For American Jews who grew up thinking antisemitism was a thing of the past, the last several years have been startling. White supremacists marched in Charlottesville. A gunman massacred worshippers at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Then came the Hamas attacks of October 7th and Israel's war in Gaza. The Anti-Defamation League says since then, antisemitic incidents in the US are up 361% over the same period a year ago. Both Congress and the White House have tried to address antisemitism in recent we...
May 16, 2024•11 min
A conservative group posted a social media thread showing flyers in a border encampment in Mexico urging migrants to vote for Joe Biden. Now, the woman caught up in it, speaks to NPR. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at [email protected] . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
May 15, 2024•11 min
The Girl Scouts have been part of American childhood for generations. And now that quintessential experience is helping young girls, who are new to the United States get a sense of belonging. It comes through a Girl Scout troop based in one of New York City's largest migrant shelters. The shelter has around 3,500 migrants, and all of the Girl Scouts are children of families seeking asylum. For the last few weeks, NPR's Jasmine Garsd has been spending time with them, and brings us their their sto...
May 14, 2024•9 min
America is a land of contradictions; while we're known as a nation that loves to eat, we also live within a culture that has long valued thinness as the utmost beauty standard. Over the last several years the body positivity movement has pushed back on that notion. But then came a new class of weight-loss drugs. New York Magazine contributing writer Samhita Mukhopadhyay grapples with the possible future of a movement like this in her recent article, So Was Body Positivity All A Big Lie? She join...
May 13, 2024•11 min
President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have turned their attention on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently. And the fact that the major party candidates are either trying to criticize him or praise him is a sign that his independent candidacy could have a real impact. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at [email protected] . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR P...
May 12, 2024•12 min
When Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace hit screens across the country in 1999, Return of the Jedi felt like ancient history to Star Wars fans. But after 16 long years, the movie let down fans and critics alike. Twenty-five years have changed how a lot of people feel. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at [email protected] . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Priv...
May 10, 2024•16 min
Louis Sahagún first arrived at the Los Angeles Times in his early twenties as a utility worker, sweeping lead dust around the printing machines. But it was the buzzing newsroom that inspired Sahagún to soon spend his lifetime writing stories about the undiscovered characters and corners of California. Now after 43 years, he's retiring from the paper, and reflecting on what motivated him to cover a side of the Golden state that remained unknown to many. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This,...
May 09, 2024•10 min
The Biden administration has put a hold on an arms shipment to Israel. A senior administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity told NPR it was due to concerns the bombs could be used in Rafah. Rafah is the site of Israel's latest campaign in its war against Hamas. It's also home to some 1.3 million Palestinians. More than half of those people have fled fighting in other parts of Gaza. On Monday night, Israeli tanks rolled into Rafah taking control of the Palestinian side of the b...
May 08, 2024•12 min
Brittney Griner didn't know the flight she was taking to Moscow in February 2022 would upend her life. But even before she left for the airport, Griner felt something was off. It was a premonition that foreshadowed a waking nightmare. She had accidentally left two vape cartridges with traces of cannabis oil in her luggage. What followed was nearly 10 months of struggle in a cell, and diplomatic efforts from the U.S. to get her home. Griner reflects on the experience in her new memoir, 'Coming Ho...
May 07, 2024•14 min
The term "outside agitator" has staying power. It's been used against protestors throughout history, from the Civil Rights Movement, to the anti-Vietnam War protests and now during the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses. "Outside agitator" was also used to describe some of the people who protested the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri In 2014. Who exactly are the "outside agitators" and what purpose does it serve to call them out? For sponsor-free episodes of Conside...
May 06, 2024•13 min
On Friday, China launched its Chang'e-6 mission carrying a probe to the far side of the moon to gather samples and bring them back to Earth. If successful, it would be a first, for any country. The race to get astronauts back on the moon is in full swing. The U.S. has serious competition. China wants to put astronauts on the moon by 2030. Other countries are in the race, too. If the U.S. stays on schedule it will get humans back on the moon before anyone else, as part of NASA's Artemis program. ...
May 05, 2024•15 min
Welcome to Wild Card with Rachel Martin . In this first episode, Rachel talks to Jenny Slate, known for her roles in Obvious Child , Marcel the Shell with Shoes On and Parks and Recreation . Jenny opens up about whether fate brought her to her husband, what she's sacrificed for motherhood and what's so special about margarine and white bread sandwiches. Subscribe to Wild Card here. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices NPR Privacy Policy...
May 04, 2024•30 min
Larry Demeritte is the first Black trainer participating in the Kentucky Derby in 35 years. And while the betting-books have his colt West Saratoga running at long odds, Demeritte, who is battling chronic illness and cancer, is feeling confident. For the 70-something veteran trainer, this is his first time at the Derby, but he is part of a rich history of Black horsemen who helped shape the Kentucky Derby into the iconic race it is today. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C...
May 03, 2024•10 min
If you go by headlines, the last 12 months have delivered major wins to organized labor. But despite well publicized victories the rate of U.S. union membership fell to a record low in 2023. Just 10%. And in southern states, the push to unionize can still be a grinding, uphill battle. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at [email protected] . Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoic...
May 02, 2024•12 min
From New York — to Illinois — to Los Angeles — encampments in support of Palestinians dot campuses across the country. And over the last couple of days the tension has only increased as police have intervened on several campuses, including Columbia University, UCLA and the University of Texas. Hundreds of protestors have been arrested. Pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses are growing in scope and intensity, and colleges are calling on law enforcement to help. Is it the right decision, an...
May 01, 2024•10 min
Dame Judi Dench has played everyone from the writer Iris Murdoch to M in the James Bond films. But among the roles the actress is most closely associated, are Shakespeare's heroines and some of his villians. Amongst those roles are the star-crossed lover Juliet, the comical Titania and the tragic Lady Macbeth. Now she's reflecting on that work, and Shakespeare's work in Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent . The book is comprised of Dench's conversations with her friend, the actor and director...
Apr 30, 2024•12 min
Protests against Israel's war in Gaza on college campuses have expanded across the country. They're the biggest student protests, since college students demonstrated against the Vietnam war in the late sixties and early seventies. What do the campus protests of today have in common with those of the sixties? How might they affect the policies of their universities and the US government? Thirty years ago, South Africa became an emblem of a multiracial democracy. Decades on, how is that legacy hol...
Apr 29, 2024•12 min
Three decades ago, South Africa held its first democratic election, closing the door on the apartheid era. And Nelson Mandela was elected its first Black president. Today, the country is still led by Mandela's political party - the African National Congress. But polls show that voters are growing increasingly dissatisfied with the party's leadership, and next month's national elections could lead to the ANC having to share power with opposition parties. Thirty years ago, South Africa became an e...
Apr 28, 2024•13 min
During the early days of the pandemic, former NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins became a familiar voice steering the country through an unprecedented public health crisis. Now, he is going through his own health crisis, an aggressive form of prostate cancer. By talking about it publicly he hopes to draw attention to routine screening. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at [email protected] . Learn more about s...
Apr 26, 2024•13 min
Last year, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed a strict immigration law making it harder to hire undocumented workers. But like much of the country, Florida is dealing with a tight labor market and some employers are struggling to find workers. NPR's Jasmine Garsd reports on how the law is affecting the state's economy, from construction sites, to strawberry fields. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at conside...
Apr 25, 2024•9 min
One of Richard Nixon's most famous quotes...right up there with "I am not a crook"... had to do with presidential immunity. "When the president does it" he said "that means that it is not illegal." That idea – that you can't prosecute someone for actions taken as president - the Supreme Court has never actually ruled on it. On Thursday, the Justices will take a crack, with the federal election interference case against former president Donald Trump hanging in the balance. We preview how things m...
Apr 24, 2024•10 min
Americans often rank the economy as a number one voting issue. As part of NPR's "We the Voters" series we check back in with four Americans we've been following since the pandemic. They share how they're faring in a the current economy, and how that might influence the positions they take in the 2024 presidential election. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at [email protected] . Learn more about sponsor mess...
Apr 23, 2024•12 min
The broad outlines of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's case have been known for months. Hush money payments to a former porn star made in 2016, when Trump was a presidential candidate. Bragg alleges Trump was involved in a scheme to cover up those payments, one that amounted to criminal fraud. Now we're getting a more detailed outline of their arguments – and Trump's defense. We break down the legal case at the center of the political universe. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This...
Apr 22, 2024•10 min
For the last 60 years a transportation revolution has largely passed America by. Bullet trains were invented in Japan in the early 1960s. Since then, countries all over the world have adopted the technology and constructed sprawling networks of high speed rail lines. Despite spending billions of dollars in federal funding, he U.S. lags far behind. But a recent visit from Japan's Prime minister has revived interest in bullet train projects around the country. One of those projects is in Texas – a...
Apr 21, 2024•11 min
Civil War, the new A24 film from British director Alex Garland, imagines a scenario that might not seem so far-fetched to some; a contemporary civil war breaking out in the United States. And while the film has taken heat for little mention of politics, the question of an actual civil war has everything to do with it. Amy Cooter is a director of research at the Center on Terrorism, Extremism, and Counterterrorism at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies. Her work has led her to the q...
Apr 19, 2024•11 min
Back in 1999 when Donald Trump was flirting with a presidential run, he was pro-abortion rights. In an interview on Meet the Press with NBC's Tim Russert, the New York real estate developer said he didn't like abortion, but he wouldn't ban it. Fast forward almost two decades, and Trump was running for the republican presidential nomination, and he had a very different stance on abortion, even suggesting in an MSNBC town hall meeting that women should be punished for seeking abortions. Trump ulti...
Apr 18, 2024•10 min
Salman Rushdie is probably most closely associated with his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, a book inspired by the life of the prophet Muhummad. The book was notorious not just for its contents but because of the intense backlash, and the threat it posed to his safety and wellbeing. While Rushdie saw it as an exploration of Islamic culture, some Muslims saw it as blasphemous. The year after it published, Iran's supreme leader issued a fatwa, ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie. Rushdie moved to New ...
Apr 17, 2024•12 min
In 1994, the world watched as genocide unfolded in Rwanda. Nearly one million people died as neighbors brutally killed their neighbors. Paul Rusesabagina is credited for keeping more than 1,200 people safe in his hotel through weeks of violence. His life and story inspired the 2004 film Hotel Rwanda. In 2021, Rusesabagina says he was kidnapped, tried and imprisoned in Rwanda for two years and seven months over his ties to the Rwanda Movement for Democratic Change (MRCD), a group that opposes Pre...
Apr 16, 2024•9 min
Iran launched a barrage of more than 300 drones and missiles at Israel over the weekend, saying it was in response to an airstrike earlier this month that hit Iran's consulate in Syria and killed seven Iranian military officials, including two generals. Israel neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for the Syria strike, though the Pentagon said Israel was responsible. Sima Shine is a former senior Israeli intelligence official. She now runs the Iran desk at the Institute for National Securi...
Apr 15, 2024•10 min
On Monday, former President Donald Trump will enter a Manhattan courtroom for his first criminal trial. But before a verdict can be rendered a jury must be selected. And for Trump's legal team that is going to be a challenge. A small number of attorneys have faced a similar challenge — how do you select an impartial jury when your client is famous? Host Scott Detrow speaks with attorney Camille Vasquez for insight into the art of jury selection in such a case. She represented Johnny Depp in his ...
Apr 14, 2024•16 min
