Joe diGenova, AAA MidAtlantic’s John Townsend and Nathan Sales joined WMAL on Monday!
CLICK HERE to listen to Monday’s show!
Mornings on the Mall
Monday, August 17, 2015
Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor
Executive Producer: Heather Smith
5am – A/B/C A geneticist says any new parent should ‘roll their child on floor of the New York subway’ — here’s why. (Business Insider) — A team of geneticists made headlines a few months ago after its mission to document all the bacteria on the New York City subway turned up nearly 600 different species of microbes crawling around on all those greasy rails. According to an idea called the hygiene hypothesis, exposure to germs and certain infections — especially at a young age — actually helps prime the immune system so it can defeat these microbes more easily in the future. Some research has suggested that the idea could partially explain why children who grow up around animals and in rural areas appear to develop conditions like asthma less often than children who don’t. More studies, however, are necessary. And even for people other than young children, the hygiene hypothesis makes intuitive sense: After all, literally every surface in the world is covered in bacteria. The idea that things can be “perfectly clean” is a myth — humans need bacteria to live. “We tend to think of our homes and personal environments as these pristine places, and public ones as dirty and infested with bacteria,” Chris Mason, a Weill Cornell Medical College geneticist and the author of the subway-pathogen study, recently said at a public event in New York. “But you should really think of yourself as a rabbit who gets to hop between two forests.” That’s why Mason isn’t afraid to let his own young daughter ride the subway or play in the dirt.”I would advise any new parent to roll their child on the floor of the New York subway,” said Mason.
5am – D Hillary’s Emails Update
5am – E Sports News:
- RG3 Complains About Ruthlessness In Football.
- Eagles fans give Tim Tebow standing ovation; QB dives for late TD.
6am – A/B/C Donald Trump Releases Immigration Plan, Including Ending Birthright Citizenship. (Daily Caller) — Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump Sunday released his campaign’s immigration plan, which includes ending birthright citizenship for the children of illegal immigrants. “This remains the biggest magnet for illegal immigration,” Trump says in the plan posted on his website. “We are the only country in the world whose immigration system puts the needs of other nations ahead of our own,” Trump also said. “That must change.”
6am – D/E Steelers linebacker vows to return kids’ ‘participation trophies’ (CNBC) — Mean disciplinarian, or candidate for father of the year? Depending on the eye of the beholder, Steelers linebacker James Harrison could be considered either or both. On Saturday, the hard hitting veteran defender vowed to send back awards given to his six and eight year old sons for their mere “participation” in school athletics. Harrison—known for his aggressive and fearsome style on the field that has drawn fines and a suspension—wasn’t displeased with his two young sons, but appeared upset that they did not win the awards based on competition or distinction. Their father stated as much in a sternly worded Instagram post that quickly went viral on Sunday. “I came home to find out that my boys received two trophies for nothing, participation trophies!” the linebacker wrote. While I am very proud of my boys for everything they do and will encourage them til [sic] the day I die, these trophies will be given back until they EARN a real trophy,” Harrison exclaimed. On his social media accounts, Harrison often shares videos and photos of his strenuous workouts. At 37, the defender is an elder statesman of Pittsburgh’s linebacker corps, but frequently displays feats of strength more common for an athlete half his age. “I’m sorry I’m not sorry for believing that everything in life should be earned and I’m not about to raise two boys to be men by making them believe that they are entitled to something just because they tried their best,” he said, adding that “sometimes, your best is not enough, and that should drive you to want to do better.” Harrison closed out the post with the hashtag “Harrison family values.”
7am – A INTERVIEW — JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia
- Trump on Clinton emails: ‘It’s a criminal problem’
- Hillary makes an email server joke in Iowa
7am – B Apollo Astronaut Says UFOs Came to Prevent Nuclear War. (Fox News) — Apollo 14 astronaut claims peace-loving aliens prevented ‘nuclear war’ on Earth. From “The Day the Earth Stood Still” to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” to “E.T.,” pop culture is filled with stories about friendly, curious extraterrestrials visiting Earth to learn more about mankind. For Apollo 14 veteran Edgar Mitchell that plotline is less fiction than it is reality. The sixth man to walk the surface of the moon told Mirror online that he believes peace-keeping aliens visited our planet to prevent a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. The idea sounds far-fetched, but Mitchell claims that military insiders viewed strange flying crafts cruising over U.S. missile bases and the White Sands facility in New Mexico, the site of the first-ever nuclear bomb detonation in 1945. “They wanted to know about our military capabilities,” he said. “My own experience talking to people has made it clear the ETs had been attempting to keep us from going to war and help create peace on Earth.” Mitchell, who grew up near the famous Roswell site in New Mexico, said that he has heard from various Air Force officers who claim UFOs were a regular site during the Cold War. “They told me UFOs were frequently seen overhead and often disabled their missiles,” he added. “Other officers from bases on the Pacific coast told me their (test) missiles were frequently shot down by alien spacecraft.”
7am – C China News:
- Angry protesters demand answers after China blast. Protests have erupted in the Chinese city of Tianjin, as family members of the missing and those made homeless demanded answers from the government following last week’s deadly explosions at an industrial site. An estimated 400 people gathered for “spontaneous protests” in the port city on Monday, a rare occurrence in the communist state. The death toll from the explosions has now risen to 114, with dozens still missing. Al Jazeera’s Adrian Brown, reporting from Tianjin, said that dozens of soldiers looked on as the protesters gathered, making no attempt to stop them, nor the local journalists covering the event. “China’s government is normally uneasy about even small, spontaneous protests. It’s very rare for authorities to allow this to happen,” he said.
- Trump in NH: “You hear that sucking sound? That means jobs, money (all going to China.)”
- U.S. warns China over covert agents in America pressuring expatriates to return home. (NY Times) — WASHINGTON — The Obama administration has delivered a warning to Beijing about the presence of Chinese government agents operating secretly in the United States to pressure prominent expatriates — some wanted in China on charges of corruption — to return home immediately, according to American officials. The American officials said that Chinese law enforcement agents covertly in this country are part of Beijing’s global campaign to hunt down and repatriate Chinese fugitives and, in some cases, recover allegedly ill-gotten gains. The Chinese government has officially named the effort Operation Fox Hunt.
7am – D INTERVIEW – JOHN TOWNSEND – AAA Mid-Atlantic spokesman
- TOPIC: What is with VDOT’s push to limit road space with bike lanes via “road diets”? Seems anti-car under the guise of “safety”
- Fairfax is getting 22 new bike lanes in 2015
- Tysons will get its first bike lanes this summer
7am – E FAA Software Upgrade Fails, Triggering Travel Nightmare. (WSJ) — Several major airlines reported Sunday that they had rebooked most or all of their passengers on new flights. U.S. airlines and airports along the East Coast returned to normal, albeit busy, operations on Sunday, a day after problems at a Federal Aviation Administration air-traffic-control center in Virginia led to cancellations of 476 flights. The FAA said late Sunday that its difficulties on the previous day likely were linked to a recent software upgrade at its high-altitude radar facility in Leesburg, Va. The FAA said in a statement that it has disabled the features added in that upgrade as it investigates further, and added that the weekend’s troubles weren’t related to its long-delayed and criticized En Route Automation Modernization system, or ERAM, for tracking flights at high altitudes. The disruption, which the FAA described in an advisory on Saturday as an “automation failure,” led it to restrict flights in the area served by its air-traffic control center in Leesburg, Va., from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
8am – A INTERVIEW – NATHAN SALES – law professor at Syracuse University. He served in the George W. Bush administration at the Justice Department and as deputy assistant secretary of homeland security for policy.
- What are the national security concerns regarding Clinton’s email now that we know she had high level clearance emails on her server?
- NATIONAL REVIEW: “Criminal or Not, Hillary Clinton’s E-mails Are a National-Security Risk” by Nathan Sales
8am – B John Harbaugh talks immigration, says Americans should ‘build the wall’ (Baltimore Sun) — What began as an impassioned stance from Ravens coach John Harbaugh about the officiating in their preseason opener turned into Harbaugh railing against government inaction and saying the United States should tighten up its borders in a speech he equated to that of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. “I’m going Trump here,” Harbaugh told reporters after the Ravens’ practice Saturday. “Build the wall. If you don’t have a border, you don’t have a country. You’re not a country without a border, right? “At the same time, you’ve got 12-15 million hard-working people here. Give them a shot. Give them a chance to become a citizen so they’re paying taxes. All of us know that it’s not that complicated, but this side doesn’t want to solve it, neither does [the other] side. Neither one of them want to solve the problem. Solve the problem.”
8am – C It’s official: ‘Star Wars’ theme land coming to Disneyland. ‘Star Wars’ themed land at planned at Disney parks. ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Disney theme parks have their sights on a galaxy far, far away. “Star Wars” is getting its own themed lands at Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and Disneyland in Anaheim, California, Disney CEO Bob Iger announced at the D23 Fan Expo on Saturday. “We are creating a jaw-dropping new world,” Iger said. The 14-acre attractions represent the largest single themed land expansion ever. Iger also said that the Star Wars land will be “every bit as thrilling as the films” and will include attractions and entertainment in an area populated by aliens and droids. There will also be a Cantina and the chance to take control of the Millennium Falcon — one of the signature attractions. One adventure also promises to put guests “in the middle of a climactic battle between the First Order and the Resistance.” Since 1987, Disney parks have only had the Star Tours ride as their “Star Wars” themed attraction, and even that will be getting a facelift to reflect the new characters and worlds from December’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” The ride was previously updated in 2011.
8am – D I’m Never Doing This Again. (Derek Hunter/Townhall.com) — There is no human being who, looking back on their life, hasn’t had the thought, “If I only knew then what I know now…” It’s human nature. No matter how long ago “then” was, hindsight is always 20/20. This isn’t about Hillary Clinton and her secret, unsecured email server. She didn’t make a bad choice and end up skirting the law; she made a conscious decision and is now getting caught. That’s karma, not virgin ignorance.In less than a month, Labor Day weekend, your daughters, sisters, girlfriends, etc., will be safe because I will be married. That day cannot come soon enough! That I have met someone who not only could put up with me and my smart-aleck sense of humor, but agree to spend the rest of their life with me should stand as a testament to the fact that there is someone out there for everyone. Forget Obama; I’m the bringer of hope. So what I say next has to be seen through that prism. It’s not a complaint, per se; it’s a warning. If you are already married, this may serve as a reminder of some memories you’d rather forget. If you aren’t yet married, consider this the warning no one thought to give me. Elope. I am no fan of Las Vegas, but it’s only a couple of hours away from wherever you are right now. Fly there, invite family and some friends, but make it clear they are under no obligation to come, and elope. This isn’t a knock against the institution of marriage. I wouldn’t be entering into it if I didn’t believe in it. This is a knock against the hurdles, the hassles and the time and money you have to spend to finally get there.
8am – E Trump News:
- Trump joining long list of celebrities with NYC jury duty. NEW YORK (AP) — New York has a star-studded jury pool and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is due to join a long list of celebrities who have made the trip to lower Manhattan to sit with hundreds of others who could be picked to decide trials. That list has included directors Woody Allen and Spike Lee, actors Matthew Broderick, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kathleen Turner, comedians Jon Stewart and Conan O’Brien, and TV news anchors Tom Brokaw and Barbara Walters. Trump said last week he’s looking forward to reporting for duty on Monday.
- Zeke Miller @ZekeJMiller Aug 15: Trump helicopter is circling progressively lower above Hillary at the pork producers tent
- Hillary Clinton Chomps on Pork Chops as Donald Trump Helicopter Circles Above. Donald Trump may be a man who needs no introduction, but he certainly likes to make an entrance. The billionaire businessman and Republican presidential candidate arrived today at the Des Moines fairgrounds for the Iowa State Fair by helicopter. And, in keeping with the spirit of the fair, he offered up his high-class means of transport as a ride for children fairgoers. Campaign watchers may have hoped for a meeting between Trump, the current Republican frontrunner according to polls, and Hillary Clinton, the current leader on the Democratic side, as both visited the fairgrounds, but it was not to be.
TOMORROW: Larry Kudlow
