Today, Explained

The scandal-plagued blood-testing startup Theranos is shutting down. The Wall Street Journal’s John Carreyrou chronicles the rise and fall of a $10 billion business built on lies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Brett Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings for the United States Supreme Court began today. Slate's Dahlia Lithwick say they were unlike any she'd seen before. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Who is Robert Mueller? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Louis CK surprised New York City's Comedy Cellar with a fresh set of jokes Sunday night. Some were not amused. Vox's Constance Grady explains how to apologize. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York investigators are turning up the heat on the Trump Foundation this summer. The Washington Post’s David Fahrenthold shares a series of increasingly unbelievable stories about the organization’s shenanigans. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The top student loan officer in the country kicked off the school year by quitting. He says the Trump administration "turned its back on young people and their financial futures." Vox’s Libby Nelson explains one contentious call: Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has rolled back Obama-era regulations on for-profit colleges. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Love him, hate him, or both, Senator John McCain will be remembered as a towering figure of American politics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The EPA is rolling back Obama-era regulations on coal-fired plants. It says its decision will kill 1400 Americans per year by 2030. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The president has threatened to revoke the national security clearances for current and former government officials. The Washington Post's Shane Harris explains why this is a bad idea for basically everyone. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In an unprecedented one-two punch Donald Trump’s personal lawyer pleaded guilty to and his campaign manager was found guilty of serious crimes yesterday evening. Vox’s Matthew Yglesias explores the implications. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Inmates nationwide go on strike today to protest conditions they call “modern-day slavery": incarcerated Americans are paid pennies on the dollar for cooking food, making license plates, even fighting fires. The Marshall Project’s Nicole Lewis explains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

New York City has approved the first cap in the U.S. on Uber and Lyft vehicles. WIRED’s Aarian Marshall explains who’ll be impacted the most, and whether this is scooters’ big chance to zip ahead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Twitter temporarily banned Alex Jones and Infowars this week. Why'd it take so long? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Pennsylvania grand jury has released a 1300-page report on child sex abuses within the state's Catholic Church. Jack Jenkins from Religion News Service peels back the curtain on 70 years of heinous assaults. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Crazy Rich Asians hits theaters today. Los Angeles Times film critic Jen Yamato says it's been 25 years in the making. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Democracies can fall many ways: military coups, assassinations, mass protests. But what does it look like when a democracy quietly backslides into autocracy? Vox’s Zack Beauchamp went on a trip to Hungary to explore (with support from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

You might have missed it this weekend, but NASA shot a spaceship at the sun. Once it gets there, the Parker Solar Probe might find the secret to keeping our big hot star from destroying us. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Aubtin Heydari tells the story of how he was almost murdered by a white supremacist at the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville last year. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

MoviePass is changing the way we see movies, but it's going to have to get its act together. Vox’s Alissa Wilkinson explains. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

California’s Mendocino Complex Fire is now the biggest in the state’s recorded history, surpassing a record set… last year. Vox’s Umair Irfan says the worst is yet to come. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices