This is what the news should sound like. The biggest stories of our time, told by the best journalists in the world. Hosted by Michael Barbaro and Sabrina Tavernise. Twenty minutes a day, five days a week, ready by 6 a.m.
This weekend, Democrats passed legislation that would make historic investments to fight climate change and lower the cost of prescription drugs — paid for by raising taxes on businesses.How did the party finally make progress on the bill, and what effects will it have?Guest: Emily Cochrane, a Washington-based correspondent for The New York Times.Background reading: Here’s what is in the climate, tax and health care package.How Senator Joe Manchin turned from a holdout into a deal maker.For more...more
This episode contains descriptions of distressing scenes. In a landmark ruling, a jury in Texas ordered Alex Jones, America’s most prominent conspiracy theorist, to pay millions of dollars to the parents of a boy killed at Sandy Hook for the damage caused by his lies about the mass shooting.What is the significance of the trial, and will it do anything to change the world of lies and misinformation?Guest: Elizabeth Williamson, a feature writer based in the Washington bureau of The New York Times...more
The more he insisted that his name was Joshua, the more delusional he came to be seen.Journalist Robert Kolker tells us the remarkable story of Joshua Spriestersbach, a homeless man who wound up serving more than two years in a Honolulu jail for crimes committed by someone else.It was a case of mistaken identity that developed into “a slow-motion game of hot potato between the police, the courts, the jails and the hospitals,” Mr. Kolker writes. He delves into how homelessness and mental illness ...more
Charles Falls Jr., known as Chillie, loves to take cruises. But Covid, as it has done for so many, left him marooned at home in Virginia.As he told Cristal Duhaime, a producer at the Times podcast First Person, as soon as restrictions eased, he eagerly planned a return to the waves. But for Chillie, who suffers from prostate cancer, resuming his beloved travels — particularly aboard the cramped quarters of a cruise ship, most people’s idea of a pandemic nightmare — was especially perilous.For mo...more
This episode contains mention of sexual assault. Kansas this week became the first U.S. state since the fall of Roe v. Wade to put the question of abortion directly to the electorate.The result was resounding. Voters chose overwhelmingly to preserve abortion rights, an outcome that could have important political reverberations for the rest of the country.Guest: Mitch Smith, a correspondent covering the Midwest and the Great Plains for The New York Times.Background reading: The defeat of the ball...more
Democrats are meddling in Republican primaries this year to an unusual degree, attempting to elevate extremist candidates who they think will be easy to defeat in midterms in the fall.Nowhere has that strategy been more divisive than in the election for a House seat in Michigan.Guest: Jonathan Weisman, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The meddling i...more
On Monday, President Biden announced that the United States had killed Ayman al-Zawahri in a drone strike in Afghanistan. Al-Zawahri was the leader of Al Qaeda. A long time number two to Osama bin Laden and the intellectual spine of the terrorist group, he assumed power after bin Laden was killed by U.S. in 2011. Who was al-Zawahri, and what does his death mean for Afghanistan’s relationship with the United States and for the threat of global terrorism? Guest: Eric Schmitt, a senior corresponden...more
In mid-June, cases of monkeypox were in the double digits in the United States. There were drug treatments and vaccines against it. There didn’t seem to be any reason for alarm.But in the weeks since, the virus has spread rapidly across the country, with some local and state officials declaring public health emergencies.Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe t...more
For generations, America’s major publishers focused almost entirely on white readers. Now a new cadre of executives is trying to open up the industry.The journalist Marcela Valdes spent a year reporting on what she described as “the problematic history of diversity in book publishing and the ways it has affected editors, authors and what you see (or don’t see) in bookstores.”Interviewing more than 50 current and former book professionals, as well as authors, Ms. Valdes learned about the previous...more
For decades, Republicans have sought to make gains with a critical voting block: Latinos.Last month, when Mayra Flores was elected to Congress from Texas, she finally showed them a way to gain that support. Today, we explore what her campaign tells us about the future of the Latino vote.Guest: Jennifer Medina, a national reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Ms. Flores has l...more
To fight historic levels of inflation, the Federal Reserve this week, once again, raised interest rates, its most powerful weapon against rising prices.The move was intended to slow demand, but there was also a psychological factor: If consumers become convinced that inflation is a permanent feature of the economy, that might become a self-fulfilling prophecy.Guest: Jeanna Smialek, a correspondent covering the Federal Reserve and the economy for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For o...more
This episode contains details of alleged sexual assault. In the past year, more than 20 women have accused the star N.F.L. quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual misconduct.Despite the allegations, Watson has signed one of the most lucrative contracts in the history of football, with the Cleveland Browns, and will take the field today for training camp.Guest: Jenny Vrentas, a sports reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subs...more
After Roe v. Wade was overturned, Democrats introduced a bill to prevent the right to gay marriage from meeting the same fate as the right to abortion.The bill was expected to go nowhere, but it has won more and more Republican support and now seems to have a narrow path to enactment.Guest: Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Larger-than-e...more
Born in response to the 2008 financial crisis, cryptocurrency was supposed be a form of money that eliminated the traditional gatekeepers who had overseen the tanking of the economy.But a crash in value recently has raised questions about cryptocurrency’s central promise.Guest: David Yaffe-Bellany, a reporter covering cryptocurrencies and fintech for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading:...more
How do you teach your child about sex? It’s a perennial question that has spawned hundreds of illustrated books meant to demystify sexual intercourse.But for the Canadian author Cory Silverberg, there was something lacking. Silverberg, who uses they/them pronouns, felt that books on sex aimed at children often omitted mention of intimacy in the context of disability or gender nonconformity. And so they set about making a book of their own.They wanted to tell a story of how babies are made that w...more
The Great Salt Lake is drying up.Soaring demand for water, exacerbated by drought and higher temperatures in the region, are shrinking the waters, which play such a crucial role in the landscape, ecology and weather of Salt Lake City and Utah.Can the lake be saved?Guest: Christopher Flavelle, a climate reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Utah’s dilemma raises a core questi...more
A series of blockbuster hearings from the Jan. 6 committee has put growing pressure on Attorney General Merrick B. Garland to bring criminal charges against former President Donald J. Trump over the efforts to overturn the 2020 election.Before today’s committee hearing, we speak with Andrew D. Goldstein, one of the prosecutors who led the last major investigation into Mr. Trump, about why winning a case against the former president is such a challenge.Guest: Andrew Goldstein, a federal prosecuto...more
Across the United States, Republicans emboldened by the overturning of Roe v. Wade are passing laws intended to stop medical staff from providing an abortion.But those same laws may also be scaring health workers out of providing basic care for miscarriages.Guest: Pam Belluck, a health and science writer for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Although post-Roe laws are technically int...more
A record-breaking heat wave is currently washing over Europe. In parts of Britain, the mercury has hit a freakishly high 100 degrees Fahrenheit or more.While that is happening, both Europe and the United States — two of the world’s largest contributors to global warming — are abandoning key commitments to limit emissions.Guest: Somini Sengupta, the international climate reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to ou...more
In the past, President Biden has called Saudi Arabia a “pariah” for its human rights abuses and said that he would never meet with its de facto ruler, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.But Mr. Biden’s first trip as president to the Middle East included talks with the prince. What prompted the change in course?Guest: Ben Hubbard, the Beirut bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background rea...more
People heading to court often turn to the internet for guidance. In so doing, many come across the work of Justin Paperny, who dispenses advice on his YouTube channel. His videos offer preparation advice and help manage expectations, while providing defendants information to be able to hold their current lawyers accountable, and to try to negotiate a lighter sentence.Mr. Paperny, a former financial criminal, also leads White Collar Advice with his partner Michael Santos, another former convict. ...more
Ancient galaxies carpeting the sky like jewels on black velvet. Fledgling stars shining out from deep within cumulus clouds of interstellar dust. Hints of water vapor in the atmosphere of a remote exoplanet.This week, NASA released new images captured from a point in space one million miles from Earth.Today, we discuss the James Webb Space Telescope, the world’s most powerful space observatory, its journey to launch and what it can teach us about the universe.Guest: Kenneth Chang, a science repo...more
In recent days, the political crisis in Sri Lanka has reached a critical point, with its president fleeing the country and protesters occupying his residence and office. Today, “The Daily” explores how the island nation, whose economy was once held up as a success story in South Asia, came apart — and why it’s a cautionary tale.Guest: Emily Schmall, a South Asia correspondent for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our n...more
For months, leaders of the Democratic Party and President Biden have been bracing for huge losses in the upcoming midterm elections. Today, “The Daily” explores a new New York Times poll that complicates that thinking — and could set the stage for a very different showdown in November.Guest: Nate Cohn, a domestic correspondent for The Upshot at The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Here’...more
Last week, Elon Musk announced that he was pulling out of his $44 billion agreement to purchase Twitter. Today, we explore why a company that once tried to fend off this acquisition is now trying to force Mr. Musk to buy it.Guest: Kate Conger, a technology reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Why Mr. Musk is leaving Twitter worse off than it was when he said he would buy it...more
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the court’s conservative majority argued it was simply handing the question of abortion to the states and their voters to decide for themselves.But in reality, the court was ensuring that many states, from Arizona to Ohio, would immediately ban the procedure without much debate, because their legislatures are now dominated by hard-line Republicans. Today, we tell the story of how those Republican legislators achieved that dominance.Guest: Kate Zerni...more
Warning of imminent ecological catastrophe, the Earth Liberation Front became notorious in the late 1990s for setting fire to symbols of ecological destruction, including timber mills, an S.U.V. dealership and a ski resort. The group was widely demonized. Its exploits were condemned by mainstream environmental groups, ridiculed by the media and inspired a furious crackdown from law enforcement.But in 2022 the group is more relevant than ever. These days even America’s mainstream environmental mo...more
After a flurry of ministerial resignations and calls from members of his own party for his departure, Boris Johnson agreed on Thursday to resign as prime minister of Britain.During his tenure, Mr. Johnson survived a series of scandals and skated past a lot of bad news. But even he was unable to maneuver his way out of his latest misstep.Guest: Mark Landler, the London bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to ...more
After Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973, a group of conservative lawyers embarked on what would become a decades-long mission to reverse the ruling.One of those lawyers, James Bopp, explains how they succeeded and what comes next.Guest: James Bopp, general counsel for the National Right to Life Committee. Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision reflected a polarized nat...more
Brittney Griner, the American W.N.B.A. star who has been detained in Russia since February, recently sent a letter to President Biden. “I’m terrified I might be here forever,” she wrote.The White House vowed to use “every tool” to bring Ms. Griner back to the United States, but organizing her release is a tricky proposition, complicated not least by Washington’s break with Moscow over the war in Ukraine.Guest: Michael Crowley, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times.Want more from The ...more
President Biden has heralded the recent gun safety bill as the most significant federal attempt to reduce gun violence in 30 years.But after a gunman opened fire from a rooftop onto a Fourth of July parade in a Chicago suburb, questions abound about what the landmark legislation will — and will not — achieve.Guest: Sheryl Gay Stolberg, a Washington correspondent covering health policy for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe...more
A little over 50 years ago, Nancy Stearns, a young lawyer, was presenting a case in New York with a bold legal assertion: that the right to abortion was fundamental to equal rights for women.She never got to conclude her argument — first New York changed the law, then came Roe v. Wade. Now, with Roe overturned, she describes how it feels to watch the right to terminate a pregnancy fall away.Guest: Nancy Stearns, a lawyer who used an argument of equal rights to challenge the constitutionality of ...more
At the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European leaders painted the battle in stark moral terms, imposing harsh sanctions against Russia and talking about President Volodymyr Zelensky as a hero.But as the war drags on, different conversations have taken place behind the scenes to consider what Ukraine might need to give up to achieve peace.Guest: Matina Stevis-Gridneff, the Brussels bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from o...more
On Jan. 6, 2021, when supporters of Donald Trump stormed the Capitol, Cassidy Hutchinson was at work in the White House alongside her boss, Mark Meadows, then the chief of staff.Her stunning testimony has provided a fly-on-the-wall account of what Mr. Trump knew about the events that day.Guest: Luke Broadwater, a congressional reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Ms. Hutchi...more
In the days since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, states have rushed to either ban, restrict or protect abortion.The different approaches have created a fragmented, patchwork map of America.Guest: Margot Sanger-Katz, a domestic correspondent covering health care for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: With Roe overturned, the distances many women will need to travel for an ab...more
This episode contains strong language and mentions sexual assault.The Supreme Court decision on Friday to overturn Roe v. Wade sent abortion clinics into a tailspin.That day Rosenda, a receptionist at a family planning clinic in Arizona, spent eight hours on the phone telling women the clinic could no longer help them.“I wanted to hug her, I wanted to help her but I know I can’t,” she said of one patient she called. “I wanted to scream.”In the hours after the decision, we spoke to clinic doctors...more
Michael Kimmelman, the architecture critic of The New York Times, traveled to Houston to observe an approach to chronic homelessness that has won widespread praise.Houston, the nation’s fourth-most populous city, has moved more than 25,000 homeless people directly into apartments and houses in the past decade, an overwhelming majority of whom remain housed after two years.This has been achieved through a “housing first” practice: moving the most vulnerable from the streets directly into apartmen...more
This episode contains strong language.The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, a ruling that eliminates women’s constitutional right to abortion after almost 50 years. “Roe was egregiously wrong from the start,” Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. wrote on behalf of the majority, while President Biden has denounced the court’s action as the “realization of extreme ideology.” In this special episode, we explore how the court arrived at this landmark decision — and how it will transform American life.Gue...more
A bitter debate about the criteria for enrolling students at Lowell, in California, has echoes of the soul-searching happening across the U.S. education system.Guest: Jay Caspian Kang, a writer for Times Opinion and The New York Times Magazine; and Jessica Cheung, a senior audio producer for The Daily. Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The decision to replace Lowell High School’s admission process with...more
In the most sweeping ruling on firearms in decades, the Supreme Court struck down a New York law today that had placed strict limits on carrying guns outside the home. The decision has far-reaching implications, particularly for six other states that have similar laws limiting guns in public. This evening, we revisit an episode from November 2021 that tells the story behind one of the most significant gun cases in American history. Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the Supreme Court for T...more
While coming rulings on abortion and guns have garnered lots of attention, the Supreme Court is also set to make another major decision in a less-publicized suit involving climate change.The case, about how far the Environmental Protection Agency can regulate greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, could affect the way the entire government makes rules and regulations.Guest: Coral Davenport, a correspondent covering energy and environmental policy for The New York Times.Want more from The Da...more
During his campaign for president and in his first year in office, Joe Biden tried to be all things to all people. But trying to govern on behalf of such a broad political coalition has left his administration with something of an identity crisis.In alarming figures for Democrats ahead of the midterms, Mr. Biden’s approval rating has reached the lowest level of his presidency, while 70 percent of Americans say that the country is on the wrong track.Guest: Alexander Burns, a national political co...more
This episode contains strong language.When Drew Mena and Amena Sengal decided to relocate their young family from New York to Austin, Texas, they figured they’d have no problem.What they hadn’t realized was that, across the country, home prices — and competition to secure properties — had risen to jaw-dropping levels.Guest: Francesca Mari, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine and a fellow at the think tank New America.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each w...more
First Person is the newest show from New York Times Opinion. Each week, host Lulu Garcia-Navarro shares the stories of people living through the headlines. In this episode, Lulu asks: Are parents’ rights truly rights for all parents, no matter their politics?Parental rights. It’s a term that burst into the public consciousness in recent years. This year alone, 82 bills have been introduced in 26 states under the banner of parental rights. On issues such as masking, vaccine mandates, critical rac...more
This episode contains strong language.The House committee that was tasked with scrutinizing the events surrounding the attack at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021 is holding a series of public hearings.Testimony from key figures has explored a campaign by former President Donald J. Trump and his allies to subvert American democracy and cling to power by reversing an election. The panel has recounted how Mr. Trump’s actions brought the United States to the brink of a constitutional crisis.Guest: L...more
Cases of the monkeypox virus are spreading in many countries where it has rarely, if ever, been seen before, including in the United States.Although there are a lot of unknowns about the illness, the rapidly rising number of infections has caused alarm bells to sound among public health agencies.Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a reporter for The New York Times, with a focus on science and global health.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our ne...more
The meteoric rise of the U.S. stock market over the past two years has come to an abrupt end.A steep downturn recently has led to what’s known as a bear market. But what does that mean, and why might policymakers have to hurt the economy to help it in the long term?Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, with a focus on economic policy.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading...more
The Senate has reached a bipartisan deal that could lead to the most significant federal response to gun violence in decades.Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, was deeply involved in the negotiations. Today, he tells us how news of the shooting in Uvalde, Texas, left him with a feeling of desperation — and renewed determination to make progress.Guest: Senator Chris Murphy, who has spent the decade since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., trying to enact c...more
In the nearly four months since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the United States has been giving officials in Kyiv a steady stream of intelligence to aid them in the fight.But what is becoming clear is that the Ukrainians are not returning the favor.Guest: Julian E. Barnes, a national security reporter for The New York Times covering the intelligence agencies.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: America...more
Ezra Marcus takes a deep dive into the world of OnlyFans and self-described e-pimps, and untangles the vast web of models, agencies and “chatters” (the people who often act as the OnlyFans models in private messages with the customers) that support these lucrative businesses.The article explores how e-pimps can help turn a seemingly simple exchange of “dollars for sexts” into a transaction that extends across layers of third-party intermediaries.With the help of e-pimps, even the most impersonal...more
This episode contains strong language.This week, voters in San Francisco ousted Chesa Boudin, their progressive district attorney. The move was seen as a rejection of a class of prosecutors who are determined to overhaul the criminal justice system.But what happened to Mr. Boudin can be seen as more the exception than the rule.Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national political reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to...more
This episode contains strong language.After a nearly yearlong investigation, the congressional committee examining the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol will begin holding televised hearings on Thursday.One focus of the hearings will be the Proud Boys. The trajectory of that group, which grew out of a drinking club in New York City for men who felt put upon by liberal culture, has now led to charges of trying to overthrow the United States government.Guest: Alan Feuer, a reporter covering courts and ...more
After a series of deadly mass shootings in the United States, the National Rifle Association and some Republican leaders and conservatives are pointing to mental illness.This approach raises a question: How can the mental health system stop gun violence when mental illness is so rarely the cause of it?We revisit a conversation from 2018 with a psychiatrist who is wrestling with that challenge.Guest: Dr. Amy Barnhorst, the vice chairwoman of community psychiatry at the University of California, D...more
In calling for Republicans to pass gun safety measures like expanded background checks, Democrats point to polls that show most Americans support the idea. They aren’t wrong about the polling. In fact, some polls show that over 90 percent of Americans support expanded checks. Polling, however, does not tell the whole story. Guest: Nate Cohn, a domestic correspondent for The Upshot at The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to o...more
This episode contains strong language and details of a sexual assault accusation.Since a jury ruled in favor of Johnny Depp in his defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard, there has been impassioned debate about what exactly the outcome means for the #MeToo movement.It raises the question: If people being accused of sexual assault can potentially win defamation cases in court, what does that mean for the accused — and the accusers — moving forward?Guest: Julia Jacobs, a culture reporter ...more
We cannot escape our bodies. So how do we reconcile them with who we really are?Sam Anderson, a staff writer, considers this particular conundrum of the human condition by recounting his lifelong struggle to maintain a healthy weight: his teenage triumph over the “legendary snacker” he was in middle school, the slow creep of the pounds in early adulthood, and the pandemic’s expansive effect on his waistline.Anderson also explores what it takes to monitor food consumption, the linguistic legacy o...more
In 1791, enslaved Haitians did the seemingly impossible. They ousted their French masters and created the first free Black nation in the Americas.But France made Haitians pay for that freedom.A team of reporters from The New York Times looked at the extent and effect of the ensuing payments.Guest: Catherine Porter, the Toronto bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The fi...more
As a proportion of its population, California has one of the lowest rates of gun deaths in the United States — 8.5 per 100,000 people, compared with 13.7 nationally.How did the state get that way?Guest: Shawn Hubler, a California correspondent for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Californians are about 25 percent less likely to die in mass shootings, compared with residents of other...more
This episode contains strong language.Gemma Lopez, 10, watched a movie in class that day. Jacob Albarado, a Border Patrol officer, was getting his hair cut when he heard there was a gunman at his daughter’s school, where his wife is a teacher. Ricardo Garcia, a hospital groundskeeper, can still hear the screaming of parents in the emergency room.These are some of the stories of those who lived through the devastation of the shooting at Robb Elementary School.Guest: Rick Rojas, a national corresp...more
After the shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, the explanation for how the police acted kept shifting.Now, a clearer picture has emerged.Guest: J. David Goodman, the Houston bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: A timeline from the state police raised the painful possibility that had officers done more, and faster, not all of those who died — 19 children ...more
A dire lack of baby formula in the United States in the past few weeks has been blamed on production deficiencies such as the small number of manufacturers and an inflexible supply chain.But Christina Jewett, an investigative reporter at The Times, has traced it back further, to deadly bacteria whose detection set off a chain of events that ultimately led to the shortage.Guest: Christina Jewett, an investigative reporter who covers the Food and Drug Administration for The New York Times.Want mor...more
In Pennsylvania, a candidate falsely claiming election fraud in 2020 prevailed in a crowded Republican primary for governor. But in Georgia, two incumbents — the governor and the secretary of state — beat back challenges from “stop the steal” opponents.Is re-litigating the 2020 election a vote winner for Republicans? Or is it increasingly becoming a losing issue?Guest: Reid J. Epstein, a politics reporter for The New York Times who covers campaigns and elections.Want more from The Daily? For one...more
This episode covers incidents of mass violence.At least 21 people, including 19 children, were killed when a gunman opened fire at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, on Tuesday morning.It was the deadliest school shooting in the United States since the 2012 attack on the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.For some of the Sandy Hook parents, news of yet another school massacre provoked a chilling sense of numbness.Guest: Elizabeth Williamson, a feature writer for The New York...more
For decades, the U.S. has walked a careful line when it comes to Taiwan — vowing to protect the island from China, without saying exactly how far it would go to do that.On Monday, that appeared to change.Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: President Biden’s seemingly offhand remarks about Taiwan, made during ...more
Three months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, one of the biggest surprises has been the inability of the Russian military to achieve some of its basic goals. One clear example: A failed attempt to cross the Donets river in eastern Ukraine earlier this month left hundreds of Russian soldiers dead. Its aftermath is raising doubts in Russia, even among the military’s most ardent supporters.Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one ...more
Chronic pain is one of the leading causes of long-term disability in the world. By some measures, 50 million Americans live with chronic pain, in part because the power of medicine to relieve it remains inadequate.Helen Ouyang, a physician and contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, explores the potentially groundbreaking use of virtual reality in the alleviation of acute pain, as well as anxiety and depression, and meets the doctors and entrepreneurs who believe this “nonpharmacolo...more
Throughout the pandemic, long Covid — symptoms that occur after the initial coronavirus infection — has remained something of a medical mystery.Now, amid the latest surge of infections, a series of major studies are shedding light on the condition.Guest: Pam Belluck, a health and science reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Long Covid has become one of the most daunting leg...more
In the post-Trump era, some red states have moved aggressively to rebuke the Biden administration at the local level and signal to voters what a Republican-led country might look like.In Texas, immigration is a key battleground. Today, we speak to Hunter Schuler, a member of the National Guards, about why Gov. Greg Abbott has sent him and thousands of other security officers to the U.S.-Mexico border.Guest: Lulu Garcia-Navarro, a Times Opinion podcast host; and J. David Goodman, the Houston bure...more
For the past two months, a group of Ukrainian fighters has been holed up in the Azovstal steel plant in the city of Mariupol, mounting a last stand against Russian forces in a critical part of eastern Ukraine.On Monday, Ukraine finally surrendered the plant.After the end of the determined resistance at Azovstal, we hear from Leonid Kuznetsov, a 25 year-old soldier who had been stationed inside.Guest: Michael Schwirtz, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For...more
When the Supreme Court decriminalized abortion with Roe v. Wade, it established the United States as a global leader on abortion rights, decades ahead of many other countries. Now, with Roe likely to be overturned, we look to Mexico, a country where the playbook for securing legalized abortion could be a model for activists in the United States. Guest: Natalie Kitroeff, a correspondent covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big...more
Over the weekend, an 18-year-old man livestreamed himself shooting 13 people and killing 10. Within hours it became clear that the shooter’s intent was to kill as many Black people as possible. The suspect wrote online that he was motivated by replacement theory — a racist idea that white people are deliberately being replaced by people of color in places like America and Europe. What are the origins of this theory, and how has it become simultaneously more extreme and more mainstream?Guest: Nic...more
The Times journalist Caity Weaver was tasked by her editor to go on an adventure: With an old college friend she would spend a week in California, living out of a converted camper van, in pursuit of the aesthetic fantasy known as #VanLife.Given the discomfort that can arise even in the plushiest of vehicles, it’s a surprising trend that shows no sign of letting up. As Weaver explains, even the idea of living full time out of a vehicle has “become aspirational for a subset of millennials and Zoom...more
This episode contains strong language. Hilma Wolitzer lost her husband, Morty Wolitzer, a psychologist who loved cooking and jazz, on April 11, 2020. They had been together for 68 years.Mary-Margaret Waterbury’s uncle Michael Mantlo had introduced her to Nirvana, grunge and Elvis Costello.After Terrie Martin’s first born, April Marie Dawson, died at age 43, Ms. Martin said she carried around guilt for not taking more precautions. “I killed my daughter,” she said. “And I have learned nothing from...more
Fresh data from the U.S. government on Wednesday showed that inflation was still climbing at a rapid pace, prompting President Biden to say that controlling the rising prices was his “top domestic priority.”But not everybody experiences inflation equally. Why is that?Guest: Ben Casselman, an economics and business reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: What’s your rate of inf...more
This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence. In Part 1 of our two-part series, we spoke to anti-abortion activists about their preparations for a future without Roe v. Wade.Today, we talk to people working in abortion clinics about what the potential change could mean for their patients.“Everybody’s scared,” said one provider from Oklahoma. “Every single person that walks in our clinic, you can see the fear on their faces.”Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each we...more
For years, President Vladimir V. Putin has taken advantage of Victory Day — when Russians commemorate the Soviet triumph over Nazi Germany — to champion his country’s military might and project himself as a leader of enormous power.This year, he drew on the pageantry of May 9 for an even more pressing goal: making the case for the war in Ukraine.Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team,...more
This episode contains descriptions of suicide. Over the past five years, a series of investigations by The Times has revealed the terror and tragedy that America’s air wars, despite being promoted as the most precise in history, have brought to civilians on the ground.The program has also exacted a heavy toll on the military personnel guiding the drones to their targets. They include soldiers such as Capt. Kevin Larson, a decorated pilot, who died by suicide after a drug arrest and court-martial...more
It was meant to mark the start of their lives out of college, but the adventure quickly turned into a nightmare. Beginning with what seemed to be a lucky whale sighting, three friends set out on a sea-kayaking trip through Glacier Bay National Park in Alaska, watching out for bears, and having a good time, when tragedy struck.In recounting the days preceding and following the accident, which seriously injured one of his friends, the Times journalist Jon Mooallem explains how he was forced to rec...more
Today, we revisit a two-part series that first ran in 2018 about the history of Roe v. Wade and the woman behind it.Almost 50 years ago, when the Supreme Court first ruled that women had the constitutional right to an abortion, it was met with little controversy.In Part 2, we asked: How, then, did abortion become one of the most controversial issues of our time?Guest: Sabrina Tavernise, co-host of The Daily. As a correspondent in 2018, she reported on the story of Roe v. Wade.Want more from The ...more
This week, the release of a draft Supreme Court opinion striking down Roe v. Wade has put a spotlight on the 50-year-old case that redefined abortion in America.Today, we revisit a two-part series that first ran in 2018 about the history of the case and the woman behind it.In Part 1, the story of Jane Roe.Guest: Sabrina Tavernise, co-host of The Daily. As a correspondent in 2018, she reported on the story of Roe v. Wade.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our te...more
Since the leak of the Supreme Court draft opinion on overturning the constitutional right to abortion, both sides of the fight have been scrambling.Today, in the first of two parts, we speak to anti-abortion activists such as Michael Gonidakis, president of Ohio Right to Life, about what comes next.“It’s been a whirlwind,” he said. “We’re in uncharted territory.”Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: For ha...more
If the Supreme Court revokes Roe v. Wade, individual states will probably be left to make their own decisions about abortion provision.Some states will ban abortion, and some will continue to allow it. And then there is a third group: swing states, where a final decision will be up for grabs.Guest: Margot Sanger-Katz, a domestic correspondent covering health care for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Ba...more
The revelation that the Supreme Court could end the constitutional right to abortion in the United States has set off a political firestorm and deepened divisions about one of the most contentious issues in American society.What exactly is in the draft opinion that was leaked this week, and what does it mean for the court and for the country?Guest: Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subs...more
Unlike other former presidents after leaving office, Donald J. Trump has remained in the middle of the political stage — raising more money than the Republican Party itself and doling out coveted endorsements.Who has Mr. Trump backed in the midterms? And to what lengths have candidates gone to secure his favor?Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. B...more
The United States is seeing a revival in union membership.In the last six months, the National Labor Relations Board has recorded a 60 percent increase in workers filing for petitions that allow for union elections to take place.The circumstances that have prompted these unionization efforts have some similarities with the period that brought the largest gain in union membership in U.S. history, during the 1930s.What can that era tell us about today, and are current efforts just a blip?Guest: No...more
Is there a connection between former President Donald J. Trump’s pressure campaign on Ukraine, the Russian invasion and the events of Jan. 6, 2021?The journalist Robert Draper talked to Fiona Hill, John Bolton and other former Trump advisers to gauge the extent to which the ex-president’s actions had a ripple effect.This story was written by Robert Draper and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
As the horrors of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have became clearer, the Biden administration has pivoted to a more aggressive stance, with officials talking about constraining Moscow as a global power.But that is an escalation, and escalations can go wrong.Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times. Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The United State...more
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released new data that showed around 60 percent of Americans — more than half of adults and three quarters of children — have now been infected with the coronavirus. But herd immunity looks likely to remain elusive, and many people are still at high risk from Covid-19.What do the C.D.C. figures mean for immunity in the United States, and for the future of the pandemic?Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The...more
Joseph A. Kennedy, a former high school football coach, was fired after he made a habit of going to the 50-yard line after his team’s games to thank God and to lead his players in prayer.On Monday, the Supreme Court heard his suit. The justice’s decision in the complex case could make a major statement about the role religion may play in public life.Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the Supreme Court for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week fr...more
In January 2021, one of President Biden’s first big moves in office was to sign an executive order mandating masks in airports and on planes and other forms of public transit.But an unexpected ruling from a judge in Florida has abruptly and unexpectedly overturned that mandate — and the implications of the decision could tie the government’s hands when it comes to future health emergencies.Guest: Sheryl Gay Stolberg, a Washington correspondent covering health policy for The New York Times; and H...more
A Times investigation last year found that minor traffic stops in the United States were far more deadly than widely thought — in the previous five years, 400 unarmed motorists who were not under pursuit for any violent crime were killed by the police during such checks.We look at the different efforts across the country to rethink the stops and at the pushback from opponents who say that restrictions on the practice could keep more guns and criminals on the streets.Guest: David D. Kirkpatrick, ...more
America is home to 735 billionaires with a collective worth greater than $4.7 trillion, according to Forbes. There were just 424 billionaires in 2012, Forbes found, and only 243 a decade before that. The billionaires keep multiplying.In this article, Willy Staley uses information from the first billionaire count — commissioned in 1981 by the entrepreneur Malcolm Forbes for his own magazine — to consider the reasons behind the rapid increase in American billionaires, but also the changing attitud...more
When they go to the polls on Sunday, voters in France will be faced with the same two presidential candidates as 2017: Emmanuel Macron, the president and a polished centrist, and Marine Le Pen, the leader of the far-right National Rally party.Yet the context is different. There is a war in Europe, and the contest is tight.What are the stakes in the runoff election, and how has the race become so close?Guest: Roger Cohen, Paris bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one...more
In Texas, a heated political battle is taking place over care provided to young transgender people, with Gov. Greg Abbott taking a leading role.The story of this confrontation began, improbably, with the contentious divorce of a suburban couple from Dallas, and a nasty custody battle over their daughter.We look at how a domestic dispute precipitated one of the fiercest political clashes in the country, and return to yesterday’s story about a trans teenager, Grayson, and his mother to explore the...more
In recent years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of younger Americans who identify as transgender and are seeking medical intervention to support their transition. This increase has coincided with laws introduced in Republican State Houses across the country that seek to block trans youth from accessing gender-affirming care. Nowhere is the political battle more polarized and heated than in Texas. In the first of two episodes on the situation in Texas, we explore the story of one f...more
Nearly two months into the war in Ukraine, many Russians have gone from shock and denial to support for their troops and anger at the West.What is behind this shifting view, and what does it mean for those who go against it?Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: In Russia, some citizens are turning on one another, illustrating how the ...more
Across the United States, 45 million borrowers now owe $1.6 trillion in debt for federal loans taken out for college — more than consumers owe on any other debt except mortgages.For the past two years, beginning as the pandemic spread, the U.S. government has allowed tens of millions of Americans to stop paying back their students loans.This experiment in debt deferral has had unintended consequences, and poses a dilemma for President Biden.Guest: Stacy Cowley, a finance reporter for The New Yor...more
The Indigenous Brazilian territory of Ituna-Itatá was established in 2011 for the protection of an isolated group that has never been contacted by outsiders or fully confirmed to exist. But despite its special status, it has become one of the most invaded Indigenous territories in Brazil since the election of the pro-development, anti-regulatory president, Jair Bolsonaro, in 2018 — becoming something of a poster board for the Amazon’s eventual demise.William Langewiesche explores the process of ...more
In the 1990s, Dennis Wayne Hope committed a series of armed robberies. After proving adept at escaping prison, he was put in isolation. He has been there for nearly three decades.His case, if the Supreme Court agrees to hear it, could answer the fundamental question of how long people can be held in solitary confinement.Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the Supreme Court for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our ...more
Elon Musk’s recent investment in Twitter has turned a high-profile and frequent user of the platform into the company’s largest stakeholder.At first, the involvement of Mr. Musk, the C.E.O. of Tesla, was seen by the social media giant as a chance to gain a powerful ally. Instead, Twitter’s fate has suddenly become much harder to predict.Guest: Mike Isaac, a technology correspondent for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to...more
After a disastrous defeat in northern Ukraine, Russia has begun a high-stakes battle for the east, while Western allies arm Ukrainian fighters determined to stave off the attack.After Moscow’s pivot, what lies in store in the coming weeks?Guest: Eric Schmitt, a senior writer covering terrorism and national security for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: President Vladimir V. Putin of ...more
On the campaign trail and when he first came to office, President Biden had ambitious plans to deal with climate change, including promises to reduce fossil fuel production. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, however, Mr. Biden has largely stopped making the case for these plans, instead turning his focus to pumping as much oil and gas as possible. What is behind the president’s retreat on climate?Guest: Coral Davenport, an energy and environmental policy correspondent for The New York Times...more
This episode contains strong language. A year and a half ago, the Times journalists Jodi Kantor and Karen Weise began examining labor practices at Amazon.In the process, they met Christian Smalls and Derrick Palmer, two Amazon workers at a warehouse in New York, who had embarked on an improbable attempt to create the company’s first union. Last week, they did it.We sat down Mr. Smalls and Mr. Palmer to ask them how it happened.Guest: Jodi Kantor, an investigative reporter for The New York Times;...more
For more than two decades, Belarus existed in an equilibrium of quiet authoritarianism. If the government’s repressions didn’t directly touch them, most Belarusians tolerated them. But over the course of 2020, the country’s history and identity, which never much interested a majority of people who lived there, became something they would sacrifice their lives for.Sarah A. Topol explores the battle over a political mural in a public park in Minsk and considers the future of Belarus. As a remarkab...more
Thirty years ago, Germany put forth a theory for how to work with Russia. Major energy deals, leaders argued, would keep Russia from going to war with its neighbors.Over the past 20 years, Germany has made itself incredibly dependent on Russian gas. The war in Ukraine has complicated that relationship and has shown how Germany’s approach to Russia has not only failed, but also backfired.Guest: Katrin Bennhold, the Berlin bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big i...more
As countries have struggled with disease and death throughout the coronavirus pandemic, one part of the world seems to have been mostly spared: central and western Africa.South Africa was deeply affected by waves of the coronavirus, as were countries in East Africa like Kenya and Uganda. But nations in the center and west of the continent appear to have been largely spared.What is behind these low case and death rates — and what does that tell us about the future of the pandemic?Guest: Stephanie...more
This episode details graphic scenes. Many around the world are calling the indiscriminate attacks on civilians in Bucha, a suburb northwest of the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, a war crime.But investigating such atrocities is painstakingly complicated. Could one case that resulted in convictions — the genocide in Bosnia in the 1990s — offer lessons on how to proceed?Guest: Roger Cohen, the Paris bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from ...more
Ukraine and Russia are enormous producers of wheat, corn, barley, sunflower oil and fertilizer. One study calculated that the two countries accounted for 12 percent of the world’s calories.With Ukraine under attack and Russia hit with strict sanctions, a huge supply of food is suddenly trapped — with Africa and the Middle East particularly imperiled.Guest: Jack Nicas, the Brazil bureau chief for The New York Times.Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news each week from our team, su...more
After months of investigation by a congressional committee, a federal judge has found that President Donald J. Trump and his allies most likely engaged in illegal activity in the wake of the 2020 election.How did the committee achieve that ruling?Guest: Luke Broadwater, a congressional reporter for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memorializing those we have lost to the coronavirus. If you would like to share their name o...more
Exploring the personal experiences of Sara Mardini and Seán Binder, two volunteers who were arrested in February 2018 after helping migrants cross safely into Lesbos, Greece, the journalist Alex W. Palmer outlines the complex situation aid workers in Europe find themselves in: increasingly demonized by local authorities while also facing pressure from different ends of the international political spectrum.Palmer traces the origins of the problem, explaining how, in the early days of the migrant ...more
This episode details graphic scenes. Russia has mounted a brutal siege around the port city of Mariupol for more than a month, framing it as the key to a war of liberation. In reality, it’s a campaign against a city that is critical to Russia’s strategy — it would help open an important supply route and serve as a symbol of victory. What is happening inside Mariupol, and what does the fighting mean for the future of Russia’s war on Ukraine? Guest: Valerie Hopkins, a correspondent for The New Yor...more
In the past, Republicans have been able to secure what some see as an unfair political advantage by gerrymandering political districts.But after the recent redrawing of zones, the congressional map across the U.S. is perhaps more evenly split than at any time in the past 50 years.What happened?Guest: Nate Cohn, a domestic correspondent for The Upshot at The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memorializing those we have lost to ...more
A series of text messages released in the past week show how Ginni Thomas, wife of Justice Clarence Thomas of the Supreme Court, urged White House officials to push to overturn the result of the 2020 election.There has never been a spouse of a sitting justice who has been as overt a political activist as Ms. Thomas — and that presents a real conundrum for the court.Guest: Jo Becker, an investigative reporter for The New York Times. Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is work...more
At every step of his political career, Senator Joe Manchin III has helped a West Virginia power plant that is the sole customer of his private coal business, including by blocking ambitious climate action.A Times investigation has revealed the strands of the unusual relationship between Mr. Manchin and that especially dirty power plant, showing just how entwined they are.Guest: Christopher Flavelle, a climate reporter for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Dail...more
Since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine, 10 million Ukrainians — about a quarter of the population — have been displaced, and about four million have fled the country.Iryna Baramidze is one of them. From a middle-class neighborhood of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, she has been married to her husband for 12 years and has an 11 year-old son, Yuri.Over three weeks, our producer Clare Toeniskoetter followed Iryna as she made an impossible choice.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? T...more
Demand for traveling nurses skyrocketed during the pandemic. In March 2020, there were over 12,000 job opportunities for traveling nurses, but by early December of that year, the number had grown to more than 30,000 open positions. Lauren Hilgers details the experiences of America’s traveling nurses and questions whether this “boom” will continue.Myriad factors compelled thousands to abandon their permanent posts, among them the flexible nature of being a traveling nurse and its associated lifes...more
Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan last year, thousands of women and girls who were in school or had jobs were forced back into their homes.The Daily producers Lynsea Garrison and Stella Tan have been talking to women and girls across the country about their lives under Taliban rule — and about what kind of future they now face.Background reading: The Taliban has reneged on its promise to open Afghanistan’s girls’ schools. The reversal could threaten aid as international officials had...more
From the outside, Russia’s relentless bombardment of Ukraine looks indiscriminate and improvised. But the approach is part of an approach devised decades ago in Chechnya.The Times journalist Carlotta Gall, who covered the Chechen conflict, explains why wars fought by Russia some 30 years ago could inform what happens next in Ukraine.Guest: Carlotta Gall, the Istanbul bureau chief for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memor...more
Democratic support for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson, who could become the first Black woman to serve as a Supreme Court justice, was never in much doubt. Less certain was the depth of Republican opposition.To analyze how the arguments have played out so far in her confirmation hearing, we look at four key moments.Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the Supreme Court for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memorializing th...more
Among the actions taken by the West to punish Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine is the blacklisting of the incredibly rich and politically connected Russian businessmen known as oligarchs.But how could sanctions on Russia’s superwealthy increase the pressure on President Vladimir V. Putin to end the war?Guest: Matt Apuzzo, a reporter for The New York Times, based in Brussels.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memorializing those we have lost...more
More than two years into the pandemic, coronavirus infections are surging in China and nations in Europe. The reason: BA.2, a highly contagious version of the Omicron variant.At the same time, the United States is doing away with a number of pandemic restrictions, with mask mandates ending and businesses no longer requiring proof of vaccination from customers.We explore what these BA.2 surges look like and ask whether the U.S. is ready for a new wave of Covid cases.Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a s...more
In the high-stakes competition to dominate the business of clean energy, the Democratic Republic of Congo is a major arena: The country is the source of more than two-thirds of the world’s cobalt, a key component of electric-car batteries.In recent years, China has established a strong presence in Congo, while the United States has lost ground. We went to the African country to understand how that happened.Guest: Dionne Searcey, a correspondent for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one du...more
It has been three weeks since the war in Ukraine began. The fighting grinds on and there is no clear end in sight. But what are the potential paths forward in the coming days and weeks?On Wednesday, President Volodymyr Zelensky, in an address to Congress, proposed one such path, though it is an incredibly unlikely one: a no-fly zone over Ukraine.Elsewhere, Times reporting has suggested four other potential scenarios — a diplomatic end to the conflict; protracted monthslong fighting; China coming...more
With prices on the rise in the U.S. economy, the Federal Reserve is expected to announce on Wednesday an increase in interest rates, essentially pouring a cold glass of water on the economy.Why would the central bank do that? The answer lies in the inflation crisis of the 1970s, when a failure to react quickly enough still looms large in the memory.Guest: Jeanna Smialek, a reporter covering the Federal Reserve and the economy for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? ...more
This episode details graphic scenes and contains strong language.The image shows four people lying on the ground — a woman, a man and two children who had been fleeing from a suburb of Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. The woman and her children had been killed by a mortar moments earlier. Around them are Ukrainian soldiers attempting to revive the man.The picture was taken by the photojournalist Lynsey Addario, alongside Andriy Dubchak, a Ukrainian videographer. When it was published by The Times, t...more
Russians and Ukrainians are deeply connected. Millions of Ukrainians have relatives in Russia. Many have lived in the country.But Moscow has taken steps to shield its people from open information about the war, even as its bombing campaign intensifies.When Ukrainians try to explain the dire situation to family members in Russia, they are often met with denial, resistance, and a kind of refusal to believe.Guest: Valerie Hopkins, a correspondent for The New York Times, currently in Ukraine.Have yo...more
Rozina Ali profiles Rashida Tlaib, the 45-year-old second-term congresswoman from Detroit, who has risen from adverse circumstances to play a significant role in American politics, most notably bringing greater awareness to the ongoing conflict over Palestine.Tlaib is the only Palestinian American serving in the House of Representatives, and the first with family currently living in the West Bank, whose three million inhabitants’ lives are, as Ali explains, “intimately shaped by American support...more
Ending the war in Ukraine very much depends on how and when President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia allows it to end.In an interview for his podcast “The Ezra Klein Show,” the opinion columnist Ezra Klein spoke with one of the world’s leading experts on Mr. Putin, Fiona Hill, a foreign policy adviser for three United States presidents.Today, we run the discussion between Ms. Hill and Ezra Klein about how Mr. Putin is approaching this moment, and the right and wrong ways for the West to engage him....more
It has been two weeks since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and Russia’s high-tech army of nearly 200,000 soldiers have not taken control of any major cities, except the southern port of Kherson. The state of the war is eerily stalled and the Russians’ answer has been to encircle cities and, from a distance, bomb what they can’t control. Today, we hear dispatches on two cities in Ukraine’s south that are surrounded and under attack. Guest: Michael Schwirtz, an investigative reporter for The ...more
On Tuesday morning, President Biden took to the podium at the White House to deliver a solemn and provocative speech. As punishment for waging war on Ukraine, he announced, the United States would cut off Russian oil imports.Mr. Biden said the move would require some sacrifice, but would be for the greater good.How much will the ban hurt Russia, and American consumers?Guest: Clifford Krauss, a national energy business correspondent for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pan...more
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, no single figure has antagonized President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia as effectively or persistently as President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine. His defiant videos and speeches have inspired the West into action and, by his own account, made him a target for Russian assassins. What is it about the comedian-turned-president and his rise to power that poses such a unique threat to Mr. Putin?Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York T...more
This episode contains strong language. In response to Russia’s increasingly brutal campaign against Ukrainian towns and cities, an estimated 1.5 million people — most of them women and children — have fled Ukraine over the past 10 days. It’s the fastest displacement of people in Europe since World War II.While evacuating the capital city of Kyiv for Lviv in the west, a seven-hour journey that took two days and nights, the Daily host Sabrina Tavernise traveled alongside some of those fleeing the ...more
It was a perplexing event, with little in the way of legal closure. Seven years on from a fatal biker shootout in 2015, Mark Binelli explores the details of the event — which started as a brawl between rival “outlaw” motorcycle clubs, the Cossacks and the Bandidos, at a restaurant in Waco, West Texas, which left nine dead and 20 wounded — and the investigation that followed.The article delves into the methodology of the case’s main investigator, Paul Looney, and a trial-preparation specialist, R...more
This episode contains strong language.After winning his House seat in the 2018 midterm elections, Representative Dan Crenshaw, a Republican of Texas, seemed to have found a sweet spot between full-blown Trumpism and the anti-Trump wing of the party.But after Jan. 6, and ahead of this year’s midterms, more extreme factions of the Republican Party have cast him less as a vision for the future and more as a symbol of what needs snuffing out.The once-in-a-decade redistricting process gives those fac...more
After invading, Russia’s military was expected to sweep through Ukraine within a few days, quickly seizing the capital, Kyiv, and installing a pro-Moscow government.It hasn’t worked out that way.Now, with Russia’s advance stalling, there are signs that President Vladimir V. Putin is ready to wage a much darker, grimmer campaign.Guest: Eric Schmitt, a senior writer covering terrorism and national security for The New York Times. Background reading: After days of miscalculation about Ukraine’s res...more
As Russian forces bombard Ukraine’s cities and strike civilian areas with increasingly powerful weapons, the European Union has adopted the largest package of sanctions ever imposed on a single country.The 27-nation bloc overcame a reputation for internal division to agree on the penalties — but will they be enough to help bring the war to an end?Guest: Matina Stevis-Gridneff, the Brussels bureau chief for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on ...more
This episode contains strong language.As the Russian assault has intensified, the government in Ukraine has enacted martial law, requiring men to stay in the country and either join the fight or face the prospect of conscription.We tell the story of three of those men: Eugene, an I.T. worker from the northeastern city of Kharkiv; Tyhran, an animator who attempted to cross the border into Poland; and Andrew, who signed up for the territorial defense force two weeks ago.Guests: Clare Toeniskoetter...more
This episode contains strong language.Over the weekend, the battle for Ukraine arrived at the capital, Kyiv, as Russian forces attempted to advance.Would the Russian military quickly overrun the city? Or would Ukrainians, despite being outgunned, somehow find a way to defend their capital?Guest: Sabrina Tavernise, a national correspondent for The New York Times, reporting from Kyiv.Background reading: Ukraine agreed to talks with Russia, but the fighting still rages.The roots of the Ukraine war:...more
Ronen Bergman and Mark Mazzetti investigate Pegasus, an Israeli spying tool that was acquired for use by the F.B.I., and which the United States government is now trying to ban.Pegasus is used globally. For nearly a decade, NSO, an Israeli firm, had been selling this surveillance software on a subscription basis to law-enforcement and intelligence agencies around the world, promising to consistently and reliably crack the encrypted communications of any iPhone or Android smartphone.The software ...more
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is the biggest in Europe since World War II.With the full-scale assault entering its second day on Friday, Ukrainians are coming to terms with the reality that the unthinkable has actually happened.We explore the significance of this moment and speak to Ukrainians on the ground. Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Russia continued its attack on Ukraine early Friday, one day after it invaded the country by land,...more
After months of escalating tensions, President Vladimir V. Putin took to state television on Thursday to declare the start of a “special military operation” in Ukraine.In the prelude to the invasion and as Russian troops launched their attacks, we spoke to our colleagues on the ground as they hunkered down to cover the fighting.Guest: Sabrina Tavernise, a national correspondent for The New York Times; Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The Times and Michael Schwirtz, an investigative...more
At 10 p.m. in Moscow on Monday night, Russian state television interrupted its regular programming to air an address from President Vladimir V. Putin about the Ukraine crisis.We look back on what Mr. Putin’s hourlong speech — remarkable for his overt display of emotion and grievance — revealed about his rationale for invading.Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memorializ...more
This episode contains strong language.On Monday night, as tensions deepened between Russia and Ukraine, President Vladimir V. Putin sent troops into two regions in eastern Ukraine where separatist forces are friendly to Moscow.With dispatches from our reporters on the ground, we analyze why the crisis has deteriorated in the past few days and whether the orders are a precursor to a wider war.Guest: Valerie Hopkins, a correspondent based in Moscow for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one ...more
As hospitals in the United States battled another coronavirus wave in the past few months, another crisis was steadily growing more acute: a shortage of nurses.We speak to some of the “forgotten warriors” of the nursing profession, at Pascagoula Hospital in Mississippi, to find out what life is like on the front line of the pandemic.Guest: Andrew Jacobs, a global health reporter for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memori...more
Since the beginning of the standoff with Moscow over Ukraine, President Biden has been clear that he will not allow American troops to come into direct combat with Russians.Why has the U.S., a country that has intervened all over the world in various contexts, taken that powerful option off the table?Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memorializin...more
Canada has employed strict restrictions in its efforts to fight the coronavirus pandemic. But unlike in the United States, such measures have received very little pushback or politicization — until recently.Truckers protesting a vaccine mandate have occupied the nation’s capital, Ottawa, for three weeks, leading Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to declare a state of national emergency.We ask how Canada got to this point, and hear what the protest is like on the ground. Guest: Catherine Porter, the ...more
Officials in the United States say that Russia could invade Ukraine as early as this week, which raises the question: Should an attack come, how will the Ukrainian people respond? The answer may be complicated. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, there has been a real push and pull between Russia and the West inside Ukraine. We hear about how Ukrainians are viewing the threat. Guest: Michael Schwirtz, an investigative reporter with The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during ...more
As the N.F.L. season comes to a close, we’re looking at a class-action lawsuit that Brian Flores, a former head coach of the Miami Dolphins, has filed against the league.At the heart of the case is the Rooney Rule, a policy the league implemented two decades ago that has since been adopted across corporate America.We explore the lawsuit and the Rooney Rule, and we hear from Cyrus Mehri, a civil rights lawyer who helped create the policy.Guest: Ken Belson, a reporter covering the N.F.L. for The N...more
There’s a working theory for the origins of Covid-19. It goes like this: Somewhere in an open-air market in Wuhan, China, a new coronavirus, growing inside an animal, first made the jump to a human. But what happens when diseases spread in the other direction?Sonia Shah, a science journalist, explores the dangers of “spillback,” or “reverse zoonosis”: when humans infect non-humans with disease. Using the history of diseases spreading through mink farms in the United States and Europe as a focus,...more
A mysterious letter detailing a supposed plot by Islamic extremists to take over schools shocked Britain in 2014. But who wrote it? From Serial Productions and The New York Times, “The Trojan Horse Affair” is a mystery told in eight parts. Here’s the first. Find the series wherever you get your podcasts.
Joe Rogan, a comedian and host of the hit podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience,” has come under scrutiny in recent weeks for promoting Covid-19 misinformation. Spotify, which owns exclusive rights to Mr. Rogan’s show, has been criticized as the platform for the misinformation.Neil Young and Joni Mitchell removed their music from Spotify in protest. Now, a compilation of video clips of Mr. Rogan using a racial slur on past episodes has surfaced, drawing more outrage.We look into the scandal engulfi...more
One by one, blue states across the United States have been rolling back their Covid-19 restrictions, going against C.D.C. guidelines that are still backed by the White House.Why are governors in states like California, Illinois and New York taking those actions? And what do they say about the shifting politics of the pandemic?Guest: Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memori...more
Birds Aren’t Real, a conspiracy theory with an apparently absurd premise, has become surprisingly popular in the past few years.But its followers were in on the joke: The movement’s aim was to poke fun at misinformation … by creating misinformation.Has it been successful?Guest: Taylor Lorenz, a former technology reporter for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memorializing those we have lost to the coronavirus. If you would...more
If Russia invades Ukraine, it would be the largest and potentially deadliest military action in Europe since World War II.So why is there so much division between the U.S. and its European allies over how seriously to take the threat?Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Have you lost a loved one during the pandemic? The Daily is working on a special episode memorializing those we have lost to the coronavirus. If you would like to share their name on the episod...more
This episode contains depictions of violenceAlmost two years ago, a shocking nine-minute video was released showing a Minneapolis police officer, Derek Chauvin, fatally kneeling on the neck of George Floyd.Mr. Chauvin is now serving a long sentence for murder.A few weeks ago, a trial began in the case of the three other officers who were on the scene that day. They are charged with violating Mr. Floyd’s civil rights during the arrest that caused his death.Guest: Kim Barker, an enterprise reporte...more
If you didn’t think poker and artificial intelligence could be bedfellows, think again. Keith Romer delves into the history of man’s pursuit of the perfect game of poker, and explains how the use of A.I. is altering how it is played: individuals using an algorithmic “solver program” to analyze potential weaknesses about themselves and their opponents, thus gaining an advantage.While it feels futuristic, this desire to optimize poker isn’t new.Are these new generations of A.I. tools merely a cont...more
Reporters from The Times are joining athletes from around the world as they descend on Beijing for the 2022 Winter Olympics, where they are encountering the strictest and most wide-ranging health requirements ever attempted at an Olympic Games.China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has made it his goal to keep the coronavirus out of the country as much as possible, and these requirements are an extension of his “zero Covid” strategy.We ask what exactly is the zero-Covid strategy, and how long can it last? ...more
A recent ISIS attack on a prison in northeastern Syria became the biggest confrontation between the terrorist group and the United States and its allied forces since 2019. The attack raises a question: Could the Islamic State group be on the cusp of a resurgence? We explore what the attack means, why the prison was so vulnerable in the first place and what has become of the thousands of fighters and families left behind after the fall of the Caliphate. Guest: Jane Arraf, the Baghdad bureau chief...more
Since the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, a clearer picture has emerged of the steps that President Donald J. Trump and his allies took to try to keep him in power and overturn the 2020 election.One of the biggest questions, however, has been how far was Mr. Trump willing to go in using the apparatus of the federal government to stay in power?The Times has uncovered that in the weeks after Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s victory, Mr. Trump considered using the levers of the federal government to ...more
Inflation in the United States has been getting worse. In December, prices were up 7 percent from the previous year — the fastest rise in 40 years. Americans feel terrible about the economy, imperiling the Democratic Party’s chances of holding on to power in Washington in this year’s midterm elections.While disruption caused by the pandemic is a key cause of higher prices — a situation that predates the Biden administration — a question remains: How much have the Democrats’ own policies contribu...more
America, it seems, might be at a turning point in how we think about and respond to the pandemic. Yet, the U.S., at this moment, is still in the midst of crisis — thousands of people are in hospital and dying every day.In the second part of our exploration of the state of the pandemic, we speak with Dr. Anthony Fauci about the conditions under which we could learn to live with the virus and what the next stage of the pandemic looks like. Want more from The Daily? For one big idea on the news eac...more
Today, Maggie Jones explores the overlooked topic of geriatric sex. Profiling older couples for whom it is still important, she considers the obstacles and joys of having sex over the age of 70, and the way society has begun to talk more openly about it in recent years.As bodies change, Jones writes, good sex in old age often requires reimagining and expanding: a conscious inclusion of more touching, kissing, erotic massage, oral sex and sex toys. Along with pleasure, other benefits are linked t...more
During the pandemic, the price of beef shot up. Wholesale beef prices increased more than 40 percent — more than 70 percent for certain cuts of steak. The conventional wisdom was that price increases simply reflected the chaos that the coronavirus had caused in the supply chain. But there’s evidence that they were in fact a reflection of a more fundamental change in the meatpacking business.We speak to ranchers about the consolidation of the industry and explore what it can show us about a trans...more
On Wednesday, it was revealed that Justice Stephen Breyer, the senior member of the Supreme Court’s liberal wing, will retire from the bench. Democrats, and many on the left, will have breathed a sigh of relief. His decision has given President Biden the chance to nominate a successor while Democrats control the Senate. We take a look at the legacy of Justice Breyer’s time on the court, why he chose to retire now and how President Biden might decide on his successor. Guest: Adam Liptak, a Suprem...more
It appears that the United States may be at a turning point in the pandemic. The contagiousness of the Omicron variant has many people resigned to the fact that they probably will be infected; this variant is, relative to its predecessors and in most cases, milder; and there is universal vaccine access for those old enough to receive a shot. So, The Times commissioned a poll of 4,400 Americans to discover how they are thinking about the pandemic and gauge how, and when, we might pivot to living ...more
When allegations first emerged in November about parties held at 10 Downing Street, the residence and offices of the British prime minister, during a strict Covid lockdown, Prime Minister Boris Johnson waved them away. Yet in the weeks since, the scandal has only grown, with public outrage building as more instances and details of lockdown parties at Downing Street have emerged.Some voters in Britain have long been willing to overlook the foibles of Mr. Johnson’s character, but this is a scandal...more
This episode contains strong language. Marieke Vervoort was a champion Paralympic athlete from Belgium. In 2016, Vervoort, who had a progressive disease, announced her retirement from professional sports and spoke of her desire to undergo euthanasia.Today, we hear Vervoort’s story from Lynsey Addario, a photojournalist who documented the end of her life.“In most of my experiences covering Iraq and Afghanistan and Democratic Republic of Congo and Darfur, I’m photographing people who are trying no...more
What is “disgust”? Molly Young, a journalist with The New York Times, considers the evolutionary and social uses of this “universal aspect of life” to identify the impact of disgust in its physical, psychological and linguistic manifestations.Young explains the different forms of disgust, analyzing how the reactions they elicit play out in the body and mind, and why it is in many ways cultural. She explains how disgust shapes our behavior, technology, relationships and even political leanings. I...more
Novak Djokovic, the world No. 1 player in men’s tennis, had a lot at stake going into this year’s Australian Open. A win there would have made him the most decorated male tennis player in history. But he arrived in the country without having had a Covid-19 vaccination, flying in the face of Australia’s rules, and after a court battle he was ultimately deported.In Australia, the “Djokovic affair” has become about a lot more than athletes and vaccines — it has prompted conversations about the coun...more
Microsoft announced this week that it was acquiring Activision Blizzard, the maker of video games such as Call of Duty and Candy Crush, in a deal valued at nearly $70 billion.Microsoft, the owner of Xbox, said the acquisition was a step toward gaining a foothold in the metaverse.But what exactly is the metaverse? And why are some of the biggest companies in the world spending billions of dollars to get involved?Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times.Want more from The ...more
It’s a big week in the Senate for voting rights. Democrats have two bills that include measures to bolster and protect elections.But the bills are almost certain to fail.Why has it proved almost impossible to pass legislation so integral to the agenda of President Biden and the Democrats?Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national political reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come toge...more
Four years ago, Azmat Khan, an investigative reporter for The Times Magazine, told us the story of Basim Razzo, whose entire family was killed in a U.S.-led airstrike in Iraq. His story helped reveal how American air wars were resulting in a staggering number of civilian deaths.Analyzing thousands of pages of U.S. military reports and investigating in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, Azmat was able to gain a better understanding of why this was happening.Azmat Khan, an investigative reporter for The...more
Elizabeth Weil, the author of today’s Sunday Read, writes that, in her marriage, there was a silent third spouse: California.“The state was dramatic and a handful,” Weil writes. “But she was gorgeous, and she brought into our lives, through the natural world, all the treasure and magic we’d need.”However, for Weil, there is internal conflict living in a state where wildfires have become the norm. She describes living through a discontinuity in which previously held logic fails to stand up to rea...more
Sidney Poitier, who was Hollywood’s first Black matinee idol and who helped open the door for Black actors in the film industry, died last week. He was 94.For Wesley Morris, a Times culture critic, it is Mr. Poitier — not John Wayne, Cary Grant or Marilyn Monroe — who is the greatest American movie star.“His legacy is so much wider and deeper than the art itself,” Wesley said. “This man has managed to affect what we see, how we relate to people, who we think we are, who we should aspire to be. A...more
As the highly infectious Omicron variant surged, a high-stakes battle played out between Mayor Lori Lightfoot of Chicago and the city’s teachers’ union about how to keep schools open and safe.We chart this battle on the ground in Chicago, speaking with teachers, parents and students about the standoff.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The deal b...more
The diplomatic talks in Geneva this week are of a kind not seen in a long time: an effort to defuse the possibility of a major war in Europe.President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia has amassed military equipment and personnel on the border with Ukraine.President Biden has warned that there will be consequences if Mr. Putin decides to invade, but what can Washington do to impel the Kremlin to back down?Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times....more
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus has a reputation for causing mild illness, yet it’s fueling a staggering rise in hospitalizations across the country. In some of the early hot spots for the variant, emergency rooms are filling up, hospitals are being flooded with new patients and there aren’t enough staff to care for all of them. We explore why the Omicron surge is leading to hospitalizations and hear from doctors about what they are seeing, and why this surge feels different from the one...more
This year’s Golden Globes ceremony was muted. Instead of a celebrity-filled evening, broadcast on NBC, the results were live tweeted from a room in the Beverly Hilton. It was the culmination of years of controversy for the awards and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the organization behind them. Who are the Hollywood Foreign Press Association and how did one of the biggest awards shows get to this point?Guest: Kyle Buchanan, a pop culture reporter and the awards season columnist for The ...more
In her new book, “The Myth of Closure: Ambiguous Loss in a Time of Pandemic and Change,” Pauline Boss considers what it means to reach “emotional closure” in a state of unnamable grief.Hard to define, these grievances have been granted a new name: ambiguous loss. The death of a loved one, missing relatives, giving a child up for adoption, a lost friend — Boss teases out how one can mourn something that cannot always be described.The pandemic has been rife with “ambiguous loss,” Boss argues. Mile...more
After the election on Nov. 3, 2020, President J. Donald Trump and his allies tested the limits of the U.S. election system, launching pressure and legal campaigns in competitive states to have votes overturned — all the while exposing the system’s precariousness.Although the efforts weren’t successful, they appear to have been only the beginning of a wider attack on American elections. In the final part of our Jan. 6 coverage, we explore the threats to democracy that may come to bear in the next...more
This episode contains strong language. In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Representative Liz Cheney of Wyoming was the only Republican leader calling on President Donald Trump to move on from his efforts to overturn the results. Then, after the storming of the Capitol on Jan. 6, she gave a full-throated condemnation of what had happened and the rhetoric that facilitated it. A year later, while many of her party have backed down from criticizing the former president, she has remained steadfas...more
Who exactly joined the mob that, almost a year ago, on Jan. 6, breached the walls of the U.S. Capitol in a bid to halt the certification of President Biden’s election victory?Members of far-right extremist groups were present but so too were also doctors, lawyers, substitute teachers and church deacons, many of whom had previously been nonpolitical. The question of why they were at the Capitol that day is hard to answer, but some of the most useful clues come from three F.B.I. interviews that ha...more
About a decade ago, companies began offering pregnant women tests that promised to detect rare genetic disorders in their fetuses.The tests initially looked for Down syndrome and worked well, but later tests for rarer conditions did not. An investigation has found that the grave predictions made by those newer tests are usually incorrect.We look at why the tests are so wrong and what can be done about it.Guest: Sarah Kliff, an investigative reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get Th...more
The Omicron variant is fueling record-breaking cases across the world and disrupting life. But it may not present as great a danger of hospitalization and severe illness as earlier variants. We explore why this is and what it means for the next stage of the pandemic.Guest: Carl Zimmer, a science writer and author of the “Matter” column for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, s...more
This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.With most natural disasters, the devastation is immediately apparent. But when a winter storm hit Texas, some of the damage was a lot less visible.The stories of Iris Cantu, Suzanne Mitchell and Tumaini Criss showed the depth of the destruction.Their lives were upended. The storm in February left their homes barely habitable, with collapsed ceilings a...more
This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.The Good Shepherd Nursing Home in West Virginia lifted its coronavirus lockdown in February.For months, residents had been confined to their rooms, unable to mix. But with everybody vaccinated, it was time to see one another again, albeit with rules on social distancing and mask wearing still in place.There was Mass in the chapel, lunch in the dining ...more
This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.This episode contains strong language.Dogecoin started out as a kind of inside joke in the world of cryptocurrency. However, earlier this year, it quickly became, for some, a very serious path to wealth.Today, we return to the unlikely story of a 33-year-old who bought the cryptocurrency and became a millionaire in the process, to see what he has lost...more
This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.When Officer Harry Dunn reported for work at the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6, he expected a day of relatively normal protests.At noon, the mood shifted. He received calls over his radio that the demonstrations were becoming violent. When he took up position on the west side of the Capitol, he said he realized just how dangerous the situation had ...more
This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.This episode contains strong language.Bartenders, sous chefs, wait staff — back in August, managers in the U.S. hospitality industry were struggling to fill a range of roles at their establishments.One owner of a gourmet burger restaurant in Houston said that before the pandemic, a job opening could easily get 100 applicants — but that was no longer t...more
A year that started with the mass introduction of Covid vaccines and the astonishing scenes of rioting at the Capitol is ending with concern about new virus variants and fears about the effects of a warming climate.As we approach the end of the year, we listen back to more of the events that defined 2021.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: In a vo...more
By the end of last year, if you needed a coronavirus test, you could get one. But when vaccines arrived, focus shifted.Many of the vaccinated felt like they didn’t need tests and demand took a nosedive. Testing sites were closed or converted into vaccination sites. And Abbott Laboratories, a major test manufacturer, wound up destroying millions.However, with the surge of the new Omicron variant, which is less susceptible to vaccines, demand for testing is back — and it is outstripping supply.Gue...more
Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia was always going to be the last Democrat to get on board with President Biden’s $2.2 trillion climate, social spending and tax bill. But the White House was confident that a compromise could be reached.On Sunday, that confidence was shattered: In an interview on Fox News, Mr. Manchin essentially declared that he could not support the bill as written, and he indicated that he was done negotiating all together.Where does this leave Mr. Biden’s signature domesti...more
This episode contains references to suicide and abuse that may be upsetting to some listeners.A few months ago, we told the story of N, a teenager in Afghanistan whose family was trying to force her to marry a member of the Taliban. Her identity has been concealed for her safety.N resisted, and her father and brother beat her, leading her to attempt suicide. Then she escaped.This is what happened after she fled her family’s home.Suicide Prevention Helplines: If you are having thoughts of suicide...more
Nearly a decade after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy, which destroyed piers and damaged riverside social housing projects, residents of Lower Manhattan are still vulnerable to floods.Michael Kimmelman, The Times’s architecture critic, explores the nine-year effort to redesign Lower Manhattan in the wake of the hurricane, and the design and planning challenges that have made progress incremental. He goes inside a fight over how to protect the neighborhood in the future — revealing why renewal...more
The Omicron variant of the coronavirus is incredibly contagious — it is able to infect people with even greater frequency than the Delta variant, and it is skilled at evading the immune system’s defenses. Much is still unknown about the new variant, and scientists are racing to understand its threat. But amid the uncertainty, there’s good news about a prospective new virus treatment: A pill by Pfizer is effective in reducing people’s risk of hospitalization or death from Covid-19.We explore thes...more
Anti-abortion activists across the country are optimistic that they might be on the cusp of achieving a long-held goal of the movement: overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision that extended federal protections for abortion.But many abortion rights activists are hopeful, too. They are watching closely to see whether the Food and Drug Administration will roll back restrictions on one medication, transforming abortion access across the country. Today, we explore the future of Ameri...more
The economic situation in Afghanistan is perilous. Banks have run out of cash. In some areas, Afghans are selling their belongings in ad hoc flea markets. Parents wait around hospitals and clinics in the hopes of getting treatment for severely malnourished children.We hear about what the unfolding crisis looks like on the ground, why the economy has deteriorated so quickly, and what role the United States has played.Guest: Christina Goldbaum, a correspondent for The New York Times, based in Kabu...more
In July, a group of men stormed the presidential compound in Haiti and assassinated the country’s president, Jovenel Moïse. Months later, the case remains unresolved.Investigating the killing, the Times journalist Maria Abi-Habib found that Mr. Moïse had begun compiling a list of powerful Haitian businessmen and political figures involved in an intricate drug trafficking network.Guest: Maria Abi-Habib, bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times.Sign up here...more
This episode contains strong language. The Steele Dossier — compiled by Christopher Steele, a British former spy — was born out of opposition research on Donald J. Trump, then a presidential candidate, and his supposed links to Russia.The document, full of salacious allegations, captured and cleaved America. But now, a main source of the dossier’s findings — Igor Danchenko, a Russian analyst — has been charged with lying to federal investigators.Guest: Michael S. Schmidt, a Washington correspond...more
In Memphis, as in America, the benefits of homeownership have not accrued equally across race.Housing policy in the United States has leaned heavily on homeownership as a driver of household wealth since the middle of the last century, and, for many white Americans, property ownership has indeed yielded significant wealth. But Black families have largely been left behind, either unable to buy in the first place or hampered by risks that come with owning property.Homeownership’s limitations are e...more
In November, Peng Shuai — one of China’s most popular tennis stars — took to Chinese social media to accuse Zhang Gaoli, who was a member of China’s seven-member ruling committee, of sexually assaulting her.Within minutes, Chinese censors had taken down Ms. Peng’s post, and, for weeks, no one sees or hears from her.We look at Ms. Peng’s story and what China’s attempts to censor her have meant for the sports industry. Guest: Matthew Futterman, a sports reporter for The New York Times.Sign up her...more
This episode contains details about suicide deaths and strong language. A few years ago, a website about suicide appeared. On it, not only do people talk about wanting to die, but they share, at great length, how they are going to do it.Times reporters were able to identify 45 people who killed themselves after spending time on the site, several of whom were minors. The true number is likely to be higher.We go inside the Times investigation into the website, and ask how and why it is still allow...more
The Russian military is on the move toward the border with Ukraine, with American intelligence suggesting that Moscow is preparing for an offensive involving some 175,000 troops.Could the moves herald a full-scale invasion? And if so, what is driving President Vladimir V. Putin’s brinkmanship over Russia’s southwestern neighbor?Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the bi...more
Last week, after a shooting at Oxford High School in the suburbs of Detroit that left four teenagers dead, local prosecutors decided on a novel legal strategy that would extend criminal culpability beyond the 15-year-old accused of carrying out the attack. But could that strategy become a national model?Guest: Jack Healy, a national correspondent for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come ...more
This episode contains descriptions of self-harm and alleged sexual abuse.When Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in a federal jail, dozens of his alleged victims lost their chance to bring him to justice.But the trial of his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, on charges that she recruited, groomed and ultimately helped Mr. Epstein abuse young girls, may offer an opportunity to obtain a degree of reckoning.We look into how Mr. Epstein was allowed to die, and ask whether justice is still possible for his ...more
In her book, “My Body,” Emily Ratajkowski reflects on her fraught relationship with the huge number of photographs of her body that have come to define her life and career.Some essays recount the author’s hustle as a young model who often found herself in troubling situations with powerful men; another is written as a long, venomous reply to an email from a photographer who has bragged of discovering her. Throughout, Ratajkowski is hoping to set the record straight: She is neither victim nor sto...more
Stephen Sondheim died last week at his home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 91.For six decades, Mr. Sondheim, a composer-lyricist whose works include “Sweeney Todd” and “Into the Woods,” transformed musical theater into an art form as rich, complex and contradictory as life itself.“For me, the loss that we see pouring out of Twitter right now and everywhere you look as people write about their memories of Sondheim is for that person who says yes, devoting yourself to writing or to dancing or to singing...more
On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard a case that was a frontal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the nearly 50-year-old decision that established a constitutional right to abortion.The case in front of the justices was about a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.For the state to win, the court, which now has a conservative majority, would have to do real damage to the central tenet of the Roe ruling.We explore the arguments presented in this case and how the justices on eith...more
Amazon is constantly hiring. Data has shown that the company has had a turnover rate of about 150 percent a year.For the founder, Jeff Bezos, worker retention was not important, and the company built systems that didn’t require skilled workers or extensive training — it could hire and lose people all of the time.Amazon has been able to replenish its work force, but the pandemic has exposed the vulnerabilities of this approach.We explore what the labor shortage has meant for Amazon and the people...more
The story of the Omicron variant began a week ago, when researchers in southern Africa detected a version of the coronavirus that carried 50 mutations. When scientists look at coronavirus mutations, they worry about three things: Is the new variant more contagious? Is it going to cause people to get sicker? And how will the vaccines work against it? We explore when we will get the answers to these three questions, and look at the discovery of the variant and the international response to it. Gue...more
This episode contains strong language. Heading into deliberations in the trial of the three white men in Georgia accused of chasing down and killing Ahmaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man, it was not clear which way the jurors were leaning. In the end, the mostly white jury found all three men guilty of murder. We look at the prosecution’s decision not to make race a central tenet of their case, and how the verdict was reached. Guest: Richard Fausset, a correspondent based in Atlanta. Sign up here ...more
After a landslide re-election in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s control over India seemed impossible to challenge.But a yearlong farmers’ protest against agricultural overhauls has done just that, forcing the Indian prime minister to back down.How did the protesters succeed?Guest: Emily Schmall, a South Asia correspondent for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe...more
In the 1950s and ’60s, the Tremé neighborhood of New Orleans, one of the oldest African-American neighborhoods in the United States, was a vibrant community.But the construction of the Claiborne Expressway in the 1960s gutted the area.The Biden administration has said that the trillion-dollar infrastructure package will address such historical wrongs.How might that be achieved?Guest: Audra D.S. Burch, a national correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox ea...more
This episode contains strong language.On Aug. 25, 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse, a teenager, shot three men, two of them fatally, during street protests in Kenosha, Wis., over the shooting of a Black man by a white police officer.Mr. Rittenhouse’s trial, which began on Nov. 1, revolved around a central question: Did his actions constitute self-defense under Wisconsin law?Last week, a jury decided that they did, finding him not guilty on every count against him.We look at key moments from the trial and ...more
As the novel coronavirus spread and much of the world moved toward isolation, dream researchers began rushing to design studies and set up surveys that might allow them to access some of the most isolated places of all, the dreamscapes unfolding inside individual brains. The first thing almost everyone noticed was that for many people, their dream worlds seemed suddenly larger and more intense.One study of more than 1,000 Italians living through strict lockdown found that some 60 percent were sl...more
For three decades, President Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus, a former Soviet nation in Eastern Europe, ruled with an iron fist. But pressure has mounted on him in the past year and a half. After a contested election in 2020, the European Union enacted sanctions and refused to recognize his leadership.In the hopes of bringing the bloc to the negotiating table, Mr. Lukashenko has engineered a migrant crisis on the Poland-Belarus border, where thousands from the Middle East, Africa and Asia have c...more
The U.S. economy is doing better than many had anticipated. Some 80 percent of jobs lost during the pandemic have been regained, and people are making, and spending, more.But Americans seem to feel terrible about the financial outlook.Why the gap between reality and perception?Guest: Ben Casselman, a reporter covering economics and business for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come togeth...more
This episode contains strong language.In Bucks County, Pa., what started out as a group of frustrated parents pushing for schools to reopen devolved over the course of a year and half into partisan disputes about America’s most divisive cultural issues.But those arguments have caused many to overlook a central role of the Central Bucks School District’s board: providing quality education.In Part 2 of our series on school board wars in the U.S., we look beyond the fighting and examine the pandemi...more
This episode contains strong language.A new battleground has emerged in American politics: school boards. In these meetings, parents increasingly engage in heated — sometimes violent — fights over hot-button issues such as mask mandates and critical race theory.Suddenly, the question of who sits on a school board has become a question about which version of America will prevail.We visit the school board meeting in Central Bucks, Pa., an important county in national politics, where the meetings h...more
This episode contains strong language.In March 2019, workers inside an Air Force combat operations center in Qatar watched as an American F-15 attack jet dropped a large bomb into a group of women and children in Syria.Assessing the damage, the workers found that there had been around 70 casualties, and a lawyer decided that it was a potential war crime.We look at how the system that was designed to bring the airstrike to light, ended up keeping it hidden.Guest: Dave Philipps, a national corresp...more
In 1980, when few Americans knew the meaning of toro and omakase, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the founder of the Unification Church, spoke to dozens of his followers in the Grand Ballroom of the New Yorker Hotel.It was said Moon could see the future, visit you in dreams and speak with the spirit world, where Jesus and Buddha, Moses and Washington, caliphs and emperors and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and even God himself would all proclaim his greatness.“You,” Moon later recalled telling his...more
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, described the current status of the pandemic in the United States as a “mixed bag” that is leaning more toward the positive than the negative.But, he said, there is still more work to do.In our conversation, he weighs in on vaccine mandates, booster shots and the end of the pandemic.Guest: Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exc...more
This episode contains strong language.When the coronavirus hit the United States, the nation’s public health officials were in the front line, monitoring cases and calibrating rules to combat the spread.From the start, however, there has been resistance. A Times investigation found that 100 new laws have since been passed that wrest power from public health officials.What is the effect of those laws, and how might they affect the response to a future pandemic?Guest: Mike Baker, the Seattle burea...more
Over the past year, a record 2,000 migrants from Africa have drowned trying to reach Spain.Many of these migrants make the journey in rickety vessels, not much bigger than canoes, that often don’t stand up to strong currents.What happens, then, when their bodies wash ashore?This is the story of Martín Zamora, a 61-year-old father of seven, who has committed himself to returning the bodies of drowned migrants to their families. Guest: Nicholas Casey, the Madrid bureau chief for The New York Times...more
In a bipartisan win for President Biden, Democrats and Republicans have passed a trillion-dollar infrastructure plan. Now comes the difficult part — trying to win approval for a $2 trillion social spending bill.For more moderate Democrats in swing districts, the vote will be among the toughest of the Biden era — and one that some fear could cost them their seats in next year’s midterms.To gauge their concerns, we speak to one such lawmaker, Representative Abigail Spanberger of Virginia.Guest: Re...more
The U.S. Supreme Court is gearing up to rule on an area of the law that it has been silent on for over a decade: the Second Amendment.The case under consideration will help decide whether the right to bear arms extends beyond the home and into the streets.The implications of the decision could be enormous. A quarter of the U.S. population lives in states whose laws might be affected.Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the Supreme Court for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in ...more
Like many other Americans, Jamie Lauren Keiles, the author of this week’s Sunday Read, bought their first motorcycle during the coronavirus pandemic.“I thought I was just purchasing a mode of transportation — a way to get around without riding the train,” they wrote. “But after some time on the street with other riders, I started to suspect I’d signed up for a lot more.”Jamie was aware of biker culture, but had decided that these tropes — choppers, leather jackets — “were all but contentless by ...more
This episode contains strong language and scenes of violence.Last summer, as the country reeled from the murder of George Floyd, another Black man, Jacob Blake, was shot by police in Kenosha, Wis. People took to the streets in Kenosha in protest and were soon met by civilians in militia gear — a confrontation that turned violent.On the third night of protests, a white teenager shot and killed two people, and maimed a third. The gunman, Kyle Rittenhouse, became a symbol of the moment, called a te...more
On a major night of elections across the United States on Tuesday, the Republican Glenn Youngkin claimed an unexpected victory over his Democratic opponent, Terry McAuliffe, to win the governor’s race in Virginia.As the night went on, it became clear that the contest in Virginia was not a singular event — Republicans were doing well in several unlikely places.What do the results tell us about the current direction of American politics?Guest: Alexander Burns, a national political correspondent fo...more
In a giant conference hall in Glasgow, leaders from around the world have gathered for the Conference of Parties to the United Nations Climate Change Convention, or COP26. This is the 26th such session.Many say this may be the last chance to avoid climate disaster. Will anything change this time?Guest: Somini Sengupta, the international climate reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our sh...more
Inflation in the United States is rising at its fastest rate so far this century. At 4 percent, according to one index, it is double the Federal Reserve’s target.We look at why prices are on the rise and at the tense political moment they have created.Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Backgr...more
This episode contains strong language and scenes of violence. Over the past five years, police officers in the United States have killed more than 400 unarmed drivers or passengers — a rate of more than one a week, a Times investigation has found.Why are such cases so common, and why is the problem so hard to fix?Guest: David D. Kirkpatrick, a national correspondent for The New York Times. Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your though...more
Over the past decade, the waters around Cape Cod have become host to one of the densest seasonal concentrations of adult white sharks in the world. Acoustic tagging data suggest the animals trickle into the region during lengthening days in May, increase in abundance throughout summer, peak in October and mostly depart by Thanksgiving.To conservationists, the annual returns are a success story, but the phenomenon carries unusual public-safety implications.Unlike many places where adult white sha...more
President Biden and Democratic leaders say they have an agreement on a historic social spending bill that they have spent months negotiating. But liberals in Congress demanded assurances that the package would survive before they would agree to an immediate vote on a separate $1 trillion infrastructure bill. Today, we explore why compromise remains a work in progress.Guest: Emily Cochrane, a correspondent based in Washington.Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio pro...more
In the coming days, a trial will begin to determine whether the fatal shooting of Amaud Arbery, an unarmed Black man, by two armed white men is considered murder under Georgia state law. Today, we explore why that may be a difficult case for prosecutors to make.Guest: Richard Fausset, a correspondent based in Atlanta who writes about the American South.Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your thoughts to shape what it becomes. Visit nyt...more
As congressional Democrats dramatically scale back the most ambitious social spending bill since the 1960s, they’re placing much of the blame on moderates who have demanded changes.One senator, Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, has played an outsized role in shaping the bill — but has remained quiet about why. Today, we explore what brought her to this moment.Guest: Reid J. Epstein, who covers campaigns and elections for The New York Times.Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new a...more
When Democrats first set out to expand the social safety net, they envisioned a piece of legislation as transformational as what the party has achieved in the 1960s. In the process, they hoped that they’d win back the working-class voters the party had since lost.But now that they’re on the brink of reaching a deal, the question is whether the enormous cuts and compromises they’ve made will make it impossible to fulfill either ambition.Guest: Jonathan Weisman, a congressional correspondent for T...more
Every once in a while a company grows so big and messy that governments fear what would happen to the broader economy if it were to fail. In China, Evergrande, a sprawling real estate developer, is that company.Evergrande has the distinction of being the world’s most debt-saddled property developer and has been on life support for months. A steady drumbeat of bad news in recent weeks has accelerated what many experts warn is inevitable: failure.But will the government let the company fail? And w...more
On June 24, 2015, Dawn Dorland, an essayist and aspiring novelist, did perhaps the kindest, most consequential thing she might ever do in her life. She donated one of her kidneys — and elected to do it in a slightly unusual and particularly altruistic way. As a so-called nondirected donation, her kidney was not meant for anyone in particular, but for a recipient who may otherwise have no other living donor.Several weeks before the surgery, Ms. Dorland decided to share her truth with others. She ...more
Before the Arab Spring, Seif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, the second son of the Libyan dictator Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, was establishing himself as a serious figure internationally. Then, the Arab Spring came to Libya.His father and brothers were killed and Seif himself was captured by rebels and taken to the western mountains of Libya.For years, rumors have surrounded the fate of Seif. Now he has re-emerged, touting political ambitions, but where has he been and what has he learned?Guest: Robert F. Wo...more
Chicago is in the midst of a crime wave — but there is also a question about whether police officers will show up for work.That’s because of a showdown between the mayor, Lori Lightfoot, and the police union over a coronavirus vaccine mandate.Some 30,000 city workers are subject to the mandate, but no group has expressed more discontent than the police.Guest: Julie Bosman, the Chicago bureau chief for The New York Times. Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product...more
The Clean Electricity Program has been at the heart of President Biden’s climate agenda since he took office.But passage was always going to come down to a single senator: Joe Manchin of West Virginia.With Mr. Manchin’s support now extremely unlikely, where does that leave American climate policy?Guest: Coral Davenport, a correspondent covering energy and environmental policy for The New York Times. Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us y...more
Colin Powell, who in four decades of public service helped shape U.S. national security, died on Monday. He was 84.Despite a stellar career, Mr. Powell had expressed a fear that he would be remembered for a single event: his role in leading his country to war in Iraq.We look back on the achievements and setbacks of a trailblazing life. Guest: Robert Draper, writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of “To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America into Iraq.”Love listening to ...more
In 2020, Virginia epitomized the way in which Democrats took the White House and Congress — by turning moderate and swing counties.But President Biden’s poll numbers have been waning, and in the coming race for governor, Republicans see an opportunity.Guest: Lisa Lerer, a national political correspondent for The New York Times. Love listening to New York Times podcasts? Help us test a new audio product in beta and give us your thoughts to shape what it becomes. Visit nytimes.com/audio to join th...more
When the Hirshhorn Museum told Laurie Anderson that it wanted to put on a big, lavish retrospective of her work, she said no.For one thing, she was busy and has been for roughly 50 years. Over the course of her incessant career, Ms. Anderson has done just about everything a creative person can do. She helped design an Olympics opening ceremony, served as the official artist in residence for NASA, made an opera out of “Moby-Dick” and played a concert for dogs at the Sydney Opera House. And she is...more
Throughout the pandemic, businesses of all sizes have faced delays, product shortages and rising costs linked to disruptions in the global supply chain. Consumers have been confronted with an experience rare in modern times: no stock available, and no idea when it will come in.Our correspondent, Peter Goodman, went to one of the largest ports in the United States to witness the crisis up close. In this episode, he explains why this economic havoc might not be temporary — and could require a subs...more
This episode contains strong language and descriptions of violence.A Times investigation has uncovered extraordinary levels of violence and lawlessness inside Rikers, New York City’s main jail complex. In this episode, we hear about one man’s recent experience there and ask why detainees in some buildings now have near-total control over entire units.Guest: Jan Ransom, an investigative reporter for The Times focusing on criminal justice issues, spoke with Richard Brown, a man detained at Rikers....more
This episode contains descriptions of violence and a suicide attempt.When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August, our producer started making calls. With the help of colleagues, she contacted women in different cities and towns to find out how their lives had changed and what they were experiencing.Then she heard from N, whose identity has been concealed for her safety.This is the story of how one 18-year-old woman’s life has been transformed under Taliban rule.Guest: Lynsea Garrison, a sen...more
Many Americans pay more for child care than they do for their mortgages, even though the wages for those who provide the care are among the lowest in the United States.Democrats see the issue as a fundamental market failure and are pushing a plan to bridge the gap with federal subsidies.We went to Greensboro, N.C., to try to understand how big the problem is and to ask whether it is the job of the federal government to solve.Guest: Jason DeParle, a senior writer for The New York Times.Sign up he...more
An enormous infusion of money and effort will be needed to prepare the United States for the changes wrought by the climate crisis.We visited towns in North Carolina that have been regularly hit by floods to confront a heartbreaking question: How does a community decide whether its homes are worth saving?Guest: Christopher Flavelle, a climate reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show ...more
Over the past decade, Eric Coomer has helped make Dominion Voting Systems one of the largest providers of voting machines and software in the United States.He was accustomed to working long days during the postelection certification process, but November 2020 was different.President Trump was demanding recounts. His allies had spent months stoking fears of election fraud. And then, on Nov. 8, Sidney Powell, a lawyer representing the Trump campaign, appeared on Fox News and claimed, without evide...more
The C.I.A. sent a short but explosive message last week to all of its stations and bases around the world.The cable, which said dozens of sources had been arrested, killed or turned against the United States, highlights the struggle the agency is having as it works to recruit spies around the world. How did this deterioration occur?Guest: Julian E. Barnes, a national security reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at h...more
The coronavirus seems to be in retreat in the United States, with the number of cases across the country down about 25 percent compared with a couple of weeks ago. Hospitalizations and deaths are also falling.So, what stage are we in with the pandemic? And how will developments such as a new antiviral treatment and the availability of booster shots affect things?Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox eac...more
The Senate testimony of Frances Haugen on Tuesday was an eagerly awaited event.Last month, Ms. Haugen, a former Facebook product manager, leaked internal company documents to The Wall Street Journal that exposed the social media giant’s inner workings.How will Ms. Haugen’s insights shape the future of internet regulation?Guest: Sheera Frenkel, a technology reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stori...more
The latest term of the U.S. Supreme Court will include blockbuster cases on two of the most contentious topics in American life: abortion and gun rights.The cases come at a time when the court has a majority of Republican appointees and as it battles accusations of politicization.Why is the public perception of the court so important? And how deeply could the coming rulings affect the fabric of American society?Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the United States Supreme Court for The New Y...more
Ivermectin is a drug that emerged in the 1970s, used mainly for deworming horses and other livestock.But during the pandemic, it has been falsely lauded in some corners as a kind of miracle cure for the coronavirus.What is fueling the demand for a drug that the medical establishment has begged people not to take?Guest: Emma Goldberg, a writer for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come tog...more
Jon Mooallem, the author of today’s Sunday Read, had a bad pandemic.“I began having my own personal hard time,” he writes. “The details aren’t important. Let’s just say, I felt as if I were moldering in place.”Then, The New York Times Magazine offered him the opportunity to fly somewhere for its travel issue — at that point he had spent 17 months parenting two demanding children. So, he asked: “What if I drove to Spokane?” Jon had been curious about it for years.Spokane, Wash., is the birthplace...more
This episode contains strong language.A month ago, Texas adopted a divisive law which effectively banned abortions in the state. Despite a number of legal challenges, the law has survived and is having an impact across state lines. Trust Women is abortion clinic in Oklahoma just three hours north of Dallas — one of the closest clinics Texas women can go to. On the day the Texas law came into effect, “it was like a light had been flipped,” said one of the workers who staffs the clinic’s phone lin...more
The first year of a Congress is usually the best time for a president to put forward any sort of ambitious policy. For President Biden, whose control of Congress is fragile, the urgency is particularly intense.But now members of his own party are threatening to block one big part of his agenda — his $1 trillion infrastructure plan — in the name of protecting an even bigger part.We speak to Representative Pramila Jayapal of Washington State, the chairwoman of the Progressive Caucus, about why sh...more
Britney Spears is one of the biggest celebrities on the planet — she makes millions of dollars performing, selling perfumes and appearing on television. At the same time, however, her life is heavily controlled by a conservatorship, which she has been living under for 13 years. Soon, a court will decide whether to remove Mr. Spears as conservator or terminate the conservatorship altogether. We explore the details of Ms. Spears’s conservatorship, the security apparatus that has surrounded it and ...more
This episode contains strong language.Brig. Gen. Khoshal Sadat, a former Afghan deputy minister for security, has held some of the highest ranks in the Afghan security forces and government. From the moment Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, the United States has put much of the blame of Afghan security forces — a force that President Biden said gave up without a fight.“The reality is that we’re not cowards,” said General Sadat. “We did not lay our arms, we would not lay our arms based on military...more
Increasing numbers of Haitian migrants have been traveling to the border town of Del Rio, Texas, recently, in the hope of entering the United States.Border Patrol took action — in some cases, sending the migrants back to Haiti; in others, taking them into custody or releasing them as they await trial.Why did so many thousands of Haitians come to the border in the first place? And what was behind the Biden administration’s reaction?Guest: Michael D. Shear, a White House correspondent for The New ...more
Throughout 2020, multiple strangers came at Monthanus Ratanapakdee seemingly out of nowhere. An old man yelled at her in Golden Gate Park — something about a virus and going back to her country. When she discussed these incidents, her father would ask, “Is it really that bad?”Her father, Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84, was a lifelong Buddhist, the kind of person who embraced the world with open arms. During the coronavirus pandemic, he usually left the house before 8 a.m. and made it back before his gra...more
After 16 years in power, Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, is walking out of office one of the most popular politicians in the country.In those years, Ms. Merkel has not only served as the leader of Germany, but also as a leader of Europe, facing down huge challenges — such as the eurozone and the refugee crises — all while providing a sense of stability.As Germans head to the polls this weekend, the question is: who can lead Germany and Europe at a time when the world faces no fewer cri...more
New York, like many other states, is enmeshed in the process of redrawing legislative districts.The outcome of the reconfiguring could be crucial in determining which party takes control of the House of Representatives next year.Clearly aware of the stakes, New York Democrats are considering a tactic that is usually a preserve of the Republican Party: gerrymandering.Guest: Nicholas Fandos, a political correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning....more
The recent U.S.-British deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines might look relatively inconsequential. But it signifies a close alliance between the three countries to face off against China.It is also notable for another reason: It has greatly angered the French. Why?Guest: Mark Landler, the London bureau chief for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscr...more
When he visited the site of an American drone strike in Kabul, Matthieu Aikins, a Times journalist, knew something wasn’t adding up. He uncovered a story that was quite different from the one offered up by the United States military. We follow The Times’s investigation and how it forced the military to acknowledge that the drone attack was a mistake.Guest: Matthieu Aikins, a writer based in Afghanistan for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an e...more
Annie Correal, a reporter for The Times, has family in Indian Valley, in Northern California, roots which extend back to the 1950s.This summer, as wildfires closed in on the area, she reported from her family’s property as they sought to fend off the flames — and investigated the divided opinions about what had caused the devastating blazes.Guest: Annie Correal, a reporter covering New York City for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusiv...more
You have almost certainly heard Nicholas Britell’s music, even if you don’t know his name. More than any other contemporary composer, he appears to have the whole of music history at his command, shifting easily between vocabularies, often in the same film.His most arresting scores tend to fuse both ends of his musical education. “Succession” is 18th-century court music married to heart-pounding beats; “Moonlight” chops and screws a classical piano-and-violin duet as if it’s a Three 6 Mafia trac...more
This episode contains strong language. “Six,” a revisionist feminist British pop musical about the wives of King Henry VIII, was shaping up to be a substantial hit on Broadway after finding success in London.On its opening night, however, in March 2020, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a shutdown of theater that would wind up lasting a year and a half.We speak to the cast and crew of “Six” about the show’s path back to the stage and explore what it tells us about the trials of Broadway during the pan...more
When Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos, the blood testing start-up, she was held up as one of the next great tech innovators.But her company collapsed, and she was accused of lying about how well Theranos’s technology worked. Now she is on trial on fraud charges.The case against Ms. Holmes is being held up as a referendum on the “fake it till you make it” culture of Silicon Valley, but it’s also about so much more.Guest: Erin Griffith, a reporter covering technology start-ups and venture capital...more
In a major turn of events in Mexico, which has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world, its Supreme Court last week decriminalized abortions.The Supreme Court ruling is a milestone for Mexico’s feminist movement. But change might not come quickly: Abortion law is mostly administered at the state level in Mexico, much of the country remains culturally conservative, and many Mexican medical workers are morally opposed to abortion.In a country where polls indicate most people don’t bel...more
For decades, the law has sought to restrain nursing homes from trying to control the behavior of dementia patients with antipsychotic drugs, which are known to have adverse health effects. An alarming rise in schizophrenia diagnoses suggests some homes have found a way to skirt the rules.We hear the story of David Blakeney, a dementia sufferer whose health declined rapidly after he was placed in a South Carolina nursing home.Guest: Katie Thomas, a reporter covering the business of health care fo...more
As recently as a month ago, President Biden appeared to be skeptical about imposing coronavirus vaccine mandates. Now that skepticism has given way to a suite of policies that aim to force the hands of the unvaccinated.What has changed?Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Pr...more
Two planes hijacked by Al Qaeda pierced the north and south towers of the World Trade Center. A third slammed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. A fourth crashed in an open field outside Shanksville, Pa. All in less than 90 minutes.What, exactly, do you remember? What stories do you tell when a casual conversation morphs into a therapy session? What stories do you keep to yourself? And what instantly transports you back to that deceptively sunny Tuesday morning?In a study of more than 3,000 peo...more
On the internet, there are bizarre subcultures filled with conspiracy theorists — those who believe the coronavirus is a hoax or that the 2020 election was stolen, or even that Hillary Clinton is a shape-shifting lizard. It’s a way of thinking that can be traced back to the first real internet blockbuster, a 9/11 conspiracy documentary called “Loose Change.” Today, we explore the film’s impact.Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in you...more
This episode contains strong language.Terry Albury joined the F.B.I. just before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, drawn in by the bureau’s work fighting child exploitation. His role quickly changed after 9/11 however, and he subsequently spent over a decade working in counterterrorism.Around 2015, he began to deeply question his work. “This is not what I joined the F.B.I. to do,” he recalled thinking.His doubts about the bureau’s workings led him to leak classified information to journalists. Toda...more
This summer was supposed to be, in the words of President Biden, the “summer of freedom” from the coronavirus. What we saw instead was the summer of the Delta variant.The surge driven by Delta — which has seen rises in cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the United States — has underlined that we are far from being done with the pandemic.Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for a...more
Since the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, last month, many have wondered what kind of rulers they will be.The memory of the Taliban of the 1990s — the public executions, the whippings in the streets and the harsh rules preventing women from leaving the house unaccompanied — has filled some with fear.This time around, what will their rule mean for ordinary Afghans?Guest: Matthieu Aikins, a writer based in Afghanistan for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inb...more
In a way, the new Texas law that has effectively banned abortions after six weeks is typical — many other Republican-led states have sought to ban abortions after six, 10 or 15 weeks. But where federal courts have routinely struck down other anti-abortion laws, the Texas legislation has gone into effect with the Supreme Court’s blessing. How has this law survived so far, and where does it leave abortion providers in the state?Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the United States Supreme Cour...more
After Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans, leaving destruction in its wake, comparisons with Hurricane Katrina were made.There are, however, big differences between the two disasters — namely that the city, in the 16 years since Katrina, has heavily invested in flood defenses. But on the ground, there is little cause for celebration.What has happened in the aftermath of Ida and what does the increasing frequency of climate extremes mean for a city like New Orleans?Guest: Richard Fausset, a corresponde...more
The closure of schools because of the pandemic and the advent of widespread virtual learning has impacted students of all ages — but particularly the youngest children.Research suggests that the learning missed during this period could have lasting impacts.What is the educational cost of pandemic learning and how are schools trying to get children back to class amid the Delta variant?Guest: Dana Goldstein, a national education correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily i...more
On Monday night, after a 20-year war that claimed 170,000 lives, cost over $2 trillion and did not defeat the Taliban, the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan. As the last of the American forces left under the cover of darkness, there was celebratory gunfire from the Taliban. The moment of exit, a day earlier than expected, was both historic and anticlimactic.We explore what happened in the last few hours and days of the American occupation, and look at what it leaves behind....more
Almost from the moment Gavin Newsom was elected governor of California, there were attempts to remove him from office. Initially, a recall election against him seemed highly unlikely — but the pandemic has changed things.What is behind the recall effort against Mr. Newsom, and what happens next?Guest: Shawn Hubler, a California correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come toge...more
Jeanne Calment lived her entire life in the South of France. She filled her days with leisurely pursuits, enjoying a glass of port, a cigarette and some chocolate nearly every day. In 1997, Ms. Calment died. She was 122.With medical and social advances mitigating diseases of old age and prolonging life, the number of exceptionally long-living people is increasing sharply. But no one is known to have matched, let alone surpassed, Ms. Calment’s record.Longevity scientists hold a wide range of nuan...more
For days, many dreaded an attack on Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul, as Western forces scrambled to evacuate tens of thousands of people from Afghanistan. On Thursday, those fears were realized — amid the large crowds outside the airport, terrorists carried out two suicide bombings. The attacks killed at least 60 people, including 13 United States service members.ISIS-K, a branch of the Islamic State in Afghanistan, has claimed responsibility.Will these attacks be the effective end o...more
Early on in the Biden administration, it rolled out a two-pronged migration plan: A reversal of the most punitive elements of Donald Trump’s policy and rooting out the causes of migration from Central America, namely corruption.There is, however, a conflict at the heart of this approach. Calling out corrupt leaders could destabilize nations and encourage migration in the short term.We explore the calculus of the Biden administration’s migration policy. Guest: Natalie Kitroeff, a correspondent co...more
Since the fall of Kabul to the Taliban last week, everything and everyone has been focused on Hamid Karzai International Airport and the massive military operation to get thousands of Americans and Afghan allies out of the country.It is a monumental challenge — one of the biggest and most complicated military operations the Pentagon has had to deal with in decades.We explore these complexities and the challenges being faced by the U.S. as it attempts to evacuate the city. Guest: Eric Schmitt, a ...more
For years, Mexico has been gripped by horrific violence as drug cartels battle each other and kill civilians. In the last 15 years alone, homicides have tripled. The violence, the Mexican government says, is fueled, in part, by American guns. Now Mexico is bringing a lawsuit against 10 gun manufacturers in a U.S. federal court, accusing them of knowingly facilitating the sale of guns to drug cartels in the country. How did the situation get to this point, and what arguments are being mounted by ...more
As the number of coronavirus infections in the United States surges, and school districts begin to reopen for in-person learning, some parents are apprehensive and full of questions.Recently, The Daily asked parents to send in their queries about children and Covid. We received about 600 responses.With the help of Emily Anthes, a reporter who covers the coronavirus, we try to provide some answers.Guest: Emily Anthes, a health and science reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The D...more
In 2002, a survey revealed there were just 1.6 Sumatran tigers per 100 square kilometers in Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park, one of the last habitats for the critically endangered animal. In the fall of 2015, however, research suggested that the numbers had significantly improved: 2.8 tigers per 100 square kilometers.When Matt Leggett, a newly hired senior adviser for the Wildlife Conservation Society, looked at the data sets, satellite maps and spatial distribution grids, he couldn’t help n...more
Two years ago, a multipart Times investigation highlighted an epidemic of child sexual abuse material which relied on platforms run by the world’s largest technology companies.Last week, Apple revealed its solution — a suite of tools which includes an update to the iPhone’s operating system that allows for the scanning of photographs.That solution, however, has ignited a firestorm over privacy in Silicon Valley.Guest: Jack Nicas, a technology reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get T...more
This episode contains strong language.Weeks ago, as the Taliban undertook a major military offensive in Afghanistan, the U.S. accelerated its evacuation of Afghans who aided them and feared retribution. Many, however, remain in the country. “I hope we do right by these people, but I hope we do it quickly,” Andrew Vernon, said a former Marine who has sought help for an interpreter he worked with. “But I am fully prepared to be fully disappointed as well.”Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbo...more
This weekend, a major earthquake hit Haiti. It is the second crisis to befall the Caribbean nation is just over a month — its president was assassinated in July.The earthquake’s aftermath has been dire, with little help getting through to those most affected. We hear what life has been like for Haitians reeling from the destruction. Guest: Maria Abi-Habib, the bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morni...more
The last few days in Afghanistan have been chaotic as the Taliban retake control of the country.The debacle can be traced to a number of assumptions that guided the execution of the U.S. withdrawal from the country after two decades of war.How could those assumptions have proved so wrong, so quickly?Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest...more
This episode contains strong language. On Sunday, the president of Afghanistan fled the country; the Taliban seized control of Kabul, the capital; and the American-backed government collapsed.One outspoken critic of the Taliban — a 33-year-old Kabul resident who asked that we refer to her by the initial R for fear of retaliation — shared her experiences as the insurgents closed in.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on ou...more
In 2019, Emily Bazelon, a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, began communicating with Yutico Briley, an inmate at a prison in Jackson, La.Mr. Briley first reached out to Ms. Bazelon after hearing her on the radio talking about “Charges,” her book on how prosecutors have historically used their power to increase incarceration.At age 19, Mr. Briley was imprisoned and sentenced to 60 years without the possibility of parole, in part, for a robbery he said he did not commit.Ms. Bazelon dec...more
This episode contains strong language. A major new United Nations scientific report has concluded that countries and corporations have delayed curbing fossil-fuel emissions for so long that we can no longer stop the impact of climate change from intensifying over the coming decades. In short, the climate crisis has arrived, and it’s going to get worse before it can get better.In this episode, we explore the main takeaways from the report — including what needs to happen in the narrowing window ...more
On Tuesday, the United States Senate approved a $1 trillion infrastructure bill — the largest single infusion of federal funds into infrastructure projects in more than a decade. It was a bipartisan vote, with 19 Republicans voting alongside the Democrats. Soon after, the Senate passed a more expansive budget plan — this time along party lines. What do these two votes tell us about how Washington is working today?Guest: Emily Cochrane, a reporter covering Congress for The New York Times. Sign u...more
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced yesterday that he would resign from office, exactly one week after a searing report found that he sexually harassed 11 women.What convinced him to step aside, how did the scandal bring about such a rapid and astonishing reversal of fortune for one of the nation’s best-known leaders, and what happens next?Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an excl...more
The Taliban have made big moves in the last few days in their bid to take control of Afghanistan. This weekend, they seized several cities and suddenly claimed a lot of the north. On Monday, they took another provincial capital. What is the Taliban’s strategy, what will the United States do, and where does this leave the Afghan government?Guest: Carlotta Gall, the Istanbul bureau chief for The New York Times. She previously reported from Afghanistan and Pakistan from 2001 to 2011. Sign up here t...more
To ensure students’ safe return to in-person learning amid a surge in the Delta variant of the coronavirus, some school districts plan to institute mask mandates.Yet that move isn’t necessarily straightforward — several of the country’s hardest-hit states have banned such mandates.We look at how this conflict is playing out in Arkansas. Guest: Richard Fausset, a correspondent covering the American South for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an ...more
For much of America’s history, a person with a disability had few civil rights related to their disability. That began to change when, in the 1980s, a group of lawmakers started to agitate for sweeping civil rights legislation.The result of their efforts was the Americans With Disabilities Act, or A.D.A.Albert Dytch, a 71-year-old man with muscular dystrophy, has filed more than 180 A.D.A. lawsuits in California. Is it profiteering — or justice?This story was written by Lauren Markham and record...more
Don, a 38-year-old single father from Pittsburgh, doesn’t want to be lumped into the “crazy anti-vax crowd.”Jeannie, a middle school teacher, has never vaccinated her teenage son and says she won’t start now.Lyndsey, from Florida, regrets having not had her late grandmother vaccinated against Covid-19.With the Delta variant of the coronavirus raging, we hear from some Americans who have decided not to get vaccinated. Guest: Jan Hoffman, a reporter covering behavioral health and health law for Th...more
This episode contains descriptions of sexual harassment.After accusations of sexual harassment against Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York surfaced early this year, an independent investigation was begun.And while people around the governor — and his critics — expected the ensuing report to be bad, what came out this week was worse.There have been widespread calls for Mr. Cuomo to resign, but will he go?Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get T...more
Tunisia was supposed to be the success story of the Arab Spring — the only democracy to last in the decade since revolutions swept the region.Recently, after mass protests, President Kais Saied appears to be taking the reins of power for himself.What happened? We hear from Mr. Saied and citizens of Tunisia on the ground. Guest: Vivian Yee, the Cairo bureau chief for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories ...more
This episode contains strong language. Bartenders, sous chefs, wait staff — at the moment, managers in the U.S. hospitality industry are struggling to fill a range of roles at their establishments.Managers blame pandemic unemployment benefits for the dearth of talent. Employees say that the pandemic has opened their eyes to the realities of work.We spoke to workers and managers about why it has become so hard to get some staff back to work.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning...more
Recent data from the C.D.C. has found that not only can vaccinated people get infected with the Delta variant of the coronavirus, though instances are rare, but they also can potentially spread the virus just as much as an unvaccinated person.What are the practical implications of this new information?Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories...more
Activists slammed the TV show “In the Dark” for casting a sighted actress in a blind lead role. But what if blindness is a performance of its own?This story was written and narrated by Andrew Leland. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
You’ve heard the 1619 podcast right here on The Daily. And we’ve covered the backlash to the 1619 Project and the battle over critical race theory that followed. In this interview, Ezra Klein, an Opinion columnist at The New York Times and host of The Ezra Klein Show, speaks with Nikole Hannah-Jones and Ta-Nehisi Coates about these skirmishes, and how they have gripped our national discourse. At the heart of the conversation in this episode is the question: How do we understand American history?...more
This episode contains mentions of sexual abuse.Simone Biles, 24, showed up on the national stage at 16, when she competed in and won the national championships. She equally impressed at her first Olympics, in 2016 in Rio.Going into the Tokyo Games this year, Ms. Biles — who is considered one of the greatest gymnasts of all time — was expected to win the all-around. So she shocked many this week when she pulled out of the competition.What prompted her decision?Guest: Juliet Macur, a sports report...more
For decades, nuclear weapons did not figure prominently in China’s military planning. However, recent satellite images suggest that the country may be looking to quintuple its nuclear arsenal. Why is China changing strategy now?Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Backgr...more
This episode contains strong language.The first hearing of the special congressional committee on the Jan. 6 riots was an emotional affair, but it was not quite the investigation that was originally envisaged.In January, lawmakers on both sides spoke of putting aside partisanship and organizing an investigation akin to the 9/11 commission, considered the gold standard of nonpartisan fact-finding.Why did the commission fail and what is taking place instead?Guest: Luke Broadwater, a congressional ...more
In the effort to raise America’s vaccination rate, some agencies and private organizations have turned to the last, and most controversial, weapon in the public health arsenal: vaccine mandates.How have the federal government and the White House approached the issue?Guest: Jennifer Steinhauer, a Washington reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our news...more
For the past couple of weeks, some Americans have reported a curious phenomenon: They have caught the coronavirus despite being vaccinated.Vaccines are still doing their job by protecting against serious illness and hospitalization, but the frequency of so-called breakthrough infections has surprised experts.How do such cases happen, and what risks do they pose?Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each...more
An activist investment firm won a shocking victory at Exxon Mobil. But can new directors really put the oil giant on a cleaner path?This story was written by Jessica Camille Aguirre and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
Extreme weather across Europe, North America and Asia is highlighting a harsh reality of science and history: The world as a whole is neither prepared to slow down climate change nor live with it.European officials are trying to change that. The European Commission, the E.U.’s executive arm, recently introduced ambitious legislation aimed at sharply cutting emissions to slow down climate change within the next decade, specifically by weaning one of the world’s biggest and most polluting economie...more
A promise of a well-paying assignment abroad for retired Colombian soldiers. A security company in Miami. An evangelical Haitian American pastor with lofty ideas. Trying to join the dots in the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse took us from the Caribbean to South America to Florida — and there are still plenty of questions.Guest: Julie Turkewitz, the Andes bureau chief for The New York Times, and Frances Robles, a national and foreign correspondent for The Times based in Florida.Sign up h...more
The Chinese government’s hacking of Microsoft was bold and brazen.The Biden administration tried to orchestrate a muscular and coordinated response with Western allies. But while the U.S. has responded to cyberattacks from Russia with economic sanctions, when it comes to Beijing, the approach is more complicated.Why does the U.S. take a different course with China?Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in you...more
Is misinformation on Facebook an impediment to ending the pandemic?President Biden even said that platforms like Facebook, by harboring skepticism about the shots, were killing people.Facebook immediately rejected the criticism, but who is right?Guest: Cecilia Kang, a correspondent covering technology and regulatory policy for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to ...more
The rise of the Delta variant has prompted a thorny question: Do we need a booster dose of the vaccine for Covid-19? Vaccine makers think so, but regulators are yet to be convinced.Principles are also at stake: Should richer countries be talking about administering extra doses when so many people around the world are yet to receive even a single shot?Guest: Rebecca Robbins, a business reporter covering Covid-19 vaccines for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each mor...more
It made headlines around the world: a New Jersey sandwich shop with a soaring stock price. Was it just speculation, or something stranger?This story was written by Jesse Barron and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
This episode contains accounts of physical and sexual abuse.The residential school system was devised by the Canadian government under the auspices of education, but very little education took place. Instead, children were taken from their families in order to wipe out Indigenous languages and culture.In 1959, when Garry Gottfriedson was 5, he was sent to one such school: Kamloops Indian Residential School.On today’s episode, we hear his story and explore how Indigenous activists have agitated f...more
This episode contains strong language.It was a surprise to many recently when protesters took to the streets in a small town near Havana to express their grievances with Cuba’s authoritarian government. Cubans do not protest in huge numbers.Even more remarkable: The protests spread across the island.Why are Cubans protesting, and what happens next?Guest: Ernesto Londoño, the Brazil bureau chief for The New York Times, covering the southern cone of South America. Sign up here to get The Daily in ...more
The heat wave that hit the usually cool and rainy American Pacific Northwest was a shock to many — Oregon and Washington were covered by a blanket of heat in the triple digits.After the temperatures soared, a group of scientists quickly came together to answer a crucial question: How much is climate change to blame?Guest: Henry Fountain, a climate change reporter for The New York Times; and Sergio Olmos, a freelancer for The Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And fo...more
In its investigation of the Trump Organization’s financial affairs, the Manhattan district attorney’s office has zeroed in on Allen Weisselberg, the company’s former finance chief, who spent almost half a century working for the Trump family. Criminal charges have been brought against Mr. Weisselberg in the hopes of getting him to cooperate in an investigation of former President Donald Trump. Will he flip?Guest: Ben Protess, an investigative reporter for The New York Times; and Michael Rothfeld...more
For decades, the granting of racial reparations in the United States appeared to be a political nonstarter. But Evanston, Ill., recently became the first city to approve a program of reparations for its Black residents.How did this happen, and can it be replicated in other parts of the country? Guest: Megan Twohey, an investigative reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come togeth...more
For Aleksander Doba, pitting himself against the wide-open sea — storms, sunstroke, monotony, hunger and loneliness — was a way to feel alive in old age. Today, listen to the story of a man who paddled toward the existential crisis that is life and crossed the Atlantic alone in a kayak. Three times.Mr. Doba died on Feb. 22 on the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa. He was 74.This story was written by Elizabeth Weil and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications l...more
Early on Wednesday morning, a group of men killed President Jovenel Moïse of Haiti in his residence on the outskirts of the capital, Port-au-Prince.It was a brazen act. Very rarely is a nation’s leader killed in at home.What does the attack means for Haiti’s future?Guest: Maria Abi-Habib, bureau chief for Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come...more
After a 20-year war, the United States has effectively ended its operations in Afghanistan with little fanfare.In recent weeks, the Americans have quietly vacated their sprawling military bases in the nation, and without giving Afghan security forces prior notice.What does this withdrawal look like on the ground?Guest: Thomas Gibbons-Neff, a correspondent in the Kabul bureau for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the big...more
When the F.D.A. approved the drug Aduhelm, the first Alzheimer’s treatment to receive the agency’s endorsement in almost two decades, it gave hope to many.But the decision was contentious; some experts say there’s not enough evidence that the treatment can address cognitive symptoms.What is the story behind this new drug?Guest: Pam Belluck, a health and science writer for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest s...more
The Delta variant of the coronavirus is threatening to put the world in an entirely new stage of the pandemic.The variant is spreading fast, particularly in places with low vaccination rates — it is thought to be around 50 percent more transmissible than previous versions.What can be done to stop Delta, and how will the variant hamper global efforts to return to normalcy?Guest: Carl Zimmer, a science writer and author of the “Matter” column for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in...more
In Loudoun County, Va., a fierce debate has been raging for months inside normally sleepy school board meetings.At the heart of this anger is critical race theory, a once obscure academic framework for understanding racism in the United States.How, exactly, did critical race theory enter American public life, and what does this debate look like on the ground?Guest: Trip Gabriel, a national correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an ...more
Throughout its 115-year history, the N.C.A.A.’s bedrock principle has been that student-athletes should be amateurs and not allowed to profit off their fame.This week, after years of agitation and legislation, the rule was changed.What will this new era of college sports look like?Guest: Alan Blinder, a reporter covering college sports for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, ...more
Recently, the government released a long-awaited report: a look at unexplained aerial phenomena.We explore the report and what implications it may have. Will it do anything to quell theories of extraterrestrial visitors?Guest: Julian E. Barnes, a national security reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: The United Stat...more
A few years ago, engineers sounded alarm bells about Champlain Towers, a residential building in Surfside, Fla. Last week, disaster struck and the towers collapsed. At least 11 residents have been confirmed dead and 150 more are still unaccounted for.What caused the building to fail, and why are so many people still missing?Guest: Patricia Mazzei, the Miami bureau chief for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest ...more
After last year’s postponement, both the International Olympic Committee and the Japanese government are determined that the Tokyo Games will take place this summer.But the public in Japan appears unconvinced: About 85 percent of people say they fear that the Olympics will cause a rebound of the virus in the country.Will the sense of discontent fade as the Games begin?Guest: Motoko Rich, the Tokyo bureau chief for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And f...more
Neglected by art history for decades, Jo van Gogh-Bonger, the sister-in-law to Vincent van Gogh, is finally being recognized as the force who opened the world’s eyes to his genius.This story was written by Russell Shorto and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
On this episode of Sway, a podcast from NYT Opinion, America’s chief immunologist responds to the recent leak of his emails, being compared to Hitler, and weighs in on the Wuhan lab-leak theory. Every Monday and Thursday on Sway, Kara Swisher investigates power: who has it, who’s been denied it and who dares to defy it. Subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.
In this episode, we get answers on just how bad the problem of far-right infiltration in the German military and police really is — and how Germany is trying to address it. We learn about Germany's "defensive democracy," which was designed after World War II to protect the country against threats from the inside. One of those threats, according to some German officials, is the Alternative for Germany, widely known by its German initials AfD. We meet intelligence officials who have put parts of t...more
When the coronavirus hit, the Serum Institute of India, the world’s largest vaccine maker, seemed uniquely positioned to help. It struck a deal with AstraZeneca, promising a billion vaccine doses to low- and middle-income nations. Earlier this year, a ban instituted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi put a stop to those plans. What has that meant for the nations promised millions of doses?Guest: Emily Schmall, a South Asia correspondent for The New York Times based in New Delhi. Sign up here to get...more
The For the People Act, a bill created by House Democrats after the 2018 midterm elections, could have been the most sweeping expansion of voting rights in a generation.On Tuesday night, however, Senate Republicans filibustered the bill before it could even be debated.What lessons can we take from its demise? Guest: Nicholas Fandos, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories ...more
In the wake of last year’s Black Lives Matter protests, a central question of the New York City mayoral contest has become: Is New York safer with more or fewer police officers?Today, we see this tension play out in a single household, between Yumi Mannarelli and her mother, Misako Shimada.Guests: Misako Shimada and Yumi Mannarelli, a mother and daughter who live in New York City. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on ou...more
How does the 1965 Voting Rights Act work? That is the question in front of the Supreme Court as it rules on a pair of Arizona laws from 2016 — the most important voting rights case in a decade.What arguments have been made in the case? And what implications will the decision have?Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the United States Supreme Court for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show ...more
During his childhood, Nicholas Casey, Madrid bureau chief for The New York Times, received visits from his father. He would arrive from some faraway place where the ships on which he worked had taken him, regaling his son with endless stories. He had black curly hair like Nicholas’s and the beard he would one day grow.But then after Nicholas’s seventh birthday, he vanished.The familial riddle that plagued him would remain unsolved until his 33rd birthday with a gift from his mother: an ancestry ...more
We meet Franco A., an officer in the German military who lived a double life as a Syrian refugee and stands accused of plotting an act of terrorism to bring down the German government.
In 2019, it seemed to many that Gov. Ralph Northam’s career was over.That year, the Democratic governor of Virginia became embroiled in a highly publicized blackface scandal centered on a racist picture in his medical-school yearbook. There were widespread calls for his resignation.Two years later, Mr. Northam has emerged as the most racially progressive leader in the state’s history. How did it happen?Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national political reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here t...more
This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence.Just a few years ago, Ethiopia’s leader was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Now, the nation is in the grips of a civil war, with widespread reports of massacres and human rights abuses, and a looming famine that could strike millions in the northern region of Tigray. How did Ethiopia get here?Guest: Declan Walsh, the chief Africa correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusiv...more
Jeff Bezos, Michael Bloomberg, Elon Musk and George Soros are household names. They are among the wealthiest people in the United States.But a recent report by ProPublica has found another thing that separates them from regular Americans citizens: They have paid almost nothing in taxes.Why does the U.S. tax system let that happen?Guest: Jonathan Weisman, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at ho...more
Apple built the world’s most valuable business by figuring out how to make China work for Apple.A New York Times investigation has found that the dynamic has now changed. China has figured out how to make Apple work for China.Guest: Jack Nicas, who covers technology from San Francisco for The New York Times. He is one of the reporters behind the investigation into Apple’s compromises in China.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest s...more
During months of pandemic isolation, Wesley Morris, a critic at large for The New York Times, decided to grow a mustache.The reviews were mixed and predictable. He heard it described as “porny” and “creepy,” as well as “rugged” and “extra gay.”It was a comment on a group call, however, that gave him pause. Someone noted that his mustache made him look like a lawyer for the N.A.A.C.P.’s legal defense fund.“It was said as a winking correction and an earnest clarification — Y’all, this is what it i...more
Franco A. is not the only far-right extremist in Germany discovered by chance. For over a decade, 10 murders in the country, including nine victims who were immigrants, went unsolved. The neo-Nazi group responsible was discovered only when a bank robbery went wrong. In this episode, we ask: Why has a country that spent decades atoning for its Nazi past so often failed to confront far-right extremism?
When she was at graduate school in the 1970s, Dr. Katalin Kariko learned about something that would become a career-defining obsession: mRNA.She believed in the potential of the molecule, but for decades ran up against institutional roadblocks. Then, the coronavirus hit and her obsession would help shield millions from a once-in-a-century pandemic. Today, a conversation with Dr. Kariko about her journey. Guest: Gina Kolata, a reporter covering science and medicine for The New York Times. Sign up...more
The Senate passed the largest piece of industrial policy seen in the U.S. in decades on Tuesday, directing about a quarter of a trillion dollars to bolster high-tech industries.In an era where lawmakers can’t seem to agree on anything, why did they come together for this?Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come t...more
In the past few weeks, some of the biggest industries in the U.S. have been held up by cyberattacks.The first big infiltration was at Colonial Pipeline, a major conduit of gas, jet fuel and diesel to the East Coast. Then, J.B.S., one of the world’s largest beef suppliers, was hit.The so-called ransomware attacks have long been a worry. But who are the hackers and how can they be stopped?Guest: Nicole Perlroth, a reporter covering cybersecurity and digital espionage for The New York Times. Sign u...more
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel has always sold himself as a peerless defender of his country. In the minds of many Israelis, he has become a kind of indispensable leader for the nation’s future.Despite that image, Mr. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving prime minister, might soon be ousted from office.What has given his rivals the momentum to try to topple him? And who might be his replacement?Guest: David M. Halbfinger, who covered Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories and t...more
Andrea Smith had long been an outspoken activist and academic in the Native American community. Called an icon of “Native American feminism,” she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy work and has aligned herself with prominent activists such as Angela Davis.Last fall, however, a number of academics, including Ms. Smith, were outed as masquerading as Black, Latino or Indigenous.While many of them explained themselves and the lies they told, Ms. Smith never did. Why?This story wa...more
On this episode of The Ezra Klein Show, former President Barack Obama discusses Joe Biden, aliens and what he got right and wrong during his two terms in office.Each Tuesday and Friday for The New York Times Opinion section, Ezra Klein invites you into a conversation on something that matters. Subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts.
Franco A. visited the workplaces of two of his alleged targets. We meet both targets to hear the stories of two Germanies: One a beacon of liberal democracy that has worked to overcome its Nazi past, the other a place where that past is attracting new recruits. Today, we explore how Germany's history is informing the fight for the country’s future.
Over the weekend, months of tension in the Texas Legislature came to a head. A group of Democratic lawmakers got up and left the building before a vote — an act of resistance amid the most conservative Texas legislative session in recent memory. The population of Texas is becoming less old, less white and less Republican, so why is its Legislature moving further right?Guest: Manny Fernandez, the Los Angeles bureau chief for The New York Times. He spent more than nine years covering Texas as the ...more
Representing a vanishing brand of Democratic politics that makes his vote anything but predictable, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia has become the make-or-break legislator of the Biden era.We explore how and why Mr. Manchin’s vote has become so powerful.Guest: Jonathan Martin, a national political correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our new...more
This episode includes disturbing language including racial slurs.In the early 20th century, Greenwood in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was an epicenter of Black economic influence in the United States. However, in the early hours of June 1, 1921, a white mob — sanctioned by the Tulsa police — swept through the community burning and looting homes and businesses, and killing residents.A century later, the question before Congress, the courts and the United States as a whole is: What would justice look like?Gue...more
This episode contains strong language. The mysterious story of a German soldier, a faked Syrian identity and a loaded gun in an airport bathroom cracks the door open to a network of far-right extremists inside the German military and the police. They are preparing for the day democracy collapses — a day they call Day X. But just how dangerous are they?See all episodes of Day X at nytimes.com/dayx
Last week, when the pilots on a commercial flight headed for Lithuania told passengers they were about to make an unexpected landing in the Belarusian capital of Minsk many were confused — except Roman Protasevich.The 26-year-old dissident journalist and one Belarus’s biggest enemies sensed what was about to happen.How and why did Belarus force down the plane and arrest Mr. Protasevich? And what comes next? Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times. Sign up here to...more
After 11 days of fighting over the skies of Israel and Gaza, a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel was announced last week.The conflict wrought devastation in Gaza. Yet Hamas’s leaders took to television and declared victory.We look at where the organization comes from and their objectives to understand why it has, for decades, engaged in battles it knows it can’t win.Guest: Ben Hubbard, the Beirut bureau chief for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And...more
When Brandi Levy was 14, she posted an expletive-filled video to Snapchat, expressing her dismay at not making the varsity cheerleading squad. It got her suspended from cheerleading entirely for a year.Can a public school deal with off-campus speech in this way without infringing the First Amendment? The Supreme Court will decide.Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the United States Supreme Court for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an excl...more
It had long appeared that the National Rifle Association was impervious to anything or anyone.Now, an investigation into financial misconduct accusations led by the New York attorney general’s office imperils the very existence of America’s most powerful gun rights group.We look at how a plan to circumvent this investigation through a bankruptcy filing backfired.Guest: Danny Hakim, an investigative reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for...more
In the summer of 1856, workers quarrying limestone in a valley outside Düsseldorf, Germany, found an odd looking skull. It was elongated and almost chinless.William King, a British geologist, suspected that this was not merely the remains of an atypical human, but belonged to a typical member of an alternate humanity. He named the species Homo neanderthalensis: Neanderthal man.Guided by racism and phrenology, he deemed the species brutish, with a “moral ‘darkness.’” It was a label that stuck.Rec...more
When our friends at This American Life made an episode called ... wait for it! ... “The Daily,” we knew we wanted to share it with you. It’s about life’s daily practices, and what you learn from doing a thing every day. Wait for the end. There’s a little surprise. And if you want to hear more episodes of This American Life, you can find the show wherever you listen to podcasts.
This episode contains strong language and scenes of war that some may find distressing. In 2010, James Dao, then a military affairs reporter for The New York Times, began following a battalion of U.S. soldiers headed for Afghanistan.Two soldiers caught his attention: Adrian Bonenberger, a single, 32-year-old captain, and Tamara Sullivan, a 30-year-old sergeant and mother of two.As President Biden prepares to withdraw troops from Afghanistan this fall, we revisit those interviews and follow up wi...more
It has been more than a week since the latest escalation between Israel and Hamas, and President Biden has been taking a cautious approach.The president has stressed Israel’s right to defend itself, but he seems reluctant to place too much pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.Mr. Biden has known Mr. Netanyahu for decades. Is that a help or a hindrance?Guest: Michael Crowley, a diplomatic correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each mor...more
“You never get used to the sound of bombings,” Rahf Hallaq tells us on today’s episode.Ms. Hallaq, an English language and literature student, lives in the northwestern area of Gaza City, where she shares a home with her parents and five siblings. She turns 22 next month.We talk with Ms. Hallaq about her life, her dreams and what the last nine days have been like in Gaza.Guest: Rahf Hallaq, a 21 year-old English student and resident of Gaza City.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each m...more
Why is the economic recovery from the pandemic so uneven? Why are companies finding it hard to hire? And why are the prices of used cars surging?Recent economic reports have commentators scratching their heads. We dig into the theories behind this strange moment for the American economy. Guest: Ben Casselman, an economics and business reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come to...more
In the months since a pro-Trump mob breached the walls of the Capitol building, some 420 people have been arrested and charged in connection with the attack. And that number is expected to rise.As federal prosecutors prepare for a unique challenge, we look at the twists and turns of bringing those who were in the building to justice.Guest: Alan Feuer, a reporter covering courts and criminal justice for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclu...more
In this episode of The Sunday Read, we revisit a story from our archives.Sam Anderson, a staff writer, claims Weird Al Yankovic is not just a parody singer — he’s “a full-on rock star, a legitimate performance monster and a spiritual technician doing important work down in the engine room of the American soul.” In these absurd times, Sam reaches into his childhood to explain the enduring appeal of an absurd artist.This story was written by Sam Anderson and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio st...more
This episode contains strong language.What started out as a kind of inside joke in the world of cryptocurrency has quickly become, for some, a very serious path to wealth. Today we explore the latest frenzy around a digital currency, what it tells us about the flaws in the old economy — and the risks and rewards of the new one.Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times, spoke with Glauber Contessoto about his investment in Dogecoin.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inb...more
In the past few days, the deadliest violence in years has erupted between Israel and the Palestinians. Hundreds of missiles are streaking back and forth between Gaza and cities across Israel, and there have been shocking scenes of mob violence on the streets.Why is this happening and how much worse could it get?Guest: Isabel Kershner, a correspondent for The New York Times based in Jerusalem. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest s...more
Today, Liz Cheney, the No. 3 Republican in the House, is expected to be removed from her leadership position.She has found herself on a lonely political island by continuing to speak out against former President Donald Trump.We look at the factors behind her ouster and the new requirements for Republican leadership. Guest: Catie Edmondson, a reporter in The New York Times’s Washington bureau. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest s...more
Recently, Apple released a seemingly innocuous software update: a new privacy feature that would explicitly ask iPhone users whether an app should be allowed to track them across other apps and sites. For Facebook, however, this feature is anything but innocuous — it strikes at the heart of the company’s business model.The dispute represents a further deterioration in the frosty relations between the two companies. What’s at the heart of this conflict, and why have the stakes become so high for ...more
Vaccine hesitancy is a major reason that many experts now fear the United States will struggle to attain herd immunity against the coronavirus.And while many initially hesitant demographics have become more open to vaccinations, one group is shifting much less: white Republican evangelical Christians, who tend to live in rural communities.Here’s what that looks like in Greeneville, Tenn.Guest: Jan Hoffman, a reporter covering behavioral health and health law for The New York Times. Sign up here...more
In this episode of The Sunday Read, we revisit a story from our archives.When the university told one woman about the sexual-harassment complaints against her wife, they knew they weren’t true. But they had no idea how strange the truth really was.This story was written by Sarah Viren and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
From the earliest days of the pandemic, herd immunity has consistently factored into conversations about how countries can find their way out of lockdowns and restrictions.Now, many experts believe that the United States may never reach the requisite level of immunity.We explore why, and what it might look like to live in a country where there is no herd immunity against the coronavirus.Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get Th...more
Was Facebook right to indefinitely bar former President Donald J. Trump from the platform after the Capitol riot?The company’s oversight board, which rules on some of the thorniest speech decisions on the platform, decided that, while the ban was justified at the time, the parameters of the suspension needed to be defined.What does the ruling tell us about Facebook’s “Supreme Court.”Guest: Cecilia Kang, a reporter covering technology and regulatory policy for The New York Times.Sign up here to g...more
Japan is the “grayest” nation in the world. Close to 30 percent of the population is over 65. The reason is its low birthrate, which has caused the population to contract since 2007.With the birthrate in the United States also dropping, what are the implications of a shrinking population, and what lessons can be learned from Japan?Guest: Motoko Rich, the Tokyo bureau chief for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the bigg...more
The latest census revealed that the United States had seen the second-slowest decade of population growth since 1790, when the count began.The country may be entering an era of substantially lower population growth, demographers said.How could this redefine the nation’s future?Guest: Sabrina Tavernise, a national correspondent covering demographics for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show co...more
Inside the world of complaint sites and what can be done about the “the bathroom wall of the internet.”Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background: Listen to part one here. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
For years, Dan-el Padilla Peralta, a Dominican-born teacher of classics at Princeton, has spoken openly about the harm caused by the discipline’s practitioners in the two millenniums since antiquity — the classical justifications of slavery, race science, colonialism, Nazism and other 20th-century fascisms.He believes that classics is so entangled with white supremacy as to be inseparable from it.Today on The Sunday Read, how Dr. Padilla is trying to change the way the subject is taught.This sto...more
For at least a decade, allegations of cheating have swirled around elections in rural Bladen County, N.C. Some people point fingers at a Black advocacy group, the Bladen County Improvement Association, accusing it of bullying voters, tampering with ballots and stealing votes outright. These allegations have never been substantiated, but they persist. The reporter Zoe Chace went to Bladen County to investigate what’s really going on. From the makers of Serial and The New York Times, this five-par...more
This episode contains references to mental health challenges, including eating disorders.Joanna Lopez, the high school senior we met in our first episode of Odessa, has turned inward: staying in her bedroom, ghosting friends and avoiding band practice. But playing with the marching band at the last football game of her high-school career offers a moment of hope that maybe, one day, things will get better.In the finale of our four-part series, we listen as the public health crisis becomes a menta...more
In his first speech to a joint session of Congress, President Biden set out an expansive vision for the role of American government. He spent much of the address detailing his proposals for investing in the nation’s economic future — spending that would total $4 trillion. We analyze the president’s address and his plans for remaking the American economy. Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an...more
At the beginning of this year, many people in India thought the worst of the pandemic was finished there. But in the last few weeks, any sense of ease has given way to widespread fear. The country is suffering from the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world, with people being turned away from full hospitals and a scarcity of medical oxygen. How did India, after successfully containing the virus last year, get to this point?Guest: Jeffrey Gettleman, the South Asia bureau chief for The New York ...more
During a global climate summit, President Biden signaled America’s commitment to fighting climate change with an ambitious target: The U.S. will cut its economywide carbon emissions by 50 percent of 2005 levels by 2030. What became clear is that the rest of the world has become cautious about following the United States’ lead after years of commitments shifting from one administration to the next. What happened at the summit and how can the U.S. regain its credibility in the struggle against cl...more
In recent years, Russia has tried to reassert its global influence in many ways, from military action in Ukraine to meddling in U.S. elections.So when Russia developed a coronavirus vaccine, it prioritized exporting it to dozens of other countries — at the expense of its own people.Today, we look at how Russia has put vaccine diplomacy to work. Guest: Andrew E. Kramer, a reporter based in the Moscow bureau of The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for a...more
In summer 2003, Shahawar Matin Siraj, then 21, met Osama Eldawoody, a nuclear engineer twice his age. To Mr. Siraj’s delight they struck up an unlikely friendship — never before had someone this sophisticated taken him so seriously.At the older man’s encouragement, Mr. Siraj became entangled in a plot to place a bomb in Herald Square subway station. He would later want out of the plan, but it was too late: Mr. Eldawoody, it turned out, was one of thousands of informants recruited by the police a...more
This episode contains strong language. On Sunday, 12 elite soccer teams in Europe announced the formation of a super league. The plan was backed by vast amounts of money, but it flew in the face of an idea central to soccer’s identity: You have to earn your place.Fans reacted with blind fury and protest. Players and managers spoke out. Figures like Prime Minister Boris Johnson of Britain and Prince William expressed disapproval. Within 48 hours, the idea was dead.Amid the rubble, a question was ...more
Last spring, Brandon Hole’s mother alerted the police in Indiana about her son’s worrying behavior. Invoking the state’s “red flag” law, officers seized his firearm.But Mr. Hole was able to legally purchase other weapons, and last week, he opened fire on a FedEx facility, killing eight people and then himself.Why did the law fail?Guest: Campbell Robertson, a national correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how t...more
On Tuesday, after three weeks of jury selection, another three weeks of testimony and 10 hours of deliberations, Derek Chauvin, a former Minneapolis police officer, was found guilty of murder in the death of George Floyd.The jurors found Mr. Chauvin guilty of all three charges: second-degree murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter. Sentencing will take place several weeks from now. Second-degree murder could mean as long as 40 years in prison.We look back on key moments from t...more
Just four months into 2021 and there have already been more than 80 bills, introduced in mostly Republican-controlled legislatures, that aim to restrict transgender rights, mostly in sports and medical care.But what’s the thinking behind the laws, and why are there so many?We look into the motivation behind the bills and analyze the impact they could have.Guest: Dan Levin, who covers American youth for The New York Times’s National Desk.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. A...more
When a nuclear fuel enrichment site in Iran blew up this month, Tehran immediately said two things: The explosion was no accident, and the blame lay with Israel.Such an independent action by Israel would be a major departure from a decade ago, when the country worked in tandem with the United States to set back Iran’s nuclear ambitions.We look at what the blast says about relations between the United States, Iran and Israel.Guest: David E. Sanger, a White House and national security corresponden...more
The Skagit Valley choir last sang together on the evening of March 10, 2020. This rehearsal, it would turn out, was one of the first documented superspreader events of the pandemic. Of the 61 choristers who attended practice that night, 53 developed coronavirus symptoms. Two later died.The event served as an example to other choirs of the dangers of coming together in the pandemic. It also provided crucial evidence for scientists seeking to understand how the coronavirus was being transmitted.To...more
This episode contains strong language and emotional descriptions about the challenges of parenting during the pandemic, so if your young child is with you, you might want to listen later.Several months ago, The Times opened up a phone line to ask Americans what it’s really been like to raise children during the pandemic.Liz Halfhill, a single mother to 11-year-old Max, detailed her unvarnished highs and lows over the past year.Guest: Liz Halfhill, a single mother and full-time paralegal, in Spok...more
Federal health agencies on Tuesday called for a pause in the use of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus shot as they examine a rare blood-clotting disorder that emerged in six recipients.Every state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico halted their rollout of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine almost immediately. The same went for the U.S. military, federally run vaccination sites, and CVS, Walgreens, and other stores.Today, science writer Carl Zimmer explains the decision-making process, how long t...more
In a ruling a few days ago, the Supreme Court lifted coronavirus restrictions imposed by California on religious services held in private homes. The decision gave religious Americans another win against government rules that they say infringe on their freedom to worship.With the latest victory, the question has become whether the Supreme Court’s majority is protecting the rights of the faithful or giving them favorable treatment.Guest: Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times.Sign...more
It started with a picture posted on the internet, and ended in an extravagant cryptocurrency bidding war. NFTs, or “nonfungible tokens,” have recently taken the art world by storm. Sabrina Tavernise, a national correspondent for The Times, speaks with the Times columnist Kevin Roose about digital currency’s newest frontier, his unexpected role in it and why it matters.Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The Times who examines the intersection of technology, business, and culture.Sign ...more
Europe’s vaccination process was expected to be well-orchestrated and efficient. So far, it’s been neither. Sabrina Tavernise, a national correspondent for The Times, spoke with our colleague Matina Stevis-Gridneff about Europe’s problems and why things could get worse before they get better.Guest: Matina Stevis-Gridneff, the Brussels correspondent for The New York Times, covering the European Union.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the bi...more
The author Philip Roth, who died in 2018, was not sure whether he wanted to be the subject of a biography. In the end, he decided that he wanted to be known and understood.His search for a biographer was long and fraught — Mr. Roth parted ways with two, courted one and sued another — before he settled on Blake Bailey, one of the great chroniclers of America’s literary lives.Today on The Sunday Read, the journey of rendering a writer whose life was equal parts discipline and exuberance.This story...more
Odessa is a four-part series. All episodes of the show released so far are available here. Last fall, as Odessa High School brought some students back to campus with hybrid instruction, school officials insisted mask wearing, social distancing and campus contact tracing would keep students and faculty safe. And at the beginning of the semester, things seemed to be going OK. But then a spike in coronavirus cases hit town, putting the school’s safety plan to the test. In part three of our four-par...more
In Minneapolis, the tension is palpable as the city awaits the outcome of the trial of Derek Chauvin, the police officer accused of murdering George Floyd last summer.The court proceedings have been both emotional — the video of Mr. Floyd’s death has been played over and over — and technical.At the heart of the case: How did Mr. Floyd die?Today, we look at the case that has been brought against Mr. Chauvin so far. Guest: John Eligon, a national correspondent covering race for The New York Times....more
The I.R.S. says that Bristol Myers Squibb, America’s second-largest drug company, has engaged a tax-shelter setup that has deprived the United States of $1.4 billion in tax revenue.The Biden administration is looking to put an end to such practices to pay for its policy ambitions, including infrastructure like improving roads and bridges and revitalizing cities.We look at the structure of these tax arrangements and explore how, and whether, it’s possible to clamp down on them. Guest: Jesse Druck...more
How one woman with a grudge was able to slander an entire family online, while the sites she used avoided blame.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.
Two months ago, Myanmar’s military carried out a coup, deposing the country’s elected civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and closing the curtains on a five-year experiment with democracy. Since then, the Burmese people have expressed their discontent through protest and mass civil disobedience. The military has responded with brutal violence. We look at the crackdown and how Myanmar’s unique military culture encourages officers to see civilians as the enemy. Guest: Hannah Beech, the Southeast As...more
During the pandemic, cheerleader-ish girls performing slithery hip-hop dances to rap music on TikTok has been the height of entertainment — enjoyed both genuinely and for laughs.Addison Rae, one such TikToker, is the second-most-popular human being on the platform, having amassed a following larger than the population of the United Kingdom.In seeking to monetize this popularity, she has followed a path forged by many social media stars and A-list celebrities like Rihanna and Kylie Jenner: She ha...more
President Biden is pushing the boundaries of how most Americans think of infrastructure.In a speech on Wednesday, he laid out his vision for revitalizing the nation’s infrastructure in broad, sweeping terms: evoking racial equality, climate change and support for the middle class.His multitrillion-dollar plan aims not only to repair roads and bridges, but also to bolster the nation’s competitiveness in things like 5G, semiconductors and human infrastructure.Today, we take a detailed look at what...more
Since its earliest days, Amazon has been anti-union, successfully quashing any attempt by workers to organize.A group of workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., just might change that — depending on the outcome of a vote this week.We look at how their effort came together and what it means for the nature of work in savvy, growing companies like Amazon.Guest: Michael Corkery, a business reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an...more
Republican-led legislatures are racing to restrict voting rights, in a broad political effort that first began in the state of Georgia. To many Democrats, it’s no coincidence that Georgia — once a Republican stronghold — has just elected its first Black senator: Raphael Warnock. Today, we speak to the senator about his path from pastorship to politics, the fight over voting rights and his faith that the old political order is fading away.Guest: Astead W. Herndon, a national political reporter fo...more
Georgia, a once reliably red state, has been turning more and more purple in recent years. In response, the Republican state legislature has passed a package of laws aimed at restricting voting.Today, we look at those measures and how Democrats are bracing for similar laws to be passed elsewhere in the country. Guest: Nick Corasaniti, a domestic correspondent covering national politics for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at ...more
On the docket on Monday at a Minneapolis courthouse is the biggest police brutality case in the United States in three decades: the trial of Derek Chauvin, a white former police officer accused of killing George Floyd, a Black man, last year.The case centers on a 10-minute video, shot by a bystander, showing Mr. Chauvin kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck. That video reverberated around the world.We look at the contours of the trial and what we know about it so far.Guest: Shaila Dewan, a national repor...more
It was in the winter of 2016 that Jan Six, a Dutch art dealer based in Amsterdam, made a discovery that would upend his life. He was leafing through a Christie’s catalog when he spotted a painting featuring a young man wearing a dazed look, a lace collar and a proto-Led Zeppelin coif. Christie’s had labeled it a painting by one of Rembrandt’s followers, but Mr. Six knew it was by the Dutch master himself.Today on The Sunday Read, a look at Mr. Six’s discovery of the first new Rembrandt painting ...more
The Good Shepherd Nursing Home in West Virginia lifted its coronavirus lockdown in February.For months, residents had been confined to their rooms, unable to mix. But with everybody now vaccinated, it was finally time to see one another again.We share some of the relief and joy about the tip-toe back to normalcy for staff members and residents.Guest: Sarah Mervosh, a national reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at ho...more
The United States has never undertaken a vaccination campaign of the scale and speed of the Covid-19 program. Despite a few glitches, the country appears to be on track to offer shots to all adults who want one by May 1.We look at the ups and downs in the American vaccination campaign and describe what life after inoculation might look like.Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an ...more
In less than a week, the United States has seen two deadly mass shootings: one in Boulder, Colo., and another in the Atlanta area.These events prompted President Biden to address the nation on Tuesday. In his speech, he said it was time to ban assault weapons.Mr. Biden has been here before. He has tried several times in his political career to bring in gun-control legislation, all to little avail.How likely is this latest attempt to succeed, and what lessons can Mr. Biden take from his decades-l...more
For Tejal Rao, a restaurant critic for The Times, a sense of smell is crucial to what she does. After she contracted the coronavirus, it disappeared. It felt almost instant.“If you’re not used to it, you don’t know what’s going on,” she said. “It’s almost like wearing a blindfold.”We follow Tejal on her journey with home remedies and therapies to reclaim her sense. Guest: Tejal Rao, a California restaurant critic and columnist for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox ea...more
This episode contains strong language.Ivan Agerton of Bainbridge Island, Wash., was usually unflappable. A 50-year-old adventure photographer and former marine, he has always been known to be calm in a crisis.Soon after testing positive for the coronavirus this fall, he began experiencing psychosis. He spent Christmas in a psychiatric ward.Today, we hear from Ivan and look at the potential long-term neurological effects of the Covid-19Guest: Pam Belluck, a health and science reporter for The New...more
The bright elastic throats of anole lizards, the Fabergé abdomens of peacock spiders and the curling, iridescent and ludicrously long feathers of birds-of-paradise. A number of animal species possess beautifully conspicuous and physically burdensome features.Many biologists have long fit these tasking aesthetic displays into a more utilitarian view of evolution. However, a new generation of biologists have revived a long-ignored theory — that aesthetics and survival do not necessarily need to be...more
Introducing the new season of “Still Processing.” The first episode is the one that the co-hosts Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris have been wanting to make for years. They’re talking about the N-word. It’s both unspeakable and ubiquitous. A weapon of hate and a badge of belonging. After centuries of evolution, it’s everywhere — art, politics, everyday banter — and it can’t be ignored. So they’re grappling with their complicated feelings about this word. Find more episodes of “Still Processing” he...more
Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York is known as a hard-charging, ruthless political operator.But his power has always come from two sources: legislators’ fear of crossing him and his popularity among the electorate.After recent scandals over bullying allegations, his administration’s handling of nursing home deaths and accusations of sexual harassment, the fear is gone.But does he still have the support of voters?Guest: Shane Goldmacher, a national political reporter for The New York Times. Sign up he...more
The pandemic has precipitated a rise in anti-Asian violence in the U.S. However, the full extent of this violence may be obscured by the difficulty in classifying attacks against Asian-Americans as hate crimes. A recent shooting at three spas in the Atlanta area, in which the eight victims included six women of Asian descent, has heightened anxiety in the Asian-American community. Many see this as a further burst of racist violence, even as the shooter has offered a more complicated motive. Toda...more
The passage of the stimulus package last week ushered in an expansion of the social safety net that Democrats have celebrated. But one key policy was not included: a doubling of the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. Today, we look at the history of that demand, and the shifting political and economic arguments for and against it. Guest: Ben Casselman, an economics and business reporter for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look...more
Wyoming has powered the nation with coal for generations. Many in the state consider the industry part of their identity.It is in this state, and against this cultural backdrop, that one of America’s largest wind farms will be built.Today, we look at how and why one local politician in Carbon County, Wyo. — a conservative who says he’s “not a true believer” in climate change — brought wind power to his community.Guest: Dionne Searcey, a domestic correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here...more
Just a few months ago, Israel was in dire shape when it came to the coronavirus. It had among the highest daily infection and death rates in the world. Now, Israel has outpaced much of the world in vaccinating its population and hospitalizations have fallen dramatically. Today, how it is managing the return to normality and the moral and ethical questions that its decisions have raised. Guest: Isabel Kershner, a correspondent in Jerusalem for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in ...more
Long before it became an archaic and filthy symbol of everything wrong with America’s broken cities, the New York subway was a marvel.In recent years, it has been falling apart.Today on The Sunday Read, a look at why failing to fix it would be a collective and historic act of self-destruction. This story was written by Jonathan Mahler and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
Odessa is a four-part series. All episodes of the show released so far are available here. In 1988, a high school football team in Odessa, Texas, was so good that it became the inspiration for a book, movie and, eventually, the television series “Friday Night Lights.” And in the decades since, as West Texas has weathered the unsettling undulations of the oil industry, football has remained steady. So after the pandemic hit, the town did what it could to make sure the season wasn’t disrupted. And...more
This episode contains references to suicide, self-harm and eating disorders.In 1995, Diana, Princess of Wales, made a decision that was unprecedented for a member of the British royal family: She sat down with the BBC to speak openly about the details of her life.On Sunday, her younger son, Prince Harry, and his wife, Meghan, told Oprah Winfrey of their own travails within the family.Today, we look at the similarities between these two interviews.Guest: Sarah Lyall, a writer at large for The New...more
When Officer Harry Dunn reporter for work at the Capitol on the morning of Jan. 6, he expected a day of relatively normal protests. But the situation soon turned dangerous.Today, we talk with Officer Dunn about his experience fending off rioters during the storming of the Capitol.Guest: Officer Harry Dunn, a Capitol Police officer who was on duty during the storming of the Capitol. Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on o...more
Even as recently as a year ago, even the most cleareyed analysts thought it was a long shot. But this week, a child tax credit is expected to be passed into law, as part of the economic stimulus bill.The child tax credit is an income guarantee for American families with children. It will provide a monthly check of up to $300 per child — no matter how many children.We look at why this provision is so revolutionary and what has changed in the policy landscape to allow its passage. Guest: Jason De...more
The number of unaccompanied children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border is growing — and, with it, anxiety in the Biden administration.Newer concerns have mixed with longstanding ones to create a situation at the border that could become untenable.Today, in the second part of our series on what we’re learning about the Biden administration, we look at the president’s response to the growing number of minors at the border.Guest: Zolan Kanno-Youngs, a homeland security correspondent based in Washi...more
Thousands die in New York every year. Some of them alone. The city might weep when the celebrated die, or the innocent are slain, but for those who pass in an unwatched struggle, there is no one to mourn for them and their names, simply added to a death table.In 2014, George Bell, 72, was among those names. He died alone in his apartment in north central Queens.On today’s Sunday Read, what happens when someone dies, and no one is there to arrange their funeral? And who exactly was George Bell?Th...more
Joe Biden has had harsh words for the Saudis and the kingdom’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.It appeared that the period of appeasement toward the Saudis in the Trump administration was over. But the Biden administration’s inaction over a report that implicated the crown prince in the 2018 killing of the dissident and journalist Jamal Khashoggi has disappointed many of his allies.Today, the first of a two-part look at what we’re learning about the Biden administration. First,...more
It’s been almost a year since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.And the virus is persisting: A downward trend in the U.S. caseload has stalled, and concern about the impact of variants is growing. Yet inoculations are on the rise, and the F.D.A. has approved Johnson & Johnson’s single-dose vaccine, the third to be approved in the U.S.Today, we check in on the latest about the coronavirus. Guest: Carl Zimmer, a science writer and author of the “Matter” col...more
When the coronavirus pandemic hit, the Microsoft founder Bill Gates was the most powerful and provocative private individual operating within global public health.Today, we look at the role he has played in public health and his latest mission: procuring Covid-19 vaccines for countries in the developing world.Guest: Megan Twohey, an investigative reporter for The New York Times; and Nicholas Kulish, an enterprise correspondent covering philanthropy, wealth and nonprofits for The Times.Sign up he...more
The Senate is preparing to vote on another stimulus bill — the third of the pandemic.The bill has the hallmarks of a classic stimulus package: money to help individual Americans, and aid to local and state governments. It also contains provisions that would usher in long-term structural changes that have been pushed for many years by Democrats.Today, we explore the contours of the Biden administration’s stimulus bill and look at the competing arguments. Guest: Jim Tankersley, a White House corre...more
Even as the cold has lifted and the ice has melted in Texas, the true depth of the devastation left by the state’s winter storm can be difficult to see.Today, we look at the aftermath through the eyes of Iris Cantu, Suzanne Mitchell and Tumaini Criss — three women who, after the destruction of their homes, are reckoning with how they are going to move forward with their lives.Guest: Jack Healy, a Colorado-based national correspondent for The New York Times. Sign up here to get The Daily in your ...more
It all started when Sigrid E. Johnson was 62. She got a call from an old friend, asking her to participate in a study about DNA ancestry tests and ethnic identity. She agreed.Ms. Johnson thought she knew what the outcome would be. When she was 16, her mother told her that she had been adopted as an infant. Her biological mother was an Italian woman from South Philadelphia, and her father was a Black man.The results, however, told a different story.Today on The Sunday Read, what the growth in DNA...more
Odessa is a four-part audio documentary series about one West Texas high school reopening during the pandemic — and the teachers, students and nurses affected in the process.For the past six months, The New York Times has documented students’ return to class at Odessa High School from afar through Google hangouts, audio diaries, phone calls and FaceTime tours. And as the country continues to debate how best to reopen schools, Odessa is the story of what happened in a school district that was amo...more
Five years ago, Judge Merrick B. Garland became a high-profile casualty of Washington’s political dysfunction. President Barack Obama selected him to fill the Supreme Court vacancy created by the death of Justice Antonin Scalia, but Senate Republicans blocked his nomination. In the process, Mr. Garland became known for the job he didn’t get.Now, after being nominated by the Biden administration to become the next attorney general, Mr. Garland is finding professional qualifications under scrutiny...more
When the pandemic was bearing down on New York last March, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration issued a directive that allowed Covid-19 patients to be discharged into nursing homes in a bid to free up hospital beds for the sickest patients. It was a decision that had the potential to cost thousands of lives.Today, in the second part of our look at New York nursing homes, we explore the effects of the decisions made by the Cuomo administration and the crisis now facing his leadership. Guest: Amy J...more
When New York was the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, Gov. Andrew Cuomo emerged as a singular, strong leader. Now his leadership is embattled, particularly over the extent of deaths in nursing homes during the peak.Today, in the first of two parts on what went wrong in New York's nursing homes, we look at the crisis through the eyes of a woman, Lorry Sullivan, who lost her mother in a New York nursing home.Guest: Amy Julia Harris, an investigative reporter on The New York Times’s...more
The conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh died last week. He was 70.For decades, he broadcast mistrust and grievance into the homes of millions. Mr. Limbaugh helped create an entire ecosystem of right-wing media and changed the course of American conservatism.Today, we look back on Rush Limbaugh’s career and how he came to have an outsize influence on Republican politics.Guest: Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The New York Times and The Times Magazine. Sign up here to get The Daily in y...more
In recent years, travel — cheap travel, specifically — has boomed. Like all booms it has its winners (including influencers and home-sharing platforms like Airbnb) and its losers (namely locals and the environment). Somewhere in that mix is The Points Guy, Brian Kelly, who runs a blog that helps visitors navigate the sprawling, knotty and complex world of travel and credit card rewards.Today on The Sunday Read, a look at the life and business of Mr. Kelly, a man who goes on vacation for a living...more
The end of summer 2021 has been earmarked as the time by which most American adults will be vaccinated. But still remaining is the often-overlooked question of vaccinations for children, who make up around a quarter of the U.S. population.Without the immunization of children, herd immunity cannot be reached.Today, we ask when America’s children will be vaccinated.Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli, a science and global health reporter for The New York Times. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stori...more
The story of how Paul Rusesabagina saved the lives of his hotel guests during the Rwandan genocide was immortalized in the 2004 film “Hotel Rwanda.” Leveraging his celebrity, Mr. Rusesabagina openly criticized the Rwandan government, and is now imprisoned on terrorism charges.Today, we look at what Mr. Rusesabagina’s story tells us about the past, present and future of Rwanda.Guest: Declan Walsh, chief Africa correspondent for The New York Times; and Abdi Latif Dahir, East Africa correspondent f...more
An intense winter storm has plunged Texas into darkness. The state’s electricity grid has failed in the face of the worst cold weather there in decades.The Texas blackouts could be a glimpse into America’s future as a result of climate change. Today, we explore the reasons behind the power failures.Guest: Clifford Krauss, a national energy business correspondent based in Houston for The New York Times; and Brad Plumer, a climate reporter for The Times. For an exclusive look at how the biggest st...more
There was a sense of fatalism going into former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial. Many felt that it would almost certainly end in acquittal.Not the Democratic impeachment managers. “You cannot go into a battle thinking you’re going to lose,” said Stacey Plaskett, the congressional representative from the U.S. Virgin Islands who was one of the managers.Today, we sit down with Ms. Plaskett for a conversation with Ms. Plaskett about the impeachment and acquittal and what happens ne...more
The app Truecaller estimates that as many as 56 million Americans have fallen foul to scam calls, losing nearly $20 billion.Enter L., an anonymous vigilante, referred to here by his middle initial, who seeks to expose and disrupt these scams, posting his work to a YouTube channel under the name “Jim Browning.”On today’s Sunday Read, Yudhijit Bhattacharjee follows L.’s work and travels to India to understand the people and the forces behind these scams.This story was written by Yudhijit Bhattacha...more
“Laïcité,” or secularism, the principle that separates religion from the state in France, has long provoked heated dispute in the country. It has intensified recently, when a teacher, Samuel Paty, was beheaded after showing his class caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.We look at the roots of secularism and ask whether it works in modern, multicultural France.Guest: Constant Méheut, a reporter for The New York Times in France.For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come toge...more
This episode contains descriptions of sexual violence. Victor Rivera has framed his life story as one of redemption and salvation. Escaping homelessness and drug addiction, he founded the Bronx Parent Housing Network, one of the largest nonprofits operating homeless shelters in New York City.But that’s not the whole story. A Times investigation has found a pattern of allegations of sexual abuse and financial misconduct against him during his career.We look at the accusations against Mr. Rivera a...more
Almost a year into the pandemic and the American education system remains severely disrupted. About half of children across the United States are not in school.The Biden administration has set a clear goal for restarting in-person instruction: reopening K-8 schools within 100 days of his inauguration.Is that ambitious target possible?Guest: Dana Goldstein, a national education correspondent for The New York Times. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscr...more
The second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump will begin today.This time, the case against Mr. Trump is more straightforward: Did his words incite chaos at the Capitol on Jan. 6?We look ahead to the arguments both sides will present.Guest: Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The New York Times and The Times Magazine.For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.Background reading: The...more
The departure of President Donald Trump and the storming of the Capitol have reignited a long-dormant battle over the future of the Republican Party.Today, we look at two lawmakers in the Republican House conference whose fate may reveal something about that future: Liz Cheney of Wyoming, who voted in favor of Mr. Trump’s second impeachment, and Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a proponent of conspiracy theories.Guest: Alexander Burns, a national political correspondent for The New York Times....more
Jay Caspian Kang, the author and narrator of this week’s Sunday Read, spoke with the actor Steven Yeun over Zoom at the end of last year. The premise of their conversations was Mr. Yeun’s latest starring role, in “Minari” — a film about a Korean immigrant family that takes up farming in the rural South.They discussed the usual things: Mr. Yeun’s childhood, his parents and acting career — which includes a seven-year stint on the hugely popular television series “The Walking Dead.” But the topic o...more
“The Earth is round. Two plus two equals four. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the 2020 election for president and vice president of the United States.” So begins the 280-page complaint filed by Smartmatic, an election software company, against the Fox Corporation.Smartmatic accuses the network of doing irreparable damage to the company’s business by allowing election conspiracy theorists to use Fox News as a megaphone for misinformation.Today, we hear from Antonio Mugica, Smartmatic’s C.E.O., a...more
Rumors had been swirling for days before Myanmar’s military launched a coup, taking back power and ousting the civilian leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.Myanmar’s experiment with democracy, however flawed, now appears to be over.Today, we examine the rise and fall of Aung San Suu Kyi.Guest: Hannah Beech, The New York Times’s Southeast Asia bureau chief. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.Backgr...more
When her daughter Karen was kidnapped in 2014, Miriam Rodríguez knew the Zetas, a cartel that ran organized crime in her town of San Fernando, Mexico, were responsible.From the hopelessness that her daughter may never return came resolve: She vowed to find all those responsible and bring them to justice.One by one, Ms. Rodríguez tracked these people down through inventive, homespun detective methods.Today, we share the story of her three-year campaign for justice.Guest: Azam Ahmed, The New York ...more
President Biden’s plans for curbing the most devastating impacts of a changing climate are ambitious.His administration is not only planning a sharp U-turn from the previous White House — former President Donald Trump openly mocked the science behind human-caused climate change — but those aims go even further than the Obama administration’s.Today, we look at the Biden administration’s environmental proposals, as well as the potential roadblocks and whether these changes can last.Guest: Coral Da...more
This episode contains strong language.GameStop can feel like a retailer from a bygone era. But last week, it was dragged back into the zeitgeist when it became the center of an online war between members of an irreverent Reddit subforum and hedge funds — one that left Wall Street billions of dollars out of pocket.Today, we look at how and why the GameStop surge happened, as well as how it can be viewed as the story of our time.Guests: Taylor Lorenz, a technology reporter covering internet cultur...more
“Smell is a startling superpower,” writes Brooke Jarvis, the author of today’s Sunday Read. “If you weren’t used to it, it would seem like witchcraft.”For hundreds of years, smell has been disregarded. Most adults in a 2019 survey ranked it as the least important sense; and in a 2011 survey of young people, the majority said that their sense of smell was less valuable to them than their technological devices.The coronavirus has precipitated a global reckoning with the sense. Smell, as many have ...more
This episode contains strong language. Inauguration Day was supposed to bring vindication for adherents of the pro-Trump conspiracy theory QAnon.Instead, they watched as Joe Biden took the oath as the 46th president of the United States.What happens to a conspiracy theory and its followers when they are proved wrong?Guest: Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The New York Times. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can re...more
As Democrats and Republicans haggled over how to share power in the Senate, Mitch McConnell, the minority leader, made one key demand: Do not touch the filibuster rule.Today, we explore the mechanics and history of the rule and look ahead at its fate. Guest: Julie Hirschfeld Davis, the congressional editor for The New York Times. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here.Background reading: The de...more
The number of new coronavirus cases in the United States is falling, but has the country turned a corner in the pandemic? And what kind of threats do the new variants pose to people and to the vaccine rollout?Today, we discuss the latest in the quest to stamp out the pandemic. Guest: Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science and health reporter for The New York Times. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition h...more
This episode contains strong language.In many instances while advising the Trump administration on the pandemic, Dr. Anthony Fauci was faced with a “difficult” situation. Yet he said he had never considered quitting.What was it like working under President Donald J. Trump? We listen in on a candid conversation between Dr. Fauci and Donald G. McNeil Jr., the Times science and health reporter.Guest: Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science and health reporter for The New York Times. For an exclusive look a...more
The Russian activist Aleksei Navalny has spent years agitating against corruption, and against President Vladimir Putin. Last summer he was poisoned with a rare nerve agent linked to the Russian state. Last week, after recovering in Germany, he returned to Moscow. He was arrested at the airport, but he managed to put out a call for protest, which was answered in the streets of more than a hundred Russian cities.Today, we look at the improbable story of Aleksei Navalny.Guest: Anton Troianovski, w...more
The cultural history of clouds seemed to be shaped by amateurs — the likes of Luke Howard and the Honorable Ralph Abercromby — each of whom projected the ethos of his particular era onto those billowing blank slates in the troposphere. Gavin Pretor-Pinney was our era’s.On today’s Sunday Read, the story of the Cloud Appreciation Society and how Mr. Pretor-Pinney, backed by good will, challenged the cloud authorities.This story was written by Jon Mooallem and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio s...more
Within hours of assuming the presidency, President Biden signed a flurry of executive orders. He rejoined the Paris climate agreement, repealed the so-called Muslim travel ban and mandated the wearing of masks on federal property.The actions had a theme: They either reversed former President Donald Trump’s actions or rebuked his general policy approach.But governing by decree has a downside. We look at the potential positives of the orders and point out the pitfalls.Guest: Michael D. Shear, a Wh...more
Unity was the byword of President Biden’s Inaugural Address.The speech was an attempt to turn the page. But can this be achieved without, as many in the Democratic coalition believe, a full reckoning with and accountability of how America got to this point of division?Today, we explore the defining messages of the president’s inaugural address. Guests: Astead W. Herndon, a national political reporter for The New York Times; Emily Cochrane, a congressional reporter for The Times. For an exclusiv...more
Joe Biden will be sworn in as the 46th president of the United States today. Among Democrats, there is a sense of joy and hope, but also of caution and concern.We speak with a range of Mr. Biden’s supporters, including activists who had originally hoped for a more progressive ticket and longtime fans who embrace his moderation.Guests:Jennifer Medina, a national politics reporter for The New York Times.For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our ne...more
Polling in the days since the storming of the Capitol paints a complex picture. While most Americans do not support the riot, a majority of Republicans do not believe that President Trump bears responsibility. And over 70 percent of them say they believe that there was widespread fraud in the election.Before President-elect Joe Biden’s inauguration, we called Trump supporters to hear their views about what happened at the Capitol and to gauge the level of dissatisfaction the new president will i...more
Most Americans treat climate change seriously but not literally — they accept the science, worry about forecasts but tell themselves that someone else will get serious about fixing the problem very soon.The Valve Turners, on the other hand, take climate change both very seriously and very literally.In the fall of 2016, the group of five environmental activists — all in their 50s and 60s, most with children and one with grandchildren — closed off five cross-border crude oil pipelines, including t...more
This episode contains strong language. Three days after being sworn into Congress, Representative Peter Meijer, Republican of Michigan, was sitting in the gallery of the House of Representatives as pro-Trump rioters stormed the Capitol.After the siege, Mr. Meijer made his feelings clear: President Trump’s actions proved that he was “rankly unfit.” A week later, he became one of just a handful of Republicans to vote for impeachment.We talk with Mr. Meijer about his decision, his party and his amb...more
“A clear and present danger.” Those were the words used by Nancy Pelosi to describe President Trump, and the main thrust of the Democrats’ arguments for impeachment on the House floor.While most House Republicans lined up against the move, this impeachment, unlike the last, saw a handful vote in favor.Today, we walk through the events of Wednesday, and the shifting arguments that led up to the history-making second impeachment.Guest: Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for The New York ...more
After the attack on the Capitol, social media platforms sprang into action, deleting the accounts of agitators.Without a central place to congregate, groups have splintered off into other, darker corners of the internet. That could complicate the efforts of law enforcement to track their plans.We ask whether the crackdown on social media has reduced the risk of violence — or just made it harder to prevent.Guest: Sheera Frenkel, a cybersecurity reporter for The New York Times. For an exclusive lo...more
At the heart of the move to impeach President Trump is a relatively simple accusation: that he incited a violent insurrection against the government of the United States.We look at the efforts to punish the president for the attack on the Capitol and explain what the impeachment process might look like.Guest: Nicholas Fandos, a national reporter for The New York Times.For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest ...more
As 2020 drew to a close, a concerning development in the pandemic came out of Britain — a new variant of the coronavirus had been discovered that is significantly more transmissible. It has since been discovered in a number of countries, including the United States.The emergence of the new variant has added a new level of urgency to the rollout of vaccines in the U.S., a process that has been slow so far.Today, an exploration of two key issues in the fight against the pandemic.Guests: Carl Zimme...more
Without many predators or any prey, rhinos flourished for millions of years. Humans put an end to that, as we hunted them down and destroyed their habitat.No rhino, however, is doing worse than the northern white. Just two, Najin and Fatu, both females, remain.In his narrated story, Sam Anderson, a staff writer at The Times Magazine, visits the pair at the Ol Pejeta conservancy in Kenya, speaks to the men who devote their days to caring for them and explores what we will lose when Najin and Fatu...more
This episode contains strong language. The pro-Trump mob that stormed the Capitol on Wednesday made their plans in plain sight. They organized on social media platforms and spoke openly of their intentions to occupy the Capitol.But leaders in Washington opted for a modest law enforcement presence. In the aftermath, those security preparations are attracting intense scrutiny.Today, we explore how the events of Jan. 6 could have happened.Guest: Sheera Frenkel, who covers cybersecurity for The New ...more
This episode contains strong language.It was always going to be a tense day in Washington. In the baseless campaign to challenge Joe Biden’s victory, Wednesday had been framed by President Trump and his allies as the moment for a final stand.But what unfolded was disturbing: A mob, urged on by the president, advanced on the Capitol building as Congress was certifying the election results and eventually breached its walls.Today, the story of what happened from Times journalists who were inside th...more
The long fight for control of the U.S. Senate is drawing to a close in Georgia, and the Democrats appear set to win out — the Rev. Raphael Warnock is the projected winner of his race against Senator Kelly Loeffler, while Jon Ossoff is heavily favored to beat the other incumbent Republican, Senator David Perdue. Today, we look at the results so far from these history-making Senate races and at what they mean for the future and fortunes of the two main parties.Guest: Nate Cohn, a domestic correspo...more
Since the presidential election was called for Joe Biden, President Trump has relentlessly attacked the integrity of the count in Georgia. He has floated conspiracy theories to explain away his loss and attacked Republican officials.Today, we speak to Republican activists and voters on the ground and consider to what extent, if at all, Mr. Trump’s rhetoric could discourage Republicans from voting in the runoff elections. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together,...more
A strong Black turnout will be integral to Democratic success in the U.S. Senate races in Georgia this week.In the first of a two-part examination of election strategies in the Georgia runoffs, we sit down with Stacey Abrams, a Georgia Democrat who has become synonymous with the party’s attempts to win statewide, to talk about her efforts to mobilize Black voters.And we join LaTosha Brown, a leader of Black Voters Matter, as she heads out to speak to voters.Guest: Audra D.S. Burch, a national co...more
This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.When Alaska was hit by a devastating earthquake in 1964, it was the voice of Genie Chance — a journalist, wife and mother — that held the state together in the aftermath.In the episode, we heard about sociologists from Ohio State University’s Disaster Research Center rushing to Anchorage to study residents’ behavior.Today, Jon Mooallem, who brought us...more
This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.Scott Watson — a Black police officer in his hometown, Flint, Mich. — has worked to become a pillar of the community. And he always believed his identity put him in a unique position to discharge his duties.After watching the video of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody in May, his job became a source of self-consciousness instea...more
This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes from this year and checking in on what has happened since the stories first ran.In our society, the public part of mourning is ritualized by a coming together. What do we do now that the opportunity for collective mourning has been taken away?Earlier this year, we heard the story of Wayne Irwin. A retired minister of the United Church of Canada who lost his wife, Flora May, during the coronavirus pandemic.He never once considered d...more
This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.When Jack Nicas, a technology reporter for The Times, first moved to California five years ago, he set about finding a local bar of choice. Unpretentious, cheap and relaxed, the Hatch fit the bill.Over six months during the coronavirus pandemic, he charted the fortunes of the bar and its staff members as the lockdown threatened to upend the success of...more
The escapism of movies took on a new importance during pandemic isolation. Caity Weaver, the author of this week’s Sunday Read, says that to properly embrace this year’s cinematic achievements, the Academy Awards should not only hand out accolades to new releases, but also to the older films that sustained us through this period.If they did, Caity argues, Cher would be on course to win a second Oscar for her performance as Loretta Castorini in 1987’s “Moonstruck” — a film that, under lockdown, w...more
This episode contains strong language.This week, The Daily is revisiting some of our favorite episodes of the year and checking in on what has happened in the time since they first ran.When New York City was the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the U.S., Sheri Fink, a public health correspondent for The Times, was embedded at the Brooklyn Hospital Center.In April, she brought us the story of a single day in its intensive care unit, where a majority of patients were sick with the virus.Toda...more
A few weeks ago, we put a callout on The Daily, asking people to send in their good news from a particularly bleak year.The response was overwhelming. Audio messages poured into our inboxes from around the world, with multiple emails arriving every minute. There was a man who said that he had met Oprah and realized he was an alcoholic, a woman who shared that she had finally found time to finish a scarf after five years and another man who said he had finished his thesis on representations of ho...more
It is a very human thing, at the end of a year, to stop and take stock. Part of that involves acknowledging that some remarkable people who were here in 2020 will be not joining us in 2021.Today, we take a moment to honor the lives of four of those people. And in marveling at the extraordinary and sometimes vividly ordinary facets of their time among us, we hold a mirror up to the complexities of our own lives.For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe ...more
The radio host Delilah has been on the air for more than 40 years. She takes calls from listeners across the United States, as they open up about their heavy hearts, their hopes and the important people in their lives.She tells callers that they’re loved, and then she plays them a song. “A love song needs a lyric that tells a story,” she says. “And touches your heart, either makes you laugh, or makes you cry or makes you swoon.”On today’s episode, producers Andy Mills and Bianca Giaever do what ...more
“If death practices reveal a culture’s values,” writes Maggie Jones, the author of today’s Sunday Read, “we choose convenience, outsourcing, an aversion to knowing or seeing too much.”Enter home-funeral guides, practitioners who believe families can benefit from tending to — and spending time with — the bodies of the deceased.On today’s Sunday Read, listen to Ms. Jones’s story about the home-funeral movement and the changing nature of America’s funeral practices.This story was written by Maggie ...more
For years there has been an evictions crisis in the United States. The pandemic has made it more acute.On today’s episode, our conversations with a single mother of two from Georgia over several months during the pandemic. After she lost her job in March, the bottom fell out of her finances and eviction papers started coming. The federal safety net only stretched so far.And we ask, with Congress seeking to pass another stimulus bill, what do the next few months hold for renters in the United Sta...more
This episode contains strong language.When the photo-sharing app Instagram started to grow in popularity in the 2010s, the chief executive of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, had two options: build something comparable or buy it out. He opted for the latter.The subsequent $1 billion deal is central to a case being brought against Facebook by the federal government and 48 attorneys general. They want to see the social network broken up.Will they succeed? On today’s episode, we look at one of the bigges...more
Undetected for months, sophisticated hackers working on behalf of a foreign government were able to breach computer networks across a number of U.S. government agencies. It’s believed to be the handiwork of Russian intelligence.And this is far from the first time. Today, why and how such hacks keep happening and the delicate calculation that dictates how and if America retaliates.Guest: David E. Sanger, a national security correspondent for The New York Times. For an exclusive look at how the bi...more
North Dakota and New Orleans have been hit particularly hard by the coronavirus.On today’s episode, we speak to health care workers in both places as they become some of the first to receive and administer the vaccine, and tap into the mood of hope and excitement tempered by a bleak fact: The battle against Covid-19 is not yet over. Guest: Jack Healy, a national correspondent for The New York Times. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our news...more
The Food and Drug Administration authorized Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use on Friday, clearing the way for millions of highly vulnerable people to begin receiving the vaccine within days.The authorization is a historic turning point in a pandemic that has taken more than 290,000 lives in the United States. With the decision, the United States becomes the sixth country — in addition to Britain, Bahrain, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Mexico — to clear the vaccine. Today, we ask the science...more
Amid the death and desperation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, two inmates, David Wisnia and Helen Spitzer, found love.On today’s episode, the story of how they found each other — first within the camp and again, seven decades later.This story was written by Keren Blankfeld and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
In three weeks, an election will take place that could be as important as the presidential vote in determining the course of the next four years.The Jan. 5 runoff elections in Georgia will determine whether two Republican senators, David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler, keep their seats. If their Democratic challengers, Jon Ossoff and the Rev. Raphael Warnock, both win, Democrats would claim control of the Senate, giving President-Elect Joe Biden expanded power to realize his policy agenda.Today, we o...more
From the start of the pandemic, the Trump administration said it was committed to ordering and stockpiling enough potential vaccine doses to end the outbreak in the United States as quickly as possible.But new reporting from The Times has revealed that Pfizer, the maker of the first vaccine to show effectiveness against the coronavirus, tried unsuccessfully to get the government to lock in 100 million extra doses.Today, we investigate how the Trump administration missed that opportunity and what...more
In Britain, news that the country had become the first to start administering a fully tested coronavirus vaccine was met with hope, excitement — and some trepidation.Amid the optimism that normal life might soon resume, there is also concern. Has the vaccine been developed too fast? Is it safe? On today’s episode, we examine how Britons feel about the prospect of receiving a shot and attend a vaccination clinic in Wales.Guest: Megan Specia, a story editor based in London for the New York Times. ...more
Caitlin Dickerson, an immigration reporter for The Times, says there is one word that sums up the Trump administration’s approach to border crossing: deterrence. For nearly four years, the U.S. government has tried to discourage migrants, with reinforced walls, family separation policies and threats of deportation.Those policies have led to the appearance of a makeshift asylum-seeker camp of frayed tents and filthy conditions within walking distance of the United States.Today, we ask: What will ...more
The state of the 2020 U.S. election is, still, not a settled matter in Georgia. For weeks, conservatives have been filing lawsuits in state and federal courts in an effort to decertify results that gave a victory to Joe Biden. On Twitter, President Trump has been making unsubstantiated claims that the state has been “scammed.”With Georgia in political turmoil, threats of violence have been made against state election officials, who have been scrambling to recount votes by hand, and against their...more
Foresters once regarded trees as solitary individuals: They competed for space and resources, but were otherwise indifferent to one another.The work of the Canadian ecologist Suzanne Simard upended that, finding that while there is indeed conflict in a forest, there is also negotiation, reciprocity and even selflessness.Ms. Simard discovered that underground fungal threads link nearly every tree in a forest.On today’s Sunday Read, listen to an exploration of these links and the influential and c...more
The power to pardon criminals or commute their sentences is one of the most sacred and absolute a president has, and President Trump has already used it to rescue political allies and answer the pleas of celebrities.With his term coming to an end, the president has discussed granting three of his children, his son-in-law and personal lawyer pre-emptive pardons — a rarity in American history. We look ahead to a potential wave of pardons and commutations — and explore who could benefit. Guest: Mi...more
This episode contains descriptions of sexual assault.When the Boy Scouts of America filed for bankruptcy this year, it created a final window for claims of sexual abuse against the organization’s leaders.Within nine months, nearly 100,000 victims filed suits — that far eclipses the number of sexual-abuse allegations that the Roman Catholic Church faced in the early 2000s.Today, we hear from one of the victims, Dave Henson, a 40-year-old naval officer who was sexually abused for five years by one...more
What kind of foreign policy is possible for the United States after four years of isolationism under President Trump?Antony Blinken, President-elect Joe Biden’s pick for secretary of state, has an interventionist streak, but some vestiges of Trump-era foreign policy will be hard to upend.If confirmed, Mr. Blinken faces the challenge of making the case at home that taking a fuller role abroad is important, while persuading international allies that the United States can be counted on.What course ...more
Janet Yellen, who is poised to become secretary of the Treasury, will immediately have her work cut out for her. The U.S. economy is in a precarious state and Congress is consumed by partisan politics.Ms. Yellen, however, is no stranger to crisis. She has already held the government’s other top economic jobs — including chairwoman of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, helping the country through the last major financial emergency.Now, facing another steep challenge, we look at the measures s...more
For Americans, months of collective isolation and fear could soon be winding down. A coronavirus vaccine may be just weeks away.According to Dr. Moncef Slaoui, head of Operation Warp Speed, the federal effort to accelerate vaccine development, the first Americans could receive the vaccine in mid-December.With the vaccine within reach, we turn to more logistical questions: Who will receive the shots first? Who will distribute them? And what could go wrong?Guest: Katie Thomas, who covers the drug ...more
On a day early this fall, Nikita Stewart, who covers social services for The New York Times, and the Daily producers Annie Brown and Stella Tan spent a day at Council of Peoples Organization, a food pantry in Brooklyn, speaking to its workers and clients.As with many other pantries in the city, it has seen its demand rocket during the pandemic as many New Yorkers face food shortages. And with the year drawing to a close, many of New York City’s pantries — often run with private money — face a fu...more
Pressure and litigation appear to have been the pillars of President Trump’s response to his general election loss.His team filed a litany of court cases in battleground states. In some, such as Georgia and Michigan, the president and his allies took an even more bullish approach, attempting to use their influence to bear down on election officials.As preparations for the transfer of power finally get underway, we take a look at how the Trump campaign’s attempts to overturn the election played o...more
This week New York City’s public schools will close their doors and students will once again undertake online instruction.The shutdown was triggered when 3 percent of coronavirus tests in the city came back positive over seven days. There are questions, however, around this number being used as a trigger — some health officials maintain that schools are safe.When is the right time for schools to reopen and what is the right threshold for closures? We explore what lessons New York City’s struggle...more
For years, Wil S. Hylton had been drawn to his cousin’s strength and violence. He was pulled in by the archetype that he embodied and was envious of the power he seemed to command.Wil describes his relative’s violence as “ambient” and “endemic,” but he was sure it wouldn’t turn on him. Until a few years ago, when his cousin tried to kill him.“My attraction to my cousin and my detachment as a husband both reside in the pantheon of male tropes,” he wrote. “Masculinity is a religion. It’s a compend...more
When the pandemic struck, Patty Schachtner, in her capacity as both a member of the Wisconsin State Senate and chief medical officer for St. Croix County, tried to remain one step ahead. It was an approach criticized by many in her conservative community. She was preparing for the worst-case scenario. And now it has arrived — cases and deaths are on the rise in Wisconsin. We chart her journey through the months of the pandemic.Guest: Julie Bosman, who covers the Midwest for The New York Times, s...more
There are several figures that tell the story of the American economy right now.Some are surprisingly positive — the housing market is booming — while others paint a more dire picture.Using seven key numbers, we look at the sectors that have been affected most profoundly and consider what the path to recovery might look like.Guest: Ben Casselman, who covers economics and business for The New York Times, walks us through the pandemic’s impact.We want to hear from you. Fill out our survey about Th...more
President Trump is pushing the military to accelerate the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, all but guaranteeing a major place for the Taliban in the country’s future.As a child, Mujib Mashal lived through the Taliban’s takeover of Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan. Now a senior correspondent there for The New York Times, he has for years reported on the extremist group and, more recently, has covered the progress of peace talks.In this episode of “The Daily,” he shares memories of...more
As it became clear that Europe was heading into another deadly wave of the coronavirus, most of the continent returned to lockdown. European leaders pushed largely similar messages, asking citizens to take measures to protect one another again, and governments offered broad financial support.Weeks later, the effort seems to be working and infection rates are slowing.In several parts of the United States, it’s a different story. In the Midwest, which is experiencing an explosion of cases similar ...more
For four years, Democrats had been united behind the mission of defeating President Trump.But after the election of Joe Biden, the party’s disappointing showing in congressional races — losing seats in the House and facing a struggle for even narrow control of the Senate — has exposed the rifts between progressives and moderates.In interviews with The New York Times, House members on each side of that divide — Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Representative Conor Lamb of P...more
For the folk duo Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, pandemic isolation brought about a creative boon. In a year that has been defined by uncertainty, they have returned to what they know: songs about the slow, challenging, beautiful heat of living.This story was written by Hanif Abdurraqib and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.
Maggie Haberman on why the traditional transfer of power is not happening this year, and the implications of that delay. Guest: Maggie Haberman, a White House correspondent for The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Days after President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. was declared the winner of the election, President Trump has still refused to concede.Advisers to the president say Mr. Trump is seeing how far he can push his case and ...more
It’s a dark time in the struggle with the coronavirus, particularly in the United States, where infections and hospitalizations have surged.But amid the gloom comes some light: A trial by the drug maker Pfizer has returned preliminary results suggesting that its vaccine is 90 percent effective in preventing Covid-19.With the virus raging, how strong is this new ray of hope?Guest: Carl Zimmer, a science writer and author of the “Matter” column for The New York Times.Background reading: Pfizer has...more
After the tumult of last week’s voting, one crucial question remains: Who will control the Senate?The answer lies in Georgia, where two runoff elections in January will decide who has the advantage in the upper chamber.With so much at stake, we look at how those races might shake out.Guest: Julie Hirschfeld Davis, congressional editor for The New York Times.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading: Senators David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler have level...more
Nate Cohn, an expert on polling for The New York Times, knows that the predictions for the 2016 presidential election were bad.But this year, he says, they were even worse.So, what happened?Nate talks us through a few of his theories and considers whether, after two flawed performances, polling should be ditched.Guest: Nate Cohn, a domestic correspondent for The Upshot at The New York Times, speaks to us about the polls and breaks down the election results. For more information on today’s episod...more
This episode contains strong language.The sound of victory was loud. It was banging pots, honking horns and popping corks as supporters of President-elect Joe Biden celebrated his win.But loss, too, has a sound. In the days after the U.S. election result was announced, some of the 71 million-plus Americans who backed President Trump are grieving. Can the country overcome its differences? In discussions with voters in areas both red and blue, we traced the fault lines of the country’s deep rifts....more
On the afternoon of Sept. 15, 1942, the U.S.S. Wasp, an aircraft carrier housing 71 planes, 2,247 sailors and a journalist, was hit by torpedoes fired by a Japanese submarine, sending it more than two and a half miles to the bottom of the Pacific. It has remained there ever since.Last year, a team on the Petrel — perhaps the most successful private vessel on Earth for finding deepwater wrecks — set out to find it.In his narrated story, Ed Caesar, a contributor to The New York Times Magazine, joi...more
After days of uncertainty, Joe Biden has been elected president, becoming the first candidate in more than a quarter of a century to beat an incumbent. His running mate, Kamala Harris, is the first woman and woman of color elected vice president.Mr. Biden’s win is set to be contested — President Trump said in a statement that “the election is far from over.”Today we host a roundtable of three Times political journalists who discuss the election results, Mr. Biden’s victory and Mr. Trump’s next m...more
When President Trump took to the podium in the White House briefing room Thursday evening to give a statement on the election count, he lied about the legality of the votes against him in key battleground states and called into question the integrity of poll workers, laying a conspiracy at the feet of Democrats.Both the Republican establishment and the conservative news media have been split in their responses to his claims.Inside the White House and the Trump campaign, there is shock at the dir...more
By the end of election night, the results in six key states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — were still to be called.On Wednesday, as mail-in ballots were totaled up, Joe Biden gained ground, taking Michigan and Wisconsin and placing him within striking distance of the Electoral College votes needed to win the White House.The count is still in progress in many places. Mr. Biden is leading by a decent margin in Arizona and slightly in Nevada, while President Trum...more
The U.S. presidential election is a lot closer than the polls indicated. Millions of votes, many in key battleground states, are yet to be counted.Florida — which went for President Trump — is the only bellwether to have confirmed its result. Other crucial states, including Arizona, Georgia and North Carolina, are yet to be called.For the moment, it looks like both Mr. Trump and Joe Biden will need to break through in the Midwest and Pennsylvania to clinch victory.The race to control the Senate ...more
This episode contains strong language.At the heart of one race for the Wisconsin State Assembly are some of the same political cracks splitting the U.S. as a whole. Some believe keeping businesses running is a priority during the coronavirus pandemic; others think keeping people safe and healthy should be given precedence.What do the different approaches reveal about Wisconsin politics and about broader American divisions? Reid J. Epstein, a politics reporter for The New York Times, and Andy Mil...more
The Daily is going live today! Join us at 4 p.m. Eastern time for our first-ever Election Day broadcast. You can listen at nytimes.com/thedaily and on The New York Times iPhone app. Michael Barbaro and Carolyn Ryan, a deputy managing editor at The Times, will call our correspondents for the latest on a history-making day. We’ll get live updates from key battleground states and break down the state of the race. We hope to see you soon.
There are many permutations of the U.S. presidential election — some messier than others.Joe Biden’s lead in national polls suggests he has a number of paths to victory. If states like Florida or Georgia break for him early on, then the Trump campaign could be in for a long night.The task for President Trump is to close those paths. If he can hold Florida and quickly add the likes of Arizona and North Carolina, then the signs could point to re-election.And then there is a third scenario. If fast...more
At 16, Reginald Dwayne Betts was sent to prison for nine years after pleading guilty to a carjacking, to having a gun, and to an attempted robbery.“Because Senator Kamala Harris is a prosecutor and I am a felon, I have been following her political rise, with the same focus that my younger son tracks Steph Curry threes,” Mr. Betts said in an essay he wrote for The New York Times Magazine.He had hoped that her presidential bid would be an opportunity for the country to grapple with the injustice o...more
Florida’s seniors played an important role in President Trump’s victory there in 2016. Older voters, who are mostly conservative, make up around 25 percent of the swing state’s electorate and turn out in astonishing numbers.They are also disproportionately affected by the pandemic, and polling suggests that Joe Biden is making inroads with Republican-leaning older voters.In Florida’s conservative retirement communities, however, the decision to switch from Mr. Trump can have consequences and man...more
This episode contains strong language.With an election in which uncertainty may abound, concerns are swirling around the possibility of political violence. Experts and officials — including those charged with the security of polling stations and ballot counting facilities — have been taking extra precautions.Americans across the political spectrum appear to be preparing themselves for this possibility, too: Eight of the 10 biggest weeks for gun sales since the late 1990s took place since March t...more
Local news in America has long been widely trusted, and widely seen as objective. But as traditional local papers struggle, there have been attempts across the political spectrum to create more partisan outlets.Few can have been as ambitious or widespread as the nationwide network of 1,300 websites and newspapers run by Brian Timpone, a television reporter turned internet entrepreneur.He has said that he sees local news as a means of preserving American civil discourse. But a Times investigation...more
What does the specter of the 2000 election mean for the upcoming election? The race between George W. Bush and Al Gore that year turned on the result in Florida, where the vote was incredibly close and mired in balloting issues. After initially conceding, Mr. Gore, the Democratic nominee, contested the count.What followed was a flurry of court cases, recounts, partisan fury and confusion. It would be months until — after a Supreme Court decision — Mr. Bush would become the 43rd president of the ...more
In America’s increasingly divided political landscape, it can be hard to imagine almost any voter switching sides. One demographic group has provided plenty of exceptions: white suburban women.In the past four years, the group has turned away from the president in astonishing numbers. And many of them are organizing — Red, Wine and Blue is a group made up of suburban women from Ohio hoping to swing the election for Joe Biden. The organization draws on women who voted for the president and third ...more
During months of pandemic isolation, Wesley Morris, a critic at large for The New York Times, decided to grow a mustache.The reviews were mixed and predictable. He heard it described as “porny” and “creepy,” as well as “rugged” and “extra gay.”It was a comment on a group call, however, that gave him pause. Someone noted that his mustache made him look like a lawyer for the N.A.A.C.P.’s legal defense fund.“It was said as a winking correction and an earnest clarification — Y’all, this is what it i...more
At the start of Thursday night’s debate its moderator, Kristen Welker of NBC News, delivered a polite but firm instruction: The matchup should not be a repeat of the chaos of last month’s debate. It was a calmer affair and, for the first few segments, a more structured and linear exchange of views. President Trump, whose interruptions came to define the first debate, was more restrained, seemingly heeding advice that keeping to the rules of the debate would render his message more effective. And...more
The winner-take-all system used by the Electoral College in the United States appears nowhere in the Constitution. It awards all of a state’s electors to the candidate with the most votes, no matter how small the margin of victory. Critics say that means millions of votes are effectively ignored.The fairness of the Electoral College was seriously questioned in the 1960s. Amid the civil rights push, changes to the system were framed as the last step of democratization. But a constitutional amendm...more
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have invested a significant amount of time and money trying to avoid the mistakes made during the 2016 election.A test of those new policies came last week, when The New York Post published a story that contained supposedly incriminating documents and pictures taken from the laptop of Hunter Biden. The provenance and authenticity of that information is still in question, and Joe Biden’s campaign has rejected the assertions.We speak to Kevin Roose, a technology colum...more
In the struggle to control the U.S. Senate, one race in North Carolina — where the Republican incumbent, Thom Tillis, is trying to hold off his Democratic challenger, Cal Cunningham — could be crucial.North Carolina is a classic purple state with a split political mind: progressive in some quarters, while firmly steeped in Southern conservative tradition in others.Two bombshells have recently upended the race: Mr. Tillis fell ill with the coronavirus after attending an event for Judge Amy Coney ...more
This episode contains strong language. In the last decade, elections have tightened in Arizona, a traditionally Republican stronghold, as Democrats gain ground.According to polls, Joe Biden is leading in the state — partly because of white suburban women moving away from President Trump, but also because of efforts to activate the Latino vote.Will that turn states like Arizona blue? And do enough Hispanic voters actually want Mr. Biden as president?To gauge the atmosphere, Jennifer Medina, a nat...more
Jim Dwyer, a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist for The New York Times, died earlier this month. He was 63.Throughout his nearly 40-year career, Jim was drawn to stories about discrimination, wrongly convicted prisoners and society’s mistreated outcasts. From 2007, he wrote The Times’s “About New York” column — when asked whether he had the best job in journalism, he responded, “I believe I do.”Dan Barry, a reporter for The Times who also wrote for the column, has called Jim a “newsman of consequ...more
In the second of a two-part examination of the presidential candidates’ policies, we turn to Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s agenda and how he plans to govern a nation wracked by a public health and economic crisis.The themes of Mr. Biden’s Democratic primary campaign were broad as he eschewed the policy-intensive approach of opponents like Senator Elizabeth Warren. But the onset of the pandemic helped shape and crystallize his policy plans.His approach stands in stark contrast to that of President Trump:...more
In a two-part examination of the policies of the president and of the man seeking to replace him, Joe Biden, we first take a look at what Donald Trump said he would do four years ago — and what he’s actually accomplished.On some of the big issues, Mr. Trump has been the president he told us he was going to be, keeping commitments on deregulation, taxes, military spending and the judiciary.But other potent promises — such as replacing Obamacare, draining “the swamp” in Washington and forcing Mexi...more
It was a 12-hour session. Twenty-two senators took turns questioning Judge Amy Coney Barrett on her record and beliefs.Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, evoked personal experience of life before Roe v. Wade and asked Judge Barrett whether she would vote to overturn abortion rights.On that question, Judge Barrett demurred — an approach she would take to other contentious issues, including whether she would recuse herself if a presidential election dispute came before the court.Wit...more
In March, Congress pushed through a relief package that preserved the U.S. economy during the pandemic. It felt like government functioning at its best.But now, that money is running out and bipartisanship has given way to an ideological stalemate.While Republicans balk at plans for further significant government spending — even those coming from the White House — Democrats are holding out for more money and a broader package of measures.The absence of a deal could have dire consequences. One ec...more
Most Americans say that abortion should be legal with some restrictions, but President Trump’s nominee for the Supreme Court, Amy Coney Barrett, signed a statement in a 2006 newspaper advertisement opposing “abortion on demand.” Her accession would bolster a conservative majority among the justices.How did that happen? According to Ilyse Hogue, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, abortion rights advocates have for too long taken Roe v. Wade for granted.Ms. Hogue describes how Republican attac...more
“We are conditioned to believe that art is safe,” Sam Anderson, a staff writer for The New York Times Magazine, explained in this week’s The Sunday Read. “Destruction happens in a number of ways, for any number of reasons, at any number of speeds — and it will happen, and no amount of reverence will stop it.”Today, Sam explores his personal relationship with Michelangelo's David and the imperfections that could bring down the world’s most “perfect” statue.This story was written by Sam Anderson a...more
This episode contains strong language.Over the summer, Dave Mitchko started a makeshift pro-Trump sign operation from his garage. By his estimate he has handed out around 26,000 signs, put together with the help of his family.Mr. Mitchko might seem like the kind of voter Joseph R. Biden Jr. wants to peel away from the Republicans in November. He had always been a Democrat — he voted for Barack Obama twice — but opted for Donald Trump in 2016.Today, we speak to voters and politicians on the groun...more
During most campaigns, the job of the vice-presidential candidates focuses on boosting the person heading the ticket. Proving their suitability for the top job is secondary.But this year is different. The president is 74 and spent much of the past week in the hospital, and his Democratic rival is 77. So it was vital for their running mates, Vice President Mike Pence and Senator Kamala Harris, to show in Wednesday night’s debate that they would be capable of stepping up if necessary.We speak to A...more
The pandemic has killed more than one million people around the world, at least 210,000 in the United States alone. The illness has infiltrated the White House and infected the president.Today, we offer an update on measures to fight the coronavirus and try to predict the outbreak’s course.Guest: Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science and health reporter for The New York Times.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Fearing a “twindemic” — the onset of bo...more
This episode contains strong language. Jack Nicas, a technology reporter for The New York Times, moved to Oakland, Calif., five years ago. When he arrived, he set out to find a bar of choice. It quickly became the Hatch.Unpretentious, cheap and relaxed, the Hatch was a successful small business until the coronavirus hit.After the announcement in March that California would order bars and restaurants to shut down, Jack decided to follow the fortunes of the Hatch. Over six months, he charted the s...more
On Saturday morning, the doctors treating President Trump for the coronavirus held a news conference outside Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — a show of strength, aimed at reassuring the American public that he was in capable hands.But instead of allaying concern, it raised questions, casting doubt on the timeline of the president’s illness and the seriousness of his condition. We speak to Maggie Haberman and Peter Baker, White House correspondents for The Times, about the efforts t...more
They came from Tel Aviv, Aleppo and a “small house by the river.” They were artists, whiskey drinkers and mbira players. They were also fathers, sisters and best friends.Today, we hear people from around the world reflect on those they’ve lost. For more information on today's episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily.
He assured the country the coronavirus would “disappear” soon. Then he tested positive. We explore how President Trump testing positive for the coronavirus could affect the last days of the 2020 race — and consider what might happen next.Guests: Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman, White House correspondents for The Times.For more information about today's episode, visit: nytimes.com/thedaily.
This episode contains strong language. During much of this election cycle, Julius Irving of Gainesville, Fla., spent his days trying to get former felons registered to vote.He would tell them about Florida’s Amendment Four, a ballot initiative that extended the franchise to those who had, in the past, been convicted on felony charges — it added an estimated 1.5 million people to the electorate, the nation’s largest voting expansion in four decades.On today’s episode, Nicholas Casey, a national p...more
The pandemic will mean that many more Americans vote by mail this year.All 50 states require people to register before they can cast a mail-in vote. But from there, the rules diverge wildly.And a lot could still change. Our correspondent Luke Broadwater, a reporter in Washington, says there are more than 300 challenges to voting-related rules winding through courts across the country.Americans should probably brace for a different kind of election night — it could be days or longer before the fu...more
This episode contains strong language.Both presidential candidates had clear goals for their first debate on Tuesday.For Joseph R. Biden Jr., the contest was an opportunity to consolidate his lead in polls before Election Day. President Trump’s task was, politically, a taller order — to change the course of a race that he seems to be losing. His tactics for doing that emerged quickly: interrupt and destabilize.The result was a chaotic 90-minute back-and-forth, an often ugly melee in which the tw...more
Russ Buettner and Susanne Craig, investigative reporters for The Times, have pored over two decades and thousands of pages of documents on Donald J. Trump’s tax information, up to and including his time in the White House.What they found was an existential threat to the image he has constructed about his wealth and lifestyle. The tax documents consistently appeared to call into question the business acumen he has cited in his presidential campaign and throughout his public life.The records sugge...more