Image, left: Shakedown culture - the Chinese Communist Party. See Hour 2, Block A, Alan Tonelson, economic policy analyst blogs at RealityChek; @AlanTonelson; on Xi Jinping in Seattle at the Paulson Institute.  勒索
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Gordon Chang, Forbes.com. Dr David Livingston, The Space Show.
 
Hour One
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 1, Block A: Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania, in re:  Xi Jinping as a Maoist, his China Dream; and http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-china-is-turning-back-to-confucius-1442754000.  On the East Coast today, the Pope, the Church, representing, charity, poverty, Christian love. On the West Coast, XI Jinping – representing piracy. The Chinese Communist Party once held itself as a paragon of morality, no one respects Xi.  The Party has succeeded in destroying the moral values that held the nation together, people are becoming untrustworthy, families breaking up, bad goods being sold.  Confucius, 2500 years ago a political advisor favoring honesty, virtue, human-heartedness, goodness.  Ergo, the Party is trying to revert to an ancient ethos, one that's most critical of autocratic, brutal kingship; it holds to modesty, self-cultivation, the way of truth. No connection whatsoever between Confucius and the unelected pirates of Beijing – a degraded, utterly unprincipled regime.  Mainland Chinese society today lacks cohesion, structure, honesty; is like a building in danger of collapse.  Note the enormous revival of moral systems: Buddhism and Christianity in massive numbers. In a command economy, corruption greases the wheels; now, its so pervasive that it retards economic growth.  Xi today at the Paulson Institute in Seattle with Tim Cook and all the bigshots. Celebrity CEOs – do they know that China is in failure? Not.  there are about nine Chinese-looking Nobelists:  One is Taiwanese, and of all the rest, not one is from the Mainland.  Mainland is a society that stifles its ability to grow – not only isn't rising, but is drowning in its inability to break the shackles of the Communist Party. 
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 1, Block B: Chris Harmer, Senior Naval Analyst at the Institute for the Study of War, in re: Everything the Chinese mil does is directed from Central Beijing. Message to the American mil: we can buzz you, be aggressive; Chinese jet cross within 500 ft of a US surveillance craft at high speed. Extremely dangerous!  Message sent; but no one rational crosses in front of an RC135 at high speed; unnecessarily provocative.  RAND issued a  480-page report matching the US and Chinese militaries – covered technology but not the politics, will, ambition. Something is missing in the US Navy:  its mojo.    Seems that from the president down comes a demand: do not keep intl waters clear for freedom of navigation. If US is unwilling to conduct freedom-of-navigation operations, why are we dong surveillance?
http://www.defensenews.com/story/defense/policy-budget/warfare/2015/09/17/analysis-rand-says-us-facing-tough-fight-china/72304540/
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 1, Block C: Dr. Robert Zubrin, founder and President of the Mars Society, the world's leading space advocacy group dedicated to the human exploration of Mars; & author, Mars Direct;  in re: NASA Mars plans were spelled out in more detail today through 2038-39. NASA plan is absurd - seven endeavors for no purpose, whatsoever; not using money to accomplish something valuable, but to spend valuable money in order to spend it. Makes no sense from an engineering POV – is designed to justify various NASA missions  to keep the vendors happy.  Astounding.  Going to Phobos: in a circular equatorial orbit, hard to get there and back – Delta-v, or Δv, (literally "change in velocity")  - requires a huge propulsive manoeuver.  Orbit shd be highly elliptical inclined to the equator. By the time you finally educate a NASA bureaucrat, he's moved on to something else.  No evidence of life on Phobos; very well might be a history of life on Mars. Rosetta Stone for learning about the potential diversity of life in the universe. NASA: spending billions and billions to do nothing – spending money to spend money.   . . .  .
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 1, Block D: Josh Rogin, Bloomberg View, and CNN political analyst, in re: GOP: We need to have a stronger mil vs China. Dems: China is manipulating currency.  However, no commitment by the Clinton campaign to back up needed actions.  Obama's Trans-Pacific Partnership, a major trade deal: What does Mrs C think of that?  As Secy of State she was a key proponent, and as a candidate refuses to say a word on it. The discussion of China and Asia in both parties doesn't hit the mark; sound bites.  By the time we get to the general election, more serious discussion. Currently, US policy is out of whack.  China not only may not be rising, but is in an unguided decline. Deterioration of Marxist capitalism – could be long-term.  Washington acknowledges that China's situation is fragile; but "let's go easy on China lest it fall apart."    Xi Visit Marks Downturn in U.S.-China Relations The United States and China are entering a period of long-term contention likely to get worse during the next administration, no matter which party holds power. That dynamic will be on display this week, with the state visit by China's president.
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 2, Block A: Alan Tonelson, economic policy analyst blogs at RealityChek; @AlanTonelson; in re: on Xi Jinping in Seattle at the Paulson Inst with Cook of Apple, Barra of GM, and all the celebrity CEOs. Center for New American Progress, John Podhoretz (Mrs Clinton's advisor); does Joe Biden have a cogent opinion of China that's approved by the AFofL/CIO? Not clear how Trumka could see Biden's policy as favorable. . . . American multinational bz has dominated US economy for twenty-five years – mfr in cheap countries and to the detriment of not only the American economy but also of US natl security.  What will Apple say when HuaWei comes out with wearables and new phone? China duns Apple for $71 million in order to pinch it to share technology with the unelected tyrants of Beijing. 
SHAKEDOWN. 勒索
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/09/10/us-apple-china-idUSKCN0RA18S20150910 ; http://www.cnbc.com/2015/09/15/what-stands-between-uber-and-success-in-china.html
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 2, Block B: Cleo Paskal, 2015 Visiting Trudeau Fellow, Montreal Center for International Studies (CERIUM); author, Global Warring: How Environmental, Economic, and Political Crises Will Redraw the World Map, on her paper: Narendra Modhi in New York; three million American-Indians, most highly educated and prosperous. Both Modh (a billion-plus people) and Xi Jinping (a billion-plus people) are on the West Coast among tech stars.  India will place a huge order for Chinook helos.  Modhi wants companies to come in to India and mfr there – wants 10% annual growth in order to "reach the last man in line" – provide services even for the poorest. Moving Ford or Pepsico to India is attractive to the corporation.  And there are many Indias (so to speak) - a quilt.  When Modhi ran Gujarat province, he forged alliances with nation-states, incl Israel.   http://cerium.umontreal.ca/en/planete-terre/analytical-briefs/une-nouvelle-en/news/modi-fied-engagement-will-indias-reinvigorated-f-26330/,
and these:
http://thediplomat.com/2015/09/how-do-indians-feel-about-narendra-modis-handling-of-foreign-policy/ ; http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/pm-narendra-modi-to-meet-more-than-35-select-ceos-in-new-york/articleshow/49006039.cms
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 2, Block C: Steve Moore, Heritage, in re: The visit of HH Pope Francis.   . . . Some encyclicals (“Laudato Si,” or “Be Praised” [or “Praised Be,”]) can be a puzzle.  . . . Air pollution: the countries with the most free-mkt capitalism have the least pollution.  I worry that in his speech to the Congress tomorrow he'll speak ill of capitalism.  Pope John Paul II was a fervent anti-Communist, helped bring down the Berlin Wall and liberate millions of people. Conversely, Francis grew up in Argentina, thinks that free-market capitalism is the same as Argentine crony capitalism – inauthentic, to put it mildly – and a misunderstanding. Poverty, hunger and depredations are reduced by allowing markets to move to transparency and freedom. . . . If anyone believes that centralized govts can change the weather of the planet . . .  John Paul II recognized that Communism . . . what the poorest countries are lacking today is electric power – from coal,, natural gas, oil, and above all investment. 
What the Pope Needs to Tell America As with almost all of my fellow Catholics, I’m awaiting Pope Francis’ arrival this week with Christmas-morning type anticipation. ‎This relatively new Pope is maybe the most popular man on the planet as he spreads the core Christian message of loving thy neighbor and caring for the least among us. He is an apostle of hope and virtue and he comes at a perfect time when so many millions of Americans are mesmerized by false idols like egomaniac Donald Trump.
A national publication recently labelled me one of Francis’s four severist Catholic critics, along with people like Ken Langone, a founder of Home Depot. My critique has been over the Vatican’s alliance of late with anti-Christian environmental groups on global warming and his recent encyclical letter attacking free market capitalism – which he says (sic) leads to “poverty and income inequality.”
This is arguably the man on Earth closest to God, but even HE can’t empower governments to change the earth’s temperature. Faith can move mountains but to expect Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi to stop the rise of the oceans would be a miracle of epic proportions.
My profoundest prayer is that the Pope’s mission on his visit is to save souls, not the planet, and here are four messages that I hope he communicates to the American people:
1) The moral crisis of our time is NOT global warming, it is the holocaust of millions of abortions in‎ America each year. If the Pope can help change the hearts and minds of Americans on this issue, and reinforce the sanctity of every human life, he will have done more good for humanity than 1,000 Kyoto Treaties.
2) Free markets create wealth and it is the moral responsibility of all Christians to use our wealth in ways that help those most in need. As we look around the world, it is inarguable that socialistic economic models -from Francis’s native Argentina to Greece – are crumbling right before our very eyes‎ and making people poorer. A recent Heritage Foundation study finds that free markets are by far best tool to reduce poverty. High taxes, trade barriers, big welfare states, may be well-intentioned, but they make the poor poorer.  . . . [more]
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 2, Block D: Robert Bryce, Manhattan Institute, in re: How to Lower U.S. Living Standards  The drastic ‘80 by 50’ goal would reduce the energy use of Californians to that of North Koreans today.   Mr. Bryce, a senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute; author, Smaller Faster Lighter Denser Cheaper: How Innovation Keeps Proving the Catastrophists Wrong (PublicAffairs, 2014). http://www.wsj.com/articles/how-to-lower-u-s-living-standards-1442876463173
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 3, Block A: Monica Crowley, Fox, & Washington Times Online opinion editor, in re: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Checkers_speech.  New Front Opens on Clinton Emails, Wall Street Journal
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 3, Block B: Monica Crowley, Fox, & Washington Times Online opinion editor; in re: Fox News Poll: Outsiders rule 2016 GOP field, support for Biden nearly doubles Marco Rubio are next, tied at 9 percent. All four have gained ground. After the August Fox . . .
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 3, Block C: Liz Peek, Fiscal Times, in re: Is Obama’s political correctness campaign distracting the U.S. military? While the Pentagon struggles to integrate women into Marine combat units, studies the participation of transgender persons and works to prevent discrimination against gay soldiers, it is visibly failing to get the job done in Syria. U.S. efforts to destroy ISIS have been so inept that senior intelligence officials have been doctoring field reports to buttress President Obama’s claims of progress against the terrorist group. These are alarming developments.
Americans are horrified that the U.S. has spent $500 million dollars to train sympathetic rebels in Syria, a program that has so far produced about 4 or 5 fighters. The mission’s goal was to train 5,400 troops in year one. Several months in, some 100 warriors were engaged. Those trainees were soon killed or scattered by an al-Qaeda affiliate, all but ending the effort.  
Related: $42 Million for 54 Recruits: U.S. Program to Train Syrian Rebels Is a Disaster
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 3, Block D: Aliya Sternsein, Nextgov senior correspondent , in re: CYBERSECURITY + CHINA: Pentagon Races to Boost Cyber Troop Size It is believed that China's People's Liberation Army has a hacker army of an estimated 100,000 code warriors recruited over the past two decades, and the world's most powerful supercomputer. By comparison, U.S. Cyber Command started from near-scratch in 2010 and wants to reach a force size of 6,200 by 2016. But as alleged hacks from China increase and red lines in cyberspace are negotiated, do the code warriors for the U.S. have the right stuff?
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 4, Block A:  Francis Rose, Federal News Radio, in re:   http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/09/18/after-the-va-scandal-veterans-were-told-their-wait-for-care-would-get-shorter-but-its-actually-getting-worse/ ; http://www.stripes.com/news/veterans/landmark-va-review-floats-brac-style-panel-1.368926 ; (from March: http://federalnewsradio.com/defense/2015/03/why-brac-is-good-news-for-va-but-bad-news-for-dod-and-the-postal-service/ ) ; Whistleblowers:  http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/military/article35777226.html ; http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/federal-eye/wp/2015/09/21/he-blew-the-whistle-on-the-va-and-then-was-almost-sacked-for-eating-stale-sandwiches/ (1 of 2)
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 4, Block B: Francis Rose, Federal News Radio, in re: The VA. (2 of 2)
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 4, Block C:  John Avlon, Daily Beast, and Taegan Goddard, Political Wire, in re: Democrats. Account of Email Request Differs from Clinton’s. Burnmentum. Clinton Finally Comes Out Against Keystone Pipeline.  Biden Moves Up in Poll
•       Ron Fournier argues that Hillary Clinton's email scandal is a distraction from the important work of the Democratic Party, and it is time for her to come clean or get out.
•       Josh Kraushaar argues that Hillary should welcome a Biden campaign  because it would give Clinton an opportunity to break with Obama’s foreign policy record.
Wednesday 23 September 2015 / Hour 4, Block D: John Avlon, Daily Beast, and Taegan Goddard, Political Wire, in re: GOP.  Walker’s Bid Was Shortest in Two Decades ; Most of Walker Fundraising Team Moves to Rubio.  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/23/carly-fiorina-s-4-billi...  ;  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/22/carly-fiorina-is-the-ne... ;  http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/09/22/carly-fiorina-yes-a-mus...