Photo: ISIS attack on Iraqi-Jordanian border? See below, Hour 1, Block C: Entifadh Qanbar, President of the Future Foundation in Washington, D.C.,
“I was told an hour ago that on the Jordanian border there’s a gathering of ISIS as we speak, gearing up for terrorist attacks. There have recently been many examples of ISIS stopping civilian vehicles.”
 
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
Co-hosts: Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal.
 
Hour One
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 1, Block A:  Francis Rose, NationalDefenseWeek.com and francisrose.com, in re: @FrancisRoseDC, WJLA-TV, WMAL-AM; in re: David Shulkin, now fired as head of Dept of Veterans Affairs, not only strongly opposed any measure of privatization of VA healthcare but had the extreme gaucherie to publish a New York Times op-ed excoriating the president on the day after he was sacked. Many polls say that veterans who receive care from the VA are pleased with it; at he same time, it’s essential that vets who live far from a VA hospital be allowed to see private physicians rather than wait weeks or months for treatment. “Fired VA Chief: I Was Pushed Out for Opposing Privatization – NYMag”
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 1, Block B: Francis Rose, NationalDefenseWeek.com and francisrose.com, in re: @FrancisRoseDC, WJLA-TV, WMAL-AM; in re: Rear Admiral Dr Randy Jackson, Pres Trump’s personal physician, is appointed head of the VA.  The Dems & their allies at veterans’s groups want govt control of the VA. Paranoid Republicans.  Sen Sanders said that everyone in Congress opposes privatization; Shulkin spent $122,000 of taxpayer money to go to Wimbleton — “Democrats do love to spend other people’s money.”—Mary Kissel.  The VA has made progress in telehealth.  To move a bureaucracy of 360,ooo people in one year is not feasible It's far too large and needs to be stripped down. —Francis Rose.    The VA is a barony of Congress.
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 1, Block C: Entifadh Qanbar, President of the Future Foundation in Washington, D.C., in re:  Ramadi, a Sunni city in Iraq: sinister element. Ramadi is at the Western end of Iraq, bordering Syria dn Jordan and closest to Israel and Lebanon.  The al Quds Force has assembled forces, esp Hezbollah,  and Shi’a militias: Iranians are creating their own version of ISIS to distract ___ from Sunni areas and US efforts to stand against Iran and undermine US efforts. Also to create an open war between Sunnis and the US.  I r’cd another video today from Sunni activists whose message is: “Don’t join resistance to the US – it’s an Iranian trap.”   It's a remarkably good video.
US considers PM Abadi, from a Stalinist party that blew up the US embassy in the 80s, and he’s ever expressed remorse. Is the White House focussed on Iraq? Does the US have an ambassador there?  Washington’s attention is only to bring about a nice picture that ISIS is gone; everything else is not covered as it would show that the Baghdad govt is no ally of the US.  Washington [in Iraq] still lives as though under Obama days; the US ambassador recently said, strangely: “No one can affect the elections and the US will stand by the results”!   Iraqis understood that even wholly fraudulent elections would be endorsed by the US.
Ramadi is now at risk from an ISIS attack:  ISIS is till alive and able to launch attacks.  Time line:  Attack is imminent. I was told an hour ago that on the Jordanian border there’s a gathering of ISIS as we speak, gearing up for terrorist attacks. There have recently been many examples of ISIS stopping civilian vehicles. ISIS: elements who’ve been cut off from the rest of ISIS and found Iranians. 
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 1, Block D:  Behnam Ben Taleblu, FDD  Research Fellow; in re:  The Saudi crown prince, MBS, wants to win the war in Yemen and the danger in the Gulf. He wants more than rhetoric from DC: wants backing in Syria, Yemen, Bahrain.  While he was in DC, New York and Boston. Houthis have been sending missiles into Saudi. Needs C3.  Senate effort to have US support for Saudi to withdraw has failed.  Operation decisive Storm: need to have Iran mentioned by name. The choice of John Bolton makes it clear that policy is going one direction Europeans are alarmed. They need to gain the trust of the US, to promise to agree to the three measures – inspection & verification;  ballistic missiles: no testing or dvpt, as they have no ICBMs at present (which could be developed from ballistic missiles); and the sunset clause, which is the most troublesome.  French and Germans need to sell this to the rest of Europe.   Euros do have significant income from bz with Iran, esp in aviation and energy.   If Euro banks and businesses do go along with Washington, then eventually the European pols will cave in.
Teheran is confused about what Washington will do —which is a good thing.  They want to separate Europeans and Americans; we’ll see on 12 May The weakest are the Germans, who have a lot of commercial contracts.
 
Hour Two
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 2, Block A:  Sebastian Gorka, Fox News, in re:  Everything has progressed smoothly anent US and North Korea.  Have already fixed a date for a preliminary mtg ‘twixt ROK and DPRK.    Getting NATO members to pay the obliged 2%.  This is the embodiment of America First in this age; opposite of “leading form behind.”  Humor is part of it; dictators hate to be satirized.  Bringing results.  ROK just received shipment of forty F35s - significant.  Nations will pay; no more freeloading.
Skripol case: normal bz between Russia and the US is being shut down.  As Moscow becomes more hostile and we retaliate, there’s no exit here.  Recall Gyorgy Markov – assassinating your agents abroad (at a bus stop in London, e.g.). Russia is run by a former KGB colonel.  Will we take adequate action to teach a bully a lesson?  The chief general of the Russian mil boasts about high tech. We're headed toward an arms race in robots.   . . .  The notion that we have a peer competitor in the Russian Federation is no longer accurate. And that’s a good thing.
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 2, Block B:  Sebastian Gorka, Fox News, in re:
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 2, Block C:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re: 
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 2, Block D:  Robert Zimmerman, BehindtheBlack.com, in re: 
 
Hour Three
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 3, Block A:  Gregory Copley, President of the International Strategic Studies Association (ISSA), based in Washington, DC. He is also Editor-in-Chief of Defense & Foreign Affairs publications, and the Global Information System (GIS), in re:
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 3, Block B: Michael Farren. Research Fellow, Study of American Capitalism. Mercatus Center,  in re: Self-driving cars
Self-Driving Cars Are Really Here, and Just Might Save Your Life ... Uber and Volvo on Nov. 20 announced a partnership to launch a fleet of self-driving taxis in 2019. Meanwhile, Waymo, Google's autonomous vehicle company, has been operating fully autonomous cars in Phoenix since October.  . . .
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 3, Block C: Catrin Einhorn, New York Times, in re: At restaurants across America, servers calculate how far is too far, weighing harassing behavior against the tips they need to make a living wage.  The balancing act plays out every day in restaurants across America: Servers who rely on tips decide where to draw the line when a customer goes too far.
They ignore comments about their bodies, laugh off proposals for dates and deflect behavior that makes them uncomfortable or angry — all in pursuit of the $2 or $20 tip that will help buy groceries or pay the rent.
There was the young server at a burger joint in Georgia, Emmallie Heard, whose customer held her tip money in his hand and said, “So you gonna give me your number?” She wrote it down, but changed one of the digits.
There was the waitress in Portland, Ore., Whitney Edmunds, who swallowed her anger when a man patted his lap and beckoned her to sit, saying, “I’m a great tipper.”
And at a steakhouse in Gonzales, La., Jaime Brittain stammered and walked away when a group of men offered a $30 tip if she’d answer a question about her pubic hair. She returned and provided a “snappy answer” that earned her the tip, but acknowledges having mixed feelings about the episode.
“Literally every time it happens, I will have this inner monologue with myself: ‘Is this worth saying something, or is it not?’” said Ashley Maina-Lowe, a longtime server and bartender in Tucson. “Most of the time I say, ‘No, it’s not worth it.’”  (1 of 2)
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 3, Block D:  Catrin Einhorn, New York Times, in re: At restaurants across America, servers calculate how far is too far, weighing harassing behavior against the tips they need to make a living wage.  (2 of 2)
 
Hour Four
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 4, Block A: Chris Gadomski, @bnefnuc, lead nuclear analyst, Bloomberg New Energy Finance; and asst prof, Center for Global Affairs at NYU; in re: Nuclear energy in Saudi Arabia. Desalination. (1 of 2)
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 4, Block B: Chris Gadomski, @bnefnuc, lead nuclear analyst, Bloomberg New Energy Finance; and asst prof, Center for Global Affairs at NYU; in re: Nuclear energy in Saudi Arabia. Desalination. (2 of 2)
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 4, Block C:  Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero, by James Romm
Thursday 29 March 2018 / Hour 4, Block D:  Dying Every Day: Seneca at the Court of Nero, by James Romm