This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz are live and on stage with Maryland Governor Wes Moore and also discuss the Supreme Court’s legitimacy problem and the not-Trump Republican candidates’ struggle. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: C-SPAN: “Maryland State of the State Address” Jeffrey M. Jones for Gallup: “Trust in Federal Government Branches Continues to Falter” and “Confidence in U.S. Supreme Court Sinks to Historic Low John Dickerson and Anthony S...
Jul 01, 2023•1 hr 13 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, we’re diving into fairy tales. Slate book critic Laura Miller talks with author Kelly Link about her collection of fairy tale inspired short stories, White Cat, Black Dog. They discuss how fairy tales have influenced Kelly’s work, the allure of the “searching for a beloved” story, finding a community of female writers. In Slate Plus: Cheyna Roth and Luke Winkie discuss episode three of Max’s And Just Like That… Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial...
Jul 01, 2023•32 min
A shortage of basic chemotherapy drugs to treat cancer is jeopardizing the care of hundreds of thousands of patients. The drugs aren’t expensive, or patented—so where are they? Guest: Ed Yong, science journalist at The Atlantic. Host: Lizzie O'Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next ...
Jun 30, 2023•34 min
This episode is a part of Opinionpalooza. Slate’s coverage of Supreme Court decisions. We consider this coverage so essential that we’re taking down the paywall for all of it. If you would like to help us continue to cover the courts aggressively, please consider joining Slate Plus. And sign up for the pop-up newsletter to see the latest every week in your inbox. In an emergency episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Slate’s own Mark Joseph Stern to analyze SCOTUS’ decision to wipe out ...
Jun 29, 2023•6 min
To shore up sagging enrollment, the U.S. military is doing what American industry does—looking to immigrants to fill out their numbers. Once a faster way to citizenship, serving in the armed forces has become another place where being an immigrant can carry harsh penalties—and can instead be a step on the way to deportation. Guest: Sofya Aptekar, associate professor of urban studies, school of labor and urban studies, CUNY. Author of Green Card Soldier: Between Model Immigrant and Security Threa...
Jun 29, 2023•29 min
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s politics, such as they can be parsed, are a mix of conspiracy theories and vibes. But in a post-Trump landscape, and with RFK polling at 20 percent among Democratic presidential candidates, cranky contrarians have to be taken seriously—right? Guest: Vera Bergengruen, investigative correspondent at Time magazine. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows lik...
Jun 28, 2023•25 min
This episode is a part of Opinionpalooza. Slate’s coverage of Supreme Court decisions. We consider this coverage so essential that we’re taking down the paywall for all of it. If you would like to help us continue to cover the courts aggressively, please consider joining Slate Plus. And sign up for the pop-up newsletter to see the latest every week in your inbox. In deciding against the bonkers (technical legal term) “Independent State Legislature Theory” in Moore v Harper, the Supreme Court cho...
Jun 27, 2023•6 min
On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… gendering, everywhere, all at once. In the final days of Pride Month, we wanted to turn our attention to another complicated and contentious facet of the LGBT+ dialogue: gender identity. If gender isn’t a binary, but a fluid spectrum, what do we do with our notions of sexism, misogyny, and toxic masculinity? As it turns out, we do very much live in a patriarchal society — but the truth of how that society operates, and who it advantages, might be more complicat...
Jun 27, 2023•36 min
Kevin McCarthy has always had his eyes on one job - Speaker of the House. But after Republicans won Congress’s lower chamber by a razor thin majority, the party’s right wing extracted major concessions before handing over the gavel. When the GOP accepted a deal with the Biden administration to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, House hardliners felt betrayed. Now McCarthy faces renewed attacks on his leadership from within his own party. With important legislation that still needs to be passed, an...
Jun 27, 2023•24 min
For months, Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin has been railing against his own country’s military leadership. It all came to a head this weekend – when the mercenary leader gathered his troops, took over a Russian city, and started to march towards Moscow. Then – as suddenly as it began – it stopped. Russia says Prigozhin has fled to Belarus, and his troops will all be granted amnesty. But an independent Russian journalist in exile doubts the official narrative, and speculates on Vladimir Pu...
Jun 26, 2023•28 min
Semaglutide, otherwise known as Ozempic, has been making headlines as a weight loss drug – despite only having FDA approval to treat diabetes. Now, some say it doesn’t just quell cravings for food – it helps quiet cravings for alcohol, drugs, and other compulsive behaviors. For years, researchers have been studying Ozempic’s effectiveness as an addiction cure in animals. What have they found? And – does it actually work? Guest: Sarah Zhang covers health and medicine for The Atlantic If you enjoy...
Jun 25, 2023•30 min
During this LGBTQ Pride month, many members of the community are reflecting on a year of unprecedented political and legal attacks. One of the biggest battlefields has been in public schools and libraries, where books featuring LGBTQ stories have been the targets of censors. On today’s episode of A Word, guest host journalist Aisha Mills is joined by George M. Johnson, author of one of the most banned books, All Boys Aren’t Blue. They talk about the intersection of race and gender identity, and ...
Jun 25, 2023•29 min
This episode is a part of Opinionpalooza. Slate’s coverage of Supreme Court decisions, and the other legal happenings in June. We consider this coverage so essential that we’re taking down the paywall for all of it. If you would like to help us continue to cover the courts aggressively, please consider joining Slate Plus. And sign up for the pop-up newsletter to see the latest every week in your inbox. On this one year anniversary of Dobbs, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Anat Shenker Osorio to tal...
Jun 24, 2023•1 hr 3 min
Felix Salmon, Emily Peck and Anna Szymanski break down the last two years of the college sports economy. Players can get paid for their name, image, and likeness. Is that a good thing? And how interest rate hikes have put private equity firms at risk. In the plus segment: Why college sports coaches make so much, and how that might be changing. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an ad-free experience across the network and an additional segme...
Jun 24, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Keziah Weir for Vanity Fair: “How Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Became the Anti-vaxxer Icon of America’s Nightmares” Matt Viser for The Washington Post: “The complicated relationship between a presidential father and a struggling son” Pam Belluck and Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “New York Passes Bill to Shield Abortion Providers Sending Pills Into States With Bans” Emily Bazelon for The New York Times: “A Medical Frontier” Here are this ...
Jun 24, 2023•54 min
On Wednesday, the Federal Trade Commission sued Amazon, accusing the online giant of “tricking and trapping people into recurring subscriptions.” The complaint says Amazon “knowingly duped millions of consumers into unknowingly enrolling in Amazon Prime." With murmurs of a larger antitrust probe against Amazon just around the corner, how serious is this suit for the tech giant? Guest: Leah Nylen, antitrust reporter at Bloomberg If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. S...
Jun 23, 2023•26 min
On this week’s episode of The Waves, one year after the Supreme Court decision that set off a national crisis in reproductive health care, we’re taking a look at what the end of Roe has wrought. Countless lives have been affected: There's the people who've traveled across the country to get their lives back, the people who've been forced against their will into pregnancy and childbirth, and those who've been denied life saving medical care because their doctors are afraid of the law. There's als...
Jun 22, 2023•55 min
Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the end of Roe – a historic decision that’s led to long lines, clinic closures, and a flood of abortion bans across the country. Planned Parenthood has always been in the political crosshairs… but now, their role is arguably more important than ever. What does America’s largest abortion provider look like in the post-Roe era? We sit down with its CEO to find out. Guest: Alexis McGill Johnson, CEO of Planned Parenthood If you enjoy this show, please cons...
Jun 22, 2023•24 min
This episode is a part of Opinionpalooza. Slate’s coverage of the final weeks of the Supreme Court’s term. We consider this coverage so essential that we’re taking down the paywall for all of it. If you would like to help us continue to cover the courts aggressively, please consider joining Slate Plus. And sign up for the pop-up newsletter to see the latest every week in your inbox. Amicus is coming at you again with an emergency episode. Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Mark Joseph Stern to process...
Jun 21, 2023•6 min
Anita Hill’s accusations launched urgent and heated conversations about racism and sexual harassment. They also stoked an anger in Clarence Thomas that’s never stopped raging. Season 8 of Slow Burn is produced by Joel Anderson, Sophie Summergrad, Sam Kim, and Sofie Kodner. Josh Levin is the editorial director of Slow Burn. Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. Susan Matthews is Slate’s executive editor. This episode was edited by Josh Levin, Derek John, Sophie Summergra...
Jun 21, 2023•1 hr 6 min•Season 8Ep. 4
It’s been one year since the Uvalde school shooting – and while Texas hasn’t passed any gun control legislation, it has passed a measure aimed at “hardening schools.” Last week, Governor Greg Abbott signed HB-3 into law, requiring every public school to have an armed officer on campus. The legislation comes even as a former sheriff’s deputy is on trial in Florida for failing to protect students when a gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in 2018. Do school safety officers s...
Jun 21, 2023•21 min
On today’s episode of Hear Me Out… an archaeology of grievances. In honor of the third Juneteenth being celebrated as a national holiday, it’s worth unpacking symbolic gestures like Juneteenth — and, as many states are finding out, like Reparations. The movement to compensate the descendants of slaves is gaining more traction than ever before, in many parts of the country. Could this be our chance to clear a massive, lingering blight on our nation’s history? Our guest today argues no. Podcast ho...
Jun 20, 2023•47 min
Last week, the Southern Baptist Convention held its annual meeting in New Orleans – and its main order of business was to tighten the reins on what women can, and can’t, do in the church. It’s the result of a years-long push from the SBC’s ultraconservative wing to reverse what it calls a “liberal drift.” As the nation’s largest Protestant denomination prepares to crack down on gender roles, what does that mean for American evangelicals – and for the rest of us? Guest: Beth Allison Barr is a his...
Jun 20, 2023•29 min
One son was preparing to take over George Soros’s multi-billion-dollar empire. Then, there was a falling out, and a new heir-apparent was chosen. Who is Alex Soros? And, as he takes over for one of the most influential figures in American politics, what can we expect from him? Guest: Gregory Zuckerman, special writer at the Wall Street Journal Host: Emily Peck If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bo...
Jun 18, 2023•28 min
Police killings of Black men have their own grim, but established, rituals in American society. But what happens to those who survive police violence? On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Leon Ford, who survived being shot multiple times by Pittsburgh police more than a decade ago. In his new memoir An Unspeakable Hope, Ford candidly describes his legal, physical, and mental health challenges, and why he eventually dedicated himself to working with police, including reaching ...
Jun 18, 2023•40 min
This episode is a part of Opinionpalooza. Slate’s coverage of Supreme Court decisions. We consider this coverage so essential that we’re taking down the paywall for all of it. If you would like to help us continue to cover the courts aggressively, please consider joining Slate Plus. And sign up for the pop-up newsletter to see the latest every week in your inbox. Dahlia Lithwick is joined by environmental appellate lawyer Sean Donahue to discuss the far-reaching consequences of one of the bigges...
Jun 17, 2023•45 min
This week, Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Elizabeth Spiers discuss what the decline in global economic inequality really means for our future, why you shouldn’t take luxury pictures right after you burn an industry to the ground, and why the Instant Pot couldn’t survive. In the Plus segment: Felix’s piece on why you shouldn’t stress about commercial real estate. Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Jun 17, 2023•47 min
This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the federal case against Donald Trump involving national-security documents, Atlanta’s Cop City training facility, and Elizabeth Gilbert’s decision to delay her next book situated in Soviet-era Russia. Join us for a live taping! Political Gabfest Live in Washington, D.C., Wednesday June 28, 7:30 p.m., Sixth & I. In-person and virtual tickets on sale now. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Confidence Man:...
Jun 17, 2023•1 hr
Across Reddit, thousands of forums have gone “private” and effectively disappeared. Users are protesting the site’s plan to capitalize on its data, which has been enjoyed for free by people making third-party apps for Reddit, as well as some of the world’s biggest companies training their A.I. Guest: Sarah Needleman, reporter for the Wall Street Journal who writes about interactive entertainment and social media Host: Emily Peck If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. ...
Jun 16, 2023•27 min
This episode is a part of Opinionpalooza. Slate’s coverage of Supreme Court decisions. We consider this coverage so essential that we’re taking down the paywall for all of it. If you would like to help us continue to cover the courts aggressively, please consider joining Slate Plus. And sign up for the pop-up newsletter to see the latest every week in your inbox. Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern join forces for this Opinionpalooza extra episode of Amicus where they discuss Haaland v Brackee...
Jun 15, 2023•6 min
