Erin Robinson, Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton, Charlie Gasparino and Byron York joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, March 16, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C If you lost your phone, how many numbers would you remember?  Is the death of the phone number around the corner?

• The death of phone numbers. The idea is that your email and social media profiles can replace phone numbers as a point of contact. OPINION: When I was growing up, my home phone number was three-digits long.  Those digits still form part of my parents’ number and it is one of only two phone numbers that I can remember (the other one is my wife’s). How many phone numbers can you remember? Or do you, like most people, rely on your phone to keep track of them? Phone numbers are increasingly becoming unnecessary and the main reason for their impending death is social media and messaging apps. David Marcus, who runs the Facebook’s Messenger app, listed the death of the phone number as one of five trends to expect in 2016. “Just like the flip phone is disappearing, old communication styles are disappearing too,” Marcus wrote in a blog post.

5am – D         RUSSIA NEWS:

• Comey will testify publicly on Russia investigation next week. (Politico) — Wednesday was a whirlwind day for lawmakers investigating Russia’s meddling in the 2016 presidential election. FBI Director James Comey briefed leaders of the Senate Judiciary Committee. The heads of the House Intelligence Committee announced that Comey had agreed to testify publicly before their panel. And Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) held a hearing in which he pleaded with the FBI to stop stonewalling Congress. Lawmakers in both chambers are demanding that the FBI clear up President Donald Trump’s claim that former President Barack Obama wiretapped Trump Tower in the run-up to the election. FBI Director James Comey is likely to face questions about whether the agency obtained a warrant to wiretap Trump Tower at a House committee hearing on March 20. Nunes and Schiff confirmed NSA Director Mike Rogers will appear along with Comey at the hearing.

• House Intel Committee seeks names of Obama officials who requested ‘unmasking’ of Americans picked up on surveillance.  (CNN) The leaders of the House Intelligence Committee asked the three leaders of the intelligence community Wednesday about any time during the last seven months of the Obama administration whenever any of its agents and officials improperly named, or “unmasked,” and disseminated the identities of American citizens picked up in intelligence collection. Chairman Devin Nunes, R-California, and Ranking Member Rep. Adam Schiff, D-California, wrote that they were concerned that members of the intelligence community have not been sufficiently honoring previously established “robust ‘minimization procedures'” to protect the identities of US citizens, including “masking” their names. The letter they sent refers to the disclosure to the public that former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn had several conversations with the Russian Ambassador. The matter is relevant not only because of the House Intelligence Committee’s responsibility to conduct oversight of the intelligence community, but also as it may relate to surveillance of Russians known to US intelligence or any others who may have spoken with any advisers or individuals around then-candidate Donald Trump. Nunes and Schiff asked the intelligence community leaders to disclose any “unmasked” identities that were disseminated throughout the intelligence community, law enforcement, or among senior Obama administration officials from June 2016 until January 2017 that relate to Trump or Hillary Clinton and their associates. An informed source told CNN that if Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak was being surveilled, Flynn’s name should not necessarily have been included on the intelligence report. Rather, “American Citizen 1” or a similar anonymous term should have been used.
• House Intelligence Chair Says He Doesn’t Believe Trump Tower Was Wiretapped (NPR) — House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes says he doesn’t believe “there was an actual tap of Trump Tower,” contrary to claims made by President Trump. And the top Democrat on the House committee, Adam Schiff, told NPR’s All Things Considered “there’s no evidence” to support Trump’s claim. Trump alleged that his predecessor, President Barack Obama, tapped his phone at Trump Tower in a pair of tweets earlier this month. >> Trump defends Obama wiretapping charges, predicts ‘very interesting items’ to be revealed. (Washington post) — President Trump on Wednesday indicated that he had no solid evidence to support his declaration that former president Barack Obama ordered surveillance on his phones at Trump Tower in New York during last fall’s campaign. Trump said he based his accusation, which he leveled March 4 in a series of tweets, on a couple of news reports referencing wiretapping generally. “I’ve been reading about things,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Channel. Trump said that after noticing an article in the New York Times and commentary by Fox anchor Bret Baier, Trump said he told himself, “Wait a minute, there’s a lot of wiretapping being talked about.’”
• Former CIA Director Says No Evidence Of Trump-Kremlin Collusion. A former acting director of the CIA who advised the Hillary Clinton campaign says he has yet to see even a “spark” of evidence that the Trump campaign colluded with the Russian government during the presidential campaign. Michael Morell also said Wednesday that he has serious questions about the 35-page dossier alleging campaign collusion because the author of the document paid his sources through intermediaries. “On the question of the Trump campaign conspiring with the Russians here, there is smoke, but there is no fire, at all,” Morell told a crowd of intelligence analysts at an event hosted by the Cipher Brief, a website that monitors the intelligence community.

5am – E         Critter News:

• HUMANE RESCUE ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF BLUE COLLAR CATS PROGRAM. WASHINGTON, DC — The Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA) has launched the “Blue Collar Cats” Program, an initiative developed to find alternative opportunities for outdoor/feral cats, or “Community Cats,” to live – and work – in our community.  HRA is soliciting area companies that may have,  or potentially have,  rodents interfering with their business and matching them with a cat that will make that business their ‘home,’ patrolling the surroundings to keep rodents at bay.
• “Dating” website matches customers with fur-ever love. Love is out there and while there are many websites that can help you find “the one,” a new dating service will match you with a lifelong companion. But fair warning, your new beau to be may be a little hairier than you imagined… The website, Paws Like Me, helps customers find the perfect canine partner.  With the motto, “personality is more than fur deep,” the website says they believe pets are unique individuals, just like humans. Pawls Like Me claims to use the first human-to-canine compatibility algorithm that is proven 91-percent accurate at successfully matching based on personality and lifestyle. The initial quiz takes five minutes and is based on four main components: energy, confidence, focus and independence.
• WELCOME TO D.C., little eaglet! An eaglet hatched above the Metropolitan Police Academy. An eaglet hatched in an oak tree on the grounds of the Metropolitan Police Academy in southwest D.C., Wednesday. A crack was spotted Tuesday in one of two eggs in the nest of bald eagle couple Liberty and Justice. The pip — the small hole the eaglet makes as it tries to break through its shell — was fully visible by Wednesday.  A live camera is trained on the nest, courtesy of the Earth Conservation Corps. You can vote on names for the eaglets here. The couple’s first egg was spotted Feb. 5; a second was spotted two days later. The second egg pipped Wednesday evening, meaning another eaglet should hatch within 24 hours. Across town, two nesting bald eagles at the U.S. National Arboretum worked to ensure that none of this week’s winter weather affected their two eggs.

6am – A/B/C Losing your phone or missing your train ‘is as stressful as a terrorist attack’ (Daily Mail) — According to 2,000 Britons, there is: losing your smartphone and missing your train. The findings emerged in a new study by the Physiological Society, which got men and women across the country to rank life events on a scale of stressfulness. Unsurprisingly, losing a loved-one and developing a terminal illness topped the list. But the report revealed mundane everyday experiences, like misplacing a phone, derail our emotions as much as a major traumatic event.   The study also revealed women are more prone to stress than men, with females ranking life events higher on the stress spectrum than male participants.  Concerns over long-term problems such as illness or imprisonment were the biggest factors.   Dr Lucy Donaldson, chair of The Physiological Society’s Policy Committee, said: ‘The modern world brings with it stresses we would not have imagined 50 years ago, such as social media and smartphones.

• ULTIMATE RANKING OF STRESSFUL EVENTS: The researchers got 2,000 participants to rank events in order of stress, on a rating of 0 to 10. Here is the list in order, starting with the most stressful.  Intriguingly, commute delays and losing a smartphone ranked almost the same as terrorist threats.  Death of spouse/relative/friend 9.43 /  Imprisonment 9.15 / Flood/fire damaging your home 8.89 / Being seriously ill 8.52 / Being fired 8.47 /   Separation/divorce 8.47 / Identity theft 8.16 / Unexpected money problems 7.39 / Starting a new job 6.54 / Planning a wedding 6.51 / Arrival of first child 6.06 / Commute delays 5.94 / Terrorist threats 5.84 / Losing smartphone 5.79 /     Moving to bigger house 5.77 / Brexit 4.23 /  Going on holiday 3.99 /  Promotion/success at work 3.7

6am – D/E     Trump’s first budget to be released at 7 AM ET. Major cuts expected for EPA and State Dept.  Trump wants $1.5 BILLION for wall but will slash foreign aid and eliminate funds for PBS and NPR. (Daily Mail) — President Donald Trump will release a budget blueprint Thursday that makes significant cuts to spending to fund his border wall and the military build-up he’s been promising. Cut the deepest is the State Department, which is being slapped with a 28 per cent reduction to its foreign aid division. The Environmental Protection Agency and the Housing and Urban Development Department is also expected to suffer. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which provides support to NPR and PBS – the broadcaster of Sesame Street – will see its funding phased out if Trump’s budget makes it past the House and Senate over the objection of both conservatives and liberals. Trump is proposing the dramatic cuts to some agencies so he can put $1.5 billion toward his wall with Mexico in 2018 and appropriate an additional $54 billion for defense without adding to the federal deficit. The blueprint does not deal with mandatory spending on entitlement programs such as Social Security or revenue sources nor does it try to balance the federal budget.

6am – F         JUDGES BLOCK TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER:

• A federal judge in Maryland blocked parts of President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban early Thursday morning. WASHINGTON (WUSA9) – A federal judge in Greenbelt, Maryland, has blocked President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban targeting six predominantly Muslim countries. Judge Theodore Chuang ruled Thursday in a case brought near the nation’s capital by the ACLU and other groups representing immigrants, refugees and their families. The groups argued that the underlying rationale of the ban was to discriminate against Muslims, making it unconstitutional. Chuang granted a preliminary injunction nationwide basis. It was the latest ruling against Trump’s revised travel ban. The Maryland plaintiffs also argued the ban illegally reduces the number of refugees authorized to enter the U.S. this year.
• Hawaii Judge Blocks Second Travel Order; Trump Slams ‘Judicial Overreach’ A federal judge in Hawaii blocked enforcement of President Donald Trump’s revised executive order on entry into the United States on Wednesday, just hours before it was to have taken effect. The ruling, granting a request for a temporary restraining order by the state of Hawaii and Ismail Elshikh, stalls the president’s second attempt to suspend admission of nearly all refugees for 120 days and to restrict visas for nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson, who said the restraining order applies nationwide, said Trump’s travel order was religiously discriminatory.

7am – A INTERVIEW — ERIN ROBINSON —  the Community Cat Program Manager from the Humane Rescue Alliance

• HUMANE RESCUE ALLIANCE ANNOUNCES LAUNCH OF BLUE COLLAR CATS PROGRAM. WASHINGTON, DC — The Humane Rescue Alliance (HRA) has launched the “Blue Collar Cats” Program, an initiative developed to find alternative opportunities for outdoor/feral cats, or “Community Cats,” to live – and work – in our community.  HRA is soliciting area companies that may have,  or potentially have,  rodents interfering with their business and matching them with a cat that will make that business their ‘home,’ patrolling the surroundings to keep rodents at bay.  “Prior to Blue Collar Cats, cats who have had little to no human interaction, and therefore were unsocialized and likely not the ideal adoption candidate, had few options,” said Lauren Lipsey, HRA Vice President of Community Programs “Now, through this program’s collaboration with local businesses and homeowners, we are able to save even more animals and support their right to a long and fruitful life.” The cats selected for this program have shown no characteristics typical of what our adopters expect in a companion animal and are not adoptable.  Since they’re not ideal pets but do a great job at deterring and controlling rodents, HRA will put them to work in local businesses to control the rodent population.   Added benefits for working with Blue Collar Cats:  Blue Collar Cats are a cleaner alternative to toxic pesticides; they are less expensive, and more effective in addressing the rodent problem.  But perhaps the best benefit:  these businesses are saving the life of a cat that may have no other option.   There are no upfront costs for businesses.  All cats have been spayed/neutered, microchipped, eartipped, and vaccinated against rabies and feline distemper. The business’s responsibility is to provide daily food and clean water, shelter, and basic care throughout the cat’s lifetime.

7am – B         DEM COMEBACKS?

• Former Gov. O’Malley tests 2020 waters with poll. A political action committee affiliated with former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley polled Democratic caucus voters in Iowa, suggesting that the failed 2016 presidential contender might be considering trying again in 2020.  O’Malley’s leadership PAC commissioned a Public Policy Polling survey earlier this month, according a POLITICO report. Politico reports O’Malley lead the other potential Democratic candidates with 18 percent of the vote. Other candidates included Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), former Housing Secretary Julian Castro, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-N.Y.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and well-known business leaders like Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg and Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz. While most of the other candidates received less than 10 percent of the vote, Booker followed close behind O’Malley with 17 percent, while Klobuchar received 11 percent. Nearly a third of the polled Iowans voted “not sure.” The poll didn’t include other high-profile potential Democratic hopefuls, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
• Hillary Clinton ‘contemplating run for New York mayor’ even though a poll says most Americans think she shouldn’t run.  (Daily Mail) — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is seriously considering a run for the New York mayoralty, according to a report which surfaced on Wednesday. Clinton reportedly met recently with a number of political associates in New York City who were asked about the potential interest in a possible run for mayor, according to TMZ. The gossip site quotes a source who attended the meeting. The source said that those who attended came away with the impression that the former Democratic presidential nominee was weighing a bid to unseat the current mayor, fellow Democrat Bill de Blasio.
• Chelsea Clinton fuels speculation of political run. When rumors started swirling after the election that Chelsea Clinton was considering her own foray into politics, it was met with eye rolls even from staunch supporters of the family. “Think we can let the dust settle a bit before we start talking about another Clinton race?” one former adviser to Hillary Clinton said after the New York Post reported in November that the former first daughter was being “groomed” to run for Congress, possibly replacing 79-year-old congresswoman Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) “It’s exhausting.” But that skepticism is starting to fade. Last month, a separate report in the New York Daily News said that Clinton could potentially run for Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand’s (D-N.Y.) seat, should the senator decide to run for president in 2020. Clinton has only stoked the rumors further, particularly on Twitter, where she has repeatedly gone after President Trump and his associates since Inauguration Day. On Sunday, she also took the opportunity to rail against Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) for racially charged comments about immigrant babies. “Clearly the Congressman does not view all our children as, well, all our children. Particularly ironic and painful on Purim,” she wrote on Twitter, in reference to the Jewish holiday this week.

7am – C         Widespread damage reported to some cherry blossoms. The bitter cold damaged the blossoms that were in the “puffy white” stage. WASHINGTON (WUSA9) – The National Park Service inspected the Japanese flowering cherry trees around the Tidal Basin Wednesday morning in the wake of bitter overnight temperatures.

Horticulturalists found widespread damage in blossoms that had reached “puffy white,” the fifth of six stages in the bloom cycle. They have taken cuttings of branches containing blossoms at earlier stages and will force them open over the next 24-48 hours to determine what, if any, damage may have occurred in those blossoms. Because the blossoms are so close to peak bloom and are exposed, they are particularly vulnerable to cold temperatures right now.

7am – D/E     INTERVIEW — TOM FITTON – President of JUDCIAL WATCH and author of “Clean House: Exposing Our Government’s Secrets and Lies”

• Judicial Watch Sues DOJ for Records Relating To Tarmac Meeting between then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton in June 2016. Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Department of Justice for records related to the meeting held between then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch and former President Bill Clinton at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in 2016
• Earlier this week: Trump’s State Department refuses to look for Hillary Clinton’s emails.  At a hearing in Washington on Monday at the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the State Department said it will continue to seek a dismissal of Judicial Watch’s case attempting to force them to locate Clinton’s emails. With Cause of Action also acting as a plaintiff, Judicial Watch is hoping to use a small bit of the Federal Records Act to force the State Department to locate more Clinton emails from her tenure as secretary of state. The lawsuit has had a long journey.

8am – A         INTERVIEW — CHARLIE GASPARINO – Senior FOX Business Network correspondent

• Yellen: Fed raises interest rates by a quarter point. On March 15, Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen announced that federal interest rates will increase by a quarter point, from a range of 0.5 percent to 0.75 percent.
• FITCH: The debt ceiling will be raised to $20,000,000,000,000 just in nick of time. The federal debt ceiling will either be suspended or raised on time, before midnight on March 16, as both Congress and the White House are under Republican control, said Fitch Ratings.
• Mnuchin Warns Congress on Debt Ceiling “Extraordinary measures.” As tension continues to mount on Capitol Hill, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin warned several Congressional leaders on Wednesday that America would face the debt ceiling this week. “As you know, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 suspended the statutory debt limit through Wednesday, March 15, 2017. Beginning on Thursday, March 16, 2017, the outstanding debt of the United States will be at the statutory limit,” Mnuchin wrote. “At that time, Treasury anticipates that it will need to start taking certain extraordinary measures in order to temporarily prevent the United States from defaulting on its obligations.”

8am – B  JUDGES BLOCK TRUMP’S EXECUTIVE ORDER:

• A federal judge in Maryland blocked parts of President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban early Thursday morning. WASHINGTON (WUSA9) – A federal judge in Greenbelt, Maryland, has blocked President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban targeting six predominantly Muslim countries. Judge Theodore Chuang ruled Thursday in a case brought near the nation’s capital by the ACLU and other groups representing immigrants, refugees and their families. The groups argued that the underlying rationale of the ban was to discriminate against Muslims, making it unconstitutional. Chuang granted a preliminary injunction nationwide basis. It was the latest ruling against Trump’s revised travel ban. The Maryland plaintiffs also argued the ban illegally reduces the number of refugees authorized to enter the U.S. this year.
• Hawaii Judge Blocks Second Travel Order; Trump Slams ‘Judicial Overreach’ A federal judge in Hawaii blocked enforcement of President Donald Trump’s revised executive order on entry into the United States on Wednesday, just hours before it was to have taken effect. The ruling, granting a request for a temporary restraining order by the state of Hawaii and Ismail Elshikh, stalls the president’s second attempt to suspend admission of nearly all refugees for 120 days and to restrict visas for nationals from Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen for 90 days. U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson, who said the restraining order applies nationwide, said Trump’s travel order was religiously discriminatory.

8am – C         Summer’s most expensive day to fly is July 9. While average airfare for summer is $384, July 9 is nearly $100 more. Summer’s most expensive day to fly. Summer is always an expensive time to fly, but not all days are created equal. July 9 is the No. 1 day to avoid this year, according to data from booking site CheapAir.com. It analyzed hundreds of thousands of fares for the coming summer and found that Sunday is most expensive day of the week to fly. While average airfare for the summer is $384, according to Jeff Klee, the CEO of CheapAir.com, the average fare on July 9 is nearly $100 more. Sundays in general are more expensive, he said, because they’re popular with both business and leisure travelers.

8am – D         INTERVIEW — BYRON YORK — Chief political correspondent, Washington Examiner

• Byron York: Congress leads Trump down wrong path: “New to Washington and with no experience in public office, Trump has become a prisoner to the House Republican leadership — or more precisely, to the complicated procedural requirements of the House and Senate, and the judgment of the GOP leadership that must operate within those boundaries. All across the capital, politicos are arguing about what House Republicans should do next in the Obamacare fight. Can they prevail in the Budget Committee? How much damage has the CBO report done? Can the Freedom Caucus be brought aboard? What about the moderates? And reconciliation? The three-step process? It has become mind-numbingly complicated. And perhaps the answer to all those questions is one simple sentence: Republicans are working on the wrong thing. And the Republican president is allowing himself to be distracted from delivering early and often on his core campaign promise of improving the economy and bringing jobs to millions of Americans.”
• Lord: Republicans Should ‘Just Step Back’ And Let Obamacare ‘Crash’ (Daily Caller) — Jeffrey Lord suggested on CNN Wednesday morning that the GOP’s best move might be to let Obamacare fail. Prior to Lord’s comments, Republican strategist Ana Navarro first noted that her “personal friend” Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen is only “putting her constituents first” by promising a “no” vote on the healthcare proposal proposed by GOP leadership. “Well, you know, listening to Ana here, I’m beginning to think that that might be the thing to do,” Lord responded. “I mean Obamacare is failing. It is in fact imploding. Insurance companies are backing out.” “I’m beginning to think with all of these problems here with the Ryan plan etc, the best thing is to just step back and let it crash.”

8am – E         University of Maryland will now have an undocumented student coordinator. Amid student coalition demands and strengthened immigration policies under President Trump’s administration, the University of Maryland is creating an undocumented student coordinator position. “As part of the university’s ongoing commitment to undocumented students … We are assigning a UMD staff person to serve as a coordinator to address the immediate needs of the undocumented student population,” university spokeswoman Katie Lawson wrote in a statement to The Diamondback on Monday. “We will continue to assess the need for staff support moving forward.” Lawson noted that this university is also formalizing an undocumented student work group that “relies on expertise from units across campus,” and is providing web resources to ensure the latest applicable information for these students is available. Last semester, ProtectUMD issued 64 demands to this university’s administration. Ten of those demands directly concerned undocumented students at this university, including a demand for “a full-time Undocumented Student Coordinator to advocate for, advise, represent, and protect undocumented and DACAmented students.” There are 113 students as of fall 2016 covered under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that allows undocumented youth who qualify to stay in the U.S. to work and study in two-year increments.