Slate News

It’s been 22 years since the federal government last brought a meaningful legal challenge to a big tech company. Back then, when the Justice Department sued Microsoft, the outcome changed the direction of the company for years to come. Now, the Department of Justice is coming for Google. Can the search giant resist this challenge to its role as the gatekeeper of the internet? Guest: Tony Romm , te...

Slate's Political Gabfest will be published on Friday this week. Listen to this 15 second note to find out why! You can tweet suggestions, links, and questions to @SlateGabfest . Tweet us your cocktail chatter using #cocktailchatter. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)   The email address for the Political Gabfest is gabfest@slate.com . (Email may be quoted by...

Iowa is home to less than 1% of the U.S. population. So why is this year’s Senate race the 2nd most expensive in U.S. history? Democrats hope to use all that cash to unseat a Republican star in a state that President Trump won handily in 2016. Guest: Andrew Batt , senior producer at Iowa PBS Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.co...

With less than two weeks to go until Election Day, maybe you’re feeling a little uneasy. Jim Newell says, despite Biden’s consistent lead in the polls, you should still totally be sweating it. Guest: Jim Newell , Slate’s senior politics writer. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Winning November’s presidential election will likely mean turning out a whole host of people who have never voted before. In our new series, First-Timers , we speak with voters from around the country and across the political spectrum to ask them what’s bringing them to the ballot box for the first time. Guest: Dewayne Comer, a formerly incarcerated first-time voter from Syracuse, New York. Slate...

A spike in COVID cases this fall led to new restrictions in several parts of New York. Many of these locations were home to Orthodox Jewish communities which were hard hit early on in the pandemic. Feeling singled out by these new rules, Orthodox communities across the city rebelled and began protesting by burning masks and flouting social distancing guidelines. That anger has given rise to a new...

Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Ilyse Hogue, the president of NARAL Pro-Choice America and the author of The Lie that Binds to discuss the Senate Judiciary Committee’s confirmation hearings for Judge Amy Coney Barrett and what her nomination to the Supreme Court means for reproductive rights.  In our Slate Plus segment, Dahlia is joined by Professor Pamela Karlan of Stanford Law School to discuss all...

Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Anna Szymanski talk tax evasion at Vista Investment Group, the issues with company performance reviews and auction theory.  In the Slate Plus segment: What news is wake-up-in-the-middle-of-the-night news? Email: slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Twitter: @felixsalmon , @Three_Guineas , @EmilyRPeck Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mo...

Emily, John and David discuss Barrett’s confirmation hearings; the First Amendment and disinformation; and the latest election machinations. Here are some references from this week’s show: Emily Bazelon for the New York Times: “ The Problem of Free Speech in an Age of Disinformation ” On Liberty by John Stuart Mill  The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt  These Truths: A History of the Un...

Two years ago, Mark Zuckerberg held up Holocaust denial as an example of the type of speech that would be protected on Facebook. The company wouldn’t take down content simply because it was incorrect. This week, Facebook reversed that stance. Is this decision the first step toward a new way of policing speech on the social network? Guest: Evelyn Douek , Lecturer at Harvard Law School and affiliate...

Two years ago, Mark Zuckerberg held up Holocaust denial as an example of the type of speech that would be protected on Facebook. The company wouldn’t take down content simply because it was incorrect. This week, Facebook reversed that stance. Is this decision the first step toward a new way of policing speech on the social network? Guest: Evelyn Douek , Lecturer at Harvard Law School and affiliate...

Olivia Troye spent nearly two years in Trump’s White House. In that time, she sat in on meetings about natural disasters, border security - and the coronavirus task force. In July, she announced she had resigned. The White House says she was fired. One way or another, she’s speaking out about what she saw, why she stayed, and what ultimately pushed her out the door. Guest: Olivia Troye , former Ho...

The White House, Senate Republicans and the House Democrats are all on completely separate pages about another coronavirus relief package. With the election just three weeks away, is now the best time to strike a deal? And what would it look like?  Guest: Jordan Weissmann , Slate senior economic and business correspondent. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up no...

Earlier this summer, Senator Kelly Loeffler leaned into a war of words with the WNBA. She may have underestimated her opponents.  Guest: Amira Rose Davis , assistant professor at Penn State and cohost of the Burn It All Down podcast.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Robert Raben , a former senior Hill staffer, former assistant attorney general in Bill Clinton’s Department of Justice, and founder of the Raben Group, for some real talk about next week’s Senate confirmation hearings. Next, Brian Kalt, Michigan State University College of Law professor and author of Unable: The Law, Politics, and Limits of Section 4 of the Twenty-Fift...

Professor Yuen Yuen Ang joins Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Anna Szymanski to discuss her book China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption and how it relates to China and the United States. In the Slate Plus segment: China’s future.  Email: slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Twitter: @felixsalmon , @Three_Guineas , @EmilyRPeck Hosted on Acast. See...

Over the last decade, born from the chaos of the 2008 financial crisis, automated tenant screening has grown into a billion-dollar industry. Now, nine out of 10 landlords rely on automated tenant-screening reports, scraped from eviction history, criminal background records, and terror watchlists, to decide if they can trust potential renters. The problem? Often, the reports contain major errors, m...

Over the last decade, born from the chaos of the 2008 financial crisis, automated tenant screening has grown into a billion-dollar industry. Now, nine out of 10 landlords rely on automated tenant-screening reports, scraped from eviction history, criminal background records, and terror watchlists, to decide if they can trust potential renters. The problem? Often, the reports contain major errors, m...

Emily, John and David discuss the White House virus outbreak, vice-presidential debate, and Senate races Here are this week’s cocktail chatters:  Emily: Matt Zapotosky for the Washington Post: “ New Justice Dept. Election Fraud Guidance Could Allow Boosting Of Trump’s Exaggerated Claims, Legal Observers Say ”; Jim Rutenberg for the New York Times Magazine: “ The Attack on Voting ” John: Dave Phili...

Who will be able to cast a vote in Texas? And will Texans be able to figure that out before election day -- or after ? Guest: Emma Platoff , justice and politics reporter for the Texas Tribune.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If Vice President Mike Pence does agree to show up at the debate on Wednesday in Salt Lake City, he’ll have plenty to answer for -- in particular, why the White House’s coronavirus task force wasn’t able to do more to fight the pandemic here in the U.S.  Guest: Dan Diamond , reporter for Politico and author of the Politico Pulse newsletter.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcas...

We have a sitting senator with a COVID-19 positive test. We have his opponent, admitting to an extramarital affair. And we have a surge in mail-in ballots, even as absentee rules change before voters’ eyes.  Guest: Michael Bitzer, professor of politics and history at Catawba College.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/priva...

The president has tested positive for COVID. Does he realize what that means for the rest of us? Guest: Slate’s Will Saletan , author of Bearing Right .  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dahlia Lithwick is joined by election law professor Rick Hasen of UC Irvine, author of Election Meltdown , for an update on the state of the election given the president’s COVID diagnosis .  They are joined by Professor Carol Anderson, Charles Howard Candler professor of African American Studies at Emory University, to discuss the president’s undermining of the election.  Podcast production by Sar...

Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Anna Szymanski discuss Trump’s taxes , controversy at Coinbase, and spoofing.  In the Slate Plus segment: Palantir. Email: slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Twitter: @felixsalmon , @Three_Guineas , @EmilyRPeck Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.