Cal Thomas, Susan Ferrechio, Adam Tuss and ICE’s Derek Benner joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C CAN PELOSI HOLD OFF THE IMPEACHMENT WING OF HER PARTY?

• Pelosi facing increasing pressure to support impeaching Trump
• Nancy Pelosi ‘isn’t going to be able to hold off’ impeachment push from inside her party, senior House Dem tells Fox News

5am – D/E     AMERICAN MOM ASKS REDDIT IF WANTING A $3500/MO SALARY IS WRONG. (Daily Mail) — The stay-at-home mother, from the US, took to Reddit to ask for advice on her finances, revealing she’d like a ‘salary’ of $3,500 (£2,700) to cover the childcare and housekeeping she does – plus ‘pocket money for fun things’. She said: ‘My husband earns good money but he’s very frugal about nonessential spending because he wants to be financially independent (no job, earnings from investments) at an early age. ‘Granted he was like this when I met him but I had also had my own salary at the time to do what I wanted.’

6am – A         NPR’S ABORTION STYLEGUIDE:

• NPR’s Orwellian abortion style: NPR’s Style Guide For Abortion Was Basically Planned Parenthood Propaganda.

• Guidance Reminder: On Abortion Procedures, Terminology & Rights. As we’ve covered the new abortion law in Georgia and legislation in Alabama, we’ve followed long-standing guidance very well. Thank you to all involved. (WAMU) — For those new to the subject, that guidance about abortion and related topics is collected in our Intranet “radio” style guide. We’ll attach it below. One thing to keep in mind about this law and others like it: Proponents refer to it as a “fetal heartbeat” law. That is their term. It needs to be attributed to them if used and put in quotation marks if printed. We should not simply say the laws are about when a “fetal heartbeat” is detected. As we’ve reported, heartbeat activity can be detected “about six weeks into a pregnancy.” That’s at least a few weeks before an embryo is a fetus. Here is the long-standing guidance: ABORTION PROCEDURES & TERMINOLOGY: Use the term intact dilation and extraction to describe the procedure, or a procedure known medically as intact dilation and extraction; opponents call it partial-birth abortion. On the latter, it is necessary to point out that the term partial-birth is used by those opposed to the procedure; simply using the phrase so-called partial birth abortion is not sufficient without explaining who’s calling it that. Partial-birth is not a medical term and has no exact parallel in medical terminology; intact dilation and extraction is the closest description. Also, it is not correct to call these procedures RARE — it is not known how often they are performed. Nor is it accurate to use the phrase LATE TERM ABORTION. Though we initially believed this term carried less ideological baggage when compared with partial-birth, it still conveys the sense that the fetus is viable when the abortion is performed. It gives the impression that the abortion takes place in the 8th or 9th month. In fact, the procedure called intact dilation and extraction is performed most often in the 5th or 6th month — the second trimester — and the second trimester is not considered “late” pregnancy. Thus “late term” is not appropriate. As an alternative, call it a certain procedure performed after the first trimester of pregnancy and, subsequently, the procedure…. Also note: NPR doesn’t use the term “abortion clinics.” We say instead, “medical or health clinics that perform abortions.” The point is to not to use abortion before the word clinic. The clinics perform other procedures and not just abortions.

6am – B/C     Trump Expected To Name Former Virginia AG Ken Cuccinelli To Top Immigration Post. (Daily Caller/Amber Athey | White House Correspondent) — President Donald Trump is planning to pick former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to fill an immigration post in the administration, a White House official confirmed to The Daily Caller on Tuesday. Cuccinelli will be taking a role in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), but will not be in the “immigration czar” position that Trump is reportedly creating separately. A White House official told The New York Times on Tuesday that the appointment could occur as soon as this week, although the details of the position are still being worked out between Cuccinelli and other officials. Conservative leaders pushed for Cuccinelli to take over the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) when former Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen left the agency in April. Instead, the president came up with the idea of creating the “immigration czar” position and was reportedly considering offering the job to either Cuccinelli or former Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach. But Cuccinelli will be working out of DHS rather than the White House, which will require he be confirmed to the position by the Senate. He will not take the “czar” position, the White House official told the Caller. The confirmation process could prove to be an obstacle, as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell previously told the president not to pick Cuccinelli for the DHS secretary position. The former state attorney general is well-aligned with the president’s immigration priorities and has made a habit of defending the administration in various appearances on cable television, most recently on CNN as a signed contributor.

6am – D         INTERVIEW – CAL THOMAS – Syndicated columnist

• Pelosi facing increasing pressure to support impeaching Trump
• Nancy Pelosi ‘isn’t going to be able to hold off’ impeachment push from inside her party, senior House Dem tells Fox News
• National Review: Biden Flips on the Hyde Amendment. In what may be his first major move to the left on policy as a 2020 presidential candidate, Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden has endorsed repealing the Hyde amendment, a measure that prohibits federal funding of abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or when the mother’s life is endangered. “It can’t stay,” Biden said of the Hyde amendment during an exchange with an ACLU activist earlier this month. The video of the exchange was posted by the ACLU on Twitter on May 8th but has drawn little attention since then (it was flagged by Washington Post reporter David Weigel on Sunday evening).

6am – E         Virginia Gov. Northam’s medical school to announce findings Wednesday on divisive yearbook photo. (Fox News) – The hotly anticipated findings of a probe into how a racially charged photo appeared on Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam’s yearbook page 35 years ago is expected to be released Wednesday. The Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk announced it would release a written report at that time and hold a news conference. The law firm McGuireWoods completed a monthslong independent inquiry into the photo on the 1984 yearbook page, which shows one person in blackface and another in Ku Klux Klan garb.

6am – F         Two teenagers charged in the death of a 14-year-old Maryland girl were arrested by Prince George’s County police in another case last year and should have been detained, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

• ICE Previously Sought to Detain 2 Suspects in Homicide of Maryland Girl. (NBC Washington) — Two teenagers charged in the death of a 14-year-old Maryland girl were arrested by Prince George’s County police in another case last year and should have been detained, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Salvadorans Josue Fuentes-Ponce, 16, and Joel Escobar, 17, were in the country illegally when they were arrested May 11, 2018, on several charges, including attempted first-degree murder, attempted second-degree murder and participation in gang activity, ICE said. They were released on an unknown date despite an ICE detainer, according to ICE. The Prince George’s County Department of Corrections said four days after their arrest, Fuentes-Ponce and Escobar were transferred to the Cheltenham Youth Detention Center, a state facility, and were no longer in custody of Prince George’s County.

7am – A         Rapid DNA testing reveals a THIRD of migrants faked family relationship with children to claim asylum during ICE pilot of the procedure in Texas. (Daily Mail) – ICE ran the pilot for a few days this month in El Paso and McAllen, Texas. About 30% of migrants tested with rapid DNA were lying about familial relations. Migrants with children can claim asylum and avoid detention in most cases.  An Immigration and Customs Enforcement pilot of new rapid DNA testing at the border has found that nearly a third of those tested were not biologically related to the children in their custody. ICE conducted the pilot for a few days earlier this month in El Paso and McAllen, Texas, finding about 30 per cent of those tested were not related to the children they claimed were their own, an official told the Washington Examiner.  The official said that these were not cases of step-fathers or adoptive parents. ‘Those were not the case. In these cases, they are misrepresented as family members,’ the official said. It is unclear whether every family unit was tested during the pilot, or only those who raised some sort of red flag. An ICE spokesman did not immediately respond to request for comment.

7am – B/C     SEC. BEN CARSON’S CAPITOL HILL HEARING GETS HEATED:

• Rep. Maloney slams Carson for HUD’s plan to evict undocumented immigrants. Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) told HUD Secretary Ben Carson on May 21 that, “The ‘D’ in ‘HUD’ does not stand for deportation.”
• Carson declares he’s “reclaiming my time” during hearing — something he can’t do, but it’s hilarious
• Dems use hearing to repeatedly quiz, stump Ben Carson on obscure acronyms. Ben Carson sends Oreos to Democrat who quizzed him on REOs

7am – D         NTERVIEW – SUSAN FERRECHIO – chief congressional correspondent for the Washington Examiner

• House panel issues subpoenas for former White House officials Hope Hicks and Annie Donaldson. In growing standoff with the Trump, Nadler subpoenas two more top White House aides. (Washington Examiner/by Susan Ferrechio) — House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, who is planning a vote to hold former White House counsel Don McGahn in contempt of Congress, issued new subpoenas Tuesday for McGahn aide Annie Donaldson and former White House communications director Hope Hicks.
• Pelosi facing increasing pressure to support impeaching Trump. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is scheduled to have a special caucus-wide meeting of House Democrats on Wednesday morning as she faces growing calls within her party to impeach President Trump. Prior meetings involving Pelosi and top Democrats have escalated into heated exchanges, with the party torn over how to address Trump controversies. Pelosi has been reluctant to support impeaching Trump and has warned Democrats that impeachment could distract from the focus needed to win in the 2020 presidential election. The House speaker has also warned colleagues that voters may not support impeaching Trump and that the party could suffer voter backlash if Trump was ultimately acquitted in the Republican-led Senate. Still, former White House counsel Donald McGahn’s refusal, on Trump’s orders, to appear at a hearing before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday has escalated tension between congressional Democrats and the Trump administration. A growing number of Democrats say they are dealing with a “lawless president” and that impeachment, not numerous investigations, may be the only way to hold the president accountable.
• Nancy Pelosi ‘isn’t going to be able to hold off’ impeachment push from inside her party, senior House Dem tells Fox News. (Fox News) — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi could soon be left with no choice but to embrace calls from some within her party to impeach President Trump, one senior Democrat told Fox News. The Senior House Democrat — speaking on the condition of anonymity — said, despite Pelosi’s repeated attempt to quell talk of impeaching the president, “isn’t going to be able to hold off on impeachment much longer.”

7am – E         Liberal Female Politicians Are Very Upset About How ‘Game of Thrones’ Ended. (Washington Free Beacon) — Warning: This article contains spoilers about the finale of the HBO series Game of Thrones. Prominent liberal female politicians are expressing sharp disappointment with how Game of Thrones ended, due to what they consider the poor treatment of one of the show’s main female characters. 2020 presidential candidates Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.), both fans of Daenerys Targaryen—also known as “Khaleesi” and the “Mother of Dragons”—were bitter about her rapid descent in the show’s final season, where she became a mass murderer of innocents and was eventually killed by her nephew-boyfriend Jon Snow. However, the foundation for the character’s dark arc was laid for years in the books and preceding seasons of the HBO series. “I’m so pissed off,” Gillibrand said in a video taped for the left-wing viral news site NowThis. “I hated it. I hated the last three episodes. They destroyed Daenerys’s character in three episodes, and they destroyed Jon Snow’s character in three episodes.” “I was particularly upset about how the writers treated the character of Khaleesi,” she added. “She came to power over many years and many struggles as the Breaker of Chains. She’s somebody who made sure the lowest income, the least empowered, could have a voice, and that was who she was … Why did the writers have to turn her into a Mad Queen? That was not part of who she was, and I get that she has a history … I thought it was cheap.” Warren tweeted a video blasting the finale alongside Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D., N.Y.) on Tuesday. “It was just, just really … meh,” Warren said. “I feel like we were getting so close to having this ending with just women running the world and then the last two episodes, it’s like, ‘oh, they’re too emotional,'” Ocasio-Cortez said. “The end. It’s like, ugh, this was written by men!” 

8am – A         INTERVIEW – ADAM TUSS – Transportation Reporter/Anchor NBC Washington @AdamTuss – discussed the metro door malfunction and the looming metro summer shutdown.

• Metro removed all of its 3000-series cars after a report of a door malfunction, reducing the number of rail cars by 15%. (WAMU) – Metro is investigating the cause of an open door malfunction on a moving 3000-series train, and General Manager Paul Wiedefeld says they won’t be back on the tracks until the issue is fixed. He expects to get to the root cause “fairly shortly.” Wiedefeld ordered the 274 cars out of service late Monday night after Metro couldn’t identify the cause of the problem by 11 p.m. onday afternoon, staff found a video of the incident in a popular D.C. transit Facebook group. The video, by rider Claudia Sol, shows one train door open on car 3090. The train was traveling from Dunn Loring to Vienna on the Orange Line around 1 p.m. Sunday. Sol posted the video Monday. Wiedefeld said surveillance video showed the door open for just seconds. “This is what safety culture looks like,” Wiedefeld said. “We received info, escalated it and acted properly to mitigate the risk. “If that means customers have shorter trains or have a minute or two tacked on to their commute, I would much rather take criticism for that than answer questions if something was much worse.”
• Adam Tuss @AdamTuss 11h11 hours ago: BREAK-Metro says it became aware of door issue yesterday, even though incident happened Sunday. Rail car not in service yesterday. Incident happened at Dunn Loring and passengers were on board. Still waiting to hear if it happened while train was at platform or in motion.
• Preview: Metro’s complete summer shutdown south of Reagan Airport begins on Saturday. A woman quit her job because of the upcoming Metro shutdown. It’s coming. Six Blue and Yellow Line Metro stations in Virginia close this Saturday for the entire summer.
• OPM Approves Increased Telework During Metro’s Virginia Shutdown. The Office of Personnel Management (OPM) issued a memo today to agency chief human capital officers (CHCOs) encouraging increased workplace flexibilities for employees impacted by the closure of six Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA) stations over the summer. “The U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) is strongly encouraging agencies to allow affected employees to utilize various workplace flexibilities throughout the upcoming Project, including telework and alternative work schedules,” wrote OPM Acting Director Margaret Weichert in a memo to agency CHCOs.

8am – B/C     UNHINGED ABORTION PROTESTS OUTSIDE SUPREME COURT:

• “Angry women get things done”: Protesters rallied across the country today against anti-abortion laws passed in several states
• Pro-life advocate to pro-abortion advocate: “When does life begin?” Pro-abortion advocate responds: “F*** you! F*** you! F*** you! F*** you! F*** you and the rest of you f***ing ignorant b****es!”
• Planned Parenthood of NYC’s Laura McQuade: Abortion restrictions are “not just an attack on women, it’s an attack on anyone who can or might get pregnant, including transgender men and gender non-conforming people!”
• Sen Mazie Hirono at the #StopTheBans rally, saying she just told a bunch of 8th grade girls that their abortion rights are under attack.
• At the #StopTheBans rally, Rep. Jackie Speier says she is not ashamed of her second-trimester abortion, that she had for medical reasons, and criticized male state lawmakers for thinking “it’s ok to send women to prison or give them the death penalty for having an abortion.”
• Brit Hume on Martha Maccallum’s show says we shouldn’t be cheering abortion. It’s taking of a life. Shows an element of ‘decadence’

8am – D         INTERVIEW – DEREK BENNER – ICE’s current Acting Deputy Director

• Rapid DNA testing reveals a THIRD of migrants faked family relationship with children to claim asylum during ICE pilot of the procedure in Texas