Photo, above: A longtime companion of reputed mob boss James “Whitey” Bulger will be buried Tuesday.  Teresa Stanley was the woman who started out, in the mid 1990s, on Bulger’s run as a fugitive, but soon returned home. In her place, Bulger picked up a younger companion, the now-jailed Catherine Greig.  Stanley’s sense of betrayal might have brought Bulger down in the very first year of his life on the lam — if only the FBI had gone to see her.

JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW

Co-host: Larry Kudlow, The Kudlow Report, CNBC; and Cumulus Media radio

Hour One

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 1, Block A: Larry Kudlow, The Kudlow Report, CNBC; and Cumulus Media radio, in re: Steven Cohen, SAC, one of the largest hedge funds (staff of 1,000); govt definition of "inside information" expands every years. Third parties – consultants and what-have-you, now in the game. Meanwhile, the feds have gone far toward destroying SAC and not charged him with anything; $5bil is already gone, although Morgan Stanley is adamantly in. IRS has deliberately confused the matter; after three weeks, we have no name, no specifics.  Don’t know who was the quarterback.  No one in Cincinnati turns a light bulb on or off without having been instructed to do so.   William Wilkins in IRS has had his computer taken – by FBI?  Coming: a long summer of document analysis. Quinnipiac: 76% of Americans want a Special Counsel.

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 1, Block B: Tod Lindburg, Hoover, in re: Appointing an IRS Independent Counsel Is a Terrible, Terrible Idea  New Republic. IRS has an unlimited budget, and unlimited ability to investigate – have got out of control. We have a Constitutional problem: a prosecutor who operates outside t the control of the Executive is not acceptable. LK: at least he can speak to a grand jury. TL: Then it'd all be behind closed doors – in secret. mandate can be ltd only as looking as the Special Counsel says. LK: These IRS people just get up three and lat-out lie – withhold info, claim ignorance, the whole panoply. The IRS will survive; question is in what form – how do we limit them so they don’t do this again.  TL: When it got really hot Nixon went along with an appointment then tried to have him fired, eventually he Oct 1973 Saturday Night Massacre.  I'm not saying there's no problem here; rather, that the price of apptg an independent counsel is too high. LK:  You can be sure a sp counsel will get the info out.  JB: wouldn’t Patrick Fitzgerald do that?  Otherwise, we're left with asking Eric Holder to investigate the IRS!  LK: The Republicans will wind up embracing a Special Counsel, who can operate after the original appt, separately from DOJ – separate ofcs, own staff, and access to the FBI – and can empanel a grand jury. 

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 1, Block C: Patrick Chovanec, chief strategist at Silvercrest Asset Management, in re:   Thousands Commemorate Tiananmen
 & WASHINGTON WIRE : Summers' Agenda for Obama-Xi Summit  Pres Obama and Pres Xi will meet at Annandale estate in California.  Larry Summers says; Mind he trade gap! -  PC:  That was relevant two or three years ago.  The Central Bank of China has been firm; China & US on about the same page.    LK: The real value f the yuan has gone up 35%; what needs to be done is address China's pirating: they lie, cheat and steal. They want to buy bz near where we bld drones; they steal our technology, counterfeit our goods, and lie. This shd be taken to the WTO, but the US folds up like a cheap suit.  –WTO deals only w transparent trade policies – and China is not transparent.  – China is a communist country; it was making great strides, but that time is over The state-owned enterprises are as huge and as subsidized as ever they were. – Head of cybercommand at US Army: $250mil PA intellectual theft, and massive amts from ____.  – Finally, US is alert to the scale of this.  Hegel in China named China by name, infuriating his hosts. – this is not a Dem/GOP thing, since neither one does anything about it. –  The 7% Li says iis growth is itself inadequate – and even to keep that up they still have to steal our technology. Today wa h anniversary of Tien An Men; quiet commemoration, and forbidden to speak of it. In fact, the PRC forbad the use of the word  "Today"!  –  Chinese hate to lose face; I think the SecDef, SecState, and others, shd give speeches carefully explaining in detail what China is doing in cybercrime; they won’t retaliate. –  Congress needs to be part of this: from sanctions vs China to  . . .     Summers said, "re-think global financial system."  What's it mean? –  China's whole goal at G20 is to keep their head down and avoid being a target. –  What they need is a real banking system. What they have isn’t doing 'em good.   If we ever marked the to market, we'd have no idea what their [worth] is. –   SocGen said that debt svc ratio of 30% of GDP is a harbinger of a financial crisis; China is at 29.9%.  Instead of fearing a Chinese juggernaut that'll eat our lunch, we need to worry about it's [weakening, growing unstable, and lashing out].

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In anticipation of the twenty-fourth anniversary of Tien An Men, the PRC forbad the use of the word "Today"!

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Tuesday 4 June   2013 / Hour 1, Block D: Larry Kudlow, in re: Gov Christie. Governor of new Jerey until and if he's the president of the United States.

Hour Two

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 2, Block A:  Michael Graham, The Natural Truth broadcaster, Massachusetts [michaelgraham dot com/radio], in re: the Markey contest.  "It's illegal to elect a Republican in Massachusetts."  Trial of James 'Whitey' Bulger Set to Start   Jury selection is expected to begin in the federal trial of James Bulger, whose alleged reign as Boston's most notorious gangster has long accorded him near-mythic status. Was Boston terrified of this man in the 1970s?  Yes, South Boston in the '70s & '80s, was a throwback to an old era, like mob bosses of yesteryear.  He was pouring drugs in to the streets, killing women for no reason; a notorious, vicious animal – and also the brother of the president of the state senate.  Bussing fight was much more terrifying in Boston than in South Carolina.  Captured in Santa Monica with cash, guns; now a pathetic old man.  IRS: need Congress to do its job, and people to keep cutting it back to size.  I wrote, That's No Angry Mob; That's My Mom. My mother is in the tea party in South Carolina.

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 2, Block B: Charles Pellegrino, author and explorer, in re: Tens of thousands of people gathered in Tokyo on June 2 to protest the government's decision to restart nuclear power plants, RIA Novosti reported. The government has announced that it could allow closed nuclear plants to reopen if they meet new safety guidelines that will be adopted in July. All of Japan's nuclear power generation facilities were shut down after the 2011 Fukushima disaster, and only two have since reopened, but the country has recently taken steps to revive interest in nuclear power beyond its borders. Major percentage of Japan's energy has been nuclear, and Japan is selling nukes to Turkey, so its economy is all bound up in nuclear. 

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 2, Block C:   John Avlon, CNN, The Daily Beast,  and Newsweek International, in re: Gov Christie said today, "I don't know what a special election costs and I don;t care." By having an October special election, he insures that Corey Booker won't be on the ballot with him, redounding to Christie's benefit for the next general. He's so extremely popular that the GOP would be crazy not to support him  and instead the conservatives have their knives out for him.  Tom Keane - co-chair of the 9/11 Commission much- lauded centrist, is the logical choice for a place-holder; or will his son be nominated, who might be able to carry the seat in October?

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 2, Block D: Jeff Bliss, The Bliss Index, in re: State treasurer Bill Lockyer, 72, said he will retire at the end of his term in 2015. The former attorney general and state lawmaker has been in office somewhere since 1968. "One of the most driven, flawed and incredibly talented politicians of our time," writes Dan Morain. Sacramento Bee "A career that stretched from the Disco Era to the Digital Age, bridged the terms of Gov. Jerry Brown 1 and 2.0 and rewarded him with two pensions totaling upwards of $200,000 a year." CalBuzz . . . In a pre-announcement interview with us, embargoed until today, he insisted that his rocky marriage to  former Alameda County Supervisor Nadia Lockyer, 41, and the sex and drug scandal she was embroiled in, has little to do with his decision. Three times married, he referred to himself as a “single parent,” raising his 9-year-old son, Diego . . .

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Actual IRS question for targeted group, per Rep. Tim Griffin:

"Describe your organization's religious belief system toward the land of Israel"

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Hour Three

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 3, Block A: Patrick O'Donnell, author, Dog Company, in re: the events of June 2-5, Portsmouth, Channel, Normandy, waiting for the signal.  The weather and the fleet putting to sea, and the Pointe du Hoc challenge as a way of talking of the beaches, and the terrain.

June 4, 1922. Full moon, the tides are right Battleships  have sailed from Scapa Flow.  MI6.MI5, deceiving Hitler to suggest the landing will be at Pas de Calais, or Norway - anywhere but Normandy.  The weather was so bad that Rommel went home to delver a gift to his wife.   Still, bottled up at Portsmouth, ringed with barbed wire; men are wounded and injured, can’t leave for secrecy.   Commander gets drunk the night before D-Day; guns not at Pointe du Hoc, had been moved 500 yards inland. He punches out the surgeon on board he ship, immed removed by Col Rudder, who says to commanding genl that he needs to take command or it'll never go off.    Father Lacy came aboard for services; Rangers stayed out and played poker all night. Al men who went to the service died.    Calvin Batchelor was at _________.   British 6 and American __ landed.  CBS and BBC clips, 1:30 AM:  Berlin radio calling an invasion; no confirmation from Allies.  First news reached 12:37 AM Eastern War Time, recorded by Associated Press.  After 1 AM EWT, Berlin radio announced: "Here is a special bulletin. Early this morning the long-awaited invasion . . . . Somme estuary . . .  our naval forces fighting with invading vessels . . ."

Tuesday  4 Jne   2013 / Hour 3, Block B:  Patrick O'Donnell, author, Dog Company, in re: Small flotilla of ten landing craft, Dog, Easy and Fox Companies; radar off, move to extreme right of Pointe du Hoc Beach.  Rangers realized their mistake; delayed half a hour – however the B26 bombers also were delayed, saving the lives of the Rangers., who land abt 6:30A.  MG42s heating up to point of warping.  Astounding that they scaled the cliffs with their bear hands, grappling hooks and ladders. At the top: a fortress; 125,000 men thrown into battle, hand to hand. Entirely in the favor of the Germans. Without Omaha, the whole beachhead will collapse.

The Trojan War will not be held. John has grown a long beard. . .   The long sobs of the violins of autumn; Les sanglots longs des violons de l'automne  Wound my heart with a monotonous languor [Verlaine: http://en.wikipedia {dot} org/wiki/Chanson_d'automne]   - -  code to French resistance that the invasion has begun.

    Meanwhile, the Allies have to hold on for two days, vs bunkers and mass fighting, snipers. Found the guns in apple orchard; two men find the tire tracks and miraculously plant thermite grenades to disable the guns.  Have to hold a small road to prevent the Germans from raining ammo down on Omaha.

   BBC: no indication the Germans have put in a counterattack. . . 

 

 

 

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 3, Block C: Eric Trager, Washington Institute, in re: Egypt's NGO Convictions Demand an Assertive Response Earlier today, an Egyptian court convicted forty-three employees of pro-democracy NGOs -- including nineteen Americans -- on charges of receiving illegal foreign funding. The decision is not only a giant leap backward for Egypt's dwindling democratic prospects, but also a fundamental assault on American interests, which include protecting U.S. citizens and institutions abroad from the depredations of foreign governments -- particularly those that are among the top recipients of U.S. foreign aid. If Washington fails to respond assertively, the ruling Muslim Brotherhood will interpret this as a sign of weakness, encouraging . . .

Egyptian Court Convicts NGO Workers

POLICYWATCH 2079 - Egypt's Summer of Discontent

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 3, Block D: David Sanger, NYT, in re: US and China Will Hold Talks About Hacking  The United States and China have agreed to hold regular, high-level talks on how to set standards of behavior for cybersecurity and commercial espionage, the first diplomatic effort to defuse the tensions over what the United States says is a daily barrage of computer break-ins and theft of corporate and government secrets.

Hour Four

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 4, Block A:  Mary Kissel, Wall Street Journal editorial board, in re: bicycles in New York City.  FHA. 

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 4, Block B: Robert Zimmerman, behindtheblack.com, in re: The Sun makes the scientists look good -- for now!   NOAA today released its monthly update of the Sun’s sunspot cycle, covering the period of May 2013. As I have done every month for the past three years, I have posted this latest graph, with annotations to give it context, below the fold.  For the third month in a row, the Sun has shown increased sunspot activity. Though the total activity continues to remain well below all predictions, it appears that the Sun is going to produce a double-peaked maximum, as predicted by some solar scientists back in March. Be aware however that this prediction isn’t based on any real understanding of the physical processes that produce sunspots but is instead based on the fact that the Sun has sometimes done this in the past. If you asked these scientists why the Sun sometimes produces a double-peaked maximum they will wave their arms about but will really not be able to tell you.

Tuesday  4 June  2013 / Hour 4, Block C: Michael Riley, Bloomberg Businessweek, in re: Enterprise Tech / How the U.S. Government Hacks the World  Obscured by trees and grassy berms, the campus of the National Security Agency sits 15 miles north of Washington’s traffic-clogged Beltway, its 6 million square feet of blast-resistant buildings punctuated by clusters of satellite dishes. Created in 1952 to intercept radio and other electronic transmissions—known as signals intelligence—the NSA now focuses much of its espionage resources on stealing what spies euphemistically call “electronic data at rest.” These are the secrets that lay inside the computer networks and hard drives of terrorists, rogue nations, and even nominally friendly governments. When President Obama receives his daily intelligence briefing, most of the information comes from government cyberspies, says Mike McConnell, director of national intelligence under President George W. Bush. “It’s at least 75 percent, and going up,” he says.  [more]

Tuesday  4 June   2013 / Hour 4, Block D: Richard Rubin, Bloomberg, in re: Republicans See Biased IRS as Democrats Cite Mistakes  A partisan divide is developing on how U.S. lawmakers view Internal Revenue Service actions, with Republicans seeing intimidation of their allies and Democrats citing agency mistakes and mismanagement.  The IRS has a culture of targeting some organizations that went beyond the extra scrutiny given to Tea Party groups, Representative Dave Camp, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said as he opened a panel hearing on the issue today.

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Music

Hour 1: Pirates of the Caribbean; Black Pearl; Dead Man's Chest.

Hour 2: Wag the Dog; The Last Samurai; Great Escape.

Hour 3: Band of Brothers; Saving Private Ryan; The Last Samurai.

Hour 4: Cinderella Man; The Last Samurai

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