The John Batchelor Show

Wednesday 18 November 2020

Air Date: 
November 18, 2020

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Colleagues: Gordon Chang, Daily Beast, and David Livingston, The Space Show
 
Hour One
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 1, Block A:  Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion, in re:  Electoral fraud.  Third Circuit. Trump campaign’s fraud claims could not have survived the court’s Friday ruling as individuals didn't have standing. Only the state legislature of PA would have standing, having been [damaged {because of the state constitution}]. PA Secretary of State disclosed how many votes (out of 7 million) were relevant after 3 Nov:  thousands.  GA consent decree on signature-matching.  Trump campaign will get recounts in two Wisconsin counties.
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 1, Block B: Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion, in re: Election Day. Democrats have chosen wisely to see that Election Day is what theydescribe.  We’ve been building to this point for a decade or more.   Being a state AG is now a powerful post, including in policy. Michigan AG intends to advance straight-ticket voting and universal absentee voting—start voting in September, continue through mid-November.  [Ergo, no more Election Day.] Democrats also are trying to get rid of the Electoral College: each state would pledge to have its electors vote exactly in accordance with the popular vote.
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 1, Block C: Michael Yon: @Michael_Yon , East Asia reporter; and Gordon Chang: @GordonGChang, Daily Beast; in re:  Thailand protests, clashes cause chaos outside parliament.  Pro-democracy vs royalists (Thais call it “demo-crazy,” as they think that it risks mob rule and so invites communists.) Thais are like bamboo, will bend over backwards not to have a fight.  However, in a pinch they fight really well. Instability of constitutional monarchy for 90 years.  There are 25 military-appointed senators.
www.theguardian.com/world/2020/nov/17/thailand-protests-clashes-cause-ch...
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 1, Block D: Sean Lin, former lab director of the viral disease branch of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, and Executive director, Global Alliance Against Communist Propaganda and Disinformation, and Gordon Chang: @GordonGChang, Daily Beast; in re: Chinese govt continues to conceal information.   Warnings; animal samples; multiple likely sources within Wuhan?   Guangdong, Guangchou.China trying to claim that the origin was Europe!   China knew of the disease in Wuhan in August. Govt has ordered revision of hospital records to diminish [culpability]. https://www.newsweek.com/one-year-first-covid-case-china-1547200
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-54969682
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 2, Block A:  Salena Zito: @SalenaZito  @DCExaminer @RealClearPolitics; New York Post, CNN; Middle ofSomewhere column; in re:
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 2, Block B:  Salena Zito: @SalenaZito  @DCExaminer @RealClearPolitics; New York Post, CNN; Middle ofSomewhere column; in re:
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 2, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com; in re:  . . .  Virgin Galactic cancel culture.
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 2, Block D: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com; in re:    Onward Chang I 5; have moved Long March 5 to the launch pad. Critical mission; if problems occur, everything grinds to a halt for a while.  Last time: a three-year delay. Artemis Accords is a treaty the Trump Adm requires any partner to the Moon to sign: emphasizes that all signatories will respect private property in space. Ukraine has signed. Arianna Space.   Arecibo: possible collapse of 900-ton antenna.  ISS.
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 3, Block A:  John Catsimatidis, @JCats2013, @CatsRoundtable, Red Apple Media & Cats Roundtable radio, in re:  The second wave. New York governor, Andrew Cuomo has said that city schools will close because of a 3% positivity response. Very disappointing: the election is over; children are losing a full year of school.  This is the edict of the teachers’s union; in fact, let senior teachers stay home and younger ones teach in classroom. The latest vaccine advertises 95% effectiveness.  No one knows why Cuomo is taking this stand.  It's not President Trump in a cellar mixing vials; this is eminently reputable science.  Rumors that Cuomo might be AG or Secretary of State under Biden. He father, Mario Cuomo, didn't [conduct himself his way]. This is like a seven-year tantrum between Cuomo and DeBlasio.  Cardinal Dolan and Cuomo haven’t spoken in two-and-a-half years.  Turkeys for Thanksgiving to feed hungry New Yorkers: St Francis Pantry.  Donate at WABCradio.com, click on the button. Also, at Gristedes and Dagostino.
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 3, Block B:  Alex Tabarrok, Mercatus Center, in re: Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, Astrozeneca; but how to distribute the vaccine—by lottery?  There are millions of doses ready to go as soon as FDA authorization occurs.  Suggest we randomize doses—to nursing homes, police stations, hospitals.  Probably health care workers first, as they’re at high risk and are likely to transmit.  Also, they and first responders:  Pfizer requires very cold storage, available at a hospital.  The more a vaccine is given, the more information we have about it.  Transparency:  hope there’ll be less worry in future, rather than Trump Derangement Syndrome, as Operation Warp Speed has been a superlative success.
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 3, Block C:  Steve Yates: 葉望輝, @YatesDCIA, @dciadvisory, former deputy national security advisor to Vice President Cheney and currently CEO of DC International Advisory;  and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang, Daily Beast; in re: The Communist Party of the PRC: US State Dept, Nov 2020, “Elements of the China Challenge.”*  Fifty pages, no mention of Taiwan, perhaps result of State internal tug of war.  The establishment talking about Taiwan made it a subset of US policy; no mention lets it be a condominium of its own. Pompeo said it’s not part of China. The covid 19 outbreak has been a turning point as the world sees what the Chinese govt has done. Extreme WHO failure. “America must refashion foreign policy”—first, secure freedom at home. What? State Dept still has a US zip code?
George Schultz’s test: “Point to your country” – and the ambassadors often pointed to the country to which they were assigned, not to their own country, the US.   “Technological superiority”? State is usually the most lagging of indicators.  This doc was advertised as Kennan-like, while it merely opens the door.  
 
*https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/20-02832-Elements-of-Ch...
“. . . The CCP aims not merely at preeminence within the established world order — an order that is grounded in free and sovereign nation-states, ows [sic] from the universal principles on which America was founded, and advances U.S. national interests —but to fundamentally revise world order, placing the People’s Republic of China (PRC) at the center and serving Beijing’s authoritarian goals and hegemonic ambitions.”
https://www.axios.com/scoop-the-state-department-to-release-kennan-style...
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 3, Block D: Rick Fisher, senior Fellow, International Assessment & Strategy Center, and Gordon Chang: @GordonGChang, Daily Beast; in re: and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang, Daily Beast; in re: report that the PC has tested a Dong-Feng East Wind 26 (DF 26; 東風), 4,000-km range missile designed to reach Guam or deliver a maneuverable warhead to sink a large warship.  Controls 150 reconnaissance sats covering Earth; also has sigint and elint sats. Can pick up data from ships, and has very long-range radar (3,0000 km) and many airborne reconnaissance to fishing ships. All these data are collated and fed into the missile; it, too, has radar to find the target and provide guidance. China thinks this will scare away the Americans.  Rather, we have countermeasures and can spook Chinese missiles.  The other day we shot down an ICBM from a destroyer.  US has hypersonic glide missiles (DF 17, soon DF 26).  A plethora of other choices.
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/37662/chinese-long-range-ballistic...
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 4, Block A: Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne(American Warrior Series) Part of: American Warriors Series (29 Books). by Douglas V. Mastriano
       Alvin C. York (1887–1964)—devout Christian, conscientious objector, and reluctant hero of World War I—is one of America's most famous and celebrated soldiers. Known to generations through Gary Cooper's Academy Award–winning portrayal in the 1941 film Sergeant York,York is credited with the capture of 132 German soldiers on October 8, 1918, in the Meuse-Argonne region of France—a deed for which he was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.   At war's end, the media glorified York's bravery but some members of the German military and a soldier from his own unit cast aspersions on his wartime heroics. Historians continue to debate if York has received more recognition than he deserves. A fierce disagreement about the location of the battle in the Argonne forest has further complicated the soldier's legacy.  In Alvin York,Douglas V. Mastriano sorts fact from myth in the first full-length biography of York in decades. He meticulously examines York's youth in the hills of east Tennessee, his service in the Great War, and his return to a quiet civilian life dedicated to charity. By reviewing artifacts recovered from the battlefield using military terrain analysis, forensic study, and research in both German and American archives, Mastriano reconstructs the events of October 8 and corroborates the recorded accounts. On the eve of the WWI centennial, Alvin Yorkpromises to be a major contribution to twentieth-century military history.
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 4, Block B: Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne(American Warrior Series) Part of: American Warriors Series (29 Books). by Douglas V. Mastriano
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 4, Block C: Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne(American Warrior Series) Part of: American Warriors Series (29 Books). by Douglas V. Mastriano
Wednesday 18 November 2020 / Hour 4, Block D:  Alvin York: A New Biography of the Hero of the Argonne(American Warrior Series) Part of: American Warriors Series (29 Books). by Douglas V. Mastriano