Legal analyst Joe diGenova, Film critic Christian Toto, and Daily Caller White House Correspondent Saagar Enjeti joined WMAL on Monday!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, August 6, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C Newseum pulls ‘fake news’ shirts after outcry from journalists (Washington Post) – At the end of a week in which getting the White House to clarify whether it considers the news media “the enemy of the people” was a major story, Poynter made a revelation after visiting the Newseum’s website. The Washington attraction “dedicated to the importance of a free press and the first amendment” was selling “You are very fake news” T-shirts.  Before abruptly reversing course on Saturday, the museum sold the T-shirts alongside Make America Great Again hats and other items that could appeal to supporters of President Trump, who popularized the term “fake news” and frequently battles with news outlets and reporters he says are unfair to him. During a rally in Pennsylvania on Thursday, he used the term, and it prompted chants of “CNN sucks” from the crowd. And recently Trump’s rhetoric has raised concerns that the hostility he has cultivated among his supporters could lead to violence.

5am – D Report: Abortion accounts for 61% of black deaths in America (Breitbart) – A report Thursday analyzed research using data from the latest year for which all the pertinent information is available (2009) and found that induced abortion was responsible for 1.152 million deaths, making it the number one cause of death in the U.S. at nearly twice the number of deaths from heart disease (599,413) and cancer (567,628).  While abortion accounted for nearly a third of all U.S. deaths in 2009 (32.1 percent), more troubling still, it made up 61.1 percent of African American deaths, according to the study published in the Open Journal of Preventive Medicine (June 2016).

5am – E Federal judge orders Trump administration to reinstate DACA program (Breitbart) – U.S. District Judge John Bates said his decision to order the Obama-era policy be upheld is predicated on the Department of Homeland Security’s so-called failure to defend the merits of nullifying the program. “The court has already once given DHS the opportunity to remedy these deficiencies — either by providing a coherent explanation of its legal opinion or by reissuing its decision for bona fide policy reasons that would preclude judicial review,” Bates wrote in his 25-page opinion. “So it will not do so again.”

6am – A Federal judge orders Trump administration to reinstate DACA program (Breitbart) – U.S. District Judge John Bates said his decision to order the Obama-era policy be upheld is predicated on the Department of Homeland Security’s so-called failure to defend the merits of nullifying the program. “The court has already once given DHS the opportunity to remedy these deficiencies — either by providing a coherent explanation of its legal opinion or by reissuing its decision for bona fide policy reasons that would preclude judicial review,” Bates wrote in his 25-page opinion. “So it will not do so again.”          

6am – B Russia Latest:

• Trump admits son met Russian for information on opponent (BBC) – US President Donald Trump has admitted his son met a Russian lawyer in June 2016 “to get information on an opponent”, but argues it was legal. It is his most direct statement so far on the reason for Donald Trump Jr’s meeting with Kremlin-linked lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower.  Special Counsel Robert Mueller is investigating US intelligence findings that Russians conspired to sway the election in Mr Trump’s favour.  President Trump denies any collusion.
• 12 times Christopher Steele fed Trump-Russia allegations to FBI after the election (Washington Examiner) – Congressional investigators know that Christopher Steele, the former British spy who compiled the Trump dossier on behalf of the Clinton campaign, kept supplying allegations to the FBI after the 2016 election — and even after he was terminated as a source by the bureau for giving confidential information to the media. Because he had broken his agreement with the FBI, bureau procedure did not allow agents to keep using Steele as a source. But they did so anyway — by devising a system in which Steele spoke regularly with Bruce Ohr, a top Obama Justice Department official whose wife worked for Fusion GPS, which hired Steele to search for dirt on Donald Trump in Russia. Ohr then passed on Steele’s information to the FBI.
• Rick Gates – and the lies he’s admitted telling – to take center stage at Manafort trial (Washington Post) – Whom to believe — the accused liar, or the admitted one? A Virginia jury is expected to wrestle with that question this week, when it is scheduled to hear testimony from the former protege of Paul Manafort, President Trump’s former campaign chairman now facing trial on bank fraud and tax ­charges. Rick Gates worked for years as Manafort’s right-hand man, ­managing his clients, his business, and his accounts. He also served as a senior Trump campaign aide and played a major role in planning the 2017 inauguration. This week, Gates begins a new role: star witness against his former boss and business partner.

6am – C Venezuelan President survives apparent drone assassination attempt (CNN) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro survived an apparent assassination attempt Saturday after several drones armed with explosives flew toward him during a speech at a military parade.  Live footage of the event showed him suddenly looking up startled mid-speech, while beside him his wife, Cilia Flores, winces after a loud bang.  Dozens of soldiers are also seen scattering during the event to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the Venezuelan national guard in the capital of Caracas.

6am – D Blink and you won’t miss it: Face tattoos go mainstream (WRAL Raleigh) – At Chicago Tattoo & Piercing Co., which has been in business in that city since 1973, the employees have a name for tattoos on the hands, neck and face. “We call them job stoppers,” said Joel Jose Molina, a tattoo artist at the shop. “Your possibilities are cut down. You’re going to be working at the Trader Joe’s putting groceries away or working that bar job.”  Or then again, you might be cutting platinum albums and performing at this year’s Lollapalooza Festival, like Post Malone. Or broadcasting your amazing pop star life to your 101 million Instagram followers, like Justin Bieber.  Both musicians have tattoos on their faces, a once taboo area to ink.

6am – E N.R.A. suit claims Cuomo’s ‘Blacklisting’ has cost it millions of dollars (New York Times) – The long-running battle between Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York and the National Rifle Association, which says it has lost millions of dollars because of state officials’ political agenda, entered another round of legal wrangling and public posturing this week.  Mr. Cuomo announced on Friday that the state was moving to dismiss a lawsuit the N.R.A. filed in federal court in May, which he called “frivolous.” The lawsuit, which accused state officials of “blacklisting” the gun rights organization, was amended with sharper language last month.

6am – F Shooter targets back to school event – runs into a good guy with a gun (Daily Caller) – A Florida back to school event could have made tragic headlines on Saturday if not for the presence — and quick thinking — of a good guy with a legal license to carry a firearm.  “Peace in the City,” the event which was held in Titusville, Fla., was billed as a “day of fun” with “no violence” — but that didn’t stop a man (as yet unidentified by authorities) from returning to the location after a fistfight and opening fire.

7am – A INTERVIEW – Joe diGenova – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District – discussed the Manafort trial and DACA          

7am – B Facebook is to cash in on £11billion lonely hearts industry by launching dating app that allows users to choose from five different genders (Daily Mail) – Facebook is reportedly aiming to cash in on the £11billion lonely hearts industry with a dating app to rival the likes of Tinder.  The social media giant is internally testing the service with Facebook employees, according to a Twitter user who appeared to leak screenshots of the app on Twitter.  The screenshots show that ‘Facebook Dating’ would offer users a choice of five genders: woman, trans woman, man, trans man and non-binary people.

7am – C Lance Bass is ‘heartbroken’ after losing bidding war for Brady Bunch house: ‘I feel used’ (People) – Lance Bass was this close to buying the house of his dreams before the rug got swept out from under him.  One day after tweeting that his off Add Albumer to purchase the Brady Bunch house had been accepted, the former ‘NSYNC member shared that the next day he learned another buyer was interested — and they were willing to pay any price to scoop up the property for themselves.  “Marcia Marcia Marcia!” wrote Bass, 39, on Instagram Saturday, referencing a famous line from the beloved American sitcom.

7am – D Newseum pulls ‘fake news’ shirts after outcry from journalists (Washington Post) – At the end of a week in which getting the White House to clarify whether it considers the news media “the enemy of the people” was a major story, Poynter made a revelation after visiting the Newseum’s website. The Washington attraction “dedicated to the importance of a free press and the first amendment” was selling “You are very fake news” T-shirts.  Before abruptly reversing course on Saturday, the museum sold the T-shirts alongside Make America Great Again hats and other items that could appeal to supporters of President Trump, who popularized the term “fake news” and frequently battles with news outlets and reporters he says are unfair to him. During a rally in Pennsylvania on Thursday, he used the term, and it prompted chants of “CNN sucks” from the crowd. And recently Trump’s rhetoric has raised concerns that the hostility he has cultivated among his supporters could lead to violence.

7am – E The ACLU Appears to Endorse a Ban on Catcalling, Despite Huge Free Speech Concerns (Reason) – On Friday, the American Civil Liberties Union seemingly called on America to follow France’s lead—and ban catcalling. The tweet was swiftly deleted, though I obtained a screenshot.  A U.S. ban on catcalling—defined as street harassment of women, usually by men, often of a sexual nature—would likely violate the First Amendment, unless the law was very narrowly tailored to prohibit only severe, pervasive, objectively offensive conduct, or threatening behavior. Even then the Supreme Court might strike it down; think of Snyder v. Phelps. As obnoxious as catcalling is, the government simply can’t prevent men from talking to women in public. This is something that many anti-catcalling groups understand explicitly, which is why they often oppose attempts criminalize such behavior.

8am – A INTERVIEW – Christian Toto – Film critic – discussed the latest box office hits and upcoming movies 

8am – B/C Tech Censorship:

• Alex Jones’s podcasts are erased by Apple, in latest move against the conspiracy theorist who claims Sandy Hook was a hoax (Washington Post) – Apple has wiped iTunes and its podcasting app virtually clean of content by Alex Jones, in one of the most aggressive moves by technology companies and streaming services against the conspiracy theorist and owner of the right-wing media platform Infowars.  As of early Monday, just one of the six Infowars programs once listed by Apple remained, RealNews with David Knight. The decision to completely pull the other shows, including “The Alex Jones Show” and “War Room,” represents a broader effort than those made by other companies in recent days to stop disseminating material associated with Jones, whom the Southern Poverty Law Center calls “the most prolific conspiracy theorist in contemporary America.”
• Twitter suspends Candace Owens’ account for mimicking Sarah Jeong’s racism (Breitbart) – Twitter slapped Turning Point USA Communications Director Candace Owens with a temporary suspension after she highlighted racist posts made by Sarah Jeong, the recent New York Times hire whose long history of bigoted tweets about white people has placed the newspaper at the center of a public outcry. The beleaguered platform then reversed the ban, calling it an “error” in an email to Owens.  Owens’ tweets mimicked the wording of Jeong’s, with one important difference: Owens substituted the words “Jewish people” for “white people,” in an attempt to show that some forms of racism are considered more acceptable than others.
• Activist Wikipedia editors forbid any mention of Sarah Jeong’s racist tweets in her page (Daily Caller) – New York Times editorial board member Sarah Jeong’s Wikipedia page includes no mention of her racist tweets that resurfaced after her new position with the newspaper was announced, apparently because activist editors for the free online encyclopedia won’t allow any mention of her tweets.  There has been a lot of debate amongst Wikipedia writers and editors about whether or not mention of her racist tweets should be included on her page.

8am – D/E INTERVIEW – Saagar Enjeti – White House correspondent, Daily Caller – discussed Trump rally in Ohio and the latest White House news