Photo, left:  An example of how things generally looked in New York City after Gov Andrew Cuomo's and Mayor Bill de Blasio's "possibly worst storm in our lifetimes." All public transportation was shut down and ii was illegal to drive a car or a bicycle. The whole city was hammered to a standstill in a torrent of alarmed speeches. Lucky for the country that these two aren’t making military decisions.
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 1, Block A:  Jim McTague, Barron's , Washington, in re: Heard on the Street: The Real Squeeze on U.S. Earnings     Economists React: ‘The trend is improving’      Disappointed by 2.6% Growth? Blame the U.S. Trade Deficit   U.S. Fourth-Quarter GDP—At a Glance      U.S. Labor Costs Only Inch Up in 4th Quarter       Jobless Claims Fall to Lowest Level Since 2000
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 1, Block B:  John Rogin, Bloomberg View, in re:     US protect the Syrian rebel army?
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 1, Block C:   Gregory Copley, StrategicStudies director; GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs; & author, UnCivilization, in re: Greek Election Outcome Plays Into Medium-Term Instability in the Ægean Analysis. The election in Greece on January 25, 2015, of a radical-left Syriza (an acronym for the Coalition of the Radical Left: Synaspismós Rizospastikís Aristerás) government in Greece will have significant ramifications not only for European Union (EU) and eurozone stability, but will also figure significantly in determining the balance of power in the Ægean Sea and Eastern Mediterranean over the coming critical few years. The relative political isolation that was Syriza’s objective for Greece within Europe will be coupled with such economic malaise that Greek defense spending will suffer at a time of growing restiveness and adventurism in Turkey.
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 1, Block D:   Gregory Copley, StrategicStudies director; GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs; & author, UnCivilization, in re: The Pentagon’s “Third Offset” Is Too Limited   Analysis.  Many in the US Defense establishment are aware of the speed with which the United States is losing strategic momentum and position globally, and how US leadership has meant that its allies have been forced to follow the US down the slope.   The US Defense Dept. is working on its Long-Range Research & Development Plan (LRRDP), being labelled the “Third Offset”. The US’s new nuclear strategy of the 1950s — heavily built around Dr Stefan Possony’s view of nuclear war — was the “First Offset” in the competition with the USSR. The “Second Offset” began in 1973, also in the Cold War against the Soviet Union, and led to another range of new technologies of precision guidance, stealth capabilities, navigation, and surveillance capabilities.   This view of the two Cold War spurs to US defense innovation may have an element of “clarity in hindsight”, but the deliberate approach to developing a new and long-term approach to technological breakthroughs at least shows a sense of urgency. The effects of the “Second Offset” have now worn off. The US and its allies in the West have fallen far behind in anti-submarine warfare, electronic warfare (even in its new cyber permutations), missile defenses, stealth, aerial dominance capabilities, maritime dominance, and so on. This is finally being recognized. It is a new world, and it does not necessarily belong to the West.
Hour Two
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 2, Block A:  David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent, in re: Donors Turn to Bush, Christie as Romney Exits  Republican donors could finally exhale, as Mitt Romney told supporters he wouldn’t run for president in 2016, resolving a dilemma for fundraisers who gravitate toward the party’s so-called establishment wing.  Romney Won’t Run in ‘16
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 2, Block B:  Harry Siegel, New  York Daily News, in re: Once again, Cuomo uses a crisis to try and show de Blasio who's the boss, and once again it backfires on New Yorkers. Thursday Daily News column.  When Gov. Cuomo announced his unprecedented decision Monday afternoon to shut down New York City’s subways in the face of a huge snowstorm that seemed to be barreling down on us, he didn’t speak first with Mayor de Blasio. The city’s chief executive was told of the decision just before the public was.  [more]
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 2, Block C:  Gene Marks, Washington Post, in re:  Emma Watson Tells Young Fan to 'Be an Engineer' Even Though Her Dad Doesn't Want Her To    What Silicon Valley Thinks of Women     Michael Moore, Seth Rogen banned from local restaurant
Eateries  Restaurants intercept #DeflateGate and get extra marketing yardage out of pre-Super Bowl controversy    Legal Follow-Up on Selling a Pie to Your Neighbor Living Near a Starbucks Might Double Your Home's Value          The National Restaurant Association projects a record year for restaurant sales in 2015.    Americans who love British chocolate are freaking out.
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 2, Block D:  Josh Green, Bloomberg, in re: http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-01-27/can-hillary-clinton-get-along-with-the-press-?hootPostID=2aa25d55021409dc1823fa502873bf3d
Hour Three
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 3, Block A:  Erica Goode,  Science Times, in re: Learning from Animal Friendships
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 3, Block B: Rick Rojas, NYT, in re: For Sale: Roomy New Mexico Property Away from It All, Once Occupied by a Missile  The Roswell site had been the home of an Atlas F missile, with a warhead over 100 times more powerful than the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki.
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 3, Block C: Gene Epstein, Hoover, in re: In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama painted a rosy picture of his administration’s work both in foreign and domestic policy.  Reviewing the speech, it becomes clear that his failures both at home and abroad stem from his fundamental misconception of his own role. In working with matters overseas, the President must lead. The most that one can expect of Congress is to authorize or ratify the actions that the President must implement. Presidential leadership, announced in a single and decisive voice, is essential, for no one can expect a deliberative body to take the lead in foreign statecraft. On domestic affairs, the opposite stance is appropriate… [more]  (1  of 2)
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 3, Block D: Gene Epstein, Hoover, in re: In his State of the Union address, President Barack Obama painted a rosy picture of his administration’s work both in foreign and domestic policy.  Reviewing the speech, it becomes clear that his failures both at home and abroad stem from his fundamental misconception of his own role. In working with matters overseas, the President must lead. The most that one can expect of Congress is to authorize or ratify the actions that the President must implement. Presidential leadership, announced in a single and decisive voice, is essential, for no one can expect a deliberative body to take the lead in foreign statecraft. On domestic affairs, the opposite stance is appropriate… [more]  (2 of 2)
Hour Four
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 4, Block A: Dinosaurs Without Bones: Dinosaur Lives Revealed by their Trace Fossils by Anthony J. Martin (1 of 4)
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 4, Block B: Dinosaurs Without Bones: Dinosaur Lives Revealed by their Trace Fossils by Anthony J. Martin (2 of 4)
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 4, Block C: Dinosaurs Without Bones: Dinosaur Lives Revealed by their Trace Fossils by Anthony J. Martin (3 of 4)
Friday  30 January 2015  / Hour 4, Block D: Dinosaurs Without Bones: Dinosaur Lives Revealed by their Trace Fossils by Anthony J. Martin (4 of 4)