The Free Press
The Genius of Lena Dunham
- Title
- The Genius of Lena Dunham
- Runtime
- 0:57
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- “People hate Lena Dunham because they can’t handle the truth.”
Suzy Weiss on the brilliance of Dunham’s new show—and what it reveals about the selfish and over-therapized millennial generation now navigating their 30s.
- Title
- Why Young People Are Voting to Burn It All Down
- Runtime
- 48:31
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4hETwSP
Just two weeks ago, New Yorkers voted en masse for a self-proclaimed socialist—someone who once called for “seizing the means of production.” This is, of course, Zohran Mamdani, who dominated in the Democratic primary for New York City mayor with a definitive victory over Andrew Cuomo.
He has called for rent freezes, free buses, and even government-run grocery stores.
He won 56 percent of the vote in a campaign fueled by young, highly educated, wealthy people—many of whom believe in reviving socialism here in America, in 2025.
According to a Cato Institute poll from May: 62 percent of Americans age 18 to 29 say they hold a “favorable view” of socialism. And 34 percent had a positive view of communism.
Polls by Emerson and Marist from May and June had shown Mamdani leading with voters under 45 by as much as a 2:1 ratio against the...
- Title
- “Genius Is a Right-Wing Idea” with Helen Lewis
- Runtime
- 1:24:49
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4hETwSP
Love him or hate him, many consider Elon Musk to be a modern-day genius. He co-founded PayPal, which transformed how people purchase things. He became the CEO of Tesla, which revolutionized electric vehicles—and made it cool to drive them. He founded SpaceX, accomplishing what only superpower nation-states have previously. And he is working to make our species interplanetary—maybe in a few years, we’ll be doing this podcast on Mars.
To many, these acts make Elon Musk a genius, perhaps the most important genius in history.
But it’s worth asking: What exactly makes him a genius? Is it a particular set of qualities, or is Elon Musk just particularly adept at playing the role of genius? Or at least what we’ve come to expect of geniuses? Is his offensive behavior excused by his genius, or the result of it? And why do human beings value genius, even to the point of deif...
- Title
- America Has Always Been a Dangerous Idea
- Runtime
- 51:53
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/430eIOp
Listen to more episodes of Breaking History with Eli Lake: https://thefp.pub/4je6JmJ
Last month there was a spate of protests across America united by a two-word slogan: No Kings. This was the rallying cry of the Democrats against the bold prerogatives assumed by President Donald Trump, echoing the Tea Party, the popular movement that emerged in 2009 to hold President Barack Obama to account.
In fact, whether it’s the Black Panthers, the Daughters of the American Revolution, or Arthur Schlesinger Jr. warning about The Imperial Presidency, Americans of all creeds and passions tend to voice their protest of the government in the language of the Declaration of Independence, even in 2025. This is understandable; it’s a remarkable document that marks the official birth of America.
Most national origin stories are about a great man—sometimes with divine authorit...
- Title
- Should People Love America?
- Runtime
- 1:06
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Title
- What Makes America Exceptional, with Akhil Amar
- Runtime
- 1:28:26
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Join the celebration. Go to TheFP.com/America250.
America is turning 250. And we’re throwing a yearlong celebration of the greatest country on Earth. The greatest? Yes. The greatest.
Today—on America’s 249th birthday—we’re kicking off this yearlong event with none other than Akhil Reed Amar. Akhil has a unique understanding of this country—and our Constitution. Akhil is a Democrat who testified on behalf of Brett Kavanaugh, is a member of The Federalist Society, who is pro-choice but also anti-Roe—and these seeming contradictions make him perfectly suited to answer questions about the political and legal polarization we find ourselves in today.
Akhil is a constitutional law professor at Yale and the author of the brilliant book The Words That Made Us: America’s Constitutional Conversation, 1760–1840. He also hosts the podcast Amarica's Constitution, and you might recognize his name from his work in The Atlantic. I ask him about t...
- Title
- “The Islamic Republic Will Kill Every One of Us.” Iranian Dissidents Speak Out
- Runtime
- 4:50
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3TlK4t6
Iran’s brutal regime has arrested hundreds of political opponents—real and imagined—and the worst is likely yet to come.
- Title
- Who Can Defeat Zohran Mamdani?
- Runtime
- 1:05:50
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- In a shocking upset on Tuesday, Andrew Cuomo lost to 33-year-old Democratic Socialist Mamdani in New York City’s Democratic mayoral primary.
Mamdani won by roughly 70,000 votes, handing a resounding defeat to the Democratic establishment.
Now, with 130 days until the general election, many questions remain: Will Mamdani win in November? Will New Yorkers rally around Mayor Eric Adams? Will a new candidate enter the race? Is the panic over Mamdani warranted—or overblown? And how should we understand this political moment?
Join us today at 11:30 a.m. ET for a full briefing on the NYC mayoral race. Will Rahn will be joined by Reihan Salam, the president of the Manhattan Institute. He just wrote “Making Sense of Mamdani” for The Free Press.
Have a question? Paid subscribers can get theirs answered in real time at TheFP.com/Livestream.
- Title
- Reaction: NYC Nominates a Socialist for Mayor
- Runtime
- 49:39
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- How did a 33-year-old socialist who wants to institute government-run grocery stores beat the former state governor to win the Democratic primary for mayor of New York City?
It’s an astonishing political story—and one with enormous consequences for New York City and the Democratic Party. Will Andrew Cuomo, who conceded the race late last night, run against Zohran Mamdani as an independent? And, if so, will he split the independent vote with Eric Adams. . . and throw the race to Mamdani?
No one has covered this story like The FP’s Olivia Reingold. Join her and senior editor Will Rahn Wednesday at 11 a.m. as they break down the vote and tell you everything you need to know about the man who might be New York City’s next mayor.
Have a question? Paid subscribers can submit their thoughts to our hosts in real time at TheFP.com/livestream.
- Title
- The Fate of Iran’s Nuclear Program
- Runtime
- 1:14:16
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Michael Oren, Jay Solomon, and Matti Friedman join Bari for the full briefing.
- Title
- Trump Bombs Iran’s Nuclear Sites | Bari Weiss, Haviv Rettig Gur, Eli Lake, & More
- Runtime
- 1:43:08
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi
Minutes ago Donald Trump announced that the United States had just completed a “very successful attack” on Iran’s three nuclear sites: Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan.
"A full payload of BOMBS was dropped on the primary site, Fordow," referring to Iran's most hard-to-reach uranium enrichment facility,” he added.
This is by far the most important foreign policy decision made by Trump. And its implications are profound and far-reaching. Join me right now to discuss the impacts on the wider Mideast conflict, a potential Iranian response and the effects on U.S. politics.
Our Free Press experts and special guests help explain all of these issues.
- Title
- DEBATE: Should America Get Involved in Iran?
- Runtime
- 47:35
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi
It has been one week since Israel began launching strikes on Iran, taking out nuclear installations, scientists, and military sites, as well as much of the top brass of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in their homes.
Iran has responded with hundreds of missile and drone attacks, some of which have evaded Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system. For Israel, the aim of the war is the complete elimination of the Iranian nuclear program. But it would like America’s help in that endeavor, particularly with hitting the underground fortress of centrifuge cascades known as Fordow.
On Thursday, the White House announced that President Trump would decide “within the next two weeks” whether to launch a military strike against Iran. As debate within the administration for and against intervention rages, I sat down with Dan Caldwell, a former senior adviser to U...
- Title
- What a Bomb Shelter in Israel Is Like
- Runtime
- 2:16
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- The FP’s Jonas Du was in Jerusalem last week when the bombs began to fall.
- Title
- How Donald Trump Killed Conservative Civility
- Runtime
- 54:08
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/430eIOp
Listen to more episodes of Breaking History with Eli Lake: https://thefp.pub/4je6JmJ
This Week on Breaking History: Buckley, Trump, and the Death of Conservative Civility
Over 40 years ago, William F. Buckley created the intellectual framework for the American conservative movement that fueled the Reagan revolution. But what happened to the Reaganite movement in Trump’s Republican Party? Has it been definitively left behind? On the latest episode of Breaking History, Eli Lake takes a deep dive into the rich life of Buckley, and looks at how today’s conservatives have both supplanted and emulated the movement that Buckley helped to build.
- Title
- Everything You Need to Know About Iran’s Nuclear Program
- Runtime
- 46:09
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi
Eli Lake and nuclear weapons expert David Albright discuss the Islamic Republic’s arsenal and whether or not Israel can destroy it on its own.
It’s hard to keep up with the onslaught of information coming out about the Iran war. That is doubly true of the details of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
Israel has claimed that Iran was on the cusp of weaponization and has enough enriched uranium to produce nine bombs or more. Is that true? And if it is, how far has that program been set back? Most urgently, is it possible for Israel to destroy the nuclear weapons program on its own? Or will America have to get involved?
These are the kinds of questions Eli Lake posed to physicist and nuclear weapons expert David Albright when he joined me on a Free Press livestream. No one is more qualified to tackle these issues than David, a former IAEA inspector and fo...
- Title
- Surprise ICE Raids in California
- Runtime
- 1:39
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Officers emerging from unmarked vehicles in California have been conducting surprise raids on undocumented immigrants at car washes, churches, and in front yards.
The community is terrified—and fighting back.
- Title
- Who Will Win the Israel-Iran War? | Niall Ferguson, Bari Weiss, and Dexter Filkins
- Runtime
- 1:04:08
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi
It’s the fourth day in the war between Iran and Israel. Israel’s strikes have taken out almost the entire leadership of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and have damaged—but not destroyed—Iran’s nuclear facilities. Iran has retaliated by launching a wave of nearly 300 ballistic missiles at civilian Israeli areas. The barrage from both sides has yet to let up.
We’re left with many questions: Can the West win this war—and dismantle Iran’s nuclear program? Can Israel do it on its own? Will it need direct U.S. support? How is the internal fight inside the White House over American involvement shaping the response? How does this conflict fit into the broader struggle with China and Russia? And more fundamentally, how did we get here?
Bari Weiss sat down with Free Press columnist Niall Ferguson and veteran foreign correspondent Dexter Filkins for an in-...
- Title
- How Trump and Bibi Outfoxed Iran
- Runtime
- 1:16:06
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3DmLpLi
Early Friday morning, as Iranian generals who’d spent years threatening Israel with destruction still slept, Israel launched a surprise attack. Its precision strikes damaged nuclear facilities and killed military officials deep within Iranian territory. Soon after, we heard stories of Mossad agents and Israeli drone bases hidden behind enemy lines.
So how did they do it?
Why did these seasoned Iranian officers—veteran warriors, intelligence chiefs, regime survivors—lower their guard so completely? Did Benjamin Netanyahu read Donald Trump better than the Iranians? How did Israel achieve strategic surprise? And can it achieve lasting victory?
Join Bari Weiss and Michael Doran, director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Peace and Security in the Middle East, as they delve into these questions—and take yours.
- Title
- Israel Confronts Evil in Iran | Haviv Rettig Gur and Eli Lake
- Runtime
- 1:21:19
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3SC3Znl
The world woke up today to a changed Middle East. Israel struck key nuclear and military facilities throughout Iran. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei vowed retaliation. And Donald Trump urged Iran to agree to a nuclear deal.
As the dust settles in Tehran, we’re left with many questions. Can Iran mount a major counterattack? Did Israel’s strikes secure its safety? Does this spell the end of the Iranian regime? What actually happened on the ground in Iran? And what role will the U.S. play in the unfolding war?
Eli Lake and Haviv Rettig Gur, one of today’s most insightful Middle East analysts, make sense of all of it—and discuss what could come next.
- Title
- Israel Strikes Iran. What Happens Now?
- Runtime
- 51:21
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3SC3Znl
Israel has launched a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear program. What happens now?
Michael Oren joins Bari Weiss to discuss all sides of the issue—from why Israel attacked to the expected length of the campaign to whether the U.S. will get involved.
- Title
- What do regular New Yorkers think of Zohran Mamdani?
- Runtime
- 1:34
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Title
- Exclusive: Leader of Anti-Hamas Militia Speaks Out
- Runtime
- 6:07
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3SC3Znl
In a dusty corner of southern Gaza, a new anti-Hamas militia has taken control of a small patch of land in eastern Rafah.
They call themselves the Popular Forces, and in a video released last week, they pledged to protect civilians, guard humanitarian convoys, and resist what they describe as “terrorism and looting” by Hamas.
The group’s leader, 34-year-old Yasser Abu Shabab, hails from a large Bedouin clan, straddling Gaza and Egypt, that has helped the Egyptian army fight ISIS in the Sinai. Depending on who you ask, he’s either an opportunistic warlord—or the unlikely face of the first serious attempt at a post-Hamas civil authority.
Western media and think tanks have largely portrayed Abu Shabab as a traitor and a gangster with alleged links to ISIS and a history of looting humanitarian aid—while also acknowledging his group’s “growing...
- Title
- Iran Wants to Destroy the U.S. - Mike Huckabee
- Runtime
- 0:54
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- U.S.ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee rejects the isolationists’ take on Iran: “Are they deaf, dumb, and blind?” https://thefp.pub/4jLHfMG
- Title
- Will Socialists Take Over NYC? How Zohran Mamdani Could Win
- Runtime
- 2:04
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Zohran Mamdani—a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America—could actually become mayor of New York City. https://thefp.pub/45firck
- Title
- It's Not a Genocide.
- Runtime
- 1:32
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Calling what is happening in Gaza a “genocide” is “recklessly irresponsible—and it is factually, off the charts, untrue,” says U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee.
Full episode: https://thefp.pub/3HPPsC2
- Title
- LA Riots Continue As Police Escalate Response
- Runtime
- 0:58
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- It is day 4 of the LA anti-ICE riots, and law enforcement has significantly escalated its response.
“Today was the first day I started seeing real blood. Protesters have been shot with rubber bullets. I’ve been tear-gassed multiple times—it burns the skin on your face.”
- Title
- How Donald Trump Feels About Iran | Israel Amb. Mike Huckabee
- Runtime
- 1:20:39
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3FyFvbH
Read the transcript: https://thefp.pub/4kKK4yE
There are people who have résumés we might call “diverse” or “wide-ranging.” And then there are people like Mike Huckabee, who, at age 69, has seemingly crammed several lifetimes’ worth of careers into one.
He was a televangelist. He was governor of Arkansas for over a decade. He ran for president and won the Iowa caucuses. He hosted his own show on Fox News for seven years. He’s written books on everything from Christmas to weight loss.
And now he’s America’s ambassador to Israel. And he’s filling that post at a moment when the longtime status quo in the region is being completely upended. Israel is inching closer to eradicating Hamas in Gaza—but the day-after plan is unclear. Iran is feared to be on the cusp of developing nuclear weapons, and Trump and Steve Witkoff are working hard on a rene...
- Title
- Chaos at L.A. Anti-ICE Protests
- Runtime
- 1:40
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- “Los Angeles isn’t quelling the protests at all. There’s going to be an entire section of downtown L.A. tomorrow that’s destroyed—just absolutely destroyed.”
The FP’s Austyn Jeffs reports from the chaos of L.A.’s anti-ICE protests.
- Title
- Shocking Scenes From LA Protests Against ICE
- Runtime
- 1:24
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Shocking scenes from Los Angeles as protesters clash with police following a series of immigration raids on local businesses.
President Trump has called for 2,000 National Guard troops to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.”
- Title
- Inside the IDF “Aid Massacre” That Never Happened
- Runtime
- 6:50
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3SC3Znl
“We are here near the area where this incident took place,” a Gazan man told us, gesturing toward an aid distribution center run by the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
On Sunday, dozens of Palestinians were shot at here, with masked gunmen opening fire on the people waiting to collect aid, according to the released footage and subsequent reports.
The Washington Post, Reuters, CNN, and scores of other Western media initially reported that Israeli troops were the ones who had opened fire, and that the site of the massacre was the southern city of Rafah.
Except, as would later become clear, the shooting actually took place at a different GHF distribution site in Khan Younis. And it wasn’t Israeli troops who fired those shots.
“All the evidence we’ve seen with our own eyes indicates that Hamas caused the ...
- Title
- The Radical Right Is Coming for Your Sons | Bari Weiss & Rod Dreher
- Runtime
- 40:47
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Read Rod Dreher's full piece in The Free Press: https://thefp.pub/4mVu7Yf
Subscribe to The Free Press today! https://thefp.pub/4mTo1aM
"If you hear warnings about the dangerous excesses of the American right and tune out, I get it. The Trump years have brought with them no shortage of warnings—and many of them have been hyperbolic, dishonest, or downright unhinged.
But when the warning is coming from my friend Rod Dreher, it’s worth heeding. Why? Not just because Rod is a perceptive political and cultural thinker and writer, especially on the subject of past and present totalitarianism. But also because Rod would pass the strictest of contemporary conservative purity tests. He’s a regular speaker at National Conservatism conferences. He admires Viktor Orbán. J.D. Vance is a longtime, personal friend of his.
And he is very worried about where the American right is headed."
—Bari Weiss
This originally premier...
- Title
- Jews Set on Fire in Colorado
- Runtime
- 2:13
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- On Sunday in Colorado, a group of Jews was set on fire. The alleged perpetrator shouted “End Zionists” as he lobbed Molotov cocktails at innocent men, women, and children.
This attack is the latest of a disturbing trend in our culture: the normalization of antisemitic violence.
- Title
- The Tragic History of Pakistan
- Runtime
- 2:41
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Title
- Is Andrew Cuomo Going to Lose?
- Runtime
- 1:34
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Will ranked choice voting elect the most radical mayor in NYC history? Olivia Reingold reports: https://thefp.pub/4dHKELd
- Title
- The Great Biden Cover-Up | Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson
- Runtime
- 1:43:24
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3SmlaZU
In 2023 and 2024, there were many things that were unsayable. Perhaps the most unsayable—at least in legacy media circles—was this: The President of the United States was not capable of being president because he was no longer mentally fit.
Those people who did break the taboo—who dared to notice Biden’s countless gaffes and stiff gait, those who recognized the reality of old age—including special counsel Robert Hur—were written off or smeared. Videos of the president—clips of Biden tripping and misspeaking—were rebranded by The New York Times as “cheap fakes.” People were told to disbelieve their eyes and ears.
It’s now the spring of 2025. Donald Trump is the president. And now the unsayable things are being said—most dramatically in Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s new book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Di...
- Title
- Why India & Pakistan Are Eternal (Nuclear) Enemies
- Runtime
- 51:03
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/430eIOp
Listen to more episodes of Breaking History with Eli Lake: https://thefp.pub/4je6JmJ
Last month, two nuclear powers exchanged blows after terrorists mowed down 26 tourists in Kashmir, yet it didn’t turn into a hot war. We got lucky. But sadly, the next India-Pakistan war seems like only a matter of time.
In this week’s Breaking History, Eli Lake explores the origin story of the ongoing conflict between India and Pakistan. How did Pakistan become a true ‘deep state nation’ post-partition? And why does it really really matter?
- Title
- Anthony Bourdain’s Insufferable Legacy
- Runtime
- 0:39
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Title
- Is Trump Owned by Qatar?
- Runtime
- 0:54
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- From Pam Bondi to President Trump’s sons, this administration’s deep ties to Qatar should raise a lot of questions.
- Title
- EXCLUSIVE: Did Hezbollah Radicalize Salman Rushdie’s Attacker?
- Runtime
- 8:11
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3Z3EPS4
Last month, The Free Press and the Center for Peace Communications sent a team of journalists to south Lebanon. They were there to retrace the steps of Hadi Matar, the 27-year-old Lebanese American man sentenced last week to 25 years in prison for assaulting and attempting to murder Salman Rushdie.
With Matar found guilty and behind bars, you might think most of the big questions about this case have been answered. But the story of Matar, and the issue of what motivated him to stab the British-American novelist and Booker Prize winner 15 times onstage at a literary festival in western New York in August 2022, is not over.
He faces a second trial on federal charges that he provided material support to the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah. If found guilty, he could spend life in prison. The question of what motivated Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, has broader ...
- Title
- Agnes Callard Was Married. Then She Met Her Husband.
- Runtime
- 1:08:50
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4dvr2cQ
A lot of people fall in love outside of their marriages. Some have affairs. Some leave their wives or husbands. But not a lot of people are Agnes Callard.
Agnes did something really unique. She fell in love while she was (seemingly happily) married with two children. She told her husband. They got divorced—sharing a single lawyer—and it took under three weeks to split.
And then? Then they all moved in together. To repeat, Agnes lives with her husband, her ex-husband, and their combined three kids. And by the way, they’re all philosophy professors at The University of Chicago.
The cherry on top is that she talks about all of it. A lot. And with radical openness and honesty—including in an unforgettable profile of her in The New Yorker titled “Agnes Callard’s Marriage of the Minds.”
Perhaps you hear all of that and think: This wom...
- Title
- Bari Weiss: Welcome to the Global Intifada
- Runtime
- 10:39
- Date posted
- 1 year ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4dvCYLF
Read Bari Weiss’s full piece in The Free Press: https://thefp.pub/4dvQCyl
This week, outside of the Capital Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., a gunman opened fire and murdered two young people—Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim—because he thought they were Jews and because they were gathered in a Jewish place for an event hosted by a Jewish organization.
No police force can hold back a culture that has embraced violence as a means of expression—and that has lost hold of the difference between life and death.
- Title
- Did the U.S. Govt Poison These Veterans? The Secrets of Area 52
- Runtime
- 0:44
- Date posted
- 2 years ago
- Description
- Title
- The Secrets of Area 52
- Runtime
- 1:38
- Date posted
- 2 years ago
- Description
- Title
- Will A.I. Save Us—or Destroy Us? | A Free Press Debate
- Runtime
- 1:18:26
- Date posted
- 2 years ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3SgfX5J
Artificial intelligence is fundamentally reshaping our relationship with knowledge. Since humans started standing upright and talking to each other, we’ve found our way to wisdom through disagreement and debate.
But in the age of AI, our sages are machines we program ourselves, models that spit out the information we already have, reflecting our biases and our blind spots. What happens to the truth when we no longer wrestle with it, and only receive it passively through ultra-intelligent machines?
Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas and AI “godmother” Fei-Fei Li argued that this technology will improve our understanding of the world. They faced off against computer scientist Jaron Lanier and author Nicholas Carr, who argued that it would do just the opposite. The Free Press’s founder, Bari Weiss, moderated.
Cosmos Institute and FIRE are launching a $1...
- Title
- The Middle East on the Brink with Haviv Rettig Gur
- Runtime
- 1:08:44
- Date posted
- 2 years ago
- Description
- Join our next livestream. Subscribe today: https://thefp.pub/43Ga8VF
Haviv Rettig Gur is one of the most insightful Middle East analysts in the world. He has a gift for making a complicated, complex region not only accessible, but unforgettable.
We never miss his columns or his podcasts. That’s especially true of late, as Iran inches ever closer to a nuclear weapon, as Trump visits the region, and as Israel reenters Gaza.
Which is why on Friday we asked him to join us for a livestream to answer any and all subscriber questions about the Middle East. The FP's Maya Sulkin asked Haviv about how Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been sidelined in hostage negotiations, what Trump’s trip to Qatar means for his strategic thinking, and if Hamas really can be defeated in Gaza.
These subscriber-only livestreams are one of the many benefits of being a paid subscriber to The Free Press. (Thank you to everyone who joined on Friday!...
- Title
- They Worked for a Top-Secret Program. Now They’re Dying.
- Runtime
- 17:12
- Date posted
- 2 years ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3ZsDXGF
Everyone has heard of Area 51, the Air Force facility in Nevada focused on experimental aerospace development and—if you believe the conspiracy theories—where the U.S. government has been hoarding alien spacecraft. But few know about another classified facility right next door, nicknamed Area 52.
Area 52 is also known as the Tonopah Test Range, which the Department of Defense and the Department of Energy use for weapons development and testing. It was at this range that, in 1963, the DoD conducted Operation Roller Coaster, in which radioactive material was detonated with conventional explosives, creating what is colloquially known as a “dirty bomb.”
The Tonopah Test Range takes its name from an old silver mining town with a population of just 2,000 people. There’s an unspoken rule in Tonopah: You do not ask about work. Employees at the range can’t tell the...
- Title
- Andrew Cuomo on His Downfall—and Unlikely Comeback
- Runtime
- 1:20:07
- Date posted
- 2 years ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/3SOwr5a
When you think about great political comebacks, maybe you think of Donald Trump, or Richard Nixon, or “comeback kid” Bill Clinton.
You might soon add Andrew Cuomo to that list. In 2020, Cuomo was at the top of the world. He had been governor of New York for a decade. He had an illustrious career in New York politics—which is sort of the Cuomo family business. He learned how the state worked from his father, three-term Democratic governor Mario Cuomo.
When Covid hit, Cuomo’s star just kept rising. Millions of Americans—even outside of New York—tuned into his Covid briefings and his CNN segments with his brother, Chris Cuomo, then of CNN.
He was “America’s governor.” On the cover of Rolling Stone. Women and men were even self-identifying as “Cuomosexual.”
Then it all came crashing down. With two scandals—one personal and...
- Title
- The Death of Cancel Culture
- Runtime
- 1:06:12
- Date posted
- 2 years ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/430eIOp
Listen to more episodes of Breaking History with Eli Lake: https://thefp.pub/4je6JmJ
Since Donald Trump won the presidential election, American institutions are shedding what remains of wokeness nearly everywhere. From Columbia University to Facebook, the old guardrails have crumbled.
Something similar happened nearly 60 years ago. After police and prosecutors drove the revolutionary comic Lenny Bruce into bankruptcy and overdose, America began its slide into vulgarity. Despite the best efforts of the word police of that era, the old taboos about sex and profanity melted away. So just how did America's censors end up losing the culture war?
- Title
- How a Refuge of Islamist Radicalism Bought America
- Runtime
- 7:20
- Date posted
- 2 years ago
- Description
- Read the full investigation: https://thefp.pub/43Du1M7
Support in-depth investigations. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/44Cj0N9
On Wednesday, Donald Trump will travel to Qatar. On his trip, the president will visit Al Udeid Air Base, the largest American military facility in the region, and attend meetings with the ruling Al Thani family. Perhaps he will also thank them for the $400 million gift of a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet that will reportedly be retrofitted for his use, and then transferred to his presidential library.
The airplane deal was signed off by Attorney General Pam Bondi. She used to work at a Washington, D.C., lobbying firm that received $115,000 a month from Qatar to fight human trafficking, according to a 2019 contract reviewed by The Free Press.
She’s not the only one in the administration with ties to the Persian Gulf state.
The tiny Gulf nation of Qatar has spent almost $100 billion...
- Title
- How Apple Sold Its Soul to an Authoritarian Regime | Patrick McGee
- Runtime
- 1:30:41
- Date posted
- 2 years ago
- Description
- Think for yourself. Subscribe to The Free Press today: https://thefp.pub/4j10S2T
The majority of people listening to this episode are hearing it on an iPhone. As most of us can attest, the iPhone is so central to our lives that if we lose it, we feel totally unmoored from our ability to function in the world.
It’s hard to explain how ubiquitous the iPhone is—and how much of a behemoth Apple is. Apple sells over 60 million iPhones in the U.S. a year, and one plant can make as many as 500,000 iPhones per day. And in 2024, the company brought in a total revenue of $391 billion.
The rise of Apple and the iPhone did not happen by accident. The fact that we all walk around with the most sophisticated technology in our pockets—at a cost of about a thousand dollars each—is the result of two forces: Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, and China, our largest geostrategic and economic rival.
Few people are more prepared to discuss the symbiotic ...
