Slate News

Texas is dealing with a surge of COVID-19 cases, just weeks after it had begun reopening its businesses and considering plans to bring school back in the fall. The state’s governor defanged his own orders and invited Texans to reach their own conclusions about the necessity of masks and social distancing.  Guest: Ross Ramsey , executive editor of the Texas Tribune .  Slate Plus members get bonus s...

This week, Emily Peck, Felix Salmon, and Anna Szymanski discuss the reopening and reclosing of states amid COVID-19 spikes, visas and immigration in the United States, and the messy collapse of the German fintech company Wirecard.  In the Slate Plus segment: Bill Ackman and SPACs. Email:  slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Twitter: @felixsalmon , @Three_Guineas , @ EmilyRP...

Responding to protests around the country, the New York City Council passed the POST Act: Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology last week. The bill will require the NYPD to reveal the extent of their surveillance technology deployed within the city. For the first time, New Yorkers will get a clear picture of the technology being employed to watch and trace them. Experts say to expect the wor...

Responding to protests around the country, the New York City Council passed the POST Act: Public Oversight of Surveillance Technology last week. The bill will require the NYPD to reveal the extent of their surveillance technology deployed within the city. For the first time, New Yorkers will get a clear picture of the technology being employed to watch and trace them. Experts say to expect the wor...

Emily, John and David discuss the rising numbers of COVID cases, the politicization of the DOJ, and they are joined by Slow Burn's Josh Levin to talk about the new season focused on David Duke. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Austan Goolsbee and Chad Syverson: “ Lockdown, and Diversion: Comparing Drivers of Pandemic Economic Decline 2020, University of Chicago, Becker Fri...

It was Halloween night when Eric Umansky’s wife asked him to go see what was happening around the corner from their home. She had just seen an unmarked NYPD patrol car strike a black teenager and officers had pinned another group of black kids against the wall of the local theatre. Eric arrived on the scene just as three of those kids were being arrested – ages 15, 14, and 12. Eric didn’t intend t...

Last week, comedian Laurie Kilmartin took to Twitter to talk jokingly about something that wasn’t funny –– her mom was dying. JoAnn Kilmartin, Laurie’s mother, had contracted the coronavirus in her nursing home and was on her deathbed only a few miles from Laurie’s home in southern California. The experience put in striking display her grief and anger, but also her wits and charm. With the death t...

This past weekend, Geoffrey Berman was suddenly removed from his office as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. The removal itself began with Barr announcing on Friday night that Berman was resigning. That was a lie. Berman issued his own statement saying as much. This whole confusing two-day episode ultimately came to a close with Berman stepping down after ensuring his succes...

Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Luis Cortes Romero, the attorney and DACA recipient who was part of the team that prevailed in this week’s DACA ruling. He will restore some of your faith in the American courts. And then Dahlia talks to Professor Pam Karlan about this week’s landmark LGBTQ employment rights case, in which she argued successfully for Title VII protections to apply to gay, lesbian, bise...

Professor Stephanie Kelton joins Emily Peck, Felix Salmon, and Anna Szymanski for a long awaited episode on Modern Monetary Theory. She answers their many questions about MMT and discusses her book The Deficit Myth: Modern Monetary Theory and the Birth of the People’s Economy . In the Slate Plus segment: How we feel about the stock market.  Email:  slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessam...

In March, when schools across the country shut down, few people could have guessed that students wouldn’t return until the fall. Schools weren’t equipped to deploy remote-learning curricula, technology was in short supply, and most parents weren’t free to guide their children through lessons during the day. Three months later, little has changed. And all that time out of the classroom has taken a...

In March, when schools across the country shut down, few people could have guessed that students wouldn’t return until the fall. Schools weren’t equipped to deploy remote-learning curricula, technology was in short supply, and most parents weren’t free to guide their children through lessons during the day. Three months later, little has changed. And all that time out of the classroom has taken a...

Emily, John and David discuss Trump’s Tulsa rally, Bolton’s book, and this week’s historic Supreme Court ruling on LGBTQ rights--with attorney Chase Strangio. Episode Notes Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Kathryn Dunn Tenpas for Brookings: “ Tracking Turnover in the Trump Administration ” Anne Applebaum for the Atlantic: “ History Will Judge Trump’s Enablers Harshly ” Dyl...

Companies from Nike to the New York Times have announced that Juneteenth will be a paid day off this year. What does wider observance of the holiday say about the progress we’re making as a country?  Guest: Adam Serwer, staff writer for The Atlantic Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Police reform is not a new cause in New York. The same proposals have been discussed for years. But when people took to the streets in late May, they handed politicians a mandate. This is the story of how the protesters got their first big win.  Guest: Zellnor Myrie , New York state senator serving in Brooklyn.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted o...

On Monday, the conservative Supreme Court extended civil rights protections to transgender and gay Americans. The ruling is not controversial -- supermajorities of polled citizens say discrimination against LGBTQ people should be illegal. But Monday’s decision comes ahead of a flurry of rulings on other closely-watched cases involving the president’s financial records, the DACA program, abortion r...

In the past couple of weeks, multiple high ranking military members, active and retired, have spoken out against the Trump administration's use of force in Lafayette Square. Usually, military officers prefer to stay silent on political matters. Does this mark a sea change in the way the military deals with President Trump? Guest: Fred Kaplan, Slate’s War Stories Correspondent and the author of The...

Cathy O’Neil is back! She joins Felix Salmon, Emily Peck and Anna Szymanski to explain why COVID-19 models are confusing, talk about the media world’s big reckoning with its own racism, and discuss the Ford Foundation’s new bonds plan.  In the Slate Plus segment: A tech startup that’s trying to detect women’s orgasm.  Email:  slatemoney@slate.com Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Twitter: @fe...

This week, three of the leading developers of facial-recognition technology announced they would stop, or at least pause, selling this technology to police. The decision stems from evidence of racial bias inherent in these tools. For the researchers who first uncovered the deep-seated issues with these tools, it’s a watershed moment. Will facial-recognition technology continue to grow unchecked? O...

This week, three of the leading developers of facial-recognition technology announced they would stop, or at least pause, selling this technology to police. The decision stems from evidence of racial bias inherent in these tools. For the researchers who first uncovered the deep-seated issues with these tools, it’s a watershed moment. Will facial-recognition technology continue to grow unchecked? O...

David, Emily, and John present a special livestream of the Political Gabfest on police abuse, the 2020 election, and John’s new book, The Hardest Job in the World. Here are this week’s cocktail chatters: Emily: Charlie Savage and Adam Goldman for the New York Times: “ Outsider Tapped in Flynn Case Calls Justice Dept. Reversal a ‘Gross Abuse’ of Power ” David: Emily Cochrane for the New York Times:...

To hear the president tell it, you would think that antifa activists are blanketing the country -- bringing their campaign of vandalism and looting and lawlessness to your town. These fears are sown and circulated through digital whisper networks that can be hard for outsiders to penetrate. But the online rumors are having real-life consequences.  Guest: Brandy Zadrozny , NBC News correspondent. R...

This week, nine members of the Minneapolis City Council announced their intention to dissolve the Minneapolis Police Department. And while this moment may belong to the protesters of Minneapolis, it has just as much to do with the conduct of the city’s police, and how they’ve met even small reforms with utter contempt.  Guest: Steve Fletcher , a member of the Minneapolis City Council.  Slate Plus...

Looking at the images that have come out over the last few weeks: images of police violence and protest, it’s impossible not to think how similar they are to pictures we saw just a few years back in Ferguson, Missouri. Michael Brown's death at the hands of a police officer sparked protests across the country and cemented the Black Lives Matter movement into the American consciousness. Today on the...

It is entirely possible to support the protests while feeling intense anxiety that they will result in additional cases of COVID-19.  Guest: Dr. Howard Markel , professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, and author of When Germs Travel , among other books.  Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for...