Heritage’s Mike Gonzalez, Rep. Andy Harris, Washington Examiner’s Susan Ferrechio and Washingtonian’s Anna Spiegel joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C BARBARA BUSH BASHING PROFESSOR:

• After calling Barbara Bush an ‘amazing racist,’ a professor taunts critics: ‘I will never be fired’ (Washington Post) — In the hours after Barbara Bush died Tuesday, even those who didn’t share the former first lady’s political views expressed their condolences and recounted warm memories of the Bush family matriarch. Former president Bill Clinton, the man who once campaigned against her husband, called her “a remarkable woman” with “grit & grace, brains & beauty.” Another former president, Barack Obama, said she had “humility and decency that reflects the very best of the American spirit.” But a creative writing professor at California State University at Fresno had a message for those offering up fond remembrances: “Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal,” Randa Jarrar wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening, according to the Fresno Bee. Jarrar’s words — and others that she used as she argued with critics for hours during an overnight tweetstorm — sparked a backlash on social media that would soon prompt the university to distance itself from her remarks. More than 2,000 people had replied to her before she made her Twitter account private, the Bee reported. Some were upset at what they viewed as Jarrar’s incivility about a woman widely regarded as genteel. For others, the sin was more basic: She had spoken ill of the dead. Jarrar pointed to the comments as an example of “what it’s like to be an Arab American Muslim American woman with some clout online expressing an opinion.” “Look at the racists going crazy in my mentions right now,” she tweeted. The writer taunted those attacking her, sharing a contact number that was actually that of Arizona State University’s suicide hotline, and said she was a tenured professor who makes $100,000 a year. “I will never be fired,” she tweeted. Many tagged Fresno State and the institution’s president, Joseph Castro, demanding that the professor be fired. Jarrar laughed at them. “LOL let me help you. You should tag my president @JosephlCastro. What I love about being an American professor is my right to free speech, and what I love about Fresno State is that I always feel protected and at home here,” Jarrar wrote. “GO BULLDOGS!” On Wednesday, Castro told the Bee that Jarrar’s comments were “beyond free speech. This was disrespectful.” “A professor with tenure does not have blanket protection to say and do what they wish,” he said. “We are all held accountable for our actions.” Jarrar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

5am – D         House GOPers Call On Sessions To Prosecute Clinton, DOJ Officials (TPM) — Eleven House Republicans sent a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, urging him to prosecute Hillary Clinton and more than a half-dozen current or former Justice Department officials, including former FBI Director James Comey and former Attorney General Loretta Lynch. The letter complains that the investigations into Clinton and President Trump’s campaign have been marked by “dissimilar degrees of zealousness.” “Because we believe that those in positions of high authority should be treated the same as every other American, we want to be sure that the potential violations of law outlined below are vetted appropriately,” the House Republicans said. The letter — which also went to FBI Director Christopher Wray and U.S. Attorney John Huber, whom Sessions named to oversee the investigation into GOP-fueled anti-DOJ allegations — comes after the FBI raided Michael Cohen, President Trump’s personal lawyer, last week. It goes on to cherry-pick certain details reported about the ongoing Russia probe, as well as other speculation and disputed accusations, to allege that crimes may have been committed by Clinton and certain DOJ officials. They accuse Comey of leaking classified information for Trump-related memos he handed over to a law professor friend, who in turn leaked them to the New York Times, among other allegations. Lynch is accused in the letter of potentially obstructing an agency investigation, with the Republicans pointing to extremely flimsy reporting on the so-called “Uranium One” deal. They raised the DOJ Inspector General’s report about former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe to refer him for potential criminal violations. Clinton, meanwhile, is accused of potential campaign finance allegations because her campaign’s lawyer facilitated financing for the opposition research project that led to the “dossier” of Trump-Russia allegations assembled by Christopher Steele.

5am – E         Google Lawsuit:

• Lawsuit: Google Instructed Managers that ‘Individual Achievement’ and ‘Objectivity’ Were Examples of ‘White Dominant Culture’ (Breitbart) — A document brought to light by James Damore’s class-action lawsuit against Google and drafted by the company’s HR department instructing managers at the company on how to be “inclusive” cautioned managers against rewarding employees for traits “valued by the U.S. white/male dominant culture”, including individual achievement, and meritocracy. The document has been released as part of James Damore’s ongoing class-action lawsuit against Google, which alleges the company discriminates on the basis of race, gender, and political viewpoint. It was announced today that three new plaintiffs have joined the lawsuit, bringing the total number of plaintiffs up to five. According to the lawsuit, the document is provided to all Google managers as part of “Inclusive Perf” training, which is a requirement for some departments at the company, and “strongly encouraged” by others. The handout cautions managers about “rewarding people when they exhibit values and practices that are part of the dominant, and either punishing or failing to reward people when they exhibit values that are outside the of the dominant cultural norm.” According to the lawsuit, the document goes on to explain “how Google managers can give feedback to ‘women and people of color’ as opposed to giving feedback to males and Caucasians.” Damore’s lawsuit claims that the handout cites “multiple different studies and articles on gender and race biases and stereotypes to justify the positions set forth.” The lawsuit notes that, unlike James Damore, who was fired after he referenced studies on gender differences, the document’s author “was never reprimanded for promoting harmful racial and gender stereotypes of Google-disfavored races and males.”
• According to Google, these are the values of “White Dominant Culture”:

    Arguing, winning

    Meritocracy

    Individual achievement

    Avoiding conflict

    We are objective

    Perfectionism

    Urgency

    A colorblind racial frame

6am – A         POMPEO CONFIRMATION FIGHT:

• Pompeo nomination runs into more U.S. Senate Democrat opposition (Reuters) — WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House cranked up pressure on Wednesday on Democratic senators facing tough re-election fights to back secretary of state nominee Mike Pompeo, who looked increasingly likely to face a rare committee rejection before the full Senate can vote on his nomination.  President Donald Trump confirmed the CIA director is already deeply involved in diplomacy via a meeting with North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un. But even if he is confirmed, Pompeo risked becoming the first secretary of state known to take office without the approval of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Pompeo needs Democratic votes to gain approval from the panel where one Republican, Senator Rand Paul, has pledged to oppose him. Paul was the only one of Trump’s fellow Republicans to vote against Pompeo’s nomination to be CIA director. The committee includes 11 Republicans and 10 Democrats. Nine of the 10 Democrats have announced they oppose Pompeo. The 10th, Senator Chris Coons, is undecided. Like many Democrats, Paul said Pompeo is too hawkish to be the country’s top diplomat. He also criticized him for supporting the CIA’s past use of waterboarding and other interrogation techniques widely considered torture.
• Trump urges “very special” Rand Paul to back Mike Pompeo after “really great” Kim Jong Un meeting
• NBC News’ @frankthorp: Rand Paul says he just got off the phone with Pres Trump, who asked him to meet with Pompeo, so Rand is going to meet with Pompeo. Still a NO on his nomination at the moment.
• Senator Menendez to vote against Pompeo as secretary of state (Reuters) Senator Robert Menendez, top Democrat on Foreign Relations, announced earlier on Wednesday he would cast a “no” vote. Menendez criticized Pompeo for failing to disclose his recent trip to North Korea in meetings with lawmakers. He said Pompeo also was not forthcoming when questioned about the investigation into whether the Trump campaign colluded with Russia to sway the 2016 election. “I believe our nation’s top diplomat must be forthright.”
• @ChadPergram: Dem FL Sen Nelson on Pompeo going to North Korea to meet w/Kim Jong-un: That puts him in a better light in my mind yes.
• Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s embarrassing excuse for opposing Mike Pompeo. (Washington Examiner) – On Wednesday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., offered a very poor rationale for opposing Mike Pompeo’s nomination to become the next secretary of state.  Shaheen claims that she must oppose the current CIA director due to his positions “particularly in regards to the LGBTQ community, American Muslims and women’s reproductive rights.”
• Reporter: Are you concerned about Pompeo’s confirmation? Trump: “No. I think he’s going to come through. I think Mike Pompeo is extraordinary… I think he’ll go down as truly a great secretary of state.”

6am – B         This DC Wharf Restaurant Called the Police on a Diner For Alleged Hostile Behavior. She Says It Was a Racial Issue. Customers were escorted from Kaliwa, whose owners deny any bias. (Washingtonian) — Finding a hair in one’s food can be unappetizing at best—or an incident that sparks a debate over racial discrimination and a visit by the police at worst. At least that’s what occurred last week at the newly opened Wharf restaurant, Kaliwa. Damelia Shaw, a DC native of African American descent who works for a local marketing firm, says she visited the new Southeast Asian restaurant last Friday with a Latina friend who recently moved into one of the waterfront development’s condos. The duo sat at the bar in the packed restaurant, and Shaw detailed how the evening got off to an uneven start when they ordered a noodle dish that they thought was easily shareable, like pad thai, and were given a noodle soup instead. Shaw says a manager, who is white, offered them an additional pour of wine to ameliorate the misunderstanding—as is typical in the hospitality industry. Then a whole fish entree arrived. Shaw said her friend pulled “a long, black hair” out of the fish entree. The duo pointed out the hair to another employee and asked to see the same manager again. Shaw says the manager asked what they would like her to do, and so they requested she take the fish off the check. Shaw says a male employee came over, offering more gratis wine and dessert. “At that point, I was disgusted at how she [the manager] was handling the situation, and we just wanted to pay and leave,” says Shaw.  Owners chef Cathal and Meshelle Armstrong refute the claims of racial bias or mishandling of the situation. Cathal, who was present in the open kitchen at the time but didn’t get personally involved, says he spoke with employees and diners—including African American customers who were seated next to Shaw—and also reviewed video footage of the night of the visit. “It’s clear that the likelihood of the hair she claimed wasn’t hers is actually hers,” says Armstrong, based on his review of the video (which didn’t include audio coverage). He says the whole fish was shared on a family-style plate and that Shaw’s friend found the hair on her own dining plate, according to video surveillance.

6am – C         7 Prince George’s County elementary students cut wrists at school, officials say (Fox 5) — HYATTSVILLE, Md. – Seven students at an elementary school in Prince George’s County cut their wrists at school using blades from pencil sharpeners, according to officials. Officials with Prince George’s County Public Schools said a concerned parent at William Paca Elementary School in Hyattsville came forward on March 29 and an investigation was launched. It was revealed that the students used blades out of pencil sharpeners to cut themselves, officials stated. All seven students were seen by the school nurse and none of the children were taken to the hospital, according to officials. School counselors were brought in to speak with the students. Officials announced a ban on pencil sharpeners at the school in a message sent to parents on March 29 and said they worked to contact the families of students involved over spring break, which was between April 2 and April 6.

6am – D/E/F  CA NEWS:

• California Bill Could Force Businesses To Submit Salary Data To State. SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A controversial new bill could soon force California businesses to submit their salary data to the state in an effort to achieve equal pay for women. “Women are in the workforce primarily because they need to be and it’s important that women are paid equally,” said state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, who introduced the bill before a Judiciary Committee Tuesday. From the Woman’s March to the Me Too movement, there has been a growing awareness of a gender pay gap in the workforce. “It’s an enormous problem,” Jackson added. So, could this new bill help? Senate Bill 1284 would require all California companies with 100 or more employees to submit a pay data report that includes the number of workers, their race and sex, and the total earnings of each employee. “It’s a way for companies to self-evaluate and to self-correct,” she said. If discrepancies are caught, the state could take action under the equal pay act. Opponents include the California Manufacturers & Technology Association and Chamber of Commerce, which has labeled the bill a job killer.
• Most Californians back more deportations; nearly half support travel ban, poll finds (Fox News) — An overwhelming majority of Californians want to deport more illegal immigrants, and nearly half support President Donald Trump’s travel ban aimed at reducing terrorism, according to a new survey from the University of California at Berkeley’s Haas Institute for a Fair and Inclusive Society.

• Trump’s tax cut not for everyone: 1 million Californians will owe $12 billion more next year. President Donald Trump’s tax cuts will be anything but for about 1 million California taxpayers who will owe Uncle Sam more money a year from now. They’re the Californians who will lose a collective $12 billion because the new law caps a deduction they have been able to take for paying their state and local taxes, according to a new analysis by the Franchise Tax Board. Very wealthy Californians earning more than $1 million a year will pay the lion’s share of that money, with 43,000 of them paying a combined $9 billion. But some middle-class Californians will pay more, too.
• Gov. Brown orders 400 National Guard members deployed across California
• Trump’s lawsuit against California sanctuary laws backed by these cities, counties (Fox News) — The U.S. Justice Department sued California over its alleged interference with federal immigration policies – and it’s gotten some support from the state’s own municipalities. Multiple local city or county councils have voted to join the Trump administration’s lawsuit or fight the state’s policies in some way.   California’s so-called sanctuary laws limit police cooperation with federal immigration authorities – a move passed by the nation’s largest state to resist increased efforts to deport people living in the country illegally and to stop President Trump’s plan to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. The sanctuary policy, pushed by Gov. Jerry Brown and the state’s Democratic-controlled legislature, has received some backlash at the local level. Some of the cities joining the Trump administration’s efforts to deem California’s law unconstitutional: Los Alamitos, Hesperia, Orange County, Mission Viejo, Huntington Beach, Escondido, Fountain Valley, Aliso Viejo, Newport Beach, Westminster, San Juan Capistrano, and San Diego County.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – MIKE GONZALEZ – Senior Fellow for International Studies at The Heritage Foundation and the author of “A Race for the Future: How Conservatives Can Break the Liberal Monopoly on Hispanic Americans.”

• A native of Cuba, Mike Gonzalez escaped the Castro regime at age 12.  He is a senior fellow in The Heritage Foundation’s Davis Institute for International Studies and the author of “A Race for the Future” How Conservatives Can Break the Liberal Monopoly on Hispanic Americans.”
• TOPIC:The end of the Castro era in Cuba:  For the first time in 60 years, a Castro will not be the leader of Cuba and what it really means for Cuba
• Castro rule in Cuba nears end as Miguel Diaz-Canel named sole candidate for leadership change (Washington Post) — Miguel Díaz-Canel, 57, is poised to take over what may be this island’s toughest job — being the first Cuban leader in nearly 60 years who is not a Castro. Raúl Castro, 86, who took over from his late brother Fidel in 2008, is expected to step down Thursday, completing a transition he set in motion years ago. Cuba’s National Assembly on Wednesday named Díaz-Canel as the sole candidate for head of state, virtually ensuring that the engineer long groomed for leadership will replace Castro.
• Miguel Díaz-Canel: Cuba selects first non-Castro president since Fidel. Díaz-Canel’s transition aims to ensure the country’s single-party system outlasts the ageing men who created it. (The Guardian) — The Cuban government has selected the country’s 57-year-old first vice-president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, as the sole candidate to succeed President Raúl Castro in a transition aimed at ensuring the country’s single-party system outlasts the ageing revolutionaries who created it.

7am – B/C     BARBARA BUSH BASHING PROFESSOR:

• After calling Barbara Bush an ‘amazing racist,’ a professor taunts critics: ‘I will never be fired’ (Washington Post) — In the hours after Barbara Bush died Tuesday, even those who didn’t share the former first lady’s political views expressed their condolences and recounted warm memories of the Bush family matriarch. Former president Bill Clinton, the man who once campaigned against her husband, called her “a remarkable woman” with “grit & grace, brains & beauty.” Another former president, Barack Obama, said she had “humility and decency that reflects the very best of the American spirit.” But a creative writing professor at California State University at Fresno had a message for those offering up fond remembrances: “Barbara Bush was a generous and smart and amazing racist who, along with her husband, raised a war criminal,” Randa Jarrar wrote on Twitter on Tuesday evening, according to the Fresno Bee.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – REP. ANDY HARRIS (R-MD) — Harris was one of the signers of the letter to Sessions, Wray and Huber

• 11 members of Congress have asked AG Jeff Sessions, FBI Director Chris Wray, and US attorney John Huber to conduct a criminal investigation of the following individuals: James Comey, Hillary Clinton, Loretta Lynch, Andrew McCabe, Peter Strzok  and Lisa Page

7am – E         Nurses will be in D.C.’s 911 center in latest attempt to cut emergency call volume. (Washington Post) — Registered nurse Ogechi Ukachu spoke into a telephone headset at the District’s 911 center, fielding an emergency call from a woman complaining about wrist pain. Ukachu asked yes or no questions to determine the caller’s pain level, any blood loss and other symptoms that could pinpoint the extent of the injury. After about a dozen answers, Ukachu determined the woman needed a trip to an urgent-care center — not a ride in a D.C. ambulance. The call was a training exercise, but beginning Thursday morning, registered nurses such as Ukachu will process live calls in a program aimed at reducing the crush of non-emergency medical requests that swamp the 911 system in the District. Instead of firefighters and ambulance crews at their doors, some callers will get a taxi or Lyft ride to take them to prompt medical appointments in their communities, all of which is arranged through the nurses who assess medical urgency in a system known as triaging. Putting nurses in the call center is meant to extend efforts to reserve D.C. ambulances and medics for dire cases in a city where fire department officials say as many as 70 percent of the 911 medical runs they respond to involve patients with conditions that are not emergencies. The nurse triage program follows on the use of commercial ambulance services, starting in March 2016, to transport less-serious cases.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – SUSAN FERRECHIO – chief congressional correspondent for the Washington Examiner – discussed the Pompeo nomination running into more U.S. Senate Democrat opposition.

8am – B         The Hill is ending the 50 Most Beautiful list. (The Hill) – After nearly 15 years, The Hill is bidding a beautiful bye-bye to its annual 50 Most Beautiful list. While it’s had a remarkably gorgeous run, The Hill team feels the time has come for 50 Most Beautiful to be added to that big, beautiful list in the sky. “It’s been a great run, but all things must come to an end,” The Hill editor-in-chief Bob Cusack said. “Rest in peace.” Since making its debut in 2004, 50 Most Beautiful has become an extraordinarily popular summertime tradition in Washington. Every year, editors pore through hundreds upon hundreds of nominations of D.C. hopefuls. Originally, the list featured lawmakers, journalists, congressional staffers and lobbyists.  But in 2013, in honor of 50 Most Beautiful’s 10th anniversary, The Hill expanded its nomination pool to also include the White House, Cabinet departments and executive agencies. What started from humble beginnings as the brainchild of Betsy Rothstein, a former reporter for The Hill, quickly became a Washington pop culture mainstay.

8am – C         What the @#$%! Americans can’t get through the day without cursing. (NY Post) — The average American utters their first curse word of the day at 10:54 am, according to new data. A study into the everyday stress and frustration of 2,000 Americans aimed to explore how much stress Americans take on and how exactly they deal with it. Having a bad day? You might be one of the one in four Americans who can’t get past 9 am without cursing most days, while the majority of respondents swear before 11am.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – ANNA SPIEGEL – Food Editor, Washingtonian – discussed an incident at a DC Wharf restaurant where police escorted diners out. Diner claims it was racial.

8am – E         Mitch McConnell plans longer weeks to keep vulnerable Democrats off campaign trail. (Washington Examiner) — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., could seek to hold the Senate in session longer each week to keep vulnerable incumbent Democrats off the campaign trail. McConnell this month began threatening Senate Democrats with longer workweeks if they continue to slow-walk the confirmation of President Trump’s nominees. Marc Short, White House point man for legislative affairs, told a small gathering of Republican donors this week that the majority leader plans to use this tactic in the weeks ahead to squeeze Democrats running for re-election in red states. “McConnell wants to increase the days the Senate is open for business to keep” Democratic Sens. Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Bill Nelson of Florida, and Claire McCaskill of Missouri “tied up from campaigning,” a Republican donor told the Washington Examiner, relaying what Short communicated. The meeting, organized by the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP campaign arm, was not a fundraiser. It was made available to some major Republican donors but no money was solicited in exchange for attending, the contributor said.