Flynn Under Scrutiny,  Ranchers on Trial, Hypernormal Reality

Coming up on today’s show:

• National security adviser Michael Flynn faces scrutiny for allegations of contact with Russia’s ambassador before President Trump took office. On Friday, the president said he would “look into” the claims, and if they prove true, Flynn’s conduct may likely have been illegal. Ryan Goodman, editor in chief of Just Security and former special counsel to the Department of Defense, joins us.

• In at least half a dozen states, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers made hundreds of arrests, sweeping up undocumented immigrants in a wide-ranging dragnet. Camille Mackler, Director of Legal Initiatives for the New York Immigration Coalition explains the implications of the raids.

• Testimony begins today in the trial of half a dozen of the defendants involved in the armed standoff between Rancher Cliven Bundy and federal agents in 2014. Jenny Wilson of the Las Vegas Review Journal has been covering the case, and joins us to talk about the second trial involving the Bundy family and public land. His sons were acquitted in the occupation of a national wildlife refuge. 

• Oregon rancher Keith Nantz has said he doesn’t approve of the Bundy family’s approach to the problem, but understands why they are upset. He explains the issues at stake for beef producers in the American West, why they need access to federal land, and why changing regulations lead to economic losses. 

• The University of Connecticut women’s basketball team is going for its 100th straight win tonight. ESPN columnist Mechelle Voepel is here to look ahead to the Huskies’ game against No. 6 South Carolina, and to discuss what the milestone means for the world of sports. 

• Seizing the property of suspects has long been considered a critical law-enforcement, too. But taking the possessions of people before they have been convicted of a crime — innocent people, in other words — has significant real-world consequences. Maurice Chammah of the Marshall Project joins us to discuss some of those, as well as the future of the policy.

• Is massive, widespread self-delusion by society a response to the chaotic and unpredictable world? British filmmaker Adam Curtis argues it might be in his documentary “HyperNormalisation.” In the film released just ahead of the 2016 election, Curtis attempts to show that, rather than respond to and accept a chaotic and unpredictable world, we delude ourselves into thinking that things are far simpler and more easily explainable than they actually are.