The Brian Lehrer Show

People are calling Harvey Weinstein's inappropriate sexual advances an "open secret" in Hollywood. So if so many people knew, why did it take so long to come out? Anne Helen Peterson, BuzzFeed senior culture writer, gives her thoughts on that disturbing question and argues that for women, gossiping about sexual predators (when no one is willing to go public) can be a means of survival.

In the latest installment of People’s Guide to Power: Real-Estate Edition, two Giuliani-era commissioners for the Department of Housing, Preservation and Development (HPD), Deborah C. Wright and Jerilyn Perine, discuss the Giuliani administration’s accomplishments and policies in creating affordable housing.

Elliott Abrams, senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies at the Council on Foreign Relations who supervised US policy in the Middle East during the Bush administration, argues that backing democracy over authoritarianism in the Middle East isn't empty idealism, but the "real" realism and talks about his new book, Realism and Democracy: American Foreign Policy after the Arab Spring (Cambridge University Press, 2017).

Senior technology reporter for Buzzfeed Joe Bernstein, argues that a cache of Milo Yiannopoulos’ leaked emails reveal that the success of Breitbart is fueled by the most toxic beliefs on the political spectrum. 

On the latest installment of People’s Guide to Power: Real Estate edition, Rutgers University professor Dr. Ray Caprio, and Marc Pfeiffer, assistant director, Bloustein Local Government Research, take us through the political history of New Jersey housing and property taxes. And we also want to know: How do you afford New York? Despite the high cost, somehow we’re all living in this city. So we're creating a scrapbook to help us better understand how New Yorkers make it happen. Join the project, and tell us the story of your apartment.

William Connell, professor of history and La Motta Chair in Italian Studies at Seton Hall University, discusses the different interpretations of Christopher Columbus's statues and provides historical context for Columbus Day.

There are 1 million rent stabilized apartments in New York. In the latest installment of The People's Guide to Power: Real Estate Edition, Emily Goldstein, senior campaign organizer for Association for Neighborhood and Housing Development, talks about the history of rent law in New York, who it helps and why it's so controversial. And we also want to know: How do you afford New York? Despite the high cost, somehow we’re all living in this city. So we're creating a scrapbook to help us better understand how New Yorkers make it happen. Join the project, and tell us the story of your apartment.

In case you missed them, hear three of our favorite segments from the week: NYC's First Housing Co-Op (First) | How to Run for Office (Starts 28:08) | The First Female NFL Coach (Starts 45:56) If you don't subscribe to the Brian Lehrer Show on iTunes, you can do that here.  

Siddharth Kara, director of the Program on Human Trafficking and Modern Slavery at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, lecturer at the University of California, Berkeley, and the author of Modern Slavery: A Global Perspective (Columbia University Press, 2017), draws on years of field research to outline the various forms of human trafficking and forced labor, from U.S. agricultural workers to sex trafficking in Nigeria.

Brigadier General Jose Reyes, Puerto Rico National Guard Assistant Adjutant General and Dual Status Commander, gives an in depth view into how the military is responding to victims of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, and explains why some are saying the military's efforts are lacking in comparison to the hurricane aftermath in Texas and Florida. Then David Begnaud, CBS News correspondent, and A.J. Vicens, reporter at Mother Jones, talk about how the island is recovering and take calls from listeners with family and friends in Puerto Rico.

Joshua Keating, staff writer at Slate focusing on international affairs, talks about the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Plus, Alice Slater, the New York director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation and who also serves on the Coordinating Committee of World Beyond War, discusses the work of ICAN and the Nuclear Ban Treaty.

Matthew G. Lasner, professor of urban studies and planning at Hunter College and author of High Life: Condo Living in the Suburban Century (Yale University Press, 2012) and co-editor of Affordable Housing in New York: The People, Places, and Policies that Transformed a City (Princeton University Press, 2015), explores the history of co-owned multifamily housing in New York, from the city's first co-op in 1881.

Scott Shane, national security reporter at The New York Times and author of Objective Troy: A Terrorist, a President, and the Rise of the Drone (Tim Duggan Books, 2015), discusses how Russian-linked Facebook ads exploited wedge issues in key states during the 2016 presidential election and the latest revelations.

Cindy Rodriguez, urban affairs reporter for WNYC, reports back from her trip to Puerto Rico. Plus, Robert Becker, former Bernie Sanders campaign staffer, now an organizer of Vieques Love, talks about the citizen-led relief effort on the small heavily damaged Puerto Rican island of Vieques, where he lives.

Jen Welter, sports psychologist, football analyst and the author of Play Big: Lessons in Being Limitless from the First Woman to Coach in the NFL (Seal Press, 2017), offers advice as the first woman to coach in the NFL, as a linebackers coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 2015.