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The Opinion Page Every Monday, Talk of the Nation hosts a live discussion with the author of a provocative op-ed from the Sunday papers. The audience is encouraged to read the commentary each week at npr.org and call or e-mail during the show with questions and comments.
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The Opinion Page

Every Monday, Talk of the Nation hosts a discussion with the author of a provocative op-ed.

Opinion Roundup: Edward Snowden And The NSA Leaks

The man who leaked details of two secret U.S. surveillance programs told The Guardian that he hopes to trigger a national debate about the NSA programs that gathered phone and Internet records. NPR's Neal Conan reads from a range of reaction to the leaks and the motives of the leaker.

Opinion Roundup: Edward Snowden And The NSA Leaks

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Opinion

Op-Ed: Midnight Meals Are Key To Military Morale

Midnight dinner service will be canceled at Camp Leatherneck in Afghanistan in June. Officials say it's part of the drawdown process, and though it might not sound like a big deal, former U.S. Army paratrooper David Brown says Marines at Camp Leatherneck stand to lose more than just food.

Op-Ed: Midnight Meals Are Key To Military Morale

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Navigating Silicon Valley As A 'Woman Programmer'

Prominent women such as Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg and Yahoo's Marissa Mayer are proving that women are finding their place at the table. But in an op-ed for The New York Times, former programmer Ellen Ullman argues that women in the field today face "a new, more virile and virulent sexism."

Navigating Silicon Valley As A 'Woman Programmer'

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Opinion

Op-Ed: How Favoritism Is Driving Minority Unemployment

Job seekers often rely on friends, family members and other connections to land jobs. Nancy DiTomaso, professor at Rutgers Business School, explains her research that shows that such seemingly harmless favoritism in networking is driving black unemployment in the U.S.

Op-Ed: How Favoritism Is Driving Minority Unemployment

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Opinion

Op-Ed: Did Boston Law Enforcement Drop The Ball?

The Boston Police Department and cooperating law enforcement entities were praised for working together to track down suspects in the marathon bombings. Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi asks whether police could have done more in the months, weeks, and even hours before the explosions.

Op-Ed: Did Boston Law Enforcement Drop The Ball?

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Opinion

Big Op-Ed: Shifting Opinions On Surveillance Cameras

Investigators in the Boston Marathon bombings were able to identify the suspects using footage from surveillance cameras. Some believe that this shows the need for surveillance cameras in public spaces, while others believe that such cameras encroach on our civil liberties.

Big Op-Ed: Shifting Opinions On Surveillance Cameras

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Opinion

Op-Ed: What Exhumation Means For A Legacy

Chilean poet Pablo Neruda was exhumed in early April, with the goal of discovering whether the poet's death was from prostate cancer or poison. In a The New York Times op-ed, Amherst College professor Ilan Stavans argues that Neruda's legacy is more important than the way he died.

Op-Ed: What Exhumation Means For A Legacy

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Opinion

Op-Ed: The Nonexistent Line Between Justice And Revenge

Law professor Thane Rosenbaum says it's time for Americans to be honest about the role revenge plays in our lives. "The distinction between justice and vengeance is false," he writes in The Chronicle of Higher Education. "A call for justice is always a cry for revenge."

Op-Ed: The Nonexistent Line Between Justice And Revenge

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Opinion

Op-Ed: The Iraq War's Lessons For Syria

Washington Post deputy editorial page editor Jackson Diehl says that the Iraq War taught him a lot about how we should deal with the civil war in Syria. In an op-ed he argues that without U.S. intervention, Syria could produce "a much worse humanitarian disaster" than Iraq.

Op-Ed: The Iraq War's Lessons For Syria

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Opinion

Op-Ed: The Battles Ahead Over Driverless Cars

Google's driverless cars have traveled more than 300,000 miles in real world conditions without any accidents. Advances in this technology raise questions about the future of U.S. transportation industries. In the Washington Times, Joshua Jacobs, Conservative Future Project, says a fight lies ahead.

Op-Ed: The Battles Ahead Over Driverless Cars

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Opinion

Op-Ed: March Aside, College Basketball Has Lost Its Madness

Dave Kindred, a member of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame, says that even though March Madness still generates a lot of buzz around the water cooler, the regular college basketball season has lost its epic stories and, therefore, its charm.

Op-Ed: March Aside, College Basketball Has Lost Its Madness

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Opinion

Op-Ed: We Need More Aaron Swartz-Style Hacktivism

When Internet activist Aaron Swartz committed suicide, he faced federal charges for illegally downloading and releasing articles from JSTOR, the digital library of academic journals. Northwestern University professor Peter Ludlow says Swartz was right to fight for public access to scholarship.

Op-Ed: We Need More Aaron Swartz-Style Hacktivism

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Opinion

Op-Ed: There's An App For Everything, And That's A Problem

Technology companies are constantly developing new apps and tools to make our lives easier. In an op-ed for The New York Times Evgeny Morozov, author of To Save Everything, Click Here, argues that Silicon Valley's quest for perfectionism is problematic.

Op-Ed: There's An App For Everything, And That's A Problem

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Opinion

Op-Ed: It's Time To Raise The Minimum Wage

In his State of the Union address, President Obama proposed a plan to boost federal minimum wage from 7.25 an hour, to 9 dollars. Columnist Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton, argues that plan is "a no-brainer."

Op-Ed: It's Time To Raise The Minimum Wage

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Opinion

Op-Ed: It's Time To Recognize The Valor Of Cyber Warriors

Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced that the military will award a new medal to recognize exceptional accomplishments in areas including drone and cyber warfare. Brookings Institution senior fellow Peter Singer argues that this is an important step in recognizing the changing nature of war.

Op-Ed: It's Time To Recognize The Valor Of Cyber Warriors

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Big Op-Ed: When Private Comments Go Very Public

After eating at Applebee's with a large group, St. Louis pastor Alois Bell — frustrated that gratuity was already included — wrote this comment on the receipt: "I give God 10%. Why do you get 18?" A sympathetic co-worker posted a picture of the receipt online, and it soon went viral.

Big Op-Ed: When Private Comments Go Very Public

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The Role For The U.S. In The East China Sea Dispute

The territorial dispute over islands in the East China Sea continues to create tensions between China and Japan. Joseph Nye, former chair of the National Intelligence Council, says that the U.S. efforts in the region are seen as an extension of the Cold War containment policy.

The Role For The U.S. In The East China Sea Dispute

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Opinion

A 'Permatemp' Economy: The Idea Of The Expendable Employee

Nearly 13 million people head to work as temporary and contract employees each year, according to the American Staffing Association. In an opinion piece for The New York Times, sociologist Erin Hatton argues that it's time to get rid of the "anti-worker ideology that has come to accompany it."

A 'Permatemp' Economy: The Idea Of The Expendable Employee

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Opinion

The Big Picture: The Takeaway From 'Django Unchained'

Quentin Tarantino's latest film is proving to be one of his most controversial. Django Unchained has drawn admiration and condemnation from critics, and has sparked debates about history, race and violence. NPR's Celeste Headlee reads from a variey of opinion pieces about the film.

The Big Picture: The Takeaway From 'Django Unchained'

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Opinion

Op-Ed: To Close The Achievement Gap, Don't Lower The Bar

Florida and Virginia have adopted new academic standards setting different performance goals for subgroups of students in low-performing schools. In a Miami Herald piece, syndicated columnist Leonard Pitts argues that lowering the bar is not the way to fix the education system.

Op-Ed: To Close The Achievement Gap, Don't Lower The Bar

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Opinion

Opinion Roundup: Obama's National Security Nominations

President Obama nominated Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb) for Secretary of Defense and tapped John Brennan, his top counterterrorism advisor, to lead the CIA. NPR's Ari Shapiro reads from a number of opinion pieces about those decisions talks with NPR's Tom Bowman about Obama's national security goals in his second term.

Opinion Roundup: Obama's National Security Nominations

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Opinion

Op-Ed: We The People Should Throw Out The Constitution

One of the cornerstones of American democracy is the pledge that every federal officer takes to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution. In a piece in The New York Times, law professor Mike Seidman argues that it's time to re-examine the role the document plays in American society.

Op-Ed: We The People Should Throw Out The Constitution

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