Mornings on the Mall 08.03.15

Joe diGenova, Eleanor Clift and DC Police Union’s Delroy Burton joined WMAL on Monday morning.

CLICK HERE to listen to Monday’s show!

INTERVIEW – ELEANOR CLIFT – covers politics for The Daily Beast and a regular panelist on the McLaughlin Group.

INTERVIEW – DELROY BURTON – DC POLICE UNION

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, August 3, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Smith

5am – A/B/C Democrat debates vanish: 6 scheduled, none in works. Party promised ‘unified vision of economic opportunity.’ Is the Democratic National Committee dodging debates between its candidates this year? In May, the DNC announced its plans to hold six primary debates which would be in “the fall of 2015.” Yet as the Republican candidates prepare to square off, there is pointed silence from the Democrats. In a lead story on the Drudge Report Sunday night, her promise has vanished as Democrats dodge a candidate showdown.

5am – D Skipping that vacation is bad for your health. (WTOP) – WASHINGTON — Far too many of us are skipping a summer vacation, and experts warn people who don’t take time off may be putting their health at risk. “Vacation is about relaxation, having a chance to unwind,” said psychologist Gregory Jones, clinical director at the Capital Center for Psychotherapy and Wellness in Washington, D.C. He said that skipping it gives stress an opportunity to grow, which could impact both your body and your mind. At times of stress, the adrenal glands release a surge of hormones including cortisol, which can affect the immune system. “Oftentimes, people who end up not taking vacation days end up having to say sick days instead,” Jones said. Cortisol also can have an impact on the digestive system and has been linked to obesity. Studies have shown high levels of cortisol can lead to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

5am – E Critter News:

• In the shadow of Dulles Airport: The hunt for a threatened bat. (Washington Post) – The work isn’t glamorous and the hours aren’t great, but when Cynthia Hauser gazes into the eyes of a bat, the ticks, the mosquitoes and the ever-present danger of Lyme disease seem to just fade away. Hauser loves bats. She always has — starting from her days as a teenage spelunker in Pennsylvania. And it’s that passion that has brought her and three colleagues to this muddy, overgrown field north of Dulles International Airport on a steamy, sticky July night. These acres of trees, tall grasses and wild blackberry bushes may soon be leveled to make way for a new rail yard to accommodate hundreds of Metro rail cars as part of the multibillion-dollar Silver Line. That is, unless Hauser and her team find that among the many species of bats snoozing in the trees is one particular type: the northern long-eared bat, recently declared “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.
• Empire State Building broadcasts picture of Cecil the Lion above NYC. (Daily Mail) – Cecil the lion and other endangered animals are projected on to Empire State Building in stunning New York light display. Pictures of 160 animals shown in images more than 350 feet tall and 180 feet wide on the landmark’s south side. The Empire State Building broadcast images of endangered animals to New Yorkers on Saturday in a video projection said to be the first-of-its-kind. It is not known exactly how many people saw the display, though large crowds of spectators stopped in Manhattan intersections gazing at the pictures of the building’s south side and taking photos with their smart phones.
• Va. women charged with animal cruelty after police found 37 cats — 10 of them dead — in home. 2 Martinsville women charged with animal cruelty. MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) — Two Martinsville women face animal cruelty charges stemming from the discovery of neglected and dead cats in a house. The Martinsville Bulletin reports that 36-year-old Latricia Michelle Yates has been indicted on 27 misdemeanor and 10 felony cruelty to animal charges.

6am – A/B/C Should Hillary Clinton fear the $15 minimum wage? A movement’s sudden success forces a tough question for Democrats. The Democratic Party is rapidly coalescing around a minimum wage of unprecedented size — $15 per hour across the entire country. On Tuesday, the “Fight for $15” movement gained its biggest adherent yet when House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) announced her support for it. The issue has now turned into a presidential litmus test: Last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced legislation to increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour nationwide. For the “Fight for $15” crowd, now the biggest question is whether Hillary Clinton will pick up the mantle. Politically, endorsing a $15 minimum wage would go a long way toward earning the support of the far left, many of whom are gravitating toward Sanders. But economically? The dizzying success of the “Fight for $15” policy is making even many liberal economists nervous.

CEO Who Raised Minimum Salary To $70k Falls On Hard Times. (Daily Caller) — Just three months ago, Dan Price was a progressive hero. To much fanfare, Price, CEO of Seattle-based Gravity Payments, announced he was raising the minimum salary for employees of his company to $70,000, and taking a $930,000 pay cut himself to help pay for his new minimum wage. Three months later, the experiment does not go well. Price has had to rent out his own house to help cover his bills. In addition, the New York Times reports Gravity lost two of its most valuable employees whose departure was “spurred in part by their view that it was unfair to double the pay of some new hires while the longest-serving staff members got small or no raises.” Most of the company’s profits, $2.2 million last year, were reinvested in the company not to expand or innovate, but to cover the new minimum wage. Price’s brother and Gravity co-founder, Lucas Price, has also filed a lawsuit against the company that it, thanks to the new higher payroll, finds itself having difficulty paying legal fees for.

6am – C DC RISING CRIME:

• DC police facing staffing shortage as violent crime up in the city. WASHINGTON – As of Monday, the current sworn staffing at the Metropolitan Police Department is 3,869. The department is approved for 4,000 positions. The problem is this police shortage comes as violent crime is up across Washington D.C.
• Polygraph testing issue affecting recruitment process at DC police academy. WASHINGTON – D.C. has been dealing with a spike in violent crime in the city along with a police staffing shortage. Now, FOX 5 has learned about a big problem that has stopped recruits from entering the police academy. We spoke with the Mayor Muriel Bowser’s office and the police department and they both said the recruitment process is still underway, but the polygraph exams have been an issue. The company the District used to conduct lie detector exams went out of business back in May. We are told the company, E-merging Technologies Group, gave the District one day notice before shutting down. The police department said that the issue did affect one recruitment class in July. Some of the recruits could not move through because they didn’t get a chance to take the exam.
• Police at odds over reason for DC crime spike. WASHINGTON (WUSA9) — Violent crime is up in the District. Authorities say homicides are on pace to be their highest in eight years and many are blaming out of control synthetic marijuana use. The D.C. Police Union agrees with the mayor and police chief that synthetic marijuana is a problem. But that’s about the only thing they agree on when it comes to that problem. There have been 84 homicides in the District this year. Police say, it’s on pace to reach totals that have not been seen since 2008. They also say violent crimes are following the same trend. Police Chief Cathy Lanier and Mayor Muriel Bowser have recently blamed this violent spike on increased synthetic marijuana use. D.C. police officers and Police Union treasurer Greggory Pemberton thinks otherwise, and asks for the numbers to support the crime connection.
• As crime spikes nationwide, DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier organizes summit with big city chiefs to discuss solutions: Like other big cities across the U.S., the District is experiencing an increase in violent crime, especially murders. And to help understand find ways to combat the problem, D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier says she’s going to meet with other police chiefs from across the country.

6am – D/E Warning or ticket? Trooper asks speeding father’s daughter to decide. LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) — A State Trooper from the Lafayette Post pulled over a father for speeding. Instead of writing him a ticket, he let the man’s daughter decide her father’s fate. Dwayne Ellrich was driving his daughter Ashley to her Special Olympics practice when he got pulled over for speeding. “I was going 85 mph in a 70 zone, way too fast,” said Ellrich, who had a lot on his mind. “My mother had passed away the day before, and of course he had no idea of that.” The trooper didn’t know because Ellrich gave him no excuses. He apologized and told the trooper where he was headed. “I said I’m going to Special Olympics and his face just kind of lit up,” said Ellrich. “And he said, would you mind if I talk to your daughter? And I said, of course not.” Trooper Darrick Scott took his hat off, and placed it on Ashley Ellrich’s head. “I told her the situation, and I told her that she had the option to give a ticket or a warning,” said Scott. Ashley Ellrich said she thought her father should get a ticket. But Trooper Scott let him off with a warning.

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

• PLANNED PARENTHOOD:
  • Senate to vote Monday to defund Planned Parenthood, first step in renewed battle. The Republican-controlled Senate is set to vote Monday to halt federal aid to Planned Parenthood, a fast response to the series of unsettling videos exposing the group’s little-noticed practice of providing fetal tissue to researchers. The measure is not expected to pass because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the other 53 Republican senators will need support from several Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold, with some moderates on both sides still apparently undecided.
  • U.S. judge halts release of secretly recorded videos of abortion providers. (LA Times) – On Friday, a federal judge in San Francisco granted a motion by the National Abortion Federation to issue a restraining order heading off the release of videos from the San Francisco meeting as well as the conference in Baltimore this year. The order also prohibits the anti-abortion activists from disclosing the names or addresses of federation members or dates or locations of future meetings. Releasing that information and the videos would subject federation members to “harassment, intimidation, violence, invasion of privacy, and injury to reputation,” District Judge William H. Orrick III wrote in his decision issuing the order. In a statement Friday, the nonprofit Center for Medical Progress described the National Abortion Federation as “a criminal organization” and said it “will contest any attempt to suppress our First Amendment rights to free speech.” A hearing is scheduled for Monday to determine whether the restraining order will remain in place.
• HILLARY’S EMAILS:
• Classified info on Clinton server, thumb drive violation of law, national security lawyer says. (Fox News) — Classified emails on Hillary Clinton’s personal server, and a back-up copy on a thumb drive held by her lawyer David Kendall, appear to be a violation of the U.S. code governing the unlawful removal and storage of classified information, according to a leading national security lawyer.
• Newly released emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server include 41 messages now marked CLASSIFIED by State Department inspectors. (Daily Mail) — The second installment of emails from Hillary Clinton’s private home-brew server, released Friday by the State Department, includes 41 messages that reviewers determined contained classified material. Clinton claimed four months ago that her server, which she kept in her Chappaqua, New York home and used exclusively throughout her four-year tenure as secretary of state, never housed classified material. That assertion began unraveling in late May, when a single message she sent was retroactively classified ‘secret’ – the second-highest level of classification – by State Department inspectors. Friday’s dump of more than 1,300 messages upped the ante considerably, although the 41 messages appear to all have been classified as ‘confidential, which is one step lower.

7am – B MSNBC cuts three shows to make way for news coverage. MSNBC began clearing the decks for news coverage Thursday, jettisoning three afternoon shows and announcing that Chuck Todd will host an hour-long political show each afternoon. “Change can be hard,” MSNBC President Phil Griffin wrote in an email to the staff. “There’s no doubt it’s been a difficult time, but we have exciting opportunities ahead.” Andrew Lack took over as chairman of NBC News in April and has made it clear that MSNBC would revert to covering breaking news as part of a strategy to bolster the cable channel’s anemic ratings. Three shows — “The Cycle,” “Now with Alex Wagner” and “The Ed Show” – will all appear for the last time on Friday. Wagner will stay with MSNBC for political coverage, but Ed Schultz will leave the network. Also departing will be members of “The Cycle,” Krystal Ball, Abby Huntsman and Toure, Griffin said in his memo. “Beginning in a few weeks, Chuck Todd will bring his unmatched brand of political insight and analysis back to MSNBC with a daily one-hour program,” Griffin said. It will air at 5 p.m. By September MSNBC will be covering breaking news from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., according to the memo. NBC’s former anchor Brian Williams will also be ending his suspension in August and will be joining MSNBC. Williams lost his “Nightly News” chair after it was determined that he had exaggerated stories.

7am – C Metro News:

• Pentagon City station platform evacuated briefly. (Washington Post) — The Pentagon City Metro station platform was evacuated briefly Sunday after reports of smoke coming from the tracks, according to a Metro spokesman. At 2:24 p.m., there was a report of “light smoke” on the track and the station manager immediately cleared the platform, said Metro spokesman Richard Jordan. Arlington fire department officials said the smoke came from inside a tunnel not far from the station, caused by debris in a storm drain along Track 2. Jordan added that while he doesn’t know precisely what the debris was, he said it’s possible for a wrapper or bit of paper against a hot train track to create smoke. The fire department responded but people did not have to leave the station as there was not enough smoke to cause a health risk, Jordan said.
• New escalator to make its debut Monday at Metro’s Bethesda station. WASHINGTON — A new escalator is in service Monday at Metro’s Bethesda station. It’s the first of three planned for the station. According to a news release from Metro, the new escalator has a rise of 106 feet, which makes it the second longest in the Western hemisphere — behind only the Wheaton station’s escalator.

7am – D/E Santorum: RNC Is Wrong On Debate Rules. (Daily Caller) — Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum railed against the Republican National Committee’s debate rules on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday with guest host Jonathan Karl, calling them “arbitrary” and saying national polls are “irrelevant.” The former senator from Pennsylvania also touted his record in the 2012 primaries, only receiving one percent of votes in the national polls yet winning the Iowa caucuses, arguing “national polls mean nothing.” Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum railed against the Republican National Committee’s debate rules on ABC’s “This Week” Sunday with guest host Jonathan Karl, calling them “arbitrary” and saying national polls are “irrelevant.”

8am – A INTERVIEW – ELEANOR CLIFT – covers politics for The Daily Beast and a regular panelist on the McLaughlin Group.

• ELEANOR CLIFT: How to Fix Hillary’s Trust Deficit
• Newly released emails from Hillary Clinton’s private server include 41 messages now marked CLASSIFIED by State Department inspectors.
• Debbie Wasserman Schultz Again Won’t Explain Difference Between Democrats and Socialists

8am – B Planned Parenthood News:

• Rand Paul: Defund Planned Parenthood, fund community health centers instead. (Washington Post) — Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.), a Republican presidential candidate, called on Congress to pull federal funding for Planned Parenthood, saying the money should go to community health centers instead. Paul has introduced a bill to defund Planned Parenthood. The nonprofit has been mired in controversy in recent weeks over videos purporting to expose its allegedly illegal and unethical fetal tissue donation practices. “I think we can have disputes, you know, over abortion. Our country is divided. Some people are pro-choice, some are pro-life,” Paul said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
• Senate to vote Monday to defund Planned Parenthood, first step in renewed battle. The Republican-controlled Senate is set to vote Monday to halt federal aid to Planned Parenthood, a fast response to the series of unsettling videos exposing the group’s little-noticed practice of providing fetal tissue to researchers. The measure is not expected to pass because Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the other 53 Republican senators will need support from several Democrats to reach the 60-vote threshold, with some moderates on both sides still apparently undecided.
• U.S. judge halts release of secretly recorded videos of abortion providers. (LA Times) – On Friday, a federal judge in San Francisco granted a motion by the National Abortion Federation to issue a restraining order heading off the release of videos from the San Francisco meeting as well as the conference in Baltimore this year. The order also prohibits the anti-abortion activists from disclosing the names or addresses of federation members or dates or locations of future meetings. Releasing that information and the videos would subject federation members to “harassment, intimidation, violence, invasion of privacy, and injury to reputation,” District Judge William H. Orrick III wrote in his decision issuing the order. In a statement Friday, the nonprofit Center for Medical Progress described the National Abortion Federation as “a criminal organization” and said it “will contest any attempt to suppress our First Amendment rights to free speech.” A hearing is scheduled for Monday to determine whether the restraining order will remain in place.
• John Boehner Embarrassed: His Whip Team Couldn’t Find Votes to Reelect Him Speaker Last Week. (Breitbart) — House Speaker Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) 35% had been planning to call up on the House floor last week a measure from Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) that would have removed him as Speaker of the House if it succeeded—intending to embarrass Meadows—but abandoned the plan after his entire leadership structure learned that they did not have the votes to re-elect him as Speaker before the August recess.

8am – C “Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation” opened to an estimated $56 million at the U.S. box office over the weekend. This total was the second-best “Mission: Impossible” opening ever, just missing out on the $57.8 million of 2000’s “Mission: Impossible II.” The Paramount film starring Tom Cruise was good enough to nab the third-best U.S. opening of the star’s career, coming in behind “Mission: Impossible II” and 2005’s “War of the Worlds.” Coming in at a distant second was Warner Bros.’s “Vacation” which earned $14.8 million between Friday and Sunday. The comedy starring Ed Helms is the fifth installment of the “Vacation” franchise. Since opening on Wednesday, it has made $21.1 million for Warner Bros. (which, like CNN, is owned by Time Warner (TWX)). Two big films about small characters, Universal’s “Minions” and Marvel’s “Ant-Man,” battled it out for third place. The $12.6 million of “Ant-Man” just edged out the $12.1 million of “Minions.”

8am – D INTERVIEW – DELROY BURTON – DC POLICE UNION

• DC police facing staffing shortage as violent crime up in the city.
• Polygraph testing issue affecting recruitment process at DC police academy.
• Police at odds over reason for DC crime spike.
• As crime spikes nationwide, DC Police Chief Cathy Lanier organizes summit with big city chiefs to discuss solutions.

8am – E 2016 News:

• Dan Snyder Gave Jeb Bush’s PAC $100,000. (Washingtonian) — Political action committees are filing their quarterly reports with the Federal Elections Commission, and an early glance at the first batch of statements reveals that many of Washington’s right-leaning, bold-faced names have made their presidential preferences, and perhaps none bigger than the owner of the local NFL franchise. Dan Snyder donated $100,000 to Right to Rise PAC, which is aligned with former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, according to FEC reports filed Friday. The donation not surprising considering Snyder’s past political giving, which has tended to favor Republicans. In 2012, he gave $5,000 to Republican nominee Mitt Romney, $10,000 to the Virginia GOP, and $5,000 to former Senator (and friend-of-the-team) George Allen, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He also gave $5,200 to Democratic Senator Mark Warner’s 2014 re-election campaign.
• Ben Carson: Trump Helps My Run Because ‘Fewer People Talking About My Lack of Political Experience.’ Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Republican presidential candidate and former Johns Hopkin neurosurgeon Dr. Ben Carson said Donald Trump’s rise as an outsider without political experience has helped him because,” fewer people are talking about my lack of political experience now.” When asked about Trump’s candidacy, Carson said, “I think it’s a tremendous help. It’s a tremendous aid because fewer people are talking about my lack of political experience now. And that’s good, because, you know, experience can come from a variety of different places,

TOMORROW: Larry Kudlow and Jillian Barberie