Photo, left:  Tensions along the line of contact in Nagorno-Karabakh and on the Armenian-Azerbaijani border have intensified from September 24, with skirmishes including the use of heavy artillery by both sides. Tensions have grown to a level where the danger of a large-scale confrontation should be seriously considered.
2015 recounting: http://icmu.nyc.gr/%20Russia-advocates-peacekeeping-mission-as-tensions-...
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-host: Larry Kudlow, CNBC senior advisor; & Cumulus Media radio
 
Hour One
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 1, Block A: Steve Moore, Heritage chief economist, in re:  Too early at 9 PM to see who won in Wisconsin, although one network called it for Sanders.  What if Bernie wins New York?  — were  that to happen, it’d be a cave-in.   Hillary’s negatives are almost as bad as Trump’s. And young women esp don't care for her.  Bernie wants to tax me to perdition, but I kind of enjoy watching this.  Today’s Democratic Party is not the one of yore; it's moved hugely to the left. I’m not sure but what Bernie represents mainstream Democrats.  Pres Obama is the only person in America who’s satisfied with the economy. He wants $100 billion to shore up the Affordable Care Act to protect his legacy, If the GIP got its act together – just get back on message instead of trashing wives – they could win this.  Looks as though the free-fall Trump was on may have ceased.  Looks as though the GOP thing is going to California. I think the delegate count is overrated— if the GOP tries to take the nomination from Trump, there’ll be [chaos] – choosing anyone but Trump or Cruz would be a disaster. Parachuting in new candidates to a convention rigged with rules changes would [cause major problems].
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 1, Block B: Steve Moore, Heritage chief economist, in re: Waiting for more results from Wisconsin; but whoever wins ultimately will face the daunting task of reviving the US economy – monetary + fiscal can solve the slow growth of the last years.  See CNBC site, Larry Kudlow’s article. Inversion:  two companies – one larger in a high-tax jurisdiction; the other smaller, in a low-tax jurisdiction – the big guy buys the smaller and relocates to the lower-tax venue.   Example: Pfizer is based in New Jersey, pays US 35% plus a state tax; Allergan is based in Ireland and pays a tiny tax, so Pfizer will put its HQ in Ireland. Pres Obama wants to punish Pfizer – but the answer is not to punish businesses but to lower the tax here. Capital goes where it’s treated best. Pres Obama doesn't care about this; never has or will.  This is so easily solved.  The people who’ll benefit from this most will be wage earners.
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 1, Block C: James Taranto, Wall Street Journal editorial board, in re:  Wisconsin is called for Cruz and Sanders. Does Mrs Clinton need to retool her campaign fro New York?  No:  she’s expected to win in New York – although Bernie Sanders is a natural-born New Yorker and Mrs Clinton is not.  . . .  At this point, she may win the nomination but is it worth anything? If she runs vs Cruz or Trump, she’ll probably be president.  She’s in a bad position, but she’ll grind it out – barring the Jim Comey primary.  Mrs Clinton’s msg is twofold: more of the same (appeals esp to Black Democrats) and, second, she says she’s practical-minded, distinct from Sanders, who's a pie-in-sky idealist.   Justice Dept guidelines discourage pursuing a case when it might interfere with an election – which with Mrs Clinton is much of the time.  Bernie Sanders will draw huge crowds in New York for the next two weeks.  The economy and terrorism: if the GOP could explain their positions, they’d do well; whereas Mrs Clinton is fearfully weak on terrorism and has no economic position. She gets half her money from Wall Street. Income inequality? She makes $200 K  - really, $275K – per speech. There are 27different races in New York – doesn’t lend itself to sweeping unless you have consistent narrative. Cruz is great with Big data; will make Mr Trump work.  Trump could conceivably get 60% of the vote and win, whereas Cruz could not. Means there probably won't be a first-ballot winner.  Cd be Cruz on the second or third ballot – or not.  GOP  Rule 40: only those who have a majority of delegates in at least eight states may be candidate((??))   A Trump-Cruz ticket?  Delegates are not at all bound in voting for VP. 
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 1, Block D: Larry Kudlow, CNBC & Cumulus Media radio; in re:  We’re now in Cleveland; Rule 40 B: could prevent the name of any new candidate to be entered into nomination.  Larry:  If all the ifs you mentioned  come true, then should turn to former Texas governor Rick Perry – great economic growth  Also former military and good intl policies.  James:  Scott Walker -  but I think Ted Cruz is a strong candidate on the second ballot. Steve: If you’re all living in fantasy. If not one of the two main candidates, look to a permanent third party.  JB:  I welcome the turmoil.  Larry: I’m not writing off Cruz or Trump.  – but   . . .  huge spreads between Cruz and Trump – more than 20 points.   Sanders 52, Mrs Clinton 47?    Steve: Can John Kasich stay in this race?
..  ..  ..  
The Fiscal Times writes: An annual survey of bipartisanship in the U.S. Congress was released yesterday, and there is both good news and bad news. The good news is that the overall level of bipartisanship in the first session of the 114th Congress ticked up a little bit from the abysmal showing of its two predecessors. The bad news is that the two most partisan members of the Senate are currently contenders for their parties’ respective presidential nominations.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, currently challenging former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, came in dead last in the Index’s ranking of U.S. senators. Next behind him (though far closer to the mainstream than Sanders) was Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, currently struggling to knock billionaire Donald Trump out of the lead for the GOP nomination.
..  ..  . . 
 
Hour Two
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 2, Block A:  Mona Charen, NRO, and  David Drucker,  Senior Congressional correspondent, Washington Examiner; in re: Now a 22-pt spread ‘twixt Cruz and trump – a blow-out, a real referendum that Wisconsin is rendering on the Trump candidacy.  Cruz said in his victory speech – he who made his career as the anti-establishment firebrand – is now the standard-bearer of the Party in Wisconsin.   Cruz’s internal data expected this.  Trump has done remarkably well but is not bullet-proof. Winning with frequency helps re-set the needle.  What Cruz can do well is assemble a sophisticated grass-roots organization. Trump has been a target-rich environment – defends his campaign mgr, then says South Korea and Japan should have nukes, then that the US should withdraw from NATO – amazing gaffes and blunders.   Also, GOP concluded that a Trump victory would lose them both Congress and Senate and destroy the Party.  Wisconsin is a model of what a sane Republican electorate can look like.
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 2, Block B: Mona Charen, NRO, and  David Drucker,  Senior Congressional correspondent, Washington Examiner; in re: Mrs Clinton owns the establishment, and superdelegates; but she’s getting a real run for her money.  She’s won 2.5 million more votes than Bernie has.  Huge Sanders rally on April 14 in Union Square in New York.  She’ll win her home state.  Similar to 2012 Republican campaign – the Sanders campaign speaks of winning at the convention.  She’s changed her position on the Keystone Pipeline, on trade, on the minimum wage, in response to Bernie’s positions.  He’s proven that the post-Obama  Democratic Party  is full-bore socialist.  Does the White House want Mrs Clinton to win?  They think Sanders is unelectable so will support Clinton. 
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 2, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack, in re: Suborbital tourism with Blue Origins!  New Shepard flies again, for the third time.  The competition heats up: On Saturday Blue Origin successfully launched and landed its reusable New Shepard suborbital capsule/rocket spacecraft.  The vehicle lifted off from the company’s test site shortly after 11 a.m. Eastern time, according to a series of tweets by company founder Jeff Bezos. The vehicle’s propulsion module, the same one that flew earlier test flights in November and January, made a successful powered landing, he said. Its crew capsule, flying without people on board, parachuted to a safe landing. … The vehicle reached a peak altitude of nearly 103.4 kilometers, slightly above the “von Karman line” frequently used as the boundary of space and similar to previous test flights.  This flight also carried some science experiments, demonstrating that Blue Origin’s customers will not be limited merely to space tourists.
Sierra Nevada has a NASA contract for reusable Dreamchaser to take cargo to ISS; want to be able to sell it for commercial launches. VP said this week that they’re leaning toward Huntsville, Alabama, for HQ.   Working to make allies in Congress!
NASA had the Vomit Comet, ceased it in 2014 – a C9 plane used for training astronauts in a few minutes of weightlessness in the cargo hold of the plane.  Private companies picked up the mantle.  To justify NASA having it: used it w-twice for unauthorized uses – to South America and Greenland – was almost in a fatal crash, with the crew untrained for Arctic conditions and the plane not designed for that. Govt agencies are clueless in how to use things.  Now wholly shut down.  . . . ICBMs: trying to lift a ban in order to obtain disused rocket motors; but competitors (Virgin Galactic, and a confederation) – oppose it.  . . . Cygnus – powered by a Russian engine – cut off early; trying to figure out why.  May be connected with the fuel system; delayed Atlas 5 launch.  Roscosmos in Vostochny:  set the date for 27 April for first rocket launch.  About four months late, but no problem. Announce they’re trying to buy insurance for the first launch – oops. Quality-control problems. If failure, could damage the launch pad. and low on cash.  Ariane Space – rearranging deck chairs. Airbus Safran has wrested control of rockets from Ariane Space – and will build with out Ariane’s permission. 
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 2, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack, in re: Cassini – has flown by Titan many times; intended to study atmosphere by spectroscopy with two instruments focussed on it.  Titan’s atmosphere is changing; we’ve been there so long we can follow it from one season to the next. Mars: little Opportunity, going up an incline, and a little buddy showed up behind it  - a dust devil.  As they sent Oppy  up a 32° slope – which didn’t work – they rotated the camera and saw in the distance a Martian dust devil, The photo is good because it shows how steep the slope is.   Rosetta and Philae.   . . . Binary comet.  Bridge holding it together looks unstable. No - two lobes that formed together, not binary.  Dissipating at the neck.  See: 67B on bejindtheblack.  
Close encounter with a dust devil   Cool image time! On March 31, as the Mars rover Opportunity took an image of the tracks it left behind as it tried to climb the steepest slope it has yet attempted, it unexpectedly captured a nearby dust devil. The image to the right is a cropped version of that image
 
 
Hour Three
Tuesday  5 April 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://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/04/04/russia-says-putin-main-target-panama-papers/82600272/   ;  http://www.wsj.com/articles/reports-of-offshore-companies-raise-question...
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 3, Block B:  Stephen F. Cohen, American Committee for East-West Accord (eastwestaccord.com); in re:   http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/04/04/will-the-panama-papers-bring-down-ukraines-chocolate-king-poroshenko/
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 3, Block C:  Stephen F. Cohen, American Committee for East-West Accord (eastwestaccord.com); in re:     http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/05/syria-monitor-rebels-shoot-down-warplane-south-of-aleppo
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 3, Block D: Stephen F. Cohen, American Committee for East-West Accord (eastwestaccord.com); in re:  Mr Trump’s sentiments on NATO, et al. 
 
Hour Four
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 4, Block A:  The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Pacific War Trilogy) by Ian W. Toll   Part II of III  (segment 5 of 12)
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 4, Block B:  The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Pacific War Trilogy) by Ian W. Toll   Part II of III  (segment 6 of 12)
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 4, Block C:  The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Pacific War Trilogy) by Ian W. Toll   Part II of III  (segment 7 of 12)
Tuesday  5 April 2016   / Hour 4, Block D:  The Conquering Tide: War in the Pacific Islands, 1942-1944 (Pacific War Trilogy) by Ian W. Toll   Part II of III  (segment 8 of 12)