Joe diGenova, Steve Kastenbaum, Tucker Carlson and True The Vote’s Catherine Englebrecht joined WMAL on Monday!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, August 8, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

 

5am – A/B/C             Prefer Summer Break or Year Round Schools?

• 10 D.C. public schools that will embark on a new, year-round academic calendar starting Monday. Their academic year will have 20 more days than other schools in the system, with shorter and more frequent breaks during a school year that runs 200 days through all 12 months. One additional elementary school began the extended schedule during the 2015-2016 school year. More than half of the city’s charter schools already embrace the schedule, which is the latest push to close the achievement gap in some of the District’s struggling schools. All but one of the 10 participating elementary and middle schools are in Wards 7 and 8, areas east of the Anacostia River that are among the city’s poorest and most underserved.

5am – D         Hillary News:

• National Review: Obama’s Cash Payment to Iran Was More Than a Ransom — It Broke Criminal Law
• Clinton says she short-circuited regarding the email server

5am – E         Delta Air Lines grounds all flights due to system outage. (AP) — LONDON –  Delta Airlines says it is has grounded flights after experiencing unspecified systems issues. Confirmation of the troubles Monday came in tweets to its customers. The airline declined to immediately comment. A typical response to Delta’s customers complaining about their service was: “Our systems are down everywhere. Hopefully it won’t be much longer.”

6am – A/B/C Olympics Highlights

6am – D/E     Trump To Release Economic Plan: Trump to propose deduction on childcare spending: aide. (Reuters) — U.S. Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump will propose allowing parents to deduct spending on childcare from their income taxes in a speech on Monday meant to challenge the economic policies of Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, a campaign aide said. The aide, who asked not to be identified, said on Sunday in outlining the plan: “We don’t want it to be an economic disadvantage to have children.” The aide said the campaign would have a more detailed childcare plan in the future. In his speech, to business leaders of the Detroit Economic Club, Trump will also propose stronger protections for American intellectual property and a temporary moratorium on new regulations, the aide said.

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

• National Review: Obama’s Cash Payment to Iran Was More Than a Ransom — It Broke Criminal Law. To cut to the chase, I believe it was to camouflage — unsuccessfully — the commission of felony law violations. The Wall Street Journal has reported that the Justice Department strongly objected to the cash payment to Iran. As we shall see, that should come as no surprise. What is surprising is the Journal’s explanation of Justice’s concerns: Department officials, it is said, fretted that the transaction looked like a ransom payment. I don’t buy that. It is not a federal crime to pay a ransom; just to receive one. Our government’s stated disapproval of paying ransoms is a prudent policy, not a legal requirement. The Justice Department’s principal job is to enforce the laws, not to ensure good policy in foreign relations. It seems far more likely that Justice was worried that the transaction was illegal. If they were, they had good reasons.
• Clinton says she short-circuited regarding the email server

7am – B         INTERVIEW – STEVE KASTENBAUM — Correspondent in RIO covering the Olympics

• Day 2 in Rio saw the first gold medal — and vintage form — for Michael Phelps in the men’s swimming 4x100m freestyle relay. It saw Katie Ledecky smash the world record in the women’s 400m freestyle while capturing her first gold medal of Rio.  It saw Simone Biles, Aly Raisman and Gabby Douglas put on a display of dominance in the gym. It saw history by Diana Taurasi from downtown. It saw a pair of stunning upsets on the tennis courts. And it saw a must-see-to-believe finish in the women’s cycling road race.

7am – C         Delta Computer Failure Grounds Flights Worldwide After Power Outage. Tens of thousands of Delta passengers around the world were grounded indefinitely Monday after a power outage caused a system-wide computer failure. Check-in systems, airport screens and even the airline’s website and smartphone apps are affected by the problem, which began at 2:48 a.m. ET. The Atlanta-based airline suspended departures until the problem can be fixed, while airport agents wrote out boarding passes by hand. “Our systems are down everywhere,” the airline told customers on Twitter.  It later issued a statement confirming the outage.

7am – D/E     Prefer Summer Break or Year Round Schools?

• 10 D.C. public schools that will embark on a new, year-round academic calendar starting Monday. Their academic year will have 20 more days than other schools in the system, with shorter and more frequent breaks during a school year that runs 200 days through all 12 months. One additional elementary school began the extended schedule during the 2015-2016 school year. More than half of the city’s charter schools already embrace the schedule, which is the latest push to close the achievement gap in some of the District’s struggling schools. All but one of the 10 participating elementary and middle schools are in Wards 7 and 8, areas east of the Anacostia River that are among the city’s poorest and most underserved.

8am – A         INTERVIEW — TUCKER CARLSON – Editor of The Daily Caller and co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend

• Clinton admits she may have ‘short circuited’ answers on email controversy. Washington (CNN)Hillary Clinton attempted to clarify Friday recent misleading statements about her use of a private email server at the State Department, saying she “may have short-circuited” her answers about it.
• Cotton: Clinton discussed executed Iranian scientist on email.
• Trump To Release Economic Plan: Trump to propose deduction on childcare spending: aide

8am – B/C     OLYMPICS NEWS:

• Beach volleyball crowd jeers American duo with chants of ‘Zika’ (USA Today) — RIO DE JANEIRO — Olympic fans have a new chant to get under the skin of Americans. Several reporters heard chants of “Zika!” aimed at American players Lauren Fendrick and Brooke Sweat before each would hit serves late in their match against Poland’s Monika Brzostek and Kinga Kolosinska on Sunday morning at Copacabana Beach. It’s not clear why the largely Brazilian crowd chose Fendrick and Sweat as the recipients of the chant, as neither player has made a public comment about fears of the Zika virus. But with several American athletes dropping out of the Olympics because of concerns over the virus — Hope Solo of the U.S. women’s soccer team has been a prime target — it’s unsurprising the crowd would lump Fendrick and Sweat in. “Yeah, we heard the crowd. I heard the USA chants, those are super energizing,” said Fendrick. “As far as the other stuff, that’s not a factor for us. We always play against international teams with international crowds.”
• Teen shooter Ginny Thrasher wins USA’s first gold medal of Rio Olympics. RIO DE JANEIRO — American shooter Ginny Thrasher won the first gold medal of the Rio Olympics, pulling off an upset in the women’s 10-meter air rifle event Saturday morning.  Thrasher, 19, beat silver medalist Du Li of China in the final round with a total of 208.0, setting an Olympic record in the finals. Du finished with 207.0. Yi Siling of China took bronze as the first medals in Rio were awarded. Thrasher wasn’t one of the favorites to win a medal coming into the Olympics. “I think I knew it was realistic for me to make finals, but I was not focused on that,” she said. “I was focusing on just shooting the best that I could, and that got me there.” She is an NCAA champion at West Virginia competing in her first Olympics. The American was up against a deep field that included Du, who won gold at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and Andrea Arsovic of Serbia, who is ranked No. 1 in the world and failed to advance to the final. Yi won Olympic gold in the 2012 London Games.
• Led by Michael Phelps, U.S. men win gold in 400 freestyle relay. RIO DE JANEIRO — Michael Phelps’ eyes glistened, but no tears came. Not like his younger teammates, who had never won a medal like this before. No, Phelps smiled and laughed, and he raised his fists in triumph. He’d done this 18 times before, let a gold medal fall against his chest as The Star-Spangled Banner played. But even so, this 19th gold medal felt different. And special. It was the first one his son, Boomer, got to see, even though the 3-month-old most certainly won’t remember it. Phelps, 31, turned in a terrific second leg of the Americans’ exhilarating 4×100 freestyle relay, giving his teammates a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. Fellow Olympic veteran Nathan Adrian held off the furious French to anchor the U.S. and clinch the Americans’ first gold medal in this event in a major international meet since 2009.
• Reports claim Olympic kayaker capsized after hitting underwater sofa. (MSN) — We may already have our strangest and most amusing story to come out of the Rio Olympic games. Paul Kelso, a journalist for Sky Sports in the UK, reported on Friday that an Olympic kayaker had capsized after hitting a submerged couch. No, really. The report, which immediately sparked the #kayaksofa hashtag on Twitter, was not corroborated by anyone else. Nevertheless, the organizers are taking it seriously enough as to investigate it.
• Saudi judoka forfeits Rio match, apparently to avoid Israeli. (Times of Israel) –  Saudi Arabian competitor Joud Fahmy forfeited her first-round judo match against Christianne Legentil from Mauritius at the Rio Olympic Games on Sunday, in what Hebrew media said was a maneuver to avoid facing Israeli judo fighter Gili Cohen in the next round. The Saudi Olympic team tweeted that Fahmy had sustained injuries to her arm and leg during training and was advised by medical staff not to compete, the Hebrew language Ynet news site reported. According to Channel 2, Fahmy was not hurt, but simply dropped out to avoid competing against the Israeli judoka.
• Olympics spat as Lebanese stop Israelis joining them on bus. (AP) — The Israeli and Lebanese Olympics teams became involved in a heated argument about access to a bus to the opening ceremony of the Rio de Janeiro Games. Both sides acknowledged Saturday that Israeli athletes were blocked from boarding a bus packed with the Lebanon team on Friday but they are at odds over the reasons for the actions of the head of the Lebanese delegation. Israel portrayed it as a hostile act, maintaining that organizers had told them to use the bus to reach the Maracana Stadium.
• Scary crash takes out leader Annemiek van Vlueten in women’s cycling road race Martin Rogers, USA TODAY Sports 6:24 a.m. EDT August 8, 2016 / RIO DE JANEIRO — Leader Annemiek van Vleuten of Netherlands was involved in a spectacular crash in the final stages of the women’s cycling road race by Copacabana beach on Sunday.  Van Vleuten looked headed for victory as she sped down the Vista Chinesa descent alone in slippery conditions after dropping breakaway companion Mara Abbott of United States. But van Vleuten lost control around a corner and clipped a curb to send her sprawling over her handlebar off the road. Van Vleuten was unconscious “for a considerable period of time,” Dutch cycling team manager Johan Lammerts told USA TODAY Sports. She regained consciousness before being loaded into an ambulance to be taken to a local hospital, and she was talking. Lammerts said he would join van Vleuten at the hospital after wrapping up events at the cycling venue.

8am – D         INTERVIEW — True the Vote Founder Catherine Engelbrecht

• Texas-Based True the Vote Wins Legal Appeal Against IRS. Houston-based True the Vote, a prominent player in the Internal Revenue Service targeting scandal from 2013 has reportedly won critical portions of its appeal in a lawsuit against the IRS. The “voters’ rights organization” known for promoting voter ID laws across the country initially announced the ruling on its Twitter account.

8am – E         Entertainment News:

• Beyonce, Jay Z and Stevie Wonder celebrate with President Obama: Obama’s Star-Studded Galas. (NY Times) — On Friday night and well into Saturday, Mr. Obama did it again, celebrating his 55th birthday — his last as commander in chief — with a big White House party. East Wing staff members were told to expect to be working until 4 a.m. Guests were asked not to tweet pictures (some did anyway) or spill any details. One birthday guest, who normally has a very good memory, insisted late Saturday that he had imbibed too much to remember a thing. (It’s not clear what the guest was drinking, but Mr. Obama favors extra-dry Grey Goose martinis.) Another birthday friend recalled only seeing Alonzo Mourning, a retired Miami Heat basketball star, and watching Stevie Wonder perform. Magic Johnson tweeted a picture of himself and his wife on Friday evening. “Cookie and I getting ready to go to President Obama’s birthday party!” he wrote. The Rev. Al Sharpton tweeted at 1:10 a.m.: “Leaving the White House after the celebration of President Obama’s birthday. His last birthday as President.” Others spotted at the White House before the party included the talk show host Ellen DeGeneres; Grant Hill, a former N.B.A. star; George Lucas, the creator of “Star Wars”; and a collection of former Obama aides and media celebrities. The singer-songwriter Nick Jonas tweeted afterward: “Tonight was a night I will never forget. #BarackObama #happybirthday.” Paul McCartney was reportedly a guest and performed for Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle.
• ‘Dirty Rotten Scoundrels’ is getting a remake starring Rebel Wilson. MGM is developing a remake of the 1988 comedy classic “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels” with Rebel Wilson attached to star. Steve Martin and Michael Caine teamed up in the original “Dirty Rotten Scoundrels,” which follows two con men trying to swindle a heiress out of her money. The 1988 film was itself a remake of the script for Marlon Brando and David Niven’s 1964 film “Bedtime Story.” The updated remake brings con artistry to the 21st century — two female scam artists, one low rent and the other high class, compete to swindle a naive tech prodigy out of his fortune.
• Bradley Cooper to Develop HBO Miniseries About the Rise of ISIS. The miniseries is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction book Black Flags: The Rise Of ISIS. Bradley Cooper is developing a miniseries about the rise of ISIS for HBO. The four-time Academy Award nominee will executive produce the miniseries, called Black Flags. Based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning nonfiction book Black Flags: The Rise Of ISIS by Washington Post reporter Joby Warrick, the miniseries chronicles the rise of ISIS from its beginnings in Jordan to its gains in Syria. Warrick’s book explores how the Iraq War contributed to the growth of ISIS, told through interviews with terrorists, politicians and intelligence agents.  After reading the book, Cooper thought it would make a good limited TV series. He and producing partner Todd Phillips collaborated with Warrick on the project, Deadline reported. Cooper and Phillips, partners under the production company Joint Effort, will release their company’s first movie, War Dogs, which centers on two men who arm U.S. allies in Afghanistan, on Aug. 19.