When did immigrants become "illegal?"
The rules about who could and could not come and live in the United States have changed many times over the last 250 years, but exactly when restricti...
What is ICE's job?
We examine what the current presidential administration tells us about Immigration and Customs Enforcement and what the numbers, courts and history of...
Safe to Drink
Introducing “Safe to Drink:” A New Hampshire town finds out its water has been contaminated by a chemical. The most basic question — whether the water...
What happens when it's not NASA bringing civilians to space?
In 1985, high school teacher Christa McAuliffe was selected to become the first private citizen to travel to space. After the Challenger explosion tha...
What is the Monroe Doctrine?
After its inception in 1823, the Monroe Doctrine was largely ignored. But after a while, different administrations saw the value in maintaining contro...
How does asylum work? And what has changed?
On this episode, we’re talking about the history and evolution of United States’ refugee and asylum policy. We have been a country of exclusion for ab...
What's happening with Venezuela?
Sometimes, we just have to make a "101" episode of Civics 101. That is the case this week, in the wake of the arrest of Venezuela's sitting president ...
Restoring Civility in our Politics (on The Middle)
This week Nick appears on The Middle, with Jeremy Hobson. The topic is civility in politics, and they're joined by former New Hampshire State Legislat...
Probable Claus: Is Santa a Criminal?
Today we answer this question from a listener, "Is Santa a criminal?" We get to the bottom of the myriad actions of the jolly old elf, and whether he ...
What is the filibuster?
Why does it take, in practice, 60 votes for a bill to pass in the Senate? Why doesn't it seem like anyone is up there talking for days anymore? And wh...