Friday 26 September 2014
Photo, above: ISS with five moudles docked.
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Hour One
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block A: Michael Vlahos, Naval War College, in re: U.S.-led coalition bomb ISIS oil sites in Syria for 2nd straight day as Britain, Belgium and Denmark announce they are joining the fight The coalition dropped bombs on ISIS oil facilities overnight Thursday — the second day of raids on the oil plants and the fourth of airstrikes in the region. The strikes aim to cripple one of the terrorists' primary sources of cash: black market oil. . . . [more]
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block B: Michael Vlahos, Naval War College, in re: Britain, Denmark and Belgium join air campaign against Islamic State in Iraq. Three European nations — including Britain — joined the widening U.S.-led air campaign against Islamic State militants in Iraq on Friday, even as the group’s fighters renewed their attempt to overrun a strategic border city in Syria. Britain’s entry seven weeks after the United States began carrying out strikes followed an overwhelming parliamentary vote to authorize attacks. Denmark and Belgium also opted to join the fight.
But as the coalition expanded, its constraints became clear. All three countries that authorized military action Friday are limiting their roles to Iraq. Meanwhile, Islamic State militants demonstrated that airstrikes have failed to slow their assault on critical positions in Syria. Along the Turkey-Syria border, Islamic State fighters backed by artillery fire pushed toward the city of Kobane — known in Arabic as Ayn al-Arab — as Syrian Kurdish forces dug in for a key test of their strength.
The United States and its Arab allies broadened their campaign to targets in Syria this week after a drumbeat of U.S. strikes in Iraq since early August.But no European ally has been willing to join the Syria campaign — raising the prospect that . . . [more]
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block C: Musab al.Abid, Member of the House of Representatives in Libya (from Tripoli), in re: https://sg.news.yahoo.com/video/hundreds-rally-tripoli-islamic-alliance-225348481.html
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 1, Block D: Josh Schnayer, Reuters, in re: Continental Resources has rewritten parts of its official history to diminish the role played by company founder Harold Hamm in the oil driller's success. The alterations - uncovered by Reuters in a close comparison of current and March 2014 versions of its website - come as Hamm is seeking to downplay his contributions to the company amid a bitter divorce battle with his wife, Sue Ann. If Sue Ann can prove that Harold's skills were key to the company's huge market cap gains, she stands to gain billions in the divorce settlement. If Harold persuades the judge that luck was at play, he will minimize her payout. The story contains is illustrated by a slideshow of before and after screenshots from the company’s website: http://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/revised-company-history-may-help-oil-baron-hamm-avoid-record-divorce-payout/
Hour Two
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block A: Isaac Stone Fish, Foreign Policy Magazine, in re: Change (like this week at UNGA): http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2014/09/25/is_china_still_a_developing_country_climate_change_xi_jinping (1 of 2)
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block B: Isaac Stone Fish, Foreign Policy Magazine, in re: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-09-25/hong-kong-occupy-central-says-1... (2 of 2)
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block C: Tunku Varadarajan, Hoover, in re: In India, ...illusions about a meaningful alliance with the U.S. have melted away. This is healthy for Indo-U.S. ties, which are better embedded in pragmatism than wishful thinking. It takes diplomatic pressure off the U.S., for whom forging a formal relationship with India is always going to be tricky. An India strengthened on its own terms is likely to be a better partner for the U.S. than a thin-skinned India that plays perpetual second fiddle, always sensitive to slights and disappointment. [more]
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 2, Block D: Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: New study devalues carbon dioxide again The uncertainty of science: A new study now suggests that previous climate models significantly over-estimated the effect increased carbon dioxide has on the climate. Lewis co-authored a report with science writer Marcel Crok earlier this year that found many climate models running hot and overestimating climate sensitivity by 40 to 50 percent. The paper also criticized the IPCC for trying to hide the climate’s weaker response to carbon dioxide in its 2013 report by not giving a central climate sensitivity estimate.
Judith Curry, one of the co-authors, was also very quick to note that this result is by far not the final word. “There remains considerable meta uncertainty in the determination of climate sensitivity, including how the problem is even framed.”
Of course, if you're a global warming activist, none of these minor details matters. Revolution for the climate!
Hour Three
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block A: Henry I Miller, M.D., Hoover & Forbes.com, in re: "NPR's War on Genetic Engineering," is at http://dailycaller.com/2014/09/10/nprs-war-on-genetic-engineering/.
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block B: Ed Whelan, Weekly Standard, in re:
"With little fanfare, President Obama has enjoyed remarkable success in his project to remake the federal courts in his own ideological image. How much more he achieves during his final two years in office depends in large part on whether Republicans win control of the Senate this November."
"Obama’s success is most marked in the federal courts of appeals, the intermediate level of the national judicial hierarchy. When Obama took office, only 1 of the 13 appellate courts had a majority of Democratic appointees. Now 9 do. [more]
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block C: Elizabeth Rosenthal, NYT, in re: Paying Till It Hurts series focused on drive-by-doctoring. When doctors participate in your care in the operating room or the hospital, who you don't realize are billing -- you may not even realize they are doctors. It features Peter Drier, who had back surgery and found himself with a $117,000 bill from an assistant surgeon who helped with his surgery, but who was not in his insurance network and whom he'd never met before.
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 3, Block D: Jennifer Kingson, NYT, in re
Portland Will Still Be Cool, but Anchorage May Be the Place to Be Scientists trying to predict the consequences of climate change see few havens from future storms, floods and droughts. But some regions will fare much better than others.
Hour Four
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block A: Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall (1 of 4)
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block B: Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall (2 of 4)
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block C: Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall (3 of 4)
Friday 26 September 2014 / Hour 4, Block D: Embers of War: The Fall of an Empire and the Making of America's Vietnam by Fredrik Logevall (4 of 4)