The Daily

This episode contains strong language.The shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black father from Kenosha, Wis., by a white police officer has reverberated through the city, fueling protests and unrest. There have been marches and demonstrations, as well as instances of destruction: businesses and property set alight, fireworks launched at the police.On Tuesday night, a group of armed men, who claimed to be there to protect the community, arrived. Three protesters were shot, two of whom died. Kyle Rittenhouse, a white 17-year-old from Illinois, is suspected of being the gunman.We speak with Julie Bosman, a national correspondent for The Times, about what is happening in her hometown.Guest: Julie Bosman, a national correspondent for The New York Times.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Kenosha has become the latest flash point in a season of unrest that began with the killing of George Floyd.Kyle Rittenhouse, 17, is facing a charge of first-degree intentional homicide.

At the 1968 Republican National Convention, Richard Nixon made an appeal to voters in the suburbs concerned about racial unrest across the United States after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. They helped deliver him the presidency that year, cementing suburbanites’ role as an integral voting bloc.The 2020 election is also taking place against a backdrop of mass protests and unrest over racial justice. And speaker after speaker at the Republican National Convention has used the themes and language of 1968 to play on the perceived fears of suburban voters — cities on fire, the need to restore law and order.But a strategy that worked for Richard Nixon in 1968 might not be effective for Donald Trump in 2020.Today, we speak to Emily Badger about the power of the suburban vote and explore whether Republican messaging on the Black Lives Matter protests and law and order will land.Guest: Emily Badger, who covers cities and urban policy for The New York TimesFor more information on today’s episode, visit ny

In the U.S., emergency-use authorization has been granted for convalescent plasma, the efficacy of which is yet to be robustly tested. For some, this echoes the situation with hydroxychloroquine and the government’s subsequent U-turn on its rollout.Meanwhile, America’s infection rate appears to be flattening out — but at tens of thousands of cases per day. This stands in stark contrast to China, where daily cases are under 40.Overseas, a Hong Kong resident has been reinfected with the virus, the first recorded instance of a second bout. And Russia and China have begun distributing vaccines, sidestepping Phase 3 safety trials to the incredulity of immunologists and vaccine executives.We check back in with Donald G. McNeil Jr. on the coronavirus and the impact of these developments.Guest: Donald G. McNeil Jr., a science and health reporter for The New York Times For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: A 33-year-old man in Hong Kong was infected with the coronaviru

Gun violence is on the rise in New York City. By the end of July, there had been more shootings in 2020 than in all of 2019. Shootings have risen in other metropolises, too, including Atlanta, Chicago, Denver and Houston.Several theories have been advanced about why. Experts on crime say the coronavirus outbreak has deepened the endemic problems that often underlie gun violence, including poverty, unemployment, housing instability and hunger.Police leaders also cite budget cuts and a political climate that has made officers reluctant to carry out arrests because of what they see as unfair scrutiny of their conduct.Today, we look at how the various diagnoses could influence activists’ calls for the police to be defunded.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: “Right now, communities are being held hostage by the cops and the robbers at the same time,” a City Council member from Queens said. The summertime surge in shootings is unlike anything New York has seen in

Much of the fashion industry has buckled under the weight of the coronavirus — it appears to have sped up the inevitable.This story was written by Irina Aleksander and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

When the coronavirus hit the United States, the N.B.A. was faced with a unique challenge. It seemed impossible to impose social distancing in basketball, an indoor sport with players almost constantly jostling one another for more than two hours. However, there was a big financial incentive to keep games going: ending the 2019 season early would have cost the league an estimated $1 billion in television revenue.The solution? A sealed campus for players, staff and selected journalists at Disney World in Florida.Marc Stein, who covers the N.B.A. for The New York Times, has been living out of a hotel room in the complex for the last 40 days. Today, we speak to him about what life is like inside the bubble.Guest: Marc Stein, a sports reporter for The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Twenty-two of the league’s 30 teams are living in the Disney World complex. Life on the campus is both strange and mundane.The N.B.A. has sought to replicate the h

Joseph R. Biden Jr. first ran for president in 1988, when his campaign was cut short after he made a series of blunders. After six terms in the Senate, he tried again in 2008 but failed to gain any traction in a contest won by Barack Obama. In the current political landscape, however, his focus on personal integrity and experience, which were also centerpieces of his previous campaigns, has proved much more compelling. Today, we chart Mr. Biden’s political journey and explore the baggage he will carry into the November election. Guest: Matt Flegenheimer, a national politics reporter for The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading:Mr. Biden’s political career has been marked by personal loss. Eulogies he has delivered offer an insight into how he would lead a nation grappling with death and crisis.“I’ve done some dumb things. And I’ll do dumb things again.” The former vice president’s campaign for the 1988 Democratic nomination reveals the politica

The installation of Louis DeJoy as postmaster general has caused alarm. Since taking up the role in June, he has enacted a number of cuts to the Postal Service: ending overtime for workers, limiting how many runs they can make in a day, reassigning more than 20 executives and, from the perspective of the unions, speeding up the removal of mail-sorting machines.The actions of Mr. DeJoy, a Republican megadonor and Trump ally, have been interpreted by many Democrats as an attempt to sabotage the election in concert with President Trump, who has himself admitted to wanting to limit funding that could help mail-in voting.Today, we explore to what extent Mr. Trump is using the post office, and the postmaster general, to influence the election.Guest: Luke Broadwater, a congressional reporter at The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Postmaster General DeJoy has ushered in measures that, three months out from an election that is expected to rely hea

In March 2018, Mark Landler — then a White House correspondent at The New York Times — attended a dinner party hosted by the United Arab Emirates’ ambassador, Yousef al-Otaiba, at a Washington restaurant. There he witnessed a chance encounter between the ambassador and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel — one the ambassador asked to keep private. Two years after that delicate conversation, Israel and the United Arab Emirates have agreed to normalize diplomatic and trade relations. Today, we speak to Mr. Landler about the Trump administration’s role in the agreement, what normalization means for Palestinians and what it says about the Middle East’s political climate. Guest: Mark Landler, London bureau chief at The New York Times. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: The Arab Spring, growing power of Iranian proxies and demographic changes — how changing dynamics in the Middle East set the stage for the deal.The U.A.E. has agreed to normalization in ex

Operation Warp Speed has in some ways lived up to its name: The U.S. government has awarded almost $11 billion to seven different companies to develop vaccines, three of which — Moderna, AstraZeneca and Pfizer — are in late-stage trials.Things are going according to the most aggressive schedule.However, accelerating the development process has increased the likelihood of cronyism and undue political influence.Today, we ask whether the White House’s defiance of the timelines that have long governed the development of vaccines is working.Guest: Katie Thomas, a reporter at The New York Times who covers the health care sector, with a focus on the drug industry.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: There is a lot of optimism surrounding the coronavirus vaccine and its potential to usher in a return to normality in the near future — but doctors warn that those expectations ought to be tempered.With thousands dying, economic tumult and a looming election, the U.S. go

What is the extent of Russia’s interest in the 2020 U.S. election? Last year, a classified report written by intelligence officials tried to answer this question.In this episode, Robert Draper, a writer-at-large at The New York Times Magazine, explores what happened after the report — which stated that President Trump was Russia’s favored candidate in the upcoming election — was drafted.This story was written by Robert Draper and recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.

“As a Black woman who works at Adidas my experiences have never been business as usual.”Julia Bond, an assistant apparel designer at the sportswear giant, says she had resigned herself to experiencing and witnessing racism at work — until she saw the George Floyd video.Today, we speak to Ms. Bond, an assistant apparel designer at Adidas, who has brought the global racial reckoning to the company’s front door.Wanting more than just schemes and targets, she has been protesting in front of the company’s Portland headquarters every day since June, awaiting an apology from leadership and an admission that they have enabled racism and discrimination. Guest: Julia Bond, assistant apparel designer at Adidas, who has been protesting outside the company’s Portland headquarters for the last three months. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Background reading: Adidas has made a number of pledges to diversify its work force. However, Black employees want more: an admission that the company

With the possibility that millions or tens of millions of American children will not enter a classroom for an entire year, school districts face an agonizing choice: Do the benefits of in-person learning outweigh the risks it poses to public health in a pandemic? Today, we explore how teachers and their unions are responding to demands from some parents, and the president, to reopen their schools this fall. Guest: Dana Goldstein, a national correspondent for The New York Times, who covers the impact of education policies on families, students and teachers. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: With almost 1,200 staff and students now quarantined, the reopening of Atlanta’s Cherokee County School District could presage a difficult back-to-school season.Many teachers are anxious and angry: They say crucial questions about how schools will stay clean, keep students physically distanced and prevent further spread of the virus have not been answered.Our illustrator

Joseph R. Biden Jr. picked Senator Kamala Harris of California as his running mate, making her the first Black woman and the first Asian American woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket. Alexander Burns, a national political correspondent for The New York Times, shares his thoughts on the decision. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Joe Biden selected Kamala Harris as his vice-presidential running mate on Tuesday. She will be the first is the first Black woman and the first person of Indian descent to be nominated for the office by a major party.The selection of Ms. Harris was conventional by some political standards, and groundbreaking in others. Democrats hope that having her on the ticket will attract moderates and Black voters in swing states.Here’s what you should know about the California senator and her stances on key policy issues.

Yesterday on “The Daily,” the New York Times reporter Jonah Bromwich explained how the idea of cancel culture has emerged as a political and cultural force in 2020. In the second of two parts, he returns with a case study. Guest: Jonah Engel Bromwich, who writes for the Styles section of The New York Times, spoke with Zeeshan Aleem about his experience of cancel culture. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: Here’s the first episode in this two-part series exploring cancel culture’s origins and political power.There’s an emerging class of people canceled for bad, conservative or offensive opinions. Cancellation is bringing many of them together.For teenagers, cancellation on social media is not a new phenomenon. Here are some of their own experiences with being canceled.

In the first of two parts, the New York Times reporter Jonah Bromwich explains the origins of cancel culture and why it’s a 2020 election story worth paying attention to. Guest: Jonah Engel Bromwich, who writes for the Styles section of The New York TimesFor more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: What does it mean to be canceled? It can take only one thing — and sometimes, nothing — for fans to dump a celebrity.Many figures in the public eye — including Kanye West and J.K. Rowling — have fretted about being, or claimed to have been, canceled. When an open letter published by Harper’s and signed by 153 prominent artists warned against an “intolerant climate” engulfing the culture, the reaction was swift.The prevalence of “call-out culture” is something former President Barack Obama has challenged.

John Aldridge fell overboard in the middle of the night, 40 miles from shore, and the Coast Guard was looking in the wrong place. This is a story about isolation — and our struggle to close the space between us.This story was recorded by Audm. To hear more audio stories from publishers like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android.This is the article read in this episode, written by Paul Tough.

It’s been four years since the 2016 election laid bare the powerful role that social media companies have come to play in shaping political discourse and beliefs in America.Since then, there have been growing calls to address the spread of polarization and misinformation promoted on such platforms.While Facebook has been slower to acknowledge a need for change, Twitter has embraced the challenge, acknowledging that the company made mistakes in the past. But with three months to go until the 2020 election, these changes have been incremental, and Twitter itself is more popular than ever.Today, Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s C.E.O., discusses the platform’s flaws, its polarizing potential — and his vision for the future.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: A 17-year-old in Florida was recently responsible for one of the worst hacking attacks in Twitter’s history — successfully breaching the accounts of some of the world’s most famous people, including Barack Obama, Kan

A mangled yellow door. Shattered glass. Blood.A devastating explosion of ammonium nitrate stored at the port in Beirut killed at least 135 people and razed entire neighborhoods on Tuesday. This is what our correspondent in the Lebanese capital saw when the blast turned her apartment “into a demolition site” — and what happened in the hours after.Guest: Vivian Yee, our correspondent based in Beirut. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: As the shock of the blast turns to anger in Lebanon, this is what we know so far about the explosion.In a land conditioned by calamity, Vivian wrote about what it felt like to emerge from the debris into the kindness of strangers and friends.

Demonstrations against police brutality are entering their third month, but meaningful policy action has not happened. We speak with one demonstrator about her journey to the front lines of recent protests — and the lessons she’s learned about the pace of change.Caitlin Dickerson, an immigration reporter at The New York Times, spoke with Sharhonda Bossier, deputy director at Education Leaders of Color, an advocacy group.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily Background reading: While protests in most American cities have tapered off, the confrontation between protesters and federal agents in downtown Portland, Ore., continues.Here is our latest reporting on the protests against racism and police violence that spread around the world after the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in May.