The John Batchelor Show

Thursday 7 March 2013

Air Date: 
March 07, 2013

 

Photo, above:  Satmar family in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Co-hosts: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, and Ed Hayes, defense attorney par excellence

Hour One

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 1, Block A: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal editorial board, in Sydney, on re: Australian politics, Australian-Chinese relations.

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 1, Block B:  Ed Hayes, in re:  murder of a young couple in Williamsburg, New York City, as they were en route to hospital to deliver their first child; buy a speeding driver who fed the scene and was later apprehended in Pennsylvania.  Politics of Williamsburg, long home of a large population of Chasidic Jews, now including many chic young professionals and artists; the two groups barely get along.

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 1, Block C: . Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD, and Tom Joscelyn, exec dir, Long War Journal, in re: The Senate confirmed John Brennan to serve as the next C.I.A. director, ending a dramatic filibuster by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and a clutch of conservatives who questioned the Obama administration's use of military drones on domestic targets. The vote, 63 to 34, rounds out President Obama's national security team for the second term amid mounting questions about the White House's muscular anti-terror policies.  Hinting at Split on Terror, Republicans Fault Paul Filibuster  Remarks by Senators John McCain and Lindsey Graham about Rand Paul’s filibuster suggested an emerging divide in the Republican Party over antiterrorism tactics.  C.I.A.’s History Poses Hurdles for an Obama Nominee  Brennan Confirmed to Lead the C.I.A.

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 1, Block D:  Sam Tadros, in re: Michelle Obama and John Kerry to Honor Anti-Semite and 9/11 Fan    On Friday March 8, Michelle Obama will join John Kerry at a special ceremony at the State Department to present ten women the Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award. The award, says the press release, is given to “women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk.”

Five of these awards are being given to women from Muslim-majority countries, underscoring the unique plight of women in those countries. The only problem is that one of the women to be recognized is an anti-Semite and supports the 9/11 attacks on the United States. Samira Ibrahim, as the State Department’s profile describes her, “was among seven women subjected by the Egyptian military to forced virginity tests in March 2011.” The press release further notes that Samira “was arrested while in high school for writing a paper that criticized Arab leaders’ insincere support to the Palestinian cause.” Apparently, the State Department is unaware of her other convictions.  On Twitter, Ibrahim is quite blunt regarding her views. On July 18 of last year, after five Israeli tourists and a Bulgarian bus driver were killed a suicide bombing attack, Ibrahim jubilantly tweeted: “An explosion on a bus carrying Israelis in Burgas airport in Bulgaria on the Black Sea. Today is a very sweet day with a lot of very sweet news.”  Ibrahim frequently uses Twitter to air her anti-Semitic views. Last August 4, commenting on demonstrations in Saudi Arabia, she described the ruling Al Saud family as “dirtier than the Jews.” Seventeen days later she tweeted in reference to Adolf Hitler: “I have discovered with the passage of days, that no act contrary to morality, no crime against society, takes place, except with the Jews having a hand in it. Hitler.”

Ibrahim holds other repellent views as well. As a mob was attacking the United States embassy in Cairo on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11, pulling down the American flag and raising the flag of Al Qaeda, Ibrahim wrote on twitter: “Today is the anniversary of 9/11. May every year come with America burning.” Possibly fearing the consequences of her tweet, she deleted it a couple of hours later, but not before a screen shot was saved by an Egyptian activist. Just today, apparently after having warned that her vicious tweets might cause her trouble during her visit to the U.S., she has written on twitter: “My account has been previously stolen and any tweet on racism and hatred is not me.” However, in the past she never made any mention of her account being “stolen.” The record of her anti-Semitic tweets is still available online. The decision to honor Ibrahim reflects poorly on the State Department, which is either incapable of doing the minimum amount of research required to find out who she is, or does not care that the secretary of state and First Lady are about to honor an anti-Semite who longs for violence against Americans. It’s understandable that now with Islamists having come to the fore after all the hope that the Egyptian uprising inspired, American policymakers are looking for the good guys, real liberal activists that deserve U.S. support. Samira Ibrahim is not one of them.

Hour Two

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 2, Block A:  .Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 2, Block B:  Matthew Levitt, senior Fellow, Washington Institute, in re: Hezbollah. The EU.

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 2, Block C:  . Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Chairman emeritus [emerita] of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs; Chairman of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and North Africa;  in re: Pres Obama's impending visit to Israel.  US-Israeli collaboration. P5+1, IAEA. Iran's nuclear material intercepted in Spain, also on high seas. Palestinian Authority, absent a scintilla of interest in negotiating peace and, instead, in deep discussions with merging with Hamas, shd have his PA ofc in Washington shut down. Also, stop sending cash to PA. Similarly for Egypt, where Musri says Jews  [and holds that Christians] are bloodsuckers,: why are we sending vast sums now?  North Korea. Venezuela; Chavez.

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 2, Block D: Dr. Zuhdi Jasser,  American physician; Lieutenant Commander, US Navy; and founder of American Islamic Forum for Democracy; in re: Egyptian morality police. US aid to the Muslim Brotherhood. Dr. Jasser is "just astounded that the Obama Administration is continuing to prop up the Muslim Brotherhood lead role in government in Egypt through direct aid."  He was in Egypt a few weeks ago as part of his role as a member of the US Commission for International Religious Freedom; he observed that there's no reason we should expect the Egyptian government to respect basic Western values of liberty.  Any promises that Morsi makes are just lip service in order to continue US funding, and the Administration's naiveté is playing right into their hands.

Hour Three

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 3, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re:

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 3, Block B:  . Alan Mendoza, founder and executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, in re: In 1948, as a socialist experiment and with the memory of the Holocaust fresh, the new Jewish state was championed in Europe as the underdog. However, Israel’s victory in 1967 transformed it in the eyes of many Europeans from being a plucky survivor into a regional power. Today, Europe faces economic problems, is moving to the left and experiencing a surge in Muslim population. Will these trends mark the end of the EU's and UK’s relations with Israel, or can it be salvaged?

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 3, Block C:  . Jeff Hix, Historivision, co-producer of Amazing Ops: Siege at Benghazi, in re: the film. Background book.    

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 3, Block D:   John Avlon, CNN, The Daily Beast,  and Newsweek International, in re: Rand Paul.  "But in our time of hyper-partisan political kabuki, Paul deserves respect for advancing a serious, principled, substantive debate. This is what filibusters are supposed to be—and one of the lessons learned might be the necessity of real filibuster reform that requires senators to take the floor rather than hiding behind the passing of paper. In addition, it has provided a happy reminder that the word filibuster itself is a Dutch word for “pirate”—fitting because there is something renegade about the capturing of the Senate floor in such a solitary stand. I’d like to think this issue would resonate with the same widespread principled passion if a Republican were president, but given our recent history, I am not convinced that would be the case.

"In such a worthwhile debate, one downside is the feeding of militia anxieties about the rise of a tyrannical government. It would also be naive not to assume that at least some of the senators who clustered on the floor were looking to score political points and get some reflected glory. But Paul’s stand was educational even if some of his colleagues saw it as high-rating political entertainment. These emerging war technologies need serious civic debate, best conducted by while grounded in reality and with a reasonable degree of good will toward our government. To his credit, Rand Paul debated within these wise lines: “I really don’t think he’ll drop a Hellfire missile on a café in Houston like I’m talking about,” he said of Obama, “but it really bothers me he won’t say that he won’t.”

Hour Four

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 4, Block A:  Mike McIntire, NYT, in re:  Charity Takes Gun Lobby Closer to Its Quarry  On a Monday evening in early February, two months into a national debate over gun violence after the massacre at a Connecticut elementary school, representatives of the firearms industry were wining and dining lawmakers in Washington. The occasion was the “Changing of the Guard” reception and dinner for the incoming leadership of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, which counts more than 250 members in the House and Senate. Hosting the gathering was a little-known but well-connected organization, the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation.

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 4, Block B: Reza Kahlili, author, A Time to Betray, in re:

KHALILI: The West’s dangerous naivete on Iranian nukes   The mullahs do not fear U.S. retaliation.  IRAN BLAMES CHAVEZ DEATH ON CIA   'Masters of the U.S. empire undoubtedly responsible for giving him cancer'     IRAN ORDERS TERRORISTS: PREPARE FOR WAR   Fears Israel about to attack Islamic regime

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 4, Block C:  Matt Kaminski WSJ, in re: Vali Nasr's book on Pres Obama, Clinton v. Obama, Part II  
A former Obama administration adviser kicked up a little Washington dust this week

Thursday  7 March 2013 / Hour 4, Block D:   Sharon Begley, Reuters, in re:  Special Report: Behind a cancer-treatment firm's rosy survival claims.   When the local doctor who had been treating Vicky Hilborn told her that her rare cancer had spread throughout her body, including her brain, she and her husband refused to accept a death sentence. Within days, Keith Hilborn was on the phone with an "oncology information specialist" at Cancer Treatment Centers of America

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Music

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