The Daily

Warning: this episode contains descriptions of death.

In the week since Israel suffered the deadliest day in its modern history, fresh accounts have emerged in village after village of just how extreme and widespread the violence was.

Today we hear the story of one man at the epicenter of that violence: Golan Abitbul, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, where more than 100 civilians were killed.

Guest: Golan Abitbul, a resident of Kibbutz Be’eri, in southern Israel.

Background reading: 

• Video: a son’s conversation with his mother as gunmen attacked her kibbutz.
• The long wait for help as massacres unfolded in Israel.
• Follow the latest updates on the Israel-Hamas war.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was once dismissed as a fringe figure in the 2024 presidential race. But this week, as he announces an independent run for the White House, he’s striking fear within both the Democratic and Republican parties.

Rebecca Davis O’Brien, who covers campaign finance for The Times, explains why.

Guest: Rebecca Davis O’Brien, a reporter covering campaign finance and money in U.S. elections for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told supporters he would end his campaign as a Democratic candidate and run as an independent, potentially upsetting the dynamics of the 2024 election.
• From July, five noteworthy falsehoods Mr. Kennedy has promoted.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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For years, Israel’s leaders believed that they could coexist with Hamas. After this weekend’s massacre, that belief is over.

Steven Erlanger, a former Jerusalem bureau chief at The New York Times, explains what Israel’s plan to destroy Hamas will mean for Palestinians and Israelis.

Guest: Steven Erlanger, the chief diplomatic correspondent in Europe for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The attack ended Israel’s hope that Hamas might come to embrace stability. Now senior Israeli officials say that Hamas must be crushed.
• Follow The Times’s latest updates on the Israel-Gaza war.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Last week, the Supreme Court began its new term, picking up where it left off on the most contentious issues of the day, with cases connected to government power, gun rights and abortion.

Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court for The Times, explains why, while previous terms produced major victories for the conservative legal movement, this term may be different.

Guest: Adam Liptak, who covers the Supreme Court and writes Sidebar, a column on legal developments, for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• In cases this term, the justices will explore the scope of the Second Amendment, the fate of the administrative state and limits on free speech on the internet.
• From Adam Liptak’s Sidebar column: Does the Supreme Court’s cherry-picking of which questions to answer inject politics into judging?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Warning: This episode contains descriptions of violence.

Over the weekend, Palestinian militants with Hamas, the Islamic group that controls the Gaza Strip, mounted a stunning and highly coordinated invasion of Israel, rampaging through Israeli towns, killing people in their homes and on the streets, and taking hostages.

Isabel Kershner, who covers Israeli and Palestinian politics and society for The Times, talks about the attack and the all-out war that it has now prompted.

Guest: Isabel Kershner, a correspondent in Jerusalem for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Israel and Hamas battled around Gaza on Sunday as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned of a “long and difficult war.”
• Here is what to know about the surprise attack on Israel.
• Follow live updates on the war.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The first time Tony Ford played Dungeons & Dragons, he was a wiry Black kid who had never seen the inside of a prison. His mother, a police officer in Detroit, had quit the force and moved the family to West Texas. To Ford, it seemed like a different world. Strangers talked funny, and El Paso was half desert. But he could skateboard in all that open space, and he eventually befriended a nerdy white kid with a passion for Dungeons & Dragons. Ford fell in love with the role-playing game right away; it was complex and cerebral, a saga you could lose yourself in. And in the 1980s, everyone seemed to be playing it.

The game has since become one of the most popular in the world, celebrated in nostalgic television shows and dramatized in movies. It is played in homes, at large conventions and even in prisons.

When Ford, who is now on death row, first overheard the other men playing D.&D., they were engaged in a fast, high-octane version. The gamers were members of the Mexican Mafia, an insular crew that let Ford into their circle after they realized he could draw. The gang’s leader, Spider, pulled some strings, Ford recalls, and got him moved to a neighboring cell to serve as his personal artist. Ford earned some money drawing intricate Aztec designs in ink. He also began to join their D.&D. sessions, eventually becoming a Dungeon Master and running games all over the row.

This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The ouster of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy a few days ago demonstrated how powerful a small group of hard-right House Republicans have become and how deep their grievances run.

We speak to one of the eight republicans who brought down Mr. McCarthy: Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee.

Guest: Representative Tim Burchett of Tennessee’s 2nd Congressional District.

Background reading: 

• How have the Republicans who ousted Mr. McCarthy antagonized him before?
• Although some names have started to be bandied about, there is no clear replacement candidate for the speaker’s position.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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For decades, the world seemed to be winning the war against mosquitoes and tamping down the deadly diseases they carried. But in the past few years, progress has not only stalled, it has reversed.

Stephanie Nolen, who covers global health for The Times, explains how the mosquito has once again gained the upper hand in the fight.

Guest: Stephanie Nolen, a global health correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Climate change has brought disease-spreading mosquitoes to places they have never been found before, compounding the problem.
• One invasive malaria-carrying species thrives in urban areas and resists all insecticides, threatening catastrophe in Africa.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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The vote on Tuesday to remove Representative Kevin McCarthy as speaker of the House of Representative has left the chamber mired in chaos.

Luke Broadwater, a congressional correspondent for The Times, describes what happened on an unprecedented day in American politics.

Guest: Luke Broadwater, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The vote to ouster the House speaker exposed once again the deep polarization in Congress.
• Mr. McCarthy’s demise also reflected the challenge of wielding a Republican majority in the House that refuses to be governed.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Sam Bankman-Fried, the fallen golden boy of crypto, is going on trial for what prosecutors are calling the largest financial fraud in recent history.

David Yaffe-Bellany, a technology reporter for The Times, explains the case of the man who was supposed to save the cryptocurrency industry and what its outcome could tell us about why he did not.

Guest: David Yaffe-Bellany, a technology reporter for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• A year ago, Sam Bankman-Fried was a fixture on magazine covers and in the halls of Congress. Now he’s fighting federal charges of fraud and money laundering.
• Crypto insiders are trying to distance themselves from Mr. Bankman-Fried by zealously seeking to hold him to account.

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Amazon Music. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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