Andrew McCarthy, MD Del. Dan Morhaim, Daily Caller’s Luke Rosiak and Mark Krikorian joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C DC Traffic Congestion Ranks Sixth Worst in US, 15th Worst in World. Commuters in the Washington, D.C., area experience traffic woes practically every work day, and a new study confirmed what those commuters likely know. D.C. traffic is among the worst in the country. INRIX ranked 204 cities in the United States and more than 1,000 around the world in the largest study of traffic congestion. Based on the findings, the D.C. area ranks sixth overall for most congested urban areas in the U.S. According to the study, D.C.-area drivers spend more than 11 percent of their trip in congestion, costing them $1,694 per driver in 2016. The study said congestion costs the city nearly $3 billion from direct and indirect costs in 2016.

5am – D         Immigration News:

• Trump Administration Strips Funding For Illegal Aliens, Reallocates Money to Victims of Their Crimes. Speaking from the White House briefing room Tuesday, Press Secretary Sean Spicer announced the development of a new Immigration and Customs Enforcement office focused on helping victims of crimes committed by illegal aliens. The office will also assist family members of victims and is part of President Trump’s recent executive action to bolster enforcement of immigration laws already on the books. “This office [Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement Office] will facilitate the engagement with victims and their families to ensure questions and concerns regarding immigration enforcement efforts are addressed,” Spicer said, adding that the establishment of the office fulfills a campaign promise. Earlier today, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly detailed the new office in a memo to all relevant agencies inside DHS.  Further, Kelly immediately ordered the Director of ICE to “reallocate any and all resources that are currently used to advocate on behalf of illegal aliens to the new VOICE Office, and to immediately terminate the provision of such outreach or advocacy services to illegal aliens.”

• Poll: Americans overwhelmingly oppose sanctuary cities. An overwhelming majority of Americans believe that cities that arrest illegal immigrants for crimes should be required to turn them over to federal authorities. The poll shows that President Trump has broad public support in his effort to crack down on sanctuary cities. A survey from Harvard–Harris Poll provided exclusively to The Hill found that 80 percent of voters say local authorities should have to comply with the law by reporting to federal agents the illegal immigrants they come into contact with. As it stands, hundreds of cities across the nation — many with Democratic mayors or city councils — are refusing to do so. Trump has signed an executive order directing Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly to find ways to starve these sanctuary cities of federal funding. A Reuters analysis found the top 10 sanctuary cities in the U.S. receive $2.27 billion in federal funding for programs ranging from public health services to early childhood education.
• Amid Donald Trump’s Immigration Crackdowns, Court Weighs Rights for Non-Citizens. A split Supreme Court considers whether a Border Patrol agent violated the rights of an unarmed Mexican teen he shot in Mexico. Police surround the body of Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, in 2010. Guereca’s family sued the U.S. Border Patrol agent who shot their teenage son. AP. A closely divided Supreme Court grappled Tuesday with whether a Mexican couple can sue a U.S. Border Patrol agent for fatally shooting their unarmed teenage son in Mexico from the American side of the border, a case which could ultimately help determine whether foreign citizens have rights under the U.S. Constitution. Sweeping in questions anchored in the U.S. government’s use of drone strikes to the separation of government powers, the court probed the central premise of the case before it, Mesa v. Hernandez: That agent Jesus Mesa violated the constitutional rights of the Mexican teenager, 15-year-old Sergio Adrian Hernandez Guereca, when the officer shot into Mexico during a confrontation seven years ago.

5am – E         France’s Le Pen cancels meet with Lebanon grand mufti over headscarf. (Reuters) — French far-right National Front presidential candidate Marine Le Pen canceled a meeting on Tuesday with Lebanon’s grand mufti, its top cleric for Sunni Muslims, after refusing to wear a headscarf for the encounter. Le Pen, among the frontrunners for the presidency, is using a two-day visit to Lebanon to bolster her foreign policy credentials nine weeks from the April 23 first round, and may be partly targeting potential Franco-Lebanese votes. Many Lebanese fled to France, Lebanon’s former colonial power, during their country’s 1975-1990 civil war and became French citizens. After meeting Christian President Michel Aoun – her first public handshake with a head of state – and Sunni Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri on Monday, she had been scheduled to meet the Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Latif Derian. He heads the Dar al-Fatwa, the top religious authority for Sunni Muslims in the multireligious country. “I met the grand mufti of Al-Azhar,” she told reporters, referring to a visit in 2015 to Cairo’s 1,000-year-old center of Islamic learning. “The highest Sunni authority didn’t have this requirement, but it doesn’t matter. “You can pass on my respects to the grand mufti, but I will not cover myself up,” she said. The cleric’s press office said Le Pen’s aides had been informed beforehand that a headscarf was required for the meeting and had been “surprised by her refusal”. But it was no surprise in the French political context. French law bans headscarves in the public service and for high school pupils, in the name of church-state separation and equal rights for women. Le Pen wants to extend this ban to all public places, a measure that would affect Muslims most of all.

6am – A/B/C ‘Fat-shaming’ newspaper columnist is sacked after 30 years for penning a piece about sitting next to an overweight passenger on a plane. (Daily Mail) — A column about sitting next to an overweight person on an airplane has cost a longtime Minnesota newspaper columnist his job. For 30 years, Alan Linda has written the Fergus Falls Daily Journal’s Prairie Spy column about his experiences in New York Mills, Minnesota.  But last week the newspaper’s editorial board fired Linda for ridiculing a person he called ‘fat’ in his column. ‘Hard to sell popcorn dripping with butter to people who already can’t squeeze their big, fat – ummmmm – self into the seat’ wrote Linda, in a reprint of his column on WDAY.   The controversial piece, titled ‘Taking notice of the size of people in today’s world’, was removed from the Fergus Falls Daily Journal’s website.  In an editorial published last week, the board expressed regret for publishing the column and explained their decision for cutting ties with the volunteer columnist, whose humorous columns have been published in other Minnesota outlets.   Last Friday, his column was about sitting next to a larger person on an airplane’, the board wrote.  ‘In the column, he called the person “fat” and went on to describe a lack of sympathy for the man’s weight issue. ‘Not only did this offend many of our readers, it offended us.  ‘Bullying others is not OK. Body shaming is not OK. … The list goes on, but you get the picture. Let’s debate the issues, not make personal attacks on people’. Linda told the Minneapolis Star Tribune that he doesn’t understand why he was fired.

6am – D         Critter News:

• Second orange alligator spotted in the Carolinas. (AP) — CALABASH, N.C. — For the second time this month, a rust-colored alligator has turned up in the Carolinas. The Sun News of Myrtle Beach reports Tuesday that some residents of a Calabash, North Carolina, neighborhood have named the pumpkin-colored alligator “Donny.” Earlier this month, residents joked that an orange alligator that turned up in a pond in Hanahan had used too much self-tanning lotion. Jay Butfiloski with the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources said the color may have come from where the animal spent the winter, perhaps in a rusty steel culvert pipe. Experts say alligators shed their skin and will likely return to a normal shade soon.

• Crazy Cat Parasite Isn’t Responsible For Crazy Cat People. The symptoms of crazy cat people have recently been blamed on a parasite that makes its home in the fur of household cats.  Toxoplasma gondii, many scientists speculate, is responsible for giving cat owners psychological disorders. A new study, however, offers cat lovers their long-awaited vindication: The results of a survey spanning 10,000 people provides compelling evidence that cats aren’t making anyone mentally ill. After two decades of extensive research, the researchers show that there’s no link between cat ownership and schizophrenia — or any mental illness, for that matter. Their study, published in the journal Psychological Medicine, offers much more reliable evidence than previous papers showing the opposite because it followed children from the time they were born to the age of full maturity, assessing their symptoms over time. Most of the other studies carried out in this field had a small sample size, looked only at patients who were already diagnosed with schizophrenia, or both. In this study, researchers from the University College London studied over 10,000 children from the time they were born to the time they were 18. They took into account several conditions, including the education, age, and occupation of the mother; the number of times the family moved while the children were aged zero to four; and what other animals the family had in addition to a cat. Summing up the paper’s findings in a statement, lead author Francesca Solmi, Ph.D., said: “The message for cat owners is clear: there is no evidence that cats pose a risk to children’s mental health.”
• DC eagle pair lays first egg of season at National Arboretum (AP) –  The eagle couple raised two eaglets — known as Freedom and Liberty — last year. They also raised one eaglet in 2015. The American Eagle Foundation says the new egg will be called DC4 and will hatch in about 35 days. It’s possible that DC4 could be joined by other eggs in the next few days. Those interested can watch the eagle family on dceaglecam.org. The foundation says the DC Eagle Cam had more than 60 million views during the first five months the camera was live in 2016.
• Wanted: 60 people willing to be bitten by mosquitoes to test a new kind of vaccine. WASHINGTON (AP) – Wanted: 60 people willing to be bitten by mosquitoes to test a new kind of vaccine – one that acts against the bugs’ saliva. Rather than separate vaccines against Zika or other mosquito-borne diseases, the new approach aims to protect against multiple infections by triggering the immune system to rev up in response to the bite itself. The National Institutes of Health is recruiting volunteers for a safety study of the experimental vaccine, being developed by two London companies. Researchers at NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will give volunteers either vaccine or dummy shots.  The volunteers must return later to NIH’s Bethesda, Maryland, hospital to be bitten by mosquitoes through a special netted device. The mosquitoes are infection-free; researchers will track the volunteers’ immune responses.

6am – E         Sisqó’s PISSED at the impostor who got all sorts of perks at New York Fashion Week when people thought he was legit. (TMZ) — Sisqó’s PISSED at the impostor who got all sorts of perks at New York Fashion Week when people thought he was legit … and now the real singer’s threatening to take legal action against the wannabe. The former Dru Hill frontman tells TMZ … he tried laughing off the episode after learning about it but Sisqó’s tone changed when the guy tried cutting deals as Sisqó. You’ll recall the fake Sisqó — reportedly Gavin Barnes — was decked out in Sisqó’s trademark outfit … a Versace suit, blond hair and stunner shades scored front row seats to huge Fashion Week events, including Kanye West’s show.

6am – F         Police Dept. Cancels ‘High-Five Friday’ at Schools Because Some Students May Be ‘Uncomfortable’ (Washington Free Beacon) — A police department in Northampton, Massachusetts is ending its “High-Five Friday” program at local elementary schools due to concerns that “undocumented children” and others may feel “uncomfortable” seeing an officer at school. The program, started by the Northampton Police Department in December, had officers stand outside of a school each Friday morning to high-five students as they walked in to begin the day. Now, the program has been canceled due to concerns that it may make minority students and illegal immigrants feel uncomfortable, LawNewz reported Tuesday. “While we received a lot of support on social media, we also heard a few concerns about the program,” the department wrote on Saturday. Police Chief Jody Kasper had attended a school committee meeting to discuss potential problems with the program. Questions came up during the meeting on how effective the program would be in the long term and how comfortable the students would be seeing officers at the beginning of the school day. The police department was then asked to temporarily pause the “High-Five Friday,” which it did.

7am – A         INTERVIEW — ANDREW MCCARTHY –  is a contributing editor at National Review and author of  “Faithless Execution: Building the Political Case for Obama’s Impeachment” (2014).

• White House unleashes federal agents against illegal immigrants
• MCCARTHY: Trump’s New Guidance Calls for Vigorous Immigration Enforcement
• DHS cancels Obama policies, orders agents to expand deportations

7am – B         A friendship formed because of Tourette Syndrome. DUMFRIES, VA (WUSA9) – Last year WUSA9 reporter, Nikki Burdine, revealed something very personal. She has Tourette Syndrome. Tourette’s is a neurological disorder. It’s characterized by involuntary movements or vocalizations called tics.  After Nikki went public, the most wonderful thing happened. She forged a very special friendship with a little boy from Prince William County. His name is Conor. We all have something. Something that makes us unique. That little thing that sets us apart from everyone else. Sometimes it’s more obvious than others.  Conor Canonico’s quirk is Tourette Syndrome, or Tourette’s. It’s also Nikki’s.  Conor’s mom reached out to Nikki after a story she did about her diagnosis with Tourette Syndrome. Conor was being bullied at school for his tics, and having a hard time explaining to his classmates why he did strange things.  “They would say, ‘Hey Conor, stop doing that you’re annoying,'” said Conor. So Conor came to WUSA9 – and we made a video explaining our tics and what Tourette’s is and isn’t.

7am – C         Cherry blossoms may be blooming soon! The warm winter means cherry blossoms will peak early — here’s how soon it could be. (Washington Post) — We haven’t had much of a “winter” in Washington, and spring is almost here — though I could argue it already arrived. The plants are obviously going to leave their dormancy early (the crocuses are up!), which has us wondering about the cherry blossoms. Last month was the second-warmest January since the year 2000, and the 12th-warmest January since records began in Washington. It didn’t drop below freezing for 19 days in a row, which is not only a record-warm streak for the month, but also just plain strange; January is typically the coldest month in the capital. And the weird continues. Washington is one day short of the longest streak of days at or above 60 degrees in February, and 70s are in the forecast later this week. If you’re trying to make blossom plans, this year might prove to be a challenge.  At the Tidal Basin, the cherry trees are already sprouting buds. It’s not obscenely early, but still much earlier than average. It suggests we’re probably going to hit peak bloom well before the average date of April 4.

7am – D/E     Even Millennials admit they are a narcissistic generation: Millennials are the most narcissistic generation ever. We might not agree on phone etiquette, or what to put on the radio – but there’s one thing older and younger generations agree on. Millennials are the most narcissistic – according to a study that consulted both millennials and their grandparents’ generations,  But there is one thing they disagree on: the extent of their narcissism. Older generations think millennials’ narcissism goes beyond what millennials themselves will admit. Joshua Grubbs, a doctoral candidate in clinical psychology at Case Western Reserve University, asked millennials and adults 60 years and older to rank generations on their narcissism. The older group ranked millennials 65.3 on a 100-point narcissism scale, whereas millennials rated themselves as 61.4, according to the Huffington Post. He also found that millennials don’t like being called narcissistic, even though they admit to having the trait. But having this label might not be a good thing.

 

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MARYLAND DELEGATE DAN MORHAIM – (MOR-HIGH-MM) — D-Baltimore County

• A Md Congressman has proposed drug-consumption facilities in the state, allowing illegal drug use in certain spaces. ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Illegal-drug users in Maryland could partake in recreational use under a bill that would create legal, sanitary illicit-drug use facilities in the state. The bill, proposed by Delegate Dan Morhaim, D-Baltimore County, would create an overdose-prevention and safer drug-consumption program allowing drug users to legally ingest their narcotics under supervision of trained professionals and staff, in clean facilities. “Let me be real clear, I’m not for substance abuse. It’s a bad thing,” said Morhaim, a board-certified physician with years working in emergency care. “I’ve seen the ravages, but we’ve been doing this for 50 years, and tried all these things. And after 50 years, there’s not one data point that is better.” In fact, opioid-related fatalities are on the rise, with more than 1,000 deaths in 2015 alone in Maryland, according to a Department of Health and Mental Hygiene report on drug- and alcohol-related deaths.

8am – B/C     INTERVIEW – LUKE ROSIAK – Investigative Reporter, The Daily Caller News Foundation

• Luke has been breaking exclusives on this story
• House Dem IT Staffers Owed Money To Hezbollah-Connected Fugitive
• EXCLUSIVE: House Dem IT Guys In Security Probe Secretly Took $100K In Iraqi Money

8am – D         INTERVIEW — MARK KRIKORIAN — a nationally recognized expert on immigration issues and is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS)

• White House unleashes federal agents against illegal immigrants (Washington Times) — Homeland Security Secretary John F. Kelly officially unleashed federal agents this week to begin arresting and deporting more illegal immigrants, unshackling the handcuffs the Obama administration had imposed and putting millions of people in the country without authorization at risk. Officials waved aside immigrant rights groups’ warnings of quick mass deportations and said the biggest changes, including making illegal immigrants wait in Mexico for their cases to be decided, will take time. But the gist of the changes, laid out in two memos from Mr. Kelly, is to push immigration enforcement, which under President Obama had been mostly confined to the border region, south into Mexico and north to cover the interior of the U.S.

8am – E         Ivanka Trump Perfume Soars to No.1 Bestseller on AMAZON Despite Boycotts… A Trump wine boycott backfires spectacularly.