World News of the Week (WNW) with Maya and Dad

Two years ago, we covered the bankruptcy of Red Lobster. It is commonly held that Red Lobster went broke due an endless shrimp promotion, but as we learned then, the story is much more complicated. In this episoide, we revisit why Red Lobster actually went broke, but more importantly, we cover how its new CEO, thirty-something Damola Adamolekun, is trying to revive the chain. And, we felt that we...

Olivia Rodrigo. The World Cup. Even a touring production of Les Mis. Ticket sales have become a global business, and the local concert goer is often buying more expensive tickets on the resale market. Maybe this good for consumers who have access to events they want to go to and know that they are getting verified tickets? Maybe it is not so good.... more expensive tickets mean that consumers budg...

Make America Healthy Again!?! It sounds pretty appealing but what is this movement really about and why does it seem to be coming to an abrupt end? Maya and Dad discuss the evolution of the movement, the good and not so good beliefs/outcomes and the reasons for its (word of the week) schism, which may  threaten Donald Trump's chances in the midterms and consequently open the door to a world o...

Our one word reviews... The Melania Movie was (dad) "appalling" and (Maya) "wasteful." Yes, we saw the Melania movie in an all but empty theatre on a Tuesday night and we did our best to view it thoughtfully and critically, but Melania made it impossible. in this episode, we discuss the controversies surrounding the film itself and we discuss the substance of the film or the la...

Last week, we asked, "What just happened in Venezuela?" This week, we as the same but of Iran. For weeks, unprecedented protests have been raging in repressive Iran. On this WNW, we delve into the history of Iran, the reality on the ground, the risks people are taking for freedom, and the challenges of intervening in the country. Another real time WNW! Send us Fan Mail

This morning, we woke up to the news that United States had invaded and forced regime change in... Venezuela? Who is Nicolas Maduro? Why was Donald Trump so threatened by him that he needed to use military force to arrest/depose him? Was any of this legal or necessary? What are the ripple effects? Where do Venezuela and the US go from here? We discuss all of this today on the first WNW of the new...

What is a lame duck and is Donald Trump one? Why is there so much infighting in the Republican party right now? Why did one conspiracy theorist, Marjorie Taylor Greene, leave Congress and why is another particularly racist conspiracy theorist, Nick Fuentes, being embraced? Is this the beginning of the end of MAGA? We discuss on WNW! Send us Fan Mail

As the government shutdown, Donald Trump went to the supreme court to avoid paying for the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP). What is SNAP? What do the 42 million Americans who receive SNAP benefits get? And, who qualifies and on what conditions? Why would anyone want to take that away? Find out on this week's WNW with Maya and Dad.  Send us Fan Mail

Maya and Dad went to the Boston No Kings Rally and so did... 150,000 others! (Our estimate on the show was WAY off!). On this show, we share our journey to the rally, our favorite signs and other observations and then the highlights of Maya's 32 interviews! (Don't worry - Maya only excerpted a few!)   Send us Fan Mail

This week, Secretary of Defense… or should we say Secretary of War (!) Pete Hegseth, called 800 Generals into Washington to lecture them…. Why? What was his message? Why was he talking about beardos and hefty generals? We did a podcast on this and still don’t know why he did this, but maybe you can figure this out… on this week’s WNW with Maya and Dad! Send us Fan Mail

There is a portmanteau (word of the week!) out there that is on the verge of killing our democracy! And, on that note, welcome to season 3 of WNW with Maya and Dad. Today, we discuss the implications of Texas' redistricting, California's reaction and what this means for voters going forward! This episode is sponsored by waves and salamanders!  Send us Fan Mail

WNW is now on its summer hiatus. We quickly discuss the many headlines dominating the news today - the US/Israel joint effort to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities, the administration forcing the national guard into CA, the mysterious potential outcomes of the big beautiful bill and more... Have a great summer!  Send us Fan Mail

It seems that huge stories quickly dominate the news cycle and quickly disappear - weeks ago it was a US takeover of Greenland or Canada; then it was JD Vance yelling at Vladimir Zelensky in the White House; then it was the signal scandal and recently the tariff wars have been quite real and dangerous and justifiably flooded out all other news. Still, there are many (many!) "smaller" sto...

In recent years, there has been a explosion in Anti-Semitism, and that only accelerated after October 7th. During the Superbowl this year, Kanye West spent $8 million on anti-Semitic propaganda and, in our backyard, the Massachusetts Teacher's Association has been providing flagrantly anti-Semitic resources to educate its teachers on Israel and Gaza. We were so fortunate to have Sara Colb, De...

Tariffs - all over the news! What are they? Who is paying them? How do people think they work and how do they actually work? What are the countries that are being "tariffed" doing about it? We answer these questions and more on this week's WNW! (Thank you to Charlotte and Matt for suggesting this topic!!!) Send us Fan Mail

Huge sports fans, Conor and Eamon are back, but in this case, we are talking about the game that is not on the court! Sixty-percent of 18-22 year olds gamble regularly on sports - 10% are pathological gamblers. What is driving this boom? Wasn't this all illegal a few years ago? Are there guardrails? Where does this go? We take on the tough issues on WNW with Maya and Dad and Conor and Eamon! ...

Today is my Co-host and Dad, Jeremy's birthday! On this episode of WNW, we have a returning guest, Margaux, as well as many new interviewees! We talk about the history of birthdays, different birthday traditions around the world, and send many birthday wishes his way!  Send us Fan Mail

Pardons are as old as the state - even older in fact - and they are often controversial. Today, with return guest, Uncle Zach, we delve into controversial pardons from Washington Pardoning those involved in the Whisky Rebellion to Clinton Pardoning Marc Rich to Biden pardoning Hunter to Trump pardoning those who tried to subvert democracy to a January 6'er who refused a pardon! Pardon us? Ind...

Donald Trump has been barking about taking over Greenland and the Panama Canal and Canada joining the US as the "51st state." Would either party even want this? How much are each worth? Is there an ulterior motive in introducing such extreme ideas? Listen to WNW to find out more! Send us Fan Mail

A unique confluence of events just led to a notorious dictator, Bashar Assad, fleeing Syria. Why was Assad, trained as an ophthalmologist, there in the first place? What role did Russia, Syria, Israel and Inflation play in ridding Syria of Assad? And, who is HTS, a terrorist group which is in power for now? What are their plans? A complicated WNW sponsored by rocks and tea.   Send us Fan Mail

The world has gone BANANAS, but maybe Maurizio Cattelan has not? He did the only rational thing an artist could do - he duct taped a banana to a wall and charged $120,000 for his art and that was only the beginning. In this WNW, we discuss all of the actors - the artist, the buyer, the banana merchant, the auction house and even Lucille Bluth! It’s a good one! Send us Fan Mail

We are tipping on more and more services and even products at times now. Is this going to slow down or accelerate? We imagine that if tips are made exempt from taxes, we will see a whole an explosion in tip requests and a big shift in the way workers ask for compensation. Find out more on WNW!  Send us Fan Mail

So many promises have been made on immigration, tariffs, Ukraine and pardons - some promises have not been made on women's health. What will the next four years look like? We try to predict the awfully unpredictable.... Send us Fan Mail

Cocoa shortage. Sugar Prices surging. Transportation costs rising. Could this be a spooky Halloween with less chocolate? And, who might be happy about that? Get reading to scream Halloween Apples (???) and to learn why this could be a very different Halloween!  Send us Fan Mail

Brought to you by Rubyscuits.com our unpaid sponsor - another kid run enterprise!  We live in VT and MA - two states that presidents ignore because they always go Blue. But, there have to be Republican voters or Trump supporters in our neighborhoods, right? Well, we hit the streets, interviewed strangers and were surprised at the range of responses in our own backyard!  Big shoutout to Maya who ed...