Brian Lehrer: A Daily Politics Podcast

The acquittal of Kyle Rittenhouse shines a light on how 'self defense' defenses work in cases like his, compared to the case of Chrystul Kizer, who faces homicide charges for killing her adult sex abuser when she was 17 years old. On Today's Show: Kami Chavis, director of the criminal justice program at Wake Forest Law, and Jessica Contrera, reporter for The Washington Post, talk about why some claims of self-defense work better than others in court and in the media.

A lot of questions are swirling about a newly detected COVID-19 variant, dubbed, 'omicron.' What do we know about it at this early stage, and what policies can address it? On Today's Show:Apoorva Mandavilli, reporter for The New York Times, focusing on science and global health, explains the latest news and what's known so far about the omicron variant.

On Today's Black Friday Show:Listeners who work in retail call in to talk about what this holiday shopping season looks like from their perspective.

This Thanksgiving, we wanted to bust some of the myths surrounding the holiday's origin, and the lessons we can learn from the real story. On Today's Show:Kenneth C. Davis, author of Don't Know Much About History: Everything You Need to Know About American History but Never Learned talks about the myths and realities of the 1621 first Thanksgiving.

Gas prices are running fairly high these days. Can the Biden administration address it while still keeping an eye on its climate priorities? On Today's Show:Timothy Gardner, climate and energy correspondent at Reuters, breaks down why the price of oil is so high and what, if anything, the Biden administration can do to fix it while also meeting climate goals.

If two people search broad terms like "patriot" or "vaccine" in YouTube, they might get very different results. On Today's Show:Kai Wright, host of the WNYC's The United States of Anxiety, and Kousha Navidar, senior digital producer for WNYC's The United States of Anxiety, offer an experiment to get past the filter bubbles that define what information gets to us.

What does Friday's "not guilty" verdict in the case of Kyle Rittenhouse, mean for the justice system, Black Lives Matter, and white supremacist violence? On Today's Show: Carol Anderson, professor of African American Studies at Emory University and the author of The Second: Race and Guns in a Fatally Unequal America (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021), discusses the verdict and what comes next.

This year, with vaccinations still climbing and public health pros telling us it's relatively safe to gather for the holidays, we explore just how "relative" that safety is, and how to minimize the (still present) risk. On Today's Show:Daniel Griffin, MD, PhD, infectious disease clinician and researcher at Columbia, ProHEALTH chief of the division of Infectious Disease, senior fellow for Infectious Disease at UHG Research and Development, and president of Parasites Without Borders, shares the latest guidance on balancing risks and rewards of holiday gatherings at this phase of the pandemic.

The annual inflation rate in the United States is running at a three decade high. So what's behind the inflation we're seeing throughout the economy? How is it landing on business owners and consumers, and what can be done about it? On Today's Show: Wendy Edelberg, director of The Hamilton Project and senior fellow, economic studies at The Brookings Institution, discusses the underpinning factors mostly related to the pandemic and weighs in on concern over long-term impact.

The New York Times' 1619 Project is now a book with expanded essays. Its centering of slavery in the American history narrative has generated controversy. On Today's Show: Nikole Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter covering racial injustice for The New York Times Magazine, creator of the 1619 Project, now a book, The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story (One World, 2021), and Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at Howard University, talks about the book based on the New York Times 1619 Project, why it's become a hot-button issue, and where we go from here.