Walter Williams, shark expert Joe Romeiro & Larry Kudlow joined WMAL on Tuesday.

Listen here to Tuesday’s show!

INTERVIEW — DR. WALTER E. WILLIAMS – distinguished Libertarian economist at George Mason University, nationally syndicated columnist and author of book “American Contempt for Liberty”

INTERVIEW – JOE ROMEIRO – Shark Week expert and underwater cinematographer – discussed the shark attacks in North Carolina.

INTERVIEW: LARRY KUDLOW – CNBC Senior Contributor and host of The Larry Kudlow Show on WMAL Saturdays at 7 pm – shared his thoughts on Jeb, Trump and the NAACP leader who resigned.

Mornings on the Mall

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Smith

5am – A/B/C Jeb Bush Announces White House Bid, Saying ‘America Deserves Better.’ MIAMI — Jeb Bush, a son and brother of presidents, formally declared a White House candidacy of his own on Monday, portraying himself as the most accomplished leader in the 2016 field, vowing to wage war on Washington’s political culture and insisting that his family name gave him no unique claim to the Oval Office. As his mother, Barbara, a former first lady, looked on, Mr. Bush directly confronted the central doubt looming over his candidacy: that he presents the latest incarnation of a tired dynasty and thinks himself entitled to the Republican nomination. “Not a one of us deserves the job by right of résumé, party, seniority, family or family narrative,” he told a crowd of 3,000 supporters in a community college’s gymnasium. “It’s nobody’s turn. It’s everybody’s test.”

5am – D         White House defends private Prince party. (WTOP) — Around 500 people attended the event, which was not disclosed on the president’s public schedule. Press secretary Josh Earnest confirmed the first couple hosted a private party for their friends and said they “did it on their own dime.” Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson, singer Ciara, and the Rev. Al Sharpton were among those in attendance. The guest list reportedly also included powerful business figures such as Carlyle Group co-founder David Rubenstein and American Express CEO Ken Chenault. Given the size of the party and the influential guest list, Earnest was asked why the event was not made public. The spokesman said hosting a private event, while an “appropriate thing” to do, is “not part of the responsibilities of the president and first lady.” “The president and the first lady are going to reserve the right to host private parties at the White House, and they did it on their own dime,” he said.

5am – E         Georgia Newspaper Retracts Alert Saying ‘The Sun Just Exploded.’ Well, the sun has apparently not exploded. Whether or not the sky is falling remains to be seen. The Athens Banner-Herald on Monday was forced to post a retraction to its website saying, “the sun has not exploded” after mistakenly announcing “the sun just exploded.” The website of the Athens, Ga. newspaper, OnlineAthens.com, said an “unauthorized updated news item” was posted after the site was the “victim of an online miscue.” The paper said that the incident was being investigated. “We’re currently trying to determine what happened to ensure it doesn’t happen again,“ the Athens Banner-Herald’s Director of Digital Joel Kight said. “And to our knowledge, the sun has not exploded.”

Lost comet lander awakes, sends ‘hello’ from space. (CNN) It’s alive! Many moons ago, a small space probe named Philae skipped across the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko when the lander’s harpoon-like anchoring mechanism failed. It came to rest in a shady spot and, without enough sunlight to keep it powered, it fell asleep after about 60 hours of operation. Mission scientists had been trying to pinpoint its location since November — until late Saturday. At 10:28 p.m., the European Space Agency’s operations center in Darmstadt, Germany, just south of Frankfurt, received a signal from Philae, which transmitted more than 300 data packets. Those have been analyzed at the Lander Control Center at the German Aerospace Center, which dubbed Philae’s emergence from its seven-month slumber a “‘hello’ from space.”

6am – A/B/C     Rachel Dolezal, head of Spokane NAACP, quits amid furor over racial identity. SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Rachel Dolezal resigned as president of the NAACP’s Spokane chapter Monday just days after her parents said she is a white woman posing as black — a dizzyingly swift fall for an activist credited with injecting remarkable new energy into the civil rights organization. The furor touched off fierce debate around the country over racial identity and divided the NAACP itself. “In the eye of this current storm, I can see that a separation of family and organizational outcomes is in the best interest of the NAACP,” Dolezal, who was elected the chapter’s president last fall, wrote on the group’s Facebook page. “Please know I will never stop fighting for human rights.”

6am – D         Sikh college student wins battle with Army over hair, turban. MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) — A Sikh college student from New York said Monday he is excited about a federal court decision that will permit him to enroll in the U.S. Army’s Reserve Officer Training Corps without shaving his beard, cutting his hair, or removing his turban. U.S. District Court Judge Amy Berman Jackson issued the ruling Friday in Washington, D.C., saying 20-year-old Iknoor Singh’s adherence to his religious beliefs would not diminish his ability to serve in the military. “I didn’t believe it at first when I heard about the decision,” said Singh, who lives in the New York City borough of Queens. He told The Associated Press in a telephone interview Monday: “It was kind of surreal. This is something I have been fighting for for two or three years. I’m excited and nervous; very excited to learn.” Singh, who will be a junior next fall studying finance and business analytics at Hofstra University on Long Island, said he has had a lifelong interest in public service. He speaks four languages — English, Punjabi, Hindi, and Urdu — and he said he wants to work in military intelligence. “Becoming an officer is not an easy thing,” he conceded. “You have to be proficient in many areas.” Sikhism, a 500-year-old religion founded in India, requires its male followers to wear a turban and beard and keep their hair uncut. Under a policy announced last year, troops can seek waivers on a case-by-case basis to wear religious clothing, seek prayer time or engage in religious practices. Approval depends on where the service member is stationed and whether the change would affect military readiness or the mission. Currently, only a few Sikhs serve in the U.S. Army who have been granted religious accommodations. In her ruling, Jackson said, “It is difficult to see how accommodating plaintiff’s religious exercise would do greater damage to the Army’s compelling interests in uniformity, discipline, credibility, unit cohesion, and training than the tens of thousands of medical shaving profiles the Army has already granted.”

6am – E         ‘Happened so quickly’: NC mayor says no time for alert after first of 2 shark attacks. ‘Bit his whole arm off’: NC beachgoers describe grisly scene after twin shark attacks. (Fox News) – Beachgoers on Monday described a frightening and grisly scene from the day before in North Carolina, where a shark “came out of the water like you snap your fingers” in one of two attacks that left a pair if young vacationers amputees before authorities could clear the waters. A 12-year-old girl visiting from Asheboro, N.C., was the first victim, at Oak Island near the Ocean Crest Fishing Pier. The girl, who was not identified, lost part of her left arm and was in danger of losing her left leg in the attack, which occurred at about 4:40 p.m., officials said Sunday. A little more than an hour later, at 5:51, medics responded to a second attack about two miles away, this time on a 16-year-old boy, visiting from Colorado Springs, Colo., who lost his left arm. Both victims were in fair condition Monday at a Wilmington hospital. “He looked like he was waving at his friends,” Randy Milligan told ABC News of the unidentified 16-year-old boy who was attacked. “Then the shark just came out of the water and like you snap your fingers — bit his whole arm off.” Both victims were in waist-deep water, about 20 yards from shore when they were attacked. The town of Oak Island, where another girl was badly bitten last week, is about 25 miles southwest of Wilmington. The beaches were open on Monday, but officials were encouraging people to stay in shallow water as boats and a helicopter patrolled the water, Oak Island town manager Tim Holloman said. Authorities don’t know what species the shark or sharks are, or where they are now.

7am – A         INTERVIEW — DR. WALTER E. WILLIAMS – distinguished Libertarian economist at George Mason University, nationally syndicated columnist and author of book “American Contempt for Liberty”

• HIS LATEST BOOK: “American Contempt for Liberty” — a collection of his essays that came out in May
• Rachel Dolezal, head of Spokane NAACP, quits amid furor over racial identity. SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) — Rachel Dolezal resigned as president of the NAACP’s Spokane chapter Monday just days after her parents said she is a white woman posing as black — a dizzyingly swift fall for an activist credited with injecting remarkable new energy into the civil rights organization. The furor touched off fierce debate around the country over racial identity and divided the NAACP itself. “In the eye of this current storm, I can see that a separation of family and organizational outcomes is in the best interest of the NAACP,” Dolezal, who was elected the chapter’s president last fall, wrote on the group’s Facebook page. “Please know I will never stop fighting for human rights.” Dolezal, a 37-year-old woman with a light brown complexion and dark curly hair, graduated from historically black Howard University, teaches African studies at a local university and was married to a black man. For years, she publicly described herself as black and complained repeatedly of being the victim of racial hatred in the heavily white region.

7am – B         Bride rages as Waldorf cancels reception after shooting. (NY Post) — She got married at the Waldorf-Astoria not knowing that two of her guests had just been wounded by gunfire, but the real shocker came later — when the hotel abruptly canceled her million-dollar reception. Anna Goldshmidt was in her suite, preparing for her nuptials, when the accidental shooting occurred during a pre-wedding cocktail hour in the hotel’s lobby Saturday evening, sources told The Post. Thanks to a veil of secrecy constructed by family and friends, Goldshmidt — decked out in a jewel-encrusted headpiece — remained in the dark until after the traditional Jewish ceremony, which included the breaking of a glass followed by a passionate kiss as hundreds of guests cheered. Goldshmidt learned of the gunplay only when the hotel cited it as the reason it was canceling her reception, leaving her “hysterical,’’ a law enforcement source said.

7am – C         DC officer’s wife assaulted by ATV and dirt bike riders, knocked down and spit on. WASHINGTON – A D.C. police officer’s wife said she was assaulted by a pack of ATV and dirt bike riders early Sunday morning in Southeast D.C. The woman said she was simply trying to get these illegal riders to slow down on her residential street near the Prince George’s County line when they took offense to what she was doing. It is a traumatic experience that left her badly shaken. “We yelled at them to slow down and they came back and came into my yard and charged at us with the ATVs,” she said. “One of them knocked me over on the ground. I got up and he spat in my face and they tried to tear up my front lawn and then they left.” We asked her if the group said anything to her. “They called us some terrible names,” said the victim. “Other than that, not really.”

7am – D         2016 News:

• Jeb Bush Announces White House Bid, Saying ‘America Deserves Better.’ MIAMI — Jeb Bush, a son and brother of presidents, formally declared a White House candidacy of his own on Monday, portraying himself as the most accomplished leader in the 2016 field, vowing to wage war on Washington’s political culture and insisting that his family name gave him no unique claim to the Oval Office.
• Donald Trump will declare $9 billion in assets as he reveals 2016 plans. (Washington Post) — Donald J. Trump, the billionaire real estate mogul, on Tuesday will release a summary of assets that total about $9 billion as part of his likely entry into the race for the Republican presidential nomination, according to people familiar with his plans. The two-page document — to be published after he holds a political rally at Trump Tower in New York — will provide a valuation of his hotels and other properties. It also will show hundreds of millions in cash on hand and an outline of his debts, these people said. The details that he will reveal Tuesday will provide one of the first looks at the worth of the real estate and television empire that the colorful impresario has amassed — one whose value has been debated avidly.
• Ben Carson leads crowded GOP field in latest poll. (Detroit Free Press) — In it’s latest poll, Monmouth University in West Long Branch, N.J., found that “undecided” has a nine-percentage-point lead among Republican voters when asked who they support for their party’s nomination, but native Detroiter Ben Carson rose to the forefront of the crowded field of GOP candidates. Carson leads the pack with the support of 11% of voters, followed closely by Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker (10%), former Florida Gov. Bush (9%), Florida Sen. Rubio (9%), and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee (8%). Other potential picks include Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (6%), Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (5%), New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (4%), former Texas Gov. Rick Perry (4%) and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum (3%). The other candidates in the poll — businesswoman Carly Fiorina (2%), South Carolina Sen Lindsey Graham (2%), businessman Donald Trump (2%), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (1%), Ohio Gov. John Kasich (1%), and former New York Gov. George Pataki (0%) — fall below the top-10 cut-off that will be used by Fox News and CNN to determine who gets an invitation to their debates in August.

7am – E         Religion News:

• Pope Francis warns of destruction of world’s ecosystem in leaked encyclical (Guardian) — Pope Francis will this week call for changes in lifestyles and energy consumption to avert the “unprecedented destruction of the ecosystem” before the end of this century, according to a leaked draft of a papal encyclical. In a document released by an Italian magazine on Monday, the pontiff will warn that failure to act would have “grave consequences for all of us”. Francis also called for a new global political authority tasked with “tackling … the reduction of pollution and the development of poor countries and regions”. His appeal echoed that of his predecessor, pope Benedict XVI, who in a 2009 encyclical proposed a kind of super-UN to deal with the world’s economic problems and injustices.
• Minnesota archbishop leaves after 2-year sex abuse scandal. ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) — Archbishop John Nienstedt’s leadership of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis unraveled over a painful two years. A church archivist accused him of leaving abusive clergy in parishes and church jobs without warning parents or police. A task force he appointed confirmed the archdiocese had been negligent. Around the same time, he faced allegations of his own inappropriate sexual conduct, but he didn’t reveal specifics. Through it all, Nienstedt rejected calls for his resignation. Then, less than two weeks ago, a prosecutor brought child-endangerment charges against the archdiocese, and on Monday, he stepped down.

 8am – A         INTERVIEW – JOE ROMEIRO – Shark Week expert and underwater cinematographer – discussed the shark attacks in North Carolina.

• ‘Happened so quickly’: NC mayor says no time for alert after first of 2 shark attacks. ‘Bit his whole arm off’: NC beachgoers describe grisly scene after twin shark attacks. Beachgoers on Monday described a frightening and grisly scene from the day before in North Carolina, where a shark “came out of the water like you snap your fingers” in one of two attacks that left a pair if young vacationers amputees before authorities could clear the waters.

8am – B         Arlington Cracks Down on Salty Language. (Washingtonian) — Watch your mouth or pay a $250 fine. Uttering some of the more expressive words in the English language will cost you up to $250 if you say them in Arlington, now that county officials have upped their fines on public uses of profanity. The Arlington County Board just approved a measure increasing penalties for public intoxication and blue language from $100 to $250. Even if Arlington is sacrificing its reputation as an urbanist’s dream community, its leaders have not given up their mission to clean up its residents sometimes-naughty antics. The code change adopted during Saturday’s board meeting came after the Arlington Police Department reported making 664 arrests for public inebriation and foul-mouthed talk in 2014.

Scalia slips, refers to Justice ‘Goldberg’ (The Hill) — The Supreme Court erupted in laughter Monday morning when Justice Antonin Scalia goofed and referred to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg by the wrong name. While delivering the decision in the immigration case Kerry v. Din on Monday, Scalia listed the justices who dissented from the opinion and, instead of saying “Ginsburg,” said “Goldberg.” Chief Justice John Roberts leaned over and whispered in his ear, to presumably notify him of the error. “What did I say?” he asked Roberts, drawing laughter from spectators and members of the press in the courtroom. After his colleagues told him what he said, Scalia shook his head and apologized to Ginsburg. “Sorry about that Ruth,” he said.

8am – C         Blumenthal to appear at Benghazi panel. (The Hill) — The House panel investigating the deadly 2012 assault in Benghazi, Libya, is poised to spend the day with one of Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s closest confidants. On Tuesday, Sidney Blumenthal, a longtime friend of the Clinton family, is set to give his long-awaited private deposition to the House Select Committee on Benghazi. While Blumenthal is due to appear at 10 a.m., the closed-door session will be broken up into one-hour rounds, divided equally between the Republicans and Democrats, according to the panel’s congressional charter. The same agreement also established that all depositions be conducted in private, with the consent of both sides required before any information from the session can be made public.

8am – D         INTERVIEW: LARRY KUDLOW – CNBC Senior Contributor and host of The Larry Kudlow Show on WMAL Saturdays at 7 pm – shared his thoughts on Jeb, Trump and the NAACP leader who resigned.

 TOMORROW: Ann Coulter and KT McFarland