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Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, December 28, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Tony Shaffer

5am – A/B/C Prosecutor Helping Mueller Boasts Of ‘Legal Resistance’ To Trump (Daily Caller) New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who is reportedly assisting special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, boasted of his successful resistance to the Trump administration in a Tuesday Medium post. Schneiderman, who could play an essential role in the disposition of Mueller’s investigation, has effectively branded as a public anti-Trump litigator during the president’s first year, in keeping with the history of hostility between the two men.

5am – D ISIS has lost 98 percent of its territory — mostly since Trump took office, officials say (Fox News) ISIS has lost 98 percent of the territory it once held — with half of that terror group’s so-called “caliphate” having been recaptured since President Trump took office less than a year ago, U.S. military officials said Tuesday. The massive gains come after years of “onerous” rules, when critics say the Obama administration “micromanaged” the war and shunned a more intensive air strategy that could have ended the conflict much sooner. “The rules of engagement under the Obama administration were onerous. I mean what are we doing having individual target determination being conducted in the White House, which in some cases adds weeks and weeks,” said retired Air Force Lt. Gen. David Deptula, the former head of U.S. Air Force intelligence. “The limitations that were put on actually resulted in greater civilian casualties.” But the senior director for counterterrorism in former President Barack Obama’s National Security Council pushed back on any criticism the former president didn’t do enough to defeat ISIS.

5am – E  DISNEY NEWS: New Security Measures at Walt Disney World Hotels Beginning with the three monorail resorts near the Magic Kingdom, Walt Disney World Resort Hotels will no longer provide guests with “Do Not Disturb” signs to put on their doors. The signs will be replaced with “Room Occupied” signs that will notify cast members that guests are in the rooms. However, these guests will be “disturbed” at some point, as it will now be required that a Disney employee enter their hotel room at least once a day to ensure guest safety. Some Disneyland rides halt after power outage (CNN) Power has been restored at Disneyland after an outage left some tourists stranded on rides, according to park spokesperson Suzi Brown. The outage, caused by a transformer issue shortly before 11 a.m., came during a busy holiday season at the Anaheim, California, amusement park. The outage took out power in portions of the Toontown and Fantasyland areas, Brown said. About a dozen attractions were affected and guests were escorted off the rides, Brown said. All power was restored by 4 p.m.

6am – A 4 Toledo teens face murder charges after sandbag tossed from overpass (The Blade) The loved ones of Marquise Byrd grieve his tragic killing as they prepare for a series of court cases to come. But for now, they would still like a phone call. “I would appreciate if [the boys’ parents] could at least call my auntie and tell her they’re sorry,” said Mr. Byrd’s cousin, Shaveontae King. Toledo police said Tuesday they filed murder charges against four teenagers — Pedro Salinas, 13; Sean Carter, 14; Demetrius Wimberly, 14, and William Parker, 15 -— accused of killing Mr. Byrd with a sandbag dropped onto I-75. An autopsy found Mr. Byrd, 22, of Warren, Mich. suffered blunt-force trauma to the head and neck. He was pronounced dead 8:57 p.m. Friday at Mercy Health St. Vincent Medical Center, according to the Lucas County Coroner’s Office. Mr. Byrd was traveling to meet friends in Toledo. He was engaged and had a 1-year-old son, said Ms. King, 26, of Roseville, Mich.

6am – B RNC Chair: ‘We’ve Raised Unprecedented Amounts of Money’ for the 2018 Midterms (Breitbart) Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends,” Republican National Committee chairwoman Ronna McDaniel described fundraising efforts for the RNC as “unprecedented” as her organization gears up for the 2018 midterms. McDaniel said, “We know historically the party that holds the White House loses seats in the midterms and that’s why the RNC has been on the ground from the beginning of this year. We’re already in 21 states working our field program. We’ve raised unprecedented amounts of money that we’re putting into these states early, building out our program so that we can win in these midterms.”

6am – C  Hooker, John Wanted Cops To Mediate $ Dispute (Smoking Gun) A man and a woman are facing prostitution charges after they sought law enforcement’s assistance in settling a dispute over a $150 payment for a sexual encounter, according to South Carolina police. As detailed in an incident report, a state trooper was flagged down at 1 AM Thursday by Kimberly Moore, 30, and Robert Sartor Jr., 65. Moore, who was standing with Sartor outside a Marathon gas station, told the trooper that Sartor “owed her money for prostitution.” Moore later told Union County Sheriff’s Office deputies that she had earlier contacted Sartor and “asked him to come get her and get a hotel room.” Moore said that Sartor offered her $150, and that she “knew what the money was for.”Sartor told deputies that he picked up Moore “because she was messaging him on Facebook,” and acknowledged that he “offered her $150,” was going to get a hotel room, and “bought her some new clothes at the dollar store.” Sartor added that he went to a friend’s house with Moore, and that the duo showered together (though he did not touch her). Moore, a Greenville resident, said that Sartor tried to get into the shower with her, but she denied him entry.

6am – D  House Panel Subpoenas McCain Associate For Names Of Steele’s Dossier Sources (Daily Caller) The House Intelligence Committee has issued a subpoena for an associate of Arizona Sen. John McCain’s who revealed last week that he knows the names of the Russian sources used in former British spy Christopher Steele’s infamous dossier. A congressional source tells The Daily Caller that California Rep. Devin Nunes issued the subpoena on Wednesday for David J. Kramer, a former State Department official. Kramer refused to divulge the names of Steele’s sources during a Dec. 19 interview with the panel, the source says. Steele used Russian sources to gather information on the Trump campaign and Donald Trump’s activities in Russia. The ex-spy was working for Fusion GPS, an opposition research firm that was on the payroll of the Clinton campaign and Democratic National Committee.

6am – E  Nearly 450,000 People Fled These Three Deep Blue States In 2017 (Daily Caller) Three Democratic-leaning states hemorrhaged hundreds of thousands of people in 2016 and 2017 as crime, high taxes and, in some cases, crummy weather had residents seeking greener pastures elsewhere. The exodus of residents was most pronounced in New York, which saw about 190,000 people leave the state between July 1, 2016 and July 1, 2017, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released last week. New York’s domestic out-migration during that time period was about the same as it was in the same time 2015 and 2016. Since 2010, the state’s outflow of just over 1 million residents has exceeded that of every other state, both in absolute terms and as a share of population, according to the free-market think tank Empire Center.

6am – F  Co-Creator of ‘MTV Unplugged’ Dies After Being Struck By Taxi (NBC) A co-creator of MTV’s “Unplugged” has died of injuries suffered when he was hit by a taxi while walking his dog. Jim Burns was walking the dog on Saturday morning when he was struck by a cab making a turn onto Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, police said. Burns, 65, suffered a serious head injury and died from his injuries on Tuesday. The taxi driver remained at the scene. Police still were investigating on Wednesday. An MTV spokeswoman said the network was deeply saddened to learn about the death of Burns, who created “MTV Unplugged” with Robert Small. “As co-creator of the beloved ‘Unplugged’ franchise, his groundbreaking work continues to resonate with audiences around the world,” MTV said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family and loved ones.” Small said Burns was “a terrific human being.” “He could make fun of people without making them feel bad,” Small told the New York Post. “He just had a knack for making people happy.” The wildly popular “Unplugged” debuted in 1989 at the height of MTV’s musical and cultural influence in America. It features artists such as Nirvana, Eric Clapton, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z and Bob Dylan in intimate venues performing stripped-down versions of their songs.

7am – A INTERVIEW – W. James Antle III – the Washington Examiner’s politics editor

Topic: Immigration in the new year

• When Congress returns, negotiations over Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals, former President Obama’s directive to shield some young undocumented immigrants from deportation, will resume and intensify.
• The familiar pattern has been for immigration hawks to hold up any bill offering legal status to a significant number of illegal immigrants until their demands for border security and interior enforcement are satisfied; legalization boosters point to the enforcement measures already in their legislation as proof these demands are insatiable and cast the restrictionists as anti-amnesty absolutists.

7am – B Inspector general says mishandling of sexual harassment complaints at Justice Department is a ‘systemic’ problem (Washington Post) The Justice Department has “systemic” problems in how it handles sexual harassment complaints, with those found to have acted improperly often not receiving appropriate punishment, and the issue requires “high level action,” according to the department’s inspector general. Justice supervisors have mishandled complaints, the IG said, and some perpetrators were given little discipline or even later rewarded with bonuses or performance awards. At the same time, the number of allegations of sexual misconduct has been increasing over the past five years and the complaints have involved senior Justice Department officials across the country.

7am – C Poll: Hugs and dirty jokes – Americans differ on acceptable behavior (Yahoo) Americans differ widely in their views of what constitutes sexual harassment, with age and race as well as gender throwing up the dividing lines, posing a challenge for those who police for such conduct in the workplace. The issue has been thrown into the national spotlight as a string of prominent men in U.S. politics, entertainment and the media have been felled by allegations of sexual misconduct in recent months. A Reuters/Ipsos national opinion poll, released on Wednesday, asked more than 3,000 American adults to consider eight different scenarios and then prompted them to decide if they would personally label each to be an example of sexual harassment. The variation in responses showed a need for employers to spell out expected standards, employment experts said. While most adults in the Dec. 13-18 poll agreed that acts such as intentional groping or kissing “without your consent” amounted to sexual harassment, they disagreed over a number of other actions.

7am – D  Five Things Trump Has Done to Fight the United Nations — and Three Ways He Has Surrendered (Breitbart) Conservatives are hailing President Donald Trump and UN Ambassador Nikki Haley for following through on their threats to cut funding to the UN after the UN General Assembly singled out the U.S. for criticism last week. While President Barack Obama elevated the UN over his own country — bringing the Iran deal to the UN Security Council before Congress, for example — Trump has fought for American sovereignty. It is certainly true that President Trump and Ambassador Haley have made headway. Even as the General Assembly was voting against the U.S. last week, for example, the Security Council voted unanimously for new sanctions on North Korea. And the Jerusalem vote was less lopsided than it might have been. But there is a long way to go before the UN can be restored to its original purpose — and much more funding, and many more bureaucrats, to cut.

7am – E INTERVIEW: Larry Michael – Voice of the Washington Redskins 

Topic: Preview of Sunday’s game 

8am – A Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton Retain Most Admired Titles (Gallup News) Americans once again are most likely to name Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton as the man and woman living anywhere in the world they admire most, as they have for the past 10 years. The pair retain their titles this year, although by much narrower margins than in the past. Obama edges out Donald Trump, 17% to 14%, while Clinton edges out Michelle Obama, 9% to 7%.

8am – B COLLEGE NEWS: Controversial ‘Problem of Whiteness’ course reintroduced at UW-Madison (College Fix) This spring, a controversial course titled “The Problem of Whiteness” will once again be offered at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The African Cultural Studies course seeks to teach students to “understand how whiteness is socially constructed and experienced in order to help dismantle white supremacy,” according to its online description. When the course debuted during the spring 2017 semester, it prompted national headlines and much controversy, with some Republican lawmakers even calling for the course to be canceled. The class this spring may touch on that, based on the fact that its professor created a montage of headlines criticizing the course as its new syllabus cover sheet, its online description shows. Swarthmore College offers a course in ‘queering God’ (Fox News) One of the nation’s most prestigious liberal arts colleges is advancing a “queer theology” agenda with hopes of destabilizing traditional beliefs about what the Bible says about gender and sexuality. Swarthmore College, founded by Quakers, is offering courses in “queering the Bible” and “queering God.” The courses were first reported by Campus Reform. “By reading the Bible with the methods of queer and trans theoretical approaches, this class destabilizes long held assumptions about what the Bible – and religion – says about gender and sexuality,” the course description reads. The school’s religion department is also teaching a class that questions the sexuality of the Almighty called, “Queering God: Feminist and Queer Theology.”

8am – C  Comedian sued for turning men with tickets away from her women-only show (Fox News) Former “Last Comic Standing” winner Iliza Shlesinger is reportedly being sued after hosting a comedy show in Los Angeles that didn’t allow men to attend. Now, she’s facing rhetoric likening one man’s incident to the Civil Rights movement. The Hollywood Reporter obtained legal documents in which a man named George St. George alleges he purchased two tickets to the comedian’s Nov. 13 show, titled “Girls Night In WIth Iliza — No Boys Allowed.” When he arrived to pick them up at will call, he was told that he would have to sit in the back of the theater because of his gender. He and a friend went to get food and, when they returned, were told that Shlesinger and the theater had decided that no men would be admitted to the show, and they were offered a refund for their ticket.

8am – D INTERVIEW: James Carafano – leading expert in national security and foreign policy challenges, Heritage Foundation 

Topic: ISIS has lost 98 percent of its territory

• ISIS has lost 98 percent of the territory it once held — with half of that terror group’s so-called “caliphate” having been recaptured since President Trump took office less than a year ago, S. military officials said Tuesday.

8am – E Liberal outrage erupts after Vanity Fair pokes fun at Hillary Clinton (Fox News) Vanity Fair sent liberals into a tizzy this week by posting a video that mocks Hillary Clintonby suggesting New Year’s resolution possibilities for the failed presidential candidate. The 63-second video recommends that Clinton starts working on a sequel to her book, “What Happened,” but with a new title, “What the hell happened?” Another Vanity Fair staffer thinks Clinton should “disable autofill” on her iPhone so that typing a simple “f” doesn’t automatically become “form exploratory committee.” Another suggestion for Clinton is to teach a class on the alternate nostril breathing that she famously discussed during an interview with CNN’s Anderson Cooper, while another Vanity Fair staffer proposed that Clinton take more photos in the woods because, “How else are you going to meet unsuspecting hikers?