Photo, above: Staten Island Chuck's Charlotte's second cousin in Schenectady. She's devastated by the loss of Charlotte this past spring.  Marmota monax; Marmotte commune d'Amérique

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Co-hosts: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal editorial board & host of OpinionJournal.com.  Edward W Hayes, criminal defense attorney.

Hour One

Thursday  25 September / Hour 1, Block A: George Pataki, past governor of New York State, in re: In New York, we're more at risk than we have been at any time since September 11, 2001.   This now includes lone-wolf attacks, as the terrorists have many followers have a passport allowing them to enter the US easily.  Ed Hayes is friends with Bill Bratton, New York City Chief of Police.  "I think he's more effective than anyone else [in the business]."  Gov Pataki:  A question but that New York is a central target. The 1993 attack on the World Trade Center was at the time thought to be an odd, one-time attack. Now we see that's not at all the case.  NYC Mayor De Blasio has not yet requested security clearance – he can’t get briefed on top-secret material that he needs to know.  Mayor Giuliani and I were in constant contact on [such matters]. The NYPD is vast organization, controlled and commanded by the mayor; a pool of talented an excellently trained persons.  We also have the Port Authority police, at least indirectly under he control of the New York and New Jersey governors.   Ray Kelly put in place a tremendous intelligence network. which happened to include the mosque run by the now-convicted Blind Sheikh.  Mayor De Blasio has partially dismantled this network.  In the event of a successful attack: the greatest threat after personal security would be that we'd lose of liberty. 

Thursday  25 September / Hour 1, Block B: George Pataki, past governor of New York State, in re: JB: What? . . .  GP: Well – we can’t live in fear; but what wasn't said is that we are at risk, these are extremely dangerous times. True, we need constantly to remind people.  In 2011 we had immediately to take al reasonable steps for protection, and cannot let up now: we have to be aggressive in intelligence-gathering.  We have an outbreak of global jihadist – ISIS, Yemen, dozens.  Al Qaeda - with $500K and box-cutters - succeeded. ISIS has billions, thousands of people, sophisticated weaponry.   What alarms me is that we have such a porous border!  NYS sent over 100 State police to protect the border; now, we have a southern border where a drug cartel can smuggle people across in order to do harm. 

Thursday  25 September / Hour 1, Block C:  John Roskam, Institute for Public Affairs, Melbourne, Australia, in re: . . . the definition of "terror" in Australia is now so broad that if you said that Israel had a right to defend itself against rockets from Gaza, you might be arrested for inciting/endorsing terrorism because some hold that Israel is a terrorist state.   . . . Tomorrow our cricket championships, 100,000 people in the stadium – there might be an attack. 

Thursday  25 September / Hour 1, Block D:  Bill Whalen, Hoover Institution, in re: Alaska Gov Begich . . . 

Hour Two

Thursday  25 September / Hour 2, Block A:  Larry Johnson, NoQuarter, in re: Eric Holder has surprised the nation by offering his resignation as soon as a successor is confirmed. Tearful at the White House today.  The ongoing controversy over Fast and Furious, and the IRS investigation – pending? Found no fault with Lois Lerner? The heart of F&F was purchasing firearms taken across the birder & used to murder thousand of Mexicans. Low-level, with AFT underlings, or higher-level approval?  With Congressional investigation it became clear the Eric Holder's knowledge was significant.  The House held him in contempt; the Senate, being Democratic, did not.  A member of DOJ said that no wrongdoing had by Lois Lerner in IRS had been found.  Destruction of computer hard rives, and "we don’t have any e-mail" have raised a lot of questions, incl legal.  Eric Holder was not a straight shooter: he impeded Congressional research, In F&F, dead bodies in Mexico and a dead Border Patrol agent whose family still seeks justice. ("our guy"): Threats to subways in Paris and New York.  The threat is nonspecific but comes from a political actor: he has motive to do everything possible to bring the US in to the fight vs ISIS There's a method of countering threats:: if you  have enough specificity, you can; otherwise, this may be more of the fabric of political theater. Khorasan – so lazy  of the Administration. US used Tomahawks out of the Red Sea as though it was a high-profile target. And nothing vs al Zawahiri.   New York is the Number One target, ad always will be, so if we're a little sensitive, it’s understandable.  In the past, we got hit and didn’t know it was coming. Ergo, we need to focus on groups that say they intend to do us harm.

Thursday  25 September / Hour 2, Block B:  Gene Countryman, KNSS Wichita, in re: . . . Independence, Kansas: Pat Roberts seeking his fourth term may be at a bridge too far.  My analysis is that there was no campaign early on – there'd be his name with an R next to it. Now they’re trying to bring people in, shore up what’s lacking, but GOPs just shrug. Absentee voting begins 15 November.   Note: 750K registered GOP in Kansas; 460KDemocrats; 500K independents.  . . .  A horseback survey:  you see Ormond's signs with Davis's signs, not with a Republican's name. The Republican Party shows what it's worth if it holds Kansas.

Thursday  25 September / Hour 2, Block C:  Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution, Chicago Law, in re: California has a law requiring that corporations bringing in over $100mil PA must guarantee that their entre supply chain does not include slave labor . . .  (1 of 2)

Thursday  25 September / Hour 2, Block D:  Richard A Epstein, Hoover Institution, Chicago Law, in re: Note John Marshall asserted that states my not interfere in contracts . . . In September 1970, the late Milton Friedman published a bold manifesto entitled “The Social Responsibility of Business is to Increase its Profits” in the New York Times Magazine, where he argued that businesses do not need to engage in various charitable or public-spirited activities, even those that generally meet with approval from shareholders. Why? The corporation’s contribution operates like an implicit tax on dissenting shareholders. The better track is for the corporation to make the shareholders rich, so that they in turn can embark on their own charitable operations, without having to bind their fellow shareholders. This is a lesson we should remember today…  (2 of 2)

Hour Three

Thursday  25 September /  Hour 3, Block A: Daniel Henninger, WSJ, in re:  Derek Jeter . . .

Thursday  25 September /  Hour 3, Block B: Carson Bruno, Eureka & Hoover, in re:   Kamala Harris Goes to Washington?  News broke Thursday morning that U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has handed in his resignation.  Holder has been a loyal member of Obama’s cabinet from day one, but now Obama must find someone just as loyal to replace him; let the speculation abound.

Thursday  25 September /  Hour 3, Block C: Seb Gorka, Marine Corps University & Breitbart, in re: Obama at the UN: Don't Blame ISIS   In what could have been a seminal wartime address to the nations of the world at the UN today, instead of rallying the West and her regional allies against the barbarity of the Global Jihadist Movement, President Obama chose to reinforce the administration narrative that America's deadly enemies are a product of local injustices. 

Since 2008, the Obama administration has promoted the argument that what we face in the guise of Al Qaeda, or ISIS, or any other part of the global jihadi coalition, is simply "Violent Extremism" that grows out of "local grievances." 

This is Beltway speak for an academic idea called Social Movement Theory. (If you want the full history behind this idea and who pitched it to the White House, here is a piece on its origins). 

In short, this view sees the violence of jihadi groups against Christians, Yazidis, or even fellow Muslims, as a reaction to the injustice endemic in their societies. Years of oppression by Saddam, Maliki, or the Assad family will inevitably lead to religious genocide and mass slaughter when circumstances allow (e.g. after US forces leave Iraq).

Today the President went even further by drawing the analogy that the violence here in Ferguson, Missouri is an example of the same injustices prevalent throughout the Middle East. The President of the United States appeared to equate the shooting of a thief by a sworn law enforcement officer with the mass slaughter of women and children based upon their religion.

In response to ISIS, the Commander-in-Chief called upon the "international community" to . . .

Thursday  25 September / Hour 3, Block D:   LouAnn Hammond, DrivingtheNation.com, in re: http://www.drivingthenation.com/lou-ann-hammond/ca-buying-more-jeeps-but-not-chevy-fords-or-vws-ca-vs-usa-on-driving-the-nation/

Hour Four

Thursday  25 September / Hour 4, Block A: TIME Inc:  Visions of Heaven by Lisa Miller (1 of 2)

Thursday  25 September / Hour 4, Block B: TIME Inc:  Visions of Heaven by Lisa Miller (2 of 2)

Thursday  25 September / Hour 4, Block C:  John Tamny, Forbes.com, RealClearMarkets, in re: China and STEM education.

Thursday  25 September / Hour 4, Block D:   Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re:  India in space: Mangalyan.  Namaste!

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