Chris Kerr was 12 when he first observed a deathbed vision. His memory of that summer in 1974 is blurred, but not the sense of mystery he felt at the bedside of his dying father. Throughout Kerr’s childhood in Toronto, his father, a surgeon, was too busy to spend much time with his son, except for an annual fishing trip they took, just the two of them, to the Canadian wilderness. Gaunt and weakened by cancer at 42, his father reached for the buttons on Kerr’s shirt, fiddled with them and said so...
Apr 07, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Decades of efforts to cut carbon emissions have failed to significantly slow the rate of global warming, so scientists are now turning to bolder approaches. Christopher Flavelle, who writes about climate change for The Times, discusses efforts to engineer our way out of the climate crisis. Guest: Christopher Flavelle , who covers how the United States tries to adapt to the effects of climate change for The New York Times. Background reading: Warming is getting worse. So they just tested a way to...
Apr 05, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Israeli airstrike that killed seven workers delivering food in Gaza has touched off global outrage and condemnation. Kim Severson, who covers food culture for The Times, discusses the World Central Kitchen, the aid group at the center of the story; and Adam Rasgon, who reports from Israel, explains what we know about the tragedy so far. Guest: Kim Severson , a food correspondent for The New York Times. Adam Rasgon , an Israel correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: The reli...
Apr 04, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast In his campaign for re-election, President Biden has said that raising taxes on the wealthy and on big corporations is at the heart of his agenda. But under his watch, overall net taxes have decreased. Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy for The Times, explains. Guest: Jim Tankersley , who covers economic policy at the White House for The New York Times. Background reading: An analysis prepared for The New York Times estimates that the tax changes President Biden has ushered into law will...
Apr 03, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Long after schools have fully reopened after the pandemic, one concerning metric suggests that children and their parents have changed the way they think about being in class. Sarah Mervosh, an education reporter for The Times, discusses the apparent shift to a culture in which school feels optional. Guest: Sarah Mervosh , an education reporter for The New York Times. Background reading: School absences have “exploded” across the United States . Data shows that the more time students spent in r...
Apr 02, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ronna McDaniel’s time at NBC was short. The former Republican National Committee chairwoman was hired as an on-air political commentator but released just days later after an on-air revolt by the network’s leading stars. Jim Rutenberg, a writer at large for The Times, discusses the saga and what it might reveal about the state of television news heading into the 2024 presidential race. Guest: Jim Rutenberg , a writer at large for The New York Times. Background reading: Ms. McDaniel’s appointment...
Apr 01, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast Maybe you have an idea in your head about what it was like to work at Guantánamo, one of the most notorious prisons in the world. Think again. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Mar 30, 2024•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence. It’s been nearly six months since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel, when militants took more than 200 hostages into Gaza. In a village called Nir Oz, near the border, one quarter of residents were either killed or taken hostage. Yocheved Lifshitz and her husband, Oded Lifshitz, were among those taken. Today, Yocheved and her daughter Sharone tell their story. Guest: Yocheved Lifshitz, a former hostage. Sharone Lifschitz, daughter of Yocheve...
Mar 29, 2024•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Over the past few years, Donald Trump’s social media platform, Truth Social, has been dismissed as a money-losing boondoggle. This week, that all changed. Matthew Goldstein, a New York Times business reporter, explains how its parent venture, Truth Media, became a publicly traded company worth billions of dollars. Guest: Matthew Goldstein , a New York Times business reporter. Background reading: What to know about Trump Media’s high-flying stock debut . Ethics experts say the publicly traded com...
Mar 28, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Against all odds and expectations, Speaker Mike Johnson keeps managing to fund the government, inflame the far right of his party — and hold on to his job. Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The Times, explains why it might be Democrats who come to his rescue. Guest: Catie Edmondson , a congressional correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Ultraconservatives immediately turned on Mr. Johnson after Congress passed spending legislation. Enraged over the spending b...
Mar 27, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Last week, the Justice Department took aim at Apple, accusing the company of violating competition laws with practices intended to keep customers reliant on their iPhones. David McCabe, who covers technology policy for The Times, discusses the latest and most sweeping antimonopoly case against a titan of Silicon Valley. Guest: David McCabe , who covers technology policy for The New York Times. Background reading: The lawsuit caps years of regulatory scrutiny of Apple’s suite of devices and servi...
Mar 26, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence. More than a hundred people died and scores more were wounded on Friday night in a terrorist attack on a concert hall near Moscow — the deadliest such attack in Russia in decades. Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The Times, discusses the uncomfortable question the assault raises for Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin: Has his focus on the war in Ukraine left his country more vulnerable to other threats? Guest: Anton Troiano...
Mar 25, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast By the time Sam Apple pulled up with his goldendoodle, Steve, to their resting place, he was tired from the long drive and already second-guessing his plan. He felt a little better when they stepped inside the Dogwood Acres Pet Retreat. The lobby, with its elegant tiled entrance, might have passed for the lobby of any small countryside hotel, at least one that strongly favored dog-themed decor. But this illusion was broken when the receptionist reviewed their reservation — which, in addition to ...
Mar 24, 2024•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast In a pointed speech from the Senate floor this month, the majority leader, Chuck Schumer, called for Israel to hold a new election and for voters to oust the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. Soon after, Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent for the Times, sat down with Mr. Schumer to understand why he did it. Guest: Annie Karni , a congressional correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Mr. Schumer, America’s highest-ranking Jewish elected official, said he felt obligated...
Mar 22, 2024•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast This year, the star of college basketball is Caitlin Clark, a woman who is changing everything about the game — from the way it’s played, to its economics, to who is watching. Matt Flegenheimer, a profile writer for The Times, discusses Clark’s extraordinary impact. Guest: Matt Flegenheimer , who writes in-depth profiles for The New York Times. Background reading: Her fiery competitiveness, no-look passes and 3-point bombs have made for must-see basketball in Iowa. What happens when she leaves? ...
Mar 21, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast For decades, an invisible hand has been guiding and controlling the American real estate industry, dictating how much buyers and sellers pay to their agents and how homes are sold. A few days ago, after a stunning legal settlement, that control — wielded by the National Association of Realtors — collapsed. Debra Kamin, who reports about real estate desk for The Times, explains how the far-reaching change could drive down housing costs. Guest: Debra Kamin , a reporter on real estate for The New Y...
Mar 20, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Over the past week, Donald J. Trump has burned down and rebuilt the Republican National Committee, gutting the leadership and much of the staff. Shane Goldmacher, a national political correspondent for The Times, explains why the former president is trying to reinvent such a crucial piece of campaign apparatus so close to an election. Guest: Shane Goldmacher , a national political correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Days after allies took over the Republican National Commit...
Mar 19, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast Warning: this episode contains a discussion about domestic abuse . As cars become ever more sophisticated pieces of technology, they’ve begun sharing information about their drivers, sometimes with unnerving consequences. Kashmir Hill, a features writer for The Times, explains what information cars can log and what that can mean for their owners. Guest: Kashmir Hill , a features writer on the business desk at The New York Times. Background reading: Automakers are sharing consumers’ driving behav...
Mar 18, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In October 2022, amid a flurry of media appearances promoting their film “Tàr,” the director Todd Field and the star Cate Blanchett made time to visit a cramped closet in Manhattan. This closet, which has become a sacred space for movie buffs, was once a disused bathroom at the headquarters of the Criterion Collection, a 40-year-old company dedicated to “gathering the greatest films from around the world” and making high-quality editions available to the public on DVD and Blu-ray and, more recen...
Mar 17, 2024•29 min•Transcript available on Metacast Russians go to the polls today in the first presidential election since their country invaded Ukraine two years ago. The war was expected to carry a steep cost for President Vladimir V. Putin. Valerie Hopkins, who covers Russia for The Times, explains why the opposite has happened. Guest: Valerie Hopkins , an international correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: Mr. Putin, in pre-election messaging, was less strident on nuclear war . What to know about Russia’s 2024 presidentia...
Mar 15, 2024•32 min•Transcript available on Metacast Jeanna Smialek, who covers the U.S. economy for The Times, will be 33 in a few weeks; she is part of a cohort born in 1990 and 1991 that makes up the peak of America’s population. At every life stage, that microgeneration has stretched a system that was often too small to accommodate it, leaving its members — so-called peak millennials — with outsize economic power but also a fight to get ahead. Guest: Jeanna Smialek , a U.S. economy correspondent for The New York Times. Background reading: When...
Mar 14, 2024•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Warning: this episode contains descriptions of violence and self harm. Last fall, an Army reservist killed 18 people at a bowling alley and restaurant in Lewiston, Maine, before turning the gun on himself. Dave Philipps, who covers military affairs for The Times, had already been investigating the idea that soldiers could be injured just by firing their own weapons. Analyzing the case of the gunman in Lewiston, Dave explains, could change our understanding of the effects of modern warfare on the...
Mar 13, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2020, motivated to try a different way to combat drug use, Oregon voted to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of hard drugs including fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine. Things didn’t turn out as planned. Mike Baker, a national reporter for The Times, explains what went wrong. Guest: Mike Baker , a national reporter for The New York Times. Background reading: Amid soaring overdose deaths, Oregon lawmakers have voted to bring back some restrictions . State leaders declared a 90-da...
Mar 12, 2024•27 min•Transcript available on Metacast For years, a mysterious company has been buying farmland on the outskirts of Silicon Valley, eventually putting together a plot twice the size of San Francisco. At every step, those behind the company kept their plans for the land shrouded in secrecy. Conor Dougherty, an economics reporter at The Times, figured out what they were up to. Guest: Conor Dougherty , an economics reporter for The New York Times. Background reading: Tech industry investors spent roughly $900 million buying land to buil...
Mar 11, 2024•28 min•Transcript available on Metacast That people will travel to Mars, and soon, is a widely accepted conviction within NASA. Rachel McCauley, until recently the acting deputy director of NASA’s Mars campaign, had, as of July, a punch list of 800 problems that must be solved before the first human mission launches. Many of these concern the mechanical difficulties of transporting people to a planet that is never closer than 33.9 million miles away; keeping them alive on poisonous soil in unbreathable air, bombarded by solar radiatio...
Mar 10, 2024•50 min•Transcript available on Metacast President Biden used his State of the Union address last night to push for re-election and to go on the attack against Donald J. Trump, his likely adversary in November. Jim Tankersley, who covers economic policy at the White House for The Times, discusses the speech’s big moments. Guest: Jim Tankersley , who covers economic policy at the White House for The New York Times. Background reading: Biden made it clear that he saw the election as an existential struggle between democracy and extremism...
Mar 08, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast When Google released Gemini, a new chatbot powered by artificial intelligence, it quickly faced a backlash — and unleashed a fierce debate about whether A.I. should be guided by social values, and if so, whose values they should be. Kevin Roose, a technology columnist for The Times and co-host of the podcast “Hard Fork,” explains. Guest: Kevin Roose , a technology columnist for The New York Times and co-host of the podcast “Hard Fork.” Background reading: Hard Fork: Gemini’s culture wars , and m...
Mar 07, 2024•31 min•Transcript available on Metacast Millions of voters in states across the country cast their ballots in the presidential primary on Super Tuesday, leaving little doubt that the November election will be a rematch between President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump. But in a race that is increasingly inevitable, a New York Times/Siena College poll found a critical group of voters who are making the outcome of that race anything but certain. Nate Cohn, The Times’s chief political analyst, explains who these voters are and...
Mar 06, 2024•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast Late last week, an effort to get food into northern Gaza turned deadly, as thousands of desperate Gazans descended on aid trucks, and Israeli troops tasked with guarding those trucks opened fire. Exactly how people died, and who was responsible, remains contested. Hiba Yazbek, a reporter-researcher in Jerusalem for The Times, explains what we know about what happened and what it tells us about hunger in Gaza. Guest: Hiba Yazbek , a reporter-researcher in Jerusalem for The New York Times. Backgro...
Mar 05, 2024•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast A single piece of unverified intelligence became the centerpiece of a Republican attempt to impeach President Biden. Michael S. Schmidt, an investigative reporter for The Times, explains how that intelligence was harnessed for political ends, and what happened once it was discredited. Guest: Michael S. Schmidt , an investigative reporter for The New York Times, covering Washington. Background reading: Ignoring warnings, Republicans trumpeted a now-discredited allegation against President Biden. ...
Mar 04, 2024•25 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
