RNC’s Sean Cairncross, Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett, KT McFarland and country singer Ricky Skaggs joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Trump would try to squeeze Mexico into funding border wall. WASHINGTON – Donald Trump proposed on Tuesday forcing Mexico to pay for his planned border wall by threatening to block remittances from illegal immigrants, which he said amounts to “welfare” for poor families in Mexico that their government does not provide. The Republican presidential candidate’s campaign said in a memo that if elected in November, Trump would use a U.S. anti-terrorism law to cut off such money transfers unless Mexico made a one-time payment of $5 billion to $10 billion for the wall. Trump’s pledge to build the wall has been a much-touted highlight of a platform targeting illegal immigration in the United States that has helped make him the front-runner to be the Republican nominee for the Nov. 8 election.  It is unclear how much a wall along the nearly 2,000-mile (3,200-km) U.S.-Mexico border would cost, and Mexico has been adamant it would not pay. The memo elaborated on an idea Trump floated in August, when he suggested seizing all remittances tied to “illegal wages.”

5am – D         Cruz, Sanders emerge victorious in Wisconsin primaries. MILWAUKEE (AP) — Republican Ted Cruz stormed to a commanding victory in Wisconsin Tuesday, denting front-runner Donald Trump’s chances of capturing the GOP nomination before the party’s convention. Democrat Bernie Sanders triumphed over Hillary Clinton but still faces a mathematically difficult path to the White House. Trump’s defeat capped one of the worst periods of his campaign, a brutal stretch that highlighted his weaknesses with women and raised questions about his policy depth. While the billionaire businessman still leads the Republican field, Cruz and an array of anti-Trump forces hope Wisconsin signals the start of his decline.

5am – E         Montgomery County Property Tax:

• Public Reaction to Property Tax Increase So Far / Council hearings this week expected to hear public. Council members are expecting plenty of reaction at the council’s five public hearings on the proposed budget for fiscal year 2017.  The hearings are set for 7 p.m. on Tuesday April 5, 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Wednesday April 6 and 1:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. on Thursday April 7.
• Public Reaction to Proposed Tax Increase Is Muted—So Far. Council hearings next week expected to include plenty of testimony on proposal. The county’s budget chief last week faced probably the toughest crowd possible at the toughest time possible. Just a week after County Executive Ike Leggett proposed an 8.6 percent property tax increase for next fiscal year, Office of Management and Budget [OMB] Director Jennifer Hughes was the guest at the Wednesday meeting of the Montgomery County Taxpayers League, a small but diligent group of residents known for proposing ways for the county to save money and trim its more than $5 billion annual operating budget. “We are aware that you are the highest paid county government OMB chief in the nation,” one member told Hughes after suggesting the county could save money—and possibly avoid future tax increases—by paring back the salaries of some of its high-level administrators.

6am – A/B/C Ted Cruz declares Wisconsin ‘a turning point’ in the GOP campaign. Is it?

6am – D         Ellen DeGeneres helps teach John Travolta’s daughter how to parallel park. John Travolta, Ellen DeGeneres Teach His Daughter Ella, 16, How to Parallel Park: Oh, the memories! John Travolta’s 16-year-old daughter, Ella, recently stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where she received a surprise driving lesson from her famous father and DeGeneres herself. The fun basically stopped there. The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story actor, 62, was joined on Ellen by his wife, Kelly Preston, and their not-so-little girl, who supported Travolta from the audience. Naturally, Ellen embarrassed the teen with a plethora of questions about dating (she’s not), her friends (“I don’t ask anything about what they say or do with each other,” Travolta quipped) and, of course, driving lessons.

6am – E         Wal-Mart News:

• Walmart says it will switch to selling cage-free eggs only by 2025. Walmart will switch to selling cage-free eggs only by 2025, the company said Tuesday. The country’s largest retailer joins a growing list of companies that have made the pledge. It’s a big win for the cage-free egg movement. Walmart’s sales account for about 25% of all groceries sold in the U.S. The new policy will apply to all of its U.S. locations, including its 4,600 Walmart stores and 650 Sam’s Clubs. “Today marks a milestone in the irreversible movement for cage free production,” said Wayne Pacelle, president of The Humane Society of the United States, in a statement. Animal welfare activists say caged hens aren’t given enough space to nest, perch or spread their wings. On average, each hen is afforded a space smaller than a single sheet of letter-sized paper, according to The Humane Society.
• Walmart pulls Maryland shirts featuring the outline of Massachusetts, issues apology. The outlines of Colorado and Wyoming look somewhat similar. Mississippi resembles Alabama flipped horizontally. New Hampshire sort of looks like Vermont rotated clockwise 180 degrees. These are common stumbling blocks for elementary school students learning to identify states on a map. Maryland, though, looks nothing like Massachusetts, which makes these Russell Athletic T-shirts that were available until Monday at Walmart featuring the Terps’ logo on the outline of Massachusetts so ridiculous. The first mention of the goof appeared on Twitter last summer.  When a customer spotted the error last week and tweeted at Walmart with a handy image showing that Massachusetts and Maryland look quite different on a map, a Walmart employee responded with an explanation … of sorts. On Monday, another Walmart employee replied with a turtle pun and a Walmart spokesman apologized for the mistake in a statement that indicated the shirts will be removed from stores.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – RICKY SKAGGS – Country legend – talked about his upcoming show in Alexandria.

7am – B         2016 News: Cruz, Sanders emerge victorious in Wisconsin primaries. MILWAUKEE (AP) — Republican Ted Cruz stormed to a commanding victory in Wisconsin Tuesday, denting front-runner Donald Trump’s chances of capturing the GOP nomination before the party’s convention. Democrat Bernie Sanders triumphed over Hillary Clinton but still faces a mathematically difficult path to the White House. Trump’s defeat capped one of the worst periods of his campaign, a brutal stretch that highlighted his weaknesses with women and raised questions about his policy depth. While the billionaire businessman still leads the Republican field, Cruz and an array of anti-Trump forces hope Wisconsin signals the start of his decline.

7am – C         Megyn Kelly News:

• Hillary Clinton: Megyn Kelly Is ‘Superb.’ Hillary Clinton says that Fox News host Megyn Kelly is a “superb journalist” while attacking Donald Trump for some of the things that he has said and done over the course of the campaign. During her appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Tuesday, Clinton suggested that “it’s not only women” that should “be concerned” by Trump’s conduct, “it’s everybody.” Host Joy Behar said, “We were talking about sexism just before you came out… because we all, as women, experience it somewhere or another… but women seem to be under fire right now more than ever. You know, you had Heidi Cruz, the wives of candidates being attacked about their looks. You had a female reporter being assaulted. You have Donald Trump saying things like women who have abortions should be punished. I mean, it’s frightening.”
• Megyn Kelly Weighing A Departure From Fox News After The Election. “I don’t know what’s going to happen.” It’s far from a sure thing, but there’s a chance Fox News’ Megyn Kelly might leave the network after her contract expires next year. In an interview published Tuesday, the prominent anchor and host of “The Kelly File“ told Variety she hasn’t ruled out the possibility of finding greener pastures elsewhere, possibly in the form of a daytime talkshow. When asked if she has decided to remain with Fox at the end of her contract, Kelly didn’t mince words. “I haven’t,” she said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she continued. “I’ve had a great 12 years here, and I really like working for Roger Ailes. I really like my show, and I love my team. But you know, there’s a lot of brain damage that comes from the job. There was probably less brain damage when I worked in the afternoon. I was less well known. I had far less conflict in my life.”

7am – D         INTERVIEW — KT MCFARLAND – Fox News National Security Analyst @KTMcFarland

• ISIS:
  • ISIS names London, Berlin and Rome as its next targeted cities in a new propaganda video.
  • Morocco spy chief warns ISIS are planning chemical attacks in Europe
  • ISIS carried out a chemical weapon attack on the Syrian Army, state news agency says. The Islamic State militant group (ISIS) has attacked the forces of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad with chemical weapons at an airbase in eastern Syria, the state news agency SANA reported late Monday.
• PANAMA PAPERS REACTION
  • Iceland prime minister resigns amid fallout from ‘Panama Papers’ disclosures.  Iceland’s prime minister, faced with street protests and public outrage over offshore holdings, offered to resign Tuesday, becoming the first major political leader to fall amid global reverberations from millions of leaked documents detailing secret financial transactions.

7am – E         GMU law school renaming after Antonin Scalia hits snag.  (CNN) George Mason University recently renamed its law school after the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia — and then quickly realized the acronym that name created was problematic. The school first announced it would change the name to The Antonin Scalia School of Law, or ASSoL, after receiving an anonymous $30 million donation on March 31. Observers took to Twitter to comment on the acronym’s similarity to a vulgarity, with many of those tweeting not a fan of the conservative justice.  The school acknowledged the issue in a letter to its students and alumni, writing, “The name initially announced — The Antonin Scalia School of Law — has caused some acronym  controversy on social media. The Antonin Scalia Law School is a logical substitute.” The school’s name change will go into effect July 1, pending final approval by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – Montgomery County Executive IKE LEGGETT – discussed the Property Tax Increase In Bid to Increase Education Spending.

8am – B         WashPost Writer Admits To ‘Raising’ Her Cats ‘Gender-Neutral’ It’s fair to conclude that when an article’s title carries the preface “don’t laugh,” what follows could easily be ridiculed. Lauren R. Taylor’s Tuesday item for the Washington Post certainly fits that bill, as the title continued that she has “a serious reason for raising my cats gender-neutral.” Taylor revealed how she once accidentally called her two female cats “boys,” and used this mistake as a jumping-off point to start regularly using “gender-neutral language for the humans in my life.” The part-time editor for the liberal newspaper led with her pronoun trouble towards her cats. She conceded that it was “an understandable mistake, as I’ve had cats for about 50 years, and all of them have been male.” She initially thought that she was going to “work on using the right pronouns,” but soon changed her mind

8am – B       Metro GM steps back from specter of monthslong shutdowns. ROCKVILLE, Md. — There will be no need to shut down an entire Metro line for six months, Metro’s general manager assured the Montgomery County Council during a meet-and-greet session and lunch Tuesday. “I don’t see anything that would require anything near a six-month shutdown,” Paul Wiedefeld told the council members in reference to statements Metro board chair and D.C. Councilman Jack Evans made last week. Evans said that some Metro lines could be shut down for months for repairs needed to improve the system’s safety and reliability. But Wiedefeld did say that comprehensive maintenance is needed to replace the piecemeal approach of the past. “So for instance, not just looking at the fasteners, or not just looking at the boots, or not just looking at the rails, but coming in and basically doing something where we take care of it all at one time,” he said. For such work, Wiedefeld said that using a bus to provide service between stations would be the approach he’d take. Wiedefeld fielded a range of questions from council members including concerns about safety, operations and reliability.

8am – D         INTERVIEW: SEAN CAIRNCROSS – the RNC’s chief operating officer — explain the delegate math process, convention scenarios and what the new delegate count post-Wisconsin primary means for the GOP state of play.

8am – E         Charlize Theron: Actress Discusses ‘Pretty’ People Getting ‘Turned Away’ for Roles in Hollywood. “When meaty roles come through, I’ve been in the room and pretty people get turned away first,” Theron told GQ. The actress also discussed beauty standards for women over the age of 40.