Warning: This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and death.

On Wednesday afternoon, a guilty verdict was reached in the death of the Georgia nursing student Laken Riley. A 26-year-old migrant from Venezuela was convicted.

Rick Rojas, the Atlanta bureau chief for The Times, discusses the case, and how it became a flashpoint in the national debate over border security.

Guest: Rick Rojas, the Atlanta bureau chief for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Ms. Riley, 22, was attacked in February while running on a trail on the University of Georgia campus in Athens. Her killer wasriley-murder-trial-jose-ibarra-guilty.html"> sentenced to life in prison.
• Lawmakers in Georgiaimmigration-law-laken-riley.html"> approved tougher rules on immigration after the killing.

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For decades, breast augmentations have been one of the most popular cosmetic surgeries in the United States. But in recent years, a new trend has emerged: the breast reduction.

Lisa Miller, who covers personal and cultural approaches to health for The Times, discusses why the procedure has become so common.

Guest: Lisa Miller, a domestic correspondent for the Well section of The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Are womenreduction-trend.html"> asserting their independence or capitulating to yet another impossible standard of beauty?

For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily. Transcripts of each episode will be made available by the next workday. 

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Warning: this episode contains strong language.

For the past two weeks, Lynsea Garrison of “The Daily” has been talking to people who were part of a movement, known as the resistance, that opposed Donald Trump’s first term as president.

With Mr. Trump preparing to again retake the White House, she asked those past protesters how they might react this time.

Background reading: 

• Was Mr. Trump’s election a setback for women?feminism-harris-trump.html"> Even women do not agree.
• Nonprofits havenonprofits-resistance.html"> vowed a new resistance. Will donors pay up?

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President-elect Donald J. Trump has picked Representative Matt Gaetz to be his attorney general.

Robert Draper, who covers domestic politics for The Times, discusses what the nomination reveals about Mr. Trump’s promise for retribution and how far Republicans might be willing to go to help him get it.

Guest: Robert Draper, who covers domestic politics for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• The attorney general pick has setgaetz.html"> a new bar for in-your-face nominations.
• A vendetta overmccarthy-johnson-ethics-report.html"> the congressional ethics investigation into Mr. Gaetz helped sink the last speaker. The new speaker has moved to quash the report.

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Nationwide, just over a million children, mostly girls, participate in cheer each year (some estimates are even higher), more than the number who play softball or lacrosse. And almost every part of that world is dominated by a single company: Varsity Spirit.

It’s hard to cheer at the youth, high school or collegiate level without putting money in the company’s pocket. Varsity operates summer camps where children learn to do stunts and perform; it hosts events where they compete; it sells pompoms they shake and uniforms they wear on the sidelines of high school and college football games.

Varsity’s market power has made the cheer world a paranoid place. In the reporting for this article, dozens of people spoke about the company in conspiratorial tones better suited to a spy thriller.

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Dr. Ellen Wiebe has performed hundreds of medical aid in dying (or MAID) procedures and is one of Canada’s most prominent advocates for the practice. David Marchese had questions — medical, legal and philosophical — about when it makes sense for doctors to help people to die, and also about how MAID might shape our thinking on what, exactly, constitutes a good death.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The Democratic Party is sifting through the rubble of its sweeping election loss and trying to work out what went wrong.

In an interview, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont discusses his diagnosis and how to chart a path back to power.

Guest: Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont

Background reading: 

• Democrats reeling from the election failure have begunkamala-harris.html"> playing the blame game.
• Who areparty-next-leaders.html"> the next leaders of the Democratic Party?

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Warning: this episode contains strong language.

In his first week as president-elect, Donald J. Trump moved at breakneck speed to fill out his cabinet with a set of loyalists who were both conventional and deeply unconventional, the U.S. Senate chose a leader who could complicate Trump’s agenda, and President Joe Biden welcomed Trump back to the White House.

Times Journalists Michael Barbaro, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, Peter Baker and Maggie Haberman, sat down to make sense of it all.

Guest: 

• Julie Hirschfeld Davis, who covers politics for The New York Times.
• Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The New York Times.
• Maggie Haberman, a senior political correspondent for The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Matt Gaetz isgaetz-trump-attorney-general.html"> Mr. Trump’s pick for attorney general.
• John Thune is set to becometune-senate-republican-leader.html"> the next Senate majority leader.
• Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump’sbiden-white-house.html"> brief public display of civility was followed by a two-hour meeting behind closed doors.

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After single-handedly remaking the auto industry, social media and the global space race, Elon Musk is now turning his attention, and personal fortune, to politics.

Over the past few months, he became one of the most influential figures in the race for president, and on Tuesday Donald J. Trump tapped him to help lead what the president-elect called the Department of Government Efficiency,

Kirsten Grind and Eric Lipton, investigative reporters for The Times, explain what exactly Musk wants from the new president, and why he is so well placed to get it.

Guest: 

• Kirsten Grind, an investigative business reporter at The New York Times.
• Eric Lipton, an investigative reporter at The New York Times.

Background reading: 

• Mr. Trumpmusk-vivek-ramaswamy-trump.html"> tapped Mr. Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy to lead a new “Department of Government Efficiency.”
• Mr. Musk helped elect Mr. Trump.musk-trump-benefits.html"> What does he expect in return?

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Last Tuesday, voters across the country approved measures to protect abortion rights, while rejecting the presidential candidate who claimed to champion those same rights.

Kate Zernike, who covers the issue for The Times, explains that gap and what it tells us about the new politics of abortion.

Guest: Kate Zernike, a national reporter at The New York Times, writing most recently about abortion.

Background reading: 

• ballot-measures.html">Abortion rights ballot measures succeeded in seven of the 10 states where they were proposed.
• President-elect Donald J. Trump has distanced himself from the idea of a federal abortion ban, but will face pressure to enact one.federal-abortion-ban.html"> Here’s how it could happen.

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