Thank you to @T_S_P_O_O_K_Y for co-hosting with @VinceCoglianese on @WMALDC this morning! Happy New Year! pic.twitter.com/HVWzdVXJXQ
— WMAL DC (@WMALDC) December 31, 2019
Mornings on the Mall
Tuesday, December 31, 2019
Hosts: Vince Coglianese and Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer
Executive Producer: Heather Hunter
David Rubin, Steve Moore, Derek Hunter, Christian Toto and guest co-host Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer joined WMAL on Tuesday!
5am – A/B/C/D What Are The Biggest Stories Of 2019?
5am – E Iraqi protesters attack US embassy in Baghdad: American soldiers under siege as Hezbollah-supporting mob storms complex and sets it on fire while gunfire rings out following protest over air strikes. (Daily Mail / AFP) — Dozens of Iraqi Shia militia supporters have broken into the US embassy in Baghdad, storming the compound with gunshots and sirens ringing out, after US air strikes on Hezbollah that killed 25. The US ambassador and other staff have been evacuated with a few protection staff, including US soldiers, remaining at the compound where thousands of violent demonstrators, some wearing militia uniforms, thronged outside the main gate on Tuesday. Flames were seen rising from the compound where at least three US soldiers stood on the rooftop while tear gas filled the entrance to the building. Thousands of mourners had held funerals for the fighters of the Iran-backed Kataeb Hezbollah earlier before rushing through the heavily fortified Green Zone, burning US flags as they headed towards the consulate in the Iraqi capital. Footage showed a rapidly deteriorating scene as protesters set fire to barricades surrounding the consulate compound and hurling rocks. Men were seen pressed up against the windows, taunting members of the remaining security detail and spraying pro-Hezbollah graffiti over the glass.
6am – A/B/C Hanukkah stabbing suspect charged with federal hate crimes. Prosecutors on Monday filed federal hate crime charges against the 37-year-old man accused of storming a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York, with a machete and wounding five people. Grafton Thomas, of Greenwood Lake, pleaded not guilty Sunday to five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. On Monday, he was charged in the Southern District of New York with five counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs involving an attempt to kill and use of a dangerous weapon, and resulting in bodily injury. Thomas is accused of attacking the group observing the seventh night of Hanukkah on Saturday at the home of Rabbi Chaim L. Rottenberg, next to their synagogue. Monsey is an enclave of ultra-Orthodox Jews, about 35 miles from New York City.
6am – D/E Texas man who stopped church shooting says he ‘had to take out’ gunman because ‘evil exists’ The man who jumped into action when a gunman opened fire on worshipers during a church service in Texas said Monday he was placed in a position he didn’t want to be in, but had to react because “evil exists.” Two men were killed when the gunman opened fire at West Freeway Church of Christ in White Settlement on Sunday morning, as more than 240 parishioners were inside. Within seconds, he was shot to death by two congregants who fired back. Jack Wilson, a Hood County resident running for commissioner for the 3rd Precinct who is the head of the church’s security team and a firearms instructor, shared some details on his campaign’s Facebook page as he gave thanks to “all who have sent their prayers and comments on the events of today.”
6am – F Bernie Sanders on Monday released letters from three physicians detailing the health of the 78-year-old Vermont senator and Democratic presidential candidate, and attesting to his fitness to ascend to the Oval Office. Although the state of Sanders’ physical well-being has come under greater scrutiny since he suffered a heart attack in October, the senator’s primary-care physician concluded in a note dated Saturday that he is “in good health currently.” Brian Monahan, the attending physician of the U.S. Congress, whose office has treated Sanders for 29 years, also wrote that the senator has been “engaging vigorously in the rigors of your campaign, travel, and other scheduled activities without any limitation.” Philip Ades, director of cardiac rehabilitation at the University of Vermont Medical Center, wrote that Sanders is “more than fit enough to pursue vigorous activities and an occupation that requires stamina and an ability to handle a great deal of stress.” Martin LeWinter, Sanders’ personal cardiologist and an attending cardiologist at UVM, wrote that the senator “has made an uneventful recovery” from his heart attack and concluded: “I am confident he has the mental and physical stamina to fully undertake the rigors of the Presidency.”
7am – A INTERVIEW – DAVID RUBIN – author of “Trump and The Jews” – discussed the latest anti-Semitic attacks and President Trump getting blamed.
- About Rubin: David Rubin is a former mayor of Shiloh, Israel – in the region of Samaria, which together with Judea, is known to much of the world as the West Bank. He is founder and president of Shiloh Israel Children’s Fund (SICF) – dedicated to healing the trauma of child victims of terrorist attacks.
- BOOK “TRUMP AND THE JEWS”: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0982906773/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_t1_RjNcEbPT0K8QJ
- Hanukkah stabbing suspect charged with federal hate crimes. Prosecutors on Monday filed federal hate crime charges against the 37-year-old man accused of storming a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York, with a machete and wounding five people. Grafton Thomas, of Greenwood Lake, pleaded not guilty Sunday to five counts of attempted murder and one count of burglary. On Monday, he was charged in the Southern District of New York with five counts of obstruction of free exercise of religious beliefs involving an attempt to kill and use of a dangerous weapon, and resulting in bodily injury. Thomas is accused of attacking the group observing the seventh night of Hanukkah on Saturday at the home of Rabbi Chaim L. Rottenberg, next to their synagogue. Monsey is an enclave of ultra-Orthodox Jews, about 35 miles from New York City.
7am – B/C BIDEN’S LEARN TO CODE MOMENT
- “Anybody who can go down 3,000 feet in a mine can sure as hell learn to program as well.” Former VP Joe Biden has a “learn to code” moment after saying workers should transition so the economy can shift away from fossil fuels.
- FLASHBACK: Joe Biden: “yes” willing to sacrifice hundreds of thousands of blue-collar jobs for green new deal policies.
- TWEET: Saagar Enjeti @esaagar: Seriously between this and Biden affirmatively saying he’s willing to sacrifice millions of blue collar jobs in favor of green regulation he seems intent on recreating Hillary’s greatest hits
- TWEET: Saagar Enjeti @esaagar: Biden 2020: I played a pivotal role in shipping your jobs overseas, sending your sons to die in war, and devastating your community. I would do it all to the Nth degree if you let me back in the White House. Now learn to code.
7am – D INTERVIEW – STEVE MOORE – former campaign economic advisor to President Trump, economist at The Heritage Foundation and author of book “Trumponomics: Inside the America First Plan to Revive Our Economy” – gave his review of 2019’s economy and a look ahead to 2020.
- White House’s Peter Navarro predicts US economy will continue to roar in 2020
- The New York Stock Exchange is set to end 2019 with a huge profit. While Monday saw the worst slide in stock prices in the past four weeks, the S&P 500 is still up 28.5% since the beginning of the year, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average is poised to end 2019 with a rise of 22%. Much of the gain in recent weeks was due to an anticipating signing of a first phase trade deal between the US and China.
- “In Trump’s Economy, Working Class Employees Are Getting Bigger Raises Than Their Bosses”
7am – E CLIMATE ACTIVISTS WILL BE PRESSING THE BUTTON FOR THE NYE BALL DROP:
- Hundreds of thousands of people will gather in New York’s Times Square starting early Tuesday afternoon to be in place for the largest New Year’s Eve event in the US and the most watched celebration in the world, with a global television audience of a billion viewers. On Monday, crews put the lighted ball through some dry runs to make sure that the 6 ton sphere with its 32,000 LED lights was working as designed. This year, the honor of flipping the switch to start the ball drop goes to Science Teachers and their students, because Climate Change became such a big issue for young people in 2019.
- A Times Square deal: Four NYC high schoolers, two teachers get honor of pressing the button for the New Year’s Eve ball drop ringing in 2020. Four city students well-versed in climate change will help drop the ball in Times Square on a New Year’s Eve with warmer than usual temperatures predicted. High school seniors Ricardo Herrera, Diane Arevalo, Daniel Soto and Van Troy Ulloa and two of their teachers, Jared Fox and Aida Rosenbaum, were selected to press the ball drop button and launch the final countdown to 2020. The six will arrive for the Wednesday festivities on what is expected to be a warmer-than-usual night — the forecast calls for a temperature of 35 degrees, 6 degrees above the average low on Dec. 31. Herrera, 17, hopes the new year will bring a new level of attention to the issue of climate change. “I hope people will have climate change on their resolution list, and I want people to be informed about climate change,” he said. “I want people to realize climate change is a real thing, and we should start taking action.” Herrera and Ulloa appeared Saturday at the annual New Year’s Eve Good Riddance Day, where participants write something they want to leave behind in 2019 on a scrap of paper — and feed it into a shredder. Ulloa wrote “doubting climate change” on his paper, while Herrera scribbled “plastic bottles” on his.
8am – A INTERVIEW – DEREK HUNTER – contributing editor of The Daily Caller, host of The Daily Daily Caller podcast and author of “Outrage, Inc.: How the Liberal Mob Ruined Science, Journalism, and Hollywood” — shared his year in review of media and political insanity.
8am – B/C IRAQ ATTACK:
- Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump: Iran killed an American contractor, wounding many. We strongly responded, and always will. Now Iran is orchestrating an attack on the S. Embassy in Iraq. They will be held fully responsible. In addition, we expect Iraq to use its forces to protect the Embassy, and so notified!
- Protesters attack US embassy in Baghdad after airstrikes. (CNN) Protesters attacked the US Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday, scaling the walls and forcing the gates of the compound, as hundreds demonstrated against American airstrikes on an Iran-backed militia group in Iraq. Two sources at the demonstration witnessed the attempt to break into the premises — the US’ biggest embassy in the world — adding that security personnel fired tear gas to repel the attack. Video footage shows demonstrators smashing windows, burning items outside and throwing rocks over the walls. The pro-Iranian demonstrators were mostly from Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), a coalition of predominantly Shiite militias. Three leaders of powerful militia groups were also seen at the protest, including Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, who heads the Iranian-backed Kataib Hezbollah, targeted by the American strikes on Sunday. The strikes and protests come at a time of high tensions between the US and Iran, and have stoked fears of a new proxy war in the Middle East. The US carried out five airstrikes in Iraq and Syria on facilities controlled by Kataib Hezbollah, killing at least 25 people killed and wounding 51, in the first significant US military response to Kataib Hezbollah’s weeks of deadly rocket attacks on US-Iraqi targets.
8am – D INTERVIEW — CHRISTIAN TOTO – Film Critic, HollywoodInToto.com and Host of “The Hollywood in Toto” podcast (available on iTunes) @HollywoodInToto – discussed the movies of 2019, the best and worst pop culture moments of 2019 and the most insufferable Hollywood stars of 2019.
- CHRISTIAN TOTO: Woke pandering, outright lies and a disconnect from reality … it’s all here! 13 Cringe Worthy Pop Culture Moments from 2019 https://www.hollywoodintoto.com/cringe-worthy-pop-culture-moments-2019/
8am – E Army Follows Pentagon Guidance, Bans Chinese-Owned TikTok App. (Military.com) The U.S. Army has reversed its policy on TikTok, Military.com has learned, banning soldiers from using the popular Chinese social media app, which is now considered a security threat. “It is considered a cyber threat,” Lt. Col. Robin Ochoa, an Army spokeswoman, told Military.com. “We do not allow it on government phones.” Just two months ago, Army recruiters were using TikTok as an effective tool for reaching young people of Generation Z even as lawmakers were calling for a national security review of the music video app, which is owned by Beijing-based ByteDance. In late October, Sen. Tom Cotton R-Arkansas, and Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-New York, asked U.S. intelligence officials to investigate whether TikTok represents a national security risk to the United States. As of mid-December, the Army began advising soldiers to stop using TikToK on all government-owned phones, Ochoa said. The U.S. Navy recently put out similar guidance, prohibiting the use of TiKTok on government phones, according to reports by Gizmodo and other publications. The policy reversal on TikTok comes after the release of a Dec. 16 Defense Department Cyber Awareness Message identifying “TikTok as having potential security risks associated with its use,” according to the message. The guidance directs all Defense Department employees to “be wary of applications you download, monitor your phones for unusual and unsolicited texts etc., and delete them immediately and uninstall TikTok to circumvent any exposure of personal information.”
