The John Batchelor Show

Jeff Bliss: California is currently contending with an early start to the wildfire season, a period dubbed Dirty August by experts. Jeff Bliss highlights three major blazes: the Timber Fire, the Bug Fire, and the MP 18 Fire. The Timber Fire in Monterey County has burned 5,600 acres and remains only 15 percent contained; its location along Highway 1 threatens picturesque tourist destinations such a...

Keach Hagey: Keach Hagey, author of The Optimist: Sam Altman, OpenAI, and the Race to Invent the Future, explores the rise of Sam Altman and the founding of OpenAI, which launched in 2015 as a nonprofit research lab aimed at developing artificial general intelligence safely. Altman partnered with Greg Brockman and lead scientist Ilya Sutskever, securing initial billion-dollar commitments from majo...

James Romm — Multi-Part, Part Two: Professor James Romm details the violent collapse of the Dionysian dynasty and its influence on Plato's writing. Following a falling out and exile, Dion launched an invasion to liberate Syracuse. However, his rule descended into factionalism, culminating in the assassination of his rival Heraclides and Dion's own eventual murder by his soldiers. The chaos ended w...

James Romm — Multi-Part, Part One: Professor James Romm, author of Plato and the Tyrant: The Fall of Greece's Greatest Dynasty and the Making of a Philosophic Masterpiece, discusses the rise of the Dionysian dynasty in fourth-century BCE Syracuse, then the most powerful state in the Greek West. Dionysius the Elder consolidated power as a demagogue, using the defensible island fortress of Ortygia a...

Josiah Osgood — Multi-Part, Part Two: Professor Josiah Osgood continues with 58 BCE, when the rivals took separate paths; Cato went to Cyprus to model honest administration while Caesar sought military glory in Gaul. The death of Julia, Caesar's daughter and Pompey's wife, eventually severed the alliance between the two generals, allowing Cato to convince the Senate to appoint Pompey as sole consu...

Josiah Osgood — Multi-Part, Part One: Professor Josiah Osgood, author of Uncommon Wrath: How Caesar and Cato's Deadly Rivalry Destroyed the Roman Republic, begins in 64 BCE, when Cato and Caesar briefly cooperated in the murder courts to penalize those rewarded during Sulla's brutal purges. Their rivalry ignited permanently during the Catiline conspiracy in 63 BCE. While Caesar proposed life impri...

Michael McFaul — Multi-Part, Part Two: Michael McFaul, a Stanford professor and former US Ambassador to Russia, continues his discussion of Autocrats Versus Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder, shifting to modern Putinism and the no-limits partnership between Russia and China. McFaul describes Vladimir Putin as a risk-taker driven by imperialist ideology rather than nati...

Michael McFaul — Multi-Part, Part One: Michael McFaul, a Stanford professor and former US Ambassador to Russia, details his book Autocrats Versus Democrats: China, Russia, America, and the New Global Disorder. In Part One, McFaul examines historical turning points, beginning with the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis and the 1991 Soviet collapse. He argues that the West was too complacent following the Co...

Robert Cwiklik — Multi-Part, Part Two: Robert Cwiklik, author of Sheridan's Secret Mission: How the South Won the War After the Civil War, continues with General Philip Sheridan's response, specifically his Banditti telegram proposing military trials for White Leaguers. While Sheridan was ready for total war, his plan sparked Northern indignation and constitutional denunciations by Senator Carl Sc...

Robert Cwiklik — Multi-Part, Part One: Robert Cwiklik, author of Sheridan's Secret Mission: How the South Won the War After the Civil War, explores how the Union's victory was undone by Southern resistance and Northern political retreat. Part One details the violent struggle for Black suffrage in Louisiana, beginning with Abraham Lincoln's early support for voting rights for free men of color. Thi...

TABLE OF CONTENTS THE JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW 8-14-2026.Jeff Bliss discusses the severe threats posed by a potential "super El Niño," which could lead to massive coastal erosion, mudslides, and heavy rains in Los Angeles, similar to the damage seen in previous severe weather years. He also reports on active wildfires in California, such as the Timber Fire in Monterey County and the Bug Fire near the N...

Angela DiFulvio explains a theoretical method for detecting nuclear weapons in low Earth orbit to prevent catastrophes like the 1962 Starfish Prime experiment, which destroyed a third of existing satellites. She describes an "inspector" satellite designed to induce a unique radioactive signature from fissile material using high-energy protons. DiFulvio details technical challenges, such as "pulse...

Henry Sokolski examines the "Golden Dome," a proposed $185 billion space-based missile defense project that mirrors the Cold War-era SDI. He warns that the program's lack of transparency is "suicidal" for its funding, as Congress remains in the dark about its primary mission. Sokolski notes that while technology is closer to practicality than 40 years ago, current threats are often low-cost drones...

Alex Wright, author of Empire of Ink: The Printers, Rogues, and Radicals Who Invented the American Newspaper, Part One: Wright recounts the history of American newspapers, focusing on the Civil War's impact on journalism. He highlights George Smalley's groundbreaking combat reporting at Antietam, where Smalley wrote a vivid account on a night train to secure the "scoop of all scoops" for the Tribu...

Bob Zimmerman details the robotic mission by startup Catalyst to rescue NASA's Swift Space Telescope, utilizing innovative software to maneuver a servicing craft despite thruster failures. He highlights SpaceX's massive Starshipproduction line in Boca Chica, noting that four prototypes are ready for monthly launches and upcoming orbital refueling tests. Zimmerman also discusses Lockheed Martin's s...

Lorenzo Fiori describes a "disaster" situation in Europe caused by severe drought and record heat, with water restrictions implemented in Swiss towns and critically low levels in northern Italy's Po River. The drought has turned the normally green Alps brown and disrupted lake navigation. Simultaneously, Sicily's Mount Etna has entered a prolonged eruption phase, spewing ash for seven days and for...

Jim McTague provides a report on the "mixed" economy of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, observing that retail activity is picking up due to back-to-school shopping despite inflationary pressures. He notes that discount giants like Costco are packed as shoppers seek relief from high prices, while tourism traffic at local hotels and amusement parks has lightened midweek. McTague also highlights loca...

Gene Marks shares insights from White House advisor Kevin Hassett regarding the validity of government economic data, with Hassett favoring durable goods orders and unemployment claims over revised surveys. Marks reports a generally positive outlook for small businesses, citing an uptick in optimism and a four-year high in manufacturing activity driven by the AI and data center explosion. He notes...

Jeff Bliss discusses the severe threats posed by a potential "super El Niño," which could lead to massive coastal erosion, mudslides, and heavy rains in Los Angeles, similar to the damage seen in previous severe weather years. He also reports on active wildfires in California, such as the Timber Fire in Monterey County and the Bug Fire near the Nevada border, noting that humans cause roughly 90 to...

TABLE OF CONTENTS THE JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW, 8-13-2026.Anatol Lieven: The discussion highlights a dystopian shift in modern naval combat, where the Russian ghost fleet employs Mad Max tactics, using netting and spikes, to defend against Ukrainian drone attacks. Anatol Lieven describes a global spread of drone technology that threatens energy prices and international stability. Both Russia and Ukrain...

Evan Ellis, US Army War College and a State Department voice: Professor Evan Ellis provides a comprehensive update on Latin American stability, starting with Chile's President Kast, who is tackling immigration and the rise of gangs such as Tren de Aragua while balancing economic ties with China. In Colombia, President De la Espriella is implementing a hardline approach against narco-terrorists fol...

Alex Wright — Multi-Part, Part One: Alex Wright, author of Empire of Ink: The Printers and Radicals Who Invented the American Newspaper, details the uniquely American invention of the newspaper, beginning with Mary Katherine Goddard's printing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776. Early printing was a grueling, high-status trade where printer's devils, or apprentices, worked with lead and in...

Graham McAleer: Pope Leo has issued a bold encyclical addressing the ethical and social threats posed by artificial intelligence. Graham McAleer explains that the Pope uses the biblical image of Nimrod and the Tower of Babel to characterize AI as a manifestation of human darkness and godlike pride. A primary concern is the asymmetry of wealth, in which a small, secretive class of Silicon Valley ol...

Craig Unger: Craig Unger explores a sidetracked FBI counterintelligence investigation into Donald Trump's decades-long ties to Russian interests. Unlike criminal inquiries, counterintelligence investigations focus on national security breaches and the laundering of influence, even when no explicit crime is proven. Unger asserts that Russian mafia figures, acting as adjuncts to state intelligence,...

Veronique de Rugy: Veronique de Rugy critiques the Merchant Marine Act of 1920, commonly known as the Jones Act, which requires cargo moved between American ports to be transported on ships that are US-built, US-owned, and US-crewed. Originally intended to protect the American merchant marine after World War I, the act has instead caused domestic shipbuilding costs to skyrocket, making American ve...