AEI’s Leon Aron, Captain Roger Hill, AEI’s Marc Scribner, Daily Caller’s Scott Greer and guest host Vince Coglianese joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C   United Update And Does The Doctor’s Background Matter Or Is It Character Assassination?

• WHITE HOUSE REAX: The White House says President Trump has seen the video of a passenger being dragged off an overbooked United Airlines flight out of Chicago’s O’Hare airport and says it was “troubling to see how it was handled.” United CEO Oscar Munoz offered an apology and promised to fix any problems that led to the incident.  Munoz also said the airline takes “full responsibility” and that it will “work to make it right.”  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has asked the Trump administration to suspend regulations that allow airlines to overbook flights.
• United Airlines says controversial flight was not overbooked; CEO apologizes again. (USA Today) — The CEO of United Airlines apologized again Tuesday amid a global uproar sparked when a passenger was dragged screaming from his seat on a flight that, it turns out, wasn’t even overbooked. United spokesman Jonathan Guerin said Tuesday that all 70 seats on United Express Flight 3411 were filled, but the plane was not overbooked as the airline previously reported. Instead, United and regional affiliate Republic Airlines, which operated the flight, selected four passengers to be removed to accommodate crew members needed in Louisville the next day. The passengers were selected based on a combination of criteria spelled out in United’s contract of carriage, including frequent-flier status, fare type, check-in time and connecting flight implications, among others, according to United.
• United loses $1 billion in market value after video of man being dragged off plan goes viral : Chicago — (CNN) Shares in United Airlines slipped by 4% Tuesday as the company scrambled to address a video showing a passenger being forcibly dragged off an overbooked flight. United Continental Holdings weathered the initial waves of anger caused by the video on Monday, with shares closing with a 0.9% gain. But momentum shifted by Tuesday morning. The stock move on Tuesday knocked nearly $1 billion off the company’s market value.
• Sean Spicer says United Airlines’ actions were “troubling” but there’s no need for federal government’s involvement
• Dem lawmakers want to see results of United Airlines investigation. (The Hill) — Two House Transportation Committee Democrats say the Trump administration should share its findings on the recent forced removal of a United Airlines passenger. “If news reports are accurate, the treatment of this passenger by United Airlines is not only outrageous, but is unacceptable,” the Tuesday letter to Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao, signed by ranking Transportation Committee member Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-Ore.) and House Subcommittee on Aviation ranking member Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.), reads. Videos emerged late Sunday of police officers forcibly removing a man from his seat and dragging the passenger down the aisle by his wrists.
• Victim in United Flight Debacle Gets Smear Treatment/ How dredging up his irrelevant criminal background will be used to justify censorship.
• United Airlines CEO Now “Outraged” By Treatment Of Passenger He Called “Belligerent” And “Disruptive” – Deadline
• Actor blames Trump for United dragging man off plane. Hating Donald Trump is a full-time job. It requires someone to see every slight, act of aggression, or misfortunate event as the President’s fault. Star Trek actor John Cho worked overtime to find a connection between Trump and the United Airlines flight incident where a passenger was ejected by force, being dragged down the aisle in front of the entire plane. “It’s hard not to see a connection between the environment Trump has created and what happened on that @united flight,” Cho tweeted.

5am – D         TRUMP FOREIGN POLICY:

• SYRIA: President Trump tells Fox News he has no plans to go into Syria but Defense Secretary James Mattis said in a Pentagon briefing  that there is no doubt that Syrian President Assad’s regime was responsible for last week’s attacks on Syrian civilians and if chemical weapons are used again, “they are going to pay a very, very stiff price.”
• Eric Trump says Ivanka Trump influenced their father’s decision to strike Syria
• Fox Business Exclusive: Trump: We’re not going into Syria. President Trump said he has no plans to enter Syria, despite ordering airstrikes on a Syrian military base last week. “We’re not going into Syria,” Trump told Maria Bartiromo during an exclusive interview on FOX Business. “But when I see people using horrible, horrible chemical weapons… and see these beautiful kids that are dead in their father’s arms, or you see kids gasping for life … when you see that, I immediately called General Mattis.” Trump ordered the airstrikes in Syria after a deadly chemical attack on the country’s civilians.
• RUSSIA: On Tuesday, the White House said there’s no consensus among the intelligence community of Russian involvement in the attack, though many officials, including UN Ambassador Nikki Haley believe Russia knew it was going to take place. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson meets with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Wednesday.
• Rex Tillerson arrives in Moscow and WILL meet with Putin amid war of words over Syria and Assad
• Conway: ‘In The Interest Of Our Nation’ Not To Publicize Trump’s Plan For Removing Assad From Power. Kellyanne Conway told the Fox & Friends team Tuesday that even though “conventional wisdom” would suggest that the White House has a “plan” for removing Bashar al-Assad from power, the Trump administration will not unveil the exact details of that strategy.

5am – E         Trump’s Directive Will Lift Hiring Freeze, as It Asks Agencies for Cuts. (NY Times) – WASHINGTON — The Trump administration on Wednesday will lift the hiring freeze that it had imposed on the federal work force, even as it directs agencies to submit plans for personnel cuts and other restructuring moves to fit the budget blueprint released by President Trump last month. The new guidance, to be issued by the Office of Management and Budget, is the next step in fulfilling Mr. Trump’s ambition to reshape the federal bureaucracy into a lean, businesslike operation. It comes as many federal workers across Washington have feared that their jobs will be eliminated by the spending cuts that Mr. Trump has demanded. “This is a big part of draining the swamp,” Mick Mulvaney, the White House budget director, said at a briefing on Tuesday afternoon. “This is a centerpiece to his campaign.” In January, Mr. Trump ordered an across-the-board employment freeze for the federal government, halting hiring for all new and existing positions except those in national security, public safety and the military. The administration is now making clear that it is not giving a green light for agencies to start hiring; instead, the White House is seeking long-term plans from each agency to, in most cases, prepare for cuts. The 2018 budget outline that Mr. Trump released last month called for a 10 percent increase in military spending to be paid for with deep cuts to the budgets of the State Department, the Environmental Protection Agency, Health and Human Services and other domestic programs.

6am – A         SPICER / HITLER GAFFE:

• Press Sec. on Syria: “You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn’t even sink to using chemical weapons.”
• Nancy Pelosi says Sean Spicer should be fired following his comments related to Hitler and the use chemical weapons. Washington (CNN)House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi called for the firing of White House press secretary Sean Spicer following his comments he made Tuesday at his briefing related to Adolf Hitler and the use chemical weapons. “While Jewish families across America celebrate Passover, the chief spokesman of this White House is downplaying the horror of the Holocaust,” she said in a statement. “Sean Spicer must be fired, and the President must immediately disavow his spokesman’s statements. Either he is speaking for the President, or the President should have known better than to hire him.“
• Spicer: apologizes for Hitler comparison: “I apologize. It was a mistake”

6am – B/C     More than 1 in 5 women — 22% — say they wouldn’t date someone who makes less money than them.  Have you ever dated a guy who made less than you?  Guys. have you dated a woman who made more?

• Many women say they won’t date a man over this one financial issue. Despite the shrinking gender wage gap and more women in high executive positions, many women still want their partner to be the breadwinner — or at least make the same amount as they do. More than 1 in 5 women — 22% — say they wouldn’t date someone who makes less money than them, according to a new survey of 3,000 singles across the U.S. from dating company Plenty of Fish. That’s compared with just 4% of men and 11% of single people overall who said they wouldn’t date someone who makes less money than they do. The same study found 85% of singles tell the truth about how much they make.

6am – D         INTERVIEW — LEON ARON – Resident Scholar and Director of Russian Studies at American Enterprise Institute (AEI)

• Rex Tillerson arrives in Moscow and WILL meet with Putin amid war of words over Syria and Assad
• RUSSIA: On Tuesday, the White House said there’s no consensus among the intelligence community of Russian involvement in the attack, though many officials, including UN Ambassador Nikki Haley believe Russia knew it was going to take place.
• SYRIA: President Trump tells Fox News he has no plans to go into Syria but Defense Secretary James Mattis said in a Pentagon briefing  that there is no doubt that Syrian President Assad’s regime was responsible for last week’s attacks on Syrian civilians and if chemical weapons are used again, “they are going to pay a very, very stiff price.”

6am – E         LOCAL CRITTER NEWS:

• Md. couple: We found live scorpion in spinach.  CHEVY CHASE, MD. (AP) – A Maryland couple say they found a live scorpion inside a bag of packaged spinach that was purchased from a Giant food store. Sri Sindhusha Boddapati of Chevy Chase tells news outlets that she was making lunch on Monday when she noticed something crawling inside the bag. She says she initially thought it was a cricket but realized it was a scorpion after capturing it in a water bottle. Her husband, Shanmukha Pranay Rajeev Jerripothula, took the bottle to the Landover store where they bought the spinach. He says he asked store officials to stop selling the spinach, but they refused. In a statement, Giant Food of Landover, Maryland, described what happened as an “isolated incident.” The company says it is taking steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
• FOUND: Dog located after opening several doors to escape from Va. animal hospital. STAFFORD, Va. – A dog that escaped from a Virginia animal hospital early Monday morning has been found and reunited with his owner. The Aquia-Garrisonville Animal Hospital in Stafford said General, a 10-year-old Great Pyrenees, left out of the clinic’s back door at around 4:17 a.m. Surveillance video from inside the animal hospital shows the dog opening the latch to his kennel and opening three other doors in order to make his great escape. General’s owner Travis Campbell said he was eventually located after being found in the yard of a home about 300 yards away from the animal hospital. General was being boarded at the animal hospital while his family was vacationing at Virginia Beach.

6am – F         Ruth Bader Ginsburg Refers To Lindsey Graham As One Of The ‘Women Of The Senate’ (Daily Caller) — Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and the late Justice Antonin Scalia were honored with Allegheny College’s Prize for Civility in Public Life in Washington Monday. During her remarks at the ceremony, Ginsburg pointed to her and Scalia’s confirmation to the court, adding she hopes “members of Congress… and others of goodwill will lead the way in restoring harmonious work ways.” Ginsburg further pointed out two other sets of Allegheny’s honorees. “Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. John McCain” and the “women of the Senate, Senators Dianne Feinstein and Lindsey Graham.”

7am – A/B/C INTERVIEW – CAPTAIN ROGER HILL – author of new book “DOG COMPANY: A True Story of American Soldiers Abandoned by Their High Command” (IN STUDIO)

• ARMY OFFICER UNLOADS ON P.C. CULTURE ENDANGERING U.S. MILITARY:  Capt. Roger Hill says political correctness released enemies back to battlefield and got his men killed. Echoing Trump, former officer asks, “Does America have what it takes to win wars anymore?”

7am – D         Immigration News:

• Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced a get-tough approach to immigration prosecutions during a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border. Sessions outlined a series of changes that he said mark the start of a new era to rid American cities and the border of what he described as “filth” brought on by drug cartels.
• Park Service: Illegals destroying federal lands, unsafe for camping. Illegal immigration and drug running have destroyed border parklands, further threatened two species on the endangered list and led federal officials to bar visitors and campers in areas considered too dangerous to visit, according to newly released reports. In studies of two parks that make up less than 90 miles of the Arizona-Mexico border, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service said that the areas have been ripped up with thousands of miles of unauthorized roads from vehicles that have crushed plants and animal habitat. What’s more, fires started by illegals have burned hundreds of acres of forestland and mountains of drugs, trash and abandoned cars and trucks have been found.
• Wash Post doesn’t mention his immigration status at all: Man charged with sexual assault at Herndon day-care center // Police: Deported felon arrested in sexual abuse of 12-year-old girl at Va. Daycare.  Oscar Perez Rangel is charged with felony sex offenses against a 12-year-old girl. HERNDON, Va. (ABC7) —  A man who had been deported from the U.S. has been arrested on charges of sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl five times at a home daycare at the house where he lived in Herndon, police say. Fairfax County Police say Oscar Perez Rangel, 40, of Herndon was a “previously deported felon” who was in the country illegally. He is charged with three counts of felony animate object sexual penetration and two counts of felony aggravated sexual battery in connection with the abuse of the girl between October and December of 2016. Rangel is being held in the Fairfax County jail without bond and police are working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and say they will turn Rangel over to ICE at some point in the future.
• Police: Honduran citizen stabs man in MoCo. beer store, gash shows victim’s intestines. GERMANTOWN, Md. (ABC7) — GERMANTOWN, Md. (ABC7) – Security cameras at a local beer and wine store were recording as a Honduran citizen allegedly grabbed hold of a butcher’s knife and forced the sharp blade into the abdomen of a man he was arguing with. On March 27, Montgomery County Police responded to the Germantown Beer and Wine Plus located along the 19500 block of Frederick Road. The call was for an alcohol-fueled fight in progress. Officers arrived to find one man with a stab wound so large that his intestines were exposed. Paramedics were immediately requested, but while an ambulance responded the victim started to lose consciousness, requiring police to wrap his bloody intestines and keep his airways clear. Multiple witnesses quickly pointed the finger at Fernando Ordonez, claiming the 42-year-old had become embroiled in a fistfight with two other men inside the store. It was 2:20 p.m. on a Monday. Witnesses added that all three men had been drinking inside the beer shop. At one point, the physical fight broke up.
• Immigration officials announced last week they detained at least 367 individuals in a series of raid operations—nearly one a day—across the country. On Tuesday, ICE said 75 individuals were arrested in a three-day operation in North Texas. Then, on Wednesday, ICE said 82 individuals were arrested over the course of five days in Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. In the New York City area, there were 31 individuals picked up in three days. And finally, on Thursday, ICE said 26 individuals were detained in Colorado and Wyoming over four days.
• ILLEGALS AND IN STATE TUITION: DeVos claims that illegal students in FL shouldn’t be concerned about losing in-state tuition because the administration is “very supportive” of states deciding for themselves.  On one hand, I like returning the choice to the states.

7am – E         FOOD NEWS:

• Competitive eater downs record 255 Peeps in 5 minutes. April 11 (UPI) — The world’s No. 2 ranked competitive eater broke his own world record by inhaling 255 marshmallow Peeps in 5 minutes. Matt Stonie, who hails from San Jose, Calif., downed 255 of the Easter-season marshmallow treats Saturday at the second-annual National Harbor World Peeps Eating Championship in Maryland. Stonie broke his own record of 200 Peeps in 5 minutes, set during last year’s event. Stonie, who is ranked No. 2 by Major League Eating, was awarded $1,750 and a trophy filled with Peeps.
• Marco Rubio retweets teen seeking free year of Wendy’s chicken nuggets. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio retweeted a Nevada teen who is seeking 18 million retweets in exchange for a year’s supply of chicken nuggets from Wendy’s. Last Wednesday, Carter Wilkerson asked Wendy’s on Twitter how many retweets he would need for a year of free chicken nuggets. “18 million,” Wendy’s wrote back. Wilkerson took a screenshot of the interaction and captioned a new tweet, “HELP ME PLEASE. A MAN NEEDS HIS NUGGS.” Wilkerson had hit 2.5 million retweets as of Tuesday afternoon. “1 Million?!?! Officially SHOOK,” Wendy’s responded two days after the original tweet.
• Yes, you can buy a whole pecan pie from a vending machine in Texas. (Houston Chronicle) — Wanderlust website Atlas Obscura recently introduced the rest of America to one of the quirkiest features of a Houston-to-Austin road trip – a roadside vending machine where you can buy pecan pie, candy and pecans anytime of day.  Frequent travelers along Highway 71 have likely noticed the giant 14-foot squirrel named Ms. Pearl lording over Berdoll Pecan Candy and Gift Company in Cedar Creek, beckoning people stop and visit the store. Of course the vending machine is nothing new for Texans, but to the Atlas Obscura contributor it was. The farm itself has been there for 36 years and the vending machine has been in place for 12 years. A newer, more advanced vending machine has been in use for two years. The cheapest item is a $10 clutch of beef jerky. A traditional pecan pie is $20 and a chocolate pecan pie runs $22. The machine has room enough to hold ten of each product. It accepts cash and credit cards.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MARC SCRIBNER – a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), focuses on transportation policy issues

• TOPIC: Analyze the airline industry and how it could be better:
• Want better service and lower prices? Let foreign carriers serve US routes
• The law restricting foreign carriers on US routes dates back to aviation’s infancy in the 20s and 30s
• There’s a federal cap on how much you can pay bumped passengers, that should be eliminated
• Airlines will probably revisit policies, but the answer is to increase competition

8am – B/C     Calls On How We Can Make Airlines Better.

8am – D/E     INTERVIEW – SCOTT GREER – Daily Caller Deputy Editor and author of “No Campus for White Men.” (IN STUDIO)

• ABOUT BOOK: No Campus for White Men shines a bright light on the growing obsession with diversity, victimization and identity politics on today’s college campuses, and shows how it is creating an intensely hostile and fearful atmosphere that can only lead, ultimately, to ever greater polarization in American society. Across the country, ugly campus protests over speakers with dissenting viewpoints, as well as a preoccupation with “micro-aggressions,” “trigger warnings,” “safe spaces” and brand-new “gender identities,” make it obvious that something has gone terribly wrong with higher education. For years, colleges have pursued policies favoring students based not on their merit, but on their race, gender, and sexual orientation. The disturbingly negative effects of this culture are now impossible to deny.
• Mike Pence Makes Some Students Feel ‘Unsafe’ At Notre Dame.  Vice President Mike Pence is scheduled to deliver the commencement address at the University of Notre Dame. But that’s not sitting well with some of the students, Campus Reform reports. Students Immane Mondane and Jourdyhn Williams are agitating to cancel that invitation with a #NotMyCommencementSpeaker hashtag that will feature students holding white boards with “direct quotes from Pence that are racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, offensive, or ostracizing to members of our community.” Campus Reform reports that the students add, “You may also write about why you feel unsafe with the presence of Mike Pence on our campus.”
• University’s LGBT Students ‘Fear’ Arrival Of Chick-fil-A // The latest thing to threaten university students’ ‘safe spaces’: Chicken sandwiches. A student senator at Duquesne University proposed last month during a Student Government Association that the group pass a resolution urging the university to reconsider their plans to bring a Chick-fil-A to campus because it might not make LGBTQ students feel like they are in a safe place. “I’ve tried very hard within the last semester and a half to promote this safe environment for the LGBTQ+ community,” Coury said. “So I fear that with the Chick-fil-A being in Options that maybe people will feel that safe place is at risk.”