Diane Ravitch, education historian, former research professor of education at New York University, blogger at dianeravitch.net and author of the recent book An Education: How I Changed My Mind About Schools and Almost Everything Else (Columbia University Press, 2025), talks about how she went from being an influential advocate for school choice and standardized testing to a promoter of public schools. 

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Shop Listener is back for the 2025 holiday season. Listeners call in to shout out their in-person holiday shopping opportunities (craft fairs, pop-ups, brick & mortar stores) for a Brian Lehrer Show listener-sourced gift guide.

==> Submit your information for our Shop Listener online guide at wnyc.org/shoplistener and check out all the entries!

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With Pres. Trump sending mixed signals on extending ACA subsidies, and Republicans split over the issue, Jonathan Cohn, writer at The Bulwark and the author of The Ten Year War: Obamacare and the Unfinished Crusade for Universal Coverage (St. Martin's Press, 2021), talks about the negotiations and where the conflicts lie.

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Judith Enck, founder of Beyond Plastics, professor at Bennington College, former EPA Region 2 administrator, and author of the new book The Problem with Plastics: How We Can Save Ourselves and Our Planet Before It’s Too Late (The New Press, 2025), discusses her new book which takes a look at how plastic went from being a "marvel of modern science" to a toxic industry that pollutes the environment and impacts health, plus tips on how to reduce everyday exposure to plastics.

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Senator Mark Kelly appeared in a video alongside other veterans now serving in Congress, telling service members, “Our laws are clear: you can refuse illegal orders.” The Pentagon has since opened an investigation and even raised the possibility of recalling him to active duty for potential discipline. Zachary Cohen, senior reporter on the national security beat for CNN, talks about what Kelly said, why Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the probe, and how this all fits into other Pentagon headlines this week, including reports of U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats.

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Susan Glasser, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of a weekly column on life in Washington, host of the Political Scene podcast, talks about the latest national political news.

 

 

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Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy called for a return to the way we used to fly, in terms of dress and decorum. Listeners compare air travel today to when they first flew.

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Mike Hayes, WNYC/Gothamist reporter covering covering the New Jersey governor's race and the author of The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, The NYPD, and the Broken Promises of Police Reform (Kingston Imperial, 2023), rounds up some of the latest political news in New Jersey, including the mayoral run-off election in Jersey City, and governor-elect Mikie Sherrill's transition.

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On World AIDS Day, Pratik Pawar, Future Perfect fellow at Vox, talks about a new HIV prevention drug the U.S. is making available everywhere except South Africa, the country with the most people living with HIV. 

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Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.

20 Years of Freakonomics (First) | Why Bombing 'Drug Boats' Will Do Nothing to Solve America's Fentanyl Crisis (Starts at 32) | Ten Years of Hamilton on Broadway (Starts at 59)

If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

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Looking ahead to the 250th anniversary of the U.S., Jill Lepore, professor of American History at Harvard University, staff writer at The New Yorker, and the author of several books, including We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution (Liveright, 2025), digs into th...

On this Thanksgiving, enjoy some of our favorite recent conversations: Ken Burns, documentary filmmaker, and co-director Sarah Botstein talk about their new, 12-part docuseries on PBS called "The American Revolution," which is being released just ahead of next year's&...

Stephen Dubner, host of Freakonomics Radio and the co-author of Freakonomics (Harper Collins, 2025), now in a new 20th anniversary edition, reflects on 20 years of "Freakonomics," its impact and use of data, and talks about what's next.

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Elizabeth Kim, Gothamist and WNYC reporter, talks about the latest news from Mayor-elect Mamdani's transition plans.

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Shop Listener is back for the 2025 holiday season. Listeners call in to shout out their businesses that sell gifts for the holiday season.

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President Trump and his allies are framing recent kidnappings and attacks in Nigeria as Islamic assaults on Christians, even threatening military intervention. NPR international correspondent Emmanuel Akinwotu explains what’s truly behind the violence, how it’s being portrayed in Washington, and why the situation is more complex than a religious conflict.

 

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Ana González, host of WNYC's new podcast (with Yo-Yo Ma) Our Common Nature, talks about the new podcast she hosts where Yo-Yo Ma travels around the country and collaborates with musicians in nature. Plus, they talk about the pictures people have sent in of their favorite places in nature.

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Elizabeth Alexander, president of The Mellon Foundation, poet, educator, memoirist and scholar and the author of The Trayvon Generation (Grand Central Publishing, 2022), talks about the Mellon Foundation's new grants and funding for literary arts and jazz musicians, and why money for the arts from the nonprofit sector is crucial.

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David Herzberg, professor of history and director of the drugs, health and society program at the University at Buffalo, offers his take on the fentanyl crisis, and why he says President Trump is wrong about almost every aspect of it.

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Michael Scherer, staff writer at The Atlantic, talks about his cover story on HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and other news.

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Hakeem Jeffries, U.S. Representative (D NY-8th, Brooklyn) and House minority leader, offers his take on how the meeting between President Trump and Mayor-elect Mamdani went, and more national political news.

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Jeffery Mays, New York Times metro politics reporter, recaps Mayor-elect Mamdani's Friday meeting at the White House with President Trump, where the two spoke well of each other and pledged to work together.

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Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton premiered ten years ago and pretty much immediately became a phenomenon. Frank DiLella, Spectrum News NY1 theater correspondent and host of “On Stage”talks about the hit play and its affect on Broadway and more.

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Edward Larson, chaired professor of history and law at Pepperdine University and the author of Declaring Independence: Why 1776 Matters (W. W. Norton & Company, 2025) talks about the change in thinking 250 years ago in the American colonies from British subjects protesting the crown to revolution.

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After President Trump and Mayor-Elect Mamdani's curiously friendly meeting this past Friday, listeners call in to share their theories as to why the president was all smiles with New York's incoming democratic socialist mayor, whom the president has called a communist many times in the past.

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Three of our favorite segments from the week, in case you missed them.

Climate Advocates Are Angry at Gov. Hochul (First) | The First G20 Summit on African Soil (Starts at 23) | De-Cluttering Legacies (Starts at 45)

If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.

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As the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary, Walter Isaacson, professor of history at Tulane and the author of several books, including his latest, The Greatest Sentence Ever Written (Simon & Schuster, 2025), digs in on a key sentence in the Declaration of Independence and how its reverberated throughout the country's history.

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Jonathan Lemire, co-host of Morning Joe on MSNOW; writer for MSNOW and contributing writer to The Atlantic talks about the national political news of the week, including Mayor-elect Mamdani's meeting with President Trump at the White House.

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Emily Stewart, senior correspondent at Business Insider, talks about navigating issues around what to do with all the 'stuff' that boomer parents will be leaving their millennial kids.

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Vincent Schiraldi, Pinkerton Foundation visiting fellow and former New York City Commissioner of both the Department of Correction and Department of Probation, argues against trying teenagers as adults and defends New York's "Raise the Age" law against pushback from some elected leaders.

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