Cal Thomas, Morgan Wright, Saagar Enjeti, and Diamond and Silk joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, April 11, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

5am – A/B/C How do you define hate speech and are you worried about Facebook calling your political views hate speech?

• Mark Zuckerberg Wants To Use Artificial Intelligence To Ban ‘Hate Speech’ (Daily Caller) — Facebook CEO and Chairman Mark Zuckerberg said Tuesday that he would like to use artificial intelligence tools to monitor and ban hate speech on the platform. “Some problems lend themselves more easily to AI solutions than others,” Zuckerberg said during his Senate testimony. “So, hate speech is one of the hardest, because, determining if something is hate speech is very linguistically nuanced. You need to understand what is a slur and what–whether something is hateful, not just in English, but the majority of people on Facebook use it in languages that are different across the world.” “Contrast that, for example, with an area like finding terrorist propaganda which we’ve actually been very successful at deploying AI tools on already,” he continued. “Today, as we sit here 99 percent of the ISIS and Al Qaeda content that we take down on Facebook, our AI systems flag before any human sees it.” “So, that’s a success in terms of rolling out AI tools that can proactively police and enforce safety across the community. Hate speech, I’m optimistic that over a five to ten-year period we will have AI tools that can get into some of the nuances, the linguistic nuances of different types of content to be more accurate in flagging things for our systems, but today we’re just not there on that.”
• Zuck Says He Wants To Ban ‘Hate’ Speech — Sasse Asks What That Means For Pro-Lifers (Daily Caller) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg testified before congress Tuesday afternoon, attempting to answer major public concerns pertaining to his company. Zuckerberg said multiple times that Facebook is attempting to ban hate speech on the platform and is actively developing artificial intelligence to seek out offensive content. Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse asked if those policies would affect pro-life conservatives. Zuckerberg did not have an answer. “Can you define hate speech?” Sasse asked one of the world’s most powerful CEOs bluntly. “Senator, I think this is a really hard question,” Zuckerberg said, “It’s one of the reasons why we struggle with it.” “I am worried about the psychological categories,” Sasse replied. “You used the language of safety and protection. We have seen this happen on college campuses. It’s dangerous.” Sasse cited a poll that said a high proportion of college students believe the First Amendment is “dangerous” because it “might hurt someone else’s feelings.” “There are some passionately held views about the abortion issue on this panel,” Sasse said. “Can you imagine a world where you might decide that pro-lifers are prohibited from speaking about their abortion views on your platform?” After a long pause, Zuckerberg said, “I would not want that to be the case.” “It might be unsettling to people who’ve had an abortion to have an open debate on that, wouldn’t it?” Sasse pressed. “I do think that’s a question we need to struggle with as a country because I know other countries are in there putting laws in place,” Zuck replied, “I think America needs to figure out and create the principles we want American companies to operate under.” Sasse did not look satisfied with the response.

5am – D/E     Mueller News:

• Trump mulling firing Rosenstein: report
• Trump and aides have discussed firing Mueller for months, source says.
• President Trump ‘less inclined’ to sit down with special counsel for interview after raid on personal attorney: Sources.

6am – A/B/C Highlights from Zuckerberg’s testimony to Congress

6am – D         INTERVIEW – CAL THOMAS – Syndicated Columnist – discussed what the Trump Administration should do in Syria after the latest chemical attack by Syrian dictator Bashar al Assad and commented on the Mueller raid of Trump’s personal attorney Michael Cohen’s office

• Syria ‘chemical attack’: Russia warns US against military action. (BBC) — Russia has urged the US to avoid taking military action in response to an alleged chemical attack in Syria. “I would once again beseech you to refrain from the plans that you’re currently developing,” Moscow’s UN envoy Vasily Nebenzia said on Tuesday. He warned Washington that it will “bear responsibility” for any “illegal military adventure” it carries out. But Western leaders say they have agreed to work together to target those responsible for the attack in Douma. French President Emmanuel Macron said any strikes would target Syrian government chemical facilities. US President Donald Trump has promised a “forceful” response, and he and his Defence Secretary, James Mattis, have cancelled travel plans this week.
• 6 REASONS NOT TO LEAVE SYRIA (Fox News) — The isolationist spirit — a reluctance to become involved in foreign entanglements — goes back in U.S. history to Thomas Paine and his 1776 pamphlet “Common Sense” and to George Washington’s 1796 Farewell Address. In modern times, the isolationist spirit had a strong pull against U.S. involvement in WWI and WWII, but was eventually overcome, however reluctantly, by catastrophic events. Whether he realizes it, or not, President Trump tapped into that spirit when he instructed military commanders to wrap up America’s role in Syria and to bring the troops home within months. One can almost hear the echo of Sen. George McGovern, D-S.D., who said in reference to the U.S presence in Vietnam, “Come home, America.” Osama bin Laden bet on America’s impatience with protracted wars in devising his terrorism strategy, but if one side is “in it to win it” and the other establishes a timetable, as President Obama did in Iraq, it isn’t difficult to predict which side will be victorious. Writing in the Washington Free Beacon, Aaron Kliegman lists five reasons why the U.S. should not leave Syria. President Trump should read and heed them.

6am – E         PREVIEW OF COMEY’S INSUFFERABLE BOOK TOUR:

James Comey @Comey

Not how my house normally looks. One chair for George, one for me.

6am – F         Tucker Carlson Correctly Reports on How Sucky Pandas Are (Washingtonian) — Fox News host Tucker Carlson took some criticism for reporting on pandas Monday night when most news junkies were preoccupied with the FBI raids on Donald Trump‘s lawyer Michael Cohen. Sure, to an amateur media critic Carlson’s short, show-ending segment may have seemed like a non-sequitur, but as an experienced media reporter and employee of an outlet where panda skepticism has long thrived, I applaud this editorial choice. Washingtonian spoke with Carlson about how these crappy bears have stayed off everyone’s threat radar for so long. As you reported, the usual knock on these things is that evolution would take them out without human intervention. But you’re alerting America that they’re vicious, sex-crazed killers. People don’t understand the nature of the panda. We’ve infantilized them. They’re majestic dominators of their environment. We emphasize the pandas but they’re bears. We’ve turned them into anime and in so doing have sapped their life force. But if you were ever to get into a cage with one of these things….

7am – A         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 yesterday’s testimony from Facebook CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg

7am – B         More Mueller News:

• Rand Paul Roasts Bob Mueller For Abusing His Authority, Calls Cohen Raid A ‘Great Overstep’ (Daily Caller) — “You remember what Chuck Schumer said a couple months ago? He said if you cross the intelligence agencies, they can screw you six ways to Sunday,” Paul concluded. “This is about enormous power, prosecutorial power but also power in the intelligence communities. We have to rein this in or every American citizen is exposed to this kind of abuse of power.”
• SCHUMER WANTS MUELLER PROTECTED  Senate Democratic Leader Charles Schumer (N.Y.) on Tuesday called on Senate GOP leaders to bring legislation to the floor that would protect special counsel Robert Mueller from being fired in the midst of heightened tension over his investigation into Russian election meddling. Schumer called for new protections of Mueller hours after the FBI raided the Manhattan office of Trump’s longtime personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, enraging the president. The Democratic leader warned that Mueller’s investigation must be allowed to proceed unimpeded to avoid a constitutional crisis.He noted that there are several bipartisan bills to protect the special counsel.

7am – C         TRUMP TWEET ON SYRIA:

Donald Trump @realDonaldTrump

Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia,  because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!

7am – D/E     More Highlights from Zuckerberg’s testimony to Congress

8am – A         INTERVIEW – SAAGAR ENJETI – White House Correspondent, Daily Caller – discussed the latest news coming out of the White House with regards to rumors that President Trump is thinking about firing Robert Mueller, President Trump’s response to the chemical attack in Syria and Trump Homeland Security Adviser Tom Bossert Resigning.

8am – B         Senator Sasse asks Mark Zuckerberg about policing Hate Speech:

• Sasse Grills Zuckerberg: If You’re Going to Police Hate Speech, Can You Define It? (National Review) — A Republican senator challenged Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook’s hate speech policies during his congressional testimony Tuesday, asking the Facebook boss if he could define it. Senator Ben Sasse (R., Neb.) said he worried about policies that are “less than First Amendment full-spirit embracing in my view.” “I worry about a world where when you go from violent groups to hate speech in a hurry,” Sasse told Zuckerberg. “Facebook may decide it needs to police a whole bunch of speech that I think America may be better off not having policed by one company that has a really big and powerful platform.” “Can you define hate speech?” he asked. Zuckerberg said it would be hard to pin down a specific definition, and mentioned speech “calling for violence” as something Facebook does not tolerate. “I’m worried about the psychological categories around speech,” Sasse interjected. “We see this happening on college campuses all across the country. It’s dangerous.” Stay Updated with NR Daily. NR’s afternoon roundup of the day’s best commentary & must-read analysis. “There are some really passionately held views about the abortion issue on this panel today,” the senator went on. “Can you imagine a world where you might decide that pro-lifers are prohibited from speaking about their abortion view on your platform?” “I certainly would not want that to be the case,” Zuckerberg responded.
• Mark Zuckerberg: ‘Optimistic’ AI tools to flag, remove hate speech on Facebook will be developed in 5-10 years (Washington Examiner) — Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg predicted Tuesday it will be five to 10 years before Facebook has technological tools in place to flag and remove hate speech from the platform before it is posted. During testimony before a joint hearing with the Senate Judiciary and Commerce committees, Commerce Committee Chairman John Thune, R-S.D., asked Zuckerberg what challenges Facebook faces with evaluating hate speech versus legitimate political discourse. Zuckerberg noted it’s more difficult for Facebook to rely on technology to root out hate speech compared to other content on the platform, such as terrorist propaganda. “Some problems lend themselves more easily to AI solutions than others,” Zuckerberg told Thune. “Hate speech is one of the hardest, because determining if something is hate speech is very linguistically nuanced. You need to understand what is a slur and whether something is hateful, not just in English, but a majority of people on Facebook use it in languages that are different across the world.”

8am – C         Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens’ accuser wavers on blackmail charges.  Accuser Admits Photo Session May Have Been A “Dream” (Washington Examiner) — Lawyers for embattled Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens are demanding that prosecutors share exculpatory information after the woman who has accused him of blackmailing her admitted she couldn’t recall if Greitens took pictures of her with his smartphone. Greitens earlier this year was indicted on felony invasion of privacy, accused by his former mistress of blackmailing her to keep their affair quiet. But in a deposition, the woman, who has not been publicly named, conceded that she could not recall whether Greitens took revealing pictures of her with his smartphone as part of the alleged blackmail. In a copy of the seven-page motion, obtained by the Washington Examiner, Greitens’ mistress said she might have imagined the governor’s actions in a “dream.” Greitens had not yet been elected governor at the time of their sexual affair. In the motion, his former mistress is referred to as “K.S.” “Apparently recognizing the difficulty this testimony presented for the charges, the Assistant Circuit Attorney later asked K.S. ‘did you see what you believed to be a phone?’ K.S. answered: ‘… I haven’t talked about it because I don’t know if it’s because I’m remembering it through a dream or I — I’m not sure, but yes, I feel like I saw it after that happened, but I haven’t spoken about it because of that,” the motion said. “She later re-confirmed, however, that she could not testify under oath that she saw a phone.” The motion from Greitens’ lawyers said prosecutors withheld that evidence, and demanded that prosecutors bring forward other exculpatory evidence they might have.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – DIAMOND & SILK – YouTube sensations and President Trump supporters – discussed the recent labeling of their Facebook as “unsafe for the community” and commented on Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony before Congress

8am – E         Axios: Paul Ryan confidants say he’s not running again (Axios) — Paul Ryan confidants told Axios the House Speaker will announce soon he will not run for reelection in November. Axios reported friends say now that Ryan has passed tax reform, he plans to step out of the “endlessly frustrating” job in part because of President Donald Trump.