Today, Explained

Venezuela's whole “two presidents” thing has turned lethal. Emiliana Duarte spent the weekend at Venezuela’s border with Colombia where security forces faced off against protesters.

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Jussie Smollett was the victim of a racist, homophobic hate crime last month. Or at least that’s what he’d have you believe. The Advocate’s Zach Stafford tells the Smollett saga from its shocking start to its outrageous end.

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Californians were promised high-speed rail. Eleven years and billions of dollars later, all they have is a fight with President Trump. Vox’s Matthew Yglesias laments a train in vain.

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Amazon decided on two headquarters: one in New York and the other in Arlington, Virginia. One deal fell apart, the other just might work out perfectly. Today, Explained’s Noam Hassenfeld finds out why. ************** Clarification: We noted that New York offered $3 billion in subsidies to Amazon. We have clarified that this was a mix of both cash grants and tax incentives.

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The Verge's Casey Newton says a California privacy law to protect your online data might finally push federal legislators to come up with one set of rules for the entire country. Recode's Kara Swisher says it's high time big tech gets its act together.

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Nearly a dozen candidates have announced their run for the presidency and 2019 has only just begun. John Dickerson of Slate’s Political Gabfest explains the endless American tradition.

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President Donald Trump declared a national state of emergency today. It’s the latest installment in his controversial “Build the wall!” series.

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Remember the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau? It’s not doing so well. Enforcement is down by 75 percent, employees are leaving in droves, and now regulations are being rolled back.

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Virginia: birthplace of American democracy and American slavery, first state to elect a black governor and maybe the first to have a governor with a KKK costume on his yearbook page. Christy Coleman from the American Civil War Museum in Richmond explains the duality of Old Dominion.

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Sears was on its way to the graveyard of American icons when its former CEO, a reclusive billionaire named Eddie Lampert, stepped in to buy it. Unfortunately, he’s the same CEO who led the company into bankruptcy.

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