Mornings on the Mall 04.13.17

Rep. Ken Buck, Tom Rogan, Tucker Carlson and guest host Vince Coglianese joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, April 13, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B     WWIII FEARS: Google searches for the term “World War 3” have hit the highest ever level.  It is also trending on Twitter.

5am – C         Ben Carson in Elevator Mishap on Affordable Housing Tour. (NBC News) — One of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson’s takeaways from his nationwide listening tour may be to use the stairs next time. The unsuccessful 2016 GOP presidential hopeful, his wife, and five others were trapped in an elevator for about 15 minutes while touring an affordable housing complex in Miami on Wednesday.   Former Miami Heat basketball star Alonzo Mourning nervously waited as Miami-Dade fire rescue worked to free the Cabinet secretary. Mourning’s non-profit group helped develop the housing complex, which provides homes for residents making less than 60 percent of the area’s median income. Carson, a former neurosurgeon, was selected by President Donald Trump to head HUD with little prior experience in the housing sector. During his confirmation process, he pledged to go on a listening tour to gather the best ideas from around the country.  Mourning apologized profusely once Carson emerged from the stuck elevator, according to the Miami Herald.

5am – D         Critter News:

• Did National Zoo wean panda cub Bei Bei too soon? A petition with 2,500 signatures says yes. (Washington Post) — The panda cam isn’t always just a cute way to passively pass time. It can help transform panda enthusiasts into panda activists. Longtime viewer J.J. Medusa has monitored the video feed of the pandas for years, getting to know the personalities of the pandas and the bonds between them. And Medusa, a D.C. resident, says there is something amiss with the youngest panda at the National Zoo, Bei Bei, and his mother, Mei Xiang. She says thousands of other spectators agree with her, pointing to more than 2,500 signatures on a Change.org petition she started last month asking the zoo to reunite mother and son. But do these vigilant panda loyalists know better than the zookeepers, who say everything is just fine? Zookeepers weaned Bei Bei, who was born Aug. 22, 2015, from his mother in March. Pandas are solitary animals, and cubs typically separate from their mothers at about 18 months. They say that nothing is awry, and while there have been “some stressful moments” during the weaning process, there’s no cause for concern.
• Pink Floyd honored with newly-discovered shrimp species, Synalpheus pinkfloydi. (The Washington Times) — A newly-found species of pink-clawed pistol shrimp capable of killing other animals with its own sounds has been aptly named after legendary British rock band Pink Floyd, researchers said Wednesday. “Synalpheus pinkfloydi,” a previously unidentified pistol shrimp species with a distinct pink-glowing claw, was introduced by scientists in Wednesday’s edition of the journal Zootaxa. Between its conspicuous coloring and its ability to generate debilitating decibel levels, the scientists who found the species on the Pacific coast of Panama agreed that naming their discovery after the rock band was all too fitting.
• Taiwan is first Asian country to ban eating of dog and cat meat. April 12 (UPI) — Taiwan is Asia’s first country to pass a law outlawing the human consumption of dog and cat meat. An amendment to an animal protection law, passed Tuesday by the Legislative Yuan, indicates a changing attitude in Taiwan from “a society in which dog meat was regularly consumed, to one in which many people treat pet cats and dogs as valued members of their families,” the state-run Central News Agency reported. More and more, dogs and cats are seen as pets; Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen frequently posed with her two cats during her 2016 presidential campaign, and she has adopted three dogs since her election. Dog meat is consumed in many parts of Asia as a delicacy. Cat meat is less frequently eaten, and some municipal ordinances in Taiwan outlaw their consumption. Passage of the landmark law Tuesday was the first national legislation against the practice. Recent cases of animal abuse reported in Taiwan also spurred calls for reform in animal protection laws.
• NO ANT LEFT BEHIND: Watch Ants Carry Wounded Off Battlefield—Never Before Seen. When clashing with termites, a type of African ant rescues its injured comrades, who then recover quickly, a new study says. A termite bites a matabele ant during battle. Termites will tear limbs from or decapitate their attackers. Like people, ants are often at war. The matabele ant, a small black species native to sub-Saharan Africa, often clashes with its favorite food—termites. Each time hungry ants crack open a termite mound and dive down into its shadowy depths, they risk dying in battle with their potential prey. (Read how how termites build their huge structures.) But a new study reveals the ants have a never-before-seen strategy that helps the colony weather wartime casualties. Unlike all other ants, Megaponera analis soldiers carry their injured comrades home. While this may seem like a small courtesy to the individuals being rescued, these tiny heroics add up, says study leader Erik T. Frank, a myrmecologist at the University Würzburg in Germany. “There is a clear benefit for the colony,” says Frank, whose study was published April 12 in the journal Science Advances. “These injured ants are able to participate again in future raids and remain a functioning member of the colony.” What’s more, Frank and colleagues estimate these ant colonies are 30 percent larger than they would be if the ants left their comrades for dead.

5am – E         UNITED NEWS:

• All passengers on United flight where man was violently dragged off will get their money back
• United passenger asks judge to ‘preserve all video evidence of him being dragged off as two MORE cops are suspended’
• Dao’s Lawyers Are Planning a Thursday Morning Press Conference. The public will learn more about Dao’s intentions at a press conference on April 13. The press conference will take place at 10 a.m. CST in Chicago and will include Dao’s attorneys and a member of his family. In a previous written statement, Dao’s attorneys said he remained hospitalized for his injuries in Chicago as of April 11. The family is “appreciative” of the support directed their way since the incident occurred April 9, that statement said. According to CNN, three Chicago Department of Aviation officers are on leave, and United’s stock has fallen as the airline struggles to deal with public fallout stemming from the incident.
• Dem responds to United incident with bill that would stop airlines from forcibly removing passengers. (The Hill) — A Democratic senator is crafting new legislation to prohibit airlines from forcibly removing passengers from flights to make room for other customers after they have already boarded the plane. The measure from Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) comes in direct response to a shocking video of a United Airlines passenger being violently dragged off a flight this weekend after the man refused to give up his seat to make room for an airline employee who needed to be transferred to another destination. The incident has sparked widespread outrage, calls for congressional hearings and a petition urging United’s CEO to resign.

6am – A/B/C Trump flipped to new positions on four different policy issues today. President Trump on Wednesday flipped to new positions on four different policy issues, backing off of several campaign promises.

• Labeling China a currency manipulator: Trump told the Wall Street Journal on Wednesday that China is not artificially deflating the value of its currency, a big change after he repeatedly pledged during his campaign to label the country a currency manipulator. “They’re not currency manipulators,” the president said, adding that China hasn’t been manipulating its currency for months, and that he feared derailing U.S.-China talks to crack down on North Korea.
• Janet Yellen’s future: Trump also told the Journal he’d consider renominating Yellen to chair the Fed’s board of governors despite attacking her during his campaign. “I like her. I respect her,” Trump said, “It’s very early.”
• Export-Import Bank: Trump also threw his support behind the Export-Import Bank, which helps subsidize some U.S. exports, after opposing it during the campaign. “It turns out that, first of all, lots of small companies are really helped, the vendor companies,” Trump told the Journal. “Instinctively, you would say, ‘Isn’t that a ridiculous thing,’ but actually, it’s a very good thing. And it actually makes money, it could make a lot of money.”
• NATO: Trump said NATO is “no longer obsolete” during a Wednesday press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, backtracking on his past criticism of the alliance.

6am – C         FBI NEEDS HELP FINDING MS-13 KILLER ON LOOSE IN “MARYLAND OR NORTHERN VIRGINIA” — $100,000 REWARD.     WASHINGTON (ABC7) — The FBI is looking for an “extremely violent criminal” named Walter Yovany Gomez – an alleged MS-13 gang member. […]     Police say Gomez partied all night with the victim, Julio Matute, on May 8[, 2011] before killing him the next morning. They say Gomez, who is also known as Cholo, grabbed an aluminum baseball bat and struck Matute in the back of the head several times. When he fell to the floor, Gomez allegedly cut his throat with a knife, then stabbed him in the back repeatedly with a screw driver. […]     Gomez is a Honduran citizen who came to the US illegally, police said. Because of that, they do not believe he has fled the states, but instead think he is residing in Maryland or Northern Virginia. […]    A reward of $100,00 is being offered to anyone who can provide the FBI with information concerning Gomez.

6am – D/E     Sanctuary cities crackdown threatens government shutdown. (Politico) — A top Trump adviser wants to restrict funding for cities that don’t comply with federal immigration policies, but it could spell trouble. President Donald Trump’s budget director is urging congressional Republicans to take a hard line against sanctuary cities in a must-pass spending bill, complicating efforts to avoid a government shutdown at the end of the month, according to officials in both parties. Mick Mulvaney, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget, is pressing lawmakers to include language to restrict federal funding grants for cities that do not enforce federal immigration policies. The goal is to bring the House Freedom Caucus on board with a government funding bill, according to Capitol Hill Republicans — or at least show that the administration is courting the support of the hard-right and pushing GOP leaders to adopt Trump’s priorities. But the effort by Mulvaney, a former conservative congressman from South Carolina, threatens to disrupt bipartisan negotiations on funding the government. Democrats are already calling a request for border wall money a “poison pill” that would shut down the government. An attempt to block liberal cities from receiving federal funds if they ignore immigration guidance would similarly cause Democrats to flee. The budget bill will need Democratic votes to pass — at least eight in the Senate, but probably in the House as well.

Lansing, Michigan rescinds ‘sanctuary’ status after criticism from. (Fox News) – The city council in Lansing, Mich. voted Wednesday to rescind its decsion to deem itself a “sanctuary” city for illegal immigrants after concerns from the businesses that the status would draw unwelcome attention to the city. The term “sanctuary city” generally refers to jurisdictions that do not cooperate with U.S. immigration officials. Under Lansing city policy, police don’t ask for people’s immigration status, except as required by U.S. or Michigan law or a court order. Council members voted 5-2 to reverse last week’s 6-0 vote to give the city “sanctuary” status. Immigration advocates in the crowd called called council members “spineless” and said “you’re all losing your seats.”

6am – F         North Korea to journalists: Expect a “big and important event” Thursday. Foreign journalists in North Korea told to expect a ‘big and important event’ (The Hill) – Foreign journalists in North Korea have reportedly been told to prepare for a “big and important event” on Thursday. North Korean officials provided no details about the nature of the event or its location, according to a report by Reuters. 200 foreign journalists are in Pyongyang ahead of the nation’s biggest national holiday, the “Day of the Sun.” This year’s holiday, which is celebrated annually on April 15, will mark the 105th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il Sung, the deceased founding leader of North Korea and the grandfather of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

Trump says China has turned back N. Korean coal ships, lauds it as ‘big step.’ Washington (CNN)US President Donald Trump says China has turned a fleet of coal-carrying cargo ships back to North Korea this week, describing it as a “big step” towards cracking down on the rogue state. China banned all imports of coal from North Korea in mid-February, soon after Pyongyang tested a new intermediate-range missile. Almost all coal shipments to the Chinese city of Dandong, on the North Korean border, since February have been turned back, a source with knowledge of North Korean government operations in Dandong told CNN. The ban followed strict, new sanctions imposed in November by the United Nations on North Korean coal exports, which China helped to draft and pass. Coal accounted for a third of all official North Korean exports in 2015, making up a large part of their income. China is by far North Korea’s largest trading partner.

 

7am – A/B/C INTERVIEW – CONGRESSMAN KEN BUCK – author of new book “Drain the Swamp”

• BOOK: “Drain the Swamp: How Washington Corruption is Worse than You Think”
• ABOUT AUTHOR: Congressman Ken Buck is a Republican from Windsor, Colorado who serves on the House Judiciary Committee and the House Committee on Rules. He is also a member of the Judiciary Subcommittees on Immigration and Border Security and Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security and Investigations.
• ABOUT BOOK: Lavish parties. Committee chairmanships for sale. Pay-to-play corruption. Backroom arm-twisting. Votes on major legislation going to the highest bidder. Welcome to Washington, D.C., the swamp that President Donald Trump was elected to drain. Congressman Ken Buck is blowing the whistle on the real-life House of Cards in our nation’s capital. Elected in 2014 as president of one of the largest Republican freshman classes ever to enter Congress, Buck immediately realized why nothing gets done in Congress, and it isn’t because of political gridlock—in fact, Republicans and Democrats work together all too well to fleece taxpayers and plunge America deeper into debt. “It is an insular process directed by power-hungry party elites who live like kings and govern like bullies,” Buck reports. Buck has witnessed first-hand how the unwritten rules of Congress continually prioritize short-term political gain over lasting, principled leadership. When Buck tangled with Washington power brokers like former Speaker John Boehner, he faced petty retaliation.

7am – D         Trump White House Rumors:

• Trump won’t definitively say he still backs Bannon. (NY Post) — Washington’s rumor mill is working overtime on the fate of presidential aide Steve Bannon, who is said to be at the center of the rampant White House infighting.  When I asked the president Tuesday afternoon if he still has confidence in Bannon, who took over the campaign in mid-August, I did not get a definitive yes. “I like Steve, but you have to remember he was not involved in my campaign until very late,” Trump said. “I had already beaten all the senators and all the governors, and I didn’t know Steve. I’m my own strategist and it wasn’t like I was going to change strategies because I was facing crooked Hillary.” He ended by saying, “Steve is a good guy, but I told them to straighten it out or I will.”
• Ivanka Trump is the most-liked White House adviser in new poll. First daughter Ivanka Trump is the most popular adviser among White House staff, according to a new poll. A Morning Consult/Politico poll published Wednesday found that 46 percent of voters have a favorable view of Trump, who last month became an official government employee, serving as an unpaid senior adviser in her father’s administration. The poll found 36 percent of voters have an unfavorable view of the first daughter. Seventeen percent of voters have never heard of her. Among other White House staff, counselor Kellyanne Conway has the next highest rating, with 30 percent of voters viewing her favorably, leading slightly over White House press secretary Sean Spicer, who has a 28 percent favorable rating. Both Conway and Spicer, however, are under water in terms of favorability.
• WILL TRUMP FIRE COMEY? Trump told the business network’s Maria Bartiromo that he still has confidence in Comey, but he blamed the Obama administration appointee for keeping Hillary Clinton out of jail, and he said “it’s not too late” to fire him. “No, it’s not too late [to fire Comey], but, you know, I have confidence in him. We’ll see what happens. It’s going to be interesting,” Trump told Bartiromo.
• Janet Yellen’s future: (The Hill) — Trump also told the Journal he’d consider renominating Yellen to chair the Fed’s board of governors despite attacking her during his campaign. “I like her. I respect her,” Trump said, “It’s very early.” Trump called Yellen “obviously political” in September and accused her of keeping interest rates low to boost the stock market and make Obama look good.

7am – E         ‘Amber’s Law’ allows courts to order GPS monitors for suspected abusers. (WUSA) — There’s new hope for victims of domestic violence. Maryland just passed ‘Amber’s Law,’ which gives courts the right to order GPS monitoring for suspected abusers. There are several companies offering new ways to keep track of suspected abusers. “When this bracelet gets in close proximity to this application, then the victim would be alerted,” said Steve Hamilton of Track Group, waving a phone and one of his company’s anklet GPS trackers. If abusers get too close to their victims, monitors can set off an alarm in the Track Group anklet. Victims can even talk to the offender. Monitoring like this might have saved Amber Schinault’s life.

 

8am – A/B/C INTERVIEW — TOM ROGAN — Columnist at National Review and a Senior Fellow at the Steamboat Institute

• Trump foreign policy:
• Trump flips on NATO, says alliance “no longer obsolete” / President Trump on NATO: ‘It’s no longer obsolete’  President Donald Trump reversed course on his view of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization on Wednesday, saying it is “no longer obsolete,” after months of bashing the alliance as no longer relevant during his presidential campaign. “I said it was obsolete. It’s no longer obsolete,” he said at a press conference with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the White House. “The secretary general and I had a productive discussion about what more NATO can do in the fight against terrorism,” Trump said. “I complained about that a long time ago, and they made a change, and now they do fight terrorism. “Every generation strives to adapt the NATO alliance to meet the challenges of their times, and on my visit to Brussels this spring, which I look very much forward to, we will work together to do the same,” he continued, calling for NATO to support Iraq to fight ISIS. “We must not be trapped by the tired thinking that so many have but apply new solutions to face new circumstances.”He reiterated that countries in NATO ought to allocate 2 percent of their GDP to military spending — a frequent rallying cry during his campaign last year. Only five of the 28 member states currently do so, including the U.S. Trump said that NATO was obsolete as recently as January in an interview with The Times of London. “I said a long time ago that NATO had problems. No. 1, it was obsolete because it was designed many, many years ago. No. 2, the countries aren’t paying what they’re supposed to pay,” he said. “I took such heat when I said NATO was obsolete. It’s obsolete because it wasn’t taking care of terror. I took a lot of heat for two days. And then they started saying Trump is right.”
• UN / RUSSIA / SYRIA: Russia vetoes UN draft resolution on Syria gas attack probe.  UNITED NATIONS, United States — Russia on Wednesday vetoed a UN draft resolution demanding the Syrian government cooperate with an investigation of a suspected chemical attack that the West blames on President Bashar Assad’s forces. It was the eighth time that Russia has used its veto power at the UN Security Council to block action directed at its ally in Damascus. Britain, France and the United States put forward the measure in response to the suspected sarin gas attack in Khan Sheikhun on April 4 that left 87 dead, including 31 children. China, another veto-holding power at the council, abstained in the vote, as did Kazakhstan and Ethiopia. Bolivia voted against the measure and 10 other council members supported it. British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said he was “dismayed” by the Russian veto. “This puts Russia on the wrong side of the argument,” Johnson said in a statement issued in London. Russia imposed its veto as US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said after talks in Moscow that there was a “low level of trust” between the United States and Russia.
• RUSSIA: US says ‘low point’ of Russia ties cannot continue. (BBC) — US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says ties with Russia are at a low point and must improve. After two hours of talks with President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Secretary Sergei Lavrov in Moscow, he said that the “two foremost nuclear powers cannot have this relationship”. Although there was some “common ground” on Syria, “broad differences” remained. Mr Lavrov said the two sides needed to overcome “time-bomb issues” inherited from Barack Obama’s administration. Tensions have risen since a suspected chemical attack on the rebel-held Syrian town of Khan Sheikhoun last week that left 89 people dead. The US and its allies blamed the Syrian government, and the US fired 59 cruise missiles at Syria’s Shayrat airbase in response.
• North Korea to journalists: Expect a “big and important event” Thursday
• Trump says China has turned back N. Korean coal ships, lauds it as ‘big step’

8am – B         MEDIA NEWS:

• Spicer keeps apologizing.
• CNN’S ACOSTA: WE NEED REPUBLICANS TO BELIEVE IN MAINSTREAM MEDIA:  Acosta may have had unpleasant things to say about the Trump White House, but he claims he doesn’t want to isolate those who hold conservative ideologies.  “We need Republicans to believe in mainstream news media just as much as Democrats,” he said. “We need people to trust us.”
• Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov Scolds Andrea Mitchell’s ‘Manners.’ Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov was affronted Wednesday when NBC reporter Andrea Mitchell called out a question while he was speaking in Moscow, asking who taught her “manners.” ABC News Moscow correspondent Patrick Reevell tweeted out video of the exchange, which occurred when Lavrov and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson entered the room for a photo-op, the Washington Examiner reported. Mitchell, who focuses on foreign affairs in her reporting, tried to address Tillerson, presumably about the recent Syrian chemical attack. “Mr. Secretary, the Russians don’t believe the intelligence. How confident are you, Mr. Secretary–” Mitchell began to ask, as Lavrov was speaking. “Who was bringing you up? Who was giving you your manners?” Lavrov asked.

8am – C         8-year-old boy drives 4-year-old sister to get cheeseburger: Police. EAST PALESTINE, Ohio- It wasn’t a Big Mac attack, but a craving for the ‘Golden Arches’ that ended with a little boy taking his young sister for a ride in his dad’s van. It happened Sunday in Columbiana County. East Palestine police officer Jacob  Koehler told FOX 8 News it happened Sunday evening around 8. The child’s father had worked all day and went to bed early. Their mother was on the couch with the kids, when she fell asleep. That is when the children decided to leave. Witnesses saw the boy driving his father’s work van  and called police. Officer Koehler said the child drove a mile from his home with his little sister in the back of the van. The journey took the 8-year-old through 4 intersections, over railroad tracks and also required him to make a few right hand turns and a left hand turn. Witnesses told police he did obey all traffic laws and drove the speed limit. Once at the McDonald’s on Market Street, a family friend who happened to be eating at the restaurant, notified the children’s grandparents. The children did get to eat their cheeseburgers before police arrived. Officer Koehler arrived at McDonald’s and talked to the little boy, who told him he had learned to drive by watching YouTube videos.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – TUCKER CARLSON — Host of “Tucker Carlson Tonight”, weeknights at 9 PM ET on Fox News.

• Tucker has been spending all week focusing about the opioids crisis in America on his show
• LAST NIGHT on Tucker’s show: Russia expert Stephen Cohen: I have never been so worried about a war with Russia
• Tucker has been in Washington for a long time…What does Tucker think of the palace intrigue of rumors about Steve Bannon and in-fighting in this White House? Does this look like a shakeup or just growing pains in the first 100 days?

8am – E         Clinton News:

• New book excerpt: Hillary Clinton’s campaign was plagued by bickering. (The Hill) — The following is an excerpt adapted from “Shattered: Inside Hillary Clinton’s Doomed Campaign,” which will be released on April 18. Copyright © 2017 by Jonathan Allen and Amie Parnes. Hillary was so mad she couldn’t think straight. She was supposed to be focused on the prep session for that night’s Univision debate in Miami, but a potent mix of exhaustion and exasperation bubbled up inside. She’d been humiliated in the Michigan primary the night before, a loss that not only robbed her of a prime opportunity to put Bernie Sanders down for good but also exposed several of her weaknesses. How could she have been left so vulnerable? She knew — or at least she thought she did. The blame belonged to her campaign team, she believed, for failing to hone her message, energize important constituencies and take care of business in getting voters to the polls.  And now, Jake Sullivan, her de facto chief strategist, was giving her lip about the last answer she’d delivered in the prep session. “That’s not very good,” Sullivan corrected. “Really?” Hillary snapped back.  The room fell silent.
• Hillary Clinton aims at Trump in new speech: “We don’t need to be building walls” (The Hill) — Hillary Clinton seemed to knock President Trump’s call for a border wall during a ceremonial bill signing Wednesday for New York state’s tuition-free college program. “We don’t need to be building walls, we need to be building bridges,” Clinton said to applause, seemingly referring to the president’s proposed plan to build a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. “And the best bridge to the future is a good education, my friends,” she added during her appearance at LaGuardia Community College.