Today, Explained

Today, Explained is Vox's daily news explainer podcast. Hosts Sean Rameswaram and Noel King will guide you through the most important stories of the day.


Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network.

News
Daily News
Politics
1101
Googliath
Australia just reined in Google. Dozens of other countries want in on the action. The latest season of Land of the Giants explains how two grad students turned a search engine into what might be the most powerful company in history.
41 min
1102
A tough week for Texas
First it was brutal winter weather, power outages followed, and then came a poorly timed trip to Cancun. Texas Public Radio’s Joey Palacios explains what comes next.
22 min
1103
Rush Limbaugh’s legacy
Author Nicole Hemmer explains how Limbaugh helped pave the way for Fox News, OAN, and Newsmax.
26 min
1104
Biden at the border
President Biden says he wants to undo his predecessor’s immigration policies, so why are some of them still in effect? The El Paso Times’s Lauren Villagran and the New Yorker’s Sarah Stillman explain.
25 min
1105
57-43
Democrats made a strong case against Donald Trump. Republicans are being punished for supporting it. Vox’s Zack Beauchamp explains.
23 min
1106
#FreeBritney
The movement to liberate Britney Spears from her conservatorship may not succeed, but it’s revealing a lot about how we treat young women. Vox’s Constance Grady explains.
25 min
1107
The Republican(!) plan to give parents money
Sen. Mitt Romney wants to throw money at parents, Andrew Yang-style. President Biden is into it, too. Vox’s Dylan Matthews explains.
21 min
1108
Vaccine hoarding
Poorer countries have received less than 1 percent of the Covid-19 vaccines distributed around the world. Vox’s Julia Belluz explains what the WHO is calling a “catastrophic moral failure.”
16 min
1109
26 Words
A quarter-century after it was signed, Section 230, the law that made the modern internet, has done the impossible: united Democrats and Republicans.
25 min
1110
Capitol punishment
Vox’s Andrew Prokop previews the historic second impeachment trial of former President Donald Trump. Law professor Alan Rozenshtein explains what the Justice Department can and cannot do to prosecute insurrectionists.
26 min
1111
The Senate’s $1.9 trillion all-nighter
The Senate voted on more than 40 pieces of legislation overnight. Vox’s Li Zhou explains what the “vote-a-rama” means for President Biden’s agenda.
15 min
1112
The Arab Spring, 10 years later
Ten years ago, a Tunisian fruit vendor set himself on fire and set off a revolution across the Middle East and North Africa. The Independent’s Borzou Daragahi says the Arab Spring never ended.
33 min
1113
Marjorie Taylor Greene’s “loony lies”
Vox’s Aaron Rupar explains why Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has likened a fellow Republican’s views to cancer. And New York magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi explores what lawmakers peddling conspiracy theories means for the future of the GOP.
23 min
1114
The coup in Myanmar
Some would say the military has always been in control of Myanmar. On Monday morning, they made it official once again.
18 min
1115
Introducing Chicano Squad
After the 1977 murder of a young Latino man, the Houston Police Department created a team of five young Latino officers to solve homicides in their community. True crime meets forgotten history in the Vox Media Podcast Network’s 'Chicano Squad.'
47 min
1116
Biden’s latest 13 actions (in 13 minutes)
And whether or not any of it will last beyond his presidency.
20 min
1117
GameStock
Vox’s Emily Stewart explains how GameStop’s stock jumped by 1,700 percent this month. Bloomberg’s Matt Levine ponders the purpose of the stock market.
24 min
1118
The military’s far-right problem
Sen. Tammy Duckworth wants the military to do a better job of rooting out extremism in its ranks. A military investigator explains how to solve a decades-old problem.
23 min
1119
Coronavirus, 365 days later
One year after our first episode on the novel coronavirus, Vox’s Julia Belluz explains what we got right, what we got wrong, and what comes next.
21 min
1120
Marianne Williamson on healing America’s soul
Marianne Williamson was applauded as well as ridiculed on the presidential debate stage when she warned of the “dark psychic forces of collectivized hatred.” Now, just a few weeks after a lethal insurrection, a historic second impeachment, and the inauguration of President Joe Biden, she talks about the possibility of unity.
23 min
1121
Second in command, first in history
Kamala Harris has already broken barriers, but ahead lies the rare task of leading a polarized and evenly divided Senate.
24 min
1122
Biden’s first 17 actions (in 17 minutes)
In his first few minutes in office, President Biden hit CTRL+Z on former President Trump’s agenda.
20 min
1123
46
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris were sworn in today and got straight to work. Vox’s Laura McGann and Dylan Matthews explain what will be done immediately, and what’s possible with the slimmest of majorities in Congress.
34 min
1124
Abolish the lame-duck period?
America’s two-month lame-duck period gave supporters of the outgoing president ample time to plan a violent uprising. Vox’s Ian Millhiser argues the long transition needs to end.
22 min
1125
The first global vaccination
Was distributed by 22 orphans.
19 min