Joe diGenova, Michael Steele and Walter Williams joined WMAL on Monday.
Mornings on the Mall
Monday, January 19, 2015
Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor
5am – A/B/C 'American Sniper' breaks January box office records. The Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper film not only picked up a bevy of Oscar nominations on Thursday, but it also destroyed several box office records with an estimated $90.2 million in ticket sales over the weekend. That early total gives "American Sniper" the largest-ever opening in January. And the number will likely grow even larger over the rest of the long weekend, because Monday is a holiday for many in the U.S. The film's true-life story of military sharpshooter Chris Kyle opened like a summer blockbuster for several reasons, according to Rentrak box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian. One was strong word-of-mouth due to the film's limited release in December.
- ‘American Sniper’ Targeted By Michael Moore; Says Shooters “Cowards.” The Palme d’Or-winning director of the highest-grossing documentary ever has made it very clear today he does not like the Clint Eastwood-helmed Oscar nominee nor its subject, Navy SEAL Chris Kyle. In a tweet Sunday, Fahrenheit 9/11 and former AMPAS Governor Michael Moore lashed out at American Sniper and Kyle, who has been credited as the deadliest sniper in U.S. military history: Michael Moore @MMFlint: My uncle killed by sniper in WW2. We were taught snipers were cowards. Will shoot u in the back. Snipers aren't heroes. And invaders r worse 3:40 PM – 18 Jan 2015
- Liberals on social media: You're a racist if you like American Sniper over Selma
- Nestor Castillo: @nestorpuchica: If you're excited to see American Sniper over Selma. You're probably racist. If you're watching American Sniper I'm questioning your values
- Bob Chipman @the_moviebob: An MLK movie is in theaters for MLK weekend, but U.S. audiences are turning out in droves for a lousy movie about headshotting brown people
- Max Blumenthal @MaxBlumenthal · 18h 18 hours ago: American Sniper portrays a sniper from far away raiding native homes & a native sniper killing those raiding homes. Guess who the bad guy is
5am – D Why smoke-filled Metro train couldn't back out of tunnel. (FOX 5) — WASHINGTON – FOX 5 has learned that a plan to move the smoke-filled Yellow Line Metro train out of the tunnel near the L'Enfant Plaza station ultimately failed because the train that was in the station behind it had been abandoned. But where was the driver? Videos recorded by passengers on that Yellow Line train filled in some of the gaps of just what happened in the minutes after the smoke filled the tunnel and the train, and Metro's plan to handle the emergency. We now know the driver of that train was put under orders to put it in reverse, but that didn't happen.
D.C. releases its own summary on deadly Metro incident. (WTOP) — WASHINGTON — The District of Columbia has released its own report with a timeline of events in the deadly Metro incident on Monday. Communication between firefighters and Metro officials was not effective, according to the initial findings. The timeline tracks when Rescue Squad 1 arrived on the scene at L’Enfant Plaza at 3:31 p.m. after an initial call from a Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority supervisor at 3:14 reporting a debris fire on the tracks at the Gallery Place Metro. A 61-year-old woman died in the incident and 80 people sent to hospital from smoke inhalation. After it was determined that the smoke was coming from L’Enfant Plaza, responders were dispatched there. In the meantime, at 3:18, responders rescued two individuals who had apparently “self-evacuated” from a Yellow Line train in the ventilation shaft at 9th Street and Maine/Water Street.
5am – E Shots fired Saturday night near Biden's Delaware home. (Fox News) — Shots were fired Saturday night near Vice President Biden’s home in Delaware, the Secret Service said Sunday. The agency said multiple shots were fired from a vehicle being driven on a public road outside the security perimeter of the Wilmington, Del.-area home. The vice president and wife Jill Biden were not home at the time of the incident. Secret Service personnel at the Greenville, Del., residence heard shots at about 8:25 p.m. and saw a vehicle drive past at a high rate of speed, fleeing the scene, said agency spokesman Robert Hoback. Roughly 30 minutes later, a vehicle tried to pass a New Castle County police officer securing the outer perimeter of the vice president’s residence, which resulted in the driver being arrested and charged with resisting arrest, authorities said.
No Indication Biden's House Targeted in Shooting, Sources Say. (ABC News) — Shots were fired from a car passing by Vice President Joe Biden's house in Wilmington, Delaware, Saturday night while Biden and his wife were out, but federal sources said today there is no clear indication the vice president's home was targeted. After a thorough search of the outside of the Bidens' home today, it appeared that no rounds hit the house, the sources said. The shots were fired from a car that passed the vice president's residence very fast at about 8:25 p.m., Secret Service spokesman Robert Hoback said. He said the car was outside the security perimeter. The Secret Service was working closely with the New Castle County Police on the investigation, Hoback said.
6am – A/B/C Geraldo Says Al Sharpton Is Like Martin Luther King Jr. (Truth Revolt) — During a discussion about the divisiveness of racial agitator Al Sharpton on Thursday's O' Reilly Factor, Geraldo Rivera likened Sharpton to America's most revered civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr. "But if you look at the contemporary press about the personality of Martin Luther King Jr.," said Rivera, "you see a man who was — was suspected of the same kinds of shenanigans as Al Sharpton."
6am – D Girls Basketball Coach Suspended After Defeating Opponent 161-2. SAN BERNARDINO (CBSLA.com) — A high school girls basketball coach is serving a two-game suspension after he was accused of running up the score on an opponent last week. Coach Michael Anderson, who coaches both the junior varsity and varsity squads of Arroyo Valley High School’s girls basketball, was handed the suspension after defeating Bloomington High School 161-2. Anderson faced criticism over his decision not to take out his starters until the third quarter, and he was accused of running up the score. However, an Arroyo Valley parent says she believes the suspension was unnecessary. “I feel it’s very wrong. I felt like, what are you teaching these kids? To lose and not be rewarded” parent Martha Vodinez said. “Are you teaching them to be a loser?” Myra Lopez, another Arroyo Valley parent, says she was at the game and suggests Anderson was trying to have his team run down the shot clock before their shot attempts were taken.
6am – E South Carolina’s Graham Considers Presidential Run. (NY Times) —WASHINGTON — Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina said Sunday that he was considering a bid for the Republican presidential nomination, becoming the latest potential contender in an increasingly crowded field. Mr. Graham, who was easily re-elected to a third term in November, said he had filed with the I.R.S. to create “a testing-the-waters committee.” “I don’t know where this will go, but I’m definitely going to look at it,” he said on the NBC program “Meet the Press.” Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor, and Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, discussed their own prospects on the Sunday television talk shows. Mr. Huckabee recently left his Fox News program, saying he would make a decision in the spring. After a failed attempt in 2008, he said he would focus on raising more money if he ran again.
7am – A INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia
- Christopher Barry Vows to Continue Campaign After Outburst; Won't Be "Deterred by Sensationalism"
- Supreme Court agrees to hear gay marriage issue
- D.C. releases its own summary on deadly Metro incident
- Why smoke-filled Metro train couldn't back out of tunnel
7am – B Jane Fonda Draws Protesters in Maryland. (NBC Washington) — About 50 military veterans and their supporters protested an appearance by Jane Fonda in western Maryland. The 77-year-old was at the Weinberg Center for the Arts in Frederick for a speaking engagement Friday. The Frederick News-Post reported many of the protesters served in Vietnam and carried signs that read: "Forgive? Maybe. Forget? Never.'' Fonda told the audience she made a "huge mistake'' that led many to think she was against soldiers fighting in Vietnam, and it's something that she'll take to her grave. She says she understands their anger and that it makes her sad. Fonda drew the ire of many Americans when she visited North Vietnam at the height of the Vietnam War, leading some to call her "Hanoi Jane.''
7am – C Pope News:
- Details of the proposal for Pope Francis' US visit revealed. (CNA/EWTN News).- Archbishop Bernardito Auza – a member of the organizing committee for Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to the U.S. – has revealed details of the proposed schedule, which includes visits to three cities. After a projected arrival to Washington, D.C. on the evening of Sept. 22, they’re proposing that Pope Francis visit the White House the following morning, where the official welcoming ceremony would take place. Following his stop at the White House, the pontiff would go on to celebrate Mass at Washington’s Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. The Mass, the archbishop observed, would be primarily for bishops, consecrated and religious men and women, seminarians and representatives from humanitarian and Catholic charitable organizations.
- Catholic News Agency reports the details were revealed by Archbishop Bernardito Auza, a member of the organizing meeting for the trip. Pope Francis will also visit New York and Washington D.C. during his weeklong trip to the United States. He'll address Congress and the U.N. General Assembly, and he'll celebrate Mass in New York — possibly at Madison Square Garden — but Auza said: “Our plan is not to have a huge Mass outside of Philadelphia, because the focus will really be Philadelphia, because the Pope is going to the United States for the World Meeting of Families."
- Pope Leaves Manila After Drawing Record Crowd of 6 Million. Francis dedicated the final homily of his Asia trip to children, given that the Mass fell on an important feast day honoring the infant Jesus. (MANILA, PHILIPPINES) — Pope Francis flew out of this Catholic bastion in Asia on Monday after a weeklong trip that included a visit to Sri Lanka and drew what Filipino officials says was a record crowd of 6 million faithful in a Manila park where he celebrated Mass. Hundreds of thousands of Filipinos lined Manila’s streets, with police keeping a close watch, to have their final glimpse of Francis, who smiled and waved aboard an open-sided, white popemobile.
7am – D INTERVIEW — MICHAEL STEELE – former MD Lt. Governor and former RNC Chairman – discussed Martin Luther King Jr. Day, previewed the State of the Union and shared his thoughts on Maryland Governor-elect Hogan’s top priorities.
7am – E Terror news:
- Anti-French Protests Denounce Charlie Hebdo Cover. A wave of protests swept Asia, the Middle East and parts of Africa over the weekend as Muslims denounced French magazine Charlie Hebdo for depicting a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad on its cover
- Boko Haram kills three and kidnaps 80 in attack on Cameroon villages. Fifty children among abductees taken in cross-border raid from Nigeria as soldiers exchanged fire with militants for around two hours. Suspected Boko Haram Islamist fighters from Nigeria kidnapped about 80 people, many of them children, and killed three others on Sunday in a cross-border attack on villages in northern Cameroon, army and government officials said.
- Charlie Hebdo Editor Slams News Organizations For Not Publishing Cartoons. Gerard Biard, editor-in-chief of the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, on Sunday denounced the Western publications that have declined to reprint his paper’s controversial cartoons in the aftermath of the Jan. 7 mass shooting at Charlie Hebdo's Paris office. “This cartoon is not just a little figure. It’s a symbol. It’s the symbol of freedom of speech, of freedom of religion, of democracy and secularism,” Biard told NBC’s "Meet the Press" on Sunday. “When they refuse to publish this cartoon, when they blur it out, when they decline to publish it, they blur out democracy.”
- Top ISIS beheader found beheaded. Islamic State 'police' official beheaded: Syria monitor. It's how he would have wanted to go. Fifty children among abductees taken in cross-border raid from Nigeria as soldiers exchanged fire with militants for around two hours. Suspected Boko Haram Islamist fighters from Nigeria kidnapped about 80 people, many of them children, and killed three others on Sunday in a cross-border attack on villages in northern Cameroon, army and government officials said.
8am – A INTERVIEW — WALTER WILLIAMS – professor of economics at George Mason University and author of 'Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination?' and 'Up from the Projects: An Autobiography.' – reflected on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and the state of race relations.
8am – B Why Miss Lebanon claims she was ambushed by Miss Israel in the run-up to the Miss Universe contest. The two countries are still technically at war, although the border has been largely quiet since their 2006 conflict. (Independent) — Miss Lebanon has claimed she was ambushed by Miss Israel for a selfie in the run-up to the Miss Universe contest, after she faced criticism at home for consorting with the citizen of an enemy state. Saly Greige was pictured smiling alongside Miss Israel, Doron Matalon, Miss Slovenia and Miss Japan in Miami ahead of the pageant this week in a photograph posted on the Israeli’s Instagram site. The two countries are still technically at war, although the border has been largely quiet since their 2006 conflict. Lebanese people risk prison if they call or travel to Israel and all Israeli products are banned in Lebanon.
8am – C Sports news:
- Seattle Seahawks will defend their title against the Patriots in the Superbowl as Tom Brady leads New England to massive blowout over rival Colts. (AP) — The Patriots won their eighth AFC championship – their sixth under Tom Brady and coach Bill Belichick – yesterday to secure a spot in the Super Bowl. They will now face the Seattle Seahawks, who won their spot earlier in the day with an amazing comeback performance during overtime, in Arizona in two weeks time. Tom Brady threw for three touchdowns and LeGarrette Blount ran in three more to lead the New England Patriots to their 45-7 victory over the Indianapolis Colts.
- Max Scherzer makes the Nationals favorites to win World Series. (Yahoo! Sports) — Now, Washington Nationals, the pressure is on. The Nats swooped in Sunday and reportedly snatched the offseason's biggest free agent – agreeing to a contract with ace pitcher Max Scherzer. Yahoo Sports' Tim Brown is among the scribes reporting Scherzer has a seven-year deal with the Nats. We don't know just how many dead presidents are attached to that contract, but we know it's a lot. Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal says Scherzer will get "more than $180 million." Getting the contract in place, believe it or not, was the easy part. Now the Nats — a teams that hasn't lived up to the hype the past three seasons — will be under even more scrutiny.
8am – D Liberal Hollywood criticizes ‘American Sniper’ on social media:
- 'American Sniper' breaks January box office records. The Clint Eastwood and Bradley Cooper film not only picked up a bevy of Oscar nominations on Thursday, but it also destroyed several box office records with an estimated $90.2 million in ticket sales over the weekend.
- ‘American Sniper’ Targeted By Michael Moore; Says Shooters “Cowards.”
- Seth Rogen: ‘American Sniper’ Like Fake Nazi Propaganda Film.
TOMORROW: Larry Kudlow
