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Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, July 23, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Smith

5am – A/B/C Target defends selling women’s ‘Trophy’ shirt. NEW YORK (AP) — Target says it had no intention of offending anyone by selling a women’s shirt with the word “Trophy” written on the front of it. Some people on social media say the shirt demeans women and are collecting signatures to stop the sale of the shirt. But Target said Wednesday that the shirt is part of a collection of engagement and wedding shirts that also includes shirts with sayings such as “Team Bride,” ”Mrs.” and “Bride.” The Minneapolis company said in a written statement that it was never its intention to offend anyone and said that it has received an “overwhelmingly positive” response from customers about the shirts.

5am – D         White House acknowledges ‘side’ deals between Iran, IAEA. National Security Adviser Susan Rice on Wednesday acknowledged the existence of so-called “side” agreements between Iran and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Rice said the deals involve Iran accounting for past military uses of its nuclear program, but rejected GOP assertions that this represented “secret” side deals to the Iranian nuclear agreement. Rice said the documents between Iran and the IAEA are not public, but the administration has been informed on their contents and will share details with members of Congress in a classified briefing on Capitol Hill. “We’re satisfied with them and we will share the contents of those briefings in full in a classified session with the Congress,” she told reporters. “So there’s nothing in that regard that we know that they won’t know.”

5am – E         Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! Recap: Craziest Moments. Run, POTUS, run! Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! just blew everyone’s minds with its complete insanity, and we need to discuss. The canon’s third installment was the best yet, causing viewers to suspend their disbelief as Fin Shepard (Ian Ziering) and his wife, April (Tara Reid), eviscerated flying sharks. Only this time, said sharks were flopping out of tornadoes all the way in Washington, D.C. The Sharknado franchise is known for its full-blown camp, and Oh Hell No! was no exception. We’ve rounded up the film’s craziest moments, so get ready for excellence. And also sharks, because obviously/

6am – A/B/C Scientist warns the world to ‘think twice before replying to alien signals from outer space’ Professor Matthew Bailes said ‘the history of weak civilisations contacting more advanced civilisations is not a happy one’ A scientist responsible for finding signs of life on other planets has warned that human beings should probably think twice before making contact with aliens. Professor Matthew Bailes is based at Swinburne University in Melbourne – and is leading Australia’s efforts to find signs of extra-terrestrial life. But he warned that making contact with aliens capable of transmitting powerful signals to Earth over tens of thousands of light years could lead humanity into disaster, because they’re likely to be so much more advanced. “The history of weak civilisations contacting more advanced civilisations is not a happy one,” he said.

6am – D         2016 News;

• Poll shows Clinton trailing Republicans in every swing state tested. A stunning new poll shows trouble brewing for Hillary Clinton in key swing states, with the Democratic presidential front-runner trailing potential Republican rivals in every match-up tested.   The Quinnipiac University poll put Clinton head-to-head against Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker in three states: Colorado, Iowa and Virginia.
• Trump vs Graham: In video, Lindsey Graham demolishes his cellphone. WASHINGTON — (WMAL) South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham posted a video in response to Donald Trump’s comments at Tuesday’s rally.
• Santorum spars with Rachel Maddow about gay marriage.
• Santorum is friends with Bono too.

6am – E         Critter News:

• Dog Survives Bear Attack in Fairfax County. (NBC) — A dog is believed to have been attacked by a bear Tuesday in Great Falls, Virginia. The 6-year-old rescue dog named Blue was found with wounds and claw marks on her left side that the owners’ veterinarian said were consistent with an attack by a bear in “defensive mode.” Dog owner Richard Kelly said his sons found Blue bleeding when they got home Tuesday night. The family initially thought a raccoon had attacked their dog, but their veterinarian told them otherwise.
• National Zoo says 12-year-old cheetah has died. WASHINGTON — The National Zoo announced Tuesday that a 12-year-old cheetah has died at one of its sister campuses. The cheetah named Shombay died July 18 at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute in Front Royal, Virginia. An X-ray in February showed Shombay had a tumor in his abdomen, and because of his advanced age, vets chose not to perform surgery. Instead, vets closely monitored the tumor’s growth.
• Giant panda Mei Xiang celebrates 17th birthday at National Zoo. WASHINGTON – Forget, “Don’t feed the animals.” Let them eat cake! The Smithsonian’s National Zoo is celebrating a big birthday Wednesday. Giant panda Mei Xiang just turned 17 years old. The zoo delivered her a frozen cake to celebrate.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – TOM FITTON – President, Judicial Watch

• Judicial Watch: New IRS Documents Used Donor Lists to Target Audits. Pressure by Senate Democrat to Investigate Tax-Exempt Organizations. (Washington, DC) – Judicial Watch announced today that it has obtained documents from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that confirm that the IRS used donor lists to tax-exempt organizations to target those donors for audits. The documents also show IRS officials specifically highlighted how the U.S. Chamber of Commerce may come under “high scrutiny” from the IRS. The IRS produced the records in a Freedom of Information lawsuit seeking documents about selection of individuals for audit-based application information on donor lists submitted by Tea Party and other 501(c)(4) tax-exempt organizations (Judicial Watch v. Internal Revenue Service (No. 1:15-cv-00220)).

7am – B        Katy Perry has (seemingly) entered the Taylor Swift-Nicki Minaj argument. (CNN) — Katy Perry descended upon the Taylor Swift-Nicki Minaj Twitter exchange with a scalding-hot message of her own. On Wednesday (July 22), the day after Swift and Minaj traded comments on Twitter regarding the MTV Video Music Awards, Perry posted to Twitter, “Finding it ironic to parade the pit women against other women argument about as one unmeasurably capitalizes on the take down of a woman…” For those not reading between the lines: Swift messaged Minaj on Twitter after taking offense at the rapper’s comments about her exclusion from the VMAs video of the year nominees. “I’ve done nothing but love & support you. It’s unlike you to pit women against each other. Maybe one of the men took your slot..” Swift posted. However, Swift’s most recent No. 1 hit is “Bad Blood,” a song she has admitted last year is about feuding with another pop star female that is widely presumed to be Katy Perry. The “pit women against each other” phrase Swift directs toward Minaj is paraphrased by Perry in her own seemingly shade-strewn tweet. In two words? Oh. Snap.

#TeamTaylor! Piers Morgan BLASTS Nicki Minaj. (USA Today) — Who knew that the VMA scuffle heard ’round the world could balloon to such insane levels that Piers Morgan would feel the need to add his (irrelevant) voice to the fray? Ugh. In a column (?) for The Daily Mail, Morgan rails against Nicki Minaj and defends Taylor Swift by taking the conversation all over the place and basically forcing us to utter, “Whet?” in sheer confusion. To spare you the pain of reading his ranting missive in its awful, rambling entirety, we’ve been kind enough to pull out the most insane, non sequitur-filled bits from this trainwreck of an “article” that made us claw our eyes out scratch our heads to the point of bleeding.

7am – C        74 percent of high school students failed Algebra 1 final in a Md. District. (Washington Post) — As Maryland’s largest school district rethinks its long practice of giving final exams, new data show that steep exam failure rates persist in math, with three out of four high school students flunking the June test in Algebra 1. Montgomery County school officials say the results reflect a long-standing problem with math exam performance but show an improvement in Algebra 1 from last year, when outcomes were so poor that the district added 15 percentage points to all semester exam grades in that course. Extra points were not added this year, said Erick Lang, Montgomery’s associate superintendent for curriculum and instructional programs. He said teachers had professional development and a second year’s experience with a more rigorous Algebra 1 curriculum based on the Common Core State Standards. He added that individual schools also took on improvement efforts. In all, 74 percent of high school students in Montgomery failed June’s Algebra 1 semester-end final, as did 14 percent of middle school students, according to the data. Last year, 82 percent of high school students and 23 percent of middle school students failed the exams before the school system added extra points.

7am – D         Obama Admin. Updates Eligibility Requirements To Omit Portions Of Citizenship Oath. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is highlighting clarified guidance for those immigrants wishing to omit portions of the citizenship oath. USCIS explained Tuesday that while reciting the Oath of Allegiance is part of the naturalization process, immigrant candidates for citizenship may omit portions of the oath if they have certain religious or conscientious objections.

7am – E         Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! Recap: Craziest Moments

8am – A/B/C             Facebook rant on parenting, respecting veterans goes viral. “The fountain at the WW II Memorial is not the slip and slide at Busch Gardens.” Curt Autry, an anchor and reporter at NBC12 in Richmond, visited the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C., recently and — to put it lightly — was NOT happy with what he saw. The journalist took a photo of what appears to be multiple adults and children in the fountain — steps away from a sign that says, “Honor Your Veterans. No Wading. Coins Damage Fountain.” Autry was clearly upset at what he saw and took to Facebook to voice his displeasure. The post has been shared more than 40,000 times in just a few days.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – BRET BAIER – Anchor, Special Report, Fox News Channel, weekdays at 6 pm

• White House acknowledges ‘side’ deals between Iran, IAEA
• Poll shows Clinton trailing Republicans in every swing state tested
• Trump vs Graham: In video, Lindsey Graham demolishes his cellphone.