The Indicator from Planet Money - Southwest surprises, tariff guac shock, and fraud flourishes

It's Indicators of the Week! Our weekly look at interesting numbers from the news.

On today's show, we have Southwest Airlines changing course on their free checked bag policy, skyrocketing fraud, and Americans' insatiable appetite for avocados.

Related episodes:
More fraud, higher bond yields, and faster airline boarding

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NPR's Book of the Day - Books by critic Kenneth Turan and actor Rupert Everett show two sides of Hollywood

Two books set in Hollywood show different sides of the film business, from industry-shaping success to the personal frustration of rejection. First, Louis B. Mayer & Irving Thalberg: The Whole Equation is a history of the duo behind MGM Film. The nonfiction book by Kenneth Turan, a regular critic for the Los Angeles Times and NPR, follows the unlikely trajectory that led both men to the movies. In today's episode, Turan joins NPR's Scott Simon for a conversation that touches on early MGM films like Ben-Hur and Tarzan the Ape Man, antisemitism in Hollywood, and Mayer's complicated relationship with Judy Garland. Then, Simon speaks with British actor Rupert Everett, who's out with a new collection of short stories inspired by Hollywood rejection. The American No draws from film concepts and screenplays the actor pitched but never got the chance to make. In today's episode, he and Simon discuss Everett's autobiographical writing, his upbringing in a military family, and his early exposure to Julie Andrews.

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Bad Faith - Episode 456 – The “Adversarial Left” Responds

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Following Brie's explosive interview with former Rep. Jamaal Bowman about Force The Vote and the usefulness of The Squad, socialist former Seattle City Councilmember and founder of independent movement organization Workers Strike Back Kshama Sawant returns to Bad Faith to offer her rebuttal to the "inside/outside" strategy for moving the country left. As part of the adversarial left, Kshama describes her version of the left response to the current political moment and debriefs Briahna on a recent Piers Morgan interview about Trump's first month in office.

Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).

Produced by Armand Aviram.

Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).

Everything Everywhere Daily - Lunar Eclipses

For as long as humans have been watching the night sky, they noticed that every so often, during a full moon, the moon would briefly go dark, or at least change color. 


They often created mythical explanations for the event.


Eventually, this ancient people began to record its occurrences and were able to calculate when it would happen. 


As we learned more about the universe, the explanation for the moon changing became less mythical and more scientific, but it was still a sight to behold.


Learn more about lunar eclipses and how they work on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily.


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NPR's Book of the Day - Jennifer Finney Boylan’s latest memoir ‘Cleavage’ is a reflection on transgender life

Jennifer Finney Boylan's 2003 memoir She's Not There: A Life in Two Genders was about her new life as a woman. Since then, Boylan has become a prominent transgender voice. Her latest memoir, Cleavage: Men, Women and the Space Between Us, picks up where her last one left off. In today's episode, Boylan speaks with NPR's Robin Young about transgender rights in today's political climate. She also talks about how there is much more to a trans person's life than their transition, and the challenge of connecting "befores" and "afters" in order to live one life.

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