Slate Daily Feed

Rather than coming out of the pandemic with a new toolkit of public health measures or even personal habits, the response to this summer’s long wave of COVID infections has mostly been to continue with business as usual. But business as usual seems inadequate with mpox and bird flu crises on the horizon.   Guest: Apoorva Mandavilli , science and global health reporter at the New York Times. Want m...

How did the first debate—with these particular candidates—go? Were minds changed? Guest: David Faris, politics professor at Roosevelt University and a contributing writer for Slate.  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 top o...

On this week’s show, the hosts revisit Beetlejuice (1988), the seminal film that marked Tim Burton’s arrival onto the scene as a sort of grim fairy tale teller. 36 years later, the director and much of the original cast return for its sequel, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice , a surprisingly sincere tale about the nature of death and grieving. Or, is it a total mess?‌‌ The hosts discuss. Then, the three di...

Adults have a long history of trying to find morals and lessons in children’s literature. But what happens when a seemingly innocent book about a boy and a hungry mouse becomes fodder for the culture wars? Over the last decade, Laura Joffe Numeroff’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie has been adopted by some on the right as a cautionary tale about government welfare. In this episode, we explore the ori...

Adults have a long history of trying to find morals and lessons in children’s literature. But what happens when a seemingly innocent book about a boy and a hungry mouse becomes fodder for the culture wars? Over the last decade, Laura Joffe Numeroff’s If You Give a Mouse a Cookie has been adopted by some on the right as a cautionary tale about government welfare. In this episode, we explore the ori...

This week Christina Cauterucci speaks to journalists S.I. Rosenbaum and Josie Riesman about their Slate article Kamala Harris’ Surprising Record on Trans Rights . From the national conference she convened to counter the “gay panic” and “trans panic” defense, to her denial of gender-affirming surgery for an incarcerated trans person, a look back on key moments in Kamala Harris’ career reveal a comp...

Candice Lim is joined by Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe to break down the BookTok drama surrounding  Old Enough  by Haley Jakobson. Last year,  Old Enough  hit the shelves as a queer, coming-of-age novel about a sophomore in college named Sav and her ex-best friend, Izzie. A year later, a guest of Lucie Fink’s podcast  The Real Stuff  claimed she was allegedly the basis for Izzie and that her c...

In Slow Burn’s 10th season, host Josh Levin takes you back to a crucial inflection point in American history: the moment between 2000 and 2004 when Fox News first surged to power and a whole bunch of people rose up to try and stop it. You’ll hear from the hosts, reporters, and producers who built Fox News, many who’ve never spoken publicly. You’ll also hear from Fox’s biggest antagonists—the polit...

After Cody Delistraty’s mom died in his early 20s he decided to turn his grief into a research project with one central question: can grief be cured? In this episode, he talks to Anna about all of the various remedies he tried, what worked, and what lessons he learned along the way.  Cody’s book is called The Grief Cure: Looking For the End of Loss Looking for more episodes on grief and longing? H...

After 12 years of “pretrial proceedings,” and 23 years after the crime in question, prosecutors announced that a plea deal had been reached with Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and two of his accomplices, who were accused of planning the Sept. 11 attacks. When Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin canceled the deal, some relatives of those who died on 9/11 were devastated. Guest: Terry Kay Rockefeller , foundi...

Slate contributing writer and co-host of the podcast Split Zone Duo, Alex Kirshner is back in the host chair this week. Joining Alex is the founder of the Power Plays newsletter, Lindsay Gibbs , and Yahoo Sports’ Charles McDonald . The panel comb through NFL Week 1, the American near victories at the US Open, and Angel Reese’s season-ending injury. In the Bonus episode, Slate Plus members can hear...

On this episode: helping a little guy with some big changes. A member of our Slate Parenting Facebook Group is getting ready to move with a three-year-old (and another kid on the way) — and between the disruption, the feelings, and the impending newness, this parent wants to know how to help smooth things out for her kid. Luckily, Elizabeth and Zak are seasoned experts. We also check in on what’s...

After the school shooting in Georgia last week, charges were brought against the 14-year-old alleged gunman—and also against his father. Who’s really responsible? Guest: Josie Duffy Rice , journalist focused on prosecutors, prisons, and other criminal justice issues and host of What A Day. Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and ac...

An outbreak of eastern equine encephalitis in the northeast made headlines, but as far as mosquito-borne illnesses go, EEE is serious but still rare. What’s getting way too common is the mosquito itself. Guest: Amesh Adalja, doctor and senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next f...

This week, Felix Salmon , Emily Peck , and Elizabeth Spiers debate one of the great questions of our time: Do Gen Zs even get checks? They can write them at least, as proved by the recent Chase check fraud TikTok fad. Also: the “founder mode” trend has Silicon Valley types in a tizzy, but does it apply to women CEOs? And what’s Japanese knotweed, and why is it destroying Elizabeth’s house?  In the...

Candice Lim is joined by Wailin Wong, the co-host of NPR’s  The Indicator from Planet Money . Back in January, ICYMI explained everything you needed to know about  Royal Caribbean’s Ultimate World Cruise  — a nine-month trip that TikTokkers on land and sea couldn’t stop talking about. Today, we’re checking in with our favorite boat that’s finally coming home, dispatching everything from geopolitic...

The 2024 election is already underway, with some states already sending out ballots for mail-in voting. But as democrats are basking in the waning glow of their brat summer, the republican party spent the summer on a “protect the vote” tour, spearheaded by RNC co-chair and DJT daughter-in-law Lara Trump. It’s a pretty clever step — from “Stop the Steal” to “Protect the Vote” — and it’s just one of...

A month after a federal judge declared that Google was operating as a monopoly because of its search engine, the Justice Department has alleged that Google’s ad business was breaking antitrust law as well.  What if Google loses again? Guest: Leah Nylen, Bloomberg antitrust reporter. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all y...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the state of the presidential race; the possibility of a hostages-for-Gaza-ceasefire deal with  Ruth Margalit  of The New Yorker; and foreign interference in U.S. politics.   In the latest  Gabfest Reads , Emily talks with Joshua Leifer about his book,  Tablets Shattered .  Email your chatters, questions, and comments to  gabfest@sl...

On this episode: Elizabeth and Zak debrief on your reactions to last week’s special episode about Gus Walz — and we’ll touch on some elements of this story that our audience thinks we might’ve missed the first time around.  And, of course, we also debrief on our week in parenting with a round of triumphs and fails.  Join us on Facebook and email us at careandfeedingpod@slate.com to ask us new ques...

Will the deaths of six hostages mark a turning point in how Israelis view the war in Gaza—and how Netanyahu’s government is conducting it? Guest: Yair Rosenberg, staff writer at The Atlantic and the author of its newsletter Deep Shtetl 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 this week’s show, Slate’s books and culture columnist, Laura Miller, sits in for Julia. The panel begins with KAOS , Netflix’s new series that reimagines Greek mythology in modern times. Created by Charlie Covell ( End of the F***ing World ), KAOS stars Jeff Goldblum as Zeus, alongside a host of excellently cast deities. But is the show too self-satisfied and high off its own supply?‌ The three...

This week Bryan, Jules, and Christina are joined by reporter Jasmine Mithani to talk about the Kids Online Safety Act. While protecting children from harmful material online seems like a win for everyone, some LGBTQ organizations fear that KOSA would be used to shut down LGBTQ+ content online and take away important resources for queer youth.  Podcast production by Palace Shaw Hosted on Acast. See...

How much do military voters and their families care about Trump attempting a campaign stop at Arlington National Cemetery? Guest: Leo Shane III , deputy editor for the Military Times. 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 top...

Candice Lim is joined by Rolling Stone writer  CT Jones  and  Switched on Pop  producer  Reanna Cruz  to hold a retrospective on the internet history of Charli XCX, the founder of brat summer and a decades-long digital icon. They’re going all the way back to 2012, when a girl from Essex named Charlotte Aitchison hit the main stage with “ I Love It. ” They’ll dissect their first Charli XCX memories...