Post Reports is the daily podcast from The Washington Post. Hosted by Martine Powers. Published weekdays by 5 p.m. Eastern time. Find more episodes at postreports.com

Post Reports

Enjoy these Thanksgiving classics everyone knows and loves! These are certainly not all parody songs written and recorded last week by humor columnist Alexandra Petri and composer Jack Mitchell!

“Gourds,” from the musical “Gourds”

“1-800 Butterball (Counter Space Oddity),” by David Buoy

“Uncle John’s Had Three Too Many Cocktails,” by the Uncle John Singers

“Terminal B,” from the musical “Princess of LaGuardia”

“Uncle John’s Had One Too Many Cocktails,” by the Uncle John Singers

“It’s Not Christmas Yet!” by Scaly Dave from “This Is Not A Christmas Album”

“Pumpkin Spice,” by Unknown (Corporate)

“Draw a Hand Turkey!” by The Gobblers

“Pardon Me (Lament),” from “Les Turquies”

For 780 Afghan evacuees stuck at a beachside resort in Albania, the future is unclear. They might never make it to the U.S. All because they took the wrong plane out of Afghanistan. Produced and reported by Ted Muldoon. Published 9/16/2022 on Post Reports.

The Afghans stranded at a luxury resort

A "Gay Girl in Damascus" is actually a straight man in Scotland. Washington Post bloggers Melissa Bell and Elizabeth Flock explain how they uncovered his true identity.

Unraveling "Gay Girl in Damascus"

From Simone Biles in gymnastics to Léon Marchand in swimming, there have been so many iconic competitions at the Paris Olympics. But behind the scenes, there is an army of sound designers working to make those events come alive. Karl Malone of NBC Sports and Olympics explains the complex and captivating process of sound designing the Summer Games.

Audio clips courtesy of NBC Sports.

The Sports Moment: The Sound of the Olympics

"My Species," Jane Hirshfield

The popular author and TED speaker talks about how to wrestle with and harness our emotions to turn setbacks into our best moments of change.

Author Brene Brown on how to emerge stronger after a setback

Who exactly was our first president? Bob Woodward, Joel Achenbach and Julie Miller kick off our first episode of Presidential.

George Washington: The man, the myth, the legend

Martin Van Buren did much to create the political party establishments we have today. Experts Barbara Bair and Mark Cheathem, along with Washington Post reporter Chris Cillizza, examine his mark on modern politics.

Martin Van Buren: The story of our two-party system

Author Brene Brown shares thoughts on how to stop comparing ourselves against others, how to break our cycles of negative thinking and why regrets can be constructive.

Brene Brown on leadership

Republican political strategist Karl Rove dissects what was so transformative about William McKinley's 1896 presidential campaign. And Washington Post reporter Carol Leonnig discusses how his assassination modernized the Secret Service.

William McKinley: The modern campaign

Herbert Hoover entered the White House with an array of high-profile experiences leading disaster relief. So why was his handling of the Great Depression considered a failure? Biographer Charles Rappleye guest stars.

Herbert Hoover: Dealing with disaster

The LBJ Presidential Library's director, Mark Updegrove, helps us examine how Johnson worked his will--at times darkly--to get some of the most transformative legislation of the 20th century through Congress.

Lyndon B. Johnson: Power

Trump addresses CIA employees at the agency's headquarters in Langley, Va. on Jan. 21, 2017.

President Trump's speech to the CIA

Trump begins his presidency with his inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2017.

President Trump's inaugural address

In the premier episode of “Constitutional,” we go back in time to that hot Philadelphia summer in 1787 when a group of revolutionary Americans debated, drank and together drafted the U.S. Constitution.

Episode 01: Framed

This "we the people" episode explores indigenous rights. In 1879, a case involving Chief Standing Bear came before a Nebraska courtroom and demanded an answer to the question: Are Native Americans considered human beings under the U.S. Constitution?

Episode 02: Ancestry

What makes someone American? A landmark Supreme Court case in 1898, involving a child born in San Francisco to Chinese immigrant parents, would help answer that question.

Episode 03: Nationality

When the United States changed its process for electing senators, did that lead to a decline in state power? Or did it instead bring us closer to a "more perfect union"?

Episode 06: Senate and states

"There is so much feeling of racial injustice around the issue of punishment. And you have to understand that those feelings have a history -- and that history is Parchman Farm."

Episode 09: Fair punishment

What was the original point of the Second Amendment? We examine its colonial and revolutionary roots—plus its quiet companion, the Third Amendment—with renowned American history scholar Gordon Wood.

Episode 11: War

Episode 13: Taxes

Why do First Amendment rights trump nearly every other right in America? Thank Jehovah's Witnesses.

Episode 16: The First Amendment

The Pulitzer Prize-winning musician talks about how his new work "the ever-funky lowdown" fits in the current conversation around race and how rap and hip-hop is damaging to that conversation.

This interview includes strong language, including the n-word

Jazz artist Wynton Marsalis says rap and hip-hop are 'more damaging than a statue of Robert E. Lee'

It's the announcement that Metro riders have started hearing over and over again on their daily commutes: "This is a 7000 series train." What's the deal? And why should riders care about what kind of train car they're riding?

Reported and produced by Martine Powers.

The behind-the-scenes story of Metro’s weird new train announcements

We all know about the death of George Floyd. But what about his life? On this special episode of “Post Reports,” we tell the story of Floyd’s family, his upbringing and how racism hobbled his ambition — a story reflecting the lives of so many Americans. Produced by Ted Muldoon and Linah Mohammad. Additional reporting and original music by Ted Muldoon. Published 10/16/2020 on Post Reports.

The Life of George Floyd

Clint Lorance had been in charge of his Army platoon for three days when he ordered them to kill three Afghans on a dirt road. After a second-degree murder conviction, Lorance was pardoned by Trump, hailed as a hero. His troops suffered a different fate. This episode originally published July 2, 2020 on Post Reports.

“The Cursed Platoon,” Part 1

Full emergency rooms. Expanded ICUs. Double shifts. 3 a.m. phone calls to patients’ families. A look inside the hospitals at Texas Medical Center in Houston — the epicenter of the state’s new surge in coronavirus cases. This episode originally published July 17, 2020 on Post Reports.

Inside the Houston surge

On this episode, we reconstruct the riot inside the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 — hearing from the lawmakers, journalists and law enforcement officials who were there, and answering lingering questions about how things went so wrong. Produced by Ted Muldoon and Rennie Svirnovskiy. Mixed and scored by Ted Muldoon. Published 1/15/2021 on Post Reports.

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