Today, Explained
Episodes
Lady and the Trump
16 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A president. A porn star. A lawyer with a $130,000 payoff. The allegation is Donald Trump had an affair with Stormy Daniels and his lawyer paid her to...
The Colder War
15 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a new Cold War being fought in the North Pole between the United States and Russia (but also China, Finland, Norway, Canada, Greenland and m...
Default in Our Loans
14 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos told states to back off regulating the nine private companies that lend money to students last week. That could mean m...
Rexit
13 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Twitter. That’s how Secretary of State Rex Tillerson found out he was fired today. The news came on the heels of Tillerson calling Russia “an irre...
The United States vs. California
12 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Donald Trump takes his first trip to California as president tomorrow. Making matters awkward, his administration sued the Golden State last week over...
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?
09 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
After months of name calling and test missiles, Donald Trump will be the first sitting United States president to meet with a North Korean leader. Vox...
The Disability Belt
08 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Out of the ten counties with the most adults on Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), nine voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump. But in the pr...
That'll Teach 'Em
07 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
An historic walkout in West Virginia ended yesterday. Teachers managed to shut down every single public school in the state for nine days to demand hi...
What's the Deal with Steel?
06 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
President Trump announced that he's okay with a trade war late last week and he's got the tariff proposals to prove it: 25% for steel, 10% for aluminu...
Inclusion Riders, Explained
05 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Quick bonus episode! Frances McDormand won the Academy Award for Best Actress last night for her performance in “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Mi...
President for Life
05 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
China's National People's Congress opened its annual two-week meeting today. The country’s parliament is expected to change China’s constitution t...
The Gun Problem No One Wants to Talk About
02 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It was a week of whiplash in the national fight over gun control. First, major retailers like Dick’s and Walmart raised the gun-buying age from 18 t...
The Deep Fake
01 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
There’s a new kind of algorithm that allows you to take a video of one person and map the face of another person onto his or her body. Not surprisin...
The Quiet War on Obamacare
28 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A coalition of 20 states filed a lawsuit claiming Obamacare is unconstitutional yesterday. Vox’s Sarah Kliff says that’s just the latest pushback ...
Mueller 101
27 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today, special counsel Robert Mueller dropped over 20 criminal counts against former Trump campaign official Rick Gates, just days after Gates agreed ...
Give Us Your No One
26 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today, the United States Supreme Court denied a request from the Trump administration to expedite a decision on DACA. This keeps the Deferred Action f...
This Time Could Be Different
23 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Something changed this week. Teenagers managed to break the deadlock over gun control. Marches, walkouts, and serious policy debates are on the way. T...
Countdown to Day Zero
22 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Cape Town is just a few months away from being the first major city to shut off its taps in the history of the modern world. Day Zero - the day Capeto...
Breaking the Ice with North Korea
21 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
North and South Korea are on opposite sides of a demilitarized zone, separated by barbed wire, tank traps, and guard towers. But in the 2018 Winter Ol...
Black Panther Is the Most Important Movie of 2018
20 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"Black Panther" is the biggest movie in the world, but what makes this comic book adaptation more important than the nearly 20 Marvel movies that came...
Six Easy Steps to Nuclear War
19 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we launch our show, but it turns out it's a lot easier to launch a nuclear weapon. Vox's Alex Ward walks us through the six easy steps and tells...