Slate News

After inheriting a tricky, post-peak-pandemic economy, the Biden administration pulled off the double-feat of stalling inflation while also keeping unemployment low. Wages have risen, and so has purchasing power. But if you ask voters, they’ll tell you the economy is terrible.  Does Biden have a messaging problem or is an economy where the price of everything still seems too high simply impossible...

Lesbian businesses are great for the queer women’s community, but making them profitable is a different matter. For this Money Talks, Felix Salmon chats with June Thomas , author of A Place of Our Own: Six Spaces That Shaped Queer Women's Culture , to discuss a unique mix of cultural and economic challenges facing the queer economy. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus...

While the What Next team observes the holiday, enjoy the first episode of Slow Burn's new season. In the 1970s, San Francisco became a welcoming home for tens of thousands of new gay residents—and a modern-day Sodom for the American right. With a moral panic sweeping across the United States, a Florida orange juice spokeswoman inspired an ambitious California politician to launch his own campaign...

Last year saw a record number of healthcare hacks with more than 700 separate incidents. And with a subsidiary of United Healthcare forking over a $22 billion ransom this year, the problem isn’t going away. With so much sensitive personal information on file, why aren’t hospitals and their ilk better prepared? Guest:  Dina Carlisle, president of the local nurses union, OPEIU 40 in Michigan. Justin...

In this week’s essay, John discusses Mothers’s Day, playing tennis with the Attorney General, medical scares, and more   Notebook Entries: Notebook 19, page 16. April 2011 Is it possible, through applied thought, to become systematic in an approach to life? If you were to do that how would you proceed?  Notebook 16, page 6. July 26, 2005 “I’m here with a bunch of midshipmen and wondering what ther...

As we stand poised at the threshold of June, we brace ourselves for the fire hose of opinions headed our way in the next four or so weeks.  But why? Why –even as the Court is taking on fewer cases – is there an absolute dogpile of decisions, with no map for what will come down or when, beyond a SCOTUS-adjacent cottage industry in soothsaying and advance-panic and guessing? Dahlia Lithwick takes us...

This week, Felix Salmon , Emily Peck , and Elizabeth Spiers are joined by Kyla Scanlon, author of the new book In This Economy?: How Money & Markets Really Work to talk about the disconnect between reality and perception that lead what she calls a “vibecession” – wherein many believe we’re in a recession that isn’t actually happening at all. Also: The many reasons that may have led to Red Lobs...

When OpenAI showed a demo for the latest version of ChatGPT —the one that you can chat with, you know, with your voice—one of the voices sounded eerily familiar. And instead of a victory lap, it was a reminder of all of the implications for intellectual property and one’s own basic human likeness that this technology carries with it. Guest: Sigal Samuel, senior reporter for Vox's Future Perfect an...

In this Opinionpalooza emergency bonus episode, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern discuss Thursday’s decision in Alexander v. South Carolina NAACP , highlighting the implications for racial gerrymandering and voting rights. They delve into Justice Alito's majority opinion, Justice Kagan's dissent, and Justice Thomas's concurrence . This decision would seem to effectively close the door permane...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito’s right-wing flag-flying;  David Leonhardt ’s take on  A New Centrism ; and OpenAI’s use – or not – of Scarlett Johansson’s voice.    Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Jodi Kantor for The New York Times:  At Justice Alito’s House, a ‘Stop the Steal’ Symbol on Display ; Jodi...

Allegations about Sean “Diddy” Combs had been circulating, but it wasn’t until surveillance footage of the mogul assaulting his then-partner Cassie began circulating on social media, that his response changed from defensive to apologetic.  Guest: Sidney Madden , reporter for NPR Music and co-host of Louder Than a Riot. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the...

Seven months into the war in Gaza, both the international community and many Israelis are demanding to know what Benjamin Netanyahu’s “day after” plan is. Observers are also wondering whether charges from the International Criminal Court will influence Israel’s approach—and whether the death of Iran’s president and foreign minister will change how Hamas fights. Guest: Yair Rosenberg , staff writer...

In the third and final part of our How Originalism Ate the Law series, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern are joined by Justice Todd Eddins of the Hawaii Supreme Court and Madiba Dennie, author of The Originalism Trap . Being trapped by originalism is a choice, one that judges, lawyers, and the American people do not have to accede to. Our expert panel offers ideas and action points for pushing...

Daniel Perry was sentenced to 25 years in prison for murdering Garrett Foster at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020, but Texas Governor Greg Abbott just pardoned Perry and restored his rights, including the right to own and carry a gun.  Guest: Christopher Hooks , contributing editor at Texas Monthly. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next...

Though their influence on voters seems to be between negligible and nonexistent, presidential debates are still important. And even if their past performances were sometimes hard to watch, it’s good for democracy that Trump and Biden will meet on stage this election cycle. But these debates will be a little different this time… Guest: Alan Schroeder , Professor Emeritus at the Northeastern Univers...

In theory, crowdfunding sites offer an opportunity for anyone to give to any cause, including, say, strangers facing huge medical bills. In practice, crowdfunding suffers from many of the same inequities that led to someone needing to crowdfund to begin with. Guest: Nora Kenworthy, author of Crowded Out: The True Costs of Crowdfunding Healthcare , associate professor at the University of Washingto...

Emily Bazelon talks with authors Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy, about their new book,  Our Kindred Creatures: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals . They discuss the evolution of animal treatment in America, moral duties to animals, and how to care about more animals than our pets.  Tweet us your questions  @SlateGabfest  or email us at  gabfest@slate.com . (Messages could be qu...

In this week’s essay, John discusses the differences between moving around New York in 1991 and 2021; remembering 9/11 twenty years later; and more.    Notebook Entries: Notebook 75, page 12. September 2021 Notebooks to Garret Notebook 75, page 13. September 2021 Can you make a typo with handwriting? What’s a typo with handwriting called? Notebook 4. 1991 We have to unplug the light to run the vac...

This week, Felix Salmon , Emily Peck , and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the motivations and impacts of new tariffs plus the cultural forces behind China’s economic policy. Also: Congress is trying to figure out what to do with AI, and Melinda French Gates is getting her groove back. In the Plus segment: Rates for new mortgages suck right now, but what if you could buy out someone existing one? Also: D...

Justice Samuel Alito’s wife didn’t attend the January 6th 2021 “Stop the Steal” rally (unlike fellow SCOTUS spouse Ginni Thomas), but in January 2021, in a leafy Alexandria, Virginia cul-de-sac, the New York Times reports that the Alito household was engaged in a MAGA-infused front yard spat with the neighbors, even as the Justice was deciding  cases regarding that very election at the highest cou...

The 2021 subreddit-coordinated effort to raise the price of Gamestop stock was, in some ways, a proof of concept: the little guy can get into the market and make some noise. Because even though that “meme stock” rose and fell, the idea of the meme stock went has changed the way our stock market works. Guest: Alex Kirshner, contributing writer for Slate. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the latest New York Times presidential poll and the Maryland primary results; the presidential debates; and who’s talking inside and outside Donald Trump’s Manhattan trial courtroom.    Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Nate Cohn for The New York Times:  Trump Leads in 5 Key States, as Young and Nonwhite Vote...

When Miss USA abdicated her throne, people noticed that the first letters of each sentence of her resignation letter spell out “I am silenced.” Shortly thereafter, Miss Teen USA stepped down with a letter that opens with a quote from Nietzsche.  What’s going on at the Miss USA organization? Has the idea of a national pageant outlived its usefulness? Guest: Constance Grady, senior Culture correspon...

Hit with an $800 million lawsuit, missing Tucker Carlson and Rupert Murdoch, and facing competition from fanatical fringe-right media, Fox News might look to some viewers like it’s slipping. But election years are the network’s bread and butter, and the old “everything is terrible and the Democrats are why” song still resonates with voters.    Guest: Justin Peters , Slate correspondent and author...

What would it take for the Democrats to hold Joe Manchin’s crucial Senate seat in West Virginia?   Guest: Zach Shrewsbury , Democratic primary candidate for U.S. Senate in West Virginia.  Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the...