By hiring a communist as his main housing adviser, New York Mayor Zohram Mamdani is fully committed to driving out private ownership of rental properties and handing over apartments to the city and politically-connected organizations. It will only make housing problems worse.
How the US shifted from Greenland’s natural partner to its most feared would-be colonizer — and why the American far right is now a liability for Europe’s. Plus: pre-election Hungary, the retrial in the Ján Kuciak murder, Serbia’s oil troubles, and a portrait of Austro-Mexican artist Tamara Flores.
Journalist from The Grayzone and author of Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire returns to Bad Faith to discuss the latest developments in Venezuela following the kidnapping of Maduro -- a story that somehow emerged this month but is already out of the headlines. But first, we tackle an insane news week, including the ICE shooting death of Alex Pretti, the Democratic Party's feeble response and willingness to compromise ahead of this week's government funding deadline, settler attacks in the West Bank on Holocaust memorial day, Israelis starting fires in Patagonia, the physical attack on Ilhan Omar, TikTok becoming part of the Ellison empire, & more.
The least isolationist president of our time—despite the neo-isolationists who seem to think he's on their side—may be poised to hit the mullahs as early as this weekend. How to explain the decision to do so? We give it a go. And we look at the new video of the tragically killed Alex Pretti and what it says about the events in Minneapolis. Give a listen.
The Bill of Rights transformed the Constitution from one of supreme and total national power to a partially mixed polity where the liberal anti-nationalists at least had a fighting chance.
Macadamia nuts. Labor shortages. Volcanoes. All that might sound like econ Mad Libs, but they’re all connected to the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco’s entry into the Beige Book this month: labor shortages are hurting macadamia nut harvests in Hawaii.
On today’s show, we take a vacation and talk to someone on the Big Island who runs a macadamia nut farm. He calls them “mac nuts.”
After the shooting of Alex Pretti, the Trump administration is making a leadership change in Minneapolis. Will anything change?
A new Trump administration official has taken over the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis.
Tom Homan, the White House’s so-called border czar, takes over after the departure of Border Patrol’s Gregory Bovino, who has been the public face of the operation, including encounters that left two American citizens dead.
NPR's Scott Detrow talks to The Atlantic investigative journalist Caitlin Dickerson about Homan's background and what it will mean for Minneapolis.
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 Karen Zamora and Vincent Acovino.
It was edited by Courtney Dorning and Sarah Handel.
While unity sounds like a nice thing to have, when it comes to politics and nation-states, experience repeatedly shows that unity is the tool of those who build state power at the expense of freedom.
The political fallout in Minnesota has had a boomerang effect on the Trump administration because of its predisposition to take the hardest-line position on every matter and be provocative rather than resolute and calm. Give a listen.
Tim Harford investigates some of the numbers in the news. This week:
Is it true that someone needs to earn £71,000 before they receive more money than a family on benefits?
Did Canadian prime minister Mark Carney get the GDP of Canada and the Nordic countries wrong?
Are 1990s pop icons Right Said Fred right about what they said about church attacks?
Is a sauna really ten times as hot as Wales in the winter?
And Tim hits the science lab treadmill to find out if he can run a four-hour marathon.
If you’ve seen a number in the news you want the team on More or Less to have a look at, email moreorless@bbc.co.uk
Contributors:
Gareth Morgan, benefits expert and author of the Benefits in the Future blog
Joe Shalam, policy director of the Centre for Social Justice
Professor Kelly Morrison, head of physics at Loughborough University
Dr Danny Muniz, a senior lecturer in Exercise Physiology at the University of Hertfordshire
Credits:
Presenter: Tim Harford
Reporters: Nathan Gower, Lizzy McNeill and Tom Colls
Production co-ordinator: Brenda Brown
Sound mix: Gareth Jones and James Beard
Editor: Richard Vadon