Cal Thomas, VA Del. Tim Hugo, Noah Pollak, Ken Klukowski and Hans Von Spakovsky joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, December 6, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C   SLATE: The Upside of Office Flirtation? I’m living it. When I was 23 years old, my boss would look down the gap at the waistband of my jeans when he walked past my desk. I was an entry-level fact-checker at my first magazine job, and he was an older and more powerful editor. My career, at the time, was in his hands. Once, when we had finished working on a story together, he suggested we get a drink to celebrate. It was a Friday night, and I remember feeling extremely nervous as we sat across from each other in a dark bar. He was flirting with me, I could tell. The next weekend, he asked me out again. A few days later, he kissed me on the steps of the West 4th subway station without first getting my consent. We’ve now been happily married for 14 years and have three children. Allison Benedikt is Slate’s executive editor.

5am – D         IMMIGRATION NEWS:

• 34 House Republicans demand DACA action this year (The Hill) — A group of 34 House GOP members is asking Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for a vote before year’s end on legislation to protect recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. “We are compelled to act immediately because many DACA recipients are about to lose or have already lost their permits in the wake of the program’s rescission,” they said in a letter sent Tuesday.
• GOP IMMIGRATION PLAN: The GOP plan, dubbed the Security, Enforcement, and Compassion United in Reform Efforts, or SECURE Act, would offer three-year work permits to 690,000 DACA illegal-immigrants in exchange for ending chain migration, requiring mandatory screening to exclude illegals from jobs, closing asylum loopholes used by migrants to get into the United States, and penalizing so-called “sanctuary cities” which refuse to cooperate with federal immigration-enforcement agencies.
• Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) quietly began working with Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.) several weeks ago in a new “gang” to craft Dreamer legislation that could pick up 60 votes, according to a Flake spokesman.  
• Under Trump, deportations drop as fewer attempt illegal border crossing. WASHINGTON—The Trump administration ramped up arrests of undocumented immigrants in 2017, but the number of deportations fell below even the lowest level recorded during the Obama administration, the government said Tuesday.
• Senate confirms Kirstjen Nielsen to head Department of Homeland Security, installing a close ally of John F. Kelly. Senate confirms Kirstjen Nielsen as next DHS secretary, 62-37. She was nominated after John Kelly was made Pres. Trump’s chief of staff.
• Senate Altered Tax Reform to Help Illegal Aliens Claim Child Tax Credit. Evidence emerged Monday, as Republicans celebrated the Senate’s passage of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, that small changes were made in the Senate to the bill’s language, which would allow illegal aliens to continue to claim the child tax credit.
• White House releases ‘explosive’ tally of green cards issued in ‘chain migration’ (Fox News) – For the first time, the White House said, the federal government has counted the green cards issued between 2005 and 2015 to migrants admitted through family preference, or as immediate relatives of migrants already admitted into the country in perhaps the fullest portrait of “chain migration” ever developed. “For years, we’ve known that large numbers of immigrants have been coming based on petitions from previous immigrants,” U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Director Lee Cissna told Fox News. “But this is the first time we really kind of see the whole scope of the problem. And legislators or policymakers at DHS can do what they need to do address the problem.”

5am – E         MUELLER PROBE:

• MORE CONFLICT OF INTEREST ON MUELLER’S TEAM: Robert Mueller’s Deputy Gushed over Sally Yates’ Refusal to Enforce Trump Travel Ban: ‘I Am So Proud’ (Breitbart) – The prosecutor now serving as FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s top deputy sent an email in January gushing over then-Acting Attorney General Sally Yates’s refusal to enforce President Trump’s travel ban — the latest in a series of revelations likely to fuel concerns of anti-Trump bias on Mueller’s team.
• MORE ON STRZOK: FBI agent dismissed from Mueller probe changed Comey’s description of Clinton to ‘extremely careless’ Washington (CNN) A former top counterintelligence expert at the FBI, now at the center of a political uproar for exchanging private messages that appeared to mock President Donald Trump, changed a key phrase in former FBI Director James Comey’s description of how former secretary of state Hillary Clinton handled classified information, according to US officials familiar with the matter. Electronic records show Peter Strzok, who led the investigation of Hillary Clinton’s private email server as the No. 2 official in the counterintelligence division, changed Comey’s earlier draft language describing Clinton’s actions as “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless,” the sources said. The drafting process was a team effort, CNN is told, with a handful of people reviewing the language as edits were made, according to another US official familiar with the matter. The shift from “grossly negligent” to “extremely careless,” which may appear pedestrian at first glance, reflected a decision by the FBI that could have had potentially significant legal implications, as the federal law governing the mishandling of classified material establishes criminal penalties for “gross negligence.”
• MUELLER INVESTIGATION COSTS: Mueller Probe Cost Almost $7 Million in Less Than 6 Months. (Breitbart) – The Department of Justice issued the first financial report for Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s “Russia” investigation Tuesday, indicating the costs ran well into the millions months ago. The report, which covers the investigation from its inauguration on May 17 to the end of September, shows a total expenditure to that point of $3,213,695. But buried in the report is the fact that the Department of Justice spent an additional $3,546,000 outside the Special Counsel’s budget to support Mueller’s investigation, yielding a total expenditure through September of $6,759,695.
• DID THEY OR DIDN’T THEY? (Reuters) – A U.S. federal investigator probing alleged Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election asked Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) for data on accounts held by President Donald Trump and his family, a person close to the matter said on Tuesday, but Trump’s lawyer denied any such subpoena had been issued.
• White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders on Tuesday disputed reports that special counsel Robert Mueller has subpoenaed President Trump’s bank records. “We confirmed that the news reports [that] the special counsel had subpoenaed financial records related to the president are completely false,” Sanders said during the daily press briefing.

6am – A         House Republicans’ plan to tie gun background checks bill to concealed-carry measure could fracture rare bipartisan coalition. (Washington Post) — Rare bipartisan consensus around legislation to improve the national background check system for gun purchases is in jeopardy after House Republicans linked the measure to a bill allowing gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines. The House is expected to vote and pass the combination bill Wednesday over the objections of House Democrats, who accused Republicans of “trickery” and “sabotage” in tying the background checks bill to a concealed-carry measure the National Rifle Association called its “highest legislative priority.” In the Senate, Democrats have labeled the concealed-carry legislation a nonstarter, while leading Senate Republicans cautioned that pairing the bills is a recipe for the demise of both.

6am – B         CONYERS RESIGNS:

• Conyers vs. Conyers? Congressman backs son for seat. Rep. John Conyers Jr. resigns over sexual harassment allegations after a half-century in Congress. Facing multiple allegations of sexual harassment, Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) resigned as Congress’s longest-serving member Tuesday, becoming the first lawmaker to step down as Capitol Hill grapples with allegations of inappropriate behavior by lawmakers. Conyers, who represented the Detroit area for 52 years, yielded to mounting pressure from Democratic leaders to step aside as a growing number of female former aides accused him of unwanted advances and mistreatment. He has denied wrongdoing. From a hospital in Detroit, the 88-year-old congressman said he was “putting his retirement plans together” and endorsed his son John Conyers III to replace him. Another Conyers family member has already declared his intention to run for the seat, raising the specter of an intrafamily contest. Asked about the harassment allegations, Conyers said his legacy “can’t be compromised or diminished in any way by what we’re going through now.”
• Tweet talk: Rep. John Conyers’ son says ‘dad is a player.’ Here’s an interesting tweet from John Conyers III, the son of Rep. John Conyers and former Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers: Dad’s a “player.” In a message on the younger Conyers’ Twitter account Tuesday, he wrote that the 71-year-old Congressman “got at this doods wife super low-key.”
• John Conyers’ Son And Appointed Successor: ‘My N***as’ Deal Drugs, ‘Dad Is A F***ing Player.’ John Conyers III., the son and appointed successor of John Conyers’ Jr., the disgraced Democratic politician who announced his resignation on Tuesday, is a former attempted rapper who bragged that his friends are drug dealers and his dad “is a f***ing player.” The son’s brief rap career included lyrical gems such as “My n***as turn grams into grands” and “Ay f**k making a living bro, I’m trying to make history/So picture me letting the news nit-pick at me.” The aspiring artist also rapped about some of the challenges he’s had to live through, such as when his mother, former Detroit councilwoman Monica Conyers, was sentenced to three years in jail for taking bribes, or when Conyers Jr. had to repay the U.S. Treasury for Conyers III’s misuse of a taxpayer-funded Cadillac Escalade.

6am – C         Russia banned from the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. (Yahoo! Sports) – Citing “systematic manipulation” of anti-doping rules, the International Olympic Committee announced Tuesday it has banned Russia from the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang. An 14-person panel had been mulling a confidential IOC report that detailed Russia’s official doping program during the 2014 Sochi Olympics, and the extensive cover-up. As a result of this ban, no Russian officials will be allowed to attend the games. Their flag will be excluded from any display, and if any “clean” Russian athletes are given permission to attend, they won’t be competing under the Russian flag. They’ll compete under the name “Olympic Athlete from Russia” (OAR) and the Olympic flag, any medals they win won’t be credited to Russia and the Olympic anthem will be played in any ceremony.

2018 Winter Olympics: The 2018 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XXIII Olympic Winter Games, and commonly known as PyeongChang 2018 is a major international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from 9 to 25 February 2018 in Pyeongchang County, South Korea.

Host city: Pyeongchang, South Korea

Dates: Feb 9, 2018 – Feb 25, 2018

Opening ceremony: 9 February (2 months from now)

Closing ceremony: 25 February

Stadium: Pyeongchang Olympic Stadium

6am – D         Interview – CAL THOMAS – syndicated columnist

TOPICS: Supreme Court cake case, Roy Moore Senate race in Alabama and moving U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem

6am – E         GERMS NEWS:

• Outbreak of vomiting, diarrhea strikes cruise ship passengers. (NY Post) — Almost 200 passengers aboard one of the world’s largest cruise ships have been struck down with a diarrhea and vomiting after indulging in a “bottomless buffet.” The mighty Ovation Of The Seas which carries more than 5,800 had been at sea for 14 days after a trip to Singapore when 195 passengers reported suffering from a gastrointestinal illness. One passenger posted a video on Facebook showing hallways being sprayed by crew members in industrial cleaning suits after it docked in Hobart, Tasmania. “I’m on here now and basically a sitting duck with people in both cabins either side not well with the gastro,” another person commented on the video. “They are doing everything perfectly to avoid further sickness. I could hear them last night doing this spraying outside my cabin.”
• The International Space Station is super germy. (Washington Post) — Thousands of species have colonized the International Space Station — and only one of them is Homo sapiens. According to a new study in the journal PeerJ, the interior surfaces of the 17-year-old, 250-mile-high, airtight space station harbor at least 1,000 and perhaps more than 4,000 microbe species — a finding that is actually “reassuring,” according to co-author David Coil. “Diversity is generally associated with a healthy ecosystem,” said the University of California at Davis microbiologist. A varied population of microscopic inhabitants is probably a signature of a healthy spacecraft, he added. And as humanity considers even longer ventures in space — such as an 18-month voyage to Mars — scientists must understand who these microbes are.

6am – F         The detail you might have missed about ABC News disciplining the reporter who bungled the Michael Flynn news: He’s now barred from covering Trump. (Washington Examiner) — You may have heard already that ABC News suspended reporter Brian Ross for four weeks with no pay after he reported incorrectly that Donald Trump directed Gen. Michael Flynn to contact the Russians during the 2016 presidential election. What you may have missed is that ABC also took the additional, and unusual, step of barring Ross, its chief investigative reporter.  ABC News President James Goldston made the call this weekend, according to audio of an ABC editorial meeting obtained and published this week by CNN. “I don’t think ever in my career have I felt more rage and disappointment and frustration that I felt through this weekend and through the last half of Friday,” Goldston said during the call. He added: “I don’t even know how many times we’ve talked about this, how many times we have talked about the need to get it right. That how we have to be right and not first. About how in this particular moment, with the stakes as high as these stakes are right now, we cannot afford to get it wrong.” Ross alleged last week on live television that former national security advisor and longtime Trump ally Gen. Michael Flynn was prepared to testify that “as a candidate, Donald Trump ‘directed him to make contact with the Russians.’” As it turns out, the referenced directive came after the 2016 election. The president-elect reportedly ordered his transition team to contact Russia and other world leaders regarding the incoming administration’s foreign policy objectives, which is standard for incoming presidents.

7am – A         Interview – Virginia House of Delegates Republican Caucus Chairman Tim Hugo (R-Fairfax)

• I-66 Tolls: Virginia House of Delegates Republican Caucus Chairman Timothy D. Hugo (R-Fairfax) released the following statement Tuesday on the price of new dynamic tolls on Interstate 66 inside the beltway. “Drivers across our region are shocked at the exorbitant tolls we’ve seen on I-66 over the last couple days. This is not what anyone expected to see. We immediately need to come together to craft a realistic public policy solution that helps lower the cost of commuting for single-occupancy vehicles on I-66 inside the beltway. In 2015, my colleagues and I in the House of Delegates campaigned against tolling inside the beltway. We predicted tolls of $17 or worse and promised to introduce legislation to stop the tolling unless I-66 was widened inside the beltway. We kept that commitment and introduced House Bill 1 in the 2016 General Assembly. After several months of discussions, an agreement was reached with Governor Terry McAuliffe that allowed tolling to proceed in exchange for widening I-66 inside the beltway. It wasn’t a perfect deal, and many of us across the region were skeptical, but we moved forward in hopes that this would offer a better commute for our constituents and Northern Virginia drivers. Throughout those discussions, Governor McAuliffe and Transportation Secretary Layne made repeated assurances and commitments, in both public and private, that the toll rates would be reasonable. Numerous public documents advertised $6 to $7 tolls on average. We worked in good faith with this administration and trusted their assurances, but what we’ve seen over the last couple of days is unacceptable.”
• Preliminary hearings set for 3 Virginia House recounts, 4th pending. (WTOP) – WASHINGTON — Judges are set to hear recount petitions in three Virginia House of Delegates races this week, while a fourth has yet to be scheduled. The preliminary hearings mark the initial step in the recount process, which campaign and election officials said could be completed by Christmas. Control of the House of Delegates is at stake with Republicans hoping to maintain, or improve, their 51-49 majority and Democrats hoping for an even split when lawmakers return to Richmond in January. Regardless of the outcome, the recount is not expected to rectify 147 votes cast in the wrong House races in the Stafford County and Fredericksburg area, and Democrats said Monday that they continue to consider their legal options. Hearings are scheduled Wednesday in the 94th District in Newport News and in the 40th District, which includes parts of Prince William and Fairfax counties. Cameron Sasnett, Fairfax County registrar, said the timeline for the 40th District recount should by known by Wednesday. Just 106 votes separate Republican incumbent Tim Hugo and Democratic challenger Donte Tanner.

7am – B/C     Interview – NOAH POLLAK – Weekly Standard – discussed President Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

• U.S. to Recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s Capital, Trump Says, Alarming Middle East Leaders. (NY Times) — WASHINGTON — President Trump plans to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the American Embassy there, upending nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and potentially destroying his efforts to broker peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Mr. Trump’s decision, a high-risk foray into the thicket of the Middle East, was driven not by diplomatic calculations but by a campaign promise. He appealed to evangelicals and ardently pro-Israel American Jews in 2016 by vowing to move the embassy, and advisers said on Tuesday he was determined to make good on his word. But the president, faced with a deadline of this past Monday to make that decision, still plans to sign a national security waiver to keep the embassy in Tel Aviv for an additional six months, even as he set in motion a plan to move it to Jerusalem. Officials said the process would take several years. More significantly, Mr. Trump is to announce his formal recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli capital in a formal speech at the White House on Wednesday, when he will become the first American president to take that step since the founding of Israel in 1948. Mr. Trump spent Tuesday morning explaining the policy change in telephone calls with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel; Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority president; and to Arab leaders who warned him that it would disrupt the peace process, perhaps fatally, and could unleash a new wave of violence across the region.
• Palestinian President Abbas urges the Pope, Russian, French and Jordanian leaders to intervene on Trump’s plan to move U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem – spokesman
• Hamas calls for ‘day of rage’ amid tensions over Jerusalem. Hamas is declaring Friday a day of rage to protest US President Donald Trump’s intention to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. The Gaza-based terror group calls for confrontations with Israel after Friday prayers.
• Erdogan will cut ties with Israel if the US Embassy moves.  Numerous world leaders tried on Tuesday to convince US President Donald Trump not to take any steps that would change the status of Jerusalem, with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warning that Ankara would cut ties with Israel if the US recognized Jerusalem as its capital. In a move widely perceived in Jerusalem as an effort by Erdogan to be seen as a leader in the Muslim world, he said at a meeting of his AKP Party that Jerusalem was a “redline” for Muslims. “This could go as far as cutting our diplomatic relations with Israel. You cannot take such a step,” he was quoted by the Hurriyet newspaper as saying, adding that this would not only be a violation of international law, “but also a big blow to the conscience of humanity.”

7am – D         KAEPERNICK RAKING IN AWARDS:

• Beyoncé makes surprise appearance to present Colin Kaepernick with Muhammed Ali Legacy Award. NFL free agent Colin Kaepernick is this year’s recipient of the Sports Illustrated Muhammad Ali Legacy Award. According to Sports Illustrated, Kaepernick is receiving the honor due to his “steadfastness in the fight for social justice, for his adherence to his beliefs no matter the cost.”
• Kaepernick Wins Courage Advocate Award, Vows To Fight ‘Systemic Oppression’ Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick vowed to fight systemic oppression Sunday after he won the Southern California American Civil Liberties Union’s Courageous Advocate Award.
• ‘The Silence Breakers’ named Person of the Year by Time magazine. ‘The Silence Breakers’ have been named by Time magazine as the most important person or group of 2017. “The Silence Breakers” have been named as Person of the Year by Time magazine. In an announcement on US breakfast television on Wednesday morning, the group was declared as the most influential person of 2017, based on the magazine editors’ reckoning of who or what had most influenced the news in the past year, for good or ill. Second was President Donald Trump, and third was Xi Jinping, the leader of China. Mr Trump was last year’s winner, then as president-elect.

7am – E         MILLENNIALS ARE NOW THE LARGEST VOTING BLOCK AND THEY’RE DEMOCRATS: A new Harvard University poll Tuesday is blaring a loud danger signal to the Republican Party after finding that millennials are now the largest generation of voters and they are overwhelmingly Democratic, by a two-to-one margin.

8am – A        Interview – KEN KLUKOWSKI – Senior Legal Editor, Breitbart News and Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute – discussed the SCOTUS hearing arguments on the wedding cake case.

• In Supreme Court gay wedding cake case, Kennedy says state has not been tolerant of bakers’ religious views. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy said during oral arguments on Tuesday that Colorado did not appear to show religious tolerance when it used its public accommodations law to force baker Jack Phillips to create speech via a custom cake for a same-sex wedding that defies his religious beliefs. The line of questioning garnered attention because Kennedy often serves as the divided high court’s key swing vote, and a split vote could form again in Masterpiece Cakeshop Ltd. v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission. Kennedy pointedly criticized Colorado for not being “tolerant” of Phillips’ religious beliefs. “Tolerance is essential in a free society. And tolerance is most meaningful when it’s mutual,” Kennedy said. “It seems to me that the state in its position here has been neither tolerant nor respectful of Mr. Phillips’ religious beliefs.”
• Supreme Court Appears Sympathetic To Christian Baker In LGBT Rights Dispute. (Daily Caller) — A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared sympathetic Tuesday with a Christian baker from Colorado who declined to create a custom wedding cake for an LGBT couple. Several justices expressed concerns about the integrity of civil rights and public accommodations laws, and the Court generally struggled with the proposition that Phillips has a speech interest in his custom cakes. But Justice Anthony Kennedy and the conservative justices expressed concern about government hostility to religious believers, signaling a potential victory for the baker.
• GORSUCH Says What Everybody Else Thinks: Wedding Cakes Suck. Justice Neil Gorsuch finally told the truth about wedding cakes during a contentious argument about a Christian baker’s refusal to create a custom wedding cake for a gay couple planning their nuptials. Gorsuch admitted that wedding cakes just aren’t good. “In fact, I have yet to have a wedding cake that I would say tastes great,” he said, to laughter in the courtroom.
• Supreme Court May Side with Christian Baker in Same-Sex Wedding Cake Case. (Breitbart/by Ken Klukowski) – WASHINGTON, DC – Religious-liberty activists and conservative Christian groups are optimistic after oral arguments on Tuesday at the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving a Colorado Christian wedding cake baker that squarely pits constitutional rights of free speech and religious liberty against LGBT activists on the subject of same-sex marriage. Colorado’s anti-discrimination law forbids businesses denying goods and services due to various reasons, including typical grounds like race and color, but also including sexual orientation. A same-sex couple sued Jack Phillips when they asked him to customize a wedding cake to celebrate their same-sex marriage in 2012, at a time when Colorado did not recognize same-sex marriage or civil unions. Phillips declined on the grounds that his Evangelical Christian faith teaches that marriage is the union of a man and woman.

8am – B         ALABAMA/ROY MOORE NEWS:

• Roy Moore Rally in Alabama Featuring Steve Bannon
• “Country over party,” writes GOP Sen. Jeff Flake on $100 donation to Democrat in Alabama Senate race. Republican Sen. Jeff Flake put his money behind his principles Tuesday, dashing off a $100 campaign contribution to Democrat Doug Jones in the Alabama Senate race after President Trump endorsed Jones’ opponent, Republican Roy Moore. Flake has made no secret of his opposition to Moore, who faces accusations of sexual molestation and misconduct decades ago as a young prosecutor who allegedly dated teenagers as young as 14. And Flake has spoken frequently and forcefully against Trump — penning a book, in fact, loaded with his concerns about the presidency and the party.
• Doug Jones attacks: Moore belongs in prison, not the U.S. Senate.
• Lara Trump Robo-calls invite Alabamians to Friday Trump appearance in Florida

8am – C         DC has highest percentage of heavy drinkers. According to a study based on data from the CDC, 11.1 percent of adults in D.C. are considered heavy drinkers.  WASHINGTON — Compared to states, the District ranks No. 2 for the percentage of adults who consume alcohol and No. 1 for the percentage of heavy drinkers, according to Detox.net, an online resource for alcohol abuse treatment programs. According to the study, 65.9 percent of adults in D.C. have had at least one drink in the past month, second only to Wisconsin’s 67.3 percent. The study was based on data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, which collects health-related data from phone interviews.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – HANS VON SPAKOVSKY – Senior Legal Fellow, Heritage Foundation and Former FEC Commissioner

• BIO: Hans von Spakovsky @HvonSpakovsky Hans von Spakovsky is an authority on a wide range of issues—including civil rights, civil justice, the First Amendment, immigration, the rule of law and government reform—as a senior legal fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies and manager of the think tank’s Election Law Reform Initiative

• IMMIGRATION NEWS:
• HANS VON SPAKOVSKY: DACA Is Not What the Democrats Say It Is. Here Are the Facts. http://dailysignal.com/2017/12/04/daca-not-democrats-say-facts/
• 34 House Republicans demand DACA action this year (The Hill) — A group of 34 House GOP members is asking Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for a vote before year’s end on legislation to protect recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. “We are compelled to act immediately because many DACA recipients are about to lose or have already lost their permits in the wake of the program’s rescission,” they said in a letter sent Tuesday.
• Under Trump, deportations drop as fewer attempt illegal border crossing. WASHINGTON—The Trump administration ramped up arrests of undocumented immigrants in 2017, but the number of deportations fell below even the lowest level recorded during the Obama administration, the government said Tuesday.

8am – E         CONYERS RESIGNS:

• Conyers vs. Conyers? Congressman backs son for seat. Rep. John Conyers Jr. resigns over sexual harassment allegations after a half-century in Congress.
• Tweet talk: Rep. John Conyers’ son says ‘dad is a player.’ John Conyers’ Son And Appointed Successor: ‘My N***as’ Deal