Month: October 2022

On Friday, federal authorities issued an internal bulletin that warned of the potential for violence from domestic extremists during the midterm election season.

The same day, a federal Judge in Phoenix refused to stop a group from patrolling outdoor ballot boxes. Members of the group have been showing up heavily armed, often masked and wearing tactical vests. Critics say this is intimidating voters. The judge said that barring the group would violate their constitutional rights.

From election deniers who continue to insist without evidence that the 2020 election was stolen, to a flood of recent state laws that make voting more difficult, for many Americans, voting feels much more fraught. But volunteers are stepping up across the country to make sure that all voters feel safe casting their ballot.

Host Michel Martin talks to the Reverend Barbara Williams-Skinner of Faiths United to Save Democracy and TurnOut Sunday and Emily Eby, Senior Election Protection Attorney at Texas Civil Rights Project.

On Sunday, Brazilians will go to the polls to choose between two very different presidential candidates. One is the far-right incumbent, Jair Bolsonaro, who has been called Latin America’s Trump. The other is leftist former president and working class icon, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The outcome of the presidential runoff vote will of course shape the future of Brazil’s democracy. But the vote’s impact could also be felt far beyond the country’s borders.

We hear what the outcome could mean for the future of the Amazon rainforest and efforts to prevent catastrophic climate change. And then, NPR’s Shannon Bond explains why conspiracy theories about Brazil’s elections are circulating in the United States.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

The G.I. Bill of 1944 provided free education, unemployment pay and home loans for millions of veterans returning from fighting in World War II. These benefits helped to expand the American middle class after the war.

But many returning Black veterans were excluded because of segregation. And that exclusion helped widen the wealth gap between white and Black Americans.

A bill in Congress would repair some of that harm by paying reparations to the families of nearly one million Black veterans who served in World War II.

NPR’s Quil Lawrence spoke with the family of Bill Dabney, who fought in the little known Barrage Balloon Battalion, about what that money would mean to them.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 12 million people have cast ballots in the 2022 midterms, according to the United States Elections Project.

Hidden in that number are hints about the effect disinformation might be having on voting by mail, whether new voting restrictions are depressing turnout and how motivated Americans are to cast ballots this year.

NPR’s Miles Parks breaks down the national early voting picture, and Sam Gringlas with WABE in Atlanta, talks about the role early voting has played in that crucial midterm state.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

A year ago, William Shatner, the actor who played Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek series, boarded a Blue Origin rocket ship. At the age of 90, he became the oldest person to fly into space.

We hear from Shatner about “Boldly Go,” the book he has since written about how that experience changed his outlook. And we also hear from Frank White, the author and philosopher who coined the term “Overview Effect” to describe experiences like Shatner’s.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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The war in Ukraine is stressing global energy and food markets. China’s COVID-19 lockdowns continue to affect supply chains. Economies large and small are facing persistent inflation. All of it adds up to a bleak global economic picture.

We talk to three NPR reporters on three different continents —Chief Economics Correspondent Scott Horsley in Washington, Rob Schmitz in Berlin and Lauren Frayer in Mumbai—about how economic crises half a world away can bear down on daily life.

This episode also features reporting from NPR’s David Gura on where CEOs think the economy is headed.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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This week, politics in the UK looked a little — crazy.

Outraged members of Parliament yelled their demands for Prime Minister Liz Truss to resign, a head of iceberg lettuce managed to outlast her, and former Prime Minister Boris Johnson -who was just ousted a few months ago over the “partygate” scandal- is back in play as a possible replacement for Truss.

It feels like political theater, but the consequences are very real as people in the U.K. continue to struggle through an economic crisis.

As the very “un-British” chaos continues to unfold, is it proof that the British political system, at its messiest, is still less dysfunctional than U.S. politics?

NPR’s Cheryl W. Thompson speaks with Rosa Prince, editor of “The House”, a magazine that covers U.K. Parliament. And expat Brian Klaas of The Atlantic, explains why he thinks the latest fallout is proof that British democracy is in better shape than American democracy.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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This episode was produced by Tyler Bartlam. It was edited by Jeanette Woods. Our executive producer is Natalie Winston.

The House committee investigating the January 6 Capitol riot has subpoenaed former President Donald Trump for testimony under oath and records.

We speak with Nick Akerman, a former federal prosecutor who was involved in the Watergate case, about what’s at stake for both Congress and the former president.

Plus, NPR’s Carrie Johnson reports that Trump’s former advisor Steve Bannon has now been sentenced to four months in prison for defying his own subpoena from the January 6 committee.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

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Election day is less than three weeks away, and Democrats are trying desperately to hold on to their slim majority in Congress by focusing on abortion rights. But Republicans are betting that the economy and inflation are the most pressing issues for voters.

So how is the focus on abortion working out for the Democrats? We discuss that with NPR Political Correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben and NPR Senior Editor and Correspondent Domenico Montanaro.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.

This week, China’s Communist Party Congress is expected to approve a historic third term in office for the country’s leader, Xi Jinping.

Xi has already been in power for a decade, a period marked by growing authoritarianism in China. Many experts believe he could emerge a more emboldened leader in his new term.

Ailsa Chang speaks with Yun Sun, director of the China Program at the Stimson Center, about the global implications of a third term for Xi Jinping and how this signals a new era for China. And NPR’s Emily Feng reports on how little we know about the way China’s Communist Party Congress makes its decisions.

In participating regions, you’ll also hear a local news segment to help you make sense of what’s going on in your community.

Email us at considerthis@npr.org.