# Donald Mcneil Jr
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Donald Gerard McNeil Jr. (born February 1, 1954) is an American journalist. He was a science and health reporter for The New York Times where he reported on epidemics, including HIV/AIDS and the COVID-19 pandemic.
46. Sex Cults and Twitter Files
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com
The New York Times stages a (one-day!) strike, and Nancy and Sarah debate unions, or what Sarah sees as a “20th-century infrastructure being dragged to 21st-century.” We also talk the Twitter Files, in which E…
99. Mike Pesca, Turbocharger of Sensible Political Commentary
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Our guest is the “Long Island-accented, turbocharged” Mike Pesca, host of The Gist. We begin — and end! — with fabu tech failure, but along the way, we talk to the intrepid podcaster about getting thrown on th…
Liar Liar Pants On Fire Dot Com
A spirited debate between Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley last night allowed the former South Carolina Governor to trot out a new attack line. Also, Donald McNeil Jr. has been covering pandemics since the aid crisis in the 80s. His new book The Wisdom of Plagues, collects all the lessons he has learn…
COVID Special: What the Media Got Wrong, and Right, with Dr. Anthony Fauci
COVID-19 feels like ancient history, but its effects linger — including what the pandemic did to citizens’ trust in media. Ben and Nayeema discuss the distrust that came out of the coronavirus pandemic and dig into the role that the media played. They talk to the man who became the center of media …
159. Michael Powell and the Permeability Between Worlds
Nancy here. One of the super-cool things about being a journalist is that you can contact people whose work amazes you and say, “Come on my podcast!” and they almost always say, “Sure!”
As did Michael Powell, one of my favorite journalists working today, currently at The Atlantic and previously at …
RFK Jr., Vaccines, Bird Flu & Health Under Trump 2.0
RFK Jr. was on the Hill, on Monday, working to persuade senators he’s capable of running the Department of Health and Human Services and its almost $2 trillion budget. Ever since the news his lawyer has petitioned the federal government to revoke the approval of a polio vaccine broke, that job has …
191. Donald McNeil Jr. on his Ouster from the NYT, Bad Science, and Lab Leak Theory
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com
Donald McNeil Jr., a 45-year New York Times veteran, comes on the pod to talk with Nancy and Sarah about … so much. The prompt was the recent NYT story, “We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our L…
234. Pamela Paul Spills On Her Exit From The New York Times
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.com
This is a hot one! Pamela Paul — longtime editor of the New York Times Book Review, author of nine books, current writer-at-large for the Wall Street Journal — tells Nancy and Sarah about her unceremonious exi…
Conspiracy theories
We Were Badly Misled About the Event That Changed Our LivesUploaded 07-04-25https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/16/opinion/covid-pandemic-lab-leak.htmlSince scientists began playing around with dangerous pathogens in laboratories, the world has experienced four or five pandemics1977 Russian fluAlmost c…
Zika
Since 2015 there have been Zika outbreaks reported in sixty countries. So, where did Zika come from? What happens when you get infected? How worried should you be?And why has Zika has become such a problem recently? To find out, we speak to Assoc. Prof. Desiree LaBeaud, Dr Cathy Spong, Dr Andrew Ha…
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