JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Colleague: Thaddeus McCotter, American Greatness
 
Hour One
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 1, Block A: Tom Joscelyn, @thomasjoscelyn, @FDD, Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies; & Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal; and Bill Roggio, @billroggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re: Podcast Generation Jihad – al Qaeda in a many locales, perhaps 250.  
“I hope that one day when history is written, historians read all the descriptions of al Qaeda to see how [misinformation has been distributed].  Pompeo says only about 200 guys are in Afghanistan; this is inaccurate.  Assessments are driven by policymakers so they put in place the policies they favor.  Formerly, “50 to 200” al Qaeda jihadists was claimed; that was a fraud.  Pentagon might be miscounting because the ops are “dual-hatted”: they identify themselves as working for one crew but work also for another.  Odd that the Trump Adm would take this course to get out of Afghanistan.  Plan 2020 was bin Ladin’s goal to create a wholly global caliphate.   We all want wars to be fought quickly. Problem is, jihadists are organized as insurgents, and will never stop. The American establishment has failed. In Afghanistan, the impending American departure will be a victory of al Qaeda.  The jihad is interested in Erdogan.
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 1, Block B: Tom Joscelyn, @thomasjoscelyn, @FDD, Long War Journal and FDD; and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re: Erdogan has been the prime benefactor of the war is in Syria.  Main fighting force there is an al Q offshoot.  Two leading jihadi ideologues, a Saudi very well connected; the son and another (Medisi? in Jordan who helped generate ISIS) have been arguing over whether or not Erdogan is an apostate. 
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 1, Block C: Michael Yon, @Michael_Yon, East Asia reporter; and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang, Daily Beast, in re:  CCP boot in Hong Kong is growing like kudzu.  Hong Kongers are unhappy – they could be taken off to a prison camp somewhere.  The fate of HK people who’ve been grabbed and kidnapped into Mainland. HKers are far more educated and civilized than the characters I see on the street here in Portland, Oregon.  These people are merely fighting to create chaos and/or begin communism.  The graffiti here are primitive and childish; in HK, it’s sophisticated and almost fine art. Molotovs arll around in HK; not to hit the police but only to get on the news.  Portland is like an outdoor prison riot.  I felt pretty safe in HK; here, I’m concerned that I’ll get stabbed or shot.  Proud Boys were polite and well-armed; Antifa is [a mess, and I was scared to be among them]. Michael is definitely in danger in the course of his reporting.  Global violence.
“I just made this video.  Make sure to read the few paragraphs.” https://youtu.be/PSoiFouHiGU
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 1, Block D: Cleo Paskal, @CleoPaskal, non-resident senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies,  and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang, Daily Beast, in re: Looks as though South Korean elections were rigged, possibly with the assistance of China. Major investigations. Moon Jae-in works toward the destruction of democracy in ROK; next: get US forces off the peninsula. Enormous implications.
     China is using a wide variety of methods to undermine voting. Does China have the reach to manipulate the vote in the upcoming US election?  Techniques may vary; in South Korea, they were using machines that had Huawei components--not subtle.  Couldn’t do that in Taiwan, so used other methods . Right now, brave South Koreans standing in front of the electoral commission so the voting machines can’t be sneaked out.  They have the evidence of electoral fraud; what they need is support from us.
 
Hour Two
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 2, Block A:  David M Drucker, @DavidMDrucker, Washington Examiner, in re: Sen Cotton is looking to establish a war room to defend Amy Comey Barrett.  Is it necessary?  No. This is close to being a fait accompli.  Tom Cotton is one of the few Republicans to develop his own political organization; is running for re-election in Arkansas as a shoo-in, so has been working f/b/o other candidates.  It’s never wrong to overprepare.  He may run for the presidency in 2024.
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 2, Block B:  John Fund, @johnfund, NRO, in re: Minnesota: ballots mailed out, candidate goes door to door, fills out ballot—often for $20 to $50—takes the ballots, and delivers them. Helped Ilhan Omar win her recent election.  Minneapolis woman who’d held her Congressional position for over two decades was booted out by Omar in Omar’s first election; woman believes fraud was rampant. Now there’s an eye-opening video on how the [specifically] Somali voting fraud is done.  (Based on clans.) Voter fraud played a key role in electing Al Franken. 
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 2, Block C:  Mary Anastasia O’Grady, @MaryAnastasiaOG, WSJ editorial board and Americas column, in re:    Draconian lockdown in Peru, and to get food have to go through the government.  Meanwhile: most of the population has to work daily or starve.  In the US, there exist safety nets for survival; no such thing in Latin America. In Brazil, the lockdown was state by state, not federal. . . .  Worldwide, the matter is;  stripping people of their liberty. It was possible both to create some restrictions simply for health, and also allow people to run their own lives.
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 2, Block D: Hotel Mars, episode n. Dr Dean Pesnell, Project Scientist, Solar Dynamics Observatory. David Livingston, SpaceShow.com; in re:  #HotelMars: The birth of Solar Cycle 25.  The Sun has been studied for about 400 years; we’re predicting solar activity.  Solar Cycle Prediction Panel:  bring together scientist and those who actually watch solar weather; for long-germ planning.  Radiation exposure, satellite drag, et al.   . . . Don't want astronauts to be outside during a coronal mass ejection/solar flare.  Impact of sunspots on Earth’s climate? Result of solar minimum or maximum?  We don't see a direct effect on our climate.  In 1957 the highest activity on record.  Then down to very little; meanwhile, the Earth has grown warmer. 
 
Hour Three
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 3, Block A:  Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness, in re: Primary source for the Steele dossier is a Russian, Igor Danchenko, now working at Brookings Institution.  He long was suspected by the FBI of being a Russian spy.  Counterespionage, which can go on for years, is profoundly different from a criminal investigation, which requires data and evidence.   . . . This whole thing may have been a Russian disinformation op; and they may have learned how easy it is to [interject] disinformation into our electoral process.  No matter who’s president, Russians always want discord in the country. The FBI is running investigations the way Roscosmos runs booster rockets: sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Barron is the FBI agent.
See:  https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/09/steeles-dossier-source-was-a-suspected-russian-spy/   or   https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/jul/26/igor-danchenko-outed-steele-dossier-source/    or    https://justthenews.com/accountability/russia-and-ukraine-scandals/next-...
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 3, Block B: Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness, in re:
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 3, Block C:  Elin Suleymanov, ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan to Washington;  and Prof Brenda Shaffer: @ProfBShaffer  @FDD in re: Fighting between Armenia and Azerbaijan since Sunday.   The nation that’s suffered the most from this long war is Azerbaijan.  Armenia has overtly stolen a great dal of our territory. Our civilians are being killed.  We have no military objective in Armenia; our only goal is protecting our people.  What’s the end of this, what does Armenia want from this?  There’s a wider international conflict; Russia has two military bases in Armenia and controls Armenia’s air space.  All this constitute s a threat to the international pipeline.  Here: Russia, Armenia and Iran vs. Azerbaijan, Turkey and, to some extent, Israel.   Azerbaijan is always prepared to have talks; we constantly urge and encourage Armenia to engage in substantive conversation.  In a BBC Hard Talk interview, Armenia said, We don’t want to talk.  It takes two to tango.  This is a disaster because it’s only going to increase.  There are really good weapons on the Azerbaijani side.  Armenia copies the Russian playbook: “This is not occupied territory; it’s the emergence of an independent state.”  See:  Russians took a huge chunk of Georgian territory by pretending it was a liberationist move.  Now people on both sides of the new line are suffering enormously.  [This is Russia creating chaos widely, as it often serves their geopolitical interests.  —editor]
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 3, Block D:  Larry C Johnson, Sic Semper Tyrannis, in re: Russian influence.
 
Hour Four
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 4, Block A:  Jed Babbin, @JedBabbin @WashingtonTimes, American Spectator, in re:                  Nine military ballots found in a ditch; most of them were for Trump.   Now, most of the military rare in their twenties; no longer guaranteed that the military will support the commander-in-chief. The Atlantic story saying that Trump spoke ill of military has been totally debunked, but these young people are unlikely to have much information on it, or even on a lot of current news.    The Abraham Accords makes possible an end to the Middle East wars that we’ve seen for seventy years; and some fights go back to the seventh century.   Trump is well on the way to building a coalition that will not permit Iran, a predator state with nuclear ambitions, to attack its neighbors.  Churchill’s “unwisdom” in Britain, France and Germany.  If they prevail, or Biden wins, watch Russia and China sell advanced weaponry to Iran. Reminds me of the man who fed the crocodile hoping it’d  eat him last.
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 4, Block B:  Lorenzo Fiori: Direttore Generale Ansaldo Fondazione, in re: Recovering from the virus in Italy.  BoJo’s “poor choice of words.”
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 4, Block C:  John Tamny, @johntamny, RealClearPolitics, in re:  Tiktok, WeChat.  Governmental interference in companies, including Pres Obama’s exceptional demands on General Motors; Pres Trump’s favoring Oracle, where Ellison happens to be a supporter of his.  Consumption comes after production. The new-housing boom may be a warning that people may be fearful of the future, and investing in consumption ( e.g., a house) instead of, for example, the market, where the money can be used for innovation.    A warning.        
Monday 28 September  2020 / Hour 4, Block D:  John Tamny, @johntamny, RealClearPolitics, in re:             Did we order the lockdowns because we had to, or because we could?  Millions starve. 
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