Ray Stagich, Heritage’s Monica Burke, Rep. Louie Gohmert, MD Del. Nic Kipke, Rep. Denver Riggleman and Fox’s Peter Doocy joined WMAL on Friday morning!

Mornings on the Mall

Friday, March 8, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C             ASSISTED SUICIDE BILL

• Maryland House approves End-of-Life Option Act that would allow medically assisted suicide. ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — The Maryland House of Delegates has approved a measure to allow the terminally ill to end their lives with a doctor’s help. The House voted 74-66 for the bill Thursday. It now goes to the Senate. The measure would allow adults to obtain a prescription for life-ending drugs, if a doctor finds they have six months or less to live. The physician must certify that the person has the capacity to make the decision, and the prescription can only be self-administered. Supporters in Maryland have tried several times in recent years to pass the bill, but it has stalled in committee until now.
• VOTE: The Maryland House of Delegates has approved a measure to allow the terminally ill to end their lives with a doctor’s help. Following an intense and emotional debate that brought some lawmakers to tears, the Maryland House of Delegates approved a bill Thursday that would allow terminally ill adults to obtain prescription drugs they could take to end their lives. It was the fourth attempt to pass the bill; it has failed in three past General Assembly sessions. Thursday’s vote was 74-66 — three votes more than the 71 votes required for passage.
• LEGISLATION: The legislation would allow a doctor to prescribe drugs to a patient that the person could take to end his or her life. The patient must be at least 18 years old and have a terminal illness with a prognosis of less than six months to live. The patient must request the prescription on three occasions, including once in private and once in writing — provisions meant to prevent patients from being coerced. Supporters said having the option of medically assisted suicide would allow people to maintain control and die without suffering.
• POLLING: A recent poll from Goucher College found 62 percent of Marylanders support allowing terminally ill patients to obtain medication to end their lives.
• HOGAN: MD Governor Larry Hogan, a Republican, has not committed to a position on the bill. He has said that it is “one that I really wrestle with from a personal basis” and that he would give it careful consideration if it reaches his desk. (according to the Baltimore Sun)
• OTHER STATES: Maryland close to making giant leap to become 8th State to allow assisted suicide. Laws allowing medical aid in dying are legal in seven states, including California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.

5am – D         Paul Manafort Sentenced to 47 Months in Prison. Paul Manafort has been sentenced to 47 months in prison for for bank fraud, tax fraud and other financial crimes. Judge T.S. Ellis handed down the sentence Thursday afternoon in a Federal court in Alexandria, VA. Manafort, according to CNN, entered the courtroom Thursday in a wheelchair. He made an appeal to the judge for a light sentence. “I know it is my conduct that brought me here,” he said, per CNN. “My life — personally and professionally — is in shambles.” He added, “I ask you to be compassionate.” Manafort will face sentencing next week on separate counts of witness tampering and conspiracy. Still, Thursday’s sentencing is being widely viewed as a victory for him, given that special counsel Robert Mueller recommended a sentence of 19 to 24 years.

5am – E         INTERVIEW – RAY STAGICH – Meteorologist at The Weather Channel

• CONVERSATIONAL SNOW… Is Spring coming soon?
  • Some conversational snow is likely in Washington area on Friday. (The Washington Post) — Any accumulation limited mostly to grassy areas. NAM model shows precipitation arriving midday and exiting by about 7 p.m. Friday. Snow, the kind that’s pretty to look at but causes minimal disruption, is likely on Friday between midday and early evening. We call it “conversational” or “mood” snow because it doesn’t stick to pavement and is essentially harmless. But people do talk about it. And so will we. “Warm air being lifted over the last vestiges of our current cold snap is likely to couple with a very weak disturbance to offer a last gasp chance for a little light snow,” said Wes Junker, Capital Weather Gang’s winter weather expert. Precipitation is likely to develop between midmorning and midday on Friday, after the morning commute and when temperatures will be above freezing. It could start as rain or a rain-snow mix but may turn to a steadier snow for a time Friday afternoon.

6am – A/B/C ANTISEMITISM RESOLUTION VOTE:

• House passes broad resolution calling out racism, ‘anti-Semitic’ comments — without naming Ilhan Omar.   After several days of infighting and a near-rebellion by rank-and-file Democrats, as well as a major last-minute revision, the House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan resolution that only indirectly condemns U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s repeated ‘anti-Semitic’ and ‘pernicious’ comments — without mentioning the Minnesota Democrat by name. But opposing Republicans blasted the measure as a “watered down” sham, saying Democrats wanted to avoid condemning one of their own. The final vote was 407-23, with 23 Republicans voting no, and all Democrats, including Omar, voting yes.
• Rep. Gohmert Blasts Dems’ Anti-Hate Resolution: Condemning Anti-Semitism ‘Should Never Be Watered Down’ / Rep. Louie Gohmert (R., Texas) denounced the resolution introduced by House Democratic leaders condemning multiple forms of hatred in the wake of anti-Semitic comments made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.). Gohmert’s remarks came during a speech on the floor of the House on Thursday prior to the vote on the resolution. He quoted the Book of Proverbs to condemn various forms of wickedness, and then explained why anti-Semitism needs special attention.
• Ruhle: Why Would Condemning Anti-Semitism ‘Alienate Progressive Groups?’ MSNBC host Stephanie Ruhle reacted strongly Thursday to Democratic lawmakers’s foot-dragging over Rep. Ilhan Omar’s (D., Minn.) continued anti-Semitism. Speaking with Clinton spokesman Philippe Reines and Bulwark editor in chief Charlie Sykes, Ruhle wondered why Democratic leadership is struggling to organize a response condemning Omar. “I don’t understand that. Hate seems pretty clear to condemn,” she said. “If not, you’re swimming in the dirty pool you condemn Republicans for being in.” “This is not a good look,” Sykes agreed.
• ‘It’s NOT about her.’ Nancy Pelosi clears Ilhan Omar of ‘intended’ anti-Semitism hours before House votes on anti-hate resolution
• “I do not believe that she understood the full weight of the words,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says about Rep. Ilhan Omar’s controversial comments on Israel. “I feel confident that her words were not based on any anti-Semitic attitude.”
• “I feel confident [Ilhan Omar’s] words were not based in an antisemitic attitude, but that she didn’t have a full appreciation of how they landed on other people where these words have a history and cultural impact that might have been unknown to her,” Pelosi said

6am – D         MICHAEL JACKSON BANS:

• ‘Simpsons’ Episode Guest-Starring Michael Jackson Pulled From Circulation. (Hollywood Reporter) – Executive producer James L. Brooks, creator Matt Groening and showrunner Al Jean collectively made the decision to pull the episode from recirculation after they watched the HBO documentary ‘Leaving Neverland.’ The Simpsons’ top creatives have decided to remove an episode featuring the voice of Michael Jackson from streaming platforms, networks re-running the show and forthcoming physical copies such as box sets, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed. Executive producer James L. Brooks, creator Matt Groening and showrunner Al Jean collectively made the decision to pull the episode “Stark Raving Dad” from recirculation after they watched the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, which alleges child sexual abuse on the part of the “Bad” singer. The Wall Street Journal was the first to report the news. 20th Century Fox declined comment.  “It feels clearly the only choice to make,” Brooks told The Wall Street Journal. “The guys I work with — where we spend our lives arguing over jokes — were of one mind on this.” The episode, the premiere of the animated series’ third season, aired in 1991, featured Jackson playing Leon Kompowsky, a man who believes he is Michael Jackson. Homer Simpson meets Kompowsky in a mental institution where he is briefly committed; because he does not know Michael Jackson, he believes Kompowsky is the real deal, and when he returns home with his new friend, all of Springfield shows up to see the pop star. Jackson, a fan of the show, offered to guest star and was originally credited under the pseudonym “John Jay Smith.” While Jackson spoke his character’s lines, a voice double sang for him.

• Radio Stations Are Divided About Banning Michael Jackson. Major radio networks from Canada to New Zealand are pulling him off the airwaves while other stations are refusing to or keeping quiet.
• Radio networks in the U.S. have also hesitated to pull Jackson’s tunes. The second-largest American radio network, Cumulus Media, has left the decision up to its local stations. (Vice News) – A rep told Variety, “Cumulus Media is never in favor of censorship. This is a local market decision where the company is allowing local Program Directors to make the right decision regarding airplay for their communities.” Others in the music business such as iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple Music didn’t respond to Variety’s request for comment. Notably, Spotify implemented a short lived “Hateful Content and Conduct” policy last May to stop promoting the music of alleged abusers like R. Kelly on their playlists. That policy ended a month later after a fierce backlash followed.

6am – E         MCCAIN

• Meghan McCain Breaks Down in Tears After Heated Anti-Semitism Debate: Omar’s Comments Are ‘Very Scary.’ On Thursday, Meghan McCain was the center of The View’s rousing conversation about the hesitation among Democrats to condemn freshman representative, Ilhan Omar (D-MN). Congressional Democrats have been under a lot of scrutiny lately over how they’ve handled a brewing resolution against anti-Semitism. Because of Democratic efforts to reach a compromise on the resolution amid Omar’s repeated use of anti-Semitic stereotypes, a national debate is underway over the line between anti-Semitism and legitimate critiques of Israel. When The View addressed all of this on Thursday, McCain called this a “watershed moment” for Democrats because Omar is a rising star on the left, so they’ll have to decide whether they’re going to defend her anti-Semitism or play party politics. As McCain wondered how Democrats would react if Omar’s comments came from a “white, male Republican,” Joy Behar pushed back by insisting she would object under any circumstance, asking “why are they always concentrating on Israel?” The conversation continued with Sunny Hostin saying Omar has never questioned Israel’s right to exist as a country, saying “Republicans are trying to use this as a wedge issue.” “I’m really not,” McCain retorted, to which, Behar responded that Hostin wasn’t talking about McCain specifically.
• Omar retweets post blasting Meghan McCain for ‘faux outrage’ in response to Omar’s remarks on Israel. (Fox News) – But instead of responding directly to McCain, Omar retweeted a post that criticized McCain for “faux outrage” and referred to past statements attributed to McCain’s late father, U.S. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who died last August at age 81. “Meghan’s late father literally sang ‘bomb bomb bomb Iran’ and insisted on referring to his Vietnamese captors as ‘g–ks’,” read the post by Medhi Hasan, an “Intercept” columnist and Al Jazeera host. “He also, lest we forget, gave the world Sarah Palin. So a little less faux outrage over a former-refugee-turned-freshman-representative pls.”

6am – F         How this woman won $10,000 by reading the fine print in her insurance contract. (Washington Post) – Donelan Andrews has always been attuned to detail. “I have a folder for everything,” said Andrews, 59, a high school teacher who lives in Thomaston, Ga., about 65 miles south of Atlanta. When she decided to plan a getaway to England with some girlfriends, they purchased travel insurance, as they each had someone in their lives who was elderly or sick. Through the website Squaremouth she bought a policy that cost $454, the lowest price she could find to cover all of her travel costs, should she need to cancel. When the company she bought from, Tin Leg — a subsidiary of Squaremouth — sent her the insurance policy, she sat down to read it. “I always read all the fine print,” she said, adding that her major in college was consumer economics. “I know I sound like a nerd, but I learned to read contracts so you don’t get taken advantage of.” Andrews was deep into page seven of the policy when something jumped out at her.  “Pays to Read,” read the contract. It continued: “We estimate that less than 1 percent of travelers that purchase a travel insurance policy actually read all of their policy information — and we’re working to change that.” It said the first person to email the company and mention the fine-print contest would win $10,000. Andrews immediately emailed. She thought back to the days when she used to write high school tests, and she’d sneak in a bonus for students who carefully read the instructions. For example, the fourth sentence of test instructions would say something like: Circle the number 10 three times for 10 extra points. “About a third of the class would read it and the rest would get mad,” she said. “The lesson they learned is they need to read the directions.”

7am – A         INTERVIEW – MONICA BURKE – research assistant in the DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation.

• The Maryland House of Delegates has approved a measure to allow the terminally ill to end their lives with a doctor’s help.
• Maryland close to making giant leap to become 8th State to allow assisted suicide. Laws allowing medical aid in dying are legal in seven states, including California, Colorado, Hawaii, Montana, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.

7am – B/C     Calls on Assisted Suicide in Maryland

7am – D         INTERVIEW – REP. LOUIE GOHMERT – R-TX

• House passes broad resolution calling out racism, ‘anti-Semitic’ comments — without naming Ilhan Omar.   After several days of infighting and a near-rebellion by rank-and-file Democrats, as well as a major last-minute revision, the House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan resolution that only indirectly condemns U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s repeated ‘anti-Semitic’ and ‘pernicious’ comments — without mentioning the Minnesota Democrat by name. But opposing Republicans blasted the measure as a “watered down” sham, saying Democrats wanted to avoid condemning one of their own. The final vote was 407-23, with 23 Republicans voting no, and all Democrats, including Omar, voting yes.
• Rep. Gohmert Blasts Dems’ Anti-Hate Resolution: Condemning Anti-Semitism ‘Should Never Be Watered Down’ / Rep. Louie Gohmert (R., Texas) denounced the resolution introduced by House Democratic leaders condemning multiple forms of hatred in the wake of anti-Semitic comments made by Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.). Gohmert’s remarks came during a speech on the floor of the House on Thursday prior to the vote on the resolution. He quoted the Book of Proverbs to condemn various forms of wickedness, and then explained why anti-Semitism needs special attention.

7am – E         Nickelback debate breaks out on House floor, apparently Dems and Republicans can’t agree on that either. (Fox News) — House Republicans and Democrats have found one more thing to disagree on: Canadian rock band Nickelback.

Reps. Randy Davis, R-Ill., and Mark Pocan, D-Wis., were debating a criminal justice amendment to end the practice of prison gerrymandering on Thursday. Pocan had cited that only four people out 77,000 wanted to keep a particular provision in the body when the conversation shifted to the merits of the six-time Grammy-nominated group. “That’s probably about the percent of people who think Nickelback is their favorite band in this country. It’s pretty low,” Pocan said, before seeing Davis’ reaction. “And I think if you look at – Nickelback’s your favorite band? I apologize to the gentleman.” Davis, who spoke against the amendment, playfully shot back: “Why would you criticize one of the greatest bands of the ’90’s?” He then admitted to having a Nickelback song on his running playlist. “Wow. Alright,” Pocan said. “One more reason there’s a difference between Democrats and Republicans clearly found on the floor of Congress today.” Pocan commended the Republican’s “brave admission” of Nickelback fandom as the chamber enjoyed a laugh at this latest division between the two parties and agreed to the amendment by voice vote, WLS-TV reported.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MD Delegate NIC KIPKE  – House Republican Leader, Maryland General Assembly and Minority Leader in the MD House of Delegates

• KIPKE ON MD ASSISTED SUICIDE:
  • MD Minority Leader Nicholaus R. Kipke (R-Anne Arundel), one of the lead critics of the bill, said he would share his concerns when the legislation is taken up Thursday.
  • Delegate Nic Kipke “My conscience won’t let me vote for this” tells story of survival in announcing he will vote against End of Life.
• VOTE: The Maryland House of Delegates has approved a measure to allow the terminally ill to end their lives with a doctor’s help. Following an intense and emotional debate that brought some lawmakers to tears, the Maryland House of Delegates approved a bill Thursday that would allow terminally ill adults to obtain prescription drugs they could take to end their lives. It was the fourth attempt to pass the bill; it has failed in three past General Assembly sessions. Thursday’s vote was 74-66 — three votes more than the 71 votes required for passage.
• LEGISLATION: The legislation would allow a doctor to prescribe drugs to a patient that the person could take to end his or her life. The patient must be at least 18 years old and have a terminal illness with a prognosis of less than six months to live. The patient must request the prescription on three occasions, including once in private and once in writing — provisions meant to prevent patients from being coerced. Supporters said having the option of medically assisted suicide would allow people to maintain control and die without suffering.

8am – B/C     INTERVIEW – REP. DENVER RIGGLEMAN – R-VA

• Press release:Congressman Denver Riggleman and Virginia Republican Leaders condemn anti-Semitism: Today, the Virginia Republican Congressional Caucus, Virginia Senate Republican Caucus Chairman Ryan McDougle, Virginia House Majority Leader Todd Gilbert, and Republican Party of Virginia jointly issued the following statement in condemnation of anti-Semitism: “All that is required for evil to prevail is for men and women of goodwill to stand by and do nothing.” “Anti-Semitism is on the rise throughout the world, endangering the fabric of our communities, putting our friends and neighbors at risk. In recent years, Virginia has witnessed stark examples of anti-Semitism including the deadly white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017, and instances of Jewish community centers and synagogues being vandalized with swastikas.”
• House passes broad resolution calling out racism, ‘anti-Semitic’ comments — without naming Ilhan Omar.   After several days of infighting and a near-rebellion by rank-and-file Democrats, as well as a major last-minute revision, the House on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan resolution that only indirectly condemns U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar’s repeated ‘anti-Semitic’ and ‘pernicious’ comments — without mentioning the Minnesota Democrat by name. But opposing Republicans blasted the measure as a “watered down” sham, saying Democrats wanted to avoid condemning one of their own. The final vote was 407-23, with 23 Republicans voting no, and all Democrats, including Omar, voting yes.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – PETER DOOCY – Reporter, Fox News Channel – discussed the antisemitism resolution vote and his coverage of Bernie Sanders holding his first Iowa campaign event.