Susan Ferrechio, Maria Leaf, Raheem Kassam and Andrew McCarthy joined WMAL on Tuesday morning!

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

 

5am – A/B/C It’s official: Excessive screen time irreversibly affects kids’ brains, study finds. Parents’ worst suspicions about the effects of too much screen time on their offspring have been partially confirmed by the preliminary results of a new study – and the effects may be further-reaching than they suspected. Kids who spend more than two hours in front of a screen every day score lower on language and thinking tests, according to the earliest results of a study from the National Institutes of Health. The first batch of data from the study will be published next year, but as a preliminary finding, these results are worrying, given that the average tweenager spends up to 6 hours a day on their phone or tablet. The NIH’s ambitious $300 million Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study has enrolled 11,874 children, ages 9-10, including 2,100 twins or triplets. They will be followed through young adulthood at 21 research sites across the US.

5am – D         CHUCK & NANCY OFFER FARCICAL FENCE FUNDING: Pelosi, Schumer to meet with Trump, offer $1.3 billion for border as shutdown looms

5am – E         Publishers leap to sign outgoing Chief of Staff John Kelly to a $15 million tell-all book deal on his tumultuous White House tenure if he delivers the nitty-gritty on President Trump, Rob Porter’s firing and Jared Kushner’s ties to the Saudis. (Daily Mail) — White House chief of staff John F. Kelly’s exit is weeks away, but already book publishers are clambering to sign the four-star general to an exclusive tell-all book deal, DailyMail.com can exclusively reveal.  In anticipation of the high demand for an inside look into Trump’s White House, publishers said they are ready to fork over as much as a $15 million advance – which would make the deal one of the biggest in book publishing history.  A power publisher told DailyMail.com a Kelly memoir revealing ‘Oval Office secrets to which only he has the true, untold story could be the most shocking expose about Trump ever.’ Executives are expecting a candid memoir to sell ‘tons more copies’ than the million copies sold of A Higher Loyalty, the bestseller by fired controversial FBI Director James Comey, for which he received a reported $2 million advance against sales.  But in order to secure a top deal, Kelly will be expected to deliver bombshell revelations about President Trump and the inner workings of the White House, including the truth about son-in-law Jarded Kushner’s ties to Saudi Arabia. He will also be expected to share the backstories of White House dramas including the firing of Omarosa Manigault Newman and Rob Porter.

 

6am – A/B/C GOOGLE NEWS:

• Google Employees Sought To Block Breitbart From Ads, Emails Show. (Daily Caller) — Google employees sought to block Breitbart from Google AdSense less than one month after President Donald Trump took office, leaked emails from the company reveal. Google employees sought to use alleged “hate speech” as a pretense for banning Breitbart from taking part in the advertising program, the emails show. Barring Breitbart from the advertising program would have a devastating effect on the site’s ad revenue as Google accounts for roughly 37 percent of all digital advertising revenue. (RELATED: Top Ad Writer Behind Boycott Campaign Targeting Breitbart, Ingraham) Breitbart obtained the emails and published them Monday night, one day before Google CEO Sundar Pichai is set to testify before the House Judiciary Committee. A Google spokeswoman confirmed the emails’s authenticity to The Daily Caller News Foundation. Google employees crowd-sourced a spreadsheet of examples meant to show Breitbart engaging in “hate speech” as part of a internal lobbying campaign meant to pressure their higher-ups into removing Breitbart from AdSense. “My team has been reviewing the site on a frequent (at least weekly) from the [original] fake news kick-off discussion,” Google’s director of monetization at the time, Jim Gray, assured employees concerned about Breitbart. Gray now is now Google’s director of trust and safety. Richard Zippel, a Google publisher quality manager at the time, similarly noted that Breitbart was being watched closely. “When sufficient violations have been found we’ll take action at the site level,” Zippel wrote. It’s unclear whether Zippel is still a Google employee.
• Google CEO faces House grilling on breach, China WASHINGTON (AP) — Google’s CEO faces a grilling from U.S. lawmakers on how the web search giant handled an alarming data breach and whether it may bend to Chinese government censorship demands. CEO Sundar Pichai’s appearance Tuesday before the House Judiciary Committee comes after he angered members of a Senate panel in September by declining their invitation to testify about foreign governments’ manipulation of online services to sway U.S. elections. Pichai’s no-show at that hearing was marked by an empty chair for Google alongside the Facebook and Twitter executives. Pichai went to Washington later in September to mend fences, meeting with some two dozen Republicans and indicating he also planned to meet with Democrats. He took part last week in a White House meeting with other tech industry executives that focused mainly on getting government and businesses working more closely on accelerating emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence.

6am – B/C     Academy Awards considers going without host: report. (Fox News) — Following Kevin Hart’s announcement that he was bowing out of as host of the 2019 Academy Awards, a report on Monday suggested that organizers behind the annual event are considering airing next year’s telecast without a host. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences is exploring all options, sources with knowledge of the situation told Variety. The show may go sans host, an insider told the outlet, and instead would feature “a bunch of huge celebs, something ‘SNL’ style, and buzzy people to throw to commercial.” Organizers reportedly are leery of booking a host considered too controversial or “off the cuff,” the report claimed. Hart announced last week that he was stepping down from hosting the award show amid criticism over years-old tweets deemed anti-gay. “I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year’s Oscar’s….this is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past,” Hart tweeted.

6am – D/E/F Alimony deduction loss in Trump tax reform could create rush on divorce deals. There’s a rush to nail down divorce deals by New Year’s Eve. After that, divorcees in 2019 will help fund tax cuts for corporate America that were enacted by the 2017 Trump tax reform. On Jan. 1, alimony will no longer be tax-deductible by the spouse making those payments. At the same time, the recipient of what’s called spousal maintenance will no longer declare those payments as taxable income. This provision will shrink the amount of money available for the split-up households because taxes will rise significantly for the spouse making the alimony payments. The spouse receiving the payments, meanwhile, could see a windfall under the new rules because the payments will no longer be taxable on Jan. 1.

7am – A/B/C INTERVIEW – SUSAN FERRECHIO – chief congressional correspondent for the Washington Examiner

• FERRECHIO: Trump, Schumer, Pelosi have two weeks to figure out the border wall
• CHUCK & NANCY OFFER FARCICAL FENCE FUNDING: Pelosi, Schumer to meet with Trump, offer $1.3 billion for border as shutdown looms
• BILL BARR NOM: FERRECHIO: Trump’s front-runner to replace Jeff Sessions has bipartisan appeal
• MEADOWS FOR CHIEF OF STAFF? Mark Meadows says he DOES want to be Trump’s White House chief of staff hours after reports said he was out of the running, as president hunts for John Kelly’s successor

7am – D/E     CHRISTMAS LIGHTS LAZINESS? IS YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD FULL OF GRISWOLDS OR GRINCHS?

• INTERVIEW – MARIA LEAF – Afternoon anchor at WMAL
• Facebook post: MARIA LEAF December 9 at 8:25 PM: “So I’m just curious— does anyone really put up Christmas lights anymore?? Driving around my neighborhood tonight..one that has many large homes…I saw very few that had lights up. When I was a kid, we used to drive around the neighborhood and almost everybody had their home decorated. Granted, there are many drive-thru light shows is these days, but I would rather visit the streets near me. What’s it like where you are? Are your neighbors getting festive with their homes? Did you? Anyone have a Clark Griswold on their block?? LOL”

8am – A         INTERVIEW – RAHEEM KASSAM – Fellow, Claremont Institute – discussed the latest develoments in Brexit, Paris protests and the U.N. compact on migration.

• Theresa May Seeks Delay on Brexit Vote in Parliament. LONDON (AP) — Facing almost certain defeat, British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday postponed a vote in Parliament on her Brexit deal, saying she would go back to European Union leaders to seek changes to the divorce agreement. May’s move threw Britain’s Brexit plans into disarray, intensified a domestic political crisis and battered the pound. With EU officials adamant the withdrawal deal was not up for renegotiation, the country does not know on what terms it will leave — and whether May will still be Britain’s leader when it does.
• Paris protests: Embattled French president Macron holds crisis talks in wake of latest violent clashes. Macron promises wage rise. France’s President Emmanuel Macron has promised a minimum wage rise and tax concessions in response to weeks of violent protests. France has seen four weekends of violent protests against fuel tax rises, living costs and other issues. Speaking in a televised address, Mr Macron condemned the violence but said the protesters’ anger was “deep, and in many ways legitimate”. The minimum wage would increase by €100 per month from 2019, he said. A planned tax increase for low-income pensioners would be cancelled, overtime pay would no longer be taxed, and employers would be encouraged to pay a tax-free end of year bonus to employees, he added.
• N. Approves Sweeping Deal on Migration, but Without U.S. Support. More than 160 countries adopted a sweeping international accord on migration on Monday, after the United Nations secretary general robustly defended against the “myths” and falsehoods that critics had directed at the deal. Addressing a two-day conference in Morocco, the secretary general, António Guterres, noted that disinformation had inflamed debate on the accord — the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration — and had encouraged a rash of rejections by some governments. The 165 countries gathered in Marrakesh approved the agreement by consensus, defying the United States and other countries that had withdrawn, citing concerns about migrant flows and national sovereignty.

8am – B/C   INTERVIEW – ANDREW MCCARTHY – Former Assistant United States Attorney in the Southern District of New York, contributing editor of National Review, FNC contributor and host of “The McCarthy Report” podcast

• Andrew C. McCarthy: Why Trump is likely to be indicted by Manhattan US Attorney (Fox News) — The major takeaway from the 40-page sentencing memorandum filed by federal prosecutors Friday for Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, is this: The president is very likely to be indicted on a charge of violating federal campaign finance laws. It has been obvious for some time that President Trump is the principal subject of the investigation still being conducted by the S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. With brilliant flora and exotic fauna, Orlando is America’s most untamed secret. Save time and money when you book air + hotel with JetBlue Vacations.

8am – D/E     NASA offers to give Stephen Curry a space center tour after he claimed a man has never been to the moon

• Stephen Curry Doubts Moon Landings. NASA Offers to Show Him the Rocks. It has been a big 24 hours for Stephen Curry. His team was named Sports Illustrated’s “Sportsperson of the Year,” he was named the Western Conference’s player of the week, and his comments denying the moon landing happened made him the enemy of science teachers everywhere. Curry, who recently returned from injury and rejoined the Golden State Warriors in their quest for a third consecutive championship, was a guest on a podcast called “Winging It,” which is hosted by the N.B.A. players Vince Carter and Kent Bazemore as well as Annie Finberg, a digital content coordinator for the Atlanta Hawks. During a wide-ranging talk among Carter, Bazemore, Curry and Curry’s teammate Andre Iguodala, the topic of the sounds dinosaurs made was being discussed before Curry abruptly shifted gears, asking the others if they believed the United States had put a person on the moon. “We ever been to the moon?” he asked. The others, in unison, agreed that the answer was no. “They’re going to come get us,” Curry replied. “Sorry, I don’t want to start conspiracies.”
• December marks 50th anniversary of Apollo 8 mission. Fifty years ago, NASA reached one of its major milestones. The flight of Apollo 8 set the course to reach President Kennedy’s vision to land man on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Countless hours and money were spent to help with the goal. On December 21, 1968, Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders were launched in Apollo 8. Its mission was to orbit the moon and return the astronauts safely back to Earth. It lasted a little more than six days.