Everyone’s talking about the price of eggs—so why are they so expensive? And when can we expect—if ever—the price to come back down?

Guests: 

Dr. Jada Thompson, associate professor at the University of Arkansas

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Federal workers in the U.S. Digital Service resigned in protest over what they viewed as indiscriminate, irresponsible firings coming from the DOGE office. While lawsuits are entering the courts and protests are taking to the streets, will any of this make a difference to the chainsaw-minded leaders of DOGE? 

Guest: Ryan Mac, tech reporter at the New York Times and co-author of “Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter.”

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.

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The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel has held since January 19. Now, the second phase—negotiating Gaza’s future—is supposed to begin. But anger over the deaths of hostages and intrusions into the West Bank aren’t going to make it easy.

Guest: Yair Rosenberg, staff writer at The Atlantic and author of Deep Shtetl, a newsletter about the intersection of politics, culture, and religion. 

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther.

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In town halls from Oregon to Georgia, people are letting Republicans know just how angry they are about the dramatic cuts to the federal government. And their displeasure is starting to sink Trump’s approval rating.

Guest:

Greg Bluestein, political reporter for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 

Ben Mathis-Lilley, senior writer for Slate.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther.

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Barron Trump, the president’s youngest son, isn’t on the public speaking circuit and has no social media presence. But he’s nevertheless become a Gen-Z-aged avatar of Trump masculinity for the MAGA faithful. Where does reality end and speculation begin?

Guest: Dan Adler, staff writer for Vanity Fair.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther.

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In 2011, a Republican majority in the Wisconsin State House faced massive protests to their plans to strip power from public sector workers. State Democrats fled across the border and the possibility of a general strike loomed. 

But the strike fizzled out and the legislation ultimately passed. 

And now the situation in the federal government is shaping up in a similar way. Do the workers need to break the glass and do what Wisconsin stopped short of?

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther.

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The crypto industry threw its weight and money behind Donald Trump, in hopes of legitimizing the industry. Before his Inauguration Day was over, Donald Trump was already enriching himself via a memecoin, one of the scammier, least legitimate-looking uses of crypto.

Guest: David Yaffe-Bellany, reporter covering cryptocurrency for the New York Times.

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As someone whose companies receive billions of dollars from the government, it’s worth asking why Elon Musk is so zealous about cutting government spending. 

Guest: Max Chafkin, features editor and tech reporter at Bloomberg Businessweek and cohost of the Elon, Inc podcast.

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell and Patrick Fort.

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Trump's pick for labor secretary, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, is an outlier: She has experience in federal government, where she was one of three House Republicans to support the “Protecting the Right to Organize Act” to expand employees’ rights to organize and collectively bargain and she was accompanied by the head of the Teamsters when she went to visit Mar A Lago after the election.

What did her hearing tell us about how she would approach being labor secretary—while working in an administration that’s firing huge chunks of its workforce? 

Guest: Tammy Kim, contributing writer at the New Yorker.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Ethan Oberman, and Rob Gunther.

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When enough people opt out of routine vaccinations for their children, diseases that have been all but eliminated can come roaring back, as is the case with a growing measles outbreak in West Texas. 

Guest: Dr. Adam Ratner, pediatrician of infectious disease in New York City and author of Booster Shots: The Urgent Lessons of Measles and the Uncertain Future of Children’s Health.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, Rob Gunther, and Ethan Oberman.

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