Seb Gorka, Joe diGenova, Trevor Matich, Joe Concha and Gerard Robinson joined WMAL on Monday!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, September 12, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

 

5am – A/B/C   Clinton expresses regret for saying ‘half’ of Trump supporters are ‘deplorables’ (CNN) — New York (CNN) Hillary Clinton expressed “regret” Saturday for comments in which she said “half” of Donald Trump’s supporters are “deplorables,” meaning people who are racist, sexist, homophobic or xenophobic. “Last night I was ‘grossly generalistic,’ and that’s never a good idea. I regret saying ‘half’ — that was wrong,” Clinton said in a statement in which she also vowed to call out “bigotry” in Trump’s campaign. The Democratic presidential nominee sparked an uproar late Friday when she described Trump’s supporters at a fundraiser. “To just be grossly generalistic, you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” Clinton said. “Right? Racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic, you name it.” She added: “And unfortunately, there are people like that and he has lifted them up. He has given voice to their websites that used to only have 11,000 people, now have 11 million. He tweets and retweets offensive, hateful, mean-spirited rhetoric.” Clinton then said some of these people were “irredeemable” and “not America.” She described the rest of his supporters as people who are looking for change in any form because of economic anxiety and urged her supporters to empathize with them.

5am – D         Obama Remembers 9/11:

• Obama praises diversity at Pentagon 9/11 tribute. At the Pentagon, where the terrorist attack killed 184 people Sept. 11, Obama was joined by Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Marine Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Obama observed a moment of silence at the White House before he went to the Pentagon. Obama addressed the survivors and the victims’ families, saying, “Your steadfast love and faithfulness has been an inspiration to me”  and the country.  He praised “patriots” both civilian and in the military for “defending not only our country, but our ideals.” Honoring those who killed in the 9/11 attacks, and those who have served and died since, is best done by standing together. “We know that our diversity, our patchwork heritage is not a weakness, it still and always will be one of our greatest strengths,” Obama said.
• 9/11 Moment Of Silence Moved Up Because Obama Was Impatient. (Daily Caller) — A moment of silence remembering the September 11 victims at a Pentagon memorial service began early in order to accommodate a restless President Obama, a Department of Defense official told The Daily Caller. A source close to the situation told TheDC that Obama arrived early to the memorial service — which took place at the Pentagon — and wanted to get things started early. A Department of Defense official confirmed that the moment of silence was moved up a few minutes and that Obama was the one who made the decision, saying the president “moved early.” The moment of silence was originally slotted to take place at 9:37 AM — the time at which the Pentagon was attacked on September 11 — but ended up taking place a few minutes early. “The question before us, as always, is: How do we preserve the legacy of those we lost? How do we live up to their example? And how do we keep their spirit alive in our own hearts?” the president said.

5am – E         Entertainment News:

• ‘Grease’ Musical Writer Disputes Dead Sandy Fan Theory. (The Wrap) — That bizarre fan theory about “Grease” that says Sandy was in a coma the whole movie, and dies at the end? Nope, not true, at least according to the guy who literally wrote the book on the subject: “Grease” co-creator Jim Jacobs. TMZ got in touch with Jacobs, who wrote the original version of the musical (along with Warren Casey), to get to the truth of the matter. Jacobs is pretty sure whoever came up with the theory that Sandy actually drowned, and that the entire movie is her waterlogged synapses short-circuiting before she dies and ascends to heaven in a flying car, was on acid. Now, Jacobs co-wrote the original musical in 1971. This particular fan theory pertains to the 1978 movie starring John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John, and there are significant differences between the two works, including the closing image of a flying car (impractical for a stage musical in 1971) upon which much of the current “Grease” theory rests.
• Legendary rockers KISS STOP mid-concert; liberals lose their minds over why. While crybaby millionaire athletes opt to disrespect the land that provides them the incredible opportunity to play a game for a living by sitting during the National Anthem, legendary rockers KISS are taking a very different approach. Arguably one of the best rock bands in the history of the genre, KISS is currently on their “Freedom to Rock” Tour, which they fittingly launched on July 4th, making it a point to show our country and the men and women who are sworn to protect her the respect they so richly deserve. During one particular concert, the band stopped in the middle of the show and decided to do the Pledge of Allegiance. Truth Revolt is reporting Currently, Kiss is on their “Freedom to Rock” tour, which launched on July 4th, and as they’ve done before, Kiss put their patriotism and love of our military in the forefront by giving Hiring Our Heroes $150,000 and selecting a current member of the National Guard or Reserve in all 32 cities of the tour to be a roadie for the day to work backstage with the crew and prepare for the evening’s concert. In addition, Kiss partnered with Veteran Tickets Foundation which offers discounted tickets to veterans. To top it all off, the band also gave $125,000 to the Wounded Warrior Project.

6am – A/B/C Was Hillary’s Health Scare A Campaign Game Changer?

• Hillary Clinton falling ill Sunday morning at a memorial on the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks  is likely to highlight questions about her health in the presidential race over the coming days. At first, according to a Clinton campaign statement, she “felt overheated, so departed to go to her daughter’s apartment and is feeling much better.”  Later a statement from her doctor said Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia on Friday and is “recovering nicely.”

6am – D         INTERVIEW — DR. SEBASTIAN GORKA — counter-terrorism and irregular warfare expert and author of new book “Defeating Jihad: The Winnable War”

• Reflect on 9/11 15 years later
• Homeland chief worried about “lone wolf” attacks. (Washington Examiner) –– The U.S. is better guarded against a coordinated, 9/11 style of terrorist attack, but there are major concerns about more attacks carried out by a single individual, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said Sunday. Johnson did a round of the morning talk shows on Sunday, the 15th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in New York City and at the Pentagon. “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd quizzed Johnson over why significant numbers of Americans feel the country is less safe now than it was before Sept. 11, 2001, despite the creation of his own agency since then. A poll last month found 42 percent of respondents felt that way. “That’s a good question,” Johnson responded. “They see what’s happening overseas, what’s happening in western Europe and they’re really concerned about our security environment.” Johnson said the U.S. is better prepared to counterattack any efforts by terrorists to carry out a similar attack to 9/11. But what keeps him up at night, he said, is another “lone wolf” style of attack like those recently carried out in San Bernadino and Orlando
• France says three women arrested in failed attack near Notre Dame Cathedral were radicalized by Islamic State Three women behind a thwarted attack near Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris were radicalized by Islamic State commanders in Syria, and one had been engaged to an extremist who killed a priest in July, the Paris prosecutor said Friday.  Francois Molins spoke a day after the women were dramatically arrested over the failed attack that centered on a car discovered Sunday morning in central Paris abandoned and loaded with gas canisters. No detonators were found in the car.  “In the last few days and hours a terrorist cell was dismantled, composed of young women totally receptive to the deadly Daesh ideology,” Molins said, referring to Islamic State by its Arabic acronym.  The women suspected of spearheading the failed plot included Ines Madani, a 19-year-old whose father owned the abandoned Peugeot car. Her written pledge of allegiance to Islamic State was found by police, a security official said Friday.
• Teen suspected of plotting ‘imminent’ attack on Paris, report says. Authorities foiled an ISIS-linked attack in Paris on Saturday, arresting a 15-year-old boy suspected of preparing an imminent “violent action,” two judicial sources told Reuters. The boy, who was not identified, had been under house arrest since the coordinated Nov. 13 Paris attacks that killed 130 people. After that deadly episode, France declared a state of emergency. It was not immediately clear why the teen was under house arrest. The boy was allegedly planning an attack on a public place, a source told Reuters. Another source said that the teen was in contact with a known Islamic extremist, Rashid Kassim. Kassim, a Syrian-based jihadist, is suspected of being behind a plot to attack a Paris train station this week. Authorities thwarted that scheme, however, arresting seven people, including four women.
• Angela Merkel’s open door migration policy will cost Germany at least £17BILLION this year
• The U.K.’s plan to build a border wall is drawing comparisons to Trump.

6am – E         Media Coverage of Hillary’s Health Scare:

• WaPo Reporter Chris Cillizza Eats Crow – Now Admits Hillary’s Health Is Real Concern. (Gateway Pundit) — Last Tuesday, five days ago, Washington Post‘s Chris Cillizza called on journalists to quit reporting on Hillary’s questionable health issues. It was beneath them. Here is Cillizza’s report on Tuesday: “Can we just stop talking about Hillary Clinton’s health now?” But as Ed Driscoll at Instapundit pointed out– Cillizza had no problem talking about John McCain’s age and health issues in 2008. Earlier today Hillary Clinton collapsed at Ground Zero. She had to be lifted into her van. She lost one shoe on the street when they whisked her away. Today Chris Cillizza finally admitted Hillary’s health is a legitimate campaign issue! Chris Cillizza: @TheFix: Hillary Clinton’s health just became a real issue in the presidential campaign http://wpo.st/rXWx1 11:45 AM – 11 Sep 2016
• Meghan McCain ‏@MeghanMcCain 18h18 hours ago: Hey @TheFix – can Hillary’s health be a considered a valid issue for the media to cover now? My father never fainted on the campaign trail.
• CNN’s Stelter fails with partisan reporting on Clinton’s health. (The Hill/JoeConcha) — Lately it appears that even Internal Affairs/media reporters are compromised, biased and even dishonest. Exhibit ‘A’ is CNN’s Brian Stelter in his reporting on Hillary Clinton’s health issues, or per his consistent narrative for weeks, total lack of issues. Sunday was an active news day well outside of coverage of the 15th anniversary of 9/11: Hillary Clinton left a ceremony at Ground Zero early. And Fox News’ Rick Leventhal — as solid a news reporter as they come out there — first went to air of Clinton’s unexpected departure. From there, Leventhal was alone in his report citing a Clinton health episode for leaving early. The Clinton campaign wasn’t talking. Other news organizations were waiting for another outlet or the campaign to come forward to verify before even cautiously broaching it.

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

• FLASHBACK LAST WEEK: Comey defends Clinton private email server investigation in FBI memo
• FLASHBACK: Hillary Clinton Blamed Concussion for Memory Failure: FBI Report.  We saw how the concussion impacted Hillary in her FBI interview — she conveniently couldn’t remember details in the investigation. Is this a much bigger deal than we realize?
• John Hinckley Jr. Leaves DC Mental Hospital for Virginia.  The man who tried to assassinate President Ronald Reagan has been released from a Washington mental hospital for good, more than 35 years after the shooting. A spokeswoman for the District of Columbia’s Department of Mental Health said early Saturday that all patients scheduled to leave St. Elizabeths Hospital had been discharged. John Hinckley Jr. was among those scheduled for discharge. An Associated Press reporter saw a hired car pull into the driveway of the Hinckley home about 2:30 p.m. Officers from the Kingsmill Police Department chased reporters away. A federal judge ruled in late July that the 61-year-old Hinckley is not a danger to himself or the public and can live full-time at his mother’s home in Williamsburg.

7am – B   Savvy Shields, Miss Arkansas, Is Named Miss America 2017. (AP) — ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. — Savvy Shields, Miss Arkansas, is the new Miss America. Shields topped a field of 52 contestants to win the crown and the title of Miss America 2017 on Sunday night in Atlantic City. She succeeds the outgoing Miss America, Betty Cantrell. Shields performed a jazz dance to a song from the TV show “Smash,” for which she won a preliminary competition earlier in the week. The pageant from Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall included contestants from all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico — as well as the first openly gay contestant. Miss Missouri, Erin O’Flaherty, wasn’t among the top 15 picked to advance in the pageant during its nationally televised finale. Djuan Trent competed in the Miss America pageant as Miss Kentucky in 2011, when she finished in the top 10. She came out as a lesbian in 2014.

7am – C         Woman in famous VJ Day ‘Kiss’ photo dies aged 92. (BBC) — The woman kissed by a sailor in an iconic photograph marking the end of World War Two has died aged 92. Greta Zimmer Friedman died of pneumonia at a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, her son Joshua Friedman said. Ms Friedman was a 21-year-old dental assistant when she was grabbed and kissed by George Mendonsa in New York’s Times Square on 14 August 1945. The photo of that moment became one of the enduring images of the VJ Day celebrations in the US. It was originally published as part of a round-up of celebration pictures in Life magazine. Ms Friedman herself said she was not even aware of the photo until the 1960s when she saw a book by the man who took the photo, renowned photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — TREVOR MATICH — Redskins elite long snapper, WMAL’s Redskins analyst and Comcast SportsNet co-host

• PREVIEW: Pittsburgh Steelers vs  Washington Redskins – Today, 7:10 PM on ESPN / FedExField, Landover, Maryland
• Week 1 Preview: Steelers at Redskins: The Pittsburgh Steelers have made the postseason 16 times in 24 seasons, played in four Super Bowls and won two of them since 1992. That was also the last time the Washington Redskins made the playoffs in consecutive years.

7am – E         Update: Mattress store closed “indefinitely” after 9/11-mocking ad goes viral: 9/11-themed mattress ad might be most offensive commercial ever. Owner shuts down store ‘indefinitely’ after outcry. (Entertainment Weekly) — A San Antonio mattress retailer called Miracle Mattress made a 9/11-themed commercial and the result is even more offensive than you might imagine.  The jokey, spectacularly tone-deaf ad was quickly pulled from online and an apology was issued, BuzzFeed reports, but not before a viewer captured the video and put it on YouTube.  “What better way to remember 9/11 then with a Twin Towers Sale?” the ad begins, and then it just gets worse from there. The store’s Yelp page currently has 141 reviews and a minimum one-star average, with users blasting the store for the ad. Sample comments: ”…about as epic of a marketing failure as one could imagine,” “your business is now cursed” and “this – without a doubt – is the most unbelievably insensitive and disrespectful ad ever produced.” Miracle Mattress owner Mike Bonanno claims he wasn’t aware of the video before it was distributed and quickly apologized. “I say this unequivocally; with sincere regret: the video is tasteless and an affront to the men and women who lost their lives on 9/11 … I am deeply sorry.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW – JOE CONCHA – Media Reporter, The Hill – analyzed the media coverage of Hillary’s Health Scare.

• WaPo Reporter Chris Cillizza Eats Crow – Now Admits Hillary’s Health Is Real Concern
• CNN’s Stelter fails with partisan reporting on Clinton’s health.

8am – B/C     Why did Hillary Clinton lie about her health? (The Week) — Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign just made a massive error. We’ll know within the next few weeks if the error will prove to be catastrophic. On Sunday, Clinton abruptly left a Manhattan ceremony marking the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A video shows her shakily stumbling while trying to get into a van to leave. The candidate’s physician later offered this explanation: Clinton has had an allergy-related cough for some time, and during an examination on Friday, the Democratic nominee was diagnosed with pneumonia, put on antibiotics, and told to take time out to rest. She became overheated and dehydrated during Sunday morning’s event, which led her to collapse. She’s now home in Chappaqua and on the road to recovery. Compare this timeline to details from Hillary Clinton’s public schedule and behavior over these same two days. After Clinton was diagnosed with pneumonia and put on antibiotics, she did not, as her physician recommended, take time out to rest. Instead, she attended a fundraiser featuring Barbra Streisand. Then on Sunday morning, she attended the 9/11 commemoration, became “overheated,” and woozily wobbled rather dramatically. Ninety minutes later she exited her daughter Chelsea’s apartment building to tell the press she was “feeling great.” The Secret Service permitted a young girl to come over to give the candidate a hug. It was only a few hours later when her campaign finally announced that she has pneumonia and is recovering. The most charitable reading of this timeline is that her campaign — presumably with the blessing and perhaps insistence of the candidate — fully intended to keep her illness a secret from the public. Let’s be clear about what this means: Her campaign intended to lie. Even though doing so would require her to keep up a public schedule that might well make her condition worse and require ever-more elaborate forms of concealment. Because, of course, to curtail her schedule would raise questions that might reveal the truth.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – GERARD ROBINSON — is the former COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION for the State of FLORIDA and former SECRETARY OF EDUCATION for the Commonwealth of VIRGINIA.  He is also a RESIDENT FELLOW at the AMERICAN ENTERPRISE INSTITUTE (AEI), where he works on education policy issues & former Secretary of Education in VA and FL

• School informed parents of low-performing students they could opt out of state tests. (Washington Post) –  As schools were busy readying students for state exams, teachers at Cora Kelly School for Math, Science and Technology, a high-poverty school in Alexandria, were poring over data to determine which students would probably not do well on the tests. But according to a school district investigation, the effort wasn’t aimed at giving those students extra help.  Instead, Principal Brandon Davis allegedly told teachers this spring to call the parents of students who appeared on the brink of failing the exams to inform them of their right to opt out of the tests, according to the investigation.  Three dozen parents decided to pull their children from the state Standards of Learning exams; no parents at the school had done so the previous year. The move, which meant those students’ scores would not be considered for state accreditation purposes, probably artificially inflated the school’s overall performance and masked the fact that some students were not performing up to standards.  It also means the data used to evaluate the school is potentially flawed and presents evidence that a new Virginia law allowing students to opt out of tests without it affecting a school’s rating could compromise the ability to assess schools. The findings of the report, which the Virginia Department of Education released to The Washington Post on Thursday, come a week before the state publishes its accreditation ratings. The state Department of Education reported that there has been a rise in the number of opt-outs as a result of the new Virginia law.

8am – E         Entertainment News:

• David Bowie’s ashes ‘scattered at Burning Man with small ceremony at spiritual event’ / David Bowie’s ashes have reportedly been scattered at Burning Man over Labor Day weekend. The late rock icon – who passed away following a secret cancer battle in January – is said to have been laid to rest at the annual gathering in the Nevada desert. According to E! News, the star’s godchild was given permission by his widow Iman, who shared a special collection with the spiritual event. The reports adds that the Starman singer was honoured with a small ceremony at the Temple, which is erected for attendees to pay tribute to their loved ones – and burned to the ground at the end of the week-long gathering. An eyewitness added: “We played [David’s] music the entire drive from our camp to the Temple and back… Most of us had the Bowie [lightening bolt] face paint on in his honour.”
• Tom Hanks’ ‘Sully’ soars at box office with $35.5M. (USA Today) — Never underestimate the box-office appeal of Tom Hanks saving the day. Clint Eastwood’s heroic biopic Sully, with Hanks as the real-life airline pilot who pulled off the “Miracle on the Hudson,” flew past the competition to finish No. 1 with $35.5 million in its opening weekend, according to studio estimates from comScore. Also starring Aaron Eckhart and Laura Linney, the drama connected with critics (who collectively gave it an 83% “fresh” rating at review aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes) and especially audiences (a grade of A on CinemaScore).
• What the ‘Sully’ Movie Gets Wrong (CondeNast) — Director Clint Eastwood reportedly admitted that he needed a villain. When the movie Sully opens in theaters today, Tom Hanks will stand in as the eponymous hero whose 2009 splash-landing in the river—aka the “Miracle on the Hudson”—turned US Airways Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger into an instant celebrity. Directed by Clint Eastwood, it has all the elements of a gripping story: a terrifying near-disaster, in which everyone mercifully survives.  Director Eastwood has admitted that he needed a villain. “Where’s the antagonist?” he reportedly asked when approached about the project. Sully’s best-selling book, Highest Duty, was more inspirational than a tell-all, and offered no candidates for the role of black hat. So the filmmakers solved their no-drama problem, in true Hollywood fashion, by making one up. Actually, they made up an entire band of baddies: a glowering tribunal of investigators who torment Sully and Skiles for days immediately after the accident, not just questioning their decisions, but contradicting their accounts.
• Kate Upton calls Dolphins’ national anthem protest ‘a disgrace’ (Fox News) — Supermodel Kate Upton had a bone to pick with the four Miami Dolphins players who knelt during the national anthem, writing on Instagram that their actions are “a disgrace to those people who have served and currently serve our country.” The four players — running back Arian Foster, outside linebacker Jelani Jenkins, free safety Michael Thomas and wide receiver Kenny Stills — were down on their right knee as the song played before the Dolphins’ 12-10 loss to the Seahawks in Seattle on Sunday. Upton, who is engaged to Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, specifically condemned the players’ actions as “more horrific” because they occurred on the 15th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. “I could never imagine multiple people sitting down during the national anthem on the Sept. 11th anniversary,” Upton wrote. “The lessons of 9/11 should teach us that if we come together, the world can be a better and more peaceful place.” She added on Twitter, “Protest&speak ur [sic] mind whenever u [sic] want but during the 120 [seconds] you should support the people who protect our freedom.”