Friday 19 February 2021
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Hour One
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 1, Block A: Dan Henninger: @DanHenninger, @WSJOpinion; editorial board and Wonder Land column; in re: Donald Trump left the presidency on 20 January, less than a month ago, and Andrew Cuomo is fighting for his political life: from April and May 2020, he set aside the legislature and everybody in New York’s political life. Cuomo routinely overruled mayors (incl Syracuse, Buffalo, many others) and school board across the state. It came to pass that he and his health department issued a directive whereby elderly covid patients transferred from hospitals were to go into nursing homes—where, not surprisingly, they passed the coronavirus to other patients. Cuomo said that about 8,000 people died; it was about twice that number. Cuomo with an iron fist has refuse d to clarify that number. Now the feds and the state are investigating. Because this is entirely a Democratic state, none of this could have happened without Democratic approval. Cuomo is accused of having seriously threatened Mr Kim, a Queens pol. Cuomo routinely rips in to Democrats; until recently had enormous power, but now has only enemies. The AG is Letitia James, left and Democrat, who first issued the startling report. Sen Schumer, who’s looking at a primary challenge from AOC, is, possibly with Cuomo, perhaps considered too moderate to suit the incoming very left. Until a few months ago, Cuomo had the celebrity to be considered a presidential candidate; but almost surely no longer.
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 1, Block B: Jeff Bliss: @JCBliss, #PacificWatch, in re: The petition to recall the California governor”: have about 1.8 million signatures so far, need 2 million to assure having 1.5 mil accurate signatures. Will likely get n the ballot; then, in the voting booth, have to decide if you want him recalled, A lot of Democratic money coming in to fight.
Why are they recalling Gavin Newsom? A San Francisco supervisor says criminals are now targeting residents: because so many employees from the suburbs and environs are gone, the crooks are attacking locals. SF is the center of a great boom; people leaving because it’s too expensive, is clearly unsafe, and doesn’t seem to have a bright future because the governance is so bad. “I’ll move from SF, at $4,000/mo to share a studio, to Dallas, where I can get a large apartment for $1,500.” Streets are a mess, people are hurting, crimes against law-abiding citizens.
In Sacramento, home of the supermajority of the Democrats: people fleeing because public schools are [closed] thanks to the teachers’s union. Parents refuse to let their children be hostage to the teachers. Stanford University: “It’s letting in too many rich students.” Has the faculty looked at the tuition bill?? Stanford has had to cut a lot of programs because of the covid crisis.
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 1, Block C: Gene Marks, @genemarks @Guardian #SmallBusinessAmerica @Guardian, Philadelphia Inquirer, and at TheHill; in re: Not onl Philadelphia, but nationally: US Census Data released info about start-ups. Had 4.3 million apps for new businesses nationwide in 2020, compared to 3.5 million filed in 2019, a 23% increase. In Philly, large numbers; in PA, a 26% increase. Why and where? A lot are starting up at home—time on hands and a need for income. Also, a lot of work-from-home employees who can add a little income. eCommerce increased from 35 to 40%, people selling in Amazon and eBay. Training companies. Schoolteachers starting educational services. Even in the blue states, with higher taxes, people opened start-ups. Red states also ranked high in start-ups in per capita. Make sure your start-up is within walking distance of a Philadelphia cheese steak. We're on the cusp of what may be an economic boom: industrial production, imports increased, housing starts, retail sales —is the recovery already here and we don't yet see it, or is it imminent? People are buying online and haven’t even got started yet. Savings rate is at 13% on average, which is high. Build-up of household wealth, fueled by being stuck at home. As soon as we’re released to go out, we’ll fill restaurants, travel, et al. The govt will wonder how to rein it in. Today, even dog food is massively delivered, along with restaurant food. If you’re a restaurant owner who’s survived, you’ll have less competition and a hungry population. A lot of cities are letting outdoor eateries continue.
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 1, Block D: Gene Marks, @genemarks @Guardian #SmallBusinessAmerica @Guardian, Philadelphia Inquirer, and at TheHill; in re: The Payroll Protection Program. Two alternatives if you need financing:
1. The Economic Injury Disaster Loans at sba.gov; long-term, 30-year maturity loans, 3.75 % interest; a $100,000 loan will cost about $400/mo.
2. SBA: Either Section 7A or 504 loan program; can borrow up to $5 million; first three mos of payments, principal and interest, are automatically forgiven. Need to get it through an SBA lender. Apply for a 7A loan for working capital eqpt, by another business. Have till 20 Sept 2021.
One of Gene’s Republican clients, a manufacturer, supports a $15/hr minimum wage because Alabama competitor needs to pay only half that, which puts unfair pressure on me.
The mask-free supermarket: in Naples, Florida: the owner, Alfie Oakes, opposes masks, put up a sign saying “Masks required unless you’re medically exempt.” Nobody wears a mask. Very risky business model. A cash crunch for small-business owners: Alignable reports that 32% have only one month of cash reserves; may be not as widespread as the report suggests.
Hour Two
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 2, Block A: Devin Nunes, @DevinNunes, CA-22, Countdown to Socialism,in re:
PODCAST: https://devinnunes.podbean.com
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 2, Block B: Devin Nunes, @DevinNunes, CA-22, Countdown to Socialism,in re:
PODCAST: https://devinnunes.podbean.com
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 2, Block C: Veronique de Rugy, @veroderugy, @Mercatus ;Mercatus Center, in re:
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 2, Block D: Francis Rose,@FRoseDC, Host of @GovMattersTV @ ABC7News & WJLA 24/7 News. Washington D.C., in re:
Hour Three
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 3, Block A: Michael E Vlahos: @JHUWorldCrisis; Johns Hopkins; in re: Are we in a civil war? Looking for road signs. The escalation becomes obvious only after violence starts. One indication is the show trial of the president at the beginning of the pandemic; then a second show trial ending with a not guilty verdict in the Senate in February 2021. A show trial is part of the narrative that, here, the Democrats seek to establish. Blue and red, global and national; urban and rural. The Speaker of the House announces a commission to investigate 6 Jan events. Why? The new president had said, “Enough about Donald Trump.” Strategy of persecution/inquisitions of red; now charged with being potentially criminal. In operatic terms, the Show trial of February is he basis fir creating a criminal case against red, being called an evil, terrorist element; blue-controlled media. Leading to an emplacement of an anti-red pogram, institutional stance by the dominant agencies of law enforcement. Donald rump was the bridge, is now left behind. Salon.com: “Now the Republicans are the party of terrorism.” This commission, like the 9/11 Commission, which provided impetus for War on terrorism, and all that stripped away civil liberties and protection for Americans, the Patriot Act. Blue’s goal is to put aside the electoral factor that’ll keep them in power, instead create a dispensation from outside politics to criminalize red. Will criminalize the populardimensions of red. GOP [such as Romney]: You can be rump Republicans, Vichy collaborators. The others will be “terrorists.” Blue will then be in total control. HR 1:bill that’ll upend electoral politics by creating a system inherently and forever going to wire outcomes in any election for blue; doing this via shenanigans to allow blue to dominate for the next several generations. Anyone will be able vote with no oversight or control. Reminiscent of 1860s. https://www.anewcivilwar.com/post/show-trial-bellows-of-civil-war
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 3, Block B: Michael E Vlahos: @JHUWorldCrisis; Johns Hopkins; in re: Two impeachment trials, the second unfinished as the [allegations] are repeated again and again. Secessionists /slavers were derided New England as “lawless.” The South was nationally dominant—but eventually overreached. Will blue now take over or secede? Not secede. The Republican party of that time gave us populism similar to what MR Trump brought. In demanding submission, . . . to bring down the opposition, find a way to use force to make the opposition submit; but that rarely works. The vast majority of Americans are not ready to embrace the woke-ism of blue. Woke-ism is not the dominant [view].
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 3, Block C: Katherine Gorka, @KatharineCGorka, AEI Center for Civil Society; The Federalist; in re: Hegel was important to the US govt, turning over and over the tragedy of slavery. The slaveholders held that deriving authority from God Almighty was not correct; that authority comes from history. Southerners changed from individual to group rights, meaning that rights can change. Exact same argument as today’s purveyors of identity politics.
We see a repeat of a contest that played out tragically once before. The winners there held that he Constitution means something; that all Men are created equal, and all are equal before the law. In today’s new thinking, it's not obvious that the progressives challenge [equality] They hold that there is no absolute truth. Privileged and protected groups; oppressors and oppressed; all hearken back to ideas derived from Hegel. “You derive your rights from custom, culture and tradition” – but pull down statues that precisely illustrate custom, culture and tradition.” Within minutes of Biden’s inauguration, The 1776 Commission was [effaced.] It was not controversial; merely restated [the obvious]. What do we do with our history? Our history is critical; we learn form the past—without the past, we're not a nation, culture, people and, most importantly, we don't get to learn from our mistakes.
Left fails to realize that if you don’t derive your rights from something fixed, then some elite gets to decide what your rights are. Does the Biden administration have an idea of who decides our rights? “It’s the role of government.” That’s how the swamp evolved: we can perfect Man and society by having a bureaucracy that makes ever more decisions.
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 3, Block D: Terry Norchi, @ARTHinc,Arch Therapeutics (ARTH), in re: Miracles for wound treatment. Dermal sciences (external) and biosurgery (internal). AC5 advanced wounds system is approved by FDA and EU. Apply fluid to the wound; at nanomolecular level, the material’s nanofibers self-assemble into a mechanical structure, becomes a scaffolding through which blood vessels can grow..
Hour Four
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 4, Block A: Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees, by William Bryant Logan
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 4, Block B: Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees, by William Bryant Logan
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 4, Block C: Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees, by William Bryant Logan
Friday 19 February 2021 / Hour 4, Block D: Sprout Lands: Tending the Endless Gift of Trees, by William Bryant Logan
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