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Mueller: In the Cross Hairs of Conservative Media

The Takeaway

Coming up on today’s show:

  • Pass-through businesses were in the headlines last week as industry representatives fought to get a better tax deal under the GOP plan. Martin Sullivan, chief economist and contributing editor for Tax Analysts’ daily and weekly publications and blog, and an expert on federal tax reform, explains. 
  • Policy analysts at the Centers for Disease Control were given a list of seven “forbidden” words to avoid when presenting their budget proposals, according to a report by The Washington Post. Michael Halpern is deputy director of the Center for Science and Democracy at the Union of Concerned Scientists.  In a recent article, he said this shift actually represents an assault on the science.

  • Bitcoin reached another all-time high on Friday. The cryptocurrency has risen more than 1,700 percent since the start of the year, raising concerns about a bubble. Izabella Kaminska, editor of the Alphaville blog at The Financial Times, discusses how Bitcoin works, what accounts for the price rise, and what the future of the currency is.

  • FBI Special Counsel Robert Mueller has obtained thousands of documents and emails from the Trump transition team as part of his investigation into Russian collusion during the 2016 election. Conservative media outlets, along with President Trump, continue to question Mueller and the credibility of the FBI. Nicole Hemmer, assistant professor at UVA Miller Center and author of “Messengers of the Right: Conservative Media and the Transformation of American Politics,” weighs in.

  • The NFL has been slow to adopt new guidelines to prevent and help identify concussions, but the NFL’s neighbor to the north, the Canadian Football League, is taking a different approach. Dave Zirin, sports editor for The Nation magazine and host of “The Edge of Sports” podcast, analyzes what the CFL is doing.

  • As sea level rise and more powerful storms begin to affect a growing number of areas along U.S. coasts, how can coastal communities plan and prepare for what lies ahead? Nicholas Kusnetz, a reporter with Inside Climate News, explains. 

  • Journalists ask victims of harassment and assault: “Who did you tell after it happened?” But what if that’s not the best way to corroborate a victim’s story? Each week Koa Beck, editor-in-chief of Jezebel, sits down with Jessica Bennett, gender editor at The New York Times, to talk about one piece of this #MeToo moment.

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich

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