JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents
 
Hour One
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 1, Block A:  Gene Marks, Small Business Report; Guardian; TheHill; in re:  Michael Bloomberg is running for president.  What does h e mean for small business?  No warning signs of recession.  Housing units & building permits up: a “post-recession high.”  However, industrial production, durable goods made in the US economy – that fell a bit in October, much to do with auto industry strikes.   See: CalculatedRisk.com
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 1, Block B:  Gene Marks, Small Business Report; Guardian; TheHill; in re: Any Grinch visible? None. Big-box retailers with online presence are positioned to succeed.   Microsoft reducing support for small business. Blue Vine: financing for small businesses, with a focus on factoring. Just raised $100 mil. 
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 1, Block C: Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover, in re: The impeachment inquiry: “deep state.”  In the federal govt, some deny and some embrace the phrase. The former CIA director speaking to Brennan said, “Thank God for the deep state.” The whistleblower’s lawyer said, “One coup coming after another.”  In Britain, they said, “the civil service.” Do the people in Washington have self-awareness? Any sense of humor?  [No and no.]  That we see them as different from us? No. They have no idea.  They give their pedigree, titles, then say they’re angry at Donald Trump because their expertise was sidelined by the likes of Giuliani; this Commander-in-Chief actually thinks he has the right to make his own policy.  The permanent govt gave no military help to Ukraine under Obama; when Trump did, they were enraged.  A middle-aged career crisis! Smile!
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 1, Block D: Christian Whiton, Center for the National Interest, in re: Fiona Hill, McMaster and Vindman.  McMaster and Mattis went to Hoover. Vindman spoke poorly of the president — “he went against US policy” — abrogating the Uniform Code of Military Justice and disgracing himself. He lacked even the dignity to resign. Only the president is entitled to formulate US policy. CW: “Back to HQ is where the snakes are.”   This Administration has not taken great care in keeping out these deep-state swamp critters. The one institution not yet ruined by leftist baby boomers is the military . . . [so far].
 
Hour Two
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 2, Block A:  
—Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: Bibi indicted today; Likud failed to form a government, meaning a third election. Meanwhile, charges lodged against PM Netanyahu by the Attorney-General.
— Lee Zeldin, in re: MOUs with Arab countries returning cultural heritage – Arabs were demanding a 300-year-old Torah.  Palestinian Intl Terrorism Act?  Bipartisan letter to Guttieres on Hezbollah.  Foreign aid to Lebanon.
●        https://www.ft.com/content/88d592a0-0b09-11ea-bb52-34c8d9dc6d84  
●        https://zeldin.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/rep-zeldin-introduces-bipartisan-legislation-preserve-us-heritage-abroad       
●        https://www.jta.org/2019/11/20/united-states/jewish-man-stabbed-repeatedly-outside-synagogue-in-rockland-county
●        https://www.aipac.org/-/media/publications/policy-and-politics/legislative-action/2019/luria-zeldin-letter.pdf?
●        https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-pentagon-state-dep-t-u-s-evangelicals-and-israel-battle-over-lebanese-army-aid-1.8160928
●        http://www.jimena.org/war-torn-yemen-demands-return-of-jewish-treasures-now-in-the-u-s/
●        https://www.foxnews.com/world/torah-scrolls-smuggled-out-of-yemen-being-sought-by-the-country
Congressman Lee Zeldin has represented New York’s First Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2015. Currently, Congressman Zeldin serves on two House Committees: Financial Services and Foreign Affairs, where he serves as Ranking Member of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Additionally, Congressman Zeldin serves as co-chair of the Long Island Sound Caucus and founding member of the National Estuary Program Caucus and, as one of two Jewish Republicans in Congress, also serves as co-chairman of the House Republican Israel Caucus, which has over 100 members.
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 2, Block B:  Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: Pres Aliyev and Sheikh Islam for a second conference on world religious leaders. A remarkable event:  head of Russian Orthodox church next to me; Vatican; chief rabbi of Jerusalem, everybody. A wonderful attitude, openness in Azerbaijan: you can walk with a skullcap in Baku but not in Berlin. A Saudi official spoke at the Conference of Presidents this week. Secy of State made an announcement about the West Bank: “It’s up to the parties to decide; but the settlements are not illegal” – which is what Pres Reagan said thirty-five years ago.
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 2, Block C:  Joseph Humire, in re: Morales is politically active concerning Bolivia while under asylum in Mexico, working to create an insurgency. A bad idea. Found Cuban agents with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash, working to create a revolution.  Bolivia: massive electoral fraud across the country; likely that Russia helped with the fraud.   Bolivia has an active nuclear program, rendering this worrisome; reactor financed by Rosatom. 
● https://www.foxnews.com/world/bolivias-political-crisis-sparks-dangerous-clashes-8-killed
● https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-50497632
● https://news.yahoo.com/bolivia-in-crisis-after-coup-against-president-193447858.html
● https://www.reuters.com/article/us-bolivia-election/u-n-warns-bolivia-crisis-could-spin-out-of-control-as-death-toll-mounts-idUSKBN1XQ0HY
https://www.ft.com/content/553d1ce2-f4ed-11e9-a79c-bc9acae3b654
https://www.ft.com/content/23533d76-0be8-11ea-bb52-34c8d9dc6d84
Joseph Humire is a global security expert, specialized in analyzing trans-regional threats in the Western Hemisphere. Mr. Humire provides regular briefings and lectures on international terrorism, transnational organized crime, Islamism and Iran and Hezbollah’s influence in the Americas to various entities within the U.S. national security community, as well as prominent think tanks and universities worldwide. He has testified numerous times before the U.S. Congress as well as the European and Canadian Parliament. Mr. Humire has also served as an expert witness to several important terrorism trials in South America, including an ongoing trial of an accused Hezbollah operative in Peru.
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 2, Block D: Mohsen Sazegara, in re:
●        https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Iran-News/113-hours-without-internet-in-Iran-The-governments-crackdown-plan-608601
●        https://www.brookings.edu/blog/order-from-chaos/2019/11/19/iranian-protesters-strike-at-the-heart-of-the-regimes-revolutionary-legitimacy/
●        https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/world/middleeast/iran-protests.html
●        https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2019/11/19/iran-protest-takeyh-071432
●        https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/irans-gasoline-protests-regime-unpopular-but-resilient
Mohsen Sazegara is an Iranian journalist and pro-democracy political activist. Dr. Sazegara held several high-ranking positions in the Government of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, such as deputy prime minister, minister of industry, deputy chairman of the budget and planning department, and many more before becoming disillusioned with the government in 1989 and pushing for reforms. He applied to become a candidate for President of Iran in the 2001 election but was declined.
 
Hour Three
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 3, Block A: Seth Frantzman, in re: Iran in Syria and Iraq.
●        https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/11/18/world/middleeast/iran-iraq-spy-cables.html
●        https://www.timesofisrael.com/rocket-attack-on-golan-was-response-to-idf-strike-on-syria-iraq-border-report/
●        https://www.jpost.com/Breaking-News/Syrian-air-defenses-intercept-missiles-over-Damascus-reports-608381
●        https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Syria-is-an-increasingly-dangerous-chessboard-for-Iran-in-the-Middle-East-608405
Seth J. Frantzman was born in Maine. He received his Ph.D. from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2010. Frantzman has been an assistant professor at Al-Quds University and has published in a variety of peer-reviewed journals. He is a founder and director of the Middle East Center for Reporting and Analysis, and a Writing Fellow at Middle East Forum. His current interests include Middle East regional security, the anti-ISIS coalition, Kurdish issues, refugees, the history of the Holy Land, the Bedouin and land laws. He has covered the war on Islamic State in Iraq and reported from Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, West Africa and Eastern Europe.
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 3, Block B:  Jonthan Conricus, in re: Israeli border updates.
●        https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-5624966,00.html
●        https://www.timesofisrael.com/flareup-bequeaths-a-new-alliance-as-hamas-and-israel-eschew-mutual-hostilities/
●        https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/20/world/middleeast/israel-syria-iran-strikes.html
●        https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/15182/hamas-islamic-jihad-united
●        https://www.timesofisrael.com/russia-israeli-airstrikes-on-iranian-targets-in-syria-a-wrong-move/
●        https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/russia-outs-israel-and-jordan-in-syria-iraq-border-strike-1.8159314
Lt. Col. Conricus was appointed to head the IDF International and Social Media Branch in July 2017.  Prior to assuming this role, he was the first Israeli to hold a position at the United Nations Department of peacekeeping Operations (UNDPKO), serving as an Assessment Officer in the Office of Military Affairs, for which he was awarded a service medal at the UN in June, 2015. Earlier in his career in the IDF, Lt. Conricus served as Commanding Officer in the Golan Israel Liaison Office from November 2011 to May 2013, and as Commanding Officer in the IDF Liaison Unit to UNIFIL in the Galilee from May 2009 to November 2011.
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 3, Block C: Richard Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, and Hoover; in re:  Legal and ethical considerations in DACA.
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 3, Block D:  Richard Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, and Hoover; in re: Legal and ethical considerations in DACA.
 
Hour Four
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 4, Block A:  Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila, by James M. Scott
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 4, Block B: Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila, by James M. Scott
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 4, Block C: Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila, by James M. Scott
Thursday 21 November 2019/ Hour 4, Block D: Rampage: MacArthur, Yamashita, and the Battle of Manila, by James M. Scott