Épisodes

  • Trump is acting more and more like Hitler did during his early rule / From the archive
    Sep 6 2025

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

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    1 h
  • Why do we keep declaring how precious children are, but then short-changing them when there's a crisis?
    Aug 16 2025

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


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    40 min
  • There's still beauty and wonder in the world - like humpback whales / From the archive
    Jul 26 2025

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

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    53 min
  • Want to know why Iranians don't trust the United States - and its allies? / From the archive
    Jul 5 2025

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

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    42 min
  • What emergency powers could Trump declare next? / From the archive
    Jun 14 2025

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

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    31 min
  • Are there really similarities between Hitler and Trump?
    May 24 2025

    Hitler and the Nazis assaulted universities, museums and art institutions; purged them of people that Hitler perceived as enemies; and rewrote textbooks and museum exhibits to tell Hitler's (fake) version of history. Sound familiar? Historian Joan Clinefelter, who just retired from the University of Northern Colorado, says that there are major differences between Hitler in his early days and Trump. "But I think they have the same ultimate goal," Clinefelter tells us, "which is ideological purity, sort of a cultural cleansing of history [and] of culture - so that it only gives the message that they believe is appropriate - and getting rid of anybody who has any sort of dissenting point of view."

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    1 h
  • You think "debtors' prisons" shut down in the 1800s? Think again.
    May 3 2025

    The US government outlawed debtors' prisons in the 1830s, the Supreme Court has ruled they're unconstitutional, and you'll find sentences like this on the internet: "Today it is illegal to put someone in prison because of a debt." So how is it that courts across the country lock up thousands of low-income people each year, according to estimates, because they haven't paid up their traffic tickets, garbage collection bills and other minor violations? Lisa Foster, a former judge and co-founder of the Fines and Fees Justice Center, says many courts have become "a place of oppression" because they "make the measure of justice the measure of someone's wealth. That is fundamentally un-American and it is unjust," Lisa tells us. "But our system does it every day."

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    49 min
  • Isn't this the perfect time to lose yourself in a captivating novel?
    Apr 12 2025

    I think it is (Danny's writing this) - especially when the author is my co-host, David K. Shipler. Dave's new novel, The Interpreter, takes us into the rice paddies and twisting alleys of Vietnam, right after US troops fled the war there in 1973. But Dave explores provocative issues that would resonate in Iraq or Afghanistan or any other country where interpreters play a crucial role for Americans. David Ignatius, the acclaimed associate editor and columnist of the The Washington Post, reviews it like this: "Shipler captures the awful truth that every correspondent knows - that we are unworthy of the brave men and women who act as our translators and ‘fixers,’ the solitary heroes living between two languages and cultures but refusing to take sides." Dave's novel raises provocative questions, sure, but some of my favorite parts are like Vietnam travelogs, painting images of streets pulsing with motorbikes piled with families, chickens and guavas; lush jungles and spidery canals; and Vietnam's foul-smelling but magical-tasting fish sauce.

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    49 min