@steveinskeep.bsky.social
My NPR colleague Rachel Treisman is at the Olympics, and her newsletter marked Friday the 13th by asking “what kind of rituals and superstitions this year's crop of Olympians brought to the Games.”
One involves cat pictures!
You can sign up here: npr.org/wintergames
Best donation I've made in years
12.02.2026 19:37 — 👍 7 🔁 2 💬 0 📌 0
Here's the interview with Jayapal, worth hearing in its entirety. Also Mace:
www.npr.org/2026/02/12/n...
www.npr.org/2026/02/12/n...
“I think [Bondi] probably opened it up to us on Monday, two days before the hearing so she could see what we were going to search and ask her about."
12.02.2026 19:24 — 👍 21 🔁 4 💬 2 📌 0“It's completely against the separation of powers. We are supposed to be able to, as lawmakers, go in, review the files take whatever we want from there, not be surveilled and spied on by the Department of Justice. That was my search history…”
12.02.2026 19:24 — 👍 11 🔁 3 💬 1 📌 0“They are tracking all of the documents that members of Congress open. And they're tracking everything that you do in that room.”
Next, Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal. AG Pam Bondi was photographed at Wednesday's Epstein files hearing with a document labeled “Jayapal Pramila Search History.”
On NPR this morning, two lawmakers talk of the DOJ surveilling their searches in the unredacted Epstein files. First, GOP Rep. Nancy Mace: "There is a tech person who logs you into the computer. They log you into the computer because they're giving you your own identification...”
12.02.2026 19:24 — 👍 42 🔁 11 💬 1 📌 1The show was just plain creative, and joyful, and wholesome, and made you want to be in that field, at that wedding, on that street getting coffee in a tiny paper cup. Generous too, Bad Bunny kept sharing the stage.
09.02.2026 03:05 — 👍 272 🔁 17 💬 9 📌 1
Federal immigration agents keep saying they need access to inmates in the Minnesota prison system who may have deportation orders.
Yet Minnesota keeps saying they are already doing this. They offered receipts this weekend.
As I said on NPR this morning, @mprnews.org Minnesota Public Radio has done a fantastic job all month—has it only been a month?—covering the hardest of stories and often informing the whole country through reports heard on NPR.
29.01.2026 18:59 — 👍 266 🔁 31 💬 5 📌 2Thanks, Bluefolk.
It seems you liked her answer. You don’t get the answer if someone doesn’t ask the question.
Your definition of “both sides” here is literally that someone on your side is interviewed in front of millions of listeners, and isn’t solely asked about your side’s talking points.
Thanks. I think your reply answers your question. You heard the story and plainly heard enough facts and context to make your own judgement of who was right and wrong in the events discussed.
29.01.2026 01:09 — 👍 2 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0Thanks for this response.
Vonnegut’s books made people laugh at serious things. It’s what people love about him.
Some people didn’t understand, which may explain why he’s banned so much.
I’d invite you to consider the story, and your reaction to it, in that light.
www.npr.org/2026/01/28/n...
My favorite story today: The estate of Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is suing Utah over a law that’s being used to ban Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse Five.
Hear the arguments for and against—including from Vonnegut’s daughter, who was present as he wrote.
www.npr.org/2026/01/28/n...
More on our all-platform interview series:
open.substack.com/pub/steveins...
Here is some thinking that guides the questions I ask, on NPR and elsewhere.
27.01.2026 12:25 — 👍 57 🔁 4 💬 7 📌 1
Watch the NPR interview with Rahm Emanuel here. It’s cued to the section about this fall’s election. 3/3
youtu.be/UfTWt7edODo?...
Rahm Emanuel—who is talking up a possible future presidential bid—is urging Democrats to compete for every seat this year, from Senate to school board. In his NPR video interview he argued that there are elements for a D wave. 2/3
26.01.2026 14:59 — 👍 16 🔁 0 💬 2 📌 1
Per Politico, the president has launched his 2026 campaigning, beginning with Iowa, a state that is surprisingly vulnerable for R’s this fall… and… important in 2028.
It’s an interesting choice—because Democrats have been eyeing possible gains even in that red state. Read on. 1/3
Yesterday, when the government used taxpayer dollars to blast a full-volume narrative about the man federal agents had shot on the street, I remembered a quote from Lincoln.
He said that if you attack someone’s character without knowing if it’s true, that is the same as a lie.
The National Rifle Association is also criticizing the administration for its evidence-free descriptions of a legal gun owner standing in the street with a phone.
25.01.2026 16:19 — 👍 55 🔁 10 💬 3 📌 1
Here’s a guide to key moments in the interveiws:
open.substack.com/pub/steveins...
Trump is unpopular, but how do Democrats frame their arguments for a comeback?
Two veteran politicos, Rahm Emanuel and Gretchen Whitmer, have thoughts
In NPR video interviews. Worth watching on a snowy day.
Link:
2/2
open.substack.com/pub/steveins...
In NPR interveiws, Rahm Emanuel and Gretchen Whitmer critique Trump—but some of the most interesting parts are when they wrestle with their own party’s shortcomings and disappointments.
A guide to the video interviews is in the next post.
1/2
At 32:32 in this NPR video, Rahm Emanuel is asked about his family and is tone and expression completely change. He connects his family’s immigrant story to current events.
youtu.be/UfTWt7edODo?...
Link:
youtu.be/UfTWt7edODo?...
In an NPR interview, Rahm Emanuel has a fierce critique of the Trump administration—and also of the progressive wing of his party.
22.01.2026 15:17 — 👍 9 🔁 0 💬 7 📌 1
Thursday on NPR’s Morning Edition: Rahm Emanuel.
22.01.2026 01:48 — 👍 21 🔁 2 💬 31 📌 8
