Now that Judge David S. Tatel has retired from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, he feels freer to warn us all: the Supreme Court is threatening America's democracy by inventing spurious legal doctrines and grabbing more power for itself. There are also lighter moments in this revealing interview, as David pulls the curtain aside and tells us how the judges on this powerful court really do their work. Spoiler alert #1: It used to involve a red children's sand pail. Spoiler alert #2: Because David is blind, he used to hire "readers" who rattled off every word of laws, books and briefs out loud to him, at such mind-boggling speeds that most people couldn't understand them.

In this moving episode, David Tatel, who retired last year from the U.S. Court of Appeals, describes with his wife Edie how he gradually went blind - and struggled to hide it from friends and colleagues alike. David tells about tricks he would use, like counting rows and seats in a movie theater and following the clicks of high heels down sidewalks; Edie shares, among other things, why David's denial caused tension at home. David became an accomplished lawyer who fought landmark civil rights cases - and an inspirational father. You can read their full story in David's book, Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice. David will return in Part 2 to take us behind the scenes of the second most important court in the nation - and to warn how the Supreme Court threatens "the integrity of our democracy."

Answer: probably zero. As astonishing as it might seem among all the other astonishing outrages in today’s America, it turns out that there is no legal way to stop Trump’s unprecedented financial profiteering from his presidency, even when it damages the nation's interests. Only society’s norms — stronger than the laws — could have prevented it in earlier times when Americans had higher values. Walter Shaub, former head of the U.S. Office of Government Ethics, details Trump’s corruption in a gripping, distressing conversation. And he has urgent advice for government employees who do, despite Trump, want to act ethically.

We're repeating this episode so soon because we can't hear these warnings enough. Hitler and the Nazis assaulted universities, museums and art institutions; purged them of people that Hitler perceived as enemies; and rewrote textbooks and museum exhibits to tell Hitler's fake version of history. Sound familiar? Historian Joan Clinefelter, who retired recently from the University of Northern Colorado, says there are differences between Hitler in his early days and Trump. "But I think they have the same ultimate goal," Clinefelter tells us, "which is ideological purity, sort of a cultural cleansing of history [and] of culture - so that it only gives the message that they believe is appropriate - and getting rid of anybody who has any sort of dissenting point of view."

It sounds almost ridiculous to say this, but when people talk about wars or floods or wildfires or drought, they often neglect the fact that roughly half of the victims are children. Yet, the officials who dispense aid usually treat the kids as statistics and ignore their special needs. For instance, consider that children's brains are still developing - so if they're malnourished or sick or stressed, even temporarily, it can damage them for the rest of their lives. Sweta Shah is trying through her work with the Brookings Institution and her NGO, ChildArise, to help children in crisis around the world - including in America. And here's one of her strategies: get children themselves to talk about their needs!

Scientists have been trying for decades to understand these magnificent creatures, which can grow longer than a typical house. Michelle Fournet and her colleagues at the University of New Hampshire have been breaking new ground: They record the whales' daily communications in Alaska, and then send whale recordings back to the giant animals to see if and how they respond. Some of Michelle's latest findings suggest that they can identify individual whales by their sounds. Michelle tells us the moving story of how she morphed from broke actor to internationally-respected whale researcher, and how she hopes research on humpbacks' "language" can help humans protect them - and respect the natural world better.

As US, Israeli and Iranian leaders trade bombs and threats, this episode will help remind you one reason why Iran's government learned to detest the US long ago: The US and Britain secretly ran the plot to topple its leader in the 1950s. Why? For Iran's oil. Filmmakers Taghi Amirani and Walter Murch discuss their riveting documentary, Coup 53 - which shows step by step how the CIA and MI6 carried it out. Nations are like people: once they've been traumatized, it's hard to forget.

As we post this episode, Trump has sent Marines and Army National Guard troops to the streets, to try to quash protests by fellow citizens - the vast majority of them peaceful. Our guest Elizabeth Gotein, of the nonpartisan Brennan Center for Justice, has warned us before that any U.S. president could wield dozens of sweeping emergency powers to dismantle democracy, some so secret that members of Congress don't even know about them. We repeated Liz's episode last year and we're repeating it again: The crisis created by Trump and his allies is that serious.