Mornings on the Mall 01.21.15

Congresswoman Barbara Comstock, KT McFarland and Weather Channel's Ray Stagich joined WMAL on Wednesday.

Mornings on the Mall

Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Hosts: Brian Wilson and Larry O’Connor

5am – A/B/C President Obama's State of Union Recap: President Obama delivered a tough State of the Union address that offered some solace to Democrats who feared he had given up the fight. Most importantly, he put forth a controversial plan to tax wealthier Americans through reforms that close loopholes in order to finance tax cuts for middle class Americans, tapping into the populist sentiment that has driven support for politicians like Sen. Elizabeth Warren. Yet Democrats should not get too excited. Speeches can be moving and they certainly can inspire, but the situation on Capitol Hill remains dire for proponents of liberal reform. Republicans are in firm control of the House and Senate, and the GOP has steadily drifted to the right. Congressional Republicans have proven that they know how to employ procedural tools to obstruct the President's progress. There are almost no indications that Republicans are preparing to do some sudden about face and begin negotiating with the White House. The tax proposal will most likely get stifled in Congress, or the president will be forced to trade away the increases on the wealthy and end up simply giving tax cuts to all.

5am – D DC Metro Fire Incident Update:

Metro Considers Fare Increases in Wake of Fatal Accident. WASHINGTON (AP) – A week after its first fatal accident in five years, Washington's Metro subway system is considering raising fares and reducing the frequency of trains. The cuts are being considered as a way to reduce the amount of money that Metro will be requesting from local jurisdictions that fund the system. Right now, they're being asked to kick in an additional $140 million in the upcoming budget year. Metro says in a working budget document released Tuesday that raising rail and bus fares by 10 cents per ride would produce $22 million in revenue. It's also considering increasing the time between trains from 6 to 8 minutes during peak hours. Last week, a woman died and dozens were sickened after an electrical malfunction caused a train to fill with smoke.
Congress to Hold Closed-Door Meeting on Metro Smoky Train Incident. ADVISORY: WARNER, KAINE, CONNOLLY, BEYER, COMSTOCK TO GET METRO UPDATE IN WAKE OF LAST WEEK’S EMERGENCY. WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, January 21, U.S. Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine and U.S. Representatives Gerry Connolly, Don Beyer and Barbara Comstock will join members of the Maryland and Washington D.C. congressional delegations for a briefing by NTSB Acting Chairman Christopher A. Hart and WMATA officials on last week’s Metro incident that resulted in the death of a Virginian. During the briefing, Warner, Kaine, Connolly, Beyer, and Comstock will ask for specific details about what caused the electrical arcing responsible for the smoke in the train car, why there was confusion and delay in the emergency response process, and what changes are necessary moving forward.

5am – E Justin Bieber Getting Comedy Central Roast. Pop star has reportedly been begging network to make him butt of joke for years. Justin Bieber will be roasted in an upcoming special scheduled to air on Comedy Central on March 7th, Us Weekly reports. The 20-year-old singer has reportedly wanted to be the butt of the joke for years, according to a source at Comedy Central, who told Ryan Seacrest's website: "Justin has been asking us for years to roast him, so we kept telling him to create some more material and we’re thrilled he listened."

6am – A/B/C State of the Union Guests: Who would you have invited?

State of the Union guests:

Astronaut Scott Kelly: Scott Kelly is the brother of Mark Kelly, also an astronaut and husband to Gabby Giffords. He will soon go to the International Space Station for one year. My take: Send both brothers to space—forever. And then cancel NASA. Goodbye.
Cheryl Strayed – Reese Witherspoon played her in a bad movie based on her book. She was just at the Golden Globes with Reese. Now she is going to the State of the Union as a guest of Congressman Earl Blumenauer. Cheryl's getting around. Her inspiring message seems to be: "don't just hike a trail—sell out! It is the only way to get people to love you."
Rebekah Erler, a middle-class mom who wrote Obama about her day-to-day struggles.
Larry Merlo, the CEO of CVS – Obama is proud of CVS because they stopped selling tobacco this year.
Emma Sulkowicz – The Columbia student who has been carrying her mattress around campus with her to raise awareness of sexual assault will be attending as a guest of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
Victor Fugate, average man who wrote letter of his opinions to Obama.
Alan Gross – Gross's release last month from a Cuban prison signaled a thaw in Cuban-American relations, which had been very bad for a very long time. Gross was jailed in Cuba in 2009 while bringing communications equipment to religious groups there.
Ana Zamora – Zamora, 21, was brought illegally to the country as a one-year-old, but under Obama's immigration policies she and her parents have been able to stay in the country.
Malik Bryant – Bryant, a 13-year-old Chicagoan, wrote in his letter to Santa this year: "All I ask for is for safety. I just wanna be safe." Somehow, Barack Obama intercepted his letter (?), and then Michelle insisted he come to the State of the Union.
Chelsey Davis – She goes to community college and she is bringing her grandmother to the speech.

6am – D Larry Hogan To Be Inaugurated Today:

Hogan, Christie: Strong bond between ‘two peas in a pod’ will be on display Wednesday. Maryland Gov.-elect Larry Hogan will be introduced at Wednesday’s inauguration by another blue-state Republican governor — New Jersey’s Chris Christie, whose enthusiastic embrace of Hogan during the campaign helped propel his underdog victory. The men met through Russell J. Schriefer, a longtime Christie adviser who lives in Chevy Chase, Md., and was working as a consultant for Hogan. “They’re two peas in pod, and they hit it off,” Schriefer said. “They immediately agreed that there were some of the same dynamics at play in Maryland that Christie had dealt with when he ran in 2009.”
Will Larry Hogan lead like Chris Christie? – Baltimore Sun. GOVERN LIKE CHRISTIE? Gordon MacInnes of New Jersey Policy Perspective writes in an op-ed for the Sun that Gov.-elect Larry Hogan has given New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie a special place in his inaugural ceremony this week, testifying to his gratitude for Christie’s work on behalf of Hogan’s underdog campaign. A nice gesture, to be sure. But here is a warning to the people of Maryland: Hope that your new governor does not lean on New Jersey’s governor for guidance on what to do once in office.
GOVERN LIKE EHRLICH? Josh Kurtz of Center Maryland compares and contrasts Larry Hogan and Bob Ehrlich, the latest two Republican governors of Maryland who are just 18 months apart in age but a world apart in background and temperament.

6am – E Shepard Smith Calls Out White House Over Petty Swipe At Fox News. (Daily Caller/Derek Hunter) — The White House dislike of Fox News is well documented. Before the State of the Union Address, the White House invited anchors from the major news outlets – ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and Fox, as well as personalities from TV One (Rowland Martin) and MSNBC (Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Jose Diaz Balart) – over for lunch with President Obama and some senior staff. The off-the-record affair is fairly routine and generally uneventful. Generally. After the lunch, Fox News anchor Shepard Smith reported for duty on his 3:00 p.m. show. He wasn’t able to talk about what was said at the lunch since it was off-the-record. But he was able to talk about something he noticed when it came to the name cards placed around the table. Something extremely petty and passive-aggressive done by White House staff. While the name cards for NBC News anchor Brian Williams said “NBC News,” and the one for ABC News anchor David Muir said “ABC News,” the name cards from Smith and his fellow Fox News attendee Bret Baier simply read “Fox.”

7am – A INTERVIEW – CONGRESSWOMAN BARBARA COMSTOCK – R-VA, 10th District – shared her thoughts on the State of the Union and the DC metro’s problems.

7am – B Sen. Joni Ernst Gave GOP Reaction to Obama’s State of the Union. Ernst, a 44-year-old combat veteran and mother who grew up on an Iowa farm, was a rural county auditor just a few years ago. She was elected to Iowa’s state Senate in 2011 and rose to national prominence last year with her victory in the race to win an open U.S. Senate seat. From the outset of her remarks, Ernst’s message and tone conveyed moderation and affability, with a polite but firm challenge to the president to work with Republicans on issues such as tax reform, trade and job creation. “Even if we may not always agree, it’s important to hear different points of view in this great country. We appreciate the president sharing his,” Ernst was planning to say, according to prepared remarks. “Tonight, though, rather than respond to a speech, I’d like to talk about your priorities.” Ernst talked at length about her working-class roots, reaching for common ground with many Americans who harbor deep resentment toward both political parties in Washington and an economy that by many indications favors those with wealth and political connections at the expense of those who have neither. “For many of us, the sting of the economy and the frustration with Washington’s dysfunction weren’t things we had to read about. We felt them every day,” Ernst said. She talked of plowing fields and working construction with her father, of working on “the morning biscuit line at Hardees” to save for college, and of having only one good pair of shoes as a child.

7am – C Coffee may reduce risk for deadly skin cancer. (CBS News) — More than half of all American adults start off their morning with at least one cup of joe. Most drink coffee to wake up and simply get through the day. But new research adds to the evidence that coffee can have significant health benefits — far beyond helping you make it to that morning meeting. The latest study finds coffee may lower the risk for the most serious type of skin cancer, malignant melanoma. Prior research has shown coffee may help prevent other types of non-melanoma skin cancers. However, this is the first large-scale study to look specifically at malignant melanoma, which is the fifth most common cancer in the U.S. and the leading cause of skin cancer deaths. For the study, published Tuesday in JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers analyzed data from the NIH-AARP Diet and Health Study on more than 447,000 non-Hispanic whites, who are at higher risk of skin cancer. Study subjects filled out questionnaires about their eating habits, including coffee drinking, and were followed-up after about 10 years.

7am – D INTERVIEW – KT MCFARLAND – Fox News National Security Analyst — analyzed the president's State of the Union comments on foreign policy.

7am – E NFL finds Patriots used underinflated footballs. (Boston Globe) — The Patriots used underinflated footballs on Sunday night. The next question is how did it happen? According to a National Football League letter about the investigation into the controversy that was shared with the Globe, the Patriots were informed that the league’s initial findings indicated that the game balls did not meet specifications. The league inspected each of the Patriots’ 12 game balls twice at halftime, using different pressure gauges, and found footballs that were not properly inflated. According to ESPN, 11 of the 12 game balls were found to be underinflated by about 2 pounds each. The NFL specifications say they must be inflated to 12½ to 13½ pounds. The investigation is still ongoing.

8am – A President Obama's State of Union Recap: President Obama delivered a tough State of the Union address that offered some solace to Democrats who feared he had given up the fight. Most importantly, he put forth a controversial plan to tax wealthier Americans through reforms that close loopholes in order to finance tax cuts for middle class Americans, tapping into the populist sentiment that has driven support for politicians like Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

8am – B INTERVIEW – RAY STAGICH – Weather Channel meteorologist – previewed the snow coming to the DC area this morning.

8am – C Larry Hogan to be inaugurated today in Maryland.

8am – D DC Metro Fire Incident Update: Metro Considers Fare Increases in Wake of Fatal Accident.