WMAL’s Redskins Analyst Trevor Matich, The Hill’s John Solomon, Rethink Masculinity’s Stephen Hicks and Larry Kudlow joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C   Michael Bloomberg just made Virginia’s governor race a referendum on gun control. Bloomberg’s group donates $700k to the two white Democrats running for VA Gov/AG, nothing to black LG candidate. “In Virginia, felon voting rights mean simpler path to gun ownership.”

5am – D         MARK CUBAN THINKS ABOUT RUNNING FOR POTUS AS A REPUBLICAN: Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has hinted at running for president in 2020, and if he does, it will “probably” be as a Republican, he said in an interview with TMZ’s Harvey Levin for Fox News Channel’s “OBJECTified.”

5am – E         TAX REFORM:

• Trump heads to Capitol Hill to talk tax cuts with Senate Republicans, including those he often attacks. President Trump will visit Senate Republicans for lunch Tuesday, arriving on the Capitol Hill turf of some of his most powerful GOP critics as he pushes Congress to swiftly act on his tax-cut proposal.
• Million dollar bracket in the works for GOP tax plan. The Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee — engaged in a high-pressure, high-stakes tax policy rewrite — are currently exploring not cutting the income tax rate for people who earn $1 million or more per year.
• Trump vows ‘no change’ to 401(k) rules in Republican tax bill

6am – A         Tom Cotton: ‘You Can’t Give Any Credibility’ To The Trump Dossier. (Daily Caller) — A Republican member of the Senate Intelligence Committee cast doubt on the so-called Trump dossier on Monday, saying that he has yet to see evidence that the salacious document is credible. The Republican, Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton, also suggested that the dossier, compiled by former British spy Christopher Steele, could have been financed either by a Democratic supporter of Hillary Clinton or by Russia’s intelligence services. “I think you can’t give any credibility to it at this point, certainly not until we answer those questions, nor have I seen any reason to do so.” Cotton said at an event hosted by the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank.

6am – B         The Men Taking Classes to Unlearn Toxic Masculinity. For some time, Stephen Hicks had felt like something was off. “My relationship ended, then a lot of things started collapsing in front of me,” Hicks says. He began attending therapy, which made him realize that he needed to make a bigger change: “I wasn’t doing really terrible things, but I also wasn’t being the most ideal Stephen I could be,” he says. “The bar is really lowered for cisgender guys.” So earlier this year, Hicks signed up for the pilot Rethink Masculinity class, a partnership between the Washington, D.C., Rape Crisis Center, Collective Action for Safe Spaces, and ReThink, an organization that works to prevent sexual assault. The program bills itself as a class where men “learn how social constructs of masculinity harm them and the people around them, and work to construct healthier masculinities.” Or, as Hicks puts it, “It was eight weeks of guys discussing how they can address their actions with better self-awareness and less toxicity.” “We spoke of emotional labor, consent, violence, communication, empathy, and vulnerability,” he adds, noting that the last subject, in particular, was a struggle for him: “[I was] trained and conditioned to be tough growing up.”

6am – C         Comey Reveals Himself On Twitter, Stokes Speculation That He’s Running For Office. Former FBI Director James Comey revealed his secret Twitter account on Monday with a photo of himself standing in the middle of an Iowa country road.

The location of the photo, and the fact that Comey was wearing a pair of running shoes, set off speculation — both serious and not-so-serious — that Comey is planning a run for president. “Goodbye Iowa. On the road home. Gotta get back to writing. Will try to tweet in useful ways,” wrote Comey, who was fired by Trump on May 9 as FBI chief.

6am – D         NIGER / GOLD STAR CONTROVERSY:

• Top US general reveals few new details about ambush that left four US soldiers dead in Niger. Dunford pledges more transparency on Niger attack. (The Hill) — The top general in the United States pledged Monday to keep the public, the media and Congress informed of the investigation into the ambush in Niger as questions continue to swirl about the circumstances of the attack. Yet, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford provided few new details on the Oct. 4 attack that left four U.S. soldiers dead, saying the investigation would clear up many of the questions. “We owe the families as much information as we can find out about what happened, and we owe the American people an explanation of what their men and women were doing at this particular time,” Dunford told reporters at the Pentagon. “The only thing I’m asking for today is a bit of patience to make sure what we provide to you, when we provide it, is factual.” Dunford took questions from reporters for about 50 minutes to address what he acknowledged was a “perception that the Department of Defense has not been forthcoming.” Though he offered few answers, he conceded reporters were asking “fair questions.” The Pentagon has come under increasing criticism from prominent lawmakers and others over transparency on the attack and, more broadly, U.S. operations in Niger.
• Sarah Sanders: Media using Niger soldier deaths as “attack point” against Trump. White House press secretary Sarah Sanders accused the news media of using the deaths of four soldiers in Niger as an attack against President Trump. Speaking on a panel Monday at George Washington University, Sanders said that the ambush in Niger earlier this month was not a defining moment for the president, though she said the press wants to portray it that way. “I would not say that this is the defining moment,” she told co-panelist April Ryan, a White House reporter for American Urban Radio Networks. “I wouldn’t characterize it as that. I think the media would like for it to be. They want to create a narrative that I don’t necessarily agree with. And I think that there is certainly a desire to make this into a situation of kind of an attack point on the president. I don’t necessarily agree with that process at all.”
• Trump disputes widow’s assertion that he couldn’t remember slain soldier’s name. President Donald Trump on Monday denied that he had trouble recalling the name of Army Sgt. La David Johnson during a phone call with the slain soldier’s widow, disputing her assertion that he had struggled to remember the sergeant’s name during a condolence conversation. “I had a very respectful conversation with the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, and spoke his name from beginning, without hesitation!” Trump wrote on Twitter Monday morning. An hour earlier, Myeshia Johnson, the widow of La David Johnson, told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that her conversation with the president last week had left her “very, very upset and hurt” and that he had “made me cry even worse.” Most offensive, the widow said, was that Trump seemed to have a hard time producing La David Johnson’s name.

6am – E         MEGYN KELLY VS. BILL O’REILLY:

• Megyn Kelly: O’Reilly’s Suggestion No One Complained About His Behavior Is False, I Complained NBC host Megyn Kelly said on Monday that former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly’s suggestion that no one complained about his behavior is false because she complained while working at Fox News. Kelly’s comment followed a New York Times report revealing O’Reilly paid a $32 million settlement to a long time network analyst. O’Reilly has been accused by numerous women for sexual harassment and made numerous settlements. The $32 million settlement is the sixth settlement and the largest. The woman’s complaints against O’Reilly include allegations of repeated harassment, a nonconsensual sexual relationship and the sending of gay pornography and other sexually explicit material according to the Times. O’Reilly denies all allegations against him and has said no one has complained about him in 20 years.
• Bill O’Reilly’s lawyer releases thank-you notes from Megyn Kelly after she slams him on NBC. (Washington Examiner) – Bill O’Reilly is hitting back at his former Fox News colleague Megyn Kelly after she used her NBC morning show Monday to weigh in on his newly surfaced sexual harassment settlement claim. Reached by the Washington Examiner, O’Reilly’s lawyer, Mark Fabiani, forwarded two signed thank-you notes Kelly apparently once gave to O’Reilly. One of the notes thanks O’Reilly for giving a “plug” for her husband Doug Brunt’s novel. “I realize you didn’t have to do that, especially after mentioning it already,” the note said.
• ‘I didn’t do anything wrong’: Bill O’Reilly speaks out after Megyn Kelly alleges harassment
• @BillOReilly: My former FNC colleagues Megyn Kelly & Gretchen Carlson wrote me notes when we worked together. You can read them on http://BillOReilly.com
• Bill O’Reilly @BillOReilly: I’m not going to run and hide because I didn’t do anything wrong. NYT wants to take me out of the marketplace, second time they attacked me. 3:05 PM – Oct 23, 2017

6am – F         Grade School Cancels ‘Not Inclusive’ Halloween, Implements ‘Black and Orange Day’ Instead. A Massachusetts elementary school has canceled Halloween with the claim that the holiday is not” inclusive” enough, and replaced it with the conjured “Black and Orange Spirit Day,” instead. Of particular concern for the city of Walpole’s Boyden Elementary principal Brendan Dearborn was the annual costume parade, an activity Dearborn insisted in a letter to parents was not “inclusive enough.” Addressing the parade, Dearborn told parents, “the costume parade is out of our ordinary routine and can be difficult for many students. Also, the parade is not inclusive of all the students and it is our goal each and every day to ensure all student’s individual differences are respected.” Dearborn confirmed that the annual after-school party would still take place, but that Halloween Day, a Tuesday this year, will be “Black and Orange Spirit Day,” not Halloween. Children will be encouraged to wear the “spirit” colors and costumes will be banned.

7am – A          INTERVIEW — TREVOR MATICH – WMAL’s Redskins Analyst, Comcast SportsNet co-host and former Redskins long snapper – discussed the best and worst moments from the Redskins’ 34-24 loss to the Eagles on ‘Monday Night Football’.

7am – B/C     INTERVIEW – JOHN SOLOMON – The Hill—discussed the latest developments in his coverage of Russia Uranium One Scandal.

• On Book TV, Clinton calls the Russian uranium story debunked:
• SOLOMON: Clinton pushes back on Russian uranium deal reports: ‘Baloney’
• SOLOMON: FBI watched, then acted as Russian spy moved closer to Hillary Clinton

7am – D         CNN Launches New Ad Campaign, ‘Facts First’. The network launched the new campaign and slogan Monday. CNN, like The Washington Post and The New York Times, has frequently been in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump, who has accused the network of perpetrating the spread of “very fake news.”  In late February, the Post unveiled a new slogan, “Democracy Dies in Darkness,” and the Times ran an ad during the Academy Awards called “The Truth Is Hard.”  On Monday morning, CNN president Jeff Zucker announced plans for a new marketing campaign and advertisement called “Facts First.” “In recent months, I’ve been approached by many of you suggesting that we do a marketing campaign for CNN,” Zucker wrote in a note to staff. “While significant research shows that our brand, despite consistent attacks from Washington and beyond, has never been stronger, we heard you and we agree. In fact, CNN has never been more relevant, and the institution of journalism has never been more important to the national conversation. As a result, we think there is no better time to take a clear stand for who we are and what we believe in.”

7am – E         British Airways apologizes after passengers say bedbug-infested flight left them ‘covered in bites’ (Baltimore Sun) — An hour into an overnight flight to London, Heather Szilagyi recalls, the first bug crawled out of her in-seat TV. “It was just the one, at the time,” she said. So she rang the bell and informed a flight attendant — quietly, lest she alarm her 7-year-old daughter or the passenger into whose seat back the thing had disappeared — that British Airways Flight 84 might have a bedbug problem. “The flight attendant said, ‘We don’t have anywhere to move you. I’m really sorry,'” Szilagyi said. Now British Airways says it’s sorry, too. The airline apologized in a statement to CTV News after Szilagyi, her daughter and at least one other passenger reported walking off the nine-hour flight from Vancouver covered in red welts. Szilagyi used to clean hotel rooms, she said, and so knows a bedbug when she sees one. She and daughter Molly are allergic to them, but Szilagyi tried to stay optimistic on the Oct. 10 flight. As the cabin lights dimmed and Molly drifted off to sleep, Szilagyi tried to convince herself that the bedbug that crawled out of her TV was a random stray — perhaps left there by some unfortunate passenger before her. Likewise, when she looked down from her dinner tray a bit later, she said, she hoped it was just a flax seed that lay in her lap. But seeds don’t move. “This one I grabbed and squished in Kleenex,” Szilagyi said. Then she rang the bell again. The flight attendant thanked her and took the insect away as if it were just a discarded coffee cup, she recalled. Then Szilagyi spotted two more bugs and debated in whispers with her fiance whether to risk a panic by alerting the other passengers.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – STEPHEN HICKS – co-director of the “Rethink Masculinity” program here in DC – discussed men taking classes to unlearn toxic msculinity.

• ABOUT CLASS: Rethink Masculinity: A partnership between Collective Action for Safe Spaces, ReThink, and DC Rape Crisis Center, Rethink Masculinity is a men’s consciousness building group in which people identifying as men collectively learn how social constructs of masculinity harm themselves and the people around them, and work to construct healthier masculinities. We offer a two month long class where participants meet together once a week for 3-4 hours. These sessions are designed to equip and empower participants to work towards building new models of masculinity. The curriculum is intended to improve men’s understanding and practices of consent, emotional labor, workplace discrimination, intervention against gender-based violence, and more. Our goal is to create a community in which men hold each other accountable as we become better allies with women, gender non-conforming people, and other people of marginalized identities. We believe that by doing this, we can become our most authentic selves.
• BIO:    STEPHEN HICKS, Rethink Masculinity Co-Director: Stephen is passionate about music and social justice.  He is from Fredericksburg, Virginia and is the youngest child of four boys. He attended Virginia Commonwealth University where he earned a B.S. in Journalism and African-American Studies and a minor in political science. He attended George Mason University and earned a MPH in Global Health.  Most of his jobs have been either in journalism or public health. He has worked in the sexual health/HIV/harm reduction field for the past 5 years and is committed to improving health outcomes for marginalized communities, especially in the U.S. He wants to build community with black men in hopes of addressing the intersections of oppression they’ve faced and equip them with tools to be in solidarity with other black people facing oppression.
• The Men Taking Classes to Unlearn Toxic Masculinity. For some time, Stephen Hicks had felt like something was off. “My relationship ended, then a lot of things started collapsing in front of me,” Hicks says. He began attending therapy, which made him realize that he needed to make a bigger change: “I wasn’t doing really terrible things, but I also wasn’t being the most ideal Stephen I could be,” he says. “The bar is really lowered for cisgender guys.” So earlier this year, Hicks signed up for the pilot Rethink Masculinity class, a partnership between the Washington, D.C., Rape Crisis Center, Collective Action for Safe Spaces, and ReThink, an organization that works to prevent sexual assault. The program bills itself as a class where men “learn how social constructs of masculinity harm them and the people around them, and work to construct healthier masculinities.” Or, as Hicks puts it, “It was eight weeks of guys discussing how they can address their actions with better self-awareness and less toxicity.”

8am – B         ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:

• Colin Kaepernick is shopping a book
• ESPN Cancels Barstool Sports Partnership After One Episode
• Kelly Clarkson hated being skinny: ‘I wanted to kill myself’

8am – C         Target says customers want it to pause the “Christmas creep.” NEW YORK (AP) — Target says customers want it to pause the “Christmas creep.” It says it wants to be more in tune with customers’ mindset, so it plans to ease in holiday promotions this year while better recognizing Thanksgiving. The retailer’s holiday plans also include a new e-gift service, adding kiosks that focus on impulse presents mainly under $15, and launching a wallet feature to its app. It’s also offering more weekend deals since shoppers do more holiday buying then. While all retailers need to worry about online growth and the expansion of Amazon, Target is spending $7 billion over three years to remodel old stores, open small ones in cities and college towns and offer faster delivery for online orders. It’s also been refreshing its store brands and trying to be more convenient to shoppers. Eight of Target’s new brands will be available for the first time this holiday season. The company is expanding its marketing focus and increasing its holiday marketing budget compared to a year ago. For November, Target will keep Thanksgiving signs and displays at the entrances and its marketing will play up Thanksgiving meal preparation and entertaining for shoppers. “They want us to pause, and be really intentional and recognize Thanksgiving,” said Rick Gomez, Target’s chief marketing officer. “What they don’t want us to do is go right into Christmas. So, we are going to respect that.”

8am – D         INTERVIEW —  LARRY KUDLOW – CNBC Senior Contributor and host of The Larry Kudlow Show on WMAL Saturdays at 7 pm and author of “JFK and the Reagan Revolution: A Secret History of American Prosperity” – discussed the latest on tax reform.

• Trump heads to Capitol Hill to talk tax cuts with Senate Republicans, including those he often attacks. President Trump will visit Senate Republicans for lunch Tuesday, arriving on the Capitol Hill turf of some of his most powerful GOP critics as he pushes Congress to swiftly act on his tax-cut proposal.
• Million dollar bracket in the works for GOP tax plan. The Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee — engaged in a high-pressure, high-stakes tax policy rewrite — are currently exploring not cutting the income tax rate for people who earn $1 million or more per year.
• Trump vows ‘no change’ to 401(k) rules in Republican tax bill

8am – E         Billy Joel’s New Daughter Remy Anne Is A Chip Off The Old Piano Man. She arrived on Sunday to make the musician a father again at age 68. She’s got a way about her.  Music icon Billy Joel became a father again at age 68, when his wife Alexis delivered their second daughter, Remy Anne, in New York, People reported on Monday. Remy Anne weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces after being born Sunday night. “Alexis and Remy are doing well, and everyone is thrilled,” said a caption on Joel’s Instagram. Remy Anne seemed to arrive sooner than expected. “We are due next month,” Joel said in a newspaper interview last week. A rep confirmed the time frame with HuffPost. Joel has a 2-year-old daughter with Alexis named Della Rose, and a 31-year-old daughter, Alexa Ray Joel, with ex-wife Christie Brinkley.