The John Batchelor Show

Friday 9 September 2016

Air Date: 
September 09, 2016

Photo, left: This animation of four images shows Jupiter in infrared light as seen by NASA's InfraRed Telescope Facility, or IRTF, on May 16, 2015. The observations were obtained in support of NASA's Juno mission by a team headed by Juno scientist Glenn Orton.
 
Observations like these are helping to provide spatial and temporal context for what the science instruments on board Juno will see once the spacecraft arrives at the giant planet in mid-2016. Juno will pass very close to the planet -- coming within just a few thousand miles (or kilometers) of the cloud tops every two weeks. That up-close vantage point will be balanced by distant views of the planet that show how different features move and change over time in relation to each other.
 
The IRTF is a three-meter telescope, optimized for infrared observations, and located at the summit of Mauna Kea, Hawaii. The observatory is operated and managed for NASA by the University of Hawaii Institute for Astronomy, Honolulu.
 
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the Juno mission for the principal investigator, Scott Bolton, of Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. The Juno mission is part of the New Frontiers Program managed at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.More information about Juno is online at http://www.nasa.gov/juno and http://missionjuno.swri.edu.Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 1, Block A:  Dan Henninger, WSJ Wonder Land, in re: Trump Speak. @DanHenninger
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 1, Block B:  Simon Constable, , in re:
Top 10 Safe Topics for Journalists Covering Peter Thiel http://simonjconstable.blogspot.com/2016/09/peter-thiel-top-ten.html
U.S. News: Signs Point to a Stronger Economy http://money.usnews.com/investing/articles/2016-09-06/signs-are-pointing-to-a-stronger-economy
WSJ: Where Foreign Markets Could Be Headed http://www.wsj.com/articles/a-spin-of-the-globe-where-foreign-markets-could-be-headed-1473127321
WSJ: Fundamental vs. Technical Stock Analysts http://www.wsj.com/articles/fundamental-vs-technical-stock-analysts-1473127202
And of course more "Outside on the Street" filmed in magnificent monochrome
Are Investors Too Sleepy? http://www.forbes.com/sites/simonconstable/2016/09/06/are-investors-too-sleepy/#41e631f134db
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 1, Block C:  Jerry Hendrix, USN (ret) and CNAS; in re: Small Iranian craft in the Persian Gulf race toward a US destroyer to within 100 yards. Arleigh Burke-Class ships and others are frequently (31 incidents this year, alone) harassed by these IRGC boats. US first tries to communicate bridge to bridge to warn them off; then with horns or loud audio signals. If the threatening boats continue, the US is allowed to fire a warning shot.  The Nitze, at 95,000 tons, was able simply to apply speed and move off.  But this gulf is narrow and shallow, and not all craft can do that.   On the other hand, US coastal vessels based in Bahrain are ideal for dealing with the matter.  Someone senior to the local commanders is organizing these dangerous, hectoring incidents that are designed to harass the US as a matter of Iranian national and foreign policy.  US policies are being humiliated.   These serial incidents have been dispersed across the Gulf from north to south, so clearly it’s Iranian military policy.
A hundred yards is close and the Iranian boats are zigzagging and going at 20 knots, so the officer shave few seconds in which to decide the appropriate response.  It looks as though Teheran is endeavoring to change the structure of [nautical] behavior in the Gulf before the change in the US presidency in January 2017.
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 1, Block D:  Jerry Hendrix, USN (ret) and CNAS; in re: Iranian IRGC, Manichaean (the world is all black and white, where we’re right and everyone else is wrong); China is in a larger matrix where it does the same thing in the South China Sea, and Russia does the same sort of thing in the air – at 500 mph flew within TEN feet of a US aircraft. Clear act of intimidation, same in East and South China Seas, and from Russia in Baltic and Black Seas.   Also, a chain of activity from North Korea to Iran to Russia [and including Pakistan].  There’s almost no insult you can offer that will get a strong response from Pres Obama. Even the Philippines deeply insulted the president yet the US soon rescheduled a meeting, 
In  1988, Operation Preying Mantis: Iran was harassing Arabian Gulf shipping and the US retaliated by attacking a [guilty] Iranian ship. This entirely stopped the depredations against the US.   This also re-established US naval supremacy in the Gulf up until today. When the coastal boat was captured and its sailors taken prisoner, Washington did naught.  Iran has tested Pres Obama and his goal to keep the nuclear deal, and concluded that there’s nothing Iran could do that Pres Obama would not allow them to get away with.
 
Hour Two
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 2, Block A:  Michael Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re: China’s grave diss of Pres Obama, and Pres Putin showing intense dislike to Obama. Over the Black Sea, a Russian warplane buzzes a US Navy plane.   In the Persian Gulf, Iranian craft tauntingly race to within 100 yards of a US destroyer. Filipino president roundly and vulgarly curses the American president.  The challenge to us is at several cognitive levels:  of rising powers; Britain and France had to deal with this in the 1930s – similar provocations from Adolph Hitler.  Also dealing with a powerful potential revision of the entire world system (this was occurring in the 1930s, also). Makinder’s World Island, from the Azores to the First Island Chain in the Pacific.  US was supporting the KuoMinTang; formerly, it had the utopia of the League of Nations, but Stalin and Hitler wanted no part of that: accepting a maritime order of the entire world. Decisive when Japan decided to join the Axis – thus one of the anchor states of the original order switched to the Eurasian vision.  . . .    The World Island Rejects America. Michael Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, @JHUWorldCrisis.
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 2, Block B:  Michael Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re: Today we have a new Eurasian vision:  Central Asian states, Russia, Iran, China, Turkey.   Challenge to American primacy, ad also to the very idea of America’s proposed (and successful for decades) international  liberal order,  which may not continue much longer.  These other states band together and the US is asked to leave the room. In the 1890s, a lot of wild jihadist movements on the fringe of [major European society].    Seventy-five years later, civil globalism is foundering again. China is driving the shift but is immensely more powerful than the pipsqueaks of World War II.  Central Asian states, Russia, Iran, China, Turkey: these form a huge bloc, can move deeply into Africa and the Middle East.  The vision of a liberal world order fades.
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 2, Block C:   Gene Marks, Washington Post Small Business columnist, in re: small business ISM surveys the 90% of US businesses that are services; growth in revenues and produce is declining. Consumer sentiment is at a four-month low.    Small bz have “health reimbursement accounts”?  Crowdfunding for start-ups.  Today one may raise only $1 mil from investors; there’s a Congressional bill for $5 mil.  Grants for new technology. Relax rules on overtime pay for small bz (of which there are 28 million in the US)  but will Congress even get there before it goes home?  Problem is that Congress uses taxpayer money here; wouldn't it be better just to lower taxes on small bz?  To 15%?  Good idea but how wd that be paid for? . . .  Major regulatory mandates and burdens on small businesses.  More and more very small firms are obliged to bring in HR employees to fill out forms, know compliance and liabilities.  It’s ballooned in the last 25 years.
A survey in England found that 167 hours, or 21 days a year, are wasted yearly as employees wait for slow technology to [spit out needed data].    
Visa and Mastercard have quit shooting at each other; Paypal benefits. Snapchat: in between a good idea and unmonetizable? – but it has 150 million users a day; next ear will earn a billion dollars in ad sales. . . .  Mac lab of yesteryear: if you capture the imagination of very young people they’ll stick with you years later.
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 2, Block D:  Gene Marks, Washington Post Small Business columnist, in re:  Laura Benedict, owner of Red Barn restaurant (“Wicked Good Food”), in Augusta, Maine, has given away over $2 million, mainly to veterans and the elderly.  She makes $4 million in annual revenue. Recently sent 47 veterans to Washington; helps community with tough times.  An excellent social entrepreneur. Seventy-two per cent of small bz owners don't know their credit score.   . . .  A pet tortoise set a restaurant on fire:  owner of a small aquarian store in Wisconsin where Matilda, his pet tortoise, perished. Waukesha sheriff determined that the fire was an accident. Some large companies allow time off for employees in pet bereavement. 
Small Business Economy    First Manufacturing, Now Services Signal Cracks in U.S. Economy http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-09-06/first-manufacturing-now-services-signal-cracks-in-u-s-economy
Small businesses look to Congress for action, but may be waiting http://www.newsminer.com/news/national/small-businesses-look-to-congress-for-action-may-be-waiting/article_e9e863f8-ee04-55a2-9ddf-6668b486edc3.html
Less than 20% of businesses are owned by minorities! https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-small-business/wp/2016/09/06/gene-marks-less-than-20-percent-of-u-s-businesses-are-owned-by-minorities/
New Survey: Small Business Has Mixed Economic Outlook http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-survey-small-business-has-mixed-economic-outlook-300323667.html
Tech   Employees spend entire annual leaves waiting on slow tech   http://www.itproportal.com/news/employees-spend-entire-annual-leaves-waiting-for-slow-tech/
PayPal and MasterCard end long-time feud with deal on fees and data  http://www.crainsnewyork.com/article/20160906/TECHNOLOGY/160909952
Snapchat Ad Sales to Reach $935 Million Next Year: eMarketer  http://adage.com/article/digital/snapchat-ad-sales-reach-935-million-year-emarketer/305722/?utm_source=Digital&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+AdvertisingAge/Digital
Employee Relations   Meet Maine's Small Business Owner Who Has Given Over $2 Million to Charity  http://www.forbes.com/sites/toriutley/2016/09/06/meet-maines-small-business-owner-who-has-given-over-2-million-to-charity/#121f26c846ed
Central Texas employees getting paid for healthy living http://bit.ly/2bYgsh2 via @KXAN_News
72 Percent of Small Business Owners Don’t Even Know Their Credit Score, Survey Says http://smallbiztrends.com/2016/09/your-credit-score-small-business.html
My favorite from my daily WashPo column (be sure to click on the photo): https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-small-business/wp/2016/09/01/gene-marks-best-small-business-advertisement-ever/
“My life was on fire:” Business owner heartbroken after pet tortoise accidentally sets fire to store    http://fox6now.com/2016/09/05/my-life-was-on-fire-business-owner-heartbroken-after-pet-tortoise-accidentally-sets-fire-to-store/ @fox6now
Companies Offer Paid Bereavement Leave for Death of Pets   http://cbsloc.al/2bTqT2N
Colin Kaepernick is profitable for business owners    https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-small-business/wp/2016/09/07/gene-marks-sitting-and-ka-chinging-many-businesses-profit-from-colin-kaepernick/
 
Hour Three
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 3, Block A:  Sebastian von Gorka,  Institute of World Politics professor of Strategy and Irregular Warfare, and Vice President for National Security Support; and Military Review; in re:  Irregular warfare.  Islamic state in three phases, where we’re in the third.  Thousands of IS fighters who’ve gone to Syria and Iraq whose names are known  and authorities cannot find them.  Also Sons of the Prophet targetting Golan Heights.   Peter Neumann writes: there’s a massive fall-off in IS recruitment as IS seems no longer to be winning as much as it was last year. However, it’s not in retreat. 
Phase 1: troublemaker, as it starts to gain attention – the vexation phase.  Field manual of ISIS written  a jihadi killed in Pakistan. Inflict regular warfare damage to trick the enemy and prepare the battlefield for next two phases. Works well. A sort of Clausewitz for IS and its ilk.   Phase 2:
continue attacks but synchronize them and increase the rate; for example, 200 VIEDs were exploded in one day. Dislocates govt from physical capacity to run its own govt.   Such chaos that you enter as the jihadi on a white horse to reduce chaos.  Raqqa. Two theories of war for insurgents: Che advocated a top-down organization; Mao taught a bottom-up structure– start with grass roots, provide services.  Violence is a tool o capture territory, then you govern. Baghdadi knows you must swim with the fishes, has melded the Maoist approach.
Every insurgency – indigenous or socialist or fascist – has to justify using violence. Jihadis’s rationalizations are completely plastic, but all must package the philosophy.  Ideology can be any one of thousands, but must be internally consistent and have resonance.  ISIS & Mao:  Institutionalizing Savagery. @SebGorka. Institute of World Politics.
“Phase One: The Vexation Phase (IS four years ago). In the initial stage the jihadist organization will apply IW to execute dramatic terror attacks against the infidel and his regional partners. The goal here is to attrit and weaken the infidel and apostate governments and prepare the battlespace for Phase Two . . .”   http://thegorkabriefing.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/militaryreview_20161031_sg.pdf ; https://www.joomag.com/magazine/military
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 3, Block B:   Sebastian von Gorka,  Institute of World Politics professor of Strategy and Irregular Warfare, and Vice President for National Security Support; and Military Review; in re:  Irregular warfare. ISIS based its strategy on a seventy-year od document from Mao.  Savagery, third phase: consolidation and expansion phase.  ISISI has convinced the local population to [stay put]; now it must must govern under shariah can provide services. This is the hybrid caliphate model, a giant forward operating base, a giant launch pad, can launch opt into new territories. Israel is preparing for an ISIS attack in the next six months. Not static! Phase 3 could last 50 or 500 years. Recall the nomadic tribes of the hijazz: famous for raiding attacks.  Telegram is ISIS’s favorite social site: all eschatological, end-times. Have busted women-only cell in France. This is the Last Jihad, we hold the territory of the last holy war. This is your last chance, and the only guaranteed [way to heaven] is to die as a jihadi.
The most important targets: Jordan, the Hashemite Kingdom, and the Hijazz, the land of Mecca and Medina.
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 3, Block C: Jared Espley, Juno program scientist for NASA, and David Livingston, The Space Show; in re:   Hotel Mars, episode n. Juno Mission now in orbit around the gas giant Jupiter.   Spacecraft working perfectly, and the science instruments also. Very exciting.  We’re now getting back the first data. Powered by solar batteries.  The spacecraft is huge and is so distant from the Sun, solar array are thirty feet long (and we have three of them).  Jupiter has an intense radiation field around it; this can degrade solar arrays, but no significant problem over the mission’s lifetime.  See NASA’s site.   . . . Jupiter’s famous band not present in its polar regions; rather, chaos of whirlpools and eddies.  [Two amazing sound files:  real sounds from Jupiter issued by NASA, and a decades-old cut from Forbidden Planet.]
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Sounds of Jupiter, 2016, Meet Sounds of Forbidden Planet, 1956. Hotel Mars.  Jared Espley, NASA. David Livingston, SpaceShow.com.   “…These strange, screeching and roaring sounds were captured by Juno's Wave instrument as the spacecraft crossed the boundary Jupiter's magnetic field on June 24, and they're both fascinating and chilling to listen to.  As weird as it might sound, the noise is actually the 'bow shock' caused when Juno entered the planet's immense magnetic field, which protects the gas giant from solar winds, just like our magnetic field here on Earth.
The sound is produced when the supersonic solar winds that are hurtling through the Solar System are suddenly slowed down and heated up as they plough into Jupiter's magnetosphere, resulting in bow shock - it's sort like the sonic boom produced when an aircraft exceeds the speed of sound here on Earth, and the compression waves coming off it combine to form a shock wave.  The bow shock recorded by Juno lasted about 2 hours, which is pretty impressive considering the spacecraft is travelling around 241,000 km/h (150,000 mph) . . .”     http://www.sciencealert.com/the-juno-spacecraft-just-recorded-these-cree...
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 3, Block D:  Jared Espley, Juno program scientist for NASA, and David Livingston, The Space Show; in re:   Hotel Mars, episode n.  Juno Mission now in orbit around the gas giant Jupiter.  Solar wind: a thin stream of gas that streams out from h Sun at all times.  Hear the boom – it runs into Jupiter’s tremendous field and has to divert as Jupiter ploughs through that wind. Earth makes a similar sound – electromagnetic waves similar to Jupiter’s on Earth. A 48-minute travel time for communications – speed of light.  Many mysteries in this; scientifically most exciting.  Mission is out of its greatest danger, but dangers lurk around the corners. We knew of strong radiation and some dust, but it's all new and you can't ever be sure in advance. 
 
Hour Four
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 4, Block A:   Francis Rose, Natl Defense Week, WAML; Government Matters, Channel 7; both in Washington, D.C., in re:  Michael Hayden on govt hacks.   Apt 28 (KGB) and Apt 29 (GRU) – Fancy Bear and Cozy Bear.  We can break in, have an arsenal of zero days; use spear phishing.  You can't catch us!   Hayden says this is through Russian organized crime so Putin can say the Russian govt did not hack the DNC.  Nefarious activity is often approved by the govt there.  Plausible deniability. Also: this is standard operating procedure in spy craft.  The US would do the same.  The hacks on OPN, NSA, and all the others: If we let them in, shame on us.  Recall the Enigma machine.  Today we have uncrackable cryptology: we’re really good at listening on people’s secrets.   Self-criticism of US cybercommand: we were great at offensive, very slow at defensive, cyber capabilities. The fed govt is superb at gathering info from others.   Russia is sure that the US interfered in overseas elections (Ukraine), so Russia can, too Now apparently Russia is hacking into US think tanks – Brookings, et al., because they have email from all sorts of excellent sources.   Every defense contractor has at least been pinged by Russian and/or Chinese govt intell and/or criminal gangs.   They send email “from” Francis Rose or John Batchelor, say “click on this” – and your machine is entirely compromised.
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TV: GOVERNMENT MATTERS    Thanks to the great work of my colleagues George Jackson and Colby Hochmuth, Government Matters has quickly become the place to see the superstars of the federal government. Some of the interviews you may have missed over the summer:
DHS Chief Financial Officer Chip Fulghum on managing risk and money in uncertain budget times
Col. Trey Rawls of the F-35 Program Office on the F-35A's declaration of initial operational capability
DoD CIO Terry Halvorsen responds to GAO's critique of the Joint Information Environment
Commerce Dept. CIO Cooper and CHCO Mahoney on building their cyber workforce
Treasury Department Chief Risk Officer Ken Phelan on the Enterprise Risk Management Playbook
Army CHESS Leader Doug Haskin on the ITES hardware and services contracts
EPA CIO Ann Dunkin on the agency's agile BPA
OPM's Veronica Villalobos on her agency's role in building the cyber workforce
GSA's Kay Ely on improvements to Schedule 70
Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Alabama) on his first-hand look at RIMPAC
Carolyn Lerner, head of the Office of Special Counsel, on whistleblower protections
Former OMB Controller Danny Werfel on how to use the updated Circular A-123
. . . just since July 31! 

WATCH:
•    Monday through Friday at 8pm and 11pm on NewsChannel 8
•    Sunday morning at 10:30 on ABC7 WJLA
•    All shows and individual interviews posted at GovMatters.tv
RADIO: NATIONAL DEFENSE WEEK
My radio program continues to bring you news and analysis of the major issues DoD leaders are dealing with. On this week's program:
•    Lee Evey, Program Manager of the Pentagon Renovation Program from 1997 to 2002, on the Phoenix Project, a program that restored within one year the portion of the Pentagon damaged by the 9/11 attack;
•    Paul Scharre of the Center for a New American Security on how the Navy can save $100B by moving toward uninhabited aircraft (drones) in combat missions;
•    Sam LaGrone of USNI News on the latest breakdown of a Littoral Combat Ship, and the massive reorganization of the LCS program;
•    and highlights of a hearing about the effectiveness of the office of the DoD Inspector General, with testimony from Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), a retired Navy SEAL, and acting DoD Inspector General Glenn Fine.
Some highlights from the summer:
Sergeant Major of the Army Dan Dailey on a reemphasis on basic soldiering and mental readiness
RADM Scott Bishop on the coalition and goals of the       Rim of the Pacific Exercise
Maj. Trent Wilhite of PEO Soldier on their program to test soldier-recommended commercial solutions
. . . and more.
LISTEN:
•    Sunday mornings at 11am on WMAL, 105.9 FM and 630 AM in DC area
•    Podcast via iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast platforms
•    All show episodes and individual interviews posted at NationalDefenseWeek.com
EVENTS
With everyone getting back to work after summer's end, the event calendar is already filling up. If you're coming to one of these events, look me up.
Sept. 14: Smithsonian/AT Kearney America@250 gala (attending)
Sept. 15: Pentagon Facebook Live with USA Patrick Murphy (recording for 9/18 National Defense Week)
Sept. 20: Partnership for Public Service's Service to America Medals gala (attending)
Sept. 27: Webinar: Unlocking the Potential of Government Data (moderating/hosting)
Sept. 29: AFFIRM lunch: Presidential Transition 2016: A 360-Degree View (moderating)
Oct. 4: CTOVision's Synergy Forum (moderating)
Oct. 23-25: ACT-IAC's Executive Leadership Conference (moderating/hosting)
Nov. 17: Government IT Sales Summit (moderating)

 

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Michael Hayden Philosophizes on Cyber Spycraft, 2016. VA Blues. @FrancisRoseDC. WMAL.   “. . . Meanwhile, retired U.S. Air Force general Michael Hayden, director of the NSA and CIA under president George W. Bush, criticized Trump's comments in an interview with Bloomberg View columnist Eli Lake.   "If he is talking about the State Department e-mails on her server, he is inviting a foreign intelligence service to steal sensitive American government information," Hayden said. "If he is talking about the allegedly private e-mails that she destroyed, he is inviting a foreign intelligence service to violate the privacy of an individual protected by the Fourth Amendment to the American Constitution."
"Perhaps he doesn't know what he's talking about. Just a theory," Hayden said.
http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/deeply-troubling-ex-ambassador-intelligence-officials-blast-trump-russia-comments-n618276  ;  http://federalnewsradio.com/management/2016/09/obama-weighs-va-commissions-health-care-suggestions/  ;  http://federalnewsradio.com/management/2016/09/obama-weighs-va-commissions-health-care-suggestions/
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 4, Block B: Francis Rose, Natl Defense Week, WAML; Government Matters, Channel 7; both in Washington, D.C., in re:    Veterans’ Affairs.  Both presidential candidates spoke to VA, made rosy promises.  Jeff Miller’s article on unions and the VA.  Unions and feds unable to bargain on pay and benefits because of civil service. Instead,  they bargain about hours, working conditions, et al.   American Federation of Govt Employees: AFGE historically has been a bit more aggressive. President of AFGE is J David Cox, said, who  “Whoop his [tail feathers]” about the head of the VA. Is this constructive?  “Civility is leadership.”
How to fix the Veterans’ health Administration. Obama Adm goes along with 15 of the 18 Committee recommendations, but refused private-sector health care to vets who can't get what they urgently need directly from the VA. 
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Union Bosses, VA Bosses Rigging System for Failure, by Rep. Jeff Miller  Military.com   http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/09/05/opinion-union-bosses-va-bosses-rigging-system-for-failure.html   In an expletive-laden rant delivered earlier this year, a belligerent American Federation of Government Employees President J. David Cox threatened Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Bob McDonald with physical violence.
Cox was "prepared to whoop Bob McDonald's a--," he said. "He's going to start treating us as the labor partner … or we will whoop his a--, I promise you," Cox continued.
http://federalnewsradio.com/management/2016/09/obama-weighs-va-commissions-health-care-suggestions/ ; http://federalnewsradio.com/management/2016/09/obama-weighs-va-commissions-health-care-suggestions/
The Obama administration said it agrees with the majority of the recommendations from the congressionally- appointed VA Commission on Care, which in July released 18 suggestions to improve veterans health care....
But Obama and McDonald both took issue with the Commission’s suggestion that an 11-member board of directors oversee the Veterans Health Administration’s transformation and long-term strategies.
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 4, Block C: Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law and NYU Law; in re:  Housing in New York and San Francisco. Administrative law intervenes: 1.  rent control in New York , and 2. externalties.   Price controls engender envy and then to huge, pent-up demand, then rising prices. More voters than landlords.  Rent control gave way to rent stabilization, which guarantees at least some profit to landlord, but now 47 years of highly inefficient markets.  Destroys mobility of unit, investment; rent cap reduces mkt value, thus also taxes that support infrastructure.  . . .   
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The Administratively Insane Rentals of NYC & SF. @RichardAEpstein, @HooverINST.   The current housing crunch in New York, and in other cities like San Francisco, is attributable to a complex set of regulations. Under the modern administrative law system, private property rights are of little consequence when a developer is trying to build. What matters ultimately is that all of the relevant “stakeholders” have a right to participate in an endless negotiation process before anything gets accomplished. The de facto presumption is against changes in both new and existing housing markets. The building permit is the unit of political currency, and each requires enormous inside connections, patience, and luck to obtain. It can take developers many years to obtain their precious permits, if they get them at all . .  .  http://www.hoover.org/research/new-yorks-self-inflicted-housing-crunch
Friday  9 September 2016 / Hour 4, Block D:   Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law and NYU Law; in re:  Housing in New York and San Francisco. Bill deBlasio and his idea of affordable housing.  Externality: an elusive term in the law; whenever we do something with someone without legal arrangements, that’s an externality.  Law of nuisances to adjudicate 1. Antipollution, and 2 You have a duty to support(?) the land of your neighbor; from the 1300s.  Externalities include demand for neighbors like oneself (all Italian, all Chinese, all elders, all quiet); DeBlaso  wants neighborhoods economically integrated, but it's hard to integrate economically by individual  building. It takes half of forever to get decisions through the courts. Mayor’s system doesn’t always work. New York Community Boards can decide the character of a neighborhood.   . . . In New York, new construction is difficult so people take burned-out hulks and can get permits.  San Francisco is wholly landlocked, an even more difficult real estate environment.
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