Amanda Ripley, journalist, conflict mediator and co-founder of Good Conflict and author of several books, including High Conflict: Why We Get Trapped and How We Get Out (Simon & Schuster, 2021) talks about her method of conflict mediation, and moderates a conversation among listeners who have different views on whether they are proud or ashamed of the United States.

Photo: HOBOKEN, NJ - JULY 3: A thunderstorm moves across the Hudson River into lower Manhattan in New York City as a man holds an American flag in the wind on a pier in the Hudson River on July 03, 2026, in Hoboken, New Jersey. (Photo by Gary Hershorn/Getty Images)

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Chico Harlan, global climate correspondent at The New York Times, discusses the wildfires in Europe and the ways climate change is impacting the continent right now.

Photo: VIOTIA, GREECE - AUGUST 2: Volunteers battle a wildfire burning near Porto Germeno, 70 kilometres northwest of Athens in the region of Viotia, Greece, on August 2, 2026 (Photo by Costas Baltas/Anadolu via Getty Images)

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Dr. Anthony Fauci returned to Congress to testify on his role in the COVID-19 pandemic after Republican Senator Rand Paul released some of Fauci's diary entries from 2020. Chelsea Cirruzzo, Washington correspondent at STAT News, discusses Fauci's testimony and related news. 

Photo: WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 29: Former NIH Director Anthony Fauci is sworn in before testifying to Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee hearing on July 29, 2026 in Washington, DC. Fauci was expected to be questioned about his diary entries during his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kathryn Jezer-Morton, writer of The Cut's Brooding newsletter and the author of The Story of Your Life: How Social Media Shapes the Way We Experience Everything (Viking, 2026), talks about her reporting on and experience with the way social media is changing our lives. Photo...

A new private club is slated to open this month at Jacob Riis Park on the Rockaway Peninsula. Dubbed "The Peoples Beach," the park has a long history as an informal gathering place for the LGBTQ community. Liam Quigley, parks and sanitation reporter for Gothamist/WNYC, unpacks the status of the project, whose opening has been delayed several times this summer, including why some beachgoers are unhappy with the plan; plus listeners weigh in with their thoughts on the club and the beach's storied history.

Photo: Jacob Riis Park is a seaside park in the New York City borough of Queens

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Despite no real progress, the U.S. war with Iran continues, and according to F. Gregory Gause, professor emeritus at Texas A&M University, author of The International Relations of the Persian Gulf (Cambridge University Press, 2014), it has all been meaningless. Photo: DO...

Sideya Sherman, director of the Department of City Planning and chair of the City Planning Commission, talks about the department's new report on the demographic makeup of New York City's immigrants, which found that China has caught up to the Dominican Republic as the two leading places where immigrants to the city come from.

Photo: NEW YORK, NY - JULY 23: Tom Ellis films on set for the TV show "CIA" in the Chinatown neighborhood of Queens on July 23, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Jose Perez/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

James Martin, SJ, a Jesuit priest, founder of Outreach, an LGBTQ Catholic resource, editor at large for America Media, and the author of the memoir Work in Progress: Confessions of a Busboy, Dishwasher, Caddy, Usher, Factory Worker, Bank Teller, Corporate Tool, and Priest (HarperOne, 2026) talks about his path to the priesthood, as well as the first American pope.

Photo: US priest Father James Martin speaking at the world meeting of families in Dublin, on how the Catholic Church can welcome members of the LGBT community. (Photo by Niall Carson/PA Images via Getty Images)

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Murad Awawdeh, president and CEO of the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC), and NYC Council Member Carmen De La Rosa, NYC Council Member (District 10, Washington Heights, Inwood and Marble Hill), talk about reports of ICE activity picking up in NYC, as well as a specific incident in Inwood where an observer recording ICE agents was pepper sprayed in the face.

Photo: Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents patrol the halls as they detain an individual after exiting his immigration court hearing at the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building on July 16, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On this Summer Friday, we've put together some of our favorite recent interviews, including: Ben Rhodes, contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, co-host of "Pod Save the World," an advisor to former president Barack Obama and the author of All We Say: The Batt...

Following a recent cybersecurity breech by OpenAI, in which two of their in-progress models autonomously hacked into the AI company Hugging Face, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are pushing for an "AI Kill Switch" bill in Congress. Brendan Bordelon, AI and tech influe...

After Stuyvesant high school admitted only 3 Black students for next year, Errol Louis, political anchor of Spectrum NY1 News, host of Inside City Hall and The Big Deal with Errol Louis, New York Magazine columnist and host of the podcast "You Decide," argues it's time to end the use of a single test for admission to NYC's specialized high schools.

Photo: New York, NY, USA - March 21, 2021: Main entrance to Stuyvesant High School in lower Manhattan

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Sophia Smith Galer, UK-based journalist and the author of How to Kill a Language: Power, Resistance, and the Race to Save Our Words (Crown, 2026), talks about what's lost when a language dies.

Photo: A person leads a finger on the lines in the book, but instead of letters only question marks on the page in the textbook.

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Julie Beck, a staff writer at The Atlantic and host of their podcast "'How to Touch Grass", talks about the difficulty of determining when being "middle aged" actually starts.

Photo: Portrait of smiling multi-generation family sitting in living room

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jessica Taylor, senate and governors editor for The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter, offers analysis of the competitive Senate races ahead of this November's midterm elections, and discusses how likely it may be for Democrats to take control of Congress.

Photo: U.S. Capitol building in Washington D.C. on a Sunny, Partly Cloudy Summer Day in August

 

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Karen Yi, WNYC and Gothamist reporter covering homelessness and poverty, talks about the mayor's announcement that the five city-run grocery stores will offer 30% discounts on key products, plus updates the effects of SNAP changes.

Photo: Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani, Deputy Mayor for Economic Justice Julie Su and New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) announce that a core basket of everyday groceries will be 30 percent cheaper at the five new municipal grocery stores. The basket will include all fresh produce, meat and seafood, along with roughly 20 additional categories of pantry staples, dairy and refrigerated goods, Brooklyn on Monday, July 27 2026. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Lucy Schiller, a nonfiction writer and the author of Aging Out: An Exploration of Caregiving, Community, and How Americans Grow Old (Flatiron Books, 2026), shares what she learned when she investigated aging and eldercare, following her personal experience with her grandmother during the pandemic.

Photo: Male healthcare worker helping senior woman sit in chair - stock photo

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Allie Volpe, correspondent covering mental health, relationships, wellness, money, home life, and work at Vox, offers advice for sharing living space with friends, family or strangers, as listeners share their own tips.

Photo: Two young woman hold bags and walk beside each other, in a European apartment complex. Via Getty Images.

 

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jonathan Lemire, co-host of Morning Joe on MSNOW; writer for MSNOW and contributing writer to The Atlantic, talks about the latest national political news.

Photo: WASHINGTON, DC - JULY 24: U.S. President Donald Trump makes an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026 in Washington, DC. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains. (Photo by Eric Lee/Getty Images)

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Stephen Nessen, transportation reporter for the WNYC and Gothamist newsroom, talks about some recent proposals for faster buses and an alternate-side-of-the-street pilot program that could mean cleaner streets with with less car-moving hassles.

Photo: Street in Park Slope Brooklyn residential area on a sunny day, New York City, USA - stock photo

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Francesca Paris, reporter for The Upshot section of The New York Times, talks about why some states have rolled back incentives that unlock savings for residential solar customers and how batteries may be the solution.

Photo: Modern house with solar panels for energy storage.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Jo Piazza, writer, podcast host and the author of many novels, including her latest, The Parisian Heist: A Novel (Dutton, 2026) and Anthony Amore, art theft expert and the author of The Rembrandt Heist (Pegasus Crime, 2025), talk about our collective fascination with heists ...

The United States and Saudi Arabia reached a landmark 30-year civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, but within a day, President Donald Trump threw it into limbo by conditioning its approval on Saudi Arabia normalizing relations with Israel. Fred Kaplan, Slate's War Stories...

NYS Assemblymember Robert Carroll (D Brooklyn 44th) talks about his appointment by Gov. Hochul to the exploratory committee for a joint upstate/downstate bid for the Winter Olympics and why he thinks it would be good for the state. Photo: Lake Placid is in the Adirondack Mou...

Greg Jackson, creator, host, and head writer of the popular US history podcast "History That Doesn’t Suck," associate professor and senior fellow at Utah Valley University’s Center for National Security Studies and the author of Been There, Done That: How Our History Shows What We Can Overcome (Simon & Schuster, 2026), looks at eight moments in America's 250 years when our politics were more divisive and how we moved past them.

Photo: Walter Lynwood Fleming Photograph by J. W. Black and Co., Boston., Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Erin Mulvaney, national legal affairs reporter with The Wall Street Journal, shares her reporting on couples who add specific clauses to prenuptial agreements to protect the stay-at-home parent and establish equity in marriage.

Photo: Man carrying baby boy talking with woman leaving for work at home - stock photo

 

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Liza Weisberg, supervising attorney at the ACLU of New Jersey where she focuses on democracy and voting rights, and Mike Hayes, WNYC and Gothamist New Jersey politics reporter and the author of The Secret Files: Bill De Blasio, The NYPD, and the Broken Promises of Police Ref...

Jeffery Mays, New York Times metro politics reporter, talks about how Black and Latino political leaders, and some of their constituents, are feeling as members of the Democratic Socialists of America have gained power throughout the city.

Photo: NEW YORK, UNITED STATES - NOVEMBER 16: New York City Democratic Socialists (NYC-DSA) hold a rally in Union Square marking the start of a campaign to tax the rich and win universal childcare on November 16, 2025, in New York City, United States. (Photo by Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)

 

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kenny Minaya, commissioner of the NYC Department of Small Business Services, talks about City Hall's plan to smooth the way for NYC's small businesses.

Photo: Zohran Kwame Mamdani announces “OPEN for Small Business”, a package of more than 50 regulatory reforms to reduce the paperwork and bureaucratic burden facing the city’s roughly 180,000 small businesses. Alongside an Executive Order that immediately implements several reforms, the package saves time, effort, and money for the small businesses that anchor New York’s economy and the one million New Yorkers they employ, at La Bodega in the Bronx on Monday July 20, 2026. Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Classicist Mary Beard, professor emerita of classics at the University of Cambridge, co-host of the podcast "Instant Classics" and the author of many books, including her recent Talking Classics: The Shock of the Old (University of Chicago Press, 2026), and Dana Stevens, fil...