Mornings on the Mall 02.02.18

Byron York, Joe Theismann and Bret Baier joined WMAL on Friday!


Mornings on the Mall

Friday, February 2, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C   Memo News:

  • Trump Clears the Way for Release of Secret Republican Memo
  • Mr. Trump, who had a brief window to block the memo’s disclosure on national security grounds, was expected to tell Congress on Friday that he had no objections and would probably not request that any of its substance be redacted, according to a senior administration official.
  • ‘Never any hesitation’: Trump was quickly persuaded to support memo’s release
  • GOP case: FBI probe based on tainted evidence linked to Clinton
  • Rep. Steve King on FISA memo: “It’s earth-shaking, it’s worse than Watergate and the only thing that we don’t know yet is whether does this lead all the way to a president of the United States.” #Tucker
  • COMEY: All should appreciate the FBI speaking up. I wish more of our leaders would. But take heart: American history shows that, in the long run, weasels and liars never hold the field, so long as good people stand up. Not a lot of schools or streets named for Joe McCarthy.
  • White House worried FBI director could quit over Nunes memo release
  • Wray has not directly threatened to resign after clashing with Trump over the possible release of the memo, the source added, because that is not his style of dealing with conflict.
  • Rising White House fear: Nunes memo is a dud
  • Schumer, Pelosi call for Nunes to be removed as House intelligence chair

5am – D         MIKA VS MICHAEL WOLFF:

  • Mika Brzezinski kicked “Fire and Fury” author Michael Wolff off “Morning Joe” this morning. He responded by tweeting, “My bad, the President is right about Mika.”
  • MIKA THROWS MICHAEL WOLFF OFF THE SET OF MORNING JOE: When again, Wolff denied having accused Haley of anything, Brzezinski was over it. “Come on, are you kidding,” she asked, incredulously. “You’re on the set of Morning Joe, we don’t BS here.” She then unceremoniously shut down the interview and went to commercial break. Shortly after his segment, Wolff tweeted, “My bad, the President is right about Mika,” referring to Trump’s tweets from last summer about “low I.Q. Crazy Mika” who was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” on New Year’s Eve.
  • Michael Wolff Says ‘The President Is Right About Mika’ After Brzezinski Cuts Him Off On ‘Morning Joe’. Fire and Fury author Michael Wolff stopped by Morning Joe on Thursday to discuss his insinuations to Bill Maher on Real Time last month that President Trump is currently having an affair with someone in the White House, who eagle-eyed book readers quickly speculated to be U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley. Wolff then doubled down on his remarks in an interview with theSkimm this week by claiming Haley has “embraced” the rumors rather than being distraught over them. When pointed out how irresponsible this was by fellow guest, political strategist Susan Del Percio, Wolff claimed that he found it “puzzling” for Haley to “deny something she was not accused of.” At that point, host Mika Brzezinski had already had enough and stepped in. “Let’s put this next question … the entire credibility of your book, which was written really quickly,” Brzezinski asked. “Do you regret inferring anything about Nikki Haley?” Wolff denied that he “inferred anything,” and as Del Percio started to protest, Brzezinski was like, “I got this.” Wolff continued to ramble, but Brzezinski cut him off. “Michael, you said she has embraced it,” she pointed out. “I’m gonna go as far as to say that you might be having a fun time, playing a little game dancing around this, but you’re slurring a woman, it’s disgraceful.”

5am – E         New witnesses tell detectives they saw Robert Wagner arguing with Natalie Wood on his boat moments before she drowned in 1981 as he is named a ‘person of interest’ by LAPD. (Daily Mail) — Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials say actress Natalie Wood’s drowning is now being probed as a ‘suspicious death’ after new witnesses emerged. The announcement from sheriff’s homicide detectives comes hours after CBS News aired an interview with an investigator who said Wood’s husband, actor Robert Wagner is considered a ‘person of interest’ in her 1981 death. Wood disappeared after a night of drinking on a yacht with her husband and others. Her body was found later floating in the water. It was declared an accident but police reopened the case in 2011 to see whether Wagner or anyone else played a role. Sheriff’s officials say one new witness described hearing yelling and crashing sounds coming from the couple’s stateroom.  They said other witnesses saw a man and woman arguing on the back of the boat. CBS 48 Hours Natalie Wood: Death in Dark Water will air on Saturday, February 3 at 10pm EST.


6am – A         Super Bowl Preview:

  • Tom Brady drinks enough water every day to kill a mere mortal. Tom Brady’s hydration method may be dangerous, nutritionist says (Fox News) — Tom Brady’s hydration method might work for a world-class athlete, but one nutritionist warned that drinking as much water as the quarterback could kill you. Brady, in his book “The TB 12 Method,” claims that drinking more than 35 glasses of water per day will help you flush out the toxins in your body and even help you prevent sunburns. “Drink at least one-half of your body weight in ounces of water every day,” the book recommends, according to the report. “That’s the minimum. Ideally, you’ll drink more than that, and with added electrolytes, too.”
  • At presser, Justin Timberlake on special guest rumors for his halftime show: “I think Vegas has a lot of odds on it, I heard. You know, from NSYNC to Jay [Z] to Chris Stapleton to Janet [Jackson].”
  • At presser, Timberlake talked about his bro relationship with Brady.
  • Justin Timberlake: My son won’t play football

6am – B/C     GOP Retreat Recap / Trump Spoke At Retreat

6am – D/E/F  Are You Seeing Trump’s Tax Cuts In Your Paycheck?

  • 300 firms giving tax cut bonus, Costco dismisses Pelosi’s ‘crumbs’ attack. (Washington Examiner) — The number of companies offering employees higher wages, expanded insurance and retirement benefits and cash bonuses up to $3,000 has surged to 300 as more see benefits from the new GOP tax cuts. The payouts, praised by President Trump, are going to some 3 million employees.  The growing list of companies paying so-called “Trump bonuses” is at 300, according to list keeper Americans for Tax Reform and ATR Vice President John Kartch. ATR President Grover Norquist said, “Every two weeks from February to November Americans will be reminded that one party cut their taxes and raised their pay. And the other tried to stop it.”
  • AP: Workers Receiving Bigger Paychecks Due to GOP Tax Reform. Workers across the U.S. are beginning to see bigger paychecks as take-home pay increases due to the Republican tax reform law. Middle-class workers are happy with the extra cash, which they are now receiving as employers implement new IRS withholding guidelines, which dictate how much employers withhold from pay for federal taxes, the Associated Press reported Thursday. Employers have until Feb. 15 to make the changes, so workers who have not yet seen bigger paychecks may do so in the coming weeks.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – BYRON YORK – Chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner – discussed the latest news on the memo.

7am – B         ANTI- MILITARY CA TEACHER:

  • John Kelly said a California high school teacher “ought to go to hell” for calling the military “the frickin’ lowest of our low” White House Chief of Staff John Kelly said Wednesday that a Los Angeles-area high school teacher “ought to go to hell” for bashing U.S. military service members in classroom remarks. Kelly, a retired Marine general, blasted Gregory Salcido in an interview with Fox News Radio. Salcido has been off work from El Rancho High School in Pico Rivera after video surfaced of him scolding a 17-year-old student who was wearing a U.S. Marine Corps sweatshirt. The student captured Salcido urging him not to join the military and referring to military service members with a crude term for stupid. “They’re not like high-level thinkers, they’re not academic people, they’re not intellectual people; they’re the frickin’ lowest of our low,” Salcido says on the recording. Kelly added his own on Wednesday. “Well, I think the guy ought to go to hell,” Kelly told Fox News Radio. “I just hope he enjoys the liberties and the lifestyle that we have fought for.”
  • Student Getting Death Threats After Recording CA Teacher’s Anti-Military Rant. A California high school student who recorded his teacher bashing the U.S. military spoke out Thursday on “Fox & Friends.” Victor Quinonez, who aspires to join the U.S. Marine Corps, used his cell phone to capture his teacher, Gregory Salcido, slamming service members as the “the lowest of our low.”

7am – C         Punxsutawney Phil predicts 6 more weeks of winter. YORK, Pa. — The results of Groundhog Day 2018 are in: According to legend, we’re in for six more weeks of winter because Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. That’s in spite of forecasts that predicted a cloudy, shadow-less morning. The Pennsylvania groundhog isn’t the only weather-predicting rodent in this quirky American tradition, but he is the most famous. And according to the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club, his opinion is the only one that matters. He’s not always right. But he’s always popular. Meanwhile, across state lines in New Jersey, Milltown Mel predicted an early spring. At 7:25 a.m. Eastern time on a hill outside Punxsutawney, Pa., known as Gobbler’s Knob, the seemingly immortal Phil — the same rodent who launched the tradition in 1887, if you believe his handlers — looked for his shadow.

7am – D         TOM BRADY NEWS:

  • TOM BRADY AND SON: Kiss Between Tom Brady, 11-Year-Old Son Raises Questions About Parent-Child Affection. NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady is catching some heat over a kiss he shared with his son. The moment was shown as part of a Facebook docu-series, and now some are questioning this type of affection between parents and their kids. In the documentary, called “Tom vs. Time,” there is a scene showing the five-time Super Bowl winner getting a massage, CBS2’s Elise Finch reported. Afterward, his 11-year-old son comes into the room and asks him if he can check his fantasy football standings.
  • The Root: Can we talk about Tom Brady kissing his 11-year-old son on the mouth for a long time?
  • Gisele Goes Makeup Free In History-Making Vogue Cover

7am – E         PELOSI’S CRUMBS:

  • Trump Trashes Pelosi For Calling Bonuses ‘Crumbs’
  • Pelosi Acknowledges People Are Angry Over ‘Crumbs’ Comments — So She Said It Again
  • VP Pence on Pelosi Calling $1,000 Bonuses ‘Crumbs’: ‘You Live in a Different World Than I Live in’
  • AP: Workers Receiving Bigger Paychecks Due to GOP Tax Reform.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – JOE THEISMANN – Legendary former Washington Redskins quarterback – preview the Super Bowl and also thoughts on Kirk Cousins out at Skins

  • His predictions for the Super Bowl
  • Tom Brady DRINKS MORE THAN 35 Glasses of Water a Day to Hydrate… Did Theismann do that as quarterback?
  • Halftime performer JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE says his SON WILL NEVER PLAY football. What does Theismann think of parents who won’t let their kids play?
  • Thoughts on Kirk Cousins out at Redskins

8am – B         GENDER NEUTRAL NEWS:

  • Canada votes to make lyrics of national anthem gender neutral. (The Hill) — Liberal and Independent Canadian senators voted Wednesday to change the lyrics to “O Canada,” making the Canadian national anthem gender neutral. The bill, which will now be sent to the Governor General to receive royal assent and become law, changes the line “in all thy sons command” to “in all of us command.”
  • Catholic University Wants Students To Avoid Saying ‘Husband’ And ‘Wife’ (Daily Caller) — A language guide posted by a Catholic university suggests that students use “spouse” or “significant other” instead of “husband” and “wife,” according to a Thursday report. The University of Dayton in Ohio features the guide on the Women’s Center section of its site, reported The College Fix. The guide follows a layout of “instead of saying this…try saying this” and gives recommendations for gender-neutral alternatives to roughly two dozen words. Along with proposing other words for “husband” and “wife,” the university recommends replacing “mankind” with “humankind” or “society.” While other schools have also taken issue with such words, the University of Dayton goes further, suggesting replacing “manpower” with “workforce” or “labor” and substituting “representative” or “legislator” for “congressman” and “congresswoman.
  • Major Washington, DC, church is banning the use of ‘gendered language’ to refer to God (The Blaze) — Major Washington, DC, church is banning the use of ‘gendered language’ to refer to God. The Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., passed resolutions last weekend at the Washington National Cathedral that would eliminate gendered references to God whenever possible. The Episcopal Church in Washington, D.C., is going gender neutral, according to The Christian Post. The church passed resolutions last weekend at the Washington National Cathedral that would eliminate gendered references to God whenever possible, and open up gender-specific church activities and facilities to accommodate people who identify with a gender different from their biological one.
  • American University Unveils $121 Million ‘Diversity and Inclusion’ Plan. Washington Free Beacon reports: American University rolled out a $121 million diversity and inclusion plan Tuesday, which includes the creation and implementation of a mandatory two-semester race and social identity course.    American has allocated $60 million for FY 2018, though it began spending the $121 million last spring, and intends to keep spending through next year. The majority of the funds have been earmarked for scholarships to minority applicants, but $7 million has already gone toward the creation of the American University Experience course. The first section of AUx, taken in the first semester of freshman year, is built as a psychological, social, cultural, and academic transition into college life. Topics covered include “exploring and expressing identities,” as well as “diversity, bias, and privilege,” in addition to mental health maintenance. The sole focus of the second semester is “race and social identity.” Students will be instructed in identifying and countering the “coded, contentious, or uncomfortable ways” in which “ethnicity, gender and sexual expression, class, disability, and religion are often discussed.”

8am – C         Virginia House bill proposes $20 fee to watch pornography. (Fox 5 DC)- RICHMOND – A bill introduced in the Virginia House of Delegates would charge a $20 fee for anyone who wants to watch pornography in the state. The bill, introduced by Republican Rep. Dave A. LaRock, is aimed at blocking obscene content on websites with an obscene digital content blocker and requiring anyone who wants to access the content to pay $20 to have the content unblocked. Sites themselves are required to have a pornographic content blocker or if they operate without the content blocker, sellers must pay a fee of $20 for each product sold or distributed. The $20 fees would go into a newly-created state fund to prevent human trafficking, the Virginia Prevention of Human Trafficking Victim Fund, which supports victim services and the prosecution of human trafficking cases.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – BRET BAIER – Anchor of Special Report on Fox News Channel – discussed the memo, GOP retreat and gave his Super Bowl prediction.

8am – E         ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:

  • ‘Law & Order’ Caterers Leave Coffee Urn Near Manhattan Courthouse, Cause Scare. A coffee urn left near a Manhattan courthouse by caterers for the television show “Law & Order: SVU” caused a brief scare after it was mistaken for a suspicious package. The urn was left in a red milk crate, wrapped in plastic wrap not far from the Manhattan state Supreme Civil Court building made famous by the long-running show. Scenes were being filmed on the courthouse steps Thursday morning. Worth and Centre streets were closed to traffic as police investigated.
  • NBC’s ‘Law and Order: SVU’ inflames conservatives with episode featuring right-wing pundit’s rape. (Fox News) — NBC’s “Law and Order: SVU” infuriated conservatives on Wednesday when a fictional right-wing political pundit was brutally raped as a plot device that led to partisan dialogue among liberal characters. The episode featured a blond, faux pundit named Martha Cobb, who is sexually assaulted after Antifa protesters and white supremacists clash and interrupted her political rally. The assault resulted in fictional members of the NYPD arguing about politics while investigating the case. At one point, Ice-T’s character, Fin Tutuola, who was investigating the case, asked a colleague, “You know she wants all Jews and Muslims to convert to Christianity, right?” Another character stated that while some of what the fictional pundit says is “completely outrageous,” other positions “actually make a lot of sense.” Mariska Hargitay’s Olivia Benson fired back, “Yeah, like closing down Planned Parenthood or deporting the Dreamers?” Conservative commentator Britt McHenry, who is outspoken and blond like the fictional “SVU” character, called the episode “disturbing” and said NBC could normalize violence against pundits who share her views — especially because police seem to be against the victim.  “I’ve received insults, death threats, and even my mother has been attacked online. For ‘SVU’ to depict rape and violence in such a manner, the show risks normalizing it,” McHenry told Fox News.
  • Stephen King apologizes for tweet mocking Republicans involved in train wreck. (Fox News) — Author Stephen King took Twitter to make light of Wednesday’s train wreck that occured when a train carrying members of Congress to a Republican retreat in West Virginia hit a truck. “A trainload of Republicans on their way to a pricey retreat hit a garbage truck,” King wrote in a tweet on Thursday. “My friend Russ calls that karma.” Soon after posting his initial tweet, King posted a follow up. “Of COURSE sorry the truck driver died,” he wrote. However, that didn’t satiate his angry fans, prompting an apology in which he regrets being “thoughtless” with regards to the victim, but maintained that his distaste for the GOP is not, in his eyes, unfounded. “A rather thoughtless tweet from me concerning the train-truck crash, for which I apologize (if one is necessary),” he wrote. “It should be pointed out, too, that those Republican politicians, who can be heartless when they vote, immediately got out to help.”

 

 

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