Father Jonathan Morris, geologist Paul Bierman and Bret Baier joined WMAL on Friday.
Mornings on the Mall
Friday, July 31, 2015
Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor
Executive Producer: Heather Smith
5am – A/B/C New Hampshire Focus Group Fawns Over Trump: ‘He’s Like One Of Us.’ At least 12 voters in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire are absolutely gaga over real estate mogul Donald Trump. Bloomberg Politics’ John Heilemann sat down Wednesday night with a focus group of 12 Trump supporters in the Granite State who riffed on why they thought the billionaire was the best candidate in a crowded GOP presidential field. “He’s like one of us,” Janet, a former dog breeder, explained. “He may be a millionaire (sic), which separates him from everybody else. But besides the money issue, he’s still in tune with what everybody is wanting.” Many also cited Trump’s vast wealth in identifying with him.
Poll: Donald Trump Leads GOP Primary Rivals, Trails Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders. (Bloomberg) — Donald Trump likes to say he’s the only one of the 17 Republican presidential candidates who can beat Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton, but a new poll from Quinnipiac University suggests that job may be better suited to one of Trump’s rivals. The real estate mogul gets support from just 36 percent of registered voters nationwide in a hypothetical match-up against Clinton, while the former secretary of state got support from 48 percent. By contrast, Clinton is in a statistical dead-heat against Jeb Bush in the poll, which was released Thursday, with the former Florida Governor getting the upper hand by a margin of 42–41 percent. Clinton also clings to a statistically insignificant lead over Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, 44–43 percent. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders also leads Trump by 8 points, 45–37 percent, while Bush edges Sanders out 44–39 and Walker has the lead 42–37. Vice President Joe Biden, who has not declared himself a candidate, also maintains a 12-point lead over Trump, 49–37, while essentially tying with Bush and Walker.
5am – D/E Planned Parenthood News: Will Congress Defund Them?
- Activists release a fourth undercover video as the battle over Planned Parenthood intensifies
- Judge Temporarily Blocks Undercover Planned Parenthood Video
- GOP Senators Mark Kirk And Susan Collins Say They Will Vote Against Bill To Defund Planned Parenthood
- Planned Parenthood chief Cecile Richards’ daughter works on Clinton campaign. (Free Beacon) – The Clinton campaign has drawn heavily from pro-abortion professionals. One of its top officials in Iowa, the nation’s first primary state, is Lily Adams, daughter of Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards.
6am – A/B/C Cecil the Lion: What Should Happen To The Dentist? To What End?
- ‘Extradite the foreign poacher!’ Zimbabwe demands Walter Palmer be handed over by the U.S. after accusing dentist of illegally killing Cecil the lion. (Daily Mail) — Zimbabwe today called for the American dentist who shot Cecil the lion to be extradited from the United States after accusing him of killing the much-loved animal illegally. Environment minister Oppah Muchinguri said Walter Palmer should be handed over to Zimbabwean officials to face justice, adding that she understood prosecutors had started the legal process to make that happen. Referring to the 55-year-old trophy hunter from Minnesota as a ‘foreign poacher’, she said: ‘We are appealing to the responsible authorities for his extradition to Zimbabwe so that he can be made accountable for his illegal actions.’ Palmer has admitted killing the 13-year-old predator, a favourite with foreign tourists and the subject of an Oxford University study, but said he had hired professional guides and believed all the necessary hunting permits were in order.
- Hey, Walter Palmer, the Obama administration wants to talk to you. (Huffington Post) — The severed head of Cecil the lion has now been located in Zimbabwe and turned over to officials there. However, the Minnesota dentist said to be responsible for Cecil’s killing is still unaccounted for, according to a U.S. government agency, which issued a statement on Thursday asking him to please, please give them a call. “The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is investigating the circumstances surrounding the killing of ‘Cecil the lion.’ That investigation will take us wherever the facts lead,” said Edward Grace, the agency’s deputy chief of law enforcement, in the statement. “At this point in time, however, multiple efforts to contact Dr. Walter Palmer have been unsuccessful. We ask that Dr. Palmer or his representative contact us immediately,” Grace added. Reuters reports that the Fish and Wildlife Service is looking into whether Palmer violated the Lacey Act, which, among other things, makes it a federal crime to trade in wildlife killed in violation of foreign law.
- Zimbabwe Conservation Group to Dentist: Here’s the Drill … (TMZ) — The dentist who killed Cecil the lion can acquit himself by putting down his bow and arrow and picking up a drill. An official from the Zimbabwe Conservation Task Force tells TMZ, as much as they condemn what Dr. Walter Palmer did to their beloved lion, they don’t think he deserves the torrent of threats that have come his way. The org has an idea … that Dr. Palmer should come back to Zimbabwe and provide free dental services to the poor … a way of repenting for his bad deed. He says it’s like community service. The official says pointing the finger at Dr. Palmer is misguided, because the problem is much larger, adding, “Cecil would not have enjoyed the threats of violence he’s getting right now.”
- Mia Farrow under fire for tweeting work address of Cecil the lion’s killer. (Yahoo! News) — Actress Mia Farrow was heavily criticized Wednesday after tweeting the business address of the dentist who infamously killed Cecil the lion in Zimbabwe. Some Twitter users thought she had tweeted out Walter James Palmer’s home address in Minnesota and called for the suspension of her verified Twitter account. The address of Palmer’s River Bluff Dental in the city of Bloomington was already easily accessible on the web and considered public knowledge.
6am – D/E HILLARY’s EMAILS: What is the classified email policy in your office?
- Data in Clinton’s ‘secret’ emails came from 5 intelligence agencies. Officials reviewed five classified emails and determined they included information from five intelligence agencies. WASHINGTON – The classified emails stored on former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s private server contained information from five U.S. intelligence agencies and included material related to the fatal 2012 Benghazi attacks, McClatchy has learned. Of the five classified emails, the one known to be connected to Benghazi was among 296 emails made public in May by the State Department. Intelligence community officials have determined it was improperly released.
- State prepares to release 4,000 Clinton emails. State Department officials are set to release roughly 4,400 pages of Hillary Clinton’s emails Friday amid reports that the former secretary of state mishandled classified information on her private server. It will be the second time State officials have been forced to publish a substantial batch of Clinton’s emails under a Freedom of Information Act case brought by Vice News. A court ordered the State Department to produce an additional 8 percent of the 55,000 pages of emails Clinton turned over in December by the end of July as part of an agreement to roll out Clinton’s emails once a month until all of the records are available online. Friday’s production will bring the total proportion of Clinton’s emails that have been published to 15 percent.
7am – A/B/C Should Biden Jump In The 2016 Race?
- Ed Henry: Biden Chief Of Staff Had Meeting With Big Democratic Fundraiser.
- Things Get Awkward When Chris Matthews Asks DNC Head About Bernie Sanders, Socialism.
7am – D INTERVIEW – FATHER JONATHAN MORRIS – Pastor, Our Lady of Mt Carmel church, Bronx; Author, NYT bestseller The Way of Serenity; Analyst, Fox News Channel
- HIS LATEST BOOKS:
- “Light in the Darkness: The Teaching of Fr. James Keller, M.M. and the Christophers.” Publisher: Our Sunday Visitor (July 24, 2015)
- The Way of Serenity: Finding Peace and Happiness in the Serenity Prayer Hardcover – September 16, 2014
- Father Jonathan shared his thoughts on the Planned Parenthood videos.
- Activists release a fourth undercover video as the battle over Planned Parenthood intensifies
- Judge Temporarily Blocks Undercover Planned Parenthood Video
7am – E Is Donald Trump Getting ‘Mushy’ On Immigration? (Daily Caller) — Conservative pundit Ben Shapiro suggests that Donald Trump’s immigration comments turned “mushy” in an under-reported television interview on Wednesday with CNN’s Dana Bash. Shapiro writes: “Trump may have damaged himself with the very people excited by his candidacy… Let’s break down what Trump is actually saying here. Over the course of just a few minutes, Trump says America should: (1) Deport everyone; (2) Reimport nearly everyone; (3) Expedite the system to accomplish (2); (4) Allow everyone who came back in via (2) to gain legal status; (5) Perhaps give them citizenship; (6) Perhaps not give them citizenship; (7) Do ‘something’ with DREAMers.” Political analyst Chris Stirewalt told Fox News host Megyn Kelly Thursday night that Trump’s comments “sounds like the stuff that Hillary Clinton says or that any of the politicians say because immigration is this impossible issue. So politicians just chop up buckets of word salad to get out of talking about it.” “Obviously Ben Shapiro at Breitbart did not like what he heard. He thought there was a ‘mushiness’ on the issue of immigration. This is the problem — it’s both the appeal and the problem with donald trump — that the sweeping generalities with which he speaks are appealing. So you say, ‘yeah, he’s a winner, right? Okay.’ Then when he gets pressed on the specifics, it gets meandering at times,” Kelly responded to Stirewalt.
8am – A INTERVIEW: PAUL BIERMAN – GEOLOGIST, University of Vermont
- DC is sinking: According to a survey led by the University of Vermont, the study projects that the ground level of Washington, D.C., could drop by six inches or more over the next century.
- CNN: University of Vermont geologist Paul Bierman was critical of some Washington politicians’ stances on climate change in a publication that was released along with the report. “It’s ironic that the nation’s capital — the place least responsive to the dangers of climate change — is sitting in one of the worst spots it could be in terms of this land subsidence,” he said. “Will the Congress just sit there with their feet getting ever wetter? What’s next, forebulge denial?”
8am – B 4-Star Gen. Martin Dempsey Belt Out ‘Uptown Funk’ and ‘The Unicorn Song.’ General Martin Dempsey took a break from talking about the Iran nuclear deal to make the case that he’s still “hip and relatable” with the cool kids. It began when Dempsey was answering a question about how failure is a necessary learning experience for everybody who faces life’s challenges. “It’s like Chumbawamba,” the general said, referring to the song Tubthumping. “I get knocked down, and I get up again.” In response to the laughter that followed, the general said that he was trying to appeal to the children of veterans attending the panel. Dempsey then did what every kid dreads and threatened to bust out Mark Ronson‘s Uptown Funk. Indeed, the general went for it, going for the high notes of the well-known chorus, “don’t believe me, just watch!”
8am – C Christina Applegate totally regrets passing on ‘Legally Blonde.‘ While we can’t picture anyone but Reese Witherspoon playing Legally Blonde‘s, Elle Woods, the character could’ve been immortalized by an entirely different Hollywood blonde, Christina Applegate. But, as Applegate told Yahoo at the Vacation premiere, she passed on the role in the iconic 2001 chick flick. And, fifteen years later, she still regrets it. “What a stupid move that was, right?” she said. Applegate later tweeted about her comment, clarifying that she wasn’t offered the part, but passed after seeing the script.
8am – D INTERVIEW – BRET BAIER – ANCHOR, SPECIAL REPORT, FOX NEWS CHANNEL, WEEKDAYS AT 6 PM
- FOX DEBATE NEXT WEEK:
- Fox News, which is hosting the first debate next Thursday in Cleveland.
- Fox lowers threshold for early debate. Fox News is opening its 5 p.m. debate to all the announced Republican candidates who fail to make the cut for the Aug. 6 prime-time event, removing a requirement that participants reach at least 1 percent in polling. The 9 p.m. debate will include the 10 candidates with the highest average in national polls, as determined by Fox News. The 5 p.m. forum will now include all the rest.
- Ed Henry: Biden Chief Of Staff Had Meeting With Big Democratic Fundraiser.
- Poll: Donald Trump Leads GOP Primary Rivals, Trails Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders.
- Data in Clinton’s ‘secret’ emails came from 5 intelligence agencies. Officials reviewed five classified emails and determined they included information from five intelligence agencies.
- State prepares to release 4,000 Clinton emails.
