It’s with a heavy heart and after much consideration that I’m writing this. I’m stepping down as the Director/Producer/Putin Picture Purveyor of The World Class Hour.

I’m not the same guy I was 2 or 3 years ago when we started this. I was single, underemployed and went to bed a hell of a lot later than I do these days. I’m none of these things now. My priorities have changed.

Back then, there was a group of people I remember with such fondness: Texasorbusted, Bill LaRussa, JD, Felicia Cravens, and a handful of others. We built something that turned into a thriving network from the ground-up. We built everything but the community (Those just sorta happen). It was out of this progenitor that this show came to be.

This show started life as “Foreign Matters”  a few Summers ago. It was the single most interesting show on OTN at the time in my opinion. Through some internal struggles, it ceased to be for a bit. I’m glad Peter Ream and others are carrying on with the show with a different format and still keep it interesting.

I’m also glad that Katrina kept me on for the ride in the shows new incarnation: “The World Class Hour”. We kept the classic format, with a few changes, but it is a very comfortable formula. I still remember the first show I had with Katrina where she would say about a sentence and then refer to me or the guest out of stage fright or something. It’s really really awesome to see how far she’s come with being comfortable behind the mic.

This show has endured schism, continental divide, mother fucking Skype, changes in producers, two people getting shot on air, changes in hosts, changes in networks. The show goes on. I hope to be back in the form of a guest some day to give my two cents and maybe crack open a beer on a hot mic for old time’s sake.

Now onto the show stuff....

Palestine seeks recognition of statehood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmeRgBPUiJI

43 Students Still Missing in Mexico

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOoQDQolNhI

  Russian Ruble Plummets

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qt5IhbAHPzY

#SydneySiege

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F6f7gYk0LzE

THUNDER ROUND

Middle East:

The Pakistan Taliban attacked a military-run school in Peshawar leaving 141 dead, most of them children, and an additional 120 people were wounded in the largest attack of its kind in Pakistan.

North America: Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe of Haiti announced his (forced) resignationtoday, in an attempt by the government to calm massive anti-government protests. Now President Michel Martelly must appoint a new government to plan elections due on January 12th. The government has delayed elections for three years, and if elections do not happen, the government will collapse and the President will rule by decree.

South America:  Opposition leader still in jail in Venezuela, and backlash on sanctions http://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuelas-leader-blasts-u-s-over-new-sanctions-1418687155?mod=fox_australian

Central Asia Region (Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan… and sometimes Kazakhstan) “TEA” region - Triangle (sometimes Trapezoid) of Ethnic Attacks: Uzbekistan asks Russia for help against extremism http://www.rferl.org/content/islamic-state-uzbekistan-russia/26738034.html

Eurasia: Belarus trade war with Russia http://www.rferl.org/content/belarus-bans-russian-noodles-coffee-amid-trade-dispute/26745229.html

Africa: Mali has released 4 Islamic militants in exchange for French hostage, Serge Lazarevic. Lazarevic has been held since 2011. The 4 militants were members of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). The French have been providing military aid to Mali, while they battled terrorist-linked insurgents in the country.

Europe: Denmark has presented an official claim to the North Pole, challenging Russia and Canada.

Asia:

In a baffling story covered by the Associated Press, 29-year-old Arturo Pierre Martinez, from El Paso,