Motherboard's Editor-in-Chief, Jason Koebler, discusses the news that Facebook is officially banning posts related to white nationalism and white separatism, a major policy shift for the world’s biggest social media platform.

"Facebook looked at it's platform, what they said was nationalism and separatism had become, in a sense, a coded version of supremacy, because people would say ‘I’m not a racist, I’m proud to be a white nationalist,’” says @jason_koebler on Facebook's ban on white nationalism.

"What we’ve seen is that white nationalism and white separatism has been tied to violent acts offline and Facebook is very worried about speech online moving offline and them getting blamed for hosting that content," says @jason_koebler, editor-in-chief of @motherboard. pic.twitter.com/jOxtJJqK2q

"The fact is Facebook has a lot of power to make these decisions and it’s affecting the speech of 2 billion people," says @jason_koebler. "There are no countries that are that large. Facebook has more power than any country on earth to regulate the speech of its users."

Anuradha Bhagwati, Marine Corps veteran, founder of the Service Women’s Action Network (SWAN) and the author of Unbecoming: A Memoir of Disobedience (Atria Books, 2019) talks about her journey from dropping out of grad school to joining the Marines, and how she effected historic policy change along the way. 

Brigid Bergin, City Hall and politics reporter for WNYC, talks about how New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand's 2020 campaign is going so far, and looks at some of her key policy issues.

On @BrianLehrer @WNYC right now (11:10 am, Wednesday), @brigidbergin is talking about @SenGillibrand, who is polling poorly. Surprising, to me. As a progressive, I've been a lot more enthusiastic about Gillibrand as a centrist compared with @KamalaHarris or @amyklobuchar.

In view of need to defeat #Trump and not make mistakes made in 2016, Dems need a candidate that will recapture those 5 close midwest states. I believe a @JoeBiden/@KamalaHarris ticket is the only one that can do it.

I like her “Brave” campaign. She is smart, strong, and gets things done. Can you do us all a favor and try covering a woman candidate without comparing her to a man, like, specifically NOT Bernie?

The Franken stuff isn’t to blame exactly, as she seems sincere. But her fundraising attempts off it are bizarre & off-putting.

Fred Mogul, WNYC government and state politics reporter, discusses the latest developments on the budget talks in Albany as negotiations enter their final week before the April 1 deadline.

Barry Meier, former New York Times reporter and the author of PAIN KILLER: An Empire of Deceit and the Origin of America's Opioid Epidemic (Random House; 2 edition, 2018), talks about the news that Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family — the makers of OxyContin — reached a settlement with the state of Oklahoma, and that major cultural institutions are now refusing Sackler money.

"Going forward, these drugs are important and they are useful for a limited class of patients for a limited period of time and now we need to turn to other treatments that may be equally beneficial with fewer side effects for patients," says @BarryMeier on opioids.

"Unfortunately, because of genetics, there are patients that have an underlying predisposition for substance abuse. [Purdue Pharma] downplayed the risk of the potential of patients to get addicted through standard medical prescribing," says @BarryMeier.

"Treatment should be doled out irrespective of whether you became addicted to street drugs or prescription drugs. The end result is that human beings are addicted and they need compassionate and comprehensive treatment." 2/2 https://t.co/mrmNPeUsiR

Margaret Sullivan, media columnist with The Washington Post, discusses media coverage of the Mueller Investigation.

The coverage was there but often had to be sought out. It was a matter of emphasis and many media outlet’s eagerness to appear non bias by blowing Clinton’s email issue out of proportion. Much of the best Trump coverage was on podcasts.

The media went overboard with “Hillary‘s emails.”

The land use process for the new borough-based jails is starting, with some opposition to the need for bigger jails in the boroughs (except Staten Island).  Maurice Chammah, The Marshall Project staff writer, reports on the issues at stake. And Jonathan Lippman, chair of the Independent Commission (to close Rikers), a former New York State chief judge and now of counsel at Latham & Watkins, explains the need to close Rikers.

Plus, Nancy Kong, president of Chatham Towers, co-founder of Neighbors United Below Canal, talks about her group's objection to the City's plans for the Manhattan jail at 80 Centre Street.

Darren Samuelsohn, senior White House Reporter at Politico, talks about the latest news surrounding the conclusion of the Mueller investigation.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo talks about key parts of the New York State budget, including criminal justice reform, ahead of the April 1 deadline, plus other statewide news.

@NYGovCuomo to @BrianLehrer: "Inequity is the problem [with education funding], and I've put my finger on it ... the state money should go to poorer schools." Advocates like @AQENY agree but argue about how much. Cuomo maintains his $$ is fine, but "It's the distribution."

Cuomo on yesterday’s news that the Assembly "is ready to go forward” on congestion pricing says conversations are “proceeding. You’re not there until you’re there.“I’m cautiously optimistic,” the governor said.

On @BrianLehrer, @NYGovCuomo says he would "exempt the affordable housing projects" from new state prevailing wage requirements, a proposal for which has proved quite controversial.

.@NYGovCuomo tells @BrianLehrer he disagrees with State AFL-CIO on #FairElections. “I think it is a system that helps bring small donors in” and NY should pass it. Amen. Now let’s get it done in the budget!

Still negotiating w legislators on cash bail -- and who would still get charged bail for release, post-reform. But no specifics from @NYGovCuomo on @BrianLehrer on which criminal allegations are in or out.

WNYC’s Andrea Bernstein, senior editor for politics and policy, and reporter Ilya Marritz, co-hosts of the Trump, Inc. podcast, talk about what the Mueller report means for the multiple investigations the president, his associates and his business still face in New York and elsewhere, and Maya Wiley, NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst, professor of Urban Policy and Management at The New School; former counsel to Mayor de Blasio, provides legal analysis of the Mueller report.

"We already know that the President has been directly implicated in a campaign finance crime, that is clear," says @mayawiley. "The thing about investigations is they're a little like unraveling a rug, often times a whole lot more starts unraveling than what you started pulling."