Cal Thomas, Hans Von Spakovsky, Morgan Wright, and John Lott joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

5am – A/B/C DO KIDS WORK THEIR WAY THROUGH COLLEGE ANY MORE?

• What job did you have in college? (Wall Street Journal) — The cost of college has risen at more than twice the rate of inflation for decades, and the increasing availability of federal student loans is a principal cause. But even as demands grow daily to do something about student debt and loan defaults, hardly anyone laments the demise of a once-proud American aspiration: working your way through college

5am – D/E     John Paul Stevens: Repeal the Second Amendment (New York Times) — Rarely in my lifetime have I seen the type of civic engagement schoolchildren and their supporters demonstrated in Washington and other major cities throughout the country this past Saturday. These demonstrations demand our respect. They reveal the broad public support for legislation to minimize the risk of mass killings of schoolchildren and others in our society. That support is a clear sign to lawmakers to enact legislation prohibiting civilian ownership of semiautomatic weapons, increasing the minimum age to buy a gun from 18 to 21 years old, and establishing more comprehensive background checks on all purchasers of firearms. But the demonstrators should seek more effective and more lasting reform. They should demand a repeal of the Second Amendment. Concern that a national standing army might pose a threat to the security of the separate states led to the adoption of that amendment, which provides that “a well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.” Today that concern is a relic of the 18th century.

6am – A         Census News:

• At least 12 states have indicated that they plan to file lawsuits in a bid to block the Trump administration from asking everyone if they are a citizen in the 2020 US Census. (Daily Mail) — New York State attorney general Eric T. Schneiderman revealed on Tuesday that he was leading a multi-state lawsuit after the government announced it would reintroduce a question about citizenship status in the questionnaire. Schneiderman said the lawsuit would be to preserve a ‘fair and accurate Census’ as he slammed the Trump administration’s decision to ask the citizenship question as ‘reckless’. He added that the question would ‘create an environment of fear and distrust in immigrant communities that would make impossible both an accurate Census and the fair distribution of federal tax dollars’. ‘This move directly targets states like New York that have large, thriving immigrant populations – threatening billions of dollars in federal funding for New York, as well as fair representation in Congress and the Electoral College,’ he said. Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington plan to join the lawsuit, the New York Times reports.
• Tucker Educates Immigrant Lawyer On US Census Questions (Daily Caller) — Fox News’ Tucker Carlson got into a heated debate with an illegal immigrant lawyer about the Trump administration’s decision to add citizenship questions to the U.S. Census. Cesar Vargas, the first undocumented attorney in New York, argued that because the Constitution does not specify that the census should count citizens, such questions should not be included. However, Carlson seemed to stump Vargas when he asked if the same argument could apply to census questions about gender or race. “Since I know you’re so familiar with it, [the Constitution] doesn’t say anything about counting people by race,” The Daily Caller co-founder argued. “The census does that, are you opposed to that? Should we not ask what people’s race is?” Vargas refused to answer the question several times, prompting Carlson to interrupt him and ask again. “The census asks what your race is,” he repeated. “I think it’s creepy as hell, to be honest…but the census asks it. And the left demands it ask it. Do you think the census should be allowed to ask about race?” “Well, I think we should have a simple count, that’s it. And, maybe no, we shouldn’t have about immigration status, we shouldn’t have about race,” Vargas admitted. Carlson extended the argument to census questions about sex, arguing, “only [a question about citizenship] bothers you — not because of the constitutionality of it, but because you think it might dilute the political power of illegal aliens.” “Let’s stop pretending it’s about the Constitution,” the host asserted.

6am – B         Utah Just Passed America’s First ‘Free-Range Parenting’ Law (Yahoo) — Utah has legalized a controversial child-rearing method known as “free-range parenting” that encourages the fostering of self-sufficiency in children from a young age, which is believed to be the first legislation of its kind in the United States. The so-called “free-range kids” bill was signed into law by Republican Gov. Gary Herbert on Friday after the state House and Senate voted unanimously to approve the legislation. The new law, which will take effect on May 8, specifies that it is not a crime for parents to allow kids who display maturity and good judgment to do things like walk to school alone or play outside without supervision. An age limit was not defined, but the bill’s sponsors said it was left “purposely open-ended so police and prosecutors can work on a case-by-case basis” if abuse or neglect is suspected, according to The Associated Press.  “If there are clear signs of abuse, obviously that is grounds for action, and in no way is excluded [from the law],” Rep. Brad Daw (R), the bill’s House sponsor, told the Salt Lake Tribune.

6am – C         Red Lobster is now serving lobster and waffles (USA Today) — Chicken and waffles are amazing. But would you substitute fried chicken for lobster? Red Lobster sure hopes so, introducing a lobster and waffles dish available at their restaurants starting Monday as part of their Lobsterfest menu. The dish features a buttermilk-battered and fried split Maine lobster tail served on top of a waffle made with the same mix used in the chain’s famous Cheddar Bay biscuits. All of this is then topped with maple syrup. The average price for the dish is $19.99, but may vary depending on market.

6am – D         INTERVIEW – CAL THOMAS – Syndicated columnist – discussed Ambassador John Bolton’s appointment to National Security Advisor and his new column to be published on Thursday about Bolton and his various opponents

6am – E         McCain to release ‘no-holds-barred’ verdict on Trump (Yahoo) — Veteran US Senator John McCain is to deliver a “no-holds-barred” verdict on his fellow Republican Donald Trump’s presidency in a new book of memoirs, his publishers announced Monday. Despite being in the same party as the president, McCain has been one of Trump’s most forceful critics over the last two years, both in the run-up to the 2016 election and its aftermath. Although he has been undergoing treatment for brain cancer since last summer, McCain has continued to voice his concerns about Trump’s leadership and recently questioned the nomination of a CIA official once involved in torture to lead the spy agency. “Candid, pragmatic and always fascinating, John McCain holds nothing back in his latest memoir” which is entitled “The Restless Wave” and will be released on May 22, according to the publishers Simon & Schuster.

6am – F         Good guy with a gun didn’t kill Maryland school shooter (but he did shoot the killer’s gun, like a boss). (New York Post) –The Maryland high school student who fatally shot his ex-girlfriend and injured another student also killed himself, authorities said. Austin Rollins, 17, shot himself in the head when he was confronted by school resource officer Blaine Gaskill during the March 20 school shooting, the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office said Monday. Gaskill had arrived within a minute of Rollins shooting 16-year-old Jaelynn Willey in a hallway at Great Mills High School. A shot Gaskill fired struck the Glock handgun in Rollins’ hand. Rollins held the gun, which Gaskill had ordered him to drop, to his head, student witnesses told WJLA. Gaskill was not injured. The teen girl was left brain-dead and taken off life support two days after the attack. Desmond Barnes, a 14-year-old victim, was shot in his right thigh in the same hallway as Willey.

7am – A         INTERVIEW — HANS VON SPAKOVSKY –  former counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Justice Department, former commissioner for the Federal Election Commission from 2006 to 2007 and senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation – discussed the citizenship question being reinstated in the next census, the plan by twelve different states to sue the Trump administration over this, and whether or not the Obama Campaign in 2012 violated campaign finance laws

• Commerce Department says citizenship question will be reinstated in 2020 Census.  (CNN) In a controversial move, the Commerce Department announced Monday that the question of citizenship will again be included in the 2020 Census. The move comes at the request of the Justice Department, first made in the early days of the administration, saying it was needed to better enforce the Voting Rights Act.
• TWELVE states plan to sue the Trump administration in a bid to block them from asking everyone if they are a citizen in 2020 US Census. (Daily Mail) — New York State attorney general Eric T. Schneiderman said on Tuesday he was leading a multi-state lawsuit over the Census citizenship question. Trump administration said on Monday it would reintroduce a question about citizenship status in the 2020 US Census.    Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Washington plan to join the lawsuit. California already announced on Monday that it would sue.
• Did Facebook’s ‘favors’ for the Obama campaign constitute a violation of federal law? (Fox News) — Controversy continues to swirl around how the consulting firm Cambridge Analytica obtained personal data from over 50 million Facebook users without their knowledge and used it to target ads to individuals in an effort to help Donald Trump be elected president in 2016. But a more serious case of apparent misconduct involves Facebook data going to a different presidential campaign – this time in 2012. In this case, which is getting far less attention, Facebook reportedly voluntarily provided data on millions of its users to the re-election campaign of President Obama. If true, such action by Facebook may constitute a major violation of federal campaign finance law as an illegal corporate campaign contribution. The matter should be investigated by the Federal Election Commission – an agency I am quite familiar with, because I served as one of its commissioners from 2006 to 2007. The commission enforces campaign finance laws for congressional and presidential elections. A federal law bans corporations from making “direct or indirect” contributions to federal candidates. That ban extends beyond cash contributions to “any services, or anything of value.” In other words, corporations cannot provide federal candidates with free services of any kind. Under the Federal Election Commission’s regulations, “anything of value” includes any “in-kind contribution.” For example, if a corporation decided to offer a presidential candidate free office space, that would violate federal law. Corporations can certainly offer their services, including office space, to federal campaigns. But the campaigns are required to pay the fair market value for such services or rental properties.

7am – B         Democrats Introduce Bullet Control Bill (Daily Caller) — In the wake of the “March For Our Lives” rally Saturday, and with no legislative appetite for more gun control laws, Democrats in both the House and Senate have introduced a bill requiring background checks for purchasing bullets. “You do not have the right to bear bullets,” said Congresswoman and former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz at a press conference Monday announcing the introduction of a bill that would require instant background checks to purchase ammunition. The Ammunition Background Check Act was introduced by Wasserman Schultz in the House and Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) in the Senate. Like its name implies, it would require anyone looking to buy bullets to be subjected to background checks, similar to the one required to purchase a firearm in the first place. Wasserman Schultz said, “I really think it’s important to underscore that without bullets a gun is just a hunk of useless metal, and a would-be killer lacks the means to actually kill or maim.” The Florida congresswoman called the ability to buy ammunition a “loophole” in gun control laws. The Ammunition Background Check Act was introduced with 36 co-sponsors, all Democrats.

7am – C         Walmart to remove ‘Cosmopolitan’ from checkout lines, says it’s a ‘business decision’ (USA Today) — Walmart is saying goodbye to Cosmopolitan. The retail giant will remove the women’s fashion magazine from checkout lines at 5,000 stores across the country. In a statement shared with USA TODAY, Walmart spokesperson Meggan Kring said: “As with all products in our store, we continue to evaluate our assortment and make changes. Walmart will continue to offer Cosmopolitan to customers that wish to purchase the magazine, but it will no longer be located in the checkout aisles. While this was primarily a business decision, the concerns raised were heard.” The news was shared Tuesday via a press release from National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), an organization that says it helped instigate the policy change. “You can go through and buy your groceries with your family knowing you don’t have to be exposed to this graphic and often degrading and offensive material,” NCOSE Vice President of Advocacy and Outreach Haley Halverson said in a Facebook live session Tuesday. “Instead, all of these magazines will be moved, in isolation, to the magazine racks.” Cosmo began running frank content about sex under the direction of editor Helen Gurley Brown in 1965. Brown transformed the once family-oriented magazine into a publication for single women that — along with topics on relationships, beauty, fashion and health — still publishes advice and discussions on sex.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — MORGAN WRIGHT- Senior Fellow, Center for Digital Government – former executive at Cisco & Alcatel-Lucent and former senior advisor for the US Department of State Antiterrorism Assistance Program – discussed the news that Facebook CEO will be testifying to Congress after the Cambridge Analytica controversy and the news that Android users can have information from their calls and texts taken by the Facebook app

• What Zuckerberg needs to know when he heads to the Hill
• Facebook stock takes hit on FTC probe and news it records users’ call logs.
• How was Facebook able to siphon off call and text logs of phones running Android system? Because Google let it.

7am – E         RIPA GETS SEXY-SHAMED: Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos tormented after bikini photos (Page Six) — Kelly Ripa showed off her ripped abs in a bikini picture posted on Instagram by her husband, Mark Consuelos, who dubbed her “the sexy one.” But it didn’t take long for internet trolls to interject. Consuelos’ picture of Ripa sporting a sun hat and a two-piece bathing suit during their tropical vacation on Sunday drew hundreds of comments. Many questioned why the 47-year-old host of ABC’s “Live with Kelly and Ryan” didn’t try to cover up more. “Kelly’s gorgeous, but isn’t there a cutoff age where age-appropriateness comes into play? Just because you can rock a bikini, doesn’t mean you should,” one Instagram user commented. The photo, some claimed, proves fame has “gone to her head.” “Not the sweet Kelly she was when she first started with Regis,” one user stated. Ripa fans were quick to shut down the haters, saying the photo, which received more than 70,000 likes, was a symbol of love between the pair and no one — at any age — should be critiqued for their body or style choices.

8am – A         Stormy Daniels News:

• CNN Mentions Stormy Nearly Twice As Much As Spending Bill (Daily Caller) — In their weekend coverage, CNN opted to cover Stormy Daniels and Karen McDougal nearly four times more than they mentioned the recently-passed omnibus spending bill. Between 12 AM Friday, March 23rd, and Sunday, March 25th, CNN mentioned porn star Stormy Daniels 312 times, former playboy model Karen McDougal 290 times and the spending bill 162 times. Collectively, the ladies got 602 total mentions. The coverage started with a 12 AM Friday rerun of Anderson Cooper’s interview with McDougal, which accounted for most mentions of her throughout the weekend. The wall-to-wall coverage of Daniels and McDougal continued throughout Friday, despite the fact that the spending bill passed the Senate early Friday morning. CNN hit nearly 150 Stormy mentions and nearly 230 McDougal mentions, compared to just under 130 mentions of the spending bill.
• SE Cupp: Leave Trump like Clinton should have left her husband (The Hill) — HLN host S.E. Cupp called on first lady Melania Trump to leave President Trump after he reportedly had affairs during their marriage. Cupp wrote in an op-ed for the New York Daily News Tuesday that the first lady should leave Trump over the reported affairs, unlike Hillary Clinton, who remained with President Clinton after reports of his affairs emerged. “Over those years, Hillary became for me what she became for many women — the literal definition of ‘Stand by Your Man.’ While feminists trotted her out as a role model for strong women, all I saw was a woman who was humiliated time and again and, for reasons either personal or political, decided to take it,” Cupp wrote. “Imagine if she’d left him. Gone would have been his baggage, but also some of hers. When she said things like ‘I’ve always stood for women,’ it might have actually been believable, had she not spent all those years defending her husband at the expense of his accusers,” she continued. The host wrote that Clinton could have come across as more warm during her campaigns if she had chosen to leave her husband, saying that “instead, perhaps thanks to years of overcompensating for her uneasy role as feminist icon, her public persona was steely, aloof and defensive.” “Melania Trump may not have a political career to consider. But as First Lady she is an inherently important figure in American politics. And women are watching,” Cupp wrote.

8am – B/C     INTERVIEW – JOHN LOTT – President, Crime Prevention Research Center and author of “The War on Guns – discussed former Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens’ article on repealing the second amendment, President Trump’s response, and the increasing role that the makeup of the Supreme Court plays in public policy

8am – D/E     Poll: 75% of parents helping adult children pay their bills. 3 In 4 Parents Help Their Adult Kids Pay Debts, Living Expenses. According to a recent poll by CreditCards.com, three in four parents with adult kids over the age of 18 help them pay debts and living expenses. Thirty nine percent pay their cellphone, 36 transportation, 24 rent, 21 utilities and 20 percent pay their kids’ student loans. “As a grad student, it’s kind of impossible to do that – work and study,” said one woman. The poll also found dads are more likely to pay their kids’ living expenses, married couples help out more often than divorced couples, and parents in the Northeast are significantly more likely than other regions to help with student loans. Parenting expert Tammy Golds says it’s happening because the cost of living is extremely high.