The John Batchelor Show

Friday 4 August 2017

Air Date: 
August 04, 2017

Photo: 
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 1, Block A:  Dan Henninger, WSJ, in re:  Gen Kelly, now a civilian formally to be called “Mr”; but not here and now. He’s infusing the White House with real discipline. Has closed the open door between the Oval Office and the outside world.  . . .
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 1, Block B: Josh Rogin, Washington Post, in re:
Community of Democracies:  an intl coalition of states assembled around democracy, good governance, transparency. Assembled by Madeleine Albright. Was supposed to be side-organization to other groups, such as the UN.  Problem was that there are a lot of multilateral organization, and this one never became a functioning, high-level organization. Did manage to have a big conference every two years. Supposed to have one in September of 2017 in Washington, with 100-plus nations represented — but Secy Tillerson hasn't signed off on it.   . . . NGOs will appear, incl Open Society. 
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 1, Block C:  Jeff Bliss, The Bliss Report, in re:  California scandals: Gov Brown, hyperloop, USC medical school dean.  Also Kamala Harris, as a new face for Cali Dems. For presidency?
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 1, Block D: Andrew Roberts,  Hoover, in re false-flag operation; here, alleged that Churchill’s govt bombed its own World Fair pavilion to encourage the US to  join England in WWII. The bomb also was in danger of damaging the king’s crown jewels. Churchill was a committed monarchist, so the allegation is deeply unlikely to be accurate.
 
Hour Two
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 2, Block A:  Michael E Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re: Dunkirk, the film, and Dunkerque, the history. Afghanistan is Dunkirk. Churchill embraced an older narrative: Britain, a small island that can withstand anything – Elizabeth withstood the Spanish armada; Napoleon; tsars; etc.  In this instance, it meant discarding the French, which Churchill did in one of the worst strategic decisions of all times: destroyed the French fleet, incl the Britannia, and killed almost a thousand French sailors. Had he been more adept in dealing with other cultures, cd have wooed France.  Our current US president is not adept. 
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 2, Block B:  Michael E Vlahos, Johns Hopkins, in re: . . . fighting for fifteen years with shadows.  . .  . Hypocrisy never [stayed] Churchill.  . . . None of them wants to see us succeed – not May, not Merkel, not Macron.  . . .  What's critical [to winning a conflict] is how Americans see themselves. . . .  The massive German assault on English identity became a blessing as it [galvanized them].  US reclaimed its narrative 1860-1865 by fighting a terrible war.
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 2, Block C:  Liz Peek, Fiscal Times and Fox News, in re:  Wilbur Ross is really pushing China on trade infractions in a way they haven't been before.    Tax rates, regulatory trends.  Wilbur Ross told Maria Bartimromo that the US hadn’t collected money owed by Chinese for penalties levied against Chinese malfeasance.   So many concessions were made. As everyone knows they steal intellectual property! Days of sublime ignoring are over. Cyberattacks, missile defense systems – Pres Trump has options.  Chinese appeared flummoxed by Trump’s failure to sign on to the Paris Accord. Yes, they own a great deal of US debt – but if they destabilized our economy (which I don’t think they could do), then the value of their bonds would diminish.
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 2, Block D:  Peter  Berkowitz, RealClearPolitcs and Hoover, in re:  Pres Trump’s line in his  Warsaw speech, “Does the West have the will to survive?”   The left hugely overreacted, denounced the American president for speaking favorably of liberty. Echoes of Triumph of the Will? Even with, “Dignity of individuals.” The Atlantic editors, Beinart: “invocation of a white Christian nationalism”!  What?  “Racial and religious paranoia”? For them, the very notion off the West, the civilization that goes back to classical Greek culture, Jerusalem, our philosophical history:  left sees these as a synonym for religious and racial paranoia. The [right] finds Trump’s to be a useful question. Liberty, limited govt, free market. We enjoy an unprecedented array of freedoms today and to an unprecedented range of persons. 
Widespread idea that we’re heading toward an apocalypse. 
 
Hour Three
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 3, Block A: Robert KlaraThe Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America’s Most Famous Residence   . . . Margaret Truman’s spinet piano plunged through the floor.
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 3, Block B: Robert KlaraThe Hidden White House: Harry Truman and the Reconstruction of America’s Most Famous Residence.
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 3, Block C:  Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover; in re: Supreme Court.  Congress could pass a law saying the president may not do anything without our permission. Send the law to the president, who vetoes it.
What can Congress do this direction?  . . . Signing statements essentially are partial vetoes, which are not allowed. . . . President’s powers not clearly defined in our Constitution. Neither are Congressional powers.  Amazing number of gaps. No explicit discussion of foreign affairs except in Articles I and II.  . . .  
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 3, Block D:  Richard A Epstein, Chicago Law, NYU Law, Hoover; in re: Powers of the president in foreign affairs, et al. 
 
Hour Four
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 4, Block A: Jed Babbin, London Center for Policy Research and American Spectator, in re: Gen McMaster controversy:  Army Lt. Gen. H. R. McMaster, Trump’s second national security advisor, favors nation-building.  Pashtuns not interested in Federalist Papers. Marines want to win the war and get out of there; Army wants to build nations. McMaster is committed to Obama’s philosophy.
Abigail Grace, Fernando Cutz, and Lynn ___ – all protected under McMaster, all worked directly for Ben Rhodes. McMaster is a great danger to Pres Trump. If we're gong to defeat the Taliban, we’ll have to defeat their ideology. McMaster needs to be gone.
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 4, Block B: Anna Paperny, globalnews.ca, Canadian prison.
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 4, Block C: Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack, and author, Capitalism in Space, in re: Outer Space Treaty forbids a nation from claiming or owning any territory off the Earth; thus US cannot preserve its Moon landing site for historical reasons and could do nothing if Chinese astronauts landed on the Moon and nipped mementi from US landing leftovers.  . . .
Friday  4 August 2017 / Hour 4, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack, and author, Capitalism in Space, in re: Space.
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