NPR's Book of the Day - Reshona Landfair, formerly ‘Jane Doe,’ recounts abuse by R. Kelly in new memoir

Reshona Landfair met R. Kelly when she was a pre-teen in 1996. Starstruck, Landfair says she fell victim to his grooming tactics, followed by years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse.  A video of Kelly abusing Landfair eventually became public – and helped lead to Kelly’s conviction. Now, Landfair tells her story for the first time in her memoir Who’s Watching Shorty? In today’s episode, she tells NPR’s Juana Summers about being “kept” by Kelly, the way the public treats young Black women who survive abuse, and what she wants the world to know about her today.


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NPR's Book of the Day - Reshona Landfair, formerly ‘Jane Doe,’ recounts abuse by R. Kelly in new memoir

Reshona Landfair met R. Kelly when she was a pre-teen in 1996. Starstruck, Landfair says she fell victim to his grooming tactics, followed by years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse.  A video of Kelly abusing Landfair eventually became public – and helped lead to Kelly’s conviction. Now, Landfair tells her story for the first time in her memoir Who’s Watching Shorty? In today’s episode, she tells NPR’s Juana Summers about being “kept” by Kelly, the way the public treats young Black women who survive abuse, and what she wants the world to know about her today.


To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

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The Ezra Klein Show - Trump’s Fantasy State of the Union

President Trump’s approval ratings on the economy, immigration and trade are deep in the red. But in Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, he decided to tell the American people: You don’t know what you’re talking about.

“Today our border is secure, our spirit is restored, inflation is plummeting, incomes are rising fast. The roaring economy is roaring like never before,” he said.

I’m not going to fact-check the president in this episode. But I do want to ask: Even if he can’t be honest with the American people, is he at least being honest with himself?

My editor Aaron Retica joins me to discuss.

Mentioned:

I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration” by Miles Taylor

Has Trump Achieved a Lot Less Than It Seems?” with Yuval Levin on “The Ezra Klein Show”

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Claire Gordon and Marie Cascione. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris, with Kate Sinclair and Mary Marge Locker. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Isaac Jones & Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Annie Galvin, Rollin Hu, Kristin Lin, Emma Kehlbeck, Jack McCordick, Marina King and Jan Kobal. Original music by Pat McCusker. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The director of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.


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60 Songs That Explain the '90s - D’Angelo—“Untitled (How Does It Feel)”

Today, Rob breaks down one of the many impossible expectations we have for our musical stars—the memorial performance. After years of staying out of the public eye, D’Angelo paid tribute to the artist he grew up imitating, Prince, not because he was expected to but because he had something to share. The bulk of D’Angelo’s career was spent defying our expectations, from taking his time between each of his three studio albums to refusing to become a one-dimensional sex symbol after the release of his “Untitled (How Does It Feel)” music video. Rob speaks to author and poet Hanif Abdurraqib about how we misinterpreted this music video and how we should all be grateful we were born at a time when we could listen to D’Angelo.


Host: Rob Harvilla

Producers: Justin Sayles and Olivia Crerie

Additional Video Editing: Kevin Pooler

Guest: Hanif Abdurraqib

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Pod Save America - 1126: The State of the Union Is Long

Donald Trump breaks his own record for longest State of the Union in history, delivering a meandering, angry, tone-deaf speech that utterly fails at its single most important goal: laying out a clear plan for lowering prices. Jon, Lovett, Dan, and Tommy react to Trump's stunts—including bringing on the members of the USA Hockey men's team—what he said about his plans for Iran, the fights he tried to pick with Democrats, and the official Democratic response from Gov. Abigail Spanberger.