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The Trump administration is ramping up pressure on Venezuela and its leader. What is the ultimate goal? President Trump says he’s imposing a ban on all ‘sanctioned’ oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. Venezuela’s government is calling this an ‘outrageous threat’ intended to rob the country of its oil wealth. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Tyler B...
Tensions between Venezuela and the U.S. have been growing over the past few months. And last Wednesday, the pressure point was oil. The U.S. government seized a tanker it says was filled with illegal oil headed to the black market, in violation of sanctions. The seizure was an unprecedented move. And it represents an escalation in the standoff between the two countries. In recent months, the U.S. has struck nearly two dozen suspected drug boats in nearby waters, issued new sanctions targeting Ve...
On Sunday, during a celebration for the first day of Hanukkah, a father and son opened fire on Bondi Beach near Sydney. Killing or wounding dozens of people. Officials are calling it a terrorist incident. Even though the Jewish community in Australia is small, with just over 115,000 people in a country of more than 25 million, antisemitism is a persistent and rising threat. The spike in Australia comes amidst a rise in antisemitic attacks globally. What do we know about this trend and what does ...
Venezuelan leader and activist Maria Corina Machado’s perilous journey to Oslo made headlines this week, but that was just the start of a new phase of international campaign to bring pressure on the Nicolas Maduro regime in her home country. NPR’s Miles Parks speaks with Ana Corina Sosa, Machado’s daughter, who accepted the Nobel Peace prize on her mother’s behalf, and talked about the future of Venezuela. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts ...
Trump’s SAVE tool is looking for noncitizen voters. But it’s flagging U.S. citizens too. Host Miles Parks speaks with NPR reporter Jude Joffe-Block about tracking down citizens who are now having to prove they have a right to vote. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Linah Mohammed and Avery Keatley. It was edited by Brett Neely, Ben Swasey and Adam Raney. Ou...
They survived some of the Afghanistan war's most grueling and treacherous missions. But once they evacuated to the U.S., many Afghan fighters who served in "Zero Units" found themselves spiraling. Among their ranks was Rahmanullah Lakanwal, the man charged with killing one National Guard member and seriously injuring a second after opening fire on them in Washington, D.C., on Thanksgiving Eve. NPR's Brian Mann spoke to people involved in Zero Units and learned some have struggled with mental hea...
The Trump administration is leaning into the once fringe idea of "reverse migration." For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Kathryn Fink and Brianna Scott. It was edited by Andrew Sussman, Justine Kenin and Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship ...
The Catholic Church is wading into a deeply partisan issue. The Archbishop of Chicago weighs in. This fall, the Trump administration launched Operation Midway Blitz – an aggressive immigration crackdown campaign in Chicago. It was met with outcry from many communities around the city including the Catholic Church, and that sentiment goes all the way to the very top of the Church with Pope Leo calling on the government to treat undocumented people humanely. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider T...
Venezuela dominates the headlines, but very little attention is paid to what life is like inside the country. In September, the Trump administration began a series of strikes targeting what U.S. officials call "narcoterrorists" in small vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. Those strikes are ongoing and have killed more than 80 people. Then, in October, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She's been in hiding since last year, when Venezu...
The entertainment industry is in turmoil as Warner Bros. Discovery faces a high-stakes acquisition battle. Netflix initially proposed an $83 billion deal for WBD's studios and HBO, but Paramount Global countered with a $108 billion hostile takeover bid, aiming to acquire all of WBD, including cable channels like CNN. This episode explores the financial and strategic motivations behind these bids, the mechanics of a hostile takeover, the involvement of significant foreign investors and figures like Jared Kushner, and the potential impact of President Trump on regulatory approval, highlighting the complex interplay of finance, media, and politics in this epic corporate brawl.
New research from the Aspen Economic Strategy Group argues that the subsidies-or-no-subsidies approach to the Affordable Care Act debate is too narrow. Co-author of the paper 'Coverage isn't Care: An Abundance Agenda for Medicaid' Professor Craig Garthwaite tells NPR’s Miles Parks that solutions to make healthcare both more efficient and more affordable at scale are right in front of us. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org....
Students are using AI tools more than ever. An Angelo State University professor designed a way to figure out if his students were using artificial intelligence on a recent paper. We speak with Will Teague, who says students are sacrificing their own agency to artificial intelligence. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Henry Larson and Karen Zamora, with add...
Fifty years ago, special education in America was born. In 1975, President Gerald Ford signed the landmark law known today as the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. It guaranteed all children with disabilities the right to a "free appropriate public education." Now, amid the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the Department of Education, there's growing concern that protections for students with disabilities are in jeopardy. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This,...
Roughly 80,000 people of Somali descent now live in Minnesota. The vast majority of them are American citizens. This week, President Trump attacked Somali immigrants in racist and xenophobic terms. “I don't want 'em in our country,” he said at the end of a cabinet meeting. “Their country is no good for a reason. Their country stinks." The mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul defended their Somali community – and responded to reports that the Trump administration is targeting that community with ex...
President Trump is purging the immigration court system. About 140 immigration judges have been fired by the administration or resigned. Meanwhile, the case backlog is growing. What does it mean for immigrants caught in the middle? We speak with one of the judges recently let go. The firings are part of an ongoing effort by the White House to overhaul the U.S. immigration system. Now, those judges are being replaced by “deportation judges.” For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for...
More than 80 people have now been killed by U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats. There are growing questions about an order to kill two of those people — whether it amounts to a war crime. Here’s what we know: On Sept. 2, the U.S. carried out two strikes on a boat in the Caribbean. The second, subsequent strike killed two remaining survivors. Details of that second strike were first reported by The Washington Post last week. Today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Defense Secre...
At the recent Make America Healthy Again, or MAHA, summit - which was attended by the U.S. Secretary of Health and the Vice President - the agenda showed a shift toward alternative medicine, wellness and nutrition and away from conventional medication. Most of the speakers were not academic researchers or doctors. To discuss what happens when government guidance moves away from scientific consensus, Miles Parks speaks with Dr. Sandro Galea, a Distinguished Professor in Public Health, and Dean of...
When the Missouri legislature began to redraw maps mid-decade, it reminded a reporter of a very specific movie scene. The film was Air Bud , and although the plot focuses on a loophole that allows a dog to play basketball, some in Missouri say there are similarities to the battle over gerrymandering, and the result could have a lasting impact on the state’s government. Miles Parks speaks with St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consid...
No matter how you measure it, there is a lot of parking in the U.S. According to some estimates there are as many as six parking spaces for every car. Put another way, America devotes more square footage to storing cars than housing people. In this episode, originally published in 2023, journalist Henry Grabar walks through how we got here, and what Americans have sacrificed on the altar of parking. From affordable housing to walkable neighborhoods to untold hours spent circling the block, hunti...
From building homes to ushering theater-goers to re-enacting medieval history for middle-schoolers – yes, you read that right – acts of volunteerism have remained vital for communities across the country. And not just for people in need. This year, many volunteers have also reported seeing an increased need for food assistance across the country, as a temporary pause on the federal program known as SNAP left millions of Americans unable to buy food during the recent government shutdown. Ransom M...
By the midpoint of 2025, the U.S. was on track to set a new yearly record in the number of reported data breaches. That’s according to data compiled by the Identity Theft Resource Center. One reason is the proliferation of artificial intelligence, which has made the work of criminal hackers easier, cheaper and scalable. What does that mean for the rest of us? Cooper Katz McKim dove deep into the world of AI-supercharged crime for NPR’s daily economics podcast The Indicator, and introduces us to ...
Facing the threat of a potential military court martial and possible questions from the FBI, Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly of Arizona spoke to NPR's Scott Detrow. This comes after Kelly, a Navy veteran and former astronaut, appeared with five other Democratic lawmakers in a video letting active duty troops know they do not have to follow illegal orders. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . T...
The CDC recently rewrote its vaccine guidance to suggest shots might cause autism, renewing false claims about vaccines and causing anxiety among parents. Physicians often deal with misinformation, but the difference is that it's now coming from the federal government. How do families know what guidance to trust? NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Dr. James Campbell, a practicing pediatrician and professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, on how families should navigate the changing...
Examining the impact of progressive mayors such as New York City's Zohran Mamdani and Boston's Michelle Wu, this episode delves into their strategies for connecting with voters and addressing critical urban challenges like housing affordability and public transit. It explores whether their local successes and charismatic leadership can offer a viable path forward for the broader Democratic Party, despite facing significant political and financial hurdles.
When President Trump nominated Linda McMahon as education secretary, he told her to put herself out of a job. She moved one step closer to that this week when the Trump administration shifted the responsibility of several departments to other federal agencies. NPR's Juana Summers speaks with former Obama education secretary John King about what this could mean for public education in America and some of the most vulnerable students. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Conside...
Caregiving services for seniors can easily cost more each year than what the average American makes. And health insurers, both government and private, may not provide the coverage people need. That leads many people to step in and do the work for free. But caregivers need to take care of themselves, too. That's something Dawnita Brown knows all too well, as a caregiver to both her parents, and founder of The Binti Circle. It's a group she founded for Black daughters like her who are doing caregi...
Activists in Chicago have been tracking federal immigration enforcement agents' movements, following their cars and alerting neighbors with whistles. This resistance sprang into action in response to Trump's Operation Midway Blitz, but it's nearly a decade in the making. NPR's Odette Yousef has the story of a strategy that activists hope can be a blueprint. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr....
President Trump is deepening the U.S. relationship with Saudi Arabia, despite the government coming under fire for human right abuses, despite the concerns the prince himself ordered the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Why is Saudi Arabia such an important ally for the United States? For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Gabriel Sanchez a...
Maine Family Planning clinics treat STDs, bronchitis and tick bites. Because they also provide abortions, they've been hit by a new federal law that cuts them out of Medicaid. Now, they're cutting back on services to try to survive. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org . Email us at considerthis@npr.org . This episode was produced by Connor Donevan and Ava Berger, with audio engineering by Jimmy Keeley. It was edited by Dian...
It's been six months since a tornado hit St. Louis and damaged more than five thousand buildings and homes. Residents and local officials say the Trump administration's new policy on federal disaster assistance has meant they have been left to do the work traditionally done by FEMA. Editor's note: After this story aired, the Federal Emergency Management Agency responded to NPR's request for comment. In a statement, FEMA said that it has not implemented any new policies or "experiments" related t...
