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How N.R.A. Fundraising Shapes the Political Landscape


Here's what you'll find on today's show:
— The National Rifle Association’s annual conference beings today in Dallas. Around 80,000 people are expected to attend and the event is slated to feature high-profile speakers such as Texas Senator Ted Cruz, social media personalities 'Diamond and Silk,' Vice President Mike Pence, and President Donald Trump. The renown of their speakership illustrates the massive influence the N.R.A. enjoys in politics, which in turn comes partly from organization’s longstanding success in fundraising. While the pro-gun lobby faces some of the most intense scrutiny in its history after mass shootings at a music festival in Las Vegas, a church in Texas, and a high school in Florida, the N.R.A. broke a 15-year fundraising record in March.
— Until last week, Melanie Douglas had been a driver for the Dekalb County School District in Atlanta for 12 years. As teacher strikes spread around the country, Douglas and other bus drivers in Dekalb County had been considering ways to improve their own working conditions, eventually deciding on a three-day "sickout" late last month. Nearly 400 drivers participated on the first day.
— This Saturday, NASA will launch the InSight space lander off the central coast of California, the first West-coast interplanetary launch for the agency. Its destination is a flat expanse on Mars known as Elysium Planitia. Since InSight is a lander, not a rover, it won’t be moving much once it gets to the Red Planet. Instead, its purpose is to help scientists map the interior of the planet. InSight is armed with a seismometer to detect tremors, or marsquakes. The lander is also equipped with an 18-inch probe that is going to jackhammer itself 16-feet into Mars’s surface, and then monitor how much heat is coming from the interior of the planet, giving scientists a better idea of what Mars is made of.
— 50 years ago this week, former Boston Celtics player-coach Bill Russell made history by becoming the first black coach ever to win a major professional championship. On May 2, 1968, Russell led the Boston Celtics to an historic N.B.A. title. Russell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2011. 
— The Victoria and Albert Museum is one of London's most popular attractions. It's the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, with a permanent collection of over two million items. But a new exhibit that opened this week is causing renewed controversy. "Maqdala 1868" commemorates the 150th anniversary of the British Empire's Napier Expedition, in which General Robert Napier led a force of tens of thousands of soldiers and adventurers to loot a trove of artifacts from the city of Maqdala. The ensuing battle saw Emperor Tewodros II commit suicide as British forces closed in. Tewodros's young son Alemayehu was forced to London, where his remains still lay.
— Every Friday <a href="https://twitter.com/RaferGuzman" target="_blank">Rafer Guzman</a>, film critic for <a href="http://www.newsday.com/" target="_blank">Newsday</a> and The Takeaway, drops by to review the new releases hitting the box office. This week, Rafer gives his take on three must-sees: "Tully," with Charlize Theron, directed by Jason Reitman and written by Diablo Cody, "Bad Samaritan," directed by Dean Devlin, and the streaming series "Cobra Kai," a reimagining of the original "Karate Kid" 30 years later with two of the original stars: Ralph Macchio as Danny LaRusso and William Zabka as Johnny Lawrence.

The Takeaway

Berhanu Nega (in baseball cap), with other opposition leaders, speaking to reporters in Addis Ababa in 2005 after elections won by his party were annulled by the regime. 

Conflict

A tenured US professor is leading an Ethiopian rebel group

Menkir Tamrath holds up two jars of Ethiopian blends spices, Berbere and Mitmita, from plants he grows on his farm in Sunol, California. 

Food

This MBA missed the tastes of Ethiopia — so he starting growing it for himself

Climate change is coming to your coffee cup

Arts, Culture & Media

From Addis Ababa to Boston

Antonio Trujillo holds a cigarette while resting on a bench, in Pamplona, northern Spain

Environment

Big tobacco is forced to pay for cigarette butt pollution in Spain, but smokers may soon be on the hook

Peru protests reveal ethnic and regional divides

A security personnel speaks to people from inside the main gate of Jamia Millia Islamia university in New Delhi, India

Free speech

Blocking BBC documentary on Gujarat riots goes against India's democratic values, journalist says

LGBTQ

LGBTQ Russians are fleeing to Central Asia

The book includes haunting photos from inside the ghetto, along with its record of the medical effects of starvation. 

Warsaw Ghetto’s defiant Jewish doctors secretly documented the medical effects of Nazi starvation policies 

One of the main dishes at The Pork House includes a crunchy roasted pork with beans and fresh vegetables and is paired with the Brazilian national drink: caipirinha. 

Pork paradigm shift: This high-end São Paulo restaurant features pig ears and tails

A general view of Mes Aynak valley is seen some 25 miles southwest of Kabul, Afghanistan, March 2, 2022. Buildings on top are offices of Chinese mining company MCC that won the contract to exploit the world's second-largest copper mine.

Afghanistan

A Chinese company strikes a deal with the Taliban to extract oil from Afghanistan

Security officials and rescue workers gather at the site of suicide bombing, in Peshawar, Pakistan

Violence

Suicide bomber kills 34, wounds 150 at mosque in NW Pakistan

In this June 19, 2017, file photo, a person types on a laptop keyboard in North Andover, Massachusetts. 

Cybersecurity

'Ransomware Diaries:' Going undercover with the leader of LockBit

Ukraine

Wagner mercenary group recruits Africans held in Russian prisons

Development & Education

Infographic: The Human Toll of Infertility in Africa

And the Beat Making Lab goes on, to Ethiopia

Afropop Presents: Feedel Band Live at DROM

Guest Bloggers Around the World: Music Renaissance in Ethiopia

Abebe Haregewoin (right) and his father in Ethiopia.

Global Politics

Famine haunted his childhood in Ethiopia. Now he sees food running out again. 

Ethiopia

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Every morning, the editorial team at public radio’s international news show The World meets to plan what they'll cover that day.  Want to see what's on deck? 

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