The Colin McEnroe Show

When Alexis de Tocqueville toured America in the early 1830's to gather observations that he would later put on the pages of  Democracy in America , he was impressed with the efficiency of our American Postal Service. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Old asylums give us the creeps. The reality of asylums may pale in comparison to the horrors we conjure in our minds. Yet, they were awful. They were dark and dirty and overcrowded. Diseases were rampant and deadly. Staff was abusive. Food was scarce and inedible. Death and suicide were common. So, why does President Trump want to bring them back?  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/d...

As President Trump talks about draining the swamp in Washington D.C., we turn our attention to actual swamps. Associated with death and decay, while also celebrated for their beauty and biodiversity, few landscapes evoke such contradictory sentiments as swamps. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A man kills women because he can't have them. An elected politician reacts harshly to speech he doesn't like. Supporters and critics of Wolf's monologue rip each other apart over whether Wolf went too far or got it just right.  This is our second Monday in a row where we book no guests and take your calls. What does this mean to you? It's your calls and Colin. Support the show: http://www.wnp...

This week's Nose tackles Kanye's bromance with President Trump . And we've got an update on monkey selfies ! Plus: Courtney Balaker's Little Pink House , which opens today at Real Art Ways in Hartford, tells the story of Kelo v. City of New London . Catherine Keener plays Susette Kelo . There's an unnamed version of Governor John Rowland. Keith Kountz makes an appearance. The movie is kind of Erin...

Matt Taibbi is an American journalist, author, and iconoclast. He is a contributor to Rolling Stone and the author of nine books, the most recent of which are  Insane Clown President: Dispatches from the 2016 Circus and I Can't Breathe: A Killing on Bay Street . Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Each election year, we invite candidates running for public office who are on the 'fringe' of voter consciousness to join our show. We like to talk to these candidates. They're passionate, they want to talk about the issues important to them, and they don't necessarily follow a party platform.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I find great joy in walking in the dead of winter along the river trail near my house. Everything leaves my mind as I watch the Canadian geese take flight, their wings flapping together as they lift and swoop over my head. I'm in awe of their beauty. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We didn't book any guests today. We decided to take your calls for the entire hour so you could share what's on your mind. A lot happened this weekend in the news that you may want to talk about. But, instead of encouraging reactions to the latest news, many of you expressed interest on Colin's Facebook page in talking about something deeper.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See...

The original Lost in Space , an Irwin Allen series that aired on CBS for three seasons in the 1960s, was a marginal ratings success with seemingly outsized cultural impact. The show is still remembered for its campy humor, its catchphrases, and its not-possibly-designed-in-any-decade-but-the-1960s robot. Netflix's new Lost in Space , on the other hand, tells the Swiss-family-Robinson-in-space stor...

Joe Biden is seriously thinking about running for president in 2020. He's got a wealth of political experience and institutional knowledge. He's vibrant and in good health.  He's also seventy-five-years-old. Many of us are quietly wondering if he's too old for the job. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With controversies swirling around President Trump and the midterm elections approaching, many are asking, how will Evangelicals vote? Some believe values-voting Christians will stay home while others think issues like abortion, immigration, and religious liberty will be enough to drive them to the polls. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informat...

So, when Prince died ( which was two years ago ), we announced that we were finally going to retire our theme song ( which is a Prince song ). And then we promptly did... nothing at all. Over the last few weeks, though -- and in typical Colin McEnroe Sho vian fashion -- we've decided that this non-problem is a big problem. And so, in order to try and hopefully finally fix this non-problem big...

Does the investigation of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen signal the beginning of the end for the Trump presidency?  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wes Anderson is a... particular sort of filmmaker. With his typewriters and his pipe smoking . With his monochrome sets and props and costumes . With his perfectly symmetrical compositions . The one place where Anderson's tweeness is maybe softened a bit is in his old-school, stop-motion, animal-centric animated films. There was Fantastic Mr. Fox . And now there's Isle of Dogs . Dogs isn't without...

What is real is no longer a question for philosophers alone. In today's world, it's a question we all contend with on a daily basis. Online, on television, in print and in public discourse, facts, feelings, and flat-out lies all share the same stage. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Having babies is something we're supposed to do - even though few of us know anything about parenting until we're deep in the game.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In 2016, a Swedish brewery offered for sale artisanally-prepared potato chips. $59 for five chips in what looks like a jeweler's box. They sold out. Crazy, right? But be honest: Have you gone to more than one place looking for just the right coffee bean or golden beet or ...something? Meanwhile, behind all this posturing, what do Americans really cook and eat? Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org...

Conservative media giant Sinclair Broadcast Group will reach 72 percent of American homes with televisions if they're allowed to acquire Tribune Media. The president likes the idea - even as it breaks current FCC rules that no TV station owners should reach beyond 39 percent of homes. No wonder he likes it. A new analysis shows President Trump does better in areas lacking a trusted news outlet.&nb...

Ernest Cline's novel Ready Player One is a futuristic nostalgia bomb that lovingly apes Spielbergian 1970s and '80s pop culture. Steven Spielberg's film adaptation of Ready Player One could have been a self-aware, winking paean to the current Urban Outfitters kitsch for which Spielberg's somewhat responsible. Instead -- and perhaps not surprisingly -- it's a bigger, nostalgia bombier futuristic ad...

For an American Sign Language-interpreted version click here . Since 1989, more than 2,000 people have been identified as victims of wrongful convictions in the U.S. In 2015 and 2016, the wrongfully convicted were exonerated at a rate of about three per week. This hour, a look at the reality of, psychology behind, and institutionalized pressures toward wrongful convictions in America. Support...

They smell better, they're better at sensing temperature changes and they can handle more pain. These are just a few of the actual differences between redheads and the rest of us. But while having red hair does come with certain advantages, there are more than a few disadvantages as well. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

H.M. is one of the most important and studied human research subjects of all time. He revolutionized what we know about memory today because of the amnesia he developed after a lobotomy in 1953 to treat the severe epilepsy he developed after a head injury sustained earlier in life.  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

U.S. Congresswoman Elizabeth Esty  apologized​ Thursday​ ​for failing to dismiss ​ Tony Baker, her former Chief of Staff, after learning that Anna Kain, a former aide who once dated Baker, filed serious allegations   against him for sexual harassment and death threats. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Armando Iannucci is the creator of Veep and The Thick of It and the writer and director of In the Loop . Those, you'll note, are all contemporary political satires. Iannucci's new movie, The Death of Stalin , is set in 1953 Moscow and tells a true-to-some-degree version of the story of, logically, Joseph Stalin's death. Historical period piece or no, The Death of Stalin is still utterly recognizab...