Barry Manilow, Lis Wiehl, Fox's Ed Henry and The Blaze's Jason Howerton joined WMAL on Friday.

Listen here to Friday's show!

Mornings on the Mall

Friday, February 13, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

5am – A         INTERVIEW – BARRY MANILOW – joined the show to talk about his 'One Last Time' tour and performing at the Verizon Center on Friday, February 27^th!

5am – B         Loretta Lynch's Delayed Vote Over Confirmation. (Politico) — The debate about confirming Loretta Lynch is suddenly getting partisan. Democrats are now increasingly slamming Republicans’ handling of President Barack Obama’s nominee for attorney general, accusing them of slow-walking the veteran federal prosecutor’s confirmation. Their newest evidence: the Senate Judiciary Committee’s decision Thursday to postpone voting on Lynch until after next week’s recess — which means she won’t get a final floor vote until March, at least five weeks after her confirmation hearing. The confirmation pace stands in especially stark contrast to how quickly the GOP-led Senate has taken up Ash Carter’s nomination for defense secretary. He first appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee Feb. 4, was swiftly reported out of that panel earlier this week and is headed to a Thursday confirmation vote.

Ashton B. Carter Is Confirmed as Defense Chief, Replacing Chuck Hagel. (NY Times) — WASHINGTON — The Senate on Thursday confirmed Ashton B. Carter to be the next defense secretary, installing a new Pentagon chief as the United States increases military action against the Islamic State. Mr. Carter, a former deputy defense secretary who is President Obama’s choice to replace Chuck Hagel, was approved by a vote of 93 to 5, a striking scene of accord as tensions mount over the wait to confirm Loretta E. Lynch as the next attorney general. Five Republicans opposed Mr. Carter’s confirmation. The transition to a new Pentagon chief comes as Congress considers a number of pressing defense issues, including a request by Mr. Obama that would formally authorize military action against the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

5am – C         Girl Gets Ruth Bader Ginsburg Tattoo on Arm; RBG Tags Along.

Washington (CNN) – You wouldn't expect to find Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a tattoo parlor. But she made an appearance recently on the arm of Rachel Fink, a student of the University of Maryland. Fink sat for nearly three hours last month as a tattoo artist known as "Nikkiballs" permanently imprinted a portrait of Ginsburg on her arm. "I think it's a lot about respect," explained Fink. "People on social media and my generation have taken to her." There are tattoos, muscle tees, YouTube serenades and judicial swag all paying homage to the small, soft-spoken justice who has been on the nation's highest bench for 21 years — as long as some of her more devoted followers have been alive.

5am – D         VALENTINE'S DAY HORROR STORIES: Do you get engaged on Valentine’s Day?

• At Valentine’s Day: 75 percent of Republicans say they are ‘currently in love’ (Fox News poll).  80 percent of U.S. voters say a sense of humor is the most important factor when choosing their Valentine; 75 percent of Republicans, 83 percent of independents, 85 percent of Democrats 63 percent of tea partiers agree. 7 percent overall say finding someone who shares their political views is most important; 11 percent of Republicans, 3 percent of independents, 4 percent of Democrats and 17 percent of tea partiers agree. 69 percent overall say they are “currently in love”; 75 percent of Republicans, 70 percent of independents, 62 percent of Democrats and 75 percent of tea partiers agree.

• Some McDonald's taking reservations, offering candlelight service for Valentine's Day. (Fox News) — Two Tampa, Fla. McDonald's are accepting bookings for a candlelit dinner complete with roses. One restaurant is offering diners a chance to make a reservation and their own “McMemories” on Valentine’s Day, reports The Tampa Bay Times. The first 10 customers even get a complimentary rose. The other Tampa franchise says that they are retraining their employees to act as waiters and are putting out red tablecloths, a centerpiece of fake roses and drinking glasses imprinted with heart-shaped motifs, reports WTSP.  The food is from McDonald’s, in case you were wondering.  But already, some 20 reservations have been made. Tampa is not alone in its Valentine's Day romance. A North Carolina McDonald's is also getting in on the classy service action. A sign advertising the dinner service, where the crew will “greet guests at the door before seating them,” also boasts of  a musical accompaniment “by Ron.” "All you have to do is just sit back, relax and enjoy your romantic evening with your date," states the ad. McDonald’s has tested table service in the past, but it hasn’t caught on with customers. Maybe a night of amour and Big Macs will get people to change their minds.
• Starbucks Will Offer Valentine’s ‘Pairings’ This Friday. Your favorite on-every-corner coffee shop will take part in some seasonally appropriate mood-setting and launch the "world's largest Starbucks date," which sounds like a kind of pre-Valentine's warm-up. Lovebirds who show up after 2 p.m. can even select from three $5 "pairings" — a French press for two of Caffè Verona with a brownie, a tall flat white and a chocolate croissant, or a grande mocha (raspberry or white chocolate) with a heart sugar cookie. Maybe with two straws and some creativity, you can even make all three options shareable? What kind of people go on a Starbucks-pairings date? Well, according to the promo video below, people of every age, nationality, and ethnicity, of course.
• D.C. is the best city for love on Valentine’s Day because it’s the most loveless city, study says. Washington has a lot of rich, single people and a lot of nice date spots, therefore it’s the best city to find love on Valentine’s Day. Or so goes the logic of a new Zillow study that awarded the District the dubious distinction of being the best city for finding love this Feb. 14. Zillow, an online real estate database, looked at cities with a population of more than 250,000 people and determined which locales had a lot of date spots (restaurants, bars, movie theaters, etc.) and a high number of single people who could afford to fill these establishments. The rankings also took into account which cities had a high percentage of new residents because “you may benefit from an influx of fresh, single faces to prevent a dating scene where everyone knows everyone.” The study does not address the fact that Washington may have a lot of singles because it could actually be a bad place to find love. Anyway, here’s how Washington fared:  Percent single (not married): 71 percent,  Percent new and single: 8.4 percent,  Date spots per 10,000 people: 44, Disposable income (Expected annual rent subtracted from median income): $25,915

5am – E         The Brian Williams Saga:

• Tom Brokaw warned for a year that Brian Williams’ Iraq story was a big fib. Long before “NBC Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams conceded last week that he had exaggerated a harrowing tale of coming under fire while aboard an Army helicopter during the 2003 Iraq invasion, his predecessor Tom Brokaw was warning colleagues that Williams’ version of events didn’t dovetail with the facts, NPR’s David Folkenflik reports. For “at least a year,” Folkenfilk says, Brokaw has been intimating that Williams’ gripping account — one that has repeatedly evolved over the years — raises significant red flags. Brokaw reportedly looked into the incident himself and concluded that “the facts simply didn’t match.” In the final analysis, Brokaw, who anchored the broadcast from 1982 to 2004, sees Williams as “more of a performer than an anchor,” Folkenfilk reports. Insiders have variously described Brokaw and Williams’ relationship as wary, awkward and cool, despite a public front of conviviality.
• NBC investigating Brian Williams' claims that he witnessed fall of Berlin Wall and met Pope John Paul II. (NY Daily News) — NBC is expanding its inquiry into the alleged tall tales of suspended “Nightly News” anchor Brian Williams, CNN reported Thursday. The network’s internal fact-checking is “nowhere near done,” a senior NBC source told the cable news channel.   The new focus will examine Williams’ claims that he, not his predecessor Tom Brokaw, was in Germany the day the Berlin Wall fell and a story about meeting Pope John Paul II while a college student at Catholic University in 1979. Williams was suspended for six months without pay on Tuesday after apologizing on-air last week and chalking up his conflated story about the Iraq mission to “misremembering” the events. A number of Marines involved in the mission came forward to contest Williams’ account. “We have concerns about comments that occurred outside NBC News while Brian was talking about his experiences in the field,” NBC News president Deborah Turness said after announcing the suspension and replacing the star with Lester Holt. One concern relates to Williams telling a 2008 forum at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library that he, not Brokaw, was in Berlin on Nov. 9, 1989, the date commonly regarded as the “the night the wall came down.” An NBC News source confirmed to CNNMoney that “Brian arrived the day after the wall came down.”

6am – A/B/C Can a College Drop-Out Be President?

• Washington Post: As Scott Walker mulls White House bid, questions linger over college exit.
• Howard Dean Disses Scott Walker For Lack of College Degree. On today's Morning Joe, Howard Dean, a product of fancy prep schools and Yale, suggested that Scott Walker was unfit to be president because his lack of a college degree rendered him "unknowledgeable."

6am – D         INTERVIEW — LIS WIEHL — Fox News legal analyst and author of upcoming book Lethal Beauty,

• In Chapel Hill Shooting of 3 Muslims, a Question of Motive (NY Times) — CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — It was a little after 5 p.m., a quiet time in a quiet neighborhood, before many people had returned home from work on Tuesday, when two women called 911 to report multiple gunshots and screams echoing through a condominium complex here near the University of North Carolina. By the time the police arrived, three people were dead — a newlywed couple and the woman’s sister. They were young university students, Muslims of Arab descent, and high achievers who regularly volunteered in the area. A neighbor, a middle-aged white man, was missing — then under arrest and charged with three counts of murder. The victims’ families described it as a hate crime. The police said that the shooting appeared to have been motivated by “an ongoing neighbor dispute over parking,” but that they were investigating whether religious hatred had contributed to the killings.
• Chris Kyle's widow breaks down on the stand describing the last time she saw him – as trial hears how 'insane' PTSD Marine killed American Sniper with five shots to the back and one to the head. (Daily Mail) — Chris Kyle's widow broke down in tears on Wednesday as she described the last time she saw her husband alive on the day he died, telling a Texas courtroom, 'We said we loved each other and gave each other a hug and kissed.' Giving testimony sat in front of the man who shot dead Kyle and his friend Chad Littlefield on February 2, 2013, Taya Kyle, 40, struggled to maintain her composure on the stand during trying and difficult testimony.

6am – E         Alabama Gay Marriage Fight:

• U.S. Orders Alabama to License Gay Unions. (NY Times) — MOBILE, Ala. — A federal judge here ruled on Thursday that the local probate judge cannot refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples, potentially adding some clarity to a judicial quarrel that has roiled Alabama for most of a week. The order by Judge Callie V. S. Granade of Federal District Court came after a brief hearing and prompted cheers and crying in the halls of the probate court here, where several couples obtained licenses and were married before the license office closed. While Judge Granade had declared Alabama’s ban on same-sex marriage unconstitutional on Jan. 23, the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Roy S. Moore, insisted in his own order Sunday night that Judge Granade’s ruling did not apply to the state’s probate judges and directed them not to comply. The ruling on Thursday was the first in this case with a probate judge as a defendant — Judge Don Davis of Mobile County — and was seen by lawyers for the gay couples who brought the case as a clear signal to probate judges around the state what their duties were.

• CNN Anchor: ‘Our Rights Do Not Come From God.’ (CNS News) — During a heated discussion over gay marriage, CNN morning Anchor Chris Cuomo opined that the unalienable rights endowed to all Americans do not come from God. Cuomo was debating Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore on the constitutionality of same-sex marriage. Near the end of the back-and-forth and after Moore argued that rights cannot be handed down by men. What’s worse is Cuomo is advocating “collective” rights. He speaks as if every American right can simply be overturned at a whim simply because "times change." “Sure, freedom of speech was great in 1789, but we've evolved beyond that as a collective society.” This is a very dangerous slope on which to tread

7am – A         INTERVIEW – ED HENRY – Fox News Channel’s White House Correspondent

• 'YOLO man'! – Obama takes selfie, preens in spoof video. Washington (AFP) – Being president of the United States is not all drone strikes and crisis meetings. Occasionally you get to have a bit of fun. A video released Thursday shows Barack Obama doing just that, posing in front of the mirror with aviator sunglasses, playing around with a selfie stick and struggling to enunciate "February." In a skit recorded by BuzzFeed called "things everyone does but doesn't talk about," Obama can also be seen blaming himself for making cookies too big to dunk in a glass of milk — "thanks Obama" — and drawing a picture of his wife Michelle. The president is also captured pretending to score a winning basket, before being interrupted and receiving a quizzical look from comedian Andrew Ilnyckyj posing as a staffer, Obama responds "can't I live, man?" before declaring "YOLO man!"– you only live once.
• Boehner says Obama military force proposal needs toughening. WASHINGTON (AP) — Congressional Republicans vowed Thursday to toughen President Barack Obama's day-old legislation to authorize military force against Islamic State fighters, and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi warned, "It's going to be hard" to find common ground. Nothing underscored the yawning divide between the two parties more than Obama's request to bar "enduring offensive combat operations" from the struggle against terrorists who have seized territory in Syria and Iraq and beheaded hostages. House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said disapprovingly that Obama's proposal would "tie his hands even further" than current law. But Pelosi, recalling the long, difficult war in Iraq, said the president "has to be commended" for proposing to limit his own power. Obama is seeking a three-year authorization for the use of force against the Islamic State militants or any successor groups, without regard to international boundaries. His proposal would leave in place 2001 legislation approving military action against al-Qaida following the terror attacks of 9/11.
• Counterterror chief says fall of Yemen's government took US by surprise. The White House's top counterterrorism official admitted Thursday that the overthrow of Yemen's government by Shiite rebels last month caught U.S. intelligence off guard.  Nick Rasmussen, director of the National Counterterrorism Center, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Yemeni army's response to the advancing Houthi rebels resembled the Iraqi military's response to an onslaught by the Islamic State terror group (ISIS) that ended in the capture of Iraq's second-largest city this past summer.  "As the Houthi advances toward Sanaa [Yemen's capital] took place," Rasmussen said, "they weren't opposed in many places. … The situation deteriorated far more rapidly than we expected."

7am – B         Transgender News:

• Transgender former SEAL plans primary challenge to Md. Rep. ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Kristin Beck, a transgender former Navy SEAL, is planning a primary challenge to Maryland’s longest-serving U.S. representative, Democrat Steny Hoyer. The state Board of Elections website shows Beck filed the paperwork Monday. Beck didn’t immediately respond to an emailed interview request Thursday. The telephone number on her campaign website wasn’t set up. Beck’s website highlights her military service and criticizes the government’s handling of the home-loan crisis. It says Hoyer “has been too busy helping Wall Street since 2008 to even notice Main Street.” A Hoyer spokesman says he was working on a statement.
• Military approves hormone therapy for Chelsea Manning. (USA Today) — WASHINGTON — In a first for the Army, Chelsea Manning, the convicted national-security secrets leaker, has been approved for hormone therapy for transition to a woman at the Army's Fort Leavenworth prison, according to a memo obtained Thursday by USA TODAY. Manning remains a soldier as well as an inmate. "After carefully considering the recommendation that (hormone treatment) is medically appropriate and necessary, and weighing all associated safety and security risks presented, I approve adding (hormone treatment) to Inmate Manning's treatment plan," Col. Erica Nelson, the commandant of the Fort Leavenworth Disciplinary Barracks in Kansas, wrote in a Feb. 5 memo. Formerly named Bradley Manning, the soldier was convicted of sending classified documents to anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. Manning is serving a 35-year prison sentence and is eligible for parole in about seven years. At Manning's trial, her attorneys argued she had been disillusioned by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and believed the release of the documents, including diplomatic cables and military reports, should be seen by the public. Manning sued the federal government for access to the treatment. The Army referred questions about Manning to the Department of Justice, which has been handling the case. Nicole Navas, a Justice Department spokeswoman, declined to comment, saying the government's position is detailed in court filings.

7am – C         D.C. is the best city for love on Valentine’s Day because it’s the most loveless city, study says. Washington has a lot of rich, single people and a lot of nice date spots, therefore it’s the best city to find love on Valentine’s Day.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — JASON HOWERTON – Front page editor at The Blaze – discussed the latest details about the Chris Kyle trial in Texas this week.

• Chris Kyle and Chad Littlefield Were Both Carrying Holstered .45-Cal Handguns When They Were Killed — Safety Still On: Texas Ranger

7am – E         Ex-Sony Chief Defends Paying Women Less. (Daily Caller) — Former Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal told women to “know what they are worth” during an interview with Tina Brown at the Women in the World conference in San Francisco. At the conference, she defended the recent controversy over her comments regarding actress Jennifer Lawrence being paid less than the male stars in the film “American Hustle”. “I’ve paid [Jennifer Lawrence] a lot more money since then, I promise you,” Pascal insisted. She continued: “Here’s the problem: I run a business. People want to work for less money, I’ll pay them less money. I don’t call them up and say, ‘Can I give you some more?’ Because that’s not what you do when you run a business. The truth is, what women have to do is not work for less money. They have to walk away. People shouldn’t be so grateful for jobs.  People should know what they’re worth.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW – BARRY MANILOW – joined the show to talk about his 'One Last Time tour and performing at the Verizon Center on Friday, February 27^th!

8am – B/C     'YOLO man'! – Obama takes selfie, preens in spoof video. Washington (AFP) – Being president of the United States is not all drone strikes and crisis meetings. Occasionally you get to have a bit of fun. A video released Thursday shows Barack Obama doing just that, posing in front of the mirror with aviator sunglasses, playing around with a selfie stick and struggling to enunciate "February." In a skit recorded by BuzzFeed called "things everyone does but doesn't talk about," Obama can also be seen blaming himself for making cookies too big to dunk in a glass of milk — "thanks Obama" — and drawing a picture of his wife Michelle. The president is also captured pretending to score a winning basket, before being interrupted and receiving a quizzical look from comedian Andrew Ilnyckyj posing as a staffer, Obama responds "can't I live, man?" before declaring "YOLO man!"– you only live once.

8am – D         How would you react if your significant other took you to McDonald’s for Valentine’s Day?

• Some McDonald's taking reservations, offering candlelight service for Valentine's Day. (Fox News) — Two Tampa, Fla. McDonald's are accepting bookings for a candlelit dinner complete with roses. One restaurant is offering diners a chance to make a reservation and their own “McMemories” on Valentine’s Day, reports The Tampa Bay Times. The first 10 customers even get a complimentary rose. The other Tampa franchise says that they are retraining their employees to act as waiters and are putting out red tablecloths, a centerpiece of fake roses and drinking glasses imprinted with heart-shaped motifs, reports WTSP.  The food is from McDonald’s, in case you were wondering.  But already, some 20 reservations have been made. Tampa is not alone in its Valentine's Day romance. A North Carolina McDonald's is also getting in on the classy service action. A sign advertising the dinner service, where the crew will “greet guests at the door before seating them,” also boasts of  a musical accompaniment “by Ron.” "All you have to do is just sit back, relax and enjoy your romantic evening with your date," states the ad. McDonald’s has tested table service in the past, but it hasn’t caught on with customers. Maybe a night of amour and Big Macs will get people to change their minds.

MONDAY:  Joe diGenova