The Sunday Read: ‘The Most Dangerous Person in the World Is Randi Weingarten’

Hallmark Christmas movies are corny, predictable and just what our critic needed to embrace the holiday spirit.The story of how a big-city culture critic, Amanda Hess, found love where she least expected it — in the monotony of Hallmark’s Christmas movies.Guest: Amanda Hess, a critic at large for the Culture section of The New York TimesBackground reading: One December morning, a millennial critic awoke to discover that she had been begrudgingly charmed by an onslaught of Hallmark and Netflix holiday films.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  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.

24 Des 202428min

How President Biden could transform women’s rights and rescue his legacy with just a ring.Dozens of congressional Democrats have a simple pitch to President Biden: with a single phone call he can revolutionize women’s rights and salvage his damaged legacy. Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent at The New York Times, discusses whether that plan is possible and, if so, whether Mr. Biden would try. Guest: Annie Karni, a congressional correspondent at The New York Times.Background reading: Senator Kirsten Gillibrand presses Mr. Biden to amend the Constitution to enshrine sex equality.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday.  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.

23 Des 202428min

His wife was spiraling into insomnia, and his children were afraid to go to school, so Jaime Cachua sought out the person he trusted most in a crisis. He sat at his kitchen table in rural Georgia across from his father-in-law, Sky Atkins, the family patriarch. Jaime, 33, hadn’t seen his own father since he was 10 months old, when he left Mexico in a car seat bound for the United States.“We have to prepare for the worst-case scenario,” Jaime told him. “There’s a chance we could lose everything.”Jaime muted the football game on TV and began to explain his new reality as an undocumented immigrant after the election of Donald Trump, who had won the presidency in part by promising to deport more than 11 million people living in the country illegally.“I’m going to be straight with you,” Sky told Jaime. “I voted for Trump. I believe in a lot of what he says.”“I figured as much,” Jaime said. “You and just about everyone else around here.”“It’s about protecting our rights as a sovereign country,” Sky said. “We need to shut down the infiltration on the border. It’s not about you.”“It is about me,” Jaime said. “That’s the thing I don’t understand.” 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.

22 Des 202429min

The star of “The Chosen” discusses his early struggles in Hollywood, fans who conflate him with his character and how his own faith informs his work. 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.

21 Des 202442min

Weeks before his inauguration, President-elect Donald J. Trump is pushing the federal government toward a shutdown, corporate titans are flocking to Mar-a-Lago to gain his favor and a major media company has capitulated to Trump’s legal strategy of suing those who cross him.The Times journalists Michael Barbaro, Maggie Haberman, Catie Edmondson and Andrew Ross Sorkin try to make sense of it all.Guest: Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times.Catie Edmondson, a congressional correspondent for The New York Times.Andrew Ross Sorkin, a columnist and the founder and editor-at-large of DealBook.Background reading: The government is lurching toward a shutdown after the House tanked Trump’s spending plan.The billionaire rivals Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are said to have dined with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 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.

20 Des 202433min

Since Donald J. Trump won the 2024 election, cryptocurrency has surged to its highest level ever. David Yaffe-Bellany, a technology reporter for The Times, explains how a small, renegade industry that began as a challenge to the financial system ended up on top of it.Guest: David Yaffe-Bellany, a technology reporter for The New York Times.Background reading: Earlier this month, Bitcoin hit a milestone: $100,000.Eric Trump has promised the “most pro-crypto president” in history.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 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.

19 Des 202433min

Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of sexual violence.After months of testimony, verdicts are expected as soon as this week in a rape trial that has both horrified and captivated the people of France.Catherine Porter, who has covered the trial, discusses the woman at the center of the case and how, with a single decision, she has turned the power dynamics of the #MeToo era on their head.Guest: Catherine Porter, an international correspondent for The New York Times based in Paris.Background reading: France’s horrifying rape trial has a feminist hero.Dominique Pelicot says he invited men to rape his wife, whom he had drugged. The French media call them “Mr. Every Man” because they come from such ordinary backgrounds.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 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.

18 Des 202429min

Warning: This episode contains descriptions of torture and death. It also contains audio of death and grief.Under Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian government set up a vast network of prisons and torture chambers that swallowed up tens of thousands of people. For years, those perceived as enemies of the regime would disappear into the system, and their families would have no idea what happened to them.Christina Goldbaum, who has covered the events in Syria, takes us inside one of those prisons and tells the story of one man who survived to tell the tale.Guest: Christina Goldbaum, the Afghanistan and Pakistan bureau chief for The New York Times.Background reading: Families of the missing are hoping that they may be reunited with loved ones or at least learn what happened to them.Amid the celebrations after the ouster of Mr. al-Assad, Syria has also found itself in the opening chapter of a nationwide reckoning over the horrors that his government inflicted.For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 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.

17 Des 202430min