Dr. Rick Lanham, Rod “Slasher” Breslau and civil rights attorney Kendra Parris joined WMAL on Tuesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C/D/E   President Trump’s Proposals for Fixing the Problems Causing Mass Shootings Following El Paso and Dayton

• PRESIDENT TRUMP: “First, we must do a better job of identifying and acting on early warning signs. I am directing the Department of Justice to work in partnership with local, state, and federal agencies, as well as social media companies, to develop tools that can detect mass shooters before they strike.  As an example, the monster in the Parkland high school in Florida had many red flags against him and yet nobody took decisive action. Nobody did anything. Why not?” We must stop the glorification of violence in our society.
• PRESIDENT TRUMP: “Second, we must stop the glorification of violence in our society.  This includes the gruesome and grisly video games that are now commonplace.  It is too easy today for troubled youth to surround themselves with a culture that celebrates violence. We must stop or substantially reduce this and it has to begin immediately. Cultural change is hard – but each of us can choose to build a culture that celebrates the inherent worth and dignity of every human life. That’s what we have to do.”
• We must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence.
• PRESIDENT TRUMP: “Third, we must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence – and make sure those people not only get treatment, but when necessary, involuntary confinement. Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun.”
•  “Red Flag” laws must be instituted to stop those who pose a risk to public safety from possessing firearms.
• PRESIDENT TRUMP: “Fourth, we must make sure that those judged to pose a risk to public safety do not have access to firearms—and that if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process. That is why I have called for “Red Flag” laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders.”

           

6am – A/B/C/D/E     Trump condemns role of video games in ‘glorification of violence’ (Venture Beat) — U.S. President Donald Trump condemned the role that video games play in creating a culture of “the glorification of violence in our society” and said it has to stop during a White House briefing today. He did not offer further details on actions to take regarding violence in games. The comments were part of a broader call to react to the mass shootings over the weekend that left more than 80 people dead and wounded in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas. Those two shootings were part of 249 mass shootings involving four or more injuries since the start of the year in the U.S, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

6am – E/F      EXPLORING ROOTS OF THE PROBLEM:

• Vox: 22 percent of millennials say they have “no friends”
• LA Times: Suicide rates for U.S. teens and young adults are the highest on record
• Pew: 35% of adult Millennials (Americans born between 1981 and 1996) are religiously unaffiliated
• Millennials are dying of alcohol-related liver disease at increasing rates
• QZ: “US millennials are now dying at such high rates that it’s driven life expectancy in the country to decline for two years in a row, the first time that’s happened since the early 1960s. The primary cause for the trend is the opioid crisis.”
• Pew: “In 2018, 15% of Millennials (ages 25 to 37) were living in their parents’ home. This is nearly double the share of early Boomers and Silents (8% each) and 6 percentage points higher than Gen Xers who did so when they were the same age.”
• Barrons: “Nearly 80% of early-adult households have some sort of debt, with those 18 to 34 years old holding a total of about $2 trillion in debt…”
• “Between 2003 and 2012, the share of students with total debt above $40,000 increased from 2% to 18%”
• Pew: “The share of U.S. children living with an unmarried parent has more than doubled since 1968, jumping from 13% to 32% in 2017.”
• The Atlantic: “single strongest predictor of a child’s economic fortunes is the fraction of single parents in the area where she grew up. Children of married parents have a much better shot of getting ahead even if they’re in areas where single parents are the norm.”
• Washington Post: “The share of U.S. adults reporting no sex in the past year reached an all-time high in 2018…”
• “The portion of Americans 18 to 29 reporting no sex in the past year more than doubled between 2008 and 2018, to 23 percent.”
• Pew: “For most U.S. workers, real wages have barely budged in decades”
• “…today’s real average wage (that is, the wage after accounting for inflation) has about the same purchasing power it did 40 years ago.”
• CNN: 66% of Millennials have nothing saved for retirement
• Pew: “When Pew Research Center began tracking social media adoption in 2005, just 5% of American adults used at least one of these platforms. By 2011 that share had risen to half of all Americans, and today 72% of the public uses some type of social media.”
• Fox Business: “While the U.S. economy continues to show signs of strength…”
• “…employment for men between the ages of 25 and 54 (considered prime age) has declined by about 100,000 jobs for each of the past three months.”

7am – A            ‘Unbelievable’: New York Times slammed for front page headline after Donald Trump speech. (USA Today) – A photo of the front page of Tuesday’s New York Times sparked immediate criticism on Monday night – including from several 2020 Democratic presidential candidates.  The headline read, “Trump urges unity vs. racism.” It comes after President Donald Trump addressed the nation following mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, that killed nine and 22 people, respectively.

The headline didn’t sit well with a number of Democrats. “Let this front page serve as a reminder of how white supremacy is aided by – and often relies upon – the cowardice of mainstream institutions,” tweeted Rep. Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez of New York. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who told CNN over the weekend that Trump was “responsible for this,” said via Twitter: “Lives literally depend on you doing better, NYT. “Please do.”

7am – B/C     McDonald’s new paper straws are recyclable, but are not being recycled, company says (Fox News) — McDonald’s restaurants in Europe serve paper straws to customers to avoid using plastic — but those paper straws, it turns out, are not yet able to be recycled. The fast-food company announced last year plans to switch to paper straws in the United Kingdom and Ireland in 2019 as part of McDonald’s “goal to source 100% of guest packaging from renewable, recycled, or certified sources by 2025 and to have guest packaging recycling in all restaurants globally.” But the new paper straws, McDonald’s told Fox News, are not able to be recycled because of problems with waste processing.

• McDonald’s hated ‘eco-friendly’ paper straws cannot be recycled – but axed plastics one can (The Sun) — MCDONALD’S new “eco-friendly” paper straws cannot be recycled. Plastic ones were axed in all UK branches as part of a green drive — even though the fast food giant has said they were “100 per cent recyclable.” But The Sun can today reveal an internal Mac memo admits the new paper versions — hated by customers — are not actually recyclable and must be binned and burned. McDonald’s decision to swap recyclable plastic straws for “eco-friendly” paper versions which cannot be recycled was today branded “a silly stunt.” It dumped the 1.8 million plastic straws used by its UK restaurants each day as part of a huge green drive. An insider said: “When McDonald’s introduced paper straws it was getting pats on the back for being environmentally responsible. “But it seems like it was a stunt to appease green campaigners because the things go straight in the rubbish. It’s ridiculously stupid.” The paper straws have infuriated thousands of McDonald’s customers who claim they make milkshakes hard to drink and dissolve in cola.
• Trump campaign raises nearly $500K selling plastic straws: report. President Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign store has reportedly raised nearly $500,000 by selling plastic straws branded as an alternative to “liberal paper straws.” Since the reusable and recyclable straws went on sale earlier this month, they’ve generated more than $456,000 in sales, Politico reports. “Liberal paper straws don’t work. STAND WITH PRESIDENT TRUMP and buy your pack of recyclable straws today,” reads the straws’ product description on the president’s campaign website.

7am – D         Interview – Dr. Rick Lanham – Clinical Psychologist and Asst. Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine – discussed the solutions for what needs to happen in the mental health field to help stop these mass shootings.

• PRESIDENT TRUMP: “We must reform our mental health laws to better identify mentally disturbed individuals who may commit acts of violence – and make sure those people not only get treatment, but when necessary, involuntary confinement. Mental illness and hatred pulls the trigger, not the gun… Wwe must make sure that those judged to pose a risk to public safety do not have access to firearms—and that if they do, those firearms can be taken through rapid due process. That is why I have called for “Red Flag” laws, also known as Extreme Risk Protection Orders.”

8am – A         Interview – Rod “Slasher” Breslau @slasher – e-sports consultant, competitive gamer for many years – reacted to politicians blaming video games for violence.

• Trump condemns role of video games in ‘glorification of violence.’ U.S. President Donald Trump condemned the role that video games play in creating a culture of “the glorification of violence in our society” and said it has to stop during a White House briefing today. He did not offer further details on actions to take regarding violence in games.

8am – B/C     RAND PAUL TO HAVE LUNG SURGERY:

• Rand Paul has part of lung removed after 2017 assault by neighbor. (Fox News) –– Republican Sen. Rand Paul had part of his lung removed over the weekend due to complications from the 2017 assault by his neighbor. “Unfortunately, I will have to limit my August activities. Part of my lung damaged by the 2017 assault had to be removed by surgery this weekend. The doctors, nurses, & staff at Vanderbilt University Medical Center were great. I should be able to return to the Senate in September,” Paul, R-Ky., tweeted early Monday.
• Rep. Omar Retweets Post Mocking Attack on Sen. Rand Paul (CNS News) — On July 29, Representative Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) retweeted a tweet from actor/activist Tom Arnold that mocked an assault on Senator Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who suffered five broken ribs in the attack. The tweet reads, “Imagine being Rand Paul’s next door neighbor and having to deal with @RandPaul lying cowardly circular whiney bullcrap about lawn clippings. No wonder he ripped his toupee off.” Rand Paul’s neighbor is Rene Boucher. He attacked Paul on Nov. 3, 2017 when Paul was outside mowing his lawn.  Paul sustained five fractured ribs and got pneumonia as a result of the attack. Boucher eventually pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of Congress. He was sentenced to 30 days in prison, one year of probation, 100 hours of community service, and a $10,000 fine. He also was ordered to pay $582,834 in punitive damages to Sen. Paul.
• Last week: Rand Paul offers to buy Ilhan Omar a ticket back to Somalia to ‘appreciate America more.’ Republican Sen. Rand Paul is offering to buy Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar a plane ticket to visit her home country of Somalia to learn to be more grateful for living in the United States.  “I’m not saying we forcibly send her anywhere,” Paul said in an interview last week with Breitbart News, a conservative-leaning outlet. “I’m willing to contribute to buy her a ticket to go visit Somalia. I think she can look and maybe learn a little bit about the disaster that is Somalia.”

8am – D          Interview – Kendra Parris – civil rights attorney who specializes in mental health defense in Orlando, Florida  — shared her thoughts on how to deal with the mentally ill, Red Flag laws and how Florida deals with the Baker Act.

8am – E         Victoria’s Secret reportedly hires first-ever transgender model (Fox News) — Victoria’s Secret has reportedly hired its first-ever transgender model — less than a year since the lingerie company came under fire after an executive made remarks about transgender people walking in its annual fashion show. Valentina Sampaio, of Brazil, posted to Instagram a photo of herself at a shoot with “VS Pink,” writing: “Backstage click,” alongside the hashtag “diversity.” The news was seemingly confirmed by fellow Brazilian model Lais Ribeiro, who tweeted she was “so happy” Sampaio experienced her first photo shoot with Victoria’s Secret. The 22-year-old model was also the first transgender model to grace any edition of Vogue magazine when she posed for Vogue Paris in February 2017.