Culture

The 5 Podcasts Your Commute Desperately Needs This Week

Ready for the grind? We're here to help.
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Did your commute this morning include a volunteer firing squad? A lesson in proper Kimoji etiquette? The brain of an 1800s one-eyed horse thief? We didn't think so. Tomorrow, we promise your time on public transit will have a few more strange characters (the good kind, not that annoying guy whose scooter is blocking the last remaining seat). Here are our top five podcast episodes of the week, ready to entertain you door-to-door.

  • There are corners of the United States where law has no role. This week, *Reveal,* from the Center for Investigative Reporting, takes listeners to a few lawless places: rural Josephine County in Oregon, where law enforcement is so underfunded that stealing a car only gets you a fine; Crystal City, Texas, a town so corrupt that the FBI arrested the whole city council; and for international flavor, North Sudan, where a Virginia farmer moved to the world's last unclaimed territory to keep his promise and make his daughter a princess. More of the thorough, in-depth reporting we've come to expect from the standout podcast.
  • The first three episodes of “On the Inside,” the true-crime four-part series from Gimlet’s *Reply All*, scratches an itch for listeners who miss season one of *Serial*: a conflicted reporter diligently reexamines the dubiously prosecuted murder of Dean Fawcett, for which Paul Modrowski serves a life sentence. But in the final episode, Sruthi Pinnamaneni goes beyond the guilty-innocent dichotomy and heads toward a messier truth about how we judge mental illness. And unlike Sarah Koenig, Pinnamaneni courageously comes to her own conclusion---keep listening until the end.
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    WNYC Studios

    More Perfect, “Cruel and Unusual”

    In the first-ever *Radiolab* spinoff, host Jad Abulrad applies the show’s signature incredulous curiosity and heavily layered sound (trust *Radiolab* to remix “Oyez” with a techno beat) to the folks with the final word in our legal system: the Supreme Court. In the first episode, *More Perfect* examines the death penalty. Rather than asking the obvious moral question, the episode turns to activists, Stephen Colbert, and a volunteer for the Utah death penalty firing squad to tell the process behind how---and why---we execute prisoners through lethal injection. [Listen here.](http://www.wnyc.org/story/cruel-and-unusual)
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    NPR

    The Pulse, “The Body”

    Do you like true crime? Science? *The Knick*? The afterlife? This week, *The Pulse* partnered with *Criminal* to tell the story of what happens to our bodies when we die---in law, in lore, and in medicine. Start listening for the quest to find the brain of One-Eyed Joe, infamous horse thief from the 1800s; stay for the sonic autopsy, complete with a whirring saw. [Listen here.](https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-body/id772127662?i=1000369914828&mt=2)
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    Recode

    Recode Decode, “Kim Kardashian”

    Kara Swisher sits down with Kim Kardashian to get social-media best practices and a preview of next season’s Kimoji. But the dialogue between the legendary tech journalist and the woman most likely to break the internet gets deep: they discuss how Kardashian limits screen time for her young kids, and how she would have to build her social media empire differently if scrutinized by the newsrooms of 50 years ago. [Listen here.](http://www.recode.net/2016/6/8/11886702/kim-kardashian-social-media-tips)

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Charley Locke writes about growing up and growing old for publications including The Atlantic, The New York Times Magazine, and WIRED. ... Read More
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