Tuesday 15 December 2020
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Hour One
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 1, Block A: Elizabeth Peek.@LizPeek, Fox News and TheHill; in re: Not only the Pfizer vaccine, but Moderna; both “highly effective.”The market is reading the headlines, not the stats. The vaccine roll-out is proceeding smoothly; 20 million Americans to be vaccinated in short order. In Washington, the negotiations on stimulus or sending aid to those who need it. are Lucy and the football. New York and Cali governor, whose budgets are disasters, putting hundreds of thousands out of work; relief probably to be delivered by the end of the year. The market is buoyant. It’ll be the third quarter before we can have sports events, or Broadway theater, by which time the risk will be much less. Case count is exploding while the fatality rate is very low, as we’ve learned a great deal about therapeutics. Consumers have money and are spending it. The first half of 2021 should be good—what could go wrong: the Georgia elections leading to tax increases. Perhaps normality by Q3 of 2021. Never seen an economy accelerate as taxes are rising; and a lot of tax money will go to unproductive matters: expect a huge surge in climate change initiatives. Another green company went bust, costing a lot to taxpayers. Solar panels are cheaper because they’re subsidized. Housing is so good you can't even buy wood in the US—all over the country—as people flee to the suburbs and countryside. New York is in trouble. Part of it is the disease, and part is the response to the disease: catastrophic. DeBlasio speaks of shutting down the city again. His indifference to small businesses is staggering—also Cuomo, Newsom. California, New York Illinois New Jersey, large blue states: all want a handout. Corporations and families are moving to Texas and Florida. Taxes will rise precipitately in blue states—about 30% of the country. Blue governors will use funds to paper over all the [promises] made to government employees.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 1, Block B: Elizabeth Peek.@LizPeek, Fox News and TheHill; in re: Biden’s rewards; 80 million votes. Black Lives Matter has filed an Instagram statement: We demand a seat at the table. To ignore us . . . is to ignore our generation’s most pressing demands . . .” The death of Georg Floyd turned out to be very helpful to Biden. He’s met with civil rights organizations but not BLM. Cynical. Democratic party takes Black and Hispanic voters for granted. He’s wholly in bed with teachers’s unions, ignoring the welfare of Black youth. Randy Weingarten for Secretary of Education?? Recall AOC shutting down 25,000 jobs in New York City. Not a positive administration for job creation.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 1, Block C: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com; in re: Hayabusa 2 has samples; scientists are taking it apart very carefully. In the capsule’s entrance was black asteroid dust. Still in orbit around the Sun and will be sent to another asteroid.
Osiris Rex, still near Bennu, will come back in Sept 2023.
Chang’e 5 got Moon samples, did autonomous docking. Final manoeuvers to send the return capsule back to Earth, will land midweek in Chinese-occupied Mongolia.
Moon: geological history of the Moon: Bennu and Ryuku samples: carbonaceous asteroids made of primordial material from earliest Solar System. Many feature s discovered about Mars in the 30- to 60-degree mid-latitudes resemble glacier features on Earth. Sharad is a radar instrument that can sense water below the surface. Here, confirmed that water is present, as a sort of desert, like Antarctica. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: possible subsurface lava tubes? East of Olympus Mons (biggest volcano in the Solar System). Tons of eruptions all around.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 1, Block D: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com; in re: Rocket fell over, see BehindtheBlack to see the video. Damaged some fins, need to undent the hull. SpaceX into another big fundraising round. Indonesia spaceport, near the equator, for Starship? Biden may impose heavy regulations in the US. Russia’s Angara heavy lift. Not reusable. Expect two more launches next year; was in dvpt for more than a decade. Starliner is Boeing’s version of Dragon manned vehicle; second demo flight delayed again to late March.
Hour Two
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 2, Block A: Joseph Sternberg: @josephsternberg, @WSJOpinion; Political Economics column; WSJ editorial board; in re: The virus and vaccine. Political upheavals around Europe except Germany, the central economy, which is placid. Germany is too boring. Green Party an exception? Yes: Germany has economic problems despite big mfrg segment, but unhealthy corporatist ties between the private sector and govt. Only the Greens are talking about this. Maybe the kingmakers in the next elections. No one-party majority in the Reichstag; ergo, everybody has to work together in coalitions, meaning nothing really happens. Angela Merkel myth: her political career is long-lived but not always successful. Her Ph.D. in chemistry was comforting in the pandemic, but overall not effective.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 2, Block B: Joseph Sternberg: @josephsternberg, @WSJOpinion; Political Economics column; WSJ editorial board; in re:The virus: We all try to comply closely with the regulations, then keep getting blamed when these measures don’t work.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 2, Block C: Bill McGurn, @wjmcgurn, @WSJOpinion,WSJ editorial page & Main Street column, in re: Special counsels—the bastard son of Watergate. Scalia’s magnificent [opposition]. Hunter Biden’s many, overt problems. Candidate Joe Biden went out of his way to make statements that are not clearly logical; could become a flood of [damaging] information. Recall the damaging emails, and the Post’s article; and Joe’s refusal to refute them.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 2, Block D: Lorenzo Fiori: Direttore Generale Ansaldo Fondazione ; in re: The virus: Italy has the most coronavirus deaths in Europe. Italy was the first Western country to be slammed, then brought infections under control in the spring. Christmas? Italians today are disoriented by regions and criticality. Intensive therapy. . . . Celebrating Christmas is the high point of the year in Italy, with many generations of family gathering together. For every one teenager, we have two people over 60.
Hour Three
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 3, Block A: Elizabeth Peek.@LizPeek, Fox News and TheHill; in re: Not only the Pfizer vaccine, but Moderna; both “highly effective.”The market is reading the headlines, not the stats. The vaccine roll-out is proceeding smoothly; 20 million Americans to be vaccinated in short order. In Washington, the negotiations on stimulus or sending aid to those who need it. are Lucy and the football. New York and Cali governor, whose budgets are disasters, putting hundreds of thousands out of work; relief probably to be delivered by the end of the year. The market is buoyant. It’ll be the third quarter before we can have sports events, or Broadway theater, by which time the risk will be much less. Case count is exploding while the fatality rate is very low, as we’ve learned a great deal about therapeutics. Consumers have money and are spending it. The first half of 2021 should be good—what could go wrong: the Georgia elections leading to tax increases. Perhaps normality by Q3 of 2021. Never seen an economy accelerate as taxes are rising; and a lot of tax money will go to unproductive matters: expect a huge surge in climate change initiatives. Another green company went bust, costing a lot to taxpayers. Solar panels are cheaper because they’re subsidized. Housing is so good you can't even buy wood in the US—all over the country—as people flee to the suburbs and countryside. New York is in trouble. Part of it is the disease, and part is the response to the disease: catastrophic. DeBlasio speaks of shutting down the city again. His indifference to small businesses is staggering—also Cuomo, Newsom. California, New York Illinois New Jersey, large blue states: all want a handout. Corporations and families are moving to Texas and Florida. Taxes will rise precipitately in blue states—about 30% of the country. Blue governors will use funds to paper over all the [promises] made to government employees.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 3, Block B: Elizabeth Peek.@LizPeek, Fox News and TheHill; in re: Biden’s rewards; 80 million votes. Black Lives Matter has filed an Instagram statement: We demand a seat at the table. To ignore us . . . is to ignore our generation’s most pressing demands . . .” The death of Georg Floyd turned out to be very helpful to Biden. He’s met with civil rights organizations but not BLM. Cynical. Democratic party takes Black and Hispanic voters for granted. He’s wholly in bed with teachers’s unions, ignoring the welfare of Black youth. Randy Weingarten for Secretary of Education?? Recall AOC shutting down 25,000 jobs in New York City. Not a positive administration for job creation.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 3, Block C: Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness, in re:Imminent departure of AG Barr; he chose not to make public important information about Hunter Biden before the election.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 3, Block D: Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness, in re:
Hour Four
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 4, Block A: Joseph Sternberg: @josephsternberg, @WSJOpinion; Political Economics column; WSJ editorial board; in re: The virus and vaccine. Political upheavals around Europe except Germany, the central economy, which is placid. Germany is too boring. Green Party an exception? Yes: Germany has economic problems despite big mfrg segment, but unhealthy corporatist ties between the private sector and govt. Only the Greens are talking about this. Maybe the kingmakers in the next elections. No one-party majority in the Reichstag; ergo, everybody has to work together in coalitions, meaning nothing really happens. Angela Merkel myth: her political career is long-lived but not always successful. Her Ph.D. in chemistry was comforting in the pandemic, but overall not effective.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 4, Block B: Joseph Sternberg: @josephsternberg, @WSJOpinion; Political Economics column; WSJ editorial board; in re: Chiding BoJo for not having the virus wiped out by Christmas. Festive meals, exchange gifts, mulled wine.
Worry about hospital capacity. People sacrificed yet still can't celebrate the five-day holiday. The virus: We all try to comply closely with the regulations, then keep getting blamed when these measures don’t work.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 4, Block C: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com; in re: Hayabusa 2 has samples; scientists are taking it apart very carefully. In the capsule’s entrance was black asteroid dust. Still in orbit around the Sun and will be sent to another asteroid.
Osiris Rex, still near Bennu, will come back in Sept 2023.
Chang’e 5 got Moon samples, did autonomous docking. Final manoeuvers to send the return capsule back to Earth, will land midweek in Chinese-occupied Mongolia.
Moon: geological history of the Moon: Bennu and Ryuku samples: carbonaceous asteroids made of primordial material from earliest Solar System. Many feature s discovered about Mars in the 30- to 60-degree mid-latitudes resemble glacier features on Earth. Sharad is a radar instrument that can sense water below the surface. Here, confirmed that water is present, as a sort of desert, like Antarctica. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter: possible subsurface lava tubes? East of Olympus Mons (biggest volcano in the Solar System). Tons of eruptions all around.
Tuesday 15 December 2020 / Hour 4, Block D: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com; in re: Rocket fell over, see BehindtheBlack to see the video. Damaged some fins, need to undent the hull. SpaceX into another big fundraising round. Indonesia spaceport, near the equator, for Starship? Biden may impose heavy regulations in the US. Russia’s Angara heavy lift. Not reusable. Expect two more launches next year; was in dvpt for more than a decade. Starliner is Boeing’s version of Dragon manned vehicle; second demo flight delayed again to late March.