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The John Batchelor Show

S8 Ep514: SHOW SCHEDULE 2-24-2026

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Arts, Society & Culture, Books, News

4.52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 25 February 2026

⏱️ 4 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary


1896 PERSIA

Elizabeth Peak, columnist for The Hill and Fox News, discusses Wall Street's AI "doom" narrative, the disruption of white-collar professions, and market anxieties regarding potential conflict with Iran and new trade tariffs. 1.

Elizabeth Peak, columnist for The Hill and Fox News, criticizes Mayor Mamdani's inexperienced handling of a deadly NYC blizzard, specifically his initial refusal to compel homeless individuals to enter shelters during extreme cold. 2.

Judy Dempsey of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Thaddius McCotter of American Greatnessexamine the Ukraine war's stalemate, debating European unity, Putin's untrustworthiness, and the difficult search for a viable diplomatic peace offramp. 3.

Judy Dempsey of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Thaddius McCotter of American Greatnessdiscuss the upcoming State of the Union, critiquing Trump's economic messaging while highlighting concerns over AI-driven job losses and the growing divide regarding national prosperity. 4.

Mary Kissel, Executive Vice President at Stevens Incorporated, analyzes the US naval buildup near Iran, exploring potential regime change and the interconnected nature of global authoritarian threats from Russia to Beijing. 5.

Mary Kissel, Executive Vice President at Stevens Incorporated, explains how unpredictable tariff policies create business uncertainty, hindering capital investment despite potential strategic benefits in managing trade relations with aggressive regimes like Beijing. 6.

Jonathan Schanzer, Executive Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, discusses the massive USarmada near Iran and whether military pressure or internal protests can force the regime to negotiate on missiles and proxies. 7.

Jonathan Schanzer, Executive Director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, analyzes Hezbollah's remaining missile arsenal, Israeli deterrence strategies, and the security vacuum in Syria following the escape of ISISrelatives from detention camps. 8.

David Livingston of The Space Show and Kishalay De of Columbia University discuss a star collapsing into a black hole without a supernova, challenging established theories about the minimum mass required for such cosmic events. 9.

David Livingston of The Space Show and Kishalay De of Columbia University outline future astronomical surveys using advanced telescopes to identify more "disappearing" stars, aiming to create a comprehensive population road map for black hole formation. 10.

Michael Toth, Research Director of the Civitas Institute, compares the thriving US equity markets with Europe's "eurosclerosis," attributing American growth to deregulation and dynamism while critiquing Europe's failure to produce new unicorns. 11.

Michael Toth, Research Director of the Civitas Institute, defends financialization against critics, arguing that expanded market participation through 401ks and deregulation drives median income growth and American productivity compared to Europe. 12.

Gregory Copley reports that amid a military buildup and failing talks, President Trump is considering kinetic action against Iran's clerical leadership, while the Iranian people remain largely anti-regime. 13.

Gregory Copley reports that Prime Minister Starmer is blocking US use of British bases in Cyprus and Diego Garciafor Iran strikes, causing a terminal rift with President Donald Trump. 14.

Gregory Copley reports that President Zelensky warns Putin is untrustworthy as the war reaches four years, while Copley suggests the conflict persists primarily because of continued external Western funding and arms. 15.

Gregory Copley reports that King Charles is navigating a crisis involving Prince Andrew's arrest and Prime Minister Starmer's appointment of Ambassador Mendelson, both linked to the widening Jeffrey Epstein scandal. 16.

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is John Batchel, a conversation with my colleagues Judy Dempsey and Thaddeus McCotter

0:05.1

touching upon the State of the Union message to be delivered.

0:08.9

Most importantly, touching upon do we follow Donald Trump's warmaking in Iran and peacemaking in Ukraine?

0:18.2

Do we follow Donald Trump's recommendations on tariffs?

0:21.8

It is an unsettled business, and this underlines point Mary Kissel makes later.

0:27.6

Uncertainty is what the market cannot abide.

0:31.2

Unpredictability, the changeable nature of the Trump tariffs, along with the changeable attitude towards Iran, towards Russia,

0:41.5

into war fighting, which is expensive and drains the nation of blood and treasure.

0:48.2

There are more questions raised than there are answers provided about the Trump administration right now, a year in.

0:57.0

The polls are showing extreme displeasure, not the kind that you can recover from by midterm. However, that's politics.

1:06.0

My most exciting moment tonight was speaking to the astronomer, cosmologist, Kishelay Day of

1:12.8

Columbia University. He and his team have discovered a small star compared to others, 13 solar

1:20.4

masses, 13 times our sun, it turned into a supernova. That's smaller than was expected that has been predicted that it's part of the theory.

1:31.1

The idea is big stars turn into supernovas that turn into black holes, maybe.

1:36.5

But now something small did, therefore recalculate, re-audit.

1:43.7

Asking Kisheladay what he wanted with the unlimited budget.

1:47.3

He said he wanted more black holes, more supernovas of smaller and smaller masses.

1:53.6

Every time in Hotel Mars we touch on cosmology, we come up with something that hasn't happened before, invariably.

2:01.8

Space travel engineering is a lot more predictable bending metal more and more power to get off

2:07.8

the planet build colonies on the moon and Mars that cosmology is wonderfully rich with things that

2:16.2

shouldn't be there or that are there, and you can't prove that you know how they got there.

2:23.7

There are other aspects of tonight show that fun, but the Kishalay Day is the most fun I had.

...

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