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JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Larry Kudlow, CNBC senior advisor; & Cumulus Media radio
 
Hour One
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 1, Block A: Bill Whalen, Hoover, in re: California Needs to Get Along with Trump–or Tap Bay Area’s Richest to Write Checks  http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/02/15/opinion-california-needs-to-get-along-with-trump-or-tap-bay-areas-richest-to-write-checks/
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 1, Block B:  Steve Moore. Heritage and CNN, in re:
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 1, Block C:  Victor Davis Hanson, Hoover, via American Greatness, in re:  The Deplorables Shout Back     Struggling rural America proved disenchanted with the country’s trajectory into something like a continental version of Belgium or the Netherlands: borderless, with a global rather than national sense of self; identity politics in lieu of unity and assimilation; a statist and ossified economy with a few winners moralizing to lots of losers—perhaps as a way of alleviating transitory guilt over their own privilege.
“Who are we?” asked the liberal social scientist Samuel Huntington over a decade ago in a well-reasoned but controversial book. Huntington feared the institutionalization of what Theodore Roosevelt a century earlier had called “hyphenated Americans.” A “hyphenated American,” Roosevelt scoffed, “is not an American at all.” And 30 years ago, another progressive stalwart and American historian Arthur Schlesinger argued in his book The Disuniting of America that identity politics were tearing apart the cohesion of the United States. What alarmed these liberals was the long and unhappy history of racial, religious, and ethnic chauvinism, and how such tribal ties could prove far stronger than shared class affinities. Most important, they were aware that identity politics had never proved to be a stabilizing influence on any past multiracial society... What is the future of diversity politics after the 2016 election? Uncertain at best—and for a variety of reasons . . .  http://www.hoover.org/research/end-identity-politics
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 1, Block D: Veronique de Rugy, Mercatus Cener, in re:  As Congress considers the border-adjustment tax, Mercatus Center Senior Research Fellow Veronique de Rugy explains why recent comments by House Speaker Paul Ryan mislead the public:
The latest misguided statements about the border-adjustment tax comes from House Speaker Paul Ryan — who ought to know better. During a press conference last week, he repeated the claim that United States was at a disadvantage because other countries’ exports are exempted from taxes while U.S. goods aren’t.
It is true that U.S. companies are at a disadvantage but it is not because of other countries’ tax codes. It is because our corporate-income-tax system has the highest rate of all OECD countries and because, unlike most of our competitors, it taxes U.S. companies’ profits no matter where they are earned in the world. The solution to this disadvantage is to reduce the rates and move to a territorial system.
[Ryan’s tape recorder example] is totally misleading because it conflates foreign countries corporate tax and VAT taxes and it paints a picture that is incorrect.
Economists have debunked the idea implied by the speaker that foreign VATs give an advantage to foreign exports — and therefor boost foreign exports. It is simply not true. It follows that imposing a border-adjustment tax in the U.S. will not boost U.S. exports either. Period. // Click here to read the full piece at National Review's The Corner.
 
Hour Two
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 2, Block A: Stephen F. Cohen, Prof. Emeritus of Russian Studies/History/Politics at NYU and Princeton; also Board of American Committee for East-West Accord (eastwestaccord.com);  in re: The new cold war.  Russians are astonished to read in US papers (esp the New York Times) that Trump is a Russian asset, or at least a Russian “poodle.” Sunday Times features Trump and Putin purportedly at a new Yalta carving up the world.  Nick Kristof’s bizarre article, allegations absent facts, speculations by a CIA agent, blame for Trump’s  reorganizing the status quo between the two powers.  (1 of 4)
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 2, Block B: Stephen F. Cohen, Prof. Emeritus of Russian Studies/History/Politics at NYU and Princeton; also Board of American Committee for East-West Accord (eastwestaccord.com); in re: If your thinking is out of step with widespread recent thinking on Russia, you must be a traitor. Orwellian.  Btw, how does the Russian political class read this? With their having been through this under Stalin, et al., they’re astonished.  The Moscow Kremlin has its hawks and doves. Vitaly Churkin [Russian ambassador to the UN], who died suddenly yesterday, was a first-rate intermediary between Russia and the US.  The Russian state anti-detente-ists hold their view because detentes with Reagan then Bush I were disasters for Russia.  (2 of 4)
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 2, Block C: Stephen F. Cohen, Prof. Emeritus of Russian Studies/History/Politics at NYU and Princeton; also Board of American Committee for East-West Accord (eastwestaccord.com); in re: Détente, and history of Russian policy vis-à-vis US under Gorbachev and Yeltsin.   . . .  The US war party got Flynn.  Was head of DIA, travelled to Moscow in uniform to talk with GRU (a normal deed).  Russians knew Gen Flynn’s thinking (“a one-trick pony”), knew that Russian intell is very very good, esp in areas remote from the US, and so thought that it was to US advantage to cooperate in some respects. (3 of 4)
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 2, Block D: Stephen F. Cohen, Prof. Emeritus of Russian Studies/History/Politics at NYU and Princeton; also Board of American Committee for East-West Accord (eastwestaccord.com) (4 of 4)
 
Hour Three
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 3, Block A: Mary Anastasia O’Grady, WSJ The Americas, in re: https://www.wsj.com/articles/texas-and-the-real-forgotten-man-1486941499?tesla=y
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 3, Block B: Andrew Peek, Fellow for Middle Eastern Affairs at the American Foreign Policy Council; teaches at American University & Johns Hopkins; in re: “I served with General McMaster. He is perfect for National Security Adviser.,…”    The authors recommend supporting U.S allies through both active diplomacy and the stationing of military forces in or near potential conflict zones. America’s global network of alliances fulfills “the main imperative of U.S. grand strategy,” as the authors describe it: “to prevent the emergence of a power or combination of powers within the Eurasian landmass that could invade or economically dominate the United States.” Alliances are an inexpensive alternative to direct containment through the maintenance of large U.S. forces overseas or to a retreat from such commitments that could result in a costly re-entry if a rival becomes a grave threat. The authors remind us that “strengthening American military competitiveness against a large power in its own region has been the organizing purpose for the United States to form defensive alliances. https://www.wsj.com/articles/probing-for-weakness-1458775212
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 3, Block C: Patrick Chovanec, chief strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management; in re:  Nicaragua, seeking China's investment in transoceanic canal, says it ...    State media in Nicaragua, which is seeking Chinese investment for a massive canal to compete with Panama's waterway, said Ortega would ...    Taiwan's president arrives to attend Nicaraguan inauguration.    Work to begin on Nicaragua Canal in first quarter of 2017
Construction of the controversial US$50 billion Nicaragua Canal is set to get ... Website El Nuevo Diario reported the HKND Group, a Chinese ...
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 3, Block D: Paul Gregory, Hoover, in re: King-Servers n Siberia: Vladimir Fomenko, a fellow in his twenties from Siberia (Biysk, Altai Krai), hosts servers in Russia, US, Netherlands; his IP address was on documents supposedly connected to the (purported) hack of DNC, who hired Threatconnect.  He was most concerned, and found Paul Gregory to clarify.  Paul wrote it up in Forbes.  “Do they really thinks Russian cyberattackers are so stupid as to let themselves be traceable by IP address?”
The Only Russian with Known Links to U.S. Political Hacking, Speaks Out
http://www.forbes.com/sites/paulroderickgregory/2017/02/21/exclusive-vla...
 
Hour Four
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 4, Block A: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:  SpaceX delays first Dragon Mars mission to 2020
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SpaceX has decided to delay its first Dragon flight to Mars from 2018 to 2020 so as to focus on more immediate priorities. Instead of aiming for the 2018 deadline, SpaceX will now try to launch a robotic mission to Mars — known as its Red Dragon mission — two years later, in 2020, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said during a press conference Friday.
This delay will allow the company to refocus on other more, earthly ambitions in the near term before setting its sights on Mars down the road. “We were focused on 2018, but we felt as though we needed to put more resources and focus more heavily on our crew program and our Falcon Heavy program, so we’re looking more in the 2020 time frame for that,” Shotwell said.
They need to fly the Falcon Heavy several times first, and the delays caused by last year’s September 1 launchpad explosion have pushed the first Falcon Heavy launch back from late in 2016 to the summer of 2017 (1 of 2)
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 4, Block B: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re:  SpaceX delays first Dragon Mars mission to 2020
Please consider donating to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar to the right. Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
SpaceX has decided to delay its first Dragon flight to Mars from 2018 to 2020 so as to focus on more immediate priorities. Instead of aiming for the 2018 deadline, SpaceX will now try to launch a robotic mission to Mars — known as its Red Dragon mission — two years later, in 2020, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said during a press conference Friday.
This delay will allow the company to refocus on other more, earthly ambitions in the near term before setting its sights on Mars down the road. “We were focused on 2018, but we felt as though we needed to put more resources and focus more heavily on our crew program and our Falcon Heavy program, so we’re looking more in the 2020 time frame for that,” Shotwell said.
They need to fly the Falcon Heavy several times first, and the delays caused by last year’s September 1 launchpad explosion have pushed the first Falcon Heavy launch back from late in 2016 to the summer of 2017 (2 of 2)
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 4, Block C: Joshua Partlow,  A Kingdom of Their Own, on the Karzai family (part II of IV), segment 1 of 2
Tuesday 21 February 2017 / Hour 4, Block D: Joshua Partlow,  A Kingdom of Their Own, on the Karzai family (part II of IV), segment 2 of 2