GI Film Festival’s Brandon Millett, Weekly Standard’s Daniel Halper and Tucker Carlson joined WMAL on Wednesday.

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Smith

5am – A/B/C After media drought, Hillary Clinton takes some questions in Iowa.(Washington Post) — CEDAR FALLS, Iowa — “Hillary! Hillary!” they yelled at the distant figure, from across the parking lot and across the street, at the edge of the Secret Service’s protective zone.  She waved. Then she started walking over, trailed by a phalanx of aides, cops and agents.  In taking a few questions from reporters, Clinton rapidly addressed a series of controversies swirling around her and her campaign. She expressed regret for voting in favor of the Iraq war, dismissed criticism of her family’s foundation, and defended the millions of dollars she and her husband have made giving speeches.

5am – D         Boy Scouts of America bans water gun fights; ‘pointing a firearm’ is not kind. (The Washington Times) — The Boy Scouts of America, an organization with semi-military origins, has put out approved activities for its members, and water gun fights are strictly prohibited. A blog for the organization’s leaders said May 6 that pointing simulated firearms at people is not allowed. “Why the rule? A Scouter once told me this explanation I liked quite a bit: A Scout is kind. What part of pointing a firearm [simulated or otherwise] at someone is kind?” said Bryan Wendell on the scouting website. The rule is clarified in the Boy Scouts of America National Shooting Manual, which says “For water balloons, use small, biodegradable balloons, and fill them no larger than a ping pong ball. […] Water guns and rubber band guns must only be used to shoot at targets, and eye protection must be worn.” The manual includes a lengthy list of other prohibited items — boomerangs, crossbows, potato guns, spear guns and throwing stars. Scouts also may not use “marshmallow shooters that require placing a straw or similar device in the mouth.”

5am – E         House bill would cap expenses for ex-presidents. Bill would slice benefits for those with high income. (AP) — WASHINGTON — Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and other former presidents who earn lucrative speaking fees and draw other income would no longer be able to count on taxpayer dollars to pay for their post-White House office space and staff under a bill in the House. On a voice vote, the House Oversight panel backed a measure Tuesday to limit taxpayer dollars for expenses, including travel, incurred by ex-presidents who earn more than $400,000 a year. US taxpayers paid $3.5 million last year in pensions and benefits to the four living former presidents, including $1.3 million for Bush and $950,000 for Clinton, according to a report by the Congressional Research Service.  Most of that money was for sprawling office space in Dallas and New York, respectively. Both Clinton and Bush, like other ex-presidents, have earned millions in speaking fees since leaving office.

6am – A/B/C MVA Drops Parallel Parking from Driver’s License Test. (MYMCMedia) — If you listen closely you can almost hear a collective sigh of relief from 16 year olds across the state. The reason – the Maryland Motor Vehicle Administration officially removed parallel parking as a required test element on the driver’s license test on a statewide basis starting today. According to Buel Young, spokesperson for the MVA, the administration determined that completing a two-point turn and backing up are similar enough to parallel parking to eliminate the parking element from the test. “The MVA consistently evaluates its assessments of both the knowledge and skills tests. In analyzing the skills test, it was determined that the currently used 2-point reverse turn, when combined with the on-road portions or the test, adequately assessed the individual’s ability to operate the vehicle,” Young told MYMCMedia Tuesday.

6am – D/E     Video shows Maryland teacher using belt to discipline students. (Fox News) — A substitute teacher has been removed from the classroom after a video surfaced showing him using a belt on students.  The school system said the teacher has been removed from the classroom after the incident last Friday at Gwynn Park Middle School in Prince George’s County. The video, obtained by Fox affiliate WTTG, shows a male teacher with a belt in hand, hitting students on the floor. The school district is not providing the teacher’s name, according to the station. School officials said in a statement that the teacher has since been removed and law enforcement is investigating the incident. “On Friday, May 15, a substitute teacher used improper actions to discipline students while in one of our classes at Gwynn Park Middle School,” school officials said. “The substitute teacher has been removed from the classroom and the matter has been referred to the appropriate law enforcement agencies.”

7am – A         INTERVIEW – BRANDON MILLETT — GI FILM FESTIVAL PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER  gifilmfestival.com/

• The event runs May 18-24 with the majority of events at the Angelika Film Center in Fairfax, Virginia.
• CELEBRITIES: R. Lee Ermey, who played the legendary gunnery sergeant in Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket” (1987), will roll up to the red carpet in a World War II jeep on Saturday night. He’ll accept his award as the winner of the festival’s “Military Movie Character Madness” bracket back in March.
• Other celebrities guests include Gary Sinise, who played Lt. Dan in “Forrest Gump” (1994); Jamie Kaler, host of “America: Fact vs. Fiction” on the American Heroes Channel; Montel Williams, who will attend the “Kajaki” premiere on Friday; former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his daughter Linda Powell, star of “Chicago Fire” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”
• Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and his daughter Linda Powell, star of “Chicago Fire” and “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.”  The latter Powell will host an interactive screening of the World War II classic “Casablanca” (1942). Guests are encouraged to dress in 1940s attire for a live tweeting contest.
• Tickets cost $12 for individual screenings. Weekend passes cost $85. All-access passes cost $300.

7am – B         Beyonce Offends Fans By Pouring $20,000 Bottle Of Champagne Into Hot Tub. Beyonce caused outrage on Tuesday for pouring a supposed $20,000 bottle of Ace of Spades champagne into a hot tub in the “Feeling Myself” video.  As Gossip Cop reported, Beyonce and Nicki Minaj released the video on Monday, but now fans are upset that the singer seemingly wasted the expensive bottle, noting that what she allegedly spent for it could have been used to help a lot of people in need. “Even just $1000 could have completely changed someone’s life you know? Like a chance at college or maybe finally being able to eat lunch,” wrote a Twitter user with the name “Xnejana.” She continued, “So seeing Beyoncé pour out a $20000 bottle into a pool is a slap in the face to me.” Twitter user “Jcons2121″ tweeted, “she could have also donated 20,000 to starving children. Priorities I guess.” Another fan with the Twitter name “Literallycondom” posted that he understands a celebrity “blowing money when ur first successful… but what that 1 bottle cost could literally change people’s lives.” Some fans, however, stood up for Beyoncé, pointing out that she has done a lot for the less fortunate. Twitter user “Shadyzayngirl” tweeted, “well, the other day she visited Haiti because she wanted to learn more about humanitarian activities.” And another fan with the name “TheOstin” simply noted, “when someone asks where I wanna be in the future I just show them the scene where beyonce poures a $20K bottle of champagne into the hot tub.”

7am – C         D.C. weighing appeal of court ruling that loosens gun control law. D.C.Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D) said Tuesday that her office was still reviewing legal options, but she vowed “to fight to ensure the District has the safest gun laws in the nation.” “Today, D.C. is safer than it has been in years, and we will not retreat from that progress,” she said in a statement. The ruling marks the latest twist in a battle that began more than a decade ago, when gun rights groups targeted the D.C. ban on handguns and gun-control regulations in other states. The result was a landmark 2008 U.S. Supreme Court ruling, District of Columbia v. Heller, which found that the Second Amendment protected individuals’ right to own a gun in the home. That decision effectively struck down an outright District ban on gun ownership that had been in place for three decades.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – DANIEL HALPER – Online Editor, Weekly Standard and author of new book “Clinton, Inc.: The Audacious Rebuilding of a Political Machine”

• After media drought, Hillary Clinton takes some questions in Iowa.

7am – E         Why aren’t millennials getting married? New research from Demographic Intelligence suggests fewer Americans between the ages of 18-34 are getting married than ever before.  U.S. marriage rate nears record low as millennials wait to wed. Millennials are poised to become the nation’s largest living generation this year. As they grow as a percentage of the population, more of them will reach the age at which Americans historically have gotten married. But, according to new research, millennials are not showing many signs of interest in getting hitched as they get older, and as a result, the marriage rate is expected to fall by next year to its lowest level on record. That is a finding by Demographic Intelligence, a forecasting firm with a strong track record. “Millennials are such a big generation, we’re going to have more people of prime marriage age in the next five years than we’ve had at any time in U.S. history. For that alone, we’d expect an uptick in marriage rates,” said Sam Sturgeon, president of Demographic Intelligence. “That’s not happening.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW – TUCKER CARLSON – Editor, The Daily Caller and co-host of Fox News Channel’s Fox & Friends Weekend – discussed Hillary’s answers to the media yesterday, the GOP field for 2016 and White House press secretary calling ISIS strategy an overall success.

• Josh Earnest calls WH’s ISIS strategy an ‘overall’ success

8am – B         David Letterman, Prickly Late-Night Innovator, Counts Down to His Exit. (NY Times) — In 1988, a rising comic named Jerry Seinfeld went to the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park for a Christmas party for “Late Night With David Letterman.” Mr. Seinfeld had just made a deal to do a sitcom for NBC, and he buttonholed Mr. Letterman in the corner of the restaurant and asked him for advice. “He said, ‘Just make sure if you fail, you did what you wanted to do,’ ” Mr. Seinfeld recalled in a recent interview. “I took that to heart. I said, ‘O.K., then that’s what I’m going to do.’ ” It was “pivotal and potent” advice, Mr. Seinfeld said, because it came from an entertainer who had transformed the sleepy late-night television format. “He was more inventive and more creative with this form than anyone before or since,” Mr. Seinfeld said. On Wednesday night on CBS, after 33 years as a host, the longest late-night tenure ever, Mr. Letterman will close out his career with his 6,028th episode. His influence has been substantial: He breathed new life into the talk show, taking it beyond the traditional desk-and-sofa interview sessions with an array of innovative, often outlandish antics; he gave birth to many careers; he became a role model for a generation of comedians, including most of the current late-night roster; and he turned signature segments like Stupid Pet Tricks and his Top 10 list into American cultural institutions.

8am – C         Sports News:

• Yankee Recap: Yankees Lose to Nationals in Extra Innings 8-6. It was a good old fashion slugfest in Washington DC, where the Yankees fell to a very good Washington National team, 8-6 in extra innings. It was a back and forth kind of night where the ball just flew out of the stadium all night. In the end the Yankees were not able to get the better of the Nationals, in-game one of this short 2 game series.
• ‘Reluctant’ Patriots owner will not appeal Deflategate punishment. (CNN) – New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft said Tuesday that he will not appeal the punishment handed down to him by NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell over the controversy known as “Deflategate.” Speaking at the NFL spring league meeting in San Francisco, Kraft said that while he disagrees with Goodell’s decision to fine the team $1 million and strip it of some future draft picks, he no longer wants to “continue the rhetoric” that has lingered over the topic for months. “I don’t think anyone can believe that after four months (since) the AFC championship game, we are still talking about air pressure and the psi in footballs,” he said. “I have two options: I can try and end it, or I can extend it.” After an “emotionally charged couple of weeks,” Kraft was ready to end it.

8am – D         Rep. Alcee Hastings: Congress Needs A Pay Raise So People Who Aren’t Wealthy Can Serve. WASHINGTON — Rep. Alcee Hastings (D-Fla.) on Monday spoke in favor of a pay raise for members of Congress before the House Rules Committee, arguing that the current system doesn’t offer enough incentives for less-affluent citizens to enter public service. “I will say it until I leave,” he lamented, as reported by CQ Roll Call. “Members deserve to be paid, staff deserve to be paid and the cost of living here is causing serious problems for people who are not wealthy to be able to serve in this institution.” Members of Congress, with the exception of those who serve in leadership, earn $174,000 a year. They are not eligible for any additional subsidies for housing or living expenses. Congress is entitled to a cost-of-living pay raise that takes place automatically every year. In 2009, however, as many Americans were feeling the effects of the falling economy, Congress voted for a pay freeze. They have continued to vote for the freeze for the last six years.