Consider This from NPR

Eight years ago, Daniel Day-Lewis announced he was retired from acting. He offered no further comment. Retirement notwithstanding, the three-time winner of the Oscar for Best Actor stars in a new movie, out this week. He plays a man who long ago left the world he once knew – and then is contacted by a family member to come back.

It was written with and directed by his son, Ronan Day-Lewis.<...

The government shutdown is on. Already, it’s being felt across the country.

National Parks are preparing to scale back or close. Furloughed federal workers are facing tough choices about how to pay the bills when they can’t count on their paychecks. Some people trying to access government services have found locked doors. 

Democratic and Republican lawmakers are at an impasse after dueling propo...

NPR’s National Security Correspondent Greg Myre spent the summer reporting on the war in Ukraine. He saw the devastation of the conflict. But he also saw something else: the country leveraging its resources at home to meet the moment…including in Lviv where they’re racing to make as many of their own weapons as fast as they can.

And at a hospital near the frontlines in central Ukraine where...

More than a hundred countries have committed to fresh plans to curb pollution, with one big holdout: the U.S.

NPR's Andrew Limbong speaks with the EU Commissioner for Climate, Wopke Hoekstra, about how global leaders are moving forward on climate goals with the U.S. on the sidelines.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider Thi...

After 25 years at NPR and 10 years hosting All Things Considered and the last few years hosting Consider This, Ari Shapiro is moving on to his next adventure.

We’re saying bye.

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, Matt Ozu...

A superhuman artificial intelligence so smart it can decide to get rid of slower-witted humans is a pretty terrifying concept.

What was once strictly the stuff of science fiction is now closer than ever to being a reality.

And if it does, some A-I researchers have gloomy predictions about humanity’s chances of survival.

While the A-I boom continues and compan...

The federal government’s approach to public health has changed more in the last eight months than it has in decades.

 
Since President Trump returned to office, he and members of his administration have challenged the safety of the covid vaccine, the overall childhood vaccine schedule, and the causes of autism.

This has upended public health guidance that doctors and pat...

President Trump is promising to sweep homeless people off America’s streets. One controversial part of his plan could force thousands of people into institutions where they would be treated “long-term” for for addiction and mental illness. Critics say the policy raises big concerns about civil liberties and cost. But parts of this idea - known as “civil commitment” are gaining traction with some Democratic leade...

The Trump administration is moving fast on a plan to create several holding centers around the country for people detained in a nationwide immigration crackdown. One facility in particular has been rife with problems.

For sponsor-free episodes of Consider This, sign up for Consider This+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org. 

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Governor Spencer Cox of Utah, who has been in the national headlines just about every day since Charlie Kirk's killing, has long wanted to bring community harmony to national politics. That outlook comes in part from his upbringing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The governor was a critic of President Trump during Trump’s first term, but later endors...

A 30 second video clip shows a boat bobbing in the water.

Then, a fireball and a huge plume of smoke.

President Trump posted the footage on social media this week, saying he ordered the U-S military to attack what Trump called “narcoterrorists from Venezuela.”

It’s at least the second time this month that President Trump has ordered this sort of a deadly strike on a boat that he clai...

President Trump has said for years that he wants Jimmy Kimmel off the air. 

Now, ABC and its parent company Disney have put the show on indefinite hiatus. 

One key player here is the chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, Brendan Carr. 

Today he applauded ABC’s decision, posting on X, “Broadcast TV stations have always been required by their licenses to o...

The first day of President Trump’s historic trip to the UK was dominated by ceremony.

A carriage procession around the grounds of Windsor Castle with the royal family.

Inspection of the guards.

Exhibits from the Royal Collection.

A lavish banquet preceded by a joint US- UK military flypast. 

All the royal pomp and pageantry that might be expected for the f...

Robert Redford died early Tuesday morning, according to his publicist. He was 89 years old.

Redford was a golden child of Hollywood, starring in dozens of movies. But he was never content just being an all-American matinee idol.

He became an Oscar-winning director, founded the Sundance Institute and grew the Sundance Film Festival, and advocated for environmental causes before a...

With the assasination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, there’s a great deal of speculation about who will fill his seat, literally and metaphorically.

Vice President JD Vance hosted the Charlie Kirk Show on Monday. He talked with a variety of Trump administration heavyweights and conservative media figures, including White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and political commentator Tu...