Consider This from NPR

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. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 health since coming to the U.S. At least four soldiers have died by suicide. A previous version of this episode incorrectly says that more than 100,000 Afghan civilians died in a 2021 attack at a checkpoint outside the Kabul airport. More than 100 Afghan civilians died.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 Erika Ryan and Karen Zamora. It was edited by Alina Hartounian and Courtney Dorning.Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 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, featuring reporting from NPR domestic extremism correspondent Odette Yousef.It was edited by Courtney Dorning and Patrick Jarenwattananon.Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro claimed victory in an election widely seen as fraudulent.Machado is expected to receive her award on Wednesday, in Oslo. And if she does, she might not be let back into her country. Machado, who supports the Trump administration’s campaign in the region, says the end of the Maduro regime is imminent.While the world is focused on Oslo and María Corina Machado's Nobel Peace Prize. We wanted to get the view from inside her country. We speak with a journalist in Venezuela about what daily life is like. 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 Karen Zamora & Matt Ozug with audio engineering by Ted Mebane. It was edited by Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

There's a growing fight in Hollywood over some of the biggest characters on screen, like Tony Soprano, Daenerys Targaryen and Harry Potter. All feature in shows and films owned by Warner Brothers Discovery, and now two companies are fighting to get a piece of the action. First, on Friday, Netflix struck an $83 billion deal to acquire Warner Brothers Studios and HBO. Then, just days later, Paramount upped the ante with a higher bid of $108 billion for Warner Brothers Discovery – which includes not just the movie studios and HBO, but also WBD’s cable channels, like CNN.As corporate giants vie to take over Warner Brothers, we ask: What are the stakes for Hollywood and the news business? Editor’s note: Warner Bros. Discovery is a financial supporter of NPR.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 Jordan-Marie Smith, Mia Venkat and Karen Zamora. It was edited by Pallavi Gogoi and Christopher Intagliata. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.This episode was produced by Avery Keatley, Jeffrey Pierre and Henry Larson. It was edited by Sarah Robbins. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 additional reporting by Ayana Archie and Lee V. Gaines. It was edited by Justine Kenin and Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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, 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. It was edited by Jeanette Woods and Nicole Cohen. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 extra immigration enforcement.Minnesota Public Radio’s Matt Sepic has the latest from St. Paul.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 Vincent Acovino, with audio engineering by Kwesi Lee. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.This episode was produced by Daniel Ofman and Karen Zamora, with additional reporting by Ximena Bustillo and Anusha Mathur. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata and Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 Secretary Pete Hegseth “authorized” Admiral Frank Bradley to conduct both strikes, and that Admiral Bradley issued the order and, quote — “worked well within his authority and the law.”But on Capitol Hill, both the Senate and House Armed Services Committees are asking for a full accounting. 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 Vincent Acovino and Karen Zamora, with audio engineering by Jay Czys. It was edited by Patrick Jarenwattananon and Courtney Dorning. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 the Washington University School of Public Health in St Louis, Missouri.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 Avery Keatley and Jordan-Marie Smith. It was edited by Ahmad Damen. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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 Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. Email us at considerthis@npr.org.This episode was produced by Linah Mohammad. It was edited by Adam Raney. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun. Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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, hunting for a free spot.His book is Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World.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 with audio engineering by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez. It was edited by Christopher Intagliata and Jeanette Woods. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy