Cal Thomas, Amb. John Bolton, Steve Moore and Dinesh D’Souza joined WMAL on Wednesday!
Mornings on the Mall
Wednesday, August 2, 2017
Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese
5am – A/B/C The head of the Coast Guard says he will not turn his back on transgender service members (The Hill) Coast Guard officials reached out personally to their transgender service members to express support after President Trump’s announcement of a new policy barring transgender people in the military, according to Commandant Adm. Paul Zukunft. “The first thing we did is we reached out to all 13 members of the Coast Guard who have come out” as transgender, Zukunft told attendees at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event in Washington. Zukunft said he contacted Lt. Taylor Miller, the Coast Guard’s first openly transitioning officer who was featured in a Washington Post article last week. “If you read that story, Taylor’s family has disowned her. … And I told Taylor, I will not turn my back. We have made an investment in you and you have made an investment in the Coast Guard and I will not break faith,” Zukunft said. “And so that was the commitment to our people right now. Very small numbers, but all of them are doing meaningful Coast Guard work today.” The Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland Security but is a branch of the U.S. Armed Forces and would fall under the transgender ban. Zukunft added that he then reached out to now former Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly — who became White House chief of staff on Monday — who in turned reached out to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis. “We’ve stood up a tiger team of our [Judge Advocate General’s Corps] officers,” Zukunft said, referring to the legal branch of the Coast Guard. Trump last week declared on Twitter that the military would “not accept or allow” transgender people to serve “in any capacity.” The president said in the tweet that he had made the decision after consultation with “my Generals and military experts.”
5am – D/E EXECUTIVE ACTION ON HEALTH CARE?
Rand Paul, one of the Senate’s leading conservatives, told reporters that Trump will consider taking executive action to address the many problems with the healthcare system after Sen. John McCain tanked an Obamacare repeal bill last week. Would you support Trump taking executive action on health care?
– Senate GOP pivots to tax reform fight after healthcare failure. Senators are digging in for a looming fall fight over tax reform, as Republicans look to move on from their setback on ObamaCare repeal. Leaders on both sides of the aisle are setting up early goal posts for the upcoming battle, with GOP leadership wanting to get a bill to President Trump’s desk by the end of the year. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) confirmed on Tuesday that Republicans will use the fast-track reconciliation process to move a tax reform bill, which will allow them to clear legislation without Democratic support.
– Senate Health Committee to hold bipartisan meetings on healthcare. (The Hill) — The Senate Health Committee will begin holding bipartisan hearings the first week of September on how to stabilize and strengthen the individual insurance market, the panel’s top Democrat and Republican announced Tuesday. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) — the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee — said the goal is for the panel to craft a bipartisan, short-term proposal by mid-September, as insurers must finalize how much their premiums will cost by the end of that month. “We need to put out the fire in these collapsing markets wherever these markets are,” Alexander said at the beginning of a HELP Committee hearing on nominations.
– McConnell leaves the door open for second try on healthcare.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) is leaving the door open for Republicans to take a second run at repealing ObamaCare after a GOP proposal failed last week. “We’re continuing to score some of the options on healthcare,” McConnell told reporters during a weekly press conference on Tuesday. “There’s still an opportunity to do that.” McConnell said Republicans, not Democrats, were behind the failed ObamaCare repeal vote.”It’s pretty obvious our problem on healthcare was not the Democrats. We didn’t have 50 Republicans,” he said.
– Lindsey Graham: “If we fail on healthcare, we’re going to fail on taxes”
6am – A/B/C What Returning Your Shopping Cart Says About You (Craig Dacy)– I have a pet peeve. You know when you’re at the grocery store and you see shopping carts littered around the parking lot? That drives me insane. My wife knows how I feel about this. She recently shared a meme with me that said that you can’t be successful until you learn to put your shopping cart away. I chuckled at first, but then my mind started to think of how true that meme really was. I realized there are 2 different people in this world; cart returners and cart deserters. Whichever side of the line you stand on says a lot about you.
6am – D INTERVIEW — CAL THOMAS – Syndicated columnist // TOPIC: His thoughts on the White House shakeups and what’s next for Obamacare and tax reform
6am – E Pentagon investigators find ‘security risks’ in government’s immigrant recruitment program, ‘infiltration’ feared (Fox News) Defense Department investigators have discovered “potential security risks” in a Pentagon program that has enrolled more than 10,000 foreign-born individuals into the U.S. armed forces since 2009, Fox News has learned exclusively, with sources on Capitol Hill and at the Pentagon expressing alarm over “foreign infiltration” and enrollees now unaccounted for. After more than a year of investigation, the Pentagon’s inspector general recently issued a report – its contents still classified but its existence disclosed here for the first time – identifying serious problems with Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI), a DOD program that provides immigrants and non-immigrant aliens with an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for military service. Defense Department officials said the program is still active but acknowledged that new applications have been suspended.
6am-F Trump seeks to sue schools over affirmative action seen to hurt whites. (USA Today) — The Trump administration is directing the Justice Department to explore whether it can sue institutions of higher education over affirmative action policies that the White House deems discriminatory against white applicants, The New York Times is reporting. The Times based its report on a document that it obtained. The internal announcement to the Justice Department’s civil rights division puts out a call for lawyers interested in working on a new project focused on “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions,” the Times reported. Supporters and detractors of the project told the Times that the project was clearly going after programs that benefit black and Latino students and other groups. Roger Clegg, a key official in the civil rights division in the Reagan and Bush administrations, told the Times that the project was “long overdue.” “The civil rights laws were deliberately written to protect everyone from discrimination, and it is frequently the case that not only are whites discriminated against now, but frequently Asian-Americans are as well,” Clegg said.
7am – A INTERVIEW – AMB. JOHN BOLTON – Former United States Ambassador to the United Nations — discussed the latest on North Korea, Venezuela, and Russia.
- North Korea: US not seeking regime change, says Rex Tillerson. The US government is not seeking a regime change in North Korea, the secretary of state says, amid tensions over Pyongyang’s weapons programme. “We’re not your enemy,” Rex Tillerson said, adding that the US wanted a dialogue at some point. But a Republican senator said President Donald Trump had told him there would be a war with North Korea if its missile programme continued. Pyongyang claimed its latest missile could hit the US west coast. The second test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) on Friday, celebrated by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, was the latest to be conducted in defiance of a United Nations ban. “We do not seek a regime change, we do not seek the collapse of the regime, we do not seek an accelerated reunification of the peninsula, we do not seek an excuse to send our military north of the 38th parallel,” said Mr Tillerson, referring to the border between the Koreas. “We’re not your enemy, we’re not your threat but you’re presenting an unacceptable threat to us and we have to respond.”
- Lindsey Graham: Trump Told Me He’s Willing To Go To War With North Korea. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) says President Donald Trump is ready for war with North Korea if the rogue nation doesn’t cease its development of a nuclear missile capable of reaching the United States. “He has told me that. I believe him,” Graham said on NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday. “If I were China, I would believe him, too, and do something about it.”
- U.S. Test-Launches ICBM as Tensions Rise With North Korea. WASHINGTON — The U.S. military successfully test-launched an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile from California early Wednesday, according to an Air Force spokesman — just days after North Korea’s second test of an ICBM. The unarmed Minuteman III missile was launched at 2:10 a.m. PT from Vandenberg Air Force Base, about 130 miles northwest of Los Angeles. An Air Force statement said that the test was not a response to recent North Korean actions, but shows that America’s nuclear enterprise is “safe, secure, effective and ready to be able to deter, detect and defend against attacks on the United States and its allies.”
- Trump Will Sign Russia Sanctions Law ‘Very Soon,’ Pence Says (New York Times) President Trump will “very soon” sign a law limiting his ability to lift sanctions against Russia, even though he has “concerns” about the measure, Vice President Mike Pence said on Tuesday. The announcement during a visit to Tbilisi, Georgia, comes as no surprise, because the Trump administration had signaled it would not stand in the law’s way. But it nonetheless carries significance: It is the first time that Congress, with both houses controlled by Mr. Trump’s fellow Republicans, has imposed its will on the administration on a major policy matter, and the legislation has helped bring relations between Russia and the United States to one of its lowest points since the Cold War. At least in terms of diplomatic policy, the bet Russia might have made when, according to American intelligence agencies, it interfered in last year’s presidential election in the United States has backfired in spectacular fashion. The legislation was revised, however, to address concerns by American oil and natural gas companies that do business with Russia’s energy sector. Though he was asked by a reporter about the election interference, Mr. Pence did not explicitly address it, reiterating instead the administration’s concerns about Russia’s “destabilizing activities,” including “efforts to support rogue regimes.”
- Pres. Trump condemns jailing of Venezuelan opposition leaders, calls for “immediate and unconditional” release. (ABC News) – President Donald Trump condemned the actions of Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro’s government on Tuesday night after opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez and Antonio Ledezma were dragged from their homes by state security agents and sent back to prison. “The United States condemns the actions of the Maduro dictatorship,” the White House said in a statement. “Mr. Lopez and Mr. Ledezma are political prisoners being held illegally by the regime,” the statement read. “The United States holds Maduro – who publicly announced just hours earlier that he would move against his political opposition – personally responsible for the health and safety of Mr. Lopez, Mr. Ledezma, and any others seized. We reiterate our call for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.” Shortly after midnight Tuesday, black-clad members of Venezuela’s state security force forced Ledezma from his east Caracas home in his blue pajamas, yanking him out into the night as a woman screamed for help. “They’re taking Ledezma!” the woman can be heard crying on a cell-phone video released by allies of Ledezma, a former mayor of Caracas. “It’s a dictatorship!” Lopez’s wife posted security-camera video of him being taken from their home and bundled into a waiting car. “They’ve just taken Leopoldo from the house,” Tintori wrote on Twitter. “We don’t know where he is or where they’re taking him.” The country’s Supreme Court claimed in a statement that the two men violated the terms of their house arrest by criticizing the government in messages released on social media in recent days. It’s the first move against prominent enemies of Maduro’s government since a widely denounced vote Sunday granting the ruling party nearly unlimited powers.
7am – B PARTY POLITICS:
- Grover Norquist thinks vaping will make the GOP cool (VICE News) Grover Norquist is president of the conservative group Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that pushes for smaller government and less taxes. He doesn’t vape, but he has a political theory that involves vapers: He thinks they can help make the Republican Party cool again. His pitch is pretty simple: Vapers love to vape, and Democrats are on the side of stricter regulations on vaping and higher taxes on vaping products. By promising to make vaping easier to do and cheaper, Norquist figures, the Republicans can win over younger voters (er, vapers) who would normally vote Democrat.‘When Progressives Embrace Hate’ (New York Times) “The leaders of the Women’s March, arguably the most prominent feminists in the country, have some chilling ideas and associations. Far from erecting the big tent so many had hoped for, the movement they lead has embraced decidedly illiberal causes and cultivated a radical tenor that seems determined to alienate all but the most woke.”
- DEMS WINNING IN SMALLER, STATE ELECTIONS: (McClatchy) – In a party desperate for victories, Democratic candidates are finding the most success in little-noticed state legislative races. They’ve already won four seats previously under Republican control, some of them in battleground districts that split evenly between President Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.
- Dem campaign chief vows no litmus test on abortion. (The Hill) – Democrats will not withhold financial support for candidates who oppose abortion rights, the chairman of the party’s campaign arm in the House said in an interview with The Hill. Rep. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) said there will be no litmus tests for candidates as Democrats seek to find a winning roster to regain the House majority in 2018. “There is not a litmus test for Democratic candidates,” said Luján, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman. “As we look at candidates across the country, you need to make sure you have candidates that fit the district, that can win in these districts across America.” In taking the position, Luján and Democrats risk alienating liberals, as well as groups dedicated to promoting access to abortion and reproductive health services that represent the core of the party’s base.
- NEW YORK TIMES TURNS ON WOMEN’S MARCH: ‘When Progressives Embrace Hate’ – “The leaders of the Women’s March, arguably the most prominent feminists in the country, have some chilling ideas and associations. Far from erecting the big tent so many had hoped for, the movement they lead has embraced decidedly illiberal causes and cultivated a radical tenor that seems determined to alienate all but the most woke.”
7am – C Under Armour To Cut Almost 300 Jobs, Launch Restructuring Plan (CBS Baltimore) Under Armour is cutting almost 2 percent of its workforce and it lowered its full-year revenue outlook, overshadowing a strong second-quarter and amplifying the pitfalls now facing companies across the retail sports sector. Revenue grew 9 percent, but investors sensed potentially a rougher time ahead. Shares declined more than 7 percent at the opening bell, hitting a one-year low. A board-approved restructuring plan announced Tuesday will come with about $110 million to $130 million in related charges this year. That includes approximately $15 million in employee severance and benefits costs.
7am – D INTERVIEW – STEPHEN MOORE – Economist, Heritage Foundation
TOPIC: What’s next for Obamacare and tax reform?
- Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) revealed that he spoke with President Donald Trump on Monday and told the president that he can take executive action to allow organizations to offer more affordable group health insurance plans.
- Senate GOP pivots to tax reform fight after healthcare failure.
- Senate Health Committee to hold bipartisan meetings on healthcare.
- Talks between the White House and the Senate’s top Republican and Democrat broke up Tuesday with no progress on raising the country’s debt ceiling, an impasse that threatens a financial crisis if left unresolved.
7am – E Democratic Socialist Group Claims To Be Largest American Socialist Group Since WWII (The Daily Caller) Democratic Socialists of America claimed Tuesday to have more than 25,000 members, making it the largest socialist group in the U.S. since World War II. It’s not a lot, but it’s growing bigger every year. Is Socialism no longer deniable in America? Is it no longer a bad word? Democratic Socialists of America claimed Tuesday to have more than 25,000 members, making it the largest socialist group in the U.S. since World War II.
8am – A Interview – DINESH D’SOUZA – filmmaker and author of the new book “The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left”
TOPIC: New book “The Big Lie” (hits shelves today) and how the Democratic Party has been the party of slavery, genocide, racism and fascism from the beginning
8am – B CRAZY NEWS:
Blowing out birthday candles increases bacteria on the cake’s icing by 1,400%, new study claims (Daily Mail) For those who will jump for a slice of birthday cake, you might want to think twice. New data show that the ritual of blowing out the candles leaves the dessert ridden with bacteria. A team of researchers at Clemson University in South Carolina found that the saliva spread from blowing out birthday candles increases bacteria in the icing by 1,400 percent. Dr. Paul Dawson, a professor at the university, conducted the study with a group of his undergraduate students to get them thinking about food safety. He normally looks into things like the five-second rule or the risk of sharing food, but said he got the idea for this study from his own experience as a father. On average, blowing out the candles caused the frosting to grow 14 times as much bacteria. However, in one case, it was increased by more than 120 times, suggesting certain people transfer more bacteria than others. But, Dr Dawson said this new data shouldn’t ruin birthday parties. ‘In my opinion, you’re fine to eat a birthday cake if someone blew out the candles,’ he explained. ‘I don’t think you’d get sick.’ Human mouths are full of bacteria, and most of them are not harmful. Additionally, if blowing out candles on a birthday cake actually caused the spread of deadly diseases it would be obvious because of how common the practice is, especially in children. Dr. Dawson said he might avoid the cake if he thought the candle-blower looked sick, but otherwise thought it was probably fine.
Brooklyn dog owners refuse to vaccinate their pets because they fear shots will give them Autism (Daily Mail) Vets have reported an increase in the number of pet owners who are refusing to vaccinate their dogs out of fear they will develop autism. Owners in Brooklyn, New York say they are worried the vaccines will harm dogs. They are refusing to vaccinate against distemper, hepatitis and rabies – which are required by law. One vet said the trend was more common in the hipster areas of Brooklyn.
8am – C Ben Sasse approached to head Heritage Foundation. Sen. Ben Sasse has reportedly been approached to lead the Heritage Foundation in a move that could signal efforts by the conservative think tank to distance itself from its pro-Trump past. Sasse, who was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014, was a strident critic of President Trump’s during the 2016 elections and gained national attention for refusing to vote for both Trump and Hillary Clinton last November. But James Wegmann, a spokesman for the junior Nebraska senator, shrugged off rumors reported by Politico regarding the prospect of an appointment. “Was just asked again if @BenSasse is going to run Heritage,” Wegmann tweeted. “Answer: Nope. But … ask me about Huskers offensive coordinator and I’ll dodge.”
ABOUT BEN SASSE: Sasse, a member of the Republican Party, is the junior United States Senator from the state of Nebraska. Sasse earned a doctorate in American History from Yale University. He taught at the University of Texas and served as an assistant secretary in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In 2010, he was named president of Midland University in Fremont, Nebraska. In 2014, he was elected to fill the U.S Senate seat being vacated by Mike Johanns, defeating Democratic Party candidate David Domina by a margin of 65% to 31%.[2]
8am – D IMMIGRATION NEWS:
- White House To Announce Bill To Overhaul Legal Immigration System. President Donald Trump will join two leading Republican senators at the White House on Wednesday to formally introduce a bill that would slash legal immigration levels in half and implement a merit-based system for potential migrants, The Daily Caller News Foundation has learned. GOP Sens. David Perdue of Georgia and Tom Cotton of Arkansas will reintroduce an updated version of the Reforming American Immigration for a Strong Economy (RAISE) Act, a bill they originally proposed in February that failed to gain traction in the Senate. The legislation seeks to curtail the current practice of family chain migration and move to a points system that would “tailor the immigration system to meet the needs of our economy,” a spokeperson for Perdue’s office told TheDCNF.
- Paul Ryan: ‘It is time for the wall’ (The Hill) House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called for action on President Trump’s proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border in a video he tweeted out on Tuesday. “RT if you agree,” he posted on Twitter, along with a video of a border visit he made. “It is time for the wall.” The video shows Speaker Ryan on a visit to the Rio Grande Valley in Texas, where he met with Border Patrol officers.
- FOREIGN WORKERS NOT COUNTED: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a trove of immigration data Monday showing that the U.S. government gives work permits to millions of migrants not usually counted in annual legal immigration totals. The mass of unseen workers — a complex agglomeration of refugees, asylum recipients and special temporary visa holders — is far larger than the roughly 1.1 million legal permanent residents and 500,000 temporary workers authorized each year. It is not tied to any specific employers or industries, so EAD holders are free to move around the U.S. labor market as they wish. And it is almost completely distinct from well-known alien worker groups such as legal immigrants, temporary foreign workers, and illegal aliens.
8am – E Rep. Waters ‘reclaiming my time’ moment inspires gospel song (The Hill) A singer, inspired by the showdown between Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin last week, has turned the congresswoman’s repeated phrase “reclaiming my time” into song lyrics. Maxine asked the secretary during a House Financial Services Committee hearing on Thursday why his agency has not responded to a letter she sent in May inquiring about the president’s financial ties to Russia. Mnuchin did not directly answer Waters’s question, which led her to repeatedly interject “reclaiming my time.” The encounter inspired Mykal Kilgore to post a YouTube video of him singing a gospel song about the back-and-forth on Saturday. “Our beloved ‘Auntie’ Maxine Waters laid this sermon down so good that I had to sing about it! Whenever anybody tries to distract me or block me (even with praise or platitudes) I’m gonna have to let them know that I’m #ReclaimingMyTime,” Kilgore wrote in the description of the song, using a nickname millennials have given to the California lawmaker for her fierce criticism of the Trump administration. Mnuchin had initially began praising the Democratic lawmaker for her efforts in the Golden State.
