my private podcast channel
Plus: Micron Technology shares jump as semiconductor stocks rally. And Novo Nordisk stock rises after seeing positive uptake of its weight loss pill. Katherine Sullivan hosts.
Sign up for the WSJ's free What's News newsletter.
An artificial-intelligence tool assisted in the making of this episode by creating summaries that were based on Wall Street Journal reporting and reviewed and adapted by an editor.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Under the Trump administration, federal prosecutors have been sent to investigate federal lawmakers, the chairman of the Federal Reserve and the widow of Renee Macklin Good.
The Department of Justice is once again at the center of the news.
At least five federal lawmakers say they have been contacted for questioning from federal prosecutors. So has the chairman of the Federal Reserve.
And in Minnesota, career federal prosecutors resigned after being asked to investigate not the shooting that killed Renee Macklin Good, but her widow’s potential ties to activist groups.
NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro and NPR justice correspondent Carrie Johnson break down the week in Justice Department news.
For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.
This episode was produced by Megan Lim and Karen Zamora. It was edited by Kelsey Snell, John Ketchum and Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
Ranjan Roy from Margins is back for our weekly discussion of the latest tech news. We cover: 1) Gemini's case as undisputed AI leader 2) Google and Apple ink a deal for Gemini to fix Siri 3) Is all this AI going to hurt Google's business model? 4) Who will be better at AI ads: Google or OpenAI? 5) Google Gemini's Personal Intelligence 6) Exits at Thinking Machines Lab 7) Is Thinking Machines toast? 8) Claude work arrives! It's Claude Code for non-coders 9) Are we in the age of the empowered individual? 10) Harness Hive stand up!
---
Enjoying Big Technology Podcast? Please rate us five stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ in your podcast app of choice.
Want a discount for Big Technology on Substack + Discord? Here’s 25% off for the first year: https://www.bigtechnology.com/subscribe?coupon=0843016b
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Netflix may be forced to offer all cash for WBD if the cable assets being spun off doesn’t have the value Netflix thought they did. But is that something Netflix will do and what are the risks? We break it down.
Travis Hoium, Lou Whiteman, and Jon Quast discuss:
- Netflix offering all cash for WBD
- FSD’s monthly subscription
- Google’s new AI products
- Bank earnings
Companies discussed: Netflix (NFLX), Warner Bros Discovery (WBD), Tesla (TSLA), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Alphabet (GOOG), Adobe (ADBE), The Trade Desk (TTD), Paypal (PYPL), Hims & Hers (HIMS), Six Flags (FUN), Toast (TOST), L3 Harris (LHX).
Host: Travis Hoium
Guests: Lou Whiteman, Jon Quast
Engineer: Dan Boyd
Disclosure: Advertisements are sponsored content and provided for informational purposes only. The Motley Fool and its affiliates (collectively, “TMF”) do not endorse, recommend, or verify the accuracy or completeness of the statements made within advertisements. TMF is not involved in the offer, sale, or solicitation of any securities advertised herein and makes no representations regarding the suitability, or risks associated with any investment opportunity presented. Investors should conduct their own due diligence and consult with legal, tax, and financial advisors before making any investment decisions. TMF assumes no responsibility for any losses or damages arising from this advertisement.
We’re committed to transparency: All personal opinions in advertisements from Fools are their own. The product advertised in this episode was loaned to TMF and was returned after a test period or the product advertised in this episode was purchased by TMF. Advertiser has paid for the sponsorship of this episode.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Plus: Ashley St. Clair, a conservative influencer who had a child with Elon Musk, is suing xAI over deepfake images made by its AI chatbot Grok. And Saks Global’s bankruptcy jeopardizes its partnership with Amazon. Julie Chang hosts.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Is silence blood-curdling or blissful? CrowdScience listener Ziqi finds it intolerable and thinks that there’s a good reason for it – silence is so rare in nature that it could be a signal for danger.
Presenter Marnie Chesterton is on a mission to test Ziqi’s theory, starting with her own tolerance for silence.
She meets acoustic engineer Trevor Cox in the UK to find out whether silence is something we can measure. To do that she steps into an anechoic chamber, a place that’s designed to absorb all sound. In this most silent of silent places, what does silence actually sound like?
Marnie also talks to researcher Eric Pfeifer in Germany, who is exploring the impact of spending time in silence and has evidence to suggest that it could be a positive experience.
And neuroscientist Marta Moita in Portugal tells Marnie about how rats use silence to detect a threat in their environment. Her discoveries may hold the answer to Ziqi’s question.
Presenter Marnie Chesterton
Producer Jo Glanville
Editor Ben Motley (Photo:Young woman covering ears ignoring loud noise, plugging ears with fingers annoyed by noisy neighbours - stock photo- Credit: Mariia Vitkovska via Getty Images)
From a young age, it was clear that Phillip Bell was a football phenom. He got his first college scholarship offer in middle school. But that talent drew Bell into Southern California’s unruly youth football black market. In that system, high schoolers and their families are paid millions to play football. WSJ's Harriet Ryan reports on a system that ultimately tore Phillip Bell's family apart. Ryan Knutson hosts.
Further Listening:
- NCAA President on a New Era for College Sports
- Private Equity Finally Can Get a Piece of the NFL
Sign up for WSJ’s free What’s News newsletter.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Official Mississippi doesn't really want to talk about the murder of Emmett Till—or teach about the murder of Emmett Till. Almost 71 years later, the intentional attempt to erase the crime lives on. On this MLK Day weekend, Wright joins Tim to discuss the role of history and black history in our public consciousness. Meanwhile, Trump and MAGA are busy trying to rewrite the history of modern-day political violence, including the thuggery of ICE agents. Plus, a ranking of the best SEC college towns, a tribute to Bob Weir, the impact of tariffs on farmers—as well as this year's Mardi Gras— and even the White House is starting to get concerned about the optics of Trump's deportation operation.
ESPN's Wright Thompson joins Tim Miller for the holiday weekend pod.
show notes
A new year means new books are on the way! So many new books. On this week’s episode, host Gilbert Cruz talks with fellow Book Review editors Joumana Khatib and MJ Franklin about the upcoming fiction and nonfiction titles they’re most anticipating between now and April.
Here are the books discussed in this week’s episode:
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.