The Week In Politics, The Week In Free Speech, The Week In Vaccines

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4.5 • 52.8K Ratings

🗓️ 20 September 2025

⏱️ 17 minutes

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Summary

Congress leaves for recess without an agreement on government funding, making an October shutdown more likely than not. The First Amendment's free speech protections were tested in the courts and on late-night TV. A vaccine advisory panel wrapped up a week of contentious meetings in Atlanta.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	consult your doctor. That's a familiar tagline to medication ads on TV. Now is coming to COVID shots.
0:10.1	New recommendations could discourage people from getting vaccinated. I'm Scott Simon.
0:14.7	And I'm Aisha Roscoe. This is up first from NPR News.
0:20.8	Experts say COVID-19 vaccines are safe and highly effective.
0:25.8	So they say new steps recommended by a government advisory panel are unnecessary.
0:31.4	More on that in a few minutes.
0:33.4	Plus, as Congress all but assured, a government shutdown, we've got the numbers.
0:38.0	And increasingly blurry lines separate free speech and cancel culture and censorship.
0:44.5	Our media correspondent takes a look.
0:46.8	So please stay with us.
0:48.0	We've got the news you need to start your weekend.
0:58.9	Hey, it's Rachel Martin.
1:01.1	I'm the host of Wildcard from NPR.
1:06.2	For a lot of my years as a radio host, silence sort of made me nervous.
1:11.1	That pause before an answer, because you don't know what's going on on the other side of the mic.
1:13.2	But these days, I love it.
1:13.9	Hmm.
1:14.7	Ah.
1:15.8	Gosh.
1:17.3	Give me a minute.
1:17.8	Yeah, yeah.
1:18.3	Think.
	...

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