The John Batchelor Show

Thursday 5 December 2019

Air Date: 
December 05, 2019

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes; and Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents
 
Hour One
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 1, Block A:  Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover Institution, & Foreign Policy magazine; in re:  Once you decide to impeach, you need to make the facts fit it.  This recently was about “quid pro quo”; then a focus group said that wasn’t well received, so it was switched to “bribery,” which also didn't achieve much favor, so now it’s “obstruction of Congress.”
Mrs Pelosi had a meltdown today, as did Joe Biden; then a Stanford law professor said she couldn’t walk down a street past a Trump-owned hotel.
Have we reached the end of our civic contract?  Yes, we seem to be moving into a parliamentary system.  . . .   The IG report is to be issued next Monday.  . . .   Where is Joseph Mifsud?
All of the US intell agencies were complicit in spying and using a foreign national active in favor of Mrs Clinton’s campaign; thereafter, they moved to subvert Donald Trump’s presidency.  As all of the indictments and referrals emerge at the same time, that’ll be [profoundly awkward] for the Democrats.  A lot of landmines ahead.  Mrs Pelosi must regret some of her decisions; she’s in a boxed canyon.
Who’s watching the watchers? No one, when the Democrats are in charge.
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 1, Block B:   Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover Institution, & Foreign Policy magazine; in re:  The Trump Adm is thinking of sending 14,000 more troops and multiple ships to the Middle East in response to the Iran rebellion. In June 2009, Pres Obama turned his back on the then-Iranian rebellion; will Trump do so now?  No. Iran is pumping 30% of its former oil exports; will probably promote some confrontation with Saudis or the US in order  to rally public support. 
Hong Kong and China: the HK people are much pleased with how Congress and the Trump Adm have [favored] their struggle for liberty. The Obama Adm was an appeaser of Mainland China. We now learn that for years the PLA was confidently placing a disguised secret chip into the production of servers the US uses in banks, across the economy and in supposedly secure places.  The Obama Adm turns out to have known of this, and did nothing!
When you pressure an aggressive power that was used to being appeased and suddenly it wakes up to see that that no longer obtains, it becomes dangerous. This brings us to North Korea, same situation. Its population is near to the point of eating grass again.
Look at the European townspeople laughing at President Trump when they won't defend themselves.
      Adam Schiff Is Watching;  Obtaining phone logs of political rivals is a stunning abuse of congressional power.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/adam-schiff-is-watching-11575591692
Fanatics can justify any action, and House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff this week demonstrated where that mindset leads. In his rush to paint Donald Trump as a lawbreaker, Mr. Schiff has himself trampled law and responsibility.
That’s the bottom line in Mr. Schiff’s stunning decision to subpoena the phone records of Rudy Giuliani and others. Mr. Schiff divulged the phone logs this week in his Ukraine report, thereby revealing details about the communications of Trump attorneys Jay Sekulow and Mr. Giuliani, ranking Intelligence Committee member Devin Nunes, reporter John Solomon and others. The media is treating this as a victory, when it is a disgraceful breach of ethical and legal propriety.
If nothing else, Mr. Schiff claims the ignominious distinction of being the first congressman to use his official powers to spy on a fellow member and publish the details. His report also means open season on members of the press
..
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 1, Block C: Andrew C McCarthy, author, Ball of Collusion, in re:  Schiff’s surveillance state, WSJ—Opinion: Schiff's Surveillance State Targets Political Opponents  Potomac Watch: In his rush to paint Donald Trump as a lawbreaker, Adam Schiff has himself trampled law and responsibility.*   Congress obtained records of many people’s telephone records: a journalist, Congresspersons, the president’s lawyer – who was called and for how long; as well as texts. AT&T and Verizon just handed the records over to Schiff.  What?!
Amazing that [Democratic Congressmen] maintain that the Whistleblower has anonymity under the law, which is absolutely not true.  Giuliani: while he’s the president’s lawyer, he was also a presidential envoy. His activities on behalf of the president’s activities while he was a candidate were [legally] proper. The arrest of Parnas and __ is a stage, not  a culmination. The effort to remove Marie Yovanovich as US ambassador to Ukraine . . . was removed in April; Mr Schiff has a lot of information sources and he’d be very interesting to question. He’s the head of the Intell Committee.
https://www.wsj.com/video/opinion-schiff-surveillance-state-targets-political-opponents/A9340845-F5BE-4DE2-9AB2-F12B746386AB.html
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 1, Block D:  Andrew C McCarthy, author, Ball of Collusion, in re:  Sematic games. If you had serious, accurate impeachment reasons, you wouldn't need to play word games or bring in law professors to speak. Justice Potter: I can’t define it {obscenity], but I know it when I see it.
This began when they used “collusion” as though it was a crime – which it’s not.
The use of the word “bribery” by the Democrats. Isn't shipping billions of dollars to Iran on pallets a bribe?  
 
Hour Two
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 2, Block A:  Tony Badran, in re: Lebanon update. The Pentagon ad State keep coming with creative reasons to fund the Lebanese military (which is controlled by Hezbollah, which is a minion of Iran).  This is primarily State. [What a rotten idea.] defenders say that at Lebanese armed forces are protecting the protestors, but videos show quite the opposite.  It’s the same Hezbollah that has 100,000-plus PGM rockets aimed at Israel?  You bet. State never changes.
●        https://apnews.com/ed82bdb9355544cabc43f2aa5a0de7e9
●        https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/hiding-in-plain-sight-hezbollahs-campaign-against-unifil
●        https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/fikraforum/view/new-lebanon-poll-despite-protests-most-shiites-still-back-hezbollah-and-ira
●        https://www.jns.org/lebanon-crisis-and-us-aid-freeze-put-hezbollah-in-the-spotlight/
●        https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/lebanon-start-government-formation-talks-protests-persist-191204160251980.html
●        https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/293996/malley-in-wonderland
Tony Badran is a research Fellow at FDD, where he focuses on Lebanon, Hezbollah, Syria, and the geopolitics of the Levant. Born and raised in Lebanon, Tony has testified to the House of Representatives on several occasions regarding U.S. policy toward Iran, Syria, and Lebanon. His research currently focuses on the relationship between Iran’s Hezbollah model and regional states, as well as the history of and future scenarios for Israel-Hezbollah wars
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 2, Block B:  Behnam Ben Taleblu, in re:  Both Iraq an Iran are fighting intense corruption and the control of the IRGC, esp its head, Qasem Soleimani, who continues to show up in Iraq and speak of government formation, wanting not to lose control of Iran.  This isn’t about Shi’a; it’s about [violent tyranny].  Iran brought some Syrian militias in to Baghdad to fight.
 
Behnam Ben Taleblu is a senior Fellow at FDD where he focuses on Iranian security and political issues. Behnam previously served as a research fellow and senior Iran analyst at FDD. Prior to his time at FDD, Behnam worked on non-proliferation issues at an arms control think-tank in Washington. Leveraging his subject-matter expertise and native Farsi skills, Behnam has closely tracked a wide range of Iran-related topics including: nuclear non-proliferation, ballistic missiles, sanctions, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the foreign and security policy of the Islamic Republic, and internal Iranian politics. Frequently called upon to brief journalists, congressional staff, and other Washington-audiences, Behnam has also testified before the U.S. Congress and Canadian Parliament.
·         https://apnews.com/8c96dd8291fb9311c128defbf45fb5af
·         https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/04/us/politics/iran-missiles-iraq.html
·         http://jcpa.org/the-united-states-and-the-iranian-policy-of-escalation/
·         https://www.rferl.org/a/european-allies-join-instex-iran-barter-system-us-sanctions/30301213.html
·         https://apnews.com/a7f3f7fc4cce40699e72061217634d33
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 2, Block C:   Itamar Marcus, in re: The Netherlands quits paying the Palestinian Authority for pay-to-slay.
●        https://palwatch.org/page/16977
●        https://www.algemeiner.com/2019/11/22/dutch-parliament-cuts-aid-to-pa-due-to-payments-to-terrorists-and-families/
●        https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/when-the-dutch-stopped-funding-the-pas-pay-for-slay/
●        https://www.jns.org/dutch-mps-call-to-cut-pa-funding/
Itamar Marcus the founder of Palestinian Media Watch and is one of the foremost authorities on Palestinian ideology and policy. He regularly testifies and lectures to members of the US Congress and parliaments, senior security officials, and decision-makers around the world and is a sought-after speaker at international conferences and universities. He has also provided analysis on CNN, FOX News, BBC, and a full range of world news outlets.
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 2, Block D:  Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: Jeremy Corbyn is condemned by Labor as an anti-Semite and deceiver.  https://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/2019/12/05/jeremy-corbyn-anti-semite/
 
Hour Three
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 3, Block A: Michael Rubin, in re: NATO summit, Turkey’s standing.
·         https://www.the-american-interest.com/2019/12/03/its-not-us-its-him/
·         https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-12-05/what-can-nato-really-do-about-turkey
·         https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-04/france-germany-and-uk-say-iran-has-nuclear-capable-missiles
·         https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/05/opinion/trump-nato.html
·         https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/fdad3668-4a4a-41d0-92be-b1589ef6af06
·         https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/turkey-threatens-block-nato-baltic-defence-plan-ypg-191203083651527.html
Michael Rubin is a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, where he researches Arab politics, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Iran, Iraq, the Kurds, terrorism, and Turkey. He concurrently teaches classes on terrorism for the FBI and on security, politics, religion, and history for US and NATO military units.
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 3, Block B: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: The UN and multiple topics. 
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 3, Block C: Sebastian Gorka, The War for America's Soul, in re:  I agree with the non-Trump-voter Jonathan Turley.  This is the most rushed [lurch] toward impeachment in history. The Congressman asked, If anyone here has evidence of an impeachable crime, raise your hand.  No one did.  When you bring in your star witness and are losing, you regret your decision. The Four Horsewomen of the Democratic Apocalypse.  AT&T telephone records, call logs, of not only a journalist, but also of the president’s lawyer Jay Sokolow, and Devin Nunes! And Schiff published it in a non-secure report.  The utter, complete silence of the major media on this — CNN, NBC, the New York Times. All media except the Wall Street Journal, which did report. Apparently they have no idea how to respond to this. I hear the silence as a measure of tactics. I think they're on their back foot; how to rationalize what Schiff has done. Why was only John Solomon targeted – because he’s done the most research on Ukraine, Burisma, Biden, and the rest?
The Horowitz report due on Monday coming. IG reports usually are written by a bureaucrat to protect bureaucracies.  I put all my money on AG Barr’s report.  Mifsud as a “Russian intermediary,” according to the New York Times?  The reporter must have been ordered to write in such a transparent misstatement of fact.
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 3, Block D:  Sebastian Gorka, The War for America's Soul, in re:   Trump confronts Iran, China and North Korea: end of the Obama appeasement.
 
Hour Four
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 4, Block A: Sydney and Violet: Their Life with T.S. Eliot, Proust, Joyce and the Excruciatingly Irascible Wyndham Lewis, by Stephen Klaidman
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 4, Block B: Sydney and Violet: Their Life with T.S. Eliot, Proust, Joyce and the Excruciatingly Irascible Wyndham Lewis, by Stephen Klaidman
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 4, Block C: Sydney and Violet: Their Life with T.S. Eliot, Proust, Joyce and the Excruciatingly Irascible Wyndham Lewis, by Stephen Klaidman
Thursday 5 December  2019/ Hour 4, Block D:  Sydney and Violet: Their Life with T.S. Eliot, Proust, Joyce and the Excruciatingly Irascible Wyndham Lewis, by Stephen Klaidman
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