The migrant aid group caught in a right-wing social media thread

A conservative group posted a social media thread showing flyers in a border encampment in Mexico urging migrants to vote for Joe Biden. Now, the woman caught up in it, speaks to 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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

How this Girl Scout troop offers community to migrant children

The Girl Scouts have been part of American childhood for generations. And now that quintessential experience is helping young girls, who are new to the United States get a sense of belonging. It comes through a Girl Scout troop based in one of New York City’s largest migrant shelters.

The shelter has around 3,500 migrants, and all of the Girl Scouts are children of families seeking asylum. For the last few weeks, NPR’s Jasmine Garsd has been spending time with them, and brings us their their story.

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Have the new weight-loss drugs changed what it means to be body positive?

America is a land of contradictions; while we’re known as a nation that loves to eat, we also live within a culture that has long valued thinness as the utmost beauty standard.

Over the last several years the body positivity movement has pushed back on that notion. But then came a new class of weight-loss drugs.

New York Magazine contributing writer Samhita Mukhopadhyay grapples with the possible future of a movement like this in her recent article, So Was Body Positivity All A Big Lie?

She joins All Things Considered host Juana Summers to discuss the ever-evolving conversation on health, size, and whose business that is in the first place.

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

He may be a longshot, but Robert F. Kennedy Jr. could impact the election

President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have turned their attention on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently. And the fact that the major party candidates are either trying to criticize him or praise him is a sign that his independent candidacy could have a real impact.

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Critics hated ‘The Phantom Menace.’ It might be time to reconsider

When Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace hit screens across the country in 1999, Return of the Jedi felt like ancient history to Star Wars fans. But after 16 long years, the movie let down fans and critics alike. Twenty-five years have changed how a lot of people feel. 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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

From utility man to one of California’s foremost journalists

Louis Sahagún first arrived at the Los Angeles Times in his early twenties as a utility worker, sweeping lead dust around the printing machines.

But it was the buzzing newsroom that inspired Sahagún to soon spend his lifetime writing stories about the undiscovered characters and corners of California.

Now after 43 years, he’s retiring from the paper, and reflecting on what motivated him to cover a side of the Golden state that remained unknown to many.

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Israel seized control of the Rafah border crossing. The impact could be devastating

The Biden administration has put a hold on an arms shipment to Israel. A senior administration official speaking on the condition of anonymity told NPR it was due to concerns the bombs could be used in Rafah.

Rafah is the site of Israel’s latest campaign in its war against Hamas. It’s also home to some 1.3 million Palestinians. More than half of those people have fled fighting in other parts of Gaza.

On Monday night, Israeli tanks rolled into Rafah taking control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing with Egypt.

The seizure of the border crossing cuts a key supply line for humanitarian aid.

Israel says its incursion in Rafah is a “precise counterterrorism operation.” But possible further military action along with the closed border crossing could exacerbate a humanitarian catastrophe.

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Brittney Griner shares her experience behind bars in Russia

Brittney Griner didn’t know the flight she was taking to Moscow in February 2022 would upend her life. But even before she left for the airport, Griner felt something was off.

It was a premonition that foreshadowed a waking nightmare.

She had accidentally left two vape cartridges with traces of cannabis oil in her luggage. What followed was nearly 10 months of struggle in a cell, and diplomatic efforts from the U.S. to get her home.

Griner reflects on the experience in her new memoir, ‘Coming Home’ and discusses it in depth with NPR’s Juana Summers.

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

Behind the narrative of ‘outside agitators’ co-opting protests

The term “outside agitator” has staying power.

It’s been used against protestors throughout history, from the Civil Rights Movement, to the anti-Vietnam War protests and now during the pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses.

“Outside agitator” was also used to describe some of the people who protested the killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri In 2014.

Who exactly are the “outside agitators” and what purpose does it serve to call them out?

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy

NASA chief is worried about China getting back to the moon first

On Friday, China launched it’s Chang’e-6 mission carrying a probe to the far side of the moon to gather samples and bring them back to Earth. If successful, it would be a first, for ANY country.

The race to get astronauts back on the moon is in full swing. The US has serious competition. China wants to put astronauts on the moon by 2030. Other countries are in the race, too.

If the U.S. stays on schedule it will get humans back on the moon before anyone else, as part of NASA’s Artemis program. That’s a big if. But NASA is making progress.

The space agency’s making a bit of a bet, and mostly relying on private companies, mainly Elon Musk’s SpaceX .

With limited resources and facing a more crowded field, it’s unclear if the U.S. will dominate space as it once did.

Host Scott Detrow talks to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson about what he is doing to try to keep the U.S. at the front of the race back to the moon.

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.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy