Slate News

After years of careful planning and public spats, Apple and Epic—the maker of Fortnite—have spent the last three weeks in court, fighting over the future of mobile gaming. What happens if, for once, Apple loses? Guest: Elizabeth Lopatto , deputy editor at the Verge  Host Lizzie O’Leary   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After years of careful planning and public spats, Apple and Epic—the maker of Fortnite—have spent the last three weeks in court, fighting over the future of mobile gaming. What happens if, for once, Apple loses? Guest: Elizabeth Lopatto , deputy editor at the Verge  Host Lizzie O’Leary   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: David Leonhardt for The New York Times: “ The Lab-Leak Theory ” Nicholson Baker for New York Magazine: “ The Lab-Leak Hypothesis ” Nicholas Wade for The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists: “ The Origin of COVID: Did People or Nature Open Pandora’s Box at Wuhan? ” Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: “ Other Regimes Will Hijack Planes Too ” The S...

On Sunday, authorities in Belarus took a prominent opposition journalist into custody by flagging down a commercial flight with a fighter jet and a false bomb threat. Since then, the small country has garnered international condemnation - though it’s evoked little contrition from President Alexander Lukashenko. What does this hijacking signal about the steadfastness of authoritarianism in Belarus...

Abortion bills are making their way through the statehouses of the U.S. Last Wednesday, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law a ban on abortions after six weeks of pregnancy. Before that, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson instituted a ban on abortions from fertilization . And in the midst of these fights at the state level, the Supreme Court has announced it will take up a case challenging Roe...

A year after the murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis, residents near the intersection of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue - now dubbed George Floyd Square - continue to keep the area closed off. The city wants to reopen the intersection, but activists say they aren’t giving in until the community’s demands for justice are met.  Guest: Marcia Howard , security volunteer and organizer in George Floy...

U.S. support for Palestinians seems to have swelled this past month, especially among progressive Democrats. With fighting between Israel and Hamas on hold, what will it take to shift U.S. policy?  Guest: Peter Beinart , editor-at-large at Jewish Currents. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus ep...

Dahlia Lithwick is joined by two independent abortion providers, Amy Hagstrom Miller of Whole Women's Health and Tammi Kromenaker of Red River Women's Clinic, to share their reactions to two huge pieces of news in reproductive rights and health this week: the Supreme Court’s Dobbs grant, and SB8 in Texas. Then, Ian Milhiser of Vox and Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island join Dahlia to discuss ...

Edmund Lee of the New York Times joins Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Stacy-Marie Ishmael to talk about AT&T's massive WarnerMedia-Discovery merger, this week’s Bitcoin crash, and burnout.   In the Plus segment: Future media merger speculation.  Mentioned in the show: “ U.S. Telecoms Decide Focusing on Pipes Isn’t So Dumb After All ,” by Nic Fildes, Anna Nicolaou ,and Sujeet Indap for the Finan...

Last week, a hacker group called DarkSide shut down the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies 45 percent of the fuel consumed on the East Coast. Gas prices skyrocketed, people started hoarding gas, and DarkSide walked away with over $4 million in Bitcoin. How did they do it? And what makes this hack different from those we’ve seen before? Guest: David Uberti , cybersecurity reporter at the Wall Street...

Last week, a hacker group called DarkSide shut down the Colonial Pipeline, which supplies 45 percent of the fuel consumed on the East Coast. Gas prices skyrocketed, people started hoarding gas, and DarkSide walked away with over $4 million in Bitcoin. How did they do it? And what makes this hack different from those we’ve seen before? Guest: David Uberti , cybersecurity reporter at the Wall Street...

Emily, John and David discuss the violence between Israel and Gaza, abortion at the Supreme Court, and the book Nine Nasty Words with author John McWhorter. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: John Dickerson for CBS: “ Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on "Face the Nation," May 16, 2021 ” Bernie Sanders for the New York Times: “ Bernie Sanders: The U.S. Must Stop Bein...

Patty Murray began her career in the Senate pushing for a landmark piece of legislation: the Family and Medical Leave Act. Now, nearly 30 years later, she’s putting her weight behind a plan to grant universal access to affordable childcare. Guest: U.S. Senator Patty Murray of Washington state .  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like...

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo faces two investigations regarding accusations of sexual harassment and a culture of bullying in his office. Despite multiple calls to resign, the governor has clung to his office, hoping to ride out the scandals.     Guest: Karen Hinton , former press secretary and adviser to Andrew Cuomo. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus...

After the passage of Joe Biden’s big coronavirus stimulus package, economists expected to see a huge jobs report in May. In the end, only a quarter of the expected 1 million new jobs materialized. Why is that? And what are the chances that $1.9 trillion in stimulus funding is backfiring? Guest: Jordan Weissmann , Slate’s senior business and economics correspondent If you enjoy this show, please co...

On Thursday, the CDC announced that unvaccinated people can go unmasked in most situations. The decision was followed with many private companies dropping their mask requirements but not everyone is ready to go barefaced just yet.  Guest: Megan Ranney , ER Doctor at Brown Emergency Medicine If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero...

Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Stacy-Marie Ishmael are joined by Brad Stone to talk about the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack and his new book Amazon Unbound: Jeff Bezos and the Invention of a Global Empire , covering things like AMI’s extortion of Bezos, what the single cow burger tells about who Bezos has become, the impact of Amazon’s labor practices, and many more Bezos/Amazon topics.  In t...

The Serum Institute of India was supposed to supply vaccines not just to India, but to the entire Global South. Now, with cases surging, there aren’t nearly enough vaccines for India’s population, not to mention the many countries that are relying on it. How did such a successful institution come up so short? And what are the costs of that failure? Guest: Samanth Subramanian , senior reporter at Q...

The Serum Institute of India was supposed to supply vaccines not just to India, but to the entire Global South. Now, with cases surging, there aren’t nearly enough vaccines for India’s population, not to mention the many countries that are relying on it. How did such a successful institution come up so short? And what are the costs of that failure? Guest: Samanth Subramanian , senior reporter at Q...

Emily, John and David discuss the post-pandemic economy; vaccine hoarding; and they're joined by Alex Stamos to talk about infrastructure, cybersecurity and the Colonial Pipeline hack. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: David Leonhardt for the New York Times: “ A Misleading C.D.C. Number ” Dana Goldstein for the New York Times: “ President of Key Teachers’ Union Shares Plea:...

This week’s violence across Israel and the occupied territories points to a new era in Israeli-Palestinian relations. Palestinian observers find themselves wondering: Is it a changing diplomatic paradigm, thanks to a growing movement to acknowledge the human rights of Palestinians and find lasting peace? Or is it something more frightening, more deafening -- is it the beginning of unbridled war? G...

Does the looming ouster of a devoted Trump critic from House GOP leadership mean the party remains in thrall to the former president? Or does it just mean that Republican political leaders don’t want to keep talking about him? Guest: Eliana Johnson , Editor-in-chief at the Washington Free Beacon.  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits li...

A complete recount of ballots from the 2020 election is underway in Maricopa County, where Arizona Senate Republicans still question the results of the general election. There’s no timeline or budget for the manual audit, and election experts say this effort is highly prone to errors. Guest: Andrew Oxford , reporter for the Arizona Republic.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podca...

Omar Alshogre survived years of detainment in Syria when he was just a teenager. Now, he’s in the U.S. and is telling his story of survival so you don’t look away. Guest: Omar Alshogre , a Georgetown Student and the Director of Detainee Affairs at the Syrian Emergency Task Force. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Podcast production by Mary Wilson, Davis...

Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Preet Bharara, former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, host of Stay Tuned with Preet , and author of Doing Justice . Bharara gives an insider’s view of Rudy Giuliani’s current plight, they also discuss this week’s ruling from a federal judge rebuking former attorney general Bill Barr. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus...