Peter Morici, Keith Koffler, Byron York, Britt McHenry and DC Councilmember Jack Evans joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C   Colin Kaepernick named GQ magazine’s Citizen of theYear – but he refuses an interview to go with his cover. (LA Times) – Colin Kaepernick has become a very polarizing figure in our society. The editors of GQ magazine are very clear about where they stand on the quarterback who hasn’t been able to find a job in the NFL a year after he started the movement of kneeling during the national anthem to protest social injustices. They feel he is “one of the most gifted quarterbacks on earth” and “indisputably, undeniably, flat-out better” than more than 75% of the quarterbacks employed by the league right now. They feel he is being “blackballed” by the NFL for his protests. And they feel he is the “Citizen of the Year.” That is the title they gave him on one of four covers for the magazine’s 22nd Men of the Year issue. The other 2017 honorees are Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant (“Champion of the Year”), comedian Stephen Colbert (“Bad Hombre of the Year”) and actress Gal Gadot (“Wonder Woman of the Year”). In their article about Kaepernick, the GQ editors stated that Kaepernick agreed to appear in the magazine — he posed for numerous photos by Martin Schoeller — in an effort to “reclaim the narrative of his protest,” they wrote. But he did not want to be interviewed or quoted for the piece.

• Britt McHenry, ex-ESPN reporter, blasts GQ for naming Colin Kaepernick ‘Citizen of the Year’ (Fox News) – On Monday, GQ magazine released its special issue naming former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick “Citizen of the Year.” The controversial figure in sports, and the magazine, received a lot of backlash, including a string of tweets from former ESPN reporter Britt McHenry. On Monday morning, McHenry took shots at Kaepernick on Twitter, arguing that not only is he not worthy of the brand new title, but there were far more respectful members of the NFL worth shining a light on. McHenry first commented on Kaepernick’s previous wardrobe choice that painted police in a negative light. “Wear socks depicting police officers as pigs; wear Fidel Castro as a fashion statement IN MIAMI; sue NFL for collusion when gf compares owners to slave owners… Win Citizen of the Year,” she tweeted. “Serve in the US Military…nothing. What a joke, GQ. #Kaepernick.”

5am – D         Justice Dept. to Weigh Inquiry Into Clinton Foundation. (NY Times) – WASHINGTON — The Justice Department said Monday that prosecutors were looking into whether a special counsel should be appointed to investigate political rivals President Trump has singled out for scrutiny, including Hillary Clinton. The department, in a letter sent to the House Judiciary Committee, said the prosecutors would examine allegations that donations to the Clinton Foundation were tied to a 2010 decision by the Obama administration to allow a Russian nuclear agency to buy Uranium One, a company that owned access to uranium in the United States, and other issues. The letter appeared to be a direct response to Mr. Trump’s statement on Nov. 3, when he said he was disappointed with his beleaguered attorney general, Jeff Sessions, and that longstanding unproven allegations about the Clintons and the Obama administration should be investigated. Any such investigation would raise questions about the independence of federal investigations under Mr. Trump. Since Watergate, the Justice Department has largely operated independently of political influence on cases related to the president’s opponents.

5am – E         RAND PAUL NEWS:

• Rand Paul: ‘No justification’ for ‘hitting somebody from behind and breaking their ribs’ In his first interview since being sucker-attacked 10 days ago while doing yard work in Kentucky, Sen. Rand Paul said there was “no justification” for what happened. Struggling to breathe and talk, the result of six ribs being broken in the incident, Paul told Secrets that he knew of no motive that would have sparked his neighbor to hit him from behind. “From my perspective, I’m not really too concerned about what someone’s motive is. I’m just concerned that I was attacked from the back and somebody broke six of my ribs and gave me a damaged lung where at least for now I have trouble speaking and breathing and now I’ve hurt for 10 days,” the senator said after arriving back in Washington for a week of critical votes. Paul, a former Republican presidential candidate, was doing yard work on Nov. 3 when he was blindsided by the attack allegedly by Rene Boucher, his neighbor. Boucher was charged with fourth-degree assault and released on Saturday on $7,500 bond. Paul, 54, suffered six broken ribs, cuts on his face, and has fluid buildup in his chest. Recovery could take months and the pain is great, he said.
• Sen. Rand Paul returns to Capitol Hill after brutal attack. Sen. Rand Paul returned to Capitol Hill Monday for the first time after he was brutally attacked at his Kentucky home less than two weeks ago. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington Monday, Nov. 13, 2017. Paul entered the chamber, hands by his sides, to cast a vote. Paul was attacked Nov. 3 while mowing his lawn, authorities said.
• Four senators have pulled their endorsements of Roy Moore. (Axios) – Update: This story originally stated that Sens. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul were the only senators who had not withdrawn their endorsements of Roy Moore’s candidacy in light of the sexual assault allegations against him. Cruz has since pulled his endorsement, per his office, leaving Paul as the sole senator endorsing Moore.

6am – A         INTERVIEW — PETER MORICI – University of Maryland Economist and columnist – discussed the GOP tax plan.

• VOTE ON THURSDAY: President Trump will travel to Capitol Hill Thursday to speak w/ House Republicans at 11:30am ahead of vote on the House GOP TAX PLAN

6am – B         White Man Believes He Is Filipino Woman. He Is Not.  Ja Du, born a white male named Adam, now considers himself a Filipino. Turns out the purple ride he drives around in is called a Tuk Tuk, an Asian-derived vehicle used for public transit in the Philippines he says. Ja Du is part of a small, but growing community of people who considers themselves transracial. It refers to someone born one race, but identifies with another.

6am – C         Keurig Apologizes For ‘Taking Sides’ In Hannity Boycott. (Daily Caller) — Keurig CEO Bob Gamgort apologized to his employees on Monday for ostensibly “taking sides” in a Media Matters-led boycott of Sean Hannity’s advertisers.

Media Matters president Angelo Carusone spent his weekend tweeting at Hannity’s advertisers and falsely accusing the Fox News host of defending sexual predators. Hannity has said repeatedly that Senate candidate Roy Moore has no place in politics if the allegations that he is a predator are true.  In a direct response to Carusone, Keurig promised to stop its ads from airing during Hannity’s show. Hannity fans pledged to counter-boycott Keurig in response, and many began posting videos to Twitter of them smashing their Keurig coffee machines. In a memo leaked to Erik Wemple of The Washington Post, Keurig’s Gamgort apologized to his employees for the way the situation was handled. “The decision to publicly communicate our programming decision via our Twitter account was highly unusual,” Gamgort wrote. “This gave the appearance of ‘taking sides’ in an emotionally charged debate that escalated on Twitter and beyond over the weekend, which was not our intent.”

6am – D         INTERVIEW — KEITH KOFFLER – author of new book “BANNON: ALWAYS THE REBEL” — Koffler interviewed Bannon exclusively one-on-one for ten hours to gather inside, unfiltered, exclusive information from the man reshaping the Republican Party and restoring America.

• Bannon: Always the Rebel Hardcover – November 13, 2017 / by Keith Koffler. He helped engineer one of the greatest upsets in political history—the election of Donald J. Trump as president of the United States. And he’s far from done. Now he wants to restore America—its prosperity, its sense of self, and its ability to survive a perilous twenty-first century. To do that, former Trump White House strategist Steve Bannon intends to transform the Republican Party from a club for establishment flunkies into a populist political force powerful enough to take on America’s military, economic, and cultural adversaries. In Bannon: Always the Rebel, veteran White House reporter Keith Koffler—who had hours of exclusive access to Bannon, both during and immediately after his tenure at the White House—offers a penetrating portrait of the man and his ideas.

6am – E         Council considering how to deal with fare evasion crackdowns

• Metro fare evasion crackdown sparks police confrontation concerns
• WASHINGTON POST: At a recent public hearing on a proposal to decriminalize fare evasion on Metro, D.C. Council member Charles Allen made a shocking admission. Allen, chairman of the panel’s judiciary committee, is a repeat offender. “I can’t tell you the number of times that I’ve tapped my card and it gave me the beep that said my balance had dropped below what the fare was,” said Allen (D-Ward 6), a daily bus rider. “And the driver just said, ‘Just fill it up when you get to the station.’ ” “I’ve never once thought, ‘I’m going to actually get a citation or have a criminal record for riding the bus,’ ” he said. Allen’s conclusion — that a ­business-suit-wearing white man would be an unlikely target of a fare-evasion sting — is part of the perspective propelling proposed legislation in the District that would decriminalize fare evasion, lowering the maximum possible fine to $100 from $300 and eliminating the possibility of jail time. Metro General Manager Paul J. Wiedefeld said he understands concerns about unfair targeting, but he also thinks that people across demographic boundaries feel a sense of injustice that some people flout the rules and ride free, while others dig deep to pay their fares. “It’s a fairness issue, across the entire community,” Wiedefeld said. “You have people in those same communities that they’re concerned about being targeted, who are paying their fares. And I think it’s right that everybody pay their fare.”
• Metro fare evasion: (WTOP) – Amid complaints that Metro’s fare evasion crackdown is leading to people being pinned to the ground or pepper-sprayed unnecessarily by police, Metro’s general manager said Thursday that the crackdown is necessary to ensure that other rules are followed and that Metro gets all of the funding it is entitled to. “The way WMATA treats its riders, particularly people of color, is unacceptable,” Brianna Musselman told the Metro Board Thursday. She recorded video of a man being pinned to the ground and pepper-sprayed by Metro police at the Gallery Place station in June, during an encounter that began when officers said the man tried to enter the rail system without paying. In a separate incident, Nnennaya Amuchie told the Metro Board, officers were unnecessarily combative with a group of mostly black teenagers when she was at the station last week. “I met officers who were threatening to hit kids with their batons and to arrest kids because they were not moving down the stairs at the pace the officers would have liked,” she said. Metro Board Chairman and D.C. Councilmember Jack Evans asked General Manager Paul Wiedefeld whether changes are needed to the focused fare evasion crackdown that began earlier this year. “We don’t want this to escalate into something tragic,” Evans said.

6am – F         TRUMP APPROVAL UP:

• Rasmussen: Donald Trump Approval Rating Back to 46 Percent. A new tracking poll from Rasmussen reports shows that President Donald Trump’s approval rating is back to 46 percent, for the first time in over a month. A new tracking poll from Rasmussen reports shows that President Donald Trump’s approval rating is back to 46 percent, for the first time in over a month. Thirty percent of poll respondents “strongly approve” of his presidency.  The last time Trump’s approval rating was this high was October 6, 2017, according to Rasmussen’s tracking numbers. His approval rating repeatedly tracked at 41 percent in October. Rasmussen’s daily tracking results are collected via telephone surveys of 500 likely voters per night and reported on a three-day rolling average basis. The president is currently traveling on his 10-day trip to Asia, visiting China, Japan, Philippines, South Korea, and Vietnam and attending the ASEAN and APEC foreign leader summits.
• Donald J. Trump‏ @realDonaldTrump  One of the most accurate polls last time around. But #FakeNews likes to say we’re in the 30’s. They are wrong. Some people think numbers could be in the 50’s. Together, WE will MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

7am – A         INTERVIEW — BYRON YORK – the chief political correspondent for the Washington Examiner

• Thoughts on senators pushing to get Roy Moore to quit
• RUSSIA: Byron York: Did dossier trigger the Trump-Russia probe?
• Sessions is considering appointing a second special counsel to investigate Clinton allegations. Justice Dept won’t rule out special counsel to investigate Uranium One and Clinton

7am – B         Menendez jurors say they are deadlocked; will resume deliberations Tuesday. Menendez hopes no juror is coerced into decision. NEWARK — The jury in the trial of Sen. Robert Menendez told the judge Monday afternoon that it was deadlocked and could not reach a verdict. U.S. District Judge William Walls sent them home early and told them to try again on Tuesday. “Go home and have a good meal and have a good sleep,” Walls told the jury. The jury foreman had sent the judge a note around 2 p.m. saying the group could not reach a verdict on any of the counts. “Is there any additional guidance and what do we do now?” the foreman asked the judge in his note.The note was sent out just hours after an alternate juror joined the group to replace one who was excused last Thursday for vacation. That departing juror, Evelyn Arroyo-Maultsby, told reporters that jurors couldn’t agree on a verdict on any of the bribery counts against the New Jersey Democrat or his co-defendant, Salomon Melgen.

7am – C         Coming Soon to Washington: An Anti-Trump Hotel for Liberals: Expect counter-cultural art, progressive fireside chats, and craft materials for your next great protest poster. In Trump’s Washington, Eaton is planting a clear flag as a haven for Democrats. It’s the world’s first politically motivated hotel, the flagship for a global brand that’s built around social activism and community engagement. And it comes with a pedigree: As the daughter of Ka Shui Lo, the creator and executive chairman of Hong Kong-based Langham Hospitality Group Ltd., founder Katherine Lo knows a thing or two about luxury hotels and world-class service.

7am – D         “Can my children be friends with white people?” (Daily Caller) – This bizarre question is the basis of a New York Times op-ed published Sunday, and the author answers it with a “no,” albeit with some exceptions. “History has provided little reason for people of color to trust white people in this way [of genuine friendship], and these recent months have put in the starkest relief the contempt with which the country measures the value of racial minorities,” writes Ekow N. Yankah, a law professor at Yeshiva University. According to Yankah, examples of white “contempt” for racial minorities in recent months include concerns over the opioid epidemic, worries over rising unemployment among working-class whites, and criticism of NFL players kneeling for the anthem. Apparently those issues receive far more attention than the woes of African-Americans, thus revealing the secret disdain whites have for non-whites. With that conclusion assumed, Yankah declares the lesson he will teach his kids. “As against our gauzy national hopes, I will teach my boys to have profound doubts that friendship with white people is possible,” the law professor argues. “When they ask, I will teach my sons that their beautiful hue is a fault line. Spare me platitudes of how we are all the same on the inside. I first have to keep my boys safe, and so I will teach them before the world shows them this particular brand of rending, violent, often fatal betrayal.”

7am – E         Supreme Court to decide if religious nonprofit clinics must post abortion signs. The Supreme Court said Monday it will hear a challenge to California’s law requiring pro-life pregnancy counseling centers to also tell women about options for abortion, in a move opponents said amounts to a violation of free speech rights. California’s Reproductive FACT Act requires pregnancy clinics to post a message directing their patrons to government offices for taxpayer-subsidized abortions.

8am – A         INTERVIEW — BRITT MCHENRY – contributor at The Federalist and former ESPN reporter

• TOPICS: Kaepernick and Goodell
• Colin Kaepernick named GQ magazine’s Citizen of theYear – but he refuses an interview to go with his cover.
• Britt McHenry, ex-ESPN reporter, blasts GQ for naming Colin Kaepernick ‘Citizen of the Year’
• Report: NFL owners threaten to punish Jerry Jones over Roger Goodell dispute:  Owners tell Jones to nix Goodell fight
• Goodell reportedly demands $50 million salary, lifetime private jet use in contract negotiations

8am – B/C     INTERVIEW — JACK EVANS – DC COUNCILMEMBER and DC METRO BOARD CHAIR – discussed the DC Council considering how to deal with fare evasion crackdowns.

• Metro fare evasion crackdown sparks police confrontation concerns

8am – D         ROY MOORE NEWS:

• Fifth Woman Accuses Senate Candidate Roy Moore of Sexual Misconduct
• NEW MOORE ACCUSER — Nelson: “I tried fighting him off while yelling at him to stop… I was terrified… I thought that he was going to rape me.” (VIDEO)
• Ms. Nelson’s printed statement includes a picture of Moore’s note in her yearbook… “Love, Roy Moore D.A.” (PHOTO)
• Moore on Beverly Young Nelson’s story:  This is absolutely false. I never did what she said I did…. #alsen
• Roy Moore holds 10-point lead in poll taken after accusations
• Could the Senate expel Roy Moore if he wins?
• Officials: Jeff Sessions could technically get old Senate seat back. He might not want it
• “Common knowledge” that Moore dated high schoolers, ex-colleague says
• Senate Republicans repudiate Roy Moore’s candidacy and urge him to leave the race
• Ted Cruz backs away from Moore in new statement
• Mitch McConnell says Senate GOP candidate Roy Moore should “step aside” in the wake of explosive sexual misconduct allegations
• Senate GOP campaign chair says Roy Moore should be expelled from Senate if elected
• Mark Meadows, Jim Jordan on Roy Moore: It’s up to Alabama

8am – E         BIDEN BOOK TOUR:

• Biden: Trump will be a ‘single exception in American history’ (The Hill) – Former Vice President Joe Biden on Monday gave a severe rebuke of President Trump’s time in office, saying he hopes it will be the only example of such a U.S. leader when asked about the president’s future legacy. “I think it will, God willing, go down as the single exception in American history,” Biden told host Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show.” “I really mean it.” The former Delaware senator said that both Republicans and Democrats are now scared of the consequences of the Trump presidency, including the emboldened nationalist movement that has gained strength during his time in office. “How many of you are now worried about the stability of the public? How many of you are now worried about this new, phony nationalism and this us-against-them? How many are worried about this populism that is designed to essentially undermine the essence of the Bill of Rights, which is there are certain unalienable rights that no nobody — no matter what the majority is — they cannot overrule,” Biden recalled asking a Republican in California during a speaking event. “I just think there is an attack on the system and I think people are worried,” he continued, adding that this goes “beyond President Trump in my view.”
• Byron York‏ @ByronYork 10h10 hours ago: Joe Biden would be 78 years old on inauguration day 2021–age Reagan was when he *left* office. This is not a real possibility, no matter the punditry.