity, et al. . . . gas trapped in the gravitational pull; the pressure of the system is a thermodynamic property; gravitational force compressing, and the more mass, the higher the pressure thus the higher the temperature. Kitchen of the early cosmos.  . . . After the first generation of stars explodes, they seed the second generation; we're a product of a later explosion because we're heavier than helium or hydrogen.
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 1, Block D: Charles Ortel, managing director of research firm Newport Value Partners, in re: the tumbling renminbi and how it affects the global economy. RMB interest rates went to 200%! We're living under the false pretense starting in Jan 2009 that humans were more important than markets.  Not working in Brazil, China, S Africa, India, nor the US or Europe, There is such a thing as real markets –and they'll correct back more violently. Oil at $10??   There's supply – Saudi and Iran, e.g.; and demand – China cut way back. Oops, surprise.  Long-term, markets always beat government.  The deflati0n to worry about: deflation in wages. Machines replacing humans, and expensive human labor replaced by cheaper human labor. The global volume of labor incomes is decline, whereas the population is increasing. Herbert Hoover's remark: "Business is fine; nothing to worry about."  Unh – the problem was the confidence level.  . . . worldwide anti-incumbent movement. http://www.cnbc.com/2016/01/11/chinas-currency-conundrum-cause-for-alarm.html
 
Hour Two
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  Captain Jerry Hendrix, Center for a New American Security; in re:  market break in the US, but in China, it's worse. Meanwhile, the second day of the Persian Gulf abduction  of US sailors at gunpoint by thugs from the Iranian IRGC.  Of the ten, the female sailor was forced to wear hijab, and one of more sailors were forced on Iranian TV to apologize; and the little – 26-ft – boats weren't seagoing; and there was NO engine failure whatsoever.    Two thousand years ago, Roman citizens could travel all over the known world simply by saying, Civus Romanus sum – I'm a Roman citizen – knowing that the entire weight of the Roman military would defend that. The US enforced its citizens's right only by a phone call from John Kerry.  SEAR graining – what to do if you were captured.  Do not admit complicity or apologize: your job is not to speak for your entire nation, but to undertake your duties. This sailors were not supposed to be there and were not trained or prepared for this event, How did they wander SO far off course.  April 2001, US recon craft clipped by a Chinese fighter and forced to land on Hainan Island – Bush paid a ransom.  Pueblo: the us crew was held 11 mos and tortured – and the US apologized.   Recall the 1975 Mayaguez: Cambodians seized a US ship and began to tow it into their port – but Pres Ford and Brent Scowcroft launched aircraft and began o hit targets on shore. This is what happens when you mess with a superpower. The ROE – rules of engagement – have been unintentionally revised because of events in the last 24 hours, Our allies have huge questions about the resolve and capacity of the US – Jordan, Saudis, Israelis, Egyptians. 
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 2, Block B: Julia Famularo, scholar at Georgetown University, currently in Taiwan, in re: the Taiwan elections. "Of particular interest have been the hours I've spent chatting with former Sunflower Movement activists, a number of whom have thrown their support  behind the newly-formed New Power Party. "Not only will the opposition tale over the (Mme Tai Ing-wen, of the Democratic Peoples Party [DPP]) but also the legislature – first time. DPP is taking over from Chiang Kai-sheks's iron-fisted KuoMinTang (KMT), which Beijing has been supporting and again is losing.  The Third Force is a year old and now the third-most-powerful political party in Taiwan. Both Beijing - Chinese Communist Party on Mainland – and Chiang's effluent - the KMT – see themselves as the sole legitimate rulers of all China.  Last January Sri Lanka, also Burma, and then Taiwan on this coming Saturday – all vote out the Chinese Communists.  As the opposition takes over the legislature, the pro-Taiwan faction of the KMT and the pro-Beijing faction need to do soul-searching.   http://news.nationalpost.com/news/as-taiwan-prepares-for-election-a-third-party-brings-sunflower-movements-activist-issues-to-the-fore
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 2, Block C: Aaron Back, WSJ Heard on the Street, Hong Kong; in re: Globally "consolidating at a lower level" (10%).  As long as the Chinese govt interferes/regulates/artificially props up the mkt, the markets can continue to fall. Yes, the currency and stock market are both overvalued; not great.   What Beijing could do? would be to cut absurd domestic taxes to improve domestic economy – a 35% tax on cosmetics, for example. Nope, cannot succeed at that.   There was $750 billion capital flight in 2015. [Probably closer to a trillion. –e\Ed]  . . .   Bank of Japan Befuddles with Surprise Move  The Bank of Japan Governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, may have thought he was giving markets an early Christmas present. But investors reacted like they were finding coal in their stockings. The BOJ was widely expected not to make any adjustments to its easing program on Friday. So when headlines hit that it was making moves—extending the maturity of its government bond portfolio and introducing a new stock buying program—reaction was ecstatic. The Nikkei 225 surged by over 2% in minutes.
What Happens When Japan’s Central Bank Runs Out of Bonds to Buy? For the past three years, the Bank of Japan has been the world’s most hyperactive central bank. Now, investors are starting to ask how long it can keep going. Under its current easing program, the BOJ is annually adding a net ¥80 trillion (about $660 billion) of Japanese government bonds to its balance sheet—roughly equivalent to what the Federal Reserve was purchasing at the height of its easing, for an economy a quarter the size of the U.S.   . . . Toshiba: Restructuring ad Infinitum  So much for managing expectations.  Over the weekend, The Wall Street Journal and other media reported that Toshiba was set to forecast a $4.1 billion net loss for the fiscal year through March, sending shares down 9.8% on Monday. After the market closed, the Japanese conglomerate managed to disappoint a bit more, saying it expects to lose . . .
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 2, Block D:  Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and Dr Lara Brown, George Washington University, in re:
 
Hour Three
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:  Monica Crowley, Washington Examiner and Fox News, in re: Video shows American sailor apologizing for Iran incident - CNNPolitics.com  A video aired Wednesday by Iranian state television shows an American sailor ...
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 3, Block B: Monica Crowley, Washington Examiner and Fox News, in re: FactChecking the State of the Union He repeated his now years-long claim of crediting the Affordable Care Act for a slowdown in health care spending, which economists have .
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 3, Block C: Monica Crowley, Washington Examiner and Fox News, in re: Hillary Clinton's Coming Legal Crisis  The latest release of Hillary Clinton emails entails real risks for her, churning just beneath ...
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 3, Block D: Monica Crowley, Washington Examiner and Fox News, in re: Ted Cruz goes duck hunting with 'Duck Dynasty' star Phil Robertson
 
Hour Four
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 4, Block A:  Aaron Klein, Jerusalem bureau chief, Breitbart, in re: http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2016/01/13/israeli-official-tehran-wa... http://www.breitbart.com/jihad/2016/01/13/idf-readying-itself-for-threat-from-isis-in-the-sinai/ (1 of 2)
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 4, Block B: Aaron Klein, Jerusalem bureau chief, Breitbart, in re: http://www.breitbart.com/jerusalem/2016/01/13/israeli-official-tehran-wa... http://www.breitbart.com/jihad/2016/01/13/idf-readying-itself-for-threat-from-isis-in-the-sinai/ (2 of 2)
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 4, Block C: Brian Blase, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and Forbes.com, in re: ACA Enrollment Update: Seven Things You Need to Know   http://mercatus.org/expert_commentary/aca-enrollment-update-seven-things-you-need-know?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=commentary&utm_campaign=SBI (1 of 2)
Wednesday   13 January 2016 / Hour 4, Block D: Brian Blase, Senior Research Fellow, Mercatus Center at George Mason University, and Forbes.com, in re: ACA Enrollment Update: Seven Things You Need to Know   http://mercatus.org/expert_commentary/aca-enrollment-update-seven-things-you-need-know?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=commentary&utm_campaign=SBI (2 of 2)