Photo, above:  First ebola case in New York City: the mayor and governor hold a press conference (starting 49 minutes late) at Bellevue Hospital, where the patient is in quarantine.  

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Co-hosts:  Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal editorial board & host of OpinionJournal.com & Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents

Hour One

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 1, Block A: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal editorial board & host of OpinionJournal.com; in re:  Dr Spencer in New York City confirmed diagnosed with ebola; he's just returned from working with Medecins sans frontieres in Guinea.  Since the first diagnosis in the US, we’ve all been regaled with bureaucratic happy-talk, much of it rubbish.  It looks as though the entire US apparatus is barely prepared to deal with this threat.  WHO massively failed, being an organization so politicized that it's operationally paralyzed.  Ebola broke out most in the poorest, worst-governed nations.  "The CDC has learned that Tom Frieden has moved quickly to engage better CDC protocols.   In West Africa, 254 million people; Lancet estimates that three to eight West African travelers  per month  will arrive in the US and be suspected of carrying ebola. Consider that ebola will go from being an epidemic to being endemic.  

 

 

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 1, Block B:  Edward W Hayes, criminal defense attorney par excellence, in re: ebola arrives in New York.  Axe-wielder in Jamaica, Queens, attacks four policeman – finally, the axeman is shot, one cop is in serious condition.  "They should have shot him as soon as they saw the axe – it's because cops are too careful under this adminsitation."  The Rev Sharpton is the Richelieu – the Police Commissioner-in-waiting; this is disastrous for New York City and cannot continue.

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 1, Block C: Rick Outzen, Pensacola Independent Daily News, in re: the gubernatorial race and the electric fan: last wek at a debate, Charlie Crist – in a very hot room – had an electric fan at his seat but Gov Scott did not.  A long huff over whether the governor would get a fan or not.  Chewed up fifteen minutes??  Gov Scott is a CEO, but [socially incompetent].  "You’d like him to run your business but wouldn’t want him to come to your home."  Scott: [I grew up poor}, whereas Charlie Crist grew up in comparative luxury.   . . .  The other thing that could decide the election: all about turnout – if Pres Obama got involved, could help Crist. Also have a medical marijuana issue – I think the GOP is scaring people [about this]. . . .  They won’t even talk about energy and the new O&G field off Florida – just about electric fans and whom they like.  The Chamber is trying to say, "Scott isn’t as bad as you think he is."

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 1, Block D: NYC press conference at Bellevue Medical Center with MAyor BillDeBlasio and Governor Andrew Cumo.

Hour Two

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 2, Block A: (The mayor of New York City is currently speaking at a press conference on ebola in New York.)  El Mehdi Boudra and Laziza Dalil, executives of Mimouna in Morocco, in re: "These are two truly remarkable young people, part of a group: when peope paint Moslems with a unitary brush - these are the exceptions."  Mimouna is a traditional celebration after Pesach when Moroccan Jews invite their Moslem neighbors to join in the celebrations.  We began on a smaller scale, now are organizing the Moroccan Jewish Caravan to main cities, show a cultural program to reach abroad audience.  Now we're holding a fete in New York City; next is in Issaria;  then 27 November in the library in Rabat an exhibition. and discussions and debate.  "These young people and all the members of their group are Moslem; the king has made [exceptional contributions]."  In Morocco we have the only Jewish museum in the Arab world.  Project of preserving Jewish cemeteries, some of which are ancient.  . . . In Morocco, civil society can change. What's excellent is the governance – from the top: the king. 

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 2, Block B:  Amb Dennis Ross, Washington Institute, in re:

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 2, Block C: Jonathan Schanzer, FDD, in re:  Turkey in NATO? Kobani, Turkish border with ISIS.

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 2, Block D:  Col Richard Kemp, Gatestone, in re:  European pressure on Israel (Sweden/UK Parliament to recognize Palestinian state). Gaza rebuilding 

Hour Three

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 3, Block A: Adam Ciralsky, journalist, TV producer, attorney; in re: Tunnels. Spared Attack. Hamas leadership. Interview with Mashaal in Vanity Fair.  Mashaal decided to talk; wide-ranging interview to get a little leverage; I focused tosome extent on the tunnels.  Hamas built 14 cross-border tunnels: from Gaza into Israel to in front of kibbutzim, population centers. Plan was to send elite brigade though the tunnels and kill civilians; capture a few.  The tunnels are amazing: not little smuggling tunnels; there se are reinforced with concrete, rail and tel lines; Hamas practiced using motorcycles. Could shoot or kidnap a soldier and bring him back. Technology:  did the army pay sufficient attention to the tunnels?  I was surprised at the threat from Hezbollah, which has tunneled deep in to Israel from the north. The IDF has kept that secret.  A thousand industry in a 13-km line.  Hundreds of tins of concrete – clearly industrial. At a minimum, Gaza had support from Hezbollah, which learned tunneling from Iran. Was there an IRGC general there? Dunno. In the north, I visited [Zarif?] – citizens had been hearing tunneling noises in the night – drilling, pounding, houses shaking. They complained to he IDF early in the summer, the IDF looked briefly and said there was no problem.  Terrifying, In Zarif, farmers took me into a field, showed me a greenhouse where they'd literally seen excavators disappear.  "It’s a sensitive topic" – tunneling in the north.    Egyptians were able to shut a thousand tunnels. 

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 3, Block B: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Yemen, a failed sate, now under the control of the Houthis.  Fourteen mil checkpoint sin the capital, each saying: Death to America, Death to the Jews, Victory for Islam.  No al Qaeda in the area, having been routed by the Houthis. Took a Red Sea City, moving toward the strait where 40% of the world's oil passes. Gives the Iranians (who own the Houthis) control of Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Strait of Hormuz.  This is a truly dangerous situation, the world is paying no heed. A rolling civil war, also a surrogate war between Iran and the Saudis.  White House writers blamed Yemen – a stunningly bad piece of research.  Everyone in the region says: The West is nowhere to be found. A big percentage of the Middle East population do not see al Qaeda as extremist.  In Jerusalem, a man drove on the light rail and mowed down people, killing an infant.  Another takfiri jihadist shot and killed in the Canadian parliament.  Thought that 150 Canadians went overseas to fight, maybe 80 have returned.  The [self-described] caliph of ISIS said: Attack unbelievers everywhere. Early stages of the collapse of Mesopotamia/the Levant.  US aid is paying money to let the US cross borders!

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 3, Block C: Gene Countryman, KNSS Wichita, in re:

More Liberal Billionaires Rush to Democrat Greg Orman's Aid  Former Top Enron Executive & Texas Hedge Fund Billionaire Singlehandedly Funds Phony Kansas Front Group   In new filings with the Federal Election Commission, it was revealed for the first time that the driving force behind a pro-Orman Super PAC that purports to be from Kansas, is almost single-handedly funded by a liberal Texas hedge billionaire and former top Enron executive. 

The front group "Kansans Want Problem Solvers” has been funded in large part by a single $500,000 donation from Houston hedge fund billionaire and mega-Democrat Party donor John Arnold. In addition to Arnold, the only other donor to this phony front group was another Wall Street investor based in North Carolina. This revelation is just the latest in a growing line of liberal billionaires flooding Kansas with out-of-state money on Orman’s behalf, including money from the son of the liberal New York City billionaire George Soros. 

"Clearly, liberal billionaires and top Obama donors from around the country know a lot more about the real Greg Orman than he’s been willing to share with the voters of Kansas,” Roberts for Senate Campaign manager Corry Bliss said today.  “From Orman’s friends in the Soros family to a Texas billionaire who made a fortune at Enron, liberal billionaires want Greg Orman in the Senate because they know he will be a loyal rubber-stamp for their friends Barack Obama and Harry Reid. This is just the latest reminder that voters can’t trust Orman because he’s clearly telling his liberal billionaire friends one thing behind closed doors while refusing to shoot straight with Kansans.”

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 3, Block D: Dr. David H Grinspoon, Astrobiology chair, Library of Congress; astrobiology curator, Denver Museum of Nature & Science, in re:  the planets, esp Venus, where it’s snowing metal.

Hour Four

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 4, Block A: Daniel Henninger, WSJ, in re:  Ron Klin

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 4, Block B:   Marko Kounilakis, Sacramento Bee, in re: "Our Attention Strayed From Missing Nigerian Girls for Too Long."

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 4, Block C: Roya Hakakian, author, in re: Rooting for the Women Fighting ISIS in Syria  But defeating the brutal jihadist group will require international assistance

Thursday  23 October 2014 / Hour 4, Block D:   Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/next-cygnusantares-launch-to-iss-set-for-october-27/