Photo, left: Israel, born 1948.
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal editorial board & host of OpinionJournal.com; Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents.
Hour One
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 1, Block A: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal, in re: spoke with Allysia Finley and Joe Rago.  The Obama Adm wants the TPP (Pacific trade: Trans-Pacific Partnership), but much of the Democratic Party does not. Fast-track trade authority.  President's epiphany: weakest recovery of any recession; the president has become a TPP devotee. Bill left Committee with a poison pill.   ACA: state subsidies, Supreme Court.   GOP prepares a plan B in case the Court rules for the plaintiffs.  GOP says: we want a plan that immediately covers the indigent entirely in exchange for  . . .   Note distinction between practically-minded people (e.g., Sen Johnson) and windbags.   . . .  Bill Whelan in California:  Kamala Devi Harris, the AG and a rock star, has put her hat in the ring and looks ready to win. Except for Loretta Sanchez, from OC and a street-fighter. 
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 1, Block B:  Edward W Hayes, criminal defense attorney par excellence, in re: In the NYT, Susan Dominus writes of: Department of Transportation endeavors to make the city safer for pedestrians.  Making the city safer begins by acknowledging that New Yorkers will often walk wherever they damn well please. Dominus interviews pedestrians who have been struck by cars, as well as traffic experts trying to prevent accidents from happening by enforcing stiffer penalties for drivers who hit pedestrians while running a red light. JB: when walking the streets, I lose focus, often am reading, try to avoid [problems].  Crossing at a light, I do not drift out in to the traffic.  In Brooklyn, I'm among a group three-deep as the busses swing too close.   JB, Mary and Eddie all stand 'way back.  Eddie crosses mid-block, but cautiously. 
Josh Barbanel: 231 accidents at New York City construction sites, including a young financier killed by a flying piece of plywood.  Pedestrians need to start looking upward: Plexiglas, glass, everything.  A lot of these guys aren't well trained. EH: I walk on the other side of the street a lot.  JB: We move to cross the street long before the lights change.
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 1, Block C: Tom Switzer, University of Sydney, in re: Julie Bishop won't say if intelligence-sharing with Iran puts Australian fighters at risk Julie Bishop has declined to say whether [or not] Australia's new intelligence-sharing agreement ... ;  Islamic State: Julie Bishop brokers intelligence sharing deal with Iran on Australians fighting in Iraq  ;  Foreign Minister Julie Bishop sparks debate over headscarf in Iran
Julie Bishop trying to get Iran to take back a lot of Iranian refugees in Australia – and: to form a joint intelligence  group between Australia ad Iran in order to protect Australians in Iraq from being targeted by Shia militias as the Australians go to fight ISIS.  Tikrit, Ramada, Mosul: Shia are loyal to the ayatollahs.    . . . Did ms Bishop's embassy play well in Australia? Her immigration policies? Probably helped (although she wore hijab to please the mullahs). There are 9,000 Iranians living in Australia and most are aiming for citizenship.  Arrive by boat (think: Med boat flotillas).
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 1, Block D:  Rick Outzen, Independent Weekly, in re: “Well, my dear friend and mentor, Rick Wilson, had a great quote this week on this, and it's, ‘Jeb is building up the New York Yankees, and Rubio is playing money ball,’ and I think that’s actually very fair,” Wiggins said.
Rubio brings youth, freshness, to the GOP, If he pulls this off, it’ll take the Republican Party a new direction. Rubio was in single digits against Charlie Christ, then won.  Jeb Bush has raised a lot of scratch. The Bush family are the New York Yankees. . . . Florida Panhandle: "reliable Republican rascals."  Secret weapon; Rubio's chief of Staff is married to a girl from the Panhandle. 
Rubio v. Bush - http://inweekly.net/wordpress/?p=22655
Hour Two
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 2, Block A: Amb Ido Aharoni, Israeli Consul-General to New York, in re: Yom Haatzmaut, Government Formation, American Support for Israel, in re:  Revision of Contract on S-300 Deliveries to #Iran Could Take Weeks - Ryabkov sptnkne.ws/fvU pic.twitter.com/t1obzTuiNA
When tiny Israel was founded, no one predicted it would survive. We survived and now are a leader in water purification and many technologies; we register more patents per capita and publish more scientific papers than does any other nation.  . . .  Working relations between Israeli and Saudis, Jordan, Egypt, "Diplomacy begins with the ability to understand he other nation's self-interest."
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 2, Block B: Ilan Berman, American Foreign Policy Council, Washington, D.C., in re: S300 sales, Russia. The sale isn’t confirmed yet, but looks as though it'll happen. Will not make Iran invulnerable, but will complicate things for anyone intending to attack Iran's secret nuclear sites.  Israelis talking about the type of defense eqpt it can sell to Ukraine! Russia and China see writing on wall: increasing it's acceptable to go back to bz-as-usual with Iran.. Iran has mapped out an 11-to-13 bill annual mil modernization program.  S300 sale may be the start of something much bigger.  Russia believes that the best defense is a good offense; that the West bogged down in putting out fires will not have leftover energy to  . . .   Russian Muslims constitute 16% of Russian pop – most Sunni, not Shia.  They oppose Russian relations with Iran.   Russian security svcs estimate: 2,000 militants have left and gone to the Syrian battlefields.  Caucasus Emirate: about to get much worse – esp when those elements return. 
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 2, Block C: Michael Rubin, former Pentagon & author, Dancing with the Devil: The Perils of Engaging Rogue Regimes, with major research areas: Middle East, Turkey, Iran & diplomacy; in re: see: Facebook Iwo Jima.  In Yemen, Al Q, ISIS; and Salah who until recently as been seen in Sanaa.  Also USS Normandy &Roosevelt, et al.   Off the coast, not allowed to rescue Americans in Yemen or intercept Iranian gun-running ships.    US never sent aircraft carriers too Persian Gulf till 1991. Many US ships hanging around Bab al Mandab.    Saudis bombing Yemen for GCC;; supposedly working toward a ceasefire.  Iran may have underestimated the Saudis's determination to fight the Houthis.  Yemen is awash with weaponry.  All Qaeda has seized a major port and has an airport in Yemen.  Obama Adm wants a resolution by the end of June so Iran can get a $30 bil signing bonus. DC ignores Iran's bad behavior outside of Yemen. White House is projecting such desperation to reach a deal that the Supreme Leader continues to ramp up his demands.  Turkey: love-hate with Iran.
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 2, Block D: Joseph Humire, executive director, Center for a Secure Free Society (SFS), & expert on asymmetric warfare; in re: Iran in Latin America. Iranian infrastructure in South America, incl uranium.  Even Colombia, Mexico, Peru, Panama, as well as of course Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, etc.    Pres of Russia photographed with president of Argentina, big smiles.  Kirshner has destroyed Argentina's economy, so welcomes China, Russia, and Iran to offset US influence.   Argentina didn’t dare have open relations with Iran because Iran blew up the center and killed a lot of Argentines, but Hugo Chavez facilitated a new friendship.  Iran has a sophisticated intell ability, tied in with Cuba and all its South American friends.  Called "intelligence preparation of the battle space." Latin American has an abundance of minerals and metals forbidden to Iran under sanctions – but thorium, lithium, others, have dual-use military application.  Used cocaine channels across the Pacific. A former Chavez bodyguard: when Ahmadinejad visited in 2007 he specifically asked for into to Argentina for Iran's nuke program.
Hour Three
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 3, Block A:  Malcolm Hoenlein, Conference of Presidents, in re: drones dominating Iraq. Tens of millions of dollars to IRGC. ISIS uses drones. Division between WH and State Dept: will the money that's been frozen for sanctions be given to Iran (30% of GDP) under an Executive Order, end-run around the Senate?  "We expect to have anywhere/anytime inspections" [Nuclear inspectors will need unfettered access in Iran as part of a deal to lift economic sanctions, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said a day after an Iranian general said military sites must be off limits.] – mil sites – or there's no deal with Iran? Not what Mssrs Obama and Kerry said.   Moniz said it'd take Iran six months to comply with sanctions relief.   A $50 bil sign-up bonus?? Sanctions from: UN, Congress, Treasury  - also from Europeans.
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 3, Block B: Brig. Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser, formerly IDF Military Intelligence & Ministry of Strategic Affairs; in re: IRCG now controls Assad and can open anew Golan front against Israel.  Were about to turn their op into active when there was an internal fracas; meanwhile, they figured out that Israel will not tolerate such an infrastructure being built on its northern border. If Iran sees Western laxity continue, may try again.    S300: quite a challenge, as Iran can move ahead with nukes with a better defense; according to P5+1 talks, Iran will have the underground Fordoo; mil challenge is problematic.  Russia moves forward with its ambitions in the Middle East. Iranian involvement in Gaza. Hamas always played with Iran, now improving relations, esp since Hamas is broke; also have Qatar for cash injections.   Egypt is doing a good job of interdicting weapons supplies via Sinai.  Relations Fatah/PA and Hamas are tense; Hamas can’t get what it wants.   PA visited Gaza and the delegation was shown the door. It's in Israel's interest to make life in Gaza more comfortable but these rifts make that harder. Meanwhile, Iran wants to heat up the Hamas-Israel enmity but Gazans do not want that. 
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 3, Block C:  Cezary Podkul, Propublica, in re: Behind Christie's Budget Claims, a More Controversial Legacy  NJ Gov. Chris Christie has spent years cultivating an image of a bipartisan broker dedicated to fixing long-standing fiscal problems once and for all - one that would serve as the centerpiece of a 2016 run for the White House.  But an examination of Christie's record by The Washington Post and ProPublica paints a more complicated story of his fiscal stewardship of one of the biggest state budgets: Although Christie has balanced the state budget for five years - as required by New Jersey law - he has resorted to many of the financial maneuvers used by some of his predecessors: reducing state payments to pension plans, shifting money out of trust funds dedicated for specific purposes and borrowing to patch chronic budget gaps. And despite overcoming a multibillion-dollar deficit that Corzine left him, Christie has seen the nation's three biggest rating agencies downgrade New Jersey's credit a total of nine times on his watch. Only Illinois ranks lower. [more]
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 3, Block D:   Liz Peek, The Fiscal Times & Fox, in re: Obama's Free Trade Deal Puts Hillary on the Hot Seat. Will Hillary Clinton support President Obama’s push for the granddaddy of all trade agreements – the Trans-Pacific Partnership? Voters – and especially Democrats -- want to know, and the former first lady isn’t talking.  
Hillary Clinton has a big problem. She’s running for president on her husband’s economic policies, which voters remember fondly, and on President Obama’s foreign affairs strategy, which she helped to craft. One is hateful to the Left while the other is deemed a failure by the Right.  For the next (interminable) 18 months, she will play defense, trying to divorce herself from Bill’s welfare reform and financial deregulation as well as Obama’s Syria policy. Obama’s Deals with Cuba, Iran, TPP Split Congress
Hour Four
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 4, Block A: Daniel Henninger, WSJ, in re: The Democrats Own Iran  The Iran nuclear deal is all theirs—lock, stock and smoking centrifuges. The Democrats now own Iran—lock, stock and smoking centrifuges.  It isn’t just the Senate compromise on the Corker bill that made the Iran nuclear deal the party’s exclusive political property. The Democrats own Iran’s entire penetration in the region—Yemen, the Gulf of Aden, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon—pretty much anywhere Ayatollah Ali Khamenei wants to take them.  Senate Democrats, attempting a magical illusion on American voters, say the Iran nuclear threat and the Iran terror threat are separate realities.  Before the Senate’s recent “compromise” vote on Sen. Bob Corker’s Iran review bill, Delaware Sen. Chris Coons and other Senate Democrats, at the White House’s insistence, said while they abhorred Iran’s support for terrorism, it had to be separated from the historic arms deal.  Meanwhile Ayatollah Khamenei, a more unitary thinker, has been surging Iran’s military across the Middle East. With the U.S. on the doorstep of a presidential election, Iran is beginning to look like the Democrats’ Bermuda Triangle. The last time the party’s fortunes went missing in Iran was during what history generally describes as “Jimmy Carter’s hostage crisis.”  Opinion Journal Video Wonder Land Columnist Dan Henninger on political parallels with Jimmy Carter’s administration. Photo: Getty Images After the Iranian hostage crisis had ground through the news for nearly a year, with 52 Americans held in Tehran, Mr. Carter’s competence as president became . . .  [more]
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 4, Block B:  Sarah Westwood, Washington Times, in re:  Many Clinton charity donors also got State Department awards under Hillary
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 4, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: Aerojet Rocketdyne faces the possible loss of most of its business  In the heat of competition: Because of a combination of increased competition, launch failures, political decisions, and quality control questions, the rocket company Aerojet Rocketdyne could lose almost all of its rocket customers in the next few years.
Russia slashes spending on space  In the heat of competition: Economic hard times have forced the Russian government to cut spending on its space program by more than a third.  The cuts have mainly come from abandoning their effort to build a heavy lift rocket to compete with SLS. They might not realize it, but I think this will be a blessing in disguise, as they will no longer be wasting money building a giant rocket that will have little value in the competitive launch market. Instead, they will focus their investment on Angara, which has the possibility of earning them a profit.
Meanwhile, however, they still have to deal with the quality control problems and corruption that appears to permeate Russia's entire aerospace industry: Russian defense rocket fails and crashes immediately after launch. I have posted the video of the crash below the fold. It appears that the rocket was successfully propelled from its launch silo, but then its rocket engines never ignited.
Thursday  23 April 2015  / Hour 4, Block D: Bill Harwood, CBS/Astronomy Now.  http://www.cbsnews.com/news/an-ingenius-fix-for-hubbles-famously-flawed-vision/