Yemen Bans Raids, Media Coverage of Terrorism, Warren Silenced in the Senate

Coming up on today’s show:

• Following a botched by US forces there, Yemen has suspended ground operations by US special operations forces. The Jan. 29 raid, which the Trump administration called a success, resulted in the death of one Navy SEAL operator as well as many civilians, including children. Eric Schmitt of The New York Times joins us to discuss the latest. 

• The media actually does fail to cover dozens of terrorist attacks — the ones that happen in the Muslim world. Karen Greenberg, the director of Fordham Law School’s Center on National Security joins us to discuss why these attacks receive less attention than ones in the Western world.

• Betsy DeVos steps into the job as Secretary of Education with public school enrollment at an all time high, over 50 million kids. But DeVos is a strong advocate for charter schools, which enroll a twentieth as many students. Liz Willen, editor of The Hechinger Report, says there are some misconceptions to clear up in order to understand the future of education under the Trump administration. 

• During debate on the nomination of Jeff Sessions for Attorney General, Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell forced Elizabeth Warren to stop reading a 1986 letter to the Senate from Coretta Scott King. He invoked a little-used rule forbidding Senators from impugning a fellow member of the body. Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich explains.

• Tech policy reporter Cecilia Kang of The New York Times explains some of the coming changes from the FCC. Chairman Ajit Pai has already released a dozen actions to dismantle consumer protection rules, and has shunned the idea that the internet is a public utility. 

• Pai has said that one of his main goals since being elevated to chairman by president Donald Trump is to close the digital divide. But last week, he blocked nine companies from proving internet service to low-income families under the Lifeline communications program. Nicol Turner-Lee of the Brookings Institution joins us to explain the history of the program as well as the implications of the FCC’s latest decision. 

• Novelist Robert Coover picks up where Mark Twain left off, bringing Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer out to “the territory” during the Civil War in his new work “Huck Out West.” He joins us to explain why this time period, from the start of the Civil War to the Black Hills Gold Rush, is what made America what it is today.