Slate News

This week, Felix Salmon , Emily Peck , and Elizabeth Spiers are joined by Bloomberg Opinion columnist Matt Levine to talk about his Bloomberg Businessweek article The Crypto Story . They also discuss Elon Musk finally closing his Twitter deal and restructuring at Credit Suisse.   In the Plus segment: more crypto!   Podcast production by Anna Phillips. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for mor...

Twitter has been a lot of things—where you posted your lunch, where you met your people, where you were subjected to a harassment campaign. Now, as Elon Musk prepares to take the reins, where is it headed? Guest: Will Oremus , technology reporter for the Washington Post . Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like ze...

This week, David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson discuss the final midterm sprint; the latest British Prime Minister; and Trump’s legal troubles.  Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Adrian Wooldridge for Bloomberg: “ Rishi Sunak Is a New and Old-Fashioned Tory ” Barton Gellman for The Atlantic: “ The Impeachment of Joe Biden ” The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward's Twenty...

An investigation into child welfare agencies around the country uncovered that the vast majority of searches of home environments happen without anything like a warrant, increasing the stress for parents as well as the children whose welfare is supposed to be being protected.  Guest: Eli Hager , ProPublica reporter covering issues affecting children and teens in the Southwest. If you enjoy this sh...

The truth is, no one ever had a workable plan for Brexit. And as Liz Truss becomes the fourth Prime Minister to resign since the referendum and Rishi Sunak steps in as tribute, it’s an important lesson for voters on any side of the Atlantic: You can’t stake your party—or your country’s future—on a lie.  Guest: Felix Salmon , host of Slate Money , chief financial correspondent at Axios .   If you e...

Reporters have questioned whether Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman, who had a stroke in May, is competent to serve in the U.S. Senate. The attention on his apparent aphasia – or ability to process conversation and speak clearly – reveals the biases that keep many disabled people from disclosing their conditions or even running for office in the first place. Guest: Sara Luterman , ca...

Ron DeSantis broke with tradition when he rejected the Florida legislature’s redistricting map and presented his own. But by splitting a majority Black district in northern Florida into four other districts, he may have violated both Florida and federal laws against gerrymandering. Guest: Joshua Kaplan , reporter at ProPublica .  If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. S...

Alzheimer’s treatment hasn’t changed much in the past two decades, and the way researchers have been thinking about and approaching the disease may be to blame.  Guest: Damian Garde , reporter for Stat covering the biotech industry . Host: Lizzie O’Leary 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 epis...

This week, Felix Salmon , Emily Peck , and Elizabeth Spiers are joined by design critic  Alexandra Lange to talk about her book Meet Me by the Fountain: An Inside History of the Mall on the evolution of shopping malls in America. In the Plus segment: How online shopping has affected malls.   Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Thanks  Avast.com ! Learn more about Avast One at  Avast.com If you...

Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Judge Michael Luttig for the definitive conversation on a giant elections case now on the calendar at the Supreme Court. Moore v Harper is a North Carolina redistricting case that is also a vehicle for the Independent State Legislature Theory - a so-called doctrine that could radically re-order democracy in America. Judge Luttig - a stalwart of conservative legal circl...

David Plotz talks with with author  Tom Perrotta  about why Tracy Flick doesn’t have the life she dreamed of in his new novel,  Tracy Flick Can’t Win . A sequel to Perrotta’s 1998 novel  Election ,  Tracy Flick Can’t Win  meets up with Tracy Flick decades later where she’s a single mother and assistant principal of a New Jersey high school.  Tweet us your questions  @SlateGabfest  or email us at ...

One company’s software is helping set prices for apartments across the country. But when does an algorithm telling landlords how much to charge—by drawing on property data—cross the line from “handy tool” to “illegal price-fixing”?  Guest: Heather Vogell , reporter with ProPublica Host: Lizzie O'Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefit...

This week, David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson concerning polls for Democrats, women protesting Iran’s regime, and the trial of Arkansas’ law targeting trans kids. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Roya Hakakian for The Atlantic: “ The Bonfire of the Headscarves ” A Beginner’s Guide to America for the Immigrant and the Curious , by Roya Hakakian  Matthew Yglesias...

You can divide the career of the artist formerly known as Kanye West into chapters using off-script televised moments—announcing “George W. Bush doesn’t care about Black people” during a Hurricane Katrina telethon; interrupting Taylor Swift on stage at the VMAs; calling 400 years of slavery a choice in the TMZ offices. Now his Tucker Carlson appearance and subsequent bans from social media for ant...

Republican rhetoric paints America’s cities as cesspools of crime, homeless and, uh, out-of-touch elites, and the party has largely given up courting urban voters. The GOP may be able to hold on to power thanks to voting systems that favor rural areas, but legislating as though their responsibilities stop at the city lines is a growing concern for the Americans who actually live there. Guest: Henr...

Dahlia Lithwick is on the road with Amicus and Lady Justice. In this bonus episode, she’s joined by Loyola Law Professor, legal commentator and columnist Jessica Levinson for a conversation about what we can learn from the women lawyers who held the line during the Trump years, and how to respond to the steady drum beat of “Lock Her Up” threatening women around America today.  The conversation is...

Five years after exposés in the New Yorker and New York Times, Harvey Weinstein is in jail—but a major rallying point of #MeToo was just how widespread this sexual harassment, abuse, and violence really is in workplaces across industries. Looking back, from the top of media to blue- and pink-collar work, how much has the #MeToo movement changed? Guest: Christina Cauterucci , senior writer at Slate...

As a Syrian American surgeon living in Chicago, Dr. Samer Attar felt compelled to be of service during the Syrian civil war, when doctors were being driven underground by Syria’s Russia-backed military. When Russian bombs began raining down in Ukraine this year, Dr. Attar once more raised his hand to cross the border and treat the war-wounded.  Guest: Dr. Samer Attar , associate professor of surge...

David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson talk to Craig Mauger of The Detroit News about the major midterm elections in the swing state of Michigan. Then the hosts speak with the Washington Post’s Yvonne Wingett Sanchez about the MAGA diehards and their opponents in Arizona’s midterm election.  Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may...

The idea of composting a human body may seem unsettling—or even gross—and it runs counter to the normal American funeral rites of embalming and internment, which preserve the body. But advocates say it’s a greener and more peaceful way to return our bodies to the Earth.  Guest: Eleanor Cummins , science journalist Host: Lizzie O’Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Pl...

This week, Emily Peck , Elizabeth Spiers and guest host Ed Lee discuss inflation, the first policymaker to win an economics Nobel Prize, and begrudgingly, updates in the Elon Musk Twitter saga.   In the Plus segment: introducing a new anti-woke bank.   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 episod...

Following their victory in Staten Island, the Amazon Labor Union is still facing an uphill battle. Both the company and the union are closely watching the organizing vote at a warehouse outside of Albany, NY. Guest: Noam Scheiber , labor reporter for the New York Times. Host: Lizzie O'Leary If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero...

This week, David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson LA’s racism & redistricting scandal, the Andy Warhol copyright case at the Supreme Court, and developments in Putin’s war on Ukraine. Here are some notes and references from this week’s show: Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: “ Putin’s Newest Annexation Is Dire for Russia Too ” Anne Applebaum for The Atlantic: “ The Kremlin Must Be in Cr...

With inflation up and unemployment down, the Federal Reserve is raising interest rates and signaling that they’re willing to risk a lot to stall the rising price of everything. But is Jerome Powell doing too much—or is he already too late to avoid a painful recession? Guest: Jordan Weissmann , senior editor at Slate reporting on economics, politics, and public policy. If you enjoy this show, pleas...

Herschel Walker’s campaign for the U.S. Senate has been rocky to say the least, with revelations of heretofore-unmentioned children, accusations of domestic abuse, and multiple abortions paid for by the aggressively pro-life candidate. Yet the race remains close with Reverend Raphael Warnock—and the outcome could determine which party controls the Senate. Guest: Greg Bluestein , political reporter...