Using his decades of experience in Washington and in business, Joseph Califano, Jr., who was a key adviser to President Lyndon B. Johnson, a former U.S. Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare, founder of The National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University (CASA) and author of Our Damaged Democracy: We the People Must Act (Touchstone, 2018), offers his assessment of this dysfunctional political moment and how to fix it.

@JosephCalifano says lawmakers "pay to play" -- they *have* to raise certain amounts of money to get powerful committee chairmanships.

@JosephCalifano reminds us to “vote in primaries...that’s where the action is.” pic.twitter.com/YUD0Ca0KFW

Gale Brewer, Manhattan borough president, and Eric Adams, Brooklyn borough president, explain how residents can get involved in local politics by joining their local community board and discuss the latest news, including Mayor Bill de Blasio's State of the City speech.

As I noted with @BrianLehrer, I support a complete 100% #publicfinancing of our #elections. If we want to get #bigmoney out of our #politics, we must be committed to do it completely. We should have clear limits on the cost of campaigns and true #equality for every candidate.

Manhattan BP @galeabrewer encourages people to apply to community boards in Manhattan (even 16 + 17-year-olds can join!). Deadline to apply is this Friday at 5pm -- go to https://t.co/crYp7veCa3. pic.twitter.com/6wKbyHEDUj

Here's the link to apply to a community board in Brooklyn -- deadline is tomorrow: https://t.co/ipSrV710n5

Henry Cisneros, a principal of Siebert Cisneros Shank & Co., L.L.C. and chairman of the executive committee, former mayor of San Antonio and Clinton-era secretary of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, talks about President Trump's infrastructure plan, including how the administration plans to pay for it.

On infrastructure, @henrygcisneros thinks "this is going to be a real knock-down, drag-out battle" -- but he's at least hopeful a proposal is on the table. Sees the attempt to raise $1.5 trillion toward massive shortfall as as positive.

On the rural component in the infrastructure plan, @henrygcisneros says we do need to connect the urban-driven economic prosperity to rural areas. But says major projects like the Gateway tunnel should absolutely be a bigger priority.

@henrygcisneros: "I believe in due course Gateway will be built," though maybe not with federal dollars. Says NY/NJ + private sector funding will be cobbled together to get it done.

Maggie Jones, New York Times Magazine contributing writer and visiting assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh, discusses her reporting on teenagers, porn and sex -- specifically, how much pornography they’re watching (a lot more than their parents think), and how it’s shaping their views on sex, pleasure, power dynamics and relationships.

@maggiepjones says older teens often told her of porn "there was no place else to find out about sex."

@maggiepjones says teens told her they were confused re: porn. They assumed what they were seeing in porn would translate to their own sex lives. They didn't always understand what was fake, what was real.

In response to @DouthatNYT's suggestion to ban porn, @maggiepjones says what should happen is better sex ed, and better media literacy. So when teens come across it, they can discern fantasy and reality.

Nora Bensahel, distinguished scholar in residence at the School of International Service at American University, contributing editor and columnist at War on the Rocks, discusses President Trump's new military budget and why she thinks the immense amount of money in the current budget is not enough.

On Trump's military budget, @norabensahel says the DoD "very much needs this money," particularly at a time when it's transitioning from Iraq/Afghanistan era to preparing for an era of "major power conflict."

@norabensahel says she's not suggesting big wars of the future are *likely*, but we *do* have to think of threats from Russia + China. Possibility of great power conflict is higher so DoD has to be prepared just in case.

@norabensahel reminds us this budget is not a done deal -- it's just what the President is going to ask Congress for in the next fiscal year. "But it's nowhere near what candidate Trump promised just in defense on the campaign trail."

@norabensahel: The majority of the defense budget goes to 2 things: retirement + medical treatment for retirees. "Those costs are escalating enormously" bc of policy decisions + increasing health care costs. She says that's where reform needs to happen.

@norabensahel says there has been a "relatively bi-partisan consensus in Congress" that military spending should increase. Stumbling block was under sequestration, any defense increase was tied to increase in domestic spending. That's what Dems were holding out for.

The deputy mayor in Mendham Township, N.J. resigned yesterday after he posted a screed on Facebook that referred to undocumented immigrants as "rabid, messy, mean raccoons." Matt Katz, a WNYC reporter covering refugees, immigration and security, talks about the tensions and the fallout in the wealthy suburb.

@mattkatz00 explains what really prompted this Mendham deputy mayor to resign -- it was not *just* angry citizens, but a newly-elected Democratic committeewoman, Amalia Duarte -- elected this past year in an anti-Trump blue wave -- got involved.

A caller who was at last night's Mendham Township meeting said it felt like a "watershed moment," and that her friend said it feels like they now have a "progressive SWAT team" in the neighborhood, ready to organize.

Here's the moment when Deputy Mayor Rick Blood leaves town hall after resigning for his raccoons-as-immigrants Facebook post...anti-racism activists pose victoriously behind him. cc: @BrianLehrer Captured by @BobKarpDR: pic.twitter.com/em1UrBwhPj

As the Supreme Court prepares to weigh in on political gerrymandering, David Wasserman, U.S. House editor of the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, and a FiveThirtyEight and NBC News contributor, talks about his re-mapping project and the challenge of creating districts fairly.

→"Here's how David Wasserman and FiveThirtyEight drew every Congressional district by hand. 

@Redistrict says he doesn't believe gerrymandering is the driver of polarization in Washington, thought it's a contributor. He says "we're seeing a cultural separation that has nothing to do w/the way district lines are drawn."

In an interview that aired on CBS' "60 Minutes" Sunday, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) explained the role her personal life has had in shaping her political views. Listeners call in to share events and especially relationships that have influenced their own way of looking at the world -- and their politics.

Caller George says when he moved from a liberal area in Rockland County to a much more conservative area of NJ, it changed his perception of Trump voters. Thinks both he + his new conservative friends are now more tolerant of each other's opposing views.

Another listener named Edward says he completely changed his views to support gay marriage after a friend helped change his mind.

WNYC reporter Robert Lewis talks about his latest investigation into the non-profit funded by the Mercer family (also a major funder of Breitbart) that aims to reshape New York State politics, plus the latest on the Percoco corruption trial.

Reclaim New York says they are teaching citizens to demand transparency from gov't -- but some say it sets up too adversarial a relationship between citizens + gov't.

@robertianlewis says the #Percoco trial has brought to light the "gross relationship" between lobbyists + companies + this administration, and what's shocking is not necessarily what's illegal but what's legal.

Sean Patrick Maloney, U.S. Representative (D-NY18) and former White House staff secretary under Bill Clinton, discusses fallout from the Rob Porter resignation as well as the latest in national news. Rep. Maloney says the Rob Porter issue is a moral as well as legal issue -- and notes Porter was obviously susceptible to blackmail because of his ex-wives' accusations of domestic violence. He also casts doubt on White House chief of staff John Kelly's ability to "run the place" in light of the Porter scandal.