The Daily

Jon Mooallem, the author of today’s Sunday Read, had a bad pandemic. “I began having my own personal hard time,” he writes. “The details aren’t important. Let’s just say, I felt as if I were moldering in place.” Then, The New York Times Magazine offered him the opportunity to fly somewhere for its travel issue — at that point he had spent 17 months parenting two demanding children. So, he asked: “...

This episode contains strong language. A month ago, Texas adopted a divisive law which effectively banned abortions in the state. Despite a number of legal challenges, the law has survived and is having an impact across state lines.  Trust Women is abortion clinic in Oklahoma just three hours north of Dallas — one of the closest clinics Texas women can go to.  On the day the Texas law came into ef...

The first year of a Congress is usually the best time for a president to put forward any sort of ambitious policy. For President Biden, whose control of Congress is fragile, the urgency is particularly intense. But now members of his own party are threatening to block one big part of his agenda — his $1 trillion infrastructure plan — in the name of protecting an even bigger part. We speak to Repre...

Britney Spears is one of the biggest celebrities on the planet — she makes millions of dollars performing, selling perfumes and appearing on television. At the same time, however, her life is heavily controlled by a conservatorship, which she has been living under for 13 years.  Soon, a court will decide whether to remove Mr. Spears as conservator or terminate the conservatorship altogether.  We e...

This episode contains strong language. Brig. Gen. Khoshal Sadat, a former Afghan deputy minister for security, has held some of the highest ranks in the Afghan security forces and government.  From the moment Afghanistan fell to the Taliban, the United States has put much of the blame of Afghan security forces — a force that President Biden said gave up without a fight. “The reality is that we’re...

Increasing numbers of Haitian migrants have been traveling to the border town of Del Rio, Texas, recently, in the hope of entering the United States. Border Patrol took action — in some cases, sending the migrants back to Haiti; in others, taking them into custody or releasing them as they await trial. Why did so many thousands of Haitians come to the border in the first place? And what was behind...

Throughout 2020, multiple strangers came at Monthanus Ratanapakdee seemingly out of nowhere. An old man yelled at her in Golden Gate Park — something about a virus and going back to her country. When she discussed these incidents, her father would ask, “Is it really that bad?” Her father, Vicha Ratanapakdee, 84, was a lifelong Buddhist, the kind of person who embraced the world with open arms. Dur...

After 16 years in power, Angela Merkel, the chancellor of Germany, is walking out of office one of the most popular politicians in the country. In those years, Ms. Merkel has not only served as the leader of Germany, but also as a leader of Europe, facing down huge challenges — such as the eurozone and the refugee crises — all while providing a sense of stability. As Germans head to the polls this...

New York, like many other states, is enmeshed in the process of redrawing legislative districts. The outcome of the reconfiguring could be crucial in determining which party takes control of the House of Representatives next year. Clearly aware of the stakes, New York Democrats are considering a tactic that is usually a preserve of the Republican Party: gerrymandering. Guest: Nicholas Fandos , a p...

The recent U.S.-British deal to provide Australia with nuclear-powered submarines might look relatively inconsequential. But it signifies a close alliance between the three countries to face off against China. It is also notable for another reason: It has greatly angered the French. Why? Guest: Mark Landler , the London bureau chief for The New York Times.  Sign up here to get The Daily in your in...

When he visited the site of an American drone strike in Kabul, Matthieu Aikins, a Times journalist, knew something wasn’t adding up. He uncovered a story that was quite different from the one offered up by the United States military.  We follow The Times’s investigation and how it forced the military to acknowledge that the drone attack was a mistake. Guest: Matthieu Aikins, a writer based in Afgh...

Annie Correal, a reporter for The Times, has family in Indian Valley, in Northern California, roots which extend back to the 1950s. This summer, as wildfires closed in on the area, she reported from her family’s property as they sought to fend off the flames — and investigated the divided opinions about what had caused the devastating blazes. Guest: Annie Correal , a reporter covering New York Cit...

You have almost certainly heard Nicholas Britell’s music, even if you don’t know his name. More than any other contemporary composer, he appears to have the whole of music history at his command, shifting easily between vocabularies, often in the same film. His most arresting scores tend to fuse both ends of his musical education. “Succession” is 18th-century court music married to heart-pounding...

This episode contains strong language.  “Six,” a revisionist feminist British pop musical about the wives of King Henry VIII, was shaping up to be a substantial hit on Broadway after finding success in London. On its opening night, however, in March 2020, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a shutdown of theater that would wind up lasting a year and a half. We speak to the cast and crew of “Six” about the...

When Elizabeth Holmes founded Theranos, the blood testing start-up, she was held up as one of the next great tech innovators. But her company collapsed, and she was accused of lying about how well Theranos’s technology worked. Now she is on trial on fraud charges. The case against Ms. Holmes is being held up as a referendum on the “fake it till you make it” culture of Silicon Valley, but it’s also...

In a major turn of events in Mexico, which has one of the largest Catholic populations in the world, its Supreme Court last week decriminalized abortions. The Supreme Court ruling is a milestone for Mexico’s feminist movement. But change might not come quickly: Abortion law is mostly administered at the state level in Mexico, much of the country remains culturally conservative, and many Mexican me...

For decades, the law has sought to restrain nursing homes from trying to control the behavior of dementia patients with antipsychotic drugs, which are known to have adverse health effects.  An alarming rise in schizophrenia diagnoses suggests some homes have found a way to skirt the rules. We hear the story of David Blakeney, a dementia sufferer whose health declined rapidly after he was placed in...

As recently as a month ago, President Biden appeared to be skeptical about imposing coronavirus vaccine mandates. Now that skepticism has given way to a suite of policies that aim to force the hands of the unvaccinated. What has changed? Guest: Jim Tankersley , a White House correspondent for The New York Times.  Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look a...

Two planes hijacked by Al Qaeda pierced the north and south towers of the World Trade Center. A third slammed into the Pentagon in Arlington, Va. A fourth crashed in an open field outside Shanksville, Pa. All in less than 90 minutes. What, exactly, do you remember? What stories do you tell when a casual conversation morphs into a therapy session? What stories do you keep to yourself? And what inst...

On the internet, there are bizarre subcultures filled with conspiracy theorists — those who believe the coronavirus is a hoax or that the 2020 election was stolen, or even that Hillary Clinton is a shape-shifting lizard. It’s a way of thinking that can be traced back to the first real internet blockbuster, a 9/11 conspiracy documentary called “Loose Change.” Today, we explore the film’s impact. Gu...

This episode contains strong language. Terry Albury joined the F.B.I. just before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, drawn in by the bureau’s work fighting child exploitation. His role quickly changed after 9/11 however, and he subsequently spent over a decade working in counterterrorism. Around 2015, he began to deeply question his work. “This is not what I joined the F.B.I. to do,” he recalled think...

This summer was supposed to be, in the words of President Biden, the “summer of freedom” from the coronavirus. What we saw instead was the summer of the Delta variant. The surge driven by Delta — which has seen rises in cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the United States — has underlined that we are far from being done with the pandemic. Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli , a science and global hea...

Since the Taliban took over Kabul, Afghanistan’s capital, last month, many have wondered what kind of rulers they will be. The memory of the Taliban of the 1990s — the public executions, the whippings in the streets and the harsh rules preventing women from leaving the house unaccompanied — has filled some with fear. This time around, what will their rule mean for ordinary Afghans? Guest: Matthieu...

In a way, the new Texas law that has effectively banned abortions after six weeks is typical — many other Republican-led states have sought to ban abortions after six, 10 or 15 weeks.  But where federal courts have routinely struck down other anti-abortion laws, the Texas legislation has gone into effect with the Supreme Court’s blessing.  How has this law survived so far, and where does it leave...

After Hurricane Ida hit New Orleans, leaving destruction in its wake, comparisons with Hurricane Katrina were made. There are, however, big differences between the two disasters — namely that the city, in the 16 years since Katrina, has heavily invested in flood defenses. But on the ground, there is little cause for celebration. What has happened in the aftermath of Ida and what does the increasin...