Category: News

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Consider This from NPR - The U.S. spent billions to rebuild Afghanistan. Was it successful?

A new report from U.S. government watchdog SIGAR gives us the fullest accounting yet of U.S. efforts to rebuild Afghanistan.

In short, they call it "a two-decade long effort fraught with waste.”

Each week, Consider This hosts interview newsmakers, experts, and artists for NPR — conversations we don’t always have time to share fully in the podcast or on the radio. So every other week we share one here, for our NPR+ supporters.

Sign up to hear our bonus episodes, support public radio, and get regular episodes of your favorite NPR podcasts without sponsor messages at plus.npr.org.



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More or Less - The shocking world of US health costs

A loyal listener wrote in to question this claim made by neuroscientist Dr Daniel Levitin: "Here in the US valium in a pharmacy might be $3 that same pill in a hospital setting might be $750."

Our listener was shocked at how one pill can cost 250 x more in a hospital setting than in a pharmacy. But can it? Sort of.

We turned to Elisabeth Rosenthal to take us on a dive into the frankly shocking world of US Health costs.

Presenter: Tim Harford Producer: Lizzy McNeill Series Producer: Tom Colls Editor: Richard Vadon Production Coordinator: Maria Ogundele Sound Mix: Neil Churchill

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Risky Business with Nate Silver and Maria Konnikova - Best of Risky Business: Building a Championship Team (with Daryl Morey)

We’re closing out the year with some of our (and your) favorite episodes to date. First up: Nate and Maria’s conversation with Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey about bringing game theory and probabilistic thinking to the NBA.

For more from Nate and Maria, subscribe to their newsletters:

The Leap from Maria Konnikova

Silver Bulletin from Nate Silver 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Consider This from NPR - The cream of the slop: this year’s AI highlights

2025 has proved that artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping online reality and that the “slop” is here to stay. 



NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel and Shannon Bond have spent much of the year rolling around in that slop and join host Scott Detrow to break down some of the highlights and how to sort the real from the fake.

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 Elena Burnett and Daniel Ofman.

It was edited by Brett Neely, John Ketchum and Courtney Dorning.

Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.

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The Ezra Klein Show - The Opinions: Bernie Sanders and Ruben Gallego

What will America’s story be after President Trump? My colleague David Leonhardt did a great series on that question this year, talking to a number of leading politicians. I thought two of those episodes, with Senator Bernie Sanders and with Senator Ruben Gallego, would be of particular interest to you.

And they’re great to listen to as a pair. Sanders and Gallego have strong views about where the Democratic Party went wrong and how it can win back working-class voters in particular — views that have a lot of overlap but also some interesting shades of difference. So I wanted to share both conversations.

You can learn more about our sister show “The Opinions” here — and subscribe wherever you find your podcasts.

Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. You can also subscribe via your favorite podcast app here https://www.nytimes.com/activate-access/audio?source=podcatcher. For more podcasts and narrated articles, download The New York Times app at nytimes.com/app.

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Pod Save America - Trump White House Secrets Revealed

Vanity Fair publishes a candid interview with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in which she makes eye-popping admissions about Trump, Elon Musk, and many more. Trump interrupts the season finale of Survivor to deliver an angry, meandering primetime address on the economy, and the administration moves closer to war with Venezuela, announcing a blockade of oil tankers trying to enter or leave its ports. Jon and Dan discuss all the latest and then turn to Trump’s new executive orders on gender-affirming care and medical marijuana, Speaker Mike Johnson’s inability to hold his coalition together, and DNC Chair Ken Martin’s decision to bury a much-anticipated postmortem report on the 2024 election.


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The Indicator from Planet Money - Tariffs. Consumer sentiment. Cape Ratio. Pick The Indicator of The Year!

2025 was a wild year for the U.S. economy. Tariffs transformed the global economy, consumer sentiment hit near-historic lows, and the stock market hit scary, spooky, blood-curdling new heights! So … which of these economic stories defined the year? 

Our hosts from Planet Money and The Indicator duke it out during our annual … Family Feud!

Tell us who you think has THE indicator of the year by emailing us at indicator@npr.org. Put “Family Feud” in the subject line. 

Related episodes:


The Indicators of this year and next 

This indicator hasn’t flashed this red since the dot-com bubble 

What would it mean to actually refund the tariffs?

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 Corey Bridges. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.  

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Consider This from NPR - Rob Reiner loved America. He thought it could be better

Rob Reiner spent his life trying to fix what he saw as America’s shortcomings. In an interview shortly before his death he explained why he was optimistic America could be better.


The actor and director was found dead on Sunday along with his wife Michelle Singer Reiner.

Their son has been charged with their murders.

And those tributes – they’ve centered on Reiner's acting, the movies he’s directed, but also on his political activism.

It’s something he talked to the journalist Todd Purdum about shortly before he died. 

Purdum wrote about that interview in the New York Times this week, and joins Scott Detrow to discuss what he learned about Reiner's work and view of America's future. 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 Elena Burnett.

It was edited by Courtney Dorning.

Our executive producer is Sami Yenigun.




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Inside Europe - How Gen Z toppled the Bulgarian government

How Gen Z-led protests toppled the Bulgarian government, a close look at Denmark's hardline asylum policies, and what should be done about the Dutch housing crisis. Then: A Scottish island castle for sale, Vilnius' bid to become Europe's biggest start-up hub, exhumations of political prisoners in Prague, and how the French Post Office tries to stay relevant.