The Weeds

Politics is how people achieve power. Policy is what they do with it. Every week on The Weeds, host Jonquilyn Hill and guests break down the policies that shape our lives, from abortion to financial regulations to affirmative action to housing. We dive deep and we get wonky, but we have fun along the way. New episodes drop every Wednesday.

Produced by Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

Politics
News Commentary
Social Sciences
26
The fate of affirmative action
What you need to know about the upcoming SCOTUS ruling on affirmative action
55 min
27
Why is child labor making a comeback?
America’s history with child labor, explained
49 min
28
The Weeds, Live – Anti-trans legislation, expla...
Live from the Crosscut Ideas Festival
42 min
29
Policymaking on the high seas
Getting into the (sea) weeds of the high seas treaty
40 min
30
How Secretary Buttigieg wants to make America’s...
Transportation policy is cool now. Thanks, Pete.
49 min
31
Mifepristone and the FDA’s exhaustive approval ...
The fight over the abortion pill and the future of the FDA
33 min
32
How corporations got all your data
The history of how corporations and governments became so interested in collecting our personal data — and how they got away with it
49 min
33
Do assault weapons bans work?
Revisiting the 1994 Assault Weapons Ban.
40 min
34
Medicaid’s “Great Unwinding”
Medicaid’s continuous enrollment, discontinued.
42 min
35
Why Illinois wants to end cash bail
A look at the cost of pretrial justice and what it means for public safety.
48 min
36
The debt ceiling drama
Build back … budget?
38 min
37
What East Palestine can tell us about the rail ...
Railroad regulation, explained
40 min
38
How a 1996 US immigration policy changed everyt...
The most consequential immigration policy you’ve probably never heard of.
46 min
39
Will the Supreme Court ruin the internet?
The algorithm goes to court.
43 min
40
The Ukraine war: past, present, and future
Where Ukraine goes from here.
50 min
41
$14 trillion and no mules
A framework for paying reparations.
51 min
42
The Biden policy that could change your neighbo...
How Biden wants to revamp the Fair Housing Act.
47 min
43
Insulin is for the world
What some states are trying to do to lower the cost of insulin.
41 min
44
Weeds Time Machine: The Voting Rights Act
The legislative and judicial history of the VRA, explained.
50 min
45
Reintroducing The Weeds
1 min
46
The great American gerrymander
Our messy history with election maps, explained.
27 min
47
The scourge of the “time tax”
The miserable sludge of applying for government aid.
46 min
48
Climate optimism in 2023
Finally, some good climate news.
40 min
49
Our mental health doom loop
The revolving door of mental health care in the US.
42 min
50
The bipartisan bill that could protect elections
Why lawmakers are trying to reform a 135-year-old law.
41 min