February 4 – The President Stumps for Gun Safety; More Blackouts Ahead and How to Avoid Them; Recapturing the Word Jihad from Muslim and Anti-Muslim Extremists

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Part 1	We begin with the president’s speech today in Minneapolis in front of a backdrop of police officers where he kicked off his public campaign to reduce gun violence in America. Lawrence Jacobs, the Director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota joins us to discuss what steps have been taken to reduce gun violence in Minnesota and whether the president can get enough of the public behind him to stand up to the NRA.
Part 2	Then we speak with one of the leading authorities on the delivery of power to large populations, David Freeman, the former head of the TVA, New York Power and the LA Department of Water and Power. Following the half-hour blackout in the middle of the Super Bowl, we discuss our dependence on electricity from an ageing grid that will be subject to more and more stress in the future from extreme weather caused by global warming, that is in turn caused to a great extent by the use of coal to generate electricity.
Part 3	Then finally we speak with the organizer of a public campaign #MyJihad, which seeks to recapture the proper meaning of the word “Jihad” that has been expropriated by Muslim and anti-Muslim extremists alike. Ahmed Rehab, the Executive Director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations joins us to discuss his campaign that has already begun with advertisements in subways and on buses in Chicago, San Francisco and Washington D.C.