The Indicator from Planet Money - Why can’t we insure trees?

In the U.S., we insure most everything we sell. So why not trees? Today on the show why trees aren't insured like other crops, and what it would take to get that insurance with extreme weather events on the rise.

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When insurers can't get insurance (Apple / Spotify)

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NPR's Book of the Day - Ten years later, Ta-Nehisi Coates says ‘Between the World and Me’ is no longer his

Ten years ago, Ta-Nehisi Coates published Between the World and Me, written as a letter to his then-15-year-old son. The book was released shortly after a shooting at Mother Emanuel church in Charleston left nine people dead – and it became a literary phenomenon as many Americans searched for answers about the state of race relations in the United States. In today's episode, Coates reflects on the 10 year anniversary of Between the World and Me. He speaks with NPR's Michel Martin about the book's dedication, efforts to ban his work, and the role of writers in the public sphere.

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - The Spectacle of “Alligator Alcatraz” Is the Point

Built in just eight days, Donald Trump and Kristi Noem toured “Alligator Alcatraz,” a migrant detention facility built on a disused airstrip in the Florida Everglades. Even before Trump touched down in South Florida, branded merchandise was being sold. Soon after he headed back to Washington, the first detainees were brought in.

Guest:  Sommer Brugal, Miami reporter for Axios.

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Podcast production by Ethan Oberman, Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme, and Rob Gunther.

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Audio Mises Wire - Rights, Fights, and the Economy of Self-Defense: Why MMA Facilitates the Right to Self-Defense

Mixed martial arts is a brutal, imperfect, occasionally ugly sport. But it’s also one of the most honest epistemic systems we have when dealing with self-defense, and each individual has the right to defend himself against aggressors.

Original article: https://mises.org/mises-wire/rights-fights-and-economy-self-defense-why-mma-facilitates-right-self-defense

It Could Happen Here - Palestine’s Stolen Future

Guest host Dana El Kurd, Palestinian researcher and writer, provides an overview of Palestinian politics, explains the legitimacy crisis within Palestinian politics, and outlines the impact international actors have had on Palestinian leadership and strategy. She highlights how these issues affect ending the war on Gaza, and the future of Palestine more broadly.  

Sources:

Raz Segal on genocide - https://jewishcurrents.org/a-textbook-case-of-genocide

Omer Bartov on genocide – https://www.democracynow.org/2024/12/30/omer_bartov_israel_gaza_genocide

Amos Goldberg on genocide - https://thefirethesetimes.com/2025/05/25/intent-holocaust-studies-and-the-gaza-genocide-w-amos-goldberg/

Khaled Elgindy on Biden’s “bear hug” - https://foreignpolicy.com/2024/10/10/biden-israel-hamas-war-gaza-us-policy/

Bezalel Smotrich on population transfer - https://www.timesofisrael.com/smotrich-says-gaza-to-be-totally-destroyed-population-concentrated-in-small-area/

Nissim Vaturi on population transfer - https://www.timesofisrael.com/occupy-expel-settle-minister-mks-at-far-right-rally-call-to-empty-gaza-of-gazans/

Arab Peace Initiative - https://www.kas.de/c/document_library/get_file?uuid=a5dab26d-a2fe-dc66-8910-a13730828279&groupId=268421

Arab Center Washington – “The Biden Administration and the Middle East in 2023” - https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/the-biden-administration-and-the-middle-east-in-2023/

Mike Huckabee on Palestinians - https://edition.cnn.com/2024/11/12/politics/mike-huckabee-palestinian-comments-trump-israel-ambassador

Steve Witkoff making deals with Hamas - https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/hamas-says-witkoffs-gaza-ceasefire-proposal-must-lead-end-war-2025-05-31/

Adam Boehler “we are not an agent of Israel” - https://www.axios.com/2025/03/09/adam-boehler-hamas-israel-talks

Philippe Lazzarini on Gaza Humanitarian Foundation - https://www.unrwa.org/newsroom/official-statements/unrwa-commissioner-general-gaza-aid-distribution-has-become-death-trap

Doctors without Borders on Gaza Humanitarian Foundation -  https://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/latest/siege-gaza-msf-denounces-new-aid-mechanism-proposed-us-and-israel

Jake Woods, Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, resigns - https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/may/26/gaza-humanitarian-foundation-aid-group-jake-wood-resigns

Saudi Minister on Two-State Solution - https://www.mofa.gov.sa/en/ministry/news/Pages/His-Highness-the-Foreign-Minister-A-Two-State-Solution-is-the-Only-Path-to-Achieving-a-Just-and-Lasting-Peace-in-the-Regio.aspx

France & Saudi sponsor peace conference - https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/politics-and-diplomacy/article-855969

Qatari foreign minister on Saudi sponsored peace conference - https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250613-qatar-france-fms-underscore-importance-of-upcoming-un-two-state-solution-conference-as-real-opportunity-for-peace/

The Oslo Accords and the Palestinian Authority background - https://www.palquest.org/en/highlight/31121/x-oslo-process-and-establishment-palestinian-authority

Yitzhak Rabin’s final address to the Knesset - https://www.palquest.org/en/historictext/24965/yitzhaq-rabin%E2%80%99s-address-knesset-after-israeli-palestinian-agreement

Mapping Palestinian Politics – European Council on Foreign Relations - https://ecfr.eu/special/mapping_palestinian_politics/plo/

“Abbas is America’s Man” - https://jewishcurrents.org/abbas-is-americas-man

Tariq Dana – “Lost in Transition: The Palestinian National Movement After Oslo” - https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/from-the-river-to-the-sea-9781978752658/

Wendy Pearlman – “Violence, Nonviolence, and the Palestinian National Movement” - https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/violence-nonviolence-and-the-palestinian-national-movement/0F8D188C7D514D49F68D827066E0FABD

BDS call - https://bdsmovement.net/pacbi/pacbi-call

Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research – September 2023 poll - https://www.pcpsr.org/sites/default/files/Poll%2089%20English%20Full%20Text%20September%202023.pdf

Interview with Ukrainian outlet “Commons” - https://commons.com.ua/en/intervyu-z-danoyu-el-kurd/

Protests against Hamas – July 2023 - https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/07/30/thousands-of-marchers-in-gaza-in-rare-public-display-of-discontent-with-hamas_6073136_4.html

Protests against Hamas - https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/25/middleeast/anti-hamas-protests-gaza-intl-latam

Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research – May 2025 poll - https://www.pcpsr.org/sites/default/files/Poll%2095%20press%20release%206May2025%20ENGLISH.pdf

Changes in PLO structure and new Vice President role - https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/08/palestinians-leader-mahmoud-abbas-president

Polling on Hussein Al-Sheikh - https://pcpsr.org/sites/default/files/Poll%2092%20English%20full%20text%20July2024.pdf

Palestinian National Conference - https://ncpalestine.org/

A Land for All - https://www.2s1h.org/en

Israeli backed gangs in Gaza - https://zeteo.com/p/who-is-abu-shabab-meet-the-gaza-gangster

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The Source - The Source: After the flood

At least 78 people have died in catastrophic flooding in Texas. 68 people died in the Guadalupe River flooding. Many are still unaccounted for.array(3) { [0]=> string(20) "https://www.tpr.org/" [1]=> string(0) "" [2]=> string(1) "0" }

Good Bad Billionaire - John D Rockefeller: The first billionaire

John D Rockefeller built his fortune refining oil and founding Standard Oil. A pioneer of the U.S. business trust, he helped shape the structure of the modern corporation. His influence lives on in companies like Chevron, ExxonMobil, and ConocoPhillips, and in institutions like the Rockefeller Foundation. But not everyone saw him as a visionary. President Theodore Roosevelt branded the Rockefeller family a “malefactor of great wealth,” and Rockefeller’s monopoly helped spark America’s first antitrust laws. To some, he was a ruthless robber baron; to others, a generous philanthropist who gave away over $500 million. BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng unpack the contradictions of Rockefeller’s empire. Can great giving make up for great power?

Good Bad Billionaire is the podcast exploring the lives of the super-rich and famous, tracking their wealth, philanthropy, business ethics and success. There are leaders who made their money in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street and in high street fashion. From iconic celebrities and CEOs to titans of technology, the podcast unravels tales of fortune, power, economics, ambition and moral responsibility, before inviting you to make up your own mind: are they good, bad or just another billionaire?