Joe diGenova, Joe Trippi, Trevor Matich and guest host Jessie Jane Duff joined WMAL on Monday!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, December 21, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and guest host Jessie Jane Duff

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B     AP Investigation: US power grid vulnerable to foreign hacks; public often kept in the dark. Security researcher Brian Wallace was on the trail of hackers who had snatched a California university’s housing files when he stumbled into a larger nightmare: Cyberattackers had opened a pathway into the networks running the United States’ power grid. Digital clues pointed to Iranian hackers. And Wallace found that they had already taken passwords, as well as engineering drawings of dozens of power plants, at least one with the title “Mission Critical.” The drawings were so detailed that experts say skilled attackers could have used them, along with other tools and malicious code, to knock out electricity flowing to millions of homes. Wallace was astonished. But this breach, The Associated Press has found, was not unique.

5am – C         Cousins Throws 4 TDs, Redskins Win 35-25. LANDOVER, MD – DECEMBER 20: Quarterback Kirk Cousins #8 of the Washington Redskins celebrates after scoring a second quarter touchdown against the Buffalo Bills at FedExField on December 20, 2015 in Landover, Maryland. The Washington Redskins (7-7) got their first winning streak of the year Saturday afternoon with a win against the Buffalo Bills (6-8), 35-25. And then, in a game that had the Redskins snarking on Twitter, their division rivals in Philadelphia lost to the Arizona Cardinals — leaving the Redskins on top of the NFC East and setting up a possibly decisive Redskins-Eagles matchup on the day after Christmas.

5am – D/E     This Professor Wants To Replace ‘Merry Christmas’ With ‘Happy Federal Holiday.’ University of Central Florida professor Terri Fine wants Americans to stop wishing each other “Merry Christmas” and begin using the more inclusive “Happy Federal Holiday” instead. In a Wedneday column on the UCF website titled “A Holiday Greeting That Applies to Everyone,” Fine argues that “Happy Federal Holiday” is a more inclusive holiday greeting than saying “Merry Christmas,” “Happy Chanukah,” or even “Happy Holidays.” Part of the problem, Dr. Fine explains, is that “People wish each other ‘Merry Christmas’ whether they know the other person’s religious background or not,” even though Christmas occurs around the same time frame as Hanukkah (which Fine refers to as “Chanukah”). Simply saying both “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Chanukah,” Fine argues, isn’t appropriate because “Christmas is one of the two holiest days for Christians, while Chanukah is a minor holiday on the calendar.”

6am – A/B     AWKWARD: Miss Universe Host Names The Wrong Winner [VIDEO]. Miss Universe host Steve Harvey announced that the wrong contestant had won the global beauty pageant Sunday. “Miss Universe 2015 is … Colombia!” Harvey said at the climactic moment of the show. Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach then retreated to the back of the stage to take her place as the runner up next to Miss USA Olivia Jordan. Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez took her place at the front of the stage. She was draped with the Miss Universe sash, wearing her crown atop her head and in tears, happily waving to the crowd. To everyone’s surprise, Harvey interrupted the proceedings to reverse the announcement.

6am – C         Calif. shooter’s visa not fully vetted. (USA Today) — House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said Saturday that immigration officials did a poor job reviewing the financée visa application of Tashfeen Malik, one of the shooters in the San Bernardino, Calif., rampage that left 14 dead. Goodlatte said he reviewed the application and found there was insufficient evidence to prove Malik and U.S. citizen Syed Rizwan Farook, had met in person — a requirement for a foreign national seeking a K-1 financée visa before being allowed entry into the U.S. “Visa security is critical to national security, and it’s unacceptable that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not fully vet Malik’s application and instead sloppily approved her visa,” Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a statement.

6am – D/E     Democratic Debate Highlights:

• Hillary accuses Trump of inspiring ISIS recruitment videos
• Most-tweeted #DemDebate moments:       Clinton: “May the force be with you;” Clinton “everyone should love me” and Sanders “they won’t love me.”
• Bernie Sanders calls Hillary Clinton “too aggressive” on foreign policy
• Bernie Sanders passes Obama fundraising mark (Politico) – — Bernie Sanders has gotten more individual donations than any other presidential candidate ever through the campaign’s off-year — topping President Barack Obama’s mark of 2,209,636 donations through Dec. 31, 2011 — his team announced following Saturday night’s Democratic debate. Sanders passed Obama’s reelection total during the debate, said his communications director, Michael Briggs.
• Hillary Clinton Missed Debate Because She Wouldn’t Share A Bathroom. Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton was late getting back to the debate stage Saturday night because she didn’t want to share a restroom with a Martin O’Malley staffer. As Breitbart News immediately reported during the debate, the ABC telecast came back from a commercial break with an empty Clinton podium. Clinton went back out onstage, said “Sorry,” and did not explain her absence. The mystery grew: Where was Hillary? Clinton reportedly went to the ladies’ room during the commercial break, according to The Boston Globe. Clinton even had a campaign employee on bathroom duty to make sure Clinton could quickly get inside the restroom and return to the stage. But when that staffer let in O’Malley spokeswoman Lis Smith, Clinton waited outside.
• Poll: Clinton leads in Iowa; Sanders leads in NH; Democrats like both.

 

7am – A         INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia

• Calif. shooter’s visa not fully vetted. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte said he reviewed the application and found there was insufficient evidence to prove Malik and U.S. citizen Syed Rizwan Farook, had met in person — a requirement for a foreign national seeking a K-1 financée visa before being allowed entry into the U.S. “Visa security is critical to national security, and it’s unacceptable that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services did not fully vet Malik’s application and instead sloppily approved her visa,” Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a statement.
• Sanders, DNC reach deal on voter file access after breach of Clinton data. Washington (CNN) The Democratic National Committee has agreed to allow the Bernie Sanders campaign to regain access to voter files. The DNC had cut off Sanders from a crucial voter database, saying the campaign wrongly accessed data gathered by Hillary Clinton’s team. Sanders filed suit in federal court Friday evening seeking to regain access to its own voter data.
• Have the Freddie Gray trials been essentially derailed? Joe explains the latest situation with the first Freddie Gray trial. No retrial date set yet in first Freddie Gray case.

7am – B         AWKWARD: Miss Universe Host Names The Wrong Winner [VIDEO]. Miss Universe host Steve Harvey announced that the wrong contestant had won the global beauty pageant Sunday. “Miss Universe 2015 is … Colombia!” Harvey said at the climactic moment of the show. Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach then retreated to the back of the stage to take her place as the runner up next to Miss USA Olivia Jordan. Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez took her place at the front of the stage. She was draped with the Miss Universe sash, wearing her crown atop her head and in tears, happily waving to the crowd. To everyone’s surprise, Harvey interrupted the proceedings to reverse the announcement.

7am – C         The force is strong as ‘Star Wars’ hauls in $238 million. (AP) — “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” brought in a galactic $238 million over the weekend, making it the biggest North American debut of all time according to studio estimates on Sunday. The Walt Disney Co. earnings destroy the previous opening record set by Universal’s “Jurassic World,” which drew $208.8 million this summer. This is just the latest in a laundry list of records set by J.J. Abrams’ film, the seventh in the franchise, which had analysts anticipating a debut anywhere from $150 million to $300 million.

Star Wars Is Great and All, but There’s a New Spaceballs Movie in the Works. (Inquisitr) — The Spaceballs movie was notorious at spoofing the Star Wars franchise, and is at it again. With The Force Awakens having been released, it would make sense to spoof it. According to The Nerdist and to long time comedic genius Mel Brooks, it’s going to become a reality. The Nerdist reported the news on Adam Corolla’s podcast, Take A Knee. It was there that it was confirmed by Brooks that a sequel is underway. It’s in the “early phases of development.” Since the franchise is back in business with a new movie, with the seventh installment helmed by Star Trek rebooter J.J. Abrams, it would make sense for Mel Brooks to parody it. It’s tentatively entitled, Spaceballs: The Search For More Money which was a title already mentioned by Yogurt, played by Brooks, in the original film as he was browsing through the many pieces of merchandising products. Brooks is also wanting “to potentially start filming in early 2016,” which is shortly after The Force Awaken’s release, according to Blastr.

7am – D/E     Fairfax County School Board Opens Door to School Renaming. (NBC Washington) — The Fairfax County school board has voted to alter its school-naming policy, a move that opens the door to change school names that honor Confederate generals and an opponent of desegregation. The Washington Post reports that students, community members and alumni have been pushing to change the names of two high schools named for confederate generals – J.E.B. Stuart and Robert E. Lee – and a third that honors a former superintendent, W.T. Woodson, who opposed desegregation. The school board voted unanimously Thursday to alter the policy that blocked officials from changing the names of school buildings unless the building was repurposed. The new policy allows the board to also change a name “where some other compelling need exists.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW – JOE TRIPPI – Democratic Strategist and Fox News Contributor – discussed the Democratic debate.

8am – B         2016 GOP News:

• Jeb Bush Calls Donald Trump a Jerk: ‘Who Is He Kidding?’
• Donald Trump: Jeb A “Puppet” And “An Embarrassment To His Family,” “Will Be Gone Soon”
• Jeb Bush: ‘I hated’ being front-runner, ‘I feel much better’ in back of pack

8am – C         DC, Baltimore: Returning warmth to break records on Christmas Eve. No white Christmas is in the cards for the Washington, D.C., and Baltimore areas this week with record-breaking warmth making a comeback. As high pressure shifts eastward, the door will open for milder air to soar back into the mid-Atlantic early this week and replace the chill that made the weekend feel more like December should. The milder air will hold firm all of this Christmas week, allowing heavy winter jackets and gloves to stay tucked away in closets and dashing all hopes of a white Christmas.

• Wednesday | Mainly cloudy and rainy. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the mid 60s.
• Thursday | A few thunderstorms possible. Highs in the mid 70s and lows in the upper 50s.
• Friday | Cloudy with late day rain. Highs in the upper 60s and lows in the mid 50s.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – TREVOR MATICH — Redskins elite long snapper and WMAL’s Redskins analyst

• RECAP: Buffalo Bills vs Washington Redskins, Sunday, December 20 – FedExField, Landover, Maryland
• Cousins Throws 4 TDs, Redskins Win 35-25. LANDOVER, MD – DECEMBER 20: Quarterback Kirk Cousins #8 of the Washington Redskins celebrates after scoring a second quarter touchdown against the Buffalo Bills at FedExField on December 20, 2015 in Landover, Maryland. The Washington Redskins (7-7) got their first winning streak of the year Saturday afternoon with a win against the Buffalo Bills (6-8), 35-25.

8am – E         AWKWARD: Miss Universe Host Names The Wrong Winner [VIDEO]. Miss Universe host Steve Harvey announced that the wrong contestant had won the global beauty pageant Sunday. “Miss Universe 2015 is … Colombia!” Harvey said at the climactic moment of the show. Miss Philippines Pia Wurtzbach then retreated to the back of the stage to take her place as the runner up next to Miss USA Olivia Jordan.