CNN's Karin Caifa, Joe diGenova, Montgomery Councilmember Nancy Floreen and advertising expert Tim Burt joined WMAL on Monday morning.
INTERVIEW – Montgomery County Councilmember NANCY FLOREEN – Montgomery County Councilmember at large and chair of the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee
INTERVIEW: JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia
INTERVIEW – TIM BURT – Advertising guru – recapped the Super Bowl ads. SuperBowl49Commercials.com
Mornings on the Mall
Monday, February 2, 2015
Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor
5am – A/B/C Super Bowl Recap:
- Malcolm Butler's goal-line interception gives Pats Super Bowl XLIX title. (ESPN) — GLENDALE, Ariz. — Ten years removed from his last Super Bowl win, Tom Brady wasn't letting this one slip away. Sure, the brilliant Brady needed a huge play by an undrafted rookie to preserve New England's 28-24 Super Bowl victory over Seattle on Sunday night. But Brady's imprint was all over the Patriots' sensational fourth-quarter rally for their fourth NFL championship of the Brady-Bill Belichick era. The Patriots (15-4) had to survive a last-ditch drive by the Seahawks (14-5), who got to the 1, helped by a spectacular juggling catch by Jermaine Kearse. Then Malcolm Butler stepped in front of Ricardo Lockette to pick off Russell Wilson's pass and complete one of the wildest Super Bowl finishes. Brady leaped for joy on the Patriots sideline after Butler's first career interception. "It wasn't the way we drew it up," said Brady, who won his third Super Bowl MVP award. "It was a lot of mental toughness. Our team has had it all year. We never doubted each other, so that's what it took."
- Lost dog finds way to top of Super Bowl Ad Meter. (USA Today) — The Budweiser puppy has done what the Seattle Seahawks could not — it won back-to-back Super Bowls. If you're keeping score, not only is that two in a row for the puppy, but three in a row for Anheuser-Busch and the 13th time in the past 15 years that Anheuser-Busch has won USA TODAY's Ad Meter ranking of all the ads by a consumer panel. For the 27th consecutive year, USA TODAY'S Ad Meter's consumer panel of 6,703 voters rated the Super Bowl ads — 61 commercials that cost advertisers up to a record $4.5 million per 30-seconds of airtime.
- Super Bowl commercials turn unusually somber in 2015. (Fox News) — NEW YORK – Forget slapstick and sex in Super Bowl ads: This year, serious was the name of the game. Nationwide ran an ad on preventable childhood death. Carnival struck a somber note with a voiceover by John F. Kennedy speaking lyrically about the sea. And a public service announcement by coalition No More depicted a chilling 911 call from a battered woman to demonstrate the terror of domestic abuse. Other advertisers had positive, albeit equally serious themes: McDonald's said it would let some customers pay with acts of kindness, Coca-Cola showed online negativity and bullying turning positive and Procter & Gamble's ad for its Always feminine products brand tried to redefine what it means to do things like a girl.
- Katy Perry's Outrageous Super Bowl Halftime Show Includes Missy Elliott Throwback, Lenny Kravitz. (Huffington Post) — Katy Perry headlined the Pepsi Super Bowl Halftime Show on Sunday, playing "Roar," "Teenage Dream" and "Firework," among other tracks, with help from Lenny Kravitz and Missy Elliott. Perry began with "Roar," the hit single off her latest album, "Prism." She wore the clothing equivalent of a flame while riding atop a massive jungle cat. Her next song was "Dark Horse," which she performed on a stage that looked like a chess board. Then Kravitz showed up to help Perry with "I Kissed A Girl." At last week's Screen Actors Guild Awards, Kravitz teased an unexpected song choice. "We've been texting back and forth and working it out," he said about his collaboration with Perry. "Teenage Dream" and "California Gurls" soon followed. Perry's stage was beach themed! Missy Elliott's "surprise" performance was up next. She performed three songs, including "Get Ur Freak On" and "Work It." Perry was pumped.
5am – D 2016 News:
- Mitt Romney Bows Out of 2016 Race. Weeks after dipping his toe back in, the 2012 nominee says he’ll forgo another shot at the presidency. (US News) — Mitt Romney, the 2012 Republican nominee, all but closed the door on another presidential run Friday after weeks of moves telegraphing he was poised to wage a third consecutive bid. “After putting considerable thought into making another run for president, I’ve decided it is best to give other leaders in the Party the opportunity to become our next nominee,” Romney told supporters.
- Scott Walker surging in new Iowa poll. (Washington Examiner) — Don’t look now, but Gov. Scott Walker is becoming a presidential favorite. While the Wisconsin Republican seems to be surging in a new poll of Iowans, he has close competition in other GOP possibles in the latest Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll. Walker is leading the Republican race with 15 percent, up from just four percent in the same poll done in October. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul stands at 14 percent, followed by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee at 10 percent. The poll also found that Bush’s appeal is slipping; 46 percent of Republicans viewed him favorably, compared to 43 percent who said unfavorably.
- Huckabee compares being gay to drinking, swearing. Washington (CNN) -Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee says expecting Christians to accept same-sex marriage is "like asking someone who's Jewish to start serving bacon-wrapped shrimp in their deli." He also called homosexuality part of a lifestyle, like drinking and swearing. The former Arkansas governor, winner of the 2008 Iowa caucuses and likely 2016 contender's comments came during an appearance Sunday on CNN's "State of the Union," as he defended an excerpt from his new book in which he says he has friends and associates who are gay. "People can be my friends who have lifestyles that are not necessarily my lifestyle. I don't shut people out of my circle or out of my life because they have a different point of view," Huckabee told CNN's Dana Bash, while deflecting a question about whether he believes being gay is a choice. "I don't drink alcohol, but gosh — a lot of my friends, maybe most of them, do. You know, I don't use profanity, but believe me, I've got a lot of friends who do. Some people really like classical music and ballet and opera — it's not my cup of tea," Huckabee said.
5am – E Box office report: ’American Sniper’ spends third weekend on top during Super Bowl weekend: The Clint Eastwood-directed war flick was number one at the box office for the third weekend in a row with a $31.9 million yield. The family-friendly Paddington, now in its third week, proved its staying power by landing in the number two spot with $8.5 million. Paddington is one of few PG-rated options in theaters now, and the only one that has glowing reviews—something that has definitely worked in its favor. Project Almanac, which opened this weekend, finished right next to Paddington with $8.5 million. As expected, the sci-fi flick brought in a mostly young audience—63% of this weekend’s Project Almanac viewers were under 25—but didn’t benefit from teen viewers as much as forecasts predicted: The film still has a bit to go before it breaks even with its $12 million budget. In fourth place is Black or White, the Kevin Costner and Octavia Spencer drama that made $6.5 million—and that just barely beat The Boy Next Door, which made $6.1 million in its second weekend. Both films have been plagued by negative reviews, but The Boy Next Door has the advantage of being an erotic thriller starring Jennifer Lopez. It is not a film people were ever going to see because of critical acclaim.
Texas sets aside Chris Kyle Day in honor of American sniper. (CNN) – Texas is setting aside Monday to honor Chris Kyle, the Navy SEAL marksman depicted in the film "American Sniper." Kyle became a legend in military circles due to his 160 confirmed kills and developed a deadly reputation in Iraq, where he served several times. He's considered one of the most lethal snipers in U.S. history. "I have declared February 2 to be Chris Kyle Day in Texas," Gov. Greg Abbott tweeted. "We honor our military heroes." During his speech at a Texas veterans event Friday, the governor described Kyle as "a man who defended his brothers and sisters in arms on and off the battlefield." A Marine veteran is alleged to have killed Kyle at a Texas gun range in 2013.
6am – A INTERVIEW — KARIN CAIFA – CNN Correspondent in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania
- PREVIEW Punxsutawney Phil making his annual weather forecast from Gobblers Knob. It's Groundhog Day Monday and Karen will be in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to watch a furry, famous rodent make a national weather forecast…early spring or more winter? It's all up to Punxsutawney Phil.
- Based on an analysis of weather data over the past 27 years, "there is no predictive skill for the groundhog," according to the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C. The center found that since 1988, the groundhog has been right 12 times and wrong 15 times in matching his prediction with the national average temperature for the remainder of February.
- Groundhogs Aren't Looking for Their Shadow—They're Scoping Out the Opposite Sex. Many male groundhogs do come out of their burrow on Groundhog Day, but not to see their shadow, said Stam Zervanos, emeritus professor of biology at Penn State Berks, in Reading. “At this time of year, males emerge from their burrows to start searching for the females,” he explained. “The females come out probably seven days later and stay just outside of their burrow or maybe just inside their burrow.” After the males determine where the females are, both sexes “go back to their winter burrows and spend a little more time in hibernation.
6am – B Obama Wrongly Claims George Washington Lived in the White House. (Daily Caller) — During Savannah Guthrie’s hard-hitting exclusive NBC interview with President Obama, the president made this claim: “We make beer. First president since George Washington to make some booze in the White House.”
Obama touches on 'deflategate,' politics and beer in Super Bowl Sunday interview. (The Hill) — In a brief live interview shortly before the Super Bowl, NBC News’s Savannah Guthrie asked if Obama had an opinion on the scandl, centered around underinflated balls used in the Patriots’ AFC Championship victory at home over the Indianapolis Colts. The president responded that he didn’t realize both teams were responsible for providing the footballs. “I’m assuming one of the things the NFL’s going to be doing – just to avoid any of these controversies is — that the officials are in charge of the footballs from start to finish,” he said. “But if it happened, do you think it’s cheating?” Guthrie pressed. “I think that if you break the rules, you break the rules,” Obama said in the five-minute interview from the White House kitchen during which the president revealed that the first household brews its own beer made from the honey grown in first lady Michelle Obama’s garden. The president, dressed in a collared shirt and slacks, joked “we make beer, the first president since George Washington to make some booze in the White House.”
6am – C Isiah Leggett withdraws proposal for independent Montgomery transit authority. (Washington Post) — After a week of questions and withering criticism, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett withdrew his proposal Saturday for a new independent agency to finance and operate a planned network of bus-only traffic lanes. The County Council had been expected to vote Monday on whether to support state legislation, introduced on Leggett’s behalf by the Montgomery delegation, letting the county create the agency. The agency would be funded by a new transit tax that would not be counted against the charter cap limiting the amount of revenue the county can collect. It would fund construction with bonds backed by the tax revenue. Leggett (D) said he asked County Council President George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) to remove the bill from Monday’s agenda but hasn’t decided whether the amend it or set it aside entirely. He said he wanted to confer with council members and state lawmakers first. “We’re kicking around some ideas,” he said. The plan got a wary reception last Monday from council members, concerned about ceding control and accountability for a major public works project.
6am – D Obama tells parents to get their kids vaccinated. (AP) — WASHINGTON: In the midst of a measles outbreak, President Barack Obama is telling parents to get their kids vaccinated. Obama says those who don't get their shots can pose a risk to infants and other people who can't get vaccinated. The president spoke in an interview with NBC Sunday. The interview is airing Monday on The Today Show but the network released excerpts in advance. More than 100 cases of the measles have been reported in the U.S. since last month. Many cases have been traced directly or indirectly to Disneyland in Southern California. Obama says measles outbreaks are preventable. He says he understands that some families are concerned about vaccinations, but the science on them is "pretty indisputable." Obama says a major success of civilization is the ability to prevent diseases that have been devastating in the past.
6am – E Super Bowl Recap
7am – A INTERVIEW: JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia
- Fairfax killing of John Geer and coverup by police: Officers say man had hands up when shot by Fairfax police. (Washington Post) — FAIRFAX, Va. — Newly released investigative records show a man who was fatally shot by a Fairfax County police officer in the doorway of his home in 2013 had his hands up and was unarmed at the time. Fairfax County released more than 11,000 pages of documents on the shooting Friday night under court order 17 months after the shooting. The records reveal John Greer told police he didn’t want to die that day after a domestic dispute at his Springfield home. “I don’t want anybody to get shot,” Greer told police during the standoff. “And I don’t wanna get shot, ‘cause I don’t want to die today.” According to the records, one officer was talking to Greer, trying to ease him through the standoff when Officer Adam Torres shot and killed Greer from 17 feet away. Torres told investigators he saw Greer move his hands to his waist and thought he might be reaching for a weapon. Three other officers and a lieutenant contradicted that account. The other officers agreed Greer was unarmed, had his hands above his shoulders and did not move them to his waist.
- Common Core fight in MD:
- In Maryland, a mom of a 9-year-old special needs student is suing her Frederick County school district to assert her parental prerogative. Cindy Rose writes her school district, saying “the law requires our children be tested, but could not point to a specific law or regulation” forcing her child to take Common Core-tied tests. Rose’s pre-trial conference is scheduled for Feb. 4.
- Maryland Bill Would Effectively Nullify Common Core in the State.
- Does Maryland’s new governor want to hit ‘pause’ button on Common Core? Hogan spokesperson told Washington Post: “Governor Hogan believes that we need to hit the ‘pause’ button on Common Core and give control back to teachers and parents.”
- VA bill on breastfeeding: The Old Dominion is one of three states that heavily restricts where women may breast-feed, and a pair of bills that are quickly gaining support in the General Assembly aimed to change that. A bill sponsored by state Sen. Jennifer Wexton (D-33) and another in the House of Delegates sponsored by Del. David Albo (R-42) would allow women to nurse children in any place they are legally allowed to be. Current law allows breast-feeding only on property that is owned, leased or controlled by the commonwealth.
- D.C. rabbi accused in videotaping scandal refuses to leave synagogue-owned home. (Washington Post) — A Georgetown rabbi accused of secretly videotaping women in a ritual bath is refusing to vacate the house owned by his former synagogue, and a religious court is being convened to deal with the dispute, the synagogue said Thursday. News of the dispute was sent to Kesher Israel synagogue members via an e-mail from their president, Elanit Jakabovics. In the e-mail, she lays out a bit of the legal stalemate between Rabbi Barry Freundel, once a leading figure in the national Orthodox community, and Kesher, a small synagogue dotted with prominent Washingtonians. The synagogue had set a Jan. 1 deadline for Freundel to move out of the Georgetown house where he and his family have lived since the late 1980s, but he did not, the e-mail said. “We were informed in late December that Rabbi Freundel did not have plans to leave the house,” Jakabovics wrote.
7am – B 'SNL' Unveils 18 Former Stars and Popular Guests Returning for 40th Anniversary. Jerry Seinfeld, Betty White, Jim Carrey, Robert De Niro and others will join the previously announced Eddie Murphy on coming special. We knew Eddie Murphy was making his long-awaited return to “Saturday Night Live’s” famed Studio 8H, but now there are 35 other big names joining the once-sketch comedy show star at the NBC staple’s coming 40th anniversary. Most of the revealed crop are former “SNL”cast members as well — such as Chevy Chase, Bill Murray, Jimmy Fallon, Adam Sandler, Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Will Ferrell, Garrett Morris, Chris Rock and more — though some are merely famous friends of the show. That latter category includes Justin Timberlake, Derek Jeter, Peyton Manning, Alec Baldwin, Christopher Walken, Emma Stone, Jerry Seinfeld, Tom Hanks and Melissa McCarthy, among others.
7am – C Groundhog Day 2015: Punxsutawney Phil sees shadow, predicts six more weeks of winter. (Washington Post) — Punxsutawney Phil, the world’s most beloved and furry seasonal prognosticator, has seen his shadow on Monday morning (despite overcast skies), portending six more weeks of winter. The groundhog’s predication came around 7:25 a.m. in Punxsutawney, Pa., with overcast skies and scattered snow and rain showers moving through the region from the latest winter storm — conditions that are likely to continue if the plucky marmot gets his way.
7am – D INTERVIEW – Montgomery County Councilmember NANCY FLOREEN – Montgomery County Councilmember at large and chair of the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee
- Isiah Leggett withdraws proposal for independent Montgomery transit authority. After a week of questions and withering criticism, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett withdrew his proposal Saturday for a new independent agency to finance and operate a planned network of bus-only traffic lanes. The County Council had been expected to vote Monday on whether to support state legislation, introduced on Leggett’s behalf by the Montgomery delegation, letting the county create the agency. The agency would be funded by a new transit tax that would not be counted against the charter cap limiting the amount of revenue the county can collect. It would fund construction with bonds backed by the tax revenue. Leggett (D) said he asked County Council President George L. Leventhal (D-At Large) to remove the bill from Monday’s agenda but hasn’t decided whether the amend it or set it aside entirely. He said he wanted to confer with council members and state lawmakers first. “We’re kicking around some ideas,” he said.
- Montgomery County School Board Expressed Concerns Over Communication With Superintendent. (NBC Washington) — Members of the Montgomery County School Board recently expressed concern about their ability to "communicate" with schools Superintendent Joshua Starr, according to school district memos obtained by the News-4 I-Team. Starr’s future with the district is in doubt, with only 48 hours until a deadline for him to notify the board about his future. Though board members have declined multiple requests to comment on whether they intend to keep Starr in his position, the I-Team has learned of some concerns about Starr held by board members from a memo issued by board leaders during the 2013-2014 school year.
- Leggett likely to propose tax increase to offset state cuts, sluggish revenue. Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett says residents can expect him to propose a significant property tax increase this year or next to make up for state funding cuts and revenue diminished by a still-sluggish recovery from the recession. Leggett (D) said in an interview that the county has done well to hold the line on property taxes since 2008, when he last proposed an increase beyond the rate of inflation. He said he will probably include a larger tax increase as part of the proposed fiscal 2016 budget he is scheduled to send to the County Council in March or in his 2017 spending plan. “Without help from the state and without the economy roaring back, at some point you have to face reality,” he said.
7am – E Obama: We Should Stop "Overinflating" Importance Of Terror Groups As If "They Are An Existential Threat" To U.S. (RCP) — FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN: Others say that you downplay the importance of terrorism. You want to downgrade it as a threat to the United States. PRESIDENT OBAMA: Why — look, I have to talk to the families of those who are killed by terrorists. I have to talk to the families of soldiers of ours who fought to make sure al Qaeda and the Fatah couldn't carry out attacks against us again. So I think I'm pretty mindful of the terrible costs of terrorism around the world. What I do insist on is that we maintain a proper perspective and that we do not provide a victory to these terrorist networks by overinflating their importance and suggesting in some fashion that they are an existential threat to the United States or the world order. You know, the truth of the matter is that they can do harm. But we have the capacity to control how we respond in ways that do not undercut what's the — you know, what's essence of who we are.
Obama Won’t Call Terror Fight a War on Radical Islam. (Breitbart) – On CNN’s “Fareed Zakaria GPS,” President Barack Obama “rejected the notion” that the war on terrorism is any kind of “religious war” against radical Islam. Obama said, “I think that the way to understand this is, there is an element growing out of Muslim communities, in certain parts of the world, that have perverted the religion, have embraced an annihilistic, violent, almost medieval interpretation of Islam. And they’re doing damage in a lot of countries around the world. But it is absolutely true that I reject a notion that somehow that creates a religious war, because the overwhelming majority of Muslims reject that interpretation of Islam. They don’t even recognize it as being Islam. And I think that for us to be successful in fighting this scourge is very important for us to align ourselves with the 99.9% of Muslims who are looking for the same thing we’re looking for — order, peace, prosperity, and so I don’t quibble with labels. I think we all recognize that this is a particular problem that has roots in Muslim communities, but I think we do ourselves a disservice in this fight if we are not taking into account the fact that the overwhelming majority of Muslims reject this ideology.”
8am – A INTERVIEW – TIM BURT – Advertising guru – recapped the Super Bowl ads. SuperBowl49Commercials.com
8am – B/C Taking your calls on the Super Bowl game!
8am – D Sen. Wexton's Bill Would Ease Breast-feeding Restrictions. (Leesburg Today) — While nursing her 7-week-old son at a gym in Ashburn, Jill DeLorenzo was asked to please move her breast-feeding to the women’s restroom. She refused and continued to nurse, uncovered. Later, the manager called the business' attorney, and DeLorenzo was shocked to hear the gym was in the legal right. “I had no idea Virginia’s breast-feeding laws were so terrible,” said DeLorenzo, who has two young sons whom she nurses. “We are so behind the times.” The Old Dominion is one of three states that heavily restricts where women may breast-feed, and a pair of bills that are quickly gaining support in the General Assembly aimed to change that. A bill sponsored by state Sen. Jennifer Wexton (D-33) and another in the House of Delegates sponsored by Del. David Albo (R-42) would allow women to nurse children in any place they are legally allowed to be. Current law allows breast-feeding only on property that is owned, leased or controlled by the commonwealth. “Virginia is drastically behind on this,” Wexton said. “The way that our laws nationally are evolving in this is definitely trending toward understanding what women have to go through to breast-feed, and also recognizing the important public health concerns and the health benefits of doing so.”
TOMORROW: Larry Kudlow
