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When you think of a successful protest movement, most Americans probably think of the American Civil Rights movement, and the March on Washington in 1963. Martin Luther King, Jr. standing behind a podium on the steps of the Lincoln memorial delivered his most famous speech and a line that would come to define the goals of the Civil Rights Movement. President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act just nine months after the March. A year after that Johnson signed the National Voting Rights Ac...
On March 23, the death toll in Gaza surpassed 50,000 people killed by Israeli fire in the war with Hamas. This is the story of 15 people who were killed the same day. There were airstrikes across the territory, and in the south Israeli troops opened fire on a crew of emergency workers in ambulances and a firetruck. At first, the Israeli military said the vehicles were "advancing suspiciously" toward troops, "without headlights or emergency signals." It said the soldiers had eliminated a number o...
This episode explores the Federal Reserve's critical job of stabilizing the economy and its commitment to independence, particularly under Chair Jerome Powell. It details President Trump's public attacks and threats against Powell following the Fed Chair's comments on the negative economic impact of tariffs. The discussion covers the challenges this political pressure and the trade war pose for the Fed's ability to manage inflation and growth, referencing the IMF's gloomy forecast and market reactions.
This episode discusses the immediate aftermath of the death of Pope Francis I, including the ancient rituals that follow a papal death. It then delves into the process of electing a new pope, known as the Conclave. An expert breaks down how the College of Cardinals meets, the dynamics and factors that influence their decision, and what to expect regarding the timing and outcome of this historic selection.
Viktor Orban is in his fourth consecutive term as Prime Minister of Hungary. In that time, he has dismantled democratic checks and balances, taken control of the country's media, civil society and universities, and consolidated power in him and his Fidesz party. NPR's Rob Schmitz looks at how Orban's step-by-step dismantling of Hungary's democracy has become a point of fascination for political scientists around the world, including those advising the Trump administration. For sponsor-free episo...
This week, two federal judges handling separate immigration cases escalated their attempts to get the Trump administration to comply with court orders. One case involves President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act, the 18th-century wartime law, to deport migrants without due process. The other is about the wrongful deportation, also without due process, of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and the government's refusal to bring him back to the U.S. The growing conflicts point to a potential constitutional...
When it comes to the cost of raising a child from infancy to the age of 17 in the United States – it's hard to settle on a precise figure. There's one thing we do know – it's going to be expensive. By some estimates, raising a kid, who was born in 2015, could cost a middle class family close to $320,000 over 17 years. That money goes to childcare, healthcare, food, clothes, education, transportation, activities, toys, and a lot more. All of those things will be affected – one way or another – by...
The Trump administration's move to send immigrants to a maximum security prison in El Salvador is the subject of multiple on-going fights in court. But in an Oval Office meeting with the Salvadoran president this week, President Trump was already looking ahead. "We also have homegrown criminals that push people into subways, that hit elderly ladies on the back of the head with a baseball bat when they're not looking, that are absolute monsters. I'd like to include them in the group of people to ...
President Trump's Department of Government Efficiency team, or DOGE, appears to be grabbing sensitive data from all over the government. A whistleblower has come forward by filing an official disclosure to Congress about concerning activity on the systems at one independent federal agency, the National Labor Relations Board. Elon Musk says DOGE is searching for savings throughout the government. But is the data being accessed valuable? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C on...
Measles is an extremely contagious disease. It's also extremely preventable. There's a vaccine. It's highly effective. For decades it has made measles outbreaks in the U.S. relatively rare, and measles deaths rarer still. But the U.S. has now seen more than 700 measles cases this year , and 3 deaths so far with active outbreaks across six states. The federal response is under scrutiny because Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has made a career spreading false informatio...
This episode discusses the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador, and the legal implications this case has on due process and government power. Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Tribe explains how the government's actions raise concerns about the potential for indefinite detention and deportation of anyone, including U.S. citizens, without legal recourse. The episode explores the Supreme Court's involvement and the Trump administration's response, highlighting the dangers to individual liberties.
For weeks, President Trump has been targeting certain law firms with executive orders. Some have fought back, but others have cut deals to avoid the damage. For our weekly Reporter's Notebook series, we dive into this legal drama with NPR's Justice Correspondent Ryan Lucas, to see how this use of executive power is changing the landscape of the American legal system. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at consid...
During his second Presidential campaign, Donald Trump vowed to carry out the largest deportation program the U.S. has ever seen. And true to his word – Trump's administration is arresting , detaining and deporting immigrants without legal status. But as part of the crackdown on illegal immigration, legal immigrants are getting caught up in the mix. And then there's people like Amir Makled – a U.S. Citizen and lawyer. Makled was detained by Border agents at a Detroit airport as he returned from a...
It's pretty rare for one person to do one thing that affects nearly every business in the United States. But that's the power of the presidency and the new tariffs that took effect this week . Over the last few days, as the tariffs have gone up and down, NPR has been talking to Americans who run different kinds of businesses. Even though their companies don't have much in common, all of them are doing the same thing right now: Trying to figure out what's going on and how to respond. Trump's tari...
After a week of market turmoil, President Trump announced he would reset his most extreme tariffs to 10 percent across the board, with the exception of China — which he boosted to a 125% tariff rate. Even at the reduced level, the tariff rates are the highest the nation has seen in many decades. And higher tariffs translate to higher prices for American consumers. Martha Gimbel of the Budget Lab at Yale takes an imaginary walk through a big box store to look at how much more people might pay for...
It's been 25 years since measles was officially "eliminated" from the United States. That's a technical term. In public health, it means measles has not had a steady twelve month spread. Right now there are measles cases in several states The biggest number of cases are in West Texas where two kids have died. A quarter of a century after measles was officially eliminated in the US, the disease is once again spreading in West Texas, New Mexico and there are cases in several other states. What can...
Billionaire Elon Musk told Fox News recently that falling birth rates keep him up at night. It's a drum he's been beating for years. Musk is one of the world's most visible individuals to elevate this point of view. Vice President JD Vance also talks about wanting to increase birthrates in the U-S. But it's not just them. There are discussions across the political spectrum about birth rate decline and what it means for the economy. One response to this decline is a cause that's been taken up by ...
Deportation is a complicated process — with lots of layers. As the Trump administration expands the number and scope of deportations – what does that mean in practice? NPR's Asma Khalid and Ximena Bustillo unpack how deportations are supposed to work — and why so many lawsuits have been filed saying court process has been sidestepped in recent cases. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preference...
The video game industry is huge. Last year alone it generated an estimated $187 billion dollars in revenue. But it's also facing a host of serious issues: massive layoffs, the advent of A.I., games that take years to be released, and a schism between big and small developers. This week's Reporter's Notebook takes us inside this evolving industry with NPR's Vincent Acovino, who recently covered the annual Game Developer's Conference in San Francisco. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, si...
The country of Myanmar has been in crisis for years. A civil war has been going on since 2021. And then, last Friday, a devastating earthquake hit, leaving at least 3,000 people dead. The tragedy only deepened the humanitarian crisis in the country. One person watching the situation closely is Kim Aris. His mother is Aung San Suu Kyi, who was the country's de facto leader before the military ousted and imprisoned her after a coup four years ago. When Aris spoke to NPR earlier this week, he wasn'...
Whatever you think of President Trump's tariffs, there's one point you have to concede: his interest in them is not a passing whim. He noted that on Wednesday, in the Rose Garden, when he was announcing the latest, massive round of tariffs. "I've been talking about this for 40 years," he said. The use of tariffs are a core belief for Donald Trump. Trade deficits are bad, other countries take advantage of the U.S. and tariffs are the way to fix this. Since the Rose Garden announcement, markets ha...
Eight-point-seven billion. Four-hundred million. One-hundred-seventy-five million. These are just some examples of the money the federal government has withheld or is threatening to withhold from various colleges and universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Harvard University. That $8.7 billion figure was announced earlier this week by the Trump administration, which said that it's reviewing federal grants and contracts awarded to Harvard because Harvard ha...
In President Donald Trump's telling, tariffs are the political equivalent of duct tape: you can use them to fix anything. For example, they're a negotiating tool — he used the threat of tariffs to pressure Canada and Mexico to implement border policies he liked. He also sees tariffs as a revenue source that might help offset his proposed $4.5 trillion in tax cuts and as a shield to protect American manufacturing jobs from overseas competition. With all of these potentially conflicting aims, and ...
Last week, South Korea's Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that Korean adoption agencies were responsible for widespread fraud, malpractice and even human rights violations. More than 140,000 South Korean children were adopted by families living abroad in the decades after the Korean war. The report documented cases in which agencies fabricated records and others in which abandoned children were sent abroad after only perfunctory efforts to find living guardians. Documentarian Deann Bors...
The AI boom has caused a huge surge in energy consumption, so how is the tech industry thinking about its environmental footprint as it invests in new AI models? Emily Kwong , host and reporter for NPR's Short Wave podcast, finds out what solutions are being considered that might meet both consumer demand and address climate concerns. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . See pcm.adswizz....
After reaching historic levels, fatal overdoses from opioids are dropping rapidly. Today we bring you a reporter's notebook from NPR's national addiction correspondent Brian Mann . He tells host Scott Detrow what it's been like to cover America's addiction crisis and explains the significance of the recent decline in opioid deaths. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for C onsider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com...
Este episodio explora cómo Bezalel Smotrich, un ultranacionalista y ministro de finanzas israelí, influye en la guerra contra Hamás. Se examinan sus controvertidas opiniones sobre la expansión de asentamientos y su impacto en las decisiones políticas de Netanyahu, especialmente en relación con la liberación de rehenes y la situación en Cisjordania.
Six months ago, Southern Appalachia was devastated by Hurricane Helene. Now, after a dry spell and a windy March — the region faces wildfires that are feeding on the downed trees and vegetation that the hurricane knocked to the forest floor. The North Carolina Forest Service has declared one of them "the highest priority fire in the U.S." And due to climate change and population growth, the Carolinas must anticipate a future with more fire danger. Experts and first responders explain the current...
In January of 1987, Michel Shehadeh, a Palestinian man who'd lawfully immigrated to the U.S. as a teenager, was taking care of his toddler son at home when federal agents arrived at his door and arrested him at gunpoint. Shehadeh soon learned he was one of eight immigrants arrested on charges relating to their pro-Palestinian activism. Then, in March of 2025, federal agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a recent Columbia University graduate student, and Georgetown professor Badar Khan Suri. Both are ...
In the 24 hours since a bombshell Atlantic article, senators have grilled Trump administration intelligence officials — but there are no signs yet that anyone involved will face any repercussions. The article, by Jeffrey Goldberg, details how he was inadvertently added to a chat on Signal, the encrypted messaging app, where key administration figures were planning a U.S. bombing operation in Yemen. NPR's Ryan Lucas followed a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, where CIA Director John Ratclif...
