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JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal
 
Hour One
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 1, Block A:  Kori Schake, Hoover, in re: North Korea and US policy therefor.
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 1, Block B:  Anthony Ruggiero, FDD; in re:  Pres Trump’s Executive Order today spoke to the Chinese banks critical to the predatory North Korean regime  Banks respond: Yes, we’ll go along with this.  . . .  Closing the revenue streams.  How much of this goes through formal channels, how much via underground transfers?  Lots via formal - $2.2 billion in the last few years.  Note that it doesn’t look like North Korea- it looks like China.  Foreign banks will have to have compliance depts. Dedicate to finding these transactions.
Pres Trump announced this while dining with Pres Moon of South Korea and PM Abe of Japan.   
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 1, Block C:  Tim Kane, Hoover, & author, Total Volunteer Force: Lessons from the US Military on Leadership Culture and Talent Management;
in re: Those who complain that the border is porous:  As a veteran, and having served w immigrants, who came to the US and served in the military, so I have a fondness for immigrants.  We focus on border security and not enough on national security. Had we done this from the 1820s, we’d have 100 million fewer people. Maybe half of the undocumented immigrants came here on tourist or student visas and jut stay. I think we need more immigration, not less; but we need a merit system, a point system.  We’re one of two developed nations using family connections rather than merit for citizenship. The Constitution guarantees that if you’re born here, you're a citizen; better not to mess with that. We just have to be careful about selection and making the rules fair. 
Employers: part of the problem. eVerify is illegal in California.  Democratic Party in a hurry; the notion of open borders is not well thought-out.  I’ve just completed w Dave Brady a poll: vastly favored across the board is eVerify.  Need to address integration, and English as a national language.  Emphasize core values.  Look closely at our history.
DACA: polling shows that Americans are overwhelmingly in favor of some kind of fair-minded and merciful solution.  Path not necessarily to citizenship but to legally residing here. I’ve always thought the president’s heart was in the right place.  We bring in one million immigrants annually and it's been highly successful.
National Security Consequences of Cutting Immigration, by Timothy Kane via Fox News ; Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Americans are having the wrong security conversation when it comes to the impact of immigration. We should be thinking about national security, not border security. The border can be secured without changing the level of legal immigration, but the nation’s strength has been (and will hopefully always be) built on millions of migrants coming to our shores.
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 1, Block D: Francis Rose, Government Matters (TV: DC); NationalDefenseWeek.com and francisrose.com, in re: The Veterans Administration.  New report, “System Worth Saving,” from the VA.   “”Wait times at most VA hospitals or clinics are shorter than from non-VA hospitals and clinics.”  Steve Forbes: not the worst motel would put you in a room with a total stranger and only a sheet between you two. Secy Shulkin refers to private care as “community care.” He thinks about each individual.
Deep state:  over chocolate cake at Mar-a-Lago, announcing missiles – only the ____ could have done that.    Puzzling how long this Adm has taken to appoint the Deputy Secretaries of many agencies.  DHS: GOP and Dems agree that Elaine __ should be given the Secretaryship.  . .  Leave positions unfilled? That’s not a conscious strategy now.
 
Hour Two
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 2, Block A:  Sebastian Gorka, MAGA chief strategist, in re: Pres Trump, his UN speech, and his fundamental positions. 
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 2, Block B:  Sebastian Gorka, MAGA chief strategist, in re:  . .  . Guerrilla warfare on the streets of London.  The trope that it’s due to poverty is just wrong.  It’s time for Euro counterterrorism to [come to grips with this].  Guilt is a dynamic active in Germany; less so in the UK.  Also, saying that it’s Facebook and twitter causing the problem is so wrong.  Politically-motivated separatists are different: this is not the IRA, it's about mass murder.
Lots of whining in the US.  (Steve Yates in Kootenai County in northern Idaho: They care a lot about the North Korean threat here; they regard the president’s speech as the best they've heard.)
Earlier this week I addressed Hillsdale College on its Constitution Day. Trump and Idahoans are both defined by common sense: they know the subsystem is broken; and in the sixteenth year of the war, why don't we feel safer?
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 2, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com,  & author, “Commercial Space”; in re: Progress freighter; Indian space program; rockets; orbit.  SpaceX, capitalism, and freedom, all forced to compete by upstart companies.  Can launch once a week!  . . . JACSA used Mitsubishi to build its rockets.  . . .  StratoLaunch: (giant): first stage to launch up to three Pegasus rocket from a single flight (small sats). Younger or middle-aged men with personal fortunes defeating the dinosaurs of yore.  SLS system is a complete boondoggle, theft from taxpayers.  I  commercial space we get some bang for our buck.   . . . Farewell Boeing 747 (there are still 1500 in existence), will be used mostly for freight. 
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 2, Block D: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com,  & author, “Commercial Space”; in re: Progress freighter; Indian space program; rockets; orbit. 
 
Hour Three
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 3, Block A: Liz Peek, Fox News and Fiscal Times, in re: DACA.
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 3, Block B: Henry Miller, Hoover,
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 3, Block C: Todd South, Military Times Ground Combat Reporter, in re:   War with Russia? “What’s Putin up to? The Russian military buildup in Europe raises tension.” [A remarkably clear and complete discussion of comparative military strengths, armaments, capabilities. –ed.]
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 3, Block D: Todd South, Military Times Ground Combat Reporter, in re:  https://www.militarytimes.com/flashpoints/2017/09/13/if-russia-started-world-war-iii-heres-how-it-would-go-down/
 
Hour Four
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 4, Block A: Nick Bunker, Empire on the Edge
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 4, Block B: Nick Bunker, Empire on the Edge
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 4, Block C: Andrea Wulf: The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World
Thursday   21 September 2017  / Hour 4, Block D:  Andrea Wulf: The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World