Byron York, KT McFarland and Quentin Kidd joined WMAL on Wednesday.

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

Executive Producer: Heather Smith Hunter

5am – A/B/C             Paul Ryan Says He’ll Run for Speaker, but Only on His Terms. (NBC News) — Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said Tuesday night that he would run for House speaker — but only if his Republican colleagues meet several conditions. In the weeks since Speaker John Boehner of Ohio announced his retirement last month, Ryan — the Republicans’ vice presidential nominee in 2012 — hadn’t definitely said whether he wanted the job of herding the notoriously fractious Republican caucus, despite urging from colleagues across the political spectrum. That ended Tuesday night at a meeting of the House Republican Conference, where Ryan told fellow Republicans that he would run if the caucus unifies around a positive message of big ideas. “We need to move from an opposition party to a proposition party,” Ryan told reporters. “If I can truly be a unifying figure, then I will gladly serve.” Ryan said it’s easy to blame President Barack Obama and the media — and “that is kind of fun sometimes,” he acknowledged. But the American people want results, not debating victories, he said. “If my colleagues entrust me with being the speaker, then I want us to be the solution,” he said. Ryan said he was happy as chairman of the powerful Ways and Means Committee and that he came to his decision to run for speaker “only reluctantly.”

5am – D         2016 Democrat News:

• Jim Webb drops out of Democratic presidential primary. Washington (CNN) Jim Webb ended his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination at a press conference Tuesday, telling reporters he will consider an independent bid. Speaking at the National Press Club in Washington, Webb argued the Democratic Party has moved away from “millions of dedicated, hard-working Americans.” “For this reason, I am withdrawing from any consideration of being the Democratic Party’s nominee for the presidency,” he said. “The very nature of our democracy is under siege due to the power structure and the money that finances both political parities,” Webb said, adding later that it is “time for a new Declaration of Independence — not from an outside power but from the paralysis of a federal system that no longer serves the interests of the vast majority of the American people.”
• Martin O’Malley sang ‘Bad Blood’ on The View. (Entertainment Weekly) — Former Maryland governor and current Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley took an unconventional route to appeal to voters Tuesday morning.       In an appearance on The View, he broke out an acoustic guitar and sang Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” — an appropriate song for the candidate, whose lackluster polling has forced him to take a more aggressive stance toward current frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. “Katy Perry, I’m told, is doing a benefit concert for one of my opponents in Iowa,” he said in a not-so-subtle dig at Clinton’s campaign. “So in response, I thought I’d offer this up for Taylor Swift.” Watch his cover of “Bad Blood” above, complete with the ending “Hey!”

5am – E         Benghazi Hearing Preview:

• State Department Suddenly Discovers 1,300 Pages of Amb. Stevens’ Email. (Breitbart) — Just two days before Hillary Clinton’s testimony to the House Benghazi Committee, the State Department presented lawmakers with a huge trove of Ambassador Chris Stevens’ emails: Yesterday, Fox News obtained one of Stevens’ cables from July 2012, and found him pleading for decent security protection… a plea that fell on deaf ears in Hillary Clinton’s department. In the July 9, 2012 cable, Stevens reported that, “Overall security conditions continue to be unpredictable, with large numbers of armed groups and individuals not under control of the central government, and frequent clashes in Tripoli and other major population centers.” The cable said 13 security personnel would be the “minimum” needed for “transportation security and incident response capability.”
• Clinton State Department approved U.S. weapons shipment to Libya despite ban. (Washington Times) – The State Department initially approved a weapons shipment from a California company to Libyans seeking to oust Moammar Gadhafi in 2011 even though a United Nations arms ban was in place, according to memos recovered from the burned-out compound in Benghazi. The documents, obtained by The Washington Times, show U.S. diplomats at the Benghazi compound were keeping track of several potential U.S.-sanctioned shipments to allies, one or more of which were destined for the Transitional National Council, the Libyan movement that was seeking to oust Gadhafi and form a new government.

6am – A/B/C  October 21, 2015, is the date Marty McFly visited in Back To The Future II. (Daily Mail) — There have been more than a few hoax attempts over the past few years, but the big day is finally here – tomorrow is October 21, 2015, which is when Marty McFly and Doc Brown went into the future in Back To The Future II. It is a moment in time that fans of the 80s film trilogy have been waiting years for. As a result, around the world different countries are hosting their own Back To The Future events tomorrow, with everything from meet and greets with the cast to a chance to tour the original set at Universal Studios in California. Several of the events are also fundraising for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

Reston (Temporarily) Changes Name to Hill Valley to Celebrate “Back to the Future” Day. (NBC Washington) — Great Scott! Marty McFly arrived (will arrive?) in “the future” at 4:29 p.m. Oct 21, 2015 — in other words, this week. Reston, Virginia is celebrating the future imagined in 1989’s “Back to the Future Part II” by ceremoniously changing the town’s name to Hill Valley, Marty’s fictional hometown, RestonNow.com reported. The name will be in effect from Wednesday through the end of Reston’s Washington West International Film Festival, RestonNow reported. The film fest will screen the entire trilogy this Wednesday at Bow Tie Cinemas at Reston Town Center. The marathon begins at 7 p.m. (yes, it will be a long night). Tickets are $20 for adults, and $17 for students and seniors. On Sunday, you can catch a red-carpet screening of “Back to the Future.” Christopher Lloyd (“Doc” Emmett L. Brown), Claudia Wells (Jennifer in the first “BTTF”), co-writer/co-producer Bob Gale, and others will appear at the screening — although we hate to break it to you that it’s already sold out.

6am – D         “Clock kid” Ahmed Mohamed is moving to Qatar. (TIME) — Ahmed Mohamed, the 14-year-old whose homemade clock was mistaken for a bomb, is moving to Qatar, the family announced on Tuesday. “After careful consideration of all the generous offers received, we would like to announce that we have accepted a kind offer from Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) for Ahmed to join the prestigious QF Young Innovators Program, which reflects the organization’s on-going dedication to empowering young people and fostering a culture of innovation and creativity,” the Mohamed family said in a statement, which also notes Ahmed will receive a scholarship for the program.

6am – E         Joe Biden’s Account of Stance on Bin Laden Raid Conflicts With Others. Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. has now given differing accounts of the advice he gave President Obama in 2011 as the administration debated whether to raid a compound in Pakistan where Osama bin Laden was believed to be hiding. On Tuesday, Mr. Biden suggested that he had not opposed the raid, saying he told the president in a one-on-one conversation “that I thought he should go but to follow his own instincts.” That seemed to conflict with the public memories of others who were involved in the decision and who suggested that Mr. Biden was against the raid.

7am – A         INTERVIEW – BYRON YORK — Chief Political Correspondent for the Washington Examiner – discussed Paul Ryan potentially becoming House Speaker and 2016 news.

7am – B        Halloween Asteroid set to whiz past Earth on Halloween will be closest near-miss since 2006: Fright night flyby: Skyscraper-sized asteroid will pass Earth on Halloween. (Fox News) — A skyscraper-sized asteroid will fly by Earth on Halloween, according to scientists, who say that the object was only discovered 10 days ago. Asteroid 2015 TB145 was discovered Oct. 10 by the Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System 1 (Pan-STARRS-1) in Hawaii. “This is the closest approach by a known object this large until 1999 AN10 approaches within 1 lunar distance in August 2027,” said NASA, in a report. “The flyby presents a truly outstanding scientific opportunity to study the physical properties of this object.” Lunar distance, or the average distance between the Earth and the moon, is about 239,000 miles. EarthSky reports that the asteroid will pass Earth at a safe distance of 310,000 miles, travelling at a speed of 78,000 mph.

7am – C        Geraldo: Congrats to new Canadian PM … I slept with your mom. (NY Post) — Fox News Channel personality Geraldo Rivera sent a congratulatory message Tuesday to “stud” Canadian Prime Minister-elect Justin Trudeau — whose mother he once claimed to have bedded. “Congrats to @JustinTrudeau #Canada now has a stud prime minister who’s going to inject passion & energy into a nation’s staid, safe policies,” Rivera tweeted. Back in 1991, Rivera boasted in his kiss-and-tell book “Exposing Myself” that he had a steamy tryst with the prime minister-elect’s mom, former Canadian first lady Margaret Trudeau. “It was like she had never been made love to before,” Rivera penned. “It was like she was unleashing years of pent-up frustration.”

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

• Assad Makes Unannounced Trip to Moscow to Discuss Syria With Putin
• BENGHAZI HEARING PREVIEW: High stakes in Benghazi showdown

7am – E         Entertainment News:

• PIERS MORGAN: The Force Awakens? Sorry, but Star Wars has sucked for 40 overrated, overhyped, preposterous years. (By Piers Morgan For Mail Online) — “I’m 50 years old and I’ve not watched a single one of the six Star Wars movies. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve tried. Many times. But I’ve never got further than five minutes with any of them before hitting the STOP button, shaking the cascading cheese out of my TV set and going for a recuperative neck massage. As the decades have passed by, my distaste for all things Star Wars has developed into an oddly visceral loathing. I only have to hear that dreaded theme music to feel the skin begin to peel itself off my flesh. And don’t even get me started with the ghastly merchandise, which seems to pervade every store in the United States. So I wouldn’t, frankly, know one end of a Yoda from a Jedi.”
• ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ Trailer Prompts Conservative Pundit Bill Kristol to Defend Empire. (The Wrap) – “No objective evidence Empire was ‘evil,’” Weekly Standard editor proclaims. Wondering what conservative commentator Bill Kristol thinks about the Galactic Empire of “Star Wars”? After the final trailer for “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” was released on Tuesday, the Weekly Standard editor and frequent TV guest fired up his Twitter account to declare himself pro-Empire. “No objective evidence Empire was ‘evil.’ A liberal regime w meritocracy, upward mobility. Neocon/reformicon in spirit,” Kristol tweeted in response to a joke by right-leaning New York Times columnist Ross Douthat. Kristol added, “Needless to say, I was rooting for the Empire from the first moment. It was a benevolent liberal empire, after all.”
• Caitlyn Jenner Is Going On A Speaking Tour! (Perez Hilton) — Caitlyn Jenner is going on a speaking tour, just announced through the Unique Lives and Experiences series, a very popular North America-wide lecture series for women. Caitlyn of course is no stranger to lecture circuits and speaking tours, having done her fair share for years. But now, the I Am Cait star will be touring with a twist: this is the first significant set of speeches she will be giving after her transition, which occurred early this summer.

• Liam Neeson Criticized for Making Blatantly Anti-Catholic Commercial Promoting Abortion. Liam Neeson narrates haunting Repeal the Eighth ad on abortion. Irish actor teams up with Fr. Ted creator and Amnesty International to create “Chains,” a new campaign to repeal the 8th. Irish actor Liam Neeson has lent his voice to a chilling new Amnesty International video calling on the Irish government to decriminalize abortion. Well known for his powerful voice, Neeson narrates the haunting short film urging the Irish to break away from the legacy left by the Catholic Church in forming our national legislation and to repeal the 8th amendment, allowing abortion in Ireland.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – QUENTIN KIDD – Vice Provost and Director of the Wason Center for Public Policy at Christopher Newport University in Newport News, VA

• Preview the elections going on around Virginia in November: – General election on November 3, 2015
• VA Senate: What’s at stake? The Virginia State Senate has a difference in partisan balance between Democrats and Republicans of two seats, which amounts to 5 percent of the chamber. In 2011, three districts were competitive and had a margin of victory of 5 percent or less.[8] Heading into the general election, Virginia is one of 19 states that is under divided government and is therefore not one of the state government trifectas.
• VA House of Delegates: Candidates unopposed by a major party. In 71 of the 100 districts up for election in 2015, there is only one major party candidate running for election. A total of 27 Democrats and 44 Republicans are guaranteed election barring unforeseen circumstances. Two major party candidates will face off in the general election in just 29 of the 100 districts up for election.
• With big TV ad buy in Va. House races, Republicans zero in on I-66 toll plan. (Washington Post) — RICHMOND — Two Northern Virginia Republicans running for the House of Delegates will launch a $336,000 TV ad campaign on Wednesday that links their Democratic rivals to Gov. Terry McAuliffe’s plan to turn Interstate 66 inside the Beltway into a toll road for some commuters. The network television ads — a rarity for House races in the expensive Northern Virginia TV market — are part of an unusually coordinated strategy by Republican House candidates in that traffic-choked region of the state. With yard signs, mailings, telephone town hall meetings and a $45,000 digital plan that includes Facebook and targeted video ads, Republicans have hammered home a simple slogan with visceral appeal for weary commuters: “Stop $17 tolls on I-66.” The GOP’s intense focus on the issue is all the more notable because Democrats across the region have said they, too, oppose the governor’s plan.
• Virginia’s hopes hang on two Senate races. (Washington Post) — RICHMOND — Two Virginia Senate races will determine whether Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) finds a sorely needed foothold on Capitol Square, and Republicans and Democrats are betting big money on both. The contests — which will decide control of the Senate and McAuliffe’s prospects for a legislative legacy — are for seats being vacated by two of the Senate’s last moderates: Sen. Charles Colgan of Northern Virginia and Sen. John Watkins of suburban Richmond. Colgan (D) and Watkins (R) are part of the dwindling Senate old guard that prized pragmatism over partisanship. Both bucked their own parties at times — and got away with it in districts that tolerated, and perhaps prized, their independent streaks. That is partly why both parties see an opening in those races, despite the fact that the districts have gone blue in recent statewide races.

8am – B         2016 News:

• Dump Trump Campaign: Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.): ‘Dump Trump’ as ‘SNL’ host. Margaret Cho: Why Does NBC Want ‘Known Racist’ Trump to Host SNL?
• Rep. Luis Gutiérrez (D-Ill.) is lobbying to keep Donald Trump from hosting “Saturday Night Live” next month. Gutiérrez sent Comcast and NBCUniversal a letter Tuesday urging them to drop the GOP front-runner from the Nov. 7 show. “Having Donald Trump as a guest on every news and entertainment program is one thing, but allowing him to host ‘Saturday Night Live’ is another,” he wrote.
• Jim Webb drops out of Democratic presidential primary. Washington (CNN) Jim Webb ended his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination at a press conference Tuesday, telling reporters he will consider an independent bid.
• Martin O’Malley sang ‘Bad Blood’ on The View. (Entertainment Weekly) — Former Maryland governor and current Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley took an unconventional route to appeal to voters Tuesday morning.       In an appearance on The View, he broke out an acoustic guitar and sang Taylor Swift’s “Bad Blood” — an appropriate song for the candidate, whose lackluster polling has forced him to take a more aggressive stance toward current frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.

8am – C         Protesters, upset with D.C. Mayor, take to streets. WASHINGTON (WJLA) — Protesters, upset with D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser’s plan to put more police officers on the streets, took to the streets themselves Tuesday night. Members of the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement marched from Congress Heights to the Seventh District Police Station. Protesters argue the better way to reduce violent crime is to raise wages and increase affordable housing.

8am – D         Clock how the world will celebrate October 21 – the date that Marty McFly visited in Back to the Future II.    October 21, 2015, is the date Marty McFly visited in Back To The Future II. (Daily Mail) — There have been more than a few hoax attempts over the past few years, but the big day is finally here – tomorrow is October 21, 2015, which is when Marty McFly and Doc Brown went into the future in Back To The Future II. It is a moment in time that fans of the 80s film trilogy have been waiting years for. As a result, around the world different countries are hosting their own Back To The Future events tomorrow, with everything from meet and greets with the cast to a chance to tour the original set at Universal Studios in California. Several of the events are also fundraising for the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.

8am – E         Paul Ryan Says He’ll Run for Speaker, but Only on His Terms. (NBC News) — Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin said Tuesday night that he would run for House speaker — but only if his Republican colleagues meet several conditions. In the weeks since Speaker John Boehner of Ohio announced his retirement last month.

TOMORROW: Amb. John Bolton and Judicial Watch’s Tom Fitton