Slate News

Instagram’s new default privacy settings for teenagers are designed to keep kids safe from strangers online. It’s a worthy endeavor, but are privacy settings enough? And what about all the other hazards teenagers face on social media?   Guest: Natasha Singer , New York Times tech reporter , focused on how technology is affecting childhood and schooling. Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss political violence and its consequences; the state of the presidential race; and  The Rise of Fox News  with Slow Burn’s Josh Levin.  Podcast production by Cheyna Roth Research by Julie Huygen Public.com+Public Investing: All investing involves risk. Brokerage services for US listed securities, options and bonds in a self-directed b...

Scores of Jews from around the world are visiting Israel to tour the grounds of the Nova music festival and burned out kibbutzim, bearing witness and reflecting on the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. The trips are shoring up Israel’s tourism industry after the war brought it to an abrupt halt—but critics say the narrow focus on this tragedy pushes the suffering of Gazans to the periphery, even as bombs drop...

The story of Springfield, Ohio—as told by the people who live there—is nothing like the one heard from the debate stage.  Guest: Aymann Ismail , Slate staff writer . 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 of our show page....

Law enforcement units looking to prevent voter fraud are popping up from Texas to Virginia—but are they trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist—or simply targeting groups they’d prefer didn’t vote? Guest: Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones, author of “ Minority Rule: The Right Wing Attack on the Will of the People and the Fight to Resist It. ” Want more What Nex...

For this Money Talks, Emily Peck chats with Rumaan Alam , author of Leave the World Behind. His new novel Entitlement explores what happens when normal people enter the lives of the super-rich. Rumaan and Emily discuss class, opportunity, and how the ego and conceit of wealth can be contagious. Want more Slate Money? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock weekly bonus episodes for each regular Slate Pl...

When Taylor Swift stated she was voting for Kamala Harris, a large segment of Swifties breathed a sigh of relief. How did Swift’s politics become so important—and will her endorsement make a difference in November?   Guest: Brian Donovan, professor of sociology at the University of Kansas who teaches a college course called “The Sociology of Taylor Swift.”  Want more What Next? Subscribe to Slate...

Boeing’s Starliner has now landed successfully—but Butch and Sunny weren’t on it. With a pair of astronauts still stuck on the ISS, when will NASA be ready to bring them back? And how? Guest: Micah Maidenberg , space business reporter for the Wall Street Journal . Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate...

Republicans from Ohio to Arkansas, from South Dakota to Florida and from Nebraska to Missouri have been throwing everything at trying to keep abortion ballot measures from actually reaching voters. In this week’s Amicus - a deep look at efforts to stifle and chill direct democracy in the states, post Dobbs . Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Jessica Valenti, the author of Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Li...

Next up in Boeing’s year of hell: A worker strike. Felix Salmon , Emily Peck , and Elizabeth Spiers discuss the planemaker’s endemic labor issues, whether just snacking around is better than eating full meals, and how banks convinced the Fed to reverse course on Basel III Endgame regulations.  In the Plus bonus mini-episode, the hosts talk about the rise and fall of hotel room service and the allu...

The law has been passed and signed by the president: TikTok’s parent company must sell or divest from the app. But that’s not happening without a legal fight.   Guest: Emily Baker-White , investigative reporter at Forbes . Want more What Next TBD? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening to the whole What Next family and all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcast...

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Kamala Harris’ win against Donald Trump in the presidential debate; the Harris endorsements by Taylor Swift and Dick and Liz Cheney; and election integrity with  Professor Nathaniel Persily  of Stanford Law School. Here are this week’s chatters: Emily: Willa Paskin and Cheyna Roth for Decoder Ring:  If You Give a Mouse a Cookie… Wil...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Can fast-fashion giant Shein go public while fending off accusations of bad labor practices, the US government, and a back-and-forth war with newcomer Temu? Guest: Mia Sato , platforms and communities reporter at the Verge.  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 Po...

For this Money Talks, it’s all fun and games…and lots and lots of money. The Puzzmo game designer speaks with Felix Salmon about how to make addicting, viral pastimes that turn a profit. They discuss what made Wordle such a breakout hit, how to make games for both bad and good players, and the strained relationship between art and profit. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slat...