Changing the NRA from Within

Coming up on today’s show:

• On Saturday, Democrats from the House Intelligence Committee released a rebuttal to the disputed memo that had been presented by Chairman Devin Nunes. Democrats claimed that the Nunes memo only told part of the story. And two weeks after President Trump blocked the release of their memo, Democrats released their version. Ryan Goodman, former special counsel at the Department of Defense and co-editor-in-chief of Just Security, discusses what’s in the Democrats’ memo, and what it means for the future of the Russia investigation. 

• A week after the deadly school shooting in Parkland Florida, National Rifle Association head Wayne La Pierre made his first public remarks at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland. The NRA is a long time sponsor of CPAC and had a booth at the event, but there are signs that support for their all-or-nothing anti-gun control stance may be waning among some supporters. Marty Lenzini Murray is a retired teacher and public school administrator in Florida. She recently re-upped her membership in the NRA because, she says, she wants to see change from within.  

• Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Janus v. American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME). Back in 2007, Mark Janus, an Illinois employee, noticed a deduction in his paycheck for union dues. Janus is arguing that since he does not belong to a union that he shouldn’t have to pay the fees. But AFSCME says it has to advocate for Janus whether he wants it to or not. Joseph McCartin, a professor of history at Georgetown University and executive director of the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor, discusses the case, and what it means for unions. 

• There’s just one week before the March 5th deadline set by President Trump for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals Program, or DACA. With their futures uncertain, DACA recipients living in conservative states face a tough environment – states like Texas, where politicians oppose the program. Kirk Carapezza manages our partner WGBH’s higher education desk in Boston. He recently visited a college campus in El Paso, Texas, right on the US-Mexico border, to take a closer look at DACA in a red state, and how the situation compares with college students living in blue states.

• Detroit is a city whose arc is well known: a sensational, prosperous rise followed by a stunning decline that left the city bankrupt and its people with few options. But there’s much more to Detroit’s story, says Tiya Miles. She’saprofessor at the University of Michigan and author of “The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits.” Miles sat down with WNYC’s Rebecca Carroll for this week’s installment of our conversation series, “Reading the Reckoning.” 

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich.