Hans Von Spakovsky, KT McFarland, Roger Stone, National Zoo’s Lori Thompson and Michael Mukasey joined WMAL on Wednesday!

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

5am – A/B/C     Trump says he won’t participate in GOP debate on Fox News. MARSHALL TOWN, Iowa — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump abruptly announced here Tuesday that he would not participate in Thursday’s scheduled debate, escalating his off-and-on feud with Fox News Channel and throwing the GOP campaign into turmoil. Trump’s assertion, which his campaign manager insisted was irreversible, came less than one week before the kickoff Iowa caucuses. He once again defied the conventional rules of politics, and used his power and prominence to shape the campaign agenda and conversation.

5am – D         Dead gambler embalmed, propped up at poker table. (NY Post) — Henry Rosario Martinez (left) loved poker so much that when he died, he was embalmed and propped up at a poker table with his loved ones. This guy’s already cashed out — but that didn’t stop his pals from paying him a macabre tribute. Henry Rosario Martinez, a 31-year-old avid gambler, died earlier this month from booze and an overdose of prescription pills in his hometown of Barceloneta, Puerto Rico. Before Martinez was buried, the man’s dad had undertakers embalm his son, dress him in sunglasses and casual clothes and prop him up at a poker table so loved ones could see him one more time, doing what he enjoyed, CEN reported. A full house of friends gathered around Martinez’s corpse, anted up the memories and snapped pictures of him at the poker table, with a full stack of chips in front of him. Jose Melendez, owner of Eterna Luz Funeral Services, admitted he’s never done a job quite like this — but said it’s not unusual for grieving loved ones to request an arrangement to show how the dearly departed lived.

5am – E         CRITTER NEWS: Do you want to know what your dog is feeling? WhatsYapp: Messaging App Helps Dogs ‘Talk’ to Owners. Ever wondered why your dog’s head is cocked to one side? Or why it’s barking for no apparent reason? There’s an app for that. Or, there may be soon. The U.K. pet store Fetch has come up with a smart collar concept that analyzes a dog’s sounds, movements and activities and then tells the animal’s owner what their pet is thinking through a companion smartphone app, appropriately called WhatsYapp. Its creators describe it as the “most advanced communications system” between dogs and humans and say it could identify important emotions in pets, such as stress, hunger, excitement, boredom and confusion. WhatsApp WhatsYapp smart collar Fetch The WhatsYapp dog collar will analyze a dog’s sounds, movements and activities, and transmit what the animal is feeling to its owner’s phone.

6am – A/B     Trump says he won’t participate in GOP debate on Fox News. MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump abruptly announced here Tuesday that he would not participate in Thursday’s scheduled debate, escalating his off-and-on feud with Fox News Channel and throwing the GOP campaign into turmoil.

6am – C         WMAL’S TRAFFIC REPORTER JAMEE WHITTEN

6am – D/E     INTERVIEW – HANS VON SPAKOVSKY – a former counsel to the assistant attorney general for civil rights in the Justice Department, senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation and co-author of book “Obama’s Enforcer: Eric Holder’s Justice Department”

• Planned Parenthood cleared, but 2 indicted over videos. While abortion opponents have had Planned Parenthood in their sights for years, attacks on the organization have been particularly effective following the release of a controversial series of undercover videos in the summer of 2015 produced by an anti-abortion group.

6am – E         IRANIAN PRESIDENT’S TOUR OF EUROPE:

• Why is France commemorating the Holocaust with Iran’s president?
• Rome covers up nude statues in museum for the president of Iran, drawing criticism.
• Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Pope Francis “I ask you to pray for me.”

7am – A/B     What are your roads like? Did they FINALLY get plowed?

• Ike Leggett, Montgomery Co. executive, promises every street plowed by 7 a.m. Wed.: MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. (ABC7) — Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett has promised a snow plow will pass every county street by 7 a.m. Wednesday. The bold pledge came during a press conference Tuesday afternoon amid hundreds (if not thousands) of complaints about poor plow service and an interactive online map that had misleading terminology about the status of plow operations. “When you go to the county map and it shows [my cul-de-sac] is in progress, and it’s been like that for two days, that is a problem because as you can tell, nothing’s happened,” Derwood resident Steve Eisinger said.
• VDOT Snow Plowing Update for Fairfax County. VDOT’s goal is to make one lane of all subdivisions passable by Jan. 27 at 6 am.. FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA: Virginia Department of Transporation (VDOT) crews are making significant progress on 16,000 subdivision streets across northern Virginia, according to a VDOT announcement today, Jan. 26, 2016. VDOT’s Northern Virginia District includes Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William and Arlington counties (Arlington maintains its own secondary roads).

7am – C        WMAL’S TRAFFIC REPORTER JAMEE WHITTEN

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

@KTMcFarland

• Why is France commemorating the Holocaust with Iran’s president?
• Rome covers up nude statues in museum for the president of Iran, drawing criticism.
• Hillary’s team copied intel off top-secret server to email

7am – E         Abe Vigoda dead at 94. Abe Vigoda, a character actor best known for his roles in ‘Barney Miller’ and ‘The Godfather’ has passed away at the age of 94. NEW YORK (AP) — Character actor Abe Vigoda, whose leathery, sunken-eyed face made him ideal for playing the over-the-hill detective Phil Fish in the 1970s TV series Barney Miller and the doomed Mafia soldier in The Godfather, died Tuesday at age 94. Vigoda’s daughter, Carol Vigoda Fuchs, told The Associated Press that Vigoda died Tuesday morning in his sleep at Fuchs’ home in Woodland Park, New Jersey. The cause of death was old age. “This man was never sick,” Fuchs said.

8am – A         INTERVIEW — ROGER STONE – Veteran political consultant for presidents from Richard Nixon to Ronald Reagan to George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush

• HIS UPCOMING BOOK: He has a new book coming out: “Jeb! and the Bush Crime Family: The Inside Story of an American Dynasty” (Hardcover – February 16, 2016)
• Trump says he won’t participate in GOP debate on Fox News

8am – B         INTERVIEW — LORI THOMPSON – Giant Panda Biologist and panda keeper, The Washington National Zoo

• The National Zoo’s Giant Panda Tian Tian Is Still Playing in the Snow. We can bearly contain our excitement. The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., made everyone’s snow day on Saturday with a video of its giant panda Tian Tian frolicking in the snow. On Monday, the zoo released another clip on Instagram that shows the animal rolling down a snowy hill inside its enclosure. Unfortunately visitors cannot rush to the zoo to see Tian Tian yet, as its staff is still working to clear the white stuff from the blizzard that walloped the East Coast. Federal offices were also closed Monday, and public school classes were cancelled.

8am –C          WMAL’S TRAFFIC REPORTER JAMEE WHITTEN

8am – D         INTERVIEW – JUDGE MICHAEL MUKASEY – Former U.S. Attorney General

• Mr. Mukasey served as a U.S. district judge (1988-2006) and as U.S. attorney general (2007-09). He is an adviser to Jeb Bush on matters of national security.
• Clinton’s Emails: A Criminal Charge Is Justified. Hillary’s explanations look increasingly contrived as evidence of malfeasance mounts day by day. (WSJ/By Michael B. Mukasey) — While the State Department and intelligence agencies finish picking through messages recovered from the private email server Hillary Clinton used to conduct public business as secretary of state, the contents of the periodic document dumps have become increasingly sensitive. State has been referring any email that appears to contain sensitive information for further consideration by the agency with jurisdiction over the relevant data. Thus the most problematic emails are dribbling out last.