The Brian Lehrer Show

Martha C. Nussbaum, distinguished service professor of law and philosophy at the University of Chicago and the author of The Republic of Love: Opera & Political Freedom (Oxford University Press, 2026), offers her analysis of opera as an arm of the Enlightenment, from Mozart to today.

cover image courtesy of the publisher

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Megan Messerly, a White House reporter at POLITICO, talks about the Republican support for the war in Iran and the concerns of the isolationists.

Photo: American flags near the Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.CImage byMatt Hecht

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Daniel Immerwahr, historian, contributing writer at The New Yorker, the Bergen Evans Professor in the Humanities at Northwestern University and the author of How to Hide an Empire (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2019) offers historical context on the war in Iran and Trump's overall foreign policy.

Photo: The aftermath of a US-Israeli strike on Tehran, Iran on March 3, 2026. Credit: محمدعلی برنو/Avash Media via Wikimedia Commons/CC 4.0

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Austin C. Jefferson, Albany bureau chief for Streetsblog Empire State, talks about Governor Kathy Hochul's push for car insurance reform, including the problem it seeks to solve and where support and resistance lies.

Photo: Gov. Hochul highlights her car insurance affordability proposal in Glenmont, NY on February 3, 2026. Credit: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Kathy Hochul.

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For St. Patrick's Day, Nicholas Wolf, associate director for research and publishing initiatives at Glucksman Ireland House, NYU's study of Irish and Irish America, discusses the decades-long effort to restore the Irish language after it rapidly declined under British colonial rule. 

Photo: Bilingual Irish-English street name sign, named after St. Patrick, in which 'Port' is the Irish for 'Quay'. Credit: Mucklagh/Wikimedia Commons

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A new report by Robin Hood and Columbia University found that the poverty rate in New York City has continued to climb, with 26 percent of the city's population now struggling economically. Richard Buery, CEO of the anti-poverty organization Robin Hood and former NYC deputy mayor for strategic policy initiatives, talks the findings of the report and what might be coming in the near future as the effects of federal cuts kick in.

Photo: A volunteer fills a basket for a person in need of food at the Reaching Out Community Services food pantry on November 06, 2025, in Brooklyn borough of New York City. This popular Brooklyn food pantry has been feeding thousands of New Yorkers each month while offering a variety of other services to those in need. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images.

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Gov. Hochul has recently made it clear that she intends to try to postpone the implementation of New York's 2019 climate law, that required cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Jon Campbell, Albany reporter for WNYC and Gothamist, reports on why she is doing this, and just how mad it's making environmental groups and others who supported the law.

Photo: Governor Kathy Hochul speaks during a press briefing at office on 3rd Avenue in Manhattan, on air quality affecting all counties of the state because of wildfires in Canada. (Photo by Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

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Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker staff writer and the author of Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis (Penguin Press, 2024), talks about the scale of the U.S. immigrant detention program, health and safety issues and expansion plans, following the firing of DHS Sec. Kristi Noem.

=> "Trump’s Mass-Detention Campaign" (The New Yorker, March 15, 2026)

photo: A warehouse purchased by the Department of Homeland Security that is slated to become an immigration detention facility is seen on March 10, 2026 in Williamsport, Maryland.  (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

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David Streitfeld, Pulitzer-prize winning reporter covering tech for The New York Times, explains the landmark trial regarding social media addiction, brought by a 20-year-old woman against Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube for optimizing their products to her mental and physical detriment.

Photo: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg leaves the Federal Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles after defending the company in a landmark social media addiction trial in Los Angeles, United States, on February 19, 2026. (Photo by Jon Putman/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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Dan Lamothe, U.S. military and Pentagon reporter at The Washington Post, shares his reporting on the latest U.S. military actions in Iran, especially what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz, and more.

Photo: People clear rubble in a house in the Beryanak District after it was damaged by missile attacks two days before, on March 15, 2026 in Tehran, Iran. Credit: Majid Saeedi/Getty Images.

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