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Episodes
  • 'If You Can Keep It': Pardons In The Trump Administration

    'If You Can Keep It': Pardons In The Trump Administration
    Jun 29 2026
    President Donald Trump has taken an increasingly personal role in the government’s clemency process, wielding pardons aid his allies and advance his own political grievances.

    A Reuters investigation found that 96% of Trump’s second-term clemency grants have gone to recipients who didn’t fulfill longstanding DOJ guidelines for such requests. Past presidents on have sidestepped those rules before, but fewer than 1% of those who received clemency during the Biden administration and just 14% of recipients in Trump’s first presidency failed to meet the guidelines.

    Pardon applicants once had to comply with longstanding DOJ guidelines, such as a five-year wait after conviction or demonstrated remorse for their crimes. But a Reuters’ analysis shows that under Trump, clemency now is far more dependent upon access to his inner circle. They also found that “access is enhanced when an applicant can craft a narrative that resonates with the president’s own sense of victimization.”

    During his first administration, Trump granted just 238 pardons and commutations, most of which came amid his frantic final days in office. But this term the White House has made clemencies a key part of its agenda.

    As part of our weekly series “If You Can Keep it,” we discuss pardons in the second Trump Administration.

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    38 mins
  • The News Roundup for June 26, 2026

    The News Roundup for June 26, 2026
    Jun 26 2026
    This week the Supreme Court sides with President Trump on ending Temporary Protected Status. The decades-long program currently gives legal status in the U.S. to about 350,000 Haitians and more than 6,000 Syrians seeking refuge from crises at home.

    The court also ruled to renew a “turn-back” policy at the border with Mexico that prevents migrants from entering the U.S. to seek asylum. A decision on President Trump’s effort to end birthright citizenship in the U.S. is expected soon.

    Also in Washington, the president creates chaos in his own party, demanding that Republican Senators reconsider their support for a war powers resolution on Iran. A vote to limit war powers passed on Tuesday with support from four Republicans. A similar resolution failed on Wednesday. President Trump also on Wednesday refused to sign a bipartisan housing bill that had passed the House 358-32.

    And in New York, three candidates backed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani win their primaries for Congressional seats against establishment Democrats.

    And, in global news, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance were overseas this week, selling and negotiating an end to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.

    But Iran’s chief negotiator calls the deal an “American declaration of defeat” and it marks the end of any remaining joint Iran-strategy between the U.S. and Israel.

    Delegations from Israel and Lebanon meet in Washington to extend a ceasefire in a conflict that’s killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon and displaced 20% of the population of under 6 million. And Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vows to continue fighting in Lebanon as he faces pressure at home and isolation from U.S. leaders.

    Prime Minister Keir Starmer resigns in the U.K., but analysts say his likely successor Andy Burnham will face the same deep challenges that have knocked out six leaders in the 10 years since Brexit.

    We cover the most important stories from around the world in the News Roundup.

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    1 hr and 26 mins
  • AI: The Peril And Opportunity Of Artificial Superintelligence

    AI: The Peril And Opportunity Of Artificial Superintelligence
    Jun 25 2026
    Artificial Intelligence is advancing at a dizzying pace. One analysis shows it doubling its abilities every seven months.

    And it’s surpassed humans in more than just trivia and Chess. Last year, an AI from Microsoft solved complex medical cases with 85% accuracy, far about the 20% average for experienced physicians. And a recent Stanford report found that some of the newest A-I systems now match or beat the average human expert on PhD-level science questions.

    But what happens when A-I is better and smarter than the brightest among us at every task? That’s called superintelligence.

    Researchers disagree about how close we are to that sci-fi goal: is it years, or decades—or possible at all? And what happens if that genie-in-a-bottle is let loose? Some say the risk is as existential as total human extinction.

    We’ll discuss the biggest promise – and peril – of AI’s advancement beyond humans.

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    46 mins
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