It's Been a Minute

President Trump has signed numerous executive orders surrounding immigration, but one in particular put everyone on high alert - a move to end birthright citizenship. While the order is unlikely to stand, what does the pushback to this Constitutional right say about the state of our country, and who stands to benefit from its dissolution? Brittany sits down with NPR's immigration correspondent Jasmine Garsd and Homeland Security Department and Immigration Policy Reporter Ximena Bustillo to find out.

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Data from Gallup and the Bureau of Labor Statistics show that Americans are reading fewer books and spending less time reading than ever.

There's been reporting on college kids struggling to finish longer texts. And last month, in a viral post, one user lamented their loss of concentration for reading, which led to a larger online discourse about how to approach books again.

Brittany is joined by Elaine Castillo, author of the book How to Read Now, and Abdullah Shihipar, Research Associate at the People, Place and Health collective at Brown University, to get into why reading books is on the decline, the battle for our attention, and what people can do to get their reading grooves back.

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The new Trump administration is using the language of civil rights but flipping it on its head. If 'diversity' is now being coded as discrimination, what does that mean for the future of civil rights?

Brittany is joined by Columbia Law professor Olatunde Johnson and Pulitzer prize-winning journalist Wesley Lowery to look at how the Trump administration is dismantling federal diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives and how private businesses are following suit.

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How do you bring the African Diaspora to the Grammys?

Esperanza Spalding and Milton Nascimento's contrasting tones make a perfect team on Milton + esperanza, a collection of covers, duets, and original songs that have earned the pair a Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album. Today, Brittany and Esperanza get into the years-long intergenerational friendship behind the music, and the Brazilian influences on the album.

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What good is a Humanities degree? According to two intellectuals, Dr. Ally Louks and Jason Stanley, the Humanities help us better connect to other humans. According to a lot of online haters, they're worthless.

Dr. Louks recently posted her Cambridge University PhD thesis online and was piled on by a loud group of right-wing anti-intellectuals. Brittany, Dr. Louks, and Jason Stanley, a professor of Philosophy at Yale University investigate the backlash to Dr. Louks, higher education at large, and why "anti-intellectualism" is prevalent in Republican politics.

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Have you battled loneliness? What was it like, and what did you do about it? If you're over 18, let us know by sending a voice memo to [email protected].

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President Trump is no stranger to buddying up with the ultra rich, and that was on full display at his inauguration. Tech CEOs billionaires like Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jeff Bezos were lined up at the proceeding. But beyond the optics, what policies are these CEOs and the new president working on together?

Brittany is joined by NPR's tech correspondent Bobby Allyn and The Atlantic's Ashley Parker to answer the question: is America a "tech oligarchy?" And what examples from Trump's first week in office point to that?

For more, read Ashley Parker's piece "The Tech Oligarchy Arrives" in The Atlantic.

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Donald Trump has been re-sworn in as President of the United States. And for this re-ascendency, he owes a thank you to Latino voters, especially Latino evangelicals. They turned out for him in double digits in the last election. So what is it about Latinos, evangelicalism, and Trump's brand of Republicanism that helped tip the White House back in his favor?

President and founder of the Public Religion Research Institute, Robert P. Jones, and Axios Justice and Race reporter Russell Contreras join Brittany to get at the root of this shift and what it means for our political future.

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Is beef tallow a good skincare moisturizer?

According to Pew Research Center, 79% of New Year's resolutions are about one thing: health. It's Been a Minute is kicking off 2025 with a little series called "new year, new me." We're getting into some of the big questions and cultural confusion around our health and wellness.

For our final installment, we're getting into a new skincare trend: using beef tallow as a moisturizer. That's right – beef fat rendered from suet is one of the trends du jour. Brittany Luse sits down with Marie Claire senior beauty editor Samantha Holender and beauty journalist Jennifer Sullivan to understand why the beef tallow trend has taken off, what it says about what we value in our skin care, and whether we should be using beef tallow at all.

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Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta will end their third-party fact checking program, loosen their hate speech restrictions, and move some of the company to Texas. What's all of that signal about what we will see on social platforms in the coming months and years?

Brittany Luse is joined by NPR reporter Huo Jingnan and Washington Post tech reporter Naomi Nix to break down Meta's tangled relationship to misinformation and how these changes will impact users.

Plus, Brittany, NPR Staff, and NPR listeners share their memories of Los Angeles in a special "Love Letter to LA" amid the ongoing wildfires.

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Bad Bunny's new album, DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS, has struck a chord with fans worldwide. He's always expressed a deep love for Puerto Rico, but his latest work takes it to new heights. In his fusion of old and new genres, he speaks to the shared experiences of the Puerto Rican diaspora and looks to their collective past as a way forward. Writer Carina del Valle Schorske and La Brega podcast host, Alana Casanova-Burgess join the show to break down the function of shared nostalgia and explain the backstory to Puerto Rico's symbols of independence.

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