Consider This from NPR

Airline travelers across the U.S. have been experiencing long wait times because of the partial government shutdown. TSA workers are calling off sick or quitting altogether because they haven’t been paid. Now, ICE agents have been deployed to some airports to mitigate wait times. What role could the agency play as officials in Washington continue to spar over government funding? And what could the...

The U.S. Commission of Fine Arts has voted to approve the design for a new commemorative gold coin. On one side, an eagle in flight – on the other, a portrait of President Trump, staring directly at the viewer. Federal law prohibits living people from being featured on U.S. coins – though the Trump administration believes the Treasury Department has authority here. Moreover, it breaks a norm that...

The Israeli government has said it has the ability to find and assassinate top leaders in the Iranian government. But that strategy may end up hurting any effort to actually end the war, says Yossi Melman, co-author of the book “Spies Against Armageddon.” 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@n...

Emily Kwong talks with Camila Domonoske, who covers cars and energy for NPR, about how countries and companies that have bet big on electric vehicles are facing new, quickly moving variables in the market and the world. 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 . This episode was produced b...

Dolores Huerta built a lasting movement with Cesar Chavez.  And after waiting decades, she has decided to share the story of how Chavez abused her. Dolores Huerta told the New York Times that she felt pressured to have sex with Cesar Chavez, while on a work trip in 1960.  Six years later  — after they had founded the union for farmworkers–  she says Chavez raped her.   Shortly after the Times stor...

Three weeks into the US and Israel's war with Iran, the tensions continue to escalate. On Thursday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the Pentagon would seek additional funding for the war -- to the tune of $200 billion. Despite mixed messaging on the aims of the war, President Trump says he will decide when the conflict is over.  But not everyone thinks it will be that easy. Thomas Wr...

In red states and blue states, in suburbs and cities and in rural communities, officials from the Department of Homeland Security are scouting out real estate. Immigration and Customs Enforcement wants to significantly expand its detention capacity, to help support President Trump’s mass deportation agenda. NPR’s Jasmine Garsd and Kate Dario of New Hampshire Public Radio have been talking with peo...

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has brought his Muslim faith to the center of his political life, but his effort has faced a backlash. During this Ramadan he’s hosted half a dozen public prayers and celebrations, the latest Monday night when he broke fast with incarcerated men at Rikers Island. NPR’s Brian Mann reports on how Mamdani’s efforts to celebrate his Muslim faith and the backlash that...

President Trump launched the war against Iran without building a coalition of U.S. allies. Only now is the president trying to enlist allies to help end Iran’s effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.  And many of the countries he’s asked – are rejecting Trump’s request. Can the U.S. get its allies to help after going to war with Iran, and if they do, can the Strait of Hormuz really be secured?...

For many Iranians living in the U.S., the war against Iran was initially greeted with hope. Hope that the current regime might fall. But as the war stretches on, the uncertainty around it has also given way to another feeling: fear. In a recent essay for the Wall Street Journal, Iranian-American writer Nick Mafi wrote about the myriad of emotions that he and millions of others in the Iranian diasp...

Experts say foreign conflict and online radicalization are accelerating threats of terrorism. Can anything slow it down? Even before the war in Iran, the terrorism threat in the U.S. has been evolving. So how do the attacks of the past week fit into that picture? Host Scott Detrow speaks with Domestic Extremism Correspondent Odette Yousef, who is tracking all of this closely.  For sponsor-free epi...

In the opening strike of their war on Iran, the US and Israel killed the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It is an exceedingly rare instance of democracies killing a foreign head of state. It’s not the first time the United States has been involved in the killing of a foreign leader, but it’s something U.S. leaders and the American public have long wrestled with.  NPR’s R...

The Trump administration wants to increase domestic manufacturing. And in addition to tariffs, tax cuts and deregulation, it wants to increase the supply of skilled labor through apprenticeships – to train up workers on the job. The goal is to reach one million active apprentices.  Are the programs in place now doing enough to make that happen?  NPR’s Andrea Hsu reports. For sponsor-free episodes...

Russian planners and Western intelligence predicted the invasion of Ukraine would be quick and decisive. Of course, Kyiv did not fall quickly - and still hasn’t. In the four years since Russia first invaded, the Kremlin’s so-called “special military operation” has evolved into the deadliest conflict on the European continent since World War II. According to Western governments and think tanks, mor...

Americans are paying more for gas than they were a week ago. On Sunday, the price of oil hit $118 a barrel. It's since come down from those highs, but remains up sharply from the pre-war price of $70. The price is being pushed up by disruption to oil supply out of the Persian Gulf – The Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, typically handles around 20 m...

The repercussions of the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran continue to be felt across the Middle East. However, Lebanon has become the most active second front in the continued conflict between the US, Israel and Iran.  Israel began its military assault on Lebanon after the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah fired rockets at Israel as a show of solidarity with Iran. The U.S. and Israel's war in Iran is n...

Reporters here at NPR noticed the name of a highly respected youth camp popping up repeatedly in the Epstein Files - Interlochen Center for the Arts. When intern Ava Berger and other reporters started combing through the documents, they learned how Jeffrey Epstein used his wealth to gain access to the campus and prey on girls. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+...

For the last week, Israeli and US bombs have devastated Iran. And the conflict has widened to include multiple countries in the Gulf.   How is the conflict reshaping the world order and impacting Trump’s popularity here in the United States? 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 . This episod...

Immigration and Customs Enforcement is using a variety of tools to surveil folks they want to intimidate and apprehend.  That web helps federal agents find people to deport. But it also allows them to identify U.S. citizens who criticize the federal government and its policies. NPR has compiled dozens of stories of people caught up in the surveillance web. Some were monitoring ICE activities and f...

This past weekend, the United States went to war. The president didn’t present his case in a primetime speech from the Oval Office or the White House’s East Room, but rather, in an edited video posted at 2:30 a.m. on the social media platform he owns. And that video post came between others where President Trump has falsely claimed that elections were rigged and stolen, called for the prosecution...

The future of Iran hangs on an important question: Who will be its next leader? We'll look at how succession could unfold. 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 contained reporting from NPR’s Ruth Sherlock. It was produced by Connor Donevan, with audio engineering by Becky Brown...

Regime change, nuclear weapons, terrorism …Why is the U.S. at war with Iran? In the days since the United States and Israel launched an attack on Iran, the Trump administration has given a wide range of reasons why the US is now at war. On Saturday, Trump seemed to indicate the U.S. and Israel were trying to clear the way for regime change. On Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the confli...

Senator Mark Warner tells NPR that the families of sailors in the conflict area that he has met with "have no idea why their sons and daughters are being put in harm's way." Warner says that the president should appear before Congress and ask for a declaration of war. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at  plus.npr.org .  Email us at  consi...

Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khemenei is dead, according President Donald Trump. This comes after US and Israeli forces bombarded targets across Iran. Iran has retaliated, launching attacks throughout the Middle East. Given these historic events, we’re dropping our National Security Podcast “Sources & Methods” into the feed today. For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+...

President Trump issued an executive order to increase domestic production of glyphosate, commonly used as a weedkiller. It’s the active ingredient in the weedkiller, Roundup. That order immediately ignited an uproar in the Make America Healthy Again movement. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his supporters have long believed glyphosate is a health risk. But now, Kennedy says he supports...