Rep. Barbara Comstock, Arlington County Board Chair Mary Hynes and DC Deputy Mayor Brenda Donald joined WMAL on Thursday morning!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, November 19, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Bush vs Trump on ISIS strategy:

• Bush calls for US ground forces to fight Islamic State. CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Wednesday called for the U.S. to send more troops to the Middle East to fight the Islamic State group. “This is the war of our time,” the former Florida governor said at the Citadel five days after Islamic State militants attacked Paris and killed at least 129 people. “Radical Islamic terrorists have declared war on the Western world. Their aim is our total destruction. We can’t withdraw from this threat, or negotiate with it. We have but one choice: to defeat it.” Bush had planned for weeks to deliver a speech about Pentagon and military purchasing reform at the prestigious South Carolina military college. But the horrific events in France Friday moved Bush, who has supported the potential deployment of troops in Iraq and Syria, to call for ground troops. “The United States, in conjunction with our NATO allies and more Arab partners, will need to increase our presence on the ground,” he added, calling air power insufficient.
• New Trump Ad: “I Will Quickly And Decisively Bomb The Hell Out Of ISIS.” Donald Trump is out with a new radio ad echoing his comments from before the Paris massacre about his new plan to defeat ISIS: Bomb the *** out of them.

5am – D         DRIVE AT FIVE INTERVIEW – TERRENCE MCCOY – Washington Post reporter

Terrence McCoy covers poverty, inequality and social justice. He also writes about solutions to social problems.

• D.C. to Close Homeless Tent City Near Kennedy Center. – Residents of D.C. homeless camp distressed as city moves to clear site

5am – E         Refugees News:

• House to vote on refugee bill on Thursday, White House threatens veto. House Republicans are moving forward with a plan that would prevent Syrian and Iraqi refugees from entering the United States unless the government can verify they don’t pose a security a threat. The opening legislative salvo from House Republicans is expected to be brought to the floor for a vote Thursday as Congress moves quickly to respond to the Paris terror attack. But the Obama administration on Wednesday issued a veto threat, arguing the legislation “would provide no meaningful additional security for the American people” and only “create significant delays and obstacles in the fulfillment of a vital program that satisfies both humanitarian and national security objectives.”

6am – A/B/C Carly Simon Says ‘You’re So Vain’ Is About Warren Beatty – Well, Only the Second Verse: ‘He Thinks the Whole Thing Is About Him!’ or 44 years, the subject of “You’re So Vain” has remained one of pop music’s most enduring mysteries. But at long last, Carly Simon has solved the mystery – well, sort of. The singer, 70, tells PEOPLE that the second verse of her famous song refers to none other than Warren Beatty. “I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren,” she tells PEOPLE in an interview pegged to her much-anticipated memoir, Boys in the Trees, to be released later this month. Does Beatty know about the seminal role he plays in the song? In keeping with its theme, “Warren thinks the whole thing is about him!” says Simon. Didn’t we kind of already know that? It was either him, or Mick Jagger, Jack Nicholson, Kris Kristofferson, or Cat Stevens, all of whom Simon dated.

6am – D         Travelers should brace for brutal Thanksgiving getaway traffic. WASHINGTON — If you’re planning to commute or travel in the days ahead, set your expectations low. Thanksgiving getaway traffic is increasing and traffic patterns are changing. “It’s no longer the day before Thanksgiving. It’s really spread out,” Battagliese says. Instead of one concentrated surge of travelers on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, he says drivers have shifted their departures to several days in advance of the holiday weekend. “You’re going to see a lot of people leaving this Friday through this weekend. You’re going to see a lot of heavy traffic on [Interstate] 95.” The mix of commuter traffic and holiday getaway traffic is usually highest several days before Thanksgiving, although AAA Mid-Atlantic says this year fewer D.C. area residents will travel — 1, 115, 300, down from 1,157,100 in 2014.

D.C. Thanksgiving traffic ranked 2nd-worst nationwide. WASHINGTON — It’s common knowledge that hitting the road in the D.C. area, like most places, is particularly tough around Thanksgiving. You may not have realized, however, that this region ranks among the worst in the country for Thanksgiving travel. Google took traffic data from its Android devices last year and ranked the slowest traffic between the Tuesday before Thanksgiving through the Sunday after, and found that D.C. ranked second nationwide, just behind Los Angeles, for the most clogged roads in the country.

6am – E         Ted Cruz to Obama: ‘Insult Me to My Face.’ Sen. Ted Cruz had sharp words for President Barack Obama over his comments regarding Republican rhetoric on Syrian refugees, saying his statement “is utterly unbefitting of a president.” “If you want to insult me, you can do it overseas, you can do it in Turkey, you can do it in foreign countries, but I would encourage you, mister president, come back and insult me to my face,” the Texas senator and Republican presidential candidate said this on Capitol Hill Wednesday. President Obama had harsh words for Republicans calling for a stop of Syrian refugees to the United States, saying such calls are just “political posturing.”

7am – A         INTERVIEW — CONGRESSWOMAN BARBARA COMSTOCK (R-Virginia)

• House to vote on refugee bill on Thursday, White House threatens veto
• Virginia, DC Members Meet With Metro GM Paul Wiedefeld. What does she think about the new metro GM?
• Last night, Rep Comstock was honored with the Independent Women’s Forum (IWF)’s 2015 Woman of Valor Award.

7am – B         Kerry Backtracks on His Charlie Hebdo Comments. Mark Halperin: Kerry was just tired.

7am – C         Married couples who have sex once a week are the happiest, according to a study. (NY Daily News) – The honeymoon is over, but the sex shouldn’t be. Couples who have sex once a week keep the marriage alive. Sure, more may be better but it did not up the happiness quotient. And the once-a-week stat is true for couples at any point in their relationship, whether the wedding thank you’s have not yet been written or they are looking at retirement properties. Interestingly, this debunks the myth that men need sex more often, since the responses were the same for men and women. A massive study, reviewing responses from 14,000 women and 11,000 men between 1989 and 2012, found that sex once a week kept couples happy, Forbes reports.

7am – D/E     INTERVIEW — MARY HYNES – Chair, Arlington County Board

• Mary Hughes Hynes was elected to the Arlington County Board in 2007. She began her second term as Chair January 1, 2015 having last served as Chair of the Board in 2012.
• Arlington County is ready and willing to help resettle Syrian refugees

8am – A/B/C Defense Secretary Ashton Carter: We Are at War With ISIS. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter agrees that the United States is at war with ISIS in an interview airing Thursday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.” Using the Obama administration’s preferred acronym for the ISIS, Carter tells MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinksi: “We have to defeat ISIL (ISIS). We will defeat ISIL. You see the barbarism associated with this, and so it is something that must be defeated.” Asked by Scarborough whether he agrees with French President François Hollande that “we’re at war with ISIS,” Carter replies, “Yeah.” “I think François Hollande has said it very well,” Carter says. “I’m glad the French are galvanized in joining the fight now.”

8am – D         8:35 – INTERVIEW: BRENDA DONALD – Deputy Mayor for Health and Human Services

• D.C. to Close Homeless Tent City Near Kennedy Center

8am – E         Burt Reynolds’ New Memoir Dishes on Love Life, Reveals Why He Turned Down Roles as James Bond, Han Solo. In his new memoir, actor Burt Reynolds writes about the highs and lows of his life in the spotlight, opening up about his love life, his favorite film roles and revealing why he declined the roles of James Bond and Han Solo. In a wide-ranging interview with Lara Spencer of “Good Morning America” in which he said actress Sally Field was the love of his life and opened up about his marriage to actress Loni Anderson, Reynolds also said he believed he could have done well as Bond. “Except this is what I said in my stupidity,” Reynolds, 79, said. “I said, ‘An American can’t play James Bond. It has to be an Englishman. Bond, James Bond. You know, I can’t do it.’” He was also offered the role of Han Solo, he added, the iconic character who helped launch actor Harrison Ford into “Star Wars” box office superstardom.