Cyber security expert Morgan Wright, Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer, Washingtonian's Benjamin Freed and guest host Torie Clarke joined WMAL on Wednesday.

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Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Hosts: Brian Wilson and guest host Torie Clarke

5am – A/B/C Twitter reacts to Jeb Bush's decision to 'actively explore' 2016 race. (USA Today) — Jeb Bush exploded on Twitter, but not necessarily in a good way.

Jeb Bush ‏@JebBush: I am excited to announce I will actively explore the possibility of running for President of the United States.

The former Florida governor became the first major Republican candidate to declare he will “actively explore the possibility of running for president” with a post on Facebook and a tweet. Except “actively explore” has become the political equivalent of Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin announcing their “conscious uncoupling” — a phrase that opens itself to mockery, particularly from journalists and political junkies. “Everyone is ‘actively exploring’ something,” reads part of Mashable’s headline on Bush’s trend. In terms of numbers, Bush’s original Twitter message has been retweeted more than 6,000 times and was liked more than 4,200 times on Facebook.

5am – D         Obama issues 'executive orders by another name.'  (USA Today) — Like executive orders, presidential memoranda don't require action by Congress. They have the same force of law as executive orders and often have consequences just as far-reaching. And some of the most significant actions of the Obama presidency have come not by executive order but by presidential memoranda. Obama has made prolific use of memoranda despite his own claims that he's used his executive power less than other presidents. "The truth is, even with all the actions I've taken this year, I'm issuing executive orders at the lowest rate in more than 100 years," Obama said in a speech in Austin last July. "So it's not clear how it is that Republicans didn't seem to mind when President Bush took more executive actions than I did." Obama has issued 195 executive orders as of Tuesday. Published alongside them in the Federal Register are 198 presidential memoranda — all of which carry the same legal force as executive orders. He's already signed 33% more presidential memoranda in less than six years than Bush did in eight. He's also issued 45% more than the last Democratic president, Bill Clinton, who assertively used memoranda to signal what kinds of regulations he wanted federal agencies to adopt.

5am – E         Wash Post "Fact-Checker" Names "ISIS/JV Team" Lie Of The Year. Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post's "Fact Check" columnist names the biggest Pinocchio moment of the year: When the president denied referring to ISIS specifically as a "JV Team."

6am – A/B/C D.C. 2024 Olympic Committee Makes Its Case to Host Summer Games. The D.C. 2024 Olympics committee made its bid to the U.S. Olympic Committee to be named the American candidate to host the Summer Games Tuesday. D.C. Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser joined Washington 2024 Chairman and CEO Russ Ramsey, former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, and local Olympian Katie Ledecky in California for the presentation.  A decision on which city the U.S. will put forward for a bid is expected next month.

U.S. will bid for 2024 Olympics, no city chosen yet. The U.S. Olympic Committee will bid for the 2024 Olympics, but the city hasn’t been chosen yet. One of Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C. will be the U.S. bid. The USOC had not committed to bidding until after those four finalists gave presentations to the USOC board of directors in San Francisco on Tuesday.

6am – D         INTERVIEW: MORGAN WRIGHT – cybersecurity expert / www.morganwright.us

• Safe online shopping tips during the holidays and Sony hackers
• Christmas Shopping for Cybercriminals: Tips To Increase Your Holiday Cyber-Shopping Security
• Sony hackers threaten terror attacks against people who see The Interview in theaters.

6am – E         Who will fill Marion Barry’s seat?

• Marion Barry’s son, and many others, contemplate filling his Ward 8 Council seat. Also running is Nathan Bennett-Fleming, who was elected citywide in 2012 as the District’s “shadow” House representative. Eugene Dewitt Kinlow, a veteran voting rights activist, said he would formally enter the race later this week. Others considering runs are Trayon White, a former State Board of Education member who was close to Barry, and Sheila Bunn, who is the daughter of a longtime Ward 8 business leader and who is deputy chief of staff to Mayor Vincent C. Gray (D). No one’s decision will be watched as closely as Christopher Barry’s.
• Flashback July 2014: Christopher Barry, son of Marion Barry, jailed in D.C. for driving without license. The adult son of D.C. Council member Marion Barry (D-Ward 8) was ordered held in D.C. jail Thursday for violating a judge’s order and driving in the District on a revoked license. D.C. Superior Court Magistrate Judge Karen Howze ordered Marion Christopher Barry, 34, held until his next hearing on Aug. 7. According to court records, the younger Barry was stopped Wednesday evening in the 2600 block of Pomeroy Road SE because the Ford Explorer he was driving had a non-functioning right brake light. Officers discovered Barry was driving on a suspended license.

7am – A         INTERVIEW: LT COL. TONY SHAFFER –  a CIA trained former senior intelligence officer and the New York Times bestselling author of Operation "Dark Heart: Spycraft an Special Operations on the Frontlines of Afghanistan – And The Path to Victory".

• Pakistan Taliban: Peshawar school attack leaves 141 dead. The rampage at the Army Public School and College began in the morning when seven militants scaled a back wall using a ladder, said Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa, a military spokesman. When they reached an auditorium where students had gathered for an event, they opened fire. A 14-year-old, Mehran Khan, said about 400 students were in the hall when the gunmen broke through the doors and started shooting. They shot one of the teachers in the head and then set her on fire and shouted "God is great!" as she screamed, added Khan, who survived by playing dead. Most of the students appeared to be civilians rather than children of army staff, said Javed Khan, a government official. Analysts said the militants likely targeted the school because of its military connections. The seven attackers, wearing vests of explosives, all died in the eight-hour assault. It was not immediately clear if they were all killed by the soldiers or whether they blew themselves up.

7am – B         Maryland's budget shortfall grows to $1.2 billion. (Baltimore Sun) — Maryland's budget shortfall is larger than previously thought. Maryland's budget hole has deepened. The financial problem Maryland's incoming governor already described as "a crisis" worsened Monday, as officials announced the state's budget shortfall is even larger than previously thought. Over the next 18 months, state revenue is expected to fall nearly $1.2 billion short of Maryland's expenses. The new numbers suggest the state must trim more than $420 million before the fiscal year ends in June, and an additional nearly $750 million out of the first budget Gov.-elect Larry Hogan will submit next year. A spokesman said that Democratic Gov. Martin O'Malley does not have plans to formally cut the state's current budget during December, and that the governor is "still evaluating what additional action might make sense." Hogan, a Republican who takes office Jan. 21, said Monday's new numbers were "no surprise." He cautioned residents to prepare for what may be painful budget cuts next year.

7am – C         Brazil Olympics: Super-bacteria found in Rio sea waters.  Researchers in Brazil have discovered drug-resistant bacteria in the sea waters where sailing and windsurfing events will be held during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. The "super-bacteria" are usually found in hospital waste and produce an enzyme, KPC, resistant to antibiotics. Researchers found the bacteria in samples taken from Flamengo beach. Nearly 70% of sewage in Rio – a city of some 10 million people – is spilled raw into the waters of Guanabara Bay. The bacteria were found in samples taken from several locations along the Carioca river. One sample was found at the point where the river flows into the bay on Flamengo beach. Residents have been told to take extra care.  Flamengo beach is frequently declared unfit for swimming, but many people disregard the official warnings.

7am – D/E     The Elf On The Shelf conditions children to accept a surveillance state, argues professor. (Daily Mail) — Best-selling children's book The Elf On The Shelf is a disturbing cultural phenomenon which instills in young children the idea that a surveillance state is perfectly acceptable, claims a university professor. Laura Pinto, a digital technology professor at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology, has published a paper in which she argues that the elf has a very sinister undertow. In her recently published paper, Who's The Boss, she claims that the idea of the elf reporting back to Santa each night on the child's behavior 'sets up children for dangerous, uncritical acceptance of power structures.' Since it was first published in 2005, The Elf On The Shelf has quickly become an integral part of modern Christmas celebrations. It has sold over six million copies and in 2013 was included as a float in the Macy's Thanksgiving parade for the first time. The story describes how Santa's 'scout elves' hide in people's homes to watch over events.

8am – A         INTERVIEW: BENJAMIN FREED – Staff Writer, Washingtonian @brfreed

• Metro Was a Nightmare Because DC’s Water Infrastructure Is Terrible. The District’s drinking water infrastructure needs $1.6 billion in upgrades over the next 20 years. (Benjamin Freed/Washingtonian) — Today’s commute will go down as one of the one of the worst in recent memory, but not because of anything Metro did. The culprit is a 12-inch, cast-iron pipe laid down in 1953, according to DC Water. Even more incredible is that at 61 years old, the busted pipe is “actually on the young side” for Washington’s water infrastructure, says DC Water spokeswoman Pamela Mooring. The median age of the District’s water system is 79 years old—beyond most pipes’ useful lifespan—while the sewer lines are even older. Crippled infrastructure isn’t anything specific to DC—the American Water Works Association estimates it will cost $1 trillion to upgrade the entire country’s water systems over the next 25 years—but the systems here are especially critical. The American Society of Civil Engineers diagnosed DC’s drinking-water infrastructure with needing $1.6 billion in upgrades over the next 20 years and the sewer system needing $2.5 billion in fixes. The District endures about 400 water main breaks a year, with more coming in the winter as pipes react to fluctuating ground temperatures and an excess of cold water, Mooring says. DC Water is in the early phases of a ten-year, $3.8-billion capital improvement project that includes funding for several projects, including pipe replacement, but fixing the system completely will take much longer than that. Mooring says the utility recently switched from replacing one-third of 1 percent of its water mains every year to a full 1 percent annually, meaning the city will have all-new pipes by the early 22nd century.
• Is DC ready for the Olympics? D.C. 2024 Olympic Committee Makes Its Case to Host Summer Games. The D.C. 2024 Olympics committee made its bid to the U.S. Olympic Committee to be named the American candidate to host the Summer Games Tuesday. D.C. Mayor-elect Muriel Bowser joined Washington 2024 Chairman and CEO Russ Ramsey, former NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, Capitals and Wizards owner Ted Leonsis, and local Olympian Katie Ledecky in California for the presentation.  A decision on which city the U.S. will put forward for a bid is expected next month.

8am – B/C     D.C. 2024 Olympic Committee Makes Its Case to Host Summer Games.

8am – D         Sony hackers threaten terror attacks against people who see The Interview in theaters. The Sony hackers are threatening an attack on people who go out to see The Interview, writing in a message that they "recommend you to keep yourself distant" from movie theaters and other screening locations. The hackers previously promised to deliver a "Christmas gift," and while that originally sounded like another trove of leaked data, they are now implying that it may be an attack. "Warning[.] We will clearly show it to you at the very time and places 'The Interview' be shown, including the premiere, how bitter fate those who seek fun in terror should be doomed to," the note says. The hackers also reference 9/11 in making the threat.

TOMORROW:          Rep. Chris Van Hollen, Heritage’s Mike Gonzalez, film critic Christian Toto and guest host Dan Bongino