Mornings on the Mall

Friday, March 3, 2020

Hosts: Vince Coglianese and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Gordon Chang, Joe Concha, Elena Tompkins and Bret Baier joined WMAL on Friday!

5am – A         INTERVIEW – CHARLES PAYNE – the host of “Making Money with Charles Payne” on Fox Business and author of “Unstoppable Prosperity” – analyzed the latest fluctuations in the markets and economy.

5am – B/C     IMMIGRATION:

• DHS Suspends Increase In Guest Worker Visas After Tucker Carlson’s Segment. DHS announced it’s suspending an increase in H-2B guest worker visas, just hours after Fox News host Tucker Carlson ripped the department for importing foreign nationals amid an economic crisis. Carlson devoted a segment of his show Wednesday night to criticize the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for releasing thousands of additional guest worker visas, allowing more foreign labor into the country while millions of Americans have filed unemployment claims. The television host called the move a “threat to our country.”
• FEDERALIST: Coronavirus Is About To Explode In Mexico. It’s Time To Secure The Border. Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador repeatedly dismissed the need for caution, urging Mexicans to go shopping and eat out. He even took his own advice, staging large campaign-style rallies, kissing babies, embracing supporters, and saying things like, “You have to hug, nothing is going to happen.” Well, now something is happening. On Monday, Mexico declared a state of emergency as the number of confirmed cases exceeded 1,000, with at least 28 deaths and counting. The number of actual cases is no doubt far higher (by Tuesday, the total was more than 1,200) but because Mexico has not scaled up testing like other countries have, and appears to have little capacity to do so, we don’t really know the extent of the outbreak. Experts estimate only about 10,000 people have been tested so far nationwide—one of the lowest testing rates in the world. Mexico ordered schools and most government offices closed last week, and on Tuesday expanded the shutdown to all “non-essential” activities and businesses, while prohibiting gatherings of more than 100 people. But the order, which will stay in effect until the end of April, appears to be largely voluntary, with no enforcement mechanisms or penalties. It is almost certainly too little, too late.

5am – D/E     ARE YOU GETTING STIR CRAZY WITH STAYING AT HOME? ARE YOU FEELING THE NEED TO GET OUT?

• Malibu paddleboarder arrested for violating stay-at-home order. (Fox News) — A Southern California paddleboarder was arrested Thursday for allegedly violating the statewide “safer at home” coronavirus order, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said. Lifeguards near the Malibu Pier flagged down county deputies from the Lost Hills station after they said the unidentified man ignored their orders to get out of the water, the department wrote on Facebook. The man stayed in the water off Malibu Pier for another 30 to 40 minutes until deputies sent out a patrol boat. He swam ashore and was arrested for allegedly disobeying lifeguards and ignoring the stay-at-home order, both misdemeanor charges. He was booked into the Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station and released. He could face up to six months in jail or a $1,000 fine, KTLA-TV reported.
• Coronavirus is harming the mental health of tens of millions of people in U.S., new poll finds. Nearly half the people in the United States feel the coronavirus crisis is harming their mental health, according to a survey published Thursday that demonstrates how the covid-19 pandemic has escalated into a nationwide psychological trauma. The tracking poll by the Kaiser Family Foundation, conducted March 25 to 30, found that 45 percent of adults say the pandemic has affected their mental health, and 19 percent say it has had a “major impact.” The rates are slightly higher among women, Hispanic adults and black adults, the survey found.

6am – A/B/C HOW MUCH LONGER CAN WE SUSTAIN THIS??

• 10 MILLION AMERICANS FILE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT IN 2 WEEKS
  The total job losses in just two weeks — almost 10 million Americans — amounts to a staggering, sudden blow to American workers never seen before in the U.S. economy. The labor market in the coming weeks could blow past the 15 million jobs lost at the peak of the 18-month Great Recession from 2007 to 2009.
• AP-NORC poll: About half of workers lose income due to virus. WASHINGTON (AP) — About half of all working Americans report some kind of income loss affecting themselves or a member of their household due to the coronavirus pandemic, with low-income Americans and those without college degrees especially likely to have lost a job, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. Sixty percent of Americans now say the national economy is “poor,” an alarmingly swift reversal from the 67% who called it “good” in January.

 6am – D         INTERVIEW – GORDON CHANG – author of “The Coming Collapse of China.” @GordonGChang – discuss the latest news about China’s handling of coronavirus:

• China’s Xi Jinping is trying to grab world leadership: If he succeeds, he will impose his totalitarian model on everyone. For Americans and others, this is an existential struggle. If we lose, we lose our freedoms. No less is at stake.
• Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister Says The WHO Should Change Name To The China Health Organization
• Three Chinese journalists that were critical to the world learning about the #COVID19 outbreak in Wuhan, prompting the Chinese government to acknowledge the crisis, are missing.
• Chinese doctor who first raised the alarm over COVID-19 vanishes
• Chinese Student Disappears After Demanding Xi Jinping Resign

6am – E         US Navy FIRES captain of coronavirus-stricken aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt for ‘extremely poor judgment’ – after his letter begging for help was leaked. The U.S. Navy has fired the captain of the USS Theodore Roosevelt four days after he pleaded for help as the coronavirus hit his crew. Navy Captain Brett Crozier was relieved for what was described as “loss of confidence.” Cozier had sent an urgent letter over “non-secure unclassified email” to a “broad array of people” rather than up the chain of command.

Navy fires captain who sought help for virus-stricken ship. The captain of a U.S.. Navy aircraft carrier facing a growing outbreak of the coronavirus on his ship was fired Thursday by Navy leaders who said he created a panic by sending his memo pleading for help to too many people. Acting Navy Secretary Thomas Modly said the ship’s commander, Capt. Brett Crozier “demonstrated extremely poor judgment” in the middle of a crisis. He said the captain copied too many people on the memo, which was leaked to a California newspaper and quickly spread to many news outlets. Modly’s decision to remove Crozier as ship commander was immediately condemned by members of the House Armed Services Committee, who called it a “destabilizing move” that will “likely put our service members at greater risk and jeopardize our fleet’s readiness.”

6am – F         The Democratic National Committee is postponing the party’s presidential convention in Milwaukee to August 17, the week before the Republican Party’s convention.  The delay from July 13 comes after presidential candidate Joe Biden pushed to have the convention moved due to the coronavirus pandemic. The party is also looking at scaling back the event to avoid appearing like it’s throwing a big party as the country is hurting.

7am – A         Sean Ono Lennon says media ‘lost their legitimacy’ over coronavirus coverage

7am – B/C     TRUMP VS THE DEMS:

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has announced a bipartisan House panel will investigate the federal response to the coronavirus and ensure that congressional funding is spent wisely. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy spoke out against the select committee, saying that Congress already wrote oversight provisions into the latest funding package.
• President Trump blasts the oversight effort Speaker Pelosi is setting up to review the administration response to covid19: “This is not the time for politics… conducting these partisan investigations in the middle of a pandemic is a really big waste of vital resources, time..”
• Trump accuses Chuck Schumer of focusing on impeachment instead of preparing NYC for coronavirus in scathing letter. ‘Wrong In Every Way’: Trump Sends Vicious Letter To Chuck Schumer Over Coronavirus Response. President Donald Trump sent a vicious letter to Democratic New York Sen. Chuck Schumer on Thursday, calling him “missing in action” in the fight against the coronavirus. Trump’s letter came in response to Schumer’s own claims that Trump has mishandled the COVID-19 pandemic. The spat comes as Congress mulls passing a fourth stimulus package. “If you spent less time on your ridiculous impeachment hoax, which went haplessly on forever and ended up going nowhere (except increasing my poll numbers), and instead focused on the people on New York, then New York would not have been so completely unprepared for the ‘invisible enemy,’” Trump wrote. “No wonder AOC and others are thinking about running against you in the primary. If they did, they would likely win.”
• Schumer goes on MSNBC to blast Trump for criticizing him: ‘I’m just appalled’

7am – D         INTERVIEW – JOE CONCHA – Media Reporter, The Hill – analyzed the media coverage of coronavirus:

• Washington media agonize over covering the Trump coronavirus briefings

7am – E         MASKS NEWS / 3M:

• Florida Director Of Emergency Management To Tucker: 3M Is Allowing Sale Of Masks To Foreign Countries Over Americans. Jared Moskowitz, Florida’s director of emergency management, ripped 3M for allowing foreign countries ahead of U.S. states when it comes to purchasing much-needed face masks.  Moskowitz made news Monday by declaring himself 3M’s “new troll” on Twitter as he lamented “empty warehouses” and vainly tried to get the company to send the state new masks. […] “What I asked 3M is that, ‘are they aware they are authorized distributors?’” he continued. “U.S. companies are telling me the reason why our orders are being pushed down is because foreign countries are showing up with cash to purchase the orders, and when I told 3M that, not only did they not dispute it, I asked them if they put any guidelines to prevent the behavior and the answer was ‘no.’” “It’s criminal what is happening,” Moskowitz told Carlson.
• TRUMP: We hit 3M hard today after seeing what they were doing with their Masks. “P Act” all the way. Big surprise to many in government as to what they were doing – will have a big price to pay!

8am – A         INTERVIEW – ELENA TOMPKINS – founder of “Feed the Fight”  (feedthefight.org)  — discussed her organization “Feed the Fight.”

• Elena Tompkins’ charity buys take-out meals from restaurants to deliver to health care workers.
• Washington DC woman starts charity to support restaurants, healthcare workers in coronavirus fight

 8am – B/C     GOOD NEWS:

• TRUMP CAMPAIGN HAS BEEN ANONYMOUSLY DONATING MEALS TO HOSPITALS ACROSS THE COUNTRY: Since last Thursday, President Trump’s reelection campaign has been calling up local restaurants and ordering large amounts of food to be delivered to more than a dozen hospitals in New York, New Jersey, Washington state and Michigan. The campaign has been placing these orders anonymously, but Fox News learned about the effort — and sources confirmed it.
• SHELDON ADELSON IS PAYING HIS EMPLOYEES FOR 2 MONTHS & CHALLENGES OTHER COMPANIES TO DO THE SAME: To my fellow corporate executives who are looking at spreadsheets and trying to ­determine the impact this crisis will have on sales and share prices, let me say: Our job as business leaders is now as simple as it is challenging. It is to maximize the number of employees and their families that we can help — and help them for as long as possible.
• STARBUCKS EXTENDS CATASTROPHE PAY FOR EMPLOYEES. Starbucks has announced it will be extending temporar y benefits to its employees through at least May 3, including catastrophe pay for those who cannot–or choose not to–be at work amid the ongoing coronavirus health crisis. The coffee chain’s temporary benefits for employees was originally set to expire on April 19.
• WWII VET SURVIVES CORONAVIRUS: A WWII veteran has revealed th at he was diagnosed with coronavirus, but that he has since recovered and is doing well. In his own words, 95-year-old Bill Kelly of Oregon said of the health battle, “I survived the foxholes of Guam, I can get through this bulls—.”
• PATRIOTS OWNER SEND JET TO CHINA TO PICK UP MEDICAL SUPPLIES. Gov. Charlie Baker will greet the NFL team’s plane when it arrives at Logan Airport with Patriots owner Bob Kraft and Lt. Gov. Karyn Polito. From there, the state’s National Guard will transport the equipment to a strategic stockpile in Marlboro, according to the person familiar with the plans.
• YANKEES & NYC FOOTBALL CLUB ANNOUNCE RELIEF FUND FOR STADIUM WORKERS: The New York Yankees and New York City Football Club on Thursday announced a $1.4 million distress fund for stadium workers impacted by the coronavirus pandemic. Full-time and part-time stadium staff will be eligible for the  needs-based grant initiative, the organizations announced in a joint statement
• BEZOS DONATES $100 MILLION: Bezos announced he’s sending a $100 million gift to the non-profit organization Feeding America to help replenish its national network of food banks and pantries … with the goal being “getting food to those countless families who need it.” Jeff says food insecurity is a problem in the U.S. even during ordinary times, but “COVID-19 is amplifying that stress significantly.”

8am – D         INTERVIEW – BRET BAIER – Anchor of “Special Report” on Fox News Channel weekdays at 6 pm and author of the latest book “Three Days at the Brink: FDR’s Daring Gamble to Win World War II”

8am – E         Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan is getting pressure to close down the state’s gun stores, which have been allowed to remain open during the coronavirus pandemic when most other retailers have had to shut their doors. Under a series of executive orders — including a stay-at-home order issued Monday — Hogan has gradually closed schools, sit-down restaurants, malls, theaters, gyms, casinos and businesses deemed “nonessential” in hopes of slowing the spread of the virus. Del. Vanessa Atterbeary, a Howard County Democrat who is vice chairwoman of the House of Delegates Judiciary Committee, spearheaded the letter. It was signed by 58 delegates and senators, all Democrats. According to the National Rifle Association’s Institute for Legislative Action, gun shops remain open in most states. They’re closed in Massachusetts, New Mexico and New York. The institute lists the situation in the states of California, Michigan, Vermont and Washington as “inconsistent” or “developing.”