JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Colleague: Gordon Chang, Daily Beast
 
Hour One
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 1, Block A: 1/2  Richard Epstein, RichardAEpstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover Defining Ideas, in re:   It's a threat to the culture to have this debt hanging over us and t have politicians move to decide what to do.  Democrats are having a battle within the their party. Biden: a ltd amount of release, up to $10,000, to be approved by Congress. That’s $1.7 trillion  On the other side, Warren and Sanders, at least $50,ooo per student, to be accomplished by executive order.    In 2008, the default on Fannie and Freddie loans; a program , a complicated scheme, to transfer the debt, eventually to the Treasury, to wipe out the debt; the case is now headed to the Supreme Court. This involved private debt; in 2010, Pres Obama said, Why have the middleman in there? Take it directly to the feds.   It began to mushroom after 2010; now, about $440 billion that’ll never be repaid, with a lot yet to [appear].  It was a transfer of funds to the rich, leaving out poor people who really need the help. Public universities have the lowest debt.  People would never undertake expensive colleges if they were doing it only on their own money.  As for Biden, the more serious question is, what will that administration do about energy?   https://www.hoover.org/research/avoid-pitfalls-student-loan-forgiveness
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 1, Block B: 2/2 Richard Epstein, @RichardAEpstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover Defining Ideas, in re: In 1905, Jakobsen vs Massachusetts, where Jakobsen refused a vaccine. Supreme Court ruled against him; question of liberty.  Jakobsen had a bad history, was afraid of dying; Court ruled that he general welfare of he public is strong enough to merit requirement, The remedy was a $5 fine. The question now is about compulsion.   A fellow wrote in Lancet that the mercury used to bind a certain vaccine was dangerous, then disproven. In the new vaccines, the degree of specificity of he vaccine relative to the malady . . .   For very young people, the new vaccine may be more dangerous than the Wuhan flu.  Bu elderly also may be in danger for other reasons.   https://www.hoover.org/research/avoid-pitfalls-student-loan-forgiveness
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 1, Block C: Dr R. Evan Ellis, @REvanEllis, professor of Latin American Studies at the U.S. Army War College Strategic Studies Institute; and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang, Daily Beast, in re: The newly elected president of Bolivia, Mr Arce, is a protégé of the disgraced Evo Morales, who’s said to be a narcoterrorist.  What’s in it for China?  Many of Morales’s projects, all disastrous, were with China.  China may currently be constrained in its resources for Latin America.  Cash opened a lot of doors there; if China is truly to expand by 8.1% in 2021, it can look at South American copper and other natural resources.  Under Biden, do you expect jaw-jaw to solve this?  Maduro will press the limit against the White House.  Hard to do anything about Maduro at this point.  “The clean network” – effort to prevent China from wiring up the world, esp 5G. Brazil’s 5G auction.  After the Sino-Soviet break, China had difficulties in Cuba; began in earnest only after Obama opened Cuba and there was hard currency coming in that China could benefit from.  Human rights in Latin America under a Biden administration.  https://www.fitchratings.com/research/sovereigns/biden-presidency-may-promote-us-re-engagement-in-latin-america-16-11-2020
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 1, Block D: Sean Lin, Ph.D. @XiaoxuSeanLin, 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: Xi Jinping proposed using a digital QR health system for travel between countries.  Is this benign or not?  Looks like a scheme by the CCP to store vast quantities of data, especially from Chinese citizens, which constitutes a major commercial threat, as well as several other concerns.  Alibaba HQ in Hangzhou; it’s aggressively expanding its data processing [obviously, in conjunction with the government].  Holding data clusters under a liquid coolant to increase possible volume. The goal is to collect all the data on the planet.  Effort to master everyone.  If every traveller has a QR code, China will get the info—health, travel, et al.  The WHO will be storing data in Hangzhou!   People can fill out forms online; has nothing to do with health, as people can easily cheat.  Biden’s calling Xi a thug is irrelevant in light of the Biden family’s profound, long-term connections with China in general and with Xi Jinping, personally.  https://www.foxnews.com/world/china-xi-jinping-qr-code-health-travel-coronavirus-pandemic
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 2, Block A:  Henry Miller, @HenryIMiller @PacificResearch HenryMillerMD.org, Pacific Research Institute [HenryMillerMD.org], in re: Three firms have vaccines said to be very efficacious. Who’s buying them and how will they be distributed?   https://humanevents.com/2020/11/24/resistance-to-vaccination-could-prolong-the-u-s-covid-19-pandemic/
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 2, Block B:  Henry Miller, @HenryIMiller @PacificResearch HenryMillerMD.org, Pacific Research Institute [HenryMillerMD.org], in re: Many Americans are dubious about accepting the vaccine.  Only France is equally doubtful. Expect private-sector mandates: schools, meat-packing plants, maybe even white-collar offices or airlines.  Need governmental educational campaign, along with the Ad Council.  The allocation will be first to states, according to population. https://humanevents.com/2020/11/24/resistance-to-vaccination-could-prolong-the-u-s-covid-19-pandemic/
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 2, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com; in re:  Part 1. Russian ISIS leak deteriorates on Zvezda, on the aft section where freighters dock, go in and out.   A two-inch leak in the craft that was supposed to have been permanently repaired, although a tiny amount still leaks. Might be a stress  break; but an unclear story in Russian news: sounded as though after the repair, the leak continued in the intermediate chamber. Suggests a stress fracture—and perhaps this is a second one.  A quick solution would be to close off the airlock and not use the docking port, but is there another one to use?
        Boca Chica, Texas: guess who showed up?  Regulators.  SpaceX is doing so well with Starship that it’s attracted governmental interest, incl Texas Wildlife and US Fish and Wildlife. They don’t like the firm’s “fluid nature.”  The regulators have seen a sort of profit center.  If Joe Bi den is president, the love regulating . . .   A predictable power play.    Rocket Lab: have launched seventeen launches, including thirteen cube sats.  
https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/despite-permanent-repair-of-crack-air-still-leaking-from-zvezda/
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 2, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com; in re:  Part 2 China launches a lunar sampler.  Long March 5 (Chang I 5) is critical to Chinese space aspirations. Unmanned, with an orbiter, and a lander to drill a hole with a core-sample drill, and then return the sample to Earth, perhaps in mid-December. The most challenging part is the orbiter.  China has a relay satellite on the far side of the Moon, so probably will have no information blackouts.   
       A nova too bright but not a supernova. The uncertainty of science; brightness first observed in 1670.    Now, find it’s five times farther away than was thought—don't yet know what it is.  
       India has a mission to Venus, delayed in 2020 because of fear of Covid; restarting slowly now.  Have lost nineteen months.    https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/china-successfully-launches-its-change-5-lunar-sample-mission/
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 3, Block A:  John Catsimatidis, @JCats2013, @CatsRoundtable, Red Apple Media & Cats Roundtable radio, in re: 
City: New York City prepares for second wave.  Turkeys donated for Thanksgiving. “If New York doesn't clean up the crime soon, you’ll be able to buy Manhattan back for $24”
https://nypost.com/2020/11/25/nyc-builds-900m-ppe-stockpile-to-prep-for-second-covid-19-wave/
State: Cuomo sides with Trump on media
https://nypost.com/2020/11/25/gov-cuomo-sides-with-trump-over-disrespectful-reporters/
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 3, Block B:  Christian Whiton:  @ChristianWhiton, Center for the National Interest; and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang, Daily Beast, in re: China has now become an active predator—against India, the South China Sea, against Uyghurs and Kazakhs—and become a re-eminent threat.  Unlikely that Biden as president will [be particularly helpful]. To show the trappings of diplomacy he’ll probably go to China.   The AI race that China claims to be leading State security in China—stealing secrets from the US.  Will Biden just say, “C’mon man! Stop it”?   The 301 tariffs, which Biden has always opposed.  The question is, what are you prepared actually to do?  And the way to have neighbors be tough, such as Philippines, Vietnam, is to have the US be tough. Taiwan:  my hope is that the Trump people have set the bar high enough to [prevent a new administration from abandoning Taiwan].  Matt Pottinger, Trump focus on small missiles, harpoon ships, . . .   Reverting to the TPP would mean exporting our auto mfrg to overseas.  
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 3, Block C:  Chris Riegel: @Scala, @STRATACACHE; in re: Favorable vaccine news, but the giant Walmart has decreed that all employees who can will stay home till July 2021. Quite curious. Why?  Do they know something we don’t about the virus, or is it cheaper to keep staff at home? The Economist, the smart set: “Biden has been reprogrammed” to call Xi a thug, but Blinken is to be Secretary of State, and he sees China as a colleague/competitor, not as an adversary.  The QR health code: Chinese desire to have information and control. Possible that state-owned enterprises my now be allowed to fail.  “The China Hustle” on Amazon Prime.   China is a different creature from what it was in 2012. China is both an adversary, and integrated into the US economy.  Remember Enron.  The map is changing; connecting dots that are difficult to see right now.
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 3, Block D:  Joe Pappalardo: @PappalardoJoe; in re:  A satellite in low-Earth orbit is suspiciously interested in US activities, is circling an orbiting US satellite. Cosmos 143. The new US Space Force. General Jay Raymond, head of Space Force: how to explain requirements to DoD? Response to a very real threat.   Fewer Space Force personnel, 16,000, than there are Coast Guard.  The Vaders, the guys who play the bad guy in war games, showed up at Space Force. “We hit the lottery.” Drawing some of the best and brightest; they deploy, are tied in to intelligence.  Threat Matrix Framework.  
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 4, Block A:  1/2Stuart Humphries, @lifeaquatic,  director, Lincoln Institute for Advanced Studies; Professor of Evolutionary Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, in re: Nature Magazine, "150 million years of sustained increase pterosaur flight efficiency."
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 4, Block B: 2/2Stuart Humphries, @lifeaquatic,  director, Lincoln Institute for Advanced Studies; Professor of Evolutionary Biophysics, School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, in re: Nature Magazine, "150 million years of sustained increase pterosaur flight efficiency."
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 4, Block C:  Cleo Paskal, @CleoPaskal, non-resident senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang,Daily Beast, in re:   https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/india-pacific-relations-quad-exercise-6982086/   https://thediplomat.com/2020/11/following-france-and-germany-the-netherlands-pivots-to-the-indo-pacific/
Wednesday 25 November 2020 / Hour 4, Block D: Bruce Klingner,  @BruceKlingner,@Heritage, senior research Fellow at The Heritage Foundation, and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang, Daily Beast, in re:  https://www.newsweek.com/joe-biden-team-unlikely-take-hard-line-north-korea-south-korea-media-says-1549802