Explain It to Me

Jane Coaston joins Matt and Dara to talk about exploding housing costs in America’s coastal cities and what we can do about them. References and further reading: Jeff Stein's piece on rent and housing  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Emily Stewart joins Dara and Matt to talk about the perhaps-unbelievable book everyone’s talking about, and the dysfunctional White House that spawned it. References and further reading: Emily's piece on Omarosa's recording of John Kelly Emily's highlights from Omarosa's book Unhinged Maggie Haberman tweet confirming that earlier secret White House tapings were not Omarosa, mentioned by Dara White...

Senior health correspondent Julia Belluz and science reporter Brian Resnick join Dara and Matt to discuss the replication crisis in scientific studies. References and further reading: Brian's piece on the marshmallow test John P. A. Ioannidis' "Most Published Research Findings Are False," mentioned by Julia Scientists tired to replicate 100 psychological studies, 40% passed, mentioned by Brian Sci...

Jane Coaston and Dylan Matthews join Ezra to discuss the Sarah Jeong fracas, the Ben Shapiro-Mark Duplass meltdown, the problems with Twitter, the ways partisan dehumanize each other, and more. References and further reading: The context for Sarah Jeong's "goblins" tweet The context for Sarah Jeong's "cut white people" tweet  German Lopez's piece on what makes people less racist Brian Resnick's pi...

Andrew Prokop joins Dara and Matt to talk about Paul Manafort’s trial and what it means for the larger Russia investigation. References and further reading: Andrew's piece on the trials of Paul Manafort Andrew's breakdown of the opening statements at Manafort's trial Franklin Foer's profile of Manafort, mentioned by Andrew  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Jane Coaston joins Dara, Ezra, and Matt to talk about the racial panic tearing America apart and also salt. References and further reading: Ezra's piece on the changing demographics in America Identity Crisis book mentioned by Ezra Salt white paper  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Congressional reporter Tara Golshan joins Dara and Matt to break down Trump’s kinda sorta trade deal with the EU and ongoing trade tensions with China” References and further reading: Tara's piece on Trump's mischaracterization of the US trade deficit Politico Europe rundown of the trade deal, mentioned by Matt The Weeds has been nominated for this year's People's Choice Podcast Awards! Cast your...

Matt, Dara and Ezra talk about Republicans, Trump and Russia. Plus: A research paper reveals how Dara lost on College Jeopardy. References and further reading: Politico Playbook piece mentioned by Matt, "GOP to the world: What would you like us to do?" Law Review paper "Separation of Parties, Not Powers" The Weeds has been nominated for this year's People's Choice Podcast Awards! Cast your vote fo...

Senior criminal justice reporter German Lopez joins Dara and Matt to talk about the high number of unsolved homicides in America. References and further reading: Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America by Jill Leovy German's reporting on the violent crime clearance rate in America Study referenced by Dara that looked at community cooperation from Secure Communities (a massive federal immigra...

Dara, Ezra, and Matt discuss President Trump's remarkable performance in Helsinki and new research on employers colluding to hold down pay. Links: Dara mentioned Quinta Jurecic's piece tying Trump in Helsinki to Trump on Charlottesville. Here's the Ari Fleischer tweet Ezra referenced. Ezra walked through what we know about Trump's dealings with Russia. Here's that rundown (and more analysis) in te...

Dylan Scott joins Dara and Matt to talk about the Trump administration’s latest moves to destabilize health insurance markets. Dylan's piece on risk adjustment payments, and another piece on the Trump administration’s latest steps to undermine the Affordable Care Act. Dylan also specifically referenced Nicholas Bagley. Read him on risk adjustments here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podc...

Dara, Ezra, and Matt break down what we know about Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court References and further reading: Paper about Norwegian immigrants, mentioned by Matt "Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions that Forged Modern Greece and Turkey" good book with background on the refugee paper Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Staff writer Zeeshan Aleem joins Dara and Matt to break down what's really happening with Trump and trade, and how much it matters. References and further reading: Zeeshan's piece on the US-China trade war Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Matt, Dara and Ezra talk about the Trump administration's use of family detention as an alternative to family separation. Then they turn to a white paper that looks at racial attitudes and white privilege. References and further reading: Tara Golshan's piece on the latest immigration bill Politico piece on the Senate efforts to fix family separation "Racial attitudes in response to thoughts of Whi...

Vox senior politics reporter Jane Coaston joins Matt and Dara to talk about the future of the Supreme Court without Justice Kennedy. References and further reading: NYT piece on Justice Kennedy's son's connections to the Trump family Dara's piece on the most likely picks for Kennedy's replacement Jane's piece on Senator Mike Lee Jane's piece on polling that show's Trump voters were motivated by th...

Ezra returns from the wilds of book leave to talk about open borders with Dara and Matt. References and further reading: Dara's piece on the 1996 immigration bill "Trillion dollar bills on the sidewalk" white paper Bryan Caplan paper on open borders Ezra's interview with LA Mayor Eric Garcetti Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While Sarah, Matt and Ezra are away Dara is joined by Dylan Matthews and Andrew Prokop to talk about the friction between how the Supreme Court says it makes its decisions, and the way everyone assumes it really works. Is it time for the Court to stop getting polite and start getting (legal) real(ist)? References and further reading: Andrew’s explainer on the gerrymandering decision The “efficienc...

Senior politics reporter Jane Coaston joins Dara and Matt to talk about the ideological roots of Donald Trump's family separation policy. References and further reading: Dara's piece on "operation wetback" the immigration policy Donald Trump loves Jane's piece on Stephen Miller Jamelle Bouie's piece on Stephen Miller Politico piece about Trump possibly shutting down the government in September ove...

Sarah, Dara and Matt answer your questions. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

While Sarah and Matt are away Dara is joined by Vox.com congressional reporters Tara Golshan and Ella Nilsen to talk about immigration and family separation. Then she's joined by Vox.com criminal justice reporter German Lopez to talk about a white paper that looks at the effectiveness of 12- step programs. References and further reading: Ella's piece on Democrats trying to stop family separation a...

Sarah, Dara and Matt talk about the recent recall of Judge Aaron Persky, the California judge who sentenced former Stanford University swimmer Brock Turner to six months when he was convicted of sexual assault in 2016. References and further reading: Julia Ioffe's piece on the Stanford professor who led the charge against Persky AP reporting on Persky's record as a judge Rachel Marshall's Vox.com...

Dara, Sarah and Matt trace the Supreme Court Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling back to peyote and then discuss a Swedish study about lottery winners. References and further reading: Vox.com explainer on the Masterpiece Cakeshop ruling Vox.com piece about religious liberty in American history The Gallup poll on rates of support for gay marriage, mentioned by Sarah White paper on Swedish lottery winners L...

Sarah and Matt are joined by Vox.com Congress reporter Tara Golshan to talk about missing children, separated families, and the latest immigration action on the Hill. References and other reading: Sarah's piece with an immigration expert explaining the 1,500 "missing" migrant children Sarah explainer on family separations Tara's piece on Republican moderates and immigration Dara's explainer on the...

Libby Nelson, Vox.com news editor and former education reporter, joins Matt and Sarah to talk about the discipline practices and educational outcomes at so-called "no excuses" charter schools. Then they turn to a white paper that looks at lead poisoning and fertility. References and further reading: Illinois Public Radio story on Noble Academy Video of teacher at Success Academy ripping up student...

Sarah and Matt talk about America’s rapidly falling birthrate, and a study on the long-term benefit of the 1980s Medicaid expansion. References and further reading: National Center for Health Statistics report on declining birth rates Vox's Julia Belluz's piece on the low birthrate trend NPR piece on the CDC report on declining fertility rates in the U.S. Sarah's piece on why teen births are decli...