So, that happened. The water crisis in Flint, Michigan has reached a fever pitch, as 2016 candidates weigh in and various emergency declarations get made. We're going to step away from the sideshow this week and attempt to figure out how all of this actually came to pass. Joining us to discuss this is a man who was there when the fateful decisions got made, former Flint City Councilman Josh Freeman.

Meanwhile, we are mere days away from the Iowa Caucus, and across this land, the geek show is in full effect. The GOP is slowly starting to cotton to the notion that they may have to accept Donald Trump, even as he uses Sarah Palin to rub their faces in their failings. And the Democratic side of the ledger has taken a veer into edgy chaos as well. We go searching for constants in a race where the norms have slipped and the scripts have flipped.

Finally, Washington DC played host to the U.S. Conference of Mayors this week, and the scene was more electric than usual. Flint's lead pipes, Baltimore's inequality... For information regarding your data privacy, visit acast.com/privacy