Photo, left:
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Larry Kudlow, CNBC senior advisor; & Cumulus Media radio
Hour One
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 1, Block A: James Pethokoukis, AEI, in re: . . . LK: Brussels:  We can talk defense till Hell freezes over; the only way to stop attacks is to take the war to ISIS in its home locations.  The Syrian civil war and the Iraqi civil war are Chernobyl.  JP:  Muslims in America are different from the [sealed] communities in Europe; they're much more integrated onto society here.  Europe is hopeless. The US is not a paper tiger; we can take actin.  Need air strikes and a certain number of troops on the ground, plus a grand coalition of our Arab allies to fight this back.  Our president is in Havana watching a baseball game.    JP: Fred Kagan at AEI speaks of 20,000 American forces. – with some casualties.  . . . LK:  A year is a very long time, and time is not on our side.  If our Arab allies refuse to jump in, that adds to the sense of hopelessness.
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 1, Block B:    James Pethokoukis, AEI, in re:  . . .  wages haven’t increased in fifteen years; people are blaming everybody, being encouraged to blame China. Mexico, et al. China is a really bad player – they steal intellectual property, they hack into our computers, violate trade rules. Problem is that the US hasn't responded wisely.  Tariffs just act as a tax; what might work would be sanctions.
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 1, Block C: Brian Blase, Mercatus Center; in re: Six years in, Obamacare needs a lot of work www.tbo.com With this month marking the sixth anniversary of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare, becoming law, it’s increasingly clear that the benefits received by some people aren’t worth . . . . The way to evaluate Obamacare is to see what the original claims for it were. Most peoples’ coverage has gone up by $3,800 per year.  Projected about 24 million people would be enrolled in exchanges by 2016; today. There are 12.7 million enrolled, but 10-15%of those who sign up never pay.  Ergo, about 10 million are enrolled.  And a huge chunk of the population have fled into Medicare, which offers bad coverage.   Sign-ups seem to be both much older and much poorer than was expected – 200% of poverty line ($24,000 PA) – and qualify for reductions, subsidies, extra deductibles.  The people who won’t sign up at all are the younger and healthier; they were supposed to support the system. Which is about to go into the equivalent of bankruptcy.  Losses for insurance companies are not sustainable, may pull out of the exchanges.  Feds will spend $1 trillion on health care programs next year, and that is unnecessary. Also, people have figured out how to game Obamacare – will wait till they're sick to buy insurance. The IRS was to have administered the punitive part of the program.  Equals $695 or 2.5% of a person’s income would be the penalty against not joining. 
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 1, Block D: Scott W. Atlas, MD, Hoover & Wall Street Journal , in re; How to Fix the Scandal of Medicaid and the Poor  The two principal expenditures of the Affordable Care Act so far include $850 billion for insurance subsidies and a similar outlay for a massive Medicaid expansion. The truth is that Medicaid—a program costing $500 billion a year that rises to $890 billion in 2024—funnels low-income families into substandard coverage. Instead of providing a pathway to excellent health care for poor Americans, ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion doubles down on their second-class health-care status.  My program says Medicaid should be a bridge toward private insurance: to have the same access to doctors, treatment, et al.  To do this: increase access to affordable, private insurance. With part of the federal contribution going toward premiums, and also to a liberalized health savings account.   Changes he purpose of Medicaid offices from determining costs to becoming advocates  for beneficiaries to get ever-better health savings acc0unts. Three or fours states currently have waivers to do this.  Medicaid cots us $500 billion PA, going to $800-plus in 2024. More than half doctors no longer take new Medicaid patients , and many others just don’t actually accept them no matter what – and the outcomes of care are terrible.  Currently: unconscionable to give poor people insurance of a sort that not one member of Congress would accept for their families.   . .  LK: I’m in United Healthcare back-up and get nothing!! SA:  Medicare is beginning to be not accepted by doctors – 52% refuse to.
How to Fix the Scandal of Medicaid and the Poor by Scott W. Atlas  The two principal expenditures of the Affordable Care Act so far include $850 billion for insurance subsidies and a similar outlay for a massive Medicaid expansion. The truth is that Medicaid—a program costing $500 billion a year that rises to $890 billion in 2024—funnels low-income families into substandard coverage. Instead of providing a pathway to excellent health care for poor Americans, ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion doubles down on their second-class health-care status.
 
Hour Two
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 2, Block A:  Sebastian v Gorka, Marine Corp University and author, Defeating Jihad;, in re:  In Brussels, the police knew well that an attack was imminent and did nothing – and will do nothing, because the only solution is to move into the sealed-off areas, the “no-go” areas of jihadis across Europe.  Difference in the US is the absence of enclaves such as Maalbeek, where you can hide in plain sight .  Brussels mass killings probably triggered by the arrest five days ago of a major suspect; he was arrested within spitting distance of EY HQ and NATO HQ.  By accident fund a bunch of other jihadi activists.  The US is better off in one way, but disturbing otherwise:  a week before San Berdoo, we've arrested 95 individuals attached to ISIS – not one was the result of information from American Muslims’s providing information.  They were identified thought their social media or connections to key Salafi ideologues in the US.  A he amount of data to sift through.  The appendix of Defeating Jihad:  start with New York. If there’s one group that has understood what to do it’s the NYPD.   Perhaps one of the best counterterrorism organizations in the world – can find people before they cogo kinetic We should start by the Feds’s aping this system.  Petraeus:: this is a sort of Chernobyl – the radiation will spread until we top it.  If Iraq and Syria were stabilized, and the Israeli-Pal problem were magically solved, jihadis would not retire.  Need to take down the strategy – defeat the strategy, not the person.  If you walk slowly through a typhus ward, inhaling deeply, do not be surprised if you fall ill – Europe: if you facilitate non-integration of Muslim communities, do not be surprised by attacks in Paris, Madrid, Brussels. This is the thirteenth attack, and not the last.  Enormous chasm between security professionals, who know how to protect us, and the politicians, who are speaking gibberish.
House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Chairman Devin Nunes released the following statement in reaction to the attacks in Belgium:  “We stand with the people of Belgium and will support them in any way possible in the wake of these barbaric attacks. Although we don’t have all the details yet on these bombings, it’s clear that terrorists are exploiting security gaps throughout the Western world to commit mass murder. Thwarting these killers will require vigilance both by governments, which need to track and apprehend terrorists before they have a chance to strike, as well as citizens, who need to report suspicious activity to the authorities. Crucially, the Obama administration needs to adopt a broad, consistent strategy to fight ISIS, al Qaeda, and an array of other terror groups. The periodic outbreak of mass casualty terror attacks cannot be allowed to become the new normal.”   
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 2, Block B: Josh Rogin, Columnist - Bloomberg View; Political Analyst – CNN; in re:  Belgium Warned of Attacks. It Wasn't Enough.  Nothing was standard abt this forum; soon after we arrived, announced that they’d arrested Abdulsalam – a block from his childhood home..  On Sunday AM, prime minister said that Abdulsalam had revealed a large network of attackers.  Many are European citizens who've travelled to the Middle East for support and training. The threat is from European citizens.  They’re unemployed and easy recruits for terrorists; also, solve the problem name ISIS in Syria: it has huge territory, earing tons of money [from Erdogan in Turkey].  http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2016-03-22/belgium-warned-of-attacks-it-wasn-t-enough
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 2, Block C: Gregory R. Copley, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs; in re:  Gregory R. Copley, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs; in re:  Erdogan is at the heart of the problem: he has seized power similarly to how Hitler did, now has demanded €3 billion from the EU to stop the flow of refugees thence.  He created the problem, nos requires funds; classic mobster tactic.    Erdogan is the new Hitler; Merkel is the new Chamberlain. Turkey is the author of the refugees flow, and is heavily supporting Da’ish and Syrian violence.  Erdogan is supported in these by Qatar,     , and the United States: the Obama Administration. 
Weep, because we have learned nothing from the Munich Agreement of 1938. European politicians, strenuously abetted by those of North America, have, in recent years and now profoundly in 2016, again paid obeisance and hard currency as tribute to a petty and weak dictator who has sewn anew the seeds of Europe’s ruin. 
Such spineless and thoughtless disservice by these professional politicians, and their bureaucratic and media facilitators, is in many respects irreversible. The Munich Agreement led to World War II; it was a junction at which the course of history could have been changed. But it also, as its failure turned to war, threw up leaders, once relegated to the wilderness, who provided the world with partial redress. 
The modern industrial and pseudo-post-industrial worlds are in chaos because they have ceased to allow the emergence of leadership, the characteristic which earned them their wealth and power. They have become societies whose only ability is to react. 
Reaction is the hallmark of almost all living organisms. Few examples of any species are pre-destined to actions not predicated upon the prompting of an external hand. And yet each of us believes ourself to be the master of our fate. The current path of human civilization — bound in the shallows of urban mass, and fearing the contemplative solitude which challenges the status quo — shows how much we have failed to nurture true leadership. Indeed, we fear it. Until we lie craven before it. 
Or even lie craven before the most brazen of demagogues. The demagogue’s motive is not leadership. True leadership cares for the good of the flock under a leader’s care. The demagogue’s motive is to have the majority serve the tyrant. How often have we seen this? Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Castro were obvious examples from the 21st Century, but only because they were iconic and were ultimately unmasked. And yet, through bluff and confidence they were able to cause the wealthy and powerful to accede to their demands. 
Their victims made them great by concession to them when these demagogues were still but empty shells.   . . .  (1 of 2)
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 2, Block D: Gregory R. Copley, GIS/Defense & Foreign Affairs; in re:  Weep, because we have learned nothing from the Munich Agreement of 1938. European politicians, strenuously abetted by those of North America, have, in recent years and now profoundly in 2016, again paid obeisance and hard currency as tribute to a petty and weak dictator who has sewn anew the seeds of Europe’s ruin. 
Such spineless and thoughtless disservice by these professional politicians, and their bureaucratic and media facilitators, is in many respects irreversible. The Munich Agreement led to World War II; it was a junction at which the course of history could have been changed. But it also, as its failure turned to war, threw up leaders, once relegated to the wilderness, who provided the world with partial redress. 
The modern industrial and pseudo-post-industrial worlds are in chaos because they have ceased to allow the emergence of leadership, the characteristic which earned them their wealth and power. They have become societies whose only ability is to react. 
Reaction is the hallmark of almost all living organisms. Few examples of any species are pre-destined to actions not predicated upon the prompting of an external hand. And yet each of us believes ourself to be the master of our fate. The current path of human civilization — bound in the shallows of urban mass, and fearing the contemplative solitude which challenges the status quo — shows how much we have failed to nurture true leadership. Indeed, we fear it. Until we lie craven before it. 
Or even lie craven before the most brazen of demagogues. The demagogue’s motive is not leadership. True leadership cares for the good of the flock under a leader’s care. The demagogue’s motive is to have the majority serve the tyrant. How often have we seen this? Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Castro were obvious examples from the 21st Century, but only because they were iconic and were ultimately unmasked. And yet, through bluff and confidence they were able to cause the wealthy and powerful to accede to their demands. 
Their victims made them great by concession to them when these demagogues were still but empty shells.   . . .  (2 of 2)
 
Hour Three
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 3, Block A:   Stephen F. Cohen is Prof. Emeritus of Russian Studies/History/Politics at NYU and Princeton. He is also a member of the Board of the recently-formed American Committee for East-West Accord (eastwestaccord.com); in re:  http://news.sky.com/story/1664446/suicide-and-suitcase-bombs-rip-through-brussels ; https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2016/03/21/a-transcript-of-donald-trumps-meeting-with-the-washington-post-editorial-board/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_trump-1012pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 3, Block B: Stephen F. Cohen, American Committee for East-West Accord (eastwestaccord.com); in re:
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 3, Block C:   Stephen F. Cohen, American Committee for East-West Accord (eastwestaccord.com); in re:
Tuesday  22 March 2016   / Hour 3, Block D: Stephen F. Cohen, American Committee for East-West Accord (eastwestaccord.com); in re:
 
Hour Four
Monday 21 March 2016 / Hour 4, Block A:  Stalingrad: The City that Defeated the Third Reich, by Jochen Hellbeck and Christopher Tauchen (5 of 8)
Monday 21 March 2016 / Hour 4, Block B:  Stalingrad: The City that Defeated the Third Reich, by Jochen Hellbeck and Christopher Tauchen (6 of 8)
Monday 21 March 2016 / Hour 4, Block C:  Stalingrad: The City that Defeated the Third Reich, by Jochen Hellbeck and Christopher Tauchen (7 of 8)
Monday 21 March 2016 / Hour 4, Block D:   Stalingrad: The City that Defeated the Third Reich, by Jochen Hellbeck and Christopher Tauchen (8 of 8)