Screen shot:  Even in the midst of its woeful divisions, Jerusalem still is one of the most beautiful cities on Earth.
“Yerushalayim, that art builded as a city that is compact together… For there were set thrones for judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Yerushalayim; may they prosper that love thee.” Psalms 122:3-6 (The Israel Bible™)
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, the Great Voice of the Great Lakes
 
Hour One
Monday   14 May 2018 / Hour 1, Block A: Tom Joscelyn, Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies; & Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal; and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re: Al Qaeda says that the entire intl system is a threat to Muslims everywhere and needs to be destroyed.  Zawahiri presents all violence as victories.
I thank the editor in al Q who got al Zawahiri to speak briefly.
Ghazni City in Afghanistan, report from New York Times: this city is contested- Taliban are collecting taxes; they live in a hood that ‘s a no-go place for cops; control all the roads into Ghazni City, are holding court; when the provincial governor moves from bldg. to bldg. within his compound in a Humvee. “Resolute Support’s” assertions mean nothing.
Weekend Paris reports, one dead: ISIS releases vid apparently showing the knifeman swearing allegiance to ISIS.  Small-scale attacks in Europe routinely have vids released after the attack. ISIS shows it has at least a digital tie to killers. BBC reports him as a Chechen with French citizenship. Some of the vids were in fact recorded in Grozny or Russia. 
Monday   14 May 2018 / Hour 1, Block B: Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal and FDD; and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal and FDD; in re: . . . Indonesia. ISIS fatwa: “Can draw nearer to Allah by murdering Christians, esp in churches.”  Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Indonesia, others.
They attack the tax-man – and then can collect taxes, themselves.
Monday   14 May 2018 / Hour 1, Block C: Gordon Chang, Daily Beast and Forbes,com, in re:  ZTE – caught in [typical] fraud, theft from the US.  Pres Trump’s tweet: Pres Xi and I are working to give . . . ZTE a way to get back in bz fast; too many jobs lost. . . Fine of $892 million. . .”   ZTE relies wholly on Qualcomm and Google chips.  Welfare of the 75,000 employees of this sanctions-busting company; software sold to DPRK.  Pres Trump thereby ignored the welfare of Americans.  This is just a way of doing bz in China, as well as a long-developed arrogance. Pres Trump has undermined this to a certain degree.  . . . If the US can't sanction this sort of company, Iran will do whatever it wants.  . . . Isn't it now apparent to Euro companies that if you buy qqch and ship it to Iran, you’re all right?  Yes; unfortunately, Pres Trump made that evident.  . . .  Chinese now have made a treat against US trade policy and humiliated the US.   TGM:  We mfr enough rope for China to buy and hang us with. They now think that we have no political will or sovereignty.   
Monday   14 May 2018 / Hour 1, Block D: Behnam Ben Taleblu, FDD, in re: Kim Jong-eun is being influenced by the money-lenders in the temple – the new bz class in DPRK. Donju: the “market generation” – the guys with the cash.  Like Teheran’s bazaar? Could be the IRGC’s merchant class – the guys with the guns vs the guys with the butter. Norks, IRGC: both have nukes, both are predatory;  both have a developing middle class.  . . . We have a class that doesn’t have power as we understand it: Kim’s bi-yung-gen line: guns and butter. He wants sanctions relief probably because he’s getting pressure from the bottom.  . . . Iran: In the autumn it’ll be about currency collapse if it hasn't already collapse. The classic Persian bazaaris have gone out of bz; today, a sort of pseudo-bazaari class, since the original was eclipsed by the Islamic revolution of 1979.
 
Hour Two
Monday   14 May 2018 / Hour 2, Block A:  John Fund, NRO and Fox News, and David M Drucker, Washington Examiner, in re: The US embassy has now moved form TLV to Jerusalem is open for bz at the historical legation.  Also, Gallup Poll: Trump has gone from “ghastly” to “bad.”
The putative Blue Wave: Dems shd enjoy a snap-back, being the party out of power. We hear that the Blue Wave is cresting; but the generic polls show a closing – America again in a close contest between Democrats an Republicans.    Polling is a snapshot in time and changes as conditions on the ground change. GOP now feel better about their party, and less infighting. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act finally delivered the major accomplishment of 2017.  Also, more signs of accomplishment coming in: North Korea, economic improvements.  GOP probably will lose a lot of seats but not enough to lose control of the House.  Dems lack policies of their own, talk abt Russia too much, et al.   Ergo, the Blue Wave is suspended.  President’s financial matter, or Michael Cohen. I had dinner w three GOP Congressmen, and I didn't expect them to be as confident as they were.    . . . Tom Steyer must be a Republican plant!  . . . Dems are flush w cash: Soros, or ___ Blue – oceans of money. GOP will be adequately funded; Dems will be the big spenders; let’s see how little the media complain abt Dem billionaires’ flooding the ads.  Pelosi: “crumbs” doesn't work.   . .  [Various statewide races, incl Florida and West Virginia.] 
Monday   14 May 2018 / Hour 2, Block B:  David M Drucker, Washington Examiner, and John Fund, NRO and Fox News, in re: Mrs Trump’s being in hospital for a week for what's called a benign growth on her kidneys: the attacks on the president and his family have been so constant that that they’re normalized.  One has a natural concern for Mrs Trump’s well-being.  . . . We now have a full-blown media-entertainment complex — politics have become [that].
Monday   14 May 2018 / Hour 2, Block C:  Aaron Klein, Breitbart Middle East Bureau Chief, in re:  Israel. Hamas is getting what it wants’: media coverage. The March of Return.  . .  Palestinians have rejected having a state again and again, and even again today. The so-called Right of Return. UN has fundamentally changed he definition of “refugees,” even as the world is calling on UNRWA to explain vast numerical discrepancies.  After decades of walking away from or refusing negotiations, why is Hamas suddenly eager to have death-defying demonstrations purportedly calling for negotiations?  . . . Shin Bet on Iran:  today put out info that Iran has been financing some of Hamas’s riots, which it had scaled back for the previous year.  Looks as though Hamas has tried to prove to its financier that it’s actually doing something.  . . . Look at Hamas’s internal matters, how its economy is very close to collapse and big chunks of the population are in fact starving.   Hamas needs to channel domestic rage, which it’s attempting to do with these demos.  Recall that Israel daily sends in truckloads of food and supplies to Gaza; and Hamas has just blown up fuel lines in to Gaza.  [Yike.]  Intl news media hype the numbers and [lie by omission]. 
Monday   14 May 2018 / Hour 2, Block D:  Aaron Klein, Breitbart Middle East Bureau Chief, in re:  Israel. Gaza provocations and Egypt. 
 
Hour Three
Monday 14 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block A:  Building Habitats on the Moon: Engineering Approaches to Lunar Settlements, by Haym Benaroya
Monday 14 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block B:  Building Habitats on the Moon: Engineering Approaches to Lunar Settlements, by Haym Benaroya
Monday 14 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block C:  Michael Pregent, Hudson Institute senior Fellow; in re: Syria and Iran. Iraqi elections.
Monday 14 May 2018/ Hour 3, Block D:  Michael Pregent, Hudson Institute senior Fellow; in re: Syria and Iran. Iraqi elections.
 
Hour Four
Monday 14 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block A: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Jerusalem.
Monday 14 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block B: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Jerusalem
Monday 14 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block C: Richard Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover; in re: Seattle: the $15 minimum wage and national economic effects.
Monday 14 May 2018/ Hour 4, Block D: Richard Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover; in re: Seattle: the $15 minimum wage and national economic effects.
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