Photo, left:  Carl Vinson Strike Group tasked to the Korean Peninsula
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW  
Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes  
 
Hour One
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 1, Block A: Gordon G. Chang, Daily Beast & Forbes.com, in re: Trump, despite campaign promises, seems to be giving Beijing more time to subvert the American economy.https://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2017/04/09/did-trump-just-roll-over-on-china-trade/#213a301f26b6  ;  Beijing offers cash rewards to unearth foreign spies https://www.yahoo.com/news/beijing-offers-cash-rewards-unearth-foreign-spies-034527469.html  
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 1, Block B:  Chris Harmer, Center for the Study of War, in re: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/midday-update-stocks-return-gains-on-reports-of-chinese-troop-deployments-on-n-korea-border-cm772273
“Pyongyang Popcorn!”
The U.S. military has ordered a Navy strike group to move toward the Korean peninsula, amid growing concerns about North Korea's missile program, BBC reported April 9. The USS Carl Vinson strike group comprises a Nimitz-class aircraft carrier and other warships. It was originally due to make port calls in Australia but instead has been diverted from Singapore to the western Pacific — where it recently conducted exercises with the South Korean navy. North Korea has carried out several nuclear and ballistic missile tests and more could be in the offing as it moves closer toward developing a nuclear warhead. U.S. President Donald Trump has said the United States is prepared to act alone to deal with the nuclear threat from North Korea. The naval deployment also follows Trump administration's action in Syria, which was meant in part to give Beijingand Pyongyang pause.
..
 As the New York Times reported, “[A]dministration lawyers decided that it was within Mr. Obama’s constitutional authority to carry out a strike on Syria as well, even without permission from Congress or the Security Council, because of the ‘important national interests’ of limiting regional instability and of enforcing the norm against using chemical weapons . . . .”91 The White House Counsel stated that [t]he President believed that it was important to enhance the legitimacy of any action that would be taken by the executive . . . to seek Congressional approval of that action and have it be seen, again as a matter of legitimacy both domestically and internationally, that there was a unified American response to the horrendous violation of the international norm against chemical weapons use.92
As in Libya, two questions arose under domestic law. At the initiation stage, the constitutional question was: “Is this ‘war?’” At the continuation stage (sixty or ninety days later), the statutory question under the War Powers Resolution would have been: “Is this ‘hostilities?’” On the first question, the White House Counsel was plainly invoking Walter Dellinger’s OLC opinion described above, which Acting Attorney General for OLC Caroline Krass had followed in Libya in 2011. That OLC opinion argued that the President could constitutionally initiate military action without prior congressional approval if: (a) the use of force served significant national interests that have historically supported unilateral actions—here, promoting regional stability and preventing destruction of the near-century-old ban on chemical weapons—and (b) if the operations were not expected—as the President made clear in his September 10th Syria speech93—to be “sufficiently extensive in ‘nature, scope, and duration’ to constitute a ‘war’ requiring prior specific congressional approval under the Declaration of War Clause.”94 Under this reasoning, a large-scale offensive of the type initiated in Iraq in 2003 would plainly be “war,” which requires congressional approval
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 1, Block C:  Ambassador John Bolton, AEI, and Gordon G. Chang, Daily Beast & Forbes.com, in re:  ((JB: both on at 9:30?? Which Boltn article: Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Iran & the next Middle East war  OR   The Sunday Times (of London)
Tomahawks fired, now think about the new Middle East; The strikes on Assad and the routing of Isis could lead to Iran’s isolation and the redrawing of Syria and Iraq   ??? )) 
 
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This is getting especially interesting. Remember how in 2010 the Chinese got angry with the planned deployment of the George Washington near the Korean peninsula?
 
BEIJING — With President Xi Jinping safely out of the United States and no longer President Trump’s guest, China’s state-run media on Saturday was free to denounce the missile strike on Syria, which the American president told Mr. Xi about while they were finishing dinner.
Xinhua, the state news agency, on Saturday called the strike the act of a weakened politician who needed to flex his muscles. In an analysis, Xinhua also said Mr. Trump had ordered the strike to distance himself from Syria’s backers in Moscow, to overcome accusations that he was “pro-Russia.”
That unflattering assessment reflected China’s official opposition to military interventions in the affairs of other countries. But it was also a criticism of Mr. Trump himself, who Mr. Xi had hoped was a man China could deal with.
Chinese officials had feared that the two leaders’ 24-hour encounter at Mr. Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida might be marred by a campaign-style anti-China outburst from Mr. Trump. Instead, it was interrupted by the unexpected missile attack.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/08/world/asia/china-xi-jinping-president-trump-xinhua.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=b-lede-package-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0
 
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 1, Block D:  Sebastian Gorka, Deputy Assistant to the President on the national security advisory staff; in re:  Stockholm  The 39-year-old suspect had shown “sympathy for extremist organizations,” the police said. He applied for permanent residency in 2014, and the Swedish Migration Agency denied his application in June 2016, officials said.
On Saturday, the police chief, Dan Eliasson, said: “We have found something in the truck in the driver’s compartment, a technical device that should not be there. I cannot say whether this is a bomb or some sort of flammable material.”
Prosecutors said the suspect had not spoken, and there was no immediate word of any criminal charges. But Chief Eliasson said there was “nothing to indicate we have the wrong person.” He added, “We cannot exclude the possibility that others are involved.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/09/world/europe/sweden-truck-attack.html?_r=0
Petersburg  After moving to Russia in 2011, the alleged terrorist went on vacation every year to visit Osh. However, he broke from the tradition in 2015 and 2016. When asked why, Akbarzhon said he “served in Russian army”. However, there is no proof of that.
May we remind you that the attack was carried out on Monday, April 3. The explosion took place between the Sennaya Ploshchad and Tekhnologichesky Institut stations, killing 14 and injuring 51 people. 2 days later, the Russian Investigative Committee said the bomber was Akbarzhon Jalilov, 22, identified earlier by Kyrgyz authorities as a Russian national born in Kyrgyzstan.
Unlike the Committee that believes Akbarzhon was a suicide bomber, law enforcement agencies say the homemade bomb Akbarzhon was to plant in the St Petersburg Metro may have exploded prematurely.  https://en.crimerussia.com/gromkie-dela/st-petersburg-terrorist-djalilov-planned-to-finish-building-house-and-get-married/
BBC:  https://youtu.be/xmmF9lJoKlo
 
 
Hour Two
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 2, Block A:  David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent; John Fund, NRO, in re: Obama’s Syria Strike Plan Was Bigger Than Trump’s
   Russia Accused of Complicity in Syria War Crime
   Democrats Have No Regrets over Nuclear Option
   Bipartisan Deal on Tax Reform Unlikely
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 2, Block B: David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Senior Congressional correspondent; John Fund, NRO, in re: Rio Grande Valley is unusually quiet as Southwest border crossings drop to lowest point in at least 17 years. http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-border-crossings-20170410-story.html
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 2, Block C:  Andrew McCarthy, in re: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/446569/susan-rice-crime-abuse-power-crime-donald-trump-tweets-wiretapping-obama-administration
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 2, Block D:    in re: update on the "Trump-Russia-surveillance" story, including Adam Schiff’s reusing Mike Rogers call to recuse himself as "not serious."  http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/adam-schiff-no-recusal-russia-probe-237048  ;  http://www.bizpacreview.com/2017/04/07/ethics-complaint-filed-adam-schiff-will-respond-honor-devin-nunes-468275
 
 
Hour Three
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 3, Block A:   Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board & host of Opinion Journal on WSJ Video; in re:
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 3, Block B:   Paul R Gregory, author, and Hoover, in re:  Kremlin TV explains Putin, Trump & Assad The April 8 broadcast, aired some 20 hours after Trump’s missile strike, shows the dynamics of the Kremlin’s “official” position. To set the initial tone, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, condemned Trump’s action as a “violation of Syria’s national sovereignty” that broke Trump’s major promise of a robust anti-ISIS coalition that would include Russia. Putin lamented that “what happened was the exact opposite, a fact that Russia strongly regrets and is disturbed by.”
According to Putin’s version, Trump attacked the wrong target “by ignoring the opportunity to carry out an international investigation” of the Idlibe chemical attack. In synch, an inflammatory headline in a Kremlin-friendly newspaper announced that “The United States Is Now Fighting on the Same Side as ISIS.” Using the same ploy as in the downing of MH17 (arguing that Ukraine, not Russia, is to blame), Putin claimed that, per the Russian defense ministry’s findings, Syria’s air attack unwittingly ignited a chemical-weapons depot in the rebel-held city. Per Putin, Russia “has reliable concrete proof from its Russian military representatives in Syria” that the chemicals belonged to the rebels. Notably, Vesti did not carry Putin’s claim that evening. With Idlibe open to outside inspectors, Putin’s initial claim could have been proven false. (Putin floated this balloon knowing that it would have a long life on the conspiracy blogosphere and among dedicated Russian supporters).
In a statement later in the day, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev upped the volume, warning that a military confrontation between the US and Russia was “just a step away” and that Trump had become a captive of the “US establishment.” His alarming comments were also not included in the Vesti broadcast.
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 3, Block C:   Josh Rogin, Washington Post, in re: In Syria’s next big battle, the United States has a crucial role to play  (By Josh Rogin Global Opinions April 9 at 8:37 PM)  Bashar al-Assad’s chemical weapons attack on a town in the northern Syrian province of Idlib, prompting President Trump to retaliate with missile strikes, was the opening salvo in what could be a final, epic battle to determine the future of Syria. As that struggle unfolds in Idlib, the United States has a crucial role to play.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/in-what-may-be-the-decisive-syrian-battlefield-the-us-has-a-crucial-role-to-play/2017/04/09/461ac334-1bcb-11e7-855e-4824bbb5d748_story.html?utm_term=.dd500c694c37
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 3, Block D: Eli Lake, Bloomberg, in re: https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2017-04-07/the-frivolous-case-against-the-house-intelligence-chairman
 
Hour Four
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 4, Block A:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re: ULA slashes launch prices for Atlas 5  Capitalism in space: In order to compete with SpaceX ULA announced this week that it will cut its launch price for the Atlas 5 rocket by one third.
United Launch Alliance has dropped the price of its workhorse Atlas 5 rocket flights by about one-third in response to mounting competition from rival SpaceX and others, the company’s chief executive said on Tuesday. “We’re seeing that price is even more important than it had been in the past,” Tory Bruno, chief executive of United Launch Alliance, or ULA, said during an interview at the U.S. Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. “We’re dropping the cost of Atlas almost every day. Atlas is now down more than a third in its cost,” Bruno said.
It appears that they have discovered that the prime reason they lost their bid of an Air Force GPS satellite launch to SpaceX was because their price was too high.
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 4, Block B:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com (2 of 2)
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 4, Block C:  David Horowitz, author, Big Agenda.  Part 2 A
Monday 10 April 2017 / Hour 4, Block D:  David Horowitz, author, Big Agenda.  Part 2 B