Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

For more on the changing dynamic in that region, we're joined live in the studio by P.J. Crowley. He served as assistant secretary of state for public affairs in the Obama administration between 2009 and 2011. He also served on the National Security Council in the Clinton administration. P.J., thanks for coming in this morning.

P.J. CROWLEY: Pleasure, Rachel.

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

In truth, nobody knows whether the U.S. will indeed go hurtling over the fiscal cliff into recession, or inch back from the edge of the precipice. Since all economies are linked globally, host Rachel Martin speaks with Borzou Daragahi, the Middle East bureau chief for The Financial Times, about how that region views the U.S. negotiations.

In fiscal year 2012, the Bureau of the Public Debt received nearly $8 million in donations from private citizens, far surpassing the previous year's haul. But it barely makes a dent in the overall national debt. So why give away all that cash?

Congress returns to work this week after taking most of the autumn off to campaign. Host Rachel Martin speaks with NPR's Washington editor, Ron Elving, about the long congressional to-do list during the so-called "lame-duck" session.

When Philip Hensher realized he didn't know what his best friend's handwriting looked like, he decided to write a book. Host Rachel Martin speaks with Hensher about that book, The Missing Ink: The Lost Art of Handwriting.

Chefs these days stock all sorts of high-tech tools, from liquid nitrogen to $500 blenders. But in kitchens throughout the world, there's one piece of technology that's been the same since the Stone Age: the mortar and pestle.

Now that Republicans are widely embracing an overhaul of immigration laws, even a path to legal status for illegal residents, will their members in Congress follow through?