Attack in Turkey, Corruption at the Department of Homeland Security, O.J. Simpson and Race in America

Coming up on today’s show:

• An attack on an upscale Istanbul nightclub on New Year’s Eve left 39 people dead and nearly 70 wounded. This is the fourth terrorist attack in Turkey this month, and poses deep questions for a government currently enmeshed in the Syrian ceasefire. Borzou Daragahi, Middle East correspondent for BuzzFeed News, reports.

• A New York Times investigation found employees and contractors working for the Department of Homeland Security took $15 million in bribes over the last ten years. Nearly 200 workers are implicated in the controversy for allowing illegal immigrants and drugs to pass across the border unchecked, in addition to illegally selling green cards and other documents. Ron Nixon, Washington Correspondent covering homeland security for The New York Times, and James Tomsheck, former chief of internal affairs with U.S. Customs and Border Protection, discuss the investigation. 

• The Chinese government announced on Friday that it would set a one-year timeline for banning its legal ivory trade, charting a new path in protecting elephants from extinction.  Elly Pepper, Deputy Director of the Wildlife Trade Initiative at the Natural Resources Defense Council, talks about how this ban will impact the poaching industry.

• As part of “How I Got Over It,” Rebecca Carroll’s ongoing series of conversations about race in America, Carroll sits down with Ezra Edelman, the director of “O.J.: Made in America,” a new documentary that depicts the journey of O.J. Simpson from college football star to defendant in one of America’s most high profile murder cases.

• Global events like Brexit, the Syrian civil war and the refugee crisis sparked calls for activism in 2016, and many post-election conversations have centered on how individuals can be more engaged and motivated to take action for change. Duncan Green,  author of “How Change Happens,” tries to answer the question, “How do we create change in 2017?”