Mornings on the Mall Intern Alexander Alt, Dr. Sebastian Gorka, WaPo’s Roman Stubbs, WaPo’s Tony Romm, Rep. Dave Brat, and Melissa Francis joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, April 12, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

5am – A/B/C House Speaker Paul Ryan won’t seek re-election (CNN) — House Speaker Paul Ryan is not seeking re-election and will retire from Congress after this year, the Wisconsin Republican announced Wednesday. “You realize something when you take this job,” Ryan told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning. “It’s a big job with a lot riding on you … but you also know this is not a job that does not last forever. … You realize you hold the office for just a small part of our history. So you better make the most of it.” He reminded reporters that he took the job “reluctantly” in 2015, when he took over from John Boehner, but Ryan also said he has no “regrets.” Ryan’s departure is a blow to GOP members who saw the Wisconsin Republican as a stable and policy-oriented leader in a party shaken by the tumultuous Donald Trump presidency. He has been a fundraising juggernaut ahead of the midterms this fall, and helped translate GOP agenda items into legislation such as a series of tax cuts and rolling back banking legislation put in place under Democrats. In his prepared remarks, Ryan focused on the tax law that passed last year as a key legacy he left behind and spoke at length about his desire to go home to Wisconsin to be home with his family. He said that the 2018 midterms and the chance that he wouldn’t be speaker didn’t factor at all into his decision to announce his retirement.

5am – D/E     How do you feel about dating apps?

• How to Date without Dating Apps. Use the Apps. Just Don’t Let Them Use You. (Urban Daddy) — Here’s an archaic concept: dating without dating apps. Here’s an archaic, yet novel concept: I work as a professional matchmaker. And here’s the reality: there’s a burgeoning dating industry growing by the day, replete with matchmakers, dating coaches, virtual assistants and snake oil pick-up artists alike. Although online dating presumably gives us more opportunities to meet romantic prospects than ever, more isn’t necessarily better, and the formulation of an entire industry around dating is proof of how overwhelmed the unattached populus feels navigating this unprecedentedly high volume of options. Call it the paradox of choice, call it opportunity cost, call it whatever term sufficiently convincing: people are exhausted. Some are cursing the gods of Tinder as they madly swipe, some are relinquishing the reins of romantic search efforts to millenial Yentas like me and some are opting for the radical notion of “unplugging” their love lives from technology altogether. From Bustle’s editorial coverage of its “App-less April”challenge, to a particularly potent argument from GQ, the Internet is abuzz with musings, proposals and visions for the brighter future of an analog love life. So, in an app-saturated dating culture, where a portfolio of both questionable and decidedly eligible singles is at our fingertips 24/7, what might an unplugged love life look like? I can guarantee it’s worth your while to find out.

6am – A         COHEN RAID / ROSENSTEIN / MUELLER News:

• The search warrant also sought evidence of whether the lawyer, Michael D. Cohen, tried to suppress damaging information about Mr. Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.
• BERNSTEIN: TRUMP KNOWS HE’S TRAPPED; RAID WAS MEANT TO SCARE THE HELL OUT OF HIM
• COHEN SPEAKS TO CNN
• SENATE MOVES AHEAD WITH BILL TO PROTECT MUELLER
• FBI sought Trump’s communications with his personal lawyer regarding Access Hollywood
• NYT Tweet: If this is all just a big witch hunt, why does Trump care so much about preserving attorney-client privilege in the first place?

6am – B         Food News:

• White Castle debuts plant-based sliders that ‘bleed’ (Fox Business) — White Castle announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with alternative-meat producer Impossible Foods to become the first fast-food retailer to debut a plant-based, scientist-developed meat. Starting Thursday, the “Impossible Slider” will be available at 140 White Castle locations in three states throughout New York, New Jersey and Illinois for $1.99 each. White Castle President and CEO Lisa Ingram, who is the fourth-generation leader of the family-owned burger chain, told FOX Business that the new product is part of the brand’s evolution. “Over the years, we have branched out into different opportunities for our customers to have a lot more variety, whether that’s with chicken, fish or a breakfast slider or most recently our veggie or black-bean burger,” she said. “So, when the opportunity presented itself to partner with Impossible, it seemed pretty natural to us.” White Castle, known as America’s original burger chain, was launched in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, more than three decades before McDonald’s got its start. The Impossible Burger is a bit different from a traditional veggie or black-bean burger. The non-meat “meat” was developed in 2011 by a biochemistry professor, Patrick Brown, when his team essentially found a way to produce a meat substitute that tastes and “bleeds” just like real meat. “Probably the single most important ingredient that we add is a protein that catalyzes all the flavor that makes meat taste like meat is heme,” Brown told FOX Business in an interview last June. The heme in an Impossible Burger is atom-for-atom identical to the heme found in red meat, but it is created by soy leghemoglobin by genetically modifying yeast and using fermentation. The added ingredient essentially gives the plant-based patty that meaty taste and texture. It’s then combined with other simple ingredients, including water, wheat protein, potato protein and coconut oil.
• Restaurants are cooking your steak wrong on purpose (New York Post) — My friend Barbara Wagner gulped when the rib-eye cut she and her husband recently ordered medium-rare at Wolfgang’s on East 54th Street came to the table. “We gasped. The outside was seared — it looked like a normal steak — but when we cut into it, it was practically raw,” says Wagner, a real estate publicist. “So we sent it back.” It was refired to perfection and she said she’ll go back to Wolfgang’s. But chew on this, steak lovers: Your medium-rare cut is getting rarer, in both senses of the word. A few days after Wagner’s experience, I ordered a boneless rib-eye medium-rare at Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steakhouse in Midtown. What I got wasn’t remotely the medium-rare ideal of red at the center fading to pink around it, but the near-purple hue known as “blue rare.” Both incidents reflected the new, medium-rare confusion. While getting an underdone steak has been a possibility for decades, what’s really given the phenomenon traction is that chefs are under bottom-line pressure to reduce throwaways that occur when customers say a steak is too well-done. An under-cooked steak, on the other hand, can always be salvaged with a touch more fire as my friend’s was. Most chefs regard beef cooked to medium-rare — with an internal temperature of 130 degrees off the grill and 135 degrees after resting — as the best way to bring out flavor and retain moisture in tender cuts such as rib-eye and top loin. Unlike rare, medium-rare allows time for the outside to caramelize and develop a sear.

6am – C         Pompeo confirmation hearing for secretary of state set for Thursday (Washington Times) — Mike Pompeo, the outgoing CIA director President Trump has nominated to be his next secretary of state, will go before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Thursday for his confirmation hearing, committee Chairman Bob Corker, Tennessee Republican, announced Tuesday morning. The hearing comes just a few days after Congress returned from its Easter recess and reflects the urgency of filling the nation’s top diplomatic post at a time when Mr. Trump is dealing with foreign policy crises in the Middle East, Russia and North Asia. Mr. Pompeo, a West Point graduate and former Republican congressman from Kansas, would replace Rex Tillerson, who lasted barely a year in the job before being fired. The former ExxonMobil chairman had a frosty relationship with President Trump and weak support from his own department as he tried to push through a controversial reorganization plan. But Mr. Pompeo, despite a much closer relationship with the president, could face a tough confirmation battle, with libertarian Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, threatening to vote with committee Democrats against Mr. Pompeo, setting up a fight on the Senate floor for Mr. Trump’s choice. Politico reported Tuesday that Mr. Pompeo has reached out to his two Democratic predecessors — Hillary Clinton and John Kerry — among others as he prepares for the confirmation fight.

6am – D         Zuckerberg on the Hill – Day 2:

• Facebook’s Zuckerberg just survived 10 hours of questioning by Congress

• MarshaBlackburn Grills Zuckerberg About Diamond and Silk

• Mark Zuckerberg Also Said Facebook’s Been In Contact With Diamond And Silk, Which The Duo Says Is Not True

• Congress “offended” by Facebook’s censorship of Diamond and Silk
• Scalise Holds Zuckerberg’s Feet To The Fire Over Alleged Facebook Algorithm Bias

6am – E         Trump Syria Tweet:

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

Never said when an attack on Syria would take place. Could be very soon or not so soon at all! In any event, the United States, under my Administration, has done a great job of ridding the region of ISIS. Where is our “Thank you America?”

Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump

Russia vows to shoot down any and all missiles fired at Syria. Get ready Russia, because they will be coming, nice and new and “smart!” You shouldn’t be partners with a Gas Killing Animal who kills his people and enjoys it!

6am – F         INTERVIEW – Alexander Alt – Intern at WMAL for Mornings on the Mall – discussed what the internship was like over the last 12 weeks and what it’s like to work at a radio station

7am – A         INTERVIEW – DR. SEBASTIAN GORKA –  – FOXNews National Security Strategist, NYT Bestseller author of “DEFEATING JIHAD” and Fmr deputy assistant to President Donald Trump – discussed the latest news on Syria and previewed the Pompeo confirmation hearings

7am – B         Rapper Cardi B asked why she didn’t abort her baby. Her response won’t make feminists happy. (The Blaze) — First it was taxes, now it’s abortion and what it really means to be “pro-choice.” Famed rapper “Cardi B” is once again taking on liberal politics. Cardi B, whose real name is Belcalis Almanzar, explained in a recent radio interview why she chose not to abort the baby she is currently pregnant with and slammed the feminist definition of “pro-choice.” During a lengthy conversation on “The Breakfast Club” Tuesday, Almanzar said that despite her baby being unplanned, she has a “game plan.” When asked by show host Charlemagne Tha God whether she considered terminating her pregnancy, Almanzar said she didn’t. And it wasn’t just because of the guilt that comes from abortions, Almanzar said, but she said she didn’t consider it because she doesn’t believe in the feminist idea of not being able to be pregnant and maintain her fruitful career. “It was just like, ‘You know what, I’m a grown woman. I’m 25 years old…I’m a [millionaire]. You know what I’m saying? And I’m prepared for this,’” Almanzar said. The rapper, who was born and raised in the Bronx in New York City, went on to explain that criticism from women in particular over her decision to not have an abortion “disgusts” her. “It really bothers me and it disgusts me because I see a lot of women online like, ‘Oh, I feel sorry for you. Oh your career is over.’ And it’s just like, why can’t I have both? Like as a woman why can’t I have both? Like, why do I have to choose a career or a baby? Like, why can’t I have both?” Almanzar asked. “It’s like, why do I have to wait until I’m 30-something to have a kid? I want my kid now,” she explained. Almanzar made similar comments in an interview on Monday, where she also addressed the criticism she received for becoming pregnant from a man who already has children from several other mothers. Almanzar said her baby’s father is a “great father” and not a “dead-beat.”

7am – C         Roseanne / Diamond and Silk:

• Roseanne defends pro-Trump @DiamondandSilk after Facebook censoring (Fox News) — Roseanne Barr on Wednesday defended Diamond and Silk and said Facebook should “stop censoring” the pro-Trump supporters after the duo’s videos were classified as “unsafe to the community” on the social platform. “Diamond and Silk are comedians-stop censoring them!” Barr tweeted. The demand from the actress-comedian — who returned to Twitter following the successful “Roseanne” reboot — came after Lynnette “Diamond” Hardaway and Rochelle “Silk” Richardson appeared on “Fox & Friends” and said their videos were deemed “unsafe to the community” by Facebook’s public policy team. The dynamic duo said they were given no reason why their videos earned the label. A Facebook spokesperson told Fox News on Tuesday it was reconsidering the videos’ classification.
• Roseanne’ Crushes Competition Again (Daily Wire) — On Tuesday, the second episode of “Roseanne” aired on ABC, garnering a 3.4/15 rating share and drawing 13.47 million viewers, nearly doubling the audience of the next-highest show facing it, NBC’s “The Voice.” The show immediately following “Roseanne,” “The Middle,” rode on its coattails, getting a 1.9/8 rating share and drawing 7.48 million viewers, and the show following that, “Black-ish,” received a 1.4/5 rating share and drew 5.1 million viewers. ABC won the night handily; nothing else on the networks came close to the numbers for “Roseanne.” No other show reached a share higher than 5 except for “The Middle.”

7am – D         House Speaker Paul Ryan won’t seek re-election (CNN) — House Speaker Paul Ryan is not seeking re-election and will retire from Congress after this year, the Wisconsin Republican announced Wednesday. “You realize something when you take this job,” Ryan told reporters on Capitol Hill on Wednesday morning. “It’s a big job with a lot riding on you … but you also know this is not a job that does not last forever. … You realize you hold the office for just a small part of our history. So you better make the most of it.” He reminded reporters that he took the job “reluctantly” in 2015, when he took over from John Boehner, but Ryan also said he has no “regrets.” Ryan’s departure is a blow to GOP members who saw the Wisconsin Republican as a stable and policy-oriented leader in a party shaken by the tumultuous Donald Trump presidency. He has been a fundraising juggernaut ahead of the midterms this fall, and helped translate GOP agenda items into legislation such as a series of tax cuts and rolling back banking legislation put in place under Democrats. In his prepared remarks, Ryan focused on the tax law that passed last year as a key legacy he left behind and spoke at length about his desire to go home to Wisconsin to be home with his family. He said that the 2018 midterms and the chance that he wouldn’t be speaker didn’t factor at all into his decision to announce his retirement.

7am – E         INTERVIEW – ROMAN STUBBS – Sports reporter for The Washington Post – Previewed the Caps’ chances in the NHL playoffs

• The five factors that could decide the Capitals’ playoff fate (Washington Post) — The Washington Capitals will open the Stanley Cup playoffs Thursday against the Columbus Blue Jackets with much less hype than the previous two years, when Washington, then a title favorite, twice failed to advance past the second round. Here are a few pressing story lines facing these Capitals, who relish the chance to fly under the radar for a change: Can Alex Ovechkin continue his tear? Ovechkin gave Washington fans a memorable regular season finale in Saturday’s 5-3 win over New Jersey, scoring two goals to finish with 49. It has a been a decorated year for Ovechkin, who in the past month alone scored his 600th goal and played in his 1,000th game. How his jaw-dropping production at 32 translates to the postseason will again be a crucial component of Washington’s run. Ovechkin has a talented and intriguing sidekick in Evgeny Kuznetsov (83 points), but Ovechkin will face the brunt of the questions about whether he can exorcise the Capitals’ playoff demons, should they reach the second round. Philipp Grubauer or Braden Holtby?: Coach Barry Trotz split his goaltenders for the final two games of the regular season and has remained mum on who will start Game 1. While Holtby struggled during the second half of the season, Grubauer has been one of the most productive goaltenders in the league since late November, posting a .937 save percentage over his past 27 outings. Holtby was pulled by Trotz in Washington’s 5-1 loss to Columbus when the teams last met in late February, but in the other three games with the Blue Jackets this season, he posted three wins and a .937 save percentage.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – TONY ROMM – Technology reporter for The Washington Post – discussed Facebook CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg’s 2 days of testimony before Congress

• Facebook’s Zuckerberg just survived 10 hours of questioning by Congress (Washington Post) — Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on Wednesday faced a tougher, tenser grilling at his second congressional hearing, as lawmakers unleashed a litany of complaints about the company’s privacy practices, its failure to fight the opioid crisis and the lack of diversity within its executive ranks. For five hours, Democrats and Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee took turns swiping at Zuckerberg, holding him to “yes” and “no” questions and frequently cutting him off — a tactic that at times appeared to frustrate the Facebook co-founder. Facebook’s data practices were the official topic of the hearing, prompted by its entanglement with with Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy that improperly accessed 87 million Facebook users’ names, “likes” and other personal information. At one point in the hearing, Zuckerberg acknowledged that his own data had been accessed by Cambridge Analytica. Even as he apologized for the mishap and other recent troubles at Facebook, however, lawmakers repeatedly expressed doubt that the social giant could fix its troubles on its own – and threatened to regulate the company and its tech industry peers. Opening the session, the House panel’s leader, Republican Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.), called Facebook an “American success story.” But he added: “While Facebook has certainly grown, I worry it has not matured. I think it is time to ask whether Facebook may have moved too fast and broken too many things.”

8am – B/C     INTERVIEW – REP. DAVE BRAT – R-VA and member of the House Freedom Caucus – discussed news of Paul Ryan retiring his position as speaker of the house and what criteria and the freedom caucus plan to use in selecting a new speaker

8am – D         INTERVIEW – MELISSA FRANCIS – Fox Business Network anchor and author of new book “LESSONS FROM THE PRAIRIE: The Surprising Secrets to Happiness, Success and (Sometimes Just) Survival I Learned on America’s Favorite Show” – discussed her new book and gave her thoughts on the congressional testimony from Mark Zuckerberg

8am – E         Rockville becomes first city in Maryland to adopt mail-in voting system (Washington Post) — Next year, the mailbox will become the ballot box in one Maryland city. Late Monday night, the Rockville City Council voted unanimously to move its city elections to a vote-by-mail format — meaning the city’s roughly 40,000 registered voters will receive their official ballots by mail and can return them by mail, beginning with the November 2019 election. Lois Neuman, chair of the Rockville City Board of Supervisors of Elections, said no other city in Maryland conducts its elections via the U.S. Postal Service. Several states — including Oregon, Washington and Colorado — have adopted a vote-by-mail system. Neuman said the city opted for the change in the hopes it would increase voter turnout in city elections that of late have attracted barely 15 percent of registered voters. Early voting, which the city instituted in 2015, still didn’t boost the numbers. “We are still asking the voter to come to the polling place,” Neuman said of early voting. “They need to drive; they need to take time off; they need to bring their children. They still need to come. What about taking the vote to the voter?” Rockville plans to send out several mailings to voters to inform them of the new election method and make sure addresses on file are still current. While many details still need to be worked out before the 2019 election, the general process for vote-by-mail elections is in place. The city plans to check the signatures on ballot envelopes it receives by mail against signatures on voter registration forms, to ensure against voter fraud. It will continue to give voters the option to come to City Hall on Election Day to cast a ballot in the traditional way — using provisional ballots and checking the voting database to safeguard against a voter potentially mailing in a ballot and going to the polls to vote a second time.