The John Batchelor Show

Thursday 29 June 2017

Air Date: 
June 29, 2017

Photo: Lysenko of the Soviet Union
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, the Great Voice of the Great Lakes; and Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents
 
Hour One
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 1, Block A:  Dan Henninger, WSJ, Wonder Land, in re: Republicans acting as though they're a minority within a majority.
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 1, Block B: Sebastian Gorka,  deputy assistant to President Donald Trump; in re: Two successes: Trump Adm said Assad’s using chem weapons again would generate a strong US response.  No chem weapons.
Assad trying to climb in to a Russian jet (looks like a contortionist struggling)— an act of desperationBaghdadi: “We are crushing them!” – clearly not. After you capture territory, the more difficult challenge is to administer and also hold the ground.    
Travel moratorium starts in several hours [midnight] to halt the ingress of persons from active war zones, those who cannot verify their actual identities. Looks as though the fake news bubble has been burst – CNN had to fire three writers this week; the New York Times . . . Credibility of the media is evaporating as rapidly as the accusations of collusion with Russia. 
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 1, Block C: Liz Peek, Fiscal Times and Fox News, in re: Kirsten Gillibrand, female liberal from New York, as a possible Democratic presidential candidate?  Democrats haven’t quite figured out voters, esp white working-class voters across the country. Nothing the Democrats do will appeal to them: they voted for Trump on the basis of their feeling cultural isolation.   Country has moved much more liberal on some issues, such as same-sex marriage, equal pay across the board, and more. However,  Obama’s decisive measures vis-à-vis the military: put an openly gay Secretary of the Navy; told them that their biggest enemy was climate change.   Now, the Republicans finally have a chance to govern and seem to be incapable of doing so.  Amazes me that the Democrats are so much more effective of putting out a message and everybody says the same thing, You never see that from the GOP.   A problem that Midwesterners have with the Democrats is that it demands acceptance!  People feel pushed and eventually resist; e.g., Obama’s push toward not only DACA but a network of DACA relatives to be accepted.  Further, people who don’t entirely agree with Democratic writ are immediately labelled “haters.”  To boot, many Californians and New Yorkers don’t like Midwesterners, call them ignorant, and racist, Clinton called them “deplorables.”  This is the earnest, hard-working nation who work hard, go to church, raise children, give to charity.
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 1, Block D:  Monica Crowley, London Center for Policy Research, in re: Republicans expected to lose, are uncomfortable being in the White House.  Frustration among voters who elected them.  Smart parties out of power develop and refine policy positions so when they do re-acquire power they're ready to go. GOP didn't do that – they just expected Mrs Clinton to walk into the presidency and the GOP wouldn’t have to work too heard. Now, being accountable to the voters, are unready and shocked.
The Democrats still act as though they’re in power— and good for them.  Half of politics (and life) is looking like you belong there.   Mr Obama is still in charge.  Tax and spend, sped and tax.   Chuck Schumer’s implicit message on TV on Sunday was that Nancy Pelosi erred in spending so much on GA-6, et al.  She’s a masterful fundraiser, but she’s a bit past her prime.  Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Bill De Blasio – all very left but at advanced ages.  There exist younger voices in the Democratic party. 
How Mr Trump is doing after his first half-year: pretty well, even including mistakes; I'd give him maybe a B+.  His instincts are good, and he’s supported the military and rolled back regulations.  The main issues are repealing Obamacare and obtaining tax reductions.   Important that the president start to make greater use of Vice-President Pence. 
 
Hour Two
EL AL REPORT, THE NATIONAL AIRLINE OF ISRAEL
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 2, Block A:  Mike Doran, Hudson, in re: 1967 war.  Trump foreign policy.  Russia.   Pres Eisenhower a micromanager and good at misdirection, as president allowed people to think that he wasn't in charge. He did make one significant error, then saw it after the 1956 Suez Crisis but never entirely rectified it. Khrushchev speech on Stalin and multiple other events.  Something about the Middle East makes presidents forget basic lessons of support friends, punish enemies (you’ll never win 98-2; it’ll always be 51-49); “Don't get too clever.”  Most members of the Security C0unciil in the UN see their job as being to counterbalance the US, esp toward Israel.  Abu Mazen’s position to Israel is strategic fecklessness and oblige others to oppose the US. Successful. Then, once you provoke intervention, you can always get more.  Sixty-plus years later Russia is still a regional vulture there picking off what falls from carts, and the US is still stuck in its game of perfecting the world. Russians have ice water running through their veins. Recall that  Putin’s solution to opposition in Grozny was to level Grozny.
·         http://s3.amazonaws.com/media.hudson.org/files/publications/unsc_doran_final.pdf
Michael Doran is a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C. He specializes in Middle East security issues. In the administration of President George W. Bush, Doran served in the White House as a senior director in the National Security Council. He also served in the Bush administration as a senior advisor in the State Department and a deputy assistant secretary of defense in the Pentagon.
EL AL REPORT, THE NATIONAL AIRLINE OF ISRAEL
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 2, Block B:  Tony Badran, FDD, in re: Hezbollah, Iran, Syria.  When the Trump Adm said that if there was movement of the type done in April that led to  chem weapons attacks, Syria would pay a heavy price; Syria heard and seems to have responded by not continuing.  The Iranian launch: only two missiles actually landed where intended; the rest went to Iraq(?)   . . . A Shi’a International, with many of the men who've been fighting in Syria.  Want to build a land corridor that goes from Iran through Iraq, and a pipeline to Beirut. This Administration’s priority needs to be to block this land bridge.  ISIS was blocking that bridge; US moving in to block the highway. As ISIS fades away, US, Russia and Iran all move closer and closer, increasing the likelihood of military confrontation, The US has said to Assad and IRGC, If you move to close to us and endanger our personnel, you will be killed.  US adversaries now believe that the US will act violently. 
·         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/badran-tony-hezbollahs-environmental-warriors/
·         https://www.aei.org/publication/iran-military-budget-increased-145/
·         https://www.aei.org/publication/iran-qods-force-general-is-new-ambassador-to-iraq/
Tony Badran is a research Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, where he focuses on Lebanon, Hezbollah, Syria, and the geopolitics of the Levant. Born and raised in Lebanon, Tony has testified to the House of Representatives on several occasions regarding U.S. policy toward Iran and Syria. His writings have appeared in publications including The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, and The Weekly Standard. He is a columnist and Levant analyst for Tablet magazine.
EL AL REPORT, THE NATIONAL AIRLINE OF ISRAEL
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 2, Block C:  Michael Rubin, in re: Turkey, Syria/Russia.  . . .    Chem weapons aren't just stored somewhere they have to be kept in separate containers and mixed at the last minute..   . . . Turkey has lost vast amounts of money from lost tourist business.  . .  As ISIS disappears in Syria and Ira, US forces are ever-closer to Iranian troops backed up by Assad, Russia’s ally. Flashpoint Aleppo, Turks demand that all Kurds need to withdraw and Turks are shelling Kurds.  US has  been working with Kurds; will we just abandon Kurds now.  Sinjar:  Kurds just waiting to pick up the pieces?   The PKK (Turkish Kurdish fighters) have won local hearts and minds.  Iraqis and Iraqi Kurds want them out.  US can pen Assad in but cannot crush Assad. Turkey; the longer-term impact of the coup of last year?  Turkey has two F16s for every pilot, having thrown so many pilots in jail.  NATO is a consensus alliance and Turkey can filibuster it to paralysis.  Also, there exists no mechanism to throw a member out Incirlik: Turkey swore it’d stymie any normalization with Israel; it succeeded in blocking NATO-Israeli cooperation.
 
·         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/benjamin-weinthal-german-turkish-relations-continue-to-deteriorate/
·         https://www.aei.org/publication/oops-i-hurt-erdogans-feelings/
·         https://www.aei.org/publication/turkeys-coming-chaos/
Michael Rubin is a former Pentagon official whose major research areas are the Middle East, Turkey, Iran, and diplomacy. Rubin instructs senior military officers deploying to the Middle East and Afghanistan on regional politics, and teaches classes regarding Iran, terrorism, and Arab politics on board deploying U.S. aircraft carriers. Rubin has lived in post-revolution Iran, Yemen, both pre- and post-war Iraq, and spent time with the Taliban before 9/11.
EL AL REPORT, THE NATIONAL AIRLINE OF ISRAEL
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 2, Block D: Amanda Berman, Lawfare Project, in re: SF lawsuit and campuses. Over a yea ago, a jerry-rigged organization  greeted Nir Barkat, mayor of Jerusalem, with hoots, jeers, screams, anti-Jewish epithets and vulgarities. University told the local police to stand down and let the demo continue even though it clearly was a violation of students’s constitutional rights.  As it devolved, no criminal charges, but the dean said “We’ve been played” by a guest who came to a campus known for anti-Semitism and “Barkat came only to mobilize local Jews.”  The university administration now refuses to comment. Jewish students three are afraid to wear any clothing identifying them a Jews.  Overall, this is a normalization of anti-Jewish activity in the US. 
Amanda@TheLawfareProject.org
·         https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2017/06/19/i-constantly-felt-afraid-lawsuit-claims-public-university-fostered-anti-semitism-on-campus/?utm_term=.5ea9f01f2a6f
·         http://www.newsweek.com/anti-semitism-alleged-san-fran-state-628469
·         http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/.premium-1.796959
·         http://thelawfareproject.org/in-senate-judiciary-committee-hearing-lp-lawsuit-serves-as-an-example/
·         http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-edu-sfsu-anti-semitism-lawsuit-20170619-story.html
Amanda Berman is the Director of Legal Affairs at The Lawfare Project. In addition to her role as an attorney, Amanda liaises with the American and international Jewish community on behalf of the Lawfare Project and maintains relationships with LP supporters, donors, and clients. Amanda writes extensively on lawfare and counter-terror related issues and is a media contributor across various mediums and outlets. She has spoken and presented before diverse audiences ranging from small groups to large auditoriums.
 
Hour Three
EL AL REPORT, THE NATIONAL AIRLINE OF ISRAEL
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 3, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlein, in re:  650 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan; has a chocolate store on the ground floor, a building much in dispute: the US is about to seize this 36-storey office tower owned by the Iranian govt, paid for by funds that violated the Iran sanctions. Allevi Fdn is a part-owner funds from Bank Melli (state-owned); millions illegally channeled.  Might be half a bil dollars that will be awarded to victims of Iranian predation and violence, for whom $5 bil has already been allocated by courts. Bought in the Seventies for $83 mil; the rent payments funneled from Alavi Fdn and Bank Melli, Largest civil forfeiture in US history.  Until now, previous Administrations have been intimidated by Iranian threats. 
“Green without Borders” – Hezbollah says that Nature provides critical defensive characteristics.   Hezb. is planting trees along the Israeli border in order to hide.  Israel has filed a complaint with UN. UNIFIL troops have become an impediment.  . . .  In December, Iranians put a Star of David on targets.  Golan: 66 mi of Israel and Syria.  One of Iran’s goals is to get closer to Israel’s border along the Golan.  Errant fire (that kills pee); Hezbollah now fully integrated into Lebanese ared forces and with major arms.  The Syrian-Lebanese highway is for this.  Clear Iranian intention hs been stated over and over again.  
EL AL REPORT, THE NATIONAL AIRLINE OF ISRAEL
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 3, Block B: Jacques Neriah, in re:  Morocco & Iran on Israel’s border.  Stupidity by Moroccan police led to Berber (Amazighen) protests in northern Morocco.  Protests have degenerated, aligned themselves with jihadis.  The much-loved king has removed all schoolbook references to jihad and has begun a he program to train Muslim teachers to teach tolerance.  Protest still are not stopping. 
Recall Mohammed Bouazizi's self-immolation that inspired protests in Tunisia; here. A fishmonger crushed by a truck.  Parallel.  The so-called local jihadis are part of al Qaeda.  Govt has found more than 140 cells. Polisario is waiting around the corner (largely camped in Algeria). Muslim Brothers: connected to al Qaeda and other extreme organization; protests have moved from the north to Rabat and Marrakesh; Islamists have been exploiting the situation. The king is
·         http://jcpa.org/article/tunisian-arab-spring-repeat-morocco/
·         http://jcpa.org/article/irans-foreign-legion-syria/
Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, a special analyst for the Middle East at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, was formerly Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Deputy Head for Assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence. 
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 3, Block C:  Gene Marks, Washington Post, in re: Small business (1 of 2)
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 3, Block D:  Gene Marks, Washington Post, in re: Small business (2 of 2)
 
Hour Four
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 4, Block A: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, and author, Capitalism in Space, in re:
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 4, Block B: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, and author, Capitalism in Space, in re:
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 4, Block C:  Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover Institution, in re:  Tam is lead singer in a rock band named The Slants.  Recordation, one of the grand achievements of the state; can't have common law without it. When someone is accorded a trademark, one argument is that it must be regarded as government speech; in effect is a subsidy that the govt can remove, which would be the largest case of state arrogation of property in the history of Western civilization. Example: you have a land title accorded by the govt — under some thinking, that could be taken from you.  Note common-law trademark which is what The Slants have.  Trademark protected by recordation.  Mr Mattel of the patent and trademark office.  . . . Supreme Court refuses to harmonize laws on takings. 
Thursday  29 June 2017  / Hour 4, Block D:  Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover Institution, in re:  Two landowners decided to join their two pieces of land in order to develop them.  Court said:  Wisconsin issued regs: “May build one house on a substandard plot; if two plots, still only one house.” Penn Central Doctrine, one of the worst in history on taking air rights in the name of land dvpt.   Murrs Case: if you kept the two parcels separate . .  .  Justice Kennedy’s opinion made people weep in frustration. / Imagine you’re in a restaurant you so don’t speak so loudly that you drown out others.  At the same time, the next able mayn’t lean over yours to eavesdrop. Reasonable expectations: if both comply, both are better off than otherwise. We have eight Justices, none of whom has been in private practice (all have been academics or in government).
..  ..  ..  ..  ..  . .
http://dailycaller.com/2017/06/23/supreme-court-limits-rights-of-property-owners/
The Supreme Court constrained the rights of property owners Friday, establishing a test that favors government officials in assessing the loss of property value caused by government regulations.
Writing for a 5-3 court, Justice Anthony Kennedy explained that state and local officials can combine separate parcels of land in assessing whether local government has effectively seized private property through regulation, requiring compensation. Kennedy’s opinion was joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan. Chief Justice John Roberts filed a fiery dissent, joined by Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito.
The case concerned a Wisconsin family called the Murrs, who argued that the government has unconstitutionally taken their land by refusing to allow them to sell it.