Cal Thomas, Gen. Jack Keane, DCA Honor Flight’s Alan Lewis, NPS spokesperson Mike Litterst, Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, June 6, 2019

Hosts: Mary Walter and Vince Coglianese

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C IMMIGRATION NEWS

5am – D/E     Family can sue Colonial Williamsburg over gluten allergy snafu. (NY Post) — The family of an 11-year-old Maryland boy with a gluten allergy is suing Colonial Williamsburg, saying the Virginia historic attraction refused to allow their child to eat a homemade chicken sandwich inside their restaurant during a 2017 school field trip. The suit, which was originally shot down in district court, was given the green light last week when the US Court of Appeals ruled in a 2-1 decision that the case can be decided by a jury, NBC’s “Today” show reported.   The family’s lawsuit alleges that Colonial Williamsburg violated the Americans with Disabilities Act when their child, identified only as J.D., was forced to eat his homemade lunch outside of Shields Tavern after they were told consuming outside food in Virginia restaurants is considered a health code violation. As an alternative, the restaurant offered to make J.D. a gluten-free meal of baked chicken and potatoes. But citing bad experiences with gluten-free promises at restaurants in the past, the family declined. A study published in April by the American Journal of Gastroenterology found nearly one-third of restaurant food labeled gluten-free actually contains gluten. But the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation stood by its gluten-free accommodations, telling “Today” in a statement, “We have a long and successful track record of preparing gluten-free meals for our guests and believe doing so is a reasonable accommodation, as noted by the dissenting judge.” J.D.’s doctor testified the child’s gluten-free diet is “medically necessary” – and cited a family history of celiac disease.

6am – A         ELIJAH CUMMINGS’S WIFE USED HER CHARITY TO ENRICH HER FOR-PROFIT COMPANY, DOCUMENTS SHOW

6am –B/C      Trump hails D-Day veterans as ‘among the very greatest Americans’  (CNN) Weaving a harrowing narrative of the mission to storm the Normandy shore in an attempt to retake Europe from the Nazis, President Donald Trump on Thursday hailed D-Day veterans as “among the very greatest Americans who will ever live.” In a speech laced with individual stories of extraordinary heroism and loss, framed by the aging faces of those who experienced it, Trump memorialized an event that changed the course of the war. Embracing frail veterans making what could be their final journey to the windswept bluffs where they made history, the President appeared genuinely moved by the weight of what had happened there. And he buttressed an alliance system that emerged from the violence, despite having in the past questioned some of the institutions forged from the bloodshed.

6am – D          INTERVIEW – CAL THOMAS -SYNDICATED COLUMNIST – reflected on D-Day and his family’s involvement in the war.

• D-Day’s ‘forgotten’ woman. (By Cal Thomas) — Observances of the 75th anniversary of D-Day are properly focusing on the troops and the architect of Operation Overlord, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, who freed Europe from Hitler and his Nazi hordes. One person — a woman — has not received the credit she deserves for her efforts with the French Resistance. Without her daring and heroism, the war would most assuredly been prolonged and many more lives would have been lost. Her name was Virginia Hall and her story is told in a new book by Sonia Purnell titled “A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II.” The title does not exaggerate Virginia’s contributions to the Allied victory.  Saying that one can’t put down a book has become a cliché, but Purnell’s work, pieced together from meticulous research and bridging lost or destroyed records, exceeds in drama any spy novel you have ever read. Virginia was from a family of Baltimore socialites. Her mother expected her to do what most women in that class did in the ’20s and ’30s — get married, have children and attend parties. Encouraged by her father, who discovered she had other goals, Virginia talked her way into the Special Operations Executive (SOE), the British spy organization Prime Minister Winston Churchill called the “Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare.” She became the first Allied woman deployed behind enemy lines and this with a prosthetic leg she was forced to wear after a hunting accident. She had her gender (sexism was rife in intelligence services and the military in those days), as well as her “handicap” working against her and yet she helped ignite the French Resistance and revolutionized modern secret warfare.

6am – E/F      More of President Trump’s speech from Normandy.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – GEN. JACK KEANE – a retired 4 star general, former Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army, the chairman of the Institute for the Study of War and Fox News Senior Strategic Analyst – reflected on the 75th Anniversary of D-Day.

7am – B/C     More Discussion about the D-Day Anniversary: Some historians consider it the single most important day in the 20th century: D-Day. On June 6, 1944, 150,000 Allied forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France, and began to turn the tide in World War II, leading to the eventual defeat of Nazi Germany.

7am – D         INTERVIEW – ALAN LEWIS from Reagan DCA Honor Flight Volunteers — reflected on the D-Day 75th anniversary, discussed the important work Honor Flights does for veterans and how people can help.

7am – E         Anne Arundel school board delays vote on eliminating class rank, cites concerns about public input. (Capital Gazette) — The Anne Arundel County school board on Wednesday delayed its decision on eliminating the district’s class rank system until its last meeting of the school year. The board had been expected to make a decision Wednesday morning. Josie Urrea, vice president and student member of the board, cited concerns about public input.  She said she’s received emails from the community asking the board postpone the decision to June 19 when the board meets at 7 p.m. Community turnout is typically larger at evening meetings than daytime meetings. “A large thing like this should be dealt with at night,” Urrea said. The board made a similar move this school year when it delayed its vote on a policy regarding gang and gang-related activities to give the public more time to comment. “There was a tremendous amount of public input,” said Terry Gilleland, board president. “The email traffic has been pretty intense.” The proposed policy would get rid of the countywide practice of ranking students based on grade-point average. It would also allow high schools to select valedictorians and salutatorians based on qualities like character and leadership rather than solely on grades. The effort has been led by Urrea. It’s been a major focus of her term on the board as vice president, which started in February. Students in the district have criticized the class rank system for creating competitive environments in schools. And, as school officials refine the district’s approach to promoting mental health, board members have said class rank is stressful for students. Urrea recently called upon board members to change the way valedictorians and salutatorians are selected, as well. Under her proposal, students who receive summa cum laude recognition — a weighted GPA of 4.3 or higher — can apply to be considered for valedictorian and salutatorian after completing seven semesters of high school.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – MIKE LITTERST – Spokesperson for National Park Service, National Mall and Memorial Parks – shared what’s happening at the WWII Memorial for people in the D.C. area who want to stop by to commemorate the anniversary

8am – B/C     More Discussion about the D-Day Anniversary

8am – D         INTERVIEW – LT. COL. HARRY STEWART JR – World War II Tuskegee Airman and author of new book “Soaring to Glory” – shared his story and discussed the meaning of today’s anniversary.

• Soaring to Glory: A Tuskegee Airman’s Firsthand Account of WWII (Regnery History; June 4, 2019; $29.99) is the remarkable true story of Lt. Col. Harry Stewart Jr., one of the last surviving Tuskegee Airmen of World War II. In the style of Laura Hillenbrand’s Unbroken, award-winning aviation writer Philip Handleman recreates the harrowing action and heart-pounding drama of Stewart’s combat missions, including the legendary mission in which Stewart downed three enemy fighters.  In addition to thrilling dogfights and never-before-told personal stories from Stewart, Soaring to Glory reveals the cruel injustices he and his fellow Tuskegee Airmen faced during their wartime service and upon their return home.