Donald Trump got a huge financial boost when Truth Social went public last week—or did he?

Guest: Nitish Pahwa, associate writer on business and tech for Slate.

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From science fiction writers to American presidents to Elon Musk, everyone’s eager to send people to Mars. But, even if you could nail the physical aspects, are Earthlings cut out for life on Mars mentally? 

Guest: Nathaniel Rich, contributing writer for New York Times magazine. 

Kate Greene, author and poet

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How supply chains, the pandemic, and a steady stream of Wall Street money led to a crisis at Boeing.

Guest: Jon Ostrower, editor-in-chief of the website the Air Current.

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After organized-labor victories at Amazon, with automakers, and in Hollywood, big corporations are striking back by, among other things, suing the National Labor Relations Board.  

Guest: Noam Scheiber, reporter for the New York Times covering working and workers.

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Despite the blackouts, moderator revolts, and long string of controversies, Reddit remains an active, healthy website. As the site goes public this week, can it remain that way?

Guest: Priya Anand, Bloomberg News tech reporter.

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Private equity firms have been buying up doctors’ offices and hospitals around the country. But if profits are the primary goal, what happens to the cost and quality of healthcare for patients?

Guest: Gretchen Morgenson, senior financial reporter for the NBC News Investigative Unit and co-author of “These Are the Plunderers: How Private Equity Runs—and Wrecks—America” 

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Podcast production by Evan Campbell, Patrick Fort, and Anna Phillips.

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TikTok’s connection to the Chinese government has been a Washington talking point since the Trump administration, but earlier this month lawmakers in the House introduced a bill requiring the app’s parent company to either divest the company into American hands—or be banned.

Guest: Emily Baker-White, technology reporter and senior writer at Forbes.

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As the debate around child safety online rages on, an investigation by The New York Times found a seedy world of pedophiles interacting with child influencer accounts, often run by their parents, on Instagram. 

Guest: Jennifer Valentino-DeVries, investigative reporter at the New York Times. 

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Thousands of songs have disappeared from TikTok in recent months as music giant Universal Music Group, or UMG, has pulled its catalog from the app. UMG claims that TikTok is a music platform, and that TikTok needs to pay more to license its music. TikTok claims they're a marketing platform that helps labels promote their artists. But while the two sides argue over contract negotiations for licensing music on the video platform, many artists are left scrambling.

Guest: Ethan Millman, staff writer at Rolling Stone covering the music industry.

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Why scam obituaries are edging out earnest ones, with the help of artificial intelligence and an adept Google game.

Guest: Mia Sato, reporter for The Verge.

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