Robert Thomson aka Dr. Gridlock, Stuart Varney, Tucker Carlson and Jake Tapper joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, December 10, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B     DRIVE AT FIVE INTERVIEW — STEPHEN DINAN – Washington Times

TOPIC: Emergency measures imposed as border surge surprises, overwhelms immigration officials

5am – C         Congress to Consider Easing Passage into U.S. for Immigrants. Congressional source: ‘The amendment is intended to be a response to Trump’s statement’ about Muslims. (Washington Free Beacon) — Congress is set to vote on Thursday on what some have called an “unprecedented” right that would allow immigrants easier access to relocate to the United States, according to new legislation offered by a Democratic senator.

5am – D         The Top 10 Things I Want for Christmas. (Huffington Post/By Gloria Steinem) — This speech was delivered at BETTY’s holiday show, and also appeared on Facebook. Read more about BETTY’s charity, The BETTY Effect, and find out how to get involved here. 10. An abject apology from Donald Trump for being a Birther; anti-immigrant; a builder of buildings that look like big Dunhill cigarette lighters; the world’s most punishing source of Green Cards for women who marry him to get one; daring to rate women as no longer Tens when he himself has never been a One; going bankrupt multiple times in order to stick other people with his bad-judgment debt; pretending he ever hit a home run when actually, he was born on Third Base — and oh, yes, setting the hair weave industry all the way back to Rogaine. 9. If Trump doesn’t apologize, I wish us all the gift of remembering that Hitler was democratically elected — in a low voter turnout. 8. I would like state legislatures to stop building prisons with money that once went to universities, thus keeping way too many people in prison and way too many people in lifetime debt. This would not happen if Americans gave ourselves the gift of knowing and caring who our state legislators are.

5am – E         Illinois Democrat proposes bill to recall Chicago Mayor Emanuel: As hundreds of protesters walked through the heart of Chicago’s shopping districts Wednesday, calling for the removal of Mayor Rahm Emanuel, a state representative introduced legislation to open the door to a potential recall of the embattled mayor. La Shawn Ford, a Democrat, introduced a bill Wednesday that would provide a mechanism to recall the mayor. State Rep. Mary Flowers, also a Democrat, signed on as a co-sponsor Wednesday afternoon. The legislation would amend a 1941 law to create “a procedure for an election to recall the Mayor of Chicago,” and the bill proposes that change would be “effective immediately,” if passed by the legislature. Legal experts say there is no current mechanism under state law to recall a mayor. A 2010 referendum does allow Illinois voters to recall a governor – that process includes voters and a request from multiple members of the legislature.

6am – A/B/C Chicago-style pizza is coming to D.C. with the Vin & Vic’s pop-up.Thomas Madrecki, founder of “hipster” supper club Chez le Commis, is launching a Chicago-style pizza pop-up called Vin & Vic’s. The first Vin & Vic’s dinner will take place Jan. 8 at Capitol Lounge, which has a gas-powered pizza oven. The kitchen will run from 4 p.m. until 2 a.m. Madrecki, who has an extensive knowledge of wine and was named one of Wine Enthusiast’s Top 40 Under 40 Tastemakers in 2014, will prepare both thin-crust and deep-dish Chicago-style pizzas with a variety of build-your-own toppings.

6am – D         INTERVIEW — ROBERT THOMSON — aka Washington Post’s Dr. Gridlock

• State Approves I-66 Inside the Beltway Plan; Tolls Begin in 2017. Solo drivers might one day be able to drive on I-66 inside the Capital Beltway – if they pay a toll.
• Virginia panel okays I-66 HOT lanes inside Beltway

6am – E         Trump News:

• Krauthammer: Trump Won’t Run As A Third Party Because He Doesn’t Want To Be Seen As A ‘Loser.’ Syndicated columnist Charles Krauthammer argued that Donald Trump won’t run as a third party candidate because “I don’t think he likes to be seen as a loser.” Appearing on Fox News’s “Special Report” with guest host Shannon Bream on Wednesday, Krauthammer suggested that if Trump starts slipping in the polls “he’ll say this had to do with unfairness or whatever, ganging up, and then he will have the option of leaving.”
• Trump: ‘I’m Thinking About Making Ivanka Vice President.’ I am kidding folks.’ RIPA: “Your family’s very involved in your business. Your children are really present in your business. Will there be places in the administration for your children?” TRUMP: “Well, I’m thinking making Ivanka vice president. What do you think? (Laughter) I’m kidding. I’m kidding.” RIPA: “(Laughter) Ivanka just dropped the phone, ‘what?'”(Laughter) TRUMP: “No, I am kidding and I have to say I’m kidding because the press will then go with it and say, ‘Trump wants to make Ivanka Vice President.'” RIPA: “Right. Right.” TRUMP: “They will make it a big deal. You know, I said on a certain show that my daughter’s a beautiful young woman. So I said — and I said it jokingly and everybody laughed — I said my daughter’s so beautiful that if I weren’t married, et cetera, et cetera, I would be dating her. OK? Cute. It was cute. Everybody laughed. They cracked up. The next day, ‘Trump wants to date his daughter.’ The whole place was cracking up. So when I say vice president, I’m kidding, folks. I’m kidding. But she would be good.”

7am – A         Meet the 52 Year-Old Father Who Identifies As a 6 Year-Old Girl. (Mediaite) — In an interview with gay news site The Daily Xtra, a 52 year-old Canadian father of seven explains how he now identifies as a 6 year-old girl. “I can’t deny I was married. I can’t deny I have children,” Stefonknee Wolscht says. “But I’ve moved forward now and I’ve gone back to being a child. I don’t want to be an adult right now.” “I have a mummy and a daddy– adopted mummy and daddy who are totally comfortable with me being a little girl,” he tells the reporter. “And their children and their grandchildren are totally supportive.” Wolscht used to be an eight-year-old girl, but later went even younger at the insistence of his adopted sibling. “A year ago I was eight and she was seven. And she said to me, ‘I want you to be the little sister, so I’ll be nine.’ I said, ‘Well, I don’t mind going to six.’ So I’ve been six ever since.”

7am – B         Gray News:

• Long-running probe ends without charges against former D.C. mayor Vincent Gray. Former D.C. mayor Vincent C. Gray will not be charged after a years-long federal probe into the illegal financing of his 2010 campaign, as prosecutors announced the end of the investigation Wednesday. The city’s top prosecutor, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips, closed out the probe that has cast a long shadow over District politics, saying that the office likely did not have enough “admissible evidence” to secure any additional convictions.
• Officer Porter takes the stand in trial in Freddie Gray’s death. A defiant William G. Porter took the witness stand Wednesday afternoon, squaring off with a prosecutor intent on proving that he allowed Freddie Gray to die. Chief Deputy State’s Attorney Michael Schatzow zeroed in on differences between Porter’s testimony in his manslaughter trial and a statement the young Baltimore police officer gave to internal investigators just days after Gray suffered a fatal neck injury in the back of a police transport van in April. “You did not protect Freddie Gray’s life, did you?” Schatzow said. “Untrue,” Porter said. Porter’s testimony came on the first day of his defense team’s presentation, which also included testimony from a well-known forensic expert who contradicted the findings of the state medical examiner’s autopsy, and another police officer who took part in Gray’s arrest and was granted immunity by the state.

7am – C         Terrorism News:

• FBI DIRECTOR COMEY told lawmakers there could be problems with trying to recover some of that data if it’s encrypted and admitted the FBI still hasn’t been able to access messages sent by the two would-be terrorists who attempted to carry out a shooting in Garland, Texas earlier this year.
• San Bernardino Attackers Were Radicalized Before Meeting, FBI Director Says. The husband-and-wife team who killed 14 people during a shooting rampage in San Bernardino, Calif., had been radicalized before they “started courting or dating each other online,” FBI Director James Comey said on Wednesday.

7am – D         INTERVIEW — STUART VARNEY – Anchor, Varney and Company, Fox Business Network

• Trump is surging in polls. New Fox News poll from South Carolina, taken before and after Trump’s Muslim comments, finds him 20 points ahead of GOP field
• Stuart discussed the concerns about plunging oil prices.
• Fed Plans to Signal Gradual, Cautious Path on Rate Hikes.

7am – E         Entertainment News:

• ‘Walking Dead’s’ Norman Reedus bitten by fan at zombie convention. The Walking Dead‘s Norman Reedus (who plays the sullen Daryl on the zombie show) was bitten by a (rabid) fan at a zombie convention in New Jersey. Superfan Robin Grover bit Reedus on the chest during a photo-op at Walker Stalker Con, after telling the actor that she likes to inform people that she and him are married. Security at the event immediately seized Grover and forced her to leave the convention. Reedus posted a biting rebuttal on his Instagram: Reedus posted a photo of himself with T-shirt that says “Don’t Bite Me”

• Noel Gallagher: Musician Says Singer Adele’s Music Is for ‘Grannies.’ Noel Gallagher blasts Adele’s album as ‘cheesy music for f***ing grannies.’ The singer has never been known to mince his words, and now he has come for Adele. Noel Gallagher is known for his sharp tongue, and has now added Adele to his list of victims. She’s enjoyed great success lately ,what with her highly successful and record-breaking album ’25’ and sell-out tour, so the musician was asked by Music Feeds what he thought of the songstress. He was not polite. He said: “If someone wants to know what I think of Adele, I’ll f***ing tell them… I just don’t see what all the fuss is about. I don’t like her music. I think it’s music for f***ing grannies.”

• Burt Reynolds to Charlie Sheen: You got what you ‘deserved,’ buddy. (USA Today) — Burt Reynolds, no stranger to self-inflicted woes, has no sympathy for others’ either, not even his friends. Reynolds, who was on a British chat show promoting his new memoir about his own past wild ways (he’s now 79), declared Tuesday that he has no sympathy for HIV-positive Charlie Sheen, despite his being the son of an old friend, Martin Sheen. “Charlie, I don’t feel bad for him. He’s getting what he deserves,” because of his longtime hard-partying ways with sex and drugs, Reynolds rasped on Loose Women. “If you’re going to misbehave like that, they’re going to get you.” Charlie’s dad, however, is a “very, very decent man and a dear friend of mine. I feel bad for him,” he affirmed.
• Lindsay Lohan makes surprise appearance at Duran Duran concert, performs ‘Danceophobia’ (NY Daily News) — Lindsay Lohan’s career renaissance continued Tuesday when she stunned fans with her guest appearance at Duran Duran’s concert in London. The singer and actress joined the English pop icons onstage at the famous O2 Arena, where she performed their catchy 2015 collaboration, “Danceophobia.” The 29-year-old star recited her lengthy spoken word verse in front of the unsuspecting fans, as the band members played and danced behind her. “What an honor,” Lohan posted on Instagram after the show, along with a video from the concert. “God Works in mysterious ways.”

8am – A         INTERVIEW — TUCKER CARLSON — Editor, The Daily Caller and co-host of Fox & Friends Weekend

• Trump is still surging in polls. New Fox News poll taken before and after Trump’s Muslim comments, finds him 20 points ahead of GOP field
• Stacey Dash cursing — has Tucker ever cursed on air or almost cursed?

8am – B/C     State Approves I-66 Inside the Beltway Plan; Tolls Begin in 2017. (CBS DC) – Solo drivers might one day be able to drive on I-66 inside the Capital Beltway – if they pay a toll. McLEAN, Va. — The Commonwealth Transportation Board unanimously approved a plan Wednesday to allow solo motorists to begin driving on Interstate 66 inside the Capital Beltway during rush hour if they are willing to pay a toll. The highway is a key route for commuters in northern Virginia to the nation’s capital. Currently, that stretch of road is restricted during rush hour to carpools of two or more. It is the only segment of the interstate highway system in the country where such a restriction exists, according to the Virginia Department of Transportation. Under the plan, solo drivers could use the highway if they pay a variable toll estimated to average about $6 each way. Carpools can still drive for free. The tolls would take effect in 2017.

8am – D         INTERVIEW – JAKE TAPPER — Anchor, The Lead with Jake Tapper and State of the Union on CNN

• Latest Trump News: Trump is still surging in polls.
• Chicago Protesters Demand Mayor To Resign. Chicago mayor apologizes for teen’s death, vows reforms. CHICAGO (AP) — Mayor Rahm Emanuel, known for keeping vise-like control over Chicago and his own political image, finds himself in the weakest position of his long public career as he struggles to respond to a police scandal, claims of cover-ups at City Hall and calls for his resignation.
• Plug Jake’s “State of the Union” Sunday show guests and CNN GOP Debate

8am – E         Congress News:

• Congress to Consider Easing Passage into U.S. for Immigrants. Congressional source: ‘The amendment is intended to be a response to Trump’s statement’ about Muslims. (Washington Free Beacon) — Congress is set to vote on Thursday on what some have called an “unprecedented” right that would allow immigrants easier access to relocate to the United States, according to new legislation offered by a Democratic senator. The legislation, which is being offered by Sen. Patrick Leahy (D., Vt.) as an amendment to a larger bill governing nuclear safety, would prohibit the U.S. government from barring any individual from entering the country based on their religion. The bill comes amid a fierce national debate about immigration to America, particularly for individuals coming from Muslim-majority nations.