Joe diGenova, Amb. John Bolton, Washington Post’s Jenna Johnson and guest host Torie Clarke joined WMAL on Monday!
Mornings on the Mall
Monday, July 13, 2015
Hosts: Larry O’Connor and Torie Clarke
Executive Producer: Heather Smith
5am – A/B/C Trump draws thousands in Phoenix, continues immigration theme. (CNN) — At what was his largest campaign event yet — with a huge U.S. flag stretched from one side of the stage to the other — Donald Trump addressed his faithful followers Saturday at the Phoenix Convention Center. Two dozen supporters stood behind the Republican presidential candidate holding signs reading, “Trump, Make America Great Again,” while an estimated 5,000 supporters looked on. Expressing his amazement at the size of the crowd, Trump said, “This is unbelievable. This began as 500 people in a ballroom in Phoenix.” The campaign was asked to move to a larger venue to accommodate the thousands of people who wanted tickets, according to Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks. The Trump campaign said 15,000 tickets were distributed for the event at the Phoenix Convention Center, where the North Ballroom has a capacity of only 4,200, according to the facility’s website. The campaign said thousands were turned away because of fire regulations. The candidate was welcomed by several high-profile supporters, including Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose stands against illegal immigration and often controversial punishments have earned him a reputation as a hard-nosed, unyielding lawman.
5am – D Lawmakers look to strip OPM powers after hack. (The Hill) — Lawmakers are debating whether to strip the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) of its control over security clearances after hackers made off with nearly 20 million background check forms housed at the agency. Reps. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.) and Steve Russell (R-Okla.), who both likely had their security clearance details taken in the breach, are prepping a bill that would move the security clearance database away from the OPM, perhaps back to the Defense Department (DOD), where it was housed until 2004. “OPM was never designed to deal with national security,” Lieu told The Hill. Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), who chairs the important House Subcommittee on Information Technology, called the idea of moving the security clearance database away from OPM “something to be explored.” But some wonder whether another agency would even want to take on the task of securing that database. The Pentagon might be hesitant to take it back, as government-wide HR doesn’t necessarily fit under their military purview. “I don’t think DOD would want it,” said McNerney, who also advised the Pentagon’s chief information officer on cyber issues as a lawyer. “Manage that crappy system? Are you kidding me? DOD isn’t the only agency that has SF-86s. Are they going to be responsible for every agency’s personnel files? DOD’s not going to want that mission.”
5am – E 2016 NEWS
- Scott Walker Expected to Announce Presidential Bid Monday
- Trump wows audiences on campaign trail
- Anthony Weiner: Sanders ‘needs to explain’ why he’s running as a Democrat
- Bernie Sanders says his 2016 message is ‘resonating’ everywhere
6am – A/B/C Scott Walker Expected to Announce Presidential Bid Monday.
6am – D Online child-shaming: Discipline or bad parenting? (Detroit Free Press) — A mother posts a video to YouTube of her two small sons. They dump Legos on the floor, sit on unmade beds and get toothpaste on the bathroom counter. They hold up signs for the camera that say: “We got toothpaste everywhere in the bathroom,” and “We made a HUGE mess with our Legos” and “We think our rooms are clean.” None of these scenes are uncommon in a home with young children, mine included. It’s what kids do. But this mother uses the images to shame her boys. The video is among more than 30,000 that show up when you search “child-shaming video” on YouTube. These videos are popping up all over social media, sparking controversy about whether this form of public discipline is tough-love parenting or bullying. Though they’re popular, experts caution the videos might cause more problems than they solve.
Dad calls out parents who have publicly shamed their kids online. (Yahoo) — Wayman Gresham is calling out all of the parents who are publicly punishing and embarrassing their kids online. The Florida dad posted his own video last week, a parody of the “kid-shaming” videos. Like most of those videos circulating on the Web, Gresham starts out by saying he’s going to “teach his son a lesson” by giving his son a “bald head, messed up haircut.” But then Gresham turns the tables and asks his son to get up and hug him. Then Gresham calls out all the moms and dads who have publicly shamed their kids online.
6am – E Harper Lee’s new book portrays Atticus Finch as racist; fans on Twitter aghast. (CNN)The book is not even out, and readers are already rebelling. Harper Lee’s “Go Set a Watchman” hits stores Tuesday, 55 years after “To Kill a Mockingbird.” The book is hotly anticipated but not without controversy. ‘Mockingbird’ is a hard act to follow for Harper Lee. It purportedly recasts Atticus Finch, the moral center of Harper’s first book, as racist.
7am – A INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia
- OPM: ‘Largest federal employee union filed a class action lawsuit against the federal personnel office’
- Hillary’s subpoena: CNN’s John King: Hillary Clinton’s Email Subpoena Story “Just Simply Not True”
7am – B Sports News:
- Scherzer allows 4 hits as Nationals beat Orioles 3-2. Max Scherzer throws another gem, and Nats beat O’s to cruise into all-star break. BALTIMORE — Washington Nationals Manager Matt Williams sat in the dugout before a game this weekend like he does nearly every day. He provided yet another set of updates on the Nationals’ many injured players — a list that includes four everyday players and a starting pitcher — and addressed questions about the team’s play. But asked to assess the first half of the season, Williams paused for a second and took a breath. “Challenging,” he said. “In every way possible.” Although the exact midway point of the season was a week ago, Sunday was the final day of the “first half.” Behind the stellar pitching of Max Scherzer, the Nationals took the rubber game of a three-game set in Baltimore with a 3-2 victory over the Orioles. The Nationals enter the all-star break with a 48-39 record and sit in first place in the National League East by two games over the New York Mets. Considered among the World Series favorites before the season, the Nationals haven’t taken command of their division, but they have stayed afloat and in first place for 43 days despite many trials.
- Wimbledon 2015: Novak Djokovic beats Roger Federer for third title. Wimbledon, England (CNN) The French Open is the grand slam he desperately craves but the green grass of Wimbledon has been much kinder to Novak Djokovic. Despite losing a classic tiebreak, Djokovic beat Roger Federer in Sunday’s final for the second straight year — this time it was 7-6 (7-1) 6-7 (10) 6-4 6-3 — to give the world No. 1 a third title at the All England Club and ninth grand slam overall. His trophy haul at tennis’ most famous postcode of SW19 matches one of his coaches, Boris Becker.
7am – C Study finds pandas slower than the average bear. Giant pandas are the new couch potatoes of the animal world and just as sluggish as slow-moving sloths, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Science. Researchers in China tracked five captive pandas at Beijing Zoo and three wild ones at Foping Nature Reserve in Shaanxi province. The study found that pandas are far less active than other bears, expending just 38 per cent of the average daily energy of other bears. “The daily energy expenditure values for giant pandas are substantially lower than those for koalas, for example, and more akin to those of three-toed sloths,” the study said.
Officials unsure if National Zoo’s giant panda is pregnant. WASHINGTON (AP) — Officials at Washington’s National Zoo say it is still too early to determine if one of the zoo’s giant pandas is pregnant. The Washington Post reports that Mei Xiang (may-SHONG) underwent a second ultrasound on Friday, but the results were inconclusive, as officials could not tell if she was pregnant or experiencing a “pseudo-pregnancy.” Zoo officials say that panda pregnancies can be difficult to detect because a female panda’s hormones and behavior are the same whether she’s pregnant or not.
7am – D Miss Oklahoma wins Miss USA contest. BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Olivia Jordan of Oklahoma was crowned Miss USA on Sunday, wearing a hot pink strapless dress as she deftly fielded the interview portion of the competition by saying the country needed to improve race relations to beat out 50 other contestants. Instead, the focus was on women like Jordan and others who’d worked hard to get to the stage. The 26-year-old winner was followed by first runner-up Ylianna Guerra, 22, of Texas, and second runner-up Anea Garcia, 20, of Rhode Island. They were followed by 25-year-old Miss Nevada Brittany McGown as third runner-up and then Miss Maryland Mame Adjei, 23, rounding out the top five.
7am – E 2016 News:
- Scott Walker Expected to Announce Presidential Bid Monday
- Trump wows audiences on campaign trail
- Anthony Weiner: Sanders ‘needs to explain’ why he’s running as a Democrat
- Bernie Sanders says his 2016 message is ‘resonating’ everywhere
8am – A INTERVIEW — AMB JOHN BOLTON – Former UN Ambassador
- Diplomats: Iran announcement planned Monday. VIENNA (AP) — Negotiators at the Iran nuclear talks plan to announce Monday that they’ve reached a historic deal capping nearly a decade of diplomacy that would curb the country’s atomic program in return for sanctions relief, two diplomats told The Associated Press on Sunday. The envoys said a provisional agreement may be reached even earlier — by late Sunday.
- Greece debt crisis: Eurozone summit reaches agreement. (BBC) — Eurozone leaders have agreed to offer Greece a third bailout, after marathon talks in Brussels. Amid one of the worst crises in the EU’s history, the head of the European Commission said the risk of Greece leaving the eurozone had been averted. Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said that after a “tough battle”, Greece had secured debt restructuring and a “growth package”. Greece will now have to pass reforms demanded by the eurozone by Wednesday.
- Joint Chiefs nominee: Russia greatest threat to U.S. Washington (CNN) Russia currently poses the greatest global threat to the United States, according to the man slated to be President Barack Obama’s top military adviser. “Russia presents the greatest threat to our national security,” Gen. Joseph Dunford told the Senate Armed Services committee during his confirmation hearing to be the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. With its large nuclear arsenal, destabilizing role in Ukraine and threat to NATO nations on its borders, Russia presents a significant challenge to the U.S., even as it faces threats like that of ISIS. “If you want to talk about a nation that could pose an existential threat to the United States, I would have to point to Russia,” Dunford said. “And if you look at their behavior, it’s nothing short of alarming,”
8am – B Entertainment News:
- R.I.P. Satoru Iwata, Nintendo CEO And Former Programmer, 1959-2015. Satoru Iwata, Nintendo’s CEO since taking over for former president Hiroshi Yamauchi in 2002, died on Saturday. He was 55 years old. According to the company, Iwata passed away due to complications from “a bile duct growth.” He’d recently taken some time off for medical reasons, resulting in surgery to remove a tumorous growth. Iwata, a former programmer and game developer, helped Nintendo achieve massive success with the Wii and DS consoles during the past decade. He was also behind the less successful Wii U, but that never stopped Iwata from attempting to improve the company’s developments and image. When sales of the Wii U faltered significantly, he halved his own salary to help cut costs.
- Tony-winning and ‘Cheers,’ ‘West Wing’ actor Roger Rees dies. (CNN) Roger Rees — a Tony-winning theater star also widely known for his TV roles, including in “The West Wing” and as Robin Colcord on “Cheers” — has died, his representative Rick Miramontez said Saturday. He was 71. The Wales native spent most of his career on stage, including his Tony Award-winning best actor role in 1982 for “The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.” He also earned Tony nominations for acting parts in “Shadowlands,” “Six Degrees of Separation,” “Indiscretions” and — most recently, in 2012 — as a director of “Peter and the Starcatcher.” Still, you didn’t have to go to Broadway to appreciate Rees’ skills — both as a dramatic and a comedic actor.
8am – C Letterman un-retires to deliver Top Ten List targeting Trump. Some things are more important than retirement. David Letterman was called back into action this weekend with a brand-new Top Ten List inspired by the recent presidential candidacy of Donald Trump. Although he’s been content since retiring as host of “Late Show” in May, Letterman called missing out on lampooning Trump’s White House bid “the biggest mistake of my life.”
8am – D INTERVIEW — Jenna Johnson – Washington Post political reporter who is covering Scott Walker’s 2016 presidential campaign – joined WMAL from Milwaukee.
