Photo, above:  China in the world ocean: "Near seas" vs.  "far seas"    See Hour 2, Blocks C & D, Gregory Copley, on Chinese incursions into airspace and territorial waters; China taking over the use of Lamu island.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Hour One

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 1, Block A:  Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution, Chicago Law, in re: In speaking and writing about this issue, I have been asked how the government could defend itself in these dubious transactions, which would be regarded as both intolerable and illegal if done by private parties. The answer is that it can’t. The government is engaged in a blatant takings which violates the Constitution. Notwithstanding the government’s efforts to sugarcoat the obvious, its deal with Fannie and Freddie’s shareholders remains one of the most lopsided and unfair transactions in the annals of United States history—which says a lot…

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 1, Block B:  Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution, Chicago Law, in re:  Fact Sheet on Proposed Affordable Care Act Regulations, www.treasury. gov -- a joint fact sheet from the Treasury and Health and Human Services Departments on two sets of proposed regulations released today . . .

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 1, Block C: Ann Gibbons, Science magazine, in re: PALEOANTHROPOLOGY   Stunning Skull Gives a Fresh Portrait of Early Humans  An iconic new skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, dated to 1.8 million years ago, presents a new face for our genus Homo. The stunningly complete skull of an adult man has a surprisingly primitive, protruding upper jaw, and a tiny braincase. Combined with skulls found earlier at Dmanisi, it suggests that ancient people from the same time and place could look quite different from each other.  read the full text.    . . . Instead, Lordkipanidze and an international team spent 8 years studying the fossil, which they describe on page 326. Dating back to about 1.8 million years ago, the spectacular skull includes delicate parts of the face, rare in other finds, making it "the world's first completely preserved adult hominid skull" of such antiquity, they write. Combined with skulls found earlier at Dmanisi, it also suggests that ancient individuals from the same time and place were very different from each other but still members of one species—an idea that has implications for the perplexing patchwork of Homo fossils found in Africa.  . . . The skull "is undoubtedly one of the most important ever discovered," says paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall of the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. "An iconic fossil," proclaims Tim White, a paleoanthropologist at the University of California, Berkeley. "It will stand out for a long time.

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 1, Block D:  Todd Shields, Bloomberg, in re: Airlines Run from Onboard Gabfests as Gadget Use Embraced – As U.S. airlines navigate the new era of passengers allowed to stay connected through flights, technology may prove less powerful than American standards of etiquette. Gogo’s airline customers have told the company to block phone calls when the feature is added next year. 

Hour Two

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 2, Block A:  Peter Berkowitz, Hoover, in re: Meanwhile, scholars have debated the concept of neutrality for decades. Followers of John Rawls, an influential political theorist, hold that neutrality is the master idea of liberal democracy. In philosophy departments, political science classrooms, and law schools across the country, the Rawlsian interpretation of neutrality reigns. It holds that by resolutely refusing to endorse or aid any particular conception of perfection or salvation, by establishing institutions and implementing rules that allow each person to pursue happiness as he or she sees fit --  provided one respects the like liberty of others to pursue happiness as they will -- the state honors the only appropriate form of justice in a free and democratic society.

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 2, Block B:  Ken Croswell, Scientific American, in re: Unlike many galaxies, our Milky Way spawns lots of new stars. To study these stellar infants, observers often peer across vast distances to places such as the Orion Nebula, a star-making cloud of gas and dust 1,350 light-years away. Now astronomers have discovered that a nearby pair of red stars named EQ Pegasi is so young they shine primarily from the heat of their formation rather than from nuclear reactions. The discovery may give observers the chance to glimpse the glow of newborn planets, because EQ Pegasi is just 20 light-years from Earth—less than five times the distance to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system.  [more] Hubble image of Proxima Centauri   Located 4.24 light-years from Earth, Proxima Centauri is the nearest individual star to the Sun. It revolves around, and is slightly closer than, Alpha Centauri A and Alpha Centauri B, which are 4.37 light-years from Earth.

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"History does not long entrust the care of freedom to the weak or the timid" - Gen Eisenhower.

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Photo below: relaxing on Lamu island, apparently soon to be a Chinese naval base.

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 2, Block C:  Gregory Copley, author, in re: The Battle for the Senkakus Moves to the Skies | Flashpoints | The ... Practically speaking, Chinese incursions on airspace and territorial waters . . . The Senkakus are legally and historically Japan's islands.




Senkaku Islands : Japan-China Relations: Current Situation of ...
 Japan-China Relations Surrounding the Situation of the Senkaku Islands -In response to China's Airspace Incursion

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 2, Block D: Gregory Copley, author, in re: Bated breath as Lamu court ruling on gubernatorial petition date nears  The two main camps in the Lamu gubernatorial by-election spent the weekend mostly in strategy meetings.

Hour Three

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 3, Block A: Rep Devin Nunes (CA-21), in re:   letter to John Boehner on Benghazi.   FEST - foreign emergency support team - counterterrorism team that coordinates actions in foreign countries.  Decision not to deploy FEST had to be made in Washington.

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 3, Block B: Rep Devin Nunes (CA-21), in re: Details emerge about Americans badly injured in Benghazi attack In addition to the four Americans killed in the Benghazi terror attack last year, at least two other Americans were severely injured in the fighting that night, Fox News has learned. 

The injuries were sustained by U.S. personnel after mortars struck the CIA annex rooftop they were defending. Fox News is told that one former government contractor -- who is expected to testify this week along with four other contractors in classified sessions on Capitol Hill -- has had multiple surgeries since the attack and has still not regained full use of one arm. 

The blood loss after the attack was so severe that a source close to the contractor said it had been life-threatening.   In addition to former Navy Seals Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty, who were killed defending the Annex, at least two other Americans were severely injured on . . .

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 3, Block C:  Daniel Henninger, WSJ WONDER LAND, in re: Obama's Gettysburg Bypass  Lincoln's view of individual freedom is at odds with the current president's.

Photo, right: The famous opera singer Pauline Lucca with Otto von Bismarck, democratic monarchist, in1865, in Gastein (original description: Bismarck versuchte das Erscheinen des Bildesin der Öffentlichkeit zu verhindern, es gelang ihm nicht [?])

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 3, Block D:   Brian Womack, Bloomberg, in re: TWITTER V. FACEBOOK. Twitter in Celebrity Spat Wwith Facebook as Rivalry Builds – As Twitter revels in its successful initial public offering, Facebook is pushing onto the microblog’s turf, preparing to roll out a tool that makes it easier for the rich and famous to chat with their followers, according to a person with knowledge of the matter, who asked not to be identified because the feature hasn’t been released. 

Hour Four

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 4, Block A: July 1914: Countdown to War by Sean McMeekin (1 of 4)

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 4, Block B: July 1914: Countdown to War by Sean McMeekin (2 of 4)

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 4, Block C: July 1914: Countdown to War by Sean McMeekin (3 of 4)

Friday  15 November  2013 / Hour 4, Block D: July 1914: Countdown to War by Sean McMeekin, (4 of 4)

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Music

Hour 1: The Ghost Writer. 

Hour 2: Knight & Day. Michael Clayton. 

Hour 3: Knight & Day. Glory. 

Hour 4: The Pacific. 

Music

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