Cal Thomas, Charlie Spiering, Michelle Malkin, Bobby Schindler and Amy Chozick joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, April 25, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Restaurants rush to meet May deadline for calorie counts on menus. (USA Today) — NASHVILLE — Anyone who has dined at Back Yard Burgers, a popular burger chain here, recently may have noticed a new menu addition: calorie counts. The chain is among restaurants around the country preparing for the May 7 deadline to comply with long-delayed regulations requiring eateries with 20 or more locations to prominently display calorie counts.  A federal menu labeling standard has been years in the making. In the meantime, cities, like New York, and states, like California, have enacted their own laws. In 2010, the Affordable Care Act included the labeling provision with the intention of setting one national standard rather than the patchwork laws that were sprouting up across the country. Those inconsistent requirements made it difficult for restaurants to comply and confusing for consumers, said Deborah Kotz, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.  “Americans should not have to navigate variable information about the foods they eat when traveling from state to state — or city to city,” Kotz said. Enforcement of the labeling rule was delayed multiple times, including a final hour postponement last year just before the expected May deadline.  In anticipation, many restaurant chains have already added nutrition information to menus and websites. Panera Bread added calorie counts to menu boards in 2010, McDonald’s started posting them in 2012, and Starbucks added them in 2013.  Nationwide, roughly 230,000 restaurants will fall under the menu labeling law, according to the National Restaurant Association.

5am – D         RONNY JACKSON

• Ronny Jackson’s confirmation hearing indefinitely delayed over possible ‘improper conduct’ (Washington Examiner) — The Senate Veterans Affairs panel has indefinitely postponed the confirmation hearing for Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson to serve as the next VA secretary. Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and ranking member Jon Tester, D-Mont., announced the decision Tuesday morning, after accusations surfaced about Jackson drinking while on the job and improperly handing out medication. Jackson had been scheduled to face the Veterans panel on Wednesday. No new date has been set.
• Trump says he’d understand if Veterans Affairs nominee decides not to go through confirmation: ‘If I were him … I wouldn’t do it.’
• VA nominee allegedly got drunk, handed out pills ‘like candy’ on overseas trips (Ny Post) — White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson drunkenly pounded on the hotel-room door of a female colleague during a trip overseas in 2015, according to a report on Tuesday. Jackson, President Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Veteran Affairs, was apparently banging on the door so hard that a Secret Service agent stepped in, fearful the ruckus would wake then-President Barack Obama, according to CNN. The incident was reportedly just one of the drunken episodes involving Jackson and is being scrutinized by the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the committee’s top Democrat, told CNN that Jackson handed out prescription drugs “like candy” while traveling overseas. Tester also said 20 people came forward with claims against Jackson.

5am – E         Hillary Clinton unleashed foul-mouthed tirade in Trump debate prep session (The Guardian) — Hillary Clinton unleashed a “fuck-laced fusillade” on aides in a 2016 debate prep session, according to a new book about the presidential campaign by New York Times journalist Amy Chozick. The candidate was squirming with frustration over lingering concerns about her “authenticity” and racked with loathing for Donald Trump she was determined not to vent in public. “Aides understood that in order to keep it all together onstage, Hillary sometimes needed to unleash on them in private,” Chozick writes in Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns and One Intact Glass Ceiling. “‘You want authentic, here it is!’ she’d yelled in one prep session, followed by a fuck-laced fusillade about what a ‘disgusting’ human being Trump was and how he didn’t deserve to even be in the arena.”

 

6am – A         Alfie’s parents will appeal against High Court decision, lawyers confirm (The Mirror) – Alfie’s parents are appealing against a High Court decision preventing the tot from being taken abroad for treatment, lawyers for the family have confirmed. A spokeswoman for the Christian Legal Centre, representing Alfie’s parents, said the case is due to be heard at the Court of Appeal on Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday Mr Justice Hayden ruled the boy may be allowed home from Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, but will not be allowed to go to Rome for further treatment.

6am – B         TRUMP / MACRON PRESSERS:

• Donald Trump Suggests Possible Action Against Iran ‘Butchers (Breitbart) — President Donald Trump has signaled a willingness to aggressively challenge Iran. Speaking after his meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday, Mr. Trump said, “We’re looking forward to doing something, but it has to be done, and it has to be done strongly. They’ve very much been butchers and we can’t allow that to happen.” Trump made his comments to reporters after an expanded meeting with Macron and members of his staff to discuss the Iran nuclear deal and other issues. Macron believes that the Iran deal is important to maintaining peace in the Middle East, while Trump repeatedly decries the deal as “terrible.”
• Donald Trump: Kim Jong-Un ‘Very Honorable’ Ahead of Planned Summit (breitbart) — President Donald Trump revealed he was pleased with negotiations with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un ahead of their planned summit. “He really has been very open and I think very honorable from everything we’re seeing,” Trump said. The president commented on the ongoing diplomatic efforts with North Korea while speaking to reporters during a meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron. He pointed out that North Korea had made “a lot of promises” in recent years but felt that the United States was in a stronger position to force a deal. Trump confirmed that North Korean leaders still wanted to meet “as soon as possible” with him to discuss their nuclear program.
• A reporter asked Trump if he would pardon Michael Cohen and he snapped back, “Stupid question.”  Trump wipes off dandruff from Macron’s shoulder: “We have to make him perfect.”
• Melania Trump shines as Trumps host elegant first state dinner

6am – C         ‘Schoolhouse Rock’ creator Bob Dorough dies at 94 (Washington Times) – The creator of “Schoolhouse Rock,” which taught a generation of Saturday-morning cartoon-watching children about legislation and grammar, has died. Bob Dorough was 94. Granddaughter Corin Wolf told CNN on Tuesday that Mr. Dorough was diagnosed with cancer last year, but did not specify the exact cause of death. “Schoolhouse Rock” ran on ABC from 1973 to 1985, turning multiplication tables, American history, scientific concepts and the parts of speech into catchy 3-minute animated videos.

6am – D         INTERVIEW – CAL THOMAS – Syndicated columnist – discussed the Macron-Trump meetings, the Iran Deal and North Korea.

6am – E         Student Confronts Nancy Pelosi Over ‘Crumbs’ Comment — Tax Cuts ‘Helped Put Me Through College’ (Daily Mail) — A student at Georgetown University confronted House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi Tuesday over her infamous “crumbs” comment. The student brought up the multiple times that the California Democrat referred to the GOP tax cuts as “crumbs” for the middle class, saying, “As the son of small business owners, I know that it’s helped my parents hire more employees. It’s helped us pay off our mortgage, helped put me through college.” “On a macro economic level, the economy’s growing, wages are rising for the first time in years,” he continued. “Would you still refer to the effects of this tax plan on average Americans as crumbs?” Pelosi answered in part, “My statement was really a fuller statement that says while they provide a banquet to the top one percent, they are giving some crumbs to other people.”

6am – F         Women-hating Toronto van driver has Asperger’s Syndrome and ‘targeted females’ in rampage that left ten dead and 14 injured after his Facebook post about ‘involuntary celibacy’ (Daily Mail) — The women-hating Toronto who ranted about his ‘involuntary celibacy’ before he moved down pedestrians with his van appeared to have targeted female victims. Authorities confirmed that the majority of the ten killed and 14 left injured in the attack by Alek Minassian, 25, were women. Injuries ranged from a few bumps and scrapes to ‘terrible’ and potentially life threatening wounds. Victims of the deadly rampage include Anne Marie D’Amico, an employee at Invesco investment management firm, who was the first victim to be identified, as well as a Seneca College student, a Jordanian citizen and two South Koreans. A third South Korean national was hit but survived and is recovering in hospital.   Seneca College, based in Toronto, confirmed that one of its students died in the attack although they have not yet been identified. ‘Our thoughts are with all those affected, including the family and friends of one of our students who died as a result of the tragic incident,’ the college said in email to Global News. The Korean and Jordanian consulates also confirmed that their citizens had been among the victims of the ‘heinous’ attack.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – CHARLIE SPIERING – White House Correspondent for Breitbart News – discussed the latest White House news: Macron visit and Macron-Trump press conference (Ronny Jackson, Iran Deal, etc).

7am – B         Pruitt signs proposed rule to erase ‘secret science’ from EPA (The Hill) — Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt signed a rule proposal Tuesday aimed at increasing “transparency” in science all while limiting reporter, environmentalist and scientist access to the event. The proposal, signed at EPA headquarters, aims to expose the methodology behind scientific findings and cut back on what Pruitt has deemed “secret science.” Speaking in front of a number of well-known climate change skeptics including the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s Myron Ebell, Pruitt announced that the new rule would require science to “be transparent, reproducible and able to be analyzed by those in the marketplace.” Reporters were not invited to attend the event, and details surrounding the announcement and rule proposal were kept secret until 30 minutes before the EPA’s Twitter account announced it would be live-streamed. Pruitt said the new ruling shows “an agency taking responsibility for how we do our work, in respecting process … so that we can enhance confidence in our decision making.” He also dubbed the current process which had, until now, allowed science to be peer reviewed rather than open to public scrutiny, “simply wrong headed.” The rule will replicate, through agency action, two bills previously introduced in the House and Senate meant to restrict the kind of science the EPA can use when writing regulations.

7am – C         CNN’s Jim Acosta says the Trump administration calling certain news organizations “fake news” is an act, says Trump supporters are mentally unstable and might attack journalists: “They don’t have all their faculties in some cases. Their elevator may not hit all floors.”

7am – D         INTERVIEW — MICHELLE MALKIN — syndicated columnist and Host of “Michelle Malkin Investigates” on CRTV.com

TOPIC: Baby Alfie Evans is fighting for his life in spite of UK health care system trying to stop the parents from saving him. Michelle has a column on Alfie at Townhall.com today, a video on CRTV.com about Alfie AND she is a parent of a child with chronic illness so this story means a lot to her.

7am – E         MELANIA’S HAT / FASHION:

• Melania Trump Steals the Show in Michael Kors Hat, Suit http://dlvr.it/QQdK97  via @BreitbartNews / First Lady Melania Trump stole the show when she stepped out of the White House alongside President Trump in a stark white hat and matching belted skirt suit to greet French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron at the White House on Tuesday. Mrs. Trump wore the off-the-runway, asymmetric Michael Kors Collection double crepe jacket with a matching Kors skirt and wide brim hat by Hervé Pierre, Mrs. Trump’s personal style advisor. The wide brim hat is a first for Mrs. Trump as she normally wears her hair in her signature middle part and layered waves. The Michael Kors Collection blazer retails $2,195 at Saks Fifth Avenue.
• Even CNN Had To Stop And Praise Melania For ‘Stealing The Show’  
• Melania Trump’s hat draws Beyoncé, Olivia Pope comparisons // The Internet didn’t miss a beat commenting on FLOTUS’ headwear. People on Twitter made comparisons ranging from Beyoncé’s hat in the “Formation” video to Olivia Pope’s infamous white hat on “Scandal.”
• Melania Trump wears sequined Chanel gown to first state dinner (NY Post) — WASHINGTON — Once an absentee first lady, Melania Trump embraced her moment in the spotlight Tuesday for the French president’s state visit, ditching her trademark dark sunglasses and shining in a look-at-me white skirt suit and matching hat. All eyes were again on Mrs. Trump on Tuesday evening when she stepped out in a Chanel gown to greet Emmanuel Macron and his wife, Brigitte, as they arrived for the first state dinner of Trump’s administration. Mrs. Trump’s black Chantilly lace haute couture gown was hand-painted with silver and embroidered with crystal and sequins, according to her spokeswoman. It was another big fashion statement for the former model.

8am – A         INTERVIEW — BOBBY SCHINDLER – brother of Terri Schiavo and President of the Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network

• Baby Alfie Evans fighting for his life in spite of UK health care system trying to stop the parents from saving him
• BACKGROUND: The Terri Schiavo case was a right-to-die legal case in the United States from 1990 to 2005, involving Theresa Marie “Terri” Schiavo (/tɛriː ˈʃaɪvoʊ/; December 3, 1963 – March 31, 2005), a woman in an irreversible persistent vegetative state. Schiavo’s husband and legal guardian argued that Schiavo would not have wanted prolonged artificial life support without the prospect of recovery, and elected to remove her feeding tube. Schiavo’s parents disputed her husband’s assertions and challenged Schiavo’s medical diagnosis, arguing in favor of continuing artificial nutrition and hydration. The highly publicized and prolonged series of legal challenges presented by her parents, which ultimately involved state and federal politicians up to the level of President George W. Bush, caused a seven-year delay before Schiavo’s feeding tube was ultimately removed. 

8am – B         RONNY JACKSON

• Ronny Jackson’s confirmation hearing indefinitely delayed over possible ‘improper conduct’ (Washington Examiner) — The Senate Veterans Affairs panel has indefinitely postponed the confirmation hearing for Rear Adm. Ronny Jackson to serve as the next VA secretary. Committee Chairman Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., and ranking member Jon Tester, D-Mont., announced the decision Tuesday morning, after accusations surfaced about Jackson drinking while on the job and improperly handing out medication. Jackson had been scheduled to face the Veterans panel on Wednesday. No new date has been set.
• Trump says he’d understand if Veterans Affairs nominee decides not to go through confirmation: ‘If I were him … I wouldn’t do it.’
• VA nominee allegedly got drunk, handed out pills ‘like candy’ on overseas trips (Ny Post) — White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson drunkenly pounded on the hotel-room door of a female colleague during a trip overseas in 2015, according to a report on Tuesday. Jackson, President Trump’s nominee to run the Department of Veteran Affairs, was apparently banging on the door so hard that a Secret Service agent stepped in, fearful the ruckus would wake then-President Barack Obama, according to CNN. The incident was reportedly just one of the drunken episodes involving Jackson and is being scrutinized by the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee. Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), the committee’s top Democrat, told CNN that Jackson handed out prescription drugs “like candy” while traveling overseas. Tester also said 20 people came forward with claims against Jackson.

8am – C         GOP BASEBALL FIRST PRACTICE: The GOP Congressional baseball team returned to Alexandria’s Simpson Stadium Park Wednesday morning for the first practice leading up to the June 14th annual Congressional baseball game at Nationals Park.  This is the first practice since last year’s shooting that wounded four people, including House Whip Steve Scalise, Crystal Griner, a U.S. Capitol Police officer assigned to protect Scalise; Zack Barth, a congressional aide; and Matt Mika, a Tyson Foods lobbyist.

8am – D/E     INTERVIEW — AMY CHOZICK – the New York Times’ Hillary embed in 2016 and author of new book “Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns, and One Intact Glass Ceiling“

• About the Book: The dishy, rollicking, and deeply personal story of what really happened in the 2016 election, as seen through the eyes of the New York Times reporter who gave eight years of her life to covering the First Woman President who wasn’t. For a decade, award-winning New York Times journalist Amy Chozick chronicled Hillary Clinton’s pursuit of the presidency. Chozick’s front-row seat, initially covering Clinton’s imploding 2008 campaign, and then her assignment to “The Hillary Beat” ahead of the 2016 election, took her to 48 states and set off a nearly ten-years-long journey in which the formative years of her twenties and thirties became – both personally and professionally – intrinsically intertwined to Clinton’s presidential ambitions.
• DEPLORABLES: That was no slip of the tongue, since “Hillary always broke down Trump supporters into three baskets,” Chozick writes. “The Deplorables always got a laugh, over living-room chats in the Hamptons, at dinner parties under the stars on Martha’s Vineyard, over passed hors d’oeuvres in Beverly Hills, and during sunset cocktails in Silicon Valley,” Chozick continues.
• Hillary Clinton unleashed foul-mouthed tirade in Trump debate prep session (The Guardian) — Hillary Clinton unleashed a “fuck-laced fusillade” on aides in a 2016 debate prep session, according to a new book about the presidential campaign by New York Times journalist Amy Chozick. The candidate was squirming with frustration over lingering concerns about her “authenticity” and racked with loathing for Donald Trump she was determined not to vent in public. “Aides understood that in order to keep it all together onstage, Hillary sometimes needed to unleash on them in private,” Chozick writes in Chasing Hillary: Ten Years, Two Presidential Campaigns and One Intact Glass Ceiling. “‘You want authentic, here it is!’ she’d yelled in one prep session, followed by a fuck-laced fusillade about what a ‘disgusting’ human being Trump was and how he didn’t deserve to even be in the arena.”