Mornings on the Mall

Monday, September 23, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

Joe diGenova, Larry Michael, climate activist Mike Tidwell and Dr. Roy Spencer joined WMAL on Monday morning!

5am – A/B/C TRUMP/ UKRAINE:

• Trump asked Ukraine president to investigate Joe Biden’s son eight times in one phone call: report http://hill.cm/S1plNlW / President Trump reportedly pressured the president of Ukraine during a July phone call to investigate the son of Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden. The Wall Street Journal first reported Friday that Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky roughly eight times to work with his personal attorney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, on the matter.
• Trump says he will consider releasing transcript of Ukraine call
• Susan Ferrechio: Does Schiff already know the Trump whistleblower’s story?
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “Congress failed to act and now Donald Trump has shown that he believes he is above the law. He has solicited another foreign govt to attack our election system. It is time for us to call out this illegal behavior & start impeachment proceedings right now.” https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1176043774411075584
• NYT reporter says the Ukraine story is a ‘significant liability for Joe Biden’

5am – D/E     2020 DEM CANDIDATES ATTEND IOWA STEAK FRY AFTER RIPPING ON MEAT EATING CAUSING CLIMATE CHANGE>

• BIDEN at Iowa Steak Fry calling for climate change action as president
• FLASHBACK: Kamala talks about doing away with meat
• “What’s up, Iowa! I’m at the steak fry! I don’t know if you guys heard, I’m planning to move to Iowa!” Kamala Harris takes the stage at the Polk County Democrats’ Steak Fry in Des Moines, IA.
• Mayor Pete supporters at Steak Fry dance around like nerds and horrible dancers — sounds like they are dancing to to the tune of YMCA

6am – A         Shut Down DC: Climate change protest disrupts Monday morning commute. (WTOP) – Climate protesters have begun their disruption of the Monday morning commute, blocking intersections around D.C. to get their message across. They are blocking or impeding traffic at 14th and C streets SW, 16th and K streets, 16th and I streets, 18th and Massachusetts Avenue, and 12th and Independence Avenue — at Independence, it’s a large pink and yellow sailboat that’s closed the road. They’re also forcing traffic to be redirected from inbound 395 North and New York Avenue. New York Avenue is blocked at North Capitol Street, Florida Avenue and 4th Street. At the Third Street Tunnel, drivers are forced to go turn left instead of right as they normally would. The protests have sparked a significant police presence.  Shut Down D.C. aims to block “key infrastructure to stop business-as-usual, bringing the whole city to a gridlocked standstill,” organizers said on its website. That includes over a dozen intersections in the District “where corporate and government power holders who are blocking serious action on climate are located,” they said.

6am –B/C      CLIMATE TEENS SPOKE OUT THIS WEEKEND:

• VIDEO of girl freaking out on stage like Howard Dean
• More of the crazy climate girl: Climate activist Alyssa Wiseman: “All of our futures are in jeopardy. … We have only 11 years to rectify decades of damage … and only 18 months until some damages are irreversible.”
• 11-year-old climate activist Rosie Clemens-Cove: “Our parents trashed the planet and it’s our job to save it”
• Clemens-Cove:  “Climate activists need to support other social movements, too …
• During MSNBC Climate forum, a 19 year old student: “I feel visceral anxiety every day” about climate change

6am – D/E     Youth Sports Officials, Referees Dropping Out Due to Parents’ Belligerent Behavior. (Breitbart) – Youth sports officials and referees are quitting their jobs at record rates because of parents’ poor behavior during games, reports said. The National Federation of State High School Associations said 80 percent of officials quit before they reached the third-year mark on the job. A Fox News report stated, “One driving force behind the trend is increasingly abusive and belligerent behavior by parents, including verbal abuse, threats and even fights.” In June, Breitbart News reported that a brawl broke out between parents at a youth baseball game in Lakewood, Colorado, after a teenage umpire made some “questionable calls”: The Lakewood Police Department said it later identified the 12 individuals involved in the incident and cited them for disorderly conduct. On September 14, two people were wounded when a gunman opened fire at a peewee football game in Fort Worth, Texas, according to Breitbart News.

6am – F         EMMYS HIGHLIGHTS:

• EMMYS THROW SHADE AT HUFFMAN: Comedian Thomas Lennon, who served as a commentator during the Fox broadcast joked during Sunday night’s show: “The producers have asked me to give a special shout-out to any of our previous lead actress winners who are watching tonight from prison. Hopefully, those two weeks are gonna right fly by.”
• EMMYS SPOILED GoT FOR THOSE WHO HAVEN’T SEEN IT: The series finale aired on May 19 but many people still haven’t seen the fantasy drama series and have been avoiding hints about what happened.
• DOWNTOWN ABBEY BLOWS AWAY THE COMPETITION: “Downton Abbey” debuted with $31 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday, royally trumping the $19.2 million-opening for “Ad Astra” and the $19 million debut for “Rambo: Last Blood.” Neither the draw of Pitt in space nor a bandanna-wearing Stallone could match the appeal a tea party with old friends.

7am – A/B/C  INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst  and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia

• Nancy Pelosi calls for law to be able to indict presidents. (CNN) House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called on Friday for legislation to ensure sitting US presidents can be indicted for crimes. “I do think that we will have to pass some laws that will have clarity for future presidents. (A) President should be indicted if he’s committed a wrongdoing — any president,” Pelosi told NPR’s “All Things Considered” host Ari Shapiro and NPR congressional correspondent Susan Davis on Friday. “There is nothing any place that says the President should not be indicted,” she said. “That’s something cooked up by the President’s lawyers. That’s what that is.
• Trump asked Ukraine president to investigate Joe Biden’s son eight times in one phone call: report http://hill.cm/S1plNlW / President Trump reportedly pressured the president of Ukraine during a July phone call to investigate the son of Democratic presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden. The Wall Street Journal first reported Friday that Trump told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky roughly eight times to work with his personal attorney, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, on the matter.
• Trump says he will consider releasing transcript of Ukraine call
• Susan Ferrechio: Does Schiff already know the Trump whistleblower’s story?
• Sen. Elizabeth Warren: “Congress failed to act and now Donald Trump has shown that he believes he is above the law. He has solicited another foreign govt to attack our election system. It is time for us to call out this illegal behavior & start impeachment proceedings right now.”

7am – D         INTERVIEW – LARRY MICHAEL – The Voice of The Redskins – previewed Chicago Bears @ Washington Redskins. In Week 3 of the NFL season, the (1-1) Chicago Bears will take on the (0-2) Washington Redskins at FedEx Field in a Monday Night Football contest at 8:15 p.m. ET.

7am – E         Washington monument elevator malfunctions Saturday days after reopening following years of repairs. WASHINGTON (WMAL) – It was deja vu at the Washington Monument Saturday afternoon when the newly repaired elevator stopped working for about an hour. The monument re-opened last week after a three-year closure for repairs after many elevator malfunctions, including ones where people were trapped inside. Nobody was inside Saturday when the elevator stopped working. National Parks Service Spokesman Mike Litterst said the “brief disruption in service” lasted for about an hour. The elevator was up and running again Saturday afternoon, and tours were back on schedule. 

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MIKE TIDWELL – Director of CCAN Action Fund – He will be taking part in the action.

• Mike is in the middle of the action blocking D.C. traffic to demand political leaders to act on climate change.
• BIO: Mike Tidwell is founder and director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, a grassroots nonprofit organization dedicated to raising awareness about the impacts and solutions associated with global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C.. He is also an author and filmmaker who predicted in vivid detail the Katrina hurricane disaster in his 2003 book Bayou Farewell: The Rich Life and Tragic Death of Louisiana’s Cajun Coast. His most recent book, focusing on Katrina and global warming, is titled The Ravaging Tide: Strange Weather, Future Katrinas, and the Race to Save America’s Coastal Cities. His 2004 documentary film, We Are All Smith Islanders, vividly depicts the dangers of global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and D.C.
• Shut Down DC plans to “bring traffic and business as usual to a standstill” to protest climate change on Monday. (WTOP) – Climate protesters have begun their disruption of the Monday morning commute, blocking intersections around D.C. to get their message across. They are blocking or impeding traffic at 14th and C streets SW, 16th and K streets, 16th and I streets, 18th and Massachusetts Avenue, and 12th and Independence Avenue — at Independence, it’s a large pink and yellow sailboat that’s closed the road. They’re also forcing traffic to be redirected from inbound 395 North and New York Avenue. New York Avenue is blocked at North Capitol Street, Florida Avenue and 4th Street. At the Third Street Tunnel, drivers are forced to go turn left instead of right as they normally would.  The protests have sparked a significant police presence. Shut Down D.C. aims to block “key infrastructure to stop business-as-usual, bringing the whole city to a gridlocked standstill,” organizers said on its website. That includes over a dozen intersections in the District “where corporate and government power holders who are blocking serious action on climate are located,” they said.

8am – B/C     Calls from listeners dealing with the traffic delays because of the climate protests.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – DR. ROY SPENCER was a Senior Scientist for Climate Studies at NASA and author of “Climate Confusion: How Global Warming Hysteria Leads to Bad Science, Pandering Politicians and Misguided Policies That Hurt the Poor”

• SHUTDOWN DC: Shut Down DC: Climate change protest disrupts Monday morning commute
• UN CLIMATE SUMMIT: Friday’s far-reaching strikes, which spanned more than 150 countries, come three days before world leaders are set to gather at the United Nations on Monday for a much-anticipated climate summit.  (Washington Post) -U.N. Secretary General António Guterres has insisted that countries bring with them promises of meaningful action, such as vowing to reach net zero emissions by 2050, cutting fossil fuel subsidies and ceasing construction of coal-fired power plants. In the run up to the United Nations Climate Action Summit this Monday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has repeatedly warned countries that they need more than empty promises to fight climate change. “Don’t come to the summit with beautiful speeches,” Guterres said at a press conference last month.