Mornings on the Mall 07.25.17

Hans Von Spakovsky, Luke Rosiak, Fransesca Chambers and Larry Kudlow joined WMAL on Tuesday.

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

5am – A/B/C   Police now recommend criminal charges for Florida teens who filmed man drowning. Police are now recommending criminal charges for five Florida teens who filmed a disabled man drowning instead of helping. A disturbing video went viral earlier this month showing 31-year-old Jamel Dunn crying out for help while in a retention pond near his family’s home in Cocoa, Fla. Five boys, ages 14 to 16, can be heard laughing and taunting him. At one point, a boy can be heard telling the man he’s “going to die” as they refuse to help him. Another boy laughs and says “he dead.” Cocoa Police Chief Michael Cantaloupe said Friday he will recommend the state attorney prosecute the teenagers under a statute that requires a person with knowledge of a death to notify a medical examiner. The boys had phones, but did not call for emergency assistance or notify authorities of the incident. Dunn drowned on July 9 after reportedly arguing with his fiancee. A missing persons report was filed three days later and his body was recovered from the pond on July 14. The state of Florida does not have any laws requiring citizens to render aid or call for help for anyone in distress, but the video has sparked outrage. WSVN reports Dunn’s sister Simone McIntosh has started a petition to change the law.

5am – D         OBAMACARE: President Trump is urging Republican senators to “do the right thing” and repeal and replace Obamacare after spending seven years talking about it. A planned Tuesday procedural health care vote will require 50 of the 52 Republicans to begin debate.

5am – E         Study: Concealed Permit Holders Among the Most Law-Abiding of Law-Abiding Citizens. (Breitbart) – A Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) study shows that concealed carry permit holders are among the most law-abiding of law-abiding citizens in the country. For example, for 2016 the study shows that just .0092% of Louisiana permit holders were charged with a felony in 2016. And in 2015 there “were 25,208 violent crimes in Louisiana, with 19 felony charges or convictions against permit holders.” Assuming the felonies were violent and the charges against permit holders stand, this still means permit holders only represent .08% of those who committed violent crimes. Moreover, “the vast majority of … [cases involving concealed permit holders] are unlikely to involve firearms.” According to CPRC, the percentage of Michigan concealed permit holders convicted of aggravated assault in 2015-2016 was .003%. The percentage of Michigan permit holders convicted of aggravated assaults in 2014-2015 was .002%

Study: Percentage of Adults with Carry Permits Up 190 Percent, Violent Crime Down 18 Percent. A study from the Crime Prevention Research Center (CPRC) shows during the time period 2007 to 2015, the percentage of adults with carry permits rose 190% and violent crime fell by 18%. The cut-off year is 2015 because it is “the last full year that crime data is available.” ” According to CPRC,  from 2007 to 2015 the “murder rates fell from 5.6 [per 100,000] to 4.9 per 100,000. This represents a 12.5% drop.” At the same time, “overall violent crime fell by 18 percent.” And again, these drops are coinciding with a 190% increase in “the percentage of adults with permits.” This news comes in the same report in which the CPRC showed that the number of concealed carry permit holders “grew by a record 1.83 million” in 2016. This beats the previous record of 1.73 million, set in 2015, and means “6.53% of American adults have permits.” Moreover, “outside the restrictive states of California and New York, about 8% of the adult population has a permit.” There are 11 states where over 10% of the adult population possesses a carry permit. Those 11 states are led by Alabama, where 20% are permitted, and Indiana, where 15.8% of all adults have a permit.

6am – A/B     SESSIONS OUT? Is it time for Trump to get rid of Sessions? Who should replace him?

• Rudy Giuliani shot down reports he is a contender to replace Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General. The long-time Trump supporter says Sessions made the right decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, despite the president calling Sessions “beleaguered” in a Monday tweet.
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 4m4 minutes ago: Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign – “quietly working to boost Clinton.” So where is the investigation A.G. @seanhannity
• Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 41s42 seconds ago: Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers!
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 21h21 hours ago: So why aren’t the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?

6am – C         Tillerson may make early exit from State Department: report. (The Hill) –

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson is expressing growing frustration with the Trump administration and may be considering resigning from his role, according to a report from CNN Monday morning. Though the former CEO of ExxonMobil Corp. has said that he would stay on as the top U.S. diplomat until the end of the year at least, several anonymous sources told CNN over the weekend that he might leave earlier than that.  Sources “familiar with Tillerson conversations with friends outside Washington” admit the secretary of State may just be venting, but they sense his doubts about President Trump are growing. Tillerson reportedly agreed with Trump critics who thought it was unprofessional when the president lashed out last week at Attorney General Jeff Sessions because he recused himself from the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election.

6am – D         INTERVIEW – HANS VON SPAKOVSKY (HAHNZ VON SPAH-KOV-SKEE)

– A former counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Justice Department

– former commissioner for the Federal Election Commission from 2006 to 2007

– senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation

• Federal judge allows Trump commission’s nationwide voter data request to go forward. A federal judge on Monday allowed President Trump’s voting commission to go forward with seeking voter data from 50 states and the District, ruling that the White House advisory panel is exempt from federal privacy review requirements, whatever additional risk it might pose to Americans’ information. The ruling averted a public setback for a president who has claimed that widespread fraud cost him the popular vote in November. The commission’s request for the voting information of more than 150 million registered voters remains controversial, with many state leaders from both parties voicing objections about its potential to reveal personal information, suppress voter participation and encroach on states’ oversight of voting laws. The panel’s June 28 letter to the states requested that they turn over “publicly-available voter roll data,” including names, addresses, dates of birth, party registrations, partial Social Security numbers and voting, military, felony and overseas histories, among other data.

6am – E         R.I.P. Stubbs the Cat: Feline Mayor Dies After 20 Years of Serving Alaska Town. In a time when Americans are more politically divided than ever, one Alaskan politician has always received bipartisan support from his constituents. That elected official is Stubbs the Cat, the part-Manx feline mayor of Talkeeta, Alaska, who passed away in his sleep on the night of July 20, according to a statement released by his family. The townsfolk of Talkeeta, population approximately 900, elected Stubbs in 1998. “Mayor Stubbs,” as he was affectionately known, was born in 1997 and appointed mayor as a write-in in ’98; there is no human mayor of the town. On July 10, the White House clarified that it had scrapped plans to use a Pentagon-operated website to accept the data and had designed a system inside the White House to take the submissions.

Huge Rat Found In DC Will Give You Nightmares (Photo). A massive rat discovered on U Street shows just how big these loathsome animals can get. WASHINGTON, DC — We hope you’re not eating, because this rat we’re about to show you will probably affect your appetite. According to Popville, a “monster rat” was found Friday night on U Street. And judging by the photo below, that seems like an apt description.

6am – F         Second Norovirus Case Tied To Virginia Chipotle, Health Department Says. (DCist) – A second case of norovirus has been connected to a Chipotle restaurant in Virginia that temporarily closed following reports of sick customers. David Goodfriend, the director of the Loudoun County Health Department, said on Monday that a second person has tested positive for the same strain of norovirus after eating at the fast casual spot before it was shut down for Monday and Tuesday of last week, reopening on Wednesday after a complete sanitization of the location. “Based on symptoms reported and these preliminary laboratory results, the cause of the outbreak is believed to be norovirus, though the specific source of the norovirus has not yet been identified,” said Goodfriend. Norovirus is the most common cause of foodborne illness, according to the Centers for Disease Control, contracted through infected people, or contaminated food, liquids, or surfaces. The Loudoun County Health Department has identified more than 135 people who reported becoming ill after eating at the Sterling Chipotle between July 13 and 16, according to a statement from the agency. Goodfriend said that the department does not know of anyone becoming ill after eating at the restaurant once it reopened.

7am – A         Interview – LUKE ROSIAK – Daily Caller

• FBI Seized Smashed Hard Drives From Wasserman Schultz IT Aide’s Home. There is also evidence of financial schemes that extend beyond the Capitol Police’s purview and may expand to Pakistan, where Imran spends significant portions of the year. Speaker of the House Paul Ryan said in March that the Capitol Police are “getting the kind of technical assistance they need to do that. This is under an active criminal investigation, their capabilities are pretty strong but, they’re also able to go and get the kind of help they need from other sources.” The brothers’ stepmother independently filed court documents in Virginia accusing the brothers of wiretapping and extorting her. Soon after Imran began working for Wasserman Schultz in 2005, his two brothers and two of their wives — plus Abbas and another friend — began appearing as IT staffers on the payrolls of other House Democrats. Collectively, the Awan group has been paid $4 million since 2009. Fellow IT staffers TheDCNF interviewed said the Awans were often absent from weekly meetings and email exchanges. One of the fellow staffers said some of the computers the Awans managed were being used to transfer data to an off-site server. Shortly after the criminal probe was revealed in February, Imran abruptly moved out of his longtime home on Hawkshead Drive in Lorton, Va., and listed it for rent on a website that connects landlords with military families. One of the new tenants — a Marine Corps veteran married to a female Navy Officer — said he found “wireless routers, hard drives that look like they tried to destroy, laptops, [and] a lot of brand new expensive toner.”

7am – B         *KUSHNER: White House adviser and President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner met privately with Senate investigators saying he did not collude with the Russians during the 2016 campaign or the Trump transition. He meets with the House Intelligence Committee, also behind closed doors, on Tuesday. In an 11-page opening statement to the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is part of the ongoing investigation into possible collusion between Russian officials and the Trump campaign, Kushner — now a senior White House adviser — attempted to exonerate himself, writing: “I did not collude, nor know of anyone else in the campaign who colluded, with any foreign government.”

7am – C         Microsoft Paint saved after outpouring of love – sort of. (The Guardian) – Microsoft says that it will put 32-year-old program on the Windows Store, but that won’t help office workers pining for some impromptu creative sessions. After the tremendous outpouring of love across the internet for arguably the greatest Windows program ever, Microsoft has announced that it will save MS Paint by putting it on the Windows Store. Following the company’s announcement that the 32-year-old Paint is now deprecated, meaning that it is “not in active development and might be removed in future releases”, Microsoft put out a blogpost in response to the anguished outcry at the potential removal of an old friend. Megan Saunders, Microsoft’s general manager of the 3D for Everyone initiative, said: “MS Paint is here to stay, it will just have a new home soon, in the Windows Store where it will be available for free. “Today, we’ve seen an incredible outpouring of support and nostalgia around MS Paint. If there’s anything we learned, it’s that after 32 years, MS Paint has a lot of fans. It’s been amazing to see so much love for our trusty old app.”

7am – D         OBAMACARE: President Trump is urging Republican senators to “do the right thing” and repeal and replace Obamacare after spending seven years talking about it. A planned Tuesday procedural health care vote will require 50 of the 52 Republicans to begin debate.

• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 46m46 minutes ago: So great that John McCain is coming back to vote. Brave – American hero! Thank you John.
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 52m52 minutes ago: ObamaCare is torturing the American People.The Democrats have fooled the people long enough. Repeal or Repeal & Replace! I have pen in hand.
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 1h1 hour ago: Big day for HealthCare. After 7 years of talking, we will soon see whether or not Republicans are willing to step up to the plate!

7am – E         *CHARLIE GARD: Chris Gard says it’s time for his infant son, Charlie, “to be with the angels.” The family says too much time has elapsed waiting for a British court to allow the critically-ill child to travel to the United States to receive experimental medical treatment. 

• CHARLIE GARD’S PARENTS GIVE UP: The American specialist finally allowed by the courts–after four months of cruel obstinacy–to examine Charlie Gard apparently concluded that the baby is now beyond his help.
• The High Cost of Charlie Gard Coercion. (National Review/by Wesley J. Smith) — The American specialist finally allowed by the courts–after four months of cruel obstinacy–to examine Charlie Gard apparently concluded that the baby is now beyond his help.  As a result, Chris and Connie, Charlie’s loving parents, have decided to call off their legal efforts to force the hospital maintain their son’s life support. Charlie will soon die.  None of the added hell Chris and Connie experienced over the last several months was necessary or warranted. As their difficult decision today indicates, they would have made the proper call if allowed to run the options string to its conclusion–as should gave been their right.  Now, the “what if” question will always hang over this case.  Charlie’s condition was degenerating. He is in worse shape now than he was four months ago. Had the hospital allowed the US specialist to examine Charlie when the parents first wanted, he might have then been eligible for the experimental medical Hail Mary pass they hoped to attain for him.  If not, at least Chris and Connie would have had the cold comfort of knowing they and medicine had done everything possible to save their sick little boy. The hard obstinacy of doctors and courts refusing to allow parents to try experimental care for their baby has both sown distrust and raised fears that utilitarian bioethics will readily abandon the sickest and most vulnerable among us on the altar of “quality of life” and/or cost containment. That is not paranoia.  As I have written, the question of stopping Charlie’s life support was a value judgment, not a medical determination.

8am – A         Interview – FRANSESCA CHAMBERS –  White House Correspondent for The DailyMail.com – discussed the latest White House news.

• TOPIC:  Latest White House news:
• JARED KUSHNER: President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has denied colluding with the Russians during the 2016 campaign, after meeting with Senate investigators and releasing an 11-page statement revealing four contacts with Russians last year. He meets with the House Intelligence Committee, also behind closed doors, on Tuesday.
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 58m58 minutes ago: Jared Kushner did very well yesterday in proving he did not collude with the Russians. Witch Hunt. Next up, 11 year old Barron Trump!
• SESSIONS: Rudy Giuliani shot down reports he is a contender to replace Jeff Sessions as U.S. Attorney General. The long-time Trump supporter says Sessions made the right decision to recuse himself from the Russia investigation, despite the president calling Sessions “beleaguered” in a Monday tweet.
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 4m4 minutes ago: Ukrainian efforts to sabotage Trump campaign – “quietly working to boost Clinton.” So where is the investigation A.G. @seanhannity
• Donald J. Trump‏Verified account @realDonaldTrump 41s42 seconds ago: Attorney General Jeff Sessions has taken a VERY weak position on Hillary Clinton crimes (where are E-mails & DNC server) & Intel leakers
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 21h21 hours ago: So why aren’t the Committees and investigators, and of course our beleaguered A.G., looking into Crooked Hillarys crimes & Russia relations?
• White House on-camera press briefings to return, Anthony Scaramucci tweets. WASHINGTON, D.C. — If your afternoon routine included watching White House press briefings on the cable news networks, it looks like they’re about to resume. One Anthony Scaramucci’s first actions as director of communications for President Donald Trump, it appears, is bringing back the on-camera session with reporters. “The TV cameras are back on,” he tweeted Monday.
• OBAMACARE: President Trump is urging Republican senators to “do the right thing” and repeal and replace Obamacare after spending seven years talking about it. A planned Tuesday procedural health care vote will require 50 of the 52 Republicans to begin debate.
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 46m46 minutes ago: So great that John McCain is coming back to vote. Brave – American hero! Thank you John.5,054 replies 2,507 retweets 12,135 likes
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 52m52 minutes ago: ObamaCare is torturing the American People.The Democrats have fooled the people long enough. Repeal or Repeal & Replace! I have pen in hand.
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump 1h1 hour ago: Big day for HealthCare. After 7 years of talking, we will soon see whether or not Republicans are willing to step up to the plate!

8am – B         ENTERTAINMENT:

• KID ROCK WINS A HYPOTHETICAL RACE: The Delphi Analytica poll puts support for the Trump-supporting Michigan-native entertainer at 30 percent, four points ahead of incumbent Democrat Debbie Stabenow. Forty-four percent of respondents declined to a pick a candidate. Among those who did state a preference, Kid Rock led 54-46 percent.
• The woman suing Usher and accusing him of exposing her to herpes now says an STD test confirmed she’s contracted the virus … and she’s upped her demand. Usher Accuser Now Wants $20M I Tested Positive for STD. The woman suing Usher and accusing him of exposing her to herpes now says an STD test confirmed she’s contracted the virus … and she’s upped her demand. The woman, in new legal docs filed as Jane Doe, says she was devastated when she got the results Saturday. The woman said she’d gone to get tested immediately after hearing reports Usher admitted in docs he has herpes simplex 2. TMZ broke the story … she sued Usher for $10 million after she says they had unprotected sex earlier this year. She now wants at least $20 million for emotional harm, medical bills and punitive damages.

8am – C         Workers Burn An Average Of 8 Hours Per Week On Their Phones (And Not For Work Stuff). WASHINGTON — How much time do you spend checking your phone for emails, texts or social media updates while at work? Hours, if you’re like most office rats. A survey of professionals by staffing firm OfficeTeam found that office workers squander an average of 56 minutes a day, or nearly five hours a week, using their mobile devices for non-work activities in the office. Add to that another 42 minutes a day, on average, spent doing other personal tasks, and the average employee could be wasting more than eight hours per workweek on activities unrelated to their jobs. Younger workers are even bigger offenders. Those under 35 rack up an average of 70 minutes on mobile devices and 48 additional minutes on personal tasks each work day.

8am – D         INTERVIEW —  LARRY KUDLOW – CNBC Senior Contributor and host of The Larry Kudlow Show on WMAL Saturdays at 7 pm and author of “JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity”

TOPICS: Obamacare / Kushner

8am – E         Northam And Gillespie Are Tied Among Likely Voters In Va.’s Gubernatorial Race. Ralph Northam and Ed Gillespie are tied at 44 percent of likely voters in a new Monmouth University poll. For all the talk of Virginia’s purple-ness giving way to blue, a new poll has Democrat Lieutenant Governor Ralph Northam in a tie with Republican Ed Gillespie. Each has a 44 percent share of likely voters, with 3 percent going to Cliff Hyra and 9 percent undecided, in a new Monmouth University poll.