Slate Daily Feed

This week: Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary in the race for New York City mayor.  Felix Salmon , Emily Peck and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the alarmist reactions from business leaders to the Mamdani’s win and why he’s hardly the threat to capitalism they make him out to be. Then, Trump has turned his sights on Jay Powell once again, threatening to prematurely name his successor for Fed Chai...

Little Richard was rock ‘n’ roll’s flamboyant architect. Lesley Gore sang that no one owned her. Sylvester was a gender-fluid icon who helped define disco. Freddie Mercury made rock operatic, and George Michael demanded freedom. What all of these LGBTQ artists had in common was bold hitmaking—and fear of being fully out of the closet. For decades, queer acts topped the charts while cloaking their...

In addition to the three-dimensional war of bombs and missiles, Iran and Israel—and the US—are squaring off in a cyber battle. With everything from water infrastructure to banking connected to the internet in some way, how much damage can cyberattacks do?   Guest: Maggie Miller , POLITICO cybersecurity reporter Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the who...

This week, Emily Bazelon and guest hosts  Ruth Marcus  and  James Forman  discuss Trump’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear facilities with guest  Steven Cook  from the  Council on Foreign Relations , Zohran Mamdani’s stunning victory in the NYC Democratic mayoral primary, and an astonishing whistleblower report that sheds incriminating light on Trump’s judicial nominee Emil Bove and defiance of court ord...

On this episode: Zak, Elizabeth and Jamilah help a listener who’s just lost her job due to DOGE cuts – and now, she’s trying to figure out how to explain what’s happening to her elementary schooler. And, they’re getting ready to move back to the States after working and living overseas. There’s a lot to unpack, and we’ll do what we can to help.  And after that, of course, we’re sharing a round of...

How Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani upset the better-connected, better-funded, better-known candidate in New York’s Democratic mayoral primary—and how he might actually govern if he makes it into office. Guest: Ross Barkan , contributing writer at the New York Times Magazine, New York Magazine columnist, and Editor-in-Chief of The Metropolitan Review. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Pl...

In this episode of Outward , Bryan talks with Slate legal reporter Mark Joseph Stern about a federal judge’s sweeping and controversial ruling in United States v. Skrmetti , which could have massive consequences for access to gender-affirming care. Then, Christina sits down with Congresswoman Becca Balint to talk about what it means to advocate for trans rights inside a Congress where culture war...

On this week’s show, Julia, Dana, and Steve return to the Rage Virus-infected world first created by Danny Boyle and Alex Garland two decades ago. They talk about 28 Years Later and what the zombie movie sequel has to say about now. A lot it turns out: COVID, Brexit, human mortality, and more. Next, they grapple with the media phenomenon that is Alex Cooper—the spunky and sexually frank host of th...

When news broke that the United States had bombed Iran, members of Congress—the only people who can authorize war according to the Constitution—found out at the same time as the rest of us. What can they do to wrest this authority back; and where is this war with Iran headed now? Guest:  Mark Warner , Democratic Senator from Virginia and Vice Chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee. Want mor...

Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay are joined by Yahoo senior entertainment reporter Kelsey Weekman , who is fresh off the plane from this year’s VidCon. Unlike past years, when TikTokkers took over the Anaheim Convention Center, VidCon 2025 put YouTubers front and center, inducting the first creators into the VidCon Hall of Fame. With platforms like MySpace and Vine coming and going, how has YouTube st...

In this member-exclusive Opinionpalooza episode of Amicus , Dahlia Lithwick and co-host Mark Joseph Stern discuss the Supreme Court's shadow docket decision in the case of DHS vs. DVD , which allows for the deportation of migrants to third countries without due process or notice, despite the potential for torture and death. The Supreme Court's majority chose the opaque system of an unsigned, unarg...

In this Money Talks: Felix Salmon is joined by author James Frey to discuss his new novel, Next to Heaven , set among America’s ultra-ultra-rich, the real life billionaires he knows who inspired it, and why he thinks money is addicting.  Want to hear that discussion and hear more Slate Money? Join Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your fav...

On June 11th, actress Allison Williams joined Anna live onstage at the Tribeca Festival in New York City for a conversation that was equal parts introspective and hilarious. Allison talked about everything from botox and how it impacts her work (and the faces she’s able to make to her young son) to her very complicated and controversial film and TV characters, like the famously maligned Marnie fro...

A jury recently found Greenpeace liable for more than $660 million in damages to the company behind the Dakota Access pipeline for its role in the Standing Rock protests.  But the ramifications extend far beyond Greenpeace. As protests against various Trump administration policies heat up across the country, what does this lawsuit say about how opponents can weaponize the courts to criminalize pro...

Hosts Alex Kirshner , Ben Lindbergh , and Lindsay Gibbs talk about the NBA Finals and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s victory over the Indiana Pacers –  the comeback kings of the season. They discuss how the Pacers’ unsatisfying underdog ending and Tyrese Haliburton’s on-court injury made this one of the more bittersweet Finals of recent years. Then, the panel dissects the sale of the Los Angeles Lake...

On this episode: Zak, Lucy and Elizabeth chat about sibling spats. Our question is from the mom of three tween girls who are jealous of each other — so we’ll talk about dealing with unfairness, and keeping the peace. We’ll also check in and share what’s on our minds this week. And if you stick around for the Slate Plus Playground, we’re talking about our parenting “shoulds.” If you’re not part of...

The Trump administration bombed three Iranian nuclear sites. While the Pentagon says these facilities are severely damaged, a diplomatic end to the conflict and a nuclear disarmament agreement feel less possible than ever. Guests: ⁠ Gregory Gause ⁠ , Visiting Scholar at the ⁠Middle East Institute⁠ and ⁠ Professor Emeritus of International Affairs ⁠ for the Bush School of Government and Public Serv...

ARC, the data broker owned by the country’s major airlines, has been selling domestic flight data in the US to Customs and Border Protection. But in the contract, they told CBP not to reveal where the data was from… why?  Guest: Joseph Cox, co-founder of 404 Media and the co-host of the 404 Media Podcast.  Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole Wh...

Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay start off with two sounds of the summer from a divisive Love Island USA contestant and a popstar “ standing on business .” Then, they explain the controversy brewing behind Partiful, the hip event invite app that was a rising star in the tech world, until an NYC Noise blog post brought up that Partiful’s co-founders used to work at Palantir Technologies. Palantir is a...

The Justices seem intent on packing their summer vacation bags and getting on their way.  Earlier in the week, the court’s conservative supermajority upheld a Tennessee ban on gender-affirming care for trans kids. The logic behind the decision was…lacking (Slate Plus members can hear about this right now). In this episode, Dahlia Lithwick talks to Chase Strangio, the lawyer for the Tennessee plain...

David Plotz talks with  author Alison Bechdel  about her new book,  Spent . They discuss what’s memoir and what’s less than memoir in the comic novel, David’s own contribution to the book, and more.   Tweet us your questions  @SlateGabfest  or email us at  gabfest@slate.com . (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)   Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Hosted on A...

This week: We become cheerleaders for crypto regulation, AI, and…Cheerleaders. Felix Salmon , Emily Peck and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the GENIUS act, the major crypto regulation bill which recently passed the Senate, and its implications for regulating stable coins and how it could upend payment processing as we know it in the United States. Then, the hosts discuss the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders,...

Listen to What Next via Apple Podcasts , Spotify , TuneIn , Stitcher , Overcast , Google Play , or iHeart . America’s most machismo and gas-guzzling car, the Hummer, has been relaunched as an electric vehicle. But who is this electrified megatruck really for? Guest: Alex Sammon , Slate features writer This episode is member-exclusive. Listen to it now by subscribing to Slate Plus. By joining, not...

The Trump administration's anti-immigration campaign has become defined by distasteful memes that gleefully portray the mass deportations being carried out across the country. It’s impossible to ignore… which is exactly what the administration wants.  Guest: Drew Harwell, tech reporter at the Washington Post.   Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the who...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss whether the US should join Israel’s war on Iran, the tragic Minnesota assassinations and why US political violence is surging now, and the Supreme Court’s unsurprising but willfully obtuse decision to uphold Tennessee’s youth transgender care ban. Here are this week’s chatters:   Emily:  A Family Matter   by Claire Lynch;  The Fall...