Bret Baier, Mary Katharine Ham and DC Council Chairman Phil Mendelson joined WMAL on Friday.
Listen here to Friday’s show!
Mornings on the Mall
Friday, June 5, 2015
Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor
Executive Producer: Heather Smith
5am – A/B/C In Japan, Md. governor is wowed by super-fast trains — with big price tags. TSURU, Japan — Imagine getting from Baltimore to Washington in less than 15 minutes. Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan certainly did Thursday when he hurtled through the Japanese countryside at 314 mph. Hogan wants Maryland to get these “maglev” trains — short for magnetic levitation — and Japan wants to sell them. “There is no question that this is the future of transportation,” Hogan, a pro-business Republican whose victory in November shocked his heavily Democratic state, said after taking four trips along the 26-mile test track near Mount Fuji. If he’s right, it’s an expensive future — even many in Japan are balking at the multibillion-dollar cost of the fast new trains. And in the United States, such trains would face daunting questions concerning not only cost (and more importantly, who would bear it) but the need to find a right of way through the most congested and perhaps litigious part of the country. It would take an unusual amount of national willpower to make the idea a reality. Japan is already renowned for its shinkansen bullet trains, which whiz between the main cities at speeds of up to 200 mph, are almost always perfectly on time and have not had a fatal accident in 50 years of operation.
5am – D Is D.C. United considering a move to Loudoun County? WASHINGTON (WJLA) — Just as the District finalizes plans to build a brand new stadium for D.C. United at Buzzard Point in Southwest D.C., Virginia leaders are reportedly trying to lure the team to Loudoun County instead. Many D.C. United fans are united in opposition to any effort to lure the team away. Some even vow they’ll never attend another game if the team leaves D.C. But a lot of fans live across Northern Virginia. They say they’d love such a move. The D.C. Council passed legislation last year, moving the ball forward on plans to build a 20,000 seat soccer stadium near Nationals Ballpark at Buzzard Point. With a $300 million price tag, it would be the most expensive stadium in major league soccer. The District government would cover half the cost acquiring and preparing the land, while the team would pay for stadium construction. “I think it’s a good deal; it’s good for D.C., good for D.C. United,” said Ward 6 Council Member Charles Allen. But according to the Washington Post, Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe and Loudoun County leaders are making an 11th hour pitch with a less expensive deal. They even reportedly gave team owners a tour of potential stadium sites in the county. In a statement, Governor McAuliffe’s office said, “[The Governor] believes in competing vigorously for any and every project that would bring jobs and economic opportunity to Virginia. But we do not comment on ongoing economic development projects real or prospective.” Still, D.C. Council members seem confident D.C. United won’t be leaving. “Building a stadium on a metro stop that doesn’t exist off a highway where there’s no roads, with a governor who’s term limited and will be gone in two years, I wouldn’t think that’d be a good idea,” said Ward 2 Council Member Jack Evans.
5am – E Duggar Family Controversy:
Megyn Kelly’s Duggars Interview Draws 3.1 Million Viewers. Megyn Kelly’s exclusive interview with Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of TLC reality program “19 Kids and Counting” scored in the ratings for Fox News Channel on Wednesday, standing as cable television’s most-watched program of the day. The hourlong interview on “The Kelly File” averaged 3.09 million viewers, according to Nielsen national estimates — a 46% jump above the show’s Wednesday average during May (2.11 million) and its largest audience on any night in 2015. Excluding the night the Ferguson riots broke out (7.3 million), the high for “The Kelly File” remains 3.2 million viewers on a night last July with coverage of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, which crashed.
Sarah Palin Calls Lena Dunham A ‘Pedophile,’ Blasts Media Over Treatment Of Duggars. (Huffington Post) — Sarah Palin is lashing out at the media for how it has covered the sexual abuse revelations about “19 Kids And Counting” star Josh Duggar while giving “Girls” star Lena Dunham a free pass. Writing on her Facebook page, Palin compared the media storm over Duggar, whose parents confirmed on Fox News this week that he had “improperly touched” some of his sisters when he was a teenager, to that of Dunham, who wrote in her book “Not That Kind of Girl” that, as a 7-year-old child, she gave candy to her 1-year-old sister in exchange for kisses and a look at her vagina. “I’m not an apologist for any sexual predator, but I’m sickened that the media gives their chosen ones a pass for any behavior as long as they share their leftwing politics,” Palin wrote. “Case in point, they suggest Lena Dunham’s sexual assault on her sibling is cute, and she’s rewarded for it with fame and fortune. Meanwhile, they crucify another, along with an entire family.”
6am – A/B China suspected in massive breach of federal personnel data. WASHINGTON (AP) — China-based hackers are suspected of breaking into the computer networks of the U.S. government personnel office and stealing identifying information of at least 4 million federal workers, American officials said Thursday. The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that data from the Office of Personnel Management and the Interior Department had been compromised. “The FBI is conducting an investigation to identify how and why this occurred,” the statement said. The hackers were believed to be based in China, said Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican. Collins, a member of the Senate intelligence committee, said the breach was “yet another indication of a foreign power probing successfully and focusing on what appears to be data that would identify people with security clearances.” A spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in Washington called such accusations “not responsible and counterproductive.” “Cyberattacks conducted across countries are hard to track and therefore the source of attacks is difficult to identify,” spokesman Zhu Haiquan said Thursday night. He added that hacking can “only be addressed by international cooperation based on mutual trust and mutual respect.”
6am – C Storm names for 2015 Atlantic Hurricane Season. NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) – Since 1953, Atlantic tropical storms had been named from lists originated by the National Hurricane Center. They are now maintained and updated through a strict procedure by an international committee of the World Meteorological Organization. The lists are used in rotation and re-cycled every six years. The only time that there is a change in the list is if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on a different storm would be inappropriate for reasons of sensitivity. For 2015, the names include: ATLANTIC HURRICANE NAMES: Ana (The pre-season Atlantic tropical cyclone that struck the coast of South Carolina in May), Bill, Claudette, Danny, Erika, Fred, Grace, Henri, Ida, Joaquin, Kate, Larry, Mindy, Nicholas, Odette, Peter, Rose, Sam, Teresa, Victor and Wanda.
6am – D Celebrate National Doughnut Day on Friday. ATLANTA – Friday is National Donut Day… Or is that Doughnut? Well, however you prefer to spell the word that describes the edible, torus-shaped deep-fried piece of sweetened dough, Friday is your day. Now, believe it or not, this day is actually meaningful unlike many of the other random “days” that pop up on your calendar. To unlock the history behind it, we have to go all the way back to 1917 when Americans were on the front lines in France during World War I. About 250 Salvation Army volunteers wanted to treat our troops to something special, but they had limited supplies. What they were able to cook up was, you guessed it by now, doughnuts. The first National Doughnut Day was celebrated in 1938 in Chicago during the Great Depression to honor those Salvation Army volunteers during the First World War.
6am – E Rick Perry Announces Run for President.
7am – A/B/C INTERVIEW — MARY KATHARINE HAM – Editor-at-Large of Hot Air, a Fox News Channel contributor and co-author of the new book “End of Discussion: How the Left’s Outrage Industry Shuts Down Debate, Manipulates Voters, and Makes America Less Free (and Fun)” – joined the show in studio about her new book.
7am – D INTERVIEW — DC COUNCIL CHAIRMAN PHIL MENDELSON – discussed DC United considering a move to Loudoun County and weighed in the court ruling on concealed carry in DC.
7am – E Entertainment News:
Nichelle Nichols, Star Trek’s Lt Uhura, suffers stroke. Nichelle Nichols, best known for her role as Lieutenant Uhura in TV’s Star Trek, has suffered a stroke. “Last night while at her home in LA, Nichelle Nichols suffered from a mild stroke,” her agent Zach McGinnis wrote on Facebook. “She is currently undergoing testing to determine how severe the stroke was. Please keep her in your thoughts.” The 82-year-old was handpicked by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry to appear in the original 1960s TV series. Her casting as fourth in command of the USS Enterprise broke many racial barriers, with Nichols becoming the first black woman to share a kiss with a white man (William Shatner) on US television in 1966.
Jason Alexander apologizes for ‘Seinfeld’ comments. WASHINGTON — Actor Jason Alexander is apologizing for comments he made about his former “Seinfeld” co-star, Heidi Swedberg. Alexander recently told the “Howard Stern Show” that the reason co-creator Larry David killed off George’s fiancee, Susan, was that he couldn’t figure out how to work with her. The tweet comes with a link to a much longer apology, saying, “She was generous and gracious, and I am so mad at myself for retelling this story in any way that would diminish her.” Alexander started the controversy by telling Stern: “Her instincts for doing a scene, where the comedy was, and mine were always misfiring. And she would do something, and I would go, ‘OK, I see what she’s going to do — I’m going to adjust to her.’ And I’d adjust, and then it would change.”
8am – A/B/C Hillary Clinton Calls for Automatic Voter Registration. Other proposals include expanding early-voting opportunities and restoring parts of Voting Rights Act. Hillary Clinton proposed Thursday that Americans be automatically registered to vote when they turn 18, unless they opt out, one of a series of voting-law changes she said would expand access to the ballot box. In her remarks to a largely African-American audience in Houston, she accused Republicans of making voting harder, particularly for minorities and young people. Republicans say they are focused on rooting out voter fraud. The front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination also proposed expanded in-person early voting, called on Congress to restore parts of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the Supreme Court in 2013 and said felons who have served their sentences should have voting rights restored.
8am – D INTERVIEW – BRET BAIER – Anchor of Special Report, Fox News Channel, weekdays at 6 pm – discussed the latest 2016 elections news and China breaching federal personnel data.
MONDAY: Joe diGenova, Rep. Mike Rogers and Tucker Carlson