Explain It to Me

Buckle up for another trip in the Weeds Time Machine! Today, we are going back in time to 1965 to talk about one of the most significant pieces of civil rights legislation in American history: the Voting Rights Act. Once again, its fate is in the hands of the Supreme Court. Professor Atiba R. Ellis walks us through the legislative and judicial history of this landmark policy.

References:

Atiba Ellis 

Brief amici curiae of Boston University Center for Antiracist Research & Professor Atiba R. Ellis

Atiba Ellis: Using Memes to Break Out of Voter Fraud Talk 

The Changing Racial and Ethnic Composition of the U.S. Electorate | Pew Research Center 

Voting Rights Act (1965) | National Archives 

Host:

Jonquilyn Hill

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

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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. From Vox and the Vox Media Podcast Network.

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Gerrymandering shapes our political maps, which in turn shape our policies. While there are concerns about how hyperpartisan voting maps are becoming, there’s one state where grassroots organizers have changed the system. On today’s episode of The Weeds, we pass the mike to one of you and answer your burning questions about redistricting in this polarized era. 

References:

Where Did the Term “Gerrymander” Come From? | History| Smithsonian Magazine

Opinion: Gerrymandering on steroids is the new normal | CNN

Redistricting experts weigh in on results of first general election under new maps | Detroit Free Press 

Ratf**ked: Why Your Vote Doesn't Count, a book by David Daley 

Host:

Jonquilyn Hill

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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(Originally aired May 2022) Dylan Matthews and Dara Lind are joined by Annie Lowrey (@annielowrey), a staff writer at the Atlantic, to talk about why it’s so hard for people to get government benefits. Frequently called the “time tax,” the administrative burden of applying for and distributing government benefits leads to thousands of people not getting the aid they qualify for. 

References:

Annie Lowrey on Code America’s efforts to fight the Time Tax

Pamela Herd and Don Moynihan's book on administrative burden

Why Is It So Hard to Make a Website for the Government? from the New York Times

White paper — Program Recertification Costs: Evidence from SNAP

A sudden change to SSI eligibility had huge, lasting negative consequences

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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In 2022, we saw a lot of climate change news. Europe hit record-high temperatures, Pakistan was devastated by flooding, and in the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency got a little less powerful. While those are major causes for concern, there is a bright spot on the climate change policy landscape: 2023. Vox’s Rebecca Leber (@rebleber) tells us what to look forward to next year. 

References:

The next frontier for climate action is the great indoors 

The mystery of methane gone missing 

The US could stop one cause of heat wave deaths tomorrow 

Climate change has made air conditioning a vital necessity. It also heats up the planet

The good and bad news for the planet after the latest UN climate talks 

Even Breathing Is A Risk In One Of Orlando's Poorest Neighborhoods | HuffPost Voices 

Host:

Jonquilyn Hill (@jonquilynhill)

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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Last month, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced a new mental health policy that lowers the threshold for involuntary commitments for psychiatric care. While the Adams administration argues this shift is a solution for growing crime and homelessness numbers, critics argue it’s a step in the wrong direction. What’s the history behind involuntary holds, and what does it say about mental health policy in America?

References:

988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline 

SAMHSA 

Introducing the "Designed to Fail" series | Mental Health America 

America's Long-Suffering Mental Health System 

Hosts:

Jonquilyn Hill (@jonquilynhill)

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer 

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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With the 2022 midterm elections mostly over, members of Congress are back on the Hill to wrap up loose legislative ends. One of the bipartisan bills floating through the lame-duck session is the Electoral Count Reform Act, a bill that would add protections to the presidential transfer of power. So, what exactly does this legislation do to protect elections, and is it enough? 

Hosts:

Jonquilyn Hill (@jonquilynhill)

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

A.M. Hall, editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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(Originally aired August 2022) Vox senior correspondent Dylan Matthews sits down with Felicia Wong (@FeliciaWongRI), president and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, to talk about a new era of industrial policy. They discuss the theory of modern supply-side economics, the passage of the Inflation Reduction and CHIPS acts, and how much common ground exists between the political left and the right.

Hosts:

Dylan Matthews (@dylanmatt), senior correspondent, Vox

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer and engineer

A.M. Hall, editorial director 

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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The world of cryptocurrency is infamously unregulated, but what happens when a major crypto exchange crashes, uprooting almost the entire crypto ecosystem, and there’s no regulatory body in charge? You have the FTX crash of 2022. And it’s hard to ignore the elephant in the room: why don’t we have a regulation framework for crypto? It seems like an obvious solution, but as The Verge’s Liz Lopatto (@mslopatto) and financial regulation expert Yesha Yadav explain, it’s not as simple as it sounds. 

References:

Sam Bankman-Fried tries to explain himself

The collapse of FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried’s shocking downfall

How FTX played both parties and almost won Washington 

Man who cleaned up Enron says FTX is worse 

Binance to sell rest of FTX token holdings as Alameda CEO defends firm's financial condition 

Hosts:

Jonquilyn Hill (@jonquilynhill)

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Patrick Boyd, engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

A.M. Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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Let’s be blunt: Weed policy is complicated. As with many elections in the past decade, recreational marijuana was on the ballot again during the 2022 midterm elections. After Colorado and Washington voted to legalize recreational use in 2012, more and more states have decided to ride the green wave. And recent moves by the Biden administration signal the federal government may finally come around to decriminalizing marijuana. But do these policies have any power? 

References:

Marijuana election results: Maryland and Missouri vote to legalize cannabis by ballot measure

President Biden’s pardons for marijuana possession, explained 

Federal marijuana legalization is stopped in its tracks

Hosts:

Jonquilyn Hill (@jonquilynhill)

Credits:

Sofi LaLonde, producer

Cristian Ayala, engineer

Libby Nelson, editorial adviser

A.M. Hall, deputy editorial director of talk podcasts

Want to support The Weeds? Please consider making a donation to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts

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