Tuesday 16 September 2014
A coronal mass ejection (CME) is a massive burst of solar wind and magnetic fields rising above the solar corona or being released into space. A large CME will occur overnight on September 17-19. Photo, above: On August 31, 2012, a long filament of solar material that had been hovering in the Sun's atmosphere, the corona, erupted out into space at 4:36 PM EDT. The coronal mass ejection travelled at over 900 miles per second. The CME did not travel directly toward Earth, but did connect with Earth's magnetic environment, or magnetosphere, causing aurora to appear on the night of Monday, September 3.
The image above includes an image of Earth to show the size of the CME compared to the size of Earth. Coronal mass ejections are often associated with other forms of solar activity, most notably solar flares, but a causal relation has not been established. Most ejections originate from active regions on the Sun's surface, such as groupings of sunspots associated with frequent flares. Near solar maxima, the Sun produces about three CMEs every day, whereas near solar minima, there is about one CME every five days.
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Larry Kudlow, CNBC senior advisor; & Cumulus Media radio
Hour One
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block A: Phil Izzo, WSJ lead editor, Real Time Economics blog, in re: U.S. Producer Prices Unchanged in August A gauge of U.S. inflation was unchanged in August, a sign that price pressures remain tame amid subdued economic growth. U.S. Incomes Edge Higher for First Time Since Recession Americans' incomes ticked up in 2013 for the first time since the recession, and the poverty rate fell for the first time since 2006.
Industrial Production Falls in August U.S. industrial production fell in August for the first time since January, the latest sign of uneven improvement in the economy. Stocks End Higher as Investors Await News From Fed US stocks mixed as Federal Reserve meets on rates (1 of 2)
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block B: Phil Izzo, WSJ lead editor, Real Time Economics blog, in re: U.S. Producer Prices Unchanged in August A gauge of U.S. inflation was unchanged in August, a sign that price pressures remain tame amid subdued economic growth.
U.S. Incomes Edge Higher for First Time Since Recession Americans' incomes ticked up in 2013 for the first time since the recession, and the poverty rate fell for the first time since 2006.
Industrial Production Falls in August U.S. industrial production fell in August for the first time since January, the latest sign of uneven improvement in the economy. Stocks End Higher as Investors Await News From Fed US stocks mixed as Federal Reserve meets on rates (2 of 2)
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block C: Stephen Haber, Stanford, Hoover & WSJ, in re: The Federal Reserve's Too-Cozy Relations with Banks Working at the Fed shouldn't be an audition for a Wall Street job. Waiting periods and other reforms are needed.
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block D: Andrew C. McCarthy, Senior Fellow, National Review Institute, in re: The Islamic State Is Islamic But Obama and Kerry will never admit it.
Hour Two
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block A: Stephen F. Cohen, NYU & Princeton professor Emeritus; author: Soviet Fates and Lost Alternatives: From Stalinism to the New Cold War, & The Victims Return: Survivors of the Gulag after Stalin; in re: Ukraine's historic EU deal breaks ties with Moscow After years of turmoil, Ukraine's EU agreement is a moment of history (1 of 4)
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block B: Prof. Stephen F. Cohen, in re: Another exchange of prisoners of war between Donetsk and Kiev to take place in 2 days The exchange will take place in the format 50 for 50, according to the chairperson of the Donetsk People’s Republic’s committee for prisoners of war (2 of 4)
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block C: Stephen F. Cohen (3 of 4)
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block D: Igor Strelkov (Игорь Иванович Стрелков), about 40 yrs old; a military commander (colonel) who’s fought in all of Russia's post-Soviet wars & worked in intell. Organized resistance in Eastern Ukraine; has returned to Moscow: "because our work there is done; we won. But there's a fifth column in Moscow trying take over the country." Meaning: The ultranationalist don’t trust ___, that there are pro-Western forces in Moscow. There was a big rally scheduled for Sunday; all the nationalist forces were gathering, min 100,000 people to appear: forcibly cancelled by the Kremlin. The Ukr crisis has unleashed forces in Russia . . . A divide in Europe between let's-compromise and let's-not; same divide now in Russia. (4 of 4)
Hour Three
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block A: John Nicolson, Scot, journalist, broadcaster, in re: Heckled Ed abandons Edinburgh walkabout Labour leader Ed Miliband cuts short chaotic visit to shopping centre where he is heckled by Yes supporters. Women voters could save the Union. Ed Miliband claimed the independence debate had an “ugly side” as he was forced to cut short a chaotic walkabout in the centre of Edinburgh. The Labour leader’s visit to the St James Shopping Centre in the Scottish capital quickly descended into farce as he was surrounded by the media and rival Yes and No supporters. He struggled to make himself heard, or to find voters to talk to as he was followed by hundreds of journalists, members of the public and nationalist hecklers shouting “liar” and “master of the universe” at him. Ed Miliband claimed the independence debate had an “ugly side” as he was forced to cut short a chaotic walkabout in the centre of Edinburgh. The Labour leader’s visit to the St James Shopping Centre in the Scottish capital quickly descended into farce as he was surrounded by the media and rival Yes and No supporters. He struggled to make himself heard, or to find voters to talk to as he was followed by hundreds of journalists, members of the public and nationalist hecklers shouting “liar” and “master of the universe” at him.
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block B: John Nicolson, Scot, journalist, broadcaster, in re: Salmond accused of bullying top academic over independence
Exclusive: First Minister phoned Prof Louise Richardson demanding she clarify remarks while emails show key aide urged principal to issue statement praising SNP Government Don't be afraid to go out and vote for the Union, says Major
Scotland funding formula a 'terrible mistake' (2 of 4)
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block C: John Nicolson, journalist, broadcasterm Scot (3 of 4)
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block D: John Nicolson, Sjournalist, broadcaster, Scot (4 of 4)
Hour Four
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block A: Anna Nemtsova, Daily Beast, in re: Bitter Survivors and Caravans of Coffins from Ukraine’s “Eastern Boiler.” Ukraine’s government is sending volunteers to the slaughter, while the regular army conserves forces. As the ceasefire fails, patriotic fighters could be in short supply. Mikhail Savulchik dragged on a cigarette as he pointed to the small pieces of shrapnel taken out of his bandaged legs. They rested on his wheelchair. And here – he held it up -- was one more that popped out from under the skin at the back of his head the other day.
Although hundreds of soldiers in volunteer battalions were killed in recent battles, coming back in convoys full of coffins, the 29-year-old Savulchuk managed to survive the violent defeat of Ukrainian forces outside the town of Ilovaisk. Today, he and his buddies – those who are left -- call the contested part of the country near the Russian frontier “The Eastern Boiler.” Savulchik thinks he was lucky to be at the hospital at all and not rotting in a field. He was "born with a caul," he said, referring to an old wives’ tale. Little else could explain why he lived.
On the days and nights of August 21 through 25, over 200 Ukrainian soldiers died in attacks by what they believed were Russian tanks, artillery, mortars and Grad rockets raining death on the Boiler. Pro-Russian forces also seized . . .
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block B: Syrian Opposition Blasts Reports It Signed a Truce with ISIS Opponents of arming the moderate rebels in Syria are homing in on a report that the Free Syrian Army agreed to a truce with the Islamic State. Opposition leaders say that’s just false. Critics of President Obama’s latest pledge to arm the moderate Syrian rebels are trumpeting a report of a supposed deal between the opposition forces and ISIS, but Syrian opposition leaders are fighting back with what they say is overwhelming evidence that no truce exists. The September 12 Agence France-Presse report stating that . . .
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block C: Eli Lake, senior national security correspondent, Daily Beast, in re: NATO Chief Warns Moscow: No More Stealth Invasions Russia is now threatening NATO allies in the Baltics. If Moscow tries another invasion of commandos and spies, the alliance is prepared to act, NATO's top general said. On Monday, NATO Commander Gen. Philip Breedlove had a not-so-subtle message for Russia: it will consider stealth and unofficial invasions to be a trigger for war. Europe knows these stealth invasions all too well. Russia first sent teams of special operations forces wearing uniforms without insignia in February into Crimea and then later into eastern Ukraine to work with Russian minorities inside the country to begin an insurrection. Ukraine’s military has been fighting these “little green men” ever since. But until recently, Russia has not even acknowledged sending anyone into the country.
Breedlove, speaking at the Atlantic Council on Monday, said if the Kremlin tried that in one of the NATO allies that border Russia—like the former Soviet republics in the Batlics, for example—it would risk triggering Article Five of NATO’s charter which is the section that calls on the alliance to come to the defense of a member state being attacked. It’s hardly a hypothetical issue. Over the weekend, a Russian foreign ministry official said violations of the rights of Russian speakers in the Baltic states would . . .
Tuesday 16 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block D: Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: Coronal mass ejection Sept 17-18. Nasa picks astronaut ship designs The US space agency picks the companies it hopes can take the country's astronauts back into space - a capability lost when the shuttles retired in 2011.
• Nasa: 'Ambitious and exciting chapter' Watch
• Mini-shuttle gets 2016 launch date
• US firms target astronaut flights
• Nasa names post-shuttle shortlist