Hans Von Spakovsky, Creepy Line director M.A. Taylor and Robert Costa joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Supremes To Decide If States Can Prosecute Illegal Immigrants For Identity Theft. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether states can prosecute illegal aliens for using fraudulent information to obtain employment, the justices announced Monday. The case, which arose in Kansas, could feature prominently on the court’s docket next term, as it touches illegal immigration and will likely be heard as ballots are cast in the Democratic presidential primary. “I am encouraged by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear our appeal,” Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, said in a statement.

5am – D/E     Nunes sues Twitter, some users, seeks over $250M alleging anti-conservative ‘shadow bans,’ smears. (Fox News) – California GOP Rep. Devin Nunes filed a major lawsuit seeking $250 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 in punitive damages against Twitter and a handful of its users on Monday, accusing the social media site of “shadow-banning conservatives” to secretly hide their posts, systematically censoring opposing viewpoints, and totally “ignoring” lawful complaints of repeated abusive behavior. In a complaint filed in Virginia state court on Monday, obtained by Fox News, Nunes claimed Twitter wanted to derail his work on the House Intelligence Committee, which he chaired until 2019, as he looked into alleged and apparent surveillance abuses by the government. Nunes said Twitter was guilty of “knowingly hosting and monetizing content that is clearly abusive, hateful and defamatory – providing both a voice and financial incentive to the defamers – thereby facilitating defamation on its platform.” The lawsuit alleged defamation, conspiracy and negligence, as well as violations of the state’s prohibition against “insulting words” — effectively fighting words that tend towards “violence and breach of the peace.” The complaint sought not only damages, but also an injunction compelling Twitter to turn over the identities behind numerous accounts he said harassed and defamed him.

6am – A/B/C ‘I haven’t abandoned my principles’: Hogan, pondering challenge to Trump, casts himself as a traditional Republican. (Washington Post/By Robert Costa and Erin Cox) — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan acknowledges that many Republicans nationwide who have heard about his potential presidential ambitions probably view him as a centrist with little hope of finding support in President Trump’s GOP. But amid growing tensions between Trump and Republican lawmakers over foreign policy and the president’s treatment of global alliances, Hogan is signaling that if he decides to wage an insurgent campaign for the GOP nomination, he would pitch himself as far more in tune with the party’s long-held values and worldview than Trump. “I come from the Ronald Reagan school of politics,” Hogan said last week in a wide-ranging interview at the state capitol, shaking his head in disapproval when asked whether he shares Trump’s nationalism. He said groups such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a frequent target of Trump’s ire, are “critically important.” He expressed alarm about the way the president is “not standing by or standing up for some of our allies,” and he poked fun at Trump’s competence. “For a guy who wrote a book ‘The Art of the Deal,’ he’s just not making good deals,” Hogan said with a laugh. “Sometimes

6am – D         Suffolk/Usa Today Poll: Majority Think Mueller Probe Is A “Witch Hunt”

6am – E         New Zealand Prime Minister vows never to mention mosque gunman’s name.

6am – F         Donna Brazile: Why I am excited to join Fox News and take part in a civil – and sensible.

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

• Supremes To Decide If States Can Prosecute Illegal Immigrants For Identity Theft. The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether states can prosecute illegal aliens for using fraudulent information to obtain employment, the justices announced Monday. The case, which arose in Kansas, could feature prominently on the court’s docket next term, as it touches illegal immigration and will likely be heard as ballots are cast in the Democratic presidential primary. “I am encouraged by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear our appeal,” Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt, a Republican, said in a statement. “We remain convinced Congress did not intend to block Kansas from prosecuting defendants for falsifying state tax forms or private legal documents merely because the defendant also falsified federal employment verification forms.” The case involves three foreign nationals — Ramiro Garcia, Donaldo Morales and Guadalupe Ochoa-Lara — who entered the country illegally. The trio used stolen Social Security numbers when applying for work in the service industry. All three were convicted of identity theft in Kansas courts. Those convictions were reversed on appeal to the Kansas Supreme Court. A four-justice majority said that a federal statute called the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) prohibits states from pursuing such prosecutions. The Kansas court held that IRCA gives the federal government exclusive power to bring prosecutions that use information from the I-9, a federal form used to confirm employment eligibility. Social Security numbers are included on the I-9.

7am – B         WOMAN WHO WROTE COLLEGE ENTRANCE ESSAYS FOR RICH KIDS TELLS ALL: ‘The system is rigged, there is no such thing as meritocracy’: Woman reveals how she used to write rich children’s college applications, essays, and resumes to get them into America’s top schools. (Daily Mail) — A woman who used to write college essays, applications, and resumes for the children of wealthy parents has spoken out about the college bribery scandal.  Jaimie Leigh took to Facebook to reveal that she was not at all surprised when she found out that dozens of affluent parents, including Hollywood celebrities like Lori Laughlin and Felicity Huffman, had bribed their children’s way into America’s top schools.  Leigh broke down just how the wealthy get their children into these elite schools, and how it sets up their children for the same opulent lifestyle.  ‘I think a lot of people seriously have no idea how thoroughly the system is rigged,’ she wrote. ‘There’s no such thing as meritocracy’.   Leigh explained that she spent several years as a ‘for-hire writer who couldn’t afford to turn work away’.  ‘This means I accepted a lot of jobs I feel icky about now, but it also means that I’ve seen firsthand how this all shakes out,’ she said.

7am – C         “SNOW PLOW PARENTING”: NY TIMES: How Parents Are Robbing Their Children of Adulthood: Today’s “snowplow parents” keep their children’s futures obstacle-free — even when it means crossing ethical and legal boundaries. Helicopter parenting is so 20th century. Some parents are more like snowplows: machines chugging ahead, clearing any obstacles in their child’s path to success. ‘Snowplowing’ (also known as lawn-mowing and bulldozing) has become the most brazen mode of parenting of the privileged children in the everyone-gets-a-trophy generation

7am – D/E     INTERVIEW – M.A. TAYLOR – director of “Creepy Line” – discussed the problems of Big Tech companies.

• ABOUT FILM:  The Creepy Line is a 2018 American documentary exploring the influence Google and Facebook have on public opinion, and the power the companies have that is not regulated or controlled by national government legislation.
• TWITTER LAWSUIT / SHADOW BANS:
  • Nunes sues Twitter, some users, seeks over $250M alleging anti-conservative ‘shadow bans,’ smears
  • The Federalist’s SEAN DAVIS: Twitter confirmed to me today via e-mail that it did shadowban one of my tweets about Lisa Page’s congressional testimony in order to “keep people safe[.]” Twitter deliberately deleted the tweet/URL, yet kept it visible for me when I was logged in so I’d think it was still up.
• GOOGLE HELPING CHINESE MILITARY:
  • Joint Chiefs Chairman says Google refuses to work with the US military but provides “direct benefit” to China’s military
  • Top US general says Google ‘is indirectly benefiting the Chinese military’

8am – A         2020 NEWS:

• GILLIBRAND ON IMMIGRATION:
  • AT MSNBC TOWNHALL LAST NIGHT: Gillibrand: Immigration is not a security issue but a family issue…
  • AT MSNBC TOWNHALL: GILLIBRAND: There is no such thing as an illegal human
• GILLIBRAND ON GUNS:  Yesterday at a campaign event, Democrat Senator Kirsten Gillibrand claims without evidence that gun manfacturers oppose background checks because they want to sell guns to kids, terrorists, people who are gravely mentally ill, and violent convicted criminals.
• Gillibrand: Because the gun manufacturers only care about gun sales…they want to oppose universal background checks because they want to sell an assault rifle to a teenager in a Walmart. Or to someone on the terror watch list or to someone who’s gravely mentally ill…
• WARREN ON GUNS: ELIZABETH WARREN AT CNN TOWNHALL IN MISSISSIPPI (she gets a little southern accent) — talks about we don’t DO ANYTHING about guns and they are WEAPONS OF WAR… federal govt held hostage by NRA.”
• BETO ON ABORTION: Democrat Beto O’Rourke dodges question third term abortions: that should be a decision the woman makes… so thats my answer
• CORY BOOKER ON HARDBALL:
  • ON MSNBC’S HARDBALL LAST NIGHT, Cory Booker says he wouldnt pardon Trump
  • BOOKER opposes AOC running Amazon out of NY. He would like them come to NJ
  • CORY BOOKER says he’s for capitalism but doesn’t like corporate monopolies
  • BOOKER says he’s not a socialist
  • BOOKER wants to explore expanding SUPREME COURT… he says a SEAT WAS STOLEN

8am – D         INTERVIEW – ROBERT “BOB” COSTA – National political reporter, Washington Post and Moderator for Washington Week on PBS – discussed MD Governor Larry Hogan floating the idea of running against Trump in 2020.

• ‘I haven’t abandoned my principles’: Hogan, pondering challenge to Trump, casts himself as a traditional Republican. (Washington Post/By Robert Costa and Erin Cox) — Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan acknowledges that many Republicans nationwide who have heard about his potential presidential ambitions probably view him as a centrist with little hope of finding support in President Trump’s GOP. But amid growing tensions between Trump and Republican lawmakers over foreign policy and the president’s treatment of global alliances, Hogan is signaling that if he decides to wage an insurgent campaign for the GOP nomination, he would pitch himself as far more in tune with the party’s long-held values and worldview than Trump. “I come from the Ronald Reagan school of politics,” Hogan said last week in a wide-ranging interview at the state capitol, shaking his head in disapproval when asked whether he shares Trump’s nationalism. He said groups such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, a frequent target of Trump’s ire, are “critically important.” He expressed alarm about the way the president is “not standing by or standing up for some of our allies,” and he poked fun at Trump’s competence. “For a guy who wrote a book ‘The Art of the Deal,’ he’s just not making good deals,” Hogan said with a laugh. “Sometimes, he’s his own worst enemy, and there is a better way to accomplish things.”

8am – E         ASTRONAUTS WITH HERPES! Spaceflight And Stress Reactivate Herpes In Astronauts, Research Says. (Daily Caller) – In new research done by NASA, more than half of the astronauts who traveled to the International Space Station (ISS) and on space shuttles had dormant herpes and other viruses reactivate, reports CNN. The testing, which was published in Frontiers in Microbiology, showed that the longer astronauts stayed in space, the more likely that these viruses will flare up. This new discovery could spell danger for longer missions, such as a mission to Mars. Blood, urine and saliva samples were collected from these astronauts before, during and after spaceflight. The virus “shedding,” which is when it successfully reactivates, occurred most during the flight itself, according to the research.