Three Undecided Voters, Two Swing States, One Big Decision

In November, Peng Shuai — one of China’s most popular tennis stars — took to Chinese social media to accuse Zhang Gaoli, who was a member of China’s seven-member ruling committee, of sexually assaulting her.Within minutes, Chinese censors had taken down Ms. Peng’s post, and, for weeks, no one sees or hears from her.We look at Ms. Peng’s story and what China’s attempts to censor her have meant for the sports industry.  Guest: Matthew Futterman, a sports reporter for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Chinese propaganda officials have tried to shape the global discussion of the tennis player Peng Shuai’s #MeToo accusations, but their top-down strategy has largely stumbled.The WTA has suspended its future tournaments in China and Hong Kong, as questions linger over Ms. Peng. What major sports are still in China amid the scandal?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.

10 Des 202127min

This episode contains details about suicide deaths and strong language. A few years ago, a website about suicide appeared. On it, not only do people talk about wanting to die, but they share, at great length, how they are going to do it.Times reporters were able to identify 45 people who killed themselves after spending time on the site, several of whom were minors. The true number is likely to be higher.We go inside the Times investigation into the website, and ask how and why it is still allowed to operate.If you are having thoughts of suicide or are concerned that someone you know may be having those thoughts, in the United States call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-8255 (TALK) or go to SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for a list of additional resources. Go here for resources outside the United States.Guest: Megan Twohey, an investigative reporter for The New York Times; and Gabriel J.X. Dance, deputy investigations editor for The Times.Background reading: The Times investigation found that the suicide website had the trappings of social media, a young audience and explicit content that others don’t allow.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. 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.

9 Des 202133min

The Russian military is on the move toward the border with Ukraine, with American intelligence suggesting that Moscow is preparing for an offensive involving some 175,000 troops.Could the moves herald a full-scale invasion? And if so, what is driving President Vladimir V. Putin’s brinkmanship over Russia’s southwestern neighbor?Guest: Anton Troianovski, the Moscow bureau chief for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: There are tactical reasons for Russia’s threatening an invasion of Ukraine, but the real cause may lie in the Kremlin’s fixation with righting what it sees as a historical injustice.After eight years in the trenches, Ukrainian soldiers are resigned to the possibility that the Russian military, which dwarfs their own in power and wealth, will come sooner or later.In a tense meeting with Mr. Putin, President Biden said that a Russian invasion of Ukraine would result in heavy economic penalties.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.

8 Des 202126min

Last week, after a shooting at Oxford High School in the suburbs of Detroit that left four teenagers dead, local prosecutors decided on a novel legal strategy that would extend criminal culpability beyond the 15-year-old accused of carrying out the attack. But could that strategy become a national model?Guest: Jack Healy, a national correspondent for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Prosecutors say James and Jennifer Crumbley, the parents of the 15-year-old accused of killing four classmates, failed to act on troubling signs. The parents pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter charges.After a manhunt and an arraignment, scrutiny of them has intensified.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.

7 Des 202123min

This episode contains descriptions of self-harm and alleged sexual abuse.When Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in a federal jail, dozens of his alleged victims lost their chance to bring him to justice.But the trial of his associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, on charges that she recruited, groomed and ultimately helped Mr. Epstein abuse young girls, may offer an opportunity to obtain a degree of reckoning.We look into how Mr. Epstein was allowed to die, and ask whether justice is still possible for his accusers.Guest: Benjamin Weiser, a reporter covering the Manhattan federal courts for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: Testimony at Ms. Maxwell’s sex-trafficking trial revealed a key question in the case: Were Ms. Maxwell and Mr. Epstein partners, or partners in crime?During the second day of the trial, a woman accused Ms. Maxwell of befriending her when she was a 14-year-old girl, only to join in the sexual abuse that followedFor 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.

6 Des 202132min

In her book, “My Body,” Emily Ratajkowski reflects on her fraught relationship with the huge number of photographs of her body that have come to define her life and career.Some essays recount the author’s hustle as a young model who often found herself in troubling situations with powerful men; another is written as a long, venomous reply to an email from a photographer who has bragged of discovering her. Throughout, Ratajkowski is hoping to set the record straight: She is neither victim nor stooge, neither a cynical collaborator in the male agenda, as her critics have argued, nor some pop-feminist empoweree, as she herself once supposed.To hear more audio stories from publications like The New York Times, download Audm for iPhone or Android. 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.

5 Des 202137min

Stephen Sondheim died last week at his home in Roxbury, Conn. He was 91.For six decades, Mr. Sondheim, a composer-lyricist whose works include “Sweeney Todd” and “Into the Woods,” transformed musical theater into an art form as rich, complex and contradictory as life itself.“For me, the loss that we see pouring out of Twitter right now and everywhere you look as people write about their memories of Sondheim is for that person who says yes, devoting yourself to writing or to dancing or to singing or to composing — or whatever it is — is a worthwhile life,” Jesse Green, The Times’s chief theater critic, said in today’s episode. “And there really is no one who says that as strongly in his life and in his work as Sondheim does.”Today, we chart Mr. Sondheim’s career, influence and legacy. Guest: Jesse Green, the chief theater critic for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: With a childlike sense of discovery, Stephen Sondheim found the language to convey the beauty in harsh complexity.Mr. Sondheim was theater’s most revered and influential composer-lyricist of the last half of the 20th century, and he was the driving force behind some of Broadway’s most beloved and celebrated shows.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.

3 Des 202134min

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court heard a case that was a frontal challenge to Roe v. Wade, the nearly 50-year-old decision that established a constitutional right to abortion.The case in front of the justices was about a Mississippi law that bans abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.For the state to win, the court, which now has a conservative majority, would have to do real damage to the central tenet of the Roe ruling.We explore the arguments presented in this case and how the justices on either side of the political spectrum responded to them. Guest: Adam Liptak, a reporter covering the Supreme Court for The New York Times.Sign up here to get The Daily in your inbox each morning. And for an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. Background reading: After oral arguments, the Supreme Court seemed poised to uphold the Mississippi abortion law. Whether it will overrule Roe v. Wade remains unclear.Here’s what to know about the Mississippi law.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.

2 Des 202125min