Opinion

Books
Arts

A Poet Reflects On How We Reckon — Or Fail To Reckon — With The Legacy Of Slavery

1:36pm December 28, 2020

by Clint Smith

Atlantic writer Clint Smith grew up surrounded by Confederate iconography, being told that the Civil War wasn't about slavery. He shares a poem from his forthcoming book, How the Word Is Passed.

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With countless lights, Christmassy illuminated man-high trees and reindeer decorate the entrance of a shop

Arts

Opinion: T'was The Night Before Christmas in 2020

8:00am December 19, 2020

by Scott Simon

With apologies to Clement Clarke Moore, NPR's Scott Simon updates "A Visit from St. Nicholas" for 2020.

Sociologist Compares Trump's Claims Of Election Fraud To Coups Seen In Turkey

3:51pm December 08, 2020

NPR's Ari Shapiro talks with Zeynep Tufekci, contributing writer at The Atlantic, about her opinion piece, which looks at how President Trump is trying to steal the election in order to stay in power.

President Trump commuted the sentence of and later pardoned Alice Marie Johnson, who had received a life term in a drug case.

National

Opinion: The Truth About Pardons

6:22pm December 05, 2020

by Scott Simon

The history of presidential pardons is often surprising — and revealing.

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President-elect Joe Biden introduces key foreign policy and national security nominees and appointments last week in Wilmington, Del.

World News

Opinion: With Biden, America Is Back — But Not At The Head Of The Table

1:46pm December 02, 2020

The world needs convincing that the U.S. can lead again, and it may not let it, according to foreign policy experts Aaron David Miller and Richard Sokolsky.

Irish poet William Butler Yeats circa 1920.

Arts

Opinion: Reading William Butler Yeats 100 Years Later

8:00am November 28, 2020

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on what a 100 year-old poem by William Butler Yeats means today.

With coronavirus cases surging and more than 250,000 dead, the CDC is recommending people not travel for Thanksgiving. And doctors worry the holiday could be a superspreader event.

Health & Safety

A Doctor's Thanksgiving Plea: Stay Home And Stay Safe

8:12pm November 19, 2020

by Elisabeth Poorman

With COVID-19 cases surging and more than 250,000 dead, the CDC is recommending people not travel for Thanksgiving. And doctors worry the holiday could be a superspreader event.

A woman holds her 1-year-old son as they wait in line to get a coronavirus test.

Science

Opinion: A New Phase Of Uncertainty

7:23pm November 14, 2020

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon notes that as coronavirus cases in the U.S. rise rapidly, it can be hard to hear that we don't know when this will all be over.

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U.S. pandemic response needs a fresh lens: equity.

OPINION: To Solve The Pandemic, Biden Must Focus On Equity

9:11am November 13, 2020

Doctors who helped stop Ebola call on Joe Biden's transition team to address COVID-19's racial and economic inequities. The evidence shows a safety net under the most vulnerable protects us all.

A close-up of the front of the US 10-dollar bill bearing the portrait of Alexander Hamilton, America's first Treasury Secretary.

Opinion: Campaigns Are Rewarded For Winning, Not Being Cost-Effective

2:01pm November 07, 2020

by Scott Simon

NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the record amount of money spent this campaign season, a goodly amount spent by candidates who did not win.

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