The John Batchelor Show

Wednesday 21 October 2020

Air Date: 
October 21, 2020

 JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 1, Block A: Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness, in re:  China Entrepreneur Club in the White House: very elite members of Chinese CCP looking for access to highest level of Obama administration; had been told no and were unsuccessful till they finally turned to Hunter Biden and his associates, where they were in the WH within days and had immediate access to VP Biden.  We have a snapshot. Supreme Court made it hard to prove corruption cases unless you can prove bribery beyond a doubt.  Influence-peddling: recall Mueller investigation of Manafort.  Prosecutors managed to come up with tax crimes, money-laundering, fraud allegations, and the like. Look for a pattern, including the mayor of Moscow [and the rest]”?  Yes.  Patterns are [relevant].  Joe Biden has declared that this is all “smears.”
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 1, Block B: Andrew C McCarthy, @AndrewCMcCarthy, Ball of Collusion; and Thaddeus McCotter, @ThadMcCotter, American Greatness, in re: Make it a legal matter only if it’s [extremely clear]; not a problem if the DOJ is investigating the opposition party or low-ranking officials in the administration.  A Special Counsel must report to the Attorney-General and be in the chain of command. This is a distraction to the president’s campaign, which needs to focus on Biden. It does show that a lot of people are worried about a two-tiered system: one for Democrats, the other for everyone else.  Democrats have used prosecutorial power as a weapon; the Republicans must not emulate that.  If Biden wins, he’ll come in under a [dense] cloud.  Thaddeus: The cloud under Biden will be real; the cloud under Trump was invented and has been proven fraudulent. 
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 1, Block C: Charles Burton: @cburton001, blogs at RealityChek; and Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang, Daily Beast, in re: A recent episode involving the Chinese ambassador to Canada, Mr Tsong: If Candianas [really care about Hong Kong], you should support [our] efforts to contain violent crime.”  Is that  a threat??  “That’s your interpretation.”  “If Canada offers safe harbor to Canadians caught in HK [and wishing to leave], then  . . .”  He should have been declared persona non grata; instead was called in for a cup of tea with the Canadian foreign minister.   The Labor Party today said that the concentration camps in Xinjiang are human rights violations.  The Ministry of Fear.  China repeatedly treats Canada as a junior partner to be denigrated.  So many Canadians in HK that this could all damage the economy there.  Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland: “Remarks not in keeping with the spirit of Chinese-Canada relations”—and China issued a rude and vulgar condemnation of her remarks. Clear that Canada is being threatened by China. Freeland: “Let me assure the people in Hong Kong that a Canadian is a Canadian.”  China said that Canada’s policies are hypocrisy and weakness—and for the first and possibly last time, I agreed. 
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 1, Block D: Steve Yates: 葉望輝, @YatesDCIA, @dciadvisory, and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang, Daily Beast, in re: Taiwan alleges that Mainland diplomatic officials broke into a Taiwanese Independence Day celebration in Fiji and beat up a Taiwanese.    The Pacific islands have been an active theater of competition. The Trump administration has done more to engage that sphere and try to balance the scales, but the physical assault is unacceptable.  China thinks the US is so distracted by its election that China can do anything, perhaps include invading Taiwan.  May be that China’s failure to invade India has caused it to look farther afield to create conflicts.  By and large, the Taiwanese voter base has had it with the [aggressive] moves of China.  Is it imaginable that China would make a cyber military moved against Taiwan in these days?  Can't rule it out.  It operates under a very different reality.  I do agree that lot of their actions are a result of their being a weak regime.  China has tried to crowd the air and sea space as well as the cyber space, around Taiwan. Laud the State Dept for pressing for a clean 5G environment.   Biden has a long track record of being very comfortable with the approach to China of decades past.  The Trump administration has moved forward a great deal . . . Biden supports the old consensus, the one that has not worked. . .  . Could make this up with a [better] tone.   Revelations of influence-peddling in the Obama White House. 
 
Hour Two
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 2, Block A:  Salena Zito, @SalenaZito @DCExaminer @RealClearPolitics; New York Post, CNN; Middle of Somewhere column; in re: Pennsylvania and the big question of fracking.  Twitter conveys that its about personality, but voters say they’re voting on their pocketbook. Trump’s comportment on the first debate set him back here a lot.  When he said, “Don't let the virus dominate your life”—but grandparent said, “It is dominating our lives.” Needed to hear that we’re all in this together.
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 2, Block B:   Salena Zito, @SalenaZito @DCExaminer @RealClearPolitics; New York Post, CNN; Middle of Somewhere column; in re: Found flecks of gold in a crik [pron in Western PA and in Ohio]; someone found a 28-pound lump and used it as a doorstop for years, not knowing what it was.  Has become a local hobby.  People bring food and have a social life around it.  Stream feeds into the Chenango River and thence . .  .
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 2, Block C:  Bill Whalen: @Hooverwhalen, @HooverInst, Area 45 blog,  inn r;  Presidential debates. Steve Forbes says, no need for a moderator; let the two candidates talk.
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 2, Block D: Ahmad Obali:  @AhmadObali , @Obali_Duman , #GunazTv; in re: Azeri Iranians supporting Azeris in Azerbaijan. Demonstrators chant, “Kurds, Persians and Armenians are the enemies of Azerbaijan.” This comes from Kurdish PKK members, and in response to Persian nationalism supporting Armenia. Supreme Leader’s [minions] are supporting Azerbaijan, apparently to calm the waters, while Iran supports Armenia and openly sends it arms.
 
Hour Three
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 3, Block A: John Catsimatidis,  @JCats2013, @CatsRoundtable, Red Apple Media & Cats Roundtable radio, in re:  Suggested comportment of President trump n the debate tomorrow night.  Until the Chinese flu attacked us this year, we had the best economy ever — lowest unemployment for Black and Hispanic Americans ever— and so good that American companies were returning from overseas. Let the president simply focus on facts.  All that has to be fixed is keeping inner-city people safe.  As for shutdowns: it’s all political.  Cynics say that Washington, D.C., schools will open on November 4.  If the vote is based on personality, Biden may win; if it’s based on performance, Trump wins.
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 3, Block B:  Larry C Johnson, Sic Semper Tyrannis, in re: The Hunter Biden laptop.   Assertions that the allegations against Hunter and then Joe Biden concerning the hard drive are “Russian disinformation.”    Major members of the intell community—Brennan, Clapper,  Hayden, et al.— have said “This has the trademark of Russian disinformation.”  The present DNI, John Ratcliffe, issued a statement that there’s no report at all of Russian interference.  Russians had magic power to know before Biden was running for president that Hunter would leave an incriminating laptop at a small repair shop in Delaware?  This is too fantastic, and Hayden, Clapper, and Brennan are liars.  There are said to be 17 intell agencies; none has provided any information on this.  A picture of Hunter Biden with a crack pipe in his mouth is not a smear. Hunter’s signature on the receipt is confirmed.  He first left a laptop, then a hard drive, at the shop.
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 3, Block C:  Charles Ortel of the On the Money with Charles Ortel podcast; and Gordon Chang: @GordonGChang; in re: Forbes article by Steven Ehrlich reports that China will introduce a digital currency to replace the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.  Have troubles with yuan/rmb so are trying a new trick. More important, with a digital currency the regime can see everything everyone does with their funds; billions have left China recently and you can bet that this will not be a convertible currency. Investors will be wary of this.  This is the opposite of internationalizing a currency.   Prescriptions for disaster.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenehrlich/2020/10/15/not-a-cold-war-china-is-using-a-digital-currency-insurgency-to-unseat-the-us-dollar/#2edf1ab8748a
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 3, Block D:  Peter Huessy, @MitchellStudies , @hobeyoco, @HuessyPeter, director of Strategic Deterrent Studies of the Mitchell Institute of the Air Force Association; and Gordon Chang, @GordonGChang, Daily Beast, in re:   Proposed elimination of the land leg of the nuclear-deterrent "triad."  The triad is: subs, bombers, and missiles in silos. Do we still need the silos? Peter's answer is: Yes; it'd be stupid to get rid of the ICBMs.  The proposal unilaterally to get rid of missiles to encourage Russia, China and Iran to do the same comes from the disarmament community, who hold that if the US got rid of its arms then the arms race would stop. Since it's Russia and China adding exponentially to their missiles, this doesn't seem like a good bet.  
Note that US arms protect Europe and all of NATO. Europe supports deploying regional nuclear forces in Europe, which lets Europeans not have to go nuclear.
 
Hour Four
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 4, Block A:  Asperger's Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna, by Edith Sheffer
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 4, Block B:   Asperger's Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna, by Edith Sheffer
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 4, Block C:  Asperger's Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna, by Edith Sheffer
Wednesday 21 October 2020 / Hour 4, Block D:   Asperger's Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna, by Edith Sheffer