Monday 9 May 2016
Photo, left:
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes
Hour One
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 1, Block A: Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor & FDD, and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal senior editor & FDD, in re: Afghan govt executed six: five Taliban and one al Q member; Taliban vowed to send in droves of suicide martyrs to avenge the executions. Suicide bombers: al Q roll ‘em out in volume; Taliban utilizes them more carefully; but say they have thousands in waiting. Haqqani Network is an integral part of the Taliban, a subset thereof. Siraj Haqqani is Deputy Emir, and his father is in the high shura.
Hamza bin Laden, Obl son, paired with an old man in the movement: reaffirm the al Q message that if we win in Syria, then we can liberate Jerusalem from the hated Jews. “Moslems must purge their beloved Palestine.”. . . . . Jaish al Fat’t. . . . Rumanians stationed with NATO: killed in an “insider attack,” when an Afghan turns his arms against NATO Resolute Support. Blue on gren attacks are still not declassified.
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 1, Block B: Tom Joscelyn, Long War Journal senior editor & FDD, and Bill Roggio, Long War Journal senior editor & FDD, in re:
Turkestan Islamic party in Aleppo: Uyghurs from Xinjiang, and Uzbeks.
Iraq; Anbar Province – Abu Wahid, ISIS commander for Anbar, has been killed. A longtime jihadist; captured in 2006, put in Camp ___ which bred jihadists. Sentenced to death, escaped in 2012, back to ISIS. Rampage, took over most o Anbar. Videos of executions, incl 12 policemen; he was proud, did not cover his face in the video. ISIS in Mahgreb: threatens Morocco
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 1, Block C: Claudia Rosett, FDD, Thaddeus McCotter,and Gordon G. Chang, Daily Beast & Forbes.com, in re: Ben Rhodes. Pres Obama’s spokesman, works for Natl Security Council, said, “Foreign policy is treated as a parlor game in which you give your opponents bad info, and it circulates in the echo chamber and comes back manicured (mangled). “ He’s young (40), has no foreign policy education, has become the narrator for all of the Administration’s policies. Most striking is the documentation, that Rhodes’s job is to package and sell the lies of Mr Obama’s administration.” Rhodes has been at the president’s side for hours and hours daily. Journalists think, “this is false” – but it's presented in a way that makes it difficult to untangle and correct. Rhodes came to his job with nil intl experience after training to be a fiction writer. Dangerous fro the Republic. The oddest part is that he preens and crows over his successes as a self-acknowledge liar. TMC: Didn’t the president know that Rhodes was lying? CR: Yes, his job has been to lie for he president. It's Pres Obama’s policy; Rhodes’s skill is to package and paper over. Exhibit A is the lies that generated the Iran deal. Also wrote Prepcom for Benghazi. GC: The press did not do its job! Neither did Congress. A debacle – the Iran deal – that was recreated all over Washington, not just the White House. Rhodes’s job to make palatable the president’s policies – he spoke out boastingly to the New York Times. He thought he’d get a glowing, admiring piece. Pres Obama and Rhodes don’t evince a lack of confidence; rather, massive contempt do the public, the important conventions of the world – see how they treated our allies and cousined up to our enemies. Historically, president’s have apologized and tried to bail out, but Obama, et al., spin harder, double down, and repackage the lies with new lies. TMC: They [all Washington] care more about narrative than truth. It's nauseating. Rhodes is just a minion.
See: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/08/magazine/the-aspiring-novelist-who-bec...
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 1, Block D: Claudia Rosett, FDD, Thaddeus McCotter, and Gordon G. Chang, Daily Beast & Forbes.com, in re: In the major North Korean Congress, where invitees were obliged to stay in their seats for five hours, can't even leave to go to the WC, Kim Jong-eun said, basically. “To the West: leave us alone and we won’t send nukes onto your soil.” He wears an Italian suit with expensive cufflinks to show that he’s important and deserves international respect. This is all about consolidation of power; he wants to be recognized as a nuclear power as he believes that will keep him in power. Whenever he says, “Maybe we’ll be more reasonable,” the West falls all over it, which gives the Kims more time to develop nukes. Thaddeus: To the Italian tailor, that’s some regrettable product placement. Claudia: Yes, we've been promised that North Korea will lose its nukes. Wendy Sherman went from there to the Iran dal – never mind the missiles, we’ll just cut a deal on nukes only. The US keeps wanting to get to the negotiating table, which will do zero good in the matter. The only sane resolution is to bring down the regime. Gordon: The genesis of this set of miserable problems was G W Bush. Trump and Sanders resonate because both parties have failed to protect the American people in circumstances when the resolution was obvious but the parties refused to deal.
Hour Two
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 2, Block A: John Fund, NRO, and David Drucker, Washington Examiner, in re: Mrs Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and Mr Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. Charlie Cook keeps an electoral map. Mrs Clinton has 302 to 304 Electoral College votes. The national map looks good for Democrats. Georgia has been trending less red over the last election cycles, it's not enough of a good sign for the GOP when . . . TMC: Charlie Cook is excellent, but it's a snapshot in time If Georgia trends the wrong way , something needs to be done. What can Trump do? DMD: One, the female vote-- if his disapproval numbers stay where they are, he’ll have a problem in the following states [ . . .]. He can't fix his problem with the Hispanic vote. Mr Trump will continue to say almost anything, irrespective of the effort to bring the party together. Paul Singer, the GOP megadonor, won’t help Trump of Clinton. Just went to the annual Hamilton dinner; the huge donors know Trump best and won’t support him. May get Stan Hubbard out of Minnesota, and from the energy industry because they're petrified of Clinton’s war on fracking Evangelicals are also split. Trump says he can flip Michigan to red? This candidate’s positions may be called moderate, but the tone, the message, the [insinuations]. Today he attacked the media, the GOP, Paul Ryan, attacked in all directins He’s a master at finding he vulnerabilities of his opponents and going after them. BUT, the roar of the crowds ins one thing; after it dies down there’s work to be done, which Trump very clearly is not doing.
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 2, Block B: John Fund, NRO, and David Drucker, Washington Examiner, in re: Mrs Clinton sends out a letter today: “To win, we have to focus on historically red and blue states, esp Ohio, Colorado, and Florida.” —good grief, that’s the election! What Trump has is a first-rate data program: it's good and works well. The Field program is a great architecture , but wd be better to have a Cruz-style campaign to plug in to it. Can Trump win a general without doing any real work? Obama did first-class data work, and won. Trump’s negatives with Hispanics is around 80% -and that defines Colorado and Florida. Ya basta! say the Hispanics – no more of your insults. . . . News in from the Hill: Clintons will run no more TV ads against Sanders . . . Will define Trump, and try to pick up as many soft GOP votes as possible or persuade Republicans just to stay home. Paul Ryan: an Irishman from the Badger State.
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 2, Block C: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: The March of the Living in Crackow, and Nuremburg. Iran tests a new ballistic missile. Debate rages over whether or not a missile test took place – a Brigadier General said they’d tested a high-precision PGM [precision-guided missile] with a 2000-km range: hits within 8 meters of target [an extraordinary CEP]. Then another Iranian said not; but 10% of Iran’s military budget is devoted to missile dvpt. No one in the world remarks; gives Iran permission to continue. All clear violations of UN SC Resolutions forbidding this. Meanwhile Iran threatens to block the Straits of Hormuz and forbid transit of US oil. Also suing against families whose relatives were killed by Iran in the Lebanon bombing. Escalating their role in Syria – Iranians and Afghans killed. The West is arguing how to give Iran more concessions. Russians might find it in their interest to bring a temporary halt to Syrian fighting. Chemical weapons smuggled by Hezbollah into Syria [Lebanon?}– a grave escalation. The question is what will come of this; cf. what the Kurds have done in Iraq – consolidated, establishing provinces. The New York Times article about Ben Rhodes. Rhodes got caught up himself and perhaps told the truth, now trying to walk it back, offset the impact of his words. Note that it was also a blow against jounos, with the Administration bamboozling reporters. Used the word “Blob.” One can only wonder what that presages. Knew all along that the Administration was spinning – we knew the facts and discussed it as much as we could in the show; it was America that lost. The whole process was interpreted as winning, and it was clear from the start that there was nothing they wouldn't do. Panetta, former SecDef in the Obama Administration, with searing remarks.
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 2, Block D: Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: Cartoon contest in Iran: the Iranian foreign minister involved in the Iran deal that was said by Ben Rhodes to have been concocted— Zarif now backing away. He refuses to condcmn the WWII Holocaust. This is the third cartoon contest where a $50,000 prize goes to the cartoon most strongly mocking the Holocaust. Submissions from around the world. The head of the contest, however, said Zarif was lying when he said that the govt had nothing to do with the contest; in fact, the contest closely cooperates with the Ministry of Culture, so it's basically govt-funded. Zarif says it’s an NGOI and not connected to the govt. Ho-ho—no NGO exists in Iran without major govt approval. Mrs Clinton, a Methodist, condemns the BDS – boycott divestment and sanctions against Israel, only: boycott Target, Motorola, Hewlett-Packard. Labour in England for anti-Jewish statements – a virulent movement in England for a long time: racism, bigotry, unacceptable.
Hour Three
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 3, Block A: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal Editorial Board & host of Opinion Journal on WSJ Video; in re: http://www.wsj.com/video/opinion-journal-a-trump-implosion/FB791E66-CE38-4E1B-93AC-829116A36AE1.html
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 3, Block B: Harry Siegel, New York Daly News and Daily Beast, in re: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/harry-siegel-de-blasio-depressing-defense-article-1.2628017 Certain hypocritical people, says Mayor de Blasio, seem to want to criminalize politics, and his in particular. This as he’s lawyered up in response to five intertwined corruption investigations. Certain hypocritical people, says Mayor de Blasio, seem to want to criminalize politics, and his in particular. This as he’s lawyered up in response to five intertwined corruption investigations. It’s a new spin on the old cliché about how just because you’re paranoid, that doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you. Call it de Blasio’s rule: Just because they’re out to get you doesn’t mean you’re not guilty.
The certain person de Blasio plainly means is his fellow Democrat, Gov. Cuomo, who the mayor last year accused of having a “vendetta” against him. And indeed, it was a Cuomo appointee to the state Board of Elections who dropped a dime about the mayor’s shady fundraising tactics in 2014 state Senate races, which look awfully similar to the governor’s shady tactics in those same races. That’s gangster flick stuff. And so is de Blasio’s defense, which amounts to . . .
Some nerve, this mayor. This governor. And the voters who keep electing and re-electing all these future convicts. http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/harry-siegel-de-blasio-depressing-defense-article-1.2628017
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 3, Block C: Coral Davenport, NYT, in re: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/03/us/resettling-the-first-american-climate-refugees.html?rref=collection%2Fsectioncollection%2Fscience&action=click&contentCollection=science®ion=stream&module=stream_unit&version=latest&contentPlacement=3&pgtype=sectionfront
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 3, Block D: Dan Voorhis, The Wichita Eagle, in re: Storm clouds gathering over Kansas farms as income dips, land prices fall | The Wichita Eagle http://www.kansas.com/news/business/agriculture/article74919252.html
Hour Four
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 4, Block A: Josh Rogin, Bloomberg View, in re: http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-06/u-s-doubles-down-on-egypt-s-dictator; and: http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-09/when-a-washington-cave-dweller-steps-into-the-light (1 of 2)
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 4, Block B: Josh Rogin, Bloomberg View, in re: http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-06/u-s-doubles-down-on-egypt-s-dictator; and: http://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2016-05-09/when-a-washington-cave-dweller-steps-into-the-light When a Washington 'Cave Dweller' Steps into the Light
Washington doesn’t work the way people think it does. And when the public gets a peek into the way it does work, there’s a lot of outrage.
Most real power doesn't lie with the senators or cabinet officials or ambassadors. The people who make things happen don't have an office of their own or a room with a view. They're one or two levels down, working the machine from the inside. When they succeed, the public isn’t aware of their existence, much less their influence. These are the "cave dwellers" of Washington.
Occasionally, one of the cave dwellers surfaces and is subjected to public scrutiny. The results are rarely pretty. For one thing, the very important people for whom the cave dwellers work bristle at their lowly staff soaking up some of the spotlight. Other cave dwellers can use the opportunity to settle scores.
This is what happened last week when the deputy national security adviser, Ben Rhodes, was profiled by David Samuels in the New York Times Magazine. For people outside Washington, the piece may seem like a glowing portrayal of a young writer who formed a close relationship with the president and rose to a position of power inside the White House. But inside Washington, the reaction was almost all negative. Foreign policy pundits seized upon Rhodes’s description of the campaign to defend the Iran deal as evidence that the White House lied to the American people and spun the press. Prominent journalists attacked . . . (2 of 2)
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 4, Block C: Peter Berkowitz, Hoover, via Real Clear Politics, in re: Double Jeopardy at the University of California Most Americans understand that individuals who have been subject to an authorized disciplinary procedure and have accepted their prescribed punishment shouldn’t be investigated and punished a second time for the same offense. This elementary feature of fairness and due process seems to have escaped University of California President Janet Napolitano in her treatment of UC Berkeley law professor Sujit Choudhry, who was, until he resigned last month, also dean of the law school.
In July 2015, Claude Steele, UC-Berkeley’s executive vice chancellor and provost, wrote to then-Dean Choudhry concerning the results of an investigation completed by the university’s Office for the Prevention of Harassment and Discrimination. OPHD found that from July 2014 to March 2015, Choudhry behaved inappropriately toward Tyann Sorrell, an executive assistant in the department. His misconduct, the investigation determined, “included repeated hugging, kissing on the cheek, and touching on shoulders and arms, was unwelcome and violated the UC Policy on Sexual Harassment and Sexual Violence.” [Turns out it was welcome, consensual.]
Steele cut Choudhry’s salary approximately 10 percent for one year; ordered him to undertake, at his own expense, professional coaching on “maintaining appropriate standards of behavior in the workplace”; and apologize in writing to Ms. Sorrell.
Choudhry’s version of events as set forth in the OPCD report differed in important respects from . . .
Monday 9 May 2016 / Hour 4, Block D: John Tozzi, Bloomberg Businessweek, in re: ONE MAN'S WAR ON SALT
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