Photo, left: VBIED for ISIS
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 1, Block A: Charles Blahous, Mercatus Center, Hoover and WSJ, in re:  ACA finances, have not borne out as originally intended.   Health care has other requirements obviously, but over half of the financial cushion [didn't exist].  CBO called the ACA revenue-neutral.  The Cadillac plan tax (high-premium plans) is repeatedly deferred/suspended/waived. Also delays, weakenings; all added up, ACA finances have turned out to be as bad as or worse than we original sceptics thought (in fact, worse than my worst nightmare—there was so much I didn't anticipate).  CBO has to operate under crazy rules set by Congress long ago; Byzantine and arcane.  They score legislation not what it wd be relative to the absence of the act; rather, to a baseline: e.g., assume that at some future point lawmakers will increase spending on Medicare.  A hypothetical that no one can anticipate.
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 1, Block B:  Charles Blahous, Mercatus Center, Hoover and WSJ, in re: What went wrong with Obamacare’s revenues.  Projections for enrollment.  Original projections were overstated; a lot less coverage occurred than thought as people declined to sign up, even if they faced the penalty. I put together a study saying, suppose you repealed ACA and removed all the ______ spending, you’d save maybe $590 billion over ten years.  At highest, over a trillion dollars.  The American Care Act could conceivably save over $650 billion over ten years.  Obamacare cost is 60% higher than CBO estimates.
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 1, Block C:  Mary Anastasia O’Grady, WSJ editorial board, in re: Cuba: the Castro family is a crime syndicate.  Mas Hernandez, the Patriotic Union of Cuba begun in Santiago de Cuba, is both a rebel and Black. Was arrested, sentenced to four years in prison for “disrespect of authority.”  Jailed in terrible conditions, in a notorious prison not fit for animals, where he died.  He entered as a perfectly healthy 45-year-old man; lost 35 pounds and died in several months. Then thee South Americans were denied entry visas, incl head of OAS, a leftist from Uruguay. Also Felipe Calderon of Mexico, who had been most ingratiating to Raoul Castro. This sort of thing is not actively reported in Spanish around South America The foreign news burueaux in Havana have the regime’s permission to be there, and journalists may not travel without propiska (пропи́ска); are limited to small, human interest reporting.  Cannot report on politics or will be kicked out. 
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 1, Block D:  Mary Anastasia O’Grady, WSJ editorial board, in re: Brazil.  Odebrecht scandal, US Department of Justice. Operation Carwash: entrepreneurial prosecutor looked into what he thought was a money-laundering op from Petrobras; moved across several continents.  Lula was a good friend of Fidel Castro; when Castro wanted to dvp the port of Mariel, Brazilian govt financed the project. Odebrecht kept winning the bids.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/brazil-scandal-leaves-dreams-undone-in-venezuela-1483534980
https://www.wsj.com/articles/odebrecht-bribery-plea-muddies-colombias-bi...
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-39194395
 
Hour Two
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 2, Block A:  Michael E Vlahos, Global Security Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Strategy and Policy Department, US Naval War College, in re: Secretary Tillerson in South Korea; not ruling out anything  regard to the predatory, failed, rogue state of North Korea.  Rules out negotiation on nukes — hitherto entirely useless.  . . . US has been propping up an entirely unworkable construct, two Koreas, in an effort to hold back change. China has been doing the same thing.  US is working its hardest to maintain several situations that won't work; this robs us of the ability to give ourselves permission to make essential choices that are already foreclosed by historical claims of the distant past.   . . . THAAD missile system; instability.
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 2, Block B:   Michael E Vlahos, Global Security Studies, Johns Hopkins University; Strategy and Policy Department, US Naval War College (2 of 2)
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 2, Block C:  
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 2, Block D: 
 
Hour Three
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 3, Block A:   The Devil's Mercedes: The Bizarre and Disturbing Adventures of Hitler's Limousine in America, by Robert Klara (1 of 4)
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 3, Block B:   The Devil's Mercedes: The Bizarre and Disturbing Adventures of Hitler's Limousine in America, by Robert Klara (2 of 4)
 Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 3, Block C:  The Devil's Mercedes: The Bizarre and Disturbing Adventures of Hitler's Limousine in America, by Robert Klara (3 of 4)
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 3, Block D:   The Devil's Mercedes: The Bizarre and Disturbing Adventures of Hitler's Limousine in America, by Robert Klara (4 of 4)
 
Hour Four
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 4, Block A:  Steve Warner (“Steve Warner's Dark City covers all things unexplained, from true crime to UFOs, hard science & tech”), Darkcity.fm, in re: Exorcism schools in Chicago and Europe; Nazi war criminal, et al.  A preview: http://shoutout.wix.com/so/8LhUdEse#/main
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 4, Block B:  John Batchelor, weekly review: That was the week that was
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 4, Block C: Francis Rose, WJLA-TV, in re: Veterans Affairs 
Friday  17 March 2017 / Hour 4, Block D: Liz Peek, Fiscal Times, in re: 
 
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