JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Gordon Chang, Daily Beast, and David Livingston, The Space Show
 
Hour One
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 1, Block A:  Arthur Waldron, Lauder Professor of International Relations at the University of Pennsylvania, in re:  Chinese air travel internationally is reduced to almost nil.  Appears to be part of the Wuhan coronavirus—Covid19‑—pandemic.  It seems to affect especially males, and more so those over age 55. Today is a turning point:
—In a leading Chinese paper today, there briefly appeared a story about the P4 viral lab in Wuhan: Beijing's response to the epidemic. 
SARS began organically, but was fuelled by three releases from the P4 lab in Wuhan. The article was removed from the Net within maybe fifteen minutes, and then permanently expunged by the government. Looks as though the regime is complicit: the govt leading them may also be infecting them. Also, looks as though the origin of the pandemic may simply be the [regime’s] Wuhan P4 lab.
— Within the last six hours, a 15,000-case spike.
SCMP:  Health authorities reported o Thursday 14,840 new confirmed cases, then times the number of a day earlier. Either we’ve just recognized the immensity of the disease, or else it’s exploded [beyond being in any way controllable].  It’s getting worse very, very, very fast. Two divergent groups within the Party: one wanting to release accurate information and the other refusing to. Only a thorough massacre of all the people responsible for this crime will restore stability. As for trust, much too late.
 
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 1, Block B: Brandon Weichert, editor of the Weichert Report and a national security policy analyst specializing in emerging technology, in re:  Nine-count  indictment filed in Atlanta: four members of PLA hacked into Equifax and store massive data on millions of Americans.  PLA is sworn to fealty not to a nation but specifically to the Chinese Communist Party.   Meanwhile, Boris Johnson’s govt has decided to let Huawei’s 5G network in to some extent to the UK [basic data transmission structure]. The US under this Administration has decided to prevent that. The Trump Adm is agitated over some matters related to China, which is stealing information like crazy. The president has proven that under some circumstances, he’ll pounce.  https://www.marketwatch.com/story/if-china-hacked-equifax-in-2017-some-americans-may-have-more-reason-to-be-vigilant-than-others-2020-02-12
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 1, Block C: Gordon Chang, in re: There are fresh doubt about Xi Jinping based on the withdrawal of the Mandate of Heaven, which depends on signs, such as a comet, or a good harvest, or victory in battle— or negative, such as stumbles win negotiations with Trump; and the Great Wall of Sand and he US Navy; and Taiwan’s electing Tsai Ing-wen; and the protests in HK; and the Xinjiang concentration camps for Uyghurs; and the ten-day hospitals built in Wuhan and Hong Kong: they have prison bars on the windows; and now Wuhan coronavirus, starting in 2019. Mandate of Heaven,  Tian ming  天命,  gave signs that Heaven gave its mandate to the emperor.
Ma Tse-tung, the 1976 earthquake, caused Chinese people to think he had lost the mandate.  Several days ago, Xi appeared with a surgical mask to visit afflicted people in Beijing, not in Wuhan.   When the young physician died, people ran to their balconies and sang, ”Do you hear the people sing?” from Les Miserables.
    t’ien sya.    Mencius pointed out that "Heaven does not create people for the sake of the sovereign. Heaven made the sovereign for the sake of the people" 
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 1, Block D: Michael Yon, Hong Kong reporter, in re: Trying to get two containers of masks, 34,000 boxes, and can't get them.  Masks, food, toilet paper, all seem to be sold out.  . . .  Rugby Sevens tournament, the annual social event, has been cancelled, which is major. Schools closed, parents need to be at home for child care.  People growing furious; this may explode when it’s over, as they see the government being only a proxy for Beijing, not for the benefit of the citizenry.  Thailand’s borders are open, Chinese people streaming in; dangerous.
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 2, Block A:  Cleo Paskal, non-resident senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, currently in Tonga, in re: Preventing four ships from docking out of fear of Wuhan virus.  Dead gecko found in Chinese-run Tongan bottled water; the end of trust n Chinese products. Samoans are preventing guests from landing without a fourteen-day quarantine.  Tonga has refused entry to four cruise ships, which constitutes a massive loss of income.  Samoa had a recent tragic event with measles: ran out of vaccine, and antivaxers infected some Samoans, with the result of [half a dozen?] deaths.  Engagement between Chinese and Tongans is almost always among the elites.   The disease will eke out in the summer; in future, Tongans will accept Chinese scholarships if necessary but would prefer to go elsewhere. https://matangitonga.to/print/23432. 
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 2, Block B:  David Maxwell, senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, in re: North Korea's response to the coronavirus, and the leak of the UN Panel of Experts Report: Chinese have bought $370 million of coal in violation of UN sanctions; also sold a lot of oil (there’s a cap on oil sales). Ship-to-ship transfers.  North Korea’s medical provision is dreadful.  Border with China seems to be closed out of fear of the virus.   . . .  Xi has failed to have the sanctions lifted, which is most significant.
 http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20200211000094
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 2, Block C:  Hotel Mars, episode n. Bill Harwood, CBS News space news; and David Livingston, Dr Space; in re: A purposeful rocket abort at the maximum moment of risk.
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 2, Block D: Gregory Zuckerman, WSJ, in re:
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 3, Block A: Andrew C McCarthy, author, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, American Greatness, in re: The Mueller investigation went crazy in the sentencing of Roger Stone. Sentencing was to suggest that there was a reason to ____. His initial arrest was absurd: frog team swat teams, vast gaslighting; CNN (privately invited to witness) couldn’t find anywhere to park.  He committed a minor process crime and was sentenced to nine years in prison. As he’s 67, a first offender, and in bad health, this was a sentence to die in prison. The sentencing guidelines permit nine years, especially for physical violence or organized-crime activity, but requesting that was almost unique overkill. The fellow who was nominally threatened, Randy Credico, testified that he did not feel threatened; that it was merely Stone speaking [excitedly]. 
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 3, Block B:  Andrew C McCarthy, author, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, American Greatness, in re: The smearing of an Attorney-General. The left accuses you of what it’s doing: “If they're moving heir lips, they’re projecting.”  The Durham report may reveal the underlying [rot], so those at risk are on the attack in advance.  . . .  It’d be an error to settle on Barr as the villain, as he’s very smart.  Look for increasing hysteria among Obama Adm officials, as they grow very scared when the American people may be awakened to the [illegal activities]. 
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 3, Block C:  
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 3, Block D:  Elshad Nasirov, vice-president of SOCAR, State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic, on investments and marketing; in re:
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 4, Block A: Normandy Crucible: The Decisive Battle that Shaped World War II in Europe, by John Prados
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 4, Block B: Normandy Crucible: The Decisive Battle that Shaped World War II in Europe, by John Prados
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 4, Block C: Normandy Crucible: The Decisive Battle that Shaped World War II in Europe, by John Prados
Wednesday 12 February 2020   / Hour 4, Block D: Normandy Crucible: The Decisive Battle that Shaped World War II in Europe, by John Prados