KC from KC & the Sunshine Band, Peter Brookes, Lanny Davis, Dan Bongino, John Lott & guest host Jessie Jane Duff joined WMAL on Thursday morning!

Listen here to Thursday’s show!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Hosts: Larry O’Connor and Jessie Jane Duff

Executive Producer: Heather Smith

5am – A/B/C US-Cuba ties: Washington and Havana announce embassies. Obama on US Embassy in Cuba: ‘This Is What Change Looks Like.’ U.S. Ready to Restore Ties With Cuba and Open Embassy in Havana. WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday announced his plans to formally re-establish diplomatic relations with Cuba, declaring that the two nations were ready to reopen embassies in each other’s capitals and to start a “new chapter” of engagement after more than a half-century of estrangement. “Our nations are separated by only 90 miles, and there are deep bonds of family and friendship between our people, but there have been very real, profound differences between our governments, and sometimes we allow ourselves to be trapped by a certain way of doing things,” Mr. Obama said in the Rose Garden at the White House, taking note of the decades of hostility born of the Cold War that prompted the United States to isolate its neighbor to the south, a strategy he said had failed. The diplomatic breakthrough is the most concrete progress to date in Mr. Obama’s push, announced in December after months of secret talks, for an official rapprochement with Cuba. He also renewed calls on Wednesday for the lifting of a trade embargo with Cuba that has grown stricter over the years as Republicans in Congress, some of them Cuban-Americans, have pressed for a hard line against Havana.

5am – D         Jessie Jane Explains The Latest News About the VA:

• VA IG announces retirement amid criticism. WASHINGTON — The Department of Veterans Affairs acting inspector general said Tuesday he will retire this week, amid criticism from whistleblowers calling for his ouster and claims he whitewashed wrongdoing within the agency. Deputy Inspector General Richard Griffin touted his office’s achievements and said his last day at the VA will be Saturday, the Fourth of July, what he called a “fitting day for an organization that prides itself on independence and integrity.”
• Aurora VA official: No line-by-line account of where $1 billion went. A top Department of Veterans Affairs official said Wednesday that his agency may never explain precisely how a hospital project in Aurora with a $604 million construction budget skyrocketed to $1.73 billion in barely two years. Members of Congress, including Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, have asked for a detailed account of the price increase, saying those numbers must exist. But during a news conference at the construction site, VA Deputy Secretary Sloan Gibson said not to expect a line-item description of the $1.1 billion difference. “You’re not going to find a dollar-by-dollar account,” he said. Gibson said the best explanation of the cost overruns can be found in the Civilian Board of Contract Appeals court decision in December 2014 that sustained contractor Kiewit-Turner’s complaint against the VA.

5am – E         17 Egyptian soldiers killed in Sinai; ISIS claims responsibility. Cairo (CNN) In a dramatic demonstration of its expanding reach, ISIS apparently launched simultaneous attacks Wednesday on five Egyptian military checkpoints, reportedly killing 17 Egyptian soldiers and injuring 30 others. As of Wednesday night, the Egyptian military is “100% in control” of the situation in the northern Sinai, an Egyptian armed forces spokesman told state-run news agency MENA. At least 17 security forces, including four police officers, were killed in the attacks, the Egptian military said on its Facebook page. The spokesman for the Egyptian military said 100 terrorists had been killed.

6am – A         INTERVIEW – KC from “KC & The Sunshine Band”

• ‘A Capitol Fourth’ celebrates 35 years as America’s national Independence Day celebration. The 2015 edition of “A Capitol Fourth” will kick off the country’s 239th birthday with an extravaganza that puts viewers front-and-center for the greatest display of fireworks in the nation. Bradley Whitford will host the show—while Barry Manilow will open and close the program with a special patriotic medley. Broadcast live from the West Lawn of the U.S. Capitol, “A Capitol Fourth” this year will also feature performances by: Alabama; Nicole Scherzinger; Hunter Hayes; Meghan Linsey; KC and the Sunshine Band; Lang Lang; and Ronan Tynan—with the National Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Jack Everly. In addition, Robert Davi will pay tribute to Frank Sinatra—in celebration of his 100th birthday. The 35th-annual “A Capitol Fourth” will air on PBS on Saturday, July 4th, from 8:00 to 9:30 p.m. Eastern.

6am – B         Blumenthal’s Advice to Hillary ‘Unsolicited’? E-mails Suggest Otherwise. (National Review) – Despite an express ban on his employment by the Obama White House, newly released e-mails show how Hillary Clinton confidant Sidney Blumenthal operated as a shadow State Department employee during the first year of her term as secretary of state, sending her a steady stream of diplomatic memos and media advice even as her staff fretted over his possible discovery. The professional relationship between Clinton and Blumenthal already has come under fire in the wake of leaked e-mails revealing extensive correspondence between the two on the 2011 Libyan revolution. In addition to the White House prohibition of his employment, concerns were raised over the sensitive nature of the intelligence being shared and the conflicts of interest regarding Blumethal’s employment at the Clinton Foundation and his business dealings in Libya.

Clinton can’t use a fax machine (and other lessons from State Dept. email dump) (Fox News) — Hillary Clinton and her staff were confused about attending high-level White House meetings. Top presidential aides didn’t know how to reach the secretary of state, months into the administration. And when it came to using fax machines … well, Clinton was no pro. These are just a few of the colorful details emerging about Clinton’s day-to-day life in the early part of the Obama administration, according to 3,000 pages of emails released overnight by the State Department. And they depict a different side of the now-2016 Democratic presidential candidate — showing her at times aloof, even out of touch with the president’s inner circle, as she presided over American diplomacy at Foggy Bottom. Perhaps the most entertaining email is a December 2009 exchange between Clinton and top aide Huma Abedin. In it, Abedin urges Clinton to “hang up the fax line” so someone can send a fax. “I thought it was supposed to be off hook to work?” Clinton writes back. Abedin asks her to hang up “one more time.” Clinton says she did. “Just pick up phone and hang it up. And leave it hung up,” Abedin tells her.

6am – C         Man bitten by shark on NC Outer Banks is 7th this summer. RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A shark bit a 68-year-old man several times Wednesday in waist-deep water off North Carolina’s Outer Banks, officials said, the seventh in a record-breaking year of shark attacks for the state’s coastal waters. A spokeswoman at the Greenville, North Carolina, hospital where he was taken said Wednesday night that the man, Andrew Costello, was in fair condition. He suffered wounds to his ribcage, lower leg, hip and both hands as he tried to fight off the animal, said Justin Gibbs, the director of emergency services in Hyde County. The attack happened around noon on a beach on Ocracoke Island, right in front of a lifeguard tower, he said. “He was pulled under by the shark,” said Gibbs, who said witnesses reported the animal was about 7 feet long. He was swimming in waist-deep water with his adult son about 30 feet offshore, the National Park Service said in a news release. There were no other swimmers injured.

6am – D         Jorge Ramos Interviews Ted Cruz: You Have A “Latino Problem.” Fusion News: Lawlessness came up once again when [host Jorge] Ramos asked Cruz if he had a “Latino problem.” Cruz, who is Cuban-American and who speaks often about his father’s experiences as an immigrant, explained his opposition to a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants currently in the United states by saying he he “supports the rule of law.”

6am – E         War on Trump:

• Donald Trump Dumped by Macy’s. (CNN) — Macy’s is pulling Donald Trump brand merchandise from its stores after the Republican presidential candidate’s recent controversial remarks created a public uproar. The department store has come under intense pressure to cut ties with the real estate magnate and businessman after he referred to immigrants from Mexico and other countries “killers and rapists.” In a statement Wednesday morning, Macy’s said the company “stands for diversity” and that it had no tolerance for discrimination.
• Fmr. Miss USA Defends Trump: This Is About Border Security. The Donald Trump-Miss USA controversy nexus, which now involves NBC, Univision, a $500 million lawsuit, the Mexican government, and potentially on some level immigration policy, took another turn Wednesday morning as a former Miss USA defended Trump against the networks’ decisions not to broadcast the Miss USA Pageant. “I think he’s made it very clear he supports the Mexican people, he loves the Mexican people,” Chelsea Cooley Altman, Miss USA 2005, told CNN’s New Day. “When you look at everything he spoke about, he’s talking about a greater issue here. The issue is border patrol. He has no problem with anyone wanting to come and immigrate to America that wants to live out the American dream and make America great again as what he is so focused on in this presidential run…If he stands behind something he believes in, should he apologize?”
• NYC to review Trump contracts after controversial remarks. NEW YORK (AP) — New York City officials are reviewing the city’s contracts with Donald Trump after statements the GOP presidential hopeful made about Mexican immigrants. A spokeswoman for Mayor Bill de Blasio said Wednesday that the review is currently ongoing. The probe follows controversial statements Trump made at his presidential kickoff event last week. During the event, he said immigrants from Mexico are “bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.” He also said there should be a wall along the southern border of the U.S. Trump’s comments drew condemnation from the Mexican government and companies have been cutting ties to the real estate mogul since he made the comments. “Donald Trump’s remarks were disgusting and offensive, and this hateful language has no place in our city,” de Blasio said in a statement Wednesday. “Trump’s comments do not represent the values of inclusion and openness that define us as New Yorkers. Our Mexican brothers and sisters make up an essential part of this city’s vibrant and diverse community, and we will continue to celebrate and support New Yorkers of every background.”

7am – A         INTERVIEW — PETER BROOKES – Heritage Foundation senior fellow and a former deputy assistant secretary of defense – discussed President Obama’s Cuba policy.

7am – B         Obama administration likely to block new Redskins stadium. The Obama administration will likely block Washington, D.C., authorities from building a new stadium for the NFL’s Washington Redskins because of objections to the team’s name.

The National Park Service (NPS) owns the land under the 54-year-old Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, a venue two miles east of the Capitol that hosted the Redskins from 1961 to 1996. Some city leaders want to demolish the current stadium and build a new one to lure the football team back from suburban Maryland. But Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, whose department includes the NPS, told D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser in April that, unless the Redskins change their name, the Obama administration would not work to accommodate construction of a new venue, according to The Washington Post. Jewell, who also oversees the agency responsible for federal relations with American Indian tribes, has criticized the Redskins name as a relic of the past, an opinion President Obama shares. “Personally, I think we would never consider naming a team the ‘Blackskins’ or the ‘Brownskins’ or the ‘Whiteskins,’ ” Jewell said last year. “So, personally, I find it surprising that in this day and age, the name is not different,” she continued.

7am – C         Kim Kardashian Complains About Beautiful Women With No Work Ethic. She was invited to speak at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club of California, a decision which was met with some controversy from the club’s members and fans of the radio broadcast. Don’t worry, Kim went right ahead and proved all those naysayers right by being herself. When Judge LaDoris Cordell asked Kim “if it is realistic for young girls to be successful in a man’s world” (umm, yes????), she responded by admonishing young women who think they can get by on being pretty, not realizing that she was, in fact, describing herself:  “There is this generation of young people — girls — who are beautiful but don’t have a strong work ethic. People sometimes think that with looks things will be easy, but I just encourage people to put in the work.”

7am – D         Confederate flag gets ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ yanked off the air. The Duke Boys have been in trouble with the law since the day they was born, but now they’re now feeling the wrath of Confederate flag protesters. TheWrap has confirmed that TV Land has pulled the 1980s-era comedy Dukes of Hazzard from its lineup because it featured a car — called The General Lee — that prominently displayed the flag on the roof. Warner Bros, which produced the show, recently announced they would cease production of all merchandise bearing the flag, including reproductions of The General Lee. Now the show itself, which ran for seven seasons, from 1979 to 1985, is being yanked.

7am – E         Green peas in guacamole? Obama joins the haters of ‘New York Times’ recipe. Have you tried English peas on guacamole? According to the New York Times, it is a “radical” move that is “completely obvious” after you have tasted it. The news organization tweeted, “Add green peas to your guacamole. Trust us.” Once word of the recipe spread on Twitter, folks could not help but share their thoughts on the idea.

• President Obama @POTUS: respect the nyt, but not buying peas in guac. onions, garlic, hot peppers. classic. 4:12 PM – 1 Jul 2015
• The New York Times: @nytimes Add green peas to your guacamole. Trust us.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – LANNY DAVIS – Former Clinton White House Special Counsel and author of “Crisis Tales”

• State Dept. hands over 3,600 pages of Benghazi-related docs
• lumenthal’s Advice to Hillary ‘Unsolicited’? E-mails Suggest Otherwise

8am – B         Justice Dept.: Transgender students can use bathrooms that match their gender identity. The Department of Justice argued in a brief to a federal court on Monday that transgender high school students should be able to use school restrooms that match up with their gender identity, and can’t be forced by the school to use the restroom that matches up with their physical characteristics. It’s the first time the federal government has tried to make the case for this transgender right in a courtroom. Justice’s Civil Rights Division filed the brief on behalf of Gavin Grimm, a Virginia high school student who identifies as a boy, even though Grimm was born female. “He was assigned the female sex at birth, but his gender identity is male and he presents as a boy in all aspects of his life,” Justice wrote in its argument to the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

8am – C         INTERVIEW – DAN BONGINO – former NYPD cop and former Secret Service agent – joined WMAL about the breaking news on the Navy Yard being shutdown.

• Washington Navy Yard, Site of 2013 Rampage, Locked Down After Reports of Shots. The Washington Navy Yard was locked down on Thursday after reports that shots were fired. Police, the FBI and Fire Department paramedics responded. Nearby roads were closed. Workers on the campus were ordered to stay where they were, and workers who had not reported to work were told to stay home.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – JOHN LOTT – President, Crime Prevention Research Center – discussed the history of shootings on military bases.

 TOMORROW: Jake Tapper, Robert Davi and more of Jessie Jane Duff!