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3 weeks ago | 
wrvo.org | Rund Abdelfatah |Ramtin Arablouei |Julie Caine |Lawrence Wu
Gangsters, banksters, and politicians. Today on the show, how the hunt for Al Capone helped turn the IRS into one of the U.S. government's most powerful tools — and most effective weapons. Guests:Joe Thorndike, historian for Tax Analysts and author of Their Fair Share: Taxing the Rich in the Age of FDR. Paul Camacho, retired special agent for the IRS Criminal Investigation Division and member of the board of directors at the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.
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3 weeks ago | 
npr.org | Rund Abdelfatah |Ramtin Arablouei |Julie Caine |Lawrence Wu |Devin Katayama |Cristina Kim | +2 more
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1 month ago | 
npr.org | Rund Abdelfatah |Ramtin Arablouei |Anya Steinberg |Cristina Kim |Casey Miner |Julie Caine | +2 more
California's 'Bum Blockade' Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1249919763/1269278090" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> The story of the Los Angeles police chief who, faced with one of the largest internal migrations in American history, tried to close California's borders to stop it. Guests Bill Lascher, author of The Golden Fortress: California's Border War on Dust Bowl Refugees.
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1 month ago | 
wrvo.org | Ramtin Arablouei |Rund Abdelfatah |Cristina Kim |Julie Caine
Baby bonuses, childless cat ladies: the rhetoric around motherhood is politically charged right now. And the fantasy of an ideal mother remains powerful, even as real-life parents struggle to reconcile its demands. Today on the show, three myths of motherhood, and the people who have fought to break them down. This episode originally ran in 2023 as The Labor of Love.
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1 month ago | 
npr.org | Ramtin Arablouei |Rund Abdelfatah |Cristina Kim |Julie Caine |Casey Miner |Anya Steinberg | +4 more
Baby bonuses, childless cat ladies: the rhetoric around motherhood is politically charged right now. And the fantasy of an ideal mother remains powerful, even as real-life parents struggle to reconcile its demands. Today on the show, three myths of motherhood, and the people who have fought to break them down. This episode originally ran in 2023 as The Labor of Love.
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1 month ago | 
wrvo.org | Ramtin Arablouei |Rund Abdelfatah |Julie Caine |Cristina Kim
When James Garfield won the Presidency in 1880, Charles Guiteau got ready to accept his new government job. No one had actually offered him a job – but he'd campaigned for Garfield, so he assumed he'd be rewarded. That was the spoils system, and it was how the government worked. But President Garfield didn't hire him. Guiteau was furious. And on July 2, 1881, he followed Garfield to a Washington D.C. train station and shot him.
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1 month ago | 
npr.org | Ramtin Arablouei |Rund Abdelfatah |Julie Caine |Cristina Kim |Lawrence Wu |Devin Katayama | +2 more
The Deadly Story of the U.S. Civil Service Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1246832478/1269205844" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Hulton Archive/Getty Images Hulton Archive/Getty Images When James Garfield won the Presidency in 1880, Charles Guiteau got ready to accept his new government job.
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1 month ago | 
npr.org | Rund Abdelfatah |Ramtin Arablouei |Lawrence Wu |Julie Caine |Casey Miner |Cristina Kim | +2 more
In March 2025, President Trump issued an executive order invoking a centuries-old law: the Alien Enemies Act. The Act allows a president to detain or deport citizens of foreign adversaries to the United States, but only in the case of a "declared war" or "invasion." Now, the Trump administration and the courts are locked in a battle over whether the president's use of the Act, under which people have already been deported, is legal.
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1 month ago | 
npr.org | Rund Abdelfatah |Ramtin Arablouei |Julie Caine |Casey Miner |Devin Katayama |Lawrence Wu | +6 more
Climate disaster, political unrest, random violence: Western society can often feel like what the filmmaker Werner Herzog calls "a thin layer of ice on top of an ocean of chaos and darkness." But is that actually true — or the way it has to be? Today on the show, what really happens when things fall apart. This episode originally published in 2023.
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2 months ago | 
npr.org | Rund Abdelfatah |Ramtin Arablouei |Lawrence Wu |Julie Caine |Casey Miner |Devin Katayama | +3 more
Get Rich Quick: The American Lottery Download Embed <iframe src="https://www.npr.org/player/embed/1242489340/1268826246" width="100%" height="290" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" title="NPR embedded audio player"> Want to get rich quick? You're not alone. Right now, Americans spend over $100 billion, yes billion, every year on lottery tickets.
