On a special news-less show, the COMMENTARY crew shares with you some of our favorite and surprising historical sites around the world. Give a listen.
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The Indicator from Planet Money - Cobalt-free batteries reign in Chinese EVs. Why not the US?
There’s been an era-defining race underway between two types of batteries used in electric vehicles: lithium batteries that use cobalt, and ones that use iron phosphate. Cobalt, a metal with a checkered human rights record, has been in the lead. Until recently.
Henry Sanderson’s book on the elements that build electric vehicles is Volt Rush: The Winners and Losers in the Race to Go Green.
Related episodes:
The race to produce lithium
How batteries are already changing the grid
How batteries are riding the free market rodeo in Texas
How EV batteries tore apart Michigan (Update)
Batteries are catching fire at sea
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Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Consider This from NPR - How hundreds of babies and children ended up in a mass grave in Ireland
Anna Corrigan grew up in Dublin, Ireland. She thought she was an only child, until she was in her 50s and discovered a family secret. Corrigan found documents showing her mother had spent time in one of Ireland’s so-called mother and baby homes — places where single women went to give birth. And that she had given birth to two sons there. Two brothers that Corrigan never knew she had.
It's part of a sad history in Ireland that is now being unearthed, literally. Scientists believe that nearly 800 babies and children are buried in a mass grave behind one former mother and baby home in Tuam, Ireland.
NPR’s Lauren Frayer reports on the work that forensic scientists are now doing to bring those remains to light.
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 Emma Klein and Michael Levitt. It was edited by William Troop and Nick Spicer. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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It's part of a sad history in Ireland that is now being unearthed, literally. Scientists believe that nearly 800 babies and children are buried in a mass grave behind one former mother and baby home in Tuam, Ireland.
NPR’s Lauren Frayer reports on the work that forensic scientists are now doing to bring those remains to light.
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 Emma Klein and Michael Levitt. It was edited by William Troop and Nick Spicer. Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices
NPR Privacy Policy
The Commentary Magazine Podcast - Visiting Days
On this special Summer Recommendations podcast, the crew suggests places to go in America you might not have thought of or even heard of, including a road, a beach, a park, a museum...and some websites. Give a listen.
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Cato Podcast - Trade, Power, and Tension: The U.S.-China Story
Justin Logan and Clark Packard break down the twists and turns of the U.S.-China relationship—from trade liberalization and consumer benefits to lost manufacturing and rising geopolitical tensions. They unpack how economic integration shaped today’s challenges and what it means for America’s future.
Justin Logan, “Liberty at Home, Restraint Abroad: A Realist Approach to Foreign Policy,” Free Society (June 20, 2024)
Justin Logan, “Uncle Sucker: Why U.S. Efforts at Defense Burdensharing Fail,” Policy Analysis no. 940 (March 7, 2023)
Clark Packard, Course Correction, Policy Analysis no. 897 (July 21, 2020)
Clark Packard and Scott Lincicome, “Presidential Tariff Powers and the Need for Reform,” Briefing Paper no. 179 (October 9, 2024)
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Pod Save America - Blessed are the Peacemakers (Trump and Putin)
Following an unproductive day of talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska, Trump meets with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European leaders to discuss a potential deal to end Russia's war in Ukraine. Favreau, Lovett, and Tommy discuss the meetings, the MAGA press corp's bizarre questions for Zelensky, and Trump's latest Putin-inspired fixation—eliminating mail in ballots. Then, they react to Republican governors sending armed troops to DC, ICE saying the quiet part out loud, and Governor Newsom's new social media strategy. To close the show, Bridget Brink, the former United States Ambassador to Ukraine, joins Tommy to talk about Ukraine's reaction to Trump's unusual approach to peace talks.
For a closed-captioned version of this episode, click here. For a transcript of this episode, please email transcripts@crooked.com and include the name of the podcast.
The Indicator from Planet Money - How algorithms are changing the way we speak
Social media has birthed an entire lexicon replicated by millions online — even if these words don’t actually mean skibidi. On today’s show, we talk to author Adam Aleksic about how TikTok and Instagram's engagement metrics, and viral memes, are rewiring our brains and transforming language at warp speed.
Adam Aleksic’s book is Algospeak: How Social Media is Transforming the Future of Language
Related episodes:
What we’re reading on the beach this summer
For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.
Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.
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Chapo Trap House - 961 – The Dogs of War feat. Seth Harp (8/18/25)
Journalist and author Seth Harp returns to the pod to talk about his horrifying and expansive new book The Fort Bragg Cartel. We talk with Seth about America’s forever-war machine and the global drug empire it empowers, with a special focus on the case of Delta Force officer William Lavigne, who killed his best friend before turning up dead near Fort Bragg in a still-unsolved murder. We also discuss the rise of JSOC, the third Iraq War and its ongoing ramifications, the US military’s ties with the brutal Los Zetas cartel, and the eternal shadow war waged in the name of empire.
Buy Seth’s book here (and give it 5 stars on Amazon!): https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/730414/the-fort-bragg-cartel-by-seth-harp/
And follow him on X at @sethharpesq
Consider This from NPR - Trump and Zelenskyy meet again
In the last few days, President Donald Trump has met separately with the presidents of Russia and Ukraine, in an attempt to break the deadlock and end the war.
Today’s meeting at the White House between Trump and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy seemed to go much better than last time, when Zelenskyy left early after a heated argument in the Oval Office. In fact, Zelenskyy hailed today’s meeting as “the best one” yet.
Even so, the next steps to ending the war are unclear. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Zelenskyy still haven’t met face-to-face to negotiate, and it’s not certain whether they will be able to find common ground.
NPR White House Correspondent Danielle Kurtzleben gives an update on the day’s events, and former national security advisor Susan Rice gives her perspective on the likelihood of a deal.
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 Megan Lim and Mia Venkat.
It was edited by Christopher Intagliata, Andrew Sussman, Tara Neill and Nadia Lancy.
Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.
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Bad Faith - Episode 501 Promo – The Prison-Industrial Complex Comes to DC (w/ Alec Karakatsanis & Bianca Tylek)
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Recorded just days after Trump sent the National Guard into DC, civil rights lawyer, author of Copaganda, & co-founder of Equal Justice Under Law Alec Karakatsanis returns to Bad Faith alongside Worth Rises executive director Bianca Tylek, leading expert and author of The Prison Industry: How it Works and Who Profits, to explain the bigger picture of how the private prison lobby is driving the crackdown on immigrants, the rise in cop cities, and creeping authoritarianism in the United States.
Subscribe to Bad Faith on YouTube for video of this episode. Find Bad Faith on Twitter (@badfaithpod) and Instagram (@badfaithpod).