Photo left: Cambridge Circus, ancient home of MI6.
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JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Liz Peek, Fiscal Times & Fox News.   Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents.
 
Hour One
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 1, Block A: Liz Peek, Fiscal Times & Fox News, in re: AHCA coming up this week?  A trillion dollars lower. Freedom Caucus & Tuesday Group.   The Wall:  the populace doesn't favor granting special status to 11 million migrants until the wall is up.
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It looks like the dispute over “The Wall” will not, after all, shut down the federal government. In the past few days, White House officials and President Trump have shifted from demanding budget funding for the wall to asking for money to increase “border security.” That request should not be controversial; the lights will stay on.
That doesn’t mean the immigration wars are over -- far from it. As Trump ramps up border security, liberal Democrats vow ever-greater resistance. Blue states are increasingly adopting policies that bolster their pro-immigrant bona fides, but that may ultimately cause a backlash. Brooklyn, New York, recently announced it was manipulating criminal prosecutions to avoid deportations, an approach which could lead to undocumented people being treated more gently than those here legally. 
At the same time, states like California continue to offer unauthorized residents budget-busting benefits that could cost citizens important perks – like scholarships to state schools. Such favors could increase hostility to people in the country illegally, and prevent real immigration reform.
The New York Times reported earlier this week that the Brooklyn district attorney has “created a policy that tailors prosecutions to avoid, when possible, the deportation or detention of immigrants charged with certain misdemeanors or nonviolent crimes.” In other words, prosecutors are being told to do legal handsprings to make sure that undocumented defendants do not plead guilty to the kinds of crimes that could get them tossed out of the country.
In deciding what kinds of charges to bring, the DA aspires to achieve “immigration-neutral disposition,” says The Times. Should that be the focus of our prosecutors? How long before that stated goal begins to discourage cops from rounding up criminals who might face deportation to avoid offending their political bosses? Might native-born Americans be treated more harshly under this new discipline than people in New York illegally?
“If someone confronts a guilty plea that would automatically subject them to a harsh immigration penalty,” says Eric Gonzalez, acting district attorney, “and there’s another possible plea that would hold them accountable and ensure public safety, justice demands they are given the one that doesn’t have immigration consequences.” Many people might not agree that adjusting the charges and pleas to circumvent the law constitutes justice.
In explanation, the DA’s office says, “Naturalized citizens, lawful residents and undocumented immigrants, they are all integral to our local economy and vibrant culture.”
What about the Brooklyn taxpayers who foot the bill for the undocumented population that they are supporting? What about citizens whose arrest and prosecution are not influenced by their immigration status?
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine published a massive report last September that attempted to answer questions that have bedeviled the debate over immigration policy for years:  Immigrants living and working in the U.S. both legally and illegally cost taxpayers $279 billion a year in social services. The average per capita government outlay was $15,908 compared with per capita tax receipts of only $10,887.
It is data like this and policies such as those noted above, that appear to favor those who have not played by the rules, which tend to harden attitudes about immigration. In California, state officials petitioned last year for a waiver which would have allowed them to offer Obamacare to undocumented people living in that state. Though President Obama vowed that persons in the country illegally would not have access to his signature healthcare program, State Sen. Ricardo Lara drafted legislation seeking a waiver from that federal rule for residents of California. After Trump had been elected, Lara withdrew his bill, claiming that he didn’t trust the new administration to protect the privacy of those who might apply for insurance.
California has offered people in that state illegally numerous benefits over the years, including in-state college tuition, driver’s licenses, and state-funded healthcare for children. Governor Jerry Brown struck the word “alien” from the state’s labor laws and has promised that he will not turn over data on state residents to federal authorities.  
California is also the first in the nation seeking to become a “sanctuary state,” despite opposition from local law enforcement authorities. One sheriff from a conservative county disagrees with the effort arguing that politicians should not demand that local cops hide information about criminal activity from federal authorities. “I believe it’s not lawful,” he said.
Such policies could prove illegal; they are definitely expensive. California is home to roughly 3 million undocumented residents, who make up about 6 percent of the state’s population and 10 percent of its workforce. Some 25 percent of the nation’s total illegal population lives in the Golden State. One right-leaning group has estimated that California taxpayers are paying as much as $30 billion annually providing services to that group, which includes about $16 billion in school costs. That’s a significant hit to a projected $180 billion projected budget, which includes an estimated $1.6 deficit.
Governor Brown is expected to tackle the state’s red ink by slowing the growth of public school spending. He has also proposed phasing out scholarship money for middle-class families sending their kids to the University of California or CalState. Will hard-working parents who have gained citizenship the old-fashioned way and whose kids may not get a shot at college resent the billions directed to undocumented residents?   
Americans have a sharp sense of fairness and respect for law and order. They also tend to vote with their pocketbook. They don’t like the idea of a wall, but they’re also not keen on sanctuary cities. They want people in the country illegally to be given a path to legal status. Nonetheless, they will not tolerate giving favored treatment and generous handouts to unauthorized people if they have to pay for it or end up feeling disadvantaged. These policies may appease liberal activists in a handful of states, but they will move us farther away from real immigration reform.  
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 1, Block B:  Stephen Moore, CNN; Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Heritage Foundation; Freedom Works; in re: Steve and Larry Kudlow and Art Laffer have for many months been working for a 15% tax rate.  (Both current French candidates want to cut corporate tax rates.)  Essential for Pres Trump to explain this to the citizenry.  New York Times savaged the plan today. CBO found that when you cut the corporate tax rate, 70% of the benefits go to workers in form of higher wages.  “Liberals love jobs but hate employers – but you can’t have jobs without employers.”  Pity we didn't do this tax cut a decade ago. All the other successful countries have been doing so and stole a lot of business from the US. As soon as we effect this cut, it’ll be a reverse magnet and bring lots of jobs back.  Repatriated earnings: GOP to Dems – what do you want?  Probably intelligent-spent infrastructure funds.  You can use reconciliation to do a tax cut.  “Revenue neutrality” [doesn't mean much]; dynamic scoring might work. If we can take current growth rate of 3% to 3.5%, trillions in growth.  Critical  that the president step out to the hustings and speak of this.  
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 1, Block C: Dan Henninger, Deputy editorial page editor, Wall Street Journal; in re; Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, head of the Freedom Caucus, in declining to approve Trump ACHA, ground the whole GOP to a temporary halt.   . . . Compromise is the coin of he realm and yes, probably everyone will wind up quite annoyed for a while. Ultimately you do want to get things done — that’s what the American people want, and are running out of patience.  https://www.wsj.com/articles/mark-meadowss-first-100-days-1493246026?tesla=y
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 1, Block D: Malcolm Hoenlein, in re:  Emulating Bing Crosby and Bob Hope, Malcolm Hoenlein and John Batchelor  are about to head out, On the Road to — Baku and Tbilisi, on the annual Annual Chizuk Mission Tour. TheVaad.com.
In Tbilisi: visiting two schools, kindergarten and first grade, in a mansion; we're teaching them secular and Torah studies.  There’s a Kosher Georgian restaurant in Queens.   People feel very comfortable and safe in Georgia; everybody wants to stay.  Three old synagogues in Tbilisi and some cemeteries.  
Baku, the Dubai of the Black Sea Basin.  Govt has provided us a wing of a public school; same studies as the regular school plus an hour of Jewish studies; marble in the halls. Beautiful.  Whole area feels like a resort.  
Itinerary: Tbilisi, a cable car and beautiful scenery; in Baku, an oil well and the museum of the president, and the entire, remarkable developed city.  
[Vaad l’Hatzolas Nidchei Yisroel, a public not for profit organization, was founded in the late seventies for the purpose of restoring traditional Jewish life and culture in the countries formerly part of the Soviet Union. Originally, the Vaad conducted clandestine missions all over the communist empire, which brought about the refusnik movement.]
 
Hour Two
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 2, Block A:  Ilan Berman, Sr VP, American Policy Council, in re:  IRGC as a leading force in Iran. US may designate it as a terrorist organization [and rightfully so]. Bottom line is L: blacklisting the IRGC  — Treasury already blacklist the Quds Force. To do so with IRGC, a state within the state, would have a massive effect on Iran’s economy and on the nuclear deal.  Can reverse normalization of trade with Iran. Highjackings and assassinations by IRGC are not incidental to the US.  Also must shift military rules of engagement – “dirty little secret” is that US troops have been  hampered by previous Adm to avoid at all costs any sort of possible confrontation, thereby giving Iran free rein to behave as it wants.  Russia has externalized its problem with jihadis:  a third of ISIS jihadis are from FSU; Russia faces an enormous returnee problem.  
Ilan Berman is Senior Vice President of the American Foreign Policy Council in Washington, DC. An expert on regional security in the Middle East, Central Asia, and the Russian Federation, he has consulted for both the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and the U.S. Department of Defense, and provided assistance on foreign policy and national security issues to a range of governmental agencies and congressional offices. He has been called one of America's "leading experts on the Middle East and Iran" by CNN.
         http://www.afpc.org/publication_listings/viewArticle/3491
         https://www.usnews.com/opinion/world-report/articles/2017-04-25/donald-trump-should-blacklist-irans-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps
         https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/10285/iran-ircg-terrorists-sanction
         http://isis-online.org/uploads/conferences/documents/Albright_House_Oversight_Subcommittee_5Apr2017_Final.pdf
         http://freebeacon.com/national-security/iran-russia-boost-military-ties-amid-u-s-action-syria/
         http://www.rferl.org/a/us-prosecutors-outline-high-level-conspiracy-evade-iran-sanctions-reza-zarrab-/28450235.html
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 2, Block B:    Claudia Tenney (NY-22) [from Lake Ontario to south to Binghamton], in re: Just returned from a Middle East trip, incl Lebanon.  Hard to know if the US can contain threats. Began trip in Egypt, met with Pres El Sisi, who was very positive, incl relati0ns with Israel. We went to Sinai – dangerous, ISIS creeping in everywhere,  Lebanon:  We have a large refugee population in NY-22, so we visited camps.  Jordan brings education minister into the camps. King Abdullah was riding his motorcycle up and down the California coast at that moment, so we met with King Faisal; one of my school friends knew him and had attended his wedding. The Berm is the border area between Egypt and Jordan.  
As we land in Egypt found that Tomahawks had landed in Syria; then in air heard hat Coptic churched had been attacked. Then as we took off to leave finally, the Mother of All Bombs was dropped in Afghanistan.
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Claudia Tenney was elected to serve as a member of the United States House of Representatives on November 8, 2016, after winning one of the most expensive races in the nation. As a freshman member of the 115th Congress, she was selected to serve on the House Financial Services Committee.  Previously, Claudia served as a member of the New York State Assembly. Claudia is an accomplished attorney and longtime small business owner. Claudia was the co-owner and legal counsel to Mid-York Press, Inc., a commercial printing and manufacturing firm started by her grandfather in 1946. Claudia also maintained a private law practice in Clinton, New York.
         http://www.aipac.org/learn/resources/aipac-publications/publication?pubpath=PolicyPolitics/Press/AIPAC%20Statements/2017/03/House%20Strengthens%20US%20Support%20for%20Vital%20Israel%20Defense%20Programs
         https://issa.house.gov/news-room/press-releases/congressman-issa-led-delegation-travels-meet-syrian-refugees-regional
         https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-26/trump-said-to-be-in-discussions-with-israel-about-visit-in-may
         https://besacenter.org/perspectives-papers/mahmoud-abbas-goes-washington-stake/
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 2, Block C:  Mohsen Sazegara,  , in re: Iranian elections.  Rouhani.  Massacre of prisoners in 1988 in Iranian prisons; supported by Revolutionary Guard: Ebrahim Raisi*, a mass murderer who may become the next Supreme Leader. Six finalists approved out of 1,600 candidates.  Raisi from Mashhad; did Putin fly in to visit him there recently? If so, Teheran was mightily displeased.  
Iran’s official month-long presidential campaign period kicked off last week in the run-up to the May 19 election. While former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s candidacy garnered international headlines, the real major development came when Ebrahim Raisi — touted as a potential successor to Iran’s aging supreme leader — entered the race.
Instead of a straightforward reelection campaign for Iran’s incumbent president, the question of supreme leader succession now looms over next month’s election.
Rouhani has a mixed record during his first term as president. He negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States plus the European Union), lifting international sanctions imposed over the Iranian nuclear program. Rouhani also introduced better economic management, which, alongside the sanctions relief of the JCPOA, generated a modest economic recovery after the Ahmadinejad years. Rouhani continues to be backed by a super-coalition of Iranian political currents composed of reformists, centrists and even moderate conservatives
* (1) Seyyed Ebrahim Raisos-Sadat, commonly known as Ebrahim Raisi, is an Iranian cleric and the current custodian and chairman of Astan Quds Razavi.
   (2)  Ebrahim Raisi is the custodian of Astan Quds Razavi, the wealthiest charity in the Muslim world and the organisation in charge of Iran’s holiest shrine. It is believed he is being groomed to be a leading candidate to succeed 77-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Mohsen Sazegara is an Iranian journalist and pro-democracy political activist. Dr. Sazegara held several high-ranking positions in the Government of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, such as deputy prime minister, minister of industry, deputy chairman of the budget and planning department, and many more before becoming disillusioned with the government in 1989 and pushing for reforms. He applied to become a candidate for President of Iran in the 2001 election but was declined.
         https://www.ft.com/content/9f8aeab2-28cc-11e7-bc4b-5528796fe35c
         https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/04/27/irans-holding-presidential-elections-here-are-the-candidates-to-watch/?utm_term=.f8cee798e5da
         http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/04/iran-elections-guardian-council-candidates-rouhani.html
         http://linkis.com/www.ncr-iran.org/en/sR2qo
         http://isis-online.org/uploads/conferences/documents/Albright_House_Oversight_Subcommittee_5Apr2017_Final.pdf
         http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/21/iran-cheat-deal-nuclear-research-opposition-group/
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 2, Block D:  Michael Rubin  ,   in re: Turkey’s recent election, widespread irregularities; tension continuing, country is very divided. Referendum was neither free not fair, ballot-stuffing, etc. Big question about legitimacy of Ergdogan’s rule, which his oppo doesn't recognize. OECD came to the conclusion that it was a rigged election.  NATO is a consensus-driven organization; one country can block – Turkey is that member, but NATO has no provisions for throwing someone out, Turkey has two F-16s for every pilot since so many pilots have been imprisoned eke the trainers. Tens of thousands purges. Erased a generation of knowledge. Russia is looking to obtain abase n Turkey and to sell high-tech military to Turkey an thereby obtain top-secret NATO info.  Neo-Ottomanism: Turkey shd rely on previous members of Ottoman Empire – many of whom have unpleasant memories of that.  What was Pres Trump thinking when he called Erdogan to congratulate him for winning the rigged election?? 
Michael Rubin is a former Pentagon official whose major research areas are the Middle East, Turkey, Iran and diplomacy. Rubin instructs senior military officers deploying to the Middle East and Afghanistan on regional politics, and teaches classes regarding Iran, terrorism, and Arab politics on board deploying U.S. aircraft carriers. Rubin has lived in post-revolution Iran, Yemen, both pre- and post-war Iraq, and spent time with the Taliban before 9/11. 
         http://www.defenddemocracy.org/media-hit/michael-ledeen-tyrants-and-their-hollow-states1/
         http://www.aei.org/publication/is-turkeys-military-incompetent/
         http://www.aei.org/publication/turkeys-turn-toward-russia/
 
 
Hour Three
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 3, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlein, in re: After we visit Baku and Tbiisi, Malcolm and I will go to Jerusalem.   Abbas has been invited to Washington. What benefit does the US get? He’s in the twelfth year of a four-year term.  He has three or four preconditions; he continues to fund terrorists who’ve committed mass murder – hundreds of millions of dollars a year.  . . .   In Ramallah, demos supporting an Islamic caliphate; Abbas doesn’t enjoy that much support.  Is Abbas’s visit created by Trump’s State Dept or Obama’s State Dept.   Why did an Iranian ship send live fire to a US ship, the Mahan, in the Persian Gulf? To test.  Done 35 times in 2016.  First-year anniversary of JCPOA.  Massive procurement network for Iran’s military: John Kerry slowed down extradition, declined to indict. Iran, naturally saw this as weakness.  Head of ICRC [Intl C’ee for the Red Cross] said that Israel gives ICRC quick access to information and persons and medical aid; “unequivocally Israel is not an Apartheid state – no disenfranchisement.” March of the Living annually to commemorate the Hitlerite mass murder. March near Cracow in Auschwitz-Birkenau. 
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 3, Block B: Jacques Neirah, Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, in re:  Xinjiang radical Uyghurs enjoy a strong bond with Turkey; Beijing persecutes Uyghurs; some who flee are recruited into Afghanistan and ISIS, highly trained in explosives and guerrilla warfare.  China estimates 1,000; probably many more.  The Hui Muslims are wholly integrated into Chinese society. Uyghurs were 90% of Xinjiang population in 1940s m but China’s Brezhnevian demographic overwhelm program has reduced them to 45%, dwindled by Han influx.   China forbids 22 names from being given to children Ramadan fasting is illegal.  
Col. (ret.) Dr. Jacques Neriah, a special analyst for the Middle East at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, was formerly Foreign Policy Advisor to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Deputy Head for Assessment of Israeli Military Intelligence.
         http://jcpa.org/article/chinese-approach-radical-islam/
         https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/chinese-jihadis-rise-in-syria-raises-concerns-at-home/2017/04/22/f5391716-2720-11e7-928e-3624539060e8_story.html?utm_term=.fcc14bca6669
 
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 3, Block C: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:   Big Space delays SLS another year.  Government in action! Despite spending almost $19 billion and more than thirteen years of development, NASA today admitted that it will have to delay the first test flight of the SLS rocket from late 2018 to sometime in 2019.
“We agree with the GAO that maintaining a November 2018 launch readiness date is not in the best interest of the program, and we are in the process of establishing a new target in 2019,” wrote William Gerstenmaier, chief of NASA’s human spaceflight program. “Caution should be used in referencing the report on the specific technical issues, but the overall conclusions are valid.”
Anyone who is a regular reader of Behind the Black will not be surprised by this. Beginning as far back as March 2015 I began noting the various issues that made a 2018 launch unlikely. All that has happened here is that NASA has gone public with what has been obvious within the agency now for two years.
The competition between the big government SLS/Orion program and private commercial space is downright embarrassing to the government. While SLS continues to be delayed, even after more than a decade of work and billions of wasted dollars, SpaceX is gearing up for the first flight of Falcon Heavy this year. And they will be doing it despite the fact that Congress took money from the commercial private space effort, delaying its progress, in order to throw more money at SLS/Orion.  (1 of 2)
http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/nasa-officially-delays-sls-first-flight-to-2019/
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 3, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:   Big Space delays SLS another year.  Government in action! Despite spending almost $19 billion and more than thirteen years of development, NASA today admitted that it will have to delay the first test flight of the SLS rocket from late 2018 to sometime in 2019.
“We agree with the GAO that maintaining a November 2018 launch readiness date is not in the best interest of the program, and we are in the process of establishing a new target in 2019,” wrote William Gerstenmaier, chief of NASA’s human spaceflight program. “Caution should be used in referencing the report on the specific technical issues, but the overall conclusions are valid.”
Anyone who is a regular reader of Behind the Black will not be surprised by this. Beginning as far back as March 2015 I began noting the various issues that made a 2018 launch unlikely. All that has happened here is that NASA has gone public with what has been obvious within the agency now for two years.
The competition between the big government SLS/Orion program and private commercial space is downright embarrassing to the government. While SLS continues to be delayed, even after more than a decade of work and billions of wasted dollars, SpaceX is gearing up for the first flight of Falcon Heavy this year. And they will be doing it despite the fact that Congress took money from the commercial private space effort, delaying its progress, in order to throw more money at SLS/Orion.  (2 of 2)
http://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/nasa-officially-delays-sls-first-flight-to-2019/
 
 
Hour Four
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 4, Block A:      Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes; and author, Liberty Risen, @ThadMcCotter; in re:  Schiff getting to “the bottom” of the Russia investigation.   Rep. Adam Schiff said Thursday it’s “premature” to conclusively say there isn’t any evidence of collusion between the Trump campaign and Russian officials.
“I do think we need to get to the bottom of these allegations of collusion or coordination,” the California Democrat said on CNN. “I believe that there is.”
When he was asked “is it premature to say there’s no evidence?” Mr. Schiff responded: “It is premature.”
Mr. Schiff said he believes the FBI’s investigation proves there’s something to the allegations, or the agency wouldn’t be looking into the issue so closely.
But he added that the committee is not determined to find any particular conclusion so long as they do a thorough job, adding he also believes an independent commission is necessary as well.
“I think that ought to be a supplement for what we do, not instead of what we do,” Mr. Schiff said. (1 of 2)   http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/27/adam-schiff-says-its-premature-to-make-a-determina/   ;   http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/apr/25/christopher-steele-admits-dossier-charge-unverifie/
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 4, Block B:  Thaddeus McCotter, WJR, The Great Voice of the Great Lakes; and author, Liberty Risen, @ThadMcCotter; in re:  Schiff getting to “the bottom” of the Russia investigation.   (2 of 2) 
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 4, Block C:    LISTNER
Thursday  27 April 2017  / Hour 4, Block D:    LISTNER