The Ezra Klein Show - Is Your Social Life Missing Something? This Is For You.

My motivation for this episode is personal. One of my resolutions this year is to spend more time hosting and to make those gatherings more meaningful.

I think a lot of us wish we had better social lives and a stronger feeling of community around us. But it’s hard. We’re busy, we’re tired, and social planning and hosting can feel like just more work. So I asked Priya Parker on the show to help.

Parker is the author of “The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters” and a wonderful Substack, Group Life. She’s also a conflict resolution facilitator. And she just thinks about gathering and hosting in a different way from anyone else I’ve ever met. For her, it’s about more than just throwing a great dinner party; it’s about how we build community across differences, all the way up to how gathering can help create a better politics. The way Zohran Mamdani’s mayoral campaign thought about community and built community among its volunteers was partly based on her work and advice.

This episode is a bit of a break from politics — but also not. Because pulling the people we love closer and spending more time together rather than alone are as essential as any political or civic discipline could be right now.

This conversation contains strong language.

Mentioned:

In Defense of Politics by Bernard Crick

I And Thou by Martin Buber

The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny by Kiran Desai

Adorable Little Detonators” by Allison P. Davis

The Accused” by Katie J.M. Baker

The Black Thought Project” by Alicia Walters

Zohran’s Smile” by Anand Giridharadas

Book Recommendations:

The Politics of Ritual by Molly Farneth

On Repentance and Repair by Danya Ruttenberg

BoyMom by Ruth Whippman

Talk to Your Boys by Christopher Pepper and Joanna Schroeder

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 Annie Galvin. Fact-checking by Michelle Harris with Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair. Our senior engineer is Jeff Geld, with additional mixing by Aman Sahota. Our executive producer is Claire Gordon. The show’s production team also includes Marie Cascione, 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.

What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Meh-lania

Melania, the documentary about the First Lady, is a lot like its subject: extremely expensive and fundamentally inscrutable. 


Guest: Heather Schwedel, staff writer at Slate, author of “Unfortunately, I Have to Recommend You See Melania”.


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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.


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New Books in Indigenous Studies - Samuel Holley-Kline, “In the Shadow of El Tajín: The Political Economy of Archaeology in Modern Mexico” (U Nebraska Press, 2025)

Located in the Papantla municipality of the Mexican state of Veracruz, El Tajín is a UNESCO World Heritage site but a lesser-known tourist destination and national symbol. The Indigenous Totonac residents of the region know well that the site’s relative absence from discussions of global archaeology and heritage belies a century of wide-ranging labor, extractive industries, and commodity exchange.
In the Shadow of El Tajín: The Political Economy of Archaeology in Modern Mexico (U Nebraska Press, 2025) tells the story of how a landscape of ancient mounds and ruins became an archaeological site, brings to light the network of actors who made it happen, and reveals the Indigenous histories silenced in the process. By drawing on the insights of Indigenous Totonac peoples who have lived and worked in El Tajín for more than a century, Sam Holley-Kline explores historical processes that made both the archaeological site and regional historical memory. In the Shadow of El Tajín decenters discussions of the state and tourism industry by focusing on the industries and workers who are integral to the functioning of the site but who have historically been overlooked by studies of the ancient past. Holley-Kline recovers local Indigenous histories in dialogue with broader trends in scholarship to demonstrate the rich recent past of El Tajín, a place better known for its ancient history.

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Pod Save America - 1116: Epstein Files: Worse Than You Thought

The Justice Department releases more than three million more files related to Jeffrey Epstein, and the list of powerful people involved with the notorious pedophile is ... long. Jon, Tommy, and Lovett react to the most notable revelations from the new batch, including the many mentions of Trump, and then check in on the president’s corrupt dealings, including a half-billion bribe from the United Arab Emirates and an attempt to steal $10 billion in taxpayer money in the form of a lawsuit against his own IRS, the release of 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and his father from ICE custody and the arrest of journalist Don Lemon, and Democrats’ incredible 31-point legislative flip in Texas. Then, Tejano artist and Latin Grammy winner Bobby Pulido stops by the studio to talk to Tommy about his race for Congress and Trump's weakening support among Texas's Latino community.

What A Day - Can Body Cams Restrain ICE?

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday that all federal officers in Minneapolis will now wear body cameras. She also said the program would expand nationwide "as funding is available." The push for body cameras is a key Democratic demand to end the partial government shutdown. It also comes on the heels of major concerns over DHS immigration tactics. In January alone, two U.S. citizens were shot and killed by federal immigration agents in Minnesota. Radley Balko has been covering law enforcement misconduct for decades. We spoke to him about how federal immigration enforcement's actions feel different – and what worries him most.

And in headlines, Bill and Hillary Clinton agree to testify before Congress about their ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, RFK Jr. announces an initiative to address homelessness and substance abuse in eight unspecified cities, and the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt reopens – potentially offering hope for thousands of Palestinians.

Show Notes:

WSJ Tech News Briefing - The Showdown Between Coinbase and Big Banks

Crypto exchange Coinbase has become the face of the crypto industry as the Trump administration prepares to decide the future of finance. WSJ reporter Amrith Ramkumar explains why Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong is at the forefront of the growing chasm between crypto firms and big banks. Plus, WSJ reporter Angus Loten discusses why a disgruntled employee could be your company’s biggest cyber threat. Belle Lin hosts.


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Native America Calling - Tuesday, February 3, 2026 – National Park Service removing historical references to Native American history

The Timbisha Shoshone Tribe just held an event to commemorate 25 years since the landmark legislation outlining a historic co-stewardship agreement between the tribe and the National Park Service in Death Valley. The tribe’s name is on the entrance sign to the park. At the same time, the Trump administration is calling for the removal of informational plaques in the visitor center that tells the tribe’s story. The sign’s removal is one of almost 20 at National Park sites around the country, including Little Big Horn Battlefield National Monument, the site of the allied tribes’ decisive victory over George Armstrong Custer and U.S. Army’s 7th Cavalry Regiment. We’ll talk to tribal representatives about how the information in National Parks was developed and what message removing it sends.

GUESTS

Dorothy FireCloud (Rosebud Sioux Tribe), retired assistant director of Native American affairs for the National Park Service

Otis Halfmoon (Nez Perce), retired National Park Service employee

Mandi Campbell (Timbisha Shoshone), tribal historic preservation officer for the Timbisha Shoshone Tribe

Gheri Hall (Blackfeet), co-director of the Tribal Historic Preservation Office for the Blackfeet Tribe

 

Break 1 Music: This Land (song) Keith Secola (artist) Native Americana – A Coup Stick (album)

Break 2 Music: Wahzhazhe (song) Scott George (artist) Killers of the Flower Moon Soundtrack (album)

Python Bytes - #468 A bolt of Django

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Brian #1: django-bolt : Faster than FastAPI, but with Django ORM, Django Admin, and Django packages

Michael #2: pyleak

  • Detect leaked asyncio tasks, threads, and event loop blocking with stack trace in Python. Inspired by goleak.
  • Has patterns for
    • Context managers
    • decorators
  • Checks for
    • Unawaited asyncio tasks
    • Threads
    • Blocking of an asyncio loop
    • Includes a pytest plugin so you can do @pytest.mark.no_leaks

Brian #3: More Django (three articles)

Michael #4: Datastar

Extras

Brian:

Michael:

Joke: Pushed to prod

NPR's Book of the Day - In Sara Levine’s novel ‘The Hitch,’ a corgi’s soul enters a little boy’s body

When Rose’s 6-year-old nephew arrives for a week-long visit, she has a lot of expectations for how their time together will go. Instead, the boy’s soul ends up possessed by … a corgi. This zany twist is the setup for Sara Levine’s novel The Hitch, which she calls a blend of horror, comedy and metaphysics. In today’s episode, Levine speaks with Here & Now’s Indira Lakshmanan about parenting, writing a shapeshifter character, and crafting a novel where divergent interpretations are possible.


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The Best One Yet - 🍸 “$haken” — Martinis’ alcohol defiance. Moltbot’s AI Facebook. Disney’s Musical TikTok. + Nike/Costco shoe

Moltbot has gone viral with a chatbot social network… AI Agents are chatting with other AI.

Disney’s parks biz hit an ATH… but the real story is High School Musical on TikTok.

There is 1 drink defying the alcohol downturn: The Martini… Shaken or stirred, it’s a Profit Puppy.

Plus, that rumored Nike collab with Costco?... It’s real (and it’s spectacular)


$NKE $COST $DIS


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