The John Batchelor Show

Thursday 21 January 2021

Air Date: 
January 21, 2021

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Colleagues: Sebastian Gorka, America First radio and Fox; and Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents
Hour One
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block A:  Victor Davis Hanson: @VDHanson; @HooverInst,  Hoover Institution, and The Case for Trump,in re:  Hector at Troy. What’s happening in Washington: the stabbing of Hector’s corpse. Vindictiveness: Pelosi to try in the Senate a man who’s a private citizen.  Using her power against the court. An ancient ceremony; will not make them happy.  Achilles grows up, has common cause with Hector’s father. Today’s press: they can't leave Trump alone; they're obsessed.  Also nihilist? Vengeful? This will redound to the disadvantage of the Never-Trumpers. He’sn longer the president whom they condemned; do they know this?   No. They went after the Logan Act, the emoluments clause, the females, the Russians—everything.  They finally got 100 million people not to vote on Election Day. They’re afraid of him, and he’s not one of them.  Cliff May says that they think that I [John Batchelor] need to be deprogrammed. Pelosi says that politicians who made remarks on 6 Jan need to be condemned, perhaps evicted. When fascism comes:  it's always someone who’s “worries about the people who’s mellifluous and educated.”  Stanley McChrystal left the military, was fired, is now a multimillionaire in a corporation, said that Trump reminds him of al Qaeda.
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block B:  Victor Davis Hanson: @VDHanson; @HooverInst,  Hoover Institution,and The Case for Trump,in re:  The country did not start in 1619; it started in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. We issued a report: slavery, terrible—but from Frederick Douglass to Martin Luther King, they never rejected the Constitution; they said that [non-Blacks] needed to live up to the Constitution. The New York Times cooked up the 1619 Project, but couldn’t defend it even to its own fact-checkers.  The left simply calls people names.    Cancel culture. They’re very afraid: no confidence that their ideas are persuasive, nor that on election day they can win over more than 50% of the voters. Everybody knows that you can't have a country without borders; and that you can't trust the Iranians, and what the Chinese are up to.   1776: cancelled.
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com; in re:   SpaceX Starship serial number 9.  Aborted static fire test, Boca Chica.  The hop could occur any time in the coming days.  A very big booster.  NASA is using old shuttle engines in the SLS because Congress wanted to save money.  Elon Musk: even intra-Earth transport, taking off from the ocean.  Bought two ocean oil rigs, named them Phobos and Deimos after the moons of Mars. Looking for employees, especially welders and people who are good with their hands.  SLS. China: a commercial space entity that isn't. Pseudo-private companies allowed to raise private capital, despite being very much under the government (and thus the PLA). Interstellar Glory Space, developing a liquid fuel rocket (probably using stolen technology).   Are these firms useful as cut-outs for espionage? 
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 1, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com; in re:   Mars: Curiosity’s damaged wheels as it ascends a Mount Sharp.   The camera aimed at all the wheels, took pictures.  I compare treads; no real change.   A good sign.   . . .  The happy-face crater, on dry ice that’s slowly going away, and is not seasonal. 
 
Hour Two
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block A:  Sebastian Gorka, @SebGorka, America First radio and national security strategist at Fox News;  in re:  Pelosi intends to proceed with the second impeachment. Puzzle how this will unify the country.  We try to understand dcisns made by the Democrats; this is the final straw: a demented surrender to your own ideology, Language from the treason statutes of federal code—it leaves you speechless.  Steve Cohen of Tennessee says that the white males who left their jobs to protect the Capitol “are racist.”  Where’s the unity? The comity? This will be a show trial that’ll repeat all the Jan 6 allegations to no resolution.   Democrats wont get to the next covid relief package till March. Charge: Incitement to violent insurrection—the violence started forty minutes before the president’s speech ended. Ethics complaint against Cruz and Hawley.  How do they gain?  Maybe just a simplistic calculation. The last four years have been about demonizing Trump.  Hillary has just said, “Trump was probably on the phone with Putin as the Capitol was being invaded” !
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block B:  Sebastian Gorka, @SebGorka, America First radio and national security strategist at Fox News;  in re:  PRC condemns two State Department Secretaries for saying that it’s committing genocide against Uyghurs, Tibetans, et al. The official Chinese PR agency tweeted, “Good riddance, Donald Trump.”   Is Taiwan in trouble? China could do something unwise in the South Pacific.   America is routinely tested. Trump was the president who changed the story with regard to the PRC’s aggression. Novalny is jailed on return to Russia. Biden appoints retreads to major posts. . .  . Does Europe have something on its back called a spine?  Biden has already cancelled the pipeline; so the oil will be shipped by truck—and perhaps sold to China.  Yes, Putin will test Biden, but not immediately. 
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block C:  Conrad Black, @ConradMBlack, publisher, littérateur, biographer, commentator; the National Post; in re:  
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 2, Block D: Monica Crowley, TreasurySpox & @MonicaCrowley  @USTreasury ; Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs for the U.S. Department of the Treasury; in re:       
 
Hour Three
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block A: Ritchie Torres, @RitchieTorres, Congressman, New York's 15th congressional district (South Bronx) , and Malcolm Hoenlein, @conf_of_pres, Conference of Presidents, in re:Anti-Semitism, BDS, objectives in office. “Ritchie has been a heroic figure”   He’s a pro-Israel progressive We all have the obligation to condemn ant-Semitism, esp anti-Zionism..  First, defend Israel’s right to defend itself, and the Israeli-US alliance, and fight anti-Semitism in all its forms. I’m concerned that there are hard-left Americans comparable to Jeremy Corbyn in the US . . . In public, I finds a fear of the pro-BDS crew.  There’s a clear pattern of singling out Israel for condemnation, in the UN, on college campuses, in travel bans, I explain to audience that these are an insidious for of  anti-Semitism.  I’ve been appointed to Financial Services and Homeland Security committees. I worry that Millennials and Gen Z are being radicalized against Israel. DSOC/Democratic Socialists of America opposed you in your election; they’re a powerful force. Membership is now around 50,000; I was the sole survivor of its bloodbath. They’re now aiming at the New York City Council. 
A member of the Democratic Party, Ritchie Torres is the U.S. Representative for New York's 15th congressional district. Previously, Torres served as the New York City Councilmember for the 15th district elected in 2013. Torres was the first openly gay candidate to be elected to legislative office in the Bronx, and the youngest member of the city council. He served as the chair of the Committee on Public Housing, and was a deputy majority leader.

Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block B:  Haisam Hassanein, Washington Institute,  and Malcolm Hoenlein, @conf_of_pres, Conference of Presidents, in re:Muslim Brotherhood, Qatar, Abraham Accords. The emir of Qatar visited the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.  The matter is not wholly solved yet.  The boycott against Qatar.  Turkey. From the Saudi perspective, the Muslim Brotherhood [and other matters] are still a problem.  Is the blockade against Qatar over?   Yes, flights between each other. UAE, Abu Dhabi.  Two new Gulf countries emerge, Abu Dhabi and Doha; Palestinians are no longer the center of the discussion. The nations are in agreement anent Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood.  The people of Egypt: a famous Egyptian actor in a bar in Doha met a famous Israeli actor; they took pictures together.  It was a big deal, but no longer is.  Decades of hatred-filled propaganda is slowly being overridden. The MB is very strong abroad.  
Haisam Hassanein was the 2016–2017 Glazer Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he focussed on economic relations between Israel and Arab states. His current research focusses on commercial diplomacy in the Middle East.

Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block C: Ghaith al-Omari, @GhAlOmari, and Washington Institute, and Malcolm Hoenlein, @conf_of_pres, Conference of Presidents, in re:Palestinian Authority elections & the Abraham Accords. Bad actors, like the Muslim Brotherhood . . .  UAE will provide incentives for Israel to move forward, to consolidate regional peace. I’m skeptical that Palestinian elections will take place. Both Hamas and the PA have shown no interested in giving up power. Each has a lot to lose and very little to gain.  Qatar and Turkey not interested in seeing the remaining Muslim Brotherhood regimes leave power.  Europeans sceptical the elections would create a meaningful breakthrough.  The main actor to have influence would be Jordan, which is coordinating closely with Egypt and Saudis. Its interest is stability. Focus on more practical and predictable steps.  The Abbas dos very well with large telephone contracts. Corruption.  We will condition our aid on reform. They’ll start reforming only if hey have a very clear message from the intl community, led by the US.  Eighty per cent of Palestinians believe that their government is corrupt.
Ghaith al-Omari, a senior Fellow in The Washington Institute's Irwin Levy Family Program on the U.S.-Israel Strategic Relationship, is the former executive director of the American Task Force on Palestine. He served as advisor to the negotiating team during the 1999–2001 permanent-status talks in addition to holding various other positions within the Palestinian Authority.

Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 3, Block D:  Malcolm Hoenlein, @conf_of_pres, Conference of Presidents, in re: Tony Blinken testifying before Congress: we learned a lot about the US being a long way from rejoining the JCPOA, and recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Also, the two-state solution, concern about prospects; denied that Israel is a racist nation.  Enduring commitment to Israel’s security.  “Realistically.”  Will engage with Israel and the Gulf allies:  “on the take-off, not just the landing.” Rouhani today said, “Trump is dead and the Iran deal is still alive.” Iran wants the deal back, with no conditions, to get rid of the economic sanctions—defensive and covers for reality. Fordow and the heavy-water plant and Natanz.   France says it wants the US to take stronger positions against Islamic extremism—with Iran being the center of that. My mother’s people are always in the bazaar, always looking for a deal.  Iran needs to see that it's not in the catbird seat. Iran is occupying fortresses in Syria. A five-way chess game.  Russia wants to reduce Iran’s role. Israel wants Hezbollah and the militias out. Too much smoke [to see the fire]. Dahlan, a former Palestinian leader who moved to Jordan then the UE out of fear of Abbas assassinating him, accuses Abbas of stealing $2 million. Others’:  “Abbas’s mafia conduct.”  Today is the anniversary when the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella  --  demand by Spain that Jews be expelled by Portugal, but they were converted pro forma as Christians, then for centuries were Marranos, secret Jews. 
 
Hour Four
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block A:  9/12  Their Last Full Measure: The Final Days of the Civil War, by Joseph Wheelan  
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block B: 10/12 Their Last Full Measure: The Final Days of the Civil War, by Joseph Wheelan  
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block C: 11/12  Their Last Full Measure: The Final Days of the Civil War, by Joseph Wheelan  
Thursday 21 January 2021 / Hour 4, Block D:  12/12 Their Last Full Measure: The Final Days of the Civil War, by Joseph Wheelan  
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