Slate Daily Feed

In this episode, Christina Cauterucci and Jules Gill-Peterson discuss Christina’s latest Slate article, The New Lavender Scare , which highlights the experiences of queer and trans federal employees grappling with the threat of retaliation, job loss, and a chilling political climate. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court is hearing oral arguments in Medina v. Planned Parenthood South Atlantic, a case that will determine whether South Carolina can cut Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood. But with clear legal precedent stating that they can’t, how did this case even end up before the Supreme Court? And, given how far the court has gone to accommodate the MAGA agenda, is the outcome...

Candice Lim and Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe play High Speed Downloads and recap the most pressing stories on their timelines. In one minute or less, they’ll explain the internet’s rising support of Snow White star Rachel Zegler . They also discuss some massive developments in a story involving one of South Korea’s hottest actors and the untimely death of a Korean actress. But first, they rec...

In this Money Talks: Amidst the Trump administration’s continued attacks on the press, David Enrich ’s new book, Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful , feels incredibly timely. He joins Elizabeth Spiers to discuss his reporting on increasing efforts to exploit the legal system to protect the rich and powerful from being held accountable, creati...

As video of federal agents stopping Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk on the street and taking her away to be detained circulated on social media, people kept asking, “how could this happen here?” The answer involves organizations that claim to help the federal government identify and find activists, and victims whose rights to free speech and due process can be swiftly suspended. Guest: Aymann Ismail,...

Alongside life's darkest moments there often are moments of absurdity that make us laugh.  In this episode, from a live San Francisco comedy festival in January, Anna and guests talk about the special kind of comedy born of something sad. Comedians Guy Branum and Carl Tart share stories of writing a sitcom about Zoom-era social relationships. Chanel Miller, author of Know My Name , talks about cop...

Hosts Alex Kirshner , Lindsay Gibbs , and Ben Lindbergh welcome Joel Beall , senior Golf Digest writer and author of Playing Dirty , for a deep dive into Saudi Arabia’s continued sportwashing through investments in professional golf. The panel also discusses number one seeds steamrolling their way into the men’s Final Four. Alex Ovechkin inches closer to surpassing Wayne Gretzky's NHL goal record....

On this episode: Zak, Lucy and Elizabeth answer a question about going on nap strike. This mom has a toddler who’s suddenly just… not napping. And, of course, she starts getting tired way before a reasonable bedtime. So, mom is looking for advice, but also just solidarity. We’ll help her out and then check in and share what’s on our minds this week. Then, if you’re hanging out for the Slate Plus P...

How an election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court has become a referendum on Elon Musk—and the most expensive state supreme court race ever. Guest: John Nichols , associate editor at The Capital Times in Wisconsin, contributor on electoral politics and public policy for The Nation, and author of multiple books on media and politics. Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock full, ad-free access...

Ketamine has gone from a recreational psychedelic to an approved treatment, and it has caught on in Silicon Valley in a big way. Are the long-term effects of using ketamine—recreationally or therapeutically—sufficiently known? Are we witnessing them right now? Guest: Shayla Love , staff writer for the Atlantic. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the who...

Ketamine has gone from a recreational psychedelic to an approved treatment, and it has caught on in Silicon Valley in a big way. Are the long-term effects of using ketamine—recreationally or therapeutically—sufficiently known? Are we witnessing them right now? Guest: Shayla Love , staff writer for the Atlantic. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the who...

Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay are joined by Slate senior culture editor Jenny G. Zhang to discuss @ Hubs. Life , an influencer who made content about his 9-5, only to become so successful, he quit. Connor Hubbard first gained traction online for his day in the life videos which were interesting to some, depressing to others. Despite their low entertainment quality, Hubbard’s TikTok videos gained hi...

The Trumpian inversion of reality was threaded into so many areas of the law and active litigation this week. Slate senior writer Mark Joseph Stern joins Dahlia Lithwick to discuss the apparent evaporation of judicial patience for Trump lawyers simultaneously claiming that a signal chat was not classified or subject to record preservation rules, AND the flights to El Salvador that were  filmed for...

This week: A leaked Signal message revealed illegal use of the commercial app by the Defense Department. Felix Salmon , Emily Peck , and Elizabeth Spiers explain how this is a common issue in finance, where employees often defy SEC regulations on secure communication in favor of more convenient ways of communicating. Then, a recent study shows that people are leaving states with anti-abortion laws...

When you think of music in the 1960s, some groundbreaking artists probably come to mind: Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and the Jefferson Airplane, for example. But the pop charts paint a very different picture of that decade, which embraced easy listening, groovy bubblegum, novelty and instrumental records—even a guitar-strumming Belgian nun.  In other words, the soundtrack of the era was more like Mad...

Memecoins are a niche type of cryptocurrency with no intrinsic value. But they remain a popular form of crypto, as seen earlier this year with President Trump’s own memecoin. And if it worked for him, then why not our little podcast?  Guests:  Azeem Khan , advisor to UNICEF’s crypto fund and cocreator of the blockchain Morph. Nitish Pahwa , Slate staff writer covering business and tech. Want more...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the hilarious-if-it-wasn’t-so-terrifying accidental sending of secret attack plans from Trump administration officials to a journalist; the chilling capitulation of big law firms to Trump’s onslaught; and similar aggressive efforts to intimidate higher education in the United States.  For this week’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Emily...

On this episode: Zak, Lucy, and Elizabeth are answering a question from a mom who’s wondering if she’s going to accidentally cause body issues for her four-year-old. This kid has developed what seems like a compulsive habit every time she uses the bathroom… and our mom wants it to stop, but also doesn’t want to somehow make things worse. We’ll talk through what might be happening here — and then,...

How former congressman and Air Force veteran, Adam Kinzinger interprets the leaked Signal chat of top Trump administration officials discussing a military strike on Houthi targets.  Guest: Adam Kinzinger , former Republican Congressman for Illinois’s 11th and 16th districts who served on the January 6th select committee, and author of Renegade: Defending Democracy and Liberty in Our Divided Countr...

Look in the nonfiction section of any bookstore and you’ll find dozens of history books making the same bold claim: that their narrow, unexpected subject somehow changed the world. Potatoes, kudzu, soccer, coffee, Iceland, bees, oak trees, sand, chickens—there are books about all of them, and many more besides, with the phrase “changed the world” or something similarly grandiose right there in the...

Look in the nonfiction section of any bookstore and you’ll find dozens of history books making the same bold claim: that their narrow, unexpected subject somehow changed the world. Potatoes, kudzu, soccer, coffee, Iceland, bees, oak trees, sand, chickens—there are books about all of them, and many more besides, with the phrase “changed the world” or something similarly grandiose right there in the...

In this episode of Outward , Jules Gill-Peterson sits down with Colby Gordon to talk about his new book, Glorious Bodies: Trans Theology and Renaissance Literature . Gordon digs into early modern religious texts that, instead of rejecting trans existence, actually provided ways to think about gender transformation—socially, surgically, and theologically. They explore what Shakespeare, Milton, and...

On this week’s show, Slate’s Rebecca Onion sits in for Julia. The team discusses Netflix’s current number 1 program Adolescence and what it says about how the descent into incel culture starts young. They then invite Chris Molanphy to talk about Lady Gaga’s new album, MAYHEM . They close out with a discussion on Trump's continued assault against DEI, this time holding funding over the heads of pub...

Trump’s attempted elimination of the Department of Education has left more than 40 million Americans with student loans wondering how their repayment plans will be affected—and future college students wondering what options will exist when it’s time to go to school.  Guest: Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, higher education reporter at the Washington Post . Want more What Next? Join Slate Plus to unlock f...

Kate Lindsay and Candice Lim recap their weekends which include Waymo cars and accidentally bumping into content creators, which brings them to the recent kerfuffle between Glacier Express and Influencers in the Wild. Earlier this month, Influencers in the Wild — an Instagram account that crowdsources and posts footage of content creators in public spaces — was asked to remove a video that feature...