Picture, above: Chinese Catholics prepare to defend their Church during the Boxer Rebellion; from historical photos. See: 9:20PM segment with Jillian Kay Melchior on Chinese Communist Party management of the Roman Catholic Church.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Co-hosts:   Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal editorial board, and Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents

Egyptian army tanks and soldiers secure the perimeter of the presidential palace while protesters gather chanting anti president Mohamed Morsi slogans and try to take down barbed wire separating between them and soldiers, in Cairo. -AP Photo

Thursday 905P Eastern Time:  Larry Johnson, NoQuarter, in re: U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice has withdrawn her name for consideration for secretary of state, the White House has announced. In regard Benghazi: her statements showed either an unacceptable naivete or a level of bone-headed stupidity not feasible in a Secretary of State. Her long-time abrasiveness is legendary; she even enraged Susan Collins, which is seriously hard to do. She'll wind up as Natl Security Advisor, where she'll wreak the havoc we need to have a robust radio show for years to come. When she was running US African policy: "If we use the word 'genocide'[concerning Rwanda], how would that affect the upcoming election?"  Wholly political animal, no moral center. She showed no interest in pursuing Osama bin Laden in Sudan, became overly legalistic. No strategic vision; so caught in tactics she misses everything valuable.   With Rice at NSC – thanks to John Brennan, what used to be interagency discussions and decisions now is a small number of guys around a table, none of whom is qualified to decide.

Thursday 920P Eastern Time:  Jillian Melchior, Robert Novak Fellow with the Phillips Foundation, and WSJ, in re: the Roman Catholic Church and China.  PRC has "stripped" the bishop of Shanghai – Bishop Ma - of his title, after he'd been approved/ordained by both the RC and the Party.  His father, uncle and grandfather all were jailed by the Chinese Communists  for their faith.  A priest may not give communion unless the Communist Party approves him.  However, the Party has authority to appoint or fire members of the Communist Catholic Church, not the real Church.   Nuns and priests who supported this bishop have been punished [Lord help them].  Bishop Ma has been removed from his church and confined. This is goon behavior.  He looks very tired. He does know that he has the support of Catholics in China. 

Photo, below: Egypt's supreme judicial council will oversee a mid-December referendum on the draft constitution, despite calls for a boycott from other parts of the judiciary. Even though the council is the highest judicial body, its declaration puts it on a collision course with the Judges Club, a broader body that counts the majority of Egypt's judges among its members. The Judges Club said its members would not supervise the referendum – mandated by law – until a constitutional decree issued by the president, Mohamed Morsi, which granted him immunity from judicial oversight was revoked.

Thursday 935P Eastern Time:  Salena Zito, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, in re: Pittsburgh. Pittsburgh. Rooneys. Steelers.  Pittsburgh.  Susan Rice: "dead man walking since she went on five Sunday shows claiming that Benghazi was a result of a hateful video."  Kerry was/will be an easy confirmation – the Senate is a very clubby chamber.  Forget the cables, the blogs, the social media. She says, "the successes of Libya" in her exit letter – but everyone remarks on the gaping hole between the US and the current Libyan govt. She puts an exclamation point on the failed parts of Obama's foreign policy.  Oops – NBC (owned by GE)/Immelt/Obama's friend - on Rice.  Zero degrees of separation between the White House and NBC. Benghazi connects directly to the Free Syrian Army [and, thereby, Iran].  John Kerry at State demonstrates weakness to our enemies.  Gertrude Stein was from Allegheny near Pittsburgh. The Kissel family is from Pittsburgh. Planet Pittsburgh.

Thursday 950P Eastern Time:  Mary Kissel, in re: CFPB – Consumer Financial Protection Agency – has no check upon it. In Jan, a WH official, Sarah Apsell, sent a msg to Fannie Mae: "Now that Mr Cordre is in place, let's discuss how it might dovetail w other Administration housing efforts."  Ergo, the WH is coordinating activities among supposedly independent agencies. "Close cooperation" [collusion?].  Supervises banks having $10bil and up; writes rules for everything. CFPB  does studies on anything ("Please give us confidential info on . . . ")

Thursday 1005P (705P Pacific Time): Eric Trager,  Washington Institute for Near East Policy and Foreign Policy Research Institute; in re: Egypt: turbulent events..

Thursday 1020P (720P Pacific Time): David Schenker, Washington Institute on Arab Politics director. Previously served in the Ofc of SecDef, Levant country director; in re:

Photo, below: (in Hebrew) The difference between an observer state and a member state (anent Palestinian Authority move in UN General Assembly)

 

Thursday 1035P (735P Pacific Time): Michael Eisenstadt, Washington Institute's Military and Security Studies Program director.  Formerly was a military analyst with the U.S. government; in re:

 

Thursday 1050P (750P Pacific Time): Aaron Y. Zelin, Washington Institute; author of forthcoming study, "The State of the Global Jihad Online"; in re: Syria.  Jahbat al-Nusra, called by White House a terrorist group in Syria, leader of al Q in Iraq  instructed acolytes to establish this; head by Abu Muhammad al-Jawlani al-Golani (from Golan in Syria);  done 600-plus attacks in the last twelve months.  Naming one among a hundred groups is mostly PR. Internecine fights among different Alawi groups in Syria.  Assad regime will fall. The US is about fifteen months late: the conflict has changed so much that US recognition is meaningless to the rebel groups.  Another version of leading from behind: fifteen months late to the dance.  The Rise of Al Qaeda in Syria

 

 

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Photo, left: Egyptian army tanks and soldiers secure the perimeter of the presidential palace while protesters gather chanting anti president Mohamed Morsi slogans and try to take down barbed wire separating between them and soldiers, in Cairo. -  AP Photo

Thursday 1105P (805P Pacific Time):  Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: Susan Rice might have been able to win, but people decided that they have so many fights under way that this wasn't the main one.  May stay at UN, may go to NSA. We'll know in a week. Agts of Iran (top engineers & physicists) seen prominently near the N Korean three-stage missile test. Whenever NK tests, it’s for Iran; whenever Iran does something, it's related to N Korea.  Japanese media have reports of October talk, DPRK-Iran.    Also pattern of threat vs Israel.   Iran announces indictment of 18 top US officials – even Stuart Levy (from Treasury, years ago).  Friends of Syria held a meeting in Morocco this week; Assad fired six antique SCUDS, causing much chatter in a tea at the meeting.  Sudan has granted Iran permission to open a naval base in the Red Sea. Oil for gold.

Thursday 1120P (820P Pacific Time): Yaakov Lappin covers military and national security affairs, major incidents within Israel and the West Bank; author of, The Virtual Caliphate, which proposes that an Islamist state has been established on the Internet by jihadis; in re: IDF inRamallah moves against terrorist PFLP when some Israeli groups defend the PFLP. IDF raided charities used as fronts by terrorist organizations, esp for money transfers; a common "charity" use.  Carful goal of Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood is to empower Hamas.

Thursday 1135P (835P Pacific Time): The Democratic Contradictions of Multiculturalism by Jens-Martin Eriksen and Frederik Stjernfelt; 1 of 2

Thursday 1150P (850P Pacific Time): The Democratic Contradictions of Multiculturalism by Jens-Martin Eriksen and Frederik Stjernfelt; 2 of 2

Thursday/Fri 1205A (905 Pacific Time):  Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: North Korea space junk rocket launch, on SpaceX explanation for troubled engine burn on October 7, on Michael Mann sues Mark Steyn of NRO on climate talk

Thursday/Fri  1220A (920 Pacific Time):  Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re:  Hubble Deep Field 2, with early 9 shift and 12 shift galaxies, at 600 million years after Big Bang;  Titan has a Nile River and methane flows like a river; Toutatis, NEO asteroid fly by, at 3 miles wide, a bad day in the future if and when it hits Earth or Moon.

Thursday/Fri  1235A (935P Pacific Time): Abbas Milani, Hoover, in re: why the way forward to negotiate with Iran is fraught; why giving in on nukes is not a resolution; why human rights metrics are the way to change Iran behavior.

Thursday/Fri  1250A  (950P Pacific Time): Exeunt. Gretchen Morgensohn, NYT, in re: the Chevron case with regard polluting the Amazon, why is it like Jarndyce vs Jarndyce of Bleak House?

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Music (using New York City broadcast times)  

9:00 hour:  Knight & Day.

10:00 hour:  Gears of War 2; Green Zone.

11:00 hour:   Green Zone. 

midnight hour:  Start Trek; The Expendables.