Lanny Davis, Grover Norquist, DC Cannibus Campaign's Adam Eidinger and John Fund joined WMAL on Thursday.
Mornings on the Mall
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor
5am – A/B/C Cheney on torture report: 'Full of crap.' Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday called the latest Senate report on torture “full of crap.” “The report’s full of crap, excuse me,” Cheney said in an interview with Fox News after calling the report a “terrible piece of work” and “deeply flawed.” Cheney cited the report’s lack of first-hand accounts from CIA officials as one reason he was dismissing its findings. “You see it too often in Washington where a group of politicians get together and sort of throw the professionals under the bus,” Cheney said. He continued, “What happened here was that we asked the agency to go take steps and put in place programs that were designed to catch the bastards that killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure that didn’t happen again. And that’s exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit, not the condemnation that they’re receiving from the Senate Democrats.” Cheney and other members of the Bush administration have been under scrutiny from both Republicans and Democrats since Tuesday, when the Senate released a report that outlined torture techniques and cover ups from the CIA after Sept. 11.
5am – D Cromnibus Battle on the Hill Today
5am – E Redskins players are fighting each other in practice now. (USA Today) — Washington Redskins receiver Andre Roberts and cornerback Bashaud Breeland exchanged blows in front of cameras during the team’s practice on Wednesday. According to reports Breeland was covering Roberts when the receiver dropped a deep pass from quarterback Colt McCoy and tumbled to the ground. As the two were jogging to the sideline, Roberts took his helmet off, confronted Breeland, and the two began punching each other before teammates quickly intervened.
6am – A/B/C Congress Blocks Feds From Targeting Medical Marijuana, Hemp Cultivation. States with legal hemp cultivation and medical marijuana programs just got historic support from Congress. Included in the federal spending bill released late Tuesday are amendments that prohibit the Department of Justice from using funds to go after state medical marijuana operations and that block the Drug Enforcement Administration from using funds to interfere in state-legal industrial hemp research. “The enactment of this legislation will mark the first time in decades that the federal government has curtailed its oppressive prohibition of marijuana and has instead taken an approach to respect the many states that have permitted the use of medical marijuana to some degree," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who in May introduced the medical marijuana protections amendment with co-sponsor Rep. Sam Farr (D-Calif.), told The Huffington Post Wednesday.
6am – D INTERVIEW – LANNY DAVIS – Former Clinton White House counsel and author of Crisis Tales – discussed his column on Hillary and the Draft Elizabeth Warren effort.
6am – E David Letterman's last show announced, clearing way for Colbert. NEW YORK (CNNMoney) – Mark the date, David Letterman fans: May 20 will be his final edition of "The Late Show." CBS announced the finale date on Wednesday, a full five months before it will take place. Letterman announced his retirement plans back in April, but did not specify a date. "It's going to be tough to say goodbye, but I know we will all cherish the shows leading up to Dave's final broadcast in May," CBS CEO Les Moonves said in a statement. The network is planning a triumphant departure for the acclaimed late-night host, who will be succeeded by Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report." As previously announced, Colbert will sign off from that show on December 18.
7am – A INTERVIEW – GROVER NORQUIST – President of Americans for Tax Reform — discussed Cromnibus.
7am – B Are You Enlightened or a Control Freak? What Your Airplane Seat Choice Says About You. (Yahoo!) — Choosing your seat on airplane is a big deal. (In case you're wondering, based on Expedia.com customers who indicated a seat preference, 55 percent prefer a window seat and 45 percent prefer an aisle seat.) So Yahoo Travel researched, asked the experts, and picked the brains of frequent fliers to find out what your seat choice says about you.
If you’re an aisle person:
You value freedom. “Choosing an aisle seat is an expression of freedom. You know you have the ability to get up and walk around without having to ask anyone or climb over your seat mate,” says Bricker.
You’re an introvert. When stuck in a large group of people (as you are on plane – sometimes for hours) introverts feel physically uncomfortable and tend to want to stay on the periphery, have an easy escape route (even if it’s just in their heads), and don’t like to be surrounded by people or objects on all sides. The aisle seats checks those boxes more than any other.
You’re all business. No gazing out the window and daydreaming for you. Plus it’s usually much more comfortable to sleep at the window, so you’ll likely be up working or reading a book.
You like to be in the power position. You’re the first one to talk to the flight attendant when she asks what you want to drink. You control your seat mates in a sense – middle and window people need to ask you to go the bathroom – and you can set the tone for the interaction by either being nice or grumpy about it. You’re the de facto dictator of the row.
You tend toward claustrophobic. Sitting on the aisle is about as much open space as you get on board. (Too bad you can’t sit on the wing.)
If you’re a window person:
You value privacy. When you choose the window, there’s a wall on one side, so for the most part, you’re insulated enough that you won’t be affected by other people’s behavior, explains Bricker. And you won’t have your seat mate asking you to move so he can go to the bathroom.
You’re a nester. “You can create your own little own space by the window,” says Bricker. The spot feels cozier, and you can rest a pillow against the wall for more comfy naps. “You can create a little bit of a home,” he says.
7am – C Apple's discontinued iPod Classic fetching mega-bucks as hot Christmas gift. (Fox News) — Apple made billions giving people what they want, but the tech giant might want to rethink its decision to kill off the iPod Classic music player, now that it has become one of the hottest Christmas presents of the year. People are clamoring for used models on eBay, according to the UK newspaper The Guardian. The 16-gigabyte digital music player, which a decade ago helped Apple revolutionize the music industry, can hold up to 40,000 songs, more than double the amount of any iPods currently being manufactured. More than 3,000 have been sold on eBay since the Classic was retired in October, fetching prices as high as $400 in a boomlet foretold by Stuff magazine editor Will Dunn more than a year ago.
7am – D/E Cheney on torture report: 'Full of crap.' Former Vice President Dick Cheney on Wednesday called the latest Senate report on torture “full of crap.” “The report’s full of crap, excuse me,” Cheney said in an interview with Fox News after calling the report a “terrible piece of work” and “deeply flawed.” Cheney cited the report’s lack of first-hand accounts from CIA officials as one reason he was dismissing its findings. “You see it too often in Washington where a group of politicians get together and sort of throw the professionals under the bus,” Cheney said. He continued, “What happened here was that we asked the agency to go take steps and put in place programs that were designed to catch the bastards that killed 3,000 of us on 9/11 and make sure that didn’t happen again. And that’s exactly what they did and they deserve a lot of credit, not the condemnation that they’re receiving from the Senate Democrats.”
8am – A INTERVIEW — ADAM EIDINGER – (EYE-ding-ger) the chair of the DC Cannabis Campaign
>>Marijuana activist Adam Eidinger, who led the successful effort to get marijuana legalization on the November ballot.
>> Congress Blocks Feds From Targeting Medical Marijuana, Hemp Cultivation
>> Statehood, Marijuana Advocates Stage Sit-In At Harry Reid's Office To Protest Congressional Riders
8am – B/C Half of Americans Don't Want Their Sons Playing Football, Poll Shows. According to a new Bloomberg Politics poll, 50 percent of Americans say they wouldn't want their son to play the sport and only 17 percent believe it’ll grow in popularity in the next 20 years. These are grim numbers for a sport that’s seeing an onslaught of negative attention, including a parade of National Football League players accused of abusing their wives or children; a team name so offensive that some news organizations refuse to print it; and, perhaps most troubling to parents, the growing body of evidence that repeated blows to the head can cause long-lasting brain damage. The sport’s troubles have caught the attention of Congress, whose members hauled a league official to Washington for a Senate hearing earlier this month. Individual lawmakers have proposed ending the league’s tax-exempt status and putting its coveted anti-trust exception up for a five year review.
8am – D INTERVIEW – JOHN FUND – Columnist, NATIONAL REVIEW – discussed the media ignoring the Gruber hearing and how Republicans should handle Cromnibus.
TOMORROW: Trevor Matich, Boyd Rutherford and Bret Baier
