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We have been following the extraordinary news out of Venezuela this morning. Overnight, U.S. forces targeted the country, capturing its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife. Some U.S. lawmakers have been criticizing the Trump administration’s stance on Venezuela. Among them is Senator Tim Kaine. The Virginia Democrat is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. He’s a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee as well, and he joins us now. Good morning, Senator.

TIM KAINE: Daniel, good to be with you.

ESTRIN: You were among the lawmakers who said the Trump administration’s strikes on boats in the Caribbean were illegal. You were even discussing the possibility of those strikes constituting a war crime. So how do you see last night’s operations?

KAINE: Daniel, I think these strikes are clearly illegal. They have not been authorized by Congress, and the Constitution is clear that the U.S. doesn’t engage in military action or war without a vote of Congress, except in cases of imminent self-defense. The Constitution is absolutely clear on that. And so the boat strikes in international waters are illegal. Murdering shipwrecked sailors clinging to wreckage in those waters is illegal. And a U.S. invasion of Venezuela to depose its president and arrest him is illegal. And I have a vote scheduled in the next few days when we get back to Congress on Monday to put all senators on the record as to whether we should be at war with Venezuela without a vote of Congress.

ESTRIN: Senator, many Venezuelans do not support Maduro. Do you see anything positive from this development?

KAINE: Maduro is a disaster, and he’s been disastrous for the country. And we could say the same thing about a hundred and fifty leaders of countries around the world. But our Constitution is very, very clear that we don’t order servicemen and women into harm’s way, risking their lives, unless there is a congressional debate and vote about whether the war is in the national interest. Here, there was no real notification, no real Consultation, no real debate, and definitely not a vote. The president believes he can wage war on his own. And in the last weeks, you’ve seen him use the U.S. military to ostensibly protect Christians in Nigeria and threaten to use the U.S. military to protect Iranian protesters. He’s threatened U.S. military force or suggested he’s open to it to seize Panama, to seize Greenland. It’s time for Congress to get off the couch and exercise the oversight over this president’s desire to wage war on his own.

ESTRIN: What do you think President Trump is actually getting at with this operation?

KAINE: It’s unclear because the president started these operations in international waters, saying it was about narco-trafficking. But now both he and other administration officials have said, we want our oil back, we want our assets back and we also want to change regimes. The U.S. has tried to stand for the proposition that the sovereignty of nations should be respected. That’s why we’ve criticized Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. But we can’t, with a straight face, make the argument that we support the sovereignty of nations if we’re willing to engage in a unilateral presidentially declared war against Venezuela. And thus, he is really undercutting U.S.’ moral and – stance for an international rule of law where nations can invade each other willy-nilly, just because a president decides it’s a good idea to do so.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack : NPR

Tags: Illegal, Legal Questions, National Public Radio, NPR, Saturday, Senator, Tim Kaine, Trump, U.S. Senate, Venezuela, Venezuela Attack, Weekend Edition
#Illegal #LegalQuestions #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #Saturday #Senator #TimKaine #Trump #USSenate #Venezuela #VenezuelaAttack #WeekendEdition

#illegal #legalquestions #nationalpublicradio #npr #saturday #senator

DrWeb @[email protected] · 2026-01-04 · 23:20 UTC

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack – NPR

Politics

Tim Kaine

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack

January 3, 202610:27 AM ET, Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday

Daniel Estrin 4-Minute Listen Transcript

Kaine is among the lawmakers who have been critical of the Trump administration’s stance toward Venezuela.

DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:

We have been following the extraordinary news out of Venezuela this morning. Overnight, U.S. forces targeted the country, capturing its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife. Some U.S. lawmakers have been criticizing the Trump administration’s stance on Venezuela. Among them is Senator Tim Kaine. The Virginia Democrat is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. He’s a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee as well, and he joins us now. Good morning, Senator.

TIM KAINE: Daniel, good to be with you.

ESTRIN: You were among the lawmakers who said the Trump administration’s strikes on boats in the Caribbean were illegal. You were even discussing the possibility of those strikes constituting a war crime. So how do you see last night’s operations?

KAINE: Daniel, I think these strikes are clearly illegal. They have not been authorized by Congress, and the Constitution is clear that the U.S. doesn’t engage in military action or war without a vote of Congress, except in cases of imminent self-defense. The Constitution is absolutely clear on that. And so the boat strikes in international waters are illegal. Murdering shipwrecked sailors clinging to wreckage in those waters is illegal. And a U.S. invasion of Venezuela to depose its president and arrest him is illegal. And I have a vote scheduled in the next few days when we get back to Congress on Monday to put all senators on the record as to whether we should be at war with Venezuela without a vote of Congress.

ESTRIN: Senator, many Venezuelans do not support Maduro. Do you see anything positive from this development?

KAINE: Maduro is a disaster, and he’s been disastrous for the country. And we could say the same thing about a hundred and fifty leaders of countries around the world. But our Constitution is very, very clear that we don’t order servicemen and women into harm’s way, risking their lives, unless there is a congressional debate and vote about whether the war is in the national interest. Here, there was no real notification, no real Consultation, no real debate, and definitely not a vote. The president believes he can wage war on his own. And in the last weeks, you’ve seen him use the U.S. military to ostensibly protect Christians in Nigeria and threaten to use the U.S. military to protect Iranian protesters. He’s threatened U.S. military force or suggested he’s open to it to seize Panama, to seize Greenland. It’s time for Congress to get off the couch and exercise the oversight over this president’s desire to wage war on his own.

ESTRIN: What do you think President Trump is actually getting at with this operation?

KAINE: It’s unclear because the president started these operations in international waters, saying it was about narco-trafficking. But now both he and other administration officials have said, we want our oil back, we want our assets back and we also want to change regimes. The U.S. has tried to stand for the proposition that the sovereignty of nations should be respected. That’s why we’ve criticized Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. But we can’t, with a straight face, make the argument that we support the sovereignty of nations if we’re willing to engage in a unilateral presidentially declared war against Venezuela. And thus, he is really undercutting U.S.’ moral and – stance for an international rule of law where nations can invade each other willy-nilly, just because a president decides it’s a good idea to do so.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack : NPR

Tags: Illegal, Legal Questions, National Public Radio, NPR, Saturday, Senator, Tim Kaine, Trump, U.S. Senate, Venezuela, Venezuela Attack, Weekend Edition
#Illegal #LegalQuestions #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #Saturday #Senator #TimKaine #Trump #USSenate #Venezuela #VenezuelaAttack #WeekendEdition

#illegal #legalquestions #nationalpublicradio #npr #saturday #senator

DrWeb @[email protected] · 2026-01-04 · 23:20 UTC

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack – NPR

Politics

Tim Kaine

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack

January 3, 202610:27 AM ET, Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday

Daniel Estrin 4-Minute Listen Transcript

Kaine is among the lawmakers who have been critical of the Trump administration’s stance toward Venezuela.

DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:

We have been following the extraordinary news out of Venezuela this morning. Overnight, U.S. forces targeted the country, capturing its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife. Some U.S. lawmakers have been criticizing the Trump administration’s stance on Venezuela. Among them is Senator Tim Kaine. The Virginia Democrat is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. He’s a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee as well, and he joins us now. Good morning, Senator.

TIM KAINE: Daniel, good to be with you.

ESTRIN: You were among the lawmakers who said the Trump administration’s strikes on boats in the Caribbean were illegal. You were even discussing the possibility of those strikes constituting a war crime. So how do you see last night’s operations?

KAINE: Daniel, I think these strikes are clearly illegal. They have not been authorized by Congress, and the Constitution is clear that the U.S. doesn’t engage in military action or war without a vote of Congress, except in cases of imminent self-defense. The Constitution is absolutely clear on that. And so the boat strikes in international waters are illegal. Murdering shipwrecked sailors clinging to wreckage in those waters is illegal. And a U.S. invasion of Venezuela to depose its president and arrest him is illegal. And I have a vote scheduled in the next few days when we get back to Congress on Monday to put all senators on the record as to whether we should be at war with Venezuela without a vote of Congress.

ESTRIN: Senator, many Venezuelans do not support Maduro. Do you see anything positive from this development?

KAINE: Maduro is a disaster, and he’s been disastrous for the country. And we could say the same thing about a hundred and fifty leaders of countries around the world. But our Constitution is very, very clear that we don’t order servicemen and women into harm’s way, risking their lives, unless there is a congressional debate and vote about whether the war is in the national interest. Here, there was no real notification, no real Consultation, no real debate, and definitely not a vote. The president believes he can wage war on his own. And in the last weeks, you’ve seen him use the U.S. military to ostensibly protect Christians in Nigeria and threaten to use the U.S. military to protect Iranian protesters. He’s threatened U.S. military force or suggested he’s open to it to seize Panama, to seize Greenland. It’s time for Congress to get off the couch and exercise the oversight over this president’s desire to wage war on his own.

ESTRIN: What do you think President Trump is actually getting at with this operation?

KAINE: It’s unclear because the president started these operations in international waters, saying it was about narco-trafficking. But now both he and other administration officials have said, we want our oil back, we want our assets back and we also want to change regimes. The U.S. has tried to stand for the proposition that the sovereignty of nations should be respected. That’s why we’ve criticized Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. But we can’t, with a straight face, make the argument that we support the sovereignty of nations if we’re willing to engage in a unilateral presidentially declared war against Venezuela. And thus, he is really undercutting U.S.’ moral and – stance for an international rule of law where nations can invade each other willy-nilly, just because a president decides it’s a good idea to do so.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack : NPR

Tags: Illegal, Legal Questions, National Public Radio, NPR, Saturday, Senator, Tim Kaine, Trump, U.S. Senate, Venezuela, Venezuela Attack, Weekend Edition
#Illegal #LegalQuestions #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #Saturday #Senator #TimKaine #Trump #USSenate #Venezuela #VenezuelaAttack #WeekendEdition

#illegal #legalquestions #nationalpublicradio #npr #saturday #senator

DrWeb @[email protected] · 2026-01-04 · 23:20 UTC

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack – NPR

Politics

Tim Kaine

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack

January 3, 202610:27 AM ET, Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday

Daniel Estrin 4-Minute Listen Transcript

Kaine is among the lawmakers who have been critical of the Trump administration’s stance toward Venezuela.

DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:

We have been following the extraordinary news out of Venezuela this morning. Overnight, U.S. forces targeted the country, capturing its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife. Some U.S. lawmakers have been criticizing the Trump administration’s stance on Venezuela. Among them is Senator Tim Kaine. The Virginia Democrat is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. He’s a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee as well, and he joins us now. Good morning, Senator.

TIM KAINE: Daniel, good to be with you.

ESTRIN: You were among the lawmakers who said the Trump administration’s strikes on boats in the Caribbean were illegal. You were even discussing the possibility of those strikes constituting a war crime. So how do you see last night’s operations?

KAINE: Daniel, I think these strikes are clearly illegal. They have not been authorized by Congress, and the Constitution is clear that the U.S. doesn’t engage in military action or war without a vote of Congress, except in cases of imminent self-defense. The Constitution is absolutely clear on that. And so the boat strikes in international waters are illegal. Murdering shipwrecked sailors clinging to wreckage in those waters is illegal. And a U.S. invasion of Venezuela to depose its president and arrest him is illegal. And I have a vote scheduled in the next few days when we get back to Congress on Monday to put all senators on the record as to whether we should be at war with Venezuela without a vote of Congress.

ESTRIN: Senator, many Venezuelans do not support Maduro. Do you see anything positive from this development?

KAINE: Maduro is a disaster, and he’s been disastrous for the country. And we could say the same thing about a hundred and fifty leaders of countries around the world. But our Constitution is very, very clear that we don’t order servicemen and women into harm’s way, risking their lives, unless there is a congressional debate and vote about whether the war is in the national interest. Here, there was no real notification, no real Consultation, no real debate, and definitely not a vote. The president believes he can wage war on his own. And in the last weeks, you’ve seen him use the U.S. military to ostensibly protect Christians in Nigeria and threaten to use the U.S. military to protect Iranian protesters. He’s threatened U.S. military force or suggested he’s open to it to seize Panama, to seize Greenland. It’s time for Congress to get off the couch and exercise the oversight over this president’s desire to wage war on his own.

ESTRIN: What do you think President Trump is actually getting at with this operation?

KAINE: It’s unclear because the president started these operations in international waters, saying it was about narco-trafficking. But now both he and other administration officials have said, we want our oil back, we want our assets back and we also want to change regimes. The U.S. has tried to stand for the proposition that the sovereignty of nations should be respected. That’s why we’ve criticized Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. But we can’t, with a straight face, make the argument that we support the sovereignty of nations if we’re willing to engage in a unilateral presidentially declared war against Venezuela. And thus, he is really undercutting U.S.’ moral and – stance for an international rule of law where nations can invade each other willy-nilly, just because a president decides it’s a good idea to do so.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack : NPR

#Illegal #LegalQuestions #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #Saturday #Senator #TimKaine #Trump #USSenate #Venezuela #VenezuelaAttack #WeekendEdition

#weekendedition #venezuelaattack #venezuela #ussenate #trump #timkaine

DrWeb @[email protected] · 2026-01-04 · 23:20 UTC

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack – NPR

Politics

Tim Kaine

Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack

January 3, 202610:27 AM ET, Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday

Daniel Estrin 4-Minute Listen Transcript

Kaine is among the lawmakers who have been critical of the Trump administration’s stance toward Venezuela.

DANIEL ESTRIN, HOST:

We have been following the extraordinary news out of Venezuela this morning. Overnight, U.S. forces targeted the country, capturing its president, Nicolás Maduro, and his wife. Some U.S. lawmakers have been criticizing the Trump administration’s stance on Venezuela. Among them is Senator Tim Kaine. The Virginia Democrat is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere. He’s a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee as well, and he joins us now. Good morning, Senator.

TIM KAINE: Daniel, good to be with you.

ESTRIN: You were among the lawmakers who said the Trump administration’s strikes on boats in the Caribbean were illegal. You were even discussing the possibility of those strikes constituting a war crime. So how do you see last night’s operations?

KAINE: Daniel, I think these strikes are clearly illegal. They have not been authorized by Congress, and the Constitution is clear that the U.S. doesn’t engage in military action or war without a vote of Congress, except in cases of imminent self-defense. The Constitution is absolutely clear on that. And so the boat strikes in international waters are illegal. Murdering shipwrecked sailors clinging to wreckage in those waters is illegal. And a U.S. invasion of Venezuela to depose its president and arrest him is illegal. And I have a vote scheduled in the next few days when we get back to Congress on Monday to put all senators on the record as to whether we should be at war with Venezuela without a vote of Congress.

ESTRIN: Senator, many Venezuelans do not support Maduro. Do you see anything positive from this development?

KAINE: Maduro is a disaster, and he’s been disastrous for the country. And we could say the same thing about a hundred and fifty leaders of countries around the world. But our Constitution is very, very clear that we don’t order servicemen and women into harm’s way, risking their lives, unless there is a congressional debate and vote about whether the war is in the national interest. Here, there was no real notification, no real Consultation, no real debate, and definitely not a vote. The president believes he can wage war on his own. And in the last weeks, you’ve seen him use the U.S. military to ostensibly protect Christians in Nigeria and threaten to use the U.S. military to protect Iranian protesters. He’s threatened U.S. military force or suggested he’s open to it to seize Panama, to seize Greenland. It’s time for Congress to get off the couch and exercise the oversight over this president’s desire to wage war on his own.

ESTRIN: What do you think President Trump is actually getting at with this operation?

KAINE: It’s unclear because the president started these operations in international waters, saying it was about narco-trafficking. But now both he and other administration officials have said, we want our oil back, we want our assets back and we also want to change regimes. The U.S. has tried to stand for the proposition that the sovereignty of nations should be respected. That’s why we’ve criticized Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. But we can’t, with a straight face, make the argument that we support the sovereignty of nations if we’re willing to engage in a unilateral presidentially declared war against Venezuela. And thus, he is really undercutting U.S.’ moral and – stance for an international rule of law where nations can invade each other willy-nilly, just because a president decides it’s a good idea to do so.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine on legal questions surrounding the Venezuela attack : NPR

#Illegal #LegalQuestions #NationalPublicRadio #NPR #Saturday #Senator #TimKaine #Trump #USSenate #Venezuela #VenezuelaAttack #WeekendEdition

#illegal #legalquestions #nationalpublicradio #npr #saturday #senator

DrWeb @[email protected] · 2025-11-26 · 05:07 UTC

Books We Love: These were NPR staffers’ favorite plot-driven books of 2025 : NPR

Books

Books We Love: These were NPR staffers’ favorite plot-driven books of 2025

November 23, 20258:08 AM ET, Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday

By Andrew Limbong, and Ayesha Rascoe 4-Minute Listen Transcript

Books We Love

Here are the Books We Love: 380+ great 2025 reads recommended by NPR

NPR’s Andrew Limbong talks about some of NPR staffers’ favorite plot-driven books of 2025.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Folks, if you can, get out a pen and paper because we’re about to talk about some of our favorite books of the year, and you might want to jot a few of these titles down. With us to talk about NPR’s annual interactive books roundup, Books We Love, is Andrew Limbong, host of NPR’s Book Of The Day podcast. Thanks for being with us.

ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Hey, Ayesha.

RASCOE: We love this time of year. But for listeners who aren’t familiar, tell them about Books We Love.

LIMBONG: It is not just, like, a best of – here’s the 10 best books you’ve got to read in 2025, right? We ask everyone at NPR – so we got editors and producers and people on the business side and all that stuff. We asked them what their favorite books of the year were. This year, we’re in the neighborhood of 380 books, which is a lot. But the size and scope is sort of the whole point.

RASCOE: So what have you got for us?

LIMBONG: All right, well, word on the street, I hear that someone on your staff is looking for something plotty (ph).

RASCOE: OK.

LIMBONG: So one of the books I personally recommended was a Emma Pattee’s “Tilt.” Now, this is a book about a woman. She’s super-duper pregnant, and she’s at an IKEA running an errand when an earthquake happens. And it’s a really speedy book because at its core, it is a very – person has to go from point A to point B, right? She’s got to find her way home out of this IKEA in a Portland that has been ravaged by an earthquake, and she runs into a few obstacles here and there, and she sort of has to be on the move. But what it is also is a critique or a pretty funny send-up of the “Keeping Up With The Joneses” of parenthood – right? – you know, that feeling where if you don’t buy the fanciest schmanciest bajillion-dollar stroller, you are a failure.

RASCOE: Yeah.

LIMBONG: It’s sort of poking at that and asking some interesting questions about motherhood and marriage and relationships, all while being straight up an action-adventure book.

Another sort of plotty book is Kashana Cauley’s “The Payback.” This is a bit of a heist novel about a woman and her friends who concoct a bit of a “Ocean’s Eleven” type caper to wipe out everyone’s student loans. This isn’t necessarily taking place in our world. It’s in a bit of a heightened world where there are these special cops on the hunt for anyone who is late to repay their debts, and they will track you down and kind of assault you if you’re late on your repayment. It’s a pretty thrilling read.

RASCOE: OK. Well, what about nonfiction?

LIMBONG: Yeah. I know – we’re at the time of year where a lot of families are traveling, right? And traveling can be stressful. So a book I’ve been thinking about is called “A Marriage At Sea” by Sophie Elmhirst, right? It’s about a young British couple in the ’70s who decide they want to sell everything off and sail to New Zealand. Things don’t go great (laughter). And they end up floating on a life raft in the Pacific. It’s a deeply reported book, but it does also make me think, like, oh, maybe me dragging my partner to the airport and the plane is delayed – things could be worse than having to eat stale McDonald’s fries. You know what I mean?

RASCOE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

LIMBONG: (Laughter) While we’re talking about nonfiction, there’s also this book called “Fetishized” by Kaila Yu. And this is a essay collection about having mixed feelings about being objectified. She was a former model, and so she cops to catering for what we might call the male gaze, but she is also aware of the broader political, cultural baggage that doing that can have. And so I think it’s an interesting insight into a weird slice of life.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Books We Love: These were NPR staffers’ favorite plot-driven books of 2025 : NPR

#2025 #andrewLimbong #ayeshaRascoe #bookOfTheDay #books #booksWeLove #favorite #nationalPublicRadio #npr #nprStaff #podcast #sunday #weekendEdition

#weekendedition #sunday #podcast #nprstaff #npr #nationalpublicradio

DrWeb @[email protected] · 2025-11-26 · 05:07 UTC

Books We Love: These were NPR staffers’ favorite plot-driven books of 2025 : NPR

Books

Books We Love: These were NPR staffers’ favorite plot-driven books of 2025

November 23, 20258:08 AM ET, Heard on Weekend Edition Sunday

By Andrew Limbong, and Ayesha Rascoe 4-Minute Listen Transcript

Books We Love

Here are the Books We Love: 380+ great 2025 reads recommended by NPR

NPR’s Andrew Limbong talks about some of NPR staffers’ favorite plot-driven books of 2025.

AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:

Folks, if you can, get out a pen and paper because we’re about to talk about some of our favorite books of the year, and you might want to jot a few of these titles down. With us to talk about NPR’s annual interactive books roundup, Books We Love, is Andrew Limbong, host of NPR’s Book Of The Day podcast. Thanks for being with us.

ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: Hey, Ayesha.

RASCOE: We love this time of year. But for listeners who aren’t familiar, tell them about Books We Love.

LIMBONG: It is not just, like, a best of – here’s the 10 best books you’ve got to read in 2025, right? We ask everyone at NPR – so we got editors and producers and people on the business side and all that stuff. We asked them what their favorite books of the year were. This year, we’re in the neighborhood of 380 books, which is a lot. But the size and scope is sort of the whole point.

RASCOE: So what have you got for us?

LIMBONG: All right, well, word on the street, I hear that someone on your staff is looking for something plotty (ph).

RASCOE: OK.

LIMBONG: So one of the books I personally recommended was a Emma Pattee’s “Tilt.” Now, this is a book about a woman. She’s super-duper pregnant, and she’s at an IKEA running an errand when an earthquake happens. And it’s a really speedy book because at its core, it is a very – person has to go from point A to point B, right? She’s got to find her way home out of this IKEA in a Portland that has been ravaged by an earthquake, and she runs into a few obstacles here and there, and she sort of has to be on the move. But what it is also is a critique or a pretty funny send-up of the “Keeping Up With The Joneses” of parenthood – right? – you know, that feeling where if you don’t buy the fanciest schmanciest bajillion-dollar stroller, you are a failure.

RASCOE: Yeah.

LIMBONG: It’s sort of poking at that and asking some interesting questions about motherhood and marriage and relationships, all while being straight up an action-adventure book.

Another sort of plotty book is Kashana Cauley’s “The Payback.” This is a bit of a heist novel about a woman and her friends who concoct a bit of a “Ocean’s Eleven” type caper to wipe out everyone’s student loans. This isn’t necessarily taking place in our world. It’s in a bit of a heightened world where there are these special cops on the hunt for anyone who is late to repay their debts, and they will track you down and kind of assault you if you’re late on your repayment. It’s a pretty thrilling read.

RASCOE: OK. Well, what about nonfiction?

LIMBONG: Yeah. I know – we’re at the time of year where a lot of families are traveling, right? And traveling can be stressful. So a book I’ve been thinking about is called “A Marriage At Sea” by Sophie Elmhirst, right? It’s about a young British couple in the ’70s who decide they want to sell everything off and sail to New Zealand. Things don’t go great (laughter). And they end up floating on a life raft in the Pacific. It’s a deeply reported book, but it does also make me think, like, oh, maybe me dragging my partner to the airport and the plane is delayed – things could be worse than having to eat stale McDonald’s fries. You know what I mean?

RASCOE: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

LIMBONG: (Laughter) While we’re talking about nonfiction, there’s also this book called “Fetishized” by Kaila Yu. And this is a essay collection about having mixed feelings about being objectified. She was a former model, and so she cops to catering for what we might call the male gaze, but she is also aware of the broader political, cultural baggage that doing that can have. And so I think it’s an interesting insight into a weird slice of life.

Editor’s Note: Read the rest of the story, at the below link.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: Books We Love: These were NPR staffers’ favorite plot-driven books of 2025 : NPR

#2025 #andrewLimbong #ayeshaRascoe #bookOfTheDay #books #booksWeLove #favorite #nationalPublicRadio #npr #nprStaff #podcast #sunday #weekendEdition

#andrewlimbong #ayesharascoe #bookoftheday #books #bookswelove #favorite

DrWeb @[email protected] · 2025-10-26 · 23:24 UTC

One of music’s best kept secrets celebrates 100 years, quietly – NPR

Music

One of music’s best kept secrets celebrates 100 years, quietly

The story of Coolidge Auditorium, at the Library of Congress, is one of American ingenuity, cultural integrity and a century of free concerts.

October 25, 20258:18 AM ET, Heard on Weekend Edition Saturday

Tom Huizenga 6-Minute Listen Transcript

The Dalí Quartet, accompanied by Ricardo Morales on clarinet, performs during the Library of Congress’ Stradivari concert in Coolidge Auditorium in 2023. The Library was given a rare set of Stradivarius instruments in 1935.
Shawn Miller/Library of Congress

The year is 1925. The Great Gatsby is published, the jazz age is swinging, and on October 28th, a new concert hall opens at an unlikely spot — the Library of Congress, in Washington D.C. If only its cream-colored walls could talk. For 100 years, performers of all stripes have graced the Library stage, from classical music luminaries like Béla Bartók and Igor Stravinsky to Stevie Wonder, Audra McDonald and Max Roach. Today, it remains one of the capitol city’s most beautiful, best sounding and perhaps best kept secrets.

The idea for a concert hall at the Library of Congress did not stem from congress. It came from philanthropist Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge — and one bespoke piece of bipartisan legislation. “She was indefatigable and intrepid,” says Anne McLean, senior producer for concerts at the Library, “a remarkable woman, six feet tall, a brilliant pianist.” McLean is sitting with me on the stage, overlooking the empty auditorium. To mark the centennial, celebratory concerts and commissions have been heard in the hall all year. But not now. The government shutdown has forced the hall to close its doors, and unless a deal is reached before Tuesday, it’ll be closed on the anniversary itself.

Coolidge was born into a wealthy Chicago family in 1864. She studied music, traveled abroad, married a Harvard-trained orthopedic surgeon and, in 1924, came to Washington to establish a foothold in the nation’s capitol. She approached Carl Engel, the Library’s music chief, about the possibility of adding a small concert hall to the Library’s voluptuous — and voluminous — Thomas Jefferson building, designed after the Paris opera house and completed in 1897. You can’t see the hall from the outside, as it’s tucked inside the building’s Northwest Courtyard.

In 1924, Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge wrote her first check to the Librarian of Congress, Herbert Putnam, to begin the construction of a new auditorium.

Eager to get started, Coolidge wrote a check for $60,000 to the Librarian of Congress, Herbert Putnam, on Nov. 12, 1924. And yet there was no legal mechanism in place for a civilian to make such a monetary gift to the U.S. government. Congress worked quickly, taking only a little over a month to pass a bill allowing such a contribution.

It took less than six months to build the hall itself — the intimate, 485-seat Coolidge Auditorium, with its warm precise acoustics. “There are a lot of secrets to it,” McLean says. “The back wall of the auditorium is slightly shaved to be concave and extremely responsive to string sound. Underneath the stage is hollow. But that hollowness is a factor, as is the cork floor, which was very unusual for its time.” McLean says the sound blossoms in the hall. Keen to spread the sound far and wide, Coolidge even had the building wired for the relatively new medium of radio. She added to her initial sum to establish a fund for the commissioning of new music. Engel dubbed her “The Fairy-God-Mother of Music.”

Construction of Coolidge Auditorium, at the Library of Congress, began in May, 1925. It was finished in time for the very first concert on Oct. 28 of that year. Library of Congress

Coolidge was well-connected and fiercely advocated for music. In 1944, she took to the local Washington airwaves with another bold idea. “I could wish for music, the same governmental protection that is given to hygiene, education or public welfare,” she said over WTOP. “How wonderful, if we could have in the cabinet, a secretary of fine arts.”

Coolidge never got her wish, but what she had already created was arguably more important — a living, breathing concert hall that serves as a cultural beacon — preserving history and cultivating new music through commissions.

The Martha Graham Dance Company performs the world premiere of Aaron Copland’s Appalachian Spring on the stage of the Coolidge Auditorium on Oct. 30, 1944. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation Collection / Library of Congress

Perhaps the most famous commission became one of America’s most iconic pieces of music. Aaron Copland‘s ballet Appalachian Spring, written for dancer and choreographer Martha Graham, received its world premiere at Coolidge Auditorium on Oct. 30, 1944. “I think people knew what they were hearing,” McLean says. The ballet would win the Pulitzer prize for music the following year, along with the New York Music Critics Circle Award. It’s hard to imagine a full ballet produced on Coolidge’s modestly-sized stage.

Continue/Read Original Article Here: One of music’s best kept secrets celebrates 100 years, quietly : NPR

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