Vox Quick Hits

Matt and Dara talk with Vox judicial reporter Ian Millhiser, author of The Agenda: How a Republican Supreme Court is Reshaping America, about Biden's court appointments, and look ahead to the future of the judiciary.

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More than half of US states are working to ban, or even criminalize, trans athletes playing sports. Vox contributor Katelyn Burns explains how conservative politicians came to care so much about women’s sports.

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When scientists examined the DNA of ancient bones found near a Himalayan lake, they were forced to confront a seemingly impossible conclusion.

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America has never been particularly concerned with women's sports, and yet a slew of bills trying to block transgender girls and women from participating in them are popping up across the country. Transgender student athletes are just the latest target in conservatives’ attempts to pass anti-LGBTQ legislation; before they were talking about sports, they were fretting over bathrooms and puberty blockers. This move against trans athletes stems from the argument that men are biologically stronger than women. But is the science there? Katelyn Burns, a contributing writer at Vox, explains.

References: 

Read Katelyn’s story here

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The Evergiven, a Japanese cargo ship chartered by a Taiwanese shipping company flying the Panamanian flag and bound for the Netherlands, finally floated down the Suez Canal today after being stuck for six days.

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From the Vox Quick Hits archives (March 8, 2021): Earlier in the pandemic, a feud between Gen Z and millennials started, largely on TikTok. And recently there’s been a resurgence of Gen Z dragging their elders to filth online. Vox reporter Terry Nguyen (a Gen Zer) explains to Rebecca Jennings (a millennial) why there’s a war and why we should care.

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Like many Americans, you may have an extra $1,400 dollars in your bank account, or you're expecting it to arrive soon. After President Biden signed the Covid-19 relief bill on March 11, stimulus checks went out to millions of people, but not everyone who's eligible got one. In fact, many of the most vulnerable Americans, including people experiencing homelessness, did not receive payments. Vox's Kelsey Piper explains what happened and how we may be able to fix it. 

References: 

Read Kelsey’s story here

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We’ve all got one: a go-to comfort watch — that show or movie you can always turn to for a pick-me-up. This week on What to Watch, we share ours. Vox’s film critic Alissa Wilkinson is hooked on HBO’s Selena + Chef, critic at large Emily VanDerWerff can always count on Star Trek (especially Deep Space Nine), and senior producer Taylor Maycan explains her longtime love of CBS’s Survivor. 

What to Watch is a Vox Quick Hits exclusive series. New episodes every Friday. 

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Recent mass shootings in Georgia and Colorado have recharged the movement to regulate gun ownership. But federal gun control legislation has little chance of passing. Patrick Blanchfield from the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research argues that the best way to mitigate gun violence may be not talking about gun control at all.

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In a very special Worldly episode, Zack, Jenn, and Alex answer YOUR questions! From the many great listener questions sent in over the last several weeks, the gang picked four to answer in this week’s episode: What is “the Quad” and how does it fit into geopolitics in the Indo-Pacific; what’s driving migration to the US from Central America; why Imperial Japan’s use of Korean forced labor and “comfort women” in the 1930s and ’40s continues to complicate relations between Japan and South Korea today; and how to go about explaining world affairs topics to folks who don’t have a deep background in these subjects.

Hosts:

Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), senior correspondent, Vox

Jennifer Williams (@jenn_ruth), senior foreign editor, Vox

Alex Ward (@AlexWardVox), White House reporter, Vox

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