Consider This from NPR

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 conflict in Ira...

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.

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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.

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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 suppo...

With the U.S. military amassing in the Middle East ahead of possible strikes in Iran, a Democratic lawmaker explains his effort to limit the president.

The United States Constitution empowers Congress, not the president, to declare war.

That hasn’t stopped plenty of presidents from commanding military combat.

It didn’t stop President Trump from ordering airstrikes on Iran’s...

Correctional officers are leaving their jobs at federal prisons. 

And when these prisons are understaffed – psychologists and other staff are asked to act as guards. 

Recent reporting from The Marshall Project says it’s pushing mental health professionals out of prisons. 

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Gavin Newsom is in his final year as governor of California. He’s also widely considered a potential presidential candidate for 2028—a possibility he has not ruled out—and he sees himself as a leader of Democratic opposition to President Donald Trump, often mocking his brash style on social media. 

The governor sat down with NPR for an interview ahead of the release of his new memoir, Young Man in a Hur...

AI CEOs talk a lot about the enormous potential of AI to cure diseases, generate enormous wealth and solve some of humanity’s most vexing problems.

But they are surprisingly direct in talking about the potential downsides.

A big one that we’re suddenly hearing a lot more about is what it could mean for our jobs. We'll unpack whether and how much you should be worried.For sponsor...

As congress debates voter ID laws, and the Supreme Court reconsiders provisions of the Voting Rights Act, Senator Raphael Warnock talks about where the movement Reverend Jesse Jackson helped build goes from here.

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This episode was produce...

NPR investigative reporter Tom Dreisbach talks about how and why he led an ambitious team effort to preserve a comprehensive record of the events of January 6th, 2021.

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 and Daniel...

Nearly a year ago, Trump announced his “Liberation Day” tariffs, slapping high import taxes on goods from countries around the world. The sweeping tariffs hurt the New York-based wine importer VOS Selections, one of several plaintiffs that challenged the Trump administration in court, arguing the president lacked the ability to impose the tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

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Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor turns 66 today.

He’s also been arrested on suspicion of misconduct in public office.

For the first time in four centuries a member of the royal family has been arrested. What could this mean for the former Prince and the women and girls abused by Epstein and his associates?

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Of all the ways President Trump has pushed the bounds of executive power one stands out to lawyers and watchdogs.

He wants the government he leads to pay him billions of dollars.

Trump has filed multiple claims arguing he’s been hurt by Justice Department investigations and the leak of his tax returns years ago.

What does that mean to be on both sides of these legal ...

The Rev. Jesse Jackson died this week at the age of 84. The civil rights leader, minister, and protege of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. helped shape the modern Democratic Party.

Abby Phillip is an anchor at CNN and the author of A Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson and the Fight for Black Political Power. She says Jackson’s impact on politics can be traced back to his 1984 and 1988 failed pres...

President Trump banned transgender people from the military during his first term.

But at the time, service members could continue with their service if they had received an official diagnosis of gender dysphoria.

Citing military excellence and readiness, the second Trump administration is now forcibly removing nearly all remaining openly transgender troops – identifying them by their previo...

As lawmakers, and people around the country, grapple with what federal immigration enforcement should look like, Janet Napolitano, former DHS Secretary under President Obama, talks about the future - and the past - of ICE.

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In 1963, President John F. Kennedy kicked off a decades-long effort to reduce the risk of nuclear war, when he signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty. Subsequent presidents forged new agreements, but now that global order to safeguard and reduce nuclear arms is deteriorating.

This month the last bilateral nuclear treaty between Russia and the United States expired. Meanwhile, President Trump is...

Congress is approaching yet another Friday funding deadline. So how can the parties find any common ground before DHS runs out of money?

NPR's Scott Detrow speaks with Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Democratic Congressman Tom Suozzi of New York about a path forward.

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