Brian and Larry are back from vacation, plus special guests: Daily Mail’s David Martosko, legal analyst Joe diGenova and Redskins analyst Trevor Matich!

Mornings on the Mall

Monday, January 4, 2016

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor ARE BACK!

Executive Producer: Heather Hunter

 

5am – A/B/C  A Month ‘til Iowa: Who Will Likely Win At This Point?

5am – D         Redskins News:

• Cousins, Redskins top Cowboys 34-23 in playoff tuneup. It’s official. Redskins and Packers from Fed Ex on Sunday
• Redskins playoff tickets to go on sale at 10 a.m. Monday. A limited number of tickets will go on sale for the general public starting 10 a.m.   WASHINGTON — Fans of the Washington Redskins will have a chance Monday to get their hands on tickets for the NFC Wild Card game at FedEx Field. The Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers 20-13 Sunday, determining that the Redskins will face the Packers at 4:40 p.m. next Sunday, Jan. 10. A limited number of tickets will go on sale for the general public starting 10 a.m. They can be purchased through www.ticketmaster.com or by calling 301-276-6050. According to a news release from the team, orders will be limited to four tickets due to high demand and the limited number of seats.
• Fans wear custom RGIII Cowboys jerseys at Redskins game. Homer McFanboy @HomerMcFanboy: Wishful thinking or insider information? Either way, I wasn’t expecting to see Dallas RGIII jerseys today. 12:38 PM – 3 Jan 2016 / The former first-round pick quarterback did have a major showing on the sidelines, thanks to a couple of fans who donned custom RGIII Cowboys jerseys. The photos made the rounds on Twitter during the game, for which Griffin was inactive. Initial reports were that the jersey wearers were related to RGIII, but the Redskins later refuted those claims in a tweet.

5am – E         No drone zone in D.C. now 30 miles. (AP) – WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration’s no drone zone around the nation’s capital has grown. The FAA warned this summer that unmanned aircraft, such as drones and model aircraft, were prohibited within 15 miles of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, just south of Washington. But its online guidance now says they’re banned from Washington’s special flight rules area, a ring with a 30-mile radius encircling much of southern and central Maryland and northern Virginia. The FAA maintains unmanned aircraft are subject to FAA rules and must comply with the requirements, including maintaining two-way radio communication and transmitting a beacon code. Academy of Model Aeronautics spokesman Rich Hanson said in a statement his group disputes that they are aircraft subject to FAA rules.

6am – A/B/C Vacation over, Obama looking at ways to reduce gun violence. Obama will meet with the US Attorney General to discuss taking executive action on guns. WASHINGTON — Hawaiian vacation over, President Barack Obama says he is energized for his final year in office and ready to tackle unfinished business, turning immediate attention to the issue of gun violence. Obama scheduled a meeting Monday with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss a three-month review of what steps he could take to help reduce gun violence. The president is expected to use executive action to strengthen background checks required for gun purchases.

Obama To Lead Town Hall On ‘Guns In America’ Thursday On CNN. In a move that is certain to stir things up as the political new year unfolds, President Obama will lead a televised town hall Thursday to address tightening restrictions on access to guns. Obama will sit down with Anderson Cooper on CNN at 8 p.m. ET for the one-hour event titled “Guns in America,” which coincides with the fifth anniversary, next Friday, of the shooting of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, in a mass shooting that left six dead and 13 others wounded. Obama will also take questions from the audience. The President has repeatedly expressed his frustration with Congress’ unwillingness to pass new gun laws and has frequently spoken out about increased gun control in the wake of mass shootings.

6am – D         INTERVIEW — DAVID MARTOSKO – US Political Editor, DailyMail.com – discussed the latest 2016 news: candidates gearing up for Iowa.

6am – E         Iran News:

• Saudis cut diplomatic ties with Iran. RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — The latest developments after Saudi Arabia executes a prominent opposition Shiite cleric convicted of terrorism charges, sparking anger in Iran and among Shiites across the region (All times local). A person familiar with the Saudi government’s thinking in Washington says the kingdom severed relations with Iran because “enough was enough,” adding that Riyadh was less concerned with how its decision affects diplomatic efforts led by the United States, including the Syrian peace talks or the Iran nuclear deal. The person, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss diplomacy, said Sunday that the Saudi government is tired of what it sees as Tehran “thumbing its nose at the West,” including the recent launch of ballistic missiles, while no one does anything about it. “Every time Iran does something, the United States backs off,” the person said. Saudi Arabia announced it was cutting diplomatic relations with Iran after protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran. The protests erupted after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric.
• White House: more time needed for new Iran missile sanctions. The White House expects Iran to finish work needed to trigger implementation of an international nuclear deal in the coming weeks, but Washington needs more time to prepare sanctions over its ballistic missile program, a U.S. official said on Saturday. The administration had additional diplomatic and technical work to complete before announcing any new sanctions related to the missile program, but the delay was not a result of pressure from Tehran, said deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes. “We have additional work that needs to be done before we would announce additional designations, but this is not something that we would negotiate with the Iranian government,” Rhodes told reporters in Hawaii, where President Barack Obama is on vacation.
• Americans seek swap in U.S. reporter case, says Iranian official. (Reuters) — DUBAI — Unnamed Americans have contacted Iran for a deal to swap Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, convicted and jailed in Iran on spying charges, for other unspecified detainees, according to a senior Iranian official quoted on Sunday. “Some Americans contact us sometimes, asking us to exchange him with other detainees, but the sentence has not been announced yet,” said judiciary spokesman Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, quoted by Iran’s Fars news agency. Ejei did not specify which detainees could be under consideration nor give any other details of what the Americans could have in mind for a swap with Rezaian. But Iranian parliament speaker Ali Larijani has hinted at the possibility that Rezaian could be freed in exchange for Iranian prisoners in the United States. Other Iranian officials have played down the possibility of such a swap.

7am – A/B     INTERVIEW – JOE DIGENOVA – legal analyst and former U.S. Attorney to the District of Columbia

• Obama to impose new gun control curbs. President Obama will press ahead with a set of executive actions on guns despite growing concerns in the U.S. over terrorism that have dampened some Americans’ enthusiasm for tighter firearms restrictions, according to several individuals briefed on the matter. The president will meet with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch on Monday to finalize a series of new gun control measures. Obama will sit down with Anderson Cooper on CNN at 8 p.m. ET for the one-hour event titled “Guns in America,” which coincides with the fifth anniversary, next Friday, of the shooting of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, in a mass shooting that left six dead and 13 others wounded.
• Camille Cosby ordered to give deposition in case against husband Bill. Camille Cosby will have to testify in a defamation suit brought against her husband, Bill Cosby, after a court denied her motion to quash her deposition order.
• New ‘secret’ message among Clinton’s emails as classification rate spikes again. More than 8 percent of latest batch deemed classified
• Armed group’s leader in federal building: ‘We will be here as long as it takes. (CNN) Armed anti-government protesters have taken over a building in a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon, accusing officials of unfairly punishing ranchers who refused to sell their land. One of them is Ammon Bundy, the 40-year-old son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who is well-known for anti-government action. He spoke by phone to CNN on Sunday. Asked several times what he and those with him want, he answered in vague terms, saying that they want the federal government to restore the “people’s constitutional rights.”

7am – C         Powerball jackpot expected to grow to $400 million Wednesday. DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The next Powerball winner will have a chance to claim one of the game’s 10 biggest prizes this week when the jackpot grows to roughly $400 million. Lottery officials say no one claimed Saturday’s $334 million prize, although someone from Pennsylvania won $2 million and three players from California, Connecticut and South Carolina won $1 million in the game. When the jackpot reaches $400 million, it might exceed the size of the sixth-largest prize in Powerball history. That was a $399.4 million prize won in 2013 by someone from South Carolina. The odds of winning the Powerball jackpot are 1 in 292.2 million. The next drawing will be held Wednesday.

7am – D         Month ‘til Iowa: Who Will Likely Win At This Point?

7am – E         Trump News:

• TRUMP: ‘Hillary Clinton created ISIS with Obama.’ Real-estate mogul Donald Trump opened his Saturday-night rally by blasting the Obama administration’s approach to Iran and the Islamic State terrorist group. “I’m pretty good at signals, and I see a lot of things happening,” Trump said at a campaign stop in Biloxi, Mississippi. The Republican presidential front-runner pointed to Iranian protesters ransacking the Saudi Embassy in Tehran earlier in the day, after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric. “One thing I see out there just happened today in Tehran,” Trump said. “They’re burning down the Saudi Embassy, you see that? Now, what that is is Iran wants to take over Saudi Arabia. They always have. They want the oil, OK? They’ve always wanted that.” In order to tout his predicting ability, Trump cited his past calls for the US to bomb the oil assets of the Islamic State group, also known as ISIS. “I’ve predicted a lot of things, you have to say, including, ‘Get the oil, take the oil, keep the oil.’ Right? I’ve been saying that for three years, and everybody said, ‘Oh, I can’t do that. I mean, this is a sovereign country.’ There is no country!” Trump exclaimed.
• The Hill: Trump Goes for Broke in New Hampshire. Donald Trump is ramping up his ground game and promising a heavy advertising campaign in the homestretch to New Hampshire’s Feb. 9 primary. Trump’s campaign has announced that more than 200 town chairmen in New Hampshire will be helping him put up signs and get people to the polls. He also is vowing to launch a $2 million ad buy in New Hampshire and South Carolina, where he has healthy leads in polls, and in Iowa, where he now trails Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). Cruz is seen by many as the favorite to win Iowa’s caucuses on Feb. 1, which would increase the pressure on Trump to carry out a resounding victory in New Hamphire. Trump has dominated the GOP race for the White House, forcing other candidates to react to him and winning blanket news coverage that has made it difficult for his rivals to get attention.

8am – A         INTERVIEW – TREVOR MATICH — Redskins elite long snapper and WMAL’s Redskins analyst

• Cousins, Redskins top Cowboys 34-23 in playoff tuneup. It’s official. Redskins and Packers from Fed Ex on Sunday

8am – B         Entertainment News:

• ‘Star Trek’ Celebrates 50th Anniversary With New Stamps. Star Trek started its long journey into the final frontier in 1966 with the premiere of its original series, and to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the franchise that went where no man has gone before, the U.S. Postal Service has unveiled four stamps dedicated to the cult sci-fi series. The four retro-inspired Forever stamps – designed by Heads of State under the art direction of Antonio Alcalá – showcase the Starship Enterprise, the Starfleet insignia, a crewmember in a transporter as well as Spock’s iconic Vulcan salute hand gesture. The base of the stamps will also feature the words “Space… the final frontier,” taken from William Shatner’s opening lines as Captain Kirk on each Star Trek episode.
• ‘Star Wars’ box office surpasses ‘Titanic,’ ‘Jurassic World.’ “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” has marched confidently into the new year, raking in an additional $88.3 million and topping the box office for a third week, according to studio estimates Sunday. In the first weekend of 2016, the record-busting film blew past the domestic grosses of both “Jurassic World” and “Titanic” to become the second-highest earner of all time with $740.3 million in just 19 days of release. The top domestic film is still “Avatar” with a $760.5 million lifetime domestic gross.
• Hayden Christensen Left Acting After ‘Star Wars,’ Fame Didn’t Feel ‘Earned’ – After being cast by George Lucas to play Anakin Skywalker in two Star Wars prequels early in his career, actor Hayden Christensen appeared in only a handful of other films before mostly walking away from the industry. Now 34, the actor has revealed why he decided to leave his high-profile career behind to concentrate on other things. According to The Los Angeles Times, Christensen walked away because he did not feel he had earned his superstardom. After Lucas picked him to play Anakin Skywalker in Episode II – Attack of the Clones, and 2005’s Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, Christensen married his Jumper co-star Rachel Bilson in 2007. The actor, who recently starred in the faith-based drama 90 Minutes in Heaven, left Hollywood and bought a farm in his native Canada. “I guess I felt like I had this great thing in ‘Star Wars’ that provided all these opportunities and gave me a career, but it all kind of felt a little too handed to me,” he said in a recent Times story about the challenges of finding success at a young age. “I didn’t want to go through life feeling like I was just riding a wave,” he said.

8am – C         Did Brian Spend His Vacation in an Orlando Airport Dressed As An Orca?

8am – D         Vacation over, Obama looking at ways to reduce gun violence. Obama will meet with the US Attorney General to discuss taking executive action on guns.

TOMORROW: AEI’s Michael Rubin, Heritage’s Hans Von Spakovsky and Larry Kudlow