U.S. fighter jets launched airstrikes early Friday on two locations in eastern Syria linked to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. The strikes were in retaliation for recent drone and missile attacks against American servicemembers. Behnam Ben Taleblu tells WTOP he doubts this will be enough to cause Iran to back down

When Beyoncé and Taylor Swift come to your town, they’re bringing a massive economic boost!  Jordyn Holman of the New York Times shares her reporting with WTOP.

The Council on Foreign Relations president focuses on his own country in the new book The Bill of Obligations and tells WTOP we must all do our part to save the nation.

ProPublica’s Kavitha Surana shares her reporting on Tennessee’s strict abortion ban – and where it could lead in a few years.

Inflation is causing many of us to rack up credit card debt. Consumerman Herb Weisbaum, with Checkbook.org, tells WTOP you shouldn’t be afraid to get some help paying down your bills.

Lending Tree‘s Matt Schulz tells WTOP how to handle your credit cards in this high-interest environment

Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kreme, 7-11 and others are rolling out their pumpkin spice drinks and food long before there will be any frost on the pumpkin. Kelly Tyko of Axios joined WTOP to explain the madness. (which she supports)

Dr. Bruce Y. Lee tells WTOP precautions are a smart way to go during the rest of 2022 – in dealing with COVID

The Washington Post’s Seung Min Kim tells WTOP about President Biden’s recent meetings on loan forgiveness

Georgetown Business Professor Robert Bies joins WTOP to discuss why workers – at some of the nation’s biggest companies – are scrambling to start and join unions right now

Trans children fear a new Alabama law that targets their medicine and which bathrooms they can use. We discuss the effect of such laws with Boston University’s Linda McClain

The Daily Beast’s Zachary Petrizzo summarizes the demonstrators’ three weeks in – and around – the nation’s capital

Larkin Campbell talks to WTOP about the cloud hanging over the Oscars and his many decades doing all kinds of jobs in the entertainment industry

Andy Slavitt, former senior adviser to President Biden’s COVID-19 pandemic response team, talks to WTOP about the rising BA.2  subvariant and being sensitive to those most vulnerable to the disease. (Check out his In the Bubble podcast and book – and listen to the full WTOP interview below)

We talk about a double standard in Ukraine refugee treatment w/ Dr. Tarek Kteleh on WTOP

Between the sanctions, and hundreds of companies leaving, who can Russia rely on economically? Bethany Allen-Ebrahimian tells WTOP the answer appears to be China

Retired Army Major John Spencer tells WTOP the Ukranians will have to practically destroy Kyiv in order to save it  (here’s the latest on the war)

Janette Dill tells WTOP about her research into Black women as the backbone of healthcare, and how they deserve a lot more pay for what they do

Will there be another COVID-related pause on student loan payments? Could there even be major loan forgiveness? Adam Minsky tells WTOP we should know by May 1st, 2022

New York Times Reporter Brian Chen tells WTOP why Apple’s privacy efforts are tormenting other tech giants

Politico’s Josh Gerstein discusses Ilya Shapiro’s criticism of President Biden’s vow to nominate a Black woman to the Supreme Court

Vice News Chief Political Correspondent Liz Landers talks about former President Trump’s rally near Houston, where he promised to pardon January 6th rioters if he wins office again. We also looked at election deniers who are running for secretary of state across the country.

FiveThirtyEight’s Geoffrey Skelley tells WTOP why so many Democratic House members have decided not to run again

Consumerman Herb Weisbaum, with checkbook.org, tells WTOP car makers are looking for new revenue streams through these subscription services. If you don’t pay the fees – you could be without features behind the wheel

The Washington Post’s Dan Balz joins WTOP to discuss the new Post/University of Maryland poll that shows major divides over January 6th

American Enterprise Institute’s Kori Schake tells WTOP the tactical analysts she works with believe invading Ukraine – and sustaining a long war – is too expensive for Putin

Jonthan Schanzer joins WTOP to review President Biden’s geopolitical efforts (Listen below and check out Schanzer’s foreign policy tracker)

Prolific sportswriter & author John Feinstein – his latest book “Raise a Fist, Take a Knee” – shares his thoughts and memories on the late NFL great 

Matt Santoro has worked for both the incumbent and the challenger and tells WTOP the race will likely be quite competitive

Kelley Vlahos tells WTOP she believes deadly drone strikes have helped erode trust and support for the U-S Armed Forces

Politico’s Erin Banco tells WTOP about former President Trump promoting COVID boosters and current President Biden’s messaging on the pandemic

Alessandra Lezama with on-demand child care platform TOOTRiS tells WTOP the expiration of the child tax credit will be disastrous

Christian Toto reviews American Underdog – along with The Matrix Resurrections & The Tender Bar – on WTOP

Consumerman Herb Weisbaum, with checkbook.org, talks to WTOP about this year’s gift return policies (Listen below and read)

Dr. Stephen Strader talks to WTOP about whether the recent deadly and destructive Quad-State tornado is the longest-lasting on record and whether it was caused by climate change

The new Spider-Man movie has a huge opening weekend – as Christian Toto offers a review on WTOP and we offer AP’s take 

The RAND Corporation’s Chris Whaley tells WTOP about his new study in Health Affairs 

NBC News Reporter Deon Hampton tells WTOP he spoke with several workers who said they were threatened with being fired if they left the facility to take cover

Politico’s Alice Miranda Ollstein tells WTOP how people on both sides of the abortion issue will likely respond if the Supreme Court overturns Roe v. Wade

Consumerman Herb Weisbaum, with checkbook.org, discusses the pros and cons of store credit cards, that can sometimes give you 10 to 15% discounts on the spot

NBC-4’s Scott MacFarlane tells WTOP about QAnon Shaman – and others – regretting their guilty pleas and possibly trying to appeal them

Google Tech Expert Marley McAliley shares travel tips with WTOP even as the TSA warns our local airports will be crowded this holiday week

Wegovy is currently injected into patients – now Arlington, Virginia’s Dr. Domenica Rubino is about to launch a clinical trial to test the drug in pill form & she shares details with WTOP  (Listen below and sign up for the trial)

JHU’s David Dowdy tells WTOP about coronavirus infection rates as Thanksgiving approaches (Listen below and read)

The Wall Street Journal’s Gregory Zuckerman introduces you to some of the pandemic’s vaccine heroes in “A Shot to Save the World”

NPR’s Tim Mak discusses “Misfire: Inside the Downfall of the NRA” on WTOP

Consumerman Herb Weisbaum, with checkbook.org, gives WTOP the pros and cons of ‘buy now, pay later‘ over the holidays

Washington Post Polling Analyst Emily Guskin takes us through a bit of the Pew survey and its 9 categories of the electorate

Kyle Kondik offers WTOP analysis soon before Election Day voting begins (Listen below and read)

Vice News Chief Political Correspondent Liz Landers explains the wrench newly thrown by moderate West Virginia Democratic Senator Joe Manchin (Listen below and read)

For a few hours, Wednesday night, it looked like Donald Trump might be coming to Virginia before election day – Politico reports aides say it won’t happen but National Journal’s Jeff Dufour joined WTOP to ask ‘what if…’

Consumerman Herb Weisbaum, with checkbook.org, tells WTOP you don’t even need to know which school you’re attending yet (Listen below & read)

Lending Tree’s Matt Schulz tells WTOP about the benefits and risks of signing up for store credit cards

National Journal’s Jeff Dufour talks to WTOP about the Jan. 6 panel’s efforts to get Bannon to appear

Former employees are asking NFL sponsors to help release the full report on sexual harassment allegations regarding the WFT – meantime the Washington Post reports the team offered financial settlements to former employees. WaPo Columnist Sally Jenkins offers her thoughts on the team – and Jon Gruden’s resignation on WTOP

Critic Christian Toto reviews Daniel Craig’s last Bond movie and discusses three aging actors who keep getting better (Listen below and read about Craig saying goodbye to Bond)

Journalist Bob Sullivan responds to Mark Zuckerberg’s response to Facebook’s recent controversies (Listen below)

CNET’s Ian Sherr gives WTOP his reaction to the testimony of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen (Listen below & read)

“What the Hack” podcast cohost Adam Levin joins WTOP with lessons learned from this outage

Critic Christian Toto tells WTOP the Sopranos prequel is not as good as even the worst season of the groundbreaking HBO series (Listen below and read AP’s take)

Health Affairs’ Jessica Bylander tells WTOP about a Denver program in which people take pictures and write narratives to help in their mental health recovery. (Listen below and read)

Washington Post TV Critic Inkoo Kang tells WTOP she isn’t too impressed with Stewart’s new Apple TV+ series (Listen below and read)

On Thursday senators pressured Facebook/Instagram to do better by young people, especially those suffering with body image issues

WTOP recently spoke to the Wall Street Journal’s Jeff Horwitz about his paper’s reporting-series on Facebook that shows the company knows its platforms are full of flaws that hurt people

The race for Virginia governor is tight. That has the Biden White House worrying about a domino effect of Democratic losses if Terry McAuliffe falls to Glenn Youngkin. Politico’s Maya King shares the story with WTOP

Dave Zirin, author of “The Kaepernick Effect,” talks to WTOP about how the former NFL starting QB changed the world

Amid videos of ballot-stuffing in the Russian parliamentary elections – we offer a recent chat with New York Times Moscow Reporter Andrew Kramer who interviewed opposition leader Alexei Navalny who remains in a prison near Moscow (Listen below and read Kramer’s piece)

Women’s empowerment specialist Andrea Owen shares her new book Make Some Noise with WTOP

Consumerman Herb Weisbaum, with checkbook.org, warns scammers are now using QR codes to try to steal from you (Listen below and read)

Yasmeen Abutaleb talks to WTOP about her new book – with Damian Paletta –  and about why some people are turning to potentially harmful medications like ivermectin instead of getting vaccinated for COVID (Listen below)

Neuropsychologist Bill Stixrud and test prep tutor Ned Johnson say it’s imperative you talk to your kids and really get through to them (Listen below and read)

Former Army Ranger and author Tom Amenta tells WTOP the military performed admirably during the Afghanistan airlift but the White House did not (Listen below and read about how the president defends his actions and decisions)

Soon after the final military flight left Kabul Politico’s Lara Seligman joined WTOP with her analysis – including her exclusive report on why Thursday’s deadly terrorist attack wasn’t stopped (Listen below)

International Security Expert Emily Harding talks to WTOP soon after the Kabul terrorist attack (Listen below and read about some of the servicemembers who were killed)

Author and former Army Ranger Dan Blakeley tells WTOP keeping Bagram Air Base open – and much greater communication – may have spared much death and grief in Afghanistan (Listen below and read)

ABC News Political Director Rick Klein tells WTOP relying on the Taliban is dangerous business (Listen below and read)

Herb Weisbaum, with checkbook.org, tells WTOP the pause on paying federal student loans ends January 31st (Listen below and read)

The Brookings Institution’s Michael O’ Hanlon tells WTOP the Taliban wants to be part of the international community and that could benefit the United States (Listen below and read)

The Washington Post’s Emily Guskin tells WTOP about a new poll on whether you’re willing to ride Metro and drive to work as you did before COVID (Listen below)

National Journal’s Josh Kraushaar tells WTOP – while the chaotic Trump COVID briefings may be over – the Biden Administration is having its own major struggles with coronavirus (Listen below and read)

Time Magazine’s Molly Ball talks to WTOP about her cover-story-profile of Fanone – who almost died defending the Capitol from the pro-Trump mob on January 6th (Listen below and read)

Critic Christian Toto tells WTOP some of the same actors are here but this ‘Suicide Squad’ reboot is nothing like the failure of 5 years ago (Listen below and read the AP’s take)

Politico’s Anita Kumar joins WTOP to discuss part of President Biden’s week – including COVID vaccination efforts, an extension of the eviction ban and the damning report on Governor Andrew Cuomo (Listen below and read more about the eviction ban)

Health Affairs Editor-in-Chief Alan Weil tells WTOP we are not on the way to eradicating COVID, we an only hope to control it (Listen below and read)

ABC News Political Director Rick Klein talks to WTOP about President Biden’s rotating list of challenges (Listen below and read what we know so far about the Andrew Cuomo investigation)

We discuss the Andrew Cuomo controversy…and the Virginia governor’s race…with J. Miles Coleman on WTOP (Listen below and read about the Virginia debate haggling)

We talk about the spreading COVID Delta variant – and a 70 percent vaccination rate (at least the first shot) for Americans – with Dr. Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo of UCSF on WTOP (Listen below and read)

Axios Politics Reporter Sarah Mucha talks to WTOP about Graham’s new diagnosis and Kevin McCarthy’s latest comments regarding Nancy Pelosi (Listen below)

Working Nation President Jane Oates expects an economic slowdown as many of us mask up again (Listen below and read)

The Washington Post’s Phil Rucker joins WTOP to discuss the book he co-wrote with WaPo colleague Carol Leonnig  “I Alone Can Fix It” (Listen below and read)

New York Times Tokyo Bureau Chief Motoko Rich updates WTOP on coronavirus in the Japanese capital during the Games (Listen below and read)

UCSF’s Dr. Monica Gandhi says masking and a new vaccine-push are needed – in some parts of the country – to put down COVID (Listen below and read)

NBC-4’s Scott MacFarlane gives WTOP his impressions of the first public hearing from the congressional panel investigating the Capitol riot (Listen below and read)

Migration Policy Institute’s Meghan Benton tells WTOP there’s an opportunity to create harmony out of chaos if countries work together to reopen after COVID (Listen below and read about the current EU travel mess)

Nearly 60 medical groups say those who interact with patients must get vaccinated for COVID – The Washington Post’s Dan Diamond reports the voluntary approach seems to have run dry  (Listen below and read)

ABC News Political Director Rick Klein tells WTOP vaccine resistance is hardening even as many GOP leaders say it’s now time to get your shots (Listen below and read)

The Wall Street Journal’s Michael Bender talks to WTOP about his new book  (Listen below and read The Guardian’s take)

UCSF’s Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo tells WTOP Delta means some of us may have to mask up again and everyone must redouble their efforts to get as many people vaccinated as possible (Listen below and read)

Michigan State University’s Jennifer Cobbina tells WTOP about the racial justice starting point of Chauvin’s sentencing (Listen below and read about money devoted to racial equity efforts…trouble is we don’t know how much)