VDOT's Joan Morris, MDSHA's Charlie Gischler, Lanny Davis, Joe diGenova, Lt. Col. Allen West and film critic Christian Toto joined WMAL on Monday morning.
Mornings on the Mall
Monday, January 12, 2015
Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor
5am – A/B/C President Obama's Paris No-Show: World leaders including Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, Germany’s Angela Merkel, Britain’s David Cameron, and the Palestinian Authority’s Mahmoud Abbas may have joined French President François Hollande to walk arm in arm on Sunday at France’s unity rally, but no top-level U.S. official took part. Attorney General Eric Holder, who had flown to Paris for anti-terrorism talks in the wake of the attacks that killed 17, departed before France’s largest ever rally to attend “urgent meetings” in Washington, a Department of Justice official told BuzzFeed. Before leaving, he delivered a message of U.S. support: “On this day, we are all French citizens. I am a citizen of France, and we stand in solidarity with the French people.” The U.S. ambassador to France, Jane Hartley, represented the United States at the rally in his place.
5am – D INTERVIEW — JEFF ENO – METEOROLOGIST – THE WEATHER CHANNEL
FREEZING RAIN ADVISORY UNTIL 9AM
Today | Areas of freezing rain possible early then all rain. Some fog. High around 40
Tonight | Rain showers this evening with clearing overnight. Low 30
5am – E Dianne Feinstein: Terrorist sleeper cells are in the U.S. (Washington Times) – A Senate leader said Sunday she thinks terrorist sleeper cells are in the U.S. — a claim sure to spark even greater fears of a strike on the homeland as the White House launches new efforts to confront growing Islamist extremism around the globe. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, California Democrat and her party’s ranking member on the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, flatly stated that she believes terrorist cells are hiding in Europe and the U.S., waiting to be activated and carry out attacks similar to the ones that claimed 17 lives in France last week.
6am – A INTERVIEW – JOAN MORRIS – Spokesperson, VDOT
- VDOT ASKS DRIVERS TO DELAY TRIPS MONDAY. 1,450 trucks prepared to handle freezing rain and wintry mix in northern Virginia. FAIRFAX—The Virginia Department of Transportation urges drivers to delay trips Monday to allow trucks to treat roads, as freezing rain is expected to begin overnight and last well through the morning rush hour. “We ask drivers to plan ahead and to use extreme caution if they must drive,” said Branco Vlacich, VDOT assistant district administrator for maintenance. “The pretreatment crews have laid will help, but with pavement temperatures below freezing we will need to treat icy conditions repeatedly during this hours-long storm.” This weekend, crews pre-treated major roads and trouble spots in Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties. On interstates 66, 95, 395, and 495—including bridges and ramps prone to freezing such as the Springfield interchange, I-66 at Route 29 and the Capital Beltway interchange at Route 1—crews use liquid magnesium chloride. Problem spots on other major roads, such as the Fairfax County Parkway and routes 1, 7, 28, 29, 50 and 123, are pre-treated with salt brine.
INTERVIEW – CHARLIE GISCHLER – Spokesperson, The Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA)
- SHA URGES MOTORISTS TO AVOID OR DELAY DRIVING MONDAY MORNING. Potential for Extremely Dangerous Driving Conditions With Forecast of Freezing Rain Overnight and Tomorrow Morning. (January 11, 2015) – The Maryland State Highway Administration (SHA) urges motorists to delay or cancel early morning travel tomorrow as forecasters are calling for freezing rain overnight into the morning. In anticipation of the predicted weather, today SHA crews are pre-treating metropolitan area interstates and other major roadways with salt brine as an initial measure to prevent ice accumulation. As pavement temperatures throughout central Maryland remain below freezing, precipitation is likely to freeze on road surfaces making any travel extremely dangerous.
6am – B/C Golden Globes: Shockers, romance and Cosby jokes. (CNN) — The 72nd Golden Globes started out pretty much how we expected with Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosting: irreverent and funny. The pair made jokes about everything from the "spoiled" actors and actresses to the marriage of George Clooney and the controversy surrounding North Korea's issue with the Sony film "The Interview." "Tonight we celebrate all the great television shows we know and love as well as all the movies that North Korea was okay with," Fey said. There was a moment of uncomfortable tittering in the audience when Poehler took on the controversy of allegations that Bill Cosby had drugged and sexually assaulted women.
6am – D INTERVIEW – LANNY DAVIS – former Clinton White House Counsel – weighed in on the Obama administration not attending the Paris rally.
- @LannyDavis: "For those who follow me – if you feel as I do – hash tag should be: #whynotPresOinParis? I have supported Pres O almost always. Must ask why"
6am – E Paul Ryan Expertly Trolls Chris Christie After Cowboys Loss To Packers. (Huffington Post) — Hat's off to Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who executed some expert trolling of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) following the Green Bay Packers' victory over the Dallas Cowboys in Sunday's NFC divisional playoff game. The newly bearded former GOP vice presidential nominee poked fun of the governor for sharing a painfully awkward hug with Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys.
Paul Ryan @PRyan: .@GovChristie, do you need a hug now? #GoPackGo #WinninginWisco 4:11 PM – 11 Jan 2015
Christie, a life-long Cowboys fan, was spotted on television last week attempting to embrace Jones in the owner's luxury box after a team victory. That prompted mockery from another Wisconsin elected official and potential 2016 rival, Gov. Scott Walker (R).
Aaron Rodgers and Packers beat Cowboys as catch by Dez Bryant in fourth quarter is overturned. Thanks to a huge overturned call by the replay officials – a fourth-down catch that became a non-catch by Dez Bryant with 4 ½ minutes remaining – the Green Bay Packers were able to escape their NFC divisional playoff game against the Cowboys with a 26-21 win.
7am – A INTERVIEW: JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia
- Paris, “no go” in France
- State of the Union Address: How many members of the Supreme Court will attend this year? (Boston Globe) — Next week, President Obama will be on Capitol Hill, appearing before a joint session of Congress for the annual ritual known as the State of the Union address. Amid the hoopla and pageantry — the partisan cheers and ovations, the shout-outs to honorees in the gallery, the approving nods or deprecating scowls from the vice president and House speaker — one dour anomaly will be hard to miss. Members of the Supreme Court will be sitting poker-faced in the front row, draped in their black robes and refraining from any applause or show of loyalty. The Constitution directs the president to periodically “give to the Congress information of the State of the Union,” and most presidents since Woodrow Wilson have delivered that “information” in a formal speech. But nothing in the Constitution requires the Supreme Court to be on hand for the performance, and there is no time-honored tradition that explains their presence. It wasn’t until the late 1950s that justices began regularly showing up for State of the Union addresses.
- Maryland Episcopal Bishop arrested in fatal bike accident. (AP) — In a spectacular fall from grace, Maryland's second-highest ranking Episcopal leader and the first female bishop in her diocese was charged with drunken driving and manslaughter after fatally striking a cyclist in late December. Heather Cook, 58, turned herself in to authorities Friday, according to her attorney, David Irwin.
7am – B/C Proof That All Country Music Sounds the Same? YouTube User Strikes Gold With Six-Song Mashup. Do you think country music is starting to sound all the same? This new video proves you may be onto something. Back in November, YouTube user Sir Mashalot (songwriter Gregory Todd in real life) conducted a little experiment to vent his frustration over trying to break in to the country music establishment. He was having a hard time getting his songs heard and came away feeling like the powers that be were only looking for a very narrow definition of “country songs.” Then Todd decided to back up his feelings up with some hard evidence. The project he created – a mashup of 6 popular country tunes – has now been viewed over 1 million times and shared all over the web, from Time Magazine to Billboard. The songs are “Sure Be Cool if You Did” by Blake Shelton, “Drunk on You” by Luke Bryan, “Chillin’ It” by Cole Swindell, “Close Your Eyes” by Parmalee, “This is How We Roll” by Florida Georgia Line and “Ready Set Roll” by Chase Rice.
7am – D Mitt Romney considering another presidential run. Mitt Romney is thinking about running for president in 2016. The 2012 Republican presidential nominee told a small group of donors in New York City on Friday that he’s looking at a third White House bid, said Spencer Zwick, who was Romney’s finance chairman in 2012 and who attended Friday’s event. “People ask if I really want to be president,” Romney said, according to a source in the room. “Yeah, I want to be president.” The news of Romney’s interest was first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
7am – E INTERVIEW – TUCKER BARNES – meteorologist on FOX 5 News Morning – gave the latest weather update for the morning commute.
8am – A INTERVIEW — LT. COL. ALLEN WEST – former Florida congressman and currently the President and CEO, National Center for Policy Analysis – discussed President Obama’s Paris no-show.
8am – B/C Taking Your Calls!
8am – D INTERVIEW – CHRISTIAN TOTO – film critic, Hollywood in Toto – recapped The Golden Globes Awards.
TOMORROW: Larry Kudlow
