Daily Caller’s Vince Coglianese, Steve Moore, Michael Steele, Jake Tapper and Mary Walter joined WMAL on Thursday!

Mornings on the Mall

Thursday, December 15, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Mary Walter

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C Carols, Rudolph, Tree-Shaped Cookies And Even The Word HOLIDAY Are Politically Incorrect Now. (Daily Caller) — The phrase “holiday party” is no longer an acceptable replacement for “Christmas party” in the United States because some religions don’t have any big holidays around the end of December. Santa Claus and reindeer with red noses are also now insufficiently “inclusive.” So are Christmas carols, Christmas trees and, of course, sugar cookies with green or red sprinkles which are shaped like Christmas trees. News of the latest advance in politically-correct Yuletide nomenclature comes from a press release recently submitted to the world by Texas Woman’s University, a taxpayer-funded college with a main campus in the suburbs of Dallas.  The self-appointed arbiter of Christmas-related language is Mark Kessler, a male professor of multicultural women’s and gender studies. “When planning December office parties that coincide with the Christmas season, it is a challenge for event organizers to make celebrations ‘all-inclusive,’” the press release containing Kessler’s advice explains. “Not all faith traditions have holidays in December, and not everyone identifies with a particular faith tradition.” Thus, parties near the end of the December — which are obviously Christmas parties — should be named “without using the word ‘holiday’” because ‘holiday’ connotes religious tradition and may not apply to all employees.” Schools should have “end of semester” parties, Kessler advises. Offices should have “end of (fiscal) year” parties.

5am – D         Clinton News:

• Report: FBI’s Clinton Foundation Probe Ongoing Post-Election. FBI agents in New York were reportedly given a green light after the presidential election to continue an investigation of the Clinton Foundation. Officials at FBI headquarters ordered New York field agents to “go forward” with its probe focusing on corruption and money laundering, The Daily Caller reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed former official. “There were no instructions to shut it down, to discontinue or to stand down on the investigation, but to continue its work,” the source told The Daily Caller, adding the order came from bureau’s headquarters in Washington after the Nov. 8 election.

• Report: Clinton spent money late in irrelevant states to ensure she won the popular vote. A new report from Politico Wednesday morning illustrates the stunning extent to which the campaign of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton was blind to President-elect Donald Trump’s potential challenge in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania. Per Politico: “But there also were millions approved for transfer from Clinton’s campaign for use by the DNC — which, under a plan devised by Brazile to drum up urban turnout out of fear that Trump would win the popular vote while losing the electoral vote, got dumped into Chicago and New Orleans, far from anywhere that would have made a difference in the election. Nor did Brooklyn ask for help from some people who’d been expecting the call. Sanders threw himself into campaign appearances for Clinton throughout the fall, but familiar sources say the campaign never asked the Vermont senator’s campaign aides for help thinking through Michigan, Wisconsin or anywhere else where he had run strong. It was already November when the campaign finally reached out to the White House to get President Barack Obama into Michigan, a state that he’d worked hard and won by large margins in 2008 and 2012. On the Monday before Election Day, Obama added a stop in Ann Arbor, but that final weekend, the president had played golf on Saturday and made one stop in Orlando on Sunday, not having been asked to do anything else. Michigan senior adviser Steve Neuman had been asking for months to get Obama and the first lady on the ground there. People who asked for Vice President Joe Biden to come in were told that top Clinton aides weren’t clearing those trips.”
• Hillary Campaign Totally Ignored Dire Warnings From Michigan Ground Team. The Hillary Clinton campaign repeatedly dismissed the concerns of its own operatives on the ground in Michigan, belittling their work and ignoring warnings that she might lose the state. Clinton’s arrogant mindset apparently caused the campaign to miss key voter trends, such as the loss of white union members to Donald Trump in states such as Michigan and Pennsylvania. On the morning of Election Day, the campaign was so confident of a Clinton victory, staffers began drinking in the afternoon and making phone calls to potential transition team picks. Around 1 p.m. on Election Day, an operative on the ground in Michigan called headquarters to warn them the voter turnout numbers they collected (in defiance of the orders to the contrary) were not looking good for Clinton. Turnout in urban precincts was down 25 percent, the operative told headquarters, and the campaign should possibly be worried. “Nope, they were told,” Politico reports. “She was going to win by 5. All Brooklyn’s data said so.”
• The Claws Come Out! Hillary Staffers Rip Huma In Shocking Profile. In a shocking new profile published in “Vanity Fair” Wednesday, former advisers ripped into one of Clinton’s closest aides — claiming she enjoyed the limelight a little too much and suffocated Clinton to where she couldn’t embrace new campaign ideas. “I really don’t give a shit about what happens to Huma to be honest with you,” one adviser said.  “She was enjoying the red carpet and enjoying the photo spreads much too much in my opinion,” another added. “She enjoyed being a celebrity too much.” The insider said suggestions for new campaign tactics “fell on deaf ears” because of Abedin. “The real anger is toward Hillary’s inner circle,” the source continued.

5am – E         Tech Meeting with Trump:

• Amazon’s Bezos says meeting with Trump, tech leaders was ‘very productive.’ Amazon.com CEOs Jeff Bezos said he emphasized at a gathering of tech titans with President elect Donald J. Trump that innovation was key in creating new jobs. Jeff Bezos said a gathering of tech titans Wednesday with President-elect Donald J. Trump had been “very productive,” and that the Amazon.com CEO emphasized to the incoming administration that innovation was key in creating new jobs. Bezos, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Apple’s Tim Cook and other high-flying tech executives attended a meeting at Trump Tower in New York with the president elect and his transition team. It was an encounter with a man who, as a candidate, rubbed many in the technology industry the wrong way with restrictive views on immigration and other social issues. Trump didn’t seem very happy with Big Tech either. He lambasted Apple for manufacturing iPhones abroad and singled out Bezos, who owns The Washington Post in addition to Amazon. In a statement, Bezos reported that he “shared the view that the administration should make innovation one of its key pillars, which would create a huge number of jobs across the whole country, in all sectors, not just tech — agriculture, infrastructure, manufacturing– everywhere,” the CEO said.
• Uber, SpaceX/Tesla, and PepsiCo execs join Trump business council. (Reuters) — Elon Musk, the chairman and chief executive of SpaceX and Tesla as well as Uber Technologies CEO and co-founder Travis Kalanick and PepsiCo Chairman and CEO Indra Nooyi have joined U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s advisory council, Trump’s transition team said on Wednesday. The group, which includes numerous other top business leaders, aims to give industry input on the private sector to Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20.
• Sean Spicer: Twitter Absence at Trump Summit Not Intentional, ‘Conference Table Was Only So Big’ (Mediaite) — RNC communications director Sean Spicer pushed back on MSNBC today against a report saying that Twitter’s absence at Donald Trump‘s tech summit was intentional. The absence of CEO Jack Dorsey was a notable one, and a Politico report says it was retribution after Twitter denied the Trump campaign a promoted emoji for the #CrookedHillary hashtag. According to the report, Spicer made the call, but Spicer himself told Steve Kornacki, “I have no say in who attends meetings like that.” Kornacki remarked to him that Twitter’s absence was pretty odd, given Trump’s use of the social media platform, but Spicer insisted there was no retribution because aside from Peter Thiel, everyone in that room wasn’t exactly a supporter of his. He also noted that there were a lot of other companies absent from the summit and told Kornacki, “The conference table was only so big.”

6am – A/B/C ‘Couponing’ Mother Says She Was Physically Attacked Inside Memphis Market for Holding Up Checkout Line.  A “couponing” Tennessee mother says she was physically attacked inside a grocery store by a customer who complained she was holding up the line, KTLA sister WREG in Memphis reported Monday. Megan Wilson told the TV station she was attempting to use several coupons at a Kroger store in Memphis last Friday when a customer got frustrated because it was taking a long time at the checkout register. “He started shouting ‘Come on, there’s other people out here. Nobody has time for this,'” Wilson recalled. She then went “back and forth” with the man before the altercation turned violent, Wilson told WREG. “He grabbed my bun pulled me back and smashed me into my cart. When I came to… I was on the ground and my leg was under the cart,” she said. Wilson said her shopping cart was knocked over during the altercation, and that the customer ran out of the store, leaving his items behind.

6am – D         Ex-British ambassador who is now a WikiLeaks operative claims Russia did NOT provide Clinton emails – they were handed over to him at a D.C. park by an intermediary for ‘disgusted’ Democratic whistleblowers. (Daily Mail) — A Wikileaks envoy today claims he personally received Clinton campaign emails in Washington D.C. after they were leaked by ‘disgusted’ whisteblowers – and not hacked by Russia. Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan and a close associate of Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, told Dailymail.com that he flew to Washington, D.C. for a clandestine hand-off with one of the email sources in September. ‘Neither of [the leaks] came from the Russians,’ said Murray in an interview with Dailymail.com on Tuesday. ‘The source had legal access to the information. The documents came from inside leaks, not hacks.’

6am – E         Trump Transition News: First Family Office? Sources: Ivanka Trump to have East Wing office. Washington (CNN)Ivanka Trump is poised to play an active role in her father’s administration, assuming some of the duties normally assigned to the first lady. Trump transition aides are already planning for an “Office of the First Family,” in the East Wing where the current office of the first lady is located, sources familiar with the plan told CNN. Melania Trump is still expected to play a role in the White House. However, Ivanka is expected to have a prominent slot as well. A source said she is likely to play the part of Washington hostess as well as advise her father on issues including family leave to climate change.

7am – A    INTERVIEW – VINCE COGLIANESE – (KAH-LIN-NAYS) – Editor In Chief,  The Daily Caller

• Daily Caller Report: FBI’s Clinton Foundation Probe Ongoing Post-Election. FBI agents in New York were reportedly given a green light after the presidential election to continue an investigation of the Clinton Foundation. Officials at FBI headquarters ordered New York field agents to “go forward” with its probe focusing on corruption and money laundering, The Daily Caller reported Wednesday, citing an unnamed former official. “There were no instructions to shut it down, to discontinue or to stand down on the investigation, but to continue its work,” the source told The Daily Caller, adding the order came from bureau’s headquarters in Washington after the Nov. 8 election. The Daily Caller reported the same source said the probe was being conducted in as many as four other cities – Little Rock, Ark., Washington, D.C., Los Angeles and Miami. The status of those inquiries was unknown. President-elect Donald Trump indicated prosecuting rival Hillary Clinton or her foundation would not be a priority, though he did not rule out probes were under way.
• Daily Caller story: DC Schools Refuse To Condemn Tweet From Comms Director To ‘Get Rid’ Of White Men
• Vince’s thoughts on the Trump Transition, particularly the obsession over Russia hacking and questions over Trump’s business interests and how he’s going to hand off business to children.

7am – B         Christmas News:

• Nicole Kidman and hubby Keith Urban say no to Christmas gifts. (Fox News) – Nicole Kidman is looking forward to spending the holidays in Australia. The 49-year-old actress made a surprise appearance on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show,” airing Wednesday, when she chatted about her holiday plans with husband Keith Urban and their two daughters, 8-year-old Sunday and 5-year-old Faith. Kidman said her girls are definitely at the stage of wanting Christmas gifts. “They sort of want American dolls, and they want candy, and they want … they want want want,” Kidman joked. But Kidman says they’re also doing a little good for Christmas, letting their two daughters pick their choice of charity for their parents to donate to. However, when it comes to Kidman and Urban, the usually romantic couple doesn’t actually give each other gifts for Christmas. “I’ll kiss him,” Kidman smiled about whether or not she’ll sneak a gift in. “He’s in Australia right now and the girls and I are here, and we’re flying to him tonight, so we’re his presents!”

• Bah humbug. A New York lawyer is suing his neighbor for playing nonstop Christmas music. A New York grinch *ahem* attorney is suing his neighbor for blasting nonstop Christmas music out of a loudspeaker in her holiday light display.  Nick Wilder, who’s representing himself in the case, says his neighbor, socialite Lisa Maria Falcone’s musical display is out of control.  “It’s not like she plays it a half-hour every day,” he told the New York Post. “It’s on from 7 a.m. to midnight.”  Falcone and her husband, hedge-fund billionaire Philip Falcone, own three adjoining town houses across the street from Wilder in the Upper East Side.  Wilder is seeking an injunction to force his neighbors to stop playing the music.  “I like a Christmas song on Christmas Day. But I’m tired of hearing ‘Jingle Bells’ like 700 or 800 times a day,’’ he told the Post.

7am – C         Julia Ioffe Fired Over Obscene Ivanka Trump Tweet. Reporter Julia Ioffe has been fired by Politico after she suggested on Twitter that President-elect Donald Trump is having sex with his daughter Ivanka. Her tweet followed a report in The Hill that Ivanka will get an office in the White House in the space traditionally reserved for the First Lady. Trump’s team denied the report. Politico announced her firing, saying “incidents like this tarnish POLITICO and the great work being done across the company.” Ioffe reacted to her firing on Twitter, saying “I guess my phrasing should have been more delicate.”

7am – D         INTERVIEW — STEVE MOORE — Economist and a Trump economic adviser

• Fed Raises Rates for First Time in 2016, Anticipates 3 Increases in 2017. What does this mean for us?
• TECH MEETING: Bezos, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, Apple’s Tim Cook and other high-flying tech executives attended a meeting at Trump Tower in New York with the president elect and his transition team. Trump didn’t seem very happy with Big Tech either. He lambasted Apple for manufacturing iPhones abroad and singled out Bezos, who owns The Washington Post in addition to Amazon
• Thoughts on latest Trump transition news

7am – E         Clinton News:

• Report: FBI’s Clinton Foundation Probe Ongoing Post-Election.
• Report: Clinton spent money late in irrelevant states to ensure she won the popular vote
• Hillary Campaign Totally Ignored Dire Warnings From Michigan Ground Team.
• The Claws Come Out! Hillary Staffers Rip Huma In Shocking Profile.

8am – A         INTERVIEW — MICHAEL STEELE – Former RNC Chairman and Former Lt. Gov. Maryland

• Thoughts on the latest Trump cabinet picks, the obsession over Russia hacking and questions over Trump’s business interests and how he’s going to hand off business to children.
• Trump taps Ronna Romney McDaniel for RNC chair.

8am – B         DC marching bands want no part in Trump’s inauguration. (NY Post) — For the first time in 20 years, no Washington, DC, marching band will perform in the presidential inauguration. The bands that have performed at the last five inaugural parades — plus all other local groups — have not applied to participate in President-elect Donald Trump’s swearing-in ceremony, NBC 4 Washington reports. “I think everybody knows why and no one wants to say and lose their job,” Howard University band director John Newson, whose band marched for President Obama’s swearing-in ceremony in 2009, told the local news affiliate.

8am – C         ‘11th hour power grab’: Obama mandates state funding for Planned Parenthood. (The Washington Times) — President Obama is delivering a generous parting gift to Planned Parenthood in the form of a rule prohibiting states from divesting millions of dollars from the nation’s largest abortion provider. The final version of the rule, issued by the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday, requires states to distribute dollars from Title X of the Public Health Service Act without taking into account whether recipient clinics perform abortions. The edict is set to go into effect Jan. 18, two days before the presidential inauguration of Donald Trump. Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, praised Mr. Obama as a “champion for women’s health” but expressed doubt as to whether the rule will survive under Mr. Trump’s pick to head HHS, Rep. Tom Price of Georgia. “This rule protects birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and other health care for millions of people,” Ms. Richards said in a statement. “Yet this fight is not over. We are deeply concerned about the future of health care access in this country with extremists like Mike Pence and Tom Price at the helm.” Rep. Diane Black, a Tennessee Republican who sits on the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives, said the Obama administration “will not have the last word” on the rule.

8am – D         INTERVIEW — JAKE TAPPER – Anchor, CNN’s THE LEAD and STATE OF THE UNION

• First Family Office in the White House?
• Thoughts on the latest Trump cabinet picks, the obsession over Russia hacking and questions over Trump’s business interests and how he’s going to hand off business to children.

8am – E         Reindeer are shrinking because of climate change. Put the cookies out for them, not Santa. (Washington Post) — By Karin Brulliard “Dear Children, There is no easy way to say this, so I’ll just cut to the chase: My sleigh will be bringing fewer Christmas gifts this year. My reindeer, I’m afraid, are simply too small to lug such large loads anymore. I assure you this is not because I have eaten too many cookies, nor is this a letter actually written by your parents who forgot to buy presents. It’s also not because you’ve been naughty. It is, scientists tell me, due to climate change (which this resident of the warming Arctic, unlike the U.S. president-elect, believes is real)… Excuse me for a minute while I grab a tissue. Even Jolly Old Saint Nick is devastated by the idea of a reindeer die-off. But don’t worry! We won’t let this ruin Christmas. Now that I know about this, I’ll adjust next year and bring smaller presents. We’re also experimenting with adding a couple of reindeer to the team, but so far they keep getting tangled up. And now that Dancer, Prancer and the rest of the crew know what’s going on, they’re adjusting their reindeer games by picking sports better suited to the small in stature. Less rugby; more gymnastics. Good luck to all of us, right? And ho, ho, ho! Love, Santa”