USA TODAY Washington Bureau Chief Susan Page gives her take on the day's national political news -- including reactions to the school shooting in Parkland, Florida; immigration deals in the Senate that flamed out; and more on Trump's lawyer's payment to porn actress Stormy Daniels.

@SusanPage points out that one reason it's hard to get anything done on this is the people who turn out to vote are the people who want to protect 2nd Amendment rights at all costs.

@SusanPage: It's so perplexing to Americans that Congress can't seem to do *anything* on gun control. Even seemingly minor things like banning bump stocks.

On immigration deal that would have protected Dreamers w/money for his wall, @SusanPage says it fell apart because President Trump actively opposed it. Says if *that* couldn't pass, it's really not looking good for Dreamers any time soon.

Emily Chang, anchor and executive producer of Bloomberg Technology, a daily TV show focused on global technology and the interview show Bloomberg Studio 1.0, and the author of Brotopia: Breaking Up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley (Portfolio, 2018), talks about what made the tech explosion centered in Silicon Valley reject corporate norms -- including the ones developed in response to feminism. 

@emilychangtv: To this day, you have investors looking for people who look like Mark Zuckerberg or Bill Gates. Thinks of all the women who just didn't look the part.

@emilychangtv reminds us that in the '40s + '50s, many programmers were women. But that changed in '60s + '70s when the industry went looking for workers who didn't like other people (psychologists said they'd be better programmers) -- those people wound up being men.

@emilychangtv says Twitter founder @ev agreed harassment + trolling may not have been as much of a problem if women had been part of it from the beginning.

New York Times sports editor Jason Stallman recaps the first week of the Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, including who the big winners are, who the breakout stars are, and what's going on with the "Olympic Athletes from Russia."

Brian: How does one get into a sport like luge? Jason Stallman: You either grow up in a (cold) country where luge is a thing, or if you're in the US, you convert to luge when you realize you're not quite gonna make it in track + field or another sport.

Claudia Perez, Community Voices Heard member and president of the tenant's association at the Washington Houses, and Gabriel Strachota, lead organizer of the NYC chapter of Community Voices Heard, talk about the organization's calls for a NYCHA resident-led oversight committee and greater funding for repairs.

@CVHaction organizer Gabriel Strachota says Mayor de Blasio has a chance to create a real progressive alternative -- fully fund repairs in public housing + create a resident oversight council so people on the ground can deal with these problems.

WNYC's Cindy Rodriguez reports that NYPD Sergeant Hugh Barry has been acquitted of all charges in the killing of a mentally ill Bronx woman, Deborah Danner, last year.

President Trump addresses the nation on yesterday's school shooting in Parkland, Florida. New York Times op-ed columnist David Leonhardt previews the speech by discussing the shooting and gun violence here in the United States. And WNYC's Amira Nader, who attended Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, talks about the school and reacts to the news from her hometown. Plus: The Guardian reporter Lois Beckett, who covers guns and gun violence, criminal justice and the far right, reports on the shooting and also previews -- and reacts to -- the president's speech.

"As on immigration, look at what he's doing. That's more important than what he's saying," says @DLeonhardt, regarding the president and gun violence.

Sobering reminder from @DLeonhardt: No other country has this problem. The only logical explanation...is that it is our prevalence of guns and our lax gun laws that allow these mass shootings, that happen in no other rich country in the world.

The school shootings clearly strike us all in an emotional way...but it's important to remember schools are actually the safest place for children, says @GuardianUS reporter @loisbeckett.

@realDonaldTrump did not mention guns in his speech. He did mention mental health, culture, importance of family, faith. Now: @GuardianUS reporter @loisbeckett is back to react to his speech.

@loisbeckett clarifies a few things: What we know from research is that even if you could miraculously cure *all* mental illness, the amount of violence wouldn't go down all that much. People dealing with mental health are more likely to be victims of violence than perpetrators.

Lisa del Rosso, adjunct professor at New York University and author of Confessions of an Accidental Professor (Serving House Books, 2017), talks about her career as an adjunct writing instructor. 

Author (+ professor) @LeedelRosso has a reading TONIGHT at 6pm at @nyubookstores -- on Broadway near Astor Place. Info here: https://t.co/oWNNg0jnuB

Joshua Green, senior national correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek, talks about the latest national political news, including the school shooting in Florida, and his book Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Nationalist Uprising (Penguin Books, 2018), which explores how Steve Bannon helped propel Donald Trump to the presidency. 

→ For anyone interested in learning more about the gun violence stats Brian listed at the start of the show, here is his source: the Gun Violence Archive.

@JoshuaGreen watched the Golden Globes with Steve Bannon. Says Bannon recognizes the threat the #Metoo movement poses to Trump; yet he's now on the outside, looking in at the administration. Only prominent Republican sounding the alarm on this.

Brian: Is Bannon pro-patriarchy? @JoshuaGreen: "Very much so." He really thinks men (like Trump) should lead our country. [Bannon] "sees women challenging the dominant powers in our society that have traditionally been male."

After a long drought, the city of Cape Town is fast approaching "Day Zero" when they shut of the water taps and limits residents to 25 liters per day, to be centrally collected. Ian Neilson, executive deputy mayor of Cape Town, South Africa, in charge of managing the water crisis, talks about what it means for a city of close to four million people to run dry.

If #DayZero happens in Cape Town, residential taps will be turned off, + people will need to go to collection points, and line up for water, explains Deputy Mayor Ian Neilson.

Deputy Mayor Neilson says in Cape Town normally, the city would be using 1200 megaliters a day. Now it's about 600 megaliters a day -- so residents have done a good job conserving water use but there is more work to do.

Deputy Mayor Neilson says the worst scenario is still 3-4 months away; he hopes if they can keep consumption low, they'll avoid the worst. People are now being asked to use no more than 50 liters a day (just over 13 gallons).

Fast showers, no baths, wash clothes by hand, don't flush the toilet unless necessary, re-use water to flush toilets. Deputy Mayor Neilson says "it's do-able; you still get clean...it's a mind-shift that's required" + he says Capetonians are adapting.

@diannakane, who lives parttime in Cape Town, says ppl have buckets under every faucet to re-use; water is transferred to a bigger bucket for washing floors, flushing toilets, etc. She says it kind of makes you wonder why our homes aren't already designed to use water like this.

U.S. intelligence officials warned Congress yesterday that Russia is already meddling in this year's midterm elections through digital misinformation in order to create confusion and strife. Darren Samuelsohn talks about this and the Rob Porter/domestic violence story, which continue to roil the White House.

@dsamuelsohn says that as the midterm elections heat up, people are going to see things on their social media feeds that they should probably question.

Even digital staffers on campaigns will share articles that aren't true. "It's a growing epidemic that we're seeing in American politics." -- @dsamuelsohn.

@dsamuelsohn reminds us that we didn't see votes changed in 2016...it was more of an influence campaign aimed at voters' mindsets.