Photo, left:   Rising Above: How 11 Athletes Overcame Challenges in Their Youth to Become Stars, by Gregory Zuckerman, Gabriel Zuckerman, and Elijah Zuckerman.   A book by a father and his two sons on how eleven athletes overcame challenges in their youth and rose to become stars.      
Discover inspirational real-life stories of superstar athletes in this collection of sports biographies featuring LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Tim Howard, and more!
Team USA goalkeeper Tim Howard was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome in 6th grade. He went on to become a national treasure after single-handedly keeping America competitive in the 2014 World Cup. Stephen Curry was told he was too small, too weak, and too slow to even receive a scholarship to play college basketball. He outworked everyone and went on to become MVP of the National Basketball Association. Jim Abbott was born without his right hand, yet he refused to be defined by what he lacked. He went on to pitch a no-hitter in the Major Leagues.
Athlete after athlete in this book found discipline, hope, and inspiration on the playing field, rising above their circumstances. Filled with first-hand accounts from stars who exemplify the idea of enduring at all costs, this collection of sports biographies will serve as a must-read source of inspiration for kids and sports fans of all ages.
Praise for Rising Above.  A Scholastic Teacher magazine Summer Reading List selection; a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Summer Reading List selection
"An easy pitch for middle school sports lovers."--School Library Journal
“This collection of mini-bios about athletes who overcame major obstacles packs a powerful message—perseverance and passion pay off. Even non-sports fans will cheer for superstars like LeBron James and Stephen Curry.”--Scholastic Teacher
"So many of the obstacles that these athletes share are retold using personal interviews and primary source material that young readers will find very relatable. [T]heir stories have morals that are easily transferred to life off the court or the field. The highly relevant message is that no situation is too dire or insurmountable with the right attitude and that young people shouldn't allow setbacks to define them."--Booklist
"[O]ften inspiring . . . The underdog stories reveal that dedication and perseverance pay off, as well as that sports can serve as needed outlets and refuges."--Publishers Weekly
"I would rate this a 9 1/2 . . . it touch[es] your heart very often with the ways these athletes turn[ed] their lives around."--Colorado Kids
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: Sean Wilentz, Princeton, in re: Donald Trump’s campaign.    Trump Puzzle. GOP Disorder. HRC Troubles. 2017 Conflicts. @SeanWilentz, @PrincetonUniversity. “Poli . . . “…From the standpoint of someone who is hoping to win an election, this reshuffling doesn’t make sense. Bannon and Ailes have deep knowledge of conservative media, and are perfectly calibrated to appeal to Trump’s red-meat base. But they won’t be much help winning over swing voters, and simply don’t have the experience necessary to run a U.S. presidential campaign in 2016. (Ailes counseled Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, but the game has changed significantly since then.) They don’t know how to mobilize voters and they don’t know how to do the grunt work of making sure that a campaign organization is up and running in all the key states.
One possible conclusion is that Trump, who recently acknowledged that he might end up taking a “nice long vacation” after November, has realized he is going to lose. He has therefore recruited Ailes and Bannon to lay the groundwork for his backup plan: a new career as a right-wing media personality. Indeed, Vanity Fair published an article in June suggesting that Trump wanted to “monetize” his success as a candidate by turning his voters into viewers….”  http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-tilleman-zelizer-trump-tv-20160818-snap-story.html  ;  http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/19/us/politics/republicans-worry-a-falling-donald-trump-tide-will-lower-all-boats.html?_r=0
“Sometimes, in the heat of debate and speaking on a multitude of issues, you don’t choose the right words or you say the wrong thing,” Mr. Trump said Thursday. “I have done that, and . . . I do regret it, particularly where it may have caused personal pain.”
It’s unlikely Mr. Trump can suppress his instinct to bully and disparage over the remaining 81 days of the presidential campaign. It’s certain he would not do so over four years of a presidential term. His record to date leaves no doubt about his character — confirmed even Thursday, when he immediately undercut his supposed apology by adding, “Sometimes I can be too honest.”
. .  . 
“Too honest about what?
Was it too honest to insist that “thousands” of Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, even after fact-checkers debunked the claim? That President Obama may not have been born in the United States? That the Obama administration wants to accept 200,000 under-vetted Syrian refugees? That Mr. Obama “founded ISIS” and Hillary Clinton was the “co-founder”?...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/which-wrong-thing-does-trump-reg...
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block B: Sean Wilentz, Princeton, in re: Hillary Clinton’s campaign
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Liz Peek, Fiscal Times and Fox News; in re:  American education and the current presidential campaign.  Cynicism. Outsourcing.  Obamacare collapsing (dozens of counties suddenly have only one insurer right now; one county has none). Increase taxes on small businesses?  Terrible for growth.  Demands for single-payer health care: recall the Veterans Administration and the decades-long disaster that’s created.  State-run agencies usually are more effective and efficient.  Let the GOP candidate stay the course.
..  ..  .. 
“Still undecided? Has the greatest media onslaught of all time (aided and abetted, it must be said, by the candidate himself) failed to convince you that Donald Trump is 1) unstable 2) a bigot 3) in league with Vladimir Putin 4) a demagogue 5) a Nazi or worse?
If your mind is still open, here are five reasons why a sane person might pull the lever for Trump….
The Supreme Court. As I and many others have argued, no matter what you think of Donald Trump’s personality, those who believe in free markets, limited government and in protecting our constitution cannot allow Hillary Clinton to appoint as many as four liberal Supreme Court Justices in the next few years. Her choices for decades will tilt the country even further towards a progressive agenda and weaken the checks and balances, which have powerfully limited the autocratic rule of Barack Obama. This is not acceptable. Trump would work to balance the court and free it ideology.
Trump is a deeply flawed candidate who will not personally manage the government. Instead, he will, as Obama and all presidents have done, outsource the direction of our vast federal enterprise. But on the issues noted above, his instincts – and the instincts of those who are working with him -- are sounder than Clinton’s are. And his designated hitters would be more likely to achieve the progress the country needs.”   http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Columns/2016/08/17/Five-Reasons-Sane-Person-Might-Still-Vote-Trump
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 1, Block D:  Jim McTague, Barron’s Washington, in re: manufacturing, employment, the Fed. Despite intermittent encouraging stats and interpretations, the underpinnings of the US economy are unstable. Mene mene, recession coming.    http://www.reuters.com/article/us-tech-layoffs-idUSKCN10T02R / http://www.reuters.com/article/us-tech-layoffs-idUSKCN10T02R
 
Hour Two
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  Michael E Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re:  the host of challenges and spectres facing the US and the world system today.  The US set up the present power system, which will not endure much longer. Recall the glamourous and high-tech streets of Stanleyville (now Kisangani) in 1913–street lamps and all the modern conveniences for tourists visiting the pool that was the origin of the River Nile.
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block B:   Michael E Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re:   Russia, China and the insurgent movements in Islam all chafe at the US demand that they submit to an American view of democracy, transparency, and political liberalism.  Do not expect Russia to become some simulacrum of US political culture. Neither the Arab world – it looks to them like indentured servitude.  China: they want to make up for the humiliation of the last century; they want to win the Boxer Rebellion.  Would a tripartite world be stable? Nyet –will be stable where where we coopt Moscow, back away from the Middle East, and clarify to China that it can't have hegemony over a greater Eurasia.  The US doesn’t have the imagination to see that this is an opportunity for us.  We could show China it can achieve all it wants because . . . Our strategic stupidity drives Russia, Iran and Turkey ever more in to the arms of China.  Yike. We’ll be isolated and weak. We need to do creative things.
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block C:  Gene Marks, Washington Post, in re: businesses slowing down, esp restaurants (down 2% in the last quarter).  No bright spots on the horizon.  Twenty per cent of small and medium-sized businesses said they were cutting back in staff specifically because of the cost of the ACA/Obamacare.  . .  . Some US mfrg firms have been around for a while; being run by Boomers; we've grown up in a service economy;  looking for retirement and cashing out; mfrs are selling out.  Home Depot.
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 2, Block D:  Gene Marks, Washington Post, in re:  Six trends in the small businesses of America.
Economy:    Here’s how much sales slowed in spring   http://nrn.com/blog/here-s-how-much-sales-slowed-spring via @NRNonline
Is the restaurant industry heading for recession?   http://www.foxbusiness.com/features/2016/08/16/is-this-real-reason-restaurants-are-losing-customers.html
Aetna will leave most Obamacare exchanges, projecting losses  http://wpo.st/RHDs1
Gene Marks: NY Fed finds employers are cutting jobs because of Obamacare  This has not been a good week for the nation’s public health insurance market
70% of businesses do not have flood insurance, Louisiana Commissioner of Insurance Jim Donelon estimates.  https://www.businessreport.com/article/70-businesses-not-flood-insurance-donelon-estimates
The Self-Employment Exit Rate Is Rising http://smallbiztrends.com/2016/08/more-leaving-self-employment.html   @smallbiztrends
Gene Marks: These folks are selling their businesses more than anyone else  Small manufacturers were the top sellers of businesses during the recent quarter, report finds.
Gene Marks: Keep calm and delay on until Brexit  Our rundown of news affecting start-ups and small businesses.
Home Depot Raises Profit Forecast   http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2016/08/16/home-depot-raises-profit-forecast.html   @foxbusiness
Small Business
Top 6 trends in the US small business economy  https://www.xero.com/blog/2016/08/6-trends-in-the-us-small-business-economy/
Endeavor Detriot Aims to Help Companies Connect to Mentors and Grow http://www.xconomy.com/detroit-ann-arbor/2016/08/15/endeavor-detroit-aims-to-help-high-impact-startups-grow @Xconomy
Gene Marks: Facebook just became a great place for small businesses to advertise online As ad-blockers make it harder and harder to advertise online, Facebook offers relief.
You soon might be paying rent to a #startup http://ow.ly/uHlz303i7yR by @tess_townsend
Snapchat is paying $200 million to buy a search engine that helps people find things to do http://read.bi/2biAaVT via @sai
How big businesses get tax breaks meant for little guys http://www.cbsnews.com/news/are-big-businesses-getting-tax-breaks-meant-for-small-firms/@CBSMoneyWatch
Small Business Owner Helps Revitalize Downtown Waverly, NY http://www.mytwintiers.com/news/local-news/small-business-owner-helps-revitalize-downtown-waverly  @18NewsEmily @WETM18News
 Credit Card Golfing   How Millennials Became Spooked by Credit Cards http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/15/business/dealbook/why-millennials-are-in-no-hurry-to-take-on-debt.html  @nytimes
I agree with Nike:  Golf Sucks   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gene-marks/nike-just-validated-what-_b_11458726.html
 
 
Hour Three
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:  Robert Zimmerman, behind the black, in re:  Vaporware for Pres Obama’s   “future of space” speech – “We won’t go to the Moon, we’ll send men to an asteroid.”  However, so far the project hasn't got a dime from Congress, so it’s starting with an unmanned mission of bringing a rock closer to Earth, to be investigated later.  Ergo, they've diverted money from other projects; the delay will raise the cost to $1.4 billion, but it still has no money. This isn’t even NASA’s fault—‘twas ordered by the White House.  / Osiris Rex is an asteroid mission: will go to Bennu asteroid that has the potential to hit the Earth in a century. Scheduled for launch on 8 Sept; will go there and try to grab a sample to bring back to Earth in 2023.   Elliptical orbit near to 1 AU.  Lots of rocket launches: Arian will send up two Intelsats; Space another commercial sat next week – trying to up their launch rate; want 18 Falcon nine by the end of 2016 to demonstrate the reusability and reliability of the craft. India will launch GSLV? – a geosynchronous sat.  / China trying to bld a manned-space station rocket – 25 tons: the most powerful rocket in existence.  So huge have to transport the craft by ship.
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block B:   Robert Zimmerman, behind the black, in re:  Carbon fiber: lightweight and strong; usu black; problem is it's extremely expensive. World’s leading provider is Japanese, announced a multi-year deal; with Space X (which denies a completed deal).  If SpaceX uses this throughout, can make the rocket more resilient and so amortize the cost over many launches  - thus can have fewer craft! . . . working on a Vulcan rocket to replace need for Russian engines; will use Blue Origins for BE4. Congress wants the money to go to Aeroject Rocketdyne AR4 (was Pratt & Whitney; is the auld, big-spending, inefficient company); ULA is trying to cleave to the line and say it um hasn’t yet decided.  ULA wants Blue Origin.    Roskosmos will spend $half-bill to study manned flight to Moon; hasn't the money Odd dune on Mars: an isolated, dark dune of sand in a crater. Why’s it there?  Early water seepage?  Weird. Cool. Mystery 
..  ..  .. 
Costs rise on Obama’s asteroid mission  The year delay in Obama’s as yet unfunded unmanned asteroid mission, a preliminary to a proposed manned asteroid mission, has caused its budget to grow from $1.25 billion to $1.4 billion.
More significantly, NASA’s cost estimate for [the unmanned] ARRM excludes launch and operations. In a March 2016 report, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) review of NASA’s major programs showed a cost of $1.72 billion. Gates explained that the $1.72 billion includes the launch vehicle cost, set at approximately $500 million as a placeholder since NASA has not determined which of three launch vehicles will be used (Delta IV Heavy, Falcon Heavy, or the Space Launch System).
. . . The next administration will have to decide if the costs are worth the benefits. Although NASA has decided they are, the House Appropriations Committee disagrees. It denied funding for the program in its report on the FY2017 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill, which funds NASA. The bill has not passed the House yet, however, and there is no similar language in the Senate version, so NASA is not currently prohibited from spending money on the project.
So far, NASA has been funding this Obama project by stealing money from other projects in NASA, since Congress has consistently refused to appropriate extra money for it. This approach has worked up until now, as they are only funding initial design work. Where they think they will get the money for a full mission however remains a complete mystery to me.  http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/costs-r...
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block C:  Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover (via Defining Ideas); in re: How Pres Obama has advanced the use of executive power.  “The Obama Era” in the New York Times: shows the president signing an order in a majestic pose.  Puff piece.  RAE: “The man speaks in gauzy generalities – ‘Obvious that everybody needs to have health-care insurance’   It is? Not obvious to me.”    Effort to make all energy production immaculate, which may not be possible.   . . .  In practice, the old plants wind up being patched and patched, which is much less clean.  . . .   (1 of 2)
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 3, Block D:    Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover (via Defining Ideas); in re: How Pres Obama has advanced the use of executive power.  “The Obama Era” in the New York Times: shows the president signing an order in a majestic pose.  Puff piece.  RAE: “The man speaks in gauzy generalities – ‘Obvious that everybody needs to have health-care insurance’   It is? Not obvious to me.”    Effort to make all energy production immaculate, which may not be possible.   . . .  In practice, the old plants wind up being patched and patched, which is much less clean.  . . .    (2 of 2)
 
Hour Four
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block A:   Rising Above: How 11 Athletes Overcame Challenges in Their Youth to Become Stars,  by Gregory Zuckerman, Gabriel Zuckerman, and Elijah Zuckerman.   A book by a father and his two sons on how eleven athletes overcame challenges in their youth and rose to become stars. (1 of 2)
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block B:  Rising Above: How 11 Athletes Overcame Challenges in Their Youth to Become Stars,  by Gregory Zuckerman, Gabriel Zuckerman, and Elijah Zuckerman.   A book by a father and his two sons on how eleven athletes overcame challenges in their youth and rose to become stars. (2 of 2)
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block C: Gregory Copley, StrategicStudies director; GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs; & author, UnCivilization, in re: . . . But the prospect of a Clinton election victory has reverberations in US policies toward Europe and the European Union, the UK, Asia, and the Middle East, where a continuation of the Obama/Clinton policies of the past eight years would be assumed to continue. This would imply:
1.      Continued pressure on, and isolation of, Israel;
2.      Continued economic sanctions against Russia, and pressures on the European Union to support those sanctions;
3.      Continued US isolation from Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and a continued US reliance on Qatar as the major US “instrument” for conducting indirect warfare in the region;
4.      Continued support for Turkey, even in the face of short-term mutual disagreements; certainly a determined effort by a Clinton White House to bolster NATO in its present form, with Turkey as a cornerstone component of the Alliance, regardless of whether or not Turkey acts as a reliable partner. That would also imply a refusal to help resolve the issue of the northern Cyprus occupation by Turkey;
5.      Continued support for Muslim Brotherhood groups and Brotherhood-linked governments given that this was largely a priority of Pres. Barack Obama, and given Mrs Clinton’s deep ties to, and reliance on, Muslim Brotherhood-linked advisors;
6.      Continued commitment to a program to use proxy jihadist fighters to remove Syrian Pres. Bashar al-Assad from office;
7.     Continued degradation of the relative position of the Defense Dept. within the US strategic posture, implying ongoing stress on “political correctness” within the Defense establishment, and a constraint on any radical new thinking to overturn the decline of efficacy of US military doctrine to meet the new era;
8.      A continuing degradation in the relative military position of the US vis-à-vis the People’s Republic of China (PRC) would be assumed to continue, based on the performance of both powers over the past eight years, and based on Hillary Clinton’s historical policy of curtailing professional leadership of the US Dept. of Defense and placing the State Dept. in a position of strategic policy ascendancy; and, among other things,
Continued polarization of the US electorate, leading to increasing social disorder and a continuation of economic trends of the past eight years.  (1 of 2)
Friday  19 August 2016 / Hour 4, Block D:   Gregory Copley, StrategicStudies director; GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs; & author, UnCivilization  (2 of 2)
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