Slate Daily Feed

You know the Tootsie Shot. It’s that image that pops up all the time in movies set in a dense city: a really busy midtown street, everyone going somewhere—and smack in the middle of it all is the protagonist. You can find it in Working Girl, Midnight Cowboy, Wall Street , Heartburn , Elf , Bridget Jones’s Diary , The Devil Wears Prada , The Wolf of Wall Street , and so many more. But while it’s on...

Both the US and Iran are talking up a deal that will end the war and re-open the Strait of Hormuz. So why is Israel so upset about it?  Guest: Gregg Carlstrom , Middle East correspondent for the Economist 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 click...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate staff writer Nitish Pawha to discuss his piece “ Your TV Is Not Safe .” Apps like Instagram, Substack, and Spotify are making the leap from smart phones to smart TVs , as TVs attempt to compete against scrolling, and the nature of entertainment is changing. But giving over our TVs to these companies even further changes our relationships wit...

From the firing of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Charles Q. Brown Jr., to the removal of the first Black four-star general’s portrait from the Pentagon, to striking Black and women Naval officers’ names from the promotion list, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s vision for the future of the military seems to come at the expense of Black servicemembers and their careers—leading many to que...

Actor Peter Dinklage and playwright Erica Schmidt have been married for two decades, and even though they’ve collaborated on projects, it’s rare for them to do an interview together. That’s why we were so excited when they agreed to join Anna on stage at the Tribeca Festival to discuss how they balance privacy and family, why they wish interviewers would stop fixating on Game of Thrones, and how t...

Two horror films by two young directors have outmuscled an honest-to-Grogu Star Wars to become the early box office surprises of the summer.   Guest: Justin Chang , film critic at The New Yorker 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 F...

The Second Reconstruction is being dismantled piece by piece, and this past month has seen that project attain terminal velocity. On this week’s Amicus podcast, Dahlia Lithwick talks with Stanford law professor and leading civil rights lawyer and scholar Pamela S Karlan, about a series of quick-fire moves from the high court and the Trump administration that, taken together, reveal a rapid disasse...

This week: Inflation hit its highest rate in three years thanks to skyrocketing energy prices. Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers , and Emily Peck , parse through what the various inflation numbers mean and discuss the Fed’s and Donald Trump’s blasé reaction to the situation. Then, with the trustees warning of its depletion by 2032, the hosts talk about the possible consequences of losing Social Secu...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay speaks with Rachel Barker, host of Girl on Film on YouTube. The internet has been rich with horror content for decades, but only recently have iconic creepy stories and their creators finally gone mainstream. With movies like Obsession and Backrooms breaking box office records, are YouTubers the next breakout stars for Hollywood?  Get more of ICYMI with S...

If you were watching cable TV around midday at the turn of the millennium, there’s a good chance you saw a commercial for a compilation CD called Monster Ballads . It promised you more than two hours of musical cheese—some of the most over-the-top, cornball, leather-clad romantic jams ever to grace the charts, from “Heaven” to “High Enough,” “Carrie” to “Amanda.” There’s another, more common term...

It’s real: The two great flavors of What Next and What Next TBD together at last. But what’s not real? Where does a sincere speaker using a medium with a motive fall? And how much wolf can you cry before they just take you off shepherd duty? This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not only will you unlock exclusive episodes of What Next —you’ll...

Is Elon Musk’s SpaceX leading humanity to Mars? Or is that just grandiose window-dressing for an A.I. company leading several other A.I. companies to IPOs?  Guest: Max Chafkin , reporter with Bloomberg Businessweek and cohost of the Everybody's Business podcast. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favor...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether this week's resumption of open hostilities in the Iran war has changed the likelihood of an imminent end to the conflict, what to do about how California's slow vote-counting emboldens Trump's cries of election foul, and the most hotly contested D.C. mayoral election in a generation with guest Mike Schaffer from City Cast DC...

On this episode: Lucy Lopez , Elizabeth Newcamp , and Zak Rosen are talking about transitions. The summer time not only means fun in the sun, it also means lots of changes - from kids going to summer camp for the first time to kids starting to get ready for college. The ‘Rents unpack how they’re coping and helping their kids work through these times. Later in the episode, show producer Cheyna Roth...

How Donald Trump rearranging the White House lawn to accommodate a UFC fight neatly mirrors the way the organization and its parent company have reshaped themselves around the president. Guest: Luke Thomas , MMA journalist and host of the Morning Kombat podcast.  Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and across all your favorite...

As you may have heard in last week’s episode, the Culture Gabfest is hanging up its microphones after 18 years of cultural commentary. But before our final episode, we’ve still got much to discuss! On this special guest-packed show, Steve, Dana, and Nadira Goffe have the power! That is the power to get into it with VSFOP Jamelle Bouie about Masters of the Universe , the latest attempt by Mattel to...

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Rachel Karten , a social media consultant and the writer of Link In Bio . Storytimes and other caught-on-camera content frequently goes viral on social media, but now companies have started manufacturing their own skits to secretly advertise themselves. Countless “ambassadors” are telling the same fake stories all over TikTok, with links to brands...

After being eradicated in the United States in the ‘60s, screwworm is back—at a time when beef is even more in demand and the American herd is already depleted. How long will consumers be forced to choose between high prices and, ugh, turkey burgers? Guest: Kevin Draper , New York Times business correspondent covering the agricultural industry. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to acces...

Theo Baker was seventeen when he enrolled at Stanford and stumbled into one of the biggest stories on campus: academic misconduct allegations against the university's president. His reporting eventually forced the president out. In this episode, Theo talks about breaking that story, navigating backlash from classmates and faculty, and what he's learned about the ways Silicon Valley's culture of am...

Why would Trump choose Bill Pulte to be the new acting Director of National Intelligence? Pulte may not have a background in national security, but since he was already Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, you have to admit it was convenient to hire from the batch of people who were already around. Guest: Andrew Egger , White House correspondent for the Bulwark .  Want more What Ne...

In this Money Talks: Author and financial journalist Brendan Greeley tells Elizabeth Spiers about his new book The Almighty Dollar —and the astonishing power this currency held long before the founding of the United States. Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. You can subscribe directly from the Slate Money...

He’s treated Ebola; he’s had Ebola. Here’s what he thinks of the growing crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo—and how America can and should respond. Guest: Dr Craig Spencer, emergency doctor, professor at Brown. 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 Podc...

On this episode: Lucy Lopez , Elizabeth Newcamp , and Zak Rosen are going to be taking a summer break after the June 11 episode. But fear not, they are still here to be your guides to a great summer. They swap ideas for keeping kids entertained without losing your sanity - from making play time a neighborhood affair to where to find the best summer deals.  But first they have a round of trium...

This week: Google’s parent company announced an unexpected move to raise $80 billion for their AI ventures. Felix Salmon , Elizabeth Spiers , and guest host Mary Childs – host of the new show Mary in America –discuss the logic behind Alphabet's stock-based fundraise, which includes a $10 billion share sale to Berkshire-Hathaway.  Then, Mary explains why it’s getting harder for investors to av...

One of the challenges of modern legal journalism is recalling that case law, doctrine, and Supreme Court decisions aren’t a complete picture, without including the lived realities of the people whose lives and communities are often turned upside down by changes in the law. On Tuesday night, the Supreme Court’s far-right flank vastly expanded its holding in Louisiana v. Callais to make it harder, i...