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Mornings on the Mall

Friday June 22, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Tom Fitton

5am – A/B/C What do you like/dislike about the Senate healthcare bill?

Senate Republicans unveiled a “discussion draft” of the bill Thursday of their plan to repeal and replace Obamacare that would end the health care law’s penalties for people who don’t buy insurance, cut back an expansion of Medicaid, but would keep more protections for people with pre-existing conditions, compared to a House-passed bill.

The 200-page measure would also eliminate federal funding for Planned Parenthood and provide tax credits based on income, making more money available to lower income recipients to help them buy insurance. The House bill tied its tax credits to age. Pelosi: Senate Health Care Bill Is ‘Heartless’ (Daily Caller) House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi slammed the Senate GOP’s health care bill, calling it “sad, mean, and heartless.” “It’s still, as the president called the House bill, mean,” Pelosi said. “He said he hoped the Senate bill would have heart. So sad, Mr. President. Sad, mean, and heartless.”

“And this is the same thing…It’s the same thing all over again. It will do exactly what the House bill did: increase costs for fewer benefits, it will have an age tax…undermine Medicare by reducing its solvency…and millions and millions and millions of people will lose their healthcare.”

5am – D  Virginia man charged with giving secret documents to China (AP News) A Virginia man caught with $16,500 in cash in his carry-on luggage was charged Thursday with transmitting top-secret documents to an apparent Chinese agent. Kevin Mallory, 60, of Leesburg was arrested Thursday and made an initial appearance in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia. The self-employed consultant who speaks Chinese is charged under the federal Espionage Act and could face life in prison. In fact, if certain conditions are met, the charges could make Mallory eligible for the death penalty, prosecutor John Gibbs said at Mallory’s initial appearance.  FBI agents searched the device and found other documents and messages that Mallory thought had been deleted, according to the affidavit. In one message, Mallory wrote to the suspected Chinese agent, “your object is to gain information, and my object is to be paid.” The agent responded, “my current object is to make sure your security and to try to reimburse you.” According to the affidavit, the Chinese officers were encouraging Mallory to resume working for the government so that he could obtain “a position of access.” An analysis of the documents on the device found four classified documents, including three with a Top Secret classification.

5am– E     Trump: I Did Not Record Conversations With James Comey (NBC News) President Donald Trump on Thursday tweeted that he did not record his conversations with then-FBI Director James Comey, putting to rest one of the biggest lingering mysteries surrounding the drama between the president and the FBI head he later dismissed. Trump tweeted in May, shortly after he fired the FBI boss, that Comey “better hope that there are no ‘tapes’” of their conversations.

6am – A/B/C Do you want the Senate to bring the healthcare bill to a vote? 4 key Republicans come out against GOP plan (Fox News) Key Republican senators came out against the Senate Republican health care plan on Thursday, and their opposition is enough to defeat the package before a vote. Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said they would not vote on the Senate Republican plan in its current form. “Currently, for a variety of reasons, we are not ready to vote for this bill, but we are open to negotiation and obtaining more information before it is brought to the floor,” the statement said. “There are provisions in this draft that represent an improvement to our current health care system but it does not appear this draft, as written, will accomplish the most important promise that we made to Americans: to repeal ObamaCare and lower their health care costs.”  Paul told reporters on Capitol Hill Thursday that if members who support the bill know they don’t have the votes needed, discussion would begin earlier.  “I didn’t run on ObamaCare lite,” Paul said. “I think we can do better than this –my hope is not to defeat the bill, but to make the bill better.”  Paul added: “Now the discussions begin — I think it could take longer than a week.” McConnell To Bring Bill To Floor Even If It Doesn’t Have The Votes (Daily Caller) Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will bring an Obamacare repeal bill to a vote, even if it lacks necessary support, in order to put senators on the record, a source close to Senate leadership told The Daily Caller. Senate Republicans unveiled the Better Care Reconciliation Act Thursday. The bill would end the individual and employer insurance mandates from the Affordable Care Act, remove Medicaid funding from Planned Parenthood for one year, and phase out federal funding for Medicaid expansion starting in 2020. There are 52 GOP senators, and if necessary Vice President Mike Pence could make a tie breaking vote. No Democrats are expected to support the legislation.

6am – D 30 GOP Congressmen Have Been Attacked or Threatened Since May/  MSNBC Analyst: Supporting Trump Like ‘Hugging A Suicide Bomber’ MSNBC political analyst Elise Jordan compared Donald Trump to a suicide bomber Thursday afternoon because he “blows up” himself and those who support him. Jordan and host Craig Melvin began by discussing Trump’s disclosure that he did not have any tape recordings of himself and former FBI Director James Comey. “He wasted the country’s collective time speculating over whether these tapes existed or not,” Jordan said. “It’s a sad day when you can’t depend on the president’s word.” Then, she made a rather violent metaphor that compared Trump to a “suicide bomber.” “My advice would be to Republicans who do cozy up to him–it’s just like hugging a suicide bomber,” she casually remarked. “He blows you up in the process with him.” Johnny Depp : When was the last time an actor assassinated a President? (CNN) Even before Johnny Depp said it, the actor seemed to know that his comment would ignite controversy.

“This is going to be in the press, and it will be horrible…” he said, speaking to a crowd on Thursday. “When was the last time an actor assassinated a President?”The actor was at the Glastonbury Festival in the UK when he made his remarks, which were recorded. The Secret Service is aware of the comments Depp made about President Donald Trump, Secret Service staff assistant Shawn Holtzclaw told CNN. Depp brought up the topic of President Donald Trump while speaking to the crowd. “Can we bring Trump here?” he asked. The UK crowd booed and roared, “No.” “I think he needs help,” Depp said, as the crowd laughed. “This is going to be in the press, and it will be horrible,” he said. He paused briefly and said, “But I like that you’re all a part of it.” “When was the last time an actor assassinated a President?” he asked. It appeared to be a reference to John Wilkes Booth, the actor who assassinated President Abraham Lincoln in 1865. After posing the question, Depp said, “I want to clarify. I’m not an actor.” The crowd laughed.

6am – E Pornhub saw a huge dip in viewership in Washington, DC during Comey’s testimony Adult website Pornhub says they saw a major dip in viewership in Washington, DC during former FBI Director James Comey’s testimony on June 8. According to data released, the website saw a 10 percent dip in viewership when the testimony began at 10 a.m. However, by noon, the website says numbers “quickly recovered [in DC] and remained at normal levels for the rest of the day.” Pornhub went on to say that viewers in DC were even more enamored on June 13 when Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified before Congress. The website says on that day, viewership dropped 12 percent and remained “well below” average until after 7 p.m.

6am – F After London Attack, British Gun Activists Call For Right To Bear Arms British activists are advocating for looser gun laws in response to the Saturday night ISIS terror attack that killed eight people and wounded nearly fifty others in central London.“These tragedies may have been the eye opener to just how ineffective our laws are,” Dave Ewing, a representative from the gun ownership advocacy group, Firearms-UK, told Vocativ. Firearms-UK, along with other advocacy groups like Arm UK Citizens, Legalise Guns in the UK, and England Wants Its Guns Back, have flocked to social media to slam the British government for maintaining harsh restrictions on gun ownership in response to the attack at London Bridge, which was the third terror attack on British soil in as many months. They accuse the government of leaving its citizens exposed to violent terrorists and criminals, while politicians enjoy “24 hour armed bodyguards protecting them while they continue to sell the lie that firearms are not suitable for personal protection,” said a Firearms-UK Facebook post published in the wake of the London Bridge attack. Gun ownership is heavily restricted in Britain and is among the tightest in Europe

7am – A Can a change of titles make DC seem more stately? Ask Gov. Bowser. (Washington Post) If perception is reality, D.C. Council member David Grosso has an idea to jump-start the District’s stalled campaign to become the 51st state. Grosso (I-At Large) wants to upgrade the names of the city’s elected leaders to state equivalents. The mayor would become “governor.” The D.C. Council would become the “legislative assembly.” Council members would be “representatives.” “It is very symbolic, but it also reflects the real work we are doing in the government,” Grosso said. “One of the arguments against us becoming a state is we are just a city and a city shouldn’t be able to jump right to a state level. People don’t realize we do the functions of a state, county and city; this will change people’s perceptions of us.” DC Bill Could Add Third Gender Option to Licenses and ID Cards (NBC Washington)   A new bill would allow D.C. residents to choose a non-binary gender option on driver’s licenses, learner’s permits and ID cards. Ward 1 Councilmember Brianne K. Nadeau introduced the Nonbinary Identification Cards Amendment Act of 2017 on Wednesday. The bill would allow residents to choose the gender neutral option on forms of identification issued by D.C.’s Department of Motor Vehicles. License and ID cards for residents who choose that option will show an “X” rather than the standard “M” or “F,” according to a press release from Nadeau’s office. “Gender is a spectrum and some of our residents do not identify as male or female,” Nadeau said in the release. “Current licenses force residents to conform to genders that don’t accurately reflect their identity. This has not only a practical impact but also a deeply negative emotional and mental health impact.” Councilmembers David Grosso, Robert C. White, Jr., Charles Allen, Elissa Silverman and Mary Cheh co-introduced the bill.

7am-B Democrats Block Witnesses from Testifying in House Intel Probe (FreeBeacon) House Democrats are continuing to block testimony from about a dozen witnesses who sought to appear before the intelligence oversight panel investigating Russian interference in the 2016 election. Congressional officials said one of the key witnesses, former informal adviser to the Trump campaign Carter Page, was scheduled to testify at a closed hearing of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence.

But Democrats on the committee blocked the testimony, asserting they needed more time to prepare. “He’s the guy that many Democrats have been pointing to as the supposed mastermind and you would think they were interested hearing his story,” said one Capitol Hill official. Rep. Adam Schiff (Calif.), the committee’s Democratic leader, did not respond to emails seeking comment on the blocked testimony. Schiff has asserted in the past that evidence of collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign is “more than circumstantial,” contrary to other intelligence and congressional oversight members who have said there is no evidence.

7am-C Psychopaths drink their coffee black, study finds If you like your coffee black, you may be someone who prefers strong flavors, takes good care of their health, or just wants to drink their coffee the way it’s supposed to be drunk.

Or, you may be a psychopath.  At least, that’s according to a new study published in the journal Appetite, which found a correlation between a love of black coffee and sadist or psychopathic tendencies. The research surveyed more than 1,000 adults, asking them to give their food and flavour preferences. The participants then took a series of personality tests assessing antisocial personality traits, such as sadism, narcissism and psychopathy.

The study, carried out by researchers at the University of Innsbruck, found that a preference for bitter flavours was linked to psychopathic behaviour. The closest association was between bitter foods and “everyday sadism” – that is to say, enjoyment of inflicting moderate levels of pain on others.

7am – D INTERVIEW – ANDY HARRIS U.S. Congressman to the 1st district of Maryland 

Topic: Senate Health Bill

• Rep. Andy Harris, Maryland’s lone Republican in Congress, took a different position on the bill. In a statement, he noted the 50 percent premium increase sought by CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield, Maryland’s largest insurer on the individual marketplace.
• “Premiums are rising and the Obamacare system is collapsing. Marylanders cannot afford to wait any longer, so I am pleased to see progress in the Senate,” Harris said. “I look forward to working with my colleagues in both the House and Senate to complete this process and build a health care system that provides affordable, high-quality care to the American people.”

7am – E  Bone-sniffing dogs will search for Amelia Earhart’s remains on remote island (USA Today) A group of researchers plan to use bone-sniffing dogs in search of human remains that could prove whether Amelia Earhart died a castaway on a remote island in the Pacific. The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery (TIGHAR) along with four human-remains-detection dogs, will journey to the uninhabited island of Nikumaroro, where the group believes Earhart may have landed.  Earhart’s plane vanished on July 2, 1937, on the last leg of her trip around the world. She was flying toward Howland Island in the Pacific, but was running low on gas before she vanished. Three years after her disappearance, 13 human bones were found on Nikumaroro, but were later lost, according to TIGHAR, which has devoted three decades to exploring the castaway theory. That leaves 193 bones still to be found, according to Fredrik Hiebert, National Geographic Society’s Archaeologist-in-residence, who is accompanying the group on the expedition.  He said if the dogs can locate bones, they will be transferred back to the the U.S. for DNA analysis to determine whether the bones belonged to Earhart.

8am  A/B/C– INTERVIEW – DOUGLAS MURRAY – Associate Editor of the Spectator and author of the #1 best selling book in the U.K. “The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam”

Topic: The rise of terrorism in Europe 

• The Islamic State is setting up networks to support the systematic movement of terrorists from the Middle East to Europe and Asia, according to U.S. defense officials.
• Former FBI Assistant Director James Kallstrom said it is “just a matter of time” before a terrorist attack in the U.S. kills “a lot of people.” “We’ve been just sitting back basically and taking this,” Kallstrom said. He slammed the “politically correct training” that neglects to take into account the motives for these attacks. “I’m not saying we need a police state, but we need to have a lot more sensibility and good strategy.”

8am – D /E Hammocks Over Hikes This Summer (U.S NEWS) A new poll about summer travel finds that the No. 1 thing Americans want to do on vacation is … nothing. Almost three-fourths of Americans say resting and relaxing is very or extremely important to them when they go on vacation, according to the survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Interestingly, most Americans say staying home and doing nothing isn’t ideal. Instead, they want a change of scenery. Of those who plan a summer vacation, 92 percent are going away and only 8 percent are making it a staycation. More than half of those polled said relaxing at home doesn’t count as a real vacation.  Only 22 percent “completely disconnect” while on vacation. A third don’t even try to get away from the internet and social media. Some of those surveyed — 42 percent — say they dial back their time online a little. Americans under 30 are the most plugged in. Just 13 percent say they’re likely to completely disconnect on vacation.