Photo, above:  Qatari luxe, as enjoyed by the five "four-star generals" of the Taliban released in exchange for Bergdahl.  If this is your aesthetic, you’re in (pardon) pig heaven.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes

Hour One

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 1, Block A: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes, in re: income inequality. Thomas Piketty. Taxes, pols, "from each according o his ability, to each according to his need." S&P 500 nearing the 2K summit

Investors have spent several months deciphering the mixed signals from the U.S. economy, and yet the S&P 500 has kept moving higher, slowly but surely, putting it just shy of the 2,000 mark. With its Friday . . .  [more]

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 1, Block B:  Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, and Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, in re:  Of the five men transferred from Guantanamo to Qatar, a  five have links – not fuzzy, but significant and documented – with Taliban. 

ISIS touts French, German, and Libyan suicide bombers in Syria  The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham continues to highlight the deaths of foreign jihadists in both Iraq and Syria.

Boko Haram rampages unchecked in the Nigerian north The jihadist group has killed more than 200 civilians in several villages in northeastern Nigeria over the past few days. Reports have emerged of collusion between Boko Haram and elements within the military.

ISIS takes control of areas in central Iraqi city  The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham took partial control of Samarra after more than 150 fighters stormed the city.

US drones kill local AQAP commander, 2 fighters  A local Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula commander known as Jafar al Shabwani is said to have been killed in a strike in the AQAP stronghold of Wadi Abida.

Note that LongWarJournal, possibly the best English-language reporting on the extended war from Lebanon to Pakistan, plus al Jazira (the Saudi peninsula), is currently raising funds. See LongWarJournal.org – every five or twelve dollars you kindly donate makes a practical difference in the organization's ability to gather and disseminate news.

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 1, Block C: Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, and Thomas Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor, in re:  Taliban Supreme Shura; attack on Pakistan. Chain of command is poorly understood.  Supreme Shura oversees the Taliban's entire security and intell apparatus.   Al Qaeda has a General Command, with regional emirates; councils, advisory groups.  When Mullah Omar says "It’s a great victory," he refers to al the mujahedin.  An Uzbek jihadist group training in _____­­­­­. jamaat (20 to 50 guys), release video of training with titles all in Russian.  Probably supported by the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.

 Syrian jihadist movement so important that man other regions have dispatched fighter there to help.  Taliban has a political office in Doha. 

Note that LongWarJournal, possibly the best English-language reporting on the extended war from Lebanon to Pakistan, plus al Jazira (the Saudi peninsula), is currently raising funds. See LongWarJournal.org – every five or twelve dollars you kindly donate makes a practical difference in the organization's ability to gather and disseminate news.

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 1, Block D:  Gordon Chang, Forbes.com, in re: China claims all the islands and 90% of the water in the South China Sea.  Everyone else completely disagrees. Beijing wants to deal with each nation separately, bilaterally, thinking it can intimidate them one country at a time.  Filipinos  have taken China to international arbitration; China refers the matter to the UN to prevent Vietnam from doing the same thing. . . . This is Beijing declaring war on all American business. Each year China steals over a billion dollars' worth of IT – that's over a million US jobs. 

Beijing is attacking American companies, and the assault looks like it will last a long time.  See this: http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2014/06/08/worse-than-a-trade-war-chinas-anti-americanism-flares/   Philippine, Vietnamese troops drink beer, play volleyball on disputed isle.     Vietnamese and Philippine troops got together on a disputed island in the South China Sea on Sunday to play soccer and volleyball - as well as drink beer - in a display of unity that will not go unnoticed in Beijing.  China's May exports gain steam but imports fall unexpectedly

Hour Two

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 2, Block A: David M Drucker, Washington Examiner senior Congressional correspondent, and John Fund, National Review Online, in re: Bergdahl. Trading five senior cutthroats for an enlisted man.   Eighty-five-year-old veterans in Normandy: Do not release a commander who'll be back on the field within a year. When they found there was a law obliging the president to consult with Congress thirty days in advance and that this president didn't, didn’t pretend to comply, the elder veterans were displeased.   . . .  VA hospital in Kansas has over a thousand veterans waiting for a medical appointment.  VA scandal plus Bergdahl controversy have started to turn Democrats against their own president.  Best interpretation is that this Administration is accident-prone.  It’s like a wedding procession of cars: you’re supposed to follow the lead car, which is veering off on its own and has a history of drunk driving.  Do you follow? White House [would do well to  listen more closely].

Rogers Slams Bergdahl Deal WH had other options to secure release.

Kerry Warns Released Taliban U.S. can respond if they return to fight.

McCain: Hold Taliban Forever  Says released leaders are too high a risk.

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 2, Block B: David M Drucker, Washington Examiner Sr Congressional correspondent, and John Fund, National Review Online, in re: Jeb Hensarling, Financial Services chairman, challenges Boehner. Hensarling for Speaker?

'Repeal and replace' has been replaced by GOP strategists --- here's why

CONGRESS OBAMACARE REPUBLICAN PARTY HEALTH CARE 2014 ELECTIONS CAMPAIGNS PENNAVE   a Republican says he or she wants to "repeal and replace" Obamacare, the conservative base . . .  The Republican shift away from "repeal and replace" rhetoric onObamacare may not signal the change in actual policy that some Democrats assume.

In recent months, Democratic partisans have hailed the transition in GOP messaging as proof that the Affordable Care Act is not as toxic to their side as previously assumed and may even begin presenting problems for the law's opponents.  But Republican operatives responsible for guiding 2014 strategy contend that the party remains as committed as ever to opposing President Obama's health care overhaul, both on Capitol Hill and on the campaign trail. Instead, they say that the "repeal and replace" line has outlived its usefulness.

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 2, Block C:  Paul Gregory, Hoover & Forbes.com, in re: As Russia Tramples Red Lines, Obama Clings to Fig Leaf   The Russian border with southern Ukraine is porous; Russian mercenaries pour across unstopped. Putin said he'd beef up inspections; to be taken with a grain of salt.  Putin has done his best to sabotage industry in the Donbass region [Ukraine].  Putin is advising Ukraine: Your army may not operate on its own sovereign territory. Remarkable.  He also says he has little to do with it – but adds that it should stop its antiterrorist activities and not join the EU.  This all depends on whether or not the West backs up Poroshenko.

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 2, Block D: Ira Boudway, Bloomberg, in re: BAM – broadband network will transmit all World Cup games to US. FIFA sells right by country and by language; thus US and English-language broadcasting is u=included.  ESPN3 is broadband network.    this service always uses Major-League Baseball Advanced Media for streaming.

ESPN PUTS THE WHOLE WORLD CUP IN YOUR HANDS ESPN plans to put all 64 games on digital devices throughout the U.S. What does it take to get every pass, tackle, and goal of the month-long tournament onto hundreds of thousands of smartphones, tablets, and laptops in the U.S. within 30 seconds?  full story here

Hour Three

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 3, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Malcolm Hoenlein and John Batchelor need to go to Manhattan's Union Square to stand in line overnight to wait for the arrival of Mrs Clinton's new book.  Election of Israel's tenth resident; two Dalias on the list, one with a lesser chance and one with more. Mr Rivlin and Dalia Itzik are the heading contenders.  The 120 members of ht Knesset need to [endorse?] each candidate. The  Israeli presidency is largely but not entirely ceremonial.  US has just sent Wendy Sherman and _ Burns to Geneva to speak directly with Iran – aren’t we in negotiations with P5+1 ?   Iran asks for more time to resolve sanctions issue. have refused to discuss their ballistic missile or miniaturization programs, Advances in centrifuges are significant Apparently they can fully produce a bomb in short order using its new centrifuges. Khamenei addresses a rally calling for the US and Israel to be destroyed; Rouhani visits Turkey to discuss gas.

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 3, Block B:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: French Jews, 600,000, are in genuine danger there. Largest Jewish community in Europe; see a consistent build-up in violence, including murders. A hatchet-wielding man chased two teenaged boys and their grandfather on their way to synagogue; he whistled and three other s appeared.  Elsewhere, boys from 7 to 17  . . .    Mayor said, Oh we don’t know if that was anti-Jewish; javen;t proven it.  In Greece, an anti-Jewish Minister was sworn in,   In Europe rising populations of Muslims fro countries where they were misled – but these are often young kids who express much more extreme views than d their parents.  They’re fed by Internet, imams, and indoctrination in their own communitis0es.   An inspector in Birmingham researched and found a terrorist plot in schools – the Trojan  Horse Plot in 21 schools: breeding hatred, goal being to take over the entire culture. R AND recently cited Egypt, Mali, Lebanon, many others, having imams teaching and in some places physical training camps to teach young people to commit suicide in jihadist attacks. UK has spent so much time criticizing Israel and the US, managed to ignore a mass-killing organization at home.

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 3, Block C: Carson Bruno, Hoover Institution Advancing a Free Society, in re:  Eureka: Top Takeaways from California’s Primary. Neel Kashkari had a late momentum; won the race in California.  . . ."No party preference."  . . . 

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 3, Block D: Jed Babbin, American Spectator, in re:  The Bounties of Obama’s Weakness |-r

Hour Four

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 4, Block A: Hitler's Charisma: Leading Millions into the Abyss by Laurence Rees (1 of 4)

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 4, Block B: Hitler's Charisma: Leading Millions into the Abyss by Laurence Rees (2 of 4)

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 4, Block C: Hitler's Charisma: Leading Millions into the Abyss by Laurence Rees (3 of 4)

Monday  9 June  2014  / Hour 4, Block D: Hitler's Charisma: Leading Millions into the Abyss by Laurence Rees (4 of 4)