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On Thursday, a new Covid-19 vaccine was approved by the Food and Drug Administration, and Americans should be able to access the new shots in the next few days. The vaccines come amid one of the worst Covid waves of the last two years. And while dangerous outcomes like hospitalization and death are nowhere near […]

Canada’s two main rail lines locked out rail workers early Thursday morning amid tense contract negotiations between the railways and the Canada Teamsters Rail Conference, which represents nearly 10,000 rail workers. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said his government would resolve the dispute, and late Thursday, officials ordered the two sides to enter arbitration proceedings. […]

Arguably the weirdest candidate of the 2024 election is effectively ending his presidential campaign. Following a controversy-filled campaign that included revelations that a worm had eaten part of his brain and that he was responsible for the bear carcass that mysteriously appeared in Central Park in 2014, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that he is […]

As Vice President Kamala Harris reintroduced herself to the nation and laid out her case against Donald Trump, her opponent was, essentially, live-tweeting a political freakout. “IS SHE TALKING ABOUT ME?” the former president and Republican presidential nominee posted on his platform Truth Social about 20 minutes into Harris’s acceptance speech. That was about the […]

On Wednesday, a Trump judge in Kansas ruled that the Second Amendment invalidates criminal charges against a defendant charged with illegally possessing a machine gun. The case is United States v. Morgan.  Judge John Broomes’s decision in Morgan is obviously wrong, even under the Supreme Court’s most aggressively pro-gun opinion, which Broomes relied on heavily. […]

Even among a long list of bizarre Donald Trump moments, this clip was a head-turner: The former president asking his interviewer a series of questions about his cocaine use. “That’s down and dirty, isn’t it?” Trump asked Theo Von, who interviewed him on August 20 for his YouTube podcast, This Past Weekend. The clip went […]

At the end of the day, the most pressing question surrounding the 2024 Democratic National Convention was: Where the hell is Beyoncé?  The answer: Not at the DNC.  To be clear, the idea of the greatest performer and arguably biggest pop star on the planet showing up to Chicago’s United Center and playing one song […]

By now, you’ve probably heard the message loud and clear from Democrats: This election is all about unity.  The Today, Explained podcast team has been at the Democratic National Convention in  Chicago this week, and inside and outside the perimeter of the United Center, Democrats are buzzing with exuberance and relief: They now believe they […]

August 22 is not a day that is particularly known for feeling especially crisp or autumnal in most parts of North America. And yet it’s the day this year — the earliest release date ever — that Starbucks, contending with a slowdown in sales, will unleash its annual run of pumpkin spice lattes upon its […]

A couple weeks ago, I got an unnerving message from my bank. My Social Security number had been compromised in an alleged data breach. I hung on to the word “alleged” as I tried to figure out if it was real. Now I know: It’s real. As many as 272 million Social Security numbers are […]

President Joe Biden bet his reelection bid on the idea that American voters in November would care about the fate of American democracy. The conventional wisdom now is that Biden was wrong and that Vice President Kamala Harris is not only stepping away from his strategy but doing so for good reasons. Many Democratic political types […]

When Vice President Kamala Harris chose Tim Walz as her running mate, many pundits lamented her decision. In their view, the Democratic nominee should have chosen a vice presidential candidate who could mitigate her liabilities, and balance out her party’s ticket — such as Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.  After all, Harris had been a liberal […]

On the third night of the Democratic National Convention four years ago, immigration was front and center. Americans heard a series of personal stories about how Trump-era policies had scrambled immigrants’ and their families’ lives. An 11-year-old girl read a letter to then-President Donald Trump; the Trump administration had deported her mother two years before. […]

The US claims that progress has been made on a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas — and that the Israeli side has already accepted a framework the US calls a “bridging proposal” that would end the nearly 11 months of brutal fighting in Gaza. The announcement is reminiscent of one President Joe Biden made in […]

Americans will choose between Vice President Kamala Harris and re-electing former President Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election. In many cases, the candidates are miles apart on a number of top issues. Here are Harris’s policy positions. You can find our guide to Trump’s policy positions here. These guides will be updated as Election […]

There are some mysteries that I fear I’ll never see resolved. Who was DB Cooper and what happened to him? Who robbed the Gardner Museum of its Vermeer and Rembrandts in 1990? And, most pressingly: where are the thousands of pancreases taken out of Americans’ dead bodies in 2021, 2022, and 2023 that were never […]

Members of the media agree: Vice President Kamala Harris needs to start doing press conferences and interviews with members of the media. It’s been about a month since Harris suddenly became the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. In that period, Harris has at times briefly answered questions from reporters publicly — and has reportedly spoken to […]

During his 2024 Democratic National Convention address on Tuesday night, former President Barack Obama made no secret of his disdain for Donald Trump. But his speech was more than just a partisan broadside: It was a philosophical brief in defense of liberalism, a kind of first-principles moral argument that no other major convention speaker offered. […]

“Something wonderfully magical is in the air, isn’t it?” former first lady Michelle Obama said in her speech at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday. “A familiar feeling that’s been buried too deep for too long.” “You know what I’m talking about? It’s the contagious power of hope!” she said, adding: “America, hope is making a […]

From Charli xcx memes to fan-made covers interpolating her famous “coconut tree” quote, Kamala Harris’s last-minute presidential bid against Republican candidate Donald Trump has had a fascinating and outsized relationship with pop music.  Various progressive singers, like Ariana Grande and Olivia Rodrigo, have pledged their support. Katy Perry offered one of her latest singles, “Woman’s […]

The rape and killing of a 31-year-old woman medical resident has touched off protests across India as the country grapples with inadequate protections for women and increasing reports of gender-based violence.  The demonstrations began in Kolkata — the capital of the eastern Indian state of West Bengal — following the woman’s rape and killing, which […]

Since launching her presidential bid, Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign and its supporters have been eager to frame this election as one of a prosecutor versus a felon. It was among the themes of the first night of the Democratic National Convention on Monday. “In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two […]

Doug Emhoff is just a guy who loves his wife. At countless fundraisers and campaign events, he gushes about his spouse of 10 years, vice president and current presidential candidate Kamala Harris. He gives interviews about the importance of men supporting the women in their lives. He visits Planned Parenthood clinics to champion reproductive rights. […]

The Democratic National Convention kicked off Monday, August 19, in Chicago, Illinois, where the Democratic Party is set to formally nominate Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, to its 2024 presidential ticket. The four-day event comes a month after President Joe Biden ended his reelection campaign amid concerns […]