Jessica Johns' thriller, Bad Cree, opens with a startling image: a severed crow's head in someone's hand. In today's episode, Johns tells NPR's Ayesha Rascoe she hoped that image would set the tone for the winding mystery within her new novel. It follows a young Cree woman who returns to a home and culture she left behind in hopes of helping her cope with grief. Much of Mackenzie's story involves her dreams, and Johns explains why she felt it was so important to honor that world – especially after a professor told her otherwise.
We talk with Maia Arson Crimew about how she owned an airline so hard she found the No Fly List, the evolution of the anarchist hacktivism, and the movie Hackers
After Briahna and Vaush met on the set of Rising last week, Briahna decided to reach out to Vaush and invite him to discuss a number of critiques he's leveled against her over the years. The two have a substantially good faith -- if at times fiery -- conversation about whether Briahna enables fascists by acknowledging when conservatives occasionally have a good point, the merits of Marjorie Taylor Greene's push to abolish the FBI, Vaush's defense of "vote blue no matter who" as a strategy, and more. This is part one of a three hour interview. Part two, largely focusing on Force the Vote, will air on Monday at patreon.com/badfaithpodcast. Don't miss it.
Monopoly is one of the best-selling board games in history.
The game's staying power may in part be because of strong American lore — the idea that anyone, with just a little bit of cash, can rise from rags to riches. Mary Pilon, author of The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game. But there's another origin story – a very different one that promotes a very different image of capitalism. (And with two sets of starkly different rules.) That story shows how a critique of capitalism grew from a seed of an idea in a rebellious young woman's mind into a game legendary for its celebration of wealth at all costs.
This episode was made in collaboration with NPR's Throughline. For more about the origin story of Monopoly, listen to their original episode Do Not Pass Go.
This episode was produced by Emma Peaslee, mastered by Natasha Branch, and edited by Jess Jiang.
The Throughline episode was produced by Rund Abdelfatah, Ramtin Arablouei, Lawrence Wu, Laine Kaplan-Levenson, Julie Caine, Victor Yvellez, Anya Steinberg, Yolanda Sangweni, Casey Miner, Cristina Kim, Devin Katayama, and Amiri Tulloch. It was fact-checked by Kevin Volkl and mixed by Josh Newell.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist David Cay Johnston has analyzed Donald Trumps tax returns from 2015 to 2020 for his new book The Big Cheat: How Donald Trump Fleeced America and Enriched Himself and His Family. Johnston says Trump has broken easy-to-prosecute laws. Plus, the tanks are on the move! And a pollster-on-pollster spat that Nate Silver’s model estimated has a 26% chance of cruelty.
For months, Ukraine pressed western allies for state-of-the-art tanks. For months, Germany and the U.S. resisted. That changed Wednesday.
Both countries have now promised to send tanks to Ukraine. The German-made Leopard II and American-made Abrams tanks are considered the best in the world.
NPR's Rob Schmitz in Berlin and Greg Myre in Washington explain how Ukraine's allies changed their minds.
In coordinated announcements, the US and Germany said they will send two types of state-of-the-art tanks to Ukraine. We hear from NPR reporters in Berlin and Washington, DC about why these announcements were made now and what these weapons will mean on the front lines.
The most valuable crypto stories for Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023.
"The Hash" discusses today's top stories, including crypto exchange Luno cutting 35% of its workforce, citing the "incredibly tough year" affecting the crypto market. Separately, a unit of Genesis Global, the crypto lender that filed for bankruptcy protection in New York last week, claims Roger Ver – sometimes referred to as “Bitcoin Jesus” based on his early evangelism for the industry – failed to settle cryptocurrency options trades.
Disclaimer: Digital Currency Group is the parent company of Luno, Genesis, and CoinDesk.
The Tanzanian opposition leader, Tundu Lissu is back in the country from self-imposed exile. Tanzanians are happy he's back... but will he be allowed to operate freely?
A thousand cholera deaths in Malawi makes it the worst outbreak in its history. Three other countries are struggling to contain the illness as well. We'll hear what efforts are being made.
Also: a new report on justice for Africa's children as ever more of them are forced from the playground and into a gruelling labour market.
Those stories and more in this podcast with Audrey Brown.
