Slate News

The Republican convention, violence in Kenosha, and whether the Falwell and Conway families’ dramas matter. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Thomas B. Edsall for the New York Times: “ ‘I Fear That We Are Witnessing the End of American Democracy’ ” Omar Wasow for the Washington Post: “ The Protests Started Out Looking Like 1968. They Turned Into 1964. ”  Black Lives Matter...

Last week, the Trump administration used shaky reasoning to pursue additional sanctions against Iran. The proposal was rejected by nearly the entire U.N. Security Council, including close allies like the U.K and France. It was just the latest example of how “America First,” and the rejection of multilateralism under Trump, has turned the U.S. into a loner state on the world stage. Guest: Fred Kapl...

For the past two weeks, Belarus has been gripped by political protest. The country’s longtime authoritarian president, Alexander Lukashenko, is courting Russian intervention as a worried European Union looks on.  Guest: Julia Ioffe , GQ correspondent. Read her latest column on Belarus.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/pri...

Getting tested for the coronavirus has never been as easy as it should be in the U.S. We’ve seen equipment shortages, long delays for test results, and even mixed messages about who should be getting tested. But there is a way to fix America’s inadequate testing. And experts say it could return some normalcy even before we have a reliable vaccine. Guest: Robinson Meyer , a staff writer at The Atla...

The pandemic hasn’t stopped the flow of migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border. But it has prompted an emergency crackdown on asylum seekers, and critics of the Trump administration say the policy is violating U.S. law.  Guest: Adolfo Flores , reporter for BuzzFeed News.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more infor...

Felix Salmon, Emily Peck, and Anna Szymanski discuss the finances of the USPS, the fate of brick and mortar retail after the pandemic, and Citigroup’s $900 million payment to Revlon lenders...that they sent by accident. And in the Plus segment: Productivity in lockdown.   Email: slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Twitter: @felixsalmon , @Three_Guineas , @EmilyRPeck Hosted...

In the early days of the pandemic, countries around the world invested heavily in new technologies that would help track the movement of the virus. Now, six months later, contact tracing apps are all but an afterthought in the fight to contain COVID-19. What happened? The U.K. provides some answers. The country put its faith in technology to contain the virus, and paid the price. Guest: Gus Hosein...

In the early days of the pandemic, countries around the world invested heavily in new technologies that would help track the movement of the virus. Now, six months later, contact tracing apps are all but an afterthought in the fight to contain COVID-19. What happened? The U.K. provides some answers. The country put its faith in technology to contain the virus, and paid the price. Guest: Gus Hosein...

Emily, John and David discuss the Democrats’ virtual convention, the U.S. Postal Service, and the bipartisan Senate report exposing more Trump ties to Russia. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: PowerToThePolls.org Vote-absentee.com Election Protection Hotline Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: John: Keith Johnston for Independent Voter News: “ The 18th-Century Reason Bi...

New York Attorney General Letitia James surprised many when she announced plans to dissolve the National Rifle Association. James accused the gun lobby, which is headquartered in New York, of mismanaging their finances – claiming top executives “looted” NRA assets. With the organization’s finances in trouble, and the State AG investigating them for financial misconduct, could this be the end of th...

Last week in Georgia’s 14th congressional district runoff, a Republican candidate who believes in the dangerous and baseless QAnon conspiracy theory came out on top. Marjorie Taylor Greene is now a shoo-in to win a seat in Congress. How did her candidacy get this far? And what does it mean for the Republican party? Guest: Greg Bluestein , political reporter at the Atlanta Journal Constitution Slat...

Having the Democratic National Convention in Wisconsin was supposed to be a way for the Democrats to atone for 2016. Hillary Clinton was the first presidential candidate from either party to not campaign in the state since Richard Nixon in 1972. Wisconsin flipped from blue to red in the last presidential election as rural voters voiced their disaffection with the Democratic Party and supported Don...

One day last month, Samuel Chu woke up to the news that the Chinese government wanted him in jail. Chu doesn’t think he’s in danger -- he’s a U.S. citizen, living in Los Angeles. So how did he wind up on the wrong side of Chinese authorities? Simple: He’s lobbying Congress to support democracy in Hong Kong.  Guest: Samuel Chu, founder of the Hong Kong Democracy Council.  Slate Plus members get bon...

In July, Slate published " The Class of RBG ,” a print piece and two podcast episodes about the nine other women in Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s Harvard Law School class. June Thomas talked to Dahlia Lithwick and Molly Olmstead about the making of the package on the July 26 episode of Working , Slate’s podcast about the creative process. We thought Amicus listeners would enjoy a slightly extended version...

Felix Salmon, Emily Peck and Anna Szymanski are joined by Edmund Lee of the New York Times to discuss Fortnite versus Apple, the reliability of statistics, and the life of Sumner Redstone .  And in the Plus segment: Stock splits.    Email: slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Twitter: @felixsalmon , @Three_Guineas , @EmilyRPeck Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more...

In the early days of internet search engines, Google set itself apart by providing a simple service. A list of links, inviting you to explore the websites that best matched your query. It was a portal to the rest of the internet. But over the last two decades, that mission has changed. Does Google search still take you to the best result for your query? Or does it point users back to its own suite...

In the early days of internet search engines, Google set itself apart by providing a simple service. A list of links, inviting you to explore the websites that best matched your query. It was a portal to the rest of the internet. But over the last two decades, that mission has changed. Does Google search still take you to the best result for your query? Or does it point users back to its own suite...

David, John and Josie Duffy Rice discuss the Biden-Harris ticket, stimulus gridlock, and rapid, ubiquitous coronavirus testing-- with guest Dr. Michael Mina. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Monica Potts for The New York Times: " In the Land of Self Defeat "  Zak Cheney-Rice for New York Magazine: " Tara Reade Is Making It Harder to Hide Joe Biden " This Week in Virology ,...

Kamala Harris is having an historic moment. What does it mean? Guest: Jason Johnson , political science professor at Morgan State University.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The pandemic moves quickly. The scientific consensus changes slowly. Did we waste time waiting for data when we could have adopted low-cost safety measures?  Guest: New York Times reporter Apoorva Mandavilli .  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The U.S. Census Bureau has faced setback after setback. And, this year, who makes it into the official population count is going to be a lot more complicated.  Guest: Hansi Lo Wang covers the 2020 Census for NPR.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This year, the election runs through the Post Office. And we have reasons to be concerned.  Guest: Jordan Weissmann , Slate’s senior business and economics correspondent.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Felix Salmon and Anna Szymanski are joined by Jim Tankersley of the New York Times to discuss his book The Riches of This Land: The Untold, True Story of America's Middle Class , TikTok, and the digital future of media.  And in the Plus segment: The economy in the Trump era.   Email: slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Twitter: @felixsalmon , @Three_Guineas , Hosted on Acas...

Over the past five months, city blocks have been slipping away. Bars are closed; restaurants are half-empty; retail is shuttered. As the country returns to varying states of lockdown, how long can these blocks hold on?   This week: how one commercial strip on Chicago’s South Side is weathering the pandemic.    Guests: Nedra Sims Fears , executive director of the Greater Chatham Initiative Brian d'...

Over the past five months, city blocks have been slipping away. Bars are closed; restaurants are half-empty; retail is shuttered. As the country returns to varying states of lockdown, how long can these blocks hold on?   This week: how one commercial strip on Chicago’s South Side is weathering the pandemic.    Guests: Nedra Sims Fears , executive director of the Greater Chatham Initiative Brian d'...