Mark Krikorian, Byron York, KT McFarland, Katie Phang and Tom Fitton joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, December 9, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C DRIVE AT FIVE INTERVIEW: MARK KRIKORIAN – executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies

• KRIKORIAN: It’s Time for a Grown-Up Alternative to Trump’s Crude Muslim-Immigration Proposal

5am – D         D.C. Council Looks at Tougher Penalties for Traffic Offenses. (NBC Washington) — District of Columbia lawmakers are considering several bills that would beef up penalties for traffic offenses. The D.C. Council will hear testimony Tuesday on a bill that would increase fines for distracted driving. The measure would also mandate a suspended license for someone who has three distracted-driving citations in a year and a half.

5am – E         Judicial Watch Releases ‘Compelling Benghazi Email’ It Says ‘Worsens the Scandal of Benghazi.’ A conservative government watchdog group released a new Benghazi email Tuesday that then-Department of Defense Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash sent to the State Department offering military forces that could have moved into the area. Bash sent his email — obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit — to three senior State Department officials just hours after the deadly 2012 attacks initially unfolded. “[W]e have identified the forces that could move to Benghazi,” he wrote. “They are spinning up as we speak.” The email was sent to Jacob Sullivan, who served as deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton. Wendy Sherman and Thomas Nides were both senior State Department officials.

6am – A/B/C Study Says That Men Have The Better Sense Of Direction. In classic men vs. women moment, it looks like there might be a partial answer to the age-old road trip question, “honey, are we lost?” At least for now… Researchers at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology recently conducted experiments to learn more about gender and sense of direction. The researchers administered testosterone to women and tested how they performed in “wayfinding tasks” in a virtual environment. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), a technology that measures brain activity, the researchers saw that men in the study took several shortcuts, oriented themselves more using cardinal directions and used a different part of the brain than the women in the study. “Men’s sense of direction was more effective,” said Carl Pintzka, a medical doctor and doctoral candidate at the university’s Department of Neuroscience, in a press release. “They quite simply got to their destination faster.” The lines show how men and women navigated a route. The blue lines are the women’s routes, and the red lines are the men’s. The lines show that the men arrived faster and solved more tasks. (NTNU)

6am – D/E     Baker: Nats need more black, Latino players to increase speed. NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Dusty Baker thinks the Washington Nationals need more speed, so he wants more African-American and Latino players on the roster. He also vigorously defended Cincinnati Reds closer Aroldis Chapman, who was accused of choking his girlfriend and shooting a gun during an incident in October. And Baker also had a different take on domestic violence. At the winter meetings as a manager for the first time since he was fired by the Reds after the 2013 season, Baker answered more than 30 questions in a free-wheeling interview session Tuesday. ”You’re always in need of left-handed pitching, left-handed hitting, and in need of speed,” he said. ”I think that’s the number one thing that’s missing, I think, in the game is speed. You know, with the need for minorities, you can help yourself – you’ve got a better chance of getting some speed with Latin and African-Americans. ”I’m not being racist,” he added. ”That’s just how it is.”

7am – A         INTERVIEW — BYRON YORK – Chief Political Correspondent for the Washington Examiner

• Byron’s reaction to the uproar to Trump’s Muslim comments

7am – B/C    White House: Donald Trump Has Disqualified Himself From Presidency. Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Trump’s campaign had a “dustbin of history” quality to it. WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) – The White House on Tuesday said Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s call for the United States to ban Muslims from entering the country disqualified him from becoming president and called on Republicans to reject him immediately. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Trump’s campaign had a “dustbin of history” quality to it and said his comments were offensive and toxic.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — KT MCFARLAND – Fox News National Security Analyst

• Donald Trump calls for ‘complete shutdown’ of Muslims entering the U.S.
• Russia launches new airstrikes in Syria; 1st from submarine Russia says it has for the first time hit targets in Syria with missiles launched from a submarine.
• Judicial Watch Releases ‘Compelling Benghazi Email’ It Says ‘Worsens the Scandal of Benghazi’
• Iran Test-Fires Another Missile, U.S. Says

7am – E        Entertainment News:

• The Voice Jordan Smith Sings ‘Somebody to Love,’ Beats Adele on iTunes. Jordan Smith is getting a lot more than “Somebody to Love.” The 21-year-old singer performed the Queen classic on NBC’s The Voice on Monday, and soon found himself dethroning Adele from the top spot on iTunes. “I don’t need to say anything at all because that’s one of the best things I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” said his coach Adam Levine, who was fist pumping as Smith belted in front of a large gospel choir.
• Petition Demands Adele Admit She’s Successful Only Because She’s White, and Insists She Give Away Her Money. A petition addressed to Adele, President Obama, and Billboard on Change.org demands that the singer admit that she has “little talent” and is succeeding mainly because of her white privilege. “Adele sold over 3.38 million copies of her album ‘25′ and the media is praising her as if Adele’s success has everything to do with talent,” reads the petition, written by Rhianna Jones. “Rather, it’s her white privilege that has put her on top,” it declares. The petitioners also “demand that Adele donates her money to African-American causes such as #Blacklivesmatter.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW — KATIE PHANG – Fox News legal analyst, trial attorney, former prosecutor and Partner at Berger Singerman, based in Miami, FL.

• Prosecutors rest their case against Officer Porter; judge rules trial will continue. Defense attorneys for Baltimore Police Officer William Porter will begin presenting their case to jurors on Wednesday after Judge Barry G. Williams turned back their request to dismiss the charges against him. Porter’s attorneys argued Tuesday that prosecutors had failed to show that his conduct during the arrest of Freddie Gray was “extraordinary or outrageous.” Gray died in April after suffering a severe spinal cord injury in police custody.

8am – B         House tightens controls on visa-free travel to US. WASHINGTON (AP) — Driven by the Paris terror attacks, the House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to tighten controls on travel to the U.S. and require visas for anyone who’s been in Iraq or Syria in the previous five years. The legislation takes aim at the “visa waiver” program that allows citizens of 38 countries to travel to the U.S. for stays of 90 days and less without first obtaining a visa from an embassy or consulate. Belgium and France, home to most of the perpetrators of last month’s Paris attacks, are among the participating countries. The bill, which passed 407-19, would institute a series of changes, including the new visa requirement for citizens of Iraq, Syria and any other country deemed a terrorist hotspot, along with anyone who’s traveled to those countries in the previous five years. Exceptions are made for official government visits and military service.

8am – C         Being a good looking man could hinder your career, study finds. Handsome men are less likely to be promoted by men as they are deemed a threat to their male rivals.   Women have long complained that those blessed with good looks are more likely to be promoted at work than their less attractive colleagues. However, a new study has found that the opposite may be true of men. Being handsome can actually impede a man’s professional progress, experts found, as male colleagues tend to be reluctant to promote those deemed more good looking than themselves. Researchers from University College London’s School of Management found that those blessed with the looks of George Clooney or Mad Men’s Don Draper, were considered competent. But as a result they are perceived as a threat in the workplace. Experts believe good looking men are less likely to get ahead.

8am – D         INTERVIEW — TOM FITTON – President, Judicial Watch

• Judicial Watch Releases ‘Compelling Benghazi Email’ It Says ‘Worsens the Scandal of Benghazi’ – A conservative government watchdog group released a new Benghazi email Tuesday that then-Department of Defense Chief of Staff Jeremy Bash sent to the State Department offering military forces that could have moved into the area. Bash sent his email — obtained by Judicial Watch through a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit — to three senior State Department officials just hours after the deadly 2012 attacks initially unfolded. “[W]e have identified the forces that could move to Benghazi,” he wrote. “They are spinning up as we speak.” The email was sent to Jacob Sullivan, who served as deputy chief of staff to Hillary Clinton. Wendy Sherman and Thomas Nides were both senior State Department officials.

8am – E         TIME’s Person of the Year 2015 is German Chancellor Angela Merkel. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been named TIME’s Person of the Year. TIME Managing Editor Nancy Gibbs revealed that the woman who courted controversy in 2015 by opening her nation’s border to hundreds of thousands of refugees and managed Europe’s debt crisis as the choice in a TODAY exclusive Wednesday morning. “In a year where world leaders were tested all through the year, no one was tested the way she was, over and over again,” Gibbs told Savannah Guthrie. “The threat to European peace and security really fell to her.”